"爸爸，你在干吗？" [Daddy, what are you doing?]
"没什么，这么啦？" [Not much, what's wrong?]
"我...我本来想... um... 爸爸 I can't say this in Mandarin." [I... I wanted to...]
China laughed. He turned away from his desk to face little Shanghai, fiddling with her pajamas.
"Well, then, say it in your dialect if that makes things easier for now. We'll train your mandarin later."
Shanghai smiled shyly, and whispered, "then... nong kuvekuyi genala ghogo?" [Can you sleep with us?]
China could almost squeal at her cuteness, and scooped her up into his arms, tickling her.
"Why, yes my little plum blossom."
China carried Shanghai into the bedroom, containing one large mattress and a closet, as well as many little things to amuse the younger cities - not that they were preoccupied with any of them at the moment. Suzhou was on the brink of tears as Nanjing stole his toy truck and pulled his hair. Beijing sat on the large mattress in the corner, flipping through his favourite encyclopaedia and adjusted his thick glasses. At the presented scene, little Shanghai facepalmed, and jumped out of China's arms.
"Nanjing! Stop bullying my brother Suzhou! Suzhou, you're my BIG brother! You're not supposed to get beaten up! Beijing, you were supposed to take care of them while I when to go ask 爸爸 to come sleep with us!"
The little Beijing boy adjusted his glasses, and crossed his arms, pouting.
"Not my fault that your brother can't take care of himself"
"You useless 13 o'clock!"
"How dare you!"
"Are you done yet?"
Everyone froze, slowly turning to their father leaning against the door frame. He raised an eyebrow and looked down at Shanghai.
"I thought you said you wanted me to come sleep with you children. If none of you can behave, I suppose I will leave... "
"NO!"
All of the children shouted at the same time. Nanjing let go of Suzhou's hair and ran over to China, sobbing and clinging onto the latter's pants.
"Don't go Baba. It's been so hard ... and so scary.. what if someone took us away too?"
Suzhou started wailing.
"Aiya, hush, hush! Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chongqing are all asleep in their room already! And I'm sure you wouldn't want to wake Tangshan! He's still recovering!"
China quietly chastised them. They bit their quivering lips and held in their sobs. Shanghai, for once not yelling at Beijing, whispered something in his ear, and the young boy nodded gravely. Beijing approached China with a solemn air.
"Baba, we are just very worried that someone might... t-take us away. L-like Xiang... -hic- ...Gang..."
The young city swallowed thickly, struggling to keep himself from dishonoring his father. China looked down at the little Beijing, lifted Nanjing and him up into his arms while making his way to the mattress.
"My dear children, I will always protect you. So please don't be scared. Your daddy is big and strong, right?"
Shanghai climbed into the blankets after her father and siblings, squeezing between Beijing and China.
"Baba, even if you're away you will watch out for us right?" Shanghai asked China. Beijing poked her in the back, muttering to go to sleep and stop bothering father lest he decide to leave.
"Why don't I tell you a story?"
"小兔子乖乖?" [Obedient little bunnies?]
~~~time skip brought to you by sleepy children~~~
China patted each of them gently before slowly getting up from the bed to work on more papers. After all, he had to compete fiercely with these stupid western nations after they stole Hong Kong and try and his stupid leader tried pendulum treatments on him. It was worse than tying to convince the stupid empress that the Japanese were more of a threat than her "lack" of jade necklaces. As he reached the door, he heard the mattress squeak once more.
"Baba?" Shanghai's voice drifted across the room.
China was about to tell her that he needed to go back to work when his guilt stopped him. He hadn't been spending enough time with his darling cities. And they were still scared from Hong Kong's kidnapping.
China sighed...
"I'm com..."
"晚安..." [Good night...]
Shanghai smiled at her dad, and laid back down to sleep. China started a bit at that, and decided that Shanghai was a much more considerate and wise girl than he gave her credit for. Perhaps France hadn't completely influenced her yet.