So... For starters I wish to apologise. I know it's been about a year since I posted the last chapter and there really are no excuses but I'm going to try to explain anyway.

I've had severe writers block and my life has just been crazy busy lately. I've barely had time to do any kind of hobbies let alone sit down and write.

So I apologise and here it is.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Waiting? I'm not waiting?"

"Then why are you standing behind a tree staring at the house. The same tree you've been standing behind ever since the sun started to set. It's dark."

"I'm admiring the architecture."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow with crossed arms. Astrid sighed with her hand pressed to her forehead. Cloudjumper stood behind a tree staring at the Haddock house. Hiccup eventually grew fed up and grabbed a hold of his uncle's arm, pulling him towards the house. He marched him up the hill, Astrid following not too far behind, and opened the door.

"Hiccup? Is that you?" Valka called from inside the house. "I've told you before, when you're going to be gone for a long time you need to tell me, so I don't worry. I don't care how old you..." She walked to the door as she was speaking and froze still, her words stuck on her tongue. She stood like that for a while before her lips finally loosened. "Cloudjumper?"

"Hey, Val," Cloudjumper replied softly.

Valka stared at her brother before slowly coming closer and standing before him to get a closer look. She slowly reached out and pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around her middle. He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her in return. They stood like that for a while before she pulled back and they stood apart, both with excited grins on their faces. And then Valka slapped him. Hard.

"Ow!" Cloudjumper said cradling his face with his hand. "What was that for?"

"You said you were going on a trip! You've been gone for twenty years! What kind of 'trip' is that? I thought you'd died out there!" Valka's face was red and there were tears sitting on the edges of her eyes.

"Val? Are you ok? What's with all the yelling?" Hiccup heard his father's thunderous footsteps running down the stairs to the front door. Stoick stopped and stared at the man standing with a red handprint slowly forming on his cheek. "Cloudjumper?"

"Hey, Stoick," Cloudjumper replied rubbing his cheek. "Valka was just expressing her annoyance at how long I was gone." He sighed and turned back to his sister. "I'm sorry, Val. I was just...I was enjoying being free."

Valka's face softened. "You always did love your freedom. Mom could never get you to stay still from the day you learned to fly."

"I'm sorry, Val," he repeated.

"It's ok," Valka replied. "You're back now and that's what's important. Although we have a lot of catching up to do."

"That we do," Cloudjumper laughed. "Which reminds me. I know this might be a few years too late, but, Stoick." Stoick looked up in confusion at being addressed, and by the harsh tone. "Chief or not, if you ever hurt my sister..."

"Don't worry about that," Stoick laughed. "I could never hurt Val. And even if I could, I still couldn't. She'd never let me and neither would the boys."

The group shared a laugh. Astrid then kissed Hiccup on the cheek and gestured that she would go, not wanting to disrupt the family moment. He nodded and waved, watching her disappear to go and find her own parents. As he watched her go, he spotted Toothless walking with Stormfly. They split up and Toothless began walking up the hill. Hiccup glanced up at the house to see that his mother, father and uncle had all moved inside.

"Hey, Tooth," he smiled as his brother drew closer. "I saw you and Stormfly together."

"Yeah," Toothless replied glancing at his brother with a suspicious look.

"Just the two of you," Hiccup grinned.

"I didn't ask her, if that's what you're getting at."

"Oh, come on, Toothless," Hiccup sighed. "When are you going to ask her?"

"I don't know," Toothless groaned. "I'm just...I'm just afraid I guess."

"What are you afraid of?" Hiccup asked softly. The two of them sat down on the door step leaning on the door.

"I don't know," Toothless sighed. "I guess I'm afraid she'll say no. Or worse, that she'll laugh at me for even thinking she'd be interested."

"You're overthinking this," Hiccup said simply.

"Well now I regret opening up," Toothless muttered about to get up. Hiccup grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down.

"Let me finish," Hiccup replied. "You're overthinking this. She's your best friend, and she hangs out with you even when it's just the two of you. Do you think she would do that if she didn't like you?"

"But what if she only likes me as a friend?" Toothless replied. "I'd rather her just be my friend than ask her out and then have to live with the awkwardness when she says no."

"I get it, but, just this once, trust me," Hiccup said placing his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I always trust you, Hiccup," Toothless smiled. "You're my brother."

"Brothers forever?" Hiccup asked.

"Brothers forever," Toothless laughed.

"Now let's go inside so you can meet our uncle," Hiccup said standing up.

"Wait, what?" Toothless looked up in confusion. Hiccup just laughed and pushed him into the house.

"Toothless!" Valka called out from her seat at the table. "There you are!"

"Hey, mom," Toothless replied, eyeing the stranger that sat at the table with a mug of mead in his hands.

"Toothless, this is Cloudjumper," Stoick spoke up from where he sat beside his wife with his own mug of mead. "Your uncle."

"Uncle?" Toothless asked, glancing around to his brother, only to see that Hiccup was completely comfortable around the man and had even grabbed his own mead. Valka objected and Stoick said something about 'leave the boy be', but Toothless wasn't listening as he processed the fact that this man was supposedly his uncle.

"Your mother is my sister," Cloudjumper said taking a sip from his mug.

"Then how come I've never met you before?" Toothless asked. He sat himself down next to Hiccup, opposite Cloudjumper.

"He went away," Valka replied. "About twenty years ago. I never spoke about him because he never came back and I feared he was dead."

Toothless nodded. He couldn't believe his mother had a brother. And that she had never spoken about him. Even if he thought that Hiccup was dead, Toothless would want to tell his children about their uncle. He guessed that maybe Valka and Cloudjumper weren't as close as he and Hiccup.

"So where did you go?" he asked taking a seat on the far side of the table from the newcomer.

"All over the place," Cloudjumper replied with a slight laugh. "I started by travelling west but the landscape didn't change much so then I headed south. The further you go, the warmer it gets. I travelled for a long time before I eventually settled down in a dragon nest. I wanted to learn more about my dragon half. And that's where Hiccup found me."

"You went to a dragon nest?!" Valka turned to Hiccup with a shocked look on her face.

"We accidentally landed on an island in their territory and they accused us of trespassing on purpose." Hiccup shrugged and took a sip of his mead. Valka still looked furious but didn't push the subject further.

"Well it's good to have you back," Stoick exclaimed placing a hand on Cloudjumper's shoulder. "Although I'm afraid we don't have much space. You'll have to sleep down here tonight."

"That's quite alright Stoick," Cloudjumper replied with a smile, glancing towards Valka. "I'm just happy to be back with my family."

"Well as nice as it is to have you back," Valka said with a laugh. "It's been an eventful night and we should all get some sleep."

The four boys all grumbled but agreed. Draining the mead from their mugs they all rose from their seats and headed off in their separate directions. Hiccup and Toothless both headed up the stairs to their attic bedroom and slumped down on their respective beds.

"You know I would never not tell my kids about you, right?" Toothless said looking over at his brother who was now laying down with a look of exhaustion on his face from his long day. Hiccup looked up and smiled.

"I know," he said. "But you're not getting rid of me that easily."

Toothless just laughed and threw a pillow at his brother before laying down on his bed with a smile on his face.

Again, apologies for not posting this sooner but I hope this is enough for now until I can sit down to write the next one. I've been rearranging my schedule lately so I should be able to write more often. Until then, thanks for being patient with me!

Until next time!