A/N – I'm not going to lie, I did not have an ending in store for this story. I didn't aim for it to be even this long. I've sort of fallen out of love with it, but that doesn't mean I'll abandoned it. I'm aiming to wrap it up in one or two more chapters.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I appreciate each and every one of you. You are all amazing.

X

Chapter 9: Ride

Stoick stepped into the dining room and clapped this large hands together. "Oh, I see you have company. This must be the young man we've all been hearing about."

Astrid let out a ragged sigh. "Yes."

"Astrid, don't be rude," her mother quickly said. "It's not Stoick's fault people talk."

Stoick laughed. "And let me guess, that's your bike out in the drive?"

"Yes," Hiccup nodded.

An awkward silence fell over the table. Stoick stood behind a chair and her mother hovered just behind her father's shoulder. Astrid looked between them. This thick air played games. She didn't like it. Her mother had the same expression she wore when Astrid guessed her Christmas present correctly.

"Please take a seat, Stoick, I'll fetch you something to drink. Coffee alright?"

"Yes, thank you," Stoick said. He sat down across from Hiccup. The chair squeaked under his bulk.

Hiccup drummed his fingers on the table. Stoick laced his hands together. They looked at anything but each other. Astrid sat down beside Hiccup and reached for his hand. She poked her arm through his and rested it there.

"So you live in the city?" Stoick asked. The majority of his hearty presence had left his words.

"Yes," Hiccup answered.

"I've been there a couple times myself. It's not a bad place. A bit busy for me."

"Berk's a bit quiet."

Stoick laughed. "That it is."

The uncomfortable silence returned. Astrid looked at her mother as she sat down at the table. She slid her father a glance that he did not return.

Astrid gripped Hiccup's arm. It is as though they are trying to make him feel uncomfortable.

"I hear you teach," Stoick said.

"I will be soon."

"That's a good, steady job. Art, if I heard Sven's wife correctly."

"You did," Hiccup nodded. "Sven's wife got the facts right."

Astrid bit back her grin at Hiccup's humor. Stoick didn't seem to mind, or he didn't catch it.

Stoick cleared his throat. "What a coincidence that Astrid here found you."

"A coincidence how?" Hiccup asked, raising a brow.

Stoick fell quiet. Both of her parents looked at each other, frowns deepening. Astrid gripped Hiccup's wrist. Something else was going on.

"Oh, I bet the eggs are burning," Mrs. Hofferson said and ran from the dinning and into the kitchen.

Astrid stood and lifted Hiccup by the arm. "We'll be back later."

Mr. Hofferson panicked and stood. "Stay for lunch."

"We'll eat out."

"It's free here."

Astrid grabbed Hiccup's jacket and tossed it at him, and grabbed her own on the way out of the door. She reached his bike before he did and threw her leg over the side as though she knew exactly how to.

She patted the leather seat in front of her. "Come on. Give me a ride."

He chuckled and zipped his leather jacket. He lifted on long leg over the bike and quickly instructed her on her position.

"Hold on," he said. The bike roared to life, purring and sighing.

Astrid laced her arms around his middle. He made a circle around Stoick's truck and headed out to the main road. Astrid spied faces in the kitchen window as they pulled away. She held onto Hiccup tighter.

X

Berk flashed by from the back of the motorbike. The wind whipped past, tearing at her hair and face and going right through her jacket. She held Hiccup tighter, to squeeze out the cold, but it didn't help. They drove down the main street and everyone seemed to be watching; shameless people pointed.

"Go left here," Astrid said into Hiccup's ear. Her warm breath bounced back and hit her lips.

Hiccup followed her instruction. She guided him to a backroad that looped within view of the river. A dirt road went parallel beside it for some distance. Trees reached up overheard and sheltered them with empty branches. The shade made her shiver.

"Where are we going?" Hiccup asked over his shoulder.

"It's a surprise," she said.

The road narrowed and finally ran over a wooden bridge that was nothing more than weathered planks nailed together. The bike went over without a problem. Hiccup came to a stop at the end of the little road, at a rocky outcropping where the river twisted in two directions.

"Come on," Astrid said as she hopped off the bike.

Hiccup put up the kickstand and made sure the bike balanced before following. Astrid led him over a narrow bridge to the little rocky island between the forking river. The two rivers joined behind it, closing the chunk of land off from all sides.

"You've got your own private island?" Hiccup asked, following Astrid to the top of a rock formation. "You're got the best perks."

Astrid laughed. "This is where we used to play as kids. Pirates was my favorite. We used to have an old wooden boat that we docked just off the rocks, down there, and we'd hid pennies and random stuff up here."

"Hiding the booty?"

"What else do you do with it?" Astrid laughed.

"I can think of a few things," Hiccup said, and winked.

Astrid laughed harder. She led the way around one of the few pine trees of the island and to a little cave between two rocks. She bent down to look inside.

"You know," she said, inching closer to the cave, wiggling her hips in the air. "I think it might still be in here."

Hiccup's hands held onto her hips. She braced herself against the rock, palms spread, and ground her hips back into his.

Hiccup laughed. "I was trying to steady you."

"Sure," Astrid said. "I'd bet all the pirate booty that you were thinking about something else."

His thumbs massaged her tailbone.

They shouldn't. Not in the open air. People probably followed them.

"You know why we choose this spot to bury it?" Astrid asked.

"Hm?"

"Because you can't see it unless you're up here."

She ground her hips back into his. The growing budge greet her. She ran her backside over it until she felt its length. Hiccup reached around and undid her jeans, and wiggled her hips free. He pushed them down her thighs and to her knees. His cool fingers traced lines back up her thighs. She didn't know how warm she was until Hiccup pushed her underwear to join her jeans; the cool air brushed against her sex and sent shivers up and down her back.

She heard Hiccup's belt and the swish and squeak of leather.

"Oh, it's cold," Hiccup said with a chuckle.

Astrid laughed. "I'll keep you warm."

He closed the space between them, plunging into her, burying himself deep inside of her. He moaned into the air; Astrid gripped the rock that held her up. Hiccup started to thrust slowly, each pushing against her, striking something inside of her. She wanted him to speed up, she wanted this to last forever.

Hiccup held onto her hips as he took her, groaning with each thrust. Astrid moaned when he struck that cord, that button that electrified her insides. He sped up, thrusting harder. She felt it come closer, that blinding bliss.

"Hiccup," she pushed against the rock to keep herself up. Her arms shook, but she craved him. She came hard against him.

He held onto her, fingers pressing into her skin.

Her name spilled from his lips as he came.

X

Hiccup pulled Astrid's hand up to his lips and placed a kiss along her knuckles. They sat on the edge of the island's rocky side with their feet dangling over the edge. A good twenty feet below, the water crashed against the rock.

"I can't believe you drove all the way down here just to see me," Astrid said. She wiggled closer to him.

He grinned against her temple. "I can't believe no one else has grabbed you up."

"What do you mean?"

"You're amazing, Astrid," Hiccup said, and he kissed her temple. "Men should be killing each other over you, some women probably, too."

Astrid giggled and snuggled in closer to him. "You're sweet."

"What was that sound for?" Hiccup asked. "Have there been women?"

She laughed.

"Astrid?"

"I've kissed Heather before. College."

"Oh?" Hiccup swallowed and cleared his throat. "Just kissing?"

Astrid blushed. She tried to bury her face in his shoulder but it was too late. He saw. She shrugged. "Like I said, college. Tequila makes everything sound like a fantastic idea."

"Like what?" Hiccup asked. He cleared his throat again. "Not that…I need to know…I just, you know…"

Astrid smiled. "It's the two girls thing?"

"Yes," Hiccup said. "It's the two hot girls thing. It takes the weird shame feeling out of the porn experience."

"In college, we used a janga tower and wrote things on each block, like 'take a shot' or 'grope the person to your left,' or 'take off your pants.' We were very responsible college kids. Especially on Memorial Day and Labor Day."

"And…you and Heather sat beside each other?"

Astrid poked him in the chest. "It was after one of those parties and it was just a small gathered of friends. We were all wasted. We were watching a movie, I don't remember what, but Heather and I made out most of the movie."

Hiccup's hand trailed up Astrid's side and pulled her in as close as he could. "Wild child."

"Look at yourself," Astrid said, hugging him back. "Art degree and a motorcycle."

"Personally, I think an art degree and a job is more of a notable combination," he said with a laugh.

X

Hiccup and Astrid stopped by the small diner in town for a quick meal. They refueled and Astrid directed him on a tour of Berk. When they arrived back at Astrid's, another car had joined the driveway.

Hiccup hesitated on the road.

"Seriously?" Astrid groaned. "Just go between them. Or, you can turn around and I'll spend the weekend at your place. I'm sorry people are so nosy."

Hiccup hadn't worn his helmet. His face paled.

"Hiccup? Are you alright?" Astrid asked.

He swallowed.

"We can leave. We can turn around and not look back until we have to. Hiccup?"

"It's…that's my mom's car."

Hiccup pulled into the drive and parked in front of the porch. He looked shaken, almost sick.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked, hoisting herself off the bike.

"I'm fine," he said, grabbing her hand. "I just…I don't know. It's weird. That's Mom's car. Same license plate. Same dent from that time I thought I could learn to skateboard."

"What is she doing here?"

He shrugged. That had been his question, too.

Astrid walked inside first. Her parents sat at the table with Stoick and a woman she hadn't seen before. She stood tall and thin with a face that resembled Hiccup's. Her long brown hair was tired back into a braid.

Mrs. Hofferson stood quickly. "You're back."

The woman, Hiccup's mother, didn't look up. She stared into her coffee cup. Stoick held one in his large hands, too, and kept his eyes on it.

"Astrid," her mother said, stepping away from the table. "I have something to show you, in here. I mean, it's outside."

Mr. Hofferson stood and joined his wife, setting a hand on Astrid's shoulders. "Come with us."

Her parents pushed her outside through the backdoor. She spotted Hiccup standing in the doorway to the kitchen, brows pushed together, and then the door shut.

"What the hell?" Astrid threw her hand at the door. She rarely swore in front of her parents, or at all, but now called for it.

"They needed to talk without us," Mrs. Hofferson said.

"Why?" Astrid pushed back to the door, but her father held it closed. Astrid instead pressed her ear to the cool metal seam.

She heard Stoick murmur, a feminine response, and Hiccup's dry cadence. He didn't sound happy.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hiccup asked.

His mother's soft voice answered. Stoick added something too low to hear.

"What are they saying?" Astrid asked her mother.

Mrs. Hofferson bit her lip.

"Hiccup'll tell you," Mr. Hofferson son. "Until then, let them have their space."

He pulled Astrid away from the door.

The front door burst open. Astrid dashed around the house and came around the corner just as Hiccup's bike roared to life. He turned the bike around in a dangerously tight circle. He wore his helmet; she couldn't see his expression. He started out between the cars as he'd entered the drive.

The sun flashed on his helmet. He saw her.

"You're leaving?" Astrid asked, although she knew over the roar of the engine he couldn't hear her.

He hesitated, then rode out onto the road. He stopped, held the bike upright with his left foot, and held out a gloved hand to her.

Astrid ran, jumped the ditch, ran to the waiting bike and climbed onto the seat behind Hiccup. She fastened her arms around his middle and he took off, roaring down the road.

X

When Hiccup stopped at a gas station a good drive outside of Berk, Astrid could no longer feel her fingers. She hadn't prepared. She had only thought about Hiccup, and being with Hiccup. She hadn't taken keys, a wallet, her purse, her phone, or anything. She had only the clothes she wore.

"Cold?" Hiccup asked.

"Just a little," she said.

The sun went behind the clouds and shaded them from the only source of heat. Hiccup pulled Astrid into the little station. Astrid rubbed her fingers to return to the warmth and Hiccup gathered to-go food from the shelves. Beef jerky, trail mix, and chocolate.

"Pick out one of these coats," Hiccup said, motioning to the hanging rack of jackets and coats between the sunglasses and keychains.

"No, Hiccup, I don't need one."

"You'll be cold for the rest of the trip," he said.

"I don't want you to have to buy it for me," she said.

He laughed, but it lacked the mirth. "Well, you should have thought about that before you jumped on the bike without provisions."

She shrugged. "I wasn't thinking about money; I was thinking about you."

He smiled and kissed her cheek. He picked one of the jackets out for her and added it to his pile. He paid the middle aged clerk and they took seats beside the window. Astrid pulled on her new jacket, a blend of cotton and synthetics. While not fashionable, it would block the wind.

They ate, but Astrid couldn't bear the silence.

"So…what happened?"

Hiccup swallowed and stared down at his jerky.

"Was your mom mad that you left?"

"No," he said. "She didn't care about that."

"Hiccup?"

He let out a short sigh and spoke to the jerky in his hand. "She said she was surprised. She said how much of a coincidence that I'd meet a girl from Berk."

"Why is that?" Astrid asked.

"Because, apparently, according to my mother, Stoick Haddock is my father."

"What?" Whatever thought she'd had left without a trace.

"I'd rather talk about it later," he said, stuffing the rest of the jerky into his mouth. "At home, just the two of us. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," she nodded, although she felt weak in the knees.

She climbed onto the back of his bike and he pulled back onto the highway, southbound for the city, weaving in and out of small towns along the way, up and down the winding hills. Astrid held onto Hiccup, watching it all go by, keeping Hiccup's warmth beside her own. She was glad he'd bought the jacket.