A/N: Sorry I didn't upload this last week. I was having writer's block and I've been prepping for college. So please forgive me for making you guys wait.
Valka left her parents' porch to walk to her house, trying to keep her head down to hide her face from the coming crowd. Mrs. Jorgenson was walking down the stairs when she saw her daughter. She held Hiccup close as she walked up to her daughter. "Oh there you are, I was wondering why you never came back. I think your son is hungry. He's been…." She noticed her daughter wiping a hand on her cheek and let out a sniffle. "What happened?"
Valka let out a sigh and took her son. "I have to go," she mumbled putting her son back in his sling. Mrs. Jorgenson watched her daughter walking with her head down. She then focused her eyes way from her daughter to her home. She stormed her way back to her house and swung the door open. Shoutlout turned his head seeing his wife glaring down at him.
"What did you say to our daughter?" she growled slamming the door shut.
He saw his wife's hands folded into fists as she walked up to him. "I don't need this right now." He grumbled making a mug of rum.
"I don't care about what you need. What I care about is our daughter. Now tell me what happened right now. Or I swear I'll-"
"You'll what?" He growled at her before taking a sip of his drink. Mrs. Jorgenson was dumbfounded by his act. She relaxed her hands and brushed her fingers threw her dark hair.
"What has happen to you?" She breathed narrowing her eyes at him. Shoutlout shrugged and walked out of the house.
~oOo~
"What did he say to you?"
Valka tried to ignore him. She just shrugged before she placed Hiccup in his crib. "Nothing that needs to be repeated," she mumbled as she straightened up herself.
"Val-"
"It doesn't need to be repeated." She replied trying to walk around him.
"Valka-"
"Doesn't need to be repeated!" she cried out making her son scream. Valka sighed and hung her head covering her eyes with a hand.
"I got him," Stoick walked up to the crib to pick up his wailing son. The young child started to calm down once he was held. Stoick moved his arms slightly in a clam swaying motion to quiet the child. Once he was silent, Valka lifted her head up. She moved her hand away from her eyes and placed them on her cheek. She smiled weakly watching her son sleeping in his father's arms. She couldn't understand why her father looked down on him. To hear that he saw Snotlout as his only grandson broke her. She didn't want her son to know about it, and especially about him. She promised to protect her son from anything or anybody. Even if it meant that he'd never get to know his only grandfather.
~oOo~
The next day Ingrid Hofferson knocked on her chief's door. The door opened and relieved Valka with her long hair in knots and dark circles under her eyes. "Whoa! You look horrible!"
Valka glared at her and mumbled "I feel beautiful for the first time in months."
Ingrid blushed at her choice of words. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it like that. Are you all like this because of your son? Has he been keeping you up?"
"No, he loves to sleep. Until he soils himself, then I have to clean him and his diaper. Right now all of this is just because of me." Valka mumbled brushing her hand threw her hair.
"What's going on? I have never seen you like this." Ingrid stated only to receive a shrug from the new mother.
"I don't want to talk about it. I haven't told Stoick yet, and not sure if I want to."
"Oh," was the only thing Ingrid could let out. "Well…where is he?"
"With Gobber, I suggested he should take a break last night." Valka answered rubbing her eyes.
"Well, you should too."
Valka let out a light chuckle. "That's the price I have to pay for wanting a child. I adore him, but he does like to keep me up." She replied leaning on the door post.
"Why don't I take care of him?" Ingrid suggested with a smile.
Valka raised a brow at her. "What?"
"Oh come on, Unn is taking care of Snotlout, your mother is out doing her thing, and Asmund is out of town with his brother. I am bored out of my mind, please let me do something!"
"I don't know, Ingrid. Taking care of a baby is a lot of work."
"What better way is there for me to practice before mine comes? Please Valka, at least let me do this so you can rest and I can learn." Ingrid begged the woman. Valka let out a sigh then moved away from the door to let her in. The young teen smiled and walked in seeing a crib by the fire pit.
"I already fed and burped him, so he shouldn't be hungry. If he starts crying he might need to be cleaned. I already got a pitcher of warm water and a clean diaper ready for him. Just wash the diaper after you put the other one on him. Leave the wet diaper to dry on the windowsill." Valka instructed before she walked into her bed room. Then she stepped out to tell her something else. "Oh, and if he's still throwing a fit after the cleaning, he might want to be held. He likes to be held with his chest on yours and his head resting on your shoulder."
Ingrid gave her a nod, "got it," she said then Valka went back to her room. After a few minutes of silence, Ingrid heard the baby whimpering. She gently picked up the child and held him the way Valka told her. She placed a hand under his bottom and the other on his back. Hiccup's whimpers turned into cries. Ingrid walked to the table to pick up the pitcher and clean diaper. After she cleaned the baby and the dirty diaper, she put the clean dry diaper on Hiccup then held him again.
The child's cries started to disappear when she bounced him as she walked around the room. Ingrid smiled watching the baby resting on her. She felt her hair behind pulled and saw that his tiny hand was tangled in her blonde hair. Ingrid untangled his hand from her long hair and pulled it away from him. She took a seat by the dining table and felt the child's breath on her chest. "I hope my child will be just as good as you. Heck, I'm pretty sure you and my son or daughter will be close. I never thought that your mother and I would be friends, so who says my kid and you can't be? I'm also certain that you and your cousin will be close too. If I have son, I can see the three of you running around the village trying to see who's the strongest. If I have a daughter, then she just might have to show you whose boss."
Ingrid smiled and rubbed the child's back. Hiccup let out a sigh from her touch and started to sleep again. "I think knowing Asmund was the best thing I could have done. Sure I broke the law, but if I didn't, then your mother and I wouldn't be friends. Then I wouldn't be having this child that could be your best friend. I know you can't understand me, but who cares if you're a hiccup. I was a shield maiden and we don't typically get married, but I fell hard. Just because you're a son of a chief doesn't mean you can't either. Sometimes I wonder how your mother did it, falling in love with someone she was forced to marry. Yet she did, you should be proud Hiccup, some children aren't as lucky as you."
Valka stood by the door way from her room listing to Ingrid's words. The young mother went back to bed when a thought came to her.
~oOo~
"You want me to what?"
"Change the law," Valka answered her shocked husband. "I don't want our son to marry just because he needs an heir. He should marry because he wants to."
"I don't know if I can Val. Haddocks have been doing arranged marriages for centuries. If I want to change the law of marriage, I have to do a lot of paper work, and-"
"Stoick, don't you want our son to marry for love? Don't you want him to find a nice girl to wed because he fell for her?"
"Of course I do-"
"Then please do this for him. Just because his name is Haddock doesn't mean he can't marry for love."
"Val-"
"How was your parents' relationship? I know it wasn't the best, but they loved each other enough to have you. I don't want that for our son, I want him to pick a girl he loves, court her the way anyone can, and ask for her parent's blessing, then propose. I don't want him to get married because he's of age, or to stop a war. If he wants to marry a girl at the age of 13 or 35 let him if he's in love. Just don't let us be the reason why he needs to get married."
"Val!" Stoick shouted to make her stop. "I agree with you, but it won't be easy. I want what's best for our son too. I'll do whatever I can to stop the arranged marriages." Valka jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Stoick wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"I want what's best for this family, and changing the marriage law for him is something I've wanted to do." Stoick replied as he held his wife. He let her go and walked up to the crib to find his son sleeping once again. While looking down at his boy, he pictured him as a young man running the village and doing better than any of his ancestors. Stoick even hoped his son would be better than him.
A/N: So, what did you think? Leave your thoughts in the reviews and have a great day!