AN-: I haven't found anything that says the Confederacy is canon so there's no name for him, and I've seen a lot of people use Dixie and it's a pretty androgynous name even if it's more commonly used for girls now, so I'm using that. If anyone has information that says he is canon, please tell me so I can fix it!

Sorry I was gone for so long-more than a year Jesus Christ-just school stuff, personal stuff, lack of motivation or inspiration, self-esteem issues, drama club, the usual.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

England was playing with America-little Alfred Freedom Jones to the humans in the village and absolutely adorable to everyone, no matter what species-when he found him. The Brit-The Brit really-had just gotten done cleaning the dirt and mud off America's dress and dressing him in the spare one, chuckling over how dirty even the carefully watched young boy of a colony could get so filthy on a spring day like this. Once that was finished America had dashed outside to play again, England following once he was done and dinner was smoking on the counter. It would cool and stop smoking before dinner right? Probably. So now they were throwing the ball back and forth, one of Alfred's enthusiastic throws sending it into the bushes. With a sigh England told Alfred very firmly to stay right there while he went to go get it.

Going after the ball involved going into some fairly thick brush-which made sense, America was still largely untamed wilderness after all, just thirteen little colonies. England was moving through the bushes, making wide sweeping gestures to try and expose the ground and ball when he felt something grab his leg. Yelping England jumped a foot, trying to get his breathing and heart rate back to normal before daring to look down and see what was grabbing his leg. What was holding his leg was-England couldn't help but blink and stare in surprise-a little boy. A little boy that looked a lot like his Alfred. What…?

Leaning down the blond European picked the light babe up, examining him. He was wearing a white dress just like he had found America in-similar to the ones he was wearing now, his breeching would be next year-and like America he had blond hair and blue eyes, even if this little tot's were a shade darker. He didn't have that unruly little cowlick either, but other than that America and this new lad were carbon copies. "And who might you be my little lad?" England murmured idly, bouncing the boy gently.

The little four year old boy-four years old or so England noted, three years younger than his America-regarded England passively with his thumb in his mouth before saying in an accent-different from England's of course, but different than America's too, it had a bit of a twang to it. Odd. " 'M Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 'n Virginia suh. 'Cept'n West Virginia. 'Re you my Pops?"

Freezing England felt his blood run cold. Why did his southern four colonies have a representative all their own? If this was a book, would this be foreshadowing, a vague hint of some horrid happenstance that would appear in the later years? Would France or one of the others take this little babe of a colony away from him? No. No no no no no. He wouldn't let them. "Aye lad, I am." The blond European nation answered with a gentle smile. "And I'm going to take very good care of you from now on. Come on, you need to meet your brother."

Abandoning the ball for now-he could always find it later or purchase another anyways-England stepped out of the brush and back over to the bouncing America. The little boy instantly ran over, jumping up and down to see the babe in his father's arms. "Da-ad! I told you to get the ball, not some stupid baby! Hey! How come 'e looks like me, who is he?"

Chuckling and putting a hand on America's head to stop that inane bouncing England replied, "Because he's part of you lad. He's my southern colonies. And as to who he is-well, who are you lad? We can't call you America, I already have an America…" Considering this quandary England pondered for a moment or two before the name Dixie floated into his mind. Dixie? Well, one name was as good as any other, so why not? Dixie it was then. "We'll call you Dixie lad." England decided with a smile. "Dixie Jones."

Dixie grinned at that, nodding eagerly as England moved his thumb out of his mouth. He needed to stop that, he was four for the queen's sake. "Okay Pops! Hey-if he's 'Merica, 'n I'm part o' the colonies, who're you?"

"I'm England lad." England said proudly with a small smile. "The great British Empire, at your service. I'll take good care of you I assure you, I know how to tend to colonies."

England's new charge nodded, rolling the word around in his mouth. "Engwand….huh. Okay. What's an Empire?"

"An empire lad…" England began, shifting him to the other arm as he began walking back to the farmhouse. "-America, come along lad, you're all filthy again, we need to get you cleaned up, what on Earth were you doing, I was gone for three bloody minutes-is a country that rules other countries, and has colonies. Like how I have you."

The little boy thought for a moment before his eyes got big. "You're huge! You own other countries as big as you?"

"Even bigger." England assured him with a smile. It was true after all-India was far larger than him the inconsiderate, ungrateful bugger.

The little eyes got even wider at that. "Wow! You're the most amazing country ever! The greatest empire in the world!"

The blond nation couldn't help but chuckle and smile at that. "Aye, I am. The greatest since the Roman Empire."

"….That's real awesome." Dixie said firmly after a moment of silence. England just chuckled, bringing the two into get America clean and see if dinner was done smoking.

So now he had two little boys to look after instead of one, and four months later England was still getting used to that. Still it was nice, seeing the two racing all over the place, laughing and playing games and wrestling as children-boys only of course-tended to do. America and Dixie were joined at the hip-or, more accurately, the hand-constantly together doing something or another and usually getting into mischief of some sort. They got along as easily as you would expect two halves of a whole to, having their own secret language-which England couldn't help but think sounded quite like a mix of those languages those funny heathens who lived in teepees and log houses spoke-and finishing each other's sentences.

But they were different in ways too. There was that strange accent Dixie spoke in and….well to put it bluntly, the lad liked Arthur more than America did, which hurt to think about but was true. Oh, America did what he was told-most of the time-gave him hugs and kisses and loved it when England played with him and read and told him stories. But Dixie…Dixie followed England around all the time, wide eyed and taking in his every move, doing virtually everything England told him and always trying to show England something or impress him-the other day England had even discovered Dixie trying to speak like him! It was adorable, and England thought nothing of it-why wouldn't the young lad want to be like his father, the great English Empire? It was just too cute.

And now the two young boys were curled up in bed-they usually ended up sleeping together even though they were already in a bunk bed-probably whispering secrets to each other and joking around, shoving each other here and there, though careful to not push each other out, since they thought England thought they were asleep. England gave a soft chuckle at the thought, shrugging on his old, worn coat. He had to go again, back to his home and back to overseeing his other colonies too, but at least he felt better this time, more secure, knowing that there were now two little boys upstairs in bed, able to look after and take care of each other and stay together forever.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

So much freakin' foreshadowing! I never thought I'd love a literary element as much as I do in this fic. Hope you like it, sorry again for dropping off the face of the earth for more than a year, and let me know if you've got thoughts on it!