Guest - I could have, but that would have been a little short and overly repetitive after a while? I'm glad you like their relationship though!

-HTTYD-

"So... how long are you back here for?"

"A fortnight. I wanted to come back longer, but there's a huge whale rescue I'm needed at."

Hiccup found himself chuckling as she frowned, not the subject itself being funny but the fact this woman he had been born to was some feral vigilante animal saver.

"Can I ask..."

Valka didn't need to hear him finish the question.

"Why I gave you up?"

"Yeah. I don't bear a grudge... I love my family. Astrid's the centre of my world. But I guess I want to know why all the same."

Valka pulled her knees up to her chest, the first time he had seen her with closed body language.

"You came early into this world. I was scared, I was alone and I just... I didn't think I could cope. Your biological father wanted nothing to do with the pregnancy, and it was a difficult seven and a half months. I never regretted keeping you Hen- Hiccup, but I knew I couldn't offer you the life you deserved. As it transpired, I was diagnosed with severe post-natal depression not long after I signed the papers giving you up. I've often wondered if that influenced my decision, but looking at you with Astrid... I think it was right for you."

Hiccup had never known he was premature. But then, he had never known he was adopted before. His mother may not have known - he was three months old when adopted, he could have been a healthier weight and size then.

Or at least, a classic Hiccup size.

"Yeah. I agree. Though I wouldn't have wished that time on anybody."

"It was worth it. To see you all grown up, such a strong and wonderful man before me."

Hiccup smiled, though it possibly became a grimace as phantom pains pulsed through where his leg used to be.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I was injured in... in the accident. I..." he faltered, sucked in a deep breath and pushed the information out "I lost my lower leg in the crash. I wear a prosthetic."

Valka didn't turn to horror or even sympathy as Hiccup was mostly used to, she was maybe surprised and even a touch curious. But no pity. He appreciated that.

"And you went through all that and still took care of your sister?"

"Astrid needed me. I think it helped actually... I needed to get through physio, needed to get past my fear of cars for her. I have a therapy dog that means I walk every day, and he always knows when I need cheering up."

Warm fingers curled around his, surprising Hiccup slightly as his stomach jolted.

"Words cannot express how proud I am to know you."

Struck speechless, Hiccup looked down at where their hands were loosely joined. Valka took the look wrongly and withdrew her hand immediately.

"I'm sorry, I've become overly tactile mostly being around animals and-"

"It's fine. I just... it surprised me is all. Astrid's super tactile too, I'm used to it."

Wanting to reassure her, Hiccup reached back and took her hand more on instinct than reason. Valka smiled at him and the strange jolt in his stomach returned. She truly lit up when she smiled, huge green eyes alight with emotion.

"What are you looking at?"

"You. It's just strange after assuming I never looked much like my parents to see someone who looks so much like me."

Her cheeks tinged pink under the scrutiny, and a hesitant hand reached to trace the side of his jaw.

"You have your fathers ears, and this part here reminds me exactly of him when he used to shave."

"Used to?"

He didn't ask her to stop touching his face. Valka seemed no more inclined herself.

"Mhmm. He started growing a beard almost the day we graduated secondary school."

Hiccup ran a self-conscious hand over his jaw, the opposite side to Valka so as not to dislodge her hand.

"I can barely grow stubble. I don't think I got that from him."

Valka chuckled, but before she could respond a voice cut into their bubble.

"Isn't he a little young for you?"

Some woman with a (rather cute) dog was scowling at the two, sort of holding hands with Valka's hand on his face. Hiccup stood up with a scowl, glad for once of his height as the woman had to look up at him rather than sneer down at him.

"She's my mother. Today is the first time we met."

Never had someone backtracked so fast. The woman's face took on an interesting shade of white, and after a few spluttering sounds she quickly took herself far into the distance. Sitting back down, Hiccup threw a frown at her retreating figure.

"I feel bad for her dog."

Valka looked quite upset, and he wanted to go yell at the nosy cow that had disturbed them some more.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."

"What? No! Aside from anything else, what two consenting adults do is none of her or anybody else's business. And the only person who should be embarrassed is her. If I had a problem with you touching my face, I would have told you."

She looked so distressed that Hiccup felt bad for her, angry that a day he had almost dreaded was going so well had been darkened by that woman. He reached for her hand to reassure her, and Valka let him take it.

"Thank you. I've just been so worried about today, and it seemed to be going so well and then-"

"It is going well. Well, I think so. Is she really important enough to change that?"

Many times comforting Astrid had come in handy, as Hiccup slipped immediately into that role faced with a distressed female, awkwardness a secondary emotion in that instance for once.

"I suppose not."

"That's the spirit."

Finally, Valka smiled again and warmth blossomed in Hiccup's chest like sunshine glowing in his heart. Months of nerves and everything else leading up to this day... and it turned out they got along pretty easily. It was all oddly natural, the awkwardness abating as they talked.

His phone rang, Astrid's name flashing up on the screen.

"Excuse me, it's Astrid" Valka nodded as Hiccup clicked 'answer' "hello?"

"Hey bro. Are you still out with Valka?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Didn't want you on your way over to me. I wanna stay here for the night."

"Any particular reason?"

"I wanna get laid?"

Hiccup had to fight not to visibly splutter in surprise, though if Astrid hadn't been so blunt he would have been far less shocked.

"O-ok. When do I expect you back?"

"Tomorrow, say... eleven?"

"Alright. If anything changes-"

"I'll call you. Try not to worry bro. Heather and Dagur said hi."

"Tell them I said hi too. Love you."

"Love you too Hiccup. Later!"

They hung up on each other, then Hiccup turned back to Valka.

"Everything alright?"

"Oh? Yeah. Astrid just letting me know she wants to spend the night at her girlfriend's. Before she graduated school, Astrid had a curfew and if I missed it even one night that evil cow Bertha would have done her utmost to say I was unfit."

"Bertha?"

"Our old social worker. We got her kicked off our case with a formal complaint for giving me the adoption paperwork prematurely. I'm glad she did it, so I had time to adjust, but I was also very glad to have a way to get rid of her. She hated that everyone else considered me capable of taking care of Astrid."

"Ah. Well, I've met her and I think it shows you have done a fantastic job with her. She's bright and witty, chatty and friendly. You look so proud of her."

Hiccup felt himself smile.

"I am. Astrid puts my recovery to shame. They offered her that grief clause, where a bereavement means they'll give you your predicted grades regardless of how you do? Astrid turned it down, and absolutely smashed their predictions. Top grades in her GCSEs, she's at college now doing amazingly. She and Heather are as strong a couple as I've ever seen."

"So... forgive me for the gossip, but have you a girlfriend? Or boyfriend? Which I'm totally fine with."

"Huh? Oh. No. I'm not that way inclined, one very drunken kiss with Heather's brother my only 'gay' experience. I uh, I actually used to date Heather. We broke up because she likes girls, then Astrid came out and they got together."

"And you're ok with that?"

Hiccup had made his peace with that a long time ago.

"Completely. They are happy. Heather and I would never have worked out even if Astrid didn't date her."

"Still, that's an immensely adult perspective."

"I guess, but we have had to grow up fast. I tried to shield Astrid from it as much as possible, but she still lost our parents too. Her response to finding out I was adopted was quite spectacular."

"Oh?"

Hiccup didn't know if he could say it out loud, but there wasn't the usual embarrassment of saying it to an adult - Valka was still enough of a stranger to him.

"Her words were something like I was still her brother, even if I came out of a different vagina to her. I think that was about when Dagur and Heather left the room."

Valka noticeably flushed and her eyes widened, but she recovered quickly.

"Well, actually... gods, I didn't expect that to come up. You were actually delivered by cesarean section."

"Really?"

"Mhmm. You were on your way regardless of the timing, but they noticed you were getting more distressed and so they decided to give you the best chance of survival, they were going in to get you."

It was strange - this woman had gone through so much to get him into the world. That connection had always existed for her. Hiccup hadn't even known she existed.

"Huh. Then some years later, firefighters came and cut me out of a car. Apparently I get stuck a lot of places."

"Or perhaps it's that you survive against the odds."

"Did you hold me? As a baby?"

Valka couldn't quite meet his eyes, and Hiccup felt bad for hurting her.

"Once. You were in the incubator much of the time, but..."

Valka reached inside her jacket, producing a polaroid and holding it out to Hiccup. He took it, seeing the earliest picture possible of him. Valka's hair wasn't quite as long as it was now, her braid only reaching a couple of inches past her shoulders but other than that, she looked identical. The woman really had aged fantastically... Hiccup was condemned to his baby face forever it seemed. He was so miniscule, his eyes barely open as he faced Valka.

Even though the picture was small, he could see all over her face that despite everything, that woman loved her baby. Hiccup couldn't comprehend the level of sacrifice it took for her to give him up anyway.

"Here. You should keep this."

"Are you sure?"

Hiccup nodded.

"You earned it. All I did was show up."

Valka took it back, smiling softly.

"Thank you."

They stayed in that field until it got dark. Eventually they accepted they had to leave, walking back to Hiccup's car and luckily he hadn't been ticketed for parking there.

"You want a ride back? I'm going that way."

"That's very kind of you."

Valka climbed in the other side, filling the car again with her soft, strange scent. Hiccup wondered if it would linger after she left. He drove her back to her hotel, and Valka hesitated before leaning over and kissing his cheek. Hiccup felt his stomach do a somersault, watching as Valka made to leave the car before turning back.

"So... um, will I see you again before I have to leave?"

Hiccup wasn't sure why, but the fact she was awkward and stammered the same way he did put him at ease.

"Uh, sure. Do you have a number I can get hold of you on? I don't know our weeks schedule off the top of my head."

Valka nodded, writing down her room number and the hotel number.

"Call them and ask for that number. I'll make sure they know to put you through."

"Thanks. I'll call you tomorrow?"

"I look forward to it."

She did leave the car this time, waving at him from the door of her hotel before walking in. Hiccup fell back in his seat, taking a deep breath or twelve. He'd survived.

More than that, he had had fun. Valka was brilliant company, and there was something deeply... he couldn't find a word for it. He just felt better for meeting her. And the fact he didn't feel the urge to recoil from her touching him was a good sign Hiccup didn't feel inward anxiety around her. He thought about the sensation in his stomach. Then decided not to.

Astrid came home the next morning - Dagur dropped her off and Hiccup looked up from the sofa to see his sister swan into the room. He didn't dwell on why she waa in such a good mood.

"What's got a smile on your face? I'm guessing yesterday went well."

"Oh? Yeah. We talked for hours, and argued with a stranger."

"You what?"

Hiccup elaborated on the nosy woman, and Astrid fell about laughing.

"I would have gone after her!"

"Eh. She was so traumatised by her wrongness I feel it was punishment enough."

"Well. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Nope. Waiting for you."

Astrid grinned, helping Hiccup stand up and watching closely to see how much he struggled with it.

"I'll do your leg after we've eaten."

"You don't-"

"Hush. Go cook."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but his mood was still bouyant.

"Ok. Is there anything going on this week I need to know about?"

"Uh, therapy? Other than that, just college for me. Why?"

"Valka asked if she could see me again. I said I needed to see."

Astrid nodded to herself, watching Hiccup mix up omelettes for them.

"Why not invite her here? I mean, assuming you trust her not to be a murderer or a burglar."

Hiccup looked down at the bowl of eggs, biting his lip.

"I don't know. Feels kinda weird to invite my biological mother into the house we shared with our parents."

Astrid hopped off her seat and hugged Hiccup around his waist, comforting expression on her face as she leant against his shoulder.

"It's just a suggestion Hiccup. If you aren't ready, you aren't ready."

Returning the hug, Hiccup nodded.

"Thanks."

-HTTYD-

Ah I love those two way more than sane.