AN: Okay, so I didn't take much convincing and have decided to carry this on, at least a little bit. Have a bit of baby logic! Much love x

Noula stared up.

She hadn't had much choice, seeing as her father had put her down to sleep on her back. She could roll over, but right now her blankets were stopping her and besides, there was less to look at if she was facing down.

She could see the wooden slats above her, upon which her big sister Liv was snoring quietly. Every time Liv moved, the boards shifted slightly, which made Noula worry that they'd fall down and crush her- but it hadn't happened yet. Still, Noo kept one eye on them most of the time. Her Da had carved and painted dragons around the edge of her crib, and wriggling free from the blanket, the blonde baby scooched over and put her fingers on the nearest one - a Night Fury! She liked that one, it was like Toothless. Speaking of Toothless, where was he? Using the bars to pull herself up, onto her feet (she was still quite shaky on her legs, but was definitely getting stronger and could now take a few steps on her own) she reached her hand through the bars, turning her head to squeeze her arm as far through as she could until she felt it: the hard, warm scales under her hand. She opened and closed her fist, trying to get the dragon's attention. Toothless slept in the kid's room most nights now, feeling more at rest knowing that his tiny humans were safe. His bigger humans could mostly handle themselves.

Toothless opened one eye lazily and warbled softly at Noula, as if to say "It's too early, go back to sleep". Pursing her little lips, Noula warbled back in a very convincing mimic of the noises Toothless made, telling him she wasn't tired and look, it was light out! She pointed a finger out the window, at the very first glimpse of sunrise. That meant it was morning.

Toothless rolled his open eye, and shifted a bit lower, out of Noula's reach, turning his head away.

How annoying. Why wasn't everyone up yet? She thought about yelling to wake them, but that always made them really grumpy. She'd just have to get up herself. She'd tried a few times to pull herself up the bars of her cot. In the same way that her legs were getting stronger, her arms were too, and using a carved dragon head as a foothold, she pulled herself up, higher than she had ever gone before. She scrambled her other foot up, searching with her toes for something to stand on. She found another carving, and managed to get enough purchase to pull herself up. Now her belly was leaning on the top bar of the cot, and if she could just swing her leg over and lean forward- yes!

Toothless sat up, alarmed at the sudden weight on his back. He felt it slip of, and slide onto the floor with a thump. He span on the spot and saw the littlest human swaying on all fours, trying to get her balance.

The baby had escaped! Although he didn't totally agree with keeping humans in cages, it did seem like the best way to keep the tiny ones safe when there was no adult around... sometimes Toothless wondered why they didn't keep the bigger ones in cages at night too, it would keep them from treading on him - but the little one was out of her cage! This was not good!

Noula made for the slightly open door, crawling with speed and determination. Panicking, Toothless jumped over her and blocked her way. The stairs were out there, and she might fall. Undeterred, Noula pulled herself up on the dragons hind, and tried to climb up and over the dragon, using his shoulder as a foothold and his ears as leverage. Toothless moaned softly and shimmied, causing Noula to fall back on her bottom with a jolting bump and her eyes filled up with tears of pain. Toothless' eyes widened as she let out a wail of pain. He'd hurt her! Within seconds she'll have woken up the other kids and her parents! Moving like lightening, he grabbed the back of her nightdress with his gums and lifted her back into her cage, where she sat and looked up at him pathetically, arms flailing and sad tears rolling down her reddening cheeks. Toothless warbled sadly, unsure of what he could do to comfort her, patting her very gently on the head with his paw. On the top bunk behind him Fin groaned, rolling over and squashing his pillow against his head. The door behind opened and Astrid walked in, bleary eyed, with her hair in a loose braid and wearing a long nightdress. Muttering a thanks to Toothless, she plucked the baby from her crib, and carried her out the room into their own bed.

Noula liked it better in here. She stopped crying almost immediately as she was placed in the space between her mother and father, who were doing their best to pretend they were asleep. Burrowing under the fur blankets, she spread out her arms and grabbed a fistful of whatever was there. In one hand it felt warm and slightly hairy, and made a noise when she pulled on the hairs. That was Daddy's chest. On the other was a fistful of her mother's soft, blonde hair. Noula liked the feel of that. It was silky in her fingers and tickled a little bit. She knew she wasn't supposed to pull Mamas hair, but it was still fun to pull daddy's. She let herself fall backwards and looked at the ceiling. It was wooden like her crib, but a lot higher up. There weren't any dragons drawn here, or bars keeping them in. She rolled over and looked at her Daddy's face. His eyes were shut and his nostrils opened and closed a tiny little bit with every breath he took. There were tiny hairs coming out of his nose, a bit longer than the ones on the rest of his face. Noula reached out to touch them, to see if they were spiky like the others. Her fingers touched the base of his nostrils, the warmth of his breath tickling her. She wondered how far up they went and moved her fingers a little deeper into his nose.

Hiccup jerked away.

"Oh Noula! Thanks! Just what I wanted! I swear you kids, if you're not picking your own noses you're picking mine!"

He pushed her hand away, and moved his arm in front of his face, settling back down.

Noula squealed in indignance! Picking noses! She didn't pick her nose, that what Leif did! Not her! Urgh, she'd have to have words with that boy, getting her into trouble for things she wasn't doing. However, her father's arm made for something new to play with. He had lots of lines on the back of his hands, little silvery, shiny lines that were sometimes long and narrow and sometimes fat and round. She knew these were something to do with Daddy's job but she wasn't totally sure which one. She stroked one of them - it was bumpy under her finger. Splaying her hand, she felt as many as she could at once. It was a nice feeling, like the outside of a tree but softer and warmer, and hairier. Giggling, she fisted her hand and pulled on the hairs. Hiccup groaned again. He sat up.

"Can't you sleep a little bit longer?" Hiccup asked, begged her.

Why? It was daytime. She pointed at the window to show him so.

"You want to go outside? Really? Now?"

Noula looked at him incredulously and made a noise of impatience. How did he misunderstand her quite so spectacularly? However, Hiccup mistook the look on her face as impatience itself, and sighed. He pulled back the furs and swung himself up, securing his metal foot in place, and stood up, stretching. He reached down to pick up his baby girl, detaching her hand from Astrid's plait, which she'd forgotten she was still grasping with her other hand, and carried her out the room.

Her parents slept on the ground floor, whilst the kids had the attic room. This meant that it really wasn't far at all between the bedroom door, and outside, and pausing only briefly to wrap them both in a rug, Hiccup took the baby outside, setting her down on the grass in front of the lodge. He took a seat on the steps, and Noula crawled about a little bit, pawing at the grass between her fingers. She picked up a stone. Stones, she knew, didn't taste good.

"So, what did you want to come outside for?" Hiccup asked his daughter as he took in the view. It was quite pretty really, quiet and restful in the early morning sun. Something about having kids meant you got to see a lot of sunrises, Hiccup mused, not too bitterly.

"Ga-ba ba noogoo." his daughter told him.

"Is that so?" Hiccup replied, through a heavy yawn.

"Nee roo."

"Can you wait a little longer tomorrow and let Mama and Daddy have some sleep?"

"Nooo." she said, testing a little bit of something she'd found on the floor between her teeth and deciding it not good for eating. Unfortunately it stuck to her tongue and she turned to her father for help, tongue lolling disgustedly out of her mouth.

Hiccup reached out and flicked the dirt off her tongue. "Don't eat the floor Noo, it's not tasty." he chided. Noula thoroughly agreed, trying to get the taste out of her mouth. Grass would help, she decided. She liked how grass tasted.

Hiccup was looking round the village now, and Noula used his momentary distraction to shove a handful of grass in her mouth. Chewing thoughtfully, she followed her fathers gaze. He was staring in the direction of a dragon.

"A da! A da!" She squealed, pointing, as her dad scooped her up. He walked slowly towards it, trying to work out- wait, it was! He'd thought it was Meatlug and so it was. Fishleg's beloved Gronkle was trudging her way across the market square, and as Hiccup and Noula grew nearer they saw a little plodding bundle beside her, carrying a basket under one arm.

"Rori?" asked Hiccup.

Rori jumped, turning, his wide eyes looking at Hiccup in horror. "Mister Hiccup!"

"What are you doing out so early?"

"I...erm... nothing." The little boy looked at the floor.

"You're just taking Meatlug for an early walk, are you?"

"... Yes!" Rori said, his eyes suddenly widening in relief, "Yes, I'm taking Meatlug for a walk."

"Why? What's in that basket?"

Rori tried to hide the basket behind him "Nothing!"

"There must be something!"

"Nope, no, nothing! Er, why is Baby Noula eating grass?"

Hiccup stopped as he was about to take the cover off the basket and glancing at Noula, he noticed a few blades hanging out of her mouth. He sighed, plucking them out and she gave him a goofy grin, before shoving more of her fistful in her mouth.

"Noula, I told you not to eat floor!" Noula immediately stuck her tongue out. She hadn't realised grass was floor. Floor was yucky.. but she did like grass... why were all these rules so complicated? Her dad pulled the bits of grass out her of mouth and she decided to play with his hand instead. She was perfectly happy to chow down on his fingers, when he let her.

Leaving Noula happily chewing on his thumb, Hiccup turned his attention back to Rori, who had hidden the basket behind the Gronkle, and was standing with his hands behind his back and trying to whistle.

"Where were you going, Rori?" The Chief asked, sitting on the grass next to him.

"Fine!" Rori hrumphed, throwing himself on the grass next to his friend's Dad. "I was running away."

Hiccup tried not to laugh. He wouldn't get far on an island. "Why?"

"I'm not allowed to say."

"Rori.."

"Fine! Mum and Dad are having another baby, and it's bad enough already having one who gets all my toys and I have to share my bedroom with and Dad doesn't tell me cool dragon facts for bedtime cos Vola doesn't like it and I have to listen to stupid stories like The Dragon Whose Spots Were Blue and it's not fair and really rubbish and they cry all the time and they smell and it's not faiiir, I don't want another little sister," the little boy wailed.

Hiccup scooched up and put an arm around him. "You know, it might be a boy."

Rori seemed to consider this. He hadn't thought that it might be a boy. "I'd like if it was a boy."

"Well it might be," smiled Hiccup. "And if it is a girl, she can play with Vola, and they'd leave you alone to play with your dragons."

"That'd be cool. I wouldn't have to explain everything to Vola all the time."

Hiccup laughed, wondering how much Baby Vola could understand of Roris complex dragon games, "Exactly! You never know, it might even be twins like your Mama."

"My Mama's a twin?" Rori asked, his forehead frowning.

"Of course she is, Uncle Tuffnut is your Mama's twin brother."

"Oh." Rori paused to think this through, too. "I thought twins had to be both boys or both girls."

"No, no, you can have one of each too."

"That'd be cool! Then I would have a boy to play dragons with and Vola could have a girl to play girl games with!"

Hiccup laughed as Rori stood up.

"I'm going to go tell Mama now to make sure it's twins! A boy and a girl mind!"

"I'll walk you home. Come on Meatlug." Together, with Noula still gnawing happily at her fathers flesh and the Gronkle trailing happily behind, Hiccup took Rori home.

oo

An hour or two later, Noo was sat on what space was left of her mothers lap, porridge being spooned into her open mouth. She didn't much care for porridge, and let most of it loll around in her cheeks instead of swallowing it. As a result most of it ended up on her face, or her clothes, or her mums clothes, or the floor – in fact everywhere except for in her stomach. She'd even managed to smear some in Astrid's plait. Across the table, her brothers and sisters were eating their bowls of oats too, although Leif had refused to touch his before his father had stirred a huge spoonful of apple mush in.

Hiccup had a busy day ahead of him. First he had to swing by the school to drop off Fin and Liv, who had just started in the youngest class. Then he had a dispute over a field of cabbages to sort between two farming brothers, and a wedding ceremony to perform this afternoon, not forgetting to check that his two apprentices at the forge were getting on okay with Gobber (although he was sure they were) and to see how Fishlegs, who he'd offered the role of main trainer at the Dragon academy was doing with the new influx of fresh eight year olds, all wide eyed and raring to get their own dragon. He also had to finish a special saddle for one of his fathers old allies, who would be visiting next week, and had to check in at the food stores to see how well they were stocking up for winter. Although summer hadn't been here long, it would be foolish to forget that winter was never really far away.

Astrid was coming up to full term now, with only a few weeks before the baby was expected to arrive. Hiccup looked fondly at his wife, who had given up trying to coax oats into Noula's mouth and had reached for the bowl of apple mush instead, which Noula was happily licking off the spoon. She looked a bit tired – she hadn't been sleeping well these last few weeks, unable to get comfy in the seasonal heat and with the weight of the baby. A very active little thing it was too, kicking all hours of the day and night. Definitely a Viking warrior in the making.

Hearing the school horn sound across the village, meaning they had five minutes to get there or the kids would be late for class, Hiccup bundled his two eldest out of the door, fortunately not having to stop to put on boots and furs thanks to the warm weather.

Kids on Berk went to school to learn to read and write, and to count, and other useful little snippets like the Islands history, farming, fishing, about dragons and about the other lands that Hiccup and his friends had discovered in their youth. They started classes at about four years old, and went everyday until they were eight, when they started spending two afternoons a week in the dragon academy in addition to their days at school. When they were about ten or eleven, they left to learn a trade. Hiccup hadn't given much thought as to what Fin might do- he thought maybe follow in his footsteps as a blacksmith, though he'd probably rather be a dragon trainer... of course one day, he'd be Chief. He had proved himself reliable as he trudged over to the dragon stables every day after school and mucked them all out. It was a big job, but he always did it well, and Hiccup was proud of his determination. He definitely got that from his mother. Hiccup had no doubt that Fin would be sensible enough to learn to fly by the time he was eight. Liv, on the other hand had only just started school, and was very excited about learning to write. She was already a good drawer for her age, but relished the idea of being able to do something even more useful with a stick of charcoal.

Hiccup looked down at a blackened hand print on his tunic, where Liv had held onto him earlier. He sighed and tried to brush it off. Astrid always got annoyed at the black smudges she was constantly scrubbing off all their clothes. He'd have to think of some sort of way to stop the charcoal getting everywhere – maybe making a wooden holder for it or something, or suspend it in something. He'd have a think. If he got the time.

Oh Gods! He'd forgotten his to-do list. There was no way he'd get through the morning without it. Running back to the house to grab it, he paused in the living room. Astrid had a funny frown on her face.

"Are you alright, love?" he asked, as he noticed his wife's hand clutching low on her bump.

Astrid took a moment to reply. "I think I've just gotten a contraction."

"It's a bit early isn't it?"

Astrid bit her lips together in worry. "Yes, but then, I thought the baby had dropped yesterday but, I mean, we could have been wrong about..." she trailed off, frowning. "It's probably nothing."

"Why don't I take the kids to Mums and you have a rest and I'll come back at lunchtime and see how you are?"

"Noula was here in hours after I went into labour with her," Astrid reminded Hiccup. He could remember well, he'd gone out on a flight to the nearest trade town after lunch one day and came home that evening to find he had a brand new child- he hadn't even know Astrid was in labour.

Hiccup gulped, "well what about if I bring Mum here, and she can watch the kids?"

Astrid nodded as she sat down. "I'll take them with me," Hiccup smiled, kissing his wife's faint worry-lines and scooping Noo and Leify off the floor.

A few minutes later he was knocking at Valka's door, with one squirming child under each arm. Valka laughed as she greeted them.

"Hiccup! Kids! Come in. Is everything okay?"

"Astrid thinks the baby might be coming."

"Ah," Valka's smile faltered for a tiny moment, before she gave him a determined smile. "I was less far along with you when you were born, so I'm sure the babe will be fine if it does make it's appearance today. Do you want me to watch the kids?"

"Actually, I was hoping you could watch Astrid too."

"Of course. Say no more." Valka gathered her bag, and skipped past him, towards the Chiefs lodge.

It was with an even heavier mind than normal that Hiccup set about his work that morning. He kept Toothless close, knowing that he'd hear if something happened. He'd just fly up to the farm and settle this cabbage dispute, and rush back to see if anything was happening...

He really hoped that it was a false alarm...

AN: Bit of a cliffhanger! I'd love if you could leave me a review!