A/N – Last chapter! I know, it's been a long time coming. I didn't abandon this story, although it probably felt like it. I didn't intend for this to be anything more than a one-shot, but that's how it happens. So, I apologize if this ending chapter isn't as jam-packed with action or drama like other chapters. It's just what it is – a nice wrapping up chapter of loose ends.

Thanks for sticking with this story, and me, through the too-long waits. You are all amazing, and talented, and great. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Light

Astrid pushed the duster along the window sill and it feathered out of the open window; the winter breeze whisked it away. She stuck the duster through the opening and shook it, freeing the stuck-dust, and brought it back inside. She shut the window and pulled the latch.

"It's getting colder," she said.

"They changed the forecast," Hiccup said from the little table where'd they shared lunch not that long before. He held his phone in his hand. "That ten percent chance of flurries went up to ninety."

"How are you going to get to work if it snows?"

Hiccup paused, then looked up at her. "Taxi."

She nodded and set the duster by the window.

"Have you called your parents?" he asked.

"Have you called yours?"

He frowned.

It had been less than a day since their flight from Berk. She'd sent a text to her mother when they'd arrived at Hiccup's house in the city. The sky had clouded over soon after and the temperature plummeted from cold to freezing.

"So," Astrid started, picking up the dishes from their lunch, "what are you thinking?"

"I don't know," he sighed. He leaned against the wall as she took the dishes into the kitchen. "It's just…I thought…I knew my dad existed, but I'd not given it much more thought than that. He'd just always been this…figure in my mind, without a face, and since Mom never talked about him, I-I didn't either."

"To think," Astrid said, still surprised, "it was Stoick the whole time."

Hiccup chuckled.

"I've known him my whole life," she said. "He's kind of like a dad to me, or like a close uncle that glares when you do something wrong."

"Wait," Hiccup said, humor on his lips, "my dad is more of a father to you than to me?"

She shrugged. "He's a great guy."

He sighed.

"You don't think so?"

"I don't know him. Mom never talked about him," Hiccup hesitated. "But the things she did imply or suggest weren't bad. The only thing she ever really said was that they didn't get along."

Astrid set the clean dishes into the dryer. She walked into the other room and sat down beside Hiccup and put a hand on his chest.

"This doesn't change you," she said. "You're still you."

He gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Astrid."

"Now, we have to figure out what we're going to do," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't keep driving back and forth between here and Berk," she said. "At least not as much as I'd want to see you. That's a lot of gas and a lot of time in a car."

His grin turned genuine. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, since I can't kidnap you and keep you in my closet," she said, waving her hand at the idea, "you'd probably get fired, the police might come looking for you, if you didn't pay your rent…all those problems. Me, on the other hand, I don't have a job that requires me constant presence and my parents know where I am."

Hiccup blinked, and for a moment didn't say anything. His eyes widened.

"So it makes much more sense if I just stay here."

"Really?" he asked. He reached out to her waist.

"Of course," she said. "Do you not think so?"

"I think so."

"Then it's settled. But we will have to go back to Berk to get my things. Eventually."

"Of course, Milady," Hiccup said. He drew her close and kissed her cheek. "Anything you need."

She smiled against his lips, and they locked in limbs to the hardwood floor.

X

They couldn't drive to bike to Berk in the extreme cold, and since they would have things to take back, Hiccup rented a SUV. They pulled onto the recently plowed streets of Berk and into the Hofferson drive. Astrid felt the twinge of apprehension in her stomach. She hadn't seen her parents since she flew, two weeks prior.

Her father wasn't home; her mother was.

"Astrid," she said, surprised at the sight. Her words paused at Hiccup. "Welcome back."

Her mother busied herself with out things as Hiccup and Astrid packed her things into boxes and suitcases. She didn't take everything, just what she needed or wanted, and things that Hiccup didn't have.

Hiccup went to the bathroom, and her mother took the chance to slip into the bedroom.

"You're really doing this?"

"Yes," Astrid said. "It's not like I'm selling my soul, Mom. I'm just moving out."

"It's too far away."

Astrid sighed.

"Is it a good neighborhood? Does he have an alarm system? Do you know what the crime rate of the area is? So you have emergency numbers handy?"

"It's fine, Mom," Astrid said, tossing a t-shirt into the suitcase. "Why don't you and Dad come visit and see for yourselves?"

"And his income is going to support you?"

"I'll find a job," Astrid said. "There are plenty of restaurants and stores where I can put the Bachelor's Degree to good use."

Her mother sighed, but said nothing else. Hiccup returned to the bedroom. At first he made no mention that he'd heard the conversation, but then he spoke.

"It's a good neighborhood," he said. "Mostly college students and grad students. It's all owned by the same landlord. He's got some sturdy rules about partying or if the police are called on you more than once you get evicted, no questions asked." Hiccup laughed and looked to the floor. "He was pretty adamant about that rule."

"Oh," her mother said. "That's good, I suppose. You plan to live there permanently?"

"No," Hiccup said, not at all shocked. "It's a little small. If I save up for a year or two I could upgrade to a suburb or apartment in town. I'm on the fence about whether I'd like a lawn. I've not a green-thumb person."

"I friend of mine lives in town in one of those high-rises, the fifteen floor. She's sent pictures. It's not a bad little place."

"They're plenty of nice places," Hiccup said, smiling.

"And your mother lives close by?"

"Within a ten-minute drive if the traffic is good," he said. "Twenty to thirty at rush hour. And, Astrid's Grandma lives close."

"Ah, that's right," Astrid said, pointing at Hiccup. "She'll be there every Sunday afternoon."

Her mother laughed.

X

Hiccup drove the loaded rental SUV into the parking lot of Berk's popular restaurant. Hiccup parked on the end.

Today's special was vegetable soup.

"I'll be okay," Astrid said. She reached over and took his hand.

"Is he here?"

"Yeah. That's his Subaru."

Hiccup let out a long sigh. "I'm not sure about this now that we're here."

"It'll be fine. He's your dad, after all. He's trying. Please, babe, try to give him a chance."

Hiccup looked over at her and squeezed her hand. "Okay."

They got out and Astrid led the way inside. Stoick sat at the end with an empty booth on either side of him. He sipped coffee. The bell on the door rang and Stoick glanced over. Hiccup tensed in her hand. She pulled him along and she made him sit down in the booth first, so he couldn't run. She sat down beside him and crossed her legs.

"I, uh, I thought you might not come," Stoick said.

"Here I am," Hiccup shrugged.

An awkward silence fell. Astrid nudged Hiccup and cleared her throat.

He nodded. "Dad, why did you get divorced?"

Stoick took a large breath, held it, and let it go. "Is that what she told you?"

Hiccup paused. "Yes?"

Stoick nodded, a hum on his breath. "Your mother and I wanted different things. She wanted the city, excitement, and change, and I wanted to stay here in Berk. She didn't like the small town life and I didn't like the city life. We argued too much, and decided that it was better to separate than go on living like enemies."

"Separate?" Hiccup asked.

Stoick cleared his throat and tapped his fingers on his coffee mug. "Yes, we separated. We didn't get divorced because we never officially married."

Hiccup shook his head. "What? Why not?"

"It's complicated," Stoick said. "But, since we weren't married, I didn't have legal claim to you, and so your parenting wasn't my decision. You mother wanted you with her, and I didn't push the issue.

"That's insane," Hiccup sighed. "She told me you divorced."

"I assume, I don't know for sure, but your mother might have thought it easier for a child to understand that way," Stoick said. He cleared his throat. "What if you and Astrid decide a year or so from now that you're not meant for each other? She wants to go back to Berk, but you want to stay in the city? You both want to be together, but you know it won't work out without someone being upset. Your mother and I saw our situation and compromised."

"That's why you weren't part of my life, then?"

Stoick looked depressed by those words. He said sullenly, "Yes. Your mother never asked for anything and I never offered. There is fault on both sides. But, here we are. It's done and there's nothing that can be done about it. So, Son, what have you been up to? I know it's late, but I'd like to get to know you. You're family, after all, regardless of how you got here."

Astrid squeezed his hand.

Hiccup began to relay the years of his life that his father had missed, starting from college and going back in time. Stoick listened, commented occasionally, and sipped his coffee while Astrid ordered food for her and Hiccup. They ate and talked, and then talked some more.

"It's getting late," Hiccup said to Astrid. "I'd like to be back before dark to unload all this stuff."

"Then you better get going," Stoick said. "But next time you two are down, stop by."

"We will," Hiccup said.

Stoick stood with them, and stuck out his hand. Hiccup hesitated, then took it. Stoick shook his son's hand, and then pulled him into his chest for a bear hug. Hiccup gasped; Stoick's strong arms pushing the air right out of his chest, but he hugged him back.

X

It was dark by the time the last box of Astrid's things was piled onto the others. She unloaded her bathroom supplies and stocked them into the cabinets and drawers, while Hiccup sorted between clothes for the bedroom, and dishes for the kitchen, which weren't that many.

"Were you serious about getting a house in the suburbs?"

"I don't know, maybe," he said. He stuck his head into the bathroom. "Why?"

"I'd rather not live in the 'burbs."

"Where would you rather live?"

She tuned to him, stray tampon in her hand, and said, "Inner city manor with a stone perimeter wall and a garden for the children to play in."

Hiccup blinked. "I will get right on that."

She laughed. "I hate neighbors right out your window, you know? Like if I spit out my bedroom window I'd hit my neighbor's window."

He grinned. "So it's either kind of like what we've got now, inner city mansion, or penthouse?"

"I didn't say penthouse."

"I know, but that way your neighbors are limited to other penthouse people."

"Hm. I think I'd like a penthouse. Unless an apartment halfway up the building caught fire. Then I'd want to live on the ground floor," she said with a chuckle.

It took until midnight to unpack her things fully. After a late night snack, they locked together and fell into his bed. The mattress on the floor didn't bother them at all that night, which encompassed only that night, because tomorrow would be for worrying and thinking about things which people needed aside from each other, such as bedframes, coffee makers, and closet space.