Through The Ups & Downs

Couple; HarrisonXAddilyn

Rating; Mature

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any songs I might use! Also, from this point in the story and in future chapters, I do not own the character; Ella(Eira) Solveig. She belongs to my good friend, ShadowSpirit020. I'm borrowing Eira(Ella being the modernized name) as a female friend to the main characters!

6) The Best Of It

{Addilyn's POV}

I was at a complete loss of what to do after learning that Harrison was going to be temporarily moving to the United States of America, stationed at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. The whole purpose of this position order was because the Americans wanted to start working with dragons as we did, others were coming around to accepting they were part of our lives so it would be wise to share it with them. It made sense why Harrison would get sent with his platoon; Harrison bonded to a Night Fury, the rarest of dragons known to humans. And Dexter has a Skrill, another rare species of dragon. I know Harrison was doing his job, but it hurt that I felt like I couldn't talk to him anymore because he was about to leave.

I've been thinking about it since the night Harrison told us he would be leaving the Monday following Snoggletog; it was known as Christmas in other parts of the world, but we called it what our Viking ancestors did. We didn't believe in a Santa Claus, for us the belief was that our All-Father, Odin, would leave us gifts to wake up to on December 25th. So, back to my dilemma of telling Harrison that I like him or not. I wanted to let him know; I knew that. I just couldn't decide WHEN to say something to him. Before he left or when he came home again.

What was hard about that second option was that we didn't know when he would be back on Arc Isle to stay. Harrison already admitted they could be sent somewhere else after the states, it all depended on if there was another job for them to do elsewhere. It might be the only thing I didn't like about Harrison being in the army, that we never knew what was going to happen. Today is Friday, December 12th, 2014, the day Spencer and Viviana would give Harrison their final decision about Hailey Bazirk staying with them until Dexter returned. As it was Friday, all of us were there too; meaning Regina, Frankie, TJ, and myself.

I know Harrison was busy with the preparation to leave in two weeks so he had once again let Calvin know he was taking off and hopefully wouldn't be gone too long this time. Calvin understood, he told Harrison that there would always be a job waiting for him at home, Harrison thanked him for that. Seeing how tired and stressed out Harrison was every day after working at Fort Fury, I felt more and more like I shouldn't tell him how I feel for him because I didn't want to add to anything. I suppose, for now, I wouldn't inform him that I liked him. Harrison didn't need anything else to worry about as he was about to move close to nineteen hours away by air travel. Thor only knew how long it would take with a ship.

[Haddock Household; 5:20 pm]

Spencer had a late night, so he just arrived home at 5 pm, and Harrison had gotten in the driveway a moment ago. The poor guy had been at work since 6 am, an eleven hour day had to make the body sore, not to mention the fatigue. Harrison walked in the door garage/kitchen door while removing his hat and tucking it into his pants pocket, seeing everyone at the dining room table for dinner. I offered him a smile.

{Normal POV}

"Welcome home, son. How was work?" Viviana inquired.

"Tiring," Harrison replied with a yawn as he greeted everyone with a wave, then moved to the stairs to go up for a shower in the bathroom. It was among the regular things he did after work. Shower and change out of his uniform so he could be comfortable.

[Twenty Minutes Later]

Harrison returned at 5:40 pm as Viviana had fixed him up a plate of supper and warmed it in the microwave. Harrison sat down next to Nathaniel as Viviana placed it down on the mat in front of him, then she kissed his forehead before taking her seat beside Spencer to continue eating her food. It was a quiet meal; the exhaustion was showing on Harrison's face as he was barely taking a bite every four minutes.

"What time do you have to go in tomorrow?" Addilyn questioned.

"7 am," Harrison replied. "And out at 4 pm, hopefully," he added afterward. "Mom, Dad? Have you guys thought about what I asked last week? I only need to know so Dex can make other arrangements if you can't," he asked looking at them.

"Aye, son and reached an agreement too," Spencer informed.

"Hailey can stay here in the guest room," Viviana told Harrison.

"Yes, and Dexter has to sign a few documents, so it's legal for us to take care of her in his absence. It's more for doctor appointments, and he'll need to leave her insurance cards, birth certificate, and social. Anything we'll need, so others know that we're her temporary guardians," Spencer enlightened.

"Dexter has it all in a folder, he got it ready as soon as he was aware that we were going to the US," Harrison nodded. "I'll bring him by tomorrow night after work; we can take care of it then and start getting Hailey settled," he added.

"Sounds like a plan," Spencer said while taking another bite of his food.

"Thanks, guys," Harrison smiled a little. Dinner finished as Harrison went to his room to call Dexter and let him know his parents said it was okay for Hailey to stay at the Haddock Household while they were away for a bit. After that, Harrison ended up crashing on his bed around 6:45 pm and the group only knew that because Nate had gone in to ask if he needed anything. Finding Harrison asleep, Nate closed the door and let everyone know that Harrison was already asleep so that prompted the friends to leave and then the Haddocks just stayed quiet until it got later and they eventually went to bed too.

[Arc Isle Airport; 10:30 am-December 29th, 2014]

Today was the day that Harrison left with his platoon for the United States. The dragons had been taken ahead by ship last week because having them in the cargo hold thought it might weigh the plane down and make it unsafe. So, the ship would be arriving around the same time the plane did, thank Thor for that because Toothless would not be happy to have strangers around him. The plane was not set to leave for another two hours, but they were expected to be there early to get a head count in and make sure everything was going according to plan.

Harrison, Syrus, and Trevor helped Dexter with getting Hailey settled into the Haddock House's guest room. Syrus and Trevor moved the old furniture into the basement, making sure it stayed wrapped up so nothing would happen to it and then the five boys together got Hailey's stuff in and arranged it how she wanted it to be for her duration at the house. Olivia, Chelsea, Addilyn, and Regina helped Hailey unpack her things and get settled in while Dexter and Harrison worked with Spencer, Viviana, and a lawyer to make sure everything was legalized. The week before Christmas is when it was finalized and the Haddock parents had become the legal, but temporary guardian over Hailey Bazirk.

The guardianship covered them being able to let her live at their house and take her to the doctors if she needed to go, also carry her important documents too. Dexter agreed to send $400 every month to Viviana and Spencer, something that would allow them to get Hailey's birth control, co-pays for the doctor's office, school items, or if she needed clothes and shoes. It was a good arrangement, and Dexter enforced with his younger sister to be on her best behavior for Harrison's parents because they were going out of their way to do this for him. Hailey promised she wouldn't give them any trouble and Dexter seemed satisfied with the response.

Now, at the airport, the whole gang was here to say goodbye. The two hours went by fast. Soon it was 12:10 pm and time to board the plane for a two hour and fifteen-minute flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. They would sit for about four hours there to catch the next aircraft to Newark, New Jersey, then after that layover, it would be onto Atlanta, Georgia. Following that was a quick flight to Columbus and a bus ride to Fort Benning. It was going to be a long day traveling, and the soldiers hoped they would get a little time to get themselves situated before starting the training portion of their job.

"Alright, Wind Rider Platoon. It's that time!" Lieutenant Belmore announced. At that moment, the twenty-eight soldiers began to give hugs and what not. Harrison said goodbye to his friends first, and Addilyn struggled to keep her emotions in check when Harrison embraced her. Afterward, Harrison said his farewells to his mother, father, and little brother. Harrison stepped back from them with a smile.

"Hey, it's okay. I'll call when I get to Denmark and before I leave it, then again in Newark if the time won't be outrageously early or late. It's not forever, I promise," Harrison reminded as he got his bag off the ground and put it over his shoulders while getting in line with the others to board the place. At 12:50 pm, the plane was seen rolling down the runway and taking to the sky. When it was out of sight, the families began to leave sadly. It was hard to say goodbye, but at least the soldiers weren't going to war. It was small but still something to be thankful for.

[Fort Benning, Georgia; December 30th, 2014]

As Harrison had promised, he called every time he landed or was about to take off again. The worst of the flight was from Copenhagen to Newark because it was from 7:15 pm on the 29th to 5:35 am on the 30th. Harrison slept through that one with his headphones in and during the shorter flights, he went back and remembered Snoggletog with his family and friends, which had been a real fun time. However, they just arrived at Ft. Benning by bus that had picked them up from the Columbus, Georgia airport.

"Listen up boys and girls. I know it's been a lot of traveling and everyone is tired even though it's only nine in the morning. All you gotta do is get checked in and settle in your dragons; they did arrive two hours before us," Lieutenant Belmore informed.

"Then we get to sleep?" Olivia mumbled.

"Once you get to the barracks, yes. Well, yours is more like dorm room that fits four people in it and no co-ed, obviously. You will all be in the same hallway, though and on the first floor. Your next to a spot where you can put your dragons, for those of you who have them, I know you all don't," Glenn informed.

"So, is this where we're gonna be while we're here?" Dexter inquired.

"Yep. We figured it might be easier than sending ya out to find an apartment or worrying about transportation. Let's get a move on," Glenn ushered as the soldiers got up from their seats on the bus and filed off the bus following Glenn to where the dragons were.

"Wind Rider from Arc Isle Army?" asked a man who approached them.

"Yes. I'm Second Lieutenant Glenn Belmore, leader of this platoon. Should be twenty-nine of all us together," Glenn stated.

"I got you right here. I'm Major General Ethan Wright. We got the dragons squared away at the barrack," said the man.

"I'm glad they didn't give you any trouble. I think it would be best to get these men and women to their barrack, Major General. It's been a long flight," Glenn smiled.

"I won't disagree, Lieutenant Belmore. Right this way," MG Wright motioned to follow him. Arriving at the Alpha Barrack, it appeared to be just a long hallway with seven doors on either side. "Alright, they sleep four to a room, so you'll have to separate yourselves up evenly,"

"I let them know," Glenn informed.

"Excellent. Now, in each room, you will find this setup," MG Wright said as he opened one of the doors up. "Each room also a basic toilet, sink and stand up shower with a small linen closet for towels and personal hygiene items, toilet paper too. There are also bigger bathrooms at the end of the hall," the man added.

"And you mentioned a central area for them to hang out when not working?" Glenn asked.

"Yes! That is also at the end of the hall through those double doors. It's like a break room setup. Few coffee makers, a large fridge/freezer, sink, stove, tables, a TV with basic cable and DVD/VCR combo hooked up. There is wifi here too, should be free access. It has everything you need, and there are full meals in the chow hall over in building A-106, you do have to pay for them, and I suppose you can go anywhere between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm," MG Wright let them know.

"I'm sure you can explore more tomorrow, get settled and some rest, for now, boys and girls," Glenn ordered.

"Yes, no work will be done until after the New Year starts, so take all the time you need to get used to the base and adjusted. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask," MG Wright informed.

"Will do, thank you, Major General," Glenn nodded as the man left and the soldiers began to break off into groups of four. Thankfully, the males and females were even in the platoon, so that made it easier to separate. Dexter, Trevor, Syrus, and Harrison were sharing a room. Olivia and Chelsea were bunking with Stephanie Mcguire and Ella Solveig. Most of the rooms didn't even unpack; they just picked their spots and laid down to relax their sore bodies, then call home to let everyone know they arrived safely and would talk soon as they needed the rest. After all that, the soldiers grabbed something to eat, saw their dragons, then grabbed a shower before getting some sleep. All Harrison knew before knocking out was that he had to adjust to a new life in the USA for the time being so he better make the best of it.