Unintentional Hero
Author: Nightstar Fury of Nightstar Productions
Rated: M for a variety of things that will happen
Pairing: Hiccup/Astrid
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD
45; Blackout News
-Hayden's POV-
I seriously could not believe him and I didn't think I could forgive him this time: he went too far by talking about my fallen friends from the first Iraq tour, and I was beyond mad at him for it. It was bad enough I'd been stressed out for two and a half weeks wondering if Avery was pregnant or not-now he had to start his shit, and bring him my friends, my dead friends! I was so relieved when Avery's pregnancy test turned up negative: of course, I wanted a family with her, just not right away. She was still in school, I was in the military: that's no lifestyle for a baby. And Avery understood that, the moment couldn't last though when Dad had to make his remark about Avery and I waiting to have sex again-that way what happened to Ritka, didn't happen to Avery. Where she'd have the baby, and then suddenly I'd die leaving her alone. And what the fuck, Daryl's girlfriend was pregnant when he died? He'd never said anything to us about it. Way to make me feel more shitty about him dying to save my life.
But it didn't matter, all of my friends were dead except Theo. Sure I still had all of Alpha Fire, Delta Fire, Anderson, and Strike One but that didn't replace the lives lost in combat. After I took off with Toothless, I didn't care where I went-I just wanted to get away from Dad and that house. It took me months to accept what happened to Ritka, Matthews, Lennox, and Tarelto-which still haunted me, but Dad just had to bring them up to what? Give me a lesson in not having sex so my family wouldn't end up the same way? After an hour of flying around aimlessly, I found myself at the cemetery. Ritka and the others-including Oivind were buried here because it was their home island. How interesting had it been we all were from Berk? How strange it worked out we all ended up being on the same platoon, squad, and unit? And how weird it was that all of them were buried together as the plots had been arranged during funerals. I sat before them, all the same headstone with the boots, gun, and helmet engraving on the stone with their names, birth and death dates too.
The only thing that had changed was their dog tags had all been moved into clear, protective cases beside the stone belonging to that soldier. I just sat there looking at all of them: in my hand was a Four Loko, a generally sweet tasting, but strong alcohol. One can could give someone a buzz-which is exactly what I wanted right now and he really didn't care that it was only 8am. As Ritka or Lennox would of put it: it's five o'clock somewhere. I'd been sitting there for about fifteen minutes, the can was almost empty and I had an extra in Toothless's bag. My dragon lazily laid beside me, warbling with concern. I finished the rest of the can and sighed out with my eyes closed-then opened them when I heard the beating of wings coming from behind then it stopped after the dragon landed. "How did I know I'd find you here?" I didn't turn around, I knew it was Anderson.
"How did I know you'd come lookin for me after all that?" I retorted calmly.
"Because you're my brother and I worry about you," Harry said as he sat down beside me in the grass while I looked back to the stones before me. Harry now saw the can of Four Loko sitting in my hand and sighed. "It's not healthy to be drinking this early," he reminded me.
"It's not healthy for my Dad to keep bringing up my dead friends either..." I remarked.
"I know, we all do. Everyone left after you did: your sister is living with your cousin, aunt, and uncle now from what Avery texted me about. Avery is with Rachel, Jasmine, and Heather, the boys too. I think they went out for breakfast," Harry said now.
"You should be spending time with your wife and kids, Harry, not out here checkin on me. I'm fine...I ain't gonna try and kill myself or anything..." I closed my eyes now.
"I wasn't worried about that, I know you'd come find me if that were the case. You're still a very good friend of mine, practically family and I know how much it sucks to get reminded about people you've lost. My mom used to be the same way when I joined up ten years ago: always reminding me that I'd be next if I didn't quit, or she didn't want to be the next parent handed a folded flag. Had the same arguments, it's why I always stayed on base instead of go home until I met Maria when I was nineteen. We dated two years, it was hard with the military but we made it work." Harry smiled a bit.
"Yeah, then you got married and had two kids," I said.
"Did you you know I was twenty years old when Brenna was conceived and born? Maria got pregnant right before one of my tours, and first leave I got we ran off and eloped when she was five months pregnant. I was twenty-one when we had Liam," he chuckled a bit as I looked over at him.
"Kind'a like the pregnancy scare Avery and I just had, me being twenty-one and thinking our drunken night got her pregnant...I don't know how you do it. It'd scare me to death to not be home while she's pregnant..." I admitted.
"It scared me too, but I trusted her to keep me updated on things. But this is about you. Hayden I know what your father said was cold, heartless, and fucked up: even I yelled at him and said if you hurt yourself at all...then the military would have your back and press charges on him. I'm sure that like you, the pregnancy scare well, it scared him. You have to figure that he lost your mom to war too, and hearing that his son might have knocked up his girlfriend but was still in the military. He worries about Avery going through what he did, or what Ritka's girl and daughter are, or even Daryl's girl and child...It's a painful thing." Harry said.
"That doesn't excuse him saying it...A simple 'be careful' would have sufficed. He didn't have to bring them up, Anderson. He knows, you know, everyone knows how much all that hurt me and still does...He just never...thinks before he speaks and I hate it..." I sighed heavily.
"I understand, Hayden, he could have handled it a lot better than he did. But you shouldn't be out here by yourself sulking about because your Dad made you mad. You still have your sister, girlfriend, and friends who want to hang out before we go back to Fort Dreki tomorrow morning. Best enjoy it. You can't please them all, my brother, so stand with the ones who stand with you, don't fall to the ones who want to drag you down." Anderson patted my back with an arm over my shoulder.
"Thanks, Harry...seriously don't know what I'd do without you." I smiled as the two of us hugged before getting up and mounting out dragons and prepared to take off to find the others.
-End Hayden's POV-
(The Next Day)
After Anderson helped Hayden again, they went and found the others. Hayden waited until his Dad was at work to sneak into the house and get his clothes and what not to take to Fort Dreki with him. Then the rest of the day was spent hanging out with them all. The next morning around 9am, Hayden hugged Avery tightly and kissed her, promising they'd see one another soon. He said goodbye to the others as he got on Toothless and took to the sky while the rest followed on their dragons. Dylan riding with Heather, and Ethan with Theo-since they didn't have their own dragons. After an hour or so of flying they reached the base and all got settled in again. Hayden actually ended up taking a long nap well through lunch and into dinner time after getting unpacked. All he could think was that he was grateful Avery wasn't pregnant-not in a bad way, just that when she did finally get pregnant with his kid, he wanted to be there with her to raise it.
(Two Weeks Later-Berk)
Avery was back in school again, a class all her own without Camille this time. She was honestly kind of bored, this class was all a review of the week she missed while on vacation, but thanks to Hayden knowing so much about dragons-she already knew all about. She'd heard from Hayden who was apparently busy working with Dylan and Ethan on their dragon training. A green male Gronckle had taken quite an interest in Dylan and the two bonded, same with Ethan and a Thunder Drum. Dylan named his Gronckle, Shattermaster while Ethan named his Thunder Drum, Boomblast. Avery chuckled remembering that she could only think how original it was. Avery knew Hayden's dragon training was tough, and he wouldn't let anyone move on unless they mastered the previous lesson with him. Who could argue with the man who rode a Night Fury? You couldn't. Avery also learned that true to Hayden's word: he refused to speak to his father and Camille was still living at Seth's house. Everyone seemed to be doing alright-except her.
The last two weeks since Hayden had left were miserable for her, and she kept chalking it up to just missing up a lot after he'd been home for three weeks after the war in Afghanistan had ended but now it was seeming like more as it wasn't stopping after the second week was beginning to come to a close. A week after Hayden left, she was really tired and getting sick at random, nothing serious just queasy at times. She left it alone and thought nothing of it but for this last week on top of being queasy and tired, she was also: emotional, moody, a little constipated, and her breasts were sore-which was anything but normal for her and slightly concerning. That night she tiredly made her way to her room after dinner and began to start on her homework but she just couldn't concentrate at all on it. Around 7:30pm, her phone rang and it was Hayden calling.
"Hey Sky Eyes," he greeted her lightly.
"Hey babe, how are you?" Avery asked with a slight yawn.
"I'm good, just finished a lesson with Ethan and Dylan. How about you?" Hayden asked.
"I'm alright, little tired right now-might turn in early and do homework tomorrow morning," Avery said softly.
"You've been tired the last few days at this hour babe. You sure you are feeling alright? Sounds like you're getting sick," he said with some concern.
"I'm alright baby. It was a long day working with baby dragons, don't worry, I'm okay. If I start feeling worse, I'll go to the doctor okay?" Avery assured him.
"Why don't you tell me how you feel, maybe I can help?" Hayden offered.
"Little queasy, tired, moody is all. I'm probably getting my period so I'll get some sleep before I snap at you-you know how I can get," Avery giggled a bit.
"Sounds like a period to me, Mi'lady. Get some rest, a warm bath might help with cramps to. I love you."
"I love you too. Night," Avery smiled then hung up and put the phone down, she saw there a few minutes before feeling her dinner rise in her throat-she quickly rushed to the bathroom and threw up the contents of her stomach. She puked for at least twenty minutes before cleaning herself up and going back to her room to lay down with a hand on her forehead, she felt warm and groaned-lifting her phone she began to text Hayden that she was actually sick.
-So I just threw up for 20 mins in bathroom-
-R u ok?-
-I think so, don't know where it came from...Mom thinks its a bug.-
-If I was there, I'd make you soup and lay with you...Get some rest, drink water and crackers should help the puking...Let me know how you feel tomorrow okay? Sleep well, Sky Eyes. Text or call if you want to talk.-
Avery put her phone down on the charger and rolled over to go to sleep, praying she felt better in the morning.
(One Week Later)
Oh it hadn't gotten better, it was getting worse. She was nauseated or throwing up a lot, there was no sign of a period, her breasts were sore and sensitive, she was tired, emotional, and moody all the time-not to mention bloated, getting short of breath, and the newest was not being able to smell or eat foods she normally loved, she didn't know what the hell was wrong. Sitting in her room while her parents were out to dinner, she had her laptop on her legs as she began typing in her symptoms to the search bar-she didn't want to go to the doctor if it was nothing or could handle herself. In the search bar she'd typed: nausea, moody, tiredness, bloated, shortness of breath, and sore/sensitive breasts. Taking a deep breath, she pressed search and waited for the page to load.
Just as the page was coming up for her search she heard her phone ring in the kitchen-where she had forgotten it after making a sandwich for herself, she left her laptop on the table and got up to get it. "Hello?" Avery answered.
"Hey babe. Taking a break in DT for now since Dylan went and stepped to close while Shattermaster was practicing his lava blast shots. Thought I'd see how you were doing?" Hayden said calmly.
"I'm okay, working on a paper that is due on Monday about Strike class dragons-which are nearly impossible to research because they are rare and don't let humans get close to them," Avery sighed.
"Uh, you do know your boyfriend owns a Night Fury right? A strike class dragon..." Hayden reminded her.
"I know but I was still trying to find something else on my own. I'm working on the other classes first, Strike last so can I call you later about it if I find nothing?" Avery asked.
"Of course you can. I should be back in the barrack by 8pm if the weather holds up, if not then I'll be back in by 6:30." Hayden said gently.
"Thanks babe, I better go for now. I got four more classes of dragon to write out before I get to Strike. Love you." After he said it back, she hung up and put it beside her as she pulled the laptop back into her lap and looked over the page that came up for possible reasons to her symptoms and the main one was something she hadn't been expecting: Pregnancy; week by week symptoms. Avery's eyes widened a bit, why...you that come up for her symptoms. That couldn't be right? Why would she be having pregnancy symptoms? Well it's not like it hadn't happened before a few months back when she flew to Afghanistan to see Hayden when they'd been broken up for two months and was worried about him. The medic there said it was some kind of mental thing that her brain tricked her body into thinking she was pregnant. As she scrolled down the article more she saw a full list of symptoms spread out between four and six weeks of pregnancy.
Avery's eyes ran over the symptoms of four and five weeks, starting to get a little nervous. Tiredness and slight queasy feeling were in the four week list, then the fifth week was more of what she'd already felt a week ago. Scrolling more she read comments from other users who had asked questions.
I have irregular periods and my boyfriend hates condoms so my boyfriend and I had sex eight weeks ago unprotected. My doctor always said I'd be okay since with my messed up cycle it would be almost impossible for me to get pregnant until my period got regulated with medication to bring it on and induce ovulation. My boyfriend was worried, so I took a test three weeks after we had sex to make sure I wasn't pregnant and it came out negative but now it's been eight weeks since sex and I'm still having some pregnancy symptoms over the last few weeks. Could the test of been wrong?
That was...odd. Avery ignored it and read down farther to where a doctor had answered the question.
With irregular periods, unprotected sex can still result in pregnancy as in most cases the woman will just ovulate later than normal. It is harder to pinpoint these exact times, however it doesn't mean you are in the clear. If you are not actively trying to have a baby, couples engaged in sexual intercourse should be using protection of both a condom or spermicide for the male and for female, birth control of some kind: the IUD's would be best. Most home tests are accurate when used correctly. A woman should wait until she's missed her period to test for pregnancy and best to use first urine of the morning when doing so. As for irregular periods, it can be hard to know when to take since there is no schedule: the best thing you can do if you're unsure is wait four to five weeks to test with a home test. Testing before four weeks after having intercourse could give you a False Negative-meaning you might actually be pregnant but the test can't pick up the HCG (pregnancy hormone) in your body just yet because it's not strong enough. I would test again as soon as you can to confirm for pregnancy or not. Hope this helps!
During the entire time Avery read that response, she slowly began to feel sicker, more nervous, and afraid. She tested for pregnancy just two and a half weeks after unprotected, drunken sex with Hayden and the test was negative. Did that mean...she tested too early? Could she actually be pregnant and that's why she has all these symptoms? She quickly grabbed her phone to call Hayden but he didn't answer: he must of gotten back to dragon training or was busy with other things. Avery tried to take a few breaths as she put the laptop down and closed it while attempting to relax.
'Gods...what if I'm...actually pregnant?' she thought nervously, she bit her bottom lip. She wanted to talk to Hayden about it but she didn't want to scare him if she was wrong so she got up, slipped on her shoes, grabbed her keys, wallet, and phone before heading to her car. Avery drove to the store and picked up a digital read out pregnancy test, they were pretty pricey but wasn't taking the chance right now. Getting back home to see her parents still gone she went right to the bathroom to take it. She knew the article said to use first pee of the morning but that was if the period was just missed. The doctor said with irregular periods to wait unto four to five weeks after intercourse, she was six after which meant that if she was pregnant: it would be an accurate answer.
Taking a deep breath she pulled the test out of the box and read over the instructions word for word to make sure she'd do it right. When she was ready-or as much as she could be she took the test, capped it, then set it on the counter as she cleaned herself up and nervously paced the bathroom while waiting for the timer on the test to finish spinning around and around. Avery closed her eyes and prayed that it wasn't the answer she was thinking it would be. Hayden would flip out, he was nervous enough after they'd had sex, and the entire two and a half weeks before testing. That test was negative, if this one turned up positive: he was going to panic. After three minutes, she opened her eyes felt her heart tighten up and tears fill her eyes at what was on the screen.
Pregnant
Avery just sat down instantly, crying into her hands. She was pregnant with Hayden's baby after telling him, showing him the first test that said she wasn't. What was she going to do? She had to tell him, she would be...six weeks along right now that was a month and a half already. Avery grabbed the test and left the bathroom, wiping her eyes and putting the test in a plastic bag in case Hayden didn't believe her-then she tried to calm herself down to call him but he didn't answer. She had to tell him, she knew that but if he wouldn't answer then what did she do? Hearing a squawk outside, she saw Stormfly bending down outside the kitchen window to see her. And idea struck: tell him in person. Grabbing her phone, purse, keys, and test she rushed outside, saddled her dragon and took to the air towards Fort Dreki.
(Fort Dreki; One Hour Later)
Hayden was in the middle of working with Ethan and Dylan on their landings-which so far had been extremely rough. It was getting late, it was around 6pm and dinner was at 6:30pm, it wouldn't be dark for another two hours. "Keep the dragons steady you two! Nice and easy, mind the wing spans..." Hayden called to them.
"HAYDEN!" Anderson yelled to him-which made him turn rather quickly seeing as Anderson's voice was filled with concern and clearly urgent as well.
"What is it, Anderson?" Hayden asked. Anderson panted as Theo, and Jasmine were behind him-they pointed to the sky as Hayden looked up he saw Stormfly soaring over, Avery on her back. Why did this feel like deja vu suddenly?
"She just...got spotted by DS Amunsav, told us to get you since you didn't answer your radio..." Theo panted harshly. Hayden jumped on Toothless's back and flew up after her.
"Avery!" he called, she stopped and turned Stormfly around to face him-this is when he saw her worried and panicked face, tears also evident in her eyes and then he got worried. "What are you doing here, you know it's not allowed unless it's an emergency-which has to go through about ten other people before it's even approved..."
"Hayden...I-I need to talk to you, please. I wouldn't come all this way if it was nothing: this is an emergency..." Avery told him.
"Then land first and tell me what is wrong," Hayden replied, both of them landed as he faced her seeing the tears still in her eyes, he really didn't like this now. "Avery...what's wrong, what happened?"
"Hayden...I'm...sorry, I didn't...know it at the time it happened..." Avery whimpered.
"Avery just tell me what is going on, you said this was an emergency and right now you're really starting to freak me out that you came all this way on Stormfly..." Hayden said quickly.
"We...tested wrong, and I'm...so sorry that I didn't know," Avery said quietly.
"What...are you talking about? Tested wrong on what babe, you're not making any sense," Hayden asked. Avery bit her lower lip as she reached into her purse and pulled out the pregnancy test in the bag and handed it to him, he took it and read the read out as his eyes widened, "Avery...is this what I...think it is? Are you telling me that you're..." She only nodded before he could finish the word.
"Hayden, I'm pregnant." Everything froze around him, it was utterly silent given Anderson, Theo, Jasmine, Ethan, and Dylan were right there too. Hayden couldn't even move, his body refused too as he looked from Avery to the test in his hands reading Pregnant on it. His girlfriend was pregnant, Avery was pregnant. Without warning he stepped back stumbling and just blacked out completely to the ground but thankfully Toothless was there and broke his fall so Hayden was unconscious and lying against him. The rest of them-no one knew what to say or do.
