A/N - I've had this half-done on my other computer for a good several months. My bad about not getting it out sooner, but life. It sneaks up and grabs your throat like a starving…something that grabs throats.

X

Astrid stared had at the small, unopened box in her hands. She waited until Hiccup had gone to work to make the necessary trip to the drug store several blocks away. The middle aged woman that worked the counter didn't mind her as she walked inside, but as soon as Astrid set the pregnancy test between them, her stare changed.

Her wrinkled eyes narrowed in judgment, squinted in pitiful scrutiny, like she were some saint and Astrid was the lowly street-walker.

Astrid balled her fists as the woman scanned the box. It beeped; the entire process was taking much too long. Astrid paid cash. No trace.

"Do you want a bag for this?" the woman asked with too much emphasis on this.

"No, thank you," Astrid said, as politely as she could.

Astrid took her change and stuffed it and the little box into her coat pocket. She felt the eyes of the woman on her as she shuffled through the glass doors and down the sidewalk. The chill penetrated her clothes.

This could make a terrible mess. She'd run out of birth control a month ago.

"Why not just go buy some more? How much do they cost?" Hiccup had asked simply over dinner.

Astrid sighed, partly from exasperation and agitation. But neither were his fault. "It's a medication. A doctor has to prescribe them."

"Oh," he hummed. He looked down at his plate and shuffled the green beans around.

She'd stood in front of one of those walk-in clinics the day before, but hadn't been able to go inside. A woman had walked in past her, smelling cabbage and cigarettes, with three children screaming at her heels. Maybe it had been her pride that turned her around.

She kept her eyes on the sidewalk until she arrived back at the apartment. Astrid shed her coat and hung it on the rack. She took the little box from the pocket, like some lightweight rock, burning through her palms. She took a deep inhale. Each step she took toward the darkened bathroom felt a mile. She shut the door and set the little box on the counter.

She waited, but her bladder said no. Fine. She could wait a little longer.

She tucked the little inside the large box of tampons. Hiccup would never look in there.

Astrid did her workout in the living room, showered, and then started on dinner. By the time the clock read five, dinner was on the table. She set the table and used the last moment before the door opened to arrange candles as a center piece.

"Yeah, it's apartment 4D," Hiccup said. He kicked off his shoes and the banged against the wall. He trudged around the corner, cell phone to his ear. He spotted Astrid, but made little notice of the table. He instead loosened his tie. "Yeah, eleven is fine. We'll be here."

Astrid waited until the phone was dropped onto the counter. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Hiccup shook his head. He ran a hand through his hair and left it a stuck-up mess. "My dad wants to visit."

"Oh," Astrid smiled. Hiccup didn't return her enthusiasm. "That's…bad?"

"He wants to bring his girlfriend."

"Oh," Astrid said.

Hiccup groaned loudly. He didn't change for dinner. He collapsed right into the chair. "It's not that I don't like my dad, but…the idea of him dating anyone is just…gross."

"I don't know if it's gross," Astrid shrugged as she loaded Hiccup's plate. "I mean, everyone dates. Especially if they have kids."

"Yeah…but my dad." Hiccup ran his hair through his hair again, making an even bigger mess of it. "The idea of a step mom freaks me out."

Astrid sat down across from him. "They're just dating, Hiccup. It's not like they're making wedding plans."

"Yeah, but you don't take your girlfriend to meet your family unless it's a thing," Hiccup said as forked a broccoli crown. He poked the plate with it a few times before nibbling off the end.

Astrid paused at his words. Hiccup finished his vegetable and started on another. She waited for some recognition that he had taken these words had sunk in. When it didn't seem they had, she said "When hadn't been dating very long when I met your father."

Hiccup's chewing slowed, but his eyes stayed on his plate. "I guess so."

Astrid waited for something, what she didn't know, but nothing more came. Hiccup kept eating. She pushed the green on her plate before she ate it.

"When is he coming?" Astrid asked. The apartment seemed too quiet with only the wish-wash of the washing machine.

"Next weekend," Hiccup said. "Saturday. He wants to do lunch."

"Here?" Astrid asked. She looked around their kitchen. "We'll need to clean a bit. It's not bad in here, it's just a bit dusty. I'll plan something to eat. Unless he wants to go out and eat?"

"I don't know what he wants to do."

Astrid was still eating when Hiccup finished. He stood up and mumbled, "I'm going to take a nap."

Astrid watched him limp into the bedroom and heard him flop down onto the bed. She finished her meal without him.

X

Lunch smelled fine, full of carbs and greens. A bottle of red wine chilled in the refrigerator. A coffee cake cooled on the counter. Hiccup paced by the window and the cleaned living room. Astrid stood in the bathroom, bladder full, but she couldn't make her hand reach for the little box. No, now wasn't a good time.

"It's just your father, Hiccup," Astrid shuffled her feet as she joined him in the living room. She sat on the couch and watched him pace. Her stomach knotted.

"And his girlfriend," Hiccup reminded her again, as he had countless times that day. He'd woken up before dawn, squirmed in bed until seven, waking her periodically, and finally getting up with a groan.

"Are you more worried about him or her?"

He sighed, blowing the air out slowly. "I don't know. Her, I guess." He shuffled. "I-I've always seen my dad by himself, you know? And it's just…weird."

"How so?"

"Growing up it was just him, you know? Other kids had moms, but I didn't. It was just how it was."

"It's just a change," Astrid said.

"Yeah," Hiccup nodded.

A heavy hand knocked on the door. Hiccup tensed at once. Stoick's muffled voice came from the other side. Astrid hopped to her feet when Hiccup didn't move. By Stoick's second knock, Astrid was at the door.

The door swung open and twp people stood in the hall beyond. Stoick she knew. But the brown-haired woman standing beside him, she did not.

"Ah, Astrid," Stoick said with a broad smile. "It's nice to see you again."

"Hi, Stoick," Astrid said as she stepped aside to let the two of them inside. She met the eyes of the woman. Stoick motioned to introduce her, a humble smile on his face, when Hiccup stepped around the corner, stopping dead in his tracks.

"Mom?!" Hiccup exclaimed.

X

Astrid sat on the couch with Valka. Stoick took the chair by the window. Hiccup paced.

"You're dating again?" Hiccup said again, repeating his father's words from a few moments before. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't find the right time," Stoick said.

"How long?" Hiccup exclaimed.

Stoick shook his head.

"How long have you been seeing each other and not telling me?" Hiccup looked between them, mother and then father, demanding an answer before he let them eat the dinner they'd prepared.

Stoick cleared his throat again and looked quickly at the floor. He mumbled something.

"What?" Hiccup asked, turning his heard, lowing his brows, and glaring at his father more than twice his size.

"It started after he called me about you," Valka interrupted.

Hiccup didn't say anything for a moment, but slowly turned back to his mother. "That was four years ago."

"Yes," Stoick said with a nod. "We wanted to wait to tell you together-"

"Why couldn't you just call?" Hiccup cut him off. "You know, a simple 'hey, by the way I'm seeing your mother' would have been fine."

"It's a little more than that, Son," Stoick said, having regained a bit of his size. "We're not just dating. We're getting remarried."

Hiccup stood stunned for a long moment before he muttered, "What?"

"We're remarrying." Stoick repeated, standing taller. "It's a long story, but I'll tell you about it over that dinner."

"Of course," Astrid stood up, but neither son or father looked at her. "It's right this way."

Astrid sat down at the table last. She caught Valka's eyes over the table, but the older woman looked away.

Astrid bit the inside of her cheek. His mother knew what she'd done. Hiccup had told her everything. She suddenly felt exposed and too warm. Did his father know, too?

Over the meal she'd slaved over, hoping to impress Mr. Haddock and his woman, Stoick informed them of how after the initial call to his estranged wife they had slowly reconnected. She had called him back to tell him how it went. He called. She called. They met up. They rediscovered that spark that had led to their marriage, their son, love rekindled. Valka wore a new diamond, which she looked down on proudly.

"Have you set a date?" Astrid asked, trying to shift the conversation in a positive direction.

"June," Valka said with a shy smile.

"That's another thing, Hiccup," Stoick said pointedly. "We're going to the Caribbean for the wedding. We both want you to be there."

Hiccup looked down at his plate. Astrid knew the first thing that he thought about was the money. Two round trips to the resort hotspot of the world? Not cheap. Hotels. Food. Fun. Not cheap at all. She caught Hiccup's worried hesitation. Life had been so much easier when she'd had money to waste.

"I can help you with the money, if you need it," Stoick said. "I want you there, Son. If it hadn't been for you I'd have never met your mother again."

This seemed to quell the storm Hiccup felt. He met his father's stare.

"It wouldn't be the same without you," Stoick said again.

"I'll be there," Hiccup said.

Astrid released a small sigh. She wanted Hiccup to go, too.

"Of course, that includes you, Astrid," Valka said, reaching a hand across the table and tapping Astrid's lightly.

"What would we do with Toothless?" Hiccup asked. Toothless had made his distaste of travel clear when he'd thrown up in the car tree times on the ride from Missouri to Maine.

"There's always a kennel," Valka said lowly. "He wouldn't like it but he'd have food and water and a safe place to sleep."

Hiccup nodded.

Again, an uncomfortable silence fell over the table. This time, Valka intervened. She took a sip of her wine and held the glass by the stem as she spoke cheerfully, "So, Astrid, have you and Hiccup given marriage any thought?"

Hiccup choked and Astrid suddenly lost her ability to swallow. She washed she food down with a large sip of wine, as did a red-faced Hiccup.

"No, we haven't," Astrid said first. Hiccup avoided her gaze.

"Ah," Valka said, seemingly unaware of the awkwardness of her statement.

The rest of dinner passed with vague wedding plans and simple ideas. They wanted a small wedding on the beach, close friends and family only. They'd give more details as they emerged; several months still remained before the summer.

The sky had darkened by the time Stoick and Valka departed. Hiccup shut the door behind them and the silence that followed made Astrid want to scream to get rid of it. Hiccup's eyes flickered over her and then away.

"So…yeah," Hiccup said. "That wasn't what I expected."

"What did you expect?"

"I don't know," Hiccup shrugged. He half-heartedly laughed. "A thirty year old with a bad blonde dye job and boobs bigger than her head."

"Seriously?"

"What? My dad isn't exactly poor." Hiccup grinned, but it didn't meet his eyes. "I remember going out for dinner with him when I was littler and women just fanned over him. I thought it was funny, but I get it now. He was single, rich, and not ugly. I…didn't think it would by my mother."

"I think it's sweet," Astrid said.

Hiccup met her eye again and quickly looked away. "I guess."

Astrid had thought about telling him there was a maybe-baby, but in that moment she declined sharing the news. She knew he would react negatively, by the downcast look caused by his parents. He was confused and she didn't want to add anymore to it. She would wait until there was no 'maybe.' Either there was or there wasn't. She would wait, test, and then decide.

X

Astrid nearly dropped it, the front door opened so fast. She hadn't been paying attention to the time. She spun around, cursing herself for not closing the bathroom door, holding the pregnancy test behind her back.

"I'm back," Hiccup announced from the entranceway. His boots clunked against the wall. He came into her view, mail in hand, and waved a fancy, cream-colored envelope in hand. "Looks like a wedding invitation."

"Oh," Astrid said. "It looks formal."

Hiccup's fingers tensed around the invitation. "What're you holding behind your back?"

"Nothing," Astrid said. "You surprised me, that's all."

Hiccup didn't let up his stare. He took a step toward her. He had all the trademarks of work-induced agitation and exhaustion, and the added effects of his parents' remarriage had only worsened his mood. He sighed heavily. "Really?"

"Yes."

She squeezed her hand around the test's handle, the side she hadn't peed on, wishing it to vanish.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing, I told you."

"If it's nothing why hid it?"

Astrid chewed on her lip, willing him to walk away even for a second, so she could hide it somewhere better.

"Astrid," Hiccup said, and tossed the mail into the kitchen. Most of it made it to the table. The wedding invitation slid off and floated to the floor, where it stuck underneath a chair leg. He groaned. "I'm not in the mood."

Astrid let a sigh go. He really wouldn't be in the mood in a few moments. She released the test and brought it around to the front. She held the white device in her palm. Hiccup looked down at it a moment, like he was trying to associate its alien shape with something known. The glower in his eyes shook her knees.

"That's nothing?" he finally asked.

"I don't know yet," Astrid said. "It takes five minutes."

Hiccup stared at the test like he might be able to make it explode, anything to get it out of his reality, out of existence.

"Hiccup?"

He snapped out of his trance, closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. He groaned, rubbed his eyes, and let out an exhausted shout. "That is nothing? That is so not nothing! Astrid, why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Because I wasn't sure," Astrid said, shaking her head. She wiggled the test. "I'm still not."

Hiccup groaned and started to pace. "A baby. You can't have a baby. I-I'm not ready for that! I-I can't be a dad…I mean, a baby, and diapers, and crying…I can't afford a baby. And if you go to the doctor they'll know you don't have insurance, I'll have to pay for the entire thing. I don't even want to think about how much that'll be."

Astrid swallowed; she hadn't thought of that part it. Now that she had, it settled in her stomach like a shaking clog of dirt.

"I wanted to find another job, move, I don't know where. All of that will be harder with an attachment. I'm not ready. I'm not ready to be a dad. I don't even feel like an adult half the time! Oh, what are we going to do? I wouldn't feel right getting rid of it…that's so…urg!"

Hiccup threw his arms into the air. He huffed, turned to look at her, frustration and irritation showing through his tired eyes.

Astrid looked down at the cause of his outbreak. "Five minutes are up."

Hiccup inhaled sharply.

Astrid held it out to him, fist closed over the results. Hiccup opened his hand and she dropped it. Without speaking, she turned and walked back into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

She didn't know what she'd wanted. When that blue minus sign appeared, the rock in her stomach jumped up into her throat, clogging her words and pushing them into oblivion. She fell into her side of the bed and snaked underneath the covers. She pulled them over her head.

The bedroom door opened, and closed again. Hiccup's socked feet padded across the floor. They paused at the hamper and in went something, judging by the pat on the foot, it was his socks. He took off his button-up and hung in back into the closet, good for another wear, and unbuttoned his jeans. They landed on the floor with a plop.

Astrid remained still while he undressed. His bare feet patted across the floor to the bedside, his side, and his weight gently sat on the edge. He lifted his legs and slid them underneath the covers.

He sighed.

A hand tentatively touched her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I-I didn't mean to…freak out like that. I just, kind of lost it. I-I'm not ready for a baby. I can't lie, I'm relieved. But, Astrid, why didn't you say something to me?"

"I didn't want to freak you out."

"So if you had been…pregnant, what would you have done?"

"I don't know."

The hand on her shoulder moved to her back. He finagled his way underneath the covers. "I-I would have been there, you know, with you."

Hiccup wiggled in beside her. In the darkness under the blanket she could see his scruffy hair, messed by the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I guess I'm not ready, either," she whispered.

Hiccup moved closer to her, snaking his arms around her. She moved closer to him and snuggled into his chest. His heart beat under her touch.

"What are you going to do about your parents' wedding?"

Hiccup sighed. "I'll have to go, regardless. Maybe they'll serve alcohol there. You want to go and suffer with me?"

"I'll have to go dress shopping. I don't have anything to wear."

Hiccup laughed. "At least you won't be wearing a suit."

"I could. I think I could pull it off. A nice tailored suit."

Hiccup snuggled into her neck. "I bet you would."