Belarus was not happy, she honestly wasn't. But this is Belarus we're talking about and when was she ever happy? Aside from those times she manages to corner Russia for a few minutes.

Well today she was unhappy for a perfectly good reason, she had been crouching under that damn America's car for over three hours in the blistering Maryland august heat and he still hadn't shown. Naturally Belarus was not happy but lay under the dust, smelly, old pickup truck was no on her list of fun things to do.

Sweat beaded along her brow and she wiped it away, in this stupid dress she was getting seriously overheated. Where was America? She was supposed to be threatening him about bothering Big Brother!

Belarus growled at the tires, she couldn't vent her frustration on them because 1) the car would come crushing down on her and 2) she wanted the America to drive away, tires squealing as he ran away. The rumble to the city was very comforting even if the heat was unbearable, the air itself was sweating! She shifted to get comfortable again but found it impossible.

Her head shot up at the sound of heavy footsteps approaching and she swore from the sudden pang of pain. She glanced out to the left, there!

A pair of booted feet were approaching, stretching out her cramped muscles Belarus prepared to jump the unsuspecting American.

Three

Two

ONE! Twisting out from under the car she shot to her feet right as she person pulled open the drivers side door. A second later she had man pressed against the truck with a knife at his throat. Hi face was squished uncomfortably on the hot glass as she panted down his neck. (this was a lot harder than she had imagined)

"Leave Big Brother alone," she hissed in the most venomous voice she could muster, which wasn't much considering her raspy throat. "Russia belongs to me!" Satisfied she must have terrified to nation she let go and took a step back.

What she expected was America to whirl around and shake in fear, what she wasn't expecting was to be grabbed by her shoulders and whirled against the car, her wrists to be pinned together by one large hand and yanked above her head and to have a very dangerous looking gun pressed into her mid drift.

She glanced down at the gun and back up into they bright blue eyes of someone very clearly not America.

"Um, wrong number?" She offered, how did they do this in the movies? Calm and sarcastic? That sounded about right.

"I'm not America," the boy stated, for now it was obvious he was only about 18 years old, " and I don't know who you are."

Belarus licked her dry lips, "I am Nat.."

The boy pressed the gun harder against her stomach and she hissed, "No, your real name, your nation name."

She cocked her head in confusion, how did he know. He looked a lot like America, seriously, alot like America. Blond hair, blue eyes but he had no glasses and his face looked alot more youthful than the nations.

"I am Belarus," she finally offered and now it was the boys turn to be confused.

"Why are you attacking America?" He released her and took a step back, the Slavic nation decided she was to tired to try and kill him.

"I wasn't going too hurt him," she said defensively, leaning heavily on the car, "only threaten him."

The boy cocked an eyebrow.

"Honestly," Belarus shook her head to get rid of the fuzzy feelings on the edge of her mind, "and besides, who are you?" The boy holstered his gun.

"My name is Maryland, nice to meet you," he stuck out a hand which she shook limply.

"Maryland? Maryland?" she tested the name on her tongue, "Isn't that a providence?" He rolled his eyes in annoyance, "No, it's a state, did you say you need to talk to America?"

"yes," she felt very confused, " I did?"

"okay, I can take you to him," he jerked as she stumbled against him, mumbling incoherently and blinking quickly.

"I don't feel well," she groaned and fainted against the chest of the strange American.

There was gentle, cool breeze wafting over her exposed skin as Belarus woke up. She came aware on a soft bed, covered in a thin blanket. It was actually very nice and comforting except for the fact her head was splitting like an over ripe melon. Groaning she sat up and pushed the blanket away, glancing out the wide window and gasped. Tall, wooded mountains sloped gently out of the view, the room was wood log and situated at the top of a mountain. It seemed very homley and rustic, something she didn't see very much anymore. She moved out of the room, still staring about, small painting dotted the walls and the floor was a smooth wood. Exploring the house she discovered her host in the kitchen, standing in front of a kitchen stove stirring a steaming pot of something.. At her approach he turned around and gave a grin.

"Sit down, foods almost ready." Belarus sat down and glanced about.

"Who are you again?"

"My name is Maryland, I"m a state. You were talking to me and you fainted which is worrisome but I knew you would be okay. So I brought you here. Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Belarus eyed the impressive set of kitchen knives and he chuckled.

"Let me rephrase that, I won't hurt you as long as you don't hurt me, how does that sound?" She nodded slowly and then blushed as her stomach grumbled.

"sounds like you're hungry, don't worry. Food'll be done in a jiffy."

"So you are a...state?"

"Yep, proud to be one, America's mah dad. He's pretty awesome most of the time, just so long as you don't try to become an independent country," he said cheerfully and began dishing up a thick stew. "I'm sorry but I had to get you out of that big dress," he face turned a light pink, "you were overheating so.." he gestured helplessly with the bowl and set it in front of her.

She raised a light eyebrow, "but don't worry, I didn't look," Maryland said furiously, "I have experience so I'm good at it."

"You have stripped women of their clothes before?" She asked, picking up her spoon and revealing in his deepening blush.

"YES...NO..That...that came out wrong," he facepalmed and she simply chuckled. 'So," he dug into his stew, "why aren't you going completely insane. From what my sisters told me your a pretty hard core stalker. And you don't seem to be freaking out at the fact America is my dad."

Belarus shrugged and continued to eat the delicious stew, "For some reason that's kind of what I expected of him. That role seems to fit him best. But," she pointed her spoon threateningly at him, "I still need to speak to him."

Maryland looked adorably confused, "Why? You only seemed to want to threaten him."

"I must speak to him," she urged and he shrugged.

"okay, finish and we'll head over to the estate, if we're lucky we'll catch him before he jets of the England." Once Maryland was done he began cleaning up and pack up her dress, "you can always were this now if you want but trust me, once we get down the mountain it'll get hotter than hell." She shook her head, not that she would every admit it but Belarus was enjoying the shorts and the t-shirt.

Twenty minutes later they were loaded back up in the truck and driving toward another state.

"It'll be a long drive," said Maryland, glancing over to his passenger, "want to listen to music?"

"I do not like American music," she muttered sourly and he chuckled.

"No, I've got some of everything, looked through the CD case and you should find some of yours. Look under the seat." Curious Belarus reached under and found one of the biggest portable CD cases she had ever seen. As she fished through she was stunned to find Russia and German music coupled with dozens of eurovision CD's, near the end she found four Belarusian music CD's. Pushing them in she ignored the stares from other American drivers and began to sing lustily along with Maryland, as they sped through country roads Belarus slowly felt all tension melt away.

As it turned out America's real house was not really a house, more like a boarding school type building with several smaller ones near by. Tucked under and ancient tree was a rather large victorian era house a good ways away from the main house. A beautiful slooping lawn with gorgeous flower beds and what looked like a sheep chewing dolefully away at the irisis.

"This is out permanent residence, we work on it every few years to keep it up to date, this is only the front area, we've got a lot more stuff spread around the forest."

"Why?" Belarus ignored the prickle of unease sliding down her back, "I have seen his other house, but why do all of you live here?" She glanced around and saw a dark figure dive back into the bushes.

"We didn't use to, first we all lived in our own homes in each state but then some time after the frontire closed people got all nosy about teens owning homes so we were forced to move here. After the 9/11 attacks Dad ordered the rest of us who looked 18 or above to move in. So there are 53 of us, all living together in this awesome house." He parked and kicked open the door, "Be careful, the others like to pull water based pranks in this kind of weather. She nodded and moved closer to the state, without her dress and knives she felt very vulnerable, "Dad should be inside trying to get the youngest to take a nap," he lead the way to the door, watching and listening very carefully for any unplanned ambush but they made it through the door and around the huge house to the third floor without running into anybody. Belarus was stunned at the house, murals covered the walls with family photos and other pieces of art.

The first person they ran into was a small boy with Spain like features, dripping wet and wrapped in a towel, sprinting down the hallway. A flustered looking America was running after him, yelling in Spanish.

"Hey there squirt," Maryland snatched the boy up and gave him an affectionate head rub.

"No, put me down, I was about to beat my personal best!" The squirmed in his grasp and whined as he was passed over to America, "awww man."

"Puerto Rico, I swear, one of these days you're going to slip down those stairs and hurt yourself.," America warned and then he caught sight of Belarus. His face went blank as he took in shorts, t-shirt, lack of knives and the fact she was standing slightly behind his son.

"Belarus?" He glanced over to Maryland, "Why are you here?'

"I have something to say to you," she declared, stepping forward, leveling a cool gaze at him, "Stay away from big brother."

"That's all you wanted?" Maryland scratched behind his ear and exchanged glances with the other boys, "why didn't you just send a creepy e-mail or phone call, did you really need to attack him? Or me, in this case."

She blushed, "It was important and must be said to his face."

"Am I right in thinking you've been trying to hunt me down for the past day?"

"Yes," America shook his head and readjusted his grip on Puerto Rico.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"