Here's the second re-written chapter! :D I thought I'd separate the two versions for ease's sake hehe :D

Chapter 2: Mercy Hospital

The minutes by her side seemed to fly by. Hiccup held her hand and whispered sweet nothings into her ear, still stroking her hair with his other hand. After a while, he rested his head next to her head and tried to take deep breaths. All he smelled was disinfectant and the stiff, sterile smell of the hospital bedding.

He took another deep breath and sighed, eyes still closed. "You get some sleep, my love. I'll be back in the morning, okay? I've gotta go let everyone know you're okay. Dad and Gobber are here as well. I won't be gone long, I promise."

He squeezed her hand and gently kissed the top of her head. Then he got up, and with one last look at her, left the room.

Gobber and Stoick's heads shot up as soon as he entered the waiting room again. He smiled at them, for the first time that night, and saw them visibly relax.

"She's okay," he said and sat down next to them. "She's still sleeping, they're gonna gradually take her off the anaesthesia over the next few hours and she should be awake tomorrow morning. Has, uh, Matthew been by?"

Gobber shook his head. "No, did you speak to him?"

"Yeah, he was the one who called me, actually. I really have to speak to him, no one's really walked me through her injuries yet. The nurse from earlier just said she's had an internal haemorrhage, that's why they had her in surgery for quite a while, apparently."

They sat in silence for a while. Eventually, Gobber broke the silent spell.

"You OK, son?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Not really. But it's better now that I've seen her. I know she's gonna be okay, but it's gonna take a while. I just wish it wasn't her, you know? I'd gladly take her place."

"Well, you've already lost a leg, so let's not get ahead of ourselves," Gobber commented, and Hiccup chuckled, somewhat surprising himself.

"True. I'd lose another one for her, though."

Gobber and Stoick exchanged a look Hiccup couldn't quite decipher.

His uncle cleared his throat. "Listen, don't worry about coming to work for a while, okay? I'll let Scott know and we'll work something out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course. You just focus on Astrid getting better right now."

Hiccup bowed his head. "Thanks, Gobber. I will."

Stoick sighed and patted his thighs. "Right. I'm going to go and get us something to eat, because I'm starving, and you lot better stop me from going crazy on takeout."

Hiccup and Gobber laughed.

"Alright, but you're paying!"

They'd convinced Hiccup to let Gobber go to theirs to pick up some clothes and toiletries for Astrid and to fill up Toothless' automatic feeder.

"I'll stay here," Hiccup had said, "in case there are any updates."

He still hadn't spoken to Matthew but maybe that was a good thing, he thought. Maybe it meant that her head was okay after all, or at least better than they'd initially thought.

Dawn came and went again. He'd stepped outside, another coffee in his hand, and breathed in the morning air, squinting as the sun hit his face. His breath condensing in the air, he thought about that time they'd run into each other on their morning runs – quite literally – before they'd got married. She'd been flustered and out of breath from her run, and he'd asked her to be exclusive. It had felt vital at the time, and he'd only learned later how silly it had been. She'd expected them to be exclusive from the very beginning, and it's not like he'd ever wanted anything else.

Absentmindedly, he put the plastic coffee cup onto the freezing ground, pulled out his phone and took a picture so he could show her the sunrise later once she woke up. His phone buzzed. A text from Scott.

'Hey, man, I've just heard about Astrid – I'm so sorry, Chris and I are gonna try and come by later. I'm working today, Gobber said we'll cover for you. I'll see ya later!'

Hiccup smiled to himself and quickly texted a thank you back. His eyes were heavy and burning, and every fibre in his muscle was aching for rest. Joining his coffee, he sat down on the ground and watched the sun come up. The asphalt was freezing, but he didn't mind. Everything was going to be okay. Astrid was okay, and soon she'd wake up and they'd go home, and be the little family that they were. He closed his eyes, the sun warm on his face now despite the oncoming Berkian winter and thanked his lucky star. Last night's prayers had been heard.

The buzz of his phone jolted him awake. He shook awake, startled until he realised he'd fallen asleep nestled into a corner of the waiting room, leant against a wall. Groggily, he reached for his phone the second time after a harsh awakening and saw Matthew's caller ID. Quickly, he sat up.

"Hey, Matt, where are you?"

"Hey, sorry it took so long, I'm on my way now. Are you in ICU?"

"Waiting room. I don't think I'm really supposed to be in ICU for long."

"I'll meet you downstairs, then. See you in five."

He hung up. Hiccup sat there, rubbing his eyes and squinted at his watch. 10:34. He was surprised he'd found any sleep – the waiting room was starting to come alive again. Phones were ringing, doctors and nurses were walking around, and people came in with bleeding fingers and emergencies that all seemed to pale compared to Astrid's accident. Surely, none of these injuries he was seeing qualified as an actual emergency. Someone a few seats away from him just kept sneezing and coughing which just seemed like a common cold. Just to be safe, he moved a bit further away from them.

"Morning," he heard Matthew's voice and looked up, his eyes still heavy.
Matt's blue eyes looked dull and tired, a common sight but he was still a sight for sore eyes. Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief and got up to hug his friend.
"Have you gone up to see her yet?" Matt asked as they started walking together. Hiccup shook his head. "I fell asleep. Don't even know how."
Matthew chuckled. "Well, I guess they're not that different from the beds at the department, huh?"

"I guess not," Hiccup agreed and cleared his throat, anxiety settling in his chest now. It somehow felt like Matt was avoiding the topic.

"Any news? Have they taken her off anaesthesia yet?"

"As far as I know, she's off anaesthesia but kind of in and out of sleep and her vitals are fine so far. I'm gonna go check if we can do an MRT for her brain soon and have a look at her concussion. Wanna come with?"

He didn't have to ask twice. Hiccup eagerly followed him, having to control himself as to not run into ICU. There was a certain giddiness to his step now, and just the thought of being able to speak to his wife made relief flutter in his chest.

This is good, he thought. If we were able to handle me losing a limb, we can handle a concussion and a couple of broken bones.

He quickly pulled the mask over his nose and mouth and sanitised his hands for the umpteenth time this day and followed the doctor through the big door of the ICU, holding his breath in anticipation.

The breathing tube was gone now. Instead, her mouth was slightly open, and her chest was rising and sinking steadily. Her eyes were fluttering beneath her lids, and he smiled to himself, wondering what she was dreaming of. He sat down next to her and gently took her hand, careful not to bend it in any way, this thumb slowly stroking her bandaged skin.

"Okay," Matthew said quietly, breaking the silent spell of the moment, and took Astrid's file from the table next to her. "Let's see … two of her lower ribs are broken, she's got a bunch of cuts and bruises, her right shin's broken as well, and her left wrist is broken. The PMDs who brought her in said she was unconscious for a few minutes, so I'm going to have to take a look at that, I'm a bit worried about that coupled with her concussion. But from the looks of things, she should be out of here in a week or two, and fully healed up in six to eight weeks. I'm thinking if nothing else goes wrong, we can have her in her own room by the end of the day."

He closed the file and smiled at Hiccup. "A lot better than your leg trajectory at the time, so I think you'll manage just fine. Plus, you two are kind of a power couple so I'm not that worried."

Joy blossomed in Hiccup's chest like the flowers they'd started growing on their balcony once they'd moved in together and he lightly squeezed his wife's hand. Everything's gonna be fine.

"Listen, I'm gonna do my thing for a little bit, and it'd be great if you could, like, not be in the way," Matthew declared, smirking down at him and Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he retorted and got up. "Go for it, I should call the school anyways. They don't know yet."

"I'll call you in once I'm done and you can sit with her."

Hiccup thanked him and gently kissed Astrid's bandaged forehead once more, whispering a quick 'I love you' into her ear, then made his way into the hallway and pulled out his phone, dialling Camilla Bog's number, headmistress of Berk's Secondary School.

"Oh, hi, Camilla, it's me, Hiccup," he said, craning his neck to see Matthew standing next to Astrid's bed. "Listen, I just, um, wanted to let you know that Astrid's had an accident and won't be able to come in for a while … yeah, she's okay … thank you, thank you so much, I – yeah, I will, thanks. Um, I'll try and come by in a couple of days and hand in her doctor's notice if that's alright. Okay, thanks … yeah, you too, take care."

He hung up and sighed, eyes still fixed on Matthew and Astrid, when he saw her stirring lightly. Almost automatically, his feet carried him back into the hall, his heart fluttering with excitement at the thought of her awakening.

He was dying to speak to her; it felt weird that he hadn't heard her voice in days now, ever since their phone call during her walk home.

He came to a halt next to Matthew, who was speaking to her in hushed tones now. Astrid's eyes fluttered open again.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D Let me know what you think - personally, I think it actually works better to have less angst this time around :D