In Between and After The Hidden World

The First Three Years

She groaned, reaching out an arms to feel beside her. At finding nothing but messed up hides, she frowned and forced her eyes open. "Hiccup?" She drawled. Rolling over, she smiled. In the corner, he sat in the rocking chair next to the crib. His arms held their newborn daughter close and he was staring down at her with the biggest smile on his face.

She watched him with her own smile, sitting up with her head on her hand. She knew how much he loved their daughter, even with the few days they'd had her. She was his most precious treasure. It wasn't hard to see the absolute adoration he had for her.

He seemed to sense she was watching him, because he looked up and over at her. He smiled her way as though knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Hey, milady." He whispered, so as not to wake Nessa.

She slowly folded back the hides, got out of bed, and put on her robe before walking over to him. She sat on the edge of the rocking chair and looked at Nessa cradled protectively in the crook of his arms. "She cried at all?" She asked, stroking the baby girl's soft, brown hair.

He shook his head. "Not really. She started fussing a little about an hour ago; that's when I got up." He told her.

"She might have been hungry. Why didn't you wake me?"

He snickered and leaned up to kiss her cheek softly. "You need to rest, Astrid. After all, you were in labor with Ness for two days. You're still recovering. I didn't want to wake you when I could just as well take care of her. Besides," he looked back down at their baby girl and stroked her tiny, pink face. "it gives me a chance to spend more time with her. I love her so much, and I don't want her to doubt that I do. Does that sound cheesy?"

She chuckled and shook her head. "It sounds like a sweet father." She rested her forehead on his head and kissed his temple. "I always knew you'd make a wonderful father." She whispered.

"You did?"

"Yes. Hiccup, you're not like everyone else. You're...unique. Special. You have this...caring and understanding that not many other people understand. This little girl," she gestured down to Nessa, "she couldn't possibly have a more wonderful and amazing daddy."

He leaned his head against her and turned to press a kiss to her shoulder. "I love you, Astrid Haddock." Then he looked back to their daughter. "I love you too, Nessa. My dragon princess."

...

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Hiccup was a proud father to his little girl. After she turned two months, he began taking her out almost every day. He would carry her in a hide wrap that he tied around his back and shoulder; that way he wouldn't have to hold her directly, all day.

As he would make his rounds of the village, Nessa in the wrap, he would walk tall and proud, with the biggest smile plastered on his face. When villagers would walk by, he would hold up his baby girl and take her hand in his own to have her wave to the passersby's. The men would smile and wave back, some even pinching her chubby cheek lightly, while the women would fawn over her, or give Hiccup disapproving looks.

Many of the women of Berk didn't think men should be the caretakers of the children. They thought that was their job. So when they saw Hiccup around town with his daughter, Astrid being nowhere nearby, they would often give him frowns of disapproval. But none such was more annoying, than the day Hiccup officially welcomed Nessa into the tribe. Oh, what a day.

When a baby was born, the chief preformed a ceremony to welcome that baby into the tribe. But when welcoming his own baby into the tribe, it was a much glorious occasion; even more so when it was his first son. The reason being, the firstborn son was traditionally who the chiefdom would be passed on to. But Hiccup, being Hiccup, did things much more unorthodox. He made Nessa his heir.