YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! You're all so kind, so I decided to post chapter two today instead of next week! I hope you like it!

September 11, 2014- (Finally) Fixed a few minor mistakes with Terrible Terrors. I am leaving the Plasma Blast thing as a Plasma Blast because, quite frankly, I wouldn't know how else to word it.


You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." -Franklin P. Jones


"Okay, Irena. You're going to have to help me out here. I've never really taken care of a little girl before." Hiccup said a little awkwardly. Seriously, what did they do? It was some time after dinner, Astrid had gone home, and it was just him and Irena now.

Irena was sitting cross-legged on the floor, sucking her thumb. She looked happy enough, but she seemed to be a bit of a crier when she was scared, overwhelmed or upset and Hiccup did not want her to cry again (someone had shouted unexpectedly at dinner and Irena, frightened, had promptly burst into tears). Toothless had taken up sitting as close as possible to her, keeping her company and keeping her calm, so she (hopefully) wouldn't cry again.

Irena didn't know what to do, so she just sat there and stared up at her new caretaker.

Hiccup thought of everything he could before he spoke again. "Do you want to draw?"

She shook her head.

"I could show you around."

She shrugged. Indifference was so hard to work with.

Toothless casually flicked his tail a bit and knocked the Book of Dragons off Hiccup's desk, making Irena jump.

"Toothless," Hiccup scolded lightly, though he was smirking. He walked over to the book to pick it up. Toothless grumbled.

"That's a big book." Irena commented.

"I suppose it is." Hiccup said, picking it up.

"What's it about?"

"Well, it's about dragons. What they like to eat, how big they can get, special skills..."

"Can I see it?"

Hiccup smiled. "Yeah," he sat down on the floor next to her.

"How many kinds of dragons are there?"

"Lots and this book has every one we know about." Hiccup opened the book to a random page. "This is a Terrible Terror. It's the second smallest type of dragon we know of. When they're grown ups, they only get about this big." He held his hands apart a bit so a Terror could fit in between them about perfectly.

Sharpshot flew in the window as if on cue.

"Hey buddy, it's been awhile." Hiccup said cheerfully. Toothless winced as the little dragon jumped on his head. Sharpshot was technically Hiccup's dragon, and, although Hiccup would feed him and play with him when he came around, the Terror never hung around for very long.

Sharpshot sniffed at Irena.

"Sharpshot, this is Irena. Irena, Sharpshot." Hiccup patted the little dragon's head. Sharpshot jumped onto Hiccup's shoulder.

"He's a Terrible Terror." Irena observed aloud.

"That's right, he is." Sharpshot stuck his tongue out and it hit Hiccup's ear, making him laugh.

"Are they all green?"

"No, they come in all different colors. Purple, red, yellow..."

"What kind of dragon is Toothless?" Irena asked. Toothless perked up at his name.

"He's a Night Fury." Hiccup said, flipping to that page. "He's the only one we've ever seen up close, actually. So everything in this book is about him."

"'Sh-shoots sp-spe-ci-al-special pl-as-ma blast in all di-rec-directions to find a-a way out of a ti-ght space if they are un-able to see.'"

Hiccup looked over at the little girl in shock. "You can read?"

Irena nodded. "My mama taught me how. She said I was quite good."

"Wow, that's impressive."

Irena shifted shyly, but smiled proudly. "Thank you."

Hiccup flipped to a new page and pointed at the drawing. "This is a Deadly Nadder. Astrid has one. Did Astrid show you her dragon?"

Irena nodded. "Stormfly,"

Astrid found them like this when she came about ten minutes later, though Sharpshot was gone. Irena was switching her attention from Hiccup to the book, listening to every single word Hiccup was saying. Astrid had never seen a child with such a long attention span. First the flower chain with her, and now, the Book of Dragons with Hiccup.

Astrid thought the sight in front of her was absolutely precious, but it was getting pretty late for a four year old to be awake. Thankfully, she didn't have to speak to intentionally interrupt them, because Toothless came bounding over for a pet.

"Hey boy," Astrid said cheerfully, scratching Toothless on the head. He really was like a dog.

Hiccup and Irena looked up. Irena smiled at her and Astrid smiled back.

"Astrid? What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked.

"What, not happy to see your girlfriend?" Astrid asked with a teasing smirk.

"No, that's not it. I'm always happy to see you, milady. I just thought you went home."

"So did I," Astrid said, stepping around Toothless' tail. "But then I thought, 'Hey, Irena needs some pajamas and a bath and poor, clueless Hiccup's not even going to know where to begin. I think I need to help.' so here I am. You can thank me later."

Irena giggled.

"Oh, that's... yeah, thanks." Hiccup told Astrid. To be honest, he hadn't even thought that far ahead yet.

Astrid smiled knowingly at him. "Alright, Irena, bath time."

After Irena's bath, Astrid sat behind her by the fire, combing out her hair. Toothless sat, watching intensely, next to Hiccup.

"We need to get you some clothes of your own, Irena." Astrid told the little girl. Astrid had managed to snag one of her little cousin's nightgowns for Irena to use which was okay for now, but eventually Irena needed her own clothes.

Irena yawned in response.

Hiccup chuckled. "Looks like someone's sleepy."

Astrid yawned too.

"Make that two someones."

"Are you immune to yawns?" Astrid asked, amazed.

"Huh?"

"Yawns are contagious. You just saw both of us yawn and nothing? Really?"

"I-I-" Hiccup interrupted himself with a yawn. Huh, delayed reaction. "I thought that was a myth."

"It might be, but they seem awfully contagious to me." Astrid said. "One braid or two?"

"None." Hiccup said quickly.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking to you, genius."

"Oh, right..." Hiccup trailed off, looking a bit embarrassed.

Irena giggled again.

"So one or two, little one?" Astrid questioned Irena.

"Two please,"

"Okay then," Astrid split Irena's hair into two equal parts and then started braiding them.

By the time Astrid had finished, Irena looked like she could sleep for three years straight.

"It's been a long day, Irena. Are you tired?" Hiccup asked.

The four year old only nodded.

"Time for bed then," Astrid softly, standing up and then picking Irena up.

Hiccup lead them to a previously empty room that he had done his best to make livable for the little girl on short notice. More could be done eventually, but it would suffice for right now.

Astrid put Irena in the bed and covered her in the blanket.

"Are you comfortable?" Hiccup asked.

Irena smiled sleepily as an answer.

"Good. If you need me at all, my room is to the left, okay?"

Irena nodded.

"Good night, Irena." Astrid said quietly before kissing the side of the little girl's head without much of a thought of it. Her mother had always done that to her when she was little and it always made her more comfortable. Hopefully it would make Irena feel the same way.

"Good night, Irena." Hiccup repeated, tucking a stray piece of hair that had come loose from its braid behind her ear.

Toothless walked in the room and curled up at the foot of the bed. Hiccup scratched the Night Fury right behind his ears as a good night. Toothless cooed.

"Good night," Irena said sleepily before putting her thumb in her mouth.

Hiccup and Astrid shut the door almost all the way and then went to the living room.

Astrid wanted nothing more than to curl up against him and fall asleep, but her mother was expecting her home. Even though she was twenty years old, her mother was still her mother and her mother wanted her home. That meant she went home. "I have to go."

"Yeah, you should. It's kind of late." Hiccup was a little disappointed too.

Astrid smiled at him, delaying her leaving. "So she's interested in dragons, huh?"

"Very," Hiccup replied. "She wanted to know what kind of dragon Toothless was, so I opened to the Night Fury page, and she read the part about the plasma blasts guiding used to get you out of places out loud to me!"

"She's only four, right?"

Hiccup nodded.

"Wow," Astrid said in bewilderment.

"Seeing as I have stuff to do tomorrow, would you take her with you to the Academy?"

"I don't see why not." Astrid shrugged. She yawned then.

Hiccup smirked. "Go home, sleepyhead. I'll see you tomorrow."

Astrid smirked back and then kissed him. "See you tomorrow."

Astrid opened the door to leave and all Hiccup could think about was kissing her again, but it wasn't the time for that. And as nice as the Hoffersons were, he knew how protective Astrid's mother was, he didn't want her in trouble on his account.

"It looks like there's going to be a storm soon." Astrid warned him. He could never sleep through a thunderstorm.

"Okay. Thanks for helping today."

"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow." she said.

"Bye,"

She closed the door. He yawned then and decided to go to bed.

At least he could get some sleep before the storm hit.


A/N:Hey guys! WOW! Thank you so much for your positive response to this story! 8 reviews in about 24 hours is awesome to me! I hope it's more original than most and I'm really glad you like it! Thank you sooo much for all the follows, favorites and reviews! Next chapter will be mostly focusing on Astrid and Irena.

Please review if you can! It means a lot!