Chapter 2
Henry woke later that day to the phone ringing in the kitchen. He sighed and glanced at the clock. "12:52, well at least I got some rest." He got up and headed for the phone.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Henry? Is Astrid there? What's going on? We just got the message? Is she ok? Where is Ally?" Ruff asked sounding frantic.
"Whoa there Ruff! I picked them up last night on the side of highway 50. Took them by your place but you weren't home. They are sleeping in the spare room. Hold on, I will get her." Henry exclaimed while walking towards the rear bedroom.
"Astrid, Ruff is on the phone." Henry called out while knocking on the door. There was some shuffling on the otherside then Astrid peeked her head out and grabbed the phone.
"Thank you" She said to Henry while putting the phone up to her ear and shutting the door.
"Going to make some lunch. Come on out when your ready." Henry called out as he headed down the hall.
He turned the tv on before heading into the kitchen. "Damn I really need to go to the store. Looks like grilled cheese and soup for lunch." He said to himself as he looked around in the fridge.
On the other side of the home. Astrid leaned back against the closed door. "Ruff, Ruff. Calm down Ally is still sleeping." After her friend got quiet on the other line she continued.
"It was bad last night, Ruff. Dad was drunk again and he had some friends over. It all got out of hand so quickly. We had to get out of there."
"Astrid?" Ruff said on the other line quietly.
"I grabbed Ally and ran out of the house. I didn't even have a coat on. We just headed towards your house. It was the only place I could think of that we could be safe. The snow started coming down and I didn't even know if we were going to make it. We just had to get out of there..." Astrid quietly sobbed.
"Astrid hold on, I am headed over to Henry's to get you. It's going to be ok, you can't go back there. Astrid..." Ruff went on to say but stopped when there was someone banging and screaming at her door.
"Hold on, just stay where your at. Fish is answering the door. Astrid, I think your dad is at my door...Oh Fuck, your fucking brother is staring through my window. I will call you right back!" Ruff quickly ended the call.
Cold dread ran down Astrid's spine as the call ended. Astrid rushed to the blinds and peeked out. Her dad's rusty red dodge was parked in front of Ruff's house. She could hear him screaming all the way up the street. Icy cold fear gripped her heart. She laid next to her daughter and slowly woke her up. Her daughter turned to her, eyes blinking as she woke up. But when she heard her grandpa's voice her eyes shot open, and she started trembling.
Astrid took another quick glance outside. Her dad and brother were screaming and raging at Ruff's door. Fish was at the door yelling back and Ruff was screaming at them over his shoulder.
"Astrid, Astrid are you ok?" Henry knocked on her door.
Astrid opened the door and went back to her daughter. "That's my dad and my brother." She said to Henry while peeking out the blinds. Her face was white and they were both trembling.
"Hey come on out to the living room. I can turn up the tv up. Aladdin's on the disney channel for Ally." Henry asked.
Astrid just looked up at him from her perch at the window. She was completely immobile. "There are grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup." Henry pleaded.
Astrid closed the portion of the blind and leaned back. Her daughter was sitting cross-legged on the bed with her eyes closed and her hands over her ears, rocking herself. Would they know to look here? Had they seen them? No, no if they knew where she was they wouldn't be screaming at Ruffs house.
Astrid looked down at her daughter and seemed to snap out of it. "Ok honey, come on." She said gently as she pried her daughters hands away from her ears.
"Want to go eat some lunch? Henry has made some really good sandwiches for us and some soup." Astrid coaxed as she stared down at her daughter.
With the screaming and slamming in the background, Astrid grabbed Ally's hand and followed Henry into the living room. Henry reached down and grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. Astrid and Ally sat down at the couch. Henry went into the kitchen and got their food. He sat the plates and bowls down in front of them on the table. "I only have coke right now until I head to the store. Is that ok?" He said as he handed them their drinks.
"That's fine, Thank y..." Astrid stopped, and they both froze as they heard tires screeching coming up the road. The sound could be heard over the loud tv all the way down the road. They stayed like that until they could not hear the truck anymore.
They tilted their heads down to take a bite out of the sandwich. Althought, none of the adults were hungry anymore.
Ally started sipping at her soup and watching the kids show. Henry leaned back and was sipping his coke. Astrid started to slowly feel the knots in her back free up. All was quite in the house for a while. Henry finally grabbed the remote and turned down the volume a bit. The phone rang awhile later and Henry picked it up. Astrid couldn't hear the conversation over the tv. It didn't last long and he hung up the phone and placed it on the table.
"That was Ruff, she's headed over." Henry stated.
All too soon there was a sharp knock on the door. Henry got up to answer it. Ruff came barging in.
"What a fucking prick! Sorry it took so long to come over. It took forever to calm the kids down. Then Fish had to calm me down. Astrid!" Ruff exclaimed as she grabbed her friend and hugged her.
"Ally cat!" Ruff picked up Ally and swung her around. She set her back down on the couch and plopped down next to Astrid.
"Glad you weren't there! That was intense! He kept screaming about you being there and calling for you to come out. Your asshole brother kept running around the house looking into all the windows. Thank Thor all the kids were in their room playing video games. They were pretty freaked out by some butt-elf sticking his face up against the windows though. Fish my Gods! He was ready to rip them apart with his bare hands! I am definitely going to have to get some alone time with him later." Ruff finished with a leer.
"Ruff, Sorry you had to go through all of that." Astrid started to say.
"Think nothing of it. That's what girlfriends are for! We have your back! Seriously, how are you holding up?" Ruff prodded as she swiped a drink of Astrid's coke and took a bite of her sandwich.
"We are alright, at least we are out of the house." Ruff nodded her head as she observed Astrid's young daughter seemingly fixated on the screen. She motioned for the adults to head to the kitchen.
"Hey Hiccup, Thanks for picking up my girl." Ruff said while ruffling his hair. Then she turned to Astrid.
"Fish did say that you shouldn't come over for a bit. He said they may be watching the house. We are headed back over to Nana's today. We can swing by and pick you up. You know your always welcome there. She's always looking for more children to dote on and she loves both of you." Ruff said quietly.
Astrid froze up. She wasn't sure leaving the house was a good idea, especially if they were watching Ruff's. The last thing she needed is for them to follow her and cause a scene at Fish's moms or worse... She looked cautiously up at Henry.
"You can stay here for as long as you need." Henry said picking up on her anxious stance.
"Are you sure?" Astrid asked. She was still unsure about staying here but right now it was better than the alternative of exposing their position.
"It's fine. I have the spare room. It's no problem at all." Henry replied. He couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable she looked.
"Ruff do you mind staying here with them for a bit? I really need to run to the store. Plus, it will give you two time to catch up." Henry asked Ruff.
"No problem, just let me call Fish. He probably figured that I would be down here for awhile anyways." Ruff grabbed the phone off the table.
"Do you mind if I leave for a bit?" Henry turned to Astrid. She stood in the kitchen with her head tilted down.
"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home. I am so sorry we burdened you with all of this." She swept her hand over to Ruff talking animatedly on the phone and her little girl curled up on the couch.
"Astrid, look at me." Her head slowly tilted up. "I am glad to help. You have a place here, as long as you need it..." Henry paused. He slowly made eye contact with her. "As long as you want to stay you have a place here, with. No conditions. No expectations. Just a place for you and your daughter." Henry stated with a firm conviction.
"I updated Fish, he can handle the three hooligans for awhile." Ruff exclaimed barging between the two. Astrid quickly turned her head down to the side. Ruff grinned turning to Henry. "Don't you have a store to be getting to?"
"Alright, Alright. Pushy woman." Henry grumbled.
"Astrid is there anything you need?" When she didn't respond he turned to go outside.
Henry was busy cleaning off the truck as it warmed up. He couldn't help to replay all of Astrid's reactions over in his mind. He really hoped that by offering her to stay, he hadn't pushed her away. He just understood the need for a safe, quiet space. Especially with how skidish they both were.
"I'm glad you got out of there." Ruff exhaled as she let go of Astrid.
"We had to get out of there. We just had to..." Astrid sighed as she departed from their embrace.
"So what happened?" Ruff prodded gently as she sat down at the kitchen table. They both turned to look over to Ally. She was still curled up on couch sleeping.
"Well, dad had been drinking with some of his "friends". I was up in my room, Ally had just settled down to sleep. They were making a lot of noise downstairs. I didn't hear one of the guys creep up to my room. I heard the door shut and there was this guy standing by the door. Ally started screaming and crying for me downstairs."
Ruff reached across the table and grabbed her hand.
"Gods, I tried to fight him off, but he..he choked me out. I woke up and all I could think about was Ally." They, they hurt ally last night. That sick bastard has been hurting me for years, but ally...Ruff she is only four." Astrid finished, exhausted with tears running down her face.
"Hey you did the right thing. You will be ok, you have got me and my unruly bunch. Hiccup's here for you. Astrid, he really is a nice guy. I still swear he bats for the other team though." Ruff chuckled gesturing to the whole house.
"I mean look at this place and how clean an organized it is! What single guy lives like this! At Tuff's you can only stand to be inside for three minute intervals and you have a 50/50 shot of getting tetanus walking across the living room! Ruff cackled. Astrid was on the otherside the table with a thoughtful expression and a small smile on her face. Finally, Ruff hadn't seen her friend smile in a long time.
Rolling the overstuffed cart to his truck. He had to admit that maybe he had gone a bit overboard. Check, yep his wallet was definitely lighter. In addition to the groceries, he had picked up a few kid friendly movies and toys. He wasn't really sure what kind of sizes they wore and to be honest he wasn't exactly comfortable picking out clothes.
His mind was a myriad of all the things they would probably need. Maybe Ruff could help? Was it too much? He didn't want to overstep his boundaries but it felt really good to be the one helping out for a change.
Henry headed back home with a bed full of items and a smile on his face.
Ruff and Astrid stayed at the table chatting. It felt good for both of them to catch up on the small things in life. Ruff was just finishing regaling her story. "So Johnny puts his stuffed toy in with Fish's work shirts. I swear the look on that man's face when he pulled out Pink shirts...and the sound he made! It sounded like he was stepping on a mouse!" Astrid chuckled. "Oh and the one time the boys were..." Ruff stopped short as the front door opened.
"Well, it seems like you ladies are having a good time." Henry smiled coming in the door.
"Please don't stop on my account." As he laid the bags down by the pantry and headed back out the door.
"Did you buy out half the store?" Ruff asked amused.
"Hey we could all use a little more feeding, don't you think?" He slapped his belly.
"Ha Ha Hiccup. And with that my time is up. I really need to get going. I wish I could stay longer, but we have to head over to Nana Ingramen's. I swear that woman keeps trying to correct my kids. Manners! ha, I like the unruly hooligans as they are! Let me give you their number. Call me if you need anything. We will be back tomorrow night." Ruff replied as she took the pen and paper off the table and jotted down the number.
Ruff rose up and hugged Astrid again. "Seriously, call me if you need me. We can leave the kids at Nana's."
Ruff turned and headed for the door. Henry followed her out and locked the door behind her.
"Well, that was eventful." Henry chuckled.
"Yeah, you know Ruff. It's even worse when her and her brother get together. They were absolute menaces in high school." Astrid shrugged.
"I bet, what a sight to see!" Henry exclaimed.
"Henry, are you sure this is ok? Isn't this all a bit much? Staying in your house, feeding us? We don't want to be a burden. We can stay over at Ruff's tomorrow when she comes back." Astrid asked nervously.
"You are not a burden. You like spaghetti? Never can get the taste quite right. Mind helping out?"
"Sure." Astrid replied as she leaned down to help put up the groceries.
"So Hiccup, huh?" Astrid asked while chopping the tomatoes. That girl was mean with a knife.
"Yeah, me and fish work at the same company right?" Astrid nodded.
" Well, we went through orientation together. Fred had issues climbing the poles, big man short legs. Senior guys said he looked like a fish trying to squirm up a pole, hence Fishlegs. Which worked out fine since he is more of a logistics man." Henry explained while turning the meat.
"That still doesn't explain where Hiccup came from." Astrid glanced up, looking for a further explanation.
"As for me, I use to get nervous when I got really high up and it gave me the hiccups, hence Hiccup." Henry stated.
"Do you still get the Hiccups?" Astrid asked amused.
"Only when getting out of the helicopter!" Henry laughed.
"Helicopter!?" Astrid gasped.
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Henry replied deadpan.
There was silence for a bit afterwards.
"Well, better get Ally up, she gets a bit cranky right after a nap." Astrid wiped her hands off and headed for the living room.
"You can call me Hiccup if you want." Astrid stopped and turned back towards him. She didn't know how she felt about calling him by his nickname. They'd just met. It felt weird? Intimate? Either way it was uncomfortable.
He must have read the look on her face. "Everyone else does. I swear everyone in this park has a nickname. Did you know the neighbors next to us go by Goethi and Old Wrinkly? Hell four lots down there are a couple of guys that go by Mulch and Bucket!" Henry barked out laughing.
"Oh no, really!?" Astrid laughed out. She had a beautiful smile, it felt good to see her laugh. Henry reminded himself to get her to laugh more often.
"Sweety come on, its time to get up for dinner." Astrid lightly shook her daughter.
"Mom?" Ally's sleepy eyes opened.
"Come on honey, gets get some dinner and then you can go back to sleep." Ally rolled off the couch.
Dinner was quite the affair. Ally was a bit more chatty as she told Henry about all her favorite disney characters. Astrid interjected here and there but really just enjoyed her daughter laughing at Henry. Poor man didn't know what he was signing himself up for!
"Alright honey, let Henry eat his dinner. And you need to eat yours aswell." Astrid lightly scolded.
"But Mom, Henry has never seen Beauty and the Beast!" Ally replied with a horrified expression.
Henry put his hands up surrendering. "It's a big deal. We are going to have to watch it soon." Ally just nodded. Another thing Henry was going to have to pick up was a booster seat. Poor Ally could barely reach the table.
"Here let me help." Astrid stood to help.
"I've got this mess." Hiccup replied and started collecting the dishes. He turned from the sink and pulled some bags out of the closet.
"Picked up a few extras while I was out. Hope this is ok?" As he handed the bags to Astrid.
She glanced down at the bags, inside was toiletries. Tear free shampoo, few stuffed toys, Disney collection dvd pack was in the other bag.
"Thank you, you didn't have to get these." Astrid looked up at Henry.
"I know, I wanted too." He looked into her eyes, hoping that she accepted the gifts. He turned back towards the dishes.
"Alright Ally time for a bath." Astrid picked up her daughter and headed for the bathroom.
"Why are you so quiet, honey?"
Ally was silent while her mom cleaned her face. "Is Henry a nice man, mommy? He acts like a nice man. Is he going to hurt us? "
Astrid stared into her daughters big blue eyes for a minute as she finished wiping her cheeks. "Honey, I don't think Henry is like that. I think he is a kind man and will not hurt you. Now let's wash the rest of you."
She looked down at the tub, hand swirling idly.
Astrid sat by the outside tub basin. She thought about today's turn of events. Less than 24 hours ago, she and her precious baby girl were stuck in that house of horrors. How it got to that point, she shuttered, she would revisit another day. She wondered what would happen now. Would they live with Ruff? Would they live at the shelter? Henry offered them to stay here, but could she trust him? She must have been sitting too long running her hand under the water, lost in her thoughts. When Ally spoke up. "Mamma, are we gonna have to go home and live with grandpa and uncle, again?"
"No honey, we are never going back there." Astrid stroked her daughter's long blond hair.
"Is that why they were mad and yelled at auntie Ruff?"
Astrid didn't reply. She just continued cleaning her daughter's hair.
Astrid winced, she stared at her reflection in the mirror while brushing her hair. She really did look worse for the wear. She also worried about Hiccup, men did not do anything for free, and she was anxious about what he was going to ask for in return. She looked down at Ally, she could take it, she just hoped he wouldn't try to hurt her little girl.
Later, they all settled down in the living room after cleaning up. The blinds were all closed, the doors locked. The house was warm, the spaghetti had been slightly edible. Watching cartoons on the tv. Hiccup was reclining back on the couch, while her and ally were leaned against one another under a blanket.
All in all it was a peaceful evening and one she could not remember having for a long time.
Henry lightly shook Astrid awake. "You both dozed off there, it's past ten." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Figured you would be more comfortable in the bed."
"Right." She carried her daughter down the hallway, trying not to wake her.
After laying her down and locking the door, she crept into the bed and tried to get comfortable.
"Is grandpa mad that I bit him?"
"Ally..." Astrid bit her lip.
"He was touching me and it really hurt. I screamed and cried for him to stop, but he didn't, so I bit his arm, hard." Astrid's heart broke for her fierce little girl.
"Grandpa hit me right here." She pointed to the red mark on her face.
"His face turned red, and he shoved my head down to the pillow and I couldn't breathe. He kept shouting at me and calling me names! I couldn't get away momma, I was really scared."
"Mom, did I do the right thing?" Astrid had to choke back a sob.
"Oh honey, I love you so much. You are a very brave girl for fighting back. I'm very sorry I wasn't there to stop him." Astrid leaned down and kissed her head.
She was so angry about what happened to her daughter, to both of them, but she was also relieved that the blood on the sheets wasn't from her little girl. They embraced for a while. Just silently holding each other til they fell asleep.