Unexpected

By Any Other Name

Chapter Ten: By Any Other Name

Astrid couldn't sleep.

For some reason, her baby decided that it was about time to stretch his or her little muscles hours before the sun came up. She awoke in the early hours in the morning with an exceptionally full bladder and the bizarre sensation that could be best described as her baby's decision to beat her insides as hard as he or she could. It wasn't the first morning she had felt this way but this one was, for some reason, particularly frustrating.

If her ankles could make noise, they'd be screaming with pain when Astrid slowly placed her weight on them. They had swollen to nearly twice their normal size in the past few months and each step had become more painful with every pound she put on. She made her way to the outhouse to take care of the bladder situation and then, when she was faced with climbing the stairs again to get to her bedroom, she faltered. She took a few deep breaths. Before she was pregnant, she could have taken the steps three at a time and not have even been winded when she got to the top. Now Hiccup had to help her up most nights. But she wasn't about to shout up the stairs to get her husband. No, she was going to find somewhere else to sleep. Her baby kicked her hard in the ribs. Okay maybe she wouldn't be sleeping for a while.

She turned around and came face to face with Stormfly, who was staring at her with big, sad eyes.

"I'm sorry, girl." she whispered to the dragon, gently stroking her chin. "This baby's changing everything."

The dragon crooned sympathetically. She began to gently nudge her human, begging her to go for a ride.

"I can't." Astrid said sadly, wincing as the baby began to do some sort of wiggle, probably becoming cramped now that he or she had gotten so big.

Stormfly continued to nudge her, her noises growing louder. Then, suddenly, Astrid smiled.

"I can't fly you but we can go riding. Would that be okay?" she whispered.

The Nadder seemed delighted at this prospect and happily lowered herself so that Astrid could clumsily climb onto her back. Astrid's ankles seemed to sigh in relief once her weight was now on the dragon's back instead of them. Stormfly slowly trotted out of the front door and into the world outside. As soon as Astrid took a deep breath, clearing her sinuses and taking in the fresh air, she became very frustrated. If only they could fly. The last time she had flown, they had only gotten twenty feet into the air before Hiccup spotted them and bellowed until he was hoarse about endangering their baby. That had been about 11 weeks ago. She'd barely had a bump then but now it seemed to envelop her whole midsection. Fortunately for her, the rhythmic movements of the dragon seemed to lull the baby to sleep.

"Astrid?"

She hadn't realized how far Stormfly had taken them until she heard the all too familiar voice from just behind her. Stoick the Vast was, for some reason, taking a walk in the dark. They stared at each other for a few seconds, both wondering what the other was doing out at this hour.

"I wasn't flying." Astrid said defensively, her brows furrowed. "Just wanted to get off my feet."

Stoick's eyes flitted to her swollen ankles, which weren't in her usual boots, and nodded. "Understandable. I'm not going to get on your case."

Astrid smiled, feeling slightly relieved that Stoick and Hiccup had such different personalities. Her husband would probably have found some way to make her feel guilty about riding her dragon and then he would likely have forced her to lie down while he nearly killed himself trying to make her something to eat or do some chore that didn't even need to be done.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Stoick asked a moment later. "I'm just on my way to Gobber's workshop. Can you keep a secret?"

He never could figure out why she chuckled in response to this question. "Oh I can keep a secret."