Chapter 20

"Okay, this is super awkward," Heather stated, breaking the silence, as she and Hiccup were seated in his car while driving out of the Mayor's estate. Hiccup had promised that the twins would return her car to her apartment building before the night was through and Heather didn't really want to argue with the man who pulled her out of that sticky situation.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup suddenly said, catching the other off guard. Fishlegs wisely chose to have his headphones in and hummed an ABBA tune.

"Why the hell are you apologizing?" she questioned.

"Because I didn't keep a tighter leash on those guys," He responded with anger still in his voice. "They weren't even supposed to be seen together like that." he added and then murmured under his breath "If they ruin my entire operation…" The threat hung in the air and Heather looked at Hiccup with a raised brow.

"I'm curious but I don't want to intrude," she stated.

"You can just ask you know," He supplied. "Considering what you've seen me do and what I've seen you do…"

"Right," Heather said. "Okay then here goes, how the hell did you get those bigwigs to be your stooges?"

"Blackmail, plain and simple," Hiccup responded. "Elliot was the easiest to get actually," He added while somewhat fondly thinking back. "I had to establish my powerbase quickly when I came to this city so I thought what better way than to strike from the top. Our dear friend Elliot was running against a long-standing and loved politician."

Heather nodded as she remembered that upset in the voting tally. "Wait so you were responsible for that scandal?" she blinked and gaped at Hiccup.

"It was going to come out one way or another that the city's favorite had been involved in bigamy scandal one way or another. I just…. Helped the story along," Hiccup shrugged. "That pretty much tanked his approval rating. I mean, the guy married three women in various states. Got to hand it to his time management but still…"

"Elliot fell in line pretty quickly afterward. He's not doing anything illegal but relying on an 'alleged' Mafioso to fund his political aspirations would be a nail in the coffin if it ever came up. So he does his best to cover for me if I need it. To anyone else in Berk, I'm the son of the Haddock conglomerate that's branching out and developing this city. Too much of daddy's money on hand and all that…"

"So that's where the whole philanthropy angle came from," Heather muttered.

"I do give back to the community though so it's not bullcrap," Hiccup responded. "The Haddock family supports several charities and shelters,"

"That's pretty nice," Heather remarked.

"Yes, mom started that way of thinking." He nodded. "In her words to my dad, 'You make so much through ill-gotten-gains that you may as well give back to the community'. She went on to start shelters for battered women and it branched out from there."

"That's very admirable," Heather stated and Hiccup nodded before saying "Mom was a Mafia princess. She, like me, grew up in this lifestyle. She'd seen her friends marry Made Men but not all of them were nice people. Some beat their wives when drunk or displeased. She wanted to help them and it went from there."

"I should introduce you to Mom." Hiccup added. "I have a feeling you, Astrid, and her would get along swimmingly."

"But moving on, the two old men are judges," He explained to which Heather blinked. "They aren't really friendly and are hardasses on the bench but that makes it all the more unbelievable that they'd be in league with the mob."

"How the hell…."

"Oh they're sleeping together," Hiccup explained which caused Heather to almost bite her tongue. "And they're married… just not to each other,"

"Okay," Heather muttered. She had no idea how the hell Hiccup uncovered that but she'd not question it.

"And my sergeant and Detective Everett?" Heather questioned.

"Everett approached me willingly for reasons I cannot say. It's his story to tell," Hiccup sincerely stated. "Let's just say his reasons are valid and I know he wouldn't willingly betray me,"

"Your sergeant, on the other hand, has a serious gambling problem. He's got several outstanding loans with some of my bookies. I scratch some of his debt off if he does me favors,"

"Wait… hold up a minute," Heather's voice got darker. "What do you mean my Sarge has a gambling problem?! He's Mr. Stick-in-the-ass. Mr. Everything-by-the-boo for Thor's sake."

"He can be good at his job and still have an addiction," Hiccup stated. "My people tell me he's betting the ponies almost every weekend at the track. He's in some serious debt."

"THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING MULCH-EATING-CAMEL-KISSING-HYPOCRITE!" Heather exclaimed.

"It seems I'm missing something here," Hiccup responded while backing away slightly from the now irate woman.

"He chewed me out for this while he's a goddamn hypocrite!"

"You had a gambling problem?" Hiccup hesitantly asked.

"Not me but my former patrol partner and boyfriend," Heather sighed. "It's what started this whole mess with me becoming a pariah at work."

"Uhm…"

"I might as well tell you. You'd probably find out anyway if you go digging, or you probably already know," Heather sighed. "I had a patrol partner for three years since coming out of the academy. We got along great. Had each other's sixes and were seen by the precinct as a great example of partners." Heather stated with a bitter tone in her voice. "The chemistry was there and soon, in private we became lovers. Naturally, we had to get different partners while on the job but privately things were great. There was even talk of marriage. If only I'd known better."

"Let me guess? He had a gambling addiction?"

"I never suspected a thing," Heather deadpanned. "He'd bought me a ring, we were living together, joint accounts, planning a wedding. Turns out that the addiction he'd been hiding was so strong he'd gambled away our wedding fund on illegal dog fights and to stop me from suspecting he'd borrowed money from some real shady people."

"And they wanted their money back plus interest." Hiccup supplied.

"Indeed. The bastard was so desperate that he stole confiscated drug money from the evidence locker to pay them off. I found out and reported it to IA. The moment I got IA involved was the moment the rest of my colleagues closed ranks and turned against me. Even my Sarge chewed me out for reporting him even though what he did was illegal." Heather's eyes were murderous. "He ended up resigning but not before cleaning out the rest of our joint account and fleeing the city." she slammed her fist into the seat cushion separating her and Hiccup. "I thought I could trust the damn bastard! He and I both had the same values and thought it wise to join accounts. The next thing I knew I lost all my savings, my colleagues were giving me the cold shoulder, my fiance skipped town, and I found out he forged my signature on several loan contracts as a guarantor. Now I'm stuck paying off his massive debt, living paycheck-to-paycheck in a dingy apartment that was owned by a serial killer!"

"I can see your point, though technically your landlord wasn't a serial killer… yet. It takes three or more kills to be considered a serial killer," Hiccup backtracked though after he said this due to the glare Heather was shooting his way. "Let's park that for a moment, there is something I genuinely want to know," he quickly stated. "You've been babysitting Damian for years but never took a cent from Astrid. You're clearly strapped for cash so why…"

"I found out early in life that I was infertile. It hadn't mattered to my fiance and I guess that made me stay with him in the long run," she murmured. "When I went on dates I decided to lay that fact bare and not give the guys I matched with any illusion to the fact that I could provide them with a family. You can pretty much guess how that went." Heather pursed her lips. "I love children. Considering my job I like to see their innocence as some hope in the world. Damian is an absolute angel. Astrid, when she moved in she was still in an unstable financial situation. I knew how she felt, paycheck to paycheck. I sympathized but unlike me, she had another mouth to feed. I figured I'd help her out free of charge until she got on her feet."

"They grew on you didn't they,"

"They grew on me," Heather acknowledged.

"I just couldn't bring myself to ask for money. She knew my situation and even offered but Thor damnit I just couldn't. Her kid was just too cute! I told her to save the money she'd have paid me and get her GED. I've seen a lot of teen moms and Astrid was determined to make it even after her family abandoned her. It was something to be admired." she confessed. "That's really it, I guess," Heather shrugged before realizing that the car had been parked for a while and they were outside her apartment building.

"How long,"

"'Bout five minutes," Hiccup answered.

"You could have told me!" she argued.

"If I gave you an offer too good to refuse…" Hiccup said as Heather stepped out of the car. She stopped to look back at the man her friend went gaga for.

"You and I both know my answer Hiccup," Heather responded before fully exiting and making her way into her rundown apartment building.

AN: Hello to all my readers. Just 2 announcements here.

1. Updates for this fic will resume in mid-November.

2. Sadly I won't be publishing a Halloween-themed story this year.

I will be, for the whole of October, in Japan on vacation. Sadly I won't have time to write and/or update. If any of my dear readers have been before and have any recommendations for restaurants or scenic spots feel free to drop me a DM. I will be posting on Instagram (same username as here) so if anyone is curious what I am up to feel free to pop in :)