Behind the mask

Impatient inpatient

When Martin was let into the cubicle, Hiccup was lying propped up on a few pillows, his scraped and bruised face as white as the linen and dressed in a  hospital grown. There was a name band on his wrist and an IV taped to his hand...and he looked tired and in pain.

"How are you feeling?" he asked the boy and Hiccup managed the faintest of smiles.

"Never better," he groaned. "Should get run over every day..." Martin sat by the boy and sighed.

"Um...the doctor wanted to speak to me...about your scars..."

Hiccup went still and  he closed his eyes.

"Oh."

"How bad was it at home?" he asked quietly. The boy remained still and finally he took a shuddering breath.

"Could you call Gobber please?" he said painfully. "He knows. And he's my godfather...he knew how I was before Al moved in." He sighed heavily. "This is where you tell me you don't want me," he added baldly. "Where you realise I'm too damaged to be worth helping..." Martin stared at the boy and his eyes drifted to the twisted limb, waiting for repair once the OR was free.

"My daughter thinks you are," he said.

"I'll distract her," Hiccup said tonelessly. "Can't help it. I just attract trouble."

"Astrid will do her best," he said. "I have faith she will meet my expectations..." He paused. "When you moved in, I accepted responsibility for you. Not willingly at first...but you did protect my daughter. Your home is with us as long as you need it." The boy blinked and rocked his head to meet the man's face, offering his hand. Martin clasped it tightly.

"Thank you," he mouthed as the cops entered the cubicle, followed by Dr Hammerstrom.

"The police need to speak to you before surgery, Hiccup," the doctor said. "They need to catch whoever ran you over." There was a pause and he finally nodded.

"Dagur and Oswald Oswadson," he said reluctantly. "I saw them as the car slammed into us. Black SUV BSK-101." The cop stared at him and his eyes widened.

"Why would they want to kill you?" he asked.

"They wanted to kill my dog," Hiccup reluctantly revealed. "I was just a bonus..." Martin stared at him in utter shock as the boy began to explain the reasons why they wanted Toothless dead...and how he ended up being caught by the cops. The boy's pain-filed green eyes drifted to Martin's shocked face and then he looked away, guessing he had lost his home with the Hoffersons now the truth had come out. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Martin stared at him and he looked at the little scar just under his lip, trying to imagine how a boy who had been thrown from his home could possibly hope to stop Ozzie and Dagur...when he had no one he could talk to. He had warned Gobber but the step-father and Principal he should have been able to approach when he was in trouble had failed him.

"I knew you had troubled past," he murmured, recalling the boy had been sleeping in the garage when Ozzie tried to break in: he couldn't imagine his own beloved daughter in such a terrible situation. "It's okay, Hiccup. Your home is with us." The boy blinked and his eyes shone in gratitude and relief.

"Thank you..." he whispered as the cops nodded and finished noting down his words...as an orderly came in. Hammerstrom nodded.

"It's time," he said, grasping the side of the trolley.

"Th-thank Astrid for me," Hiccup rasped. "Please..."

"You can thank her yourself," Martin assured him, still holding his hand. Terrified green eyes swung to meet his own blue eyes.