I'M BACKKKKKKKK~

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After everyone had finished cleaning up breakfast the children ran off to their own cliques. Some of the nations had managed to shift into cliques: England often hung out with the magic state trio, Italy was often found in the workshop with Miles and Katie, France loved to play with the young children and loved to braid Anastasia's long hair, Spain and Ludwig busied themselves in the gym with Brody, Noah, and Gabe, and the familiar nations kept to their own business. When Alfred went into the living room he saw Ukraine brushing Belarus' hair while Estonia and Latvia asked more questions to Lithuania. Ivan was sitting on the couch, cooing at Quincy who giggled at his papa's stupid facial expressions. It finally occurred to the blonde that he hadn't spent much time with Ivan's family and saw the welcomed day of peace as his opportunity.

"How about we all spend the day together? All seven of us!" Alfred asked excitedly. Lithuania and Belarus automatically nodded with smiles gracing their lips. Estonia and Latvia shrugged at each other and nodded as well, while Ukraine clapped and jumped giddily in her seat. Ivan picked up Quincy and walked over to Alfred, kissing his temple.

"That is a wonderful idea, sunflower! All of us can play games and watch a movie together!" Ivan yelped cutely. Alfred smiled at the group and waved them along.

"Alright! I'll get the media room set up! I've got the perfect flick!" Alfred began to walk down the hallway.

"Alfred, what is it?" Toris asked while cocking an eyebrow.

"It's a surprise! Just get comfy in the media room!" Alfred went to the film room and went through a bunch of his old DVDs. After a few minutes, Alfred finally found the film and put it into the media player. He then went to the viewing area where he found all of the previously known USSR: all of them were sitting on beanbag chairs, munching on popcorn and chocolates, and swaddled in soft blankets. Ukraine noticed Alfred standing there, tapping Ivan and putting out her hands to take Quincy. Once she did Ivan spread his legs and had Alfred lay his body back, cuddling him with a blanket as the movie began to play.

DADDY DAYCARE

Flashed on the screen and the movie's first scene began. The movie didn't make much sense to Latvia, so Estonia and America did explain a few scenes. The group all laughed when the dads in vegetable costumes began to wrestle and cried when all the kids were shown to be unhappy in the expensive school. They liked it when the little girls put makeup on the fatter dad and when the nerdy dad failed at flirting. Ukraine shouted in worry when the evil schoolmaster unplugged the bounce house at the fundraiser and Estonia pointed out how dangerous that was to do. However, the happy ending made them all smile. Surprisingly, Quincy had fallen asleep during the movie. Alfred got up and gently grabbed the youngin from his soon to be sister-in-law.

"Fredka, I will go set up some board games. What would you suggest?" Ivan asked as Belarus helped Lithuania fold the blankets.

"Hm, get out UNO and Monopoly. I'm going to put Quincy in his crib and turn on the monitor in case he wakes up," Alfred explained as he made his way upstairs. He entered his room and laid Quincy in his warm crib, tucking him under the plush quilt Sweden had knitted for the little baby. As he gazed at his son, Alfred felt a chill in the air. He was alert immediately and whipped his head around, feeling a breeze blow past him. Looking back behind him, he saw his mother.

"Maska, he is beautiful," she complimented softly. She grazed Quincy's cheek with her knuckles softly, looking up to Alfred.

"Mama? What are you doing here?" Alfred asked as tears began to well up in his eyes. Catori stepped close to him and gently pet his cheeks, using her thumbs to wipe his tears. She kissed his forehead and smiled softly, backing away a bit and placing a hand on Alfred's belly. She giggled softly and looked at Alfred with shining eyes, "mama?"

"I will protect them, my dear. I will protect all of your children and all your family," she knelt and kissed Alfred's belly, "these little ones are strong, just like you," she stood up and began to dissolve. Her voice kept echoing around him, saying the same thing, "I'll protect them". Turning on the monitor and connecting it to his phone, he quickly moved downstairs to the game room.

"These? Why did she say 'these' as if there's more than one...unless my mind is playing with me...Mama hasn't talked to me in decades...Why would she suddenly pop up out of nowhere?" Alfred shook his head, "there's no way it was really her...it was all a trick..."

When Alfred finally opened the door to the game room, he saw Latvia had already shuffled the UNO cards and began to deal out the piles.

"Ah! There you are Fredka! Raivis just began to give out the cards! Take a seat next to me!" Ivan smiled softly and patted on a therapeutic pillow. Alfred smiled brightly and sat down, picking up his weirdly patriotic deck made of reds, blue, sevens, and fours. Alfred groaned as the playing started and he had to pick up a card three turns in a row. The playful sputters of frustration made the group laugh as Alfred puffed out his cheeks. Ukraine won the first two games on UNO, which made her so ecstatic. By then it was almost lunch, so Alfred got up.

"I'm going to make some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Tori I know you already want two, Natalia two, Ivan four, what about the rest of you?" Alfred asked.

"I will only have one, Mr. America," Latvia smiled happily.

"I will have two, America, thank you," Eduard nodded as Alfred wrote down the orders and looked to Ukraine.

"I have already been doing the winning for a while, I will help you in the kitchen," Ukraine got up and gently guided Alfred away.

"You don't have to Ukraine, I can do-"

"Nope, I have already made up my mind. Please, Alfred, call me Katyusha. Or simply Kat to save time. We are brother and sister after all," Ukraine smiled at him as the two arrived. Alfred began to lay out the ingredients and he instructed Kat on how to make them. They began spreading mayo on all the bread and layering the different cheeses, assembling the sandwiches and putting them in the oven to get crispy and golden. While they were waiting, Alfred was twiddling his thumbs.

"Should I see if Kat thinks it's weird? She seems older and a lot wiser, plus she's technically my big sister. She won't judge me," Alfred gulped and took a deep breath, "Kat, have you ever had connections with those not of this life?" he asked. Ukraine looked at him with a quizzical look and put a hand on his shoulder.

"If you are referring to those of the spiritual world, yes. General Winter is a greater being that takes the form of a spirit. He has aided my sister, brother, and I on many occasions,"

"I mean...like...the ancients," Alfred elaborated as he visibly got red from nervousness. Ukraine was shocked at hearing that. She began to think about her answer. She couldn't tell Alfred that the nations had been in contact with his mother, at least not yet. So, straightening up, she cleared her throat.

"The ancients have the capability to come to our world and guide us. They alone have the power to relay their visions onto us, per their duty as our predecessors. They normally mean no harm and oftentimes only break the boundaries of life and death to give us messages of great importance," Ukraine worded her answer carefully. She then noticed Alfred pale and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "what brought this up, Alfred?"

"O-Oh, nothing. I was just curious is all. I didn't know if the ancients could see the baby or whatever, I'm just super excited!" Alfred squeaked out the response quickly. Before Ukraine could question him further, the oven beeped and Alfred shot up, "food's done!" Alfred quickly got on the oven mitts and pulled out the tray of many grilled cheese sandwiches. Ukraine got small paper plates as well as a spatula as Alfred began to put the sandwiches on a platter. The two walked back to the game room in worrisome silence.

The group had fun playing games with each other and Alfred received many more compliments about his cooking. However, Ukraine did text the other nations when Alfred wasn't looking. So once the night sky painted the sky and everybody was supposedly in bed, the nations gathered in the living room.

"Ukraine, what was with the weird text?" Hungary asked looking at her phone. England nodded and looked at his phone.

"Something is not right with Alfred, meet in the living room after dark," England read off his phone. Ivan was worried as he noticed the slight awkwardness between his sister and husband after coming back from the kitchen.

"He asked me about the ancients and if I ever met any through their spirit," Ukraine explained. Many nations looked worriedly at her.

"Vhat did jou say?" Germany questioned with a serious tone.

"I said that the ancients choose when they appear in our world and only come for important reasons. I did not wish to tell him about his mother," Ukraine answered. France dug in the pocket of his bathrobe.

"Well zen," he pulled out the cracked marble, "shall we?" the crowd of nations looked between one another, nodding in unison. China counted down before the group chanted in unison.

"Memoja Maska"

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The next chapter will be longer and will be a memories chapter! Thanks for everyone who has been sticking by me! I went through a bit of writer's block and needed to plan the timeline accordingly. Now that I jumped the hurdle that was that awkward last chapter, the story will progress a lot nicer and flow a lot easier!

I hoped you all liked it, Starlings!

Kimiko Lee