Chapter 8

It was a typical Monday afternoon a week later when both Astrid and Mala returned home, meaning it was a very bad day to get on either women's nerves. There basically wasn't enough coffee for Mondays and Astrid wanted to do an imitation of Garfield and just curl up in bed again.

"Hey..." Mala greeted as both women stepped out of their respective cars. Mala had driven her police cruiser home today and Astrid waved at her from across the street at first before she frowned. She then gestured towards Mala's head but those gestures were met with a raise of eyebrows. It culminated in Astrid having to cross the street to get her message across.

"You have feathers in your hair," Astrid pointed out when she was in earshot. Mala's hand reflexively went to her short-cropped hair and pulled out several brown feathers. "Rough day at work?" Astrid then asked.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Mala grumbled.

"Tell me about it," Astrid said and then she got an idea. "You want to hang out?"

"Hang out?" Mala frowned while she asked.

"Well yeah...." Astrid said and then pointed to the treehouse in their backyard which was partially visible from the street. "Hiccup made that when Zephyr was 5. Nuffink doesn't use it much. I have a few bottles of wine in the car...."

"Say no more, I'll get the glasses," Mala said as she fished out her house keys. "Meet you there?"

"Sure,"

It wasn't long before both women were climbing the rope ladder into the treehouse. The clang of bottles in the bag Astrid had around her shoulders could be heard. Mala had changed out of her uniform and was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie while Astrid had changed into a T-shirt and some lounge pants.

"Is that a miniature chandelier?" Mala asked once they managed to get inside. Her brows shot up as she also spotted an Easy-bake oven.

"Hiccup got a little carried away," Astrid laughed.

The pop of a cork was heard and soon the glasses were filled with a sweet red wine. Both women took a sip and groaned as the stress from work left them.

"So why the treehouse?" Mala asked as she and Astrid leaned against some small bean bag chairs. They made great pillows.

"Sometimes you just gotta get away from it all. Especially Mondays." Astrid gestured to the house. "Hiccup has his inventing hobby in the garage and I like to drink in a nice quiet atmosphere. Don't get me wrong. The kids and husband are great. Amazing even but mommy needs a breather every once and awhile."

Mala nodded. "I can imagine. Never had much time for that though when Maddie was growing up. She clung to me like a koala. Once during bath time Dagur had to help me pry her off my leg."

Astrid laughed at the image as she could relate. Getting kids into baths, especially young ones, tended to be a task unto itself.

"So I got to ask, those feathers. Runaway chicken again?" Astrid smirked as Mala quirked a brow in her direction. "Again?" the Deputy frowned. "So this happened before?"

"Oooh yeah," Astrid took a sip of her wine and giggled. She leaned forward a bit and there was a glint of amusement in her eyes as she took out her phone from the bag. "And I got pictures!"

The women huddled closer as Astrid scrolled through her albums while she was telling the story. "So Chicken is Tuffnut's. You know the crazy blonde guy that owns the local pub with his sister?"

"The one that runs the betting pools right?" Mala smirked. "I saw the chalkboard when I had to return that feathery fowl." This caused Astrid to let out a groan at being reminded about the neighbourhood bets. She finally found the right album and clicked on it. Several pictures popped up. "This was from the neighbourhood block party a couple of months ago."

"It seems normal," Mala said as she looked at the picture.

"I take that back," She immediately stated once Astrid scrolled to the next picture. "Why is Eret holding a sheep in his arms?"

"Mildew's sheep Fungus," Astrid explained "Is terrified of Chicken."

Another few pictures showed the chaos that unfolded. "Oh myyyy..." Mala blinked as she looked at the disorder a fighting sheep and chicken could cause. "No wonder Eret was glaring at that chicken when I brought it to the station."

"Oh that reminds me. I snagged some casserole," Astrid said as she produced forks and a large tupperware container out of her bag. "Hiccup's been on a bit of a cooking binge lately."

"I've noticed that. Last week he gave Dagur eclairs and cheesecake to take home." Mala said as they divided the casserole up.

"A cheesecake too? Damn. I knew about the eclairs but not the cheesecake. He must have been cooking at night too." Astrid was pensive for a moment.

"You know, binges like that usually don't happen without a reason." Mala observed Astrid's pensive face. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, that's just Hiccy dealing with the fact that my mother called," Astrid grumbled now. "We aren't super close and she even gives me a headache."

"I'm guessing she's the controlling type?" Mala questioned as Astrid refilled their glasses.

"Like you wouldn't believe. Typical helicopter parent really." Astrid muttered as she stabbed her casserole. "I wasn't allowed to drive, had to call her each hour or she would freak out, she tried to decide who I should be friends with, etcetera etcetera." Astrid now rolled her eyes. "She even tried to get me kicked out of college when she realized I was moving out of State and went ballistic when she found out I was dating Hiccup. She never approved of him you know, so she didn't come to the wedding but now every few months she tries calling because she wants to see her grandkids. I forbid it and if Hiccup ends up answering the phone he gets an earful about how we are depriving her of seeing her grandbabies."

Mala winced and muttered "That's harsh. Though I get you. You don't want your kids influenced by your mother. I had to deal with something similar growing up and it's one of the reasons Dagur and I didn't get married." The casserole was now forgotten as Mala shared her story. "My family is very........ Traditional." She explained. "I grew up in a large family, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews and there was always that fine line between girls and boys. My mother was very strict about it too."

"You mean....." Astrid made a gesture to which Mala nodded.

"Yeah, girls had to have long hair, and look cute, and know how to cook, find a good husband and have kids." Here Mala rolled her eyes. "My younger sisters and I had to do the dishes after every meal while the boys got to goof off and I hated it. Safe to say that once Highschool hit I had a bit of a rebellious phase. It's how I met Dagur actually."

"Oh do tell," Astrid hung on every word.

"It was a small town and I had the typical girl-next-door look," Mala snorted. "I should show you some old pictures sometime. But... yeah... back to Highschool, there was this really badass girl, Heather. You know, leather jacket, lots of ear piercings, rode a motorcycle. She was considered the rebel of the school. You'd never expect her to be friends with someone like me but we were. First time I punched a guy was when he was bothering her and all she said was 'wow blondy. Nice hook'.

Astrid snorted as the story continued "Of course my parents hated her but by that time I could care less. So one night Heather calls me up and asks if I'd meet her at the pool hall, which was our usual hangout. She brought her brother along that night and we immediately hit it off. Well, we hit it off after I hustled him out of some money over pool."

Mala smiled at the memory before taking a sip of her wine. The first bottle was nearly gone and Astrid uncorked the second one. "Basically, Dagur and I liked each other but he didn't like my parents and they didn't like him. They tried to keep me in the house or set me up on blind dates with boys they approved of. It just made me resent them more. Dagur was going back to college and once I was an adult I moved out and enlisted. We kept the relationship long distance as I did my first tour and it worked for us. When I came back I went to see my parents again, hoping they may have changed their views but I ended up being disappointed. My mother nearly shrieked at my short hair, tattoos and the fact that I went against their family values. Dad said nothing and just went back inside. Afterwards Dagur and I moved in with each other and both of us realized that marriage wasn't for us. We had a great thing going already. Marriage isn't for everyone but that doesn't mean you can't start a family."

Astrid nodded and she wasn't going to admit she was tearing up. A voice from below caught the women's attention not long after and Astrid stuck her head out of one of the windows in the treehouse.

"Hiccup?" She blinked and looked down at her husband who was standing while holding something.

"Hello M'lady," Hiccup grinned, "Can I interest you in some cupcakes?"

"Hiccup you have got to stop baking. I'm going to get fat!" Astrid grumbled.

"So is that a no to the cupcakes?" Hiccup questioned.

"I didn't say that!"