This was it. Stoick had the monster that had taken his son. One blow would end the creature. Oddly the dragon wasn't attempting to move or even look at him. The dragon's sole focus was on something behind Stoick. He looked over his shoulder to see Hiccup peeking out from behind Gobber. The boy's eyes were wide and he was clutching the blacksmith's tunic in both hands while Gobber held him there.

Stoick sighed. He couldn't do this; at least not here. "Put it with the others." He ordered turning back to the Nightmare. "Spitelout."

"Yes, Stoick?" Spitelout stepped forward.

"Take care of this." Stoick waved at the village. He took Hiccup by the hand and started for home. "I want all the fires out by dawn." The sky was just beginning to lighten. It was doable. Dawn wouldn't break for another hour; and Spitelout could manage damage control for now. Stoick's main concern was the dragon. He needed to figure what to do with it. He tugged Hiccup along when the boy stopped to watch the dragon being netted and muzzled.

"Dad-"

"Not now, Hiccup." Stoick said.

"But-"

"I said not now, Hiccup." Thankfully that did it and the boy kept his mouth shut.

"Ah, Stoick," Gobber called as he caught up. Great, Stoick thought.

"Not now, Gobber." Stoick had little hope of it working on Gobber as well as it worked on Hiccup. If only everyone could be dealt with by time outs and spankings.

"Right," Gobber said hopping a bit to keep up, "I get it. Mulling things over. Ya need to consider that the beastie just saved yer life. Hurt itself doin it too."

Stoick didn't care about that as he led Hiccup up the hill. It was a dragon and an enemy.

"That nadder was targeting ye-"

"Not. Now." Stoick looked Gobber in the eye and glanced down at Hiccup then back.

"Ah. Right. I'll talk ta ya later then." Gobber ruffled Hiccup's hair and went back to his shop.

Hiccup wanted to talk. Stoick could feel the boy's energy radiating off of him. He stayed quiet though, which was good as Stoick needed to think. Was it not enough that a nightmare was after his son? Now a nadder? How would he solve this if more dragons wanted to steal Hiccup? What if they started going after children in general? The raids were bad enough with dragons simply stealing food. How did this whole situation even happen?

When they got home Stoick steered Hiccup in ahead of him. Breakfast. The kid needed breakfast. What did they have that was quick? Not much as they had been eating in the Great Hall. Oatmeal it was. Hiccup sat at the table watching Stoick as he put the pot over the fire and poured a mug of buttermilk. Stoick always made sure to have milk in the house as it was the easiest thing to give Hiccup between meals.

"Dad?" Hiccup said quietly, "Can I talk now?" He took the mug his father handed him. Stoick wanted to say no; he wanted some peace and quiet before he went out to deal with the village and their inevitable questions. However, Hiccup sounded shaken up, scared, and that wasn't fair. He was a child and needed reassurance that he was safe. Stoick sighed inwardly and nodded, knowing that he would regret this.

"What'th going to happen to her?"

Stoick frowned, "Who?"

"The Nightmare. Dad, you only caught her becauthe she got hurt protecting me. That'th not fair."

Stoick was well aware of that. How could he justify letting the creature go, though? An enemy was an enemy.

"You let me worry about that, Hiccup."

"But Dad-"

"No buts." Stoick said pouring oats into the pot. "I need you to stay in the house today. I've got the village to take care of."

"I can help."

Stoick snorted. Hiccup helping tended to be him making more work for Stoick. He loved the boy, but Stoick didn't want him in the village today. "No. You can't. Stay inside."

"But I can! I could help, uh, Gobber. I could help Gobber."

"And how would you help Gobber?" Stoick asked dishing out the porridge.

"I could take orderth and get thtuff for him. Hand him toolth." Hiccup brightened up, "I could make nailth!"

Stoick tried not to laugh, but it was hard not to. "Make nails, eh?"

"Yeah, you need lotth after a raid, right?" Hiccup looked so hopeful and Stoick would feel better if he was supervised. The last thing Stoick needed was another dragon breaking into his house to steal his son. He was still mad at Gobber about the cupboard issue. The man was the best one in the village with Hiccup though.

"Alright-"

"Yeth!" Hiccup shouted jumping up on his chair.

"I'm not finished." Stoick said quickly. "Sit down. What have I told you about standing on the furniture?"

"Don't." Hiccup said sitting down.

"Feet off the chair, Hiccup. I need to talk to Gobber anyway. We can ask if he's okay with you 'helping'. If he is too busy you will come home and stay in the house, okay?"

"Yup." Hiccup played with his porridge, swinging his feet. Stoick watched him pour his milk into his bowl.

"If you finish your breakfast in the next five minutes." Stoick added standing to clean up.

"What?"

"You heard me, young man. I'm leaving in five minutes. If you haven't finished your breakfast you're staying home." Stoick cleaned up while Hiccup glowered at his oatmeal, eating it resentfully.

"Dad, I'm full."

Stoick looked in his bowl, he was almost finished. "Really?" Stoick said crossing his arms. Hiccup pushed his bowl aside and flopped his head and shoulders on the table.

"Yeth." He moaned, "I can't eat another bite."

Stoick rolled his eyes. Oh the dramatics. "Then I guess yer stayin home." That got the boy sitting up again.

"Why?"

Because the kid wasn't really full, only tired of sitting and eating, Stoick simply had to make him finish his meal. "Because I said so. Finish it or yer stayin' home."

Hiccup grumbled, but at least he finished the oatmeal. It was dawn when they got outside and the fires were all out. Now they needed to repair the damage. Luckily the damage looked minimal this time. Repairs would be quick, then restocking and preparation for the next raid.

"Gobber, ya in here?" The stall was awful quiet. "Gobber?" Everything was still in disarray; the cupboard emptied, items knocked off shelves, a table knocked over.

"Yeah, Stoick?" Gobber said from behind them causing Stoick to jump slightly.

"What are you doin' out there?"

Gobber rolled his eyes, "Helpin' yer brother needs it. What's yer boy doin' here? Figured I wouldn't get to see him for a while."

"I wanna help." Hiccup said.

"Do you mind havin' him here, he doesn't want to stay at home." Stoick eyed the mess in the forge; it wasn't as if Hiccup could make it any worse.

"I want to help," Hiccup repeated. "I can, Gobber. I know where thingth go and I can help with orderth. I can help."

"Sure ya can lad, and I'll be glad of it too. Now, why don' you make sure the back room's not in shambles while I talk to yer dad?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "You can jutht thay you want me gone tho you can talk about grownup thtuff," Hiccup said as he headed to the back room. "I know that'th what you want. And I can hear you from back here."

"Alright, keep it quiet and quick." Stoick told Gobber when Hiccup was in the back. Stoick wanted to get the coming lecture over with so Gobber got it out of his system.

"Stoick, that nadder was after yer boy."

"Thank you, Gobber, I hadn't figured that out." Stoick said sarcastically. This was a waste of time.

Gobber rolled his eyes, "Did you figure out that the Nightmare has been captured because it injured itself protecting yer boy from the nadder?"

"A dragon's a dragon."

"And a debt's a debt."

Stoick glared at his friend. "I owe that monster nothing."

"That's not what others are sayin."

Stoick gave Gobber a long look. "Helpin?"

"Yup. Making sure you don't do something you'll regret."

Stoick glared at Gobber, "Jus' keep him out of trouble. No locking him in things either."

"Sure thing." Gobber looked around the mess in his stall, "Hiccup? What was that ya were sayin' about helpin?"

Gobber was right; people seemed to think that Stoick owed the dragon. It didn't have to help. It could have gotten away if it hadn't got hurt. It could have burned Stoick. Yes, it was a dragon, but it had earned a bit of mercy.

Reluctantly Stoick gave in. They kept the beast muzzled and tied as the spikes were pulled out and wounds treated. The nadder poison didn't seem to affect the dragon. The Chief gave his permission and found other things to do. He didn't trust the devil and wanted it dead before it tried to steal his son again.

It was almost midday when the village got back to normal. The only remaining issue was the tired, and cranky, children. That was a problem with the raids that was usually overlooked; late nights and early mornings meant less sleep. Hiccup could go either way. A nap wouldn't do him any harm. It wouldn't do any of the children any harm. At least Hiccup didn't carry on like Snotlout's tantrums. Hiccup wouldn't want to take a nap but the boy could be convinced. Stoick would love the opportunity to take a nap. He wondered what age children went from not wanting naps to wanting them again.

Stoick passed Hoark on his way to the forge. That reminded him that before the raid Hoark had mentioned that he had found a place to keep the ewes before they lambed that would be safe from the dragons. A place they would get to by boat. It was a fine day and Hiccup usually fell asleep on long boat rides.

"Hoark, how far away is that place for the ewes?"

Hoark stopped to face his chief, "Jus' over an hour by sea."

"Have time to show me today?"

Hoark frowned. "Sure, Chief, when?"

Stoick checked the sun, "Jus' after midday work?"

"Sure. I'll meet you at the docks?"

Stoick nodded, "Good." He continued on his way, pleased with himself for finding a way to trick his son into taking a nap.

"Yer getting better lad," Gobber was saying as Stoick came into the stall. "You'll be able to move on to somethin' harder soon."

"Like what?" Hiccup asked as he saw Stoick. "Dad look!" Hiccup ran over to him with a handful of nails. He had a leather apron on, much like the one Gobber wore when working. From the look of the forge most of things had been pushed out of the way rather than cleaned up.

"What am I looking at?"

Hiccup frowned, "Nailth, Dad."

"Okay. Why am I looking at them?" Stoick looked at Gobber for help. The blacksmith just grinned.

"I made them."

"You, you made them?" Stoick gave Gobber a level look. He wouldn't. "You mean you helped Gobber make them."

"No. I made them. By mythelf."

"By yourself. Hiccup, go to the backroom. Gobber and I need to talk about grownup things." Stoick waited for Hiccup to go behind the curtain. "By himself?!" He hissed.

Gobber held his arms up to calm Stoick. "Now hold on. I was right here supervising. I've made sure he knows what he's doing and he is very careful. It's fine."

"Why is he even near that part of the stall?"

Gobber gave him a blank look, "He's learning. You okayed that."

"When? Why would I have okayed him working with tools that weigh more than him? With burning iron and fire? He's too young and too small."

"He is not too young. He's at a good age to start, actually. Give me some credit, Stoick, I don't let him use tools that are too big and I melted the metal for him. I won't let him get hurt. Mostly cause I fear the consequences to myself if I do."

Stoick glared at him, "You better. I'm not happy that you did this behind my back."

"I didn't! I swear, Stoick I thought you knew. Hiccup said he asked you."

Of course he did, Stoick thought. "Hiccup!"

Hiccup peeked out from the back room, "I athked you. You thaid 'Yeth, Hiccup, that'th fine. Eat yer dinner.' I remember becauthe I thought it would be harder to get you to thay yeth."

Stoick blinked at the boy. When was that? Though, it was possible. Hiccup talked so much Stoick had a habit of tuning him out and going along with it. "You decided to never mention it again?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "I do mention it. I told you I wath going to make nailth. You never lithten." He said crossing his arms and glaring at his father, looking for all the world more like a put out puppy than an angry Viking.

Stoick listened. Sometimes. He had heard the part about the nails, but he hadn't realized Hiccup was serious. "Fine. It's time to eat, get yerself cleaned up. And you," He turned to Gobber, "better not let him get hurt."

"I won't, Stoick. He isn't as fragile as you seem to think."

Stoick decided not to respond to that, partly because Hiccup came back in to hang up his apron and rubbing his eyes. That reminded Stoick, "We're going out for the afternoon."

"Oh, ya are, are ya?" Gobber asked with a knowing look.

"Where?" Hiccup asked eagerly.

Stoick ignored Gobber's knowing look. Sometimes the man was too perceptive. "Just to see about a place for the ewes. To keep them safe from the dragons."

Hiccup slumped, "Walking?" He asked in a disappointed voice.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain d-r-a-g-o-n would it?" Gobber asked.

"I can thpell, you know." Hiccup said.

"No." Stoick told Gobber, "I've been meaning to do this before Fall sets in. We get there by boat, Hiccup. Not a lot of walking."

"Whatever you say." Gobber said. "Have a good trip and watch out for goblins. They like ta mess with people. Could put a hole in yer boat."

"They could?" Hiccup looked up at Stoick anxiously. He had grown up hearing horror stories about boats sinking on the open water, much to Stoick's disproval.

"No, Hiccup. Goblins don't exist," Stoick said steering the boy out before Gobber made things worse. How many times did Stoick have to tell him not to tell the boy stories?

"They prefer to come out in the dark so if ya leave before nightfall ye'll probably be fine." Gobber called after them.

Stoick glared back at Gobber as he assured his son that no, there are no goblins, everything will be fine.

A/N: So, yeah. Hiccup and Stoick are fine… Nightmare's not dead… Things are okay, right?

So my sister FINALY drew me an icon thingy, yay. It was payment for the Attack on Titan fic I am now writing… and no, I did not ask for a ham in glasses. Those do not look like my glasses at all for one thing and that is not what I mean by Ham in my username. It is a tribute to Tolkien's story "Farmer Giles of Ham" using my Uni nickname of Bobbin. It's an icon though so I'm not really complaining.

Kas3y: Don't worry; I have no plans to kill the Drake. Even CB doesn't know that and she never reads the posted version so she won't see this :) You know something she doesn't.

Thearizona: I checked my chapters and it's chapter 23 not 22 where I'm mean to Stoick. Yeah, I'm kinda bad about cliff hangers in this story. They're just so easy with the Nightmare and Stoick…

AdreaSpark: Thank you, I love writing those scenes with Hiccup. He's so much fun to just have running around in the background. Yes, I have started the Attack on Titan fic. I blame my sister. She also has an awesome AU she's working on, nothing's posted yet but I'll be sure to let you know when it is. She draws instead of writes and I literally just gave her an idea that upset her, involving Levi, Farlan, and Isabel. I'm not her sister anymore apparently lol.