Rated PG-13. Smut-ish but nothing graphic. Don't like? Don't read! This is the author warning you now!!

Hiccup had to get there. His legs were working non-stop, as if they were on fire. He cursed his left leg for being so slow as he scaled the castle wall, not particularly gracefully but it did the job. Night would be his shield here.

He ducked out of view of the guards and crept silently through the castle. No one saw him enter. No one saw him as he ran through the corridors, along the route he knew so well. No one saw him enter the courtyard. No one spotted the dark haired boy climbing the tower wall, up to a certain window lit by candlelight.

He peered through the thick, cold glass. There she was. His lady. His love.

Merida was dressed in a simple nightgown with lacy cuffs and it fit her beautifully. The light from the candle made her appear angelic, made her glow. She was sitting at her desk, reading a small book, her brow slightly furrowed and her eyes squinting in the low light. She looked like some kind of goddess of beauty sent down to mortals here on earth. It made Hiccup tense up, but also more spurred on. He cautiously knocked twice on the window.

Her eyes snapped up to meet his gaze and she jumped up, slamming the book shut and running to the window, her eyes wide and never leaving his. She opened it wide enough to let him in, urging him to keep the noise down. He stepped into the room and took her hand, stepping closer to her. Her breath quickened as she felt his arms snake round her waist and she could hardly stand the tension.

"I missed you," he whispered as he traced her jawline with his finger, "So much."

"Oh Gods," she replied, holding him close and almost clutching him, "So did I."

"You know that this will never work, right?" Hiccup said after a pause, his eyes filling with regret and his ecstatic demeanor shrinking rapidly, "I'm a Viking. You're a Dunbroch. And we can't ever -"

"Hiccup, don't think about that." She hushed him with a finger to his lips quickly. "As long as we're here now, I want nothing else. I want you in every way possible, even if we can't be wed officially."

"Merida," Hiccup breathed after a short pause, "We can't. It wouldn't be right. Oh Thor, I want to. I want to so much. But we'd have to be married and the suitors and Astrid and -"

"I don't care about the suitors," Merida whispered. "I only care about you. To hell with what my mother will think, to hell with what the court will think. I love you Hiccup. That's all I know."

Without another word Hiccup had crashed his lips against hers, Merida responding instantly and holding his tunic tightly between her long fingers. In a matter of seconds Hiccup's belt was gone, as were his shoulder pads. Merida's lacy nightgown went too, leaving her in some extremely revealing undergarments that made Hiccup's breathing turn ragged as they drew apart for breath.

"Oh holy Thor," Hiccup whispered as his eyes travelled down her body. "You're beautiful." A blush had covered Merida's freckled cheeks.

"I'm not, they're not -?"

"You're perfect. Please, please, dear Gods Merida," Hiccup murmured as he placed a tentative hand on her waist, gazing into her turquoise eyes, "Never change for anything."

They resumed their kisses immediately; Merida pulling at his tunic until eventually the stubborn cloth gave way and that joined the pile of discarded clothes. She turned quickly from shy to dominant as she pushed him down onto the four-poster, kissing his neck and leaving marks, as though she'd claimed him for herself. She ran her slightly calloused fingers over his slightly defined chest; he wasn't big and burly but that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted him for who he was, for the love they both shared so deeply.

Hiccup's back was arched and his eyes closed in a feeling of complete and utter elation before he came to his senses and sat up, kicking his only shoe off and unbuckling his prosthetic. In a second his arms were back round Merida's torso, pulling her to him. Sooner rather than later the pair of them were as nature intended, completely and totally bare before the other.

"Hiccup -"

"Merida - oh Gods..."

"I've never done this before -"

"Neither have I, but I - I know what happens."

"I know but, please -"

"Yes?"

"Please just, be careful."

"I'd never hurt you."

"I know."

"... Merida?"

"Yes?"

"I - I love you. More than you'll ever know."

* ~ * ~ *

"Hiccup - oh Gods, Hiccup! My mother's going to kill me! If she catches us you're dead for sure!" Merida whispered as they frantically dressed as quickly as they possibly could. Dawn was nearly upon them.

"I promise Merida," Hiccup replied, "I won't let that happen." He re-buckled his armour whilst never letting his eyes stray from her gaze. He stood, taking her hands in his. "I love you, so much. Whatever happens, I will be there for you."

"I love you too," Merida replied, clutching his hands like a vice. "But what if I -?"

"You won't," he assured her, "And if you do, I'll stay and tell your parents. I'll take the blame."

"No," Merida retorted, "I'll run away with you. I'm not having you take the blame or sacrificing yourself or whatever. I won't let you."

Hiccup smiled and leant down to kiss her one last time. It might be the last one they had for a long time, so they made sure it lasted. Merida pushed him away at the sight of the night sky beginning to lighten and Hiccup leaned out of the window and whistled for Toothless. He came in a flash, waiting for him outside the window.

Merida laughed softly and rubbed his chin where she knew he liked it and Toothless smiled his signature 'smile', if it can be classified as that. She turned back to Hiccup who had mounted the dragon silently so he wasn't spotted by the guards. She leant up to him and kissed his cheek softly before stepping back inside and watching until the silhouette of the night-fury had become invisible it was so far away.

The princess sighed and leaned against the window, taking a last breath of crisp night air before closing the window and turning to her room. She should get some more sleep. Merida climbed back into bed and smiled as she pulled the bedsheets around her. They smelled like him. It felt like he was there, right next to her.

If she did start carrying a child, now she thought about it, it didn't matter to her. Knowing it was Hiccup who was the father would be enough. They'd run away together, away from rules, responsibilities, expectations and change their fate.

Merida fell asleep quickly that night, without realising a tiny life form was beginning to stir inside of her.