Chapter 3 – Past, Present, & Future: Part 1

Ooooo we've got a two-parter here! What could that mean? ;)

Sorry that this took a while to get posted. I've been struggling lately! So, I really hope you enjoy.

It's super fun getting to write Melody because I live in the South and so it was nice getting to add little southern things here and there.

Shoutout to my collaborator, Christine, for just being a great boss. And also my friend Alex for the writing advice!

See y'all at the bottom.

The big city slowly turned into country and brown fields from the lack of rain and long roads that seemed like they'd just go on forever, but they did eventually lead to a town. A small town that was completely outdated compared to the city they just left. It almost felt like a different world with the small brick buildings, roads filled with potholes, and a church on just about every corner.

While driving through the town, Hiccup pointed out different places that obviously had more meaning to him than that it was just some local restaurant with really good burgers. They were places that he'd go to with Fishlegs every Friday night. Or the place he had his first job when he was fifteen, which happened to be the same place he became interested in smithing and the hobby of making things from scratch. He was so animated in the way he'd wave his arms around or pull her own arm when he'd want her to see something that wasn't in the direction she was currently looking in.

Eventually, the town turned into more farmland. That's when they came upon Valka's ranch. Hiccup's childhood home was small and quaint and it sat at the end of a very long dirt driveway surrounded by large fields, and what they called "mountains." Although Astrid thought they looked more like large hills to her, she just rolled with it.

Valka was standing out on the front porch when they pulled up to the small one-story home.

"Mom!" Hiccup exclaimed as he hopped out of the car. He ran to hug her as Astrid stepped out behind him.

Hiccup hadn't seen his mom since Christmas and he missed her. It showed in the way he'd talk about her back on Berk with that soft smile and it definitely showed with their long embrace. And seeing Hiccup with his mother, embracing her, and having such a loving relationship with her always made Astrid think about her own mother. It made her miss her even more than she usually did.

She would sometimes wonder what her mom would think of Hiccup. Would she love him like a son? Would they get along really well and be able to hug and talk like they've known one another for years?

Or would they have a similar relationship to the one that she and Valka have?

It wasn't that Astrid disliked Valka. The complete opposite actually. She really did like the woman, but this was only the third time meeting her mother-in-law. It was still new and they weren't really that close yet. It still felt like when you're dating someone and have dinner with their parents. There are more awkward silences and hard questions than there are light and free moments filled with uncontrollable laughter.

And it always took Astrid by surprise when she'd bring her in for a hug first thing. It also took her a second or two to wrap her own arms around the older woman and return the embrace.

"It's so wonderful to see you both," Valka spoke once she let go of Astrid, "You two must be exhausted. Come and get settled and out of the heat." She opened the front door, stood to the side, allowing Astrid to step in first.

"You two go on in, I'll grab the bags," Hiccup turned back towards the car, "And try and convince Gustav not to keep security here all day." He muttered more to himself, but Astrid still heard and chuckled at just how annoyed he sounded. If there was one thing Hiccup still hated most about being Prince of Berk, it was the lack of privacy. Astrid was used to it. Hiccup was not.

The first thing that Astrid noticed about Hiccup's childhood home as soon as she stepped foot inside was just how homey it felt.

The comfortable and used couch and chairs with throw pillows and large blankets draped over the back. The dining room table that was filled with both placemats and silverware but also with papers and bills, obviously used as both the dining room and office because the house was probably too small to have both.

It felt comfortable because everything was used and the house was lived in. There was nothing sitting around just for show like large and unusual statues and vases that will stay empty because they're worth something no matter how ugly. Astrid felt like she could actually walk around without worrying about touching or breaking some priceless and ancient artifact.

And even though it was comfortable...it still felt weird. Only because this was the life she'd heard of and read about but never got to experience herself.

Astrid was used to large spaces and people running around cleaning and cooking and making everything spotless. She wasn't used to seeing clutter piled up on bookshelves and in cabinets or in corners. She was used to everything having a place but none of it really having a purpose.

The more Astrid walked around the house, the more she saw just how much of Hiccup was still left here, even after him being gone over a year.

She saw her husband in the rolls of blueprints piled up in a corner in the dining room.

She saw him in the stack of video games sitting by the television.

And she especially saw him in the photos that were hanging on the walls and resting on random end tables and dressers scattered throughout the home.

Astrid had stopped in front of one of the walls in the short and tight hallway, looking at a photo collage with photos of Hiccup that had a range of all his different ages. It started with a wide green-eyed baby with a gummy grin and looking up at the camera from a playpen that was surrounded by a lot of stuffed animals.

Then it went to a young child with messy auburn hair standing in front of the home she was currently in while sporting a cheesy grin showing a few missing teeth with his large backpack strapped over his tiny shoulders.

She stopped and looked at the next one a little longer than the other two. Hiccup looked to be about eight with his chubby cheeks and large ears he was only starting to grow into. He was sitting on a brown horse and looked determinedly at the field in front of him with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.

"That was his first time riding a horse all by himself," Valka spoke up, startling her. Astrid hadn't realized that her mother-in-law had walked up beside her. She turned to look at her as she continued speaking, "I had ridden with him every time before that. He was terrified of horses when he was really young. Can you believe it?"

Astrid looked back up at the photos on the wall, seeing so many more photos of Hiccup riding but all were as he grew older. Looking at him now, she never would've guessed he used to be scared of the animals.

Valka reached her hand out, "I made you some sweet tea."

She took the cold glass filled with more ice cubes than actual drink itself, "Oh...thank you." Astrid pressed her lips together and smiled at the older woman. She took a small sip of the overly sweet and cold drink, just to please her. Astrid hated iced drinks. They either had to be warm or room temperature. And this was far from either of those.

Valka nodded and then pointed at another photo. Astrid followed her finger and her eyes landed on a picture of Hiccup standing beside what she assumed was one of the many wild inventions he's made over the years. "This was one of his first inventions that...well...actually worked." She chuckled.

Astrid squinted to better see the photo that was beginning to fade, "Is that a...catapult?"

The older woman laughed, "That's right. He and Fishlegs spent weeks after it was finished just tossing random things into the air."

Astrid smiled and shook her head at just how Hiccup that was, "How old was he?"

"About twelve or thirteen. It's still in the shed out back, believe it or not. It stopped being as much fun, though, when they sent a soccer ball flying through my kitchen window."

Astrid snorted as she imagined the horrified expression that probably crossed her husband's face when that accident happened.

"Well that didn't take long," Hiccup spoke from behind them, two large bags slung over his shoulders. He tossed them on the ground by his feet and wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, "I should've known you'd look for the embarrassing photos first thing."

"Well it was the only reason I agreed to come here in the first place," Astrid joked.

Hiccup just shook his head at his wife's cheekiness.

In between the moment of silence, Valka walked up to her son and grabbed the bags resting on the ground, "I'll drop these off in your room."

Hiccup protested but by the time he got his entire argument out, she was already walking into the door at the end of the hall, obviously not paying any attention to her son. He walked up to his wife still looking up at the different photos on the wall in front of them and noticed the drink in her hand, "Are you actually drinking something cold?"

"No, you are." Astrid handed him the freezing drink - that was starting to make her hand numb - without even looking away from the photo.

He took it from her grasp and gulped it down in three large sips, "You know the heat probably wouldn't bother you as much as it has been if you'd drink something cold."

She shook her head, "Guess I'll just have to suffer."

Astrid had been blaming her current state of complete exhaustion and the bouts of sickness she'd sometimes get during the day - which Hiccup still had yet to find out about - on the fact that it was as hot as hell in this state. She wasn't sure how the whole place wasn't on fire at this point.

"You're so stubborn," said Hiccup, amused.

Astrid smirked and pointed at the photo she'd seen first, "And you were such a cute baby...what happened?" She eyed him up and down with fake scrutiny.

"Ha-ha," he deadpanned, "Okay, enough of the photos. How about a tour of the ranch?" He held out his hand.

Astrid almost wanted to say no, dreading having to leave the nice air-conditioned home. But one look at the excited and bright face that made him look like the young boy on the wall was just about impossible to say no to, "Only if you promise to show me the catapult that broke your kitchen window." She laughed and took hold of his extended hand and intertwined their fingers together.

She heard him grumble something about convincing his mom to take those photos off the wall as she followed him out of the house and back out into the heat.

The ranch was a lot larger than Astrid ever imagined in her mind. Different animals - sheep, chickens, goats - all roamed out in the large field. And watching Hiccup enthusiastically describe and explain different parts of the ranch made the tour a lot more enjoyable than it would have been by herself or with anyone else.

But the most amazing part of the tour was getting to see the horses in the stables.

She wasn't sure if it was because she missed her own horse back home, but walking through the large stables and seeing all the different horses made her feel a lot less homesick. And Hiccup had promised her they'd go out for a ride tomorrow, which she was more than looking forward to.

But all that excitement of the day ahead had worn off and now she was sitting at dinner with her husband and mother-in-law and not really paying attention to their conversation about their previous travels and was more focused on keeping her eyes open.

"Astrid," Hiccup's voice filled with concern made her look up from her still full plate of food, "You've barely eaten anything. Are you feeling alright?"

She looked up at him and the worried crease in his forehead. Taking this as her chance to excuse herself, she spoke, "I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed, okay?" She smiled at him, hoping that would ease the uneasy look in his eyes.

It didn't.

"You sure you're alright?" He asked...again.

"I'm fine," Astrid replied, trying her best not to let her annoyance be known, "Just tired." She neatly folded her paper napkin on the table, pushed her chair back, and stood up from her seat.

Tired was an understatement. Dead on her feet was more like it, but she wasn't about to tell him that and give him even more reason to worry.

"Alright...goodnight," Hiccup spoke to her in a tone close to a whisper.

Astrid replied by bending down to gently brush her lips against his cheek. She looked over at Valka then and the two women spoke their own goodnight's before she turned and ambled down the hall.

She was asleep before her head even fully hit the pillow.

"Your all's trip must've really worn her out," Valka spoke and placed a bite of baked potato in her mouth. He turned his head back around from the closed door that leads to his old bedroom to his mother's face.

Hiccup shrugged.

"Is something else going on?"

He set his fork down on his plate and began pulling at his fingers, "We're tired, sure, but...she's...I've never seen her sleep so much."

Curiosity setting it, Valka asked, "How long has this been going on?"

Hiccup pursed his lips and thought for a moment before replying, "I guess it really started while we were in Iceland last week."

Valka still didn't know her daughter-in-law well enough to make any assumptions. So in order to ease the growing anxiety in her son, she gently spoke, "A lot of traveling can really take a toll on a person. I'm sure she'll be back to herself after you all get some rest these next few days."

Hiccup looked up from his wringing hands and smiled softly at his mother, but the smile was quick and the worry was still evident in his furrowed brows and distant eyes, "Yeah, maybe you're right."

Riding a horse outside under the blazing sun in the hottest month of the year seems crazy, but is actually a great outdoor activity if done correctly.

Just casually trotting across the field will make you so hot, you won't be able to stand it for more than a few minutes. But galloping through the fields at a speed where the warm breeze hits your face in a way makes it feel ten degrees cooler is exactly the way to do it.

Hiccup had his eyes closed, enjoying the sudden comfort that being on top a horse instantly brought him. The pounding hooves that shook him to his core. The feeling of moving with the horse as it turned, jumped over holes in the ground and increased in speed.

And all of this was great and exciting and refreshing and exactly what he needed in order to clear his jumbled and stressed mind, but the horse he was riding wasn't Toothless.

Toothless knew Hiccup and Hiccup knew Toothless. They moved together in sync because they'd been a team for years and had spent hundreds of hours together, especially in this particular field.

The black horse that he missed dearly almost always knew where they were headed the second he hopped on his back and started heading East. This horse didn't and Hiccup had to guide him the whole way until they came across his spot by the stream. The spot he always came when he needed to think or get away. The spot where many tears were shed and many revelations were made. The spot he hadn't seen since right before he left for Berk.

"Oh, now this is most definitely a Hiccup Haddock thinking spot," Astrid spoke from beside him as she hopped off her own horse and into the dead grass.

Hiccup dismounted and grabbed two peaches from his saddlebag, feeding both of the animals before going to stand by his wife who was looking at the stream in front of them. It wasn't rushing and making the usual calming trickling sound like it usually did. The lack of rain had almost dried it completely up, making it easy to see straight to the bottom.

When Hiccup hadn't said one word yet is when Astrid turned and looked at the young man standing next to her and staring out at the space in front of them. His lips were turned up in a faint and soft smile and she tried to follow what exactly what he was looking at but realized that he wasn't looking at anything. It was the look you get on your face when you're reminiscing about the good times. The times when things were easier.

"What would you do here?" Astrid asked. He turned his head to look at her then, her curious voice bringing him out of memories of the past.

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder and pointed to their left, "See that rock over there?" He asked and she nodded, "I'd usually lean up against that and...think and clear my head. Sometimes I'd come out here to do homework, but most of the time it was just a place to get away."

She strolled towards the rock, imagining the thick-rimmed glasses wearing and tousled hair boy sitting there while tossing rocks in the stream.

Hiccup followed her, sat on the ground and leaned up against the rock. She took her spot in between his legs and rested her back against his stomach enjoying feeling his chest slowly rise and fall behind her.

And that's exactly what the two did. They cleared their heads while enjoying each other's company and the silence that being so far away from the town brought. It was so quiet that they could hear the soothing sound of branches and leaves shaking from the light breeze in the nearby forest and the birds singing overhead.

Hiccup, trying to think about anything other than the pile of stuff waiting for him in a couple days, was thinking about how this was the first time that he's ever brought someone to this spot. It was always just him and Toothless. And just that thought alone made Hiccup smile, wrap his arms around Astrid's waist, and press his lips to her bare shoulder. His heart felt full at knowing that the first person to see this spot also happened to be his wife.

And Astrid was enjoying the spot, but she wasn't as relaxed as her husband. Her thoughts kept drifting to the pure joy she saw on Hiccup's face as he showed her around yesterday, recounting all the different stories he had.

This place here was his home, even if he no longer lived in it. This was where he grew up and made mistakes and figured out what kind of person he wanted to be.

And Berk was all of that to her but would it ever be that to him?

"Hiccup," Astrid spoke first. She sat up and twisted around so she could look at his face, "do you wish you'd met me here? In this life?"

She watched him bite his bottom lip as he thought his answer over. It didn't take him long for his face to relax and reply, "You know...I've thought about something similar recently. I've wondered how different my life would be if my mother had never left my father. Would this job be easier? How different would I have become if I had grown up knowing one day I'd become a King?" She watched him smile that gap-toothed grin at her, "Would you and I have grown up together and fallen in love?"

Astrid returned the smile because that smile always made her heart swell and her bad days brighter, "I certainly like to think so."

"Me too. But to answer your question, this life here," he gestured around him with his hands, "this is my past. And eventually, in order to truly grow, you have to leave your past behind. But Astrid, you...you and Berk are not only my present but you're also my future."

And she suddenly wanted to kiss the boy sitting in front of her and looking at her like she was the only good thing he saw in this world. She wanted to move her lips against his until they fell back in the grass and until the sun went down behind the mountains.

But there was still something eating at her and Hiccup could tell. He raised his hand and rested it against her cheek, "I really am happy with the way things worked out, Astrid."

"I know," she reassured him and looked up into his eyes that were growing anxious with each silent second, "I'd still like some part of me here with you though."

Hiccup breathed a sigh, "You know, I never took you as the sentimental type."

"Guess you really do learn something new every day, don't you?" Astrid replied, "So, any thoughts Mr. Idea Man?"

And the second he pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes is the second that Astrid knew his mind was racing, trying to come up with something, and that she should leave him alone until something clicks.

She could almost hear the wheels turning and turning inside that overly active brain of his. And when she watched a mischievous smile spread across his face is also when she heard the wheels come to a stop because an idea had been created.

Without a word, Hiccup scrambled to his feet and pulled Astrid towards the line of trees at the edge of the field.

"You aren't taking me troll hunting are you?" Astrid asked him lightly, remembering the story Fishlegs had told her last summer.

"No," Hiccup told her sternly, "And that was in the forest on the West side." He added quickly.

Astrid snorted.

"We're going to carve our names in a tree."

Astrid tilted her head back as he continued pulling her along, "Oh my God, Hiccup," she groaned, "that's so cheesy."

"Who am I if I'm not just a little bit cheesy?" He replied, winking at her over his shoulder, "What was it you called me that day we went to Raven's Point?"

"A cheeseball." She replied quickly, remembering the day well.

"Exactly," he said as they entered the shade that the tall trees brought, "So if I had met you here when we were kids, I would've dragged you out here all the time..."

He pulled his pocket knife out of his jeans.

"And we would've hunted for the perfect tree," he continued, "Any preferences, milady?"

Astrid rolled her eyes at her husband's complete and total dorkiness, but she sighed and played along anyway. Looking around at all the identical trees, there was one that caught her eye almost immediately. The bark was lighter in color and smoother than the rest. It was tall but not as tall as the others. And it was skinny but it still stood strong.

And she could have chosen the largest and tallest tree in the forest, but she didn't. She chose the one that people would usually overlook because those are the ones who are usually still standing even after the strongest storms, "That one." She pointed.

"Excellent choice." He grinned. And Astrid knew he'd say that about any tree she chose, but something about the knowing look in his eyes made her wonder if he was thinking the same thing.

And so they each took turns with the knife and carving their names into the tree. And as she watched him etch the heart into the trunk she begged him not to carve, she felt fifteen. She felt young and silly and foolish.

Astrid loved Hiccup for many reasons, more than she could count on two hands, but one of those reasons was because he was the only person she's ever met that made her feel this way. He reminded her that even through all the formalities they had to follow, it was okay to let loose every now and then.

Hiccup stepped back from the tree to eye their work of art, "I think it's finished. Does it look okay?"

"The best carving in a tree that I've ever seen." Astrid laughed, "So, what would you do next?"

Hiccup's brows furrowed, confused by her question.

She recounted his story he started earlier and counted each of the items off on her fingers, "You've dragged me out here, we've found the perfect tree, and we've carved our names. What's next?"

The smirk that spread across his face and the way he grabbed her waist and gently pushed her back up against the tree told her that she was really going to like what was next.

It didn't take long for his lips to find hers and for his sweaty body to press up against her equally as sweaty body. And by the time her hands were grabbing his neck to pull him closer and one of her legs had wrapped itself around his waist, they were interrupted by a loud ring coming from Hiccup's back pocket. She could feel his phone vibrating against her ankle.

They ignored it the first time, too lost in the moment to care, but the second time is when she heard Hiccup sigh against her swollen lips. And then she sighed the second his lips pulled away from hers all too soon.

Hoping it would be just a quick yeah, we're still alive call, Hiccup stayed pressed up against her as he pulled the phone out his pocket and answered it.

"Gustav, I already checked in…" and the second Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut is when Astrid knew it was more than just their new assistant making sure they hadn't killed themselves yet.

Sighing dejectedly, she removed her hands from his neck and stood on two feet again as he continued talking to Gustav about how that type of wood flooring wasn't going to work because it didn't hold up as well as some other type she'd never heard of.

Astrid watched him turn and walk out of the trees to get a better signal while pinching the bridge of his nose. She stayed behind for a few moments, however, and looked at the carving that she first thought was so cheesy. But now...now she saw the deeper meaning.

As long as that tree continued to stand, so would all of the love that went into making the carving.

It was long-lasting...just like their love for one another.

Well, would ya look at that…more fluff! How long will it last? ;)

Christine mentioned a tree carving scene back when I was still writing Moira and I finally made it happen! Woo!

A lot of you are already onto me about what I've got planned…you'll find out if you're correct next chapter! LOL

Thanks for reading! Don't be afraid to leave a comment. It can even be a cheesy comment! ;)