Through The Ups & Downs

Couple; HarrisonXBriana

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.

=Authors Note; There is to be a last minute pairing change. Instead of HiccupXAstrid, it will be HiccupXOC. I've decided that I haven't written a Modern Military AU with Hiccup and OC pairing yet and will be doing it with this one. So, ignore the first 18 chapters where the COUPLE is listed as Harrison and Addilyn. You will notice the top of 19 and future episodes will be Harrison X Briana. Enjoy!

19) My Girlfriend

{Addilyn's POV}

[Wednesday, August 19, 2015-Berkville]

I was beyond happy that Harrison was home from Kuwait, even if it is only for a week. Having Harrison land in Spencer and Viviana's yard on Sunday was the best day ever since he had left and even we were more surprised to learn that he flew back to Berkville from Kuwait on Toothless. However, the good feeling didn't last when Harrison spoke to this 'Briana' girl on the walkie talkie feature with his mobile device. Harrison assured that she was just a friend from the American soldier they were working with, but that wasn't the vibe I got. I knew that there were some missions we couldn't know about and this felt like one that Harrison said he couldn't speak about in front of the mixed company was not one of them. Now, I didn't know what language he was talking to this female in, but it didn't just sound like a conversation regarding a mission.

Call me crazy, but that's how I felt. I've had feelings for Hunter since Freshman Year of High School, and I knew everything there was to know about him. For example, I always knew when he was lying because he couldn't make eye contact. Glances perhaps, but never a full look at the person. When Harrison told us that Bri or Briana was someone they worked with and happened to have the same feature on their phones to communicate, Harrison wouldn't look me in the eyes when I asked who he was speaking with. And I noticed that he didn't make eye contact with Regina or anyone for that matter when she questioned why Harrison spoke in another language.

However, there was something off with his words. Harrison made contact SOMETIMES while talking before telling us to let it go. Also, I happened to see how calm Harrison was talking to Briana about the mission. If it was so secretive, wouldn't Harrison be a lot more worried about his friends? I didn't understand it. All the time Harrison has been home, he seems different-constantly distracted by his phone to be precise. I didn't know what it was, but all the time myself and our friends have spent with Harrison, he seems uninterested or would cut us off to answer a text. When asked who he was talking to, he replied with, 'the guys.' It made me curious as to why that was so important.

Harrison hadn't been home since April 11th, 2015. It is now August 19th, 2015 and it seems like he doesn't even care that he's with us again after four long months of being away. Honestly, I felt like Harrison wished he was still in Kuwait and not with us. I don't know why I felt that way, but I did, and I didn't like it. More for me to ponder as I've been observing Harrison is that early in the evening, say around 9 pm, he would say he's tired and retire to his room, but as we were leaving, we would hear him on the phone. I had this gut feeling that Harrison was talking to friends from Kuwait and again, it made me think that he just didn't want to be home, that he wanted to be there again.

I had been hoping that during his leave time, I might be able to talk to him about the things we had discussed before Harrison left Berkville in April. I wanted to know if he returned my feelings, but thus far, I haven't seen anything that would point to him liking me back. Don't get me wrong, it would hurt to know he doesn't return my feelings, but at least I'd still have him as a friend and could move on with the assumption that it wasn't meant to be. That would be all right with me, I just wanted to know, and it seemed every chance I got to ask Harrison if we could talk, he would dodge me or go back to typing on that blasted phone of his. There was no way that his friends had ALL that time to talk while deployed. I knew that for a fact because Harrison said it to his family and us during one of the Sunday gatherings.

Harrison specifically stated that he apologized for the lack of responses, it's just too busy always to reply. Now, I know that he probably spoke to them once or twice through the day, but all day? And what was with the stupid, but a gentle smile on his face when he replied to messages. Hell, there were times I heard him chuckle softly and shake his head, but the smile would remain. What was with all that? I didn't understand, and I wanted to! I was going to get to the bottom of this before Sunday when he left again, and Thor only knew when we'd see him since he had to go right to the USA from Kuwait.

{Harrison's POV}

I loved being home; it was a change up from all the war stuff like missions, guards, fighting, etc. However, as happy as I was to see family and friends again, I missed being in Kuwait with Wind Rider Platoon, Briana, Andy, Skye, and a few other friends I'd made with the American's since being there four months ago. Gods, I wanted to Bri in my arms again. Before leaving Camp Arifjan, I felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders when my friends, Skye and Andy found out that Briana and I were dating. I liked having them knowing; it meant that Bri and I didn't have to be so careful around them, but still had to watch for commanding officers and could figure more relationship things out later on when the tour ended.

I would get stationed in the US for a bit, that would give Briana, and I time to talk more about things. Aaron and Glenn so far have said that we would be there until after the 2016 year began so sometime in January of the New Year, we would be returning to Arc Isle. That is where things with Briana got complicated because I had no idea how we would continue to date being countries apart. I had Toothless and if I could get from Kuwait to Berkville between eleven and twelve hours, then surely I could make the flight to see Briana every couple of weeks if I had the time to make the trip. I had thought about it last night actually, how the trip would go from Arc Isle to Georgia in the US. Briana said she lived about thirty minutes from Fort Benning. I looked up the distances online. I could make the flight; I just didn't know how the weather would be or how much time I'd be given to visit her or how often.

Briana didn't have a dragon but said she was going to sign up for the Fort Benning class when the tour ended, maybe at that point, we could meet somewhere in the middle and just have some time to ourselves. The flight time would be about eighteen hours, and that depended on weather, winds, how fast Toothless was flying. Plus, we'd have to make stops to rest. I mapped it out that we'd have to go from Arc Isle to Iceland, onto Greenland, then Maine in the US, then fly South to Georgia. It would be a long trip but worth it to see her, I suppose I shouldn't worry about it right now. There was time to figure things out, I'd say until the New Year at best.

So, my time at home has been enjoyable thus far. Sunday night was spent enjoying the rest of the picnic with my family, friends, and relatives. I did hear from Briana two hours after the first talk we had, and she let me know that my unit was back at the base safely and taking a breather before the guard shift. I was thankful for that; I hadn't liked finding out that my friends were in danger with me so far away. Monday was spent just relaxing and talking about how things had been with everyone. Frankie and Regina were working through the morning but came over around 2 pm. Dad and Mom stayed home from work to spend time with me.

It was nice, as I said but I still had my distractions. It started with Dexter and Syrus checking in with Hailey and Syrus's parents; then I'd end up texting them when they had time to talk about fun stuff we could do when I got back. A lot of my texting or instant messaging on Skype was with Briana. On Friday, it would mark she and I being together for two weeks! I couldn't wait to get back to Kuwait and see her. Was that a bad thing? I finally got some time off from war, but I wanted to go back so I could be with my girlfriend? I didn't think it was wrong. I'd never had a girlfriend before, so this was new to me, and I wanted to spend all the time I got with her before we possibly got separated upon returning to the US. On Tuesday, I went and saw Calvin and the old crew at Berkys. For a bit, Cal thought I was off tour and hoping that I was coming back to work.

I told him that when I got home from the US if I didn't have other assignments, I would start working again. Of course, Calvin understood, and I spent two or so hours there with them, then went home to hang out with my little brother. Nathaniel and I were close, and a lot of times, it didn't feel like we were seven years apart in age. I couldn't believe that Nate would be fourteen in February, and then I was turning twenty-years-old at the end of the same month. Nate and I went out to lunch, then to the amusement park for a few hours before I brought him home and spent time with everyone else too. However, today was Wednesday the 19th, and I had my friends over since Mom and Dad had to work until 3:30 pm at least. Nate was here too; I wasn't sure how we were going to do for the day but, it wasn't my biggest question.

I got a message from Skye this morning around 7 am Arc Isle time that Briana might have slow responses today because she woke up at 3:15 am not feeling well. At 7 am Kuwait time, Skye took her to the TMC to be looked over, and the medic is saying that it might be a twenty-four-hour bug and would know more if, after that time frame, Briana was still sick. I guess all I could do was wait to find out, but Bri and I were talking still, during the times she was awake. I caught glances at my friends all sitting around the living room, looking at me and wondering why I wasn't talking to them a lot. I felt bad, but only a little. Briana told me that she wished I was back and there to keep her company since Skye and Andy were on patrol for another six hours.

"So, what do you want to do today, Harrison?" TJ asked.

"Hm?" I looked up from my phone at him. "Uh, it doesn't matter to me. I gotta be here to keep an eye on Nate until my parents get home," I replied.

"How is Syrus doing?" Frankie wondered.

"He's okay last I heard. Talked to Dex and him last night before they left for the guard at 2100 hours," I stated while replying to a message from Briana.

"2100?" Addilyn inquired.

"Sorry, it's military time. 2100 hours is nine at night. You know how the clock is one through twelve?" I stated, and they nodded. "Well, while counting, after twelve you go to thirteen then fourteen all the way back to the twelve which would become twenty-four because there are twenty-four hours in a day. Make sense?" I added.

"Not in the slightest, no," Regina remarked.

"Okay, let me try it like this. Start at 12 am, when a new day begins, right? At that hour, we refer to it as 0000 hours. The next hour is 1 am, called 0100 hours, so on and so forth until 12 pm which is called 1200 hours. Now, what comes after twelve?" I asked.

"Thirteen?" Frankie stated.

"So, it becomes 1300 hours and then continues around the clock until it gets back to twelve where it goes back to 0000 or 2400 hours when another day begins," I explained.

"Oh, got it now," TJ nodded as I turned back to my phone to reply to Briana, she was telling me that she was going to lay down for a bit and would text me back after she woke up again. With all that, she also added that she loved me and couldn't wait until I was back because she missed me. I replied with my own 'I love and miss her too.'

"Harry!" Nate called from the top of the stairs.

"What's up?" I yelled back.

"Can you help me move my bed so I can clean under it as Mom and Dad wanted me to?" Nate asked.

"Hang on; I'm coming," I sighed as I put my phone down on the table and hurried up the stairs to help my little brother out.

{Normal POV}

For four minutes, Harrison was upstairs helping Nate with moving things so he'd be able to clean it efficiently. In the silence, Harrison's phone vibrated there as Addilyn-who was closest to the device-couldn't help but lean forward and peer over at the lit up screen. Much to her surprise, the alert was a Skype message from a contact labeled as 'Milady.' Addilyn didn't understand, who would Harrison have named that. Curiosity won as Addilyn grabbed the phone and opened it.

"Addy, don't," Frankie whispered.

"I want to know who he is talking to that has him so distracted from hanging out with us. You know, the friends he hasn't seen in four months?" Addilyn remarked.

"We all do, but going through his phone is an invasion of his privacy. It's against the law," Frankie argued.

"I'm just gonna find a name and put it right back, that's all," Addilyn stated as she opened the conversation and saw the message this 'Milady' person had sent: =Well, guess I'm not sleeping. Tried to lay down and threw up. Think you can sneak in a call? I just want to hear your voice for a second.= Addilyn didn't understand. Why did this person want Harrison to call so badly? Addilyn continued to scroll up through the messages. And what she found was astounding, and at the same time, it hurt her to see. Finally, Addy found the name of this 'Milady' character because Harrison had said it earlier this morning in a message.

=I'm sorry you're sick, Milady. I wish I could be back there to take care of you. Stay on the water, eat light if you can and try to rest. I love you, Bri.=

That was the message Addilyn saw, and she knew who 'Bri' was. Briana, the girl that Harrison had said on Sunday, was just a friend in the group of Americans they were helping out. "What is it? What's wrong?" Regina inquired.

"That 'Bri' person Harrison was talking to in another language on Sunday isn't just a friend," Addilyn started as footsteps were heard on the stairs to reveal Harrison standing there, his green eyes zeroing in on his phone in Addilyn's hands.

"She's my girlfriend," Harrison stated firmly in a monotone, but calm voice.