" hiccup?" His attention was brought back to reality by gobbers voice. He turned to see the older man step near him, gobbers eyes looked over to astrid where hiccup was staring before, a sad smile appeared as he looked as the young woman packed up the remaining things.
" You okay lad?"
" yeah, I just err-" his gaze flickered over towards his wife. And then to the ground between the two.
" You missed her" the statement hit hiccup hard, you have no idea. But he didn't have to say that, gobber was like a farther figure, he knew just by the look on his eyes how much hiccup had missed his Astrid.
" Look hiccup, why don't you take the day off, just spend some more time with her, fill her in on things we have been through these last two years, the things you have gotten up too with raising your son" his eyes wondered up towards gobber, he couldn't help to hide the goofy smile on his face.
" Really?" He excitement was too high to be contained, from gobbers view he looked like the 15 year old apprentice he took on all those years ago.
" Go on boy, me and Eret will take on your duties today, go be a husband" he shushed him along, but he didnt need too, the moment gobber said go, hiccup was jogging his way towards the discarded tent.
Xx
Astrid wandered around,stepping over the beams that were once supporting the tent itself, berserker men helped pack up the big wooden beams and the sheets of the tent onto skull crusher and grump, while toothless trotted behind her the bags attached to his side were still full of maps and plans that astrid had already sifted though before.
There was only one more chest left, as she unbuckled the locks and pulled up the heavy lid, the chest was full to the rim of papers, maps, and sketches. She lifted up the drawings she knew were sketched by her husband, they were mostly pictures of toothless, or Stoick, she took her time at looking at the detail of her sons face. As she flicked through the rest in her hand she came across some of her, she had never some across these before, rubbing her thumb over the tear stains she knew he had sketched these from memory, two years of hell and she didn't think about how hiccup was feeling throughout these last two years, she never asked.
She rolled up the drawings, not wanting to dread on something that was in the past, and placed them in one of toothless' bags. Returning to the chest she came across, piles and piles of maps that were spots around the entire barbaric archipelago, there was crosses and lines drawn all over them, unrolling them out she traced her finger over the lines following them along the map, she realised that these were the places she had been taken too over the past two years, and hiccup had been right behind her, trying to catch up with them, tracing over the lines she remembered the first time the boat had made dock, it was about three weeks after her son had been born and she was stripped away from him.
She was awoken, rudely. As the hard boot kicked her stomach with one deep blow, astrid gasped for air, opening her glued shut eyes to a man, she was sick of seeing.
" Hello my lovely" grimbeard. His touch gritty fingers hovered over her cheek bone, and trailed their way though her now dirty hair. She hated them fingers, them hands.
Three weeks. Three weeks she had spent on this cold hard floor, working her arse off from crack a dawn in the morning till late at night, the minimum of food and any chance her captures got to give her a busted lip or another whip mark on her back.
She growled under his touch, smacking his hand away, which was no favour for her as the man grabbed the hair at the back of her neck, pulling the top half of her off the ground. She immediately clasped over his one hand with both of hers, and she looked grimbeard dead in the eyes. However with her busted lip from her previous encounter with grimbeard she was not looking as intimidating as she wanted to.
" Remember who's roof your under sweet heart" he through the her back on the dirty ground, her face grazing the floor as he got up and walked to the entrance of her cage.
" Or do you want another trip to the cold room again?" His smirk grew, that sick, creepy smirk she wished she could bash off his smug face.
As she sat up she slowly shook her head, eyes on the ground in front of her. " thought not"
The cold room. A room no one wished to enter, it was worse enough, if you did your job wrong or too slow or just breathed in a way that pissed the guards off you would get a beating. But the cold room was a place you stay in for 24 hrs, not food and definitely no sleep.
Grimbeard ran this boat, and all the rest in dragon armarda. He was Dragos main allie, grimbeard supplied the boats and equipment, Drago supplied the dragons, which ment he also supplied the men as well,those who were scared enough not to defy him anyway.
This ship, however big it was astrid did not know, but this ship was a city on water, and the cold room, grimbeard loved so much, was in the deepest darkest part of it, right at the bottom where there was no heat, no life, nothing. Astrid had been there more than anyone, since being the wife of the chief she was questioned the most out of all the villagers that were taken three weeks ago. Drago wanted hiccup, for what he would not say, but he seemed on edge to find him. As much as he needed the people of berk for the slave trade he need hiccup more, why he kept moving and not stay still for her husband to find them she didn't know. But she felt that Drago was hiding something, so she was determined find it out.
So she was questioned, mainly every day, they might miss a day or so, but that was usually after she had just had a good beating and was too weak to even move. But astrid being astrid of course she had been defiant, and on the occasions of times she would piss them off so much she was punished with the cold room.
A room where you are chained by the wrists and hang in a dark room with the feet only scraping the floor, for 24 hrs. They had no food, no rest and no sleep. Since the cold room was only for one sex group. Women. They would hang there for hours, weak and exhausted and whenever the men of the ship decided they needed 'entertaining' they would come in and have their way with any poor unlucky soul that hung there.
Astrid was usually that poor unlucky soul.
They would make a standing joke of it, the men of the ship, that they could have their way with another mans wife, with a Chiefs wife, and there was nothing he could do about it.
But she was grimbeards favourite. He would call her his blonde deity. But that's what made astrids skin crawl the most, she was not his,she would never be his. She was hiccups, and his alone.
But down here, in this cage. That didn't matter not to them. She was meat for the taking in their eyes and it was sickening.
She pulled her legs up into her chest, a position she felt more secure in, with most of her vulnerable parts covered. She was brought back to reality by the banging of cages, and pirates had made their way into the prison, some she knew, some she didn't.
" Wakey wakey cockroaches!" Grimbeard yelled. " we have a little treat for you" she eyes landed on astrid " we have made a short pit stop, and decided to stay here for a few days!"
" come on, come see where you will be staying the next few nights" the cage doors opened, and there stood out side each cage was a man with chains, ready to restrain them. She turned to her friends,to her mother in law and together the people of berk was shown off the boat.
In rows of two the prisoners were taken to the top of the ship, and for the first time in weeks they were greeted with cool fresh air. For the first time she had been on this boat she was finally seeing it for what it was. As they came out to the main deck of the boat she could see it for all its glory.
High pillars that went up stories high, catapult systems, bigger than the ones she had seen in Berk, the main deck was like a training area, in the middle arenas where pirates trained and around the outskirts was large cages full of different types of dragons, some species she had seen, zippleback, monstrous nightmare, nadders, whispering deaths. Others were more quite unquie and beautiful, species she knows Hiccup and fishlegs would die to see.
As they came to the entrance of the ship, a big wooden ramp attached to the side the fell downwards and landed on the docks of their first place of port, her mind was brought back from admiring the ship to the main man him self, stood at the front staring down at all the things he owned.
" Bring me Chief Haddock's wife" drago's cold croaky voice spoke out the the crowd, as his fat stumpy finger pointed towards her, she saw the guards come from all angles, grabbing her roughly by the arms and pulling her away from the rest of the prisoners.
" Astrid?!" Vals voice shouted from behind, but before she could even turn around she was dragged harshly towards the man himself.
There she was thrown in front of Drago, grimbeard and the pirate captain of this ship.
" hello beautiful" grimbeard's hand came around from behind pulling a piece of hair and tucking behind her ear, she immediately pulled back, earning her a heavy smack to the face.
" Grimbeard, I brought hiccups wife here to talk, we don't lay our hands on our guests" drago said calmly as he made slow paced towards the two.
" She disrespects my needs" His voice was like poison.
" She can satisfy them another time, now I would like to have a word here with mrs Haddock" he pulled an arm around her frail body and dragged her with him away from that creep of a friend of his.
" Now mrs Haddock do you know where we are?" His voice still sent chills down her spine as he guided her to the edge of the boat to look down on where her friends, her tribe, her family was being guided off the boat and walking along the beach.
She shook her head as an answer, " we are at an isle I like to call bone island" at first the name meant nothing but as she watch further as her friends suffered walking over the sand on then beach, she released it was not sand they were walking on, but bones, dead bones of people, children, dragons, you name it.
" it's an isle no viking has ever come to port at, Because it's known to be haunted by a dragon, ones fire that can burn through stone and metal a like. They states it lives in the shadows, which from what you can remember, it does" her mind went back to three weeks ago, when snot lout and eret explained to her husband that the dragon they dealt with lived and breathed in the shadows and shot out lava like fire.
" I'm wondering what little hiccup might be thinking now?" He taunted with her, played games in her mind. So she stood tall and answered in the best way she could.
" It's said an ordinary man can do the impossible to find the woman he loves, I think we both know, my husband is no ordinary man" she looked at his with pride and confidence behind her withering dead eyes.
" Oh I'm counting on it"
xx
" you know it drove me insane not finding you" He husbands voice spoke from behind her, she drew her gaze from the map to look up towards him, he had made his way through the cascaded beams and tent sheets to where she was next to one of his chests.
" I'd spend hours in my office or any quiet room I could find and try to figure out their next move, try to be their before him, but he was always 10 steps ahead of me, I was driving myself crazy not finding you, the only real thing that kept me sane was stoick, cause with him I had a purpose, he needed me to survive, and he was the last thing I had left of you, apart from your things, he was truly the only thing I could get close to you. He stopped me from going mad." As he spoke, Astrid proceeded to place the remaining maps in toothless' sacks, only to walk up to him after he had finished speaking, taking his face in her hands.
" Hey, you found me, I'm here, you did that. It wasn't all for nothing." His pushes her fingers through the hair and the back of his neck and head, pulling him down slowly and pressing his lips to hers, feeling the love and desperation he was feeling in one move, she could feel his fingers crawl over her body and he drew her close, finally feeling the warmth of his wife he had missed so much. Him tugging on her body made her pull his head down more, colliding their lips together more, making it more impossible to pull the couple apart as the mouths wandered the others.
But as they stood in the middle of their camp where the majority of the Vikings were still packing up, they were soon noticed and was brought attention too immediately.
" Wooo, you go Chief" snotlout voice echoed in the back ground and other put their imput in with a few " wooo" And " awww" and forgetting the " yeeaah!" With came from the one and only tuffnut.
The two pulled apart, red faced and too embarrassed to look at each other right now so their eyes drifted to the floor.
" I - I Err should get back to cleaning this up, pretty sure you have some Chief stuff you should be getting on with" she teased poking the side of his stomach.
" Err - ha" he came a little side laugh " Well that's actually why- err - why I'm here, gobber, he Err he gave me the day off, said he and eret would cover for me, let me be a husband for one more day, since when we get back home, it's all hands on deck. So yeah your stuck with me" sh shrugged, that goofy smile plastered on his face.
He watched as that glimmer of hope in her eyes spread throughout her face as she was beaming when she ran up to him swinging her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his thin waist. He stumbled a bit but regained his balance as he wrapped his arms around her, giving her a little squeeze.
" Didn't think you would be this happy to spend a whole day with me" he laughed as she buried her face deep into his neck.
Her voice so quiet yet serious answered " I need you now more than ever"
He gave her a squeeze, letting her weight rest into his, he could stay here for ever, wrapped up in his wife's embrace, oh how he missed this.
xx
They set off about an hour before mid day with sacks and bags on their backs and dragons dragging wagons full of cargo behind them, they had a few hours walk ahead off them before they meet spitlout and a group of berkians at the half way point. From there what astrid knew they would load half of the cargo onto the dragons waiting for them, so they could fly the rest of the way, and hopefully be home before midnight, be home before her baby boy has fallen asleep.
Hiccup watched as he and Astrid walked side to side over the grassy plain fields, he watched as her eyes drifted off into the space around them, he could tell by just looking at her what she was thinking about, it was like the words were written on her forehead.
" I told gothi to keep him awake as long as possible, I knew no matter what happened I was coming home today, I promised him that even though I was going to miss his birthday I was coming home with his mother and a party." He gave her his goofy smile, she knew how much the Haddocks loved to throw a good party.
" A two year old having a party, oh how you spoil him" she nudged the side of him.
" well he was upset about me missing his birthday, but his face lit up when I said I was coming back a few days later with a village wide party and his mother. Plus I had ask gobber to make him a wooden play axe, I gave it gothi to give him on the morning of his birthday" while the two continued their conversation hiccups hand drifted down to hers, locking their fingers together.
" Well at least while I was interrogating Dagur of his presence on that damn ship, our boy was getting an axe of his birthday"
" well he wanted to be just like him mom with an axe, however he did ask for a smaller axe like his grandpa stoick" she looked over to him, he never really talk much of his farther, but when he did, it was with a mixture of sad and happy eyes.
" Stoick knows of his grandpa?" She asked, intrigued of learning more behind the mystery of little stoick Haddock.
" Well Yeah, from a young age I told him about him mom and grandma how were not here now but was coming back soon. But as he got past one, he got to asking questions, especially about the large statue in the middle of the village" he laughed.
" He loves hearing about my dad, I haven't told him yet about how he died, but stoick knows that he is in heaven now." She gave his hand a squeeze, talking about his dad was always hard for hiccup since he past, but hiccup always said that every time he did, it got a little easier.
As he felt her hand tighten around his, he leaned over to peck her cheek, enjoying every second he had his wife in his grasp again.
" I know how much you miss him" a sad smile appeared on his face, 'he did terribly'.
" yeah, my dad would have loved to meet stoick, he would have been the proudest grandpa in the entire village, I just know it. He is so smart astrid, so smart. I've never had a conversation like it, a toddler who is so innocent and yet so smart. He really is something."
She watched as he expressed how much love he had for their boy, using his hands of course, 25 years and hiccup Haddock still used hand gestures. Though she couldn't help the smile appear on her face as he continued, it was only when he saw her admiring him as they were walking that he stopped to question it.
" What?" She questioned with half a laugh.
She only smiled at first, lugging the bag on her back further up her shoulder, " nothing, I just love it when you talk about him, you sound like how your farther used to talk about you -" he narrowed his eyes towards her.
" Proud"
a genuine smile appeared on her face, as the two continued to walk, with toothless trotting beside them.
" I am proud, how could I not be, you'll see astrid, he's everything"
xx
They continued to walk north, and the further north they got the more like home astrid felt, she looked over her shoulder towards ruff, snot, valka, mulch, the bakers daughter, the fishermans son, and all the rest she had lived with over these past two years, which was 24 months, 104 weeks give or take and 730 days. Seems like another life time now, but looking back on those she saw as family, she could see the reflection of herself in their faces, she saw relief.
As they were coming up to the half way point, where she could just about see they would be greeted with friends, family, dragons and hopefully some quality food, she pushed herself up to hiccup, just enough for him to get the hint to wrap his arm around her small shoulders.
" What's up?" It's not like he hasn't seen astrid all loved up before, but this behaviour was usually one in a million, especially in public.
" I'm just happy" she hummed into his collar, as he placed a deep kiss on her forehead.
They arrived just after mid day, they were a few hours behind schedule, which both worried and concerned Astrid, would it be another day before I can finally meet my son. But she was happy on the other side, as the large group of berkians and berserkers was greeted by familiar faces, many astrid knew, but none were emotionally attached to her in that way. They just knew her as the Chiefs wife and mother to their little heir, so of course she got plenty of hugs and 'hey 's. But one face imperticular caught her eye, as the tall woman came up to her and wrapped her arms around her.
" My dear astrid, how happy I am to see you safe and sound" Mala. A friendly face astrid was actually happy to see. What she wasn't planning on seeing was Hroar, dangling off Mala's back, gosh he was so big now, the last time she saw dagur and Mala's son was just over two years ago, he was four then, and now?
" Oh my gosh, Hroar?" Mala brought him to the front of them placing him down between the two.
" I know he's massive" astrid admired the boy, two years seems so long, how has time affected her boy it made her wonder.
" How old is he?"
" six, he will be doing the berserker trails no doubt soon enough, dagur is so proud to say his son will be first place in everything" the two ladies laughed, dagur always did remind her of a certain Jorgenson.
" Oh Mala-boo" the two turned to see dagur trotting towards them, with hiccup waltzing behind him.
" Oh how I have missed my sugar plum and my little warrior" dagur only shows this side of him when surrounded by his closet family and friends, to anyone else he was a mad man not to be messed with.
" Daddy" seeing the three reunite, both hiccup and astrid felt out of place, taking one another by the hand the slowly kept away, trying not to disturb the family.
" I can't believe how big Hroar is" astrid stated once out of ear shot.
" Yeah, but he is still as sweet as, he was a proper good babysitter for me, when I had meetings of course." As they walked through the large group of people, reuniting like dagur, Mala and Hroar, spitlout and snotlout, a familiar squark came from behind. Turning to only see a very excited stormfly to finally get to meet her rider and friend, she bounded over to them, not caring who stood in her way.
" Stormfly!" The blond race towards her long lost flying friend, jumping up and wrapping her arms around the front of stormflys nose, the bird like dragon snuffled her owner, slowly nudging her blond rider with excitement and love.
" Oh stormfly, I missed you so much girl, I missed you so much" she looked back to hiccup, a smirk on his face suggested he had something to do with this.
" Thank you"
That smug smile shows no signs of going anywhere, " well I couldn't keep you two apart for much longer, a dragon needs her rider." Hiccup walked up to the two, scratching the side of stormflys head while Astrid rubbed her friends nose affectionately.
" Well I know I certainly need you" nuzzling deep into her nose.
" Well I was thinking," Hiccup took a step behind her, wrapping his long arms around her body pulling her back into his chest while he rested his head on her shoulder, " you might want to ride her home" that smirk was only growing wider.
" I'd love too" teasing him by placing a chase kiss on the side of his cheek, " let's hope I've not forgotten how to fly" her voice sent shivers down his spine as she whispered into his ear.
" That's impossible," he flipped her around so she was facing him " dragon riding is in your blood, Astrid Haddock" the space between them seemed to disappear with in seconds, both didn't know when it happened, but right there as their mouths collided they didn't care.
" Ehhh" the two stopped and looked, gobber stood there arms crossed, and Hiccup could see in his godfathers eyes, the look of his farther.
" When I said ' ave the day off, be a husband fer the day' that didn't mean ' suck the face off yer wife' get a room" the older man walked off with his head shaking as if he was disapproving the husband and wife sharing a kiss.
And in the back ground hiccup could only hear the giggles of Astrid as she buried her face into his chest.
xx
The fly took longer than expected, once loading the cargo onto the extra dragons, it was already 3:00 o'clock and the wind was against them, pushing them back every single step of the way.
' Great, it's like the gods hate me, could this possibly get any worse'
And as the mind of the young blond filled with doubt and pessimism, a speck of rain fell upon her shoulder, giving her a reason to let out all her frustration.
" Great, just great, thank you!" She yelled up into the sky full of dark gloomy clouds as stormfly was battling the winds, " just what I needed" that came out as more of a whisper, as she had finally come to the term, she was going to have to wait to see her son tomorrow.
A coo from the side caught her attention from her self pity, as toothless hovered next to his blue scaled friend and the rider on top lifted up his helmet.
" Who are you yelling at?"
" Oh, just the gods, they seem to be throwing hell and all its demons at me today. It probably has to do something with my mother, this has her name written all over it, even from the grave she is still trying to teach me a lesson."
Astrids mother past just before the whole Drago situation, and her farther had died when she was five, leaving the haddocks as Astrid's only real family. But even though the passing of her mother was hard on Astrid she can't complain on how easier her life is now, or was before losing two years of it. Her mother, throughout her teenage years, would always put unwanted stress on her, questioned her look, her knowledge, her abilities, her choices, even down to the point of her boyfriend, her mothers opinion was not far behind.
She claimed to love her mother, she really did, she had learnt so much, like how to fight, how to sew, how to clean, how to please her husband to be. She had even tried to teach her too cook, though astrid was still to this day learning that ability. Her mother had taught her a lot about children, what to do to make the pregnancy smooth and how to care for the baby, and even though the birth was tough and she had not see her baby since that fateful night, her pregnancy was smooth, and went to full term.
But even though her mothers wise words were behind astrid even step of the way through those nine months of carrying her child, astrid couldn't help but think how happy she was her mother wasn't there while she was pregnant, because what would have supposed to be the most amazing few months of your life, would have turned into the Devils game, and her mother being the main host.
" your mother has nothing to do with the weather astrid" her husband laughed, but he himself knew how awkward Ms Hofferson was.
" Oh sure, your telling me my mother wouldn't have done something like this if she had the power too?"
He went to argue his point, but stopped, paused, had the hiccup thinking face on and in the moment submitted, " I can't answer that, out of the respect that she was an older woman and she was your mother, no matter if she was the devils spawn." He flicked his helmet back on a regained into flight mode, but he couldn't help but smile when he hear the blondes giggles from the side of him.
" If she is Devils spawn then what does that make me?" She questioned with a hint of a tease in her voice.
" Well need I say no more" he muffled back as the two flew side by side.
" You cheeky bastard, I can still kick your arse" there was that teasing voice, no hiding it from him now.
" See threatening the chief, I could have you hanged"
" I'd like to see you try."
xx
The sun had set hours ago, but Astrid still held on to hope that Stoick might still be up, as the burning lights of her home village came into view, she felt flutters in her stomach at the thought of being home again, the village she had not seen for two years, her home, her family.
But yet as their island came clearer she couldn't help but feel the strings in her heart tighten at the thought, it's been two years she has stepped foot on that island, what if all the memories come back hitting her head on, what if she can't go into the house she was dragged away from, what if she can't be a mother, she had not fucking clue what to do when she finally meets Stoick, she thought it might come naturally but that still didn't convince her.
Her mind liked to play tricks on her, it was one of the torture methods the Pirates liked to use, as well as physical torture, the mental torture was much worse, it was the thing that broke astrid the most.
As stormflys clawed feet hit the ground, she was soon submerged with familiar surroundings, huts, path ways, carts, gobbers forge, the training arena and finally familiar faces. The crowd of Vikings hurdling towards them all like a wave, all at once and fast. She felt overwhelmed, over faced, she was so close to pulling on stormflys neck and flying for another hour around the island, she didn't want the questions, didn't want the hassle.
But she felt an anchor, an anchor to this island, an anchor to this home. It was in the shape of a hand, a hand on her leg, that was attached to hiccup haddock himself, as he could see the overwhelming look in her eyes.
" I got you"
he held his arms up ready to help her down, if it wasn't for her stubborn attitude it would have been quite romantic. " I'm quiet capable on getting down myself" she claimed throwing her other leg around the side getting ready jump down.
" I know, but I still got you" she slid down into his firm grasp, letting him, for that moment, wrap his arms protectively around her. She had expected questions, they had all been gone for so long, she'd find it strange if they didn't. But all at once, one question after the other, she felt as if she was choking on her own tongue.
" Please everyone give them all room" hiccups voice boomed to the villagers. With hiccups arm still wrapped around her, walking through the crowd, she looked back on those she trusted most. Val was in conversation with ruff and tuffs mother, as she held her now found daughter on her arms.
Snot was surprisingly with his farther, the two hadn't split since the half way point, mulch of course was attached to bucket, or should we say bucket was attached to mulch, not wanting to let his best friend out of sight again. All the old faces, happy cause they were with family, cause they were free. But she didn't feel free, she would only feel free once she held her son in her arms, that's all that mattered, but before that could happen, she was surrounded by new but yet familiar faces of the alliance.
There, stood right in front of her, the 5 Viking tribes;
Dagur, Heather and Mala- with the berserker/ wing maidens tribe behind them, not forgetting Hroar running around, wired on what ever dagur had fed him.
Camicazi and her mother Big Boobied Bertha - a crazy tribe no doubt, but hiccup had known cami since he was a young heir, and the two would meet at chief council meeting when kids. Not to mention cami was one of Astrids bridesmaids.
Norbert the nut job - clue its in the name.
Madguts the muderus - deadly, but his interest in dragons, made him a loyal allie, though berk does not condone the tribes actions, madguts was a loyal friend.
And finally, Alvin the treacherous - he may be an outcast, but his loyalties lie with berk and berk alone.
There the five Chiefs stepped forward and bowed at them, " we are glad to see you alive and well Mrs haddock" norbert said as he raised from his bow. He was known to be a total nutter, but from their first encounter, astrid had always been norbert's favourite out of berk. Of course he liked hiccup but her loved astrid, he once admitted she reminded him of his late only daughter, who died in child birth, so once astrid had informed him of her pregnancy, he was all for helping her out.
" Astrid's always been a tough bird, made of steel that one, she even scares me sometimes." Alvin joked, of course astrid laughed too, Alvin had been like a crazy uncle over the years, you could say. Though she wouldn't be feeling as tough if it wasn't for her husbands arm holding her up.
" I wanted to thank you," hiccup started, squeezing astrid tightly " I don't know what i would have don't with out you, any of you. You are all welcome for the night, and there will be a feast tomorrow in celebration on the return of those we thought we lost. But seriously there are families who are whole today because of you, my family is whole because of you. Thank you" the emotion in his voice poured out, but he meant it. Every last word.
The tribe leaders departed, leaving the husband and wife alone together, while the rest of their tribe greeted the long lost friends and family. But even though this was one of the happiest moments in her life, Astrid still felt like something was missing.
But hiccup was already on it, still holding on to her he leaned over towards where Eret stood and whispered ever so quietly, " can you get stoick from my house" with that smug smirk on his face the ex pirate walked off with a skip in his step.
Standing there waiting, was torture, but yet her nerves were over thrown by excitement, has hiccups hand crept into hers giving it a quick squeeze.
She knew this was it, no more delays, no more excuses, she would finally see her baby boy.
Waiting the nerves got the best of her, doing what astrid does, pacing and wondering, contemplating of if she is a good enough mother. While hiccup stayed leaning against toothless, feeding him bits of fish after the long flight they had just had, the murmurs of the rest of the tribe could still be heard behind them.
" What if he doesn't like me"
" what if he doesn't want to know me"
" what if I can't be the mother he needs"
" he doesn't know me Hiccup, what if, what if I scare him"
She kept pacing, faster and faster, nibbling on her fingernail while hiccup shook his head in laughter.
She stopped, that pissed look on her face, he got that a lot when she was pregnant, " is this a joke to you? I'm glad you find it funny" she began to pace again, her mind filled with seething thoughts ' unbelievable, he thinks this a joke'.
Hiccup stopped his laughter, best not poke the bee hive any further. Standing up from leaning on his best friend, he sauntered over to her placing two hands on her shoulders, stopping her in place, but she still bibles on her nails.
" Milady, stoick already adores you, and has wished for your return ever since I showed him the drawing of you. He loves you, and he wants his mommy." She dropped her hand and head at the same time, allowing him to sneak a quick kiss on her head.
" Thank you" she went to lean up for a quick kiss, but before her lips touched his, a voice came from the crowd.
" Excuse me, excuse me, oi are we invisible! VIP coming through." Erets large figure fought through the crowds, he finally broke through to where the young chief, his best friend and his wife stood waiting. Important cargo in his arms.
Hiccup took the first step towards Eret, walking up to him and taking back what he had missed so much.
" D-daddy!" The boys squealed , tiny arms wide as his farther wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close.
" Oh buddy, I've missed you so much" squeezing the boy tight.
Astrid stood watch, unable to move, just standing there admiring her two boys, together. She didn't realise it from the pictures, but he looked like hiccup so much.
" Daddy back, daddy back wiv me" His voice so vivid, so tiny as well.
" I promised didn't I, I said I would be back, with a party and more friends" the boy played with his farthers hair.
" And guess what else I brought back, what I promised." He turned around and held the boy so he could see as pointed towards where Astrid stood.
She stood, arms wrapped up within themselves, her eyes looked into his, they were so young, so innocent, so perfect.
" Who's that?" Hiccup whispered into the boys ear as his tiny eyes never left her.
" Dat- dat mommy. Mom-mommy, dat mommy" her breaths got louder as he said her name, her eyes began to fill up as he said her name, her mind was focused on this moment she hadn't released the six tribes around them, had stopped the mumbling and was watching this reunion.
" That's right, that's mommy, didn't I tell you I'd bring mommy home"
" mommy mommy mommy" he mumbled her name, dribbled it some might say as hiccup bent down and placed the boy on the ground, but he still kept hold.
" Go to mommy for me, go on, run mommy" he slowly let go of the boy and he took one step with a yawn, then the next step and finally before she knew it she was bent down with her arms wide as her baby, her son came stumbling towards her, his tiny legs unable to keep him up but he still kept going, till finally he was in her arms one again.
" Oh my baby" she grasped on tight, felling his tiny frame squeeze tightly too.
" Mommy" she pulled back to look at him in the face, try and memorise every feature.
" Oh stoick, my boy, mommy has missed you so so much. So much" she pulled him back into her embrace feeling the hot tears of happiness run down her face, and they only fell more as she felt another set of arms around her, much longer and stronger, and yet so much love as well.
Hiccup crouched there holding his family in his arms, his now whole family. He had done it, from years of preparation, he had finally brought his wife back to him, back to stoick, like he had promised he would have, he finally was whole again himself.
xx
" and that's when daddy got toothless to grab mommy from the ground, and she screamed so loud when she released her feet was no longer running on grass but air" hiccup giggled stroking the boys head as he lay in his little cot.
" I didn't scream, it was more of a yell, I was telling daddy to stop being silly and let me down" Astrid was on the other side of the cot, her hand hand not left his since they had entered the house, her house, their house. Not much had changed, furniture still the same, just more child toys if anything, stoicks room was adorable of course.
" she threatened me, your mommy has a temper on her and likes to tell daddy what to do" he pulled his tongue out like he was teasing her, oh he was definitely teasing her.
" Well maybe daddy need telling what to do once and a while, otherwise where would we be today?" Her raised eyebrow and cocky look in her eye only proved she was right, Astrid was always the push behind the chiefs decisions, it's why he needed her so much. So he did not answer.
" More - more" Stoick demanded from his cot. Not long after a large yawn.
" Oh I think we have had enough story telling for today, it's late, super late. And you have heard the story before young man" prodding the boys belly till he got a little giggle, he took Astrids free hand to guide her out of the room, but stoick still hand hold.
" Mommy here in mornin?" His big eyes full of hope, she could only bend down and kiss his little hand.
" I'm not going anywhere, ever again" she kissed it one more time and finally let go, her heart already craving to hold his hand once more.
xx
Walking back into her room, their room, was like going back in time. Nothing had changed. Not really, the bed was the same, their dresser draws were the same, the only thing that was different, the only thing was new sheets. She walked up slowly, rubbing her hand over the fresh new sheets, with the fur covering at the bottom of the bed, it was a wedding gift off valka, she likes to call it the " baby making" blanket. Oh the embarrassment.
Hiccup stood in the door way, he felt best to let astrid walk in alone, for one he didn't want to overload her with everything all at once. But he also wanted her to take her time, let her be the one to make the first step.
He watched her shuffle long around the room, picking up odd bits of stuff laying around, until she finally came across something that she thought was lost.
Taking wide slow steps she came up to the side of the bed where her bed stand was, there hung on a hook, was a chain. And on that chain right at the bottom was two sliver rings, one a white sliver band, her wedding band, and the other white silver like the other but this one had a diamond on the end, beautiful diamond with a white shimmer. Her engagement ring, what a story behind that that, but that was a story for another day.
" I thought I lost these" taking the chain off the hook.
" I found them when we came back to Berk" with the rings in her hands she whipped her head back to see hiccup walking towards her.
" our room was a mess, and they were there perfectly on the ground, I don't know whether you had lost them, or the pirates left them there to torment me."
She looked down at the rings, held them in her hands and felt him cup his under hers rubbing her skin with his thumbs.
" But I kept them, held them close, showed them to stoick, so that one day," he took the rings, unhooked the chain and threw it to the draws. " I could do this" grabbing her left hand with his soft touch, he took the rings and slid them onto her fourth finger.
Looking down at her hand, Astrid had missed what was missing over the years " you are wife Astrid, till the day I die you will always be my wife, I love you" she couldn't help the smile on her face, though hiccup Haddock was always one for making her smile. She jumped, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his middle, planting her lips on his, causing him to stumble on his legs.
Falling back into bed Hiccup lay on his back letting Astrid be on top. He might have to get used to this position for a while if he wants to get back to the way he and his wife were. His mouth moved with hers, like they had never been absent before, gliding along each other, feeling their tongues graze one another.
" Thank you" she pulled back, still facing him, still seconds apart, her hand still weaves in his hair.
" It wasn't your fault astrid, we will take this a slow a humanly possible if necessary, I don't need anything all I need was you back. It's not your fault, never was, we can put everything behind us and move, slowly, but still move on.
she didn't say anything, she didn't need too, she knew his words were true. In time they might go back to normal, but now, the young wife will kiss her husband till they fall asleep.
Because she loved him too.