A/N: And I'm back. Just narrowly missed wining NaNoWriMo by about 2,120 words. Closet I've ever got though so that's something. And did sort of finish the story at that point and was just trying to find places I could add scenes and moments into to pad out the word count. Anyway, onto rewriting my NaNoWriMo novel to improve it and back to writing this.

I have no idea how this is going to end or when. I'm just writing and hoping a good way to wrap things up comes to mind. Hope you all enjoy it and don't forget to review.

Chapter 11

Astrid and Valka moved slowly towards the nest as the heads of the baby dragons started to pop out of the shells. Toothless and Stormfly were already starting to help break the shell away to allow the dragons to stumble out. Worried that Dragon Hiccup would get squashed in the rush to free the other babies, Astrid picked him up and kept a safe distance away so that Toothless and Stormfly could get to their new babies and begin feeding them from the basket of fish Valka had brought. There were five of them, looking the same as Dragon Hiccup, with some streaked with red and purple instead of yellow. They also looked a bit bigger than Dragon Hiccup, which just made Astrid worry more about the early hatchling and whether he'd get a look in on the food from now on. "Oh they are adorable," Valka said getting closer to the nest and holding out her hand for the babies to sniff.

"Going to be a lot to handle when they come out of the nest," Astrid said.

"Only a few baby dragons. Berk's faced worse."

"Had easier times with baby dragons too. We don't know what these babies can do."

"I doubt much damage right now." Valka got up and went to join Astrid where she was watching Stormfly and Toothless fuss over the new babies from a safe distance. "We just have to worry about this little guy," Valka continued giving the baby dragon in Astrid's arms a scratch under the chin. "Make sure he's well looked after. We need to find a way to keep a close eye on him. With the other babies hatched he's not going to get the attention he has had since yesterday."

"Should we-?" Astrid started to ask.

Valka new exactly what Astrid was thinking. "No," she said shaking her head. "Not yet. No need to take him away from his parents. We'll just have to keep checking up on them regularly to make sure."

"Right," Astrid said before she put dragon Hiccup back down, who rushed off to join the rest of his family and hopefully get fed. The two woman watched as Toothless nudged the smaller baby back into the nest and then gave him some fish. "You know, I'm glad you're here," Astrid said as they watched. "We've never experienced an early dragon baby before. I don't think anyone knows what to expect."

"Well no-one knows what to expect when it comes this little dragon family," Valka replied. "That's all part of the fun though."

"I guess so. Well, maybe we should go and find Hiccup and tell him the other eggs have hatched."

"I can stay here and keep watch if you want."

"Ok. Thanks." Astrid rushed off, always glad for a chance to spend a few moments with Hiccup.

It took Astrid a while to find Hiccup as he wasn't at the docks. Or at the forge like Snotlout said. Or the Dragon Academy like Gobber said. And with no-one at the academy Astrid had to run around the village in the hope of finding him or someone who'd seen him and could promise he would still be there.

In the end she found him in the Great Hall, talking to two couples Astrid knew were neighbours. Beside them was a sheep, still chewing a piece of fabric that matched the piece one of the women was holding. Astrid stayed by the door and watched as Hiccup dealt with the dispute, a small smile on her face. She loved watching Hiccup do his peacemaker thing, even if for a time after Drago he doubted just how good he was at it. But Astrid knew he was the best peacemaker Berk ever had. And not just with the small village disputes but the bigger stuff. He stopped wars. Drago was just too set in his own ideas to listen. She didn't blame Hiccup for trying though.

She waited until he finished and the two couples and the sheep were leaving before she walked up to him. He had his back to her, busy with some papers on the table, so she wrapped her arms round his waist and kissed his shoulder. "I thought you and mom were watching the eggs," Hiccup asked taking Astrid's hands, but making no move to turn around.

"We were," Astrid answered. "And then they hatched."

Hiccup looked up over his shoulder. "Already?" he asked.

"Yep. Got a few minutes to spare to come and see?" Astrid replied.

"For you Milady I always have a few minutes to spare."

Astrid smiled and took Hiccup's hand. Hiccup picked up the papers on the table as he allowed himself to be lead out of the Great Hall. Anything else on his list of jobs could easily be delayed for a while longer.