Cami appreciates all your love last chapter.

-HTTYD-

Eret wasn't totally certain she wasn't trying to get away after he'd hugged her, but Henry was also covered in yoghurt and so it probably wasn't a lie when Astrid said she needed to go give him a quick wash. He was still kicking and fussing the whole way out, sound soon muffled by the closing of the bathroom door. Astrid reappeared to grab a fresh nappy for him to put on after, then disappeared back into the bathroom, leaving the twins with a lot to think about.

"She didn't say we had to leave, right?"

Hiccup eventually said, turning to look at Eret. Eret nodded.

"Right. We haven't been here that long, so I hope she doesn't expect us to have vanished."

They could just about hear Astrid and Henry talking - well, Henry was still mostly in babble stage, but Astrid talked back as though he made perfect sense - so she probably couldn't hear them, and they kept their voices quiet anyway.

"That was just..."

Hiccup said, and Eret knew what his brother was going to say despite the trailing off.

"Yeah. Kind of... wow. Really hit me here."

Eret splayed his hand over his chest, where his heart still felt twice the size after hearing Astrid had called their son Hunter, even though she'd dropped the name herself. Hiccup nodded, letting out a small sigh.

"Exactly. And she took the food. I know that's minor, but she's been so adamant about us not giving her anything, it feels like a step in the right direction. And then that she still wants Henry to know his heritage, that was just..."

The two pretty much always knew what the other was thinking, so talking in unfinished sentences wasn't uncommon for them. Eret nodded his agreement, before acknowledging a somewhat difficult truth.

"I think I'm going to have to apologise to her."

Hiccup cocks his head, actually looking a little surprised.

"What? Why?"

"Because she wasn't kidding before. She didn't take Henry away from us to keep him from us, she did it because she really thought we didn't want to raise a kid. If she was trying to remove us from his life completely, she wouldn't have given him our surname."

Having probably already sort of forgiven Astrid as it was, Hiccup nodded keenly.

"And there's more than that too. She gave him our initials. Henry Erik. H and E. Hiccup and Eret. She did everything she could to keep a connection to us for Henry, but she didn't want to burden us with raising a child when we'd made it clear to her that that sort of thing was off the table from the start."

Even more certain he owed Astrid one big apology by then, Eret sighed. He'd missed that in the emotional rush of hearing Hunter, but Hiccup was absolutely right.

"Yeah. I get it. For all she knew, he'd never even meet the family, but she gave him as much of a connection as she could, and I think she really wants him to know he's Sami, even though she's sort of let all that go for herself. But she was so convinced we didn't want to be 'stuck' with a kid... no wonder she's been so reluctant to trust us, when that's how we made her feel. And what did I do when she decided to let us in? I yelled at her."

Groaning, Eret put his head in his hands. He'd been such an idiot! Hiccup reached over and rubbed his back, comforting his brother.

"I don't think Astrid holds much of a grudge about that. She knows you didn't mean it, and you backed down as soon as you remembered not to upset Henry."

Eret still needed to apologise, no matter what Hiccup said, but he supposed Astrid had told him off pretty quick for raising his voice. While he was still thinking, Astrid reappeared with Henry, looking much cleaner and brighter. Astrid was soaked, he noticed, and said she'd be back once she and Henry were re-dressed before crossing the room and disappearing in to her bedroom.

"You think Henry likes to splash in the bath by any chance?"

Hiccup joked, trying to make Eret smile. It worked a little, but another thought had occurred to him. Keeping his voice low so Astrid wouldn't overhear, though the door was closed, Eret turned to Hiccup.

"Even though she left cus she didn't want to saddle us with Henry, cus she thought we didn't want that... she'd been weird before. She got pregnant on Heather's birthday, but that was after she'd barely spoken to us for what, two months? So what was she pulling away from before that?"

Though she'd been acting a little peculiar prior to that, both knew that the night they'd all... been together that way for the first time had seemed to set something off, and Astrid had never told them what it was, never truly let them back in to her life again after that. He and Hiccup had gone over it dozens of times, could never work out what had gone so, so wrong.

"That's a good question."

So used to bathing a splashing, squirming infant, Astrid's mind wandered a little even as she cleaned yoghurt off of Henry. He was too big for a baby bath, so she used the baby bath seat - a glorified washing basket, as far as she was concerned, but it reduced his ability to slip under the water and kept his toys from floating too far away.

The honest, pure gratitude she'd felt in Eret's hug still felt a little jarring, but then she supposed she should have known - their Sami heritage was incredibly important to the twins. And to Astrid, but she felt disconnected from it by then. It had always been a gift since she wasn't Eret Sr's biological daughter, and it definitely felt like said gift had been taken away. But Henry was Eret's son, the Sami blood running through him a link even her disowning could not take away. So of course she was going to pass that along to him, but she supposed she hadn't actually told Eret and Hiccup about that.

And, though she wasn't about to tell her friend because Heather would be unbearably smug, Heather was right. She did want the twins back, like that. But it wasn't just that... she was glad they were in her life, really. Just to see them and talk to them again, strained as conversation could be at times.

And gods, they were good for Henry. He was always thrilled to see them, and they so clearly adored him, the love for their son so evident it was more than Astrid had dared hope for when they first turned up and asked to be able to see Henry regularly. And with them around, Henry would probably get a much better education on Sami stuff - Astrid knew it all, but with her own disconnect, it seemed a much more daunting prospect to educate him on it alone. With Eret and Hiccup around, she wouldn't have to.

As she pulled Henry up out of the bath, towelling him off and putting a fresh nappy on before realising she didn't have clean clothes for him, Astrid made something of a resolution with herself. She wanted to try and accept that they were in her life, rather than be on edge that they'd disappear again. Less tension and anxiety for Henry could only be a good thing, and it would likely be better for all the adults involved too.

It wasn't going to be easy, she was certain, but Astrid was determined to try.

Astrid nursed Henry while they were in her room since he'd refused to eat anything earlier, and then when both she and Henry were clad in clean, dry clothes, they headed back out and she dropped Henry on to Eret's lap, since he was sat the closest to where she came in. Henry patted Eret's chin, then tugged on his shirt and pointed to the corner of toys again. Astrid watched for a few minutes, unsure what to say until she remembered, and managed to suggest they all have some of whatever Hiccup had brought along. It was meant to be a nice gesture, and Astrid was determined to accept it as one - Hiccup was trying to be nice, so she was going to try and accept it as the gift it was meant to be.

It was just snack foods, mostly cookies and cakes and pastries, but with some savoury pretzels and cheese scones in one corner. Thankfully, Henry was still against the idea of food, and so his only complaint when the adults were eating that was nobody was playing with him. When Hiccup went over to tend to him, Henry decided he wanted a nap instead, fussing until he had his dummy and his blanket, yawning and burrowing into Hiccup's chest with one hand clutching his blanket. Whispering, Astrid helped Hiccup lay him down on the sofa without waking him before they all shuffled back in to the kitchen.

The food was delicious - Hiccup was still an amazing cook, and Astrid had to restrain herself from stuffing sweets into her face until she felt sick. Though that might have reduced the awkward silence, or at least her awareness of it. Before Astrid could figure out how to break the silence, Eret cleared his throat.

"Astrid... I owe you an apology."

Astrid blinked, unusure what Eret was talking about.

"What for? Did you break something?"

He shook his head, drawing in a deep breath and looking right at her. Astrid couldn't hold his gaze when it was so intense, and Eret seemed to get it and stopped with the super-glare.

"No. I meant for how harsh I was to you before. Especially when we first showed up here. We... we get it now, that you really didn't think we wanted anything to do with raising a child, and it wasn't just to keep him from us. It's... I guess it was just a huge misunderstanding, and I'm sorry for the way I behaved."

Shocked, it took Astrid a minute to process his words and try to come up with a response. Drinking some water to try and tackle her dry mouth, she nodded.

"I... I'm sorry too. For just leaving, without talking to you guys. Nothing I say is going to make up for lost time, I know that. But..."

Hiccup cut her off, a myriad of emotions written all over his face.

"Maybe you don't need to. Make up for it, I mean. What's the point, when we could just... make the best of what we have now. Start over, no more grudges or fear?"

Astrid nodded, and Eret did too.

"Yeah, ok."

Their conversation didn't immediately fix anything, but Astrid did feel a little less anxious when they went back through to where Henry was sleeping. After a minute where all three enjoyed the sweet image of him napping, Hiccup turned toward her.

"Hey, uh... I was wondering, could we take a few pictures to show mom?"

Her immediate response was to say no, but once Astrid thought about it for a minute, she gave a slow nod. She wasn't ready to see their mother again, she knew that, but the fact the boys asked did help reassure her, somehow. She'd sort of thought they were already doing so, but wondered if that was the fact Valka had gone behind her back to tell the twins where she was and give them the pictures of Henry she had promised were just for her colouring Astrid's judgement.

"Yeah, ok."

Hiccup lit up.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I... I'm not ready to talk to her or anything, but I'm not gonna torture her either. Plus, he looks adorable."

Grinning, Hiccup slipped his phone from his pocket and crept closer, thankfully remembering to turn the flash off on his phone camera before he snapped a few pictures of the adorable boy. Astrid smiled as she watched, hoping that it was the first step in everything getting easier for all of them.

-HTTYD-

This took a while for several reasons: I'm terrible at time keeping, I wrote half a chapter and then co writer gave me a plan that made much more sense so I started over, and also because I spent a few days working on Sexting Ch2 for ShipMistress' Hiccstrid week anniversary. But! It's done now ^_^ Enjoy!