Chapter 9
His heart was racing and his breathing labored as he ran. Pain pounded from his left temple as blood ran freely down the side of his face, dripping off his jaw.
But he couldn't stop.
The pain in his head was combined now with shooting pain coming from where his leg rested in his prosthetic. His current prosthetic foot was not made for running so every step he took the pain shot deep through his bones.
Yet, he kept running.
The weight in his arms was all that mattered. Not his pain, or injuries; only what he carried in his arms. Nothing else mattered.
His vision fogged as he desperately tried to keep his sight on his goal, he had to hurry, his body would give out soon. Just as he began to lengthen his strides and put the last bit of energy he had into his speed; his destination began to get farther and farther out of reach.
NO, I have to get there! I have to make it!
So he kept running.
Unfortunately it just kept moving away and before he knew it the darkness began to surround him, consuming him completely. The weight in his arms gone, the pain gone…everything gone.
Hiccup shot up in bed, gasping for breath, his skin soaked with sweat. Raising his shaking hands to cradle his head while he tried to calm him breathing and rapid heart rate. He clamped his eyes shut willing the images from his dream—no memories to stop flashing before his eyes.
God I haven't had one of those in a while.
With his breathing calmed a bit and the last of the images locked back away in his memory, he glanced over to his wife's side of the bed hoping his startling wake up hadn't woken her up. He really didn't want to explain what his dream was about, especially since it had been so long since he had one. No need to worry her.
To his surprise he found her side empty and from a feel of the cold sheets it had been for a while.
Hiccup reached over to grab his phone and check the time, 6:45, "might as well get up and get ready. Not that I could go back to sleep after that dream." With a shake of his head he slipped his legs over the side of the bed, quickly fitting his prosthetic on. Something he had done thousands of times now, it was just second nature, like breathing.
Once he had two feet again he set his sights on heading downstairs to find his wife…and coffee.
As he made his way downstairs he begun to hear the laughter and quiet voices of his two favorite women. His mother and his wife. A smile lit his face chasing out any last bit of lingering thoughts of his ugly wake up.
After the talk they had in the kitchen the other day the two seemed to have turned a corner and now they were acting like old friends. Like they knew each other their whole lives. Not quiet Mother and Daughter yet but they were well on their way. The whole idea made Hiccup's smile bigger.
It had been several days since everyone was here and today was the day he was supposed to meet Heather, Snotlout and Tuffnut to look at possible locations for his work. Honestly he was pretty excited about the outing, he wanted nothing more than to get back to work seeing clients; he loved his job. Also he was looking forward to having some one on one time with his friends.
He wasn't ignorant to the fact that his friends weren't 100% comfortable around Astrid yet. They just met her and they definitely held back their thoughts with her around. Clearly demonstrated when Snotlout "talked" to him the second she was out of ear shot. So if he had any chance of trying to resolve past issues and current awkwardness he would have to do it without her there.
Though he desperately wished she could be there for support. Old habits die hard.
Walking into the kitchen Hiccup was greeted to the sight of his mother and wife sitting at the table, two cups of coffee in front of them and all the dogs sprawled out at their feet.
Thankfully, Hiccup's fears of the dogs not getting along were completely unfounded, all three dogs got along wonderfully. Cloudjumper and Toothless ran around most of the day wearing each other out and Scullcrusher despite his small size and "gentleman" like personality would join them occasionally. Though he did prefer to sit on the sidelines watching them and making sure neither of them got too carried away most of the time.
Hiccup walked behind Astrid leaning down and kissing the top of her head, "good morning milady, Mom. What are you two up to this morning?" Resting his hands on Astrids shoulders and facing his Mom.
"Oh well you know I'm an early riser and Astrid came down here with a phone call and now we are planning our day." His mother happily said.
Looking down at his wife, "phone call? This early?" Hiccup asked as he headed for the coffee maker.
"Yeah the movers called, they're getting here around 10 so I've recruited your Mom into helping me oversee them putting our things into the storage unit and also help take out stuff we need. We will probably be there for a few hours and then we're going out for a late lunch." She smiled over to her mother in law, both please with their plan.
"Great! We can stop living out of our suitcases," taking a sip of his coffee. Ah, coffee.
"Well I'm going to be looking at properties today and from the list that Heather emailed over it looks like we've got some good stuff to look at."
"That's great son." Valka said with a pleasant smile on her face.
At the mention of Heather a thought popped up into his mind that he had been meaning to ask his Mom. "Mom, um I've been meaning to ask you said a couple days ago that you and Heather go out for lunch from time to time. Umm I-I guess I'm wondering why? You two were never close super close before I left." He passed a quick glance to Astrid trying to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable with the topic of this conversation. Heather was his Ex after all and he knew that could be not a great topic to discuss in front of his wife.
Seeing an equally curious glance pointed at his Mother he figured it was ok to proceed.
Valka looked into her cup obviously thinking through what she was about to say carefully, "well…about a year after you left Heather's Mother passed away. Cancer. Anyways her Dad decided to go on extended trips after that, leaving Heather and her brother pretty much on their own. I bumped into her one day and well she just looked like she needed someone to talk to so we started meeting for lunch."
Heather's Mom died? Oh man.
"Geez I-I didn't know about her Mom. So that's it, that's why you both met up because she needed a mother figure to vent to?" He still had a sinking suspicion that wasn't the main reason.
Slightly hesitant to answer, " for the most part yes but that's not important right now. I'm just glad you and your friends are getting along again. I know they missed you, son."
Hiccup didn't fail to notice her quick change of directions in the conversation but decided it was probably best to let it go at the moment.
"I doubt they missed me much, mom. They all seemed to function just fine in their lives without me here." As he said that Snotlout's words saying that the group almost fell apart due to his absence ran through his mind. That must have been a heat of the moment statement because there is no way that was true.
…but maybe it is something to bring up later. Maybe.
"Hmm believe what you wish son. Well I'm going to go get ready, Astrid I'll meet you down here at 9:30 to head to the storage unit. Sound good?"
Putting a pleasant smile on her face, "sure Val I'll be ready."
His mother left the kitchen, Cloudjumper and Scullcrusher following close behind her.
"So that was pretty awkward. Is it just me or did she seem like she didn't want to answer my questions? A-and the thing about my friends missing me, yeah she was way off on that one. Snotlout was ready to punch me the second you both were out of earshot." Sitting himself in his Mom's former seat across from Astrid.
Reaching out a hand to grab his own, "babe, I have a feeling there's a lot that has not been addressed, probably best to tackle one problem at a time. How about first you work on, I dunno, a certain son and his father who have been avoiding each other like the plague." A knowing smile spreading across her face, "by the way he already left for the morning, if you were wondering…or worrying."
After hearing what she said Hiccup rested his head on the table in a defeated manner. Not bothering to raise it up he answered her, "ugh Ast, you know it's not easy to talk to him." Raising his head to meet her gaze, "its like talking to an angry brick wall that can yell back at you but can't hear a word you're saying. Maybe I should try to straighten things out with my friends first before tackling the Mount Everest of problems that is my father's and I's relationship?"
Astrid gave him a smile and small nod of approval, "not a bad battle strategy, Dragon boy, I approve. Now, on to more important matters," his eyebrow cocking up in curiosity. "I was planning on taking a shower and I wanted to know if you would be willing to accompany me? Hmm?" she asked giving him a suggestive look while her eyes roamed a bit.
Feeling himself quickly react to her question, his thoughts immediately going to previous encounters that they have had while in the shower.
Mmm, who knew a shower seat would have so many uses?
He quickly stood up not bothering to hide his growing excitement and grabbed Astrid's hand, pulling her towards their room which she enthusiastically followed him to."I'll take that as a yes, babe." Her laughter was all that was heard as they disappeared behind the door.
Hiccup parked his Jeep outside of the little real estate building, taking a moment to look in his rear view mirror and take in his appearance. He adjusted his collar for the hundredth time since he put the shirt on. Pulling the collar down slightly he glared at the bite mark his lovely wife had left on the nape of his neck.
"Yup that's going to leave a bruise."
Shaking his head he couldn't help but a small smile grace his face thinking about how the mark got there. Pulling one last time at his collar he decided he had done all the preening he could possibly do and got out of his car.
The front door dinged on his entrance, announcing to all that he was there. The office itself was just one medium sized room with 3 desks in it for the agents and only two doors leading off the main room. He would presume for a bathroom and storage room or back entrance. It was simple but had a cozy feel, perfect for a place like Berk.
After his quick visual sweep of the office his eyes were drawn back to the raven haired women sitting at her desk. She instantly greeted him with a smile, "hey Hiccup, how are you?"
He stepped up to her desk leaning on it in a causal way, "Oh great, Astrid and my Mom are currently at our storage unit with the movers. So no more living out of suitcases, yay." He reached behind his head to do his signature neck rub, "before you know it I'm going to need you to look for a house for us!"
It only to took a second after he said the words to register how wrong they sounded. Heather's shocked face only added to the shear mortification that suddenly flooded him.
"U-us…" Heather managed to stutter out.
Hiccup shot off her desk like he was burned, "n-not us, us." His hands motioning between the two, "but-but Astrid and I, us…we…yeah." His hands dropped to his sides.
"God, um maybe we should just uh head out. D-do you want me to follow you or-or…" His eyes pleading with her to save him from how badly he was trying to recover from his verbal blunder.
"Sure, yeah. So funny story, um my car was acting funny this morning so my brother took me into work…so I guess you will have to drive us around." She sheepishly finished looking at her fiddling hands.
Closing his eyes, no longer feeling as confident about this friendly outing as he was this morning. "Ok l-let's go then." He sighed and held the door open for her.
God help me.
Oh hiccup….
Hope you liked this one!
So I don't know if you noticed but I changed up my updating schedule a bit. I have another story I'm also currently writing, "My Other Half" (check it out, it's a lot grittier than this one), so I started to alternate the two in updating. I don't want one story to get neglected over the other.
Anyways as always thank you for the reviews! Love love love!
