The winter sun crept up the sky to shine across the thriving island, buzzing with excitement. The first snow of the season had painted the island white, and Hiccup was in a bind. Snoggletog, the joyous and jubilee-filled holiday had finally arrived. It was one of the holidays which was marked on every Vikings calendar and the most awaited one to be celebrated. The night always ended with many drunk Vikings either starting fights, telling others about some embellishing story or lovers ending up tangled in each other, but that didn't stop them from celebrating like there was no tomorrow hel, the way they partied on the night of Snoggletog surprised outsiders that the Vikings lived to wake up in tomorrow. But the mess the celebration would leave or the decorations to be still hung around the village was not what worried Hiccup it was the fact that he still had no idea what to gift his wife.

Since it would be their first one after the birth of their second child, it had to be extra special, right? He didn't want to disappoint her or give her a less-than-perfect gift. He sort of knew from past experiences that she cared more about the thought he put in for her rather than the object itself, but irrational worries didn't seem to listen to reason by definition.

Maybe he could get her some winter clothes? That seemed easy enough but a new problem arose, he didn't know the first thing about women's clothing, and simply buying them for her seemed too dry and unthoughtful for his tastes. He could make something for her, something that she'd find value in beyond the gift. Something personal. Maybe a weapon. Astrid would like that, wouldn't she? The problem was, she already had her axe and didn't have any need to replace it.

Out of all her weapons, she favoured her axe the most, and it was something he'd made for her on her thirteenth birthday all those years ago while working at the forge. He'd told her it was made by Gobber back then, as he'd been afraid she wouldn't accept a weapon made by the village weakling. In the following days, he'd watched her treat it as her prized possession and had secretly been glad he had managed to gift her something, even if she wasn't aware of it. At least, that's what he had thought. Once they had run away and started dating Hiccup told her the truth, to his surprise she had already known about his lie. She then revealed to him it was the axe that had caused her to fall for him after trying her best to ignore him and train to be a warrior and that she had found his initials carved under the leather grip while she was replacing the worn-out leather around the handle.

Hiccup smiled fondly at the memory before continuing his brainstorming session. Over the last few months, Astrid's stomach had slowly grown making him remember the months leading to his daughter's birth. Now that she was almost eight and a half months along, the bump was clearly visible and it restricted the blonde warrior from her usual movements. Hiccup smiled as he dreamt of holding another baby in his arms, to protect him and love him, just as he had done to Zephyr…

That's when it hit him, literally, both the idea for the gift and Zephr jumping onto his lap. He nearly fell out of his chair in excitement at the brilliant idea he had received, he ran to his wife kissed her on her cheek while grabbing his cloak and running towards the castle forge. His wife and daughter just stared at his running form in confusion before Astrid chuckled to herself and went back to folding Zephyr's clothes. Right… folding clothes normally Astrid wouldn't do this but since she couldn't fight or train she was folding clothes, not that she minded too much but she wasn't going to tell Hiccup that anytime soon, besides it is fun watching him fold clothes or cook his delicious meals with Zephyr eagerly learning all the recipes. She still insisted on doing missions and begged her husband to let her go out in battles, desperately clinging onto the remnants of who she used to be. But she always ended up in the room while he was out protecting the Empire.

In the following days, Hiccup would be either helping the villagers set up the decorations, creating war plans, spending time helping Astrid, playing with Zephyr, or working on his 'secret project' in the forge. The couple had rekindled the relationship between their parents. After the Hooligans had moved to New Berk and the village became a thriving island with the help of Draconia, they mended their broken bond. Ingrid nearly flooded the room with tears when she found out about the coming baby. Anna now spent her time training like her older sister or helping Astrid take care of Zephyr. Zephyr had grown a strong liking to her aunt, the 'princess' was now five years old and was at a stage where it was difficult for Hiccup to give his daughter piggyback rides. She had grown her bright auburn hair, and always carried a satchel, which she had made with her father. She had a mind like Hiccup and an attitude to rival Astrid. Ingrid and Havlor also spent most of their time with their new dragon companions, or coming to the castle to spend time with the Royal Family.

Stoick had apologised to his son and wife, both had slowly forgiven him over the months and now spend a lot of time together talking about the adventures the other had missed or just bonding over small unimportant topics. Though Stoick was heartbroken about Valka's relationship with Eret, he had moved on and now supported the pair, but that didn't mean he was going to start finding another wife anytime soon. The relationship between Stoick and Hiccup had become so strong that Hiccup had offered the other a seat at the Council.

The Twins, Fishlegs and Gustav had now become close friends with Hiccup and Astrid, enjoying life with their dragons. Other Berkians had now trained or bonded with dragons, while Fishlegs was now in charge of the Dragon Training Academy, Anna had become the head of New Berk's military. Gustav supported his girlfriend non-stop and after Astrid had threatened the poor boy mercilessly, she gave her approval to the young couple.

XXXX

Astrid's eyes blinked open on a snowy and bright morning, and she lifted her head from Hiccup's chest to see him still fast asleep. She was about to lie back down on him for a few more minutes of shut-eye, but then she suddenly remembered what day it was. Snoggletog! "Hiccup wake up!" she shouted excitedly into his ears while shaking his shoulders. Hiccup shifted about sleepily and mumbled, "Five more minutes" and pulled the covers over his face. "But it's Snoggletog!" Astrid exclaimed, climbing on top of him and rolling her eyes at her husband's childlike behaviour. Hiccup said something incoherent beneath the blanket, and Astrid decided to switch gears. Leaning down close to his ear she whispered, "Come on wake up, we can open the gifts with the children, go to the Hall and give the speech and then you could give me the present I really want." She smirked as her husband's eyes flew wide open at the dirty implication. She quickly pecked his cheek before climbing off his lap and going to dress herself, leaving our poor Hiccup in a bewildered state.

As he dressed, he walked towards his bed, where he saw his son, who was asleep silently, with his thumb inside his mouth. It brought him immense joy in seeing his newborn son whom he had named, Nuffink. Zephyr walked in along with her mother dressed in her usual attire with her satchel hanging beside her hips. She looked eagerly as her parents readied her younger brother and remembered a few days prior when he had come into the world…

Zephyr was surprisingly smart for her age, and that's why when she was playing with her toys in her bedroom after lunchtime, her father burst into the room without warning, announcing that she was going to be spending the rest of the day with her grandparents and aunt she knew something was wrong.

He was normally at work at this time, so it was a strange thing that he was even here. Plus, it was almost Snoggletog, it was less than two weeks before it, which is the busiest time for her father, with preparations all around the village for the holiday and for the devastating winter, which would be coming shortly after. He shouldn't even be home, which was certainly strange. Also, her father was worried, he was frantic, stumbling his words, pacing quickly, and he wouldn't stop doing the shoulder thing that mom always makes fun of him for doing. And understanding that her father was worried for some reason she decided to not argue and listen to his instructions while he took her to the guest rooms where her grandparents and aunt had been staying for the last few days.

After her father had left her with her grandparents, she played games with them, listening to stories of her parents from when they were younger or messing around with her 'Auntie Anna'. She even got to play outside in the snow and build a snowman named she names Olaf. She joined the other kids who were having snowball fights. Slowly forgetting about her father's worried state.

Eventually, when it was nearing dinner time, there was a knock at the door. Anna quickly got up from her seat at the dining table, where Zephyr had been sitting nearly for an hour while her grandmother Ingrid tried her best to feed her some beans. She looked at her aunt opening the door to reveal Hiccup. Zephyr immediately sat up in her seat excitedly when she saw him, he had a huge smile on his face contrasting the worried expression he wore when she last saw him.

Why was everyone so nervous? Why was no one excited that her baby sibling was on the way? Zephyr was excited! She was going to be a big sister! Everyone around the village for the past eight months would come up to Zephyr and talk to her about being a big sister and how exciting it was that she was going to have a baby brother or sister.

But now, everyone was suddenly so nervous! This was like an early Snoggletog present for Zephyr! It seemed like she was the only one who was excited about it, though.

"How is she?" Granny Ingrid asked her father as Granpa Havlor and Granpa Stoick both walk over to congratulate her father, why were they congratulating her father? Had they won the war? Hiccup steps into the house and holds out his arms, and Zephyr rushes into them, allowing herself to be picked up by her dad. "Hey, Zeph!" he exclaims, pressing kisses to her cheek, "Astrid is fine. Tired but fine… You all could come with Zephyr to meet him."

"Who is Him?" Zephyr asks her father looking into his eyes searching for the answer. "Well, your baby brother of course!" Hiccup exclaims while laughing as Zephyr's mouth drops. "I have a baby brother?" Hiccup laughs. "You do, Zephyr! Do you wanna go meet him and see your mother?" he asks her while Zephyr nods violently. He leads her and her grandparents towards the Emperor's room.

Was her little brother going to like her? Was her mom okay? Was her brother okay? This was all she could think about in her tiny head as she held her father's hand. She was nervous. She was a big sister now. Her mom and dad had told her that it was a big responsibility. And now, after months of waiting, she was finally going to meet her little brother. Her father enters the room and pushes the curtains aside to reveal her mother seated on the bed, her long hair messy and out of its usual braids. She looks exhausted, but she has a smile on her face as she looks lovingly at a bundle of blankets?

"Hi, Baby," Astrid says as she ushers her daughter towards her. She walks nervously towards her mother and sits beside Astrid on the bed. Astrid slowly shows her that inside the blankets is a very small baby. A very small baby with his eyes closed and little tufts of blonde hair.

Zephyr looks up at Astrid, who nods. Zephyr looks back down at her brother, peering even closer at him, leaning over Astrid's arms. "What's his name?" She asks her parents with a smile. Astrid and Hiccup look at each other, then to Havlor and then turn back to Zephyr. "Nuffink Finn Haddock," Hiccup tells her. "Nuffink," Zephyr says, testing the name out. Zephyr can't help but smile at the feeling in her chest. She was definitely excited about her little brother, Nuffink. She knew at that moment that she was going to try her best to be the best older sister in the world.

XXXX

"Close your eyes" Hiccup insisted. "Hiccup" she whined, but to no avail. He was putting on the whole show. She did as she was told and then heard shuffling as Hiccup shifted something heavy in front of her. "Open them" He told excited for the big reveal.

When she opened her eyes she saw it, a crib, it was painted white and had intricate golden designs on the wood while the inside was a mattress made from feathers and soft white furs which looked like clouds in the sunlight. She looked at her husband and then smiled as she showed Nuffink his new crib. "I know it's more of a gift for Nuffink but I thought you would like it for Nuffink to play around in his own crib instead of our bed." Hiccup said, hoping his wife would like the gift.

"Thank you" she whispered. "For making me this gift, and for always thinking what would be best for me." Hiccup smiled at her before asking teasingly, "Now am I also gonna get something or not?" Astrid smiled and after Zephyr gave her gift to both her parents in a form of a hand-drawn card, Astrid gave her gift to both her husband and daughter before saying, "Now that we have the gifts out of the way, let's head to the Great Hall for the celebrations and the speech!" Astrid said excitedly, tugging at her hand. "And don't you dare start a snowball fight with me on the way" Astrid warned. Her husband just gave her an enigmatic wink, while holding Zephyr's hand and yelling "No promises!"

The Snoggletog celebrations were amazing they danced, laughed, fought and shared stories. Astrid really was surprised that everyone was still able to party after drinking barrels of mead for the past four hours. It shocked her to no end every year. Even Hiccup, surprisingly could last a long time with mead flowing through his body. But she couldn't, so she volunteered to take Zephyr and Nuffink to bed. Zephyr had been easy as she was already tired but Nuffink on the other hand had taken an hour of lullabies to fall asleep.

As she looked down at her son she let a few tears fall. She could count the number of times she had cried on one hand. She was a Viking while others would cry, she would just get angry. So angry that every tree on Dragon's Edge was littered with her marks from where she'd thrown her axe in rage.

The first she cried was when her Uncle Finn died. The second was when she watched Bertha get a sword plunged into her chest, those minutes as she felt her heart drop into her stomach and her limbs each feel like they were dead weight causing her to cry as she realised who had saved her. The third was when she had seen her husband almost died of an arrow wound. The fourth was when her daughter Zephyr was born. And fifth was when Nuffink came to Midgard.

There he was, perfect, gorgeous, safe in her arms. Feeling Hiccup's warm embrace from behind her only caused the droplets to fall faster down her cheeks. She looked up to her husband and then to the sleeping form of Zephyr beside her, nine years ago she wouldn't imagine her life like this but now, this was all she wanted.