Thanks to all who voted. And for those of you who were wondering about the weird section where Hiccup and Astrid make up "nonsense names," I guess you never figured out that I harvested them all from my readers! Yep, I went through the favorites list and looked for everyone who listed their name in their profile. So a fair few of you should have figured that out. Oh well.
Anyway, the names were selected before I posted the chapter and then I forgot to remove the name suggestion section. I have one for a boy and a girl and both will be mentioned even if only one is actually used. The girl's name is not very Norse because it was incorrectly on a list of Norse names but I fell in love with it so I made an exception. Despite numerous requests, I decided not to name the girl after Hiccup's mother because it was already done in Life's Best Moments by EmmerzK. You're going to have to wait for the birth to find out the gender and the end to find out the name.
~KateMarie999
Chapter Eleven: False Labor
It wasn't until late in the evening that Hiccup remembered that he had been married for exactly eight months. For a moment, he was deliriously happy. And then he realized that after Astrid had discovered she was pregnant, the marriage he had been looking forward to his entire life was built on the baby and not so much on his relationship with his wife. Thirty-two weeks he had been married and he had only spent eight of them enjoying his married life with nothing coming between him and Astrid. Now, even when they tried to hug or kiss, he would feel the baby kick him in the stomach as he embraced the love of his life. And for weeks, the sensation had made him simultaneously happy and terrified. Now he was annoyed with himself for letting their child distract him from his wife.
If he didn't stop this behavior, he might as well be saying he thought that it was okay to ignore his beloved wife for their child. Well that wasn't right, he thought, putting down the sword he was sharpening. He had six hours until midnight to make it right. For anyone else, this would probably have been a huge task. For Hiccup, it was monumental.
Placing the sword in the pile of other sharpened swords, he sat down on the closest chair in Gobber's workshop and placed his head on his chin. This was going to take some serious thought. What would Astrid want to do on their anniversary that would take only an hour or so to pull off?
Flying. That was the first thing that came into his mind. But with Astrid approaching her due date, that was probably out of the question. What else did she like doing? Fighting. Again, out of the question. And that just about summed up her favorite things.
And then he remembered their first argument. Well it wasn't extravagant but maybe… Hiccup smiled. Okay it wasn't going to make Astrid as happy as going on a romantic flight but perhaps it would brighten her spirits.
Astrid had never been lazier. At first, she insisted on doing everything she had done before despite her irritating symptoms. Now that she was heavier than she'd ever been in her life, she was too tired and sore to do very much. This inactivity was beginning to make her feel trapped inside of her own body and she looked forward to getting rid of this baby as soon as possible. She also dreaded it horribly. What if she didn't… no. She wasn't going to think about that.
It took a lot longer to get everywhere on foot. It had taken three days of consistent disobedience to change Hiccup's mind about letting her ride on top of her dragon rather than walk around (it was as though he didn't trust her) but he finally stopped complaining when he saw his wife climb onto her dragon's back. Stormfly was in much better spirits now that her human needed her again. She hardly noticed the weight difference.
A strange smell met Astrid's nostrils when she rode her dragon back to her house. She hated her sensitivity to scents now but she suspected that she would have noticed this one in particular whether or not she was in this condition. It was pleasant… potent but pleasant. Had Hiccup asked someone to do some sort of fancy cooking? If he had, that would be a nice surprise. But why would he…
Astrid smacked herself on the forehead. Of course. How had she forgotten? It was their eight month anniversary and she had been so preoccupied with her baby and her swollen ankles to remember. And either Hiccup had remembered or he was just being nice for no reason. Well… now she had no way of knowing for sure unless she walked into her house. And with the way she was feeling, she didn't want any extra attention.
The dragon lowered herself close to the ground so that Astrid could slide off her back. Astrid felt a sharp pain as she placed her weight back on her swollen ankles. She pulled open the door and gasped.
The only light in the room came from two candles on a small table. Hiccup was scooping delicious looking food onto two plates set across from each other. When he saw her at the door, he smiled and placed the bowl on the table.
"Happy eight month anniversary, Astrid." He said, walking over to his wife and taking her hand in his.
"What's this?" was all Astrid could ask, feeling slightly breathless.
She was amused to see Hiccup reach up with his other hand and scratch the back of his head. Some things never changed.
"Well with all this stuff with the baby, I realized I don't really spend much time thinking about you or talking to you without thinking or talking about the baby. And we've been married for eight months but it's only been just us for eight weeks. And now there's not a lot of time left until the baby comes so… maybe we can just have an evening where we pretend there is no baby for a few hours." he explained.
Astrid felt the baby kick her in the ribs. "I'm not sure I can pretend that, Hiccup." His face fell. "But I'll do my best. I'm really glad you did this."
He gently reached down and kissed her on the cheek. "Anything for you."
To her great embarrassment, she felt herself overwhelmed with emotion. Once her husband turned away from her to pull out her chair, she blinked back a few tears. This was one of the many things she adored about Hiccup. His simple yet wildly passionate love for her. It was both easy to understand and harder to comprehend than the most complicated puzzle. Every time she looked at him, she felt her baby move inside of her and she suspected it was because her heart beat a little bit faster.
She slowly lowered herself down on the chair, knowing full well that she would need help getting back up. Hiccup gently scooted it forward and then sat down across from her. She looked down and was amused to notice that he had put more food on her plate than his.
"This is wonderful." She said, immediately picking up her fork and digging into the delicious meal in front of her. "How did you pull it off?"
"It took a lot of practice. A few burns and not just on the food." He held up his right hand, which had a bandage on it. "Never touch a pan after it's been in the fire."
Astrid laughed. "I could have told you that."
The food was better than she could have predicted. She wondered how many times Hiccup had to cook it before he got it right. If the empty baskets of ingredients were any clue, it had taken him a while to perfect the recipe. If he hadn't worked so hard, she might have been slightly annoyed that he'd ruined so much food but he had done this for her. And she was very grateful.
As she began to spoon more food onto her plate, she felt a tightening in her belly along with a dull pain. She winced, hoping against hope that her husband wouldn't notice.
He noticed. "You okay?"
Astrid smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit of discomfort. But we're not talking about that tonight."
She shouldn't have said anything. "What kind of discomfort?"
She glared at her husband. "Nothing I can't handle, Hiccup. Now don't say one more word about it."
But she knew, as she turned back to her food, that the night was ruined. She loved Hiccup more than anyone else but she also knew him extremely well. And he wouldn't be happy unless he was certain she was okay. She could feel his penetrating gaze on her forehead and the sudden pain in her belly didn't help things at all.
Unfortunately for her, he knew her as well as she knew him. "Maybe we should get you to a healer if you're feeling pains…"
Astrid's head snapped up. "Drop it, Hiccup!" she snapped. "I'm fine!"
She slowly felt her belly with her left hand and was startled to find it extremely hard. Now she was a little bit concerned. If the baby came tonight, she would never have a chance to talk to Hiccup about how she felt. She looked up at him and was not surprised in the least to see him stealing glances at her as if he was expecting her to explode. He blushed slightly when he caught her looking at him. No. She couldn't face that disappointment. Besides, it was probably nothing.
Another tightening feeling came over her and she leaned forward slightly, breathing deeply. She held up a hand before Hiccup could comment and, in a moment, the feeling went away.
Hiccup bit his lip, forcing himself to stay silent. It was all he could do to stop himself from jumping up, helping Astrid out of her seat, and rushing them to a healer. His heart pounded against his ribs. Was this it? Was he going to meet his little son or daughter in a few hours?
There was a very uncomfortable silence at the table. Hiccup couldn't figure out how to change the subject and Astrid was a bit preoccupied with her discomfort. Neither of them looked at each other for a few minutes.
"Thanks for the meal." Astrid said at last, the discomfort finally gone.
Hiccup gave her a very fake smile and stood up, clearing the plates away. He would have told his wife to stay where she was seated but she was probably going to need his help to get up anyway. Astrid seemed to have the same thought because she stayed put, gently stroking her belly and praying that she wouldn't have this discomfort again.
And then, once Hiccup had left the room, another feeling began to creep up. A feeling Astrid desperately tried to push down but found herself unable to do so. Resentment. This was supposed to be her night with her husband. Her first eight months of marriage. And this baby had come quite literally between them. He or she had taken their first few months away from them, forcing them to think about him or her instead of them. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. The child was supposed to be conceived when they wanted a child. Not now.
No, Astrid thought. You're not supposed to feel this way about your baby. It's not his fault.
But she couldn't think of anyone else to blame. Yes, she and Hiccup had made this baby but other couples didn't have a child nine months after they got married.
And, for the first time, she began to fear her own feelings. No, she hadn't wanted this baby, but she assumed that she would want him or her when she could feel movement. Now that she felt movement all the time, she wanted the baby even less. She tried to force herself to love her child but the effort made her heart ache. She knew what it was like to love someone so strongly, she would die for them. That was how she loved Hiccup. And that was how she was supposed to love this baby.
What's wrong with me? She thought, gasping as another wave of discomfort hit her again. Why can't I love this baby?
Hiccup emerged from the kitchen and stopped, watching his wife stare into her plate almost as if she was trying to see through it. He had stared at nothing in particular before when he was lost in thought but Astrid didn't do that very often. She preferred the here and now while he tended to look to the future. It was one of the many things that balanced them out and made them such a good couple. He cleared his throat, snapping Astrid out of her reverie.
"If you want dessert, I… I made that too." Hiccup faltered as Astrid turned to him. Her eyes were wide with fear. "Are you okay?"
This was the moment. Astrid could tell him now. She could get it over with. She could tell her husband how she truly felt and then they would have time to talk about it. But as she stared into his eyes, her internal strength gave out.
"I'm just not feeling well." She said. "You know, maybe we should go to a healer. Just in case."
Hiccup nodded and helped her out of her chair. He gently put an arm around her shoulders and they walked to the healer's house together in complete silence.
"Well you're about to pop, aren't you?" the healer asked amiably when they got to her door. "What's the matter, honey?"
Astrid felt incredibly irritated at that comment but decided not to act on it. "Just feeling strange. Tight in the stomach, you know."
The healer shook her head. "Do you feel any pain?"
"No… not really. Just uncomfortable."
The healer placed her hand on Astrid's belly. "Hmm… I don't think it's actual labor. No, you'd probably know it if it was. This is just practice labor."
Hiccup and Astrid exchanged looks. "Practice labor?"
"Your body is getting ready to go into labor, honey. Nothing to worry about. Come back to me if your water breaks or you feel anything stronger, okay?"
Astrid's muscles seemed to loosen slightly. It wasn't time. Their baby wasn't coming now. She didn't have to worry about how she felt for another few weeks. As Hiccup thanked the healer and began to lead her home, Astrid breathed a sigh of relief.
She still had time to love this baby.
I posted a chapter soon after I posted this one. Please review both if you can! It would make me very, very happy.
