This plot was the brainchild of the incomparable psychicsaphie. Wellspring of ideas, sounding board and beta, thank you so much!
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money, no sue.
Uh. Sex. Yes. (As promised, Foxy's Girl!) Small persons should not be reading this anyway. Tsk.
clockwork mockingbird: Thank you so much - I loved the mental image you conjured, that was hilarious! More Stoick and Val reunion below! Also, Hiccup and Astrid have a talk. They're on their way home! The Incredible Puba: He is a cheeky sod, isn't he! Glad you liked the rescue - final fight scene lives up to your expectations, I hope! Thank you! The Elven Spear: Oh, thank you! I know, poor Britannicus! *sob* I always felt so sorry for him. More is here, and updates every day, promise! drayconette: Oh, thank you! I know, they got him back, and three cheers for the Briton! He is so awesome. Negra: Aw, wow! Thank you so much, glad I kept the suspense going! A bit more hardship coming up, but Hiccup's got his support network back now, so it's time to FIGHT BACK, OH YEAH! Voldyne: Ah, gotcha! *facepalm* Yep, he's definitely paid his dues in that regard, no need for losing another extremity, I feel! Val did give it her best shot, too bad she was caught, but hooray for rescue team on a massive dragon! Thank you! Ze Great Camicazi: Thank you so much! *blushity blush!* Romance and Musicals: Thank you thank you thank you! Cute Stoick, Astrid & Val moment, embarrassed Hiccup! Hee! I know, well, Christianity was seen as a cult at this point, still very underground and extremely not mainstream. It's 50 AD, so Jesus was killed only 17 years prior. The Romans (who were quite secular, despite having holy days and religious festivals) thought it was dangerous, and it was by no means the only underground religion at that time - there were loads and they were usually lumped in together under the category of 'no way'. Interesting in retrospect, no? darkmaster7987: I had a BALL writing the rescue! Gosh it was fun! I loved bringing out that touch of Hiccuplike sarcasm in Val too, and Britannicus is such a cheeky little sod! Oh, thank you so much, that's a relief to hear! I often feel that Hiccup's 'leader' side gets a bit misused. I mean, it's part of him, but not the whole part - he doesn't suddenly become Master of All Things and lose his stammering sarcastic self. It's a side that comes out when he has a plan. So glad you liked how I pulled it off! story master: 1. Go to the home page for FanFiction. net, 2. See that blue bar at the top? It says "FanFiction. Net - unleash your imagination" on one side. 3. On the other side, in the corner, you'll find the words, "Sign Up". 4. Click it and follow the prompts. If this doesn't work, try in the "Help" section for Fanfiction. Net. It may be your browser window, I don't know. Glad you liked the chapter! Thank you! Leon Woon: Oh wow, thank you so much, that's an amazing thing to hear! A bit more emotional stuff today - some family fluff (Definitely more Stoick & Val reunion!) and some Hiccup/Astrid! Rusalka is as tall as the Green/Red/Blue-Grey Death (lol!) but her head is sort of canine-shaped rather than horse-like. childofthestorm: Wooohooo! I think Fishlegs would more be excited by the dragon herself; he thinks the Boneknapper is 'awesome' as well, after all! Val & Astrid - oh they are two of a kind, aren't they! Poor Hiccup, didn't even know he fell in love with a woman just like his mum. They will drive him mental! At least he's pretty awesome himself! Thank you! Alluring Alliteration: His 'something crazy's are getting even crazier! *g* Thank you so much!
It. Was. Freezing.
Hiccup shrugged back into the fur Tuff had passed to him, pulled as tightly as it could be around his shoulders. The air at their altitude was bitingly cold, though the sun had shone brightly all day. Below he could see Toothless, Astrid and his mother coasting in warmer currents. He envied them.
They had flown the whole day, and night was falling fast. The ground Rusalka and Toothless had covered was nothing short of phenomenal, though Hiccup could see that Toothless was tiring where Rusalka wasn't. Pehaps because Rusalka was designed for 'flying' through water as well as air, and water had far more resistance. Either way, his friend's wingbeats were slower than usual, and his neck had extended with strain.
There were distant snowy peaks in the distance, and Hiccup twisted in his saddle, his limbs and wounded side stiff from cold. "Dad!" he yelled, "Dad, you got that chart?"
Stoick unfolded it – and it promptly blew back into his face. "Thor's balls," he growled, pawing at the thing to unstick, but the wind was simply too strong.
"Okay, that's not going to work," Hiccup sighed, and squinted over at the setting sun. "We should land!" he yelled.
"PLEASE," said Ruffnut emphatically from her perch behind her fiancé, immediately followed by moans and shouts of agreement from the others.
"I have extreme need of a tree in point three of a second," whimpered Fishlegs, and Snotlout nodded violently.
"And my butt is completely numb," grumbled Tuffnut. Hiccup had to admit, they all had a point.
"Okay, going down," he yelled, and leaned forward on Rusalka's neck, his hands pressing against her skull. She rumbled in acceptance, and her nose obediently dipped, her whole body arching into a graceful, shallow dive.
"Bladder…" Fishlegs gasped, "Ooooh, downwards trajectory leads to exponentially increased pressure on the bla-ha-ha-hadder…"
"Hold on there, 'Legs," Hiccup shouted.
"You'd better," grunted Gobber, who was sitting in front of Fishlegs. The blond young man swallowed, and his eyes closed. His lips were moving, and Hiccup wondered if he was praying.
As they descended, they drew level with Astrid and Valhallarama, who looked surprised. "Going my way?" Hiccup yelled as they passed, and Astrid shook her head in amusement even as Valhallarama smiled tightly, her eyes travelling to Stoick fighting with the map.
"So, are we stopping for the night?" Astrid bellowed, and Hiccup nodded at the mountains. (1)
"I don't wanna try and cross those in the dark, do you?" he shouted back, and she nodded in agreement. Toothless gave a groan of exhaustion as he followed the giant Orionos towards the green-flecked fields below.
There was a river cutting merrily through the grass, and Rusalka dropped heavily beside it, her wings shaking stiffly as she dipped her head to drink. Hiccup rubbed his neck to ease the chill that had settled into his muscles, even as Fishlegs slid from his saddle and waddled hastily towards a small stand of trees nearby.
Toothless practically flopped down beside Rusalka and Astrid unhooked herself slowly from his harness with fingers made clumsy by the cold. Valhallarama's face still held traces of her astonishment at the morning's rescue and the manner of travel, but her eyes kept sliding back to her husband and son. She was watching Stoick even as she gingerly dismounted from the Night Fury and offered her hand to Astrid, who scowled at needing the assistance but took it anyway.
Hiccup waited until everyone had climbed down from Rusalka safely before pulling himself out of his saddle and spreading his arms over her broad head. "Thanks, girl," he murmured. "You were amazing." He was answered by a fatigued croon. He scratched the brilliant blue scales briefly, before grabbing the saddle's guide rope and clambering down slowly and painfully. He felt like a hundred-year-old man, and no doubt he was moving like one too.
The minute his feet touched soil, he was grabbed by strong arms and held tightly. "Ooof!" he gasped. He was too stiff and sore for that sort of thing.
"You idiot child," his mother said in a low, fond voice, "you crazy, crazy boy."
"Ow, Mum," Hiccup managed, but her arms didn't relent.
"Thank you," she whispered into his hair, and his arms rose to hug her back.
"Think of it as every time I should have cleaned my room, all rolled into one," he mumbled back, and she shook with silent laughter.
"Oh, sweetheart," she said brokenly, before pulling back at his sharp intake of breath. "Did I hurt you?"
He gave her a disapproving look at her expression of guilt. "It's getting better. Really it is. It wasn't your fault, Mum. Don't beat yourself up about it, okay?"
"Don't tell me what to do, young man," she said with a small half-smile. "I'm still your mother, don't you forget it."
"Not likely to," he said, smiling crookedly back. She kissed his forehead gently and smoothed his roughened cheek.
"You need another shave," she said absently, before she focused on him again. "I may never forgive you, you know."
"What, for not shaving?" he said, bemused. She laughed again, green eyes full of something bittersweet and yet joyous.
"For growing up without me," she corrected. "And you've even had the temerity to make me a grandmother in a few months."
"I didn't know about that," he protested, heat rising in his cheeks. She grinned his own crooked grin at him.
"I couldn't be happier," she said gently. He hugged her as tightly as he dared, his side twinging. Her arms wrapped around him again, and she kissed the top of his head.
"Bet you could," he whispered.
"What's that?" she whispered back.
"Bet you could be happier," he looked up to meet her gaze, and kissed her cheek. "Go talk to Dad."
Her eyes filled with longing, love and trepidation, and she breathed out shakily. "Hiccup…"
"Go on," he pulled away, squeezing her hand as he let go. "He's been waiting fifteen years. I'll still be here when you're done talking."
She stared for a moment, before smiling once more and kissing his forehead. "Thank you."
"Just… I really don't want any details," he said wryly, and she chuckled before her spine straightened and she looked over towards the river. Stoick was sitting on a boulder and leaning over the map. His eyes were wandering over to them every two seconds, snapping back to the map with no sense of subtlety. He was obviously restraining himself from rushing over and grabbing Val only with the very greatest of efforts, and only out of respect for what she and Hiccup had suffered together.
"Oh for Frigga's sake," she said with exasperated affection, and grabbed Hiccup's hand, dragging him over to where his father was standing hurriedly, map sliding to the loamy soil and his eyes soft and worshipful.
"Val-" he began, but she threw her arms around him before her could finish. His own arms jerked in surprise, before his forearms clasped her around the shoulders and squeezed tightly. Hiccup overheard his mother's muffled sob, and he bit his lip uncomfortably. He probably shouldn't be overhearing this reunion.
"Oh, Val," Stoick breathed, and his bearded face pressed against the side of her head. "Val…"
She pulled back and kissed him, once, hard. "You never remarried," she said with bright eyes.
"Never," he said, before pulling her tight once more. "Never found a woman mad enough to take your place."
"You…" she choked, and her body shook the rest of the sentence to smithereens. "I never… I'm sorry, Stoick…"
"Shh," he said tenderly. "In the past. You're back now. That's what matters." His huge hand stroked her hair. "That's if you still want an old man like me."
She laughed once more, an edge of hysteria creeping into it. "Oh, and the mighty Chief of Berk could do better than a grey old woman, I'm sure."
"I don't see any old women here," Stoick breathed, and kissed her again. "Just a beautiful, crazy, incredible one. Val. Val. Gods, I've never loved anyone but you."
Hiccup winced, and averted his eyes. Astrid was watching him in amusement, and he pulled a face at her. She waved cheerfully, before returning to unsaddling Toothless.
"You daft bugger," Valhallarama said tearfully. "You raised our son, all alone. I…"
"Stop it," he soothed. "Aye, an' you should be right pleased to have missed it."
"Thanks," Hiccup groused.
"You would have killed me three times a day, when you weren't killin' him," Stoick continued. "Thor's beard, I was rubbish at it, Val… an' he were worse than a Terror in a chicken coop…"
"Really, Dad. Thanks."
"…I didn't know what to do wi' him," Stoick leaned his forehead against Valhallarama's, and smoothed back her streaked hair. "He were too much like you, I expect. I never could keep up."
"Standing right here, guys…"
"Hush, Hiccup," said Valhallarama, grabbing his arm and pulling him to join their embrace. "Stoick, that's a load of rot if I ever heard it. You loved him, and you raised him, and he's… just look at him!"
Hiccup stood in the arms of his mother and father, and felt a huge warm glow begin in the pit of his stomach. "Hey, I have no idea how anyone ever tears their eyes away from all this," he joked, and Stoick rolled his eyes even as Valhallarama laughed.
"You see?" Stoick said, though his lips were twitching. "Impossible child."
"Oh, yeah, you can talk, Mister That's-The-Way-It-Is," Hiccup grinned up at them both, soaking in their faces, the feel of their arms around him. His mother and father. His family. Except…
"Astrid…?" he twisted his head to where Astrid had thrown down Toothless' tack, and had pressed her hands to the small of her back and stretched. It made the bulge of her belly stand out as she arched, and he felt his cheeks heating involuntarily once more.
"Look at that," said Valhallarama with a touch of pride. "She's still fighting, isn't she, an' that's our grandchild in there. He picked well, our boy."
"Don't think he ever had eyes for anyone else," Stoick agreed with a small grin at Hiccup's blush. "Astrid, get yourself over here!"
"Hold up," she growled, her eyes closing as she bent forward and rounded her shoulders. "I'm as stiff as a plank."
"There's a touching family reunion goin' on," Stoick said pointedly. "You're invited."
"Hiccup can rub your back later," Val said, and chuckled at the way Hiccup's ears even went red.
"Sounds great," Astrid said, giving Hiccup a slightly naughty look. His knees wobbled and he swallowed.
"Can we all stop trying to turn me different colours?" he asked weakly. "First green, now red…"
"Cheeky boy," Valhallarama chided fondly as Astrid slipped her arm around him, and the other around her newfound mother-in-law.
"He always was," Astrid agreed.
"Oh boy," Hiccup said in a resigned voice.
Stoick shook his head, beaming. "My family," he said gruffly, his eyes still glistening.
"Our family," Val corrected firmly. "You can stop with that head of the household malarky. You know it never worked on me."
"Our family," Hiccup blinked back a suspicious wetness, his cheeks aching from smiling at them. "You said it out loud, you're stuck with me now."
"If you remember," Astrid said archly, "I even volunteered to be a part of this lunacy."
"If you can't beat 'em," Hiccup shrugged, and Astrid snorted. "Okay, so you beat everything hands down. This is not news to me. Or anyone here, really."
"Our family," Astrid nodded firmly, "but not all of it. My mother's at home, and Ainid, and…" she said in a slightly odd voice, before looking down at herself. "It's awake again."
"Astrid," Hiccup pulled her tighter against himself, and his mother's arm wrapped closer around his shoulders.
"Oh no, here they go again," Stoick said in overly dramatic resignation. "Val, it's amazin' the way they go on, it's like they don't even need to breathe. I'm thinkin' you an' I-"
"For the good of my mental health, you will not finish that sentence," Hiccup said in a panicked voice, and the other three in their tight hug laughed at his expression.
Val smiled around at them. "I love you," she said to Hiccup.
His skinny arm tightened around her, his smile the mirror of hers.
"I'm going to love you," she said to Astrid, her eyes warm.
Astrid tossed her fringe out of her eyes, and grinned. "I want to know how you did that half-pivot and swing in the arena without ending up with an axe in the face," she said briskly. "And I think I might end up loving you too," she added grudgingly.
Val looked up at Stoick. "I love you," she breathed. Stoick gazed at her worshipfully, silently, his eyes shining.
"Aaaaaand I think that's our cue to leave," Hiccup said, kissing his mother's cheek again. "And y'know. Love you, Mum. Dad."
"Get out of here, son," Stoick ruffled Hiccup's hair, before his eyes locked back on his wife.
Hiccup dragged Astrid away from the pair, and collapsed on the boulder Stoick had been sitting on. "So that's what it's like," he said distractedly as Astrid sat beside him rubbing at her back.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Being really, really, really embarrassed by your parents," he said, blinking. Stoick had always been a little too distant, a little too formal, for Hiccup to even contemplate being embarrassed by him. Hiccup himself had been the embarrassment.
"Welcome to everyone else's world," Astrid said dryly, and leaned up against him. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired. Sore." He considered. "Happy."
"Yeah?" she carded her hand through his hair, and he leaned into it.
"Yeah," he said, looking sidelong at her. She smiled her closed-mouth smile at him.
"So, is it later yet?" she prompted, and he felt his warm glow dim a little. He sighed, standing and pulling her up.
"Probably," he admitted. "Let's find somewhere quiet, then."
"We don't have to do this now," she said, studying his face, but he shrugged awkwardly.
"Best to get it over and done with, I guess," he said heavily. "Anyway, what was all that about a backrub?"
Her eyebrows shot up. "Your son or daughter," she said pointedly, and his mind immediately flew to pieces, "has been lying on something in me that makes my whole back twinge. Then I spent six hours in a saddle, in the cold, hunched over, with only one bathroom break. This is not an ideal situation in which to be pregnant, Hiccup."
"Ah," he hedged, but his mind was still gibbering 'your son or daughter!'
"So I'll grab two of the camp-rolls Gobber made up back at Caratacus' house," she continued, "and I'll meet you in that copse, okay?"
He nodded dumbly.
"Good," she said in satisfaction, before glancing back at Stoick and Valhallarama, who were wrapped in each other's arms and whispering to each other softly. "She looks like you," Astrid said with a half-smile, before her eyes flicked back to him, and her smile grew arch. "You haven't heard a word since I said 'your son or daughter', have you."
He shook his head, and beamed at her.
"Oh, Hiccup," she laughed, and kissed him. "Into the trees, go on."
He patted Toothless absently, and trotted stupidly into the little stand of trees, sitting down on the soft, springy turf between the trunks. Your son or daughter. Gods.
Fishlegs emerged from some distance away, his face flushed with relief. "Oh, hey, Hiccup," he said with a dopey grin. "I feel so much better now."
"That's great, 'Legs," Hiccup replied vaguely. His mind was full of family and mothers and fathers and sons or daughters.
"You okay?" Fishlegs offered, and Hiccup grinned at nothing, lacing his fingers behind his head and sinking back into the grass.
"Never better," he said, beaming up at the darkening sky. "Never."
Fishlegs scratched at his head. "Right, so…"
"Go find Ruff, Fishy," Astrid's voice floated over, and Hiccup sat up again, giving her a blinding smile. She threw down two rolls of cloth, and gave him a wink. "I saw her getting water from the river earlier. I think she could use a hand."
"Oh," Fishlegs said, brightening, and he rushed off.
"He is gone over her," Astrid shook her head as she watched him for a moment.
"Ruff and 'Legs," Hiccup commented. "Didn't see that coming."
"Neither did they," she said, easing herself down onto the grass beside him. "It's good though. She's happy."
"I'm happy for them," Hiccup said truthfully, but his eyes were locked back on Astrid. "I'm happy."
"You said," she replied. "Hiccup…"
"I know." He sighed gustily, and took her hand, toying with the ring around her finger. "I need to talk about it, but…"
"You don't want to spoil the moment," she finished astutely. "Love, just tell me. It's not going to take away what you've done here. It might help."
He warmed inside. "I love it when you call me that."
"I know," she watched him play with her hand.
He sighed again, before meeting her wide blue eyes. He hoped their son or daughter got those eyes. "It sort of started when I was at Plotina's the first time," he began slowly.
"When you first got to Rome?" Astrid asked, and he nodded.
"I was drugged," he said bitterly. "I'd spent all those months on the ships trying not to think about you, because it hurt too much to know I was never going to see you again. Just… too much. But I was tired, and drugged, and weak, and I just broke down, right there in front of this grand Roman lady covered in jewels. I cried and cried." He snorted. "It was pathetic."
"She didn't think so," Astrid said gently. "I met her, remember. She was fond of you. She knew me."
He looked up, surprised. "Oh, that's… yeah, I showed her my felt pouch."
"I can't believe you carried that all over the place," she commented, a smile in the corner of her mouth. "I am so embarrassed that the whole of Rome knows me as a terrible seamstress."
He grinned briefly, before a heaviness crept over his heart once more. "It was all that kept me going, at times," he admitted.
She didn't say anything, but her fingers tightened around his.
"That was the beginning, anyway," he continued. "It all came to a head when Britannicus busted me out of those chambers. Alvin," he spat the name, "told me his plan for the dragons. To destroy Berk. They couldn't have anyone with the same firepower. First Berk, and then the world. All because I'd met Toothless, and made the dragon peace famous…"
"No," she said, softly but firmly. "No, Hiccup, that's not why. It was Roman politics, you said so yourself. It was only a matter of time before someone tried to use the dragon-training knowledge for their own ends. Not everyone is as good a person as you," she nudged him, "Mister Noble. You did a good thing, Hiccup, a great thing, and Alvin and Agrippina saw a way to twist it for their own selfish gain. It wasn't your fault. You got caught in between a conman with an axe to grind and a woman with a political agenda. They used you, yes, but you've stopped that."
He was silent.
"It wasn't your fault," Astrid repeated, and kissed his cheek very, very gently.
He released a slow shaky breath, and fixed his eyes on their joined hands. "It wasn't," he said quietly.
"No, it wasn't," she shook their joined hands a little and leaned against his shoulder. "And now we fix it."
He nodded wordlessly for a moment, before tipping his head to lean on hers. "Yeah."
"So, what has to happen?" she prompted.
"Alvin has more dragons," Hiccup said gustily. "He's probably mustering them now. Agrippina will distance herself from it to protect Nero's reputation, but Alvin will try to salvage what he can. That means taking out Berk. Oh, and revenge on me. If he gets a victory, Agrippina might be convinced to change her mind – though I doubt it after the scene we caused this morning. Anyway, the big point is we're going to have visitors."
"So we get the clans together," Astrid said calmly. "We have Rusalka, and our own dragons. I'll bet they can't fly as fast or as far in a day as Toothless and Rusalka can."
"Probably not," he agreed. "And they won't be expecting the clans, either."
"We can fight this," Astrid said firmly. "And you, stop blaming yourself. That's like your mum saying it's her fault she was captured."
He sat up straighter. "It wasn't her fault she was sold into slavery!"
She gave him a significant look, and he subsided a bit. "Okay, I get where you're coming from," he said grudgingly.
"Good," she said. "And for the record, I will always mean it."
"Mean what?" he asked.
"I will hunt you down," she poked him in the chest.
He smiled, bringing her head towards his. "I'm counting on it."
Her kiss was warm and real and solid and Astrid. She was so vivid, so present. He ran his fingers over her cheek and her lips as he pulled away. "And you?" he raised his eyebrows a little.
"What about me?" she said defensively, and he tipped his head.
"Don't make me poke you," he warned. "You'd kill me, and then you'd have no husband to rub your back."
She made a strangled sound, and dropped her head against his shoulder. "It's just…" she broke off, and then took a deep breath. "Hiccup, it was a long time we spent looking for you. I never though you were dead, not once, it's just… with the baby and all…"
"You were frightened," he concluded.
"Yeah," she said shakily. "Don't tell anyone."
"You told me already," he reminded her, and she nodded against him. "Astrid, since you found me, you've been a bit…"
She nodded again. "I know," she muttered. "Just… don't die. Ever. Promise me."
"I solemnly promise that I will live forever," he said seriously. "I'm not going anywhere without you, ever again."
"Thank you," she breathed, and kissed him again.
His hands travelled up her thickened waist to settle in the small of her back, where he began to rub the tense muscles. "You're like iron," he muttered. "You shouldn't be this tense, I'm pretty sure it's not good. Did you want me to…?"
She moaned in relief, and flopped bonelessly against him. "Riiiiiight, that's a yes." He glanced over at the camp-rolls, recognising the same material that Caratacus' bedclothes were made of. "Come on, sweetheart, let's get a blanket or two down, and then I'll rub your back properly."
She looked at him with glazed eyes. "Uh huh," she said dazedly.
He hid a smile. "And then I'll turn into a dragon and wear a hat made of fish, and you can call me King Hiccup," he said gravely.
"Sounds good," she said dreamily.
He turned away to hide his twitching lips, though he couldn't quite control the shaking of his shoulders as he grabbed the blankets and spread them over the grass. Astrid had picked up his dad's old seal-fur as well, and he was tucking that underneath to stop the dew in the morning from soaking them when a hand lashed out and smacked his shoulder. "I heard that," Astrid said grumpily.
He snickered. "Eventually. Come on, down here. Do you…"
She crawled over to the blankets and curled up, kicking her boots off with a sigh and flopping back heavily. "Tease," she accused without rancour. "I missed your teasing."
"I missed you too," he said, and his breath hitched. "So much. Are you hungry?"
She shook her head. "Not really. Tired. Sleepy. Achy. Pregnant."
"Saw that."
"Hard to miss," she said in rejoinder, and he grinned as he unbuckled his prosthetic leg and tugged off his boot, and shrugged off the too loose tunic.
"Yeah, but I kinda like it," he whispered confidentially and leaned over her again. His hand wandered around her belly to ruck her smock up slightly. She tensed and her hand snaked down to pull the smock down.
"Don't," she said hurriedly. "Hiccup, I'm all…"
"I like it," he repeated, and rucked the smock up again. "You're beautiful, and I want to see. My beautiful Astrid. Gods, it's amazing, like a dream, you have no…" he swallowed, struck dumb.
Revealed, her belly looked larger than under the smock, which had the added effect of concealing much of her natural slenderness. The contrast between the fine bones of her legs and the roundness of her abdomen was even more apparent to Hiccup, who had known the long planes of her intimately, had them etched into his mind. It seemed impossible, but wonderful at the same time. Her skin was smooth and still unblemished, though there was a faint shadowy line bisecting her belly, peeking out from her leggings to her stretched but still concave navel and fading towards the peak of the dome. He smoothed his hand over her, stretching his fingers as wide as he could to memorise the curve of her, at this moment, beautiful and vibrant and swelling with their child.
"Astrid," he choked. "Look at you. Look at that. That's… Astrid, that's incredible."
She had caught her lip between her teeth as he studied her in silence, but his answer made her mouth fall open slightly. "You're just feeling all manly," she accused breathlessly. "All possessive."
"Hel yes," he said in a reverent voice. "It's a new feeling. The manly one, not the possessive one, that is."
"Oh yeah?" she arched her back slightly, pushing her belly against his palm. "You like it that you got me this way, huh?"
"Well," he hedged, trying desperately to keep his thoughts in order. "It is a bit sexy, you carrying our baby."
"Hmmm," she studied him, a small smile on her face. "Out of all the reactions, that wasn't actually one I'd considered."
"Are you kidding?" he asked incredulously. "I mean, you're always perfect, you're never not perfect, but now you've got…"
"Yes?" she lifted her chin, and arched herself again. Hiccup closed his eyes as certain parts of his anatomy that had gone neglected for five months (and twenty-one days, his libido added snippily) decided to register their interest in the proceedings. "Go on," she said breathily.
"You're…" he breathed slowly for a moment, before his eyes snapped open. "Is anyone likely to walk in on this?" he asked in alarm.
She gave him a cross look, and blew her fringe out of her eyes. "I told them I'd cut their kneecaps off if they interrupted. These trees are ours. There are other copses nearby. The others are by the river. I think Stoick and your mum are…"
"Laaaaalalalalala!" said Hiccup loudly, and clapped his hands over his ears.
Astrid giggled, and pulled his arms down. "You were saying…?" she traced the new line across his ribs, red and angry still but healing. It tickled, and he shivered.
"I was saying… something," he said bemusedly, and she said 'arrrgh', sat up a little awkwardly and whipped off her smock.
Hiccup said 'Ffffnnngh!' as his brain decided to exit stage left without so much as a farewell.
She had her breast-band on, but it was decidedly… tighter.
"Oh, Frigga," Hiccup whimpered.
She leaned back into the blankets, a collection of lush curves where once she had been a long lean line. "Hiccup," she said softly.
He just shook his head helplessly. "Astrid," he said thickly. "You're…"
"Come here," she commanded, and he fell into the soft bleached blankets, her arms clasping him against her, her belly pushing against his, round against lean. "You're so thin," she gasped, and kissed him again. Thoroughly.
"I know," he claimed her mouth in return. "You're not. I like it. Astrid…"
Her lips stretched into a smile under his. "I can tell you like it," she said with a lilt in her voice. "I'm glad."
He relaxed a little. "Oh good, I hoped you'd say that…"
"It's interesting…" she managed, and nipped his ear. He buried his face between her breasts and palmed a nipple beneath her breast-band, savouring the new fullness there, the ripeness. She gasped, and he gentled his approach. Obviously very sensitive now.
"What…?" he asked, his voice muffled.
She pushed her thigh between his legs, and pressed her hips forward. He moaned. "Well…" she panted, "you've never been all that… worried about masculine… endeavour or appearance…"
"Ngggh," he shook his head, and mouthed at her neck. She made a mewling noise and wriggled a little.
"But… you love it that everyone… can see me all… full of your baby," she whispered low in his ear. "Don't you?"
He moaned again, and his eyes rolled back into his head. "Y… yeah," he said shakily.
She grinned – and then she bit his collarbone.
As always when she bit him there, Hiccup was automatically and immediately on fire.
"Good," she said wickedly, and began to tug at his leggings impatiently.
"Astrid," he choked, and she shut him up with a kiss that trailed down his neck and turned into lots of nipping little kisses along his chest. Her lips closed over his nipple, and his head flopped back. Gods, it had been so long. Gods, it was so, so good.
"I love you," he babbled, aware of nothing but her. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…"
Her teeth scraped his nipple gently, and he stifled a sob. "Love you too," she said, before nipping and kissing down his stomach. Her belly pressed against his legs as she finally pulled down his leggings, and he pushed himself up to see her lips close over him and begin to move slow and syrupy along his length. It was almost too much – it had been too long. "Astrid…" he yelped.
She pulled away. "Too fast?" she said, concerned.
He rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes, and nodded wordlessly. His chest was heaving dramatically as he tried to bring his touch-starved body under control, but Astrid was like a feast to his senses and it was having none of it. "Need a minute," he groaned.
"Here," she said, unceremoniously stripping her own leggings off and pulling off her breastband. "You can rub my back like you promised, then."
He almost lost it at the sight of her ripening nakedness, and had to think of Gobber in a Roman matron's dress in order to control himself.
"You," he said tightly, "are a very wicked woman."
She lay down on her side, her back to him, and peeked playfully over her shoulder at him. "I know," she said smugly. "Get to rubbing, possessive boy."
He took one last shuddering breath, before splaying his fingers over her back and beginning to soften her tight muscles. She was so tense, the layer under her skin as hard as a rock. "What did you do to get like this?" he said, pressing a kiss to her shoulder-blade.
"Worried a lot, rode a dragon, killed some pirates, worried some more," she mumbled, as boneless as a dragon in sunlight. "Ohhh, that's amazing."
He kept massaging, his fingers beginning to cramp as his breathing began to slow a little and his body started to behave. "You're amazing," he said.
"You can tell me that as often as you like," she said in a drunken-sounding voice. "Ohhh, don't stop, that's the spot, right there."
"You're amazing," he said once more against the smooth skin of her shoulder. The air was warm, despite the nearby snow-peaked mountains, and stars winked down at him between the trees. He took a deep breath, inhaling her fragrance. She didn't quite smell the same – her normal scent was overlaid with a hint of charcoal and the tang of pregnancy hormones. He kissed her shoulder-blade again as he dug into the stiff muscles of her back.
"Mmmm," she said drowsily. "That's nice. Do that again."
He kissed the junction of her neck and shoulder, and mouthed up the column of her neck to her ear. "You taste good," he murmured.
He heard her laugh softly, and then gasp as he nibbled at her earlobe. "Your hands…" she slurred. "So good. Clever. Just in the right spot."
He smiled, and sucked lightly on the earlobe before releasing it. "Well, I am a smith."
She rolled over towards him and her slim arms snaked around his neck. "So you are," she said in a serious sort of way, and kissed him deeply.
His arms tightened around her rounded body. "I love you," he breathed again.
She licked at his collarbone lazily where she had bitten it. "Love you too," she said, barely audible.
He kissed her again, and then scooted down to view her new cleavage. The nipples were slightly darker, and they had already pebbled in desire. Her breasts were fuller, heavy and yet firm. He had always loved them, and they were still amazing now, but for a different reason, in such a different way. "Whoa," he said as he took one in his hand and she arched immediately. "Really sensitive."
"Yeah, so you be careful with… those clever hands of yours," she said, eyes dilated.
"Maybe I won't use my hands then," he whispered, and lowered his head. He took her nipple into his mouth and licked so very softly, and her breath caught. He rolled the little bud slowly, and she keened, her head falling back.
"Want…" she said hoarsely. "Are you…"
"Yeah," he said just as hoarsely. "Yeah."
She hoisted herself up, and sat back on her heels, her head tipping as her chest rose and fell with her quick breath. "Might have to… be me on top," she said eventually.
He immediately lay down obediently. His every nerve ending was alight. She was so there, so real. In that moment she seemed a part of the landscape, a part of the trees and the stars and the warm night air, her smell, her taste, her hair. She climbed over him, the rise of her stomach dragging against his own, and he had to suck in his breath to calm the stuttering of his heart and the renewed surging of his blood. His hand fumbled between her legs, seeking and finding that bumpy little gift.
"You're so wet already," he rasped as her head jerked back and her body pressed against his, round and growing and vibrant. Her hair was haloed by starshine. "Gods, Astrid, the sight of you right now…."
"Unnngh," she said, cheeks flushed and eyes afire, sliding back against his fingers. "Hiccup… now, please..."
He took away his hand and held himself still as she sank down slowly upon him. She was tight, tighter than she'd been since the night of their wedding. All those long months without this moment, without the rightness of it, without the sheer gladness that he could have it again with her. Hiccup couldn't help releasing a choked cry as the heat and the velvet softness enveloped him, her walls holding him tight and pulsing slightly with the tide of her own heartbeat.
"You… okay?" she managed hoarsely.
He had no words. He took her face between his hands and kissed her as deeply as he could. She pulled away, her mouth bruised with kisses. "Oh, you're more than okay," she smiled.
He smiled back shakily, and brushed her hair from her eyes. "Astrid," was all he could think to say.
She began to move, her legs folding either side of his hips and her hands each side of his chest just above the bandaged wound in his side. The delicious drag of her movements, first squeezing him and then engulfing him, caused his head to reel in sensory overstimulation. His hips lifted to meet hers on each stroke, and he bit his lip as she caressed his face. His hands rose once more to flick over her breasts, and she gasped, low and guttural. She began to speed up.
Oh yeah, sensitive, of course, his mind piped from some lonely corner that wasn't totally consumed by her. His thumbs began to circle the darkened nipples carefully, squeezing ever so gently. A moan began to build in the back of her throat, and he squeezed again, before pushing himself up as far as the solidity of her belly allowed and nibbling one, so softly, so tenderly.
She shuddered, and her muscles gripped him reflexively, before her spasming became regular and an uneven cry tore through her panting. He kept up his attentions to her breast even as she slowed, her breath ragged, and then gave her a last lick before she was kissing him again.
"Definite side-benefits," she said indistinctly, and he chuckled against her mouth, her breath bathing his face. Astrid…
"Definitely," he agreed, and his voice had never been that deep.
She began to move again, and this time her hands roamed rather than his. "Oh, Hiccup…" she said shakily as she traced the new scar on his ribs, before replacing her fingers with her mouth. The wound was newly-healed and tender, and the spike of sensation she caused wasn't pain but joined with the huge nebulous pleasure building inside him.
"I'm okay," he croaked, and she nipped at his nipple, before leaning back over him to lave her tongue over his sharp collarbone. "I'm okay…"
"You're better than that," she said harshly, her hips canting faster against his. "You're so much better than just okay, Hiccup… oh, my Hiccup…"
His eyes widened. "You're not… already...?"
But she was, her head throwing back and her internal muscles gripping him again to the point of pain. She gasped, her eyes unfocused, rocking back and forth along the slope of her belly as her body began to shake and tremble above him once more.
That did it. His hips pressed up faster and firmer, and he could feel himself lengthening inside her as she quivered and palpitated around him. His eyes were locked to hers, blue, so blue. He could dive into all that blue, be drowned in it.
His limbs began to lose coherency, his lips peeling back from his teeth as the wave approached. The stars, the warm air, the trees, her skin, her scent, her blue eyes, her breath on his face, their child in her belly, her hair in his eyelashes; it all came together and pierced him through the heart. The wave crested, teetering as he thrust into her, his amazing, brave, beautiful, pregnant wife, and he was drowned as her name fell from his lips.
She collapsed onto his chest as he tried to recall who he was and how to focus his eyes properly. "Ow," he said indistinctly, and she shifted her hand from the bandage carefully.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"Oh, don't be," he said fervently. "Really, really don't be."
She kissed his jaw sloppily and pulled away, collapsing beside him and dragging up the bleached blanket. "Definite side-benefits," she said in a hazy, drowsy way, and he couldn't hold back a silly-sounding giggle.
"You're gonna wear me out," he bubbled foolishly.
"No, you're gonna make the most of it," Astrid yawned. "From everything I've heard? You aren't touching me again for months after the baby's born."
He stopped giggling. "Months?" he ventured.
It was her turn to giggle. "I love you, Hiccup," she said sleepily, her body curling up against his.
"Can we go back to this 'months' thing? How many are we talking here?" he said nervously, and she poked his shoulder.
"Sleep now," she ordered. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. His other hand ghosted over her belly, feeling lazy movements within. "That goes for you too, Tiny Haddock," she mumbled.
"Tiny Haddock?" Hiccup asked, that same warm glow spreading through his chest. "Is that what you've been calling it?"
She sniffed, snuggling closer against him. "Better than just 'the baby'."
"I like it," he said, grinning against her hair.
"I know you do," she said, smugly and muzzily.
He kissed her temple and rubbed the sweep of her belly softly. "I love it." My son or daughter. My family.
She nuzzled against him, and her hand settled over his. "I know that too."
(1) The Alps.