Chapter Seventeen: Miracle

Hiccup had never felt this way before. He had heard the parents in the village talk about it many times but had never paid attention to them. But now, as he gazed into the wrinkled, pink face of his newborn son, he felt as if his heart had grown several sizes bigger; enveloping the baby boy in a love so strong, he felt as if he would explode with it.

At first glance, the baby looked like, well, any other baby. But within moments, Hiccup could make out a slightly prominent nose, certainly his father's genes at work, and tufts of red hair atop his head. His newborn son already looked more like Stoick than he did.

"He's so perfect." Hiccup said, unable to tear his eyes off of his son.

"He's going to be just like me." Astrid gently kissed his tiny forehead and was surprised at how soft it was.

"Gods, I hope so." Hiccup smiled, gently wiping some of the blood out of the baby's face. "Berk can only handle one of me at a time."

"You can say that ag-" Astrid began to say, but she stopped as a pain spiked up her insides. Just like before. She gasped and clutched her stomach with one hand. "What..."

Hiccup looked down at her with wide eyes, unsure what was happening. "Ruff, what's going on?"

"It's the afterbirth. Probably." Ruffnut looked unnervingly calm.

"Does it always hurt like this?" Astrid winced as another pain seemed to strike her as soon as the first left.

Ruffnut shrugged. "Not usually but sometimes... woah... I thought the water broke before the baby was born!"

"What?" Astrid snapped, grimacing as the pain worsened. "It already did!"

"Well it just broke again!" Ruffnut stared at the new mother, her mouth agape.

Both Hiccup and Astrid's heads snapped forward, finally taking their eyes off of their son. Astrid began breathing heavily, the pains increasing.

"Tell us what's going on!" Hiccup demanded, feeling as if all his blood was draining out of his face.

"I just said her water broke again, which is impossible unless... unless... you are not going to believe this!"

"Unless what?" Astrid shouted, her patience wearing thin.

"Unless there's another baby! It's twins!" Ruffnut announced gleefully.

Astrid leaned back onto her husband, panting heavily and shutting her eyes. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Well you know what to do now." said Snotlout, still looking very pale. "Just push."

"I'LL PUSH YOU IN A MINUTE!" Astrid shrieked, startling her husband.

She took a few deep breaths and then pushed as hard as she could, desperately wanting this to be over. Odin almighty, if there was another baby after this one, she really would kill her husband.

Suddenly, Ruffnut visibly paled. "Oh gods..." she muttered. "Ohhhh gods..."

"What is it?" Astrid asked, violently trembling. "What's wrong?"

Ruffnut looked up at her, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. She quickly composed herself. "The baby's upside down, Astrid; listen to me." Ruffnut leaned forward, giving Astrid a very hard stare. "You have to get this baby out now."

"Do you..." Hiccup tried to form words. "Have you delivered a baby upside down before?"

Ruffnut opened her mouth but quickly closed it. The stories of babies born upside down weren't good... suffocation was common. But she wasn't about to tell them that. "No, I... what do I do? I can't..."

Fishlegs walked over and put his hand on her shoulder, keeping his eyes squeezed shut. "You can do this, Ruff. I know you can."

Ruffnut took a deep breath and forced herself to be calm. Hiccup and Astrid stared at her pleadingly; they needed her.

Hiccup suddenly squeezed himself out from behind his wife. "Let me help."

"What?" Astrid gasped.

Hiccup glanced apologetically at her as he squeezed out from behind her and scooted next to Ruffnut. "She's right, Astrid. The baby's coming out feet first! Push! You've got to get this baby out!"

Now that adrenaline had dwindled, Astrid had to work herself up to push more. When she relaxed, her heart seemed to stop for a moment. All of the color had drained out of Hiccup's face. His eyes widened and his shoulders slumped. Slowly, he reached out and brushed Ruffnut's hands out of the way so he could catch the baby's backside.

"Come on Astrid, one more push." he cried desperately, his eyes never leaving the baby.

Astrid complied. Subconsciously she gripped her son tighter. Her thoughts were blurred and her heart was torn. There could be no question about the gender of their second baby by reading Hiccup's body language, and it scared her even more. He wanted his little girl so badly but now her life, before it even began, was in jeopardy. And yet, she got to hold her perfectly healthy baby boy.

When she relaxed, she watched as her husband lifted their daughter and immediately cradled her close to his chest. His glossy eyes never left her face and his breathing was shaky, almost like he was fighting down tears.

"She's... she's not breathing." he whimpered so quietly Astrid almost didn't hear him.

The baby girl was pink like her brother but she made no movements, gave them no indication that she was alive. Hiccup held her as gently as he could, hoping against hope that by rocking her, by pouring every ounce of love he had for her into her tiny body, she would wake up.

"Come on, little girl... you can do this. Come on, breathe. Daddy needs you to scream at me like your big brother. Come on..." he wiped her little face with his sleeve, being meticulous around her nose, and fought down the horrible thoughts brewing in the recesses of his mind.

The baby didn't respond; she continued to lie in his arms, her skin slowly paling. Hiccup felt strangled inside. He didn't know what to do, what to say... he couldn't even look at his wife, or anything, but his little girl's unmoving face. He held her closer to his body, gently rocking her back and forth.

"Come on, breathe..." he whispered. "Daddy needs you to breathe, come on."

Astrid peeled her eyes away from her husband and toward the other end of their rocky strip, watching as a few dragons landed. Stoick the Vast hopped off of Thornado and Tuffnut soon followed, returning Hookfang to his human.

The Hooligan chief looked over at his daughter-in-law and was delighted to see his squirming grandson in her arms. He looked up to congratulate his son but stopped in shock at Hiccup holding a silent child.

His jaw tightened and he dipped his head, not saying a word. He couldn't bear to watch his son lose a child, primarily the girl Hiccup had so wanted. His memory recalled the panic and utter devastation he felt when he thought Hiccup had died after defeating the Red Death. For Hiccup to endure that pain himself... it wasn't right. Especially after everything they had gone through.

Hiccup stared into his daughter's face, begging the gods for her to live. Suddenly, he remembered holding the other woman in his life, begging the gods for the same thing. Feeling a surge of hope, he began to squeeze his daughter's stomach. Then, taking a deep breath, he leaned forward and blew into her mouth and nose. He repeated the action two, three times... nothing.

"Come on, breathe..." he whispered desperately.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. This sort of thing was a freak accident that happened to a couple unexpectedly. Not to him. Not to Astrid. And not to their beautiful baby girl.

He leaned forward again but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Finally, he put his forehead to the baby's, letting out the tears he had been holding back. For a moment, no one could say anything. Time seemed to slow down as Hiccup held his lifeless daughter close, his tears streaming down her little face.

"Hiccup..." Stoick whispered from above him.

But a sudden sound interrupted him.

A strangled, choking noise came from the baby's throat. Hiccup's head snapped up and his eyes widened.

"Flip her!" Ruffnut lunged forward, flipped the baby, and smacked her on the back a few times.

"Ruffnut!" Hiccup and Astrid cried in unison, but Stoick held out a hand. He'd seen this done before

Suddenly, the baby took a deep breath and let out a loud, high-pitched, distinctly feminine (and slightly indignant) scream. Hiccup gasped and laughed at once, soaking in the sound as the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. Her scream to breathe, to live... it was almost enough to make him cry.

"She's alive." he whispered to no one in particular.

Stoick crowed with laughter, Astrid squeezed a few more tears out her eyes and the other men joined their chief in laughter, slapping each other on the back. Hiccup held his daughter close to his chest as she cried, sighing in relief. But then he felt a movement coming from her that made him slightly uneasy.

"She's shivering..." Hiccup said, grabbing the edge of his shirt.

"I don't think so." said Snotlout, ripping off his own shirt. "Take mine. Fishlegs?"

But Fishlegs didn't respond on account of the fact that his lips were quite preoccupied with Ruffnut's. For a moment, everyone stared at the fiercely snogging, apparently new couple, transfixed with the unexpected sight. Then Hiccup turned back to Snotlout, apparently deciding not to comment on the couple's behavior.

"Thank you." He said as he handed the shirt to Astrid.

Snotlout shrugged in response, his eyes avoiding the couple now.

"Oy! Fishlegs! Take off your shirt." Ruffnut demanded quite suddenly.

"What?" Fishlegs looked horrified.

"For the baby, idiot."

"Oh." Fishlegs laughed and slipped his shirt off.

"And for me." Ruffnut winked and his cheeks turned slightly pink.

Hiccup wrapped the wailing baby girl in Fishleg's shirt. Her cries immediately quieted to a lesser volume when she was warmer, and when she shoved her fist in her mouth. Hiccup breathed a laugh and crawled over to sit by Astrid, who had their son wrapped up in Snotlout's shirt and lying against her chest.

Hiccup chuckled at her, "Well, that wasn't so bad."

Astrid looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Oh shut up and kiss me you idiot."

And he did, probably a little sloppier than the rest of the group would have liked to witness.

Rather than try to fly Astrid back to Berk right after giving birth twice, a healer was summoned to the tiny island to check her over and make sure the babies were healthy. At first, Astrid refused to relinquish their son, even for a minute, but she finally complied with the healer's instructions, feeling like she was missing a part of herself the entire time. Hiccup felt similarly about their daughter; after saving her, he didn't want anyone else to hold her for fear she would stop breathing again. He knew his fears were completely irrational but the memory of his limp, blue baby girl would haunt him for weeks. When the healer finally declared both babies healthy, Hiccup and Astrid decided to sail back to Berk rather than fly so that their babies would be safe.

When they arrived home, they were told that the babies would have to stay at the healer's house until they gained enough weight to go home. But the healer thought Hiccup's broken hand was a bit more of an issue.

"I'm going to have to set it." she said, giving him an apologetic look.

Hiccup, who was lying next to Astrid, nodded grimly. He shut his eyes, hoping that he wouldn't cry out and awaken his son and daughter, who were sleeping peacefully in the same crib. The healer placed her fingers on his mangled left hand and began to slowly set the bone.

The pain that exploded in his hand was almost more than he could handle. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay quiet for the sake of his children but, at the same time, he was beginning to appreciate his wife a lot more.

"If this is anything like what you went through this morning, I am really sorry." He gasped as the healer finally finished setting his hand.

"Oh Hiccup..." Astrid smiled and patted his shoulder. "It was so much worse than that."

"Well you're next, honey. Fortunately, I don't have as much to do for you unless there's a complication. And you seem to be okay so far." the healer smiled as she finished bandaging Hiccup's hand and headed over to Astrid. After a few minutes, the healer suddenly gasped and then let out an odd sort of groan. "Honey, you're going to be fine." She said, making them both sigh in relief. "But there's a lot of internal damage. I'm afraid those babies are the only children you're ever going to have."

"I could have told you that." Astrid said, lying back and resting her head on her arms. "I'm never doing that again."

But Hiccup felt differently. He bit his lip, looking at his wife and then the peacefully sleeping babies in the crib next to her.

"No more?" he asked in a tiny voice.

The healer shook her head but he had other problems, including the sudden bruise on his upper right arm.

Astrid rolled her eyes when he looked at her. "That is the most uncomfortable, painful, horrifying thing I have ever done and I am definitely not going to do it again."

The healer looked between the two of them, her mouth slightly open, and then flashed them a very fake smile.

"I'll just leave you two alone while I tend to my other patients." She said, slipping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

For a moment, there was complete silence. Hiccup and Astrid lay next to each other, both slightly overwhelmed with emotion over what had just happened. The babies slept on, breathing quietly and keeping each other warm.

Hiccup spoke first, drumming the fingers on his right hand against his stomach. "What I said before was wrong, Astrid. And I can't possibly express to you how sorry I am."

Astrid gently reached out and slid her fingers into his. "You were angry. I know you didn't mean it."

But her words seemed only effective in causing a few tears to slip from her husband's eyes. "What I said was beyond reprehensible, Astrid. And if I hadn't lost it like that, our babies might not have been born so early. And you wouldn't have run off. And I would have been there for you when you were in labor and our daughter might not have almost died..."

"Hiccup, is it always going to be like this with you?" Astrid asked, tightening her grip on his hand so much her knuckles turned white.

He turned to look at her, letting out a small sniff. "Like what?"

"You blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong." she replied.

"I... I don't do..."

"You blamed yourself for the time I broke my arm."

"I couldn't catch you in time and..."

"And for getting me pregnant so soon after we got married."

"I wasn't careful enough..."

"And now for everything that happened last night? Hiccup... come on. Don't be ridiculous."

Hiccup gave Astrid a long, hard stare. "I'm not being ridiculous..."

"Look in that crib." She gestured to the crib just as their son shifted positions, cuddling up a little closer to his sister. "We made them together. You and me, Hiccup. Can you blame yourself for them?"

The young Viking was silent for a minute, his heart beating against his ribcage as he stared into the crib at the tiny babies born early that morning. And suddenly, he realized that his wife, his wonderful, amazing, incredible wife was right. He had helped her make these tiny little people that had stolen his heart. The little boy whose voice had awakened him to the fact that he was actually a father and the little girl whose life he had saved when all hope seemed lost. Instead of one child, he had been blessed with two. Two children to love and to play with and to teach... and the woman next to him had brought them into the world, into his life. As he looked back at her, he couldn't contain himself and, new tears slipping out of his eyes, he suddenly pressed his lips against hers.

And then suddenly he leaned back, another memory flooding into his brain.

"Astrid, I don't want to ruin this, I really don't, but I have to ask... about what you said before, I mean before everything went completely insane..."

"Shhh." Astrid said suddenly, putting a hand on his mouth. "You're going to keep babbling forever if you keep that up."

He nodded. She was probably right. For a few seconds, they were silent. Astrid suddenly broke away from her husband and placed her hand inside the crib, gently stroking her son's hair. And then her daughter's cheek. Why had no one ever told her how wonderful they felt, how soft their skin and their hair was, how perfect their tiny little hands were... she had never felt love like this before. Her daughter suddenly reached out and gripped her finger in a surprisingly tight hold. And as Hiccup watched his wife's mouth turn upward in a smile, he knew he didn't need an answer to his question.

"You haven't held him." Astrid whispered, now reaching out both hands and gently lifting their son from the crib. "Here."

Very gently, she placed the baby boy into Hiccup's arms. He barely noticed when she then leaned over and carefully took her daughter out of the crib. He stared at the sleeping face of his son... and everything around them went silent. One day he would teach this little boy how to walk, how to talk, how to ride a dragon, heck, how to shave... Hiccup's heart quickened as he realized that this little boy needed him. This tiny, helpless baby in his arms couldn't survive without him and Astrid... and the thought was suddenly quite terrifying. While he had been excitedly preparing for their baby's arrival, he had failed to realize what being a parent really meant. And now, here, with his son nestled in his arms and his daughter looking up at her mother next to him, he felt completely unprepared. He had never done this before, had never cared for someone so fragile and helpless... what if he messed it up?

Without realizing it, he had muttered something out loud. Astrid heard this and gently nudged him.

"You won't mess this up." She whispered. "You've got me."

"They're so helpless." he replied, gently stroking his son's hair. "They depend on us for everything."

"And we'll be there." Astrid leaned over and kissed her husband on the cheek.

He felt his mouth turn up in a small smile. "You're awfully confident now." he said, nudging his wife back.

"I've had a change of heart." Astrid replied, gently lowering her head to kiss her newborn daughter's forehead. "I guess I just had to meet them first."

For a moment, they were completely silent. They continued to stare at their children, unable to believe that their love for each other was so strong that they had actually made two babies, two people who belonged to them both. They had never felt so close to each other. Hiccup leaned over and kissed Astrid on the cheek, carefully maneuvering himself so that he wouldn't wake his son. At the sight of her parents' affection, the baby girl's mouth quirked slightly in a tiny half smile.

"Get used to it, honey." Astrid said, gently stroking her husband's cheek with her free hand. "You're going to be seeing this your entire life."

She kissed Hiccup on the nose and then, quite suddenly, both of them smiled widely and began to speak at the same time.

"I know what to name our son." said Astrid at the exact same moment her husband said "I know what to name our daughter."

They chuckled, both amused that they'd had almost the same thought at the same time. Hiccup leaned forward and whispered their daughter's name in Astrid's ear.

"Wow, Hiccup... it's perfect." she breathed, nudging his nose with hers.

She then leaned forward and whispered their son's name into Hiccup's ear.

"I think we just named our babies." he planted a kiss on Astrid's forehead.

Suddenly, the half a foot of space between them became too much. They both leaned into each other, Astrid laying her head down on Hiccup's shoulder and bringing their daughter closer to his view. Hiccup placed an arm around her and brought their son closer to his wife so that the babies were lying next to each other on their laps.

As they drifted off to sleep together as a family, Astrid thought that, for the first time in her life, she knew what it was like to be perfectly, blissfully content. And as she snuggled into her husband's arms, the large sigh she felt come from his chest assured her that he felt exactly the same way.