Our little Girl

6. Sunset

Astrid was sitting at the table in the club house with Mara in her lap. She was hugging her Mom.

Mara's POV:

Mom and I were sitting in the club house.
She was blind.
Her ocean blue eyes turned ice blue, and everyone could see the fear in them.
Usually, I see love, courage, and much more. But now, she looks like she was searching for something. But she can't find it.
I hugged her tighter.
Suddenly, I felt something wet on my head. And then again. On my left cheek. Mom was crying. She petted my head and kissed it. I could hear a little sob.
In that moment, Dad came in.
"Astrid,..." He put his hand on her shoulder. Slowly, Dad picked me up.
"Astrid, you need to rest. You-" Mom stood up.
"No, Hiccup! We have to find Stormfly and the other dragons. They are alone out there and scared. Please, Hiccup. I'm a worrior. I can find my dragon."
Mom looked really sad and scared.
Dad sighed.

Hiccup's POV:

Yeah, she was right. Astrid is a worrior. And no one could ever change that.
So, yes. She came with Toothless and me to search for Stormfly. We asked Ruffnut, again, if she could look after Mara.
Astrid was sitting behind me on Toothless, her hands around my belly. And her head resting on my shoulder. I could hear a lightly sigh.
I turned my head a little to Astrid, and I saw her smiling.

Astrid's POV:

When I flew with Hiccup on Toothless, I couldn't do anything but smiling. Slowly, I closed my eyes and let Hiccup's presence make me feel better.
...

Soon, we found my Stormfly and headed back to the Dragon's Edge.
But then...

Hiccup's POV:

We found Stormfly, but then the Triple Stryke attacked us suddenly. Again.
Toothless, Stormfly and I tried to protect Astrid.
But Astrid is Astrid. She didn't want us to protect her. Why can't she understand that I worry about her?!

But anyway, we did it with Astrid's help:
Stormfly attacked the dragon. Then, Astrid distracted it with her dragon's s spikes. I'm so proud of her! She really did it! She made the training of a Triple Stryke possible! And all this without her sight.

~later at the Dragon's Edge~

When we came, I saw a familiar old little woman in front of the club house waiting.
"Hello, Gothi! You need to see Astrid, right?" She nodded. Actually, I knew it. But I was just scared, if she had noised Mara.
I led Astrid into my hut. And then, Gothi asked me to leave.
While Gothi was with Astrid, I decided to go to Astrid's hut and see my daughter. In that moment, when I came in, I saw her on Astrid's bed, drawing something. Ruffnut was beside her.
"Dad!" She called luckily and ran into my arms.
"Where is Mom?"
"Hey, sweetheart. Mom's in my hut. A healer is here."
"A healer? Is it the old lady with a large sting?" I just nodded.
"Why can't she see me?" I looked up to Ruffnut. She nodded and left the hut.
I knelt down.
"Look, sweetie. It's hard to explain. But we'll explain it when you're older, okay?" She nodded, smiling and hugging me.
I picked her up and kissed her belly. I do it often when we're happy.
"Mara, your Mom is going see again!"
"What?! Really?" Mara asked, happy. I nodded and laughed.

~later that afternoon~

Astrid's POV:

"Mom! You got your sight back!" Mara hugged me. She cried.
"Yes, sweetheart. I do. I can see you smiling again."
Hiccup stood next to us and smiled. I lifted my daughter while she was hugging me.

"Sweetie, do you want to go to Ruffnut and play with her and the other dragons? I need to talk to your Dad."
"Okay, Mom!" Mara said and ran towards Ruffnut who was waiting for our little girl.
I headed to the one-legged boy and took his hand.

I led him to a cliff near the stables and sat down. He beside me.
The sun went down.
No one said anything. We were just sitting there and enjoying the sunset.

"So? What do you want to talk about?" Hiccup asked.
"Umm... I wanted to ask you something..." He just looked at me, understanding. I took a deep breath.
"Well, back in the forest when we were, you know..."
"Yeah...?"
"Were you about to...?"

~Flashback~

Astrid and Hiccup were searching for Stormfly in the forest.
"Ugh! She has to be here somewhere. Stormfly!" Astrid called her dragon.
"Hiccup? Where are you?"
"I'm here, Astrid." He took her hand.
"I can't, Hiccup. I just can't." She cried.
"What?" He asked, his voice full of worry.
"I just can't be a Mom for Mara. What if this is it, Hiccup? What if I'll always be like that?"
"Then we'll get through this. Just because you're blind it doesn't mean you're helpless."
"But that's exactly how I feel." Hiccup put his hands on her shoulders.
"Astrid, you and I have been through everything together. You don't think we can handle this? Astrid, you have me. No matter what. There'll always be a Hiccup and Astrid. Always." He bent his head to kiss her, but in that moment appeared Stormfly...

~Flashback ends~

"Er... so, you felt that, huh?" He mumbled something more but couldn't understand that.

"Well, why didn't you?" Hiccup looked very surprised. So I had to chuckle.
"Oh, oh! Well, it wasn't perfect. And I thought if it ever happened -and yes, I thought about it a lot- it just has to be perfect." I just couldn't stop smiling.
It just felt good to know that the boy you had fallen in love with feels the same way.

"Well, this seems pretty perfect to me." I looked at  the sunset and back at him.
"Yeah, it really does."

And then we kissed each other.
I felt thousands of butterflies in my stomach. I wished that this moment would never end. But it had an end. We pulled off and smiled at each other. I felt his hand on mine. Slowly, I laid my head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around me. I could feel him kissing the top of my head.

We watched the sunset, the whole time smiling. Somehow I knew we were a thing now.