I walked into the meeting building shivering from the outside cold. The snow was melting in the warm air making it turn to water that trickled under my cloths. I am going to slap who ever thought it was a good idea to host a world meeting in Russia, in the middle of winter. I shook the few remaining snowflakes off and walked up to the lady at the counter.

She greeted me with a smile and I asked her wich floor the meeting was being held place. After getting the room number I headed into the elevator. A few other nations were already in there, but we payed each other no mind. Normaly I would have tried to start a conversation, but not this time. All my thoughts were on seeing Ivan again for the first time in a month.

I stepped out of the elevator and made a bee line straight for my brother who stood outside the meeting room door. Noticing that I was here he waved hello. I pulled him into a big hug that he happily returned.

"Alfred, calm down, you're going to squish me flat as one of my pancakes. You just saw me a week ago, remember?" He laughed.

I let him go with a laugh of my own. "Sorry bro. I'm just so happy to see you and I'm excited to be here."

"You're excited to be at a meeting?" He asked with a deadpaned look.

"Okay, I'm excited to see everyone again." I rolled my eyes while smiling. "And about the, you know."

He looked at me confused for a brief moment. Then his eyes widened. He looked around the hall before grabbing my arm and pulling me into a nearby closet. I didn't want any nation to find out about my little secret. I want Ivan to be the first person I tell that I'm pregnant.

"So, how do you plan on telling him?" He whispered so no one would hear us.

"I have it wrapped up like a Christmas present. I'm going to give it to him on Christmas three days from now." I told him excitedly. "Ooh, I can't wait to see his face when he opens it!"

"I'm sure it'll be interesting. I bet it's going to be hilarious. Too bad I'll miss it." He shook his head. "How about you take a video of his reaction? That way you can show me later."

"Sure thing bro." I told him with a small laugh. "Come on, we're going to be late. The last thing I need right now is Germany yelling and ruining the mood."

"Do you really think that Ivan will just let someone yell at you?" He deadpaned as we left the closet.

"No, I don't think so." I shook my head fondly. "Definitely not after this Christmas."

"I'm almost looking forward to seeing someone try and yell at you." He snorted.

"For as quiet and innocent as you seem, you really are the evil twin." I pointed out.

"And don't you forget it." He said hip bumping me.

We walked into meeting room and whent our separate ways. He whent to go talk to Gilbert who he's aparently been dating for the last two years. I get why he hadn't told me untill recently. He wanted me to focus on getting better. But why hadn't Gil told me. I know the Awesome Trio hasn't done anything together in a long time, but still. We all were best friends at one point in time.

I shook off the depressing thoughts for now. I instead focused on saying hi too my other family members. The Snow Trio. A big smile stretched across my face as I walked up to the snowy siblings.

"Hey guys! Long time, no see." I greeted them.

"Fredka!" Ivans eyes lit up when he saw me approaching. He pulled me into a kiss when I came close enough. "How have you been?"

"I've been doing great. I've been talking to that person Mattie introduced me too. The kittens and cats have been keeping me company so I'm never too lonely. And weight wise I'm right on track." I told them vaguely. I'm glad they always understood so I never had to elaborate. I didn't want any of the other nations who were listening in to know about my problems.

"That is very good to hear." Kat said happily.

"Thank you." I smiled. I turned to Nat who was massing with something in her bag. "So, how's Snowball doing?"

"His leg has healed and he hopped around my house. See for your self." She said pulling him out of her bag. She held him under his arms so all four of his legs faced me. While his foot was still wrapped up I could tell by his muscle mass that he was using it.

We looked at her in surprise, as did most of the other nearby nations. "Uh, you brought him with you to the meeting?"

"Yes. I told him I had to go and he became sad. So I took him." She said holding the rabbit close to her chest.

"...Okay then. As long as he doesn't chew on anything I don't see why he can't be here." I told her with a big smile as I gave the little guy a scratch on the head.

"He does not chew. He is also potty trained. He is a good rabbit." She cooed at him. This earned her some weird looks from people who didn't know her.

"That's kinda cool. I didn't know you could train a rabbit." I told her.

"EVERY ONE SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN! IT IS TIME FOR THE MEETING TO START!" I heard Germany yell above the noise.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to the three of you at lunch." I said walking away.

"See you soon." They waved after me.

I walked to my seat on the other side of the table. It was near the head of the table, which is the area designated for the G8, China, and South Italy. Prussia always finds a way to squeeze in, usually next to Spain, France, or his brother. I was happy to see that I was placed next to my brother, but my joy fell when I saw that I was also next to England.

I haven't talked to him since the night I kicked him out. Not even for business. Seeing him again made me nervous, but I kept it hidden. When I sat down I did my best to ignore him. It was kinda hard since he was insistent on getting my attention for some reason.

"Today's meeting is about going over everything that was accomplished in each country and what else still needs improvement. Everyone has exactly fifteen minutes. Their will be no going over the limit." Germany said to everyone in the room. "Today we will be starting with France."

"Thank you mon amie." He said standing up.

He gave his speech and I tried to listen and take notes, but I was constantly poked by the island nation that sat next to me. I finally had enough and swatted his hand away. This drew some attention from the others. I saw him blush in embarrassment and turn away. I smirked, continuing my notes in peace. Well, about as much peace as I can get with him saying some smart comment every time someone talked. It was starting to get on my nerves as well as others. When France sat down Gremany whent through the whole G8 one by one untill it was my turn.

I stood up, already hearing the comments from the others. "I am proud to say-"

"Of course you are." England commented.

"Do you have something you want to say?!" I snapped at him surprising all of the nations here. "'Cause everytime some one has said something you feel the need to have to run your mouth. Are really that much of an ass that you have to have all the attention on you every time someone speaks? Cause that's what it looks like to me!"

"Excuse me, but these meetings are ment for people to speak freely." He growled back. He tried to look confident, but hints of nervousness leeked around the edges.

"Yea, about the topic of the meeting and so we can try to resolve fights!" I said yelling louder. "You're just an asshole! All you do is try your best to put down as many people as you can in every meeting! And you wonder why everyone keeps leaving you! Every single time you open your mouth you try to make everyone feel like shit because you can't stand the sight of people being happy without you, you fucking cunt!"

He stared at me wide eyed and with an open mouth. I left the entire room stunned. I was the happy-go-luck nation who always smiled and never yelled at anyone. I always took things in stride and laughed at everyones jokes, even if they were at my expense. I never snap and I never try to hurt anyone. How I was acting now was not normal and raised some concerns among the other nations.

"Okay Alfie. Let's go cool off." I heard Matt say from behind me as he tried guiding me out the door.

"Hell no! The asshole deserves to hear this." I said not really fighting him. The nations in front of us quickly moved out of the way as we walked passed.

"Shh. I know he does, but this is a meeting. We need to go take a quick break." He said soothing me.

"What ever." I flipped England off before we left the room.

He closed the door behind us so we'd have some privacy. "Alright, what's wrong? You don't normally snap at people like that."

"He was being so mean to everyone. Any time someone would take he'd have something to say. And he was poking me earlier too." I huffed with my arms crossed.

"He does that all the time. You usually have more control then that." He told me gently. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I got so irritated so quickly. I was kinda bitch wasn't I?" I asked sadly. A few tears pricked at my eyes making them shiny.

"A little bit." He said making me feel worse. "But it's not like he didn't deserve it!" He quickly added when he saw a tear run down my face.

"I don't want to be mean!" I cried.

"Oh crap." He muttered and pulled out his phone. "I'm texting Ivan."

"What are you telling him?" I asked him as tears fell down my face.

"I'm asking him to bring you your hot sauce bottle." He said looking up.

"Ooooh! Tell him to bring my package of twizilers too! And my Twinkies as well. Oh, and my hard salami." I asked him feeling better by the though of food.

"Good lord Alfred. What did you do, bring your entire pantry?" He asked me while shaking his head.

"No. I brought part of it, but not all." I said defensively.

The door opened just then by Ivan who had an arm full of seemingly random foods. It wasn't random to me since I had been eating an odd assortment of foods for the last month. What ever my body told me to eat I didn't hesitate scarfing down. Even if it looked like throw up.

"Fredka. Are you alright?"  He asked me as he set the goodies down on a table.

"Yea. I'm doing good. How about you?" I asked him diving for the pile of food. I shoved three twizilers in the Twinkie, then I forced the salami in between the twizilers. Finaly I put the hit sauce on over top the whole thing. I made four of the unusual snack.

"Alfred, are you really going to eat that?" He asked and I took a bite out of one.

"Yep! God, this is some good stuff!" I moaned happily.

I saw his give Canada a confused look. He only rolled his. "Alright Alfred. Are you still angry? Or sad, or whatever."

"Nope, I'm all good now." I told them with a smile. "I can go back it."

"Good. Let's get this meeting done and over with." Mattie guided me back into the room with a confused Ivan following close behind.

"Mon cher. Are you feeling alright? You normally don't act like that." Francis asked when we walked back in.

"Yea dude. I'm fine." I said taking another bite. He made a face at the weirdly made treat.

"America, you know better! Their is not eating...in...the..." He slowly stuttered to a stop when I gave him my fiercest glare.

"This is my twinkies! I'll eat it wherever I want to." I hissed venomously at the Germanic nation. He immediately backed off and sat back down. With a small smile of triumph I sat back in my seat and continued my snack. "Well. Lets get this show on the road."

The meeting went by like any other if you didn't count my outburst this morning. It freaked a lot of the other nations out. I didn't like it since it made them a bit wary of me. I hate it when people are scared of me. I'm the hero after all, I'm not supposed to make people scared. Know I did put me in a gloomy mood all morning. On the plus side it did shut the island nation up for the rest of the morning half of the meeting.

When Germany called for lunch I practically bounced over to the Snow Trio. "Hey guys. Man, that meeting took forever. Nothing interesting happend." I complained.

"Well, you did scare everyone into their best behavior." Kat said with a worried look.

"I didn't mean too." I whined miserably. "I just wanted England to shut his mouth. I never wanted to scare the others."

"It is okay. Everyone has bad days and they will understand that. They will be over it by the time lunch is over." Ivan said kissing the top of my head.

"I hope you're right." I leaned against him when he wrapped his arms around my waist. "I hope you don't mind that we're waiting for my brother and Gilbert."

"Who is Gilbert?" Natalia asked.

"Only the awesome Prussia!" A voice said behind us.

"Hello Gil." I turned to face the albino nation. He still could tend as one too me, even if his original nation was dissolved. "Long time, no see."

"Yea, West has been keeping me busy." He said waving his hand.

"For two and a half years?" I asked drily.

"Uh, yea. Maybe it wasn't all him." He laughed nervously.

"That's what I thought." I grumbled under my breath and turned away.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

I perked my head up, not entirely sure I heard him right. "What did you say?"

"I'm sorry. You were, are, one of my best friends and I ignored you for such a long time." He dropped his head, refusing to make eye contact. "I refused to acknowledge how that made you felt, how badly it hurt you."I know you might not forgive me, but please know that I truly am sorry."

"It's okay." I told him with a small smile.

He looked up at me surprised. "You forgive me?"

"It was in the past." I told him with a wave of my hand. "The only thing that matters now is moving forward and doing better. If you're really, truly sorry you'll do your best to make up for it. That's how I'll know you meant what you said."

"Sure thing Alfred." He grinned.

"Good. You can start by being honest with your relationship with my brother." My smiled turned a little darker.

"Oh, uh, yea, okay. Well, for the last two years or so I've been dating your brother." He admitted nervously.

"I know."

"Then why did you ask me about it if you already knew?" He asked surprised.

"I wanted to see if you'd be honest." I told him. "Now, let's all go and eat something. I'm starving."

"Alfred, you've been eating through the entire meeting." Kat pointed out.

"Still hungry though." I told her.

"Well, I'm glad your appetite is back." Mattie said with a small smile.

"What do you mean? Was he sick?" Gilbert asked confused. Mattie cursed under his breath and the others stiffened.

"Well, in a way I was." I began the story.

When I was done telling him everything starting from the Ivan and I were grounded to the house for a month lunch time was nearly over. We were currently sitting in a small restaurant about a block down from the meeting building. Ivan, Nat, and I sat on one side while Mattie, Kat, and Gil sat on the other. He looked across the table at me with a mixed expression. It was sad, guilty, and relieved.

"I'm not sure what to say other than I'm sorry. For not being there for you when you needed me most." He said hanging his head. "I'm a pretty shitty friend."

"Yea, you kinda are." I agreed as I put a fry in my mouth. "But you're still one of my closest friends."

"Aww, I'm not your bestfriend?" He laughed.

"Nope. That honor goes to Ivan here." I pointed at him with my fry.

"Hey! What about me." Mattie pouted.

"You're my twin. You have a position that can never be replaced." I told him lovingly.  He rolled his eyes with a small smile.

"We better get back to the meeting. West will throw a hissy fit if we're late." Prussia said looking at his phone.

"I do not think we should worry. Alfred can metaphorically rip off his head if he starts shouting at us." Natalia said with a small smile.

"Nooo." I whined playfully. "I've made enough people scared of me already today."

"Don't worry, you don't have to scare him." Mattie said with a small smile. "You already did that when he told you to stop eating." People on the other side of the restaurant could clearly hear my head hit the table.

We whent back and the meeting continued like normal. Turns out Ivan was wlright when he said that everyone would get over it by the time lunch was over. I felt relieved that no one was truly scared of me. Even the ever nervous Lithuania didn't seem fazed by my previous out burst.

The meeting still whent smoothly though. All the way up untill the end. A couple of countries broke out into a fist fight. Normaly it was my job to break up fights, but I couldn't now. All the other nations stared at me expectantly while I stood there not knowing what to do.

"Well, aren't you going to do something America?" Austria asked me.

"Um, uh." I studered. Ivan was looking at me worried and fight was getting out of hand.

"Alfred." I heard Mattie whisper in my ear.

"Yea?" I asked whispering back.

"Remeber that thing Veve did to us when we had a spat?" He asked.

"Yea. I do. That could work." I said nodding. He took as step back. I cleared my voice, steadied myself, and washed all emotion but anger off my face.

"ENOUGH!" I roared loudly catching everyones attention. I slowly started stalking up to them, intimidating them. "We are at this meeting to solve world problems and you two are acting like a couple of wild animals fighting over a scrap of meat! Maybe if you two weren't acting like little children we could actually come up with something! So behave and stop acting like little bitches!" I smacked both of them upside their heads hard.

They both yelped and quickly sat back down at their seats. The room was dead silent. No one cares to speak or even move. I turned to see Mattie partially hiding behind a chair.

"That was scary. You sounded exactly like her." Mattie said getting back up.

"I could tell, you never hide." I said worried.

"Don't worry about me. That just scared me, I'm fine now. Looks like I'm not the only who was intimidated by you yelling." He laughed as he pointed to the rest of the people in the meeting. Everyone had sat down perfectly straight. I deflated a little at that.

"Hey guys. I didn't mean to scare any of you. At least not this badly." I apologized sincerely, guilt lacing my voice.

"It is okay." Germany said standing up. "You handled the situation like you were supposed too, that is all that matters. As for the rest of you, the meeting is now over. We will have another in January. Keep an eye out for the date."

Everyone got up and left in an orderly fashion for the first time in years. They talked in hush wisperes as they left. Some sent concerned or wary glances my way. I walked down to the front entrance with a smile on my face, not letting a single thing I feel inside show. The last to leave was my family who made sure I would be okay.

"Don't worry about me guys. I have Ivan with me." I told them as I gave each them a hug.

"Okay, but do let us know if you need anything." Kat told me in that motherly way of hers.

"Will do Kit-Kat." I smiled at her and she laughed at the nick name.

"We are all here to help." Nat told me as she pet Snowball. That rabbit is going to be fat and spoiled, I can see it now.

"I know." I pulled her into a quick hug. She didn't like touch too much, so I respected her space.

"Same gos for me bro. I know I wasn't their for you before, but I am now." He said rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Sure thing bud." I pulled him into a hug as well. He patted my back a few times while hugging back. I let go of him and pulled my brother into a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you bro."

"I'll miss you too." He burried his face in my neck. He then whispered. "Keep your chin up, you still have that surprise for Ivan."

I laughed and let him go. They all walked to their cars and drove away. I waved good bye and waited for Ivan to pull around with the car. We didn't need to go to my hotel room since all my stuff was already picked up by some of Ivans people. That included the cats.

"Are you ready to go see your kittie?" I asked him as I got in the car.

"Da. I missed him so much. My house is just not the same without him." He told me with a bittersweet smile.

"Well. He's home now, and waiting for you." I grinned and laughed.

The drive home was spent catching up with each other. I showed him the few mind teasers I had so that when ever I get upset I used them to distract me so I didn't need the band anymore. He said he was proud of me and how far I've came. We even talked about space for a while.

"That was one of my biggest dreames when I was little." I told him.

"Touching a star?" He asked with a fond smile.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It was my second eldest sisters dream. She was in love with the stars. She wanted to be a part of them. To be where they were." I told him with a soft smile. "Her favorite star just so happens to be Mars too. That's why I'm trying so hard to get my people to go there. I want them to bring back a rock so I can give it my sister. Just like I did with the moon."

"The moon?" He questioned.

"It was Vinelands favorite. She loved the moon. It was actually the only thing she ever admitted to love. My cold, stotic sister who believe that most emotions were a hindrance actually said she loved something." I gave a small laugh. "I always belived that the moon had to be something special if it could make her feel love."

"She didn't love you or your siblings?" He asked confused.

"She did, she just never said it out loud. She never admitted it." I told him. "But she never had too. I could feel it in everything she did."

"She wasn't very expressive whith her emotions, was she?" He asked.

"No, she always hid behind a mask of anger and cold heartedness. I unfortunately took after her, though mine was a little diffrent." I laughed dryly. "But yea, they are one of the reasons why I love space. They'll never be able to go out and see the things they could only love from a distance. But I can, I will, and I'll bring some back from them."

"That is a noble goal. I hope you are able to do that for them." He told me with a gental smile.

"Thanks. What about you? Why do you love them so much?" I asked him.

"Hmm. I always felt a conection to them. I always felt a wonder for what they could possibly be or why they were so far away." He told me. "They are so beautiful and I always wanted to see what made them like that."

"Well, we know now, but I think that makes me all the more intrigued by them." I told him.

"Yes, I feel the same now that I know some of those stars are other worlds." He agreed. "Here we are. This is my home."

We pulled into a long drive way that led to a large mansion. It was even bigger then my biggest house! It was old looking, but was kept up with. Snow sat on it steep roof, shining in the fading sun light. A thick, pine forest surrounded the place. It was kinda beautiful, like fairy tail beautiful.

"Wow. You live here? It's huge." I said amazed.

"Da, and for the next while so will you." He told me as he parked the car.

I got out still staring at the house in amazement. It was three stories tall and very long. About twice as long as my house. The large porch looked hand made, as did the front door and the few pieces of furniture on the porch.

"Want to come in? It looks better on the inside." Ivan said with a small smirk from where he stood at the door.

"Oh, yea. Sorry. I've been to a lot of mansions in my life, but this has to one of the biggest if not the biggest." I told him with a small blush on my face.

"Thank you. I built it myself." He told me.

"Seriously? You built all this by yourself?" I asked him amazed. It was such a large feat for only one man, even if they are a nation.

"Da. It took me a while, but I built it." He opened the door.

Stepping in to his house was like stepping back in time. Things from all across the centuries decorated the house. Paintings, old furniture, vases, small statues, and much more. The stuff wasn't all cluttered together either. Everything was in it's proper place.

"This place is nice." I told him impressed.

"Thank you. I have collected many things over the centuries and palced them here." He told me as he looked over his artifacts.

"How come?"

"I never want to forget the past, even when it hurts. If I forget when it hurts then I forget all the joy it brought as well." He told as he led me down the hall.

He brougbt me into a large kitchen that had an old, classy look to it. There, sitting next to his food bowl was Lampushka. I barley made out the blur as Ivan when he dove past me. He scooped the fluffy cat into his harms, holding him close to his heart. Said cat purred louder then I've ever heard him purr before. He was licking Ivans facea and rubbing his nose. It was honestly the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

"Aww, someone missed you." I cooed lovenly at them.

"Da. I missed him too." He said. He put his cat down after a few more minutes of cuddling.

"I think someone is glad to be home." I laughed softly.

"Da. He is." He said standing up to face me. "I forgot to say this when we came in, but, welcome home Fredka."

A large grin broke across my face and I ran into his arms. He wrapped his strong arms me in a tight bear hug. I could hear his steady heart beat through his chest. His warmth radiated through his cloths and seeped into my skin.

"It's good to be home." I told him softly.

____________________________________

There you are, chapter two. I hope you all enjoyed it. Sorry it's kinda late, work has been wearing me down. But at least it's a decent length chapter.

I'm posting this half asleep, so please point out any errors.