HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! I can only apologize so much for how long this took. I'll let you jump right in since you've waited so long and put my entire A/N at the bottom.

Remember: Time Jump!

Three years may have passed, but Hiccup still remembered that day like it was yesterday. But then again, it was the day he had lost his leg, so it was bound to stick in his head pretty clearly. When he snapped back to reality once more, he found himself in the passenger seat of a speeding Maserati with Toothless at the wheel. He glanced over at Toothless, who wore stoic expression as he sped through empty New York streets at four in the morning, then back at his own prosthetic. It was rather nice actually, and quite expensive, but Toothless had insisted on nothing less. It was made specifically for Hiccup, weighted specifically so that it wouldn't feel too heavy or light when he walked and extremely durable. Plus it detached really easily for when he went to bed.

Hiccup didn't realize he had become lost in his train of thought once more until the car came to an abrupt stop at a sudden red light. Toothless looked at him just for a moment, then looked back to the road before he started to talk.

"Is your earpiece working?"

"Yes Toothless," Hiccup droned. That was the third time he had asked since they had checked it before leaving the condo not twenty minutes ago. After three years of this Hiccup had thought Toothless would finally stop worrying so much every time they went out on a money run, but clearly not. Hiccup supposed he would always worry something would happen to him, but Hiccup knew he'd be fine and Toothless was really doing this to himself. Since he had taken over after RD's death he didn't really have to do money runs anymore, but he chose to do them anyways. Hiccup wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to just sit behind a desk forever giving orders or if it was because the others seemed to respect him more for not being afraid of getting his hands dirty, but that wasn't important.

"I'm sorry, it's just I have a bad feeling about tonight and..."

"Hey," Hiccup interrupted, "Everything will be fine. Just trust me, alright?"

"Alright, fine," Toothless conceded as the traffic light turned green and he continued forward. "Just be careful and watch your surroundings. I'm willing to bet every cop in the city will recognize your face at the drop of a hat."

Hiccup chuckled. Yes Toothless was right, but it wasn't just because Stoick was who he was. Somehow, Hiccup had ended up higher on the NYPD's wanted list than Toothless, and he was pretty sure that Toothless was more than just a little jealous. Hiccup wasn't sure why, it wasn't like it was a competition or anything, but seeing the expression on Toothless' face every time it came up made Hiccup laugh. He wasn't sure if Toothless knew that his expression changed every time to show some form of slight irritation, but it most definitely did.

"And remember," Toothless continued, "If he doesn't have the money, go for the kneecaps."

"Right," Hiccup agreed, even though he knew that already. He kept up on the details of all of the business the mob conducted, as well as payment schedules and punishments.

When Toothless had taken over, he had only changed one thing, and Hiccup definitely had no problem with it. The mob no longer killed people unless their own lives were in danger. No one died for being unable to pay at a certain time. They simply took other measures, such as collateral. Of course they had to keep up an image, a certain fear factor, so they occasionally paid off the media to claim that a death, real or fake, was possibly connected to the mob.

They soon arrived at the alley where the exchange was to take place. It was the same alley on East 32nd Street where Toothless and Hiccup had first "met". Toothless really seemed to like arranging meetings in this alley, but Hiccup never bothered to ask why. As Hiccup started to get out of the car, Toothless stopped him for just a moment.

"I'm going to drive around the block and see if I see anything suspicious. Be careful."

"Always," Hiccup responded and gave Toothless a quick peck on the cheek. He slammed the car door behind him, and immediately wiped the smile from his face. He needed to look serious, intimidating, and the height and (little bit of) extra muscle he had put on over the last few years helped, but not enough to offset a cheery demeanour.

He walked maybe fifteen steps into the alley, turned the corner, and right there was just the man he was looking for. Hiccup immediately noted the lack of any type of bag or case that might contain the required funds and silently shook his head in disappointment.

"Hector, let's talk business." Hiccup said, not wanting to beat around the bush more than necessary. Ideally he would be done before Toothless even finished his circuit around the block.

"Hey, Hiccup!" Hector started, sounding just a bit too cheery for the situation. When Hiccup's expression remained unchanged, however, Hector realized he should just get to the point. "OK look, I don't have all of the money, but I do have some of it! I just need a few more days to get the balance."

Hiccup had to admit, he had never actually heard that excuse before. "How much?"

"I have $1000."

Hiccup arched an eyebrow at that. Considering Hector owed $10000 at this meeting, he really didn't have that much. Well, looks like it was the kneecaps then. Hiccup pulled the gun out from the back of his pants and cocked it, placing his finger on the trigger. He aimed at Hector's chest, but he knew he wouldn't fire.

"Come on Hector, you know that's not good enough." At this point, Hector's fear started to kick in. But before he could say anything, Hiccup quickly shifted the gun and fired two rapid shots, with one landing square in each kneecap. Hiccup may have been good before, but Toothless had truly taught him how to never miss. Hiccup then proceeded to walk up to Hector, who was lying on the ground, and kneeled down next to him. "Now, in one week, we are going to meet here again. And next time, you are going to have all of the money. The full amount. Got it?"

Hiccup took Hector's pained whimpers as acknowledgement of the demand, and stood up as he re-holstered his gun. As he turned around, however, he noticed a shadow approaching at a rather rapid rate from around the corner. Hiccup knew Toothless would never leave the car if he didn't have to, so Hiccup could only assume it was someone worried about the gun shots and coming to investigate. He slipped into a sheltered section of the nearby building that concealed a door, however the door was locked. Hiccup let out a sigh of discontent and prepared himself for what he knew would have to come next.

Hiccup listened to the quickly approaching footsteps and timed himself perfectly. Without even having to think he jumped out, tripped the approaching individual and knocked him out with the perfect usage of the pressure point on his neck. When Hiccup took the moment to notice, however, he discovered that it was no ordinary individual, but an officer with the NYPD.

Hiccup would never let himself panic in a situation like this, however he was a little freaked out by the sudden discovery. He quickly recomposed himself and headed for the only exit from the alley, radioing Toothless as he briskly walked.

"Toothless there was a cop nearby. Meet me two blocks north, we'll rendezvous…" Hiccup stopped immediately when he turned the corner. Blocking the exit were two squad cars, doors open and officers armed. Hiccup would have tried running, but the four guns aimed square at him convinced him otherwise. Raising his hands slowly, he whispered into his earpiece, "Toothless, they're here. Stay away."

"What?" came a concerned Toothless from the other end, crackling slightly. "Hiccup stay put, I'll come and…"

"No," Hiccup commanded, more forcefully than he had intended. "Toothless stay away. I've been compromised. "

Toothless didn't like it, but as he drove past the intersection where he would have made his final right to pick up Hiccup, he saw why Hiccup had insisted. There were far too many cops; Toothless wouldn't have been able to do anything.

"Hiccup, I'll get you out of this. Somehow," Toothless promised as he sped off towards the condo. He would start coming up with a plan immediately.

Hiccup didn't respond, rather he focused on following the officers' instructions to get on his knees and put his hands on his head. He'd really rather be arrested than turned into Swiss cheese by the bullets of several officers. As he knelt down on the ground, his knee accidentally landing in a puddle of cool water, three of the cops came rushing over. The first placed handcuffs roughly on Hiccup's wrists, the second confiscated his gun, and the third continued on to check on the officer from before and most likely inspect the origin of Hector's still audible cries of pain.

After the cuffs were on and his gun had been confiscated, he was hoisted up from the ground by the two officers with him. He wasn't paying attention as the officer read him his Miranda Rights, he was thinking how glad that his father wasn't here on this bust. He hadn't seen the man in three years, and this was not how he wanted to reintroduce himself after all this time. Unfortunately he thought too soon, as when he was brought over to the cop car that he supposed would take him to the nearest station, Stoick stepped out of the rear of the other car.

Hiccup refused to say anything to his father, and Stoick didn't have much to say to his son at this point, but he did manage to slowly shake his head and mumble, "Hiccup, I'm so disappointed," before getting back into the squad car he came from and closing the door.

Hiccup had been in the interrogation room once before, when his mother had taken him on a tour of the station all those years ago. Hiccup had found it quite interesting at the time, but now that he was here for a different reason, he didn't find it quite so amusing. He found it far more confining than he remembered, and the fluorescent lights were irritating his eyes.

He was alone in the room at the moment, as he had been for the last hour since he denied a lawyer knowing he just wasn't going to say anything, but there were clearly people right outside the door. One of them was Stoick, as Hiccup had heard his booming voice a few times now. He had heard the words "son", "conflict of interest", and "off the record" yelled a few times, but he wasn't paying attention. He was silently reprimanding himself for doing this to Toothless. Toothless must be worried sick about him, and Hiccup really should have double checked the area for cops in advance like he normally did. Toothless didn't need all this unnecessary stress, and it was entirely his fault.

Hiccup was jolted from his thoughts when the door opened and a detective walked in. Or at least Hiccup assumed it was a detective. It was definitely someone higher up, maybe even from the state level. There was no way this man was just an ordinary officer. They didn't dress in grey suits and ties, and they definitely didn't have badges like that on their belts.

"Ah, Hiccup. Not exactly Toothless but close enough," the man cracked as he took a seat. Hiccup just sent him a dirty glare. "Now, I'm here to help you. Really. If you can give me good information on Toothless or the Fire Breathers Gang, I can help reduce your penalties. Now, let's talk."

Hiccup, again, just glared at the man, not even opening his mouth to state that he refused to say anything. The man, who finally introduced himself as Agent Smith a few minutes in, continued to ask questions and express to Hiccup the benefits of talking and how anyone else would do it to him if they were in his situation (none of which Hiccup believed) for approximately twenty minutes before he gave up. And in that time, Hiccup hadn't said a word.

"Alright Hiccup," Agent Smith started, clearly unimpressed, "since you're not going to help, neither am I. You'll stay here overnight but tomorrow we'll be transferring you to a proper prison until your trial. You've got quite an impressive list of charges going for someone your age. I have a good feeling you're going to spend a long time behind bars."

As Agent Smith walked out the door, he motioned to two other officers. They came in, grabbed Hiccup, and brought him into the hallway and towards the holding cell he would spend the night in. He looked around as he walked and thanked his lucky stars that at least now his father was nowhere to be seen.

When Hiccup woke up the next morning, it was to the banging on the bars of his holding cell and with a pain in his neck. That had been, without a doubt, the worst night's sleep of Hiccup's life. It wasn't really surprising though, considering the holding cells probably weren't designed for comfort. It was nothing more than a toilet and sink in one corner, with a fold down bed on the opposite wall.

After being put in handcuffs once more he was quickly and quietly transferred to a prisoner transport van, where he was the only person being transported. There was no window in the back, so all he could do for the hour and a bit was sit there and twiddle his thumbs, wondering exactly where they were headed. He could hear the subdued roaring of the wind as they drove at a level that clearly indicated they were on the freeway, however Hiccup didn't know which freeway or in which direction.

Hiccup had seen the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" once in his life, but he didn't believe that was actually how admittance to a real prison worked. Sadly, he was wrong. He was introduced to the warden, forced to turn in his suit, was told what he was allowed to keep, and was hosed down before being given his orange jumper and walked to his cell. The prison had four different cell blocks, labelled A to D, with a locked gate between each block. Hiccup was located in cell block C. Hiccup could only imagine what the inmates in cell block D must have done to have gotten there if he was only in block C.

Fortunately the other inmates were all out in the yard so he didn't have to worry about walking past any of them. When he arrived at his cell, his new home for the foreseeable future, he realized that it looked exactly like the holding cell back at the station. He looked at the stainless steel toilet, the sink that would most likely only activate for a few seconds after the toilet was flushed, and at the barred window with a view of the yard before glancing over at his bed. And sure enough, the bed felt just as uncomfortable. Maybe that's why in prison movies the inmates were always so angry.

Hiccup had barely even settled in before the guard returned to inform him that he already had a visitor. It surprised him that he could have a visitor so soon but he supposed it wasn't impossible if it was currently visiting hours. Following the now seemingly normal routine, Hiccup allowed himself to be handcuffed and led through the aisles of cells back to the front of the prison where the visiting areas were. There were two areas: one where there were just tables and the visitors and inmates could touch and talk freely and another where there was a wall of glass between them and a phone that allowed them to talk. Hiccup was led to the latter.

Hiccup's face lit up when he saw Toothless sitting on the other side of the glass. He almost forgot to let the guard take off his handcuffs before he dashed over to the chair and picked up the phone. Toothless laughed silently at Hiccup's enthusiasm and picked up his own phone as well.

"Well, glad to see they haven't broken you down yet," Toothless joked into the phone, trying to keep the mood light.

"Please," Hiccup retorted, "they wouldn't know what to do with all this!" Toothless laughed once more until Hiccup turned the conversation to a more serious matter. "Look, Toothless, I'm sorry I got us into this…"

"Hey, don't blame yourself," Toothless interrupted, attempting to soothe Hiccup. "Everything will be fine. We'll get you out of here. Unfortunately they have a pretty solid case against you in court according to the judge I spoke to, but we have another, well, unapproved plan to get you out, if you know what I mean."

Hiccup wasn't sure how he felt about that, since people may get hurt, but the idea of being able to get out of this prison was appealing to him already, and he hadn't even been there a couple of hours.

"I'm going to run," Toothless continued. "Don't think I should stick around here too long."

As much as Hiccup hated to admit it, Toothless was right. He really wished that he didn't have to leave, or that he could at least kiss him again, but the plexiglass barrier simply wouldn't allow it. He watched silently and with a heavy heart as Toothless hung up his phone, waved goodbye, and started towards the door. Just as he was about to leave, however, Stoick of all people decided to walk in, and their eyes immediately deadlocked. It took precisely four seconds before Stoick blew up.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU DID THIS TO MY SON YOU ABOMINATION!" Stoick screamed so loud that the guards turned and Hiccup would have sworn the glass in front of him vibrated. The glass was soundproof, but Hiccup still heard the scream. Toothless, clearly not wanting to start a confrontation, started to back away slowly. Stoick, however, pushed forward. "Guards! Arrest this man!"

As the guards started to approach, Toothless piped up, asking, "On what charges?"

This stopped the guards and stumped Stoick. Hiccup released the breath he didn't even realize he had been holding. Toothless' record had been cleared again not a few days ago when it was determined there was insufficient evidence to bring any charges against him, so there was nothing Stoick could claim as a charge. When Stoick had no response, Toothless continued.

"Well then, if you have no charges, I'll thank you to step aside and let me leave." As Toothless walked past Stoick, Hiccup had to hold in a small giggle. Seeing him do that to Stoick, as he had seen from afar a few times in the past few years, would never get old.

Hiccup snapped back to reality when he realized that Stoick was headed straight for him. A piece of him wanted to get up and leave without so much as a word to the man, but for some reason another part of him stuck himself to that chair and wouldn't let him leave. When he sat down, Hiccup's hands automatically reached for the phone and held it to his ear once more.

"Son…" Stoick started, voice low and crestfallen, but when he saw the look Hiccup gave him, he decided to just go with it even though it had been over three years. "Hiccup, look, I know it has been far too long, but I haven't been able to find you, and I know you obviously had no desire to find me, so even if I have to do it here, I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Keep your apologies," Hiccup mumbled just loud enough for Stoick to hear.

"The truth is, I've changed. I've stopped my after work outings," Hiccup raised an eyebrow at this, "I've stopped drinking. I've been sober almost two and a half years now! I've wanted to make things right between the two of us for so long."

"Well to me you're still the man that cut me off from my savings after he threw me out," Hiccup retorted, venom clear in his voice. Surprisingly though, that venom didn't come as easily as Hiccup thought it would. Regardless, he was still seeing red at the moment.

"I realized something was wrong a few months in after I realized I hadn't been getting a cell phone bill for you. I checked online and noticed I had cut it off. I spent the whole day searching and calling to find out what else I had done. I gave you access to your savings again. I'm not sure if you noticed."

"I don't need that money. I've made my own life now. I had before those months had passed."

"Well it's there if you ever want it," Stoick confirmed. "Now, I'm also here to tell you I've gotten you a deal. They'll knock time off your sentence if you tell us…"

"No," Hiccup said with so much finality Stoick was speechless for a few moments.

"Hiccup, this is for your own good," Stoick tried to reason.

"I'm not squealing on my friends and Toothless."

"Why not?"

"Because they are the best friends I've ever had or even come close to having for that matter. We all watch out for each other. And I can't do that to Toothless, I love him."

"But how do you know he loves you?" Stoick immediately knew that was a stupid question, seeing as they had been together for three years already, but Hiccup was more than happy to stick it to his father with an over the top answer.

Hiccup didn't say a word in his reply, but it made Stoick's jaw drop. Hiccup simply held up his left hand for Stoick to see, and there, on his ring finger, was the only piece of jewellery he had been allowed to keep (although he wasn't sure why with how valuable it must have been).

Dangling from Hiccup's ring finger was a shining platinum band, decorated with two golden dragons facing a sparkling diamond between them. It was one of the most impressive rings Stoick had ever seen, and it left Stoick speechless for the second time in sixty seconds. When Stoick couldn't find the words to continue this time, Hiccup chimed in.

"This is how I know. I'm his fiancé. We're getting married in a few months. Don't expect an invitation dad."

With that, Hiccup hung up the phone. The last thing Stoick heard before the click was Hiccup summoning the guard and informing him he was ready to leave. Stoick sat there, phone receiver to his ear, for a good two minutes before a guard came to ask him if he was alright. He nodded in confirmation and hung up the receiver. But even as he gathered his jacket and headed out, there was only one thing on his mind. While Hiccup may have seemed mad the whole time, he had just, for the first time in several years, called him dad.

HAHA! Didn't see that coming, did you!? XD

OK, so, a few things. In case it wasn't obvious, Hiccup has sort of grown into Older!Hiccup during the gap. Or at least started the transition. Take that as you will. If you're interested in the ring, see here:

ringoblog DOT com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dragon-ring DOT jpg

You know what to do with the 'DOT's.

Now, again, I apologize for how long this took, and I have some news. So my exams just ended and I literally spent ALL my free time writing this for you guys. However, for the summer, I got a full-time job. 40 hours per week. Starting Monday. That obviously means that I won't have excessive amounts of it this summer. I will try to keep pushing these out as fast as I can, but I can no longer make guarantees, especially since I am doing summer school too...starting Saturday...apparently my subconscious doesn't think I need free time at all or something...but anyways! I will say this: I forecast that there are two chapters and an epilogue left for this story. And may the gods help me, I intend for this story to be finished by the time school returns in September. Note: that does not include any TUS one shots I have thought of in the meantime, including 2 inspired by this chapter alone. I will do my absolute best I promise. I love each and every one of you that have stuck through this time with me. I write this story for you guys (and girls) as much as I write it for myself. Thank you all for being so patient; it means a lot to me.

Why not send Hiccup and Toothless an engagement gift in the form of a review, hm?