"Astrid is coming over, Toothless," Hiccup said. Toothless looked up in excitement. He always got spoiled when Astrid was there, although Hiccup would argue that he got spoiled all the time.

Hiccup was straightening up the house. It had just been him and Toothless for a while because Stoick was out on a quest. When it is just a teenage boy and a dragon in the house for two weeks, let us just say that it needed a good cleaning up. Hiccup put the just-beaten fur rug in the center of the room. He sighed as he scanned the room, looking at his job well done.

The door opened. Hiccup expected to see Astrid, and sat down in a chair in his definition of "casual". Instead, he saw a huge man with a mangled red beard. Horns where on his head and he was covered from head to toe with armor.

"H-hey, Dad," Hiccup said as he bolted up from his chair.

"Hello, Son," Stoick said, dropping some of his hunting gear on a chair. "You didn't trash the place this time."

"Well, I cleaned up," Hiccup muttered. Stoick took some tea from a cup on a table and slurped it. Hiccup winced as he remembered that it was the tea that he and Astrid were planning on drinking.

"Still warm, it's like you knew I was coming home early," Stoick said.

"A-actually, Dad, funny story see, I invited Astrid over and…" Hiccup started.

"So is she coming?" Stoick asked. Hiccup nodded. "Well, then I'm glad I came home, I haven't seen her in a while."

Hiccup muttered something that if he would say it for his father to hear, he might have been put over the chief's knee and given a good spanking. After all, this was the dark ages.

"Actually, she thinks it's just going to be me, her, and Toothless," Hiccup said.

"Who's Toothless?" Stoick asked.

"The dragon," Hiccup muttered. Stoick looked over and saw the jet black dragon curled up in the corner.

"So it will be a surprise when she sees me, too," Stoick said.

"Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea. You know, we Vikings are unpredictable when we get surprised," Hiccup said.

"Oh, I'm sure anything she dishes out I can take," Stoick said.

"Why don't you go to Gobber's? You know to catch up. Tell him all of the wisdom you acquired on your quest," Hiccup said.

"I would, but I was already over there, he said he had to watch the twins because they had laundry duty," Stoick said.

Hiccup silently cursed the gods. That's when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" Stoick called. Astrid opened the door and came in, shutting the door behind her.

"Hi, Chief, I thought you where on a quest," Astrid said.

"I was, but I just got home," Stoick said.

"Hi, Astrid," Hiccup spoke up. Toothless perked up and bounded toward Astrid.

"Hi, Hiccup," Astrid said petting Toothless.

"Yes, I was going to go around seeing if everything was ok in Berk," Stoick said "but when Hiccup here said that Aster-"

"Um, it's Astrid, Dad," Hiccup muttered.

"Yes, Astrid, was coming to visit him and Ruthless-"

"Toothless"

"Yes, Toothless, and I decided to stay," Stoick finished. Astrid and Hiccup looked at each other. "Well, sit, I'll be back," Stoick said as her walked out of the room.

Hiccup sat down and Astrid sat next to him. "Just ignore my dad," Hiccup said.

"It's fine, you should be happy he's home early," Astrid said.

"I am it's just…he had to chose THIS time to come home?" Hiccup said.

"We'll make it work," Astrid said. Stoick walked into the room with a photo album. He somehow sat in-between the two teenagers.

He opened the book and tilted it to Astrid. "This is the first picture we have of Hiccup, we had it done when he was born," he said. Astrid smiled and looked at Hiccup. He seemed unaffected until Stoick flipped the page.

"This is a picture we had done of Hiccup's first bath," Stoick said. Astrid started laughing. Hiccup turned every shade of red imaginable. He knew that picture was of him sitting naked in a pot of water.

Stoick flipped the page. Astrid looked at Hiccup trying not to break out into hysteria. Even Toothless started laughing. Hiccup grabbed the book and saw a picture of him when he was maybe two making his first leak in the outhouse.

The gods hate me Hiccup said in his head.

Stoick leaned over to his son and pointed to Astrid.

"She reminds me of your mom when she was young," Stoick said. Hiccup slammed the photo album on the table in front of them. So many emotions where running through him: anger, embarrassment, frustration…

"Hiccup, I need to talk to you in the other room alone please," Stoick said as he got up and walked out the door.

Hiccup turned to Astrid and rolled his eyes. "I'll be back," he said as he followed his father.

"Hiccup, why are you being like this?" Stoick said.

"Because…because it was just supposed to be us, not you," Hiccup responded. He knew there was no use in coming up with a story, Stoick would see right through it.

"What if I want to be here? Do I have as much right as you do to be here?" Stoick asked.

"Why would you want to be with your teenage son and his girlfriend when you could be out with your friends partying and catching up on the last two weeks?" Hiccup asked.

"Because I want to be here with you and Astrid," Stoick said.

"But why?" Hiccup whined.

"Astrid really does remind me of your mother," Stoick said "and so do you."

Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks. This is the very first time that Stoick had mentioned his mother without Hiccup having to drag it out of him. "How?" Hiccup asked.

"Just something with you two, you remind me of your mother and me when we where your age," Stoick said. Hiccup looked down.

"She reminds me so much of her father, as well," Stoick said. Hiccup looked into the other room to see Astrid playing with Toothless.

Stoick sighed. "He was a good man."

Hiccup looked back at his father. "Was?"

Stoick nodded. "He died in battle six years ago. There was a poison arrow coming at me and he jumped in front of it."

Hiccup felt like he needed to sit down. "So if it wasn't for her father…"

"I wouldn't be here," Stoick said.

Hiccup looked back at Astrid. "She's never mentioned anything about it before…"

"Do you mention anything about your mother?" Stoick asked. Hiccup looked down and shook his head.

"And why is that?" Stoick asked.

"Because I know I'll feel the hurt all over again," Hiccup mumbled.

"So you don't think she feels the hurt? She saw it with her own eyes. It happened right in front of her, and she remembers it," Stoick said.

Hiccup looked up at Stoick. "I wished I remembered Mom."

"Do you really want to remember her like that? In a bed, wasting away, barely with us? That's how you want to remember the person who gave life to you?" Stoick asked.

Hiccup looked down, suddenly interested in his socks and the wood floor.

"If you want, I have a video and a note that your mother made for you, but she wrote it on her death bed. If you really want to remember her, I can give them to you," Stoick said.

"I don't want to remember her like that, I just want to remember her," Hiccup said. He looked up at his father with misty eyes "is that too much to ask?" Hiccup heard his voice break. Stoick embraced his son in a hug.

"No, it's not, but that's not how fate sees it," Stoick said. Hiccup tried as hard as he could to keep the tears that where building up at bay.

"That's why I love you and Astrid being together. Everything that you two have in common, that is so much like your mother. It's almost like she has a hand in it," Stoick said. Hiccup buried his face in his father's stomach. He wanted to say so much, but he knew if he did he would completely loose it. He had stuff from his mother, things that belonged to her, but he would trade it all just to be with her for a day, for a hour. He just wanted to remember her.

"I wish you could remember her, I hate the fact that you can't," Stoick said. All Hiccup could do was nod.

"I tried," Hiccup squeaked out.

"I know you did. You where young, you can't help it," Stoick said "you don't remember anything at all?"

Hiccup shook his head. "You know, your mom always knew you where destined for something," Stoick said. Hiccup was silent. "She said that she couldn't wait to cheer you on when she figured out what it was."

Hiccup started bawling. Stoick knelt down and started wiping his son's eyes. "I want to remember," Hiccup said. He kept saying it over and over.

"I know you do, son," Stoick said.

"This is the reason that I don't talk to you about your mother that much," Stoick added "I know how you will respond, and she wouldn't want to see you crying because you don't remember."

"But I want to!" Hiccup said.

"Hiccup, I know you want to remember because you don't like the fact that you forgot your mom," Stoick said. Hiccup hugged his father as tears streamed down his face. Stoick rubbed his back.

"You are her son, and she remembers you. She knows you don't remember her, she told me before she died that you wouldn't remember her. She doesn't want you to cry over it. There was nothing you could do to stop it. She loved you. She never wanted to leave you. She knew when you where born she would probably not live to see your sixteenth birthday. She filled your first four years to the brim. She didn't care if you remembered her or not. You are part of her, and she knew Berk would remember her through you. You might not ever realize it, but you are so much like your mother. The way you talk, the way you act, the way you sleep…ok, that you got from me, but you are so much like your mother I forget you are part of both of us," Stoick said.

Hiccup managed to dry his tears as he listened to his father talk. "And Astrid?"

"She even LOOKS like your mother," Stoick said. Hiccup looked back at Astrid.

"Well, that explains my blonde moments," Hiccup said.

Stoick smiled. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stuck around. I remember the first time your mother came over to my house. Spitelout invited every one of my friends over so we had no privacy. We finally both went to the outhouse. Then Gobber tipped it over and they started taking pictures. We never got one," Stoick said. Hiccup could not help but laugh as he envisioned the scene with people he knew. Him and Astrid in an outhouse when Snotlout tipped it, exposing both of them and taking pictures.

Stoick nodded. "Yes, it was a sight to see, I'm sure."

They both looked into the other room and saw Astrid looking through the photo album with Toothless sleeping at her feet.

"You'd better go," Stoick said. Hiccup nodded and went to sit beside Astrid.

"I just remembered, I have to go talk to Spitelout about something, I'll be back," Stoick said. He grabbed his hunting gear off of the chair and walked out the door.

"Are you ok? I heard you crying," Astrid said.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

"Is it anything you want to talk about, or…" Astrid asked.

Hiccup shook his head. "Not right now," he said. Everything was quiet for a moment, then Hiccup stood up.

"Astrid, let's go to the outhouse," he said.

"Why?" Astrid said.

Hiccup smiled. "Oh, I'll tell you later."

A/N I hope this makes up for not posting anything over Christmas break!