So I'm sure you all are really surprised that this story actually got updated. This story had the most pieces cut out of it than any other story I've ever written. And a lot of great ideas never made it in the final cut. Well… I thought I'd post them here. And yes, you are basically getting a full chapter's worth of stuff.

This is the original opening to Chapter 6. It was going to be a comedic piece about Hiccup nearly breaking his neck to satisfy Astrid's cravings. I wrote the beginning and then got inspired to write what ended up being the actual Chapter 6. That being said, I did like this idea and I'm kind of disappointed that it didn't make the final cut. Here's the first draft, originally named Pickled Peas. Special thanks to a dear friend of mine for giving me that idea:

After another month, attempting to deny Astrid's bump had become impossible. At 16 weeks, she could no longer hide it and, unfortunately, this led to a lot more outbursts. Hiccup had completely given up attempting to figure out her triggers because they seemed to be just about everything. But Hiccup had another conundrum. He didn't want to be unprepared

"You want what?" Hiccup said, raising an eyebrow at his wife.

"You heard me." she replied, stretching out on her back.

He shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I didn't because it sounded like you said pickled peas."

She grinned . "No, you heard me right."

Hiccup shut his mouth with a snap, realizing that it was hanging open and making him look a bit silly. "And how, exactly, am I supposed to get you pickled peas?"

"That's your problem." she replied as she shut her eyes.

Pickled peas. Last week it had been fresh yak butter, which had been easy enough to acquire but… pickled peas? How in the world was he supposed to pickle peas? He didn't even know how to cook fish without burning them. With his luck, he'd probably do it completely wrong and make his wife violently ill.

That was the moment he decided that he would sample anything he attempted to make before putting it near his wife.

How Hiccup saved Adrianna actually got rewritten! Here's the original draft:

First, a gurgling sound emitted from her throat, but a loud, high-pitched, distinctly feminine scream erupted from her throat. Hiccup gasped in joy at her cry to live, to breathe. Ruffnut suddenly was at his side.

"Flip her."

He gently did and she patted the baby girl's back; some sort of thick substance fell from her mouth and Ruffnut quickly wiped it away. The baby kept crying and Hiccup held her close to his chest, his heart swelling that she was alive. Ruffnut stared at him in awe and admiration.

"You saved her."

Hiccup kissed the baby on the forehead. "Of course I did. She's my daughter."

Stoick walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you, son." He said. "Can I…"

"No. Sorry, dad, but no. I'm not letting her go. Not now."

And finally the best bit! Originally, I was going to tack a prologue about Finn and Adrianna as babies to Little Miracles. And then I finished it and, despite actually liking it, I realized that it just doesn't fit that particular story. So here it is in its full glory. It's definitely canon but I just couldn't find a place to fit it in. But I wanted you all to read it. It was originally named Sleep Deprivation.

Hiccup placed his head on his hand, his eyes glazed over and half focused as his father rambled on about whatever the Hooligans were supposed to be doing that month. Something about yak farming. And something else about Fishlegs and Ruffnut's upcoming wedding…

"We need to put up more defenses in the food storage." Stoick boomed to the rest of the Hooligans. "The Terrible Terrors keep sneaking in. I think they're squeezing themselves under the door but I'm not entirely certain. Hiccup, do you know how…"

But the older man stopped when he saw his son. Hiccup's head was slumped over his arm and his breathing was deep. For a moment, the entire tribe stared at him. He had been almost narcoleptic over the last two months, falling asleep in odd places for only minutes at a time. But fatherhood was a full time job and fathering twins was twice as exhausting. Stoick gave the Hooligans a look, as if to tell them to keep their voices down so they wouldn't disturb his son. He needed the rest.

"Gobber, if you got working on a bigger, stronger door, those Terrible Terrors might not be able to get in." Stoick continued as if nothing had happened.

"Right." Gobber replied. "I'll start working on it first thing tomorrow."

"And that's the last of our agenda but…" Stoick looked over at Hiccup, whose deep breathing was beginning to become audible. "Does anyone want to volunteer to take the twins overnight so that Hiccup and Astrid can get some sleep?"

The other twins exchanged looks. "We can give it a shot." said Ruffnut.

"Yeah, I mean how hard could it possibly be?" piped up Tuffnut.

The parents in the Hooligan tribe had to work very hard to keep their laughter as quiet as possible. Ruffnut and Tuffnut exchanged bewildered looks.

"I love babies!" Bucket exclaimed, grinning widely. "They're so soft and tiny…"

"I'm more or less looking for someone with experience… I would offer but my schedule is too tight this week and it's going to get even more hectic with Bork Week coming up." Stoick sighed. "Am I going to have to randomly assign someone?"

At last, Ruffnut and Tuffnut's parents volunteered to care for the Haddock twins that night. It took nearly an hour but they finally came up with a rotating schedule so that Hiccup and Astrid could consistently get enough sleep. When it was over, Stoick gently prodded Hiccup's shoulder.

"Meeting adjourned, son." He said gently as Hiccup stirred. "Time to go home and get some sleep."

"I don't hear anything, Astrid." Hiccup mumbled, a few tears slipping out of his eyes. "Please let me sleep. I'm so… so…"

And the young man was fast asleep once more. Stoick's prodding became firmer but Hiccup slept on, almost comatose. Finally, the chief took a deep breath and placed his hands under his son's back and legs, lifting him into the air. It was a good thing Hiccup was still so much smaller than him or they would never have been able to get him out of the Great Hall.

As Stoick neared his son's house, he could hear two babies wailing. Hiccup didn't even stir until they got to the front door. His head jerked up.

"Finnannanna…" he mumbled. "Gotta make em okay…"

"Not tonight, son." Stoick said, pressing the door open.

Astrid was sitting on the couch, trying desperately to rock what sounded like an irate Finn while Adrianna wailed on her lap. Her hair wasn't tied back and it certainly hadn't been washed in quite a while. Her clothes were covered in stains. When she looked up at them, her eyes went wide.

"Hiccup?" she gasped. "Is he…"

"He's fine." Stoick chuckled, walking up the stairs so he could place his son on his bed. He stomped down again and gently lifted Finn out of his daughter-in-law's arms. "You and Hiccup need a break."

"Well we're not getting one." Astrid said, picking up her daughter and attempting to rock her to sleep. "I've already fed them and checked their diapers. I don't know why they're crying."

"Well tonight, that is not your problem." Stoick smiled, motioning Ruffnut and Tuffnut's parents to enter. "We've arranged for them to take your babies overnight so you and Hiccup can…"

But he couldn't finish his sentence. As soon as she realized what he was saying, she placed Adrianna on the couch and flew over to him, throwing her arms around her father-in-law with so much gusto, the man actually stumbled a bit.

"Oh Thor bless you!" she cried.

"Bathe. You and Hiccup can bathe." Stoick finished, grimacing at the putrid smell coming from her.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut's mother gently picked up Adrianna and Stoick handed Finn to their father.

"Here, they need extra diapers and bring them to me when it's time to feed. Finn needs to be fed kind of late but Anna can go until…"

"We'll be fine, dear." The mother said, smiling at the baby girl. "You go take care of yourself."

Astrid nodded and watched the three people carry her children away from her. This was going to be her night. She immediately grabbed the buckets of water they kept for baths and splashed them into the tub. Stormfly heated the water and within seconds, she had stripped down and relaxed. This, she thought, was luxury. She could fall asleep in the warm water and the steam lazily rising from it was very hypnotic. She took her time in washing her body and hair, wrinkling her nose at how dirty the bath water had become. She hadn't realized she had been that disgusting. She sighed contentedly and finally emerged from the water.

"I think we can save the laundry for tomorrow, don't you, girl?" Astrid gently stroked the Nadder's snout. Stormfly blew some smoke out of her nostrils in response. "Thought so."

She was about to put her clothes back on when she realized that she was alone with her husband in the house. No one was going to scream for her to get up and tend to them in the middle of the night. She could snuggle into her husband and sleep all night without getting up once. Smiling at the thought, she threw a clean sheet around her body and walked up the stairs to her room.

Hiccup was sprawled on the bed, his jaw slack and drool pooling around his face. Astrid took a moment to wipe his mouth off and roll him over a bit before climbing into bed next to him.

This would be the best sleep she would have in months.

"Where are they?"

Astrid stirred slightly at the jarring noise. Her head was pounding and she couldn't think of anything she would rather do than to drift back to sleep.

"Astrid, where are they?"

Hiccup was yelling something, waking her up… and then she remembered. He didn't know about the setup the previous night. He probably thought his children had been abducted.

"They're fine." she called. "Ruffnut and Tuffnut's parents took them overnight so we could sleep."

Hiccup burst into the room. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You weren't conscious enough. Now come back to bed. We might never get to sleep this long again." Astrid tried to wave her arm but it was too heavy.

"But Adrianna doesn't have her stuffed yak…"

"She's two months old, Hiccup. She doesn't care." Astrid moaned. "They're fine. Come on, just go back to sleep. Please don't bring them back now."

Hiccup stared at his exhausted wife for a moment and then, quite suddenly, realized just how tired he was as well. He nearly collapsed on the bed and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Hiccup and Astrid slept for eighteen hours. Rather than wake them, another nursing mother offered to feed the twins so that the chief's son and his wife wouldn't be disturbed. The Haddock twins cried most of the time, causing the entire Thorston family to be up almost the entire night, but as soon as they relinquished them to Lotus Hofferson the next morning, no one saw them until midday.

Hiccup awoke the next morning with an odd ache in his stomach. And then he remembered that his babies weren't in the house with him. They were being taken care of by someone else! He bolted out of bed and rushed down the stairs.

"You are not leaving this house until you have had a bath." Astrid commanded, standing in front of the door.

"But… the kids…"

"Are fine. I've already got a tub ready. Get in before I punch you." She balled her fist.

He gulped loudly and complied. It was the fastest bath he'd ever taken. He rushed into the main room and threw on a coat.

"I don't think so. Come on, you need to eat breakfast. Without interruptions." Astrid narrowed her eyes at him.

He turned back to her and smiled. "All right, you win. I'll make you breakfast today."

"Let me get that for you." Astrid said, snatching the pan before he did.

"No!" he exclaimed.

"The healer said you should take it easy; don't use your hand…"

"I can do it!"

"Just let me do this for you!"

A few minutes later, Hiccup glared at Astrid as she placed two fish on the pan. She had won that struggle only because he couldn't use his left hand. If he'd had full use of both hands, he'd have been able to pin her down and roast the fish while keeping her immobilized. But no, she just had to break his stronger hand.

After a few minutes, a pleasant smell filled the house and Astrid took two perfectly cooked fish out of the fire.

"Showoff." he mumbled.

"Maybe but now we have food." Astrid laughed and slid one fish onto each plate.

Hiccup became uncomfortably aware of how quiet his house was without the sound of his children crying. As much as he hated to admit it, he found himself enjoying it.

"Are you doing laundry?" he asked, spotting the bathtub in the corner of the room.

"Nope, I just threw all of our clothes into the bathtub for no reason." Astrid winked.

Hiccup chuckled. "Okay sure."

Astrid reached over the table and took his hand. "You know, we're all alone in this big empty house. No babies to interrupt us…"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

Astrid flashed him a seductive smile. "I'm saying that I think our babies can wait a little bit longer before coming home."

Hiccup grinned back. "Hmm... I guess a little more time wouldn't hurt."

He winked at her and squeezed her hand. Yes, he thought, a little more time with just his wife would be just the thing.

Hiccup heard the familiar hiccupping wail as he approached his mother-in-law's house. His hand tightened around Astrid's.

"That's our girl." he chuckled.

Another wail pierced the air, this one louder than the last.

"And that's our boy." Astrid smiled.

"Gods, I missed them." Hiccup said with a sigh.

"You were only away from them for a day. And you slept for most of it." They stopped in front of the house and Astrid grasped the bandage around his other hand, causing him to turn and face her.

"They're my kids. I need to be there for them." Hiccup replied with a shrug.

The door flew open and Lotus Hofferson smiled at them, holding Finn and looking thoroughly exhausted.

"My goodness, why you two actually look like people again!" she exclaimed.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Mom…"

"Oh hush up and take your kids back, honey. Let me tell you, when one stops crying, the other one gets started. It's an endless cycle." Lotus handed the baby boy back to his mother.

Hiccup wasn't paying attention to this exchange; he brushed past the two women and made a beeline for the crib in the middle of the room. Very gently, he lifted his daughter into his arms. Her crying ceased almost instantly.

"There's my little miracle." He whispered, gently kissing her on the forehead. "Daddy's missed you."

Lotus sighed heavily. "If I knew he'd make her stop that fast, I'd have gotten him hours ago."

"Oh no you wouldn't. He needed sleep. We both did." Astrid said, narrowing her eyes at her mother. "Thanks, mom. I owe you one."

"Actually you owe the Thorstons. They had her all night. I think they're still asleep."

Astrid sheepishly looked down at her son. "Did you give Aunt Ruff and Uncle Tuff a hard time?" Finn suddenly smiled widely. Astrid laughed. "You are going to be a troublemaker, little guy. Good thing you're so cute."

Lotus turned to look at her son-in-law with her granddaughter snuggled in his arms. "He doesn't play favorites, does he?"

"Hiccup?" Astrid shook her head. "Of course not. But he's got a special bond with her, that's for sure. She's definitely a daddy's girl."

The older woman turned back to her daughter. "I suppose I could say something very similar about you and Finn."

"Yeah. He's a mama's boy." Astrid gently kissed her son's cheek. "But we love them to death. Both of them."

"Come on, Astrid." Hiccup said at last, walking up to his wife. "Let's go home."

Special thanks to my beta and new friend, EmmerzK and, since I forgot to say so in the final chapter, to the show Call the Midwife for teaching me a lot about pregnancy and birth that helped me write this story accurately. And to all the websites I visited to research symptoms. And to my mom, who told me a little bit of what pregnancy was like.

~KateMarie999