Well, this is my first fanfiction ever, enjoy :)

I decided to change the personalities of Canada and the Netherlands, because I think Matthew is too often portrayed as an unstable and shy person. This is quite in contrary with the Canadian army in WW2, when they liberated the Dutch from Nazi-Germany. The Netherlands is actually somewhat submissive here, otherwise it would be harder for Canada to be a hero. I may have given him some more balls than usual, but he is still a gentleman who can handle pretty and submissive woman better than stubborn men with the size of 2 meters ;) Netherlands is a woman because I find it fitting better in the story. Ludwig is well, Ludwig.

I am thinking about maybe writing another chapter or two for this story, please let me know if you would like to read more about this pairing!

She nervously stood up from her bed when she heard the firm and loud knocking on the front door, immediately knowing who was waiting behind it. It could only be Ludwig, the man whose stern behaviour is reflected in the way he knocks. In fact, Ellis thought while she walked off the stairs and towards the living room, someone's personality has a lot ways to appear in someone's unconsious behaviour than most people think of. Francis for example, had a playful, irregular pattern of tapping his gentle fingers on the hard wood of her front door. When Matthew, a Canadian general, would stand in front of her door, she would hardly notice it. Afraid to wake anybody, or to get caught by a german soldier on guard, he would lightly trip his knuckles on the door, faintly touching the wood. She calls him Matthew, a priviledge he insisted on, since he thought that 'general Williams' would sound too distant. Talking about distances, hers with the Canadian was rapidly declining, both physically and psychiologically.

Her thoughts were disrupted by a stern voice.

"Aufmachen!'

How many times has she heard that by now? In the beginning, his strong and strict voice creeped her out, knowing that troubles were heading up. But now, it hardly scares her anymore, only causing her to shiver a bit. She opened the door peeking through the crack.

'Don't pretend like you don't know who I am, I only came to deliver the weekly amount of coupons you can use for food.'

Oh yes, foodcoupons.

At some point during her occupation by Germany, Ludwig's boss decided that her people needed foodcoupons to 'make sure everyone got what their family deserved.' It was not difficult to figure that the fact that this was the easiest way to control what people would consume was a bycoming benefit, a very important benefit. It started with just a few coupons here and there for different things, but by now there even existed coupons to buy new shoes. However, these coupons did provid not enough food to feed herself, let alone a whole family. The Nazis controlled almost every kind of goods that was being sold. but sometimes, people managed to gather food illegally by smuggling it into the country and to the families. At some point, people got so hungry that they even used tulip bulbs to make soup out of it. It tastes bitter and like vegetable waste, but it was better than starving to death.

Lately, militairy forces from other countries had managed to get into the country and helped the underground civillian forces. The English, Swedish and especially Canadian soldiers have tried to drop food by smuggling it into the country or simply delivering it by packages they dropped out of planes. She didn't know how much it was each time, but she was sure they save some lives with that. And every soul of her people that was saved by this kind of help was worth it. Out of all military forces, the Canadians seemed to be most insisted on helping her people. She wondered why people from a country so big and far away would care about such a rather small country like hers. In the beginning they were only for small periods of time in her country, but after a few months their presence seemed to be unmistakable. They walked in troops over her land and started to fight the germans, step by step. It was in one of those fights that she met Matthew.

The Canadian was nothing like the others that had encountered her country in the past. He did not remind her of the English, determined to crush her country's economy to small pieces during her Golden Age when it was getting intimidating to them. Nor like his colonial father, the French who pretended to be 'freeing' them from the suffering her people went through. This 'freeing' consisted of overpowering her people and harassing her daughters. Luckily, they got rid of this 'French Revolution' in a few years.

No, Matthew and his boys didn't come here to take over her economy, nor to rule her land. All he came for (and, damn, all the way from the New World!) was her freedom. The freedom of the Netherlands. When he would have achieved that, he would guide his men back to their homes. Maybe even the fact that he didn't come here for his own profit but just to liberate her from Ludwig and his men,was the reason why he was so special to her. At least, thinking of him made her knees weak and gave her a weird feeling in her stomach.

'I heard that you have been talking to the enemy.'

Ludwig was already in the living room, taking up everything he saw as if it was the first time he was there. Ellis decided to claim innocence. Sure, she knew that if Ludwig really wanted to know something, then he had enough strength to get the information out of her anyway. This however, doesn't necessarily mean that she would give him that information so easily.

"What enemy?' Ludwig only grunted in response to this. He rubbed his fingers with his eyes, making him look tired.

'What enemy do you think I am talking about, Ellis?

Before she could even think about making up an answer, he slammed his fist on the hardwood table nearby. The sudden loud noise made her heart skip a beat.

'Die Kanadier natürlich!' Ludwig looked downright aggresive now.

'I have nothing to do with Canadians!' She knew he wouldn't believe her, but it was the best she could come up with.

Ludwig sighed, his anger faded away and made place for disappointment. 'You know that I already know that they're here right? You could better tell me the thruth, that would make it easier for both of us.'

After this being said, he started to look around her living room again, but this time with a different look in his eyes. This time he was searching for something.

'If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you probably have nothing to hide. Would you mind if I take a look for a second?' His question sounded innocent, but his smirk gave away that he was not going to just admire her furniture. Ellis swallowed, but nodded at Ludwig. After all, there was nothing interesting to be found in her house, right? Johan had all the secret papers in his underground cellar and as far as she knew, the smuggled food was not in her kitchen anymore. Ludwig opened one of the cupboard in her kitchen and started to count the cups and plates. 'Why would he do that?', Ellis wondered.

'I do this to check how many used kitchen utilities you have. I am just wondering how many guests you have coming over every now and then'.

'Damn', she thought, ' am I really that easy to read?' She had to work on her pokerface. It might come in handy in the near future.

After checking the kitchen, Ludwig went to the stariway and made his way up. He opened the first door he encountered, entering her bedroom.

'Maybe you might want to respect a woman's privacy a little more, Ludwig.' Ludwig quickly turned around, but this time with a faint red blush on his cheeks.

'The bedroom is part of the house as well, I have to check if everything is in order.' He said this with a stern voice, but the blush on his cheeks and the way he suddenly didn't look her in the eyes anymore, but instead looked at the ground, betrayed that he was a little taken aback by her. Although he had easily overpowered his cousin, he still tried to show some good manners towards her, claiming that he knew better than those 'untermenschen'.

'Make it quick.' She didn't like to have him in her bedroom. The bedroom was a woman's own space and she decided which man would enter it, not him. And if the choice was up to her, she'd rather have a canadian general in the room than her upstart younger cousin. Oh, there we go again. Why was this man always on her mind lately?

Ludwig was now looking under her bed. He tried to blow away some of the dust and a smile creeped on Ellis' face when he got some of it in his eyes. 'Scheisse!' Ludwig cursed and rubbed his eyes, standing up again. When his eyes were clean again Ludwig went to the other side of the room, to the wardrobe. 'Mind if I take a look?' He looked over to Ellis. As an answer, she shrugged.

Ludwig started first with the drawers, finding nothing of his interest. However, Ellis noticed how he quickly closed one of the drawers again when he saw it contained her underwear. 'This guy can be overpowering almost the half of Europe, but when it comes to women he is still like a 12-year old', she thought to herself. Ludwig went on to the closet where the rest of her clothing hung. Ellis was just about to leave the room to make some tea when Ludwig turned slowly towards her.

'Ellis, what is this?' He took a coat from the closet. A Canadian army winter coat.

Ellis felt her face become pale and swallowed. 'Shit, shit shiiiiiiit!', she thought, 'how am I going to explain this?'

'You might want to explain to me why you hace a Canadian army coat hanging in your closet.' Ludwig's face was now clear from any emotion.

'I eh, I found that one in the woods. I thought I'd bring it home since the winter is pretty cold this year.' She made herself ready for a smack in the face, or one of the worst tantrums from Ludwig she would ever experience. For seconds they stood there, as if they were made of stone, looking at each other. The tantrum Ellis expected didn't come, instead he hung the coat back in the closet and closed the door. With large steps he walked past her to the hallway and down the stairs. Ellis hurried after him. 'What are you doing?', she asked with a high pitch voice. She panicked and thought about his possible plans. He didn't hit her, so he was probably going to venture his anger anywhere else. She didn't want to be responsible for another Kristallnacht.

'I am going home, I realized that inspecting your house won't help me any further anymore. You won't give me honest answers on my questions anyway. However, don't think that because I didn't do anything today, your actions will not have any consequences. I only have to think about them in another state.' The angry but stable tone with which he said this made her shiver.

'So what are you going to do now?'

'I already told you, I am going home now.' He turned around and went trough her front door, closing it fiercely.

There she stood, the personification of the Netherlands. Alone. The only moment when she ever felt alone like this she could recall, was when Belgium had told her that she wanted to leave her, centuries ago. She started hugging herself, and let her head hang. 'Well done girl,' she thought. 'Now you did not only give him new information, but you will probably also be responsible for another razzia.'

For a few minutes she stood there, thinking about the possible consequences. The longer she stood there, the more depressed she became. The temperature in the hallway wasn't helping either, so she decided to go to bed 'before she would mess up even more today'. When she entered the bedroom it felt almost alien to her, as if she hadn't been there for years. Immediately she walked toward her wardrobe and opened the closet. She took out the Canadian army coat and held it in her hands. 'I can better burn you now, before we both become responsible for horrendous acts.' Even before she actually said it all she realized what she was actually saying and hit herself in the face with her free hand. 'What the heck am I thinking? Burning a coat in this winter? Am I going insane?' She put on the coat and sat on the bed. The sudden warmth of the coat made her feel sleepy and comfortable. Moreover, the scent of a certain Canadian general made her feel dizzy and gave life to the butterflies in her stomach. She crawled into bed with her clothes on and lay there for a few minutes. The warmth and Canadian scent felt like a miracle to her, a safe haven she haven't had in years. Matthew and his boys were going to save her, right? Everything would be okay, she just had to wait and help her people survive and then it would all end soon. She hugged herself again and brushed with her cheek against her shoulder. Yes, everything was going to be okay, thanks to Matthew. With this thought in her head she fell asleep, a small smile curling on her lips.

FLASHBACK

"Here, have my coat. You need it more than I do."

"But, but..It's winter! It's freezing outside! You'll freeze to death without your coat!"

"You'd better worry about yourself, I'm not as ill as you are already. Please, ask Ludwig for some more soup. I will try to make my soldiers bring your people more food but I have to watch out, I think Ludwig knows I'm here and he'll beat you up until he has the information he needs."

"I'll survive, I have been beaten up worse before. At least Ludwig doesn't want me to be his own private playtoy, like others expected from me in the past." She realised what she had just said and her cheeks turned red. She looked to the ground, aware of the painful situation.

Matthew sighed. This wasn't something for her to be ashamed of, she couldn't help it.

"I know Ellis , that's not the point. I know you will survive, you are a strong woman. It's that I don't want him or anyone else to touch you.'

Only the thought of it made him feel sick already. He looked in her blue eyes, her face that was once full of joy and energy. What was left of it was the face of a woman that has seen hunger and misery. The chapped skin on her cheeks and her hollow eyes made her look older than she actually was. He run a hand through her hair. He didn't understand how Ludwig could starve his cousin and her people to a slow and miserable death. Sure, his own people weren't having a good meal every evening as well, but why didn't he let her at least be able to take care of her own food? Why did she have to report every single slice of bread that she was able to get her hands on?

They heard a cracking noise on the rooftop. They both held in their breath until they heard the typical cry of a seagull.

"You need to go, Ludwig can be here any minute."

"Indeed. Besides, I still need to have a chat with Johan about the secret food packages that we're going to send you. You know, that guy from the rebellion front. How did you call that again?

"Eh...Ondergrondse, verzet?"

"Verzet, yes, that's it." He said the word with a canadian dialect.

Matthew grabbed the bag that he had left on the table and walked towards the front door. He search a bit through the bag until he found the package he was looking for.

'Here, take this. It's not much but it'll fill your stomach until tomorrow." He gave her the package. It was a small bread wrapped in foil. Ellis took it from him and looked him in the eyes as she came closer to him.

"Thank you, thank you so much for saving me and my people. Without you, this winter would have been a lot harder with more deaths." Matthew felt a warm and fuzzy feeling floating from his stomach to the rest of his body as she wrapped his arms around him and held him tight.

"Take care. Don't let him take your food and your honor."

"I won't. Or better said, I'll try to stop him."

She looked up on him, and brought her hands to his neck and the back of his head. Matthew felt the warm feeling gettng stronger, once he knew what she was going to do. His cheeks flushed red when she gave a tender kiss on both of them. He smiled and took one of her hands. He placed a small kiss on the back of her hand and looked her in the eyes for one last time before he turned around and opened the front door. Carefully he looked if he could see any of Ludwig's soldiers invilligating. Luckily, it seemed to be safe.

"Goodbye Matthew, may luck be on your side today."

"Goodbye Ellis, we'll see each other soon enough." He started to walk down the lane and he knew that she was watching him from the kitchen window. It made him feel safe.

He was going to do everything he could to save her, he thought. She was worth it. Ever since England recommended him to go to the Netherlands where he met her, she had been giving him that fuzzy feeling in his stomach. Back then she had more energy, the winter hadn't begun yet and although it was not much, she still had enough food to feed her people. But when Ludwig decided to restrict her freedom even more combined with the harsh winter of that year, she lost more weight than was healthy. "This war better end soon", he said to himself.