A/N: Ok, so new chapter. Just about managed this because today was manic and made it a little hard to get it finished so haven't had time to read it through for typos and stuff. Hope you all enjoy it though and don't forget to review.

Chapter 4

Hiccup opened the front door as quietly as he could and slipped through, glad to see his mum had her back to the door, sewing something together. He closed the door carefully and tip-toed towards the stairs, praying his metal leg wouldn't give him away and he could claim he'd just overslept. But just as he reached the stairs he got caught. "How's Astrid this morning?" Valka asked not looking round at her son.

"She-she's fine," Hiccup answered.

"That's good to hear. I went to check on you this morning and you weren't in bed."

"I-" Hiccup sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "There's no point in me denying it is there?" he said going over to join his mum. He knew he was busted. Again.

"No. And don't try and claim it was only this one time," Valka said. "Gobber told me your father caught you sneaking in one time. And I suspected you were spending nights with Astrid for a long time."

"You never said anything," Hiccup said as he sat down next to his mum.

"You are old enough to do what you want."

"How'd you find out?"

"I'm a light sleeper Hiccup. I hear you sneak in before the sun comes up. Sometimes I wake up and find myself going up to check on you. Sometimes you're there, sound asleep and looking so peaceful. And sometimes you're not. At first I got worried about where you were. I thought you had an accident while out flying or something. It was only when Gobber told me about the time you sneaked in that I realised what was going on."

"Maybe I should have mentioned something. I didn't realise you were checking in on me." Hiccup sighed and sat back in the chair. "Dad used to do that a lot after the battle with the Red Death," he said. "He didn't know I knew but there were times I'd be lying awake and I'd hear the door open and I knew it was him, checking to see if I was ok."

"He did that a lot when you were born," Valka said. "Always making sure you were still breathing." It was Valka's turn to sigh as she stopped what she was doing. "Anyway, Toothless came back here last night," she said deciding it was best to have a change of subject. "I know about Stormfly's eggs. I'm assuming you do too."

"Found out this morning," Hiccup said. "Toothless didn't want to leave so he's still there."

"Well of course. He is the father. Male dragons are known to keep a close eye on their eggs too."

Hiccup sat up, silently cursing himself that he hadn't thought of it before. His mum had spent twenty years with dragons. If anyone knew what was likely to happen it would be her. "Mom, have you ever dealt with hybrid dragons before?" he asked.

"A few times, yes," Valka said going back to her sowing. "Always fascinating to see how they grow up. I'm sure this time will be no different."

"Did you ever write down anything about them?"

"No. But I remembered it all."

"Wait right there." Hiccup jumped up and ran up the stairs. He went into his room and picked up the Book of Dragons and a pencil from his desk, before he rushed back downstairs. "Feel free to write everything you know down about them in here," he said placing the book and pencil on the table in front of his mother.

"And what will you be doing?" Valka asked as Hiccup rushed back up the stairs.

"I've got to get to work!"

Valka put her sewing aside and opened the book, flicking through the pages and reading the changes that had been made to it since the war with the dragons had ended. There was no more `extremely dangerous, kill on sight` written at the end of every entry, replaced with ways to subdue them and train them. There were entries on new dragons and Valka noticed the Night Fury entry was now completed, unlike the last time she'd seen it when she was just a teenager, when there was just the name and all the statistics were unknown.

Hiccup came rushing down the stairs after having washed and changed and gave his mother a hug as he said his goodbyes. "Remember to eat something," Valka said giving Hiccup a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I will," Hiccup said. He then left the house and headed back towards Astrid's house to check on the eggs before he really needed to get started with chief duties. He found Astrid giving both dragons some breakfast, now properly dressed with her hair back in its braid and her armour and fur hood on. "Morning Milady," Hiccup said leaning against the wooden beam of the entrance of the stables.

"Morning Chief," Astrid said turning round at the sound of Hiccup's voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come check on things."

"You've hardly been gone half an hour. Most days I hardly see you and now it seems I can't get rid of you."

"You don't seem to be trying very hard to get rid of me."

"That would be because I'd rather not be rid of you." Astrid left the dragons to eat and walked over to Hiccup. She wrapped one arm round his neck and pulled him down for a kiss as her other hand rested on his chest, feeling his heartbeat get faster as they kissed.

"You two need to get a room," a voice said from behind them. They broke the kiss and looked round to see Eret standing a few feet away.

"We have one," Astrid said. "I just don't need the temptation right now."

"Yeah, I heard about the dragon eggs," Eret said. "Mostly because I happened to be there when Toothless came to show them to Valka."

"Oh." Astrid turned back to Hiccup, who was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, remembering one of the reasons he was there.

"Yeah, I was going to tell you about that," Hiccup said. "But it's very hard to talk with your tongue in my mouth."

Astrid should have been angry at not being told sooner, but she couldn't bring herself to be and ended up smiling. It was her fault he never got the chance to tell her anyway. "Is there anyone else who already knows?" she asked.

"Just me and Valka," Eret answered.

"Well sooner or later the whole village will need to know," Hiccup said. "We're going to have hybrid dragons around the place soon."

"Well you can tell the council this afternoon at the meeting," Astrid said.

"Yeah, that's going to be a lot of fun."

"Well, I only came to see how Stormfly was doing," Eret said. "And I see both parents seem to be doing fine."

Hiccup and Astrid both looked round to see Toothless and Stormfly busy eating the pile of fish Astrid had given them. They looked so happy, that the two riders wondered how they hadn't noticed just how close the dragons had become. "Will be hard to get them to leave the eggs for a while though," Astrid said. "Looks like the two of us will be without them for a couple of days."

"Then it's a good job I don't have a lot of rushing around to do today," Hiccup said. "Speaking of which, I need to get going."

"Wait, have you eaten this morning?"

"I will."

"You better or I will force feed you my cooking."

Hiccup smiled and gave Astrid a kiss on the cheek before he headed off towards the forge, Astrid and Eret watching him go. "So how long does it take for dragon eggs to hatch anyway?" Eret asked as Hiccup disappeared from sight.

"A couple of days," Astrid answered. "Let's hope they don't explode."

"Dragon eggs do that?"

"Well we know Gronckle eggs explode. I'm sure Gobber's told you the story about that."

"He did. Was a nice idea."

"I thought so too. Until the first egg exploded." Astrid sighed at the memory and decided a change of subject was needed. And she was likely to be late if she didn't hurry. "Well anyway, I need to get to the academy," she said making a move to go inside and get her axe.

"I could give you a lift if you want," Eret offered.

"No thanks. The walk might do me some good."

"Ok, see you this afternoon then." And with that Eret walked off. Astrid gave one last look at Stormfly and Toothless and then at the eggs, making a mental note to bring up the possibility that they might explode at the meeting, just so they were ready if they did.