NEW CHAPTER ONCE MORE FOR THE FANDOM BECAUSE I LOVE WRITING

"Where is she?" Stoick growled under his breath, one moment he came his home in hopes of seeing his wife but instead he found the house empty with Hiccup sleeping in his cradle all alone. To make matters worse the biggest snow storm in Berk history has hit so it was impossible for him to go out to search for her so now he was trapped in his own home with an infant.

The winds howled as snow continued to pour and all Stoick could do was sit down and watch the baby sleep, he wasn't really sure if the child recovered from the fever or not but he was trying his best not to care. Didn't take long until he saw the small baby slowly open his eyes then look over at Stoick only to reach his hands out to him while giggling. Stoick didn't seem to find it amusing so he just ignored the child but he was starting to hear whimpers and he was not in the mood to hear loud crying so he was quick to grab a rattle and shake it quickly to bring the joy back in Hiccup even though joy was the last thing Stoick wanted him to feel.

"You're a little nuisance you know that," Stoick growled, no longer shaking the rattle as his eyes were glaring at the baby who seemed to find the face a little frightening since he was starting to frown a little. "Oh what are you going to do now you devil, cry because I stopped shaking this useless toy or because I'm not smiling at you? Well of course I won't smile down at you...You caused all my pain." As if he understood, Hiccup, even with his tiny hands, managed to grab the rattle away from Stoick, who didn't seem to care until the baby began to rattle it himself and right where Stoick could see. However even though Hiccup was shaking the rattle, he was still frowning but didn't stop shaking the rattle.

"What are you trying to do?" Stoick grumbled, as he got up to grab a wooden toy and wave it at the child. "Here a new toy now stop shaking the rattle if all you're ever going to do with it is frown." He just handed the toy, his hand held out to grab the rattle but now he was seeing the baby shake the rattle and wave the wooden toy in the air, but he still wore a frown on his face and soon began to whimper. Stoick brought all the toy he can find, waving them in the air with a frown on his face in hopes of cheering the boy up but Hiccup was not showing any reverse in the frown. It got to the point where Stoick had to scoop the baby from it's blanket and set him on the floor to crawl around but Hiccup was still rattling that rattle and waving the toy in the way.

"Look kid I'm not your dad alright!" Stoick finally shouted, throwing everything in his hands on the ground but not to close to the child as tears were threatening to fall from his eyes. "I don't know what you want! Why don't you just tell me to send you back to your real father! What do you want from me! You're...You're not my real son! My real baby boy is dead alright! Dead and never coming back!" Stoick didn't realize that he was on the floor with tears on his eyes as he whispered, "My son is dead... I can never be a father... Never..."

He was waiting for Hiccup to cry since the rattling stopped but he heard nothing, in fact he didn't notice that Hiccup was slowly crawling toward him with the rattle on his hand. Once he was at least five inches away from Stoick, Hiccup shook his rattle again in the same musical rhythm he heard Mulch shake it in. Stoick didn't hear the baby crying but instead saw the sadness and sympathy in Hiccup's forest green eyes as he shook the rattle. That was until he saw small tear fall from the baby's fragile eyes was when it finally clicked.

"Were you..." Stoick whispered, getting on his knees as the baby still wore a frown. "Were you trying to make me smile?"

Of course Hiccup couldn't talk to confirm it but the excitement in his small giggle and how much faster he shook the toy clearly answered that question. Stoick wasn't sure if this was act of the gods of anything but before he could do anything, Hiccup place his small hand on his lap, as if he was trying to ask for forgiveness for something. Just before Stoick could make a smile, Hiccup finally gave up since he began crying for being a failure which instantly lit up the spark of fatherly instincts that was put out for far too long.

"No, no, no, no, no." Stoick cooed, finally for the first time without any disgust, gently lifted Hiccup up then smiled in front of the baby. "Look I'm happy see!? See? You made me smile, you didn't fail. It's okay, it's okay." Apparently that helped stop the crying but not the whimpering so without even realizing, Stoick picked up some toys and tried to sound stupid which eventually got the boy to laugh. However their fun ended when Hiccup began to sneeze then cough a little which shows that the fever was still in his system so without hesitation, Stoick wrapped him around a furry blanket and spent that afternoon and the rest of the night making sure the baby was okay and healthy as he whispered, "Please feel better Hiccup..I'm so sorry for being so stubborn but please don't die on me...Please, son I know you're stronger than this..."

THREE DAYS LATER...

"I see a little snowstorm and cold doesn't seem to have what it takes to beat you know do they?" Stoick whispered to his son who just giggled in response until they both heard the door of the house burst open as Valka frantically entered with tear stained eyes only to see the two of them just fine.

"Oh thor! That storm kept me in Gothi's and the whole time I was so worried." Valka cried as she scooped Hiccup up and held him closely while Gobber came in after her as she continued. "I was so sure that he wouldn't survive without the medicine and then..."

"Valka I'm surprised with you," Stoick smiled, grabbing Hiccup from Valka as he raised the boy up. "This is our son Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, he's going to grow up to be the strongest viking this tribe has ever seen! Just you wait, our son will make us proud." Gobber and Valka gave the chief a bewildered look, wondering if he was going insane or if there was some crazy miracle that happened within the time span of the storm but what ever it was, they couldn't smiling in knowing that Stoick finally accepted the little boy.

Unfortunately no one can predict the future and tragedy that was about to fall upon them.

Three Months Later...

"Stoick you can't possible blame the lad for this!"

"Yes I can! If I hadn't wasted my time saving him then maybe I could have saved her!"

"But you don't know that! It was a horrible accident!"

"Not the way I see it."

"He's just a baby Stoick! How can you expect him to be able to defend himself against that stormcutter!?"

"If he could then Val wouldn't have gotten killed!"

"But would she have wanted you to give up on being a father!?"

"Valka isn't here and it's all because of that child!"

"Stoick now you are just being ridiculous, Hiccup is your son!"

"He's no son of mine, in fact I hope that he disappears from my life for good!"

Gobber was now silent, shaking his head in disappointment at Stoick as they stood in the docks where he just returned from a failed three month mission to find Valka after that dreadful night when a stormcutter broke in the Haddock's house and took Valka away. Then the very next day Stoick set out in search of her, despite it only being a month and a half that he was starting to accept Hiccup as his own. "At least see how he's doing Stoick, look the lad is only a baby so he can't understand what is going on."

Stoick sighed in defeat but then glared at Gobber, "One time Gobber, alright! After that...I'll decide on it later." So he followed Gobber home, which seemed to have repaired nicely but the emotion of home was gone. They entered and went up the stairs where the cradle was only to see it completely empty, with no sign of the baby anywhere!

"Oh THOR NO!" Gobber panicked as he searched the room in hopes of finding Hiccup but no luck. "I swear I left him in the cradle and he was sound asleep, windows were shut and so was the door so there is no way that he could have wandered off!" Stoick was about to suggest that maybe the baby was better off alone but what stopped him was when he realized that at the floor there was a rattle laying there as if it was thrown which brought a spark of concern since he never saw Hiccup let go of that toy even though he mostly used it as protection from the toy dragon Valka made him before the accident.

Stoick picked up the rattle then suggested that they should start looking around the village. The two men spent hours looking around the village and the forest but they found nothing.

A FEW HOURS LATER...

"Where is he?" Gobber muttered, sitting on a chair with his helmet down then he heard a fist hit the wall, knowing that it was Stoick taking out his frustration at the wall. "But this must be marvelous news to you ain't it Stoick? You did say that you hoped you never see the child again."

"I didn't mean..." Stoick weakly whispered, trying so hard not to let this affect him but how can he after everything he just said about Hiccup just mere moments ago, deep down knowing that he never meant it however it seemed as though as if he did. "I didn't know...Oh Hiccup where are you lad?" He held the little rattle he didn't realize that he had in his hand. "Where are you?"

"So now you care about the lad, I thought he wasn't your son," Gobber grumbled in annoyance. "That it was his fault for what happened to Valka, that if he was stronger then maybe none of this would have happened. Better yet if he wasn't given to you in the first place."

"SHUT UP!" Stoick yelled, his voice cracking a bit. "I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WILL REALLY HAPPEN! I WAS ANGRY ALRIGHT, I JUST COULDN'T LET GO OF THE FACT THAT MY BIRTH SON IS DEAD AND THAT NOW VALKA IS DEAD TOO! MOSTLY BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID THAT I COULD NEVER BE A GOOD FATHER ALRIGHT!" He sat down on his chair, trying to contain his tears, "Hiccup is all I have left...And I just pushed him aside and hated him..." He didn't realize that he dropped the rattle, he didn't realize that tears were streaming down his face. "Oh Thor what would I give for at least a few more chances..."

Gobber was silent, knowing that it probably best for him to let Stoick let go of his emotions, but the two men didn't realize that a small head was poking out a pile of furs from the back corner of the house. They didn't see the small child crawl out of the furs, frowning a bit to see that his little plan of crawling his way out of bed and down here didn't go to well as he hoped.

His intentions were to surprise his daddy by popping out of the furs, not cause him to start yelling and cry. So in hopes of making things right, Hiccup crawled his way in front of the chair Stoick on and sat there in hopes of grabbing his attention. But when that didn't work, he grabbed the rattle that so happened to be right next to him and then gently shook it. The moment the little music shook, it instantly got Stoick's attention since he looked up in shock to hear rattling with his eyes widened in surprise and hope. Gobber was too speechless to say anything as Stoick looked down only to see Hiccup right there waving the toy around with his eyes giving some kind of message of apology.

"HICCUP!" Stoick did not hesitate to scoop his son up and embrace him gently as tears still ran down his face while he whispered. "Oh son I thought I lost you for sure! For thor's sake don't give me such a scare like that ever again please! You have no idea how much you made your daddy worried young man!"

"I thought he wasn't your real son?" Gobber grinned when he received the answer he was hoping to hear ever since that day Hiccup was given to Stoick.

"Hiccup may not be my birth son Gobber but that doesn't matter! It's the bond that makes the difference between blood and family! So you're wrong Gobber, Hiccup is my real son, sure he can never replace my birth son but he needs a family, he deserves a chance, he-"

"Needs you to be his father," Gobber finished, earning a nod from the father who wouldn't let go of his boy, his son.

End Flashback

"So Hiccup made you realize how much of jerk you were being and that maybe you should give new opportunities a chance?" Dagur concluded, earning a nod from Stoick but Heather didn't seem very convinced until Stoick pulled out an old beaten up rattle.

"Aye, I decided from then on that I should be a father and those years were very real and cherishing until the dragons raids gotten worse and worse along with my duties as a chief," Stoick sighed, "Until it came to the point of Hiccup training a nightfury and nearly losing him again gave me a wake up call to never forget that I was his father."

Now Heather was finally convinced. She now felt guilt swarm her body since at the beginning of it all, she should understanding and trust to the Berkian chief but now all she has shown him was distrust and no understanding at all. With her arms wrapped around herself she whispered softy to Stoick, "Sorry...For acting the way I did just yesterday..."

"Aye it's alright lass, we all tend to lose our common sense when we're feeling lost and blinded with anger," Stoick nodded, gently patting her shoulder, glad that he was able to make amends with the teen but what Dagur said earlier was something that confused him. "But what did Dagur mean when he said you know that he's no worse than me when it comes to you, Hiccup, and your family?"

Since she didn't know that Stoick knew, she was about to make a lie but Dagur beat her to it, but he wasn't planning to lie. "I told her the truth about how I manipulated your village to believe that my siblings are traitors and how that plan was supposed to work out as."

"I see," Stoick was internally grateful that the deranged chief was able to tell the truth like that. "It must have been hard for you to tell but believe me, it's better than lies and broken trust. That way you can build trust with one other without any secrets." They were silent for a moment since they knew that Stoick was talking about personal experience just a few days ago but then Stoick cleared his throat to ease the tension. "Well now that we have all that a little sorted out, how about I tell you two everything about Hiccup and his childhood, I'll wager you want to get to know your brother a little more than what you already know."

Now that brightened Heather's and Dagur's faces as they nodded eagerly but as Stoick began to tell them tales of young Hiccup's childhood, none of them, especially the dragons, noticed that Hiccup was awake and heard everything that had been said that night

Ohhhh bet you didn't see that coming! sorry if the flashback was crappy but hey i tried. see ya next update