A/N: This chapter was nearly impossible to write thanks to writer's block. At least, I wish I could blame the delay solely on that, but another factor was having too many ideas that conflicted with each other for a variety of reasons. I'd rather not go into all that though, because it would take too long to recount all of them and the chapter is finally here, so it doesn't really matter.

I will say though, that even with it being alright to publish, it's far from the quality I had hoped it would be when I first tried writing the first few scenes. If any other writers are reading this, I'm sure you understand the feeling rather well.

Anyway, here's hoping you enjoy it. Oh, and TGS 2 is on hold until I write a chapter. All my focus has been on this for two months or however long it's been, so I'm not going to post a chapter until I feel like I can keep on schedule.

…

Hiccup was in bliss when he woke up next, enveloped by the warmth of the duvet on his bed with his limbs completely relaxed.

Slowly, as he was in no rush, he opened one eye.

His other eye snapped open far quicker and he blinked.

"Astrid, no."

He had glimpsed Astrid lying on top of him and the duvet, a few inches between their faces.

She wore an impish grin.

It was the only thing she wore.

But at his words, she hiked an eyebrow before crossing her arms under her breasts to accentuate them, as if that were necessary, and her grin broadened when his eyes dipped down for just a second.

"No objections babe. We're going to be separate for a good few months at least. I intend to compensate for all the sex we'll miss out on."

"Ever heard of sexting? We both have phones."

"Hiccup, we both know that doesn't compare."

He shook his head, amused. "We'll survive. Or are you saying you aren't up to the challenge?"

"Of course, I-" She cut herself off, shaking her head but smiling. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't make everything a challenge."

It was Hiccup's turn to raise an eyebrow at her.

"What? I don't."

"Really?"

"Mhm."

"So I just imagined how you took over my kitchen way back when; waking up early to decide on what to cook for breakfast?"

"Yep," she lied vigorously, popping the p.

"Uh huh, sure. Move, I need to go to the bathroom."

She moved to the other side of the bed, allowing him to sit up, slip on his prosthetic and leave the bedroom.

When he emerged from the bathroom, Astrid was standing in his way, still naked.

"Uh, aren't you cold like that?" Hiccup wondered, slowly shutting the door behind him.

She said nothing. Instead, she advanced on him until he was backed up against the door.

"No."

Her hand drifted down, below the waist. "How sure are you that you don't want this?" she added, her question followed by her rubbing her palm on him through his pyjama shorts.

"The spirit is eager but the body is not up to it right now, Astrid."

"Alright," she accepted with a nod and ceased her ministrations. "So… sexting. Are you really up for that?"

"I don't know. I'll only know when we actually try it."

"So it's fine if we both chicken out? Because I don't know if I'm ready myself. Does… is that okay?"

Hiccup stared. "Astrid, are you okay? You've never sounded this uncertain about anything. What's going on? Talk to me."

Astrid shook her head, sighing. "I'm not ready to. Not yet. Which is ironic I guess, given what I wanted to do this morning."

Hiccup's gaze quickly became far too intense for her liking, but he nodded, looking helpless all the same. "Alright. Just… fill me in when you're ready. I want to help you like you've helped me."

He stepped away, heading into the kitchen.

"Uh, wait- Hiccup?"

His head poked out. "Yes?"

Astrid faltered and sighed, shaking her head. "Nevermind. Forgot what I was going to say."

"Alright."

He disappeared from view again and Astrid dug her fingernails into her palms, resisting the strong urge to scream at herself for her cowardice.

…

"So, Heather, can you help?"

The woman made a show of thinking from her perch on the counter in Astrid's office. "Were you really naked?"

Astrid groaned. "Oh for fuck's sake! That's not the important part, Heather!"

Heather raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? So why did you mention it?"

"I assumed you would be able to focus on the important part regardless. Y'know, the last bit? Where I lost my nerve? That was stupid of me I guess."

"This is like placing a plate of steak and a pile of chocolate bars in front of someone who likes both, and getting mad when they can't focus."

"I feel like I should get Hiccup to tell Eret you said that."

Heather jabbed a finger in Astrid's direction while glaring. "If you do that, you'll never be seen by anyone again."

"I seem to have your attention now. Can you help me?"

"How?"

"I-I don't know. How did you say the words to Eret for the first time?"

Heather now looked puzzled. "We haven't yet. He hasn't thought to propose yet and neither have I. That's just you two."

Astrid blinked. "What? No, I mean the words. The 'L' word. Four letters, ends with e, ring any bells?"

"Ohhhh. Well why didn't you say so?"

"I did say so! Heather, why the fuck do you think I told you about what I did earlier for? I told you all that for a reason!"

"That's easy," Heather smirked. "You wanted me to know you sometimes sleep entirely in the nude."

"Oh ha ha. Heather, focus. I wasn't joking about telling Eret."

"Don't worry, I believe you. Um… I don't know. Make breakfast that Hiccup would like and leave a note with the 'L' word on it or something. What works for me and Eret won't work for you and Hiccup."

"Well it's a start I guess… what time is it?"

"9:14"

"So I've got sixteen minutes before my first patient shows up. Uh, wait here."

"Can't wait to say the apparently daunting word to your guy? You go girl."

Astrid poked her head back in. "I'm actually going to talk to my uncle. I'm hoping he can help me plan something for Hiccup."

"Like I said, you go girl. I'll be here, getting familiar with this office. Take as long as you need."

"That eager to get your hands on my old office and get rid of me, huh?"

"Mhm. Now get out of here. Go talk to your uncle."

Around the same time as that conversation was ending, another was beginning involving Hiccup at his desk in his office and a female MP, who entered carrying a folder.

"What's that?" Hiccup asked.

"Urgent report from my boss, sir. Captain Thuggory."

"Wonder what he couldn't say in person," Hiccup muttered before shrugging. "Guess he must just be busy. You can go now."

"You might want me to stick around, sir."

"Why?" He voiced, raising an eyebrow at the officer while reaching across the desk to pick up the report.

Only, she gave no reply and simply motioned for him to read it.

Shrugging again, he scanned the report as directed.

In the next second, the report fluttered to the floor in front of the desk and the desk itself rattled with how abruptly he stood up.

"What's your name, officer?"

"Ashley, sir. Lieutenant Ashley Deere."

"Well Ashley. How quickly do you think you can drive me to the hospital?"

"Fifteen minutes. Probably more depending on traffic, sir."

"No time to waste then."

They left, and as a result of Hiccup slamming shut the door, the report moved, an edge of the paper curling up before returning to its previous state.

And on that edge, the top edge, a name was printed.

Fishlegs Ingerman.

…

"Sir."

The man already present just to the side of the guards at the door glanced at Hiccup as he and Lt Ashley Deere approached and saluted him.

"At ease, both of you. Now Captain Haddock, today I am not merely your CO. Today is not a good day so you will call me Major Dearborn or simply Major."

"Yes, Major Dearborn."

"Good."

Together, they observed the interior of the ICU room via a glass window that was right in front of them. Inside, a doctor was switching between writing some kind of note and observing a particular patient.

The patient in question took up a good amount of the bed and had short blond hair.

"How bad is today, Major?"

"I'll answer that with a question. Should Lieutenant Jorgenson be dishonourably discharged or simply discharged? He won't be getting any honours after this."

"If I cared, I'd say he should get discharged. But I don't care for him."

"Mmm. I have mud on my shoe. I want you and Thuggory to clean it up. Then you both can have the rest of the day off and I will forget the name Jorgenson."

"Yes, Major."

"Oh, and if his father shows up around here, let him know exactly what happened to Lieutenant Ingerman. Spare no grisly detail, then send him to me. I'll want to have a word with him."

"Certainly, Major."

"Good. Hop to it, Captain."

Hiccup's CO left after that, leaving Hiccup with Lt Deere and the two guards outside Fishlegs's room.

Sparing a glance at Fishlegs on his bed through the glass window, then at the guards as he took out his phone.

He unlocked it and was just about to dial a number when the device vibrated in his hand.

Your times up Haddock. I am coming to visit you.

"Ashley, you think you can do me a favour? Well I say favour… it's a favour for me not for you."

"What is it, sir?"

"It's Snotlout. I trust you know of him."

She grimaced. "Is that an order sir?"

"Officially yes. Unofficially I wouldn't order you to deal with him but you heard my CO; it needs to be done."

She nodded, with a pained expression. "I understand."

"Of course, with what he did," Hiccup nodded at Fishlegs's room. "I'm sure the use of a taser wouldn't be unreasonable if he causes further trouble for us."

She nodded again. "Yes sir."

"One other thing, and it takes precedent over Snotlout; I need a lift back to base."

…

Pulling up at the gate in front of the base, Ashley exchanged their IDs with the kiosk and then waited to get waved through.

"Major Dearborn made an announcement over the P.A. here a few minutes ago. Said he wanted to speak to you and that you should go find him as soon as you got back to base, sir," the guard in the kiosk informed both of them.

"Any idea if he's waiting in his office or if the Major is somewhere else?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, sir."

"Right. No time to waste then."

Driving through the gate to park in the garage ahead, Hiccup looked at Ashley, who eventually glanced his way after popping open her door. "I think you should go deal with Snotlout now. I'll find out what my CO wants."

"Was thinking the same."

And so they parted ways, with Hiccup leaving the garage space and heading upstairs to his office. Inside he found five people. Major Dearborn, Helga Hofferson, Finn Hofferson, Astrid Hofferson and another individual he hadn't seen in a while.

"Viggo," Hiccup said, with enthusiasm, he didn't feel. "What are you doing here?"

It was the major who responded. "Take a seat, captain. We have a fair deal to discuss concerning your past. I must say though, it is… interesting to find the reason for the secrecy to be exactly what I suspected."

"Glad to help with that, Major. Now what is this all about?" He inquired, taking a seat beside Astrid.

Wordlessly, Astrid's mother crossed the room to lock and shut the door and only when that was done, did Viggo respond.

"Earlier this morning, Grimmel vanished without a trace."

"Right… And how did that happen? What were you doing when that happened?"

"And who is Grimmel?" Astrid added.

"I was asleep when he made himself scarce. It was 5am."

"So he didn't take a plane otherwise he would be here already. So probably a car… meaning we have two hours at least before he completes the seven hour journey and likely more given traffic."

"Most likely, but we should assume we have less time than more just in case."

"Agreed."

Meanwhile, a form was placed before Astrid.

"Astrid, you'll need to sign this. Here's a pen."

So she took the offered pen, then gazed at the form in front of her. "What is it?"

"The official secrets act. There's something you should know about Hiccup, but sign it first so I can tell you."

"And what would that be? Whatever it is sounds serious…"

She trailed off to stare at Hiccup until he noticed.

"I'm getting a sense of deja vu right now."

"Hiccup, what are you hiding that I need to sign the official secrets act to find out about?"

"Sign it first. I can't tell you until you do."

Astrid looked between her mother and Hiccup. "Do I want to know?"

Viggo rolled his eyes. "We're wasting time here."

Hiccup sighed. "Agreed. Major?"

"We should escort both of our therapists out of here." The major looked at Astrid's mother. "Given your… unique occupation… you should escort your daughter while the berserker siblings take care of themselves."

Helga nodded. "I think that's best. Astrid, you can sign the form later. Grab what you need; you're going to Faslane early."

"Oh, okay… Well at least I don't need to worry about dancing at the gala while only knowing one dance."

"Hiccup, looks like you'll have your hands full with Grimmel."

"And my Dad, and Gobber, and possibly Spitelout & Snotlout together. Lovely. What absolute fun."

"At least Gobber won't be as bad as whoever this Grimmel guy is."

"At least that's true, milady. Finn, can you go with Astrid? Going to need Viggo for this. You as well of course, Mrs Hofferson."

"Indeed."

As soon as Astrid and her mother left the room, Hiccup stood up. Reaching into a pocket, he placed his phone on the desk.

"There's something you should see, Viggo," he said, as he unlocked the device.

"What would that be?"

"Hold out your hand." Viggo did so and Hiccup placed his phone in Viggo's palm. "A text message from Grimmel."

After unlocking it and scrolling to the text in question, Hiccup turned and headed for the door. "Call Lucan. While you do that, I'm getting my gun ready. I'm going to need one."

He had just barely reached the hallway when a familiar cane prodded his shoulder, prompting Hiccup to turn around.

"And just what do you plan to use your gun on? This Grimmel character or your cousin? I know about Fishlegs."

"Grimmel of course. I think you overestimate my hatred of Snotlout or underestimate my restraint. He really isn't high on my list of priorities right now."

"But he is on your list?" Finn checked.

"He's mud on my shoe. An annoyance but easily ignored. Regardless, I bet the MPs will arrest him sooner or later so you don't need to worry about him."

"It's not him I worry about. Like you said; an annoyance but easily ignored."

Hiccup turned and continued on his way. "You can say that again, Doctor."

But of course with his back turned to Finn, the Doctor couldn't see when Hiccup's face became a scowl.

Now Hiccup's intent to procure a gun led him to the armoury, but Dagur was not present, having gone to buy food for lunch ahead of time, and the room was devoid of any of Dagur's subordinates.

And so Hiccup left, gunless, stepping outside and intending to head for the garage and his car to track down the berserker.

In the distance he saw Astrid wave at him, just stepping into her car.

So he waved back.

But then something struck his left leg; his non-metal leg.

Then the pain arrived.

For the second time in her life, Astrid heard Hiccup scream.

But unlike the first, she ran towards him instead of walking away.

"Mum! Call the police! And quickly, Hiccup got shot!"

…

Much later, Hiccup found himself in a hospital room, where Astrid was lying next to him on the bed he had been allotted and whatever had brought him to the hospital was a bit of a blur.

He remembered leaving the base, looking towards the garage, seeing Astrid, waving at her and then pain, lots of it.

What had happened between then and now?

I guess I passed out before the ambulance arrived…

"Hiccup?"

He looked over at Astrid. "Thought you were sleeping."

She shook her head. "Just had my eyes closed. Have, I should say. Are you okay?"

"Well the pain is gone. I got shot, didn't I? Where was I hit?"

"You don't remember? In the leg. Your left leg."

"Where exactly? Muscle or nerve?"

"Why?"

"You know damn well why, Mrs physical therapist."

"Well your leg is still intact for starters. They didn't need to amputate. You got hit in a tendon though, so take it easy for a while. Especially while I'm gone."

"Yeah, why aren't you gone already? You should be. Grimmel-"

"There are soldiers outside the door. Thuggory took care of it."

"-Is still out there. Get up, I need to close the curtains."

"You're going nowhere. Not with that leg out of commission. I'll do it."

"Hurry up then. Move."

"Yeah, okay, Mr bossy."

She got up, crossed the room, pulled the curtains closed and then returned, climbing into his hospital bed again.

"Happy?"

"No. You shouldn't be here."

"Hiccup I just told you about-"

"Astrid, a single grenade would take care of whoever Thuggory has posted outside that door. This place is no fortress. The only real hindrance for an attack are the security guards tasked with checking names and badges. So again I stress that you're not safe here and you should go."

Astrid sighed. "Hadn't thought of that… and the curtain thing was to prevent sniping wasn't it? Only just realised…"

Hiccup smiled. "It's okay. I forgive you. Do you have my phone by any chance? Left it in my office."

"No, but you can use mine."

Hiccup shook his head. "Need to call someone but I don't know their number. Just got a contact saved in my phone."

"Oh. Is it urgent?"

"Not particularly. Call your mother. Tell her to come pick you up and get you on your way."

"Okay." Astrid got off the bed, took out her phone and took a few steps towards the door as she dialled her mother's number.

"Wait!" Hiccup's voice stopped her just as she was about to start the call.

"What is it?"

"Grimmel shot me."

"Uh, who else would it be?"

"No, you don't understand. He shot me, meaning he'll…"

"He'll what?"

"Nevermind that. We need to move and we can't wait for your mother to get here. Sorry Mrs physical therapist, but I'm going to have to walk. Staying in bed is no longer an option unless you want me to get shot again."

"Wait, wait, wait. I don't understand. Who would want to shoot you?"

"Grimmel."

"What?"

"You remember what I said a few minutes ago? About how attacking this hospital room is easy but getting to it without issue is harder?"

Astrid's eyes widened in horror. "Grimmel's coming here…"

"Good, you finally understand. Now help me get out of here. How do I remove this Iv?"

Astrid shoved her phone back in her pocket and hurried back over to his bed.

Gently removing the needle, she took his hands and pulled him to sit up, then stand up next before urging him in the direction of the door.

"What's next, babe?"

"Leave the talking to me. And if I say run, you run. That'll probably be when Grimmel finds us."

"When? Not if?"

"Always expect the worst. That's why I'm still alive. And speaking of expecting the worst…"

He turned and kissed her.

"Just in case we don't make it, I want you to know that I love you."

"No regrets?"

"Just one: that we didn't start dating sooner."

"Yeah, the feeling is very mutual."

In more ways than one…

"Glad to hear it. Now, we really should go. Also, remember: leave talking to the guards to me."

Astrid nodded and Hiccup wrenched open the door, stepping out into the hallway just as a man with white hair appeared, a sniper rifle slung across his back and a pistol in a holster as part of the webbing he wore.

Then a few things happened.

"Whoever you are, you can't be here," One of the MP's said, addressing Grimmel

"We've got a situation," the other MP said into the radio of his lapel, then looked at Hiccup. "Sir, get back inside."

The other MP turned around in the commotion.

And then Grimmel drew his gun and fired at that MP's head, killing him instantly

Hiccup immediately threw himself to the floor and then shut the door, blocking him and Astrid from the disaster unfolding on the other side.

And disaster it was, as the unfortunate, remaining MP was shot and killed, and his blood splattered against the door with a wet slap.

"You've got nowhere else to go Hiccup. Any last words?" said Grimmel as Astrid helped Hiccup to get back up.

Hiccup stepped a little closer to the door, then raised his voice a little to be heard by the man outside.

"Way I see it, Grimmel, we're even now that you shot me. Can we agree that you hear us out?"

"Now why would I do that? Sticking around to talk to you stops me from getting away, which is solely to your benefit."

"You sir are playing a dangerous game. Painting your former student a liar. I don't lie at times like this and you know it. You taught me that."

"Fine. I'm coming in shortly. When I do, I will be confiscating your phones. You understand, don't you?"

"Of course. Come on in when you're ready."

"One minute Hiccup. No more."

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" Astrid hissed.

"Parley, Astrid. Parley. It's our best option out of this alive and just in case you need a reminder, let me do the talking. That still applies here. Now give me your phone."

With a heavy sigh, she did so, which Hiccup held in one hand and with the other, pulled the lining of his pockets out to make it clear that they were empty.

"Alright Grimmel. We're ready. Come on in!"

The door was shoved open and the man of the hour stepped inside.