Astrid woke with a start, sitting up and flinging her woolen blanket completely off of her bed in the process. Absolute panic raced through her veins as her heart pounded rapidly in her chest. She wiped at her eyes and stared at the tears on her hand. With a quick shake of her head she jumped out of bed, slid on her boots, and climbed out her window.

She ran as fast as she could up the hill to the house of Stoick the Vast who, along with several others, was traveling to the nearby islands to barter for supplies and food for the upcoming winter. She slipped around the back of the house and climbed up the conveniently placed foliage until she was perched on the windowsill of Hiccup's bedroom.

She pulled open the shutters and jumped down into the room. It was completely dark, empty and covered in a thin layer of dust. The sight was the cause of even more panic welling up inside her and she hurried toward the door. She pushed it open and hurried down the stairs as quietly as she could.

The only light in the large room was the orange embers of a fire. She took a deep breath. Someone had to light it. She told herself. Stoick and the others had been gone for over a week. She stepped closer to the dying fire and saw a bed beside it, even more reassuring was the large reptilian shadow curled up in front of the fireplace.

She continued to move closer until she heard a quiet groan. She froze, fearing the worst, but was instantly relieved when she heard Hiccup speak.

"I just want to go to sleep." She heard him mutter. She inched closer until she could see the outline of his small form against the light of the fire. Toothless growled in response.

"I know it will only be worse in the morning, but right now I don't care." Astrid turned to quietly climb back up the stairs, now that her irrational fears were proven to be nothing more than the remnants of a nightmare, but froze as Toothless suddenly scrambled up.

"What is it?" Hiccup asked. Astrid heard the familiar "thump, clink" of Hiccup's feet hitting the ground. Toothless growled again then sniffed the air. "Who—Who's there?" He asked with a waiver in his voice. The large dragon beside him sniffed again then curled up by the fire once more.

"False alarm?" He asked as he sat back down. "Well, now that I'm wide awake, stupid lizard, I guess I'll take care of it. I'll need some more light." She watched as Toothless flicked a log into the fire with his tail. "Thanks." Astrid began climbing the stairs as she listened to the soft tinkling of Hiccup unfastening his leg. She was halfway up the staircase when she heard it clatter to the ground.

"Now for the hard part." She froze as she heard him hiss and slowly turned around. In the slowly lightening room she could see him pulling off the bandages that covered his wound. "At least Dad's not around to hear me scream. Hey toothless, if I pass out, promise you'll just leave me there until morning." She listened to him lake a deep breath then watched him pull the rest of his bandage off of his tender skin.

She ran down the stairs as he shouted in pain. "Hiccup!" She stopped just in front of his bed and stared at the sight before her. He was crouched forward, his fists clinging to his blanket so hard that his knuckles were white. He looked up at her and she was shocked to see tears in his wide green eyes.

"A—Astrid!" He swiped one of his trembling arms across his eyes. "W—when. . . why are you in my house?"

Instead of answering his question she dropped to her knees to examine his injury. All she could tell in the dim light was that it was swollen and bleeding. She shook her head, stood up and climbed over Toothless. She grabbed several pieces of wood and tossed them in the fire.

"Stay there." She told him firmly as she wandered around the house looking for a pot. Once she found it, she searched until she found a drum of water. She carefully scooped some water out then dumped it into the small black pot. She then placed it on the hook inside the fireplace. "I'll be right back." She told him. "Toothless, make sure he doesn't move." The large dragon tiled his head to the side. "Trust me, it's for his own good."

She ran back to her house as fast as her legs would carry her, then without worrying about who she would wake she began searching the dark house for the bottles her mother always kept on hand. Once she had found them she left, pushing the door closed with her foot, and ran back up to Hiccup's house. The door was still open so she just slipped inside to find Hiccup still sitting on his bed where she had left him except now his back was resting against the wall behind his bed.

She kicked the door shut and set the many bottles she was carrying on the floor.

"Astrid . . . what are you doing?"

She walked over to the fire to see if the water was warm yet. She saw a few tendrils of steam snaking up toward her face, and nodded. Good enough. She grabbed one of the bandages that were in a pile by Hiccup's bed, wrapped them around her hands, then pulled the pot out of the fire. She carefully set it down next to her bottles then dropped to her knees again.

"You should have told someone it wasn't getting better!" She told him angrily as she dipped a bandage in the warm water.

"I did! Well kind of. I talked to Gobber, I figured he'd know."

"Obviously he doesn't."

"He said the healer did a good job, and that it just needed some time, man up, grow a pair, and all that."

"This is going to hurt." She told him as she firmly grabbed his leg under his knee and began dabbing the warm cloth on it. She heard his teeth snap together as he dug his hands into his bed again. For the most part he was quiet and still, barely making a sound as she cleaned his wound. When she was finished she tossed the bloody rag onto a pile with several others.

"Are you done?" He asked quietly. Astrid didn't fail to notice the exhaustion in his voice.

"Almost." She examined each of the bottles until she found the one she was looking for. "This is really going to hurt." She tipped the bottle upside down letting some of the liquid within seep into the cloth. She watched Hiccup hold on to the bed once more then began dabbing the liquid onto his skin. She worked quickly, hoping to cover the entire area before the stinging started.

"That wasn't—" He stopped abruptly and began to shout as she tossed the rag aside. "AH! I—Is it supposed to burn?" He yelled.

"That means it's working. It will stop in—" he suddenly slammed his fist into the wall causing both her and Toothless to jump. They both waited with wide eyes until Hiccup took a few slow breaths and slouched down against the wall.

"Are you done now?" He whimpered.

"Yeah, hold still while I wrap it." She whispered as she gently set to work. When she was done she pulled off his boot and pushed his leg up onto his bed. She then stood up and pulled back the covers as he squirmed underneath them. "Go to sleep." She told him.

"Right." He whispered, his eyes already drifting closed.

"You should probably put something under that to keep it up."

"Why?"

"It's swollen. Mom says sometimes that happens when all the blood rushes to it. If you keep it up, the blood won't be able to get to it as fast."

"Oh, okay." He said with eyes still closed. Astrid sighed heavily then shoved his shoulder.

"Scoot over." She told him as she slipped off her boots. He opened one eye, then quickly closed it and scooted closer to the wall. Astrid slipped under the covers on his left side and propped her knees up. She looked over at Hiccup whose eyes were still closed, picked up his leg and rested it on her knee.

"Hey Astrid." He whispered.

"Yeah."

"You never answered my question."

"Hmm?"

"Why are you in my house?" She tensed up and wondered if she just ignored him how long it would take him to fall asleep. She decided to give it a try. "Astrid?" Damn.

"I had a nightmare." She said balling her hands into fists as she spoke.

"So you came here?"

"You were in it."

"Oh. So you came here to punish me for whatever it was I did in your dream? Okay."

"No!" she hissed. She turned her head away from him and sighed. "I—I had a nightmare that . . . that you were gone." She closed her eyes, and could still feel the panic that had washed over her when she awoke.

"Gone?"

"I—it was . . . after you fought the Red Death . . . after all the dust and smoke cleared," she cleared her throat hoping to dispel the waiver within it, "that when Stoick picked you up . . . that it was too late." The last word was little more than a whisper as she restrained the sob that had tried to escape her.

"Well I'm still here." He reached over and took her hand. "Mostly." He said slightly lifting his left leg for emphasis.

"I know, I—I just had to make sure. And it's a good thing I did. You're going to stay off of that tomorrow, whether you like it or not."

"Okay." They were quiet for a few moments and Astrid was keenly aware of Hiccup's hand still gently holding hers.

"So you learned how to do all that from your mom?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah. She always said it was important for a girl to learn how to care for—" she stopped suddenly. Her husband. Her mother constantly said, despite Astrid adamantly denying that she was ever going to marry.

"For?"

"For others." She finished quickly. "Hey Hiccup?"

"Hmm?"

"Go to sleep."

"Right." He whispered as he laced his fingers with hers.