The next morning, Hiccup slept in a little later than usual. When he finally surfaced, Astrid had already left for work. He felt disappointed he had missed her. The house felt different without the energetic blonde, almost as if the life had been sucked out of it. Shuffling towards the kitchen, Hiccup prepared himself breakfast before sitting down. While he nursed his cup of coffee, he found himself thinking of his guest and wondering how she was managing on her first day. He knew he had chores to do, but focusing on what to do first became difficult when his thoughts kept drifting back to her.

Eventually though, he forced himself to start moving with his first priority being his chickens. After changing into warmer clothes, he gathered an empty bowl and headed outside to feed his girls.

After latching the coop door closed behind him, Hiccup shook the bucket of feed to attract the attention of all the fowls. He was about to fill the bird feeder, when from the corner of his eye he caught sight of two feline shapes edging towards the chook pen. Hiccup grinned. He had wondered how long it would take for the twins to come back and start annoying the chickens again. He decided to gain a few extra days for his girls.

The chickens were milling around his feet, clucking and flapping while they eagerly waited for their breakfast. Their attention was focused on the bucket that Hiccup held in his hands, so he dug in and pulled out a handful of feed. Making sure the birds were watching closely, he suddenly threw the feed in the direction of the wired walls of the coop.

The chickens squawked and flapped their wings loudly, racing each other towards the food. But to the two cats who were a little closer than they should have been, the rampaging feathered fowls gave off all the attributes of a full scale attack. The two quickly turned tail and bolted back to the safety of the house, the sound of Hiccup's laughter echoing in their dainty ears.

"What are you doing? Are you deliberately trying to terrify those poor cats?" came Astrid's voice suddenly.

Hiccup whipped around guiltily, only to find Astrid standing beside the corner of the house in her running gear. His heart beat a little faster, elated that he hadn't missed her after all.

"Oops! Busted!" said Hiccup, grinning awkwardly. His hand dislodged his beanie momentarily when he scratched his head. Yanking it back in place, he tried to placate the blonde woman staring at him, with her arms crossed and a bemused smile on her face while she waited for an explanation.

"They're fine. Just needed to keep them away from my girls," Hiccup offered with a sideways glance. He leaned over to continue feeding the hungry chickens in a much more socially acceptable manner.

"By scaring them half to death?" Astrid asked with a raised brow.

Hiccup turned towards her and waved one hand in the air while holding onto the food bucket with the other. A couple of hens followed his moving hand with hungry interest.

"Hey! Violence is the only thing that seems to work with those two...and I like having eggs for breakfast, thank you," he told her with mock indignation at having to justify himself to someone who still thought the twins were harmless. She gave him a knowing grin.

"Anyway, enough about my foibles...I thought you were supposed to be at work. Playing hooky on your first day, are you? That's a record," he said, tipping out the last remnants of chicken feed. The chickens rushed towards it. While the birds were distracted, Hiccup calmly collected the few eggs that were still warm in the nests.

Astrid sauntered closer. "No...if you must know, I have a late start for today. Fishlegs will be here in about half an hour, but I wanted to head out for a run to settle my nerves first."

She waited at the cage door while Hiccup unlatched it to let himself out.

"You? Nervous?" he chuckled, closing the gate behind him.

She huffed. "I'm more excited than nervous. I want to make a good impression on my boss, and prove I can do this job," she told him in a serious tone.

"You mean Joe?" asked Hiccup, walking towards the house. Astrid fell into step beside him. "He's very good at his job...and very proud of his clinics reputation. I don't think you could ask for a better teacher."

"Oh? Have you been one of his clients?" Astrid asked curiously.

Hiccup shot her a startled glance, realising he'd unintentionally said something he hadn't meant to reveal. "Er...yeah. Sore shoulder, sore knee...all the usual sort of stuff," he stammered, making Astrid observe him a little closer. He was nervously running his hand across the side of his neck in a manner she was starting to recognize.

He was hiding something.

She narrowed her eyes at him, the cogs in her mind already churning over. Why would he lie about the real reason he went to see a physiotherapist? To her, that didn't seem to make sense.

"Sure," she finally decided, giving him the benefit of the doubt. "Anyway, I'd better hit the shower before Fish gets here. I'll leave you to your flappers and your meow-ers."

Hiccup snorted and rolled his eyes. He watched her disappear inside the house. But if Astrid had turned around, she would have seen the look of intense worry radiating from him.

-oOo-

"Thank you Fishlegs, for taking me to work...for all of it actually. I wouldn't be here without you," said Astrid gratefully. They were in his car, on their way to town.

The big man blushed, and tapped the indicator.

"No problems Astrid," he mumbled in embarrassment.

Astrid was lost in thought for a moment, thinking of what she was likely to face for the next few weeks. She was excited about the learning opportunities available, all of which she considered highly valuable in her goal to become a physiotherapist. But another thought kept popping up.

"Fish...why would Hiccup need to see a physio?" she asked suddenly, prompting her cousin to glance wide eyed at her.

"Umm...why would you ask that?" he hedged, his hands already nervously fingering the collar of his shirt, his eyes darting in every direction except hers.

Astrid watched this display with narrowed eyes. "Because he was doing what you are doing right now," she said firmly, getting a little frustrated with all these diversionary tactics.

"I'm not doing anything, except driving," he answered a little too quickly, wiping the beads of sweat from his brow.

"Fishlegs," she said in a warning tone.

"Eep!" panicked Fishlegs, seeing her determined frown.

Astrid huffed in agitation. "What is wrong with you two? Why is that such a difficult question to answer?"

Fishlegs glanced briefly at her. Astrid could see the fear in his eyes, but there was also something else. An expression that she had seen before in the eyes of another. A deep sadness.

That look sent a chill down her spine. "What happened to him, Fishlegs? Is this what you were talking about yesterday?" she demanded to know. At her cousin's obvious reluctance, she began to beg instead. "Please tell me. I only want to help him. He's such a great guy, but something is hurting him."

Fishlegs hesitated. He could see that Astrid was sincere in her request to find out more. But he also knew he couldn't betray his friend. What was he to do? Hiccup needed help, even if the man himself didn't see it that way. And Astrid seemed to have reached his friend in a way nobody else had yet been able to do. Maybe she was a risk worth taking.

Fishlegs took a deep breath, hoping that what he was about to do was the right thing.

"Please don't let him know I told you," he began quickly. "And I can only tell you this. A few years ago, he lost his left leg below the knee."

Astrid was shocked at this news. It wasn't what she had been expecting, but it certainly explained why he limped on occasion…and why he had refused to take his shoe off when she had wanted to ice his knee after he had injured it.

"And he needed physio to help him walk again?" she guessed correctly.

Fishlegs nodded. "Joe spent a lot of time with Hiccup getting him back on his feet."

Astrid pursed her lips in thought. "But why wouldn't he tell me that? Surely he's still not hiding it after all this time? I mean, I am going to be a physio too. I've already seen worse."

Fishlegs sighed heavily. "It's much more than that. Remember how I said he suffered from anxiety?"

Astrid nodded.

"To him, if he tells people about his missing leg, then he has to tell people how he lost it…and he's yet to overcome that hurdle. Even the thought of it sends him into a panic attack."

Astrid hummed quietly to herself, processing this new information. Fishlegs pulled up at the curb, but the young woman wasn't ready to leave just yet.

"He hasn't had a panic attack while I've been there. Do you think he would feel comfortable talking with me about it?" she wanted to know.

Fishlegs shook his head rapidly. "No! If he wants to tell you, then let him do it in his own time. Don't force him. Please, I beg of you…don't mention this to anybody, especially Hiccup. Not many people know about it. He suffered terribly at the time and I don't want him getting hurt again."

Astrid could see just how sincere Fishlegs was in his plea. He'd entrusted her with vital information about his very good friend, and asked her to guard it well. She could see it meant a lot to him. So she nodded.

He sat back relieved. "Thank you Astrid. Now, you'd better get to work before Joe wonders where you are," he suggested kindly.

Astrid smirked a little at her cousin. "Okay, I'm going. Thanks Fishlegs. See you this afternoon." She got out of the car.

Fishlegs waved as he drove off.

-oOo-

Astrid paused to take in a deep breath to calm her nerves, then pushed open the door. A small bell tingled, announcing her arrival to the few people already present. Joe looked up from behind the counter. He smiled warmly.

"Ah! Astrid. Buon giorno. So nice to see you here at last. Ready for work?" he asked kindly, his Italian accent heavy enough that Astrid had to listen carefully to make sure she heard him right.

Astrid smiled in relief at his welcome. Yes, she was soo ready. The physio in front of her was slightly shorter than she was, but Astrid had to admit the middle aged man was quite handsome. He obviously kept himself very fit, judging by the display of his muscles under his tight fitting shirt.

"Yes, I'm keen to learn," she answered with a huge grin, bouncing on her toes in her eagerness.

Joe laughed at her excitement. "You had a relaxing weekend with your cousin first, si?" he asked.

Astrid raised a brow at his comment. Not that it worried her too much, but it seemed the gossip about her living with Hiccup, not Fishlegs, hadn't made it to Joe's ears yet. Hiccup had already warned her that Joe was an incorrigible gossip, almost worse than Mrs Jones.

She decided to leave the status quo.

"Si, I mean yes. We had a lovely weekend."

"Molto bene. Very good. Okay, let's go now," he said, waving her forward.

The blonde woman wore such an enthusiastic grin, she almost lit up the room as she stepped forward, ready to start work.

-oOo-

Astrid gave a hefty yawn, her jaw feeling as if it was about to unhinge. She finished off with a huge sigh, and snapped her mouth shut. It was already Thursday night, and it had been a very big week for everybody. She smiled to herself while she prepared for bed, thinking of all that had happened so far.

Her time at work had been amazing. Joe, her boss, had been fantastic. Despite his own work load, he had patiently spent time with her, making sure she felt comfortable within the work environment and overseeing her therapy with selected clients. Despite his constant presence, she hadn't felt like she was under scrutiny or being critically assessed.

His experience shone through quite heavily, especially when he had needed to correct her technique or offered an alternative to what she was doing. Already in the few days she had been working there, she could see there was a world of difference between the classroom education she had received and the real world application. She wasn't exactly new to practicing her craft in a genuine clinic, but Joe's tutelage had shown her she was now in the presence of a master. Her learning curve had been quite steep, and she felt so incredibly grateful to Fishlegs for wrangling this position for her.

Joe himself was a kindly man, but the twinkle in his eye did make her wonder. Whenever they worked together, Joe was thoroughly professional. However, Astrid had noted a few of the women that came in searching for the popular physio, had a look in their eye that had nothing to do with any pain they might be suffering. Mrs Jones words of advice to watch out for his hands would come back to her at those times, and she made sure to keep a safe distance between them...just in case.

Astrid slid in between her sheets, the wonderful sensation of relief from finally being able to relax her tired muscles almost palpable. Her head hit the pillow and she nestled in comfortably, a smile lingering on her lips as she thought about another set of hands she wouldn't mind on her shoulders.

-oOo-

Hiccup yawned, struggling to stay upright on the side of his bed while he took off his prosthetic. He sleepily patted Toothless who was already stretched out on the foot of his bed, only the collie's long tail moving.

"Yeah, I don't blame you," Hiccup muttered sleepily, his lip twitching slightly at his dog's flat out refusal to budge. Even though Hiccup was only twenty-nine, he was finding that his body took a little longer than it did ten years ago, to bounce back after prolonged activity. And there had been plenty of activity this week.

For the last four days, he had gone over to the Ingerman's house to spend a few hours checking through building supplies and doing what he could to progress the renovations while Astrid and Fishlegs were both at work. Then in the evenings, the three of them had worked steadily together to finish the job. They only stopped when Mrs Ingerman demanded they eat the food she had prepared for them. By the time he and Astrid had rolled into their own driveway late at night, both had only enough energy to shower and hit their beds before falling unconscious till the morning.

To Hiccup's amusement, Astrid would bounce out of bed in the morning, full of energy and enthusiasm while Hiccup found himself taking an extra cup of hot coffee to prop himself up. Even after a full day's work at the physio, she was still keen to plow straight through a few more hours renovating...all to help out her cousin. Hiccup was impressed with her commitment and ethics.

However, her other actions were causing him some concern and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It had started innocently enough. In the close confines of the room they were rebuilding, it was inevitable that they would brush shoulders or touch hands. Embarrassingly, each time it happened he would jump slightly then blush profusely. It certainly didn't help that she was wearing a singlet top over her figure hugging workout clothes, with her bare shoulders revealed in all their sweaty glory right beside him.

All of that was bad enough, but then it seemed she started to deliberately find every opportunity and excuse to bump into him, prod him or to drape her arm across his shoulders. He noticed that Fishlegs was on the receiving end of similar treatment, so he could have felt that was just Astrid being Astrid. Except that along with those seemingly innocuous touches, came the bright eyed and mischievous glances she shot in his direction on a regular basis.

He probably should be discouraging it, but Hiccup found he didn't want to. The friendly touch of another human being had been sorely missing in his life, and he was keen to soak it up. It lit a spark of hope deep in that pit of darkness that he called his life, one he didn't want to extinguish just yet. Even if he knew he should.

Despite his inner turmoil over it all, he had to admit it felt nice having someone like Astrid acting so casual around him. Her actions seemed to suggest that she was rather fond of him, but Hiccup knew it was all an illusion. If she only knew how much of a broken man he was, he knew the beautiful blonde would be sprinting in the other direction in complete horror.

Hiccup couldn't fight the huge yawn that came from deep within his chest, reminding him it was time for bed if he ever expected to crawl out of it early enough to see Astrid off in the morning. He didn't know why he did it, she was more than capable of organizing herself. Especially as Fishlegs was the one who drove her to work. But it felt good to be part of her routine. It was…homely…and comforting. He couldn't really explain it, except that it made him feel…normal.

Laying back with his hands behind his head, Hiccup closed his weary eyes and waited to drift off into oblivion. His problems would just have to wait till tomorrow.

-oOo-

About a half hour later, Hiccup was still awake. Despite his exhaustion, he couldn't sleep due to the unusually warm weather. Lying flat on his back with arms spread wide, he had already undone the buttons on his pyjama top, hoping to invite some of the lingering night air to cool down his heated skin.

Hiccup closed his eyes, wanting desperately to sleep, but the increase in temperature had also seemed to spur an increase in nocturnal activity amongst his crazy felines. They were playing a great game of 'tag', gallivanting loudly across the wooden floors throughout the house, then barraging into his room through the open door, and diving headlong into an empty cardboard box he had left on the floor. The twins were making a tremendous racket that seemed inconsistent with their small stature, as they pranced around each other, then raced back out of the room to start their route all over again.

Toothless was lying on the end of Hiccup's double bed, snorting in disgust at the twins antics. Hiccup nudged the collie with his toe. Toothless snapped his head up.

"Can't you do something about that?" Hiccup complained. But Toothless only snuffed, then laid his head across his front paws again.

Hiccup groaned and pulled the pillow out from under his head and shoved it over his face instead, hoping to drown out the insistent noise. Unfortunately, it had no effect except to make him feel hotter and unable to breathe.

The cats came back in, and Hiccup heaved a huge exasperated sigh as they rattled around the box, scraping it loudly over the polished floor boards. He debated whether he should push Toothless off the bed to go deal with the delinquent cats, or throw his pillow at them instead. It seemed easier to toss the cushion, so he pegged it in the general direction of where the cavorting Siamese were play-fighting.

He knew it had missed when he heard the pillow bouncing off his dresser, making it rattle, and slide out into the hallway.

He let his arms drop dejectedly onto the bed. "Just great. Not only did I miss, now I have no pillow," he grumbled to himself.

After about ten seconds of wallowing in self-pity, Hiccup decided he had better get up and retrieve it. If he had to listen to that commotion all night, he might as well do it in comfort.

Hiccup gave a groan as he sat up on the side of the bed. Then hesitated. Normally he would grab the crutch beside his bed for brief nocturnal outings, but with Astrid in the house he didn't want to run the risk of her seeing him and asking questions. So he paused to attach his leg. Finally, he stood up and shuffled haphazardly into the hallway. Bending over to scoop up his pillow, he glanced sideways to notice a pair of long, lightly tanned legs standing in front of him. He followed them upwards to see Astrid, dressed only in a long sleeved pyjama top which ended at the top of her thighs. She was blinking at him sleepily, her long blonde hair all mussed up across her shoulders.

"Are we under attack? It sounded like a herd of elephants racing through here?" she asked with a yawn, reaching up to slowly rub the sleep out of one eye. The action caused her shirt to lift dangerously higher, exposing more leg than Hiccup thought was legal.

His breath hitched, and he hastily averted his eyes from the sight. He cleared his throat nervously.

"Er...no. Just the usual cat stampede," he stuttered.

Astrid blinked slowly. "Oh… right."

Hiccup stood up straight, and Astrid noted with interest his exposed chest through the gaping flannel top, over the long pyjama pants he wore. Her eyes lit up at the sight, delighted to see the obviously toned shape of his chest and abdomen underneath.

It was dark enough that Hiccup didn't notice her reaction, and he was ignorant to his state of undress, something that Astrid was grateful for as she greedily drank in as much of him while she could in the dim light.

By this time, Toothless had finally jumped off the bed, and gone into 'herding' mode, attempting to stare the cats down so he could round them up. The cats backed away from him and tried to escape, but before they could, Hiccup turned and scooped them up.

He faced Astrid. "Umm, sorry about that," he mumbled in embarrassment. Whistling to the collie, he turned and took all three animals with him into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Astrid stared at where he had gone for a few moments more before shrugging. She turned and shuffled back to her own room.

Hiccup tossed the naughty cats and his pillow onto the bed, then sat down on the edge. After removing his leg, he laid back and tried to relax enough to enter the land of nod once more, so he didn't have to relive the image of long legs burned into his brain. Unfortunately for Hiccup, it was not going to be that easy.

The twins were objecting to being locked in, and were letting him know their displeasure by meowing loudly and scratching at the door. They were relentless, pacing between the door and the screened window frame, making sure Hiccup heard every decibel of their message...they wanted out.

Hiccup tried to ignore them, hoping they would settle down. But in the end, he had to give up when even Toothless put his paws over his ears. Hiccup opened the door so the cats could escape to the rest of the house as per their usual custom.

He fell back into his bed, hoping he hadn't made an even bigger mistake. Thankfully however, they stayed quiet after that, and Hiccup was able to finally fall asleep. But not before feeling guilty about exposing Astrid to the incredibly noisy phenomenon that was the twins.

The next morning when Astrid left her bedroom, she found a pair of ear plugs hanging from her door knob.

All I can say is CATS! (I love 'em!)