Irena from my other story Fractured Family does not exist in this universe.

Astrid was never, ever terrified. Never. Things never really scared her to that point. She had been startled, worried, and frightened before. But never terrified.

Except for today.

She wasn't sure why she was terrified, she just was.

Her stomach wasn't helping either. It was a bundle of nerves on top of nausea she hadn't been able to shake for two weeks straight.

Hiccup had been worried she might've caught something until she honestly told him that she hadn't actually shown any other symptoms of an illness when he asked. He brought it down to the recent stress of a new, and quite inexperienced, class at the Academy and so had she.

When she finally couldn't take it anymore and she needed to know what was wrong, she broke down and went to the healer, ignoring her pride for the time being.

When she told the healer that she and Hiccup both thought it was stress related, the healer murmured something that Astrid couldn't make out.

"What?" Astrid had asked for clarification.

The healer, still going about her business, had told her without looking at her "Don't stress. It's bad for the baby."

Baby.

It felt like there were needles pricking her everywhere and her stomach turned to ice before lighting on fire. Her hands were numb and almost buzzing. She felt faint and then she didn't. The back of her neck felt warm and then the heat spread through her body slowly. And then she ran.

She had no idea where she wanted to go, but she ran there anyway. She ended up in the woods, not too far in, but far enough, and she sat with her back against a tree and pulled her knees to her chest and did something she rarely did. She cried.

When Stormfly sensed something was wrong, she had left her spot where she was napping with Toothless and followed her rider's scent into the trees.

When Stormfly found Astrid shaking with quiet sobs, she nuzzled her gently. Astrid hardly noticed. Stormfly considering going and making a racket outside of Hiccup's meeting until he came out and followed her, but she didn't want to leave her best friend alone, so she curled up next to Astrid and waited for quite a while.

Astrid decided not to go to dinner. She felt terrible and she probably looked it too. She wasn't hungry either. She knew Hiccup would be worried, but if he noticed Stormfly's absence, she was rather certain he wouldn't come looking for her.

She and Stormfly took the long way home so no one would see them and then Astrid washed her face before curling up on her side on the bed.

Fearless Astrid Hofferson (well, Haddock now technically) was feeling as pathetic as she most likely looked.

Why was she so scared? She didn't understand it. Was it because she wasn't used to the idea of a baby? She knew wouldn't be a good mother.

And she wasn't ready. They weren't ready.

They were still so young yet, so much they wanted to do. So many places they wanted to explore. How could they do that with a child to take care of?

Hiccup was always so busy and she was always needed at the Academy. They couldn't do their jobs on top of raising a baby.

Could they?

If they somehow, miraculously, found the time, Hiccup would be an amazing father. She didn't have a doubt in the world. She would be mediocre, at best.

No child would want her as a mother.

The front door squeaked open. Astrid heard dragon claws on the floor downstairs as well as a metallic clicking. Hiccup and Toothless were home.

"Astrid?" Hiccup called. "Are you here?"

Astrid couldn't find it in herself to answer him at the moment. She just wanted to disappear.

"You missed dinner and Stormfly is freaking out." Hiccup informed as he climbed the stairs. Toothless was following according to the creaks.

He stopped in front of the open bedroom door. "Astrid? Are you okay?" Hiccup's concern was genuine and obvious.

She couldn't answer him and she started to cry again. Toothless was unnerved and whimper loudly from the doorway. Astrid didn't cry.

"What's wrong?" he asked her kindly, sitting on his side of the bed. Her back was facing him, so he rubbed little circles on it in hopes that it would calm her down some.

She stopped crying in a minute or two and took a few shuddery breaths to get herself together.

"I'm scared." she whispered. Her head was throbbing from all the crying she had done. Her eyes were itchy as well.

"Scared of what?" Hiccup prompted, concerned.

Astrid didn't look at him. He hadn't known about her healer visit. "I'm pregnant."

He didn't say a word and he stopped rubbing her back.

The same feeling from earlier came back. She was hot and cold and itchy and numb. He was upset. She didn't like it when Hiccup was upset. And, as childish as it sounded, she really didn't like it when he was upset with her.

"You're serious?" Hiccup asked after a minute or two of silence, sounding a little dazed.

"Yes," she hadn't moved since he came home.

Suddenly, she felt a kiss on her cheek before another on her neck.

"Would you like to tell me why you're so scared?" Hiccup asked softly from his place hovering over her.

She rolled over then and he lay next to her. He looked more concerned than anything else. Just looking at him made her want to tell him everything. It made her feel ashamed of herself for feeling the way she did when he looked so calm. He was always so calm, so ready for anything that got thrown at him. No wonder he was such a great chief. Tears filled her eyes again.

"Please don't cry," Hiccup said quietly, wiping a tear away with his finger. "I hate it when you cry. It's going be alright."

She sniffled and he took her hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Will you tell me?" he asked again. He was quiet gentle and everything she loved about him, so she answered.

"I don't know. I don't know why I'm so afraid. People have babies all the time."

"Maybe, but you haven't had a baby before. A lot changes when you have a baby, starting right now. You're not used to that. I'm sure your not the only one who's ever been upset about this."

"Between the Academy and all your running around, we hardly see each other." Astrid continued. "How are we going to take care of a baby?"

"We'll figure it out, I promise. We always do." Hiccup scooted just a little closer to her so their foreheads were touching. "It's not like you're going to have to do this by yourself. I'll be here for whatever you need me for, I promise. You're going to be a great mother, Astrid. And I have no idea how great of a dad I'll be, but I'll try my best."

"You're-you're not mad?" she sounded a lot more timid than she ever had. She looked so very unlike herself at the moment, she wouldn't even look at him.

"No, of course not." Hiccup promised. He kissed her. "We'll be just fine. Everything will work out. I know it will."

She smiled a little before snuggling against him. How did she get so lucky?

She hadn't realized how tired she was until Hiccup pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head.

Neither of them had realized they had fallen asleep until they woke up very early the next morning.

A/N: I shouldn't start another story when I'm still working on one, but this idea was gnawing at me for weeks at this point and I finally got it down on paper so I decided to go with it.

I know Astrid seems a little OOC, but that's because she's really scared, even if she doesn't truly know why. Fear does strange things to people it makes the brave weak and the weak braver in some cases. I really wanted to play with that here, and I think I've done it pretty well. I know an unexpected child can cause people to panic and worry far beyond their usual boundaries for that kind of thing because it throws them for a loop.

And we know Hiccup is a gentle, loving person with the best of intentions (even if his ideas do sometimes go awry), so I'd imagine Hiccup would act exactly this way.

The next chapter will be from Hiccup's side and we'll get to see his feelings about this.

Please review!