"Fishlegs, I won't sleep with you." Caverna told him once she'd calmed down enough.
"What do you mean?" Fishlegs asked.
"I won't sleep with you in the sex way, but I will sleep in the same bed as you." She told him, suddenly all seriousness.
"Oh...Any reason why?" He asked.
"Yeah, you're obviously not ready." She saw that he was about to interrupt her, so she held up a finger to ask for him to give her a minute. "What I mean is that you look too nervous and guilty to be ready to take that next step in a relationship, and anyway you're missing a certain thing called marriage my friend."
"Are you asking that I marry you?" He asked.
"Well obviously not right now." She told him. "But maybe, sometime in the future, maybe you could consider taking me as a wife?"
Fishlegs smiled. "I will certainly consider it."
Caverna flashed a smile as she took a sip of her drink. Not long after, both of them rested back, having eaten their fill of the food before they and they soon grew tired.
"I think it's time we went to bed." Caverna yawned and she stood up, stretching, before she unclipped the belt that held her swords and hung them on the back of the chair, along with her jacket.
Fishlegs watched her, and he was dumbstruck, no matter what stage she was in, whether it was just coming back from a fight, covered in ash and soot and blood, or just coming back from dinner, she always looked beautiful, and he still knew that he wasn't the only one who thought so. However, he pushed that thought aside and headed up to his room with her and he turned to find her getting comfortable in his bed, her boots sat side by side on the floor close to her and he smiled. Caverna looked at home when she stayed over at his place, and he kept the smile as he slid under the furs with her, kissing her forehead, causing her to smile.
"Good night Fishlegs." She smiled.
"Sweet dreams Caverna." He smiled back, before both teens settled under the furs and blew out the candles and soon fell asleep.
Meanwhile, at the Haddock residence, Hiccup was lounging in bed with Astrid and Hiccup was watching Astrid as she tried to knit something.
"What are you doing m'lady?" He asked.
"I'm trying to make a blanket." Astrid told him, before she threw the mess of wool onto her lap. "And it's not turning out to well." She groaned.
"Who were you making the blanket for?" Hiccup asked, picking up the mess of wool and untangling it.
"I was making it for our baby, I know that we don't know if I'm pregnant yet, but it's not too late to start practicing." She sighed.
"It takes time Astrid, you'll get it." Hiccup told her as he finished untangling the wool and he put on her table on her side of the bed. "Anyway, it's late and we've had a busy day, so I think it's time for some sleep."
Astrid sighed once more, before she done as he suggested and she slid under the furs. "I'm going out for a flight with your sister tomorrow; we're going to check on the other dragon islands...After she's seen the girl she rescued."
Hiccup nodded. "Good, you two haven't done as much stuff together as you normally would since dad died."
"I know, and I feel bad for almost neglecting her, and I can see you do too."
"Yeah, I do feel bad, but I know that she'd try and kill me if I stayed around her all of the time." He sighed.
"I'm sure that she knows that you're there for her." Astrid told him kissing his lips. "Now get some sleep chief, you're back to running the village tomorrow."
Hiccup nodded with a yawn and he moved to slide his arm over Astrid as they both settled down to sleep.
The next morning, Caverna awoke to the smell of breakfast and she made her way out of bed, noticing that the sleeping body of Fishlegs had disappeared, and she made her way to the kitchen. When she got there, she found her boyfriend making breakfast for them both and she smiled, walking up behind him stealthily silent as she slid her arms around her.
"Good morning."
The suddenness of her voice and her touch made Fishlegs almost jump a mile high, but he recovered enough to not drop the spoon or the bowl that he had hold of.
"Oh Caverna, you made me jump." He laughed, waiting until she let go before he moved and put the bowls on the table and she sat across from him as they started to eat.
"What are your plans for today?" He asked.
"Well, Astrid and I are going out later this morning to check on the other dragon islands, but first I've got to go and see Iris and see how she is." Caverna told him. "What about you, what have you got planned for today?"
"Well, Hiccup's put me in charge of training some new villagers with their dragons, then I've got to finish up the section on Deadly Nadders in the book, which I was going to ask you about, could I possibly borrow Lightning?"
"I'm fine with it, but you'd have to ask him." Caverna shrugged as she finished her breakfast, before she took the bowl and spoon to be washed. "But remember to be careful with his foot; it's still going to be tender."
Fishlegs nodded. "Don't worry I will." He watched her grab her swords and strap them to her waist, before he received a kiss on the lips and he smiled watched her pull her jacket on and her hood up.
"I'll see you later." She smiled, before she left through the door and Fishlegs was left alone, though he didn't mind, Caverna always left things early, she hated being late.
Caverna headed up to her brother's house and into his stable, where she found Toothless and Snowcap curled up together and she walked over, gently stroking the dragon's heads.
"Snowcap, wake up..." She whispered, and she watched Snowcap lift her head and untangle herself from a sleeping Toothless, which only woke the dragon.
"Go back to sleep Toothless." Snowcap told him.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked her.
"Caverna has to go and see that human she rescued." Snowcap told him.
"Can't you stay a little longer?" He asked, nuzzling her neck.
"You can stay if you want to Snowcap." Caverna told her, catching on to what was happening.
Snowcap nuzzled her rider, before she nuzzled into Toothless, the pair settling back down once more as Caverna left the stables and closed the door, pulling her face mask on as well, especially now that the wind had started to bite. As she braced herself against the cold, she made her way up to Gothi's hut. She got there surprisingly fast since she was only walking, and when she reached the door, she pulled down her face mask and knocked. It took mere seconds before the short woman that was Gothi was standing in the open doorway.
"How is she?" Caverna asked, and Gothi moved aside, letting her in where she found Iris lying on a bed that Gothi had made for her and she was awake, enjoying a small breakfast. "Hi Iris." Caverna smiled.
"Hi." She smiled back. "I don't think I got your name last night, after you rescued me."
"Caverna, Caverna Haddock." She smiled.
Iris smiled. "The leather Viking, who rides a Night Fury yet, cannot have children, that Caverna Haddock?"
"The same." Caverna nodded and she sighed. "Anyway, I'd glad that you're getting better." She turned to leave when Iris stated to panic.
"Wait, I did not mean to offend you, Great Warrior." She told her.
"I am not offended, but I need to return to the village and do my share, stay as long as Gothi will allow and regain your strength, then we will bring you into the village where I'm sure my brother would let you stay." Caverna told her, and the two shared a nod of both agreement and farewell, and Caverna left.
As she got a few feet away, she found Snowcap, Astrid and Stormfly waiting for her, and she smiled, jumping onto her dragons back before the group flew off to complete their task. Meanwhile, Fishlegs was trying his luck at asking Lightning to be his study subject for the day, and at this point, he'd not even walked into the stable where the male Deadly Nadder was. In fact, he'd frozen until he heard a thud behind him and he turned around to see that Valka had landed Stormcutter behind him.
"Hello Fishlegs, what's the matter?"
"I'm just...Waiting to get the courage to get Lightning out." He sighed. "I'm such a coward."
"You're not a coward Fishlegs, even I find Lightning hard to handle sometimes." She told him.
Fishlegs sighed. "Compared to Caverna I'm so much of a coward, I'm surprised she loves me." He told her with a sudden laugh.
"Well my daughter does have a strong heart." Valka agreed, before she watched the young man before he pull open the doors to the stable and sure enough there Lightning was, preening his deep purple scales.
"Lightning..." Fishlegs walked forward as he spoke, his voice shaking with nerves.
Lightning looked up at hearing his name, and he simply stared at the large man in front of him, before he recognised him as the one who had embarrassed Caverna and the mere fact that he was here started to ruffle his spines the wrong way, and Valka saw this.
"Um Fishlegs, I think you'd best get out of the way, before he spikes you." She advised.
This time, Fishlegs didn't think twice, he took Valka's advice and ran as fast as his legs could carry him straight out of the stables and back towards the village. Watching him go, Valka climbed onto her dragons back as she watched Lightning fly off and she too flew off to check on the dragons at the stables. She was thoroughly amused at the amount of hatred her daughter's Deadly Nadder hated his rider's choice of lover, and she didn't think that she would ever know why, but she certainly knew that Lightning hated Fishlegs and it was quite funny to watch.