Snoggletog Surprise

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I wanted to upload this for Christmas, but I've been busy. I think today is equally appropriate, though, because RTTE is coming back!

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Snoggletog.

The Viking holiday on which the dragons fly back to Berk - after a well-deserved trip to a private island - with their newly hatched babies. It's always a fun time, but this year it was extra special. Not only was it the first Snoggletog that Astrid and I were spending as husband and wife (we married eleven months ago), we were also expecting a child of our own. She wasn't due for another three weeks, but I could only pray for her sake that Baby Haddock would come sooner rather than later.

We hadn't planned on adding a new family member this early into our marriage. If it were up to us, we would've waited. But you know, things happen when you're in love.

"I'm sorry about this, babe." Astrid looked at me with big blue eyes and leaned against the pillow behind her head. "You know, you should still go to the party at the Meade Hall."

"Nonsense. I'm not leaving my wife alone on our first Snoggletog together." I placed a hand on her lower back as I leaned in to kiss her lips. "Is this where it hurts?" I asked, running my thumb along her waistline.

"Yes." Astrid groaned and placed a palm atop her baby bump. "Remind me again why I decided that sex with you was a smart idea?"

"Because you couldn't resist this much raw Vikingness." I nuzzled her neck before placing a kiss there. "And besides, we're married. What good is marriage if it's not consummated?"

"I think we over-consummated ours," she responded.

"Nah." I shook my head and pressed my lips to Astrid's cheek. "Here, what do you say I give you your present now? Maybe that'll keep your mind off the pain." Before she could say anything, I climbed off our mattress and drew a box out from under the bed. "Here you go, milady. Open it."

I watched as she removed the box's lid and pulled out the new battle axe I'd made for her. "Oh my gods, this is amazing!" she exclaimed. "Did you make it yourself?" Her fingers skimmed the wooden handle.

"Yup. Just for you." I reached over to brush her messy bangs out of her eyes.

"Thank you, babe." Astrid started leaning in to kiss me, but abruptly stopped and placed a hand on her baby bump.

"You okay?"

She shook her head. "These cramps. I swear to Thor, if this child wasn't due for another three weeks, I'd think I was starting to go into labor." Placing the axe back into the box, she took a deep breath.

"Do you want me to get Mom?" Since our wedding, Astrid had started calling my mother "Mom." After all, she was now a mother to both of us in a way.

"I think I'm okay."

"You know, there's something else in that box."

Raising an eyebrow, Astrid reached in and pulled out a small booklet. "'Things I Love About You,'" she read off the front cover. "Oh, Hiccup." I saw her eyes moisten as she turned to the first page. "'Your eyes, your nose, your smile, all the tiny freckles on your face, your -'" She stopped reading and gave me a playful smack on the arm. Did I mention that I'd included a few naughty things in that book?

"I love you in all kinds of ways," I grinned. "One of them just happens to be inappropriate for children."

"You do know our baby can hear what we're saying." She sighed and turned to the next page, skipping over the suggestive things on the list. "'The way you sometimes talk in your sleep, the fact that you're not a typical housewife, your cuddles, the way you yell at me when I do something stupid, the fact that you braid my hair, the way you moan when I lick your -" She stopped again. "Oh, gods. I love you, but oh, gods."

"Love you too, milady." I kissed her forehead.

"Come on, give me a real kiss," Astrid chided. She pressed her lips to mine, then turned back to the booklet. But before she had the chance to read another word, she groaned and touched her swollen stomach. "This kid is gonna be the death of -" A look of horror crossed her face. "Hiccup. Go get Mom. The baby's coming."

"How...how do you know?" I asked. This couldn't be happening. Us? Parents? Now? There was no way.

"My water broke. Just go...get Mom. Now."

Without another word, I rushed out of the house and over to the Mead Hall. "Mom!" I screamed, flinging the door open.

Every Viking turned to face me.

"What's wrong, son?" Mom questioned. She hurried over to wrap me in her arms, just as any loving mother would probably do in this situation.

"Astrid...the baby...the baby's coming!"

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My eyes opened at the sound of my mother's voice. "Hiccup," she was saying. "Come and meet your son."

Son? Oh gods, that couldn't be right. I couldn't really be a father, could I? And to a son? The last thing I could remember was Astrid telling me never to go near her again, followed by my head hitting the floor. And now I was a parent?

Swinging my legs off of the couch, which I'd somehow ended up on, I followed Mom into the master bedroom, where I saw an exhausted Astrid lying in bed with a small bundle cuddled against her bare chest.

"Well, look who finally decided to come meet his offspring," she smirked, pushing a strand of sweaty blonde hair from her eyes.

"Let's see this little miracle," I said, lowering myself onto the mattress.

"I'll go get some bath water ready for Astrid," Mom said. But I barely heard her. I was too mesmerized by the fact that my beautiful wife and I were parents.

"Hey, tiny one, what do you say you take a little break from eating and meet Daddy?" Astrid crooned. I watched while she pulled back a corner of the furs that made up the package in her arms to reveal a head covered in thin red hair. "Show him how you have his eyes."

The baby - my son - fussed as Astrid gently pried him from a swollen nipple and, to my surprise, held him out to me.

"Uh..."

"Take him," she urged.

I froze. He was so small, so delicate. How was I supposed to handle him without something going horribly wrong?

"What's wrong? You don't know how to hold a baby?" Before I could respond, she shook her head. "Oh my gods, you don't know how to hold a baby."

"I...uh..."

"Support his head with one arm and let his feet rest on the other." Without further warning, she gently shoved the bundle into my arms.

All nervousness left my body as I looked into my child's face. His eyes were green, like mine, and I recognized my slightly crooked mouth, but his nose and rounded face were all Astrid. It was then that tears began to flow down my cheeks, but I couldn't exactly figure out why.

"It's okay. I cried when I first held him, too," assured Astrid. "While you were passed out in the living room."

"He's just so perfect," I eventually managed. "Thank you. Thank you so much." I leaned in to kiss my wife - who was now also the mother of my son. "But...what are we gonna call him? He needs a name."

"He has one. Stoick Jarl Haddock. That also happened while you were passed out."

"Oh, Astrid." I kissed her again. "I love you. Both of you." I looked back into little Stoick's face. "This is the best Snoggletog ever. And it's your first one, too, bud." Grinning, I ran my thumb along the back of his chubby hand. He responded by increasing his quiet fusses to steady sobs. "What's wrong? What's Daddy doing that's making you unhappy?"

"He probably just wants to finish eating," Astrid said, reaching out her arms and pulling the newborn close to her chest once more. His cries quieted as she helped him latch onto her nipple.

"Yeah, I know," I chuckled softly. "Mama's breasts are something special. Believe me, Daddy understands."

"Hiccup!" Elbowing my side, Astrid cast me a cold glare.

"Sorry, milady. It's just...I love you." Nuzzling the side of her face, I gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"I love you, too, but after spending five hours in labor, sex is the last thing on my mind."

A grin spread across my lips as I watched the newborn curl his tiny fingers together and, with a small whimper, pull away from Astrid's chest. He was our baby. We were parents. And all this had happened just because we're in love.

Snoggletog was definitely untraditional this year. Though as you know, I'm an untraditional kind of Viking. I've always been. I befriended a dragon, I married for love rather than to form an alliance, and now I just became a father on Snoggletog. But it was the best Snoggletog of my life.

It was the year that I gave my wife a pretty great gift. And she outdid me - like always - and gave me a better one.