To Antox: Isn't he always?

To i didnt do itttt: I hope you have a wonderful week then ;)

To flamingoflannel: I'm glad you think it was worth it! :) the build up was what ultimately lead to this story becoming more than a one-shot.

To lavvkatthryn: Oh, it's going to become more. And thanks! I hope I can live up to it.

To 'Guest': Sweetie, you know how I love a bit of messing stuff up :P They are just too adorable...

To LexieFanatic: yes? ;)

A/N: As I said, a rather short chapter…

Have fun everyone and YOU especially :P

. o O o .

Chapter 5: Smoothies and Aprons

(Several months later)

"I don't want to go…" Hiccup mumbled into her hair.

He stepped behind Astrid and wrapped his arms around her while they were both gazing out over the sea. It was a warm summer day and he knew that under different circumstances they would spend this day in an entirely different way. There had been times when on a day like this they would have canceled whatever plans they'd had, would have jumped on their dragons and flown wherever the wind had led them. They would have rested on some island, maybe would have gone swimming in a lake and would have simply enjoyed the day.

For many reasons, this wasn't possible today.

"Don't be so melodramatic!" Astrid chided him teasingly and snuggled closer into his embrace. "You'll be back tonight as long as you don't let Dagur coax you into taking a drink with him. Or worse, start any discussion with Fishlegs. It's not like you'll be gone for long!" She was right and he knew that. "Besides, you could do that anyway. You know that, right? Stay there for the night? Have a day off? We'd survive!" She added in a softer voice.

"I know," he sighed. "but I don't want to. Are you sure you're going to be alright?" She hadn't been well the last days, sick and dizzy and he didn't like the thought of leaving her, not even for just this day.

"I'll be fine! I have my family, Valka, Ruff, Lia, the whole village to keep me company and make a fuss about me now that Ruff is through with it! Now, go!" She ordered and he saw the twinkle in her eyes as she awkwardly turned in his arms. "Go, hurry and I'll be waiting for you tonight!"

Chuckling, Hiccup leaned down to kiss her. "I'll hurry!" He promised before going down on one knee to softly lay a hand on her swollen belly. "And you in there, promise me not to pick on your mommy. It's hard enough for her, okay?" He whispered, knowing that their unborn child wouldn't understand a word.

Astrid laughed. "As if he would listen. He's already a stubborn Viking through and through and has his own head, just like his dad."

Hiccup got up again and raised his eyebrows at her. "Or like her mom!" He retorted sternly before both their lips twitched into smiles. They didn't know whether they would get a son or a daughter but teasing each other about it had become a daily occurrence. Astrid was convinced she was carrying a son with all the stubbornness issues the baby already had while he hoped for a daughter, who would be as beautiful as her mother.

Behind him, Toothless grumbled in unmistakable annoyance. "Right, you should get going!" Astrid nudged him toward the waiting dragon. "Have fun!"

Hiccup grimaced but went along. As much as he was looking forward to seeing Dagur, Fishlegs, Heather and little Dianne, he wished he wouldn't need to make this visit. But he had to because he wouldn't accept the alternative no matter how much he dreaded it all. "You, too!"

He climbed on Toothless's back and not a second later, they were in the air. One last time, he turned around to look at Astrid in her wide tunic over her growing bump and hoped, not for the first time, that he wouldn't regret his decision.

The flight to Berserker Island only took him a couple of hours at full Night Fury speed and it was still well before noon when he arrived. When he landed, Fishlegs was already running toward him and took him into a bear hug that made his rips grind alarmingly. "Hiccup! Oh, it's so good to see you. I wanted to talk to you for ages. See, I've found these caverns here and-"

"Legs, Legs, wait!" Hiccup interrupted his friend with a quick gesture and an apologetic smile. "I'd love to hear all about it and maybe I'll have time for that later but first, I need to talk to Dagur. Do you know where I can find him?"

Fishlegs' face fell ever so slightly but he nodded, turned and beckoned his friend to come along. "Sure. He's at our's, it's his turn to cook today. Berserker Chicken, I promise you've never eaten anything like it! Uhg, but… better not tell Tuff about it!" Grinning, Hiccup followed his broad friend through the village. Toothless was close behind him but when they spotted Meatlug and Windshear outside one of the bigger houses, Hiccup gave him a light shove.

"Go and say hello. I'll call out for you when it's time to fly back" With a cheery warble, Toothless bounced toward the other dragons and Hiccup smiled wistfully as he watched them greet each other affectionately. He wished he could be like that, too. Just happy to see his friends and spend some quality time with them. He intended to enjoy his short visit here but knew he wouldn't be able to entirely relax. Not considering why he was here.

"Brother!" Dagur's greeting was as cordial as ever and even the apron he was wearing – were those frills? - didn't do much to lessen the feeling of familiarity. Dagur was like a brother in so many ways and Hiccup's genuine greeting was heartfelt.

"Hey, Dagur! Heather!" He waved at her over to where she sat, nursing Dianne and smiling up at him. "Sorry to ambush you but I won't pester you for long. There's just something I need to talk to you about and then you'll be rid of me again."

"Nonsense!" Dagur's grip on his shoulder tightened as the redhead pushed him down into one of the chairs. "I was wondering when you would show up and now that you're here you might as well stay for lunch. Chat a bit. Relax!"

"You were expecting me?" Hiccup asked slightly baffled. He'd made the final decision only yesterday, how could Dagur have expected him?

"Sure I was!" Dagur said over his shoulder after turning back to the kitchen. "Ever since you guys told us Astrid is pregnant. I can do my math, you know? But why didn't she come with you? You could have stayed for a few days, you know."

Hiccup grimaced. It had actually taken him some time to realize. The joy over Astrid's pregnancy had been so overwhelming and distracting that he hadn't realized right away how highly unfortunate its timing was. "The pregnancy is hard for her. She can barely endure flying from one end of the village to the other. Flying here would have been entirely impossible for her." He paused and bit his lip. He'd seen how happy and relatively easy all this had been for Heather and Ruffnut, let alone the dozens of other pregnancies he'd randomly witnessed through the years. None had been as hard as Astrid's. "Her Aunt Helka is a healer and a midwife. She came to live on Berk some years ago, for the peace, you know? She said Astrid's is a harder pregnancy but still not unusual. Astrid is managing but is somewhat limited in her movability nonetheless." He shrugged a little insecure. He hadn't wanted to leave her, had wanted to stay with her and help her as best he could with the little time he had. But she'd been right, there were enough people to care for her and this was more important right now.

"So, you know why I'm here?" he asked, changing the subject and Dagur nodded.

"You want to change the plan, switch. You want the treaty signing to happen on Berk this year instead of here."

Hiccup dropped his head. He didn't want that. But… "It would be just around the time when the baby should be born." He said in a low voice. "I can't leave her alone for a couple of weeks then. I just can't!"

"And you'd rather have Magnus, Geir and their men around her?" Fishlegs asked disbelievingly. He'd taken his daughter from Heather's arms and was carrying her around to get her to sleep but had stopped abruptly now.

"Everyone is going to be on high alert," Hiccup's voice was barely more than a whisper now. He'd talked about some ideas with his council last night already and even though everyone had been wary, they'd also all seen his point. "They won't be able to make a single step without someone watching them. And we'll keep them separated from Astrid and the other women." He took a deep breath and looked up into the faces of his friends again. "No, I don't want them on Berk, around Astrid and especially not at that time. But it's better than leaving her alone. We can make it work and be done with it!"

Heather and Fishlegs exchanged a meaningful glance but Dagur became serious. "I can see your point, brother." He said, wagging his wooden spoon. "And I can't say I would be sad not to see them here this year." He paused and nodded once before continuing. "Berk it is this year then. I'll make sure Chief Magnus learns about this change of plan as well. But tell me, did you hear anything from Gustave so far?"

Hiccup stood up and helped Heather to set the table. He felt far lighter now that this was settled and it was still early enough. He would be able to stay a little while longer, eat, chat and still be on his way back in time. "Not much. He and his group of riders have been watching Redthorn Island for months now but there has been no activity to speak of. Only fishing boats and the occasional merchant while their armada stayed at the harbor the whole time. I wonder what all this was about. They haven't purchased any more weapons after our visit last year. It's all just… weird!"

Dagur placed a gigantic plate with meat and vegetables in the middle of the table and shrugged. "Maybe we scared them after all. Maybe they discarded their plan - whatever it might have been - when they realized that they wouldn't go unnoticed."

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed halfheartedly. "Maybe…"

. o O o .

"Okay, here we go. Freshly made fruit juice, vitamin-packed and healthy for every mother, mother-to-be and all you other lovely ladies" With more momentum than Astrid would have thought practical, Eret turned and placed a tray with six mugs on the table. Tuff rolled his eyes at him but that was the only reaction to the ex-trapper's choice of words. Ruffnut and Lia reached eagerly for their mugs and even Snotlout hesitated only a moment before accepting his.

"Drink it!" Eret ordered as he saw how Astrid gave her drink a doubtful look. "It'll be good for you. Unless the scent makes you sick, then don't drink it" He winked at her with a smile and Astrid returned it halfheartedly before taking a careful sip. The juice was sweet and sticky, just like every fruit juice she'd drunk so far. This one was particularly vicious though and at first, Astrid wasn't so sure whether she really wanted to drink it. But it also tasted somewhat tart and intriguing so she would give it a try.

"Mmh, this is delicious!" Lia hummed from her usual place on Tuff's lap. Sitting side by side like normal people did – that just wouldn't do for them… "What is it? Those fruits the merchant brought the other day?"

Eret nodded. "Mmyeah," he mumbled past a big mouthful of juice.

"The small red ones or those weird yellow ones?" Tuff still eyed his mug skeptically but hastily took a gulp when Lia made attempts to swipe it.

"Both actually. I had to buy them when I saw them. I don't know their names but I've eaten them occasionally when work brought me further to the south. And I heard that if you mix them, they make a fantastic drink" Eret grinned proudly when everyone agreed and complimented him for the recipe. Astrid took another sip and had to admit that it really tasted wonderful. A nice diversion from the usual water or tea.

After Hiccup had left, she'd spend a few hours with her family, her mother, her aunt Helka and her cousin Thyra in particular while Thyra's two sons had crawled around them. As usual, there had been only one topic though, Astrid's pregnancy. Naturally, this was an important topic for her as well, but that didn't mean she wanted to talk about it nonstop, not like her mother did. It was all about things Astrid should eat, exercises she should avoid, clothes she should prepare and other stuff she should organize. Astrid was sure that all those were valuable tips but it was simply too much.

Around noon, she'd excused herself, pretending that she had an appointment with her friends in the Great Hall. It had been only half a lie. She'd known that their friends would be there just like they were every day around noon and they had invited her to join them whenever she wanted. Normally, she didn't and preferred to spend this time with Hiccup as this was the only time when people actually left him in peace for a while.

Astrid missed him! She'd only seen him this morning after sleeping next to him, cuddled in his arms and yet she missed him. She missed how they usually managed their day together. Waking up together and eating a quick breakfast while talking about that day's tasks. Meeting regularly in between to inform each other about the progress of dragon training or building the new storehouse. Meeting the council or deciding about a request or other. So many parts of their daily life they'd done together but now everything was different. Now, Astrid couldn't bear eating anything in the morning and she wasn't able to make her way through the village to execute any tasks or check on any progress. She wasn't able to concentrate for long anymore so supporting Hiccup during a gripe day or a council meeting wasn't sensible anymore. All she could do was trying to somehow pass the day without throwing up or blacking out while Hiccup had so much more work to do without her help.

So meeting Hiccup for lunch was more or less the only time Astrid could spend with him. It was the only time they could really talk before he needed to go back to being Chief and on most days only was done with it long after nightfall. There were these other encounters as well but mostly those were too short and they too busy to do much talking. Those made up for some longing but they didn't change that she missed Hiccup, missed spending some quality time with him.

And today, Hiccup wasn't even here and not even their short shared meal was an option. Although Astrid had to admit spending hours with her friends, chatting and laughing, wasn't so bad as a second choice. It was fun!

Eret with his easy laughter and entertaining stories was fun. Listening to Tuff and Lia talking about pranks they'd made or planned was fun, too, now that she wasn't the target of those anymore. And watching Ruff and Snot of all people lovingly care for a baby was fun as well. Astrid hadn't thought these two in particular would become responsible parents one day but here they were. Eret fitted into that description, too, but he was more daring, threw their son high up in the air and caught him again or whirled him around playing dragon. Fatherhood hadn't changed him much while Snot and Ruff had matured a lot during the last few months.

And in a way, little Refflout was fun as well. He was securely tied into a wrap at Ruff's chest most of the time and while she had to take him out every now and then to feed him or clean him up, he wasn't much of an obstacle. He was just… there. Ruff even took him on shorter flights like this and this fact soothed Astrid immensely.

Astrid had seen it in Thyra, in Heather, and also in Ruff, pregnancy and motherhood could change a person. They hadn't been as adventurous and daring anymore, had become more careful and sensible. That was putting it positive. In her mind, Astrid also liked to call them boring. That wasn't entirely true either, but still. She had always thought of herself as careful and sensible already and while those were useful attributes to acquire - for Ruff especially - Astrid had somewhat feared how she would change.

By now, Astrid wasn't afraid anymore. Her thirst for action, for training or going for a flight, hadn't dulled in the least. On the contrary, she was even more eager to do those things now. Now, that she couldn't do them anymore…

For Astrid, being pregnant had turned into a weird kind of nightmare. No, that was too harsh! She loved how her belly had begun to grow and how she could feel their child kicking and turning inside her. But where Heather and Ruff only had felt slight reluctance to indulge in any outdoor activity, Astrid literally wasn't able to anymore.

It had started even before she'd known for sure that she was pregnant. She'd been sick and dizzy for days and Hiccup had feared she might have caught some foreign illness from one of the passing ships. But then her moon blood had failed to appear and they'd known. They'd been happy! Above all else, they were happy but the side effects made it hard to remember on some days. Astrid had been sick for weeks, had barely been able to keep any food down. She'd been too dizzy and too weak for anything and had only gone for short walks every other day, always leaning heavily on Hiccup, Eret, Snot, Toothless, or Stormfly. Flying had been utterly impossible!

After those first months, it had become better. Not good, far from good, but better. She'd been able to eat again and by now was also able to walk shorter distances on her own. On a few particularly good days, she'd even been able to fly to the arena and back again even though she'd hurt all over afterward! It was not enough… She missed feeling the wind on her face and going for an extended flight would probably be the first thing she'd do after their baby was born.

In addition, being pregnant had made her somewhat erratic and capricious and more often than not, she was just annoyed at her body. Because it seemed to have found its own way to satisfy her desire for action. Lately, there seemed to be only very few settings for her. She was either sick, tired, too dizzy to think straight or horny as hel.

Right now, it was the last.

It was embarrassing! There had been days when she hadn't been able to keep herself in check, when she'd simply walked toward Hiccup, had grabbed his hand and dragged him out of whatever conversation he was in and off to their home to jump him like a lunatic. It had become so bad that she'd even asked her aunt about it, whether this was normal or just her. She had told her that it wasn't uncommon. Maybe not as distinct as in Astrid's case, but… It had been mortifying! If even her aunt called her sex drive distinct…

And still, there was little she could do about it. Sex seemed to be the only activity her body still allowed her and she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it. But she'd needed to become somewhat creative. Instead of simply dragging Hiccup off whenever she felt like it, they had developed some kind of sign. It was a funny mixture of an in-joke and necessity but that didn't make it any less effective.

Astrid groaned as suddenly one of these cursed Braxton Hicks contractions started to claw into her. They came more often with every week now but her aunt had assured her those were normal, harmless even. Fuck, they didn't feel harmless! She needed to move! Those always got better when she moved or ideally even got the chance to take some weight off her hips.

A bit awkwardly, she pushed herself up which made Eret reach out to help her in an instant. "Hey, hey, steady now!" He said, concern clear in his voice just like she could see it clear on every face around her. "Do you need anything, chuck? Something we could get you?"

She huffed in part humor, part pain and part exasperation. "I'm not made of glass!" she snapped, suddenly annoyed but sighed a moment later and added: "Sorry, I just… just need the outhouse. And I need to move a little. Maybe get some water… I'll be right back." She could practically feel their gazes on her back as she made her way through the Great Hall toward the back entrance. It was true, she desperately needed to relieve her bladder but that was not the main reason why she'd gotten up. The main reason was that she needed to do something against the pain.

As so often, her desire and those contractions went hand in hand and made the muscles in the lower part of her body tense and tight. That mixed with the weight of her growing belly pressing down on her hips made for a hel of an unpleasant sensation. It was all too tight, even more painful than the Braxton Hicks contractions alone and the pressure on her bones was almost more than she could bear. She needed some sort of relief and since letting Hiccup fuck her stupid wasn't an option right now, she needed to get the weight off her hips and her muscles to relax.

After returning from the outhouse, Astrid walked over to the tables in the background where the water barrels stood. She wasn't really thirsty but knew she had to drink more than usual and getting a refill was a wonderful excuse to come here regularly. Because it was just that, an excuse. She wasn't here to get a drink, not really. She'd copied this posture from Heather when she'd visited them one last time before her little Dianne was born and Astrid was glad to have picked up this little trick.

With a heavy sigh, she placed her hands on the tabletop and put as much weight on them as possible while also pushing her behind back and out. It made her belly hang freely rather than resting on her hips and the decrease of pressure felt wonderful. She shifted from one foot to the other, swaying her hips to further loosen up the muscles and all but moaned at the sublime sensation. She knew that the way she stood there looked more than just a little weird but back here in the shadows, chances were low that anyone would see her.

It also was practically the same place and posture Hiccup had found her in all those months ago during the Winter Nights.

In-joke and necessity, the perfect sign. Whenever her desire got the better of her, she came here to get at least some sort of relief and whenever Hiccup saw her here, he knew. She knew that it wasn't always feasible, that he had chiefly stuff to do, needs to tend to. But at least he knew and if somehow possible he tried to… erm… tend to her needs instead. Completely selflessly…

Astrid smirked to herself at that thought. It wasn't like Hiccup wasn't enjoying her sensuality just as much as she did. Gods, what would she give if he could be back here already. She wanted him to take her just like this, to grab her hips and thrust into her from behind until she couldn't remember her own name. Another low moan escaped her but this time it wasn't one of relief but one of pure lust. Her mind even conjured up the fitting sounds of his low voice and his uneven steps on the stone but it was too early, he wouldn't be back already.

He would be home tonight. At some point tonight he would be home. And no matter how late, she would need to have him.

. o O o .

A/N: As I said, just a short but hopefully funny one. More on Friday