SquallOfVIII - Valka isn't actually killing him... Honest!

Tom80 - of course Astrid is going through the roof she loves her brother

MidwestMexican - oh the suspense!

-HTTYD-

Astrid silently fumed at his side, glaring so intensely at Valka Hiccup half expected her to spontaneously combust.

"I didn't expect to see you again."

"I didn't expect to come back."

Hiccup hated himself; despite the tumultuous emotions and cold betrayal he felt for the woman who had crept from his bed while he slept, there was still that damn flutter in his belly as they looked at each other. He had missed her, missed her so much regardless of what she had done to him.

"You shouldn't have come back! Hiccup, after what she did she doesn't deserve the time of day. You're lucky I'm not physically removing you!"

Something was different. Hiccup couldn't put his finger on it. Valka didn't look like the separation had wrought the damage on her it had on him. Hel, she looked almost like she was lit up. Hiccup doubted it was because she was seeing him - if anything, she was immensely uncomfortable at the moment.

"I know. But I need to talk to to Hen- Hiccup."

Astrid growled, standing defensively in front of her brother.

"Not a chance."

Hiccup reached out a hand and touched Astrid's shoulder, shaking his head.

"I wanna know what she's got to say."

"Are you kidding me? She hasn't had to see what she did by just leaving you!"

"Excuse us a minute Valka?"

She nodded, so Hiccup tugged Astrid gently away from the door.

"Why are you even thinking of listening to this woman?"

"I figure if she came all this way to say it, its important. She doesn't even live in the country."

Still glaring, Astrid crossed her arms and her jaw was set like stone.

"I'm not happy about it. She isn't worth your time."

Hiccup couldn't tell Astrid why it mattered; she didn't know the half of it. Valka had been the other half of the most intimate experiences of Hiccups life. All the sanity and reasoning in the world couldn't make him send her away, not when she had come so far to talk to him.

All the same, he knew he probably wasn't going to come out of this encounter happier or better. He just... he didn't care when Valka was within reach of him again.

Oh, he was so fucked up.

"I might get some closure. This could be what I need."

"It's not her that's going to have to put back together what's left of you. Gods Hiccup, I was worried you were dying!"

Hiccup did something he was deeply ashamed of. He lied to her face, intentionally.

"Astrid, there's no guarantee I wouldn't have gotten sicker if me and her had parted on better terms. My therapist said it was about meeting her, not her leaving."

He knew full well his PTSD was a minor factor at best. But he was playing on it to stop Astrid thinking too hard about Hiccup's true feelings.

"Alright. You want me to stay?"

Hiccup pretended to think about it.

"No. I gotta learn to deal with things by myself eventually. I can't have a shrink forever."

Sighing, Astrid visibly deflated a little.

"Ok. I'll... I'll go walk the dog, give you and her like half an hour."

That was probably a good idea. If it went disastrously, Astrid would be back with his therapy dog for a double boost in due course.

"Don't rush. He needs his excercise."

Astrid nodded, clipping Toothless' harness and leash on before opening the door again. Valka looked surprised to see her leaving, smiling as Toothless sniffed her leg and grumbled about being led away from the new person.

"You uh, wanna come in?"

Despite what several parts of him were saying, Hiccup kept the kitchen island between he and Valka, partly for sanity and partly so he had something to lean on; his knees went weak when he saw her smile and Hiccup wasn't all that steady anyway.

"Since you came such a long way, I'd be rude not to offer you a drink?"

Maybe if he pretended he wasn't obscenely happy to lay eyes on her again, it would help.

"Oh. Water, please."

Hiccup filled a glass at the sink, pushing it across the island and being very mindful not to even let their fingers touch as she reached for it. He waited for her to take a delicate sip, heart hammering in his chest but Hiccup wasn't sure if it was anxiety or anticipation. Her sudden reappearance had him off-kilter. Grasping for tendrils of control, Hiccup remembered what she'd said.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Valka continued to just look at him for a minute, making the hairs on the back of his neck prick up. Eventually she looked away again, reaching into the inside of her worn brown jacket and pulling out a piece of paper.

"I did some work in an area known for various diseases, so as part of precautions we have blood work done when we leave to ensure nothing nasty made the trip. Something unexpected came back on my test results."

Hiccup immediately worried she had come to tell him she was terribly ill with some genetic disease he might have inherited. He took the paper she held out, unfolding it and looking at the results. Most of them had a negative result written next to the thing tested for, but one near the very bottom of the list said positive.

"What's human chori..." he couldn't pronounce it "what's a hCG test for?"

"It's what pregnancy tests respond to."

"Oh." Hiccup didn't click for a second. "Oh. You're... you're pregnant?"

Valka nodded, watching Hiccup quietly panic with a multitude of emotions on her perfect face.

"So I'm going to be a big brother again?"

Hiccup was trying not to hyperventilate. He wasn't sure he coud fathom the alternative.

"If it helps you to see it that way... but I've only been with two men in my life. One was your father. And the other was you."

She'd been gone for over six months by then. Hiccup was stunned.

"You only just found out?"

Valka hummed, sipping her water as though she hadn't just dropped the bombshell of bombshells. He'd gotten his mother pregnant.

"A month ago. After you were born, I was told that there was a reduced chance of conception, and I had never had a regular cycle so it wasn't something I expected to result from, well, that. It had never really occurred to me having lived primarily amongst animals for so long."

Despite his own behaviour, Hiccup felt a bit stung with how mechanically she was describing it. He was an emotional wreck from what had happened. She was having her sons baby and seemed relatively calm. Detached even.

"Why'd you wait a month to tell me?"

"I was quarantined to the country I was in until a second round of tests were done. I would have called but... I felt this was something I should tell you in person."

Hiccup nodded dumbly, thinking he might well have fainted on the spot if she'd called him, let alone given him such news. He hadn't yet discounted fainting now.

"R-right. I uh... what do you want from me here? Are you keeping it? Do you want me in the babies life? You're gonna have to give me something here."

"That's entirely up to you. If you want nothing to do with me and the baby, that's fine. If you want a... custody arrangement, I'm amicable. I just thought you had the right to know."

Hiccup's head was spinning. Custody arrangement. Like they were a couple divorcing.

How had it come to this?

"Are you staying in the country now?"

She nodded.

"For a year or so at least. I can't work with full grown bears or lions knowing I'm pregnant, or while I'm nursing a babe."

Hiccup wasn't sure where his next words came from. It wasn't a rational place, that was certain.

"Stay with me. Here, I mean. Astrid's moved out and I have the room and you're having my baby so it's only right I give you somewhere to live."

Valka looked surprised, and not immediately open to the idea. Hiccup was having doubts himself, though it definitely seemed the responsible thing to do. Since he had gotten her pregnant. Gods, Hiccup hadn't even considered that possibility when they'd had sex, too lost in the moment and then too lost in his head. Never had the fact they'd not used protection concerned him.

For all his talk of mature decisions, Hiccup knew that didn't rank up there. Though neither did having sex with his mother... Hiccup's head was hurting.

She was speaking. Hiccup had missed it completely.

"Sorry, spaced out. What were you saying?"

"I asked if you were sure about the offer. I have somewhere to stay if you're worried."

Hiccup shook his head.

"No. I mean, yes, I'm sure. I want to be where my baby is. Consider my spare room your room."

Astrid was gonna flip her shit. And Hiccup was going to have to lie and say it was his- no, their little brother or sister. That was a point.

"Nobody knows... what happened. I'd appreciate if you kept it that way."

"Of course."

They lingered in silence for a while, not quite meeting the others eye. Hiccup didn't realise how long they stayed in stilted, awkward silence until Astrid was letting herself back in with a nicely worn out Toothless.

"I should... go, let you talk to your sister."

Hiccup nodded, unable to help but watch her move, to see if he could detect the swell of her stomach but the loose yellow tunic-style top she had on wasn't figure hugging. He wondered if that was why she looked so alight - he'd often heard pregnant women 'glowed'. Astrid glared silently as Valka left the house, throwing the door closed behind her and kicking her shoes off by the door before walking over to where Hiccup was.

"Well?"

"I invited her to stay here."

Astrid's eyes grew to the size of saucers, complete and utter shock on her face.

"You did what?"

"Hear me out, ok?"

"Talk. Quickly."

Astrid wasn't nicknamed Valkyrie for nothing by Dagur. She was the woman Hiccup least wanted to be on the receiving end of anger from.

"She's pregnant."

"Well unless the baby is yours I don't see how that matters."

Hiccup almost dropped, but Astrid seemed to realise something.

"Sorry, just realised who we were talking about. Obviously it's not. I still don't see why its your problem."

He felt sick. He couldn't let Astrid know that though.

"Astrid, that's my- no, it's our baby brother or sister. She came from Odin-knows-where to tell me I'm going to be a big brother. You know I can't say no to that."

"Yeah, so does she. What if she's playing you?"

"So what if she is? Astrid, I live alone in a four bedroom house. Your room will always be yours, and I still haven't gotten to emptying mom and dads room. But she isn't set up for this country, and I can help."

"And you're too damn noble not to no matter what this woman did to you. I know. I'm not happy about it, but I know I can't talk you out of it. And it will be nice not to be the baby of the family anymore."

Hiccup waited, sure Astrid wasn't done.

"I have this overwhelming desire to move back in and keep an eye on her though."

"No. Not that you aren't welcome, but you changing your life for my sake is the last thing I want."

Astrid frowned, but nodded.

"I know. When did we grow up and have to start making shitty adult decisions like this?"

"When mom and dad died. It was just easier when those decisions only included us."

Astrid wrapped her arms around Hiccup's narrow waist, holding him tight as he hugged her in return. His twitchy response to being touched had dulled a little. Hiccup wondered if he might even sleep that night.

Then he remembered Valka would be in his home, but she was visibly not as happy to see Hiccup as he was to see her. That wasn't a sleep-inducing thought. More anxiety inducing. He didn't know how to be around this woman who wasn't enthralled to see her adult son, after the previous time when she was tactile and excitable with him.

They'd both been changed by time, it seemed. Hiccup was a shell of himself. Valka was... maybe she resented him for getting her pregnant? She couldn't do her job that she loved, and despite her desire to stay away from him she had been conscientious enough to come and tell him of his impending fatherhood.

There had been no talk of what would happen when she had given birth and weaned the baby. Hiccup was scared to ask.

"If you decide on doing mom and dads room, tell me?"

"Of course. They're your memories too Astrid."

They stood hugging for a while, but Toothless started whining to be let out and so they had to separate. Hiccup patted her shoulder as he limped past to let the dog out.

"Does your leg hurt?"

"A little."

Astrid looked expectantly at him, but Hiccup shook his head.

"It's not the scar, it's just because I've not been up and about as much lately. I'll walk Toothless later."

Astrid hummed unhappily, but didn't tackle him and take his leg off by force. Which she had threatened to do before.

"I guess there's an upside."

"To?"

"Her being here. You'll feel compelled to feed her, so you'll cook real food again other than for when I come over."

Hiccup knew that was a show of Astrid's concern for his taking terrible care of himself, but he still felt slighted.

"You said it wasn't as bad."

"It's not! But you're gaining weight from sitting around eating junk, you used to be mindful of nutritional value because you were feeding me. Now you will again because of the baby."

He grit his teeth a little; Astrid was quite right on all counts.

"Guess so. I kinda need to wait for Valka to come back, you wanna head to the store and pick up stuff so I can batch cook for you?"

Astrid looked down at her phone, checking the time.

"Heather finishes work soon, so I can walk up there and get her to drive us back?"

"Sure. Want a list?"

Astrid nodded, knowing her tendency to get distracted. Hiccup wrote her a list and gave her his bank card - she'd known how to use it for years by now.

"Don't worry if you buy things not on the list so long as you actually get everything on the list too."

"I know, I know. I shall head off now, I'll call Heather on my way over. Text me if Valka comes back so I can warn Heather, since they've not actually met yet but I've probably vented to her about Valka once or twice."

"Once or twice?"

"Hush you. I worry. I'm going!"

Astrid pulled out her earphones and headed off after another hug and a quick petting for Toothless, enviably capable of walking long distances on a whim. Not that the shop was too far, but she'd already walked Toothless for an hour and that would have been Hiccup's limit. And that wasn't including the stiffness in his leg at the minute.

How did one prepare for their biological mother to move in? Their biological mother carrying the child resulting from their incestuous sexual relationship that had, in reality, lasted only a day.

Hiccup thought his life was complicated before.

-HTTYD-

I would say surprise! But then maybe you saw it coming. Who knows? The Nutt knows not.