Disclaimer: Hetalia was created by and belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.

"Maddie!"

Bang bang bang.

"Hey!"

Bang bang bang.

"You'd better go see her." The Canadian capital of Ottawa, Michelle, was irritated with the incessant knocking on the door of her apartment. "She'll probably break the door down if you don't, and it's such a hassle to get it fixed, especially if we could avoid the problem altogether."

Canada sighed, partially in agreement, and partially in disappointment that her afternoon plans to bake with her capital was being interrupted. She moved to open the door (and hopefully avoid getting her face smashed in by her over-enthusiastic sister not noticing the door had been opened), when America finally gave up knocking.

The door to Michelle's modern apartment slammed open, though Canada noticed with some relief that it was still on its hinges and would not require fixing. In the doorway stood America in all her heroic glory, slightly out-of-season winter boots to warm winter coat. Canada smiled wryly; America had this strange notion that as soon as September ended Canada was buried in snow, and was sure to dress warmly.

"Amelia," Canada scolded mildly. "Please open doors gently."

"Sorry!" said Amelia, not sounding very sorry at all. "But it's an emergency! You have to get dressed and come right away!"

Bemused, Canada looked over her clothes; dark leggings paired with a patterned tank top.

"I am dressed?" She'd meant it to be a firm statement, she really had, but it'd come out more of a question.

"Yeah, only for an hour," Michelle leaped to her defense by teasing her.

Amelia looked at her in askance. "You've only been dressed for an hour?! Maddie, it's three in the afternoon! And besides dude, it's waaaaay too cold to be wearing something like that. You have a coat right? You'll probably need it 'till we get to the border, oh yeah, we have to get back across in like three hours, so like, I hope you're down to break some laws."

It took Ottawa less time to process Amelia's words than her nation, so she responded by shoving her prosthetic leg against the door to stop it from opening. "She is absolutely not going to break the law to fit your agenda, so you can just-"

Madeline placed a hand on her capital's arm and smiled gently, even as she pulled on a coat and grabbed her bag from beside the door. "It's okay, maybe doing some rushing around will help me sleep in less."

Amelia whooped, taking that as confirmation that she'd successfully convinced her sister to be dragged away from her house.

"Fine," Michelle sighed, "Just, try not to break the law, and do not, under any circumstances let her get hurt," she fixed the southern twin with a terrifying glare that spoke of a violent murder via ax should her orders be disobeyed.

The ever-oblivious American nation just beamed at Ottawa while tugging on Madeline's coat sleeve as she pulled her shoes on. "We'll try our best!" Amelia pulled her sister out the door the second the other had her shoes on, ignoring Canada's quiet "You mean you'll try your best..."

It was about ten minutes later that Canada though to ask why she was needed all the way across the border.

"So," she started off casually, "Do you want to explain why you've dragged me from a lovely afternoon with Ottawa? Better yet, why we absolutely have to get to New York in half the time it should take?" Amelia was driving at least 200 kilometers (because, yes America, that was the correct unit of measurement), which, in Madeline's opinion was far too fast.

"Huh?" Amelia was pushing 210 km.

"Why-"

"Oh! Ha, funny story! I was talking to England and pissed her off a little- wait! Don't yell at me yet, sheesh. I totally did it on purpose, to invite her over! But then I remembered I forgot to ask you to come, so I flew up here-"

"Flew?"

"-except I didn't feel like going through all that boring paperwork to fly right over the border, so I rented a car and drove the rest of the way!" Amelia beamed, even as she switched lanes without signalling she was doing so.

There were so many things wrong with Amelia's story (and Amelia in general) that Madeline didn't know where to begin. "So let me get this straight-"

"Ha!"

"-you irritated England to invite her over, rather than just, I don't know, asking her to come over?"

"She'll hop the pond to slap me, it's a guarantee!"

"... I'm not going to touch that one. You then, after realizing you forgot me, thought you should pick me up yourself rather than calling me?"

America yanked the car towards an exit for gas, turning to gape at Madeline. "Y'all have phones up here?"

"Eyes on the road!" Madeline screeched as Amelia nearly crashed into a stop sign. "And, yes, we do! I'm in your contacts, I texted you yesterday morning. Remember that?"

"Hmmm... nah!"

Madeline sighed as her sister pulled into a gas station. She could have had a nice afternoon with Michelle, but no, America just had to show up and drag her along, probably so she could somehow take the blame of whatever Amelia had done to annoy England. Her brows furrowed as she frowned a little; why had her sister "invited" England over anyway?

"Hey, um, Amelia?"

Amelia hummed, cheerfully breaking the speed limit and about five other laws as she pulled back onto the highway.

"Why did you want England to come over to your house?" It was probably pointless to ask why Madeline herself was coming, but... "And me? Why did you want me there?"

Amelia's eyes crinkled at the edges. "I wanted all four of us to hang out, duh Maddie."

"All... four of us?"

"Mhm! Obviously our fave Frenchie is gonna tag along with Miss Prim and Proper, especially since it's the first week of the month, and France always follows Iggy around the first week of the month."

Canada blinked, confused. "No she doesn't," she said slowly. "France always has extra paperwork the first week of the month, right?" That had to be the reason Madeline was always turned down when she invited France over early in the month. France always made time for Canada and rarely forgot her but...

"Nope!" America laughed boisterously as she slipped past some unsuspecting cop cars, unaware of her twin's confusion and hurt. "Trust me, Poland knows all the good stuff and without fail tell Lithuania, who totally spills the tea if I ask!"

Madeline doubted Lithuania willingly shared details of others' personal lives, but Amelia did have a way of getting people to "totally spill tea."

"Yeah, Francey pants is like, mad crushing on Eyebrows, but she's too oblivious to notice!"

Amused, Madeline huffed a laugh. Amelia was one to talk about being oblivious.

"So she basically just sets time aside to woe England. It's pretty cute, but France refuses to do anything else on those days, which like, sucks major ass, dude."

Hopeful, Madeleine asked "How long has this been going on?"

"Probs since Francis got over England taking you from her. Dude oh my god she was piiiiiissed-"

"I was there, thanks." Canada didn't need a reminder. When she was younger, it had often felt like France had abandoned her. It didn't bother her anymore (it absolutely did), but she didn't need the reminder.

"Yo, do you have your passport on you? We're nearing the border and we're gonna need them soon, so..."

Madeline looked through the bag she'd brought, but she only had a change of clothes, a water bottle, her identification for parliament buildings, and a phone charger. "I don't, but-"

"Awesome!" Amelia ignored Madeline's "Both hands on the wheel!" and pumped her fist. "Okay, I'll stop for a second and you crawl in the trunk! We could be like, spies or something!"

"It's our border, I'm sure we could g-"

"Spies, Madds, get in the trunk!"

Shoving her bag into the storage space of Amelia's small, four-seater plane twenty-seven minutes later, Madeline was still angry. "I can't believe you made me sit in the trunk."

America clapped a hand to Madeline's shoulder a little too harshly. "At least the wait wasn't bad, you weren't even in there too long! One time Russia made me sit in the back of her car for like, five hours, it was the worst."

"When did-"

Madeline's words were cut of as Amelia entered the plane on the pilot's side and slammed the door shut, leaving Madeline to get in on her own, which she did, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

.:0:.

An hour and a half later saw Amelia happily dragging her sister into her New York townhouse. Amelia always said it had become crazy expensive to maintain, but New York city was definitely a place she wanted to be easily accessible to her. They really should've taken longer to work through city traffic, but Amelia's general attitude towards those who cut her off got them through.

"Please," Madeline begged, exhausted both by the unplanned drive and America's presence. "Let me sleep. I promise I'll make pancake when England and France get here, but please let me sleep until then."

Amelia shrugged. "You know where your room is. I might take a quick nap, myself..." She trailed off, wandering to her own room, letting Madeline collect herself.

She wasn't quite so upset at being dragged away from home a few hours later, when she heard the unmistakable slap announcing the arrival of the Europeans, and she certainly wasn't upset as she listened to her little family banter as she made pancakes.

A/N: 200 km is about 124 miles, which is in fact the true unit of measurement. This is a gift for my Canadian friend, and it includes her OC at the beginning (Ottawa) as well as a few of her personal headcanons for Canada. I personally think nyo! France would also be called Francis, but go by Fran for short. Happy Birthday, hope this met your expectations, Fahrenheit is better than Celsius, and all the usual well-wishes.