Hiccup walked along the street with his chocolate lab Toothless as he turned the corner to go into his usual coffee shop. Time had been good to him. He went to a very nice college and had a couple of dates and had a great job at his uncle's repair shop. Life was good, all the tragedy that happened his last year of high school floated away. He was moving on and becoming a great engineer.

He tied Toothless up to a bike post and went into coffee shop and waited in line. A woman in front of him with red curly hair reminded him of Merida DunBroch. A high school friend of his and an old crush that never turned into anything. The woman turned to take her order and he discovered it wasn't her.

He sighed, he wondered what she and Jack were doing. He hadn't spoken to them since graduation...and that wasn't a great last conversation. He shook the thought from his mind. He had moved on, he had new friends from college and work. But still he did miss his old group, he wished it had ended on better terms.

Once he got his coffee he untied Toothless and went on with his usual walk back to his house which he shared with his work friends Tuffnut and Ruffnut. They were siblings who were training to be stunt doubles, they were very odd but he liked them just the same.

He went into his house, the twins were out doing who knows what. So he had the place to himself. He sat on his big leather couch and began watching tv as Toothless slept on the floor tired from his walk.

His cell phone rang about five minutes later. It was his friend Astrid.

"Hey Astrid," he said.

"Hey I was wondering do you want to go play some pool at Gothi's Snotlout and Heather don't think we can beat them," Astrid asked.

"Sure I'll be there in a few." Hiccup said.

Life couldn't be better than this.

.....
Merida sat in a waiting room of the police facility. How many people could her parole officer have?

'Maybe that's why so many people skip parole, it's too much of a wait.' She thought.

She took out a cigarette and lighted it. She inhaled the smoke and puffed it out slowly instantly calming her nerves.

"Excuse me miss you can't smoke in here." The lady said at the desk.

Merida gave an unamused look at the lady. "It calms me down, I just need a few drags, I'm actually trying to quit."

It wasn't exactly a lie, she did want to quit. But she wasn't trying to at the moment.

"Well here I'll help you, put out the cigarette or get out and skip parole Miss DunBroch."

Merida rolled her eyes and went outside and stomped on her cigarette. She went back inside and sat down.

"I hope your happy you just made me litter. If that gets brought up in my report I'm holding you responsible." Merida said.

The woman at the counter rolled her eyes and went back to her work.

Finally it was Merida's turn to go meet with her parole officer. He was an alright guy. Wasn't rude, but he did ask her a lot of questions which was kind of annoying, but it was part of his job description. It was funny because he didn't look like a parole officer from first glance. Whenever Merida thought of one she would think of this tough bald grey mustache retired cop named Joe or Bob something tough but generic. However hers was a tall slender 40 year old man named Angus that wore thick eye glasses.

"Alright Merida how have you been." Angus said shuffling through his papers.

"Life sucks, how about you?" She asked.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I've been alright but what's going on with you? How's that job at Lucky's?"

"I got fired." She replied.

"For what?"

"Eh I don't think that would help my report." Merida replied honestly.

"Merida you need to hold on to a job. You're a smart woman."

"If I was smart I wouldn't have gotten caught for shoplifting." Merida said.

"Merida I like you I really do but it's really hard to help you when you don't seem to take it."

"I don't want your help Angus. I was doing fine on my own."

"You were arrested for shoplifting 1500 dollars worth of jewelry and before that you were living in your car." Angus said.

"Nobody's perfect Angus." Merida said.

She could see Angus was trying, he always tried to see the best in her. She sighed feeling the tinge of guilt.

"Okay I'm sorry. Is there any other jobs you know of that would hire me?" Merida asked.

"Well there is one place but I have to pull a couple of strings but I think it could work." Angus replied happily.

"What is it?"

"It's at Sandy's Diner. You would be a waitress there but you wouldn't be able to be a cashier due to your past conviction." Angus said.

"A waitress, I think I could deal with that." Merida said.

"You're going to have to because if you don't you'll have to look for jobs out of town." Angus said.

"Thanks Angus, I'll try to hold on to this one for you." She said honestly.

"Thanks now our last question, what are your goals?"

"To get some legal money and buy an apartment for myself." Merida said.

"Good. Now who are you living with now?"

"My friend Jamie MacIntosh, he's a good guy, he works at a pub downtown. I almost applied there but the owner wasn't looking for anyone," she said.

"That's good, and don't worry I think Sandy's will be a perfect fit." Angus said.

Authors note: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please vote and comment!!