Author's Note: I know it's not Mother's Day anymore, but I did start this on Mother's Day, so I don't care. And I also don't care if Vikings celebrated it or not. Without any further ado, a flashback!

Mother's Day. It was a holiday that Astrid had never given much mind to. Her own mother hadn't liked to celebrate it. Ingrid just wanted Astrid to love her. She didn't need a day to prove it. However, Hiccup was quite different. He and Stoick had showered Valka with gifts and adoration on Mother's Day, before she was carried off. Stoick was much quieter about it after Valka disappeared, only saying a prayer for her when he had a moment alone. Hiccup would still make her breakfast and a flower crown, like he always had. He put them with her empty grave, where he would sit and talk to her picture, carved on a piece of wood. He'd say his own prayer; that Mother would be home soon.

Once Astrid had officially become a mother, Hiccup assured her that no one in his family would live her to sit in the corner and knit quietly all day. Astrid had dismissed it as Hiccup being Hiccup until the day actually arrived. She woke up to the smell of bread, cheese, and fish, the other half of the bed empty. She heard several voices downstairs, the grogginess of waking up keeping her from recognizing them right away. She heard footsteps on the stairs before the door to the bedroom creaked open. Hiccup poked his head in, a ridiculous grin plastered across his face.

"I told you," said Hiccup. He entered the room, carrying a plate laden with all the things she'd smelled before. There were also a handful of blueberries. Hiccup placed the plate on her lap and sat on the end of the bed. "I told you that there was no escape from the Mother's Day celebrations."

"Hiccup, I appreciate all of this, but please," said Astrid, placing a hand on Hiccup's. "Promise me that you won't do anything over-the-top today."

"Oh, I won't. I'm not even going to be involved. I'm going to stay here and take care of Hope," said Hiccup. He took Astrid's hand in his own and kissed it, making her smile. "You and the other mothers downstairs are going to head out and take a day off. Worry not, Milady. I thought of everything."

"Who is here, anyways?" asked Astrid, taking a bite of the bread. "You know, besides you and Hope."

"Mom, Ingrid, Siri, Brunhilda, and Estelle. Also, Dad, Erik, Snotlout, and Tuffnut," said Hiccup, ticking each of them off on his fingers. "Fishlegs and Rosethorn aren't going to be here. Their baby is going to be born any day, with Fishlegs' luck, it'll happen when he's the least prepared. However, I and the other fathers are going to take care of the babies.

Astrid made a face at the thought. Three first-time fathers and two veteran fathers in one house, trying to take care of four babies. Sure, the fathers outnumbered the babies by one, but Astrid still didn't see it going over too well. Although, she'd finally get a break from being a caretaker for a few hours. After the first month of heart-stopping anxiety about whether or not she'd pull through, Hope went from being quiet and easy to care for to crying nearly all day, needing to be fed and changed every half an hour. After thinking about it, she realized she might actually want to stay and watch, for the laughs.

"Okay," said Astrid at last. She continued eating, swatting Hiccup when he swiped some of her blueberries. He just popped them in his mouth and smirked. Once she finished eating, Hiccup took her plate and kissed her forehead. "Go on, I'm gonna get dressed and then I'll come downstairs."

Hiccup nodded and continued on downstairs, the realization that he was going to be alone with a few fathers and four infants hitting him at last. Maybe he should've thought this through a little more. It was too late now, of course. He only thought things through after he'd made the arrangements. After washing the plate, he put it back in the cupboard and went into the living room. The mothers had left while he was washing the dish, and, unfortunately, so had Erik (Ruff and Tuff's father) and Stoick. Which meant that there were now more babies than caretakers. Perfect.

"Uh, Hiccup," said Tuffnut, trying to hold both of his children at once. "How do you do this parent thing for extended periods of time?"

"Um… I'm not sure," said Hiccup, looking around the room at the babies and two clueless fathers. "Remember, I'm new at this, too."

"Yeah, but you always just know stuff," said Snotlout, looking down at Snublout as though he were a ticking time bomb. "Not that I think you're any better than me. I just wanna use you."

"Yeah, I never would've thought anything else," replied Hiccup, picking Hope up from the little fenced-in blanket bundle he'd invented so that she could be downstairs without needing to be held. "Okay, I know none of us are exactly prime parents, but I guess this is the time to practise. After all, it's not like we're only going to have one child."

"Nope," said Tuffnut, still attempting to cradle both babies efficiently. "Estelle wants to have a small army. Actually, I wanna have a small army of children. Almost the same thing, right?"

"Yeah, whatever you say Tuff," said Snotlout, rolling his eyes. Seconds later, Snublout began to sniffle. Gradually, it became louder and louder. Snotlout's expression changed to panicked. "No. No, don't do that. Please. Gods, no."

Despite Snotlout's protests, Snublout burst into tears, waking Hope and causing her to begin wailing as well. For good measure it seemed, Darren and Freya joined in. Hiccup made a pained expression and began rocking Hope, trying to stop her cries. The effort was fruitless. If anything, she screamed louder. Hiccup shot Snotlout a 'nice going' look and then refocused his attentions on Hope. It was then that he truly realized that they were all in way over their heads.

Meanwhile, the ladies were lounging up at AngelPointPark, laughing at parenting stories that they were each sharing. Brunhilda was telling one about how Snotlout confused a rattle for a pacifier.

"And then I walked into the nursery and saw Snotlout trying to get Snublout to put his little rattle in his mouth!" Brunhilda said with a laugh. The others laughed as well, picturing the scene vividly. "So I asked him 'What on earth are you doing?' and he says 'He won't take the pacifier!' so I said 'That's because that's his rattle!' You should've seen his face!"

"Stoick once tried to do the exact same thing with Hiccup," said Valka, still reeling with laughter. "Of course, I slapped him for it. I suppose I could've gone a little easier on him. He was a first-time father."

"Oh, I've got one!" exclaimed Siri, giving Ruffnut (who had joined the group as they were on their way to the park) a look. Siri snorted out a laugh at the memory. "Did I ever tell you about the time Ruff and Tuff decided it would be a good idea to wear eels as scarves?"

"Mom, please don't," said Ruffnut, her face taking on a pained expression. "We were five, leave it be."

"Hey, if you don't like it, you could always go to my house," said Astrid, giving her a smug look. "I'm sure the men would just love your company. I'd imagine they're like fish out of water over there."

"You know what? I will go to your house," said Ruffnut. She stood and glared at the others, who were practically all giggling. "I may never want to be a mother, but I have so much mothering crammed into my head thanks to you, Mom. I'm not gonna pass up the chance to show up my brother."

"Hang on, hang on," said Valka, her voice taking on a slightly apologetic tone. She stood up and trailed after Ruffnut. "I'll come with you. They're going to need the expertise of a mother."

"What if they're hungry? What do we do then?" asked Snotlout, speaking over the cries of all four infants. "We're not exactly equipped to feed babies!"

"I don't know!" snapped Hiccup, cradling Hope and trying in vain to silence her. "I honestly have no idea what to do here! Happy, Snotlout? Happy that I'm finally stumped?"

"Have no fear!" said a gruff voice from the door. Hiccup turned and saw Ruffnut and Valka standing in the open doorway. It was Ruffnut who had spoken. "The women are here!"

"Oh, thank the gods!" said Tuffnut. He stood and placed one of his children in each woman's arms. "I love them to pieces, but I have limits."

With that he walked out of the house, shouting over his shoulder that he'd come back to get them later. Ruffnut sighed and cradled Darren closer to her chest, a smile beginning to form at the corners of her mouth. He began to quiet slightly. Valka set Freya down in the 'baby cage', as Hiccup liked to call it, and dashed up the stairs. After a moment, she returned, holding a box in her hands. Hiccup, Snotlout and Ruffnut watched as she pulled four pacifiers from the box. She popped on in each of the babies mouths. Silence followed. Sweet, sweet silence after nearly an hour of wailing and crying. Snotlout sighed in relief.

"I never thought I'd say this, but thank the gods that you showed up, Mrs. Haddock," said Snotlout, a look of relief washing over his features. "That's the only time I'll ever say it, so just accept it so we can all forget I ever said anything."

"Well then, you're welcome, Snotlout," said Valka with a laugh, picking Freya up again. She turned to Hiccup. "If ever a situation like that occurs again and you don't know what to do, the solution is likely in the box. I planned everything when I furnished the nursery."

"Huh," said Hiccup, looking down at Hope. A knock at the door caused him to look back up. Stoick and Erik entered, smiles nearly lost in their beards. "And where did you two go?"

"Not very far," said Stoick, stifling a laugh. "We just wanted to see how long you'd last without the ladies. You held on longer than I thought you would."

Erik sighed and took Darren from Ruffnut, seeing that his son was gone. Ruffnut looked slightly shocked, as though she had rather enjoyed holding him. To compensate, she took Freya gently from Valka.

"C'mon, Dad," said Ruffnut, heading out of the door. "Let's take them to Tuff's house."

"Ruffnut waved good-bye and the two walked off. Snotlout left as well, after a while. Stoick offered to take Hope, to make up for abandoning Hiccup that afternoon, but Hiccup declined. Astrid came back about an hour after Stoick left. She found Hiccup and Valka seated on the couch, deep in conversation while Hope dozed in Hiccup's arms. Astrid curled up on the couch next to Hiccup, resting her head on his shoulder. Hiccup and Valka continued to talk, Astrid adding to the conversation every now and then.

"Alright, I've been kind of avoiding this question since I found you," said Hiccup, wrapping an arm around Astrid's shoulders while cradling Hope with the other. "You were with the dragons for twenty years. You trained them, you flew on them. You could've come back at any point. Why didn't you?"

"Oh, dear," said Valka. She took a deep breath and then exhaled loudly. "I didn't come back because I had to keep rescuing the dragons from Drago. If I hadn't freed them, he would've easily defeated us. We only defeated him because I kept setting the dragons free instead of returning to Berk. It's not as though I didn't want to. I though of you and your father every day."

"I guess I can understand that, but it doesn't really make up for all the times I wished you had been there," said Hiccup, looking down at Hope. "I mean, I could've used some support growing up. You know, when I was a disappointment to Dad and when I started training Toothless. You really would've made my life easier."

"Then we never would've fallen in love," said Astrid. She placed a kiss on his cheek and Hope's forehead. "And we wouldn't have Hope."

Hiccup smiled, bitter memories making way for the sweeter ones. He kissed Hope's forehead, the top of Astrid's head, and Valka's cheek.

"Happy Mother's Day," said Hiccup, the smile never leaving his face. "To the two most amazing mothers in the whole of the earth."