There's a blizzard outside. I've always liked storms; they are the perfect place for magic and reading. Unfortunately I have myself right now in the company Francis, Alfred, and…Matthew, making these activities impossible. Oh, and let's not forget we are freezing cold. They're spending the night at my place because the world meeting is in my country, England, and we are a somewhat of a semblance of a family. I've never felt anything for that frog, other than occasional and fast-fading friendship. He bugs the hell out of me. But 500 years ago, we were so much younger and so much more inexperienced, and had to care for two little nations when we had no clue how to raise them. You could say we've were thrown together to survive.

Back to the present.

I'm stuck with an idiot I have no clue how I raised, a French perv, and well, the kid who's really sweet and I can't remember his name. I love Mattie, I really do, and I feel bad for forgetting his name. I wish I was a better surrogate father for him. The four of us are sitting hunched closely together on the same couch because the heating unit broke down an hour ago. We're going to freeze to death. To top things off, it's midnight, and we're all exhausted. I hear a bustle of movement behind my head, and I turn to see Victoria walking in, her arms filled with blankets. Sighing with relief, I work to disentangle myself from the others.

"Here you go guys," she says. Anxiously we all grab at least two and wrap them around ourselves. Exhausted, we plop on the floor and lay down, Francis the furthest from me (thank God), Alfred next to him, Victoria in the middle, close to Victoria is Matthew and then there was me.

"Hey, dudes, doesn't this remind you of something?" I give a wry shake of my head, and watch the glance shared between Mattie and Victoria as they subtly move closer to each other. They don't know it, but I know the significance in their stares as well.

It was 1639…

"Ms. Richardson, could you set up some bedding in the spare room and some more in with Alfred? Mr. Bonefoy and his nephew are coming over." Then I was only in my teens, but I had done well for myself; I had a housekeeper and all. I guess being a personification has its benefits.

"Ok sir. A storm is coming soon, and we are almost out of coal. I'm going to go fetch some afterwards too." The older African lady twisted her hands, and then dusted them on her apron.

"It's alright, you don't have to trouble yourself; we can wait until the storm is out."

"Sir, we are completely out. It's midwinter, and I'd rather not have us all freeze in our beds."

"Then alright"

"Can you watch Victoria while I'm gone? I don't want her caught in the storm should that happen." As if on cue, the little girl had poked out from behind a curtain. Dark chocolate skin with wide brown eyes made their appearance first, followed by the rest of her figure. "Have you been listening all this time? I've told you before not to eavesdrop. What do are you supposed to say?" Roughly she grabbed the girl's hand.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kirkland and mommy." Anxiously she looked up at her mother. "Please don't go."

"Shh." She picks up the girl and bounces her on her hip, grunting, because the child was too big. "I should be back soon. Plus Matthew is coming. You always like it when Matthew is comes right? If you go with me, you won't see him" All I can remember is the light in Victoria's face as the prospect became apparent. To this day, it's one of those images that will never leave me.

"Ok. Come home safe."

"I will. I promise." Little did we know then that she wouldn't ever come home.

Overall that evening was a relative success. I managed to not kill Francis and Victoria didn't kill Alfred. I would have let her have it out; he was a jerk to… Matthew, but I didn't want her to kill him. The same thing happens every time we get together, so in all it was good. The only thing is Mrs. Richardson hasn't come back yet, and it's approaching on midnight. A blizzard had started up an hour ago, and I'm concerned for her.

"Well, we might as well head to bed." Francis said as he got up and put out the fire. I jumped up with a screech, and ejected the 3 sleeping children from my lap.

"You idiot, we don't have any more coal and it's supposed to get cold tonight. Do you want to freeze?" Francis gave me this look. Surprisingly it was slightly apologetic. There was nothing we could do though, so we sent the children to their beds anyway. Then I crawled into mine, while Francis took the spare room.

It was inevitable that the blankets we had on the beds weren't enough. So after the boys came to me shivering, I made a pile of blankets in the family room and then told the boys to lie down. Francis of course, had woken at the noise, and ended up coming in too.

"Stay on the opposite side of the bed bastard. You're the reason we're here in the first place." He just snorted, but did as I asked. We ended up with Francis at one end, then Alfred, Mattie, and then myself. I remember having objections about the perv being next to Alfred. Now I wish I could have voiced them; maybe that was where I could have prevented the whole American Revolution. But then I just let it go. I was just about to drift off to sleep when I had heard a noise. Silently, I craned my neck. Victoria shyly climbed into the bed and snuggled next to Mattie. I smiled; young love…

When Mrs. Richardson didn't come home, I had worried even more. But when we got the news that she was dead, I knew that there was something that I had to do. So I did what I do best: magic. Using an old spell book, and my last eye of newt (a choice I don't regret despite how rare they are) I tied her life span to a country. What country you may ask? Well, I suspected young love would blossom, but that it would never work out with Mattie being a country. So why not tie her life span to his country? So I did. While she isn't a personification like the rest of us, she will be around as long Canada is.

Tonight though, I can't stop a wry grin as I watch Victoria snuggle closer to Matthew when she believes the rest of us are asleep. And when Mattie puts his arm around her, I give a sigh of relief that Francis is still asleep.

So cute…so cute…

A/N: 1)So yeah, sorry for any errors.

2) Yes, Victoria is black. And you may think that it's out of historical context, but Iggy wasn't racist at the time. Yes, I know, really not accurate and doesn't explain things, but whatever.