Chapter 3: 6-month pregnant Astrid

"Hiccup?! You ready?" Astrid asked as she placed a water bottle and a pack of Zephyr's favorite chips in her toddler-sized backpack. It was blue and had glittery fairy wings attached to it. It also had a leash so that Astrid wouldn't lose sight of her daughter in the busy crowd. She grabbed her big handbag just as her hubby came down the stairs dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

"What happened to your brown shoes?" Astrid asked as she noticed Hiccup wearing the dark grey ones.

"Bedazzled," Hiccup sighed while looking at his daughter who only had an innocent look on her face. It was going to take him ages to get the stickers and glittery stuff off. Instead he asked "We got everything? Stroller, diapers, bear?"

Astrid patted her handbag and gestured to the folded-up stroller near the door that sat at the ready. "Zephyr insisted on walking today so I have this as well," She then added, showing Hiccup the blue leash attached to the fairy backpack.

"I'm a BIG gurl!" The two-year-old babbled as she made a motion for her daddy to pick her up.

"Yes you are Zephyr, now what about your bear? You want to take it with you?" Hiccup asked as he indeed picked his daughter up and put her against his hip.

"NO!" she replied instead and crossed her chubby little arms.

"And why not?" Hiccup raised a brow since he knew she literally dragged that bear with her everywhere for a month.

"He was mean and tried to eat Boo!" She explained. Boo, being her T-Rex. "A bear eating a dinosaur, kids come up with the darndest things I say." Hiccup laughed.

"So we ready to go?" He asked and just as Astrid was about to say yes she clutched her stomach.

"Aaah," She muttered. "Gotta pee. Be right back."

Astrid rushed to the bathroom and for a 6-month pregnant woman she was quite fast. When she came back she saw that Hiccup and Zephyr were right where she left them. No 'incidents' had occurred. Hiccup grabbed the folded-up stroller as they made their way out of the house and down the block.

Since their house was situated in a cul de sac they had to walk a block before they came to the cordoned-off area of the street where the party was being held. There were makeshift food stands lining one side of the road, lawn chairs placed near them, and on the other side was the entertainment for both adults and kids. Hiccup put Zephyr down as she looked around with wide eyes. There was a bouncy house, a big blow-up slide, a carousel and even someone painting faces. Hiccup looked a bit further back in the crows and he thought he could make out a ball pit and a dunk tank.

"Mommy! Daddy! Let's gooooo!!" Zephyr was like a ball of energy as she grabbed her parents' hands and tugged them.

"Why don't we go find a place to sit first and then we'll go exploring," Hiccup suggested.

"Yeah sure hon," Astrid said and Hiccup looked to her to see her distracted by a certain pie stand they had just walked past.

They soon found a place a bit near to the dunk tank. There were a set of picnic tables placed there and one wasn't fully occupied.

"Mommy! Mommy! PONY!" Zephyr pointed to the pony rides kids could take.

"Let mommy just take a breather honey," Astrid said. She hadn't thought that walking so little would already tire her out so she sat down at the table while Hiccup placed the folded-up stroller to lean against it.

"I can get you something to eat and drink and then I can take her on some rides," Hiccup suggested as he looked around. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Besides the pie," Hiccup added quickly and then smirked as his wife shot him a look.

"I know you very well M'lady," Hiccup joked. "You did after all gobble up all of my dad's pie that one time."

Astrid shot her husband a scowl but said nothing else as Hiccup went to procure food. She had Zephyr on her lap when the seat across from her was taken by a blond with long pigtails. How the woman had managed to pull that look off in modern days left Astrid perplexed.

"Hiya, I'm Ruffnut," the woman greeted and offered her hand in a handshake which Astrid took. She introduced herself and Zephyr as well.

"You're new to the neighbourhood, right? I know almost everyone here." Ruffnut asked casually.

"Yeah, we moved here last month," Astrid answered.

"Cool, it's always nice to make new friends," Ruffnut stated. "My brother and I run the local pub-slash-restaurant-slash- Chinese-take-out place,"

"Huh?!" Was all Astrid could utter.

"Tuffnut and I couldn't decide what business to actually do so we mixed all three together." Ruffnut confessed. "I'm mostly bartending while he's making stir-fry."

"Interesting," Astrid mumbled. It made sense to her though, why go to multiple restaurants when one offered a great menu variety. With people being so pressed for time it just seemed logical.

Hiccup returned with his bounty shortly after and Ruffnut introduced herself to him. He had gotten them all some apple cider, a peach cake for Astrid and some kebabs.

Zephyr made a grab for one of the kebabs but Hiccup instead took a piece of chicken from it and fed it to his daughter. "Yum!" Zephyr exclaimed and then again pointed to the ponies again with sticky fingers.

"Yes yes, why don't we go have some fun." Hiccup suggested as he used one of the napkins on her little hands. He looked back at Astrid but she just gestured to the pie and for them to have some fun.

Zephyr had been placed on a pony and Hiccup was walking next to her. Astrid was observing the duo and snapped a couple of pictures with her phone when she heard Ruffnut comment "Oh my, isn't he a hunk," She turned with a raised brow.

"The Sheriff," Ruffnut giggled and pointed to where a muscular man, in uniform, stood in line at one of the food stalls. "His name's Eret Eretson. RAWR! Just look at those biceps. That man can park his cruiser in my garage any time" Ruff made a suggestive motion with her eyebrows and Astrid who had just taken a sip of apple cider choked on her drink slightly.

"I'll just go slip him my number," Ruffnut said as she got up and approached the still oblivious sheriff. Astrid turned back to what she was doing but she couldn't spot Hiccup and Zephyr near the ponies anymore. She guessed they might be doing other activities. Slowly she stretched out a bit as lately her feet had gotten a bit swollen. She bumped against Zephyr's backpack and caught it before it fell.

Having finished her pie she looked around at the people living in the neighbourhood. The more she looked the more she thought it seemed straight out of a cookie cutter. There were even cliches, just like in High school. 'Oh joy,' Astrid thought. So far she spotted the Housewives with Mrs. Ortiz at the center, the Dads who were crowded around one of the many BBQs, there was a subgroup of Workaholics even on this day and before she could scrutinize the rest Ruffnut came running back to her table visibly excited.

"Astrid, Astrid, Astrid! You have got to come see this!" Ruffnut said as she used the table for leverage to stop her run. "Kimberly-from-down-the-street is going at it with Kimberly-from-three-blocks-over!"

"Huh?!" Astrid was pretty much confused. Living in an apartment building brought its own set of drama but this was just weird on itself. "Explain....."

"Right, so Kimberly-from-three-blocks-over called Kimberly-from-down-the-street a fraud," Ruffnut explained excitingly. "It seems the recipe she used and claimed to be passed down through her family actually came from a Rice Krispies box." Here Ruffnut looked around and when she spotted another blond she called out "Tuff get the camera! Chaos is about to go down suburban style!"

"How is that bad? It's just a recipe," Astrid frowned incredulously.

"For these women it's all about appearance," Ruffnut shrugged. "Either way I get a good show. It's way better than Lucha Libre. Eret's holding them off right now but I don't think he's going to last much longer."

"I think I'll pass," Astrid said as Ruffnut just shrugged and dragged her brother, whom she hadn't even heard approach, by the arm.

"Sis wait! I left Chicken manning the booth! SIS!!" Tuffnut shouted but Ruffnut wanted to see the chaos so it fell on deaf ears.

Looking around, Astrid frowned. She could spot neither her husband nor daughter in the crowd. There was however a small group of what looked to be middle-aged women congregated near the ballpit. Astrid thought that was rather odd. They were standing a bit away and not looking directly at the ballpit where children would play. Her curiosity got the better of her so she went to check it out for a bit. When she got closer she could casually overhear their conversation. Now Astrid wasn't one to pry but her eyebrows shot up as she heard "Hmmmm, he looks yummy in those pants,"

"You can't complain when he bends over like that......"

"You think he'd be willing to fix my plumbing?"

"Girl, I'd give an arm and a leg to see that hot muffin do yard work. Did you see that beard?"

Astrid blinked and thought 'Okay, that's interesting. Just who are they talking about,' She then looked to where the women were looking.... Leering.... Undressing the poor unfortunate soul with their eyes and saw... "HICCUP?!" There her husband was half bent over the entrance of the ball pit with a large octopus plushie in his arms doing Thor knows what.

She was about ready to take off her sandal and show these..... Cougars... how SHE 'fixed plumbing' when Hiccup turned upon her exclamation and beckoned her over.

"Honey there you are! I was just about to call you," Hiccup said while wringing his hands nervously. "Uhm...."

"What happened?" Astrid asked with a frown.

"I swear I only took my eyes off of her for a minute! Less than a minute!" Hiccup interjected.

"Hiccup where is our daughter?!" Astrid hissed as her eyes narrowed.

"In there!" Hiccup quickly pointed to the ballpit. "We stopped at a stand because she wanted me to win her this stuffed octopus. I swear she was holding onto my pant leg and when I turned around I just caught sight of her climbing in here. She's refusing to come out now."

"Gee, I wonder where she gets her legendary stubbornness from," Astrid smirked.

"Could you maybe.... Uhmm... she listens to you more," Hiccup muttered as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Zephyr come out of that ball pit. Do you know how worried your father was?!" Astrid called out and Zephyr's little head popped out from under the multitude of colored balls.

"NO!" Zephyr shot back however over the multitude of screaming kids around them in the area.

Hiccup saw Astrid's brow twitch and unconsciously took a step back as his wife bellowed "ZEPHYR MARIE HADDOCK you get your behind out of there this instant!"

Zephyr however dove back under the balls and Astrid was itching to climb in there to drag her out. She knew better than to leave her parents' side. Especially in a crowded place. It was times like this Astrid wished she had Hiccup keep the leash on her when they went on that pony ride.

"Hiccup get in there," Astrid said as she motioned for him to hand her the plushie. She then pointed to her stomach and said "You did this. I can't go in so you get the joy of dragging our daughter out."

Once Hiccup was plushie-free he waded into the ball pit, the balls coming all the way up to his waist. He waded around, shoving his hands into the balls in different directions while calling Zephyr's name all the while avoiding the other children in the pit.

When he finally got his daughter he hauled her up by her arms but he quickly noticed something wrong. "Honeyyyyyyy......" Hiccup called as he straightened his daughter's sundress.

"What's the matter? You got her right?" Astrid asked with a frown as Hiccup's back was turned to her.

"Uhm, we may have a stray diaper situation here," He said, which caused Astrid to actually curse. With a sigh Hiccup looked at the large ball pit and he too cursed silently. This would take some time searching.