Time skip to Thanksgiving.
Hiccup and Astrid had a lovely month together between then and now. Here comes the fun.

Come on guys. Only one review on the last chapter? That makes me sad.

TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE WILL BE IN THIS CHAPTER

I feel incredibly bad for just writing this about my Astrid. I love her so much.
I've made it a goal to make every chapter of this story 2,000+ words and that's going well so far. This chapter is almost 3,000!

Chapter Three

Astrid pushed herself into the corner with her good hand, her other one was held over her mouth. She quickly reached forward, closing the closet door until it was only open a crack like she found it. Pulling her knees to her chest, she rested her forehead on them and tried to even out her breathing.

This wasn't how it was suppose to end up.

Her head shot up when she heard the footsteps enter the room and she started breathing faster. She watched out of the crack of the door for the person "Astrid? Where are you? I just need to talk to you."

Just the sound of that voice sent chills down her spine.

The steps paused and Astrid could see him standing right outside the door. She knows if he opens the door she won't be able to fight him off like usual. Her arm hurt, her head hurts, everything hurts. He did some real damage on her this time.

He laughed and Astrid jerked back, almost slamming her head in to the wall. He pulled open the door, glaring down at her "I thought you were smarter than this, Astrid. A closet? You could have found a better hiding spot."

He grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet. Astrid tried to fight him but she didn't have the energy or strength. She tried to pull her arm away but he only tightened his hold on her wrist "Did you think you could get away from me that easily?"

"Let me go!" she tried again to pull her arm out of his grasp "Daniel, you don't have to do this. Just let me go. Please."

"Begging has never suited you."

He let go of her arm, shoving her against the wall. He brought his hands up to her neck and she gasped "You aren't getting away from me. This is over when I say it is."

His grip tightened on her throat, pulling one hand away and raising it….

Astrid shot up in bed gasping for air, her hands flying to her throat. She hadn't had a nightmare like that in a long time. Since before Hiccup. What had brought that on? She hadn't even thought about Daniel in a month.

She jumped, pushing the hand that touched her away "Gods, Hiccup, you scared me."

He shook his head, sitting up and reaching towards her again. He rest his hand on her waist and she sighed, leaning in to him "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Nightmare?"

Astrid nodded. When they first got together, Astrid had nightmares often. He had gotten use to her waking up and just sitting there trying to calm herself down. She would never let him comfort her, and it had always bothered him. The last few times she had a nightmare, she turned to him for comfort.

He laid down, pulling her with him "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, reaching an arm around him "Just hold me. Please."

Hiccup ran his hand up her back. One thing he wished more than anything is that Astrid would tell him what was wrong. What she was having nightmares about. She was shaking bad and that worried him. Whatever it was scared her.

"Can you distract me?" she looked up at his face "Talk about something.. Anything to keep my distracted."

Hiccup kissed her forehead before letting his head fall back to the pillow "It's Thanksgiving. We get to spend our first holiday together. With my parents, of course." Hiccup learned long time ago that just talking helped her calm down and fall back asleep. She never seemed to care what about, but talking never failed for her "My mom is excited to see you again. So is my dad, actually. He called the other day and told me he hoped we were still together because there's going to be a game on and he wants to watch it with you."

Astrid had to smile at that. Hiccup had told her that Stoick has never warmed up to someone so easily – him included. She wouldn't admit it, but she loved the feeling of being approved by his parents. She nodded against his chest and he took it as a sign to continue.

"I have a little sister."

She lifted her head at that, raising an eyebrow "What?"

"I've never told you about her?" Astrid shook her head "Her name is Heather."

"Wait," Astrid pushed herself up so she was sitting, staring at him with a raised eyebrow "Heather is your sister? I always thought she was just this girl you talked to all the time."

Hiccup laughed, reaching over and resting his hand on her knee "No! She's my sister. Would you really be okay with me talking to another girl that much?"

Astrid shook her head with a smile "Of course not. But I'm not going to tell you who you can and can't talk to. Tell me more about her."

Hiccup sighed, giving her knee a squeeze "She's twenty. You two are pretty alike, I think you'll get along. She can have a real attitude if someone bothers her enough. We don't look alike, really. Same eyes but that's about it. She has black hair."

"Where does the black hair come from?"

Hiccup shrugged "I'm not really sure, honestly."

Astrid leaned down, pressing her lips to his "Thank you." she mumbled against his lips.

He smiled "Anytime, milady."

00000

"Should I be nervous to meet this friend of Hiccup's?"

Val and Astrid were in the kitchen, making the dinner. Astrid had never gotten to help cook Thanksgiving dinner before. She had the chance and she took it. Val seemed to appreciate the help she was getting, and it didn't hurt that Astrid was fun to talk to.

"No, he's just.. He's something else. I don't have a problem with him, but Stoick says he doesn't trust him." Val shrugged, opening the oven and checking on the turkey "Hiccup doesn't like him much either."

Astrid tilted her head, staring down at the pie she had helped make "Hiccup likes everyone. He must be a bad person if Hiccup doesn't even like him."

Val shook her head "Hiccup has this long story about Dan trying to drown him when they were little."

"Dan." Astrid repeated the name. Hiccup has never talked about Dan before. He must really hate this guy "Hiccup just doesn't seem like he could hate anyone."

"Oh, he doesn't hate many people. Hiccup holds grudges."

Astrid made it a point to never get on his bad side. But then again she tries hard not to get on anyones bad side again. She's been there before and she definitely isn't going back.

There was a knock at the door and then Hiccup's voice "I'll get it!"

Astrid smiled. Thanksgiving is going to be good. She's with her boyfriend and his family and she felt like nothing could ruin her mood at all.

"Astrid, will you take this out and set it on the table?"

Astrid nodded, picking up the pie she was holding "Yeah, sure."

She made her way to the dining room, the pie she made in her hand. She stared down at it, hoping it was good. Baking was never easy for her.

She took one step out of the kitchen and froze. That red hair, the blue tattoo on his face. She knows that face anywhere.

Daniel.

Astrid felt as if her entire body went numb. The next thing she heard was the sound of something crashing to the ground. Hiccup looked over at her "Astrid, are you okay?"

Astrid shook her head avoiding all eye contact with Daniel but she could feel his eyes on her. Hiccup raced over to her, kneeling down in front of her to help her clean up. He took notice on how her hands were shaking and not looking up at all. He reached over, resting his hand on hers "Hey. Look at me."

Astrid only glanced at him, but it got his attention "What happened?"

His voice was so soft and she wanted to tell him everything. About Daniel and what he did to her, about her parents, about foster care, about his mom being her therapist. Everything. She opened her mouth but looked past him and caught Daniel's eye. She shook her head "It's nothing. It just slipped out of my hand."

Val knelt down, resting a hand on Astrid's shoulder "Astrid -"

"I'm so sorry, Val. I didn't mean to."

"Astrid it's okay. Accidents happen."

Astrid was shaking her head. Her hands were still shaking too bad to keep a hold of anything. She feels horrible for breaking the plate, and she doesn't want to be in the same room as him at all. Her nightmare came back, hitting her full force.

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

She shot to her feet, running towards one of the bathrooms. Gods, this is going to be her worst thanksgiving ever. She feels sick, embarrassed, mad. She was almost positive that she felt everything. Hiccup is going to hate her, isn't he? This has to be his worst Thanksgiving, too.

There was a knock at the door and she automatically thought the worst. Daniel was coming to finish off what he started. How does Hiccup even know him? She's going to have to tell Hiccup about Daniel at least so she won't have to see him ever again.

And he tried to drown Hiccup? She could kill him.

"Astrid?"

She felt a wave of relief wash over her when she heard Hiccup's voice. She stood on shaking knees and pulled the door open. Hiccup was standing there, a sad look on his face "Babe, I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, stepping in to the bathroom and closing the door behind him "I don't care about the plate at all. What happened? Are you sick?" he cupped her face, studying her before bringing a hand to her forehead.

If she wasn't so shaken up she'd smile at his concern.

"I'm fine, I just.." she sighed, leaning against the counter before deciding to sit down "I need… I have to tell you something."

He furrowed his eyebrows, sitting next to her and reaching over for her hand. She bit her lip, staring down at their linked hands. He wouldn't leave her, right? It's in the past. It would give him more of a reason to hate Daniel, and she's okay with that. Is she really going to do this? She's never told anyone but Val about what happened.

"My ex… The one I've mentioned but refuse to talk about. He did some things to me that I'll never forget, and… And those nightmares that I've been having have been about him."

Hiccup took a deep breath, squeezing her hand "Astrid.. You don't have to tell me."

"I don't have to.. But I want to. You're so… So good to me. You deserve to know."

Hiccup watched her face. He had a feeling about what she was going to tell him, and he hated how scared she looked. Astrid was never suppose to look like that.

"Okay." she let out a sigh, using her sleeve to wipe her eyes "This ex.. It's… It was Daniel."

She felt Hiccup tense up, and her nerves set in. Was he mad? Was he going to leave? She glanced at his face. He was staring at the wall straight ahead, this look on his face she's never seen before. "It wasn't the best relationship, obviously. Your mom told me about how he tried to drown you as a kid, and I could kill him for that. But I dated him. For four months."

When she paused Hiccup let go of her hand, bringing it around her shoulder, pulling her in to his side. She almost felt better, but having to retell what happened was making her feel worse.

"He uhm… He was terrible."

"I believe it."

She forced a smile, adjusting herself so she could be closer to him "He acted so nice when I met him and when we first got together. He had me fooled. The first month was good, but when we got into the second month is when things went downhill. I made the mistake of talking to my brother. You know, Eret. Daniel didn't believe me that he was my brother because we look nothing alike, and he didn't believe that Eret was adopted and that's when he… When he hit me for the first time."

Hiccup's arm dropped to her waist and tightened protectively. Someone.. Someone hit Astrid? Hit his girlfriend? He knows he's not the strongest person out there, but he would do anything to protect Astrid.

"It just.. Progressed from there." she wiped her eyes again, staring straight forward "It ended up getting worse. He would get mad and hit me over the smallest things. When I thought it couldn't get any worse he.. He… Ra.. Assaulted me."

Hiccup was silent. He always had something to say. A sarcastic remark or something to make her feel better. When she looked up, she was shocked. He's not suppose to look like that. That… Angry. He is never suppose to have that look in his eyes. Like he wants to kill someone.

"Astrid.. He raped -"

"Please don't say it."

"I could.. I could kill him."

Astrid shook her head, a small smile coming to her face "You won't. I'll kill him first." she leaned her head on his shoulder "I haven't seen him since. The last time I saw him, my last night ever in that house of his, he.. He tried to kill me."

His grip on her waist was almost painful. She wanted to push his hand away, but she also didn't want him to stop touching her. She needed him, and she needed to know he was there.

"It's that memory that I always dream about. He choked me, broke my wrist, busted my head." she pushed her bangs out of the way and pointed to a scar going from her hairline and down to a little about her eyebrow "I have the scar right here." Hiccup frowned. She always worse her bangs down, he would have never noticed it, but he wishes he did. "It was one of the worst days of my life. When he went to sleep, I left. I left all my things, my phone, purse, wallet, everything. I just needed out."

Hiccup wrapped his other arm around her, hugging her close to him "Gods, Astrid. I swear I won't let him near you. We'll leave whenever you want, I can get mom to make him leave -"

"I love you. I just want you to stay with me."

"I love you, too." he kissed her crown "I'll stay with you all night."

00000

It was an hour later when they finally came out of the bathroom. Hiccup had a hold on Astrid's hand, and he had no plans of letting her go. He could tell by her face how much she appreciated it.

Val walked over, cupping her face "Are you alright?"

Astrid could hear the therapist in her voice. She nodded slowly, smiling towards Hiccup "Yeah. Hiccup.. He made me feel better."

Val let out a relieved sigh, dropping her hands. She had wanted more than anything to go after her, but Hiccup insisted he go talk to her. It was a good choice then if Astrid came back out in a good mood.

Neither Hiccup or Astrid heard the footsteps behind them. Astrid about jumped out of her skin when he started talking "So! Brother, who's the girl?"

Hiccup tugged Astrid behind him, putting a smile on his face "Astrid." his smile fell, and Astrid didn't like the look on his face at all "But you already knew that."

Daniel smiled at Hiccup and Astrid, he reached forward, touching the ends of her braid. Hiccup's frown deepened, he took a step back, taking Astrid with him. He smacked Daniel's arm away "Don't touch her."

"Oh brother, don't be like that." Daniel laughed, waving his hand around.

Astrid cringed at the laugh.

Their front door burst open, and in walked a girl Astrid didn't recognize "Family! I'm home!"

Hiccup smiled, tugging on Astrid's hand to pull her over towards his sister. Only once they were there did he let go to hug Heather "It's been too long, sister."

Heather nodded, laughing "I know! Mom, dad. I hope you don't mind that I brought someone with me."

Val smiled, walking over and giving her daughter a hug "We don't mind at all. The more the merrier. Who is it?"

Astrid tilted her head. She recognized the figure walking in. She broke in to a smile, leaving Hiccup's side leaving him confused "Eret!"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow "That's your brother?"

Astrid threw her arm around Eret's shoulder with some trouble. He was bulky and taller than her, but she managed "Yeah! Eret, Hiccup. Hiccup, Eret."

"You have a sister?" Heather asked, crossing her arms "And you're dating his sister?" she turned on her brother, pointing a finger in his face.

"Hey, I've been dating Astrid longer."

Eret's smile fell. He gently pushed Astrid away from him, walking past both Heather and Hiccup and glaring over at Daniel "What the hell are you doing here?"