=Normal POV=
{Saturday, October 16, 2021-8:45 am}
(Kitchen)
The kitchen was quiet as Hiccup stood where he was, entirely stunned at what just happened. His almost five-month-old daughter had tried several times and managed to say the distinct word; Dada. It was evident that Hiccup was not prepared for it because the guy couldn't believe his baby girl just spoke. Hiccup's eyes were on Runa, widened and he couldn't seem to find his own words now. Hiccup was just holding Runa in his arms, and it looked like he might cry. The seven others weren't sure. Astrid could tell that it had to be a little emotional; a baby's first word was always a big thing. First words and steps; Runa wouldn't be walking for a bit longer, but the talking thing. Yeah, that was pretty big for five-months-old. Runa laid her head on Hiccup's shoulder, but still awake. Hiccup finally snapped himself out of his shocked state and looked at Runa.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you, Princess…" Hiccup breathed out, hugging Runa tightly. "Wanna call Mommy and tell her you just said your first word?" he asked as Runa yawned. "Well, maybe back to bed for you," he chuckled a little. "Frigga, call Liv,"
"Calling Liv." There were a couple of rings before a pickup happened.
"Hiccup…It's nine in the morning…" Olivia complained.
"Exactly; you should be up already," Hiccup said.
"Yeah…Well, I don't feel good right now," Olivia mumbled.
"You were okay when we talked last night," Hiccup reminded.
"Started around 4 am…Just woke up feeling nauseated, and threw up twice," Olivia informed.
Hiccup blinked a little. "That…Sounds an awful lot like when you were pregnant with Runa,"
"Yeah…I thought that too at first, and then at 6:15 am; I woke up with my period, so we're in the clear for that," Olivia responded.
"Oh, thank Thor. Not that I would have minded another kid, just maybe after graduation…And Runa gets a little older," Hiccup stated.
"And after your Army training, since you're doing that after High School," Olivia giggled. "Alright, I'm up. So what did you call for? Is Roo okay?"
"She's perfect, and just said her first word," Hiccup said. Silence, and then a loud squeal of excitement.
"Oh, my Gods! Did she really?! Don't even play, Hiccup!"
Hiccup laughed. "I'm not kidding. I swear!"
"What did she say?! And please tell me it's on camera!"
"I'm sure the security footage has it, and she said Dada," Hiccup enlightened.
"Can you get her to repeat it?"
"I don't know. I'll try, but she's falling asleep on my shoulder," Hiccup fixed Runa in his arms again. "Come on, Princess…Say it for mommy. Dada," Hiccup attempted. Runa looked at him, then yawned again.
"Hiccup, sing your song for her. That always makes her excited," Olivia suggested.
"I'm gonna watch you shine. Gonna watch you grow. Gonna paint a sign, so you'll always know…As long as one and one is two…There could never be a father loved his daughter more than I love you…" Hiccup sang as Runa instantly clapped her hands happily, giggling like before. (By the way, this little bit is from the chorus of Paul Simon's Father and Daughter song.)
"I love that laugh," Olivia said.
"D-Da…Da," Runa said.
"That's it; you got it. Dada…" Hiccup told her.
"Dada!" Runa repeated.
"Oh, good girl!" Olivia cheered.
"You owe me $50, babe. She said Dada first!" Hiccup grinned.
"Fuck you," Olivia muttered.
"You did yesterday," Hiccup snickered.
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third!" Olivia scolded.
"Dude, your middle name is Horrendous?" Gruffnut tried not to laugh, so did the others.
"Shut up," Hiccup warned. "I swear to the Gods that I'm gonna fucking change my name and take that part out. Thanks for that, Liv…" he grumbled.
"Sorry, baby. It slipped…I forgot they were there," Olivia said quickly.
Astrid noticed right away that Hiccup looked less than amused about his middle name being said; it didn't sound like he liked it very much. And who would? In a way; she felt terrible. Her friends would surely give him a hard time over it. Runa yawned again, beginning to fall asleep in Hiccup's arms. It seemed Hiccup's whole mood changed, he wasn't even smiling anymore. It was supposed to be a good moment because Runa said her first word, and Olivia saying his middle name and alerting the others of what it was altered how happy Hiccup had been.
"Well, Runa is falling asleep. I'm gonna go put her to bed…I'll call you later, babe," Hiccup remarked.
"Okay…I love you and Roo," Olivia said quietly, guilt evident in her voice.
"Love you too," Hiccup replied. There was a click as Hiccup sighed. "You tell anyone what my middle name is…And you will regret it," he stated before walking away to take Runa upstairs via the elevator right off the kitchen. Astrid could tell her friends were already scheming to use this piece of information against Hiccup, and she knew it would be anything but good. Stoick warned once that Hiccup got his temper from him…So Astrid was actually concerned about what would happen if her boyfriend and friends set Hiccup off in anger. Truthfully, Astrid didn't want any part of it; Hiccup wasn't a bad guy. Smart and sarcastic, yes, but not anything that deserved all the abuse he took from Eret and the others. Right now, Astrid actually wanted to see if he was okay, but who knew what that would do. Eret got mad at her when she made Hiccup a coffee this morning. Astrid just sat there and stayed quiet.
. . .
{10:20 am}
(Hiccup's Room)
Hiccup ended up trying to lay Runa down, and she wouldn't stay asleep, then cry again. Hiccup was tired, and Runa didn't appear to be out of his arms. The seven were back upstairs with him, sitting around on the bed Eret and Astrid were using; the group was watching TV on low volume as they could hear Hiccup trying to soothe Runa and get to stay down while in the nursery. At this point, Runa would be ready for another feeding if Hiccup didn't get her down for a nap soon. Her first one had been around 7 am, and it was almost 11 am now, which would be four hours.
Runa was just crying loudly, spitting out the binky, and nothing was really working. "Dad Calling. Accept or Deny?"
"Accept. Hiccup replied.
"Hi, son. How's everything back home?" Stoick asked.
"Just peachy, Dad. The storm isn't letting up; I'm stuck here with seven people I don't exactly get along with, and in case you didn't hear already…Runa's having one of her days where nothing makes her happy…" Hiccup mumbled.
"No one said parenting was easy," Stoick chuckled. "What seems to be the problem?"
"If I knew that, she wouldn't still be crying!" Hiccup snapped, clearly frustrated. "She won't go to sleep, and she's been up since like 7 am,"
"Sounds like overtiredness to me. Have you tried another bottle? Give her a four ounce, and see if that-," Stoick was cut off.
"Don't listen to your father, Hiccup. He used to think you always needed more food too, and then he'd overfeed you. I can't even begin to name off the times that you'd throw up on him because his solution was to give you another bottle," Valka huffed. Hiccup chuckled a little. "Runa is probably overtired, and that might be due to something else bothering her. Is she changed?"
"Yeah, just did that at 10 am," Hiccup replied.
"And she took all her food this morning at 7?" Valka inquired.
"I gave her a six-ounce, she took five. And kept it all down," Hiccup informed.
"Have you tried burping her again?" Valka asked.
"Did that already," Hiccup sighed, still bouncing Runa in his arms.
"No fever or anything?" Stoick questioned.
"No, Dad," Hiccup responded.
"She's almost five months, right?" Gobber's voice came from the background. "Lil lassie is probably cuttin' her first tooth," Hiccup's eyes widened. "I recall many years ago when Hiccup cried like that, and it was always because he was teething. Check the middle of her top and bottom gums; see if it's redder than usual,"
Hiccup leaned Runa back a little and took a few tries to actually look. Sure enough, the bottom gum in the middle was showing a redder spot than the rest of the area. "It is,"
"See, what did I say? Give Runa some of the infant Tylenol, lad. And maybe something cold she could suck on, like a clean and wet rag. Once the pain meds kick in, she'll probably knock out," Gobber offered.
"Thanks, Uncle Gobber," Hiccup smiled as he moved into the Sitting Room to retrieve the cloth, wetting it with ice cold water, then wringing it out and letting Runa suck on it. It took a few shots, but eventually, the baby calmed. Hiccup went to get the pain reliever, sneaking that in without removing the rag.
"Well, we'll leave you to it then. The storm might lighten up by tonight, but roads probably won't clear fully and be safe to drive on until tomorrow morning. We'll call you later. Love you!" Valka said.
"Love you guys too!" Hiccup called back, then the call ended as Hiccup relaxed on the bed and kept another bottle beside him. It was the assumption that Runa would likely feed again before going to sleep for a few hours. When the rag bit wore off around 10:50 am, Hiccup quickly replaced the object with the bottle. Thankfully, Runa too it without a problem. Halfway through, Hiccup got two burps out of her, then tried the bottle again. Runa took another ounce and a half, making it about four total before burping once, but then knocking out on Hiccup's shoulder. Carefully, Hiccup moved into the nursery and set her down, turning on the mobile over the crib, them slipping out quietly. Hiccup turned on the monitor, only hearing the music from the device, then he laid on his bed.
"You didn't think the reason was teething, did you?" Ragna asked.
"I'm sorry…Are you a baby expert all of a sudden?" Hiccup narrowed his eyes, irritated.
"Well, no…" Ragna began.
"I knew it was a possibility; I just didn't think it'd be so soon," Hiccup huffed, relaxing in his bed. Hiccup closed his eyes, arms behind his head, legs out and crossed over one another. No one really said anything after that, but by 11:20 am, they glanced back to see Hiccup fast asleep on his bed. Hiccup wasn't under his covers, but one arm was under his head against the pillow, and his hand rested on his stomach. Unfortunately, as much ball-breaking as they wanted to do; Hiccup had been up late with his daughter, then he didn't get to sleep until almost 3 am. More on that, Hiccup got up at 7 am to take care of Runa again, so they knew he was exhausted. And for once, decided not to give Hiccup a hard time as he was being exceptionally generous with allowing them to stay, providing beds, pillows, and blankets, food too.
. . .
{3:10 pm}
Hiccup slept from 11:15 am to 3:10 pm. Almost four hours that he basically napped while Runa was sleeping, and the populars were confident the only reason Hiccup woke up is because Runa began to cry on the baby monitor. Just like with the morning; Hiccup woke up slowly but made his way to the nursery to change and collect Runa for her afternoon feeding. However, Hiccup didn't look as tired as he did before and even though he said he didn't need to sleep; it was clear that he did or he wouldn't have knocked out for as long as he did. Hiccup came out of the room with Runa in his arms, then he moved to the Sitting Room/Library to make another bottle before returning to his bedroom and shaking it up. Hiccup set the bottle in place as Runa began to suck contently.
"Can one of you hold and feed her while I use the bathroom?" Hiccup asked. Astrid noticed that no one was really stepping forward to help the guy out, and she didn't think that was right given how much he'd done for them in the last twenty-four hours.
"I'll take her, Hiccup," Astrid offered.
"Thanks," Hiccup said, carefully handing Runa off, then Astrid took hold of the bottle as Hiccup backed up and entered the bathroom.
"I don't like how nice you're being to him," Eret muttered.
"Oh, stop it. The guy has to use the restroom; I'm not about to deny him a small request," Astrid rolled her eyes. "He's been pretty generous with us being here and being a good host even after what happened," she added, her eyes going back to Runa. Astrid watched as Runa went through almost half of her formula, and she knew Hiccup always stopped Runa for a burping. Astrid carefully removed the bottle and set the child on her shoulder to pat her back, rubbing it up and down. Hiccup came out just as Runa burped, and then spit up on Astrid.
"Shit…I'm sorry, Astrid…" Hiccup apologized, taking Runa from Astrid.
"It's…Fine, Hiccup. Seriously, I know babies spit up…Don't even worry about it," Astrid waved it off.
"Astrid, it's all over your shoulder, and in your hair…Here…" Hiccup handed her the burp cloth to wipe up with, then went to his dresser drawer and pulled out blue, long-sleeve shirt. "Use the shower in the bathroom. You can put back on your pants and stuff, and one of my shirts until yours is washed,"
"Hiccup, it's okay…Really…" Astrid insisted.
"It will start to smell as it dries," Hiccup sighed. Yeah, Astrid didn't want to deal with that, and she was sure her friends and boyfriend wouldn't either. Astrid got up, accepting the shirt from Hiccup, then she went into the bathroom. About two minutes later, after closing the door; it opened again.
"Hiccup…How in the name of Thor do you work your shower…?" Astrid asked. Hiccup chuckled as he moved into the room as Astrid hadn't changed yet, then showed her how to use the handles. "Got it, thanks," Hiccup nodded and left to continue feeding Runa.
. . .
Ten minutes later, Astrid came out wearing her jeans, socks, and Hiccup's shirt, which actually reached past her rear end and almost to her knees. The shirt was baggy on Astrid, but it worked nevertheless. Hiccup took the shirt and towel from her, then left the room. Five minutes passed; Hiccup returned.
"I'll make dinner early; I'm sure you're all hungry since I knocked out for a bit," Hiccup said.
"Your cook came up to ask what you wanted for lunch, and we said you were sleeping. Don't worry; he fed us," Astrid informed.
"Oh, good! Then I'll just do dinner around 4:30 or so," Hiccup nodded, then checked the storm outside his windows. "Looks better than before," he stated.
"Still not going home tonight, though, are we?" Camicazi asked.
"Likely not," Hiccup shook his head as he put Runa in her walker, then went to sit at his computer. Hiccup powered the device on, waiting for it to load up. Hiccup logged in, seeing the background of the day Runa was born. Olivia looked exhausted, Hiccup next to her, the both of them smiling with Runa between them. Hiccup only smiled.
"Is that…The day Runa was born?" Astrid inquired.
"Yeah…Crazy day, but a good end," Hiccup replied.
"You ran out of the school pretty fast," Eret reminded.
"Well, how fast would you move when you found out the mother of your child was in labor, and alone at that?" Hiccup asked.
"Heh, wouldn't happen. I'm a lot more careful than you are," Eret remarked.
"That wasn't exactly the question, but I expected that type of answer nevertheless," Hiccup rolled his eyes, opening up a program, clicking a few more things, then let the music start playing. Soon it was recognized as a Saxophone version of My Heart Will Go On. Titanic was a favorite movie among the girls in the room, and the guys just scoffed, ignoring it.
"My Gods, that is beautiful…Hiccup, where did you find this?" Camicazi asked quickly.
Hiccup faced them instantly, arching a brow. "Find it? I didn't. I made this like actually played it. That's me playing…" Hiccup informed as their eyes widened.
"No way…" Ragna accused. Hiccup gave a bored look as he opened something else, a video, which played the same song only Hiccup was in the video with his Saxophone. Hiccup chuckled, seeing their shocked faces. Hiccup moved to the closet near the fireplace, pulling a large blue, rectangular box off the top shelf. Hiccup set it on the window seat, then opened it up revealing the same golden-appearing saxophone.
"Where did you learn to play?" Camicazi inquired.
Hiccup smiled a little, but Astrid could see a little sadness playing behind Hiccup's green eyes as he admired the saxophone in his hands. "It was my grandfather's horn. I took up music with him and learned how to play. When my grandmother passed, he was right behind her a few days later; I guess he couldn't live without her. That's what mom says anyway. So, at their funeral…Because my grandfather never got to see me play a full song, and My Heart Will Go On was my grandmother's favorite…I played this, with that song for them. What you heard was from that day. I was probably thirteen or so," he explained.
"Do you still play it?" Astrid wondered.
"Once a year, on the anniversary of their funerals," Hiccup responded. The next thing no one expected was for another set of music to start playing with a slideshow of pictures involving Olivia and Hiccup, when they met, learning about the baby, through the pregnancy, the birth, more recent photos. The music was just a light guitar at first, and the others cast a glance to Hiccup, who had a far off, distant look in his eyes.
"So lately, been wondering. Who will be there to take my place? When I'm gone; you'll need love, to light the shadows on your face. If a greater wave shall fall, yeah, fall upon us all. Then between the sand and stone, could you make it on your own?" Hiccup began singing, which surprised the others. The tune playing didn't have lyrics, so did Hiccup write it? "Yeah, if I could, then I would; I'll go wherever you will go. Way up high, or down low. I'll go wherever you will go!"
"And maybe I'll find out, a way to make it back someday. To watch you. To guide you, through the darkest of your days. If a greater wave shall fall, yeah, fall upon us all! Well, I hope there's someone out there, who can bring me back to you!" Hiccup continued with passion. It seemed he really enjoyed singing, and he was good too. At least in Astrid's opinion Hiccup was. "Yeah, if I could, then I would; I'll go wherever you will go. Way up high, or down low. I'll go wherever you will go!" a brief pause as Hiccup caught his breath, but his voice never faltered. "Runaway with my heart. Runaway with my hope. Runaway with my love…"
The music fell soft as Hiccup closed his eyes, almost refusing to look at the computer, but he did pick up Runa, who began fussing a little. Once in her father's arms; she laid her head on his shoulder. "I know now, just quite how. My life and love might still go on. In your heart…In your mind…I'll stay with you, for all of time! If I could, then I would; I'll go wherever you will go! Way up high, or down low…I'll go wherever you will go. If I could turn back time. I'll go wherever you will go. If I could make you mine. I'll go wherever you will go! I'll go wherever you will go…" Hiccup pressed the spacebar, quickly stopping the slideshow on a picture of him and Olivia kissing with Runa on his shoulder.
"Dada…" Runa said, almost sadly too. Hiccup held her tightly, then closed down the programs, and locking the computer before going to the nursery, and closing the door behind him. After that, the seven in the room couldn't hear anything. And remembered that Hiccup said the nursery was soundproof, no sounds in or out.
"Well, that was…" Thuggory trailed off.
"Weird." Eret retorted. "Who cares? One more night here, and we're gone tomorrow morning. Thank God…" the others nodded, agreeing with him almost. Astrid, though; she felt differently. There was something about that whole scene that didn't feel right to her, but she knew Hiccup wouldn't tell her if something was bothering him. Astrid knew her boyfriend was right; tomorrow, they were leaving. Hiccup wouldn't want them there any longer than they already had been. It was just one more night there, then everything would go back to normal come Monday morning at school.
