Happily Never After

Part 4

Part 3: Acclimation

It had already been three days after Astrid moved into the penthouse suite. She had to admit, she felt fantastic. Not only was the stress of living out of her car gone but she was very happy to be saving money on a gym membership as well. Hiccup had given her full access to the gym room and pool area, and speaking of her roommate he was an absolute gem. She was glad he didn't pry into her personal life and she didn't ask about his.

It was already the 13th of January and Astrid marveled at how fast time flew. Eret hadn't tried to contact her at all, which she wasn't surprised about. From his outburst, Astrid surmised that he was 'letting her stew' so to say but so far she regretted nothing. In fact, she felt so stress-free that she might take up knitting as an extra hobby. She never really had the time to spare between work and taking care of the household duties even if she had been interested in it before.

"HONEY I'M HOME!" Hiccup jokingly shouted as he walked into the living room. Astrid who was on the treadmill shouted back that she would be right out. She shut off the machine and grabbed her towel. As she was walking out of the home gym she saw that Hiccup was at the kitchen island placing several take-out bags on the counter.

"This new Indian place opened near my office. I thought I'd pick up some so we could try," Hiccup answered the unspoken question.

"Did you..."

"Yes, I told them to make it nut-free," He answered. "I know you said you were allergic to nuts but I wasn't sure if it were specific ones or all of them."

Astrid actually found that endearing. "So, we eating in front of the TV today because I want to wash up first. No way am I watching Buffy all sweaty like this."

"Sounds good. How was work?" Hiccup asked as Astrid was walking up the stairs to shower.

"It was ugh!" She answered. "A kid tried to bite me!"

When Astrid came back down Hiccup had already plated the dishes and turned on the TV. The credits for Law & Order were rolling so their show should be starting soon. She helped unfold the TV trays and they tucked in soon after while watching vampires get their asses kicked.

"You want to watch Angel after this?" Astrid asked while Hiccup just shrugged. "Oh come on! The spin-off isn't bad!" Astrid laughed. "Cordelia is in it too,"

"Wait... how does that.... Okay fine..." Hiccup laughed and gave in. The shows were right after each other anyways and he had nothing better to do.

As the pair were watching the show Astrid's phone began to vibrate on the table next to the couch. She picked it up, looked at the collar ID on her Motorola, and then just put it back down. "Aren't you going to get that?" Hiccup asked.

"Nope. It's my soulmate's parents," Astrid grumbled. "They've been calling all day. I answered once and all they did was just yell at me for abandoning their precious baby," Astrid sighed as she looked at Hiccup.

"You've already found your soulmate?" Hiccup asked as his eyes widened.

"Look, I really don't want to get into it," Astrid responded. "Let's just say, soulmate or not, I should have kicked the guy to the curb ages ago."

They left it at that for the night and Astrid retired to her bed a couple of hours later. When she woke up early the next day she yawned and stretched. 'At least today is Friday,' Astrid thought as she lazily rummaged through her closet for her pink scrubs. It was a literal walk-in closet and she was only using a fourth of that for all the clothes she had.

Astrid got to the Dental office approximately half an hour before she had to start her shift. That would give her enough time to drink her coffee and eat the pretzel she had bought on the way for breakfast. She held the steaming to-go cup gingerly as she walked through the front door only to stop and stare at the man seated in the lobby.

"What the everloving hell are you doing here?!" Astrid asked as she stared at Eret. 'It was too early for this,' her mind muttered and she had to agree.

"Oh Astrid there you are," Melanie came out from the staff room holding a styrofoam cup with a tea bag in it. "Your soulmate asked if he could wait here for you," She proceeded to offer it to Eret while Astrid sighed. She hadn't told her colleagues that she and Eret weren't on speaking terms and of course they would accommodate someone's significant other so she wasn't mad at Melanie.

"Could you give us a minute?" Astrid asked and Melanie nodded before disappearing into the staff room again.

"What are you doing here?!" Astrid asked again as her eyes narrowed. She gripped her cup, but not hard enough to squeeze the coffee out... yet.

"I just wanted to see you, babe," Eret began but Astrid just rolled her eyes.

"Will you cut the crap," She muttered. "Why are you here and I want the truth,"

"Can you... just come back to the apartment?" Eret asked which only got an eyebrow raise from Astrid. "Look, my parents came to visit a few days ago and they were disgusted by the state of the apartment,"

'Well that would explain the constant phone calls,' Astrid realized.

"They were also mad that you left," Eret added. "Look, uhm... just come back. We can surely work this out. Mom and dad will get off our case and I'll make an effort, I promise,"

"No,"

"Great... I'll just... wait, what do you mean by no?!" Eret sputtered.

"What else?" Astrid raised a brow in question. "I've never been better after leaving you. Why in Thor's name would I go back? You're just going to ignore me again,"

"Come on babe. Don't you think that this tantrum of yours has been going on for long enough?" Eret growled. "Even the neighbours are starting to talk,"

"The only reason you even came to find me is because your parents made a stink about the apartment being a mess. You just want a cleaning lady, well guess what that isn't me." Astrid shot back. "You could get off your ass and do some housework too,"

"Astrid babe, we're soulmates. We belong together. You're stuck with me for life remember," Eret countered. "So why don't you just face the music."

"Eret, why don't you just shove it," Astrid stated. "Did you just realize all I did for you when I was gone? I paid half the utilities, and after work, I did the grocery shopping, the household chores, the cooking, the cleaning up after, putting your discarded suitcase away, and picking up the dirty clothes that you couldn't even bother putting in the hamper. Let's not forget I woke up early to not only cook your breakfast but also pack your lunch." She surmised. "Not once... not once have you said thank you,"

"It's not that bad," Eret tried to rebut.

"You got me a freaking toilet plunger for my birthday two years ago because we needed a new one!" Astrid grit her teeth. "Meanwhile, you treated your friend to an expensive dinner at a restaurant for their birthday. Honestly, Eret, to you I'm just there as your maid. Well no more, I'm not going back. You and I are done,"

"Now listen here you bitch! You're going to regret going against me!" Eret said as he grabbed Astrid's arm causing her coffee to spill on the floor.

"Let go!" Astrid yelled which caused Melanie to peek out of the staff lounge to see what was up. Eret however was very angry and he ended up splashing the hot tea onto Astrid's face. Astrid screamed in pain as the hot beverage scaled part of her face and Eret upon realizing what he'd done, let go of her arm and bolted out of the clinic.

Melanie was beside Astrid quickly. She helped her up and to one of the faucets in the lounge where there was cool water. Astrid sobbed as she tried to cool the burns while Melanie dialed 911. The ambulance was there within five minutes, as were the police. Astrid was just a crying wreck as they loaded her up into the back of the vehicle. The pain of the burns had nearly caused her to pass out. Melanie stayed behind to give her statement to the police. She looked forlornly at the ambulance driving off.