A/N: What's up guys? Sorry I didn't upload this yesterday, I've been sick for past week and I didn't feel like doing any writing. But I'm better now and going back to writing as you can see.
Anyway, this chapter is more focused on Valka and her mother, so mother/daughter bonding in this :)
The next few weeks had been better since Stoick and Valka talked about their situation. Valka was still a bit upset about her son, but she was also feeling guilty because she wanted a child again. She felt like a horrible person because she lost her son last year.
Also, Mr. Kacper was returning from his fishing trip, which meant wedding preparations were about to begin. The wedding date was in a month and Unn had asked Valka and Mrs. Jorgenson to help out.
The wedding went out smoothly and Valka couldn't help watching her brother with his wife. The last time she saw her brother smile was when he won his last Thawfest game. She hoped her brother would have a good marriage and that they would have a happy family.
Thinking about that word "family" put a thought in her brain. She had thought about trying for another child, but she didn't know if that was a good idea. She didn't even know if she would be able to have another one after her miscarriage. She was terrified at getting attached to her unborn child and having it die before they got to name it like the last time.
Before she knew it, Spitelout and Unn left to finish their marriage. She saw people past out drunk on the floor and her parents walking out. Stoick walked up behind her and placed a hand between her shoulder blades. He saw her looking up at him with drowsy eyes. He was fatigued himself and it was during these times that he was glad he lived by The Great Hall. They walked home and they both fell asleep once their heads hit the pillow.
The next morning, Valka woke up to an empty bed once again. She also saw another yellow rose on her husband's pillow. She placed the rose with the others in the vase and got ready for the day. Once she was cleaned up and dressed, she heard a knock on the door. Valka figured it must have been her parents because they couldn't be with Spitelout for four weeks.
She put her hand on the door handle, and prepared herself to see her father less than 20 feet away for the first time in a year. Valka opened the door and only saw her mother with a grin. "Hi darling, I thought we could have some breakfast together." She greeted gesturing to her basket filled with eggs and yak milk in glass bottles. Valka smiled and let her mother in her home.
While her mother cooked the eggs, Valka set the table and pulled the cork out of the bottle, and then she poured them each a cup of milk. Once the eggs were done, Mrs. Jorgenson scraped the eggs off the pan and let them fall on the plates.
"Thanks for the food, mom." Valka said putting her fork on the eggs.
"It's no problem, your father has left for a trip and I had leftover eggs. So I thought, 'why not eat with my daughter?'"
Valka smirked and swallowed before speaking. "Spitelout kicked you out of the house didn't he?" She saw her mother sigh in defeat.
"More like pushed me out and told me not to come until he gives me the okay."
"He didn't finish making his house?"
"It's almost done, but you know your brother. He's always been a procrastinator." She said with a smile before she sipped out of her cup. Valka gave her a small smile and continued eating. After the mother and daughter were done eating, they cleaned up their mess and visited with each other.
"So, how have you been?" Mrs. Jorgenson asked her. Valka sighed thinking what to say.
"I'm okay….I guess I'm just a little confused."
"What are you confused about?"
Valka sighed and confessed. "Is it a bad thing that I want a child?"
Mrs. Jorgenson let out a small gasp and got out of her chair to kneel in front of her. Valka watched her mother take her hands in hers and listened to her speak. "Nothing is wrong with wanting a child after losing one. It's not like your replacing your son. It's healthy to move on and to remember your child."
"So, I won't be a horrible mother for wanting to try for another?"
"Of course you're not a horrible mother! Am I a horrible mother for bringing you into this world?"
"Why would you be a horrible mother for having me?" After Valka asked that, she saw her mother staring at her with a faint smile. Valka felt her jaw drop once she made the connection. "You? You lost a child?"
Mrs. Jorgenson got up and sat back down in her chair. She took a deep breath before telling her story. "Yes, after I had Spitelout I was pregnant before I carried you. Spitelout was only four months old when I became pregnant again. I was scared because I was just trying to figure out how to be a mother to my son; I was terrified to have another one so close to Spitelout age. I was also trying to figure out how I got pregnant so fast. Everything was crazy when I found out I was having another child. Anyway, I was about eight months along when my water broke. Unfortunately we couldn't save her."
Valka saw her mother's eyes be filled with tears. She couldn't believe that she had an older sister who died at birth. She felt her chest ache remembering seeing her son limp and blue. She imagined her sister must have been the same way after her birth. Mrs. Jorgenson let out a shaky sigh and continued. "She only lived for an hour. We didn't know what to do; it was so hard seeing her struggling to breathe. Your father and I were never the same after that. It took years before I let him touch me again, but once we solved our problems and passed our grieving, I found out I was having you."
"Does Spitelout know about this?"
"No, this is the first time I've talked about it since it happened. It's not something you want to remember."
"So, how did you handle it?"
"I didn't, I did the same thing you did. I stayed in bed, stopped eating, didn't leave the house, but what helped me was closure."
"How did you get closure?"
"I named my late daughter. That was the next step. I knew I needed to do that before you were born."
Valka looked down and thought about that. She never thought about naming her son, maybe that was just what she needed to do. Maybe before she decided to have another child, she should name her son. Maybe that was just what she needed. Valka thanked her mother and let her out of the house. Valka went about her day and waited for her husband to come home to talk.
~oOo~
It was after supper when Valka finally had time to talk to her husband. She asked him to sit down because she had something important to talk about. He gave her a nod and did what he was told.
"I know it's been a year since we lost our son, but I think it's time we gave him a name," Valka started with.
"Why name him now? He's dead; we can't dedicate him to name him."
"I know we normally name the kids at their dedication, but I need to give him a name. I think it will help me with…..closure." She saw him touch his chin covered beard as he thought about it. Stoick tapped his finger and smiled at her.
"Alright, what names have you thought about?"
Valka grinned and spoke with the smile still on her face. "Oh I don't know, I thought we should name him together." Stoick smiled seeing her excited about something. It had been a long time seeing her get enthusiastic about anything. Then he watched her put her palms together and sighed. "I also want to talk about something just as important."
However, Valka never got to get to her next point. The warning signal was blasted through the horn. Stoick got up and ran to the front door, just as he thought, he saw flying creatures coming towards his village. "Looks like your important conversation is gonna have to wait. Dragons are about to attack." Valka groaned watching him grab his axe and run out of the house.
A/N: Off topic for this chapter, but if I did my math right, this fanfic will have 40-50 chapters and will be completed sometime between May and June.
But remember, there will be more Stalka fanfics that will not be related to this one. I have other ideas on how they could have gotten together. So be on a look out for those after this one is completed.