Author's Note: I know this chapter is beyond late. School and work have taken up all my time during the week and I beta read on the weekends, so this story hasn't been a huge priority.
But I have been working on two new stories that will be updated more often. The poll is still on my profile. Both of those stories will be written eventually, but I want to know which one you guys would like to see next.
I will be on vacation until October 18th, so any updates I do will be small. I will still respond to PMs but there will not be regular updates during this time.
And also, a big thank you goes out to Sousuke Tenki and ncham9 for their help on this story. Check out Nick's story "The Value of Life" and Sousuke Tenki's story "The Elemental Fury Saga", both of which I will be beta reading.
And one last announcement, I have started to write a Dark! Hiccup AU with Sousuke Tenki that you can find on his profile. You can also find a link to it in my profile. It is called "The Legend of the Dragon Rider." The chapters written by me have not been uploaded yet but they will be coming soon.
This is getting way too long for an Author's Note so I'll cut it here. Thanks for all the support! Now on with the story…
Warning: There will be events in this chapter that some may find disturbing or painful to read.
4 months, 2 weeks and 3 days
Hiccup glanced at the clock Gobber kept on the desk in the corner and groaned. He still had another four hours of work ahead of him, then a twenty minute drive home. At least there was never bad traffic.
He returned his attention to the car he was working on and grabbed the ratchet sitting on the table next to him to remove the bolts holding the old ignition coil in place. He pulled it out and set it on the floor before placing the new one inside and tightening the bolts and nuts. He then reconnected the marked wiring harness at the back of the coil and the wire plugs.
"Hiccup!"
Hiccup closed the hood of the truck before turning to Gobber, wiping his hands on the sides of his jeans. "Yeah?"
The older man hobbled over and thrust a finger at the small office he had come out of. "Yer lady friend is on the phone," he chuckled, "Best to not keep her waitin'."
He blushed and jogged into the office, his eyes searching the room for the black phone. He grabbed it and held it up to his ear, smiling. "Astrid?"
"What? No," the voice on the other end said. "Why would Astrid be in our apartment? Oh my Gods, she's one of them isn't she? I knew it! I knew Ruffnut was lying to me! There's probably cameras… watching our every move…"
"What do you want, Tuff?" Hiccup sighed.
"Oh! Yeah, Fishy wanted me to tell you that he's not gonna be back in time for your stupid moving out thingy," Tuffnut said.
"You mean our guys' night?" he asked, leaning against the wall. "Great. What am I supposed to do with all of the food I bought? There's no way the three of us could eat that much."
"What about Astrid and the butt elf? Can't they come over and eat their feelings with us?" Tuff asked.
"No, Astrid shouldn't be eating junk food. It's bad for the baby. Do you have any idea what that much sugar could do to-"
"Dude. Chill. Maybe you should be the one eating your feelings…"
"It's just a lot to deal with at once, okay? I don't exactly have the luxury of sitting around with my sister all day like you do," Hiccup snapped.
"Woah. Okay, who said that it's a luxury? It's a curse. She smells like old people. And also, you have a sister?" Tuffnut said.
Hiccup groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Can I go now? I still have a lot to do in the next…" He glanced at the clock, "three hours."
"Yeah, I'll see you around, man," Tuff said.
"Bye Tuff," Hiccup sighed.
He hung up and went back into the garage, cringing when Gobber grinned and nudged his shoulder with the wrench in his hand.
"So, how'd it go with the lady?" he asked.
"That wasn't Astrid," Hiccup said.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, it was one of the guys I live with, Thomas," he explained.
"Sounded awfully feminine to me…" Gobber mumbled as he exchanged the wrench for one a smaller one.
Hiccup rolled his eyes and clicked the hood open again. "Don't question it."
"Well that kid was a strange one. Mumblin' somethin' about his fish leavin'…" Gobber said. "Can ye grab that for me?"
Hiccup reached over and grabbed one of the screwdrivers off of the small worktable. He handed it to Gobber and watched the older man work, his words caught in his throat.
He just couldn't distract himself long enough to forget that Astrid was going to look at the apartment today alone, because he didn't have the time to ask Gobber about changing his hours. He knew she didn't like it (he didn't either) but he also admired how well she had taken the news over breakfast yesterday morning.
Astrid didn't remember the last time she had been so cold. She sat on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders even though she was wearing her gray Berk Dragons sweatshirt. There was an open textbook in her lap and a notebook sitting next to her, the eraser of the pencil in her hand tapping against the pages. Math had never been her best subject, especially not calculus.
The apartment was silent other than the sound of the rain hitting the window. Ruff and Heather were out, doing who knows what, while she was stuck inside, driving herself crazy with all of her hopes and fears and wishes for the coming months.
Astrid couldn't concentrate on the words on the pages. Every time she tried to read them her brain shorted out, refusing to process the information. She shut the book and set it on the floor with the notebook before swinging her legs over the side of the couch. She stretched and groaned when her back popped.
The clock on the microwave read 11:32 as she walked into the kitchen, her socked feet whispering over the floor. She grabbed a banana from the basket on the counter and peeled it as she went into the bathroom and turned the shower on.
She undressed and stepped under the warm water, her arms folded around her middle. Her fingers could no longer reach her elbows because of the small bump there. She leaned her head against the shower wall and sighed, water droplets running down her face and chest.
There was so much to think about, so much to plan. She still had yet to arrange an official date for she and Hiccup to move into the new apartment. And then there was finding someone to babysit; buying a new car because there was no way she could fit a car seat in the back of her current one; telling her parents.
Astrid paused, shampoo bottle in hand, her eyes locked on the fogged up glass door as she thought.
Her parents. What would they say? Astrid didn't even know where she was at with Hiccup at that moment. She loved him, of course, but did she really want to spend the rest of her life with him?
She squeezed a small amount of the shampoo into her palm and massaged it into her hair. Its sugary strawberry scent was almost overwhelming, making her nose itch and her head feel heavy.
Astrid hated not being able to make her own decisions because of a tiny, meaningless mistake. It had been one drunken night, not something she would have ever thought twice about before. But it had changed her, and in a way it had changed Hiccup too.
She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, wishing that the water would wash all of her thoughts right down the drain and far, far away from here.
The water was getting cold. Astrid shut it off and grabbed a towel hanging from the bar on the wall as she stepped out of the shower.
She dried off and got dressed before going into the living room, using the towel to try the last few water droplets clinging to her braid. It stuck to her neck and the back of her sweatshirt as she grabbed her phone and shoved it in her pocket. She stepped into her shoes and went out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind her.
The hallway was oddly quiet. There was no loud music playing behind Hiccup's door- well, his old door- and Ruff and Tuff weren't messing around at the top of the stairs. Even Heather's absence was strange. There was only the sound of the rain hitting the windows as she walked down the hall.
She gripped the keys in her hand in the warm pocket of her sweatshirt, fingering the straight edges. She came to the right door and slid then into the lock, twisting the knob and opening it easily.
The apartment was, for the most part, just like hers. The same ugly sandy tile counters in the kitchen, the same square window on the far wall, the same white carpet. But there were no memories attached to anything here.
Astrid stepped inside and closed the door. Even the scent was different. There was no bitter smell of the coffee maker she had kept in the kitchen and Ruff's lemony hair spray, which she had always asked her to throw away because It made her nauseous but now missed for some odd reason.
But it was home. They would make new memories here. They would be happy. Right?
She went over to one of the large picture windows on the far wall and looked down at the city. Cars raced by and people ran on the sidewalks, holding soggy prints of that morning's newspaper and colorful umbrellas over their heads to shield themselves from the icy downpour.
Astrid shivered and twisted her fingers in the large front pocket of her sweatshirt. Her wet braid was cold now, and it chilled her to the bone. In fact, she felt as if she had been drenched in ice water from the waist down.
She looked down and was shocked to find the front of her blue leggings soaked to the point that the fabric was black. "Oh God…" she whispered. No, no, no… this was not at all how things should have gone. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when she promised Hiccup that she would be fine
She swore and pulled her sweatshirt down over the large wet spot as she ran out of the apartment, her heart hammering in her chest.
Astrid threw open the door to her apartment- her old apartment, the obnoxious voice in the back of her mind reminded- and slammed it shut behind her before running into the bathroom. She sat down on the closed lid of the toilet and pulled out her phone, tears already trickling down her cheeks.
She scrolled through her contacts, her free arm wrapped around her belly, and clicked on one. She looked down and bit her lip when she saw that the wet spot was growing. Something stirred in her lower abdomen.
"Hello?"
Astrid tried to choke back a sob and failed miserably. Her calm exterior melted away. "H-H-Hicc…"
"Astrid? Are you okay?" Hiccup asked.
She couldn't do this. Not now. Not ever.
"H-Hicc-cup… I…"
"Astrid, what's going on? Are you okay? Do you need me to call Ruff or Heather?" he asked.
"I-I need you… to come home…" she sobbed.
"Astrid-"
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.
Hiccup was silent for a minute. "Where are you?" he asked quietly.
"H-Home. I didn't… I d-don't know what I did wrong! I'm so, so sorry, Hiccup. I can't…"
"Astrid, it's going to be okay. I'm leaving now. Can you call someone to wait with you until I get there?" Hiccup said.
"Okay," she whispered.
"You're going to call someone?" Hiccup repeated. She heard Gobber's voice and the sound of a car door shutting in the background.
"Yes."
"Okay. I want you call them and call me right back, okay?"
Astrid took a deep, shaky breath. "Okay."
She ended the call and stared down at her phone in the lap of her wet leggings. Then she selected Ruff from her contact list and listened to the phone ring on the other end of the line, tears streaming down her face.
"Ruff? I… I need you to c-come home. I-It's the baby."
(Another) Author's Note: It's a weird place to end a chapter, I know, but the next should be up soon. I'll try for next weekend. I promise that this is the most emotional, darkest part of the story. It will get better.