——Time Skip——

It was been five days since the explosion and Hayden had been unconscious is the hospital ever since. He had multiple surgeries to one amputate his lower left leg and two to help try and fix some of the damaged areas they bomb had caused like broken bones. Today though Toothless would finally be about to come see his handler. He had been stuck at the base since they had first arrived there and had given a couple of stitches to close up the wound he had on his back left leg. So he was pretty much healed except for a limp.

Once Toothless was lead to the room Hayden had been staying in by one of the other soldiers on the same team as Hayden. Toothless did not wait till the door was fully opened to the room to run in. Because he pushed his was in and ran to right beside Hayden's bed. Toothless then sat down and laid his head on the bed to look at his handler. He then started to lick his left hand cause he did not get a response from being next to him. Still not getting a response he whined a bit then laid down one the floor and curled into a ball.

The soldier had let Toothless lay with his owner alone for a bit before he can back in to collect him up and take him back to the base. Instead of going back to Iraq Toothless would be staying at the K-9 base that he and Hayden met at. But when the soldier came in to put the leash back on Toothless he take him. Toothless stood up and growled at him. He stepped back at first to try and reason with him but Toothless still growled like he was saying he was not leaving his owner. But he stoped once he felt a hand on his head as it softly pet him. He turned his head to see his owner slowly moving his hand and making a bit of a muffled sound before falling back unconscious. But in that time the soldier was able to get the leash in Toothless and then pulled him way and out of the room.

———————————

It had been another 9 days before Hayden had finally come to and fully conscious. The day he finally came out of his little coma he was filled in on what happened and everything that went down. He was told that they brought all his personal items from Iraq home do to his injuries causing part of his leg to get amputated and that he would not be able to go back. They also told him they did not inform his parents yet because Hayden had specifically told them to only contact them if he had died. Cause he knew his parents would not take to good about the news of him joining the military. He never told his mother or father about him joining or graduating basic training because he knew they would not approve of it.

So the next three months went by pretty much the same he would get up each day eat get checked up on do some physical therapy for his leg and get ready for his prosthetics they were making. Since he was out for over 2 weeks after his surgery they were able to take measurements for his prosthetic within the first week of his therapy.

Hayden had also called the K-9 base multiple times a month asking how Toothless was and were he was at. But they kept telling him that he was doing good and was doing some training. They would not give Hayden any more information about him though and he was getting kind of mad. He had at least though they would bring Toothless in since he had woken up at lest once but they didn't.

After the fourth month in the hospital his prosthetic was finally done and was ready for him to try on. Hayden was excited because this meant he could start doing different stuff and leave the boring hospital.

The first thing he wanted to do when he would be able to leave is to visit Toothless but he knew he should probably visit his parents and get some real clothes from his old room. He hoped they still fit because he had gained some muscles since he joined the military. He only had about 2 decent outfits that were not his military gear and most of the time in the hospital he would just wear some shorts and a t-shirt or one of the hospital gowns they gave him. He though it was weird wearing long pants with only half a leg on his left side.

So after almost another month in the hospital doing even more physical therapy with his new prosthetic he was finally able to leave and was being discharged. So he called a lift to dive him to where he stored his car while he was being deployed and loaded up all his stuff and drove to his parents house. He would also have to begin looking for apartments and a real job now since they said he was being discharged from the military for good. Hayden was nervous to say the least. One reason was because he was coming home after about 4 years. Another reason was because all his other clothes that he wore in the hospital were still dirty so he had to wear one of his military ACU camo pants and one of his army green t-shirts. He just hoped this went well so he could visit Toothless soon. Hayden had texted his mother saying he would be coming home for a bit to stay and visit. He could tell she was really happy for him to be coming home or maybe it was because he had texted her for the first time in almost 4 years too. He never really had the time to text or call anyone since he joined and met Toothless because he would be training and getting ready for his deployment.

After what seemed to be the shortest 45 minutes of his life he had arrived at his parents driveway. He sat there for a moment and set his head down on the steering wheel. After sitting there for three minutes he finally turned off the car and took the keys out. He then slowly opened up the door and stepped out. When out he grabbed his phone and put them in his pocket with his keys. Then made his was to the door.

When he was there he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a couple of second he could hear the lock start to move and and door slowly opened. Once it was opened he saw his mother. She looked as if she was about to cry so Hayden gave her a small smile. That is when tears started to flow and she quickly grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. After another couple of seconds he hugged back.

"Oh Hayden you do not know how much we miss you." She cried out

"Sorry I haven't visited or texted in a while been busy." Hayden said back but it was muffled by his mother's hair

After a minute they broke apart and she lead him into the house. When inside she took him into the kitchen where his father was sitting down at the table reading a newspaper.

"You must be hungry it is dinner time after all. Sit down I have food almost done in the oven." She said

So once Hayden finally sat down at the table his father dropped the newspaper down a bit to look at him. Hayden could tell his father looked a bit annoyed at him but he did not want to be the one to say anything first so he waited till his father spoke up.

"It is nice to see you Hayden but four years no text no calls you did not even leave us a damn note saying where you were going. You just said you had found some shit to do." He almost yelled

"Stanley language please. And be thankful he is home." Hayden's mother said

"Val don't give me that you were just as mad when you found out he left." Stanley said causing Val to look down

There was a short pause because Hayden decided to speak up again

"Look I know I caused you guys a lot of pain after I left and I am sorry about that. But these past four years were the best ones of my life and I met some of the best friends I could ask for" He said and then look a breath to speak up again "I also would just like to say where I have been and what I have been doing did not give me time or really the opportunity to be on my phone to call or text. I have been working hard for something I found important and that is why I am here really."

"So where have you been honey." Val said why setting down a plate of lasagna in front of Hayden

"Thanks" he said to his mother and the started "Well" before his dad cut him off

"Does it have to do with them clothes you are wearing?" Stanley asked

"Well yes and that is one of the reasons why I am here he get some of my old stuff. But as you can tell these are combat style clothes and you know where you wear them right?" He asked

"The military?" His father asked

Hayden took a bit of the pasta and shook his head to indicate he was saying yes. His caused his mother to gasp and mother her mouth with one of her hands.

"Yes you see I joined the military just after high school and graduated basics about a month after." His father was going to say something but Hayden quickly raised his hand and shook it to tell him to say quiet "I know what you are doing to say 'Why would you do something so irresponsible' or 'something so stupid' but I would like to say it was the best decision of my life because I met my best bud there." He then raised his pointer finger and grabbed his phone and unlocked it

When his phone was unlocked he clicked on the photos icon and scroll till he found a picture of him and toothless

"This is Toothless." He showed them the picture and pointed to the dog "He was my K-9 partner and best friend."

"What do you mean 'was' honey" Val asked

"Well I do not know that is why I came home to go visit him. You see I got into an accident about five months ago so-" he got cur off my his angry father

"WAIT you mean to tell us you got into an accident and you nor any other person contacted us to let us know what was going on!" Stanley basically yelled

"THIS is the reason I did not let them. I told them to only contact you if I died because I knew you would not take it well." Hayden said just as loud

There dinner was all about forgotten now and they were just mainly focused on this new information that Hayden had told his parents for the first time.

"OF COURSE I WOULD NOT TAKE IT WELL. You joined the fucken military and almost got yourself killed. You know you could have just joined into a college like any other normal person did in Berk. But NO we just had to have the most different and difficult kid in the entire town of Berk!" Stanley exclaimed

"Oh Stanley will you stop yelling at the boy! You two since they day he was born had been at each other's throats. No wonder he left. Sure I am mad if not infuriated that he did not tell us what he was doing in his life. But I can see why now because we did not take it well at all and we should at least be happy that he is here now and that he is alive and also that he actually made friends for once in his life." Val shot back at her husband

Sure Stanley was still very angered at what his son chose to do in his life but his wife's words did hit him hard and took him back. She was right he and Hayden had always not have been able to see eye to eye. But they still had the weird father and son relationship everyone had. Since silence had fell on the table everything had been awkward so Hayden decided to finally make the first move by excusing himself to be done for the night. So he bid them goodnight and headed to his childhood room.

——Next Day——

Hayden had gotten up at the early hours of 4:30 am for many reasons. First he could not sleep second this was around the time he would normally get up since he joined the military and the third and main reason was because he was still a bit weird about the different time zones. Sure he had been out of Iraq for almost half a year now but he spent almost 4 years of his life serving his country there. So he decided it was time to get up and get ready for the day and rolled over to the other side of his childhood bed to sit up. He then grabbed his prosthetic that was leaning up against his bedside cabinet and strapped it on his left leg and slowly got up. Then from there he walked over to his closet to find something to wear. He first found a red t-shirt that looked like it would fit so he then moved on to the pants. He knew this would be the more difficult item of clothing to find that would end up fitting because he has a prosthetic now and that makes it harder to fit on and wear. So after many failed attempts he gave up and decided on an old pair of grey sweatpants.

Once he got changed he put his shoes on and headed down stairs. It was now about 5 so he grabbed his keys and phone to go for a run. Sure he could not really run with a fake leg but he could a least jog and he has been either jogging, working out a bit or doing the type of physical therapy they do at the hospital since he got his prosthetic. So this was his first real jog that did not include a staff member watching him or following him.

Hayden decided that he would jog for a bit longer today and headed around the whole block his parents house was one to the one local park in the small town of Berk. When at the park he went around the small lake and from there he started his way back home.

(Hayden POV)

When I got home from my walk I unlocked the door and opened it to see his parents were already up and in the kitchen. I quickly checked his phone and saw that it was almost 6:15. Wow either this town had gotten bigger or I don't know because I did not think my jog took that long. So I tried to sneak upstairs without them noticing which they did not. I think they were to busy trying to discuss my life choices about the military life style. But I had no time to think about that right now. Cause once I fully made it up the stairs into my childhood room without disturbing them I went into the my bathroom to get a shower. When done with the shower I headed over to my duffel bag and hoped my one outfit did not get wrinkled in the transport from Iraq to the US.

(Nobody POV)

Once Hayden had got done with the shower he got dressed into his Army Service Uniform and headed back downstairs to wear his parents were. When in the kitchen his parents finally noticed he was up and stopped taking about whatever there conversation was about early.

"Morning Hayden" Val greeted

"Morning Mom" Hayden said back

"Where are you off to this morning?" Val asked

"Going to base to talk to people in person and not over a damn phone."

"Well you are staying for breakfast right? I will make your favorite pancakes."

"Val let him go he clearly has better things to do in his life because he did not even bather to tell us what he had been up to for the past four years of his life till yesterday." Stanley said annoyed

His mother was about to say something but Hayden cut her off and ignored his father statement "Sure I will stay for breakfast"

"Good because I already have it started." Val said and came up to give her son a kiss on the forehead

After he ate Hayden headed back out and to his car to begin his journey on getting his partner back. No getting his best friend back.