This chapter is further kind of introducing everything, the next chapter will hopefully be more interesting. Though, I hope you'll still like this chapter. I personally think it's a little boring, but the next chapter the introducing-part-thingy will be over and interesting things will start happening.
Beta'd by SirenAlpha! Thank you!
Enjoy~

Chapter II

When England and Russia entered her home again, the atmosphere seemed to have lightened. She took off her jacket and he also took off his own, long coat. Hiding her slight surprise, thinking he wouldn't take off his jacket, she took the beige coat and hung it next to hers. He walked into her living room and sat down on her couch; his muscles seemed to have relaxed and he looked as if the fresh air had been good for him. "Are you feeling better?" she asked, and he nodded shortly with a little smile. It wasn't his typical, strange smile, but polite and kind. She gave him a nod in response, and turned away to go to the kitchen.

"Um, England", he stopped her, testing her name, or rather the name of her nation.

"Yes?" she swiftly turned around and looked at him.

"Can I have something to eat?" he asked, his smile friendly, and she remembered that he had only eaten a bite of soup before. Being a tall man, Russia's body probably needed to be provided with more sustenance. She nodded briefly, and gestured for him to follow her to the kitchen.

England prepared him a sandwich with ham, and a glass of water. It seemed logical to her that he'd like meat on his sandwich. There was silence between them, and the big nation calmly ate. He finished the little meal quickly, and then said, "Спасибо (Spasibo)."

She blinked, as he startled her out of her daydreaming. Russia sipped from his glass of water as she put his plate in the sink. "I'll wash it", he said and she nodded quickly in agreement, not minding that he was willing to do more than just enjoy her goods.

"What did you say?" she asked, and he put his glass down and cocked his head a little to the right. "Sp- spab- spasbo?"

"Спасибо (Spasibo)?" Russia repeated it for her correctly, "It's Russian for "thank you", da?" Alice repeated the word again, and it sounded strange in her mouth.

She had some work to do, but not too much. Whether there was a lot of work or not, England didn't like postponing working on her assignments and other tasks. "I'll be working in the study. Feel free to move about the house, but please don't destroy anything or touch anything that looks valuable. Also, don't leave the house, you were lucky that there weren't too many people in the park, but you should be more careful. You can watch whatever you want on the television, or eat whatever you want out of the kitchen. If you need me, just call me," she told him.

Once she was in her study, she gathered all of her papers and turned her laptop on. There were some economic and political issues she had to check regularly, papers to write, contracts to sign and letters her boss frequently sent her. She dearly hoped there weren't any meetings for the next few weeks. Alice disliked sitting for hours at a boring meeting, and even though she was the representation of Britain, she rarely was given a chance to speak up. Not that she wanted to do so. Somehow, the noisy meetings the nations held were more interesting to attend, even though it sometimes took them twice as long to finish something.

A little after 1 pm, she put her work aside. She hadn't gotten much done so far; there had been one important paper she had spent most of her time on. There was an unfortunate side to being a perfectionist like England. She always wanted the papers to be well written, presentable, and certainly highly useful. She'd work longer than necessary on papers to get the details just right. A sigh rolled over her pinkish lips as she walked to the living room.

"Russia?" she called out, but there was no response. For a few seconds, she just listened to the quiet; maybe there'd be some sound and she would be able to locate him based on where the sound was coming from. Sadly enough, it was deadly silent at home, almost as if he weren't there. She went to the kitchen, and through the window she could see him sitting on the veranda. He sat there, where the neighbours could see him. Outside.

She rushed to the door he'd left open. "Ivan?" she asked and frowned as she saw him sitting there, on the stairs of the wooden veranda.

His head turned to her so quickly that his neck probably suffered from it. He blinked and his earns flattened a little, almost invisible against his light blonde hair, yet not completely down flat. He looked at her and got up slowly, his tail hung lowly and swayed a little. Alice didn't need to be a professional to know that he knew he was busted. She remembered clearly telling him not to go outside. She also couldn't ignore his big eyes and the effects of his dog-features. Admittedly, he looked cute. But that was just because of the dog features England told herself.

"Da?" he asked innocently.

Oh dear, she couldn't even pretend to be mad at him. He just looked too much like a puppy that got in trouble and wished for her to be kind. Some kind of weak smile melted over her lips, even though she tried to stop it, and she gestured for him to come in. As he came in, his ears perked up.

"Food?" he asked, sounding excited.

England answered positive, and he smiled happily. As he walked to the kitchen, she couldn't help but let her eyes wander off to his cheerfully wagging tail.

After lunch, England insisted that Russia would stay inside as she finished more work. He didn't make a big deal out of it, which she was glad for. Though, she hoped he'd listen to her this time. Actually, she knew it wasn't really nice of her to let him, without a full memory, with dog-features, and as her guest, spend his time however he wished, locked in her house, while she did her work. But time can't always be spared for niceties.

She went to her study again, and soundlessly closed the door behind herself. It was almost 3pm, they had taken their time with eating, and her little warnings about not going outside and keeping himself busy without causing any damage had been longer this time around. Calmly, she restarted her work from where she had finished before leaving. After completing a few papers, she took a few minutes' pause. It wasn't really a pause because she used it to search the internet for information about dogs and their body language. After she had taken some notes on the basics, she resumed her work.

A few knocks on her door snapped the woman out of her work. The sudden noise had startled her a bit, and she quickly looked over to see a sleepy Russian at her door. "What's wrong?"

"It's late, are you going to sleep?" he asked, rubbing his eye with his hand.

She briefly glanced at her clock and noted with displeasure that it was already past 10pm.

"Yes, of course," she put her work aside and stood up from her chair, "Spaba."

"Спасибо (Spasibo)", he smiled as he corrected her, and looked happy through his sleepiness as she repeated it with a yawn.

"How about I give you a room, now? I don't think the couch is that comfortable", she stated and he followed her to a room near England's own room, "Here's one of the guestrooms."

Alice gave him some nightwear from America that she always had around somewhere. It was a loose shirt and baggy pants for Alfred, so it would certainly fit Ivan.

The next day started close to normal. Once again, she had to pardon herself from Ivan's company because of work. Russia had looked less interested and pleased to hear it with every word she said. It almost reminded her of when she told America or Canada that she had to go away, again. It didn't take long before they hated her regular departures and would make full use of their time with her while she was available for them. "A mum's job's never done", she had always said to herself.

A few hours later, around noon, Alice was busy with her work. She was halfway through a sentence when a loud thud and the sound of breaking glass nearly gave her a heart attack. It took her merely a second to recover from the worst, and another one to jump up and run out of her study. She swiftly passed through the hallway, going to the room where she thought it had happened. Though she dearly hoped it wasn't the room she thought it was.

"Ivan," she warned, her voice was low and cold.

He was to her left, on his knees. Shards lay everywhere on the floor, and he was picking up the biggest ones. There already were a few cuts on his fingers, but her hard glare didn't waver from his face. He looked guilty, afraid; the Russian certainly knew he had screwed up. His ears were almost flat, nestled into his hair, his tail low, and immobile. This time, he really got himself into serious trouble.

"You know what that was?" she asked, her voice carrying the same tone.

He minutely shook his head. His eyes darted from her face, to the shards, to the wall, not knowing where to look.

"That was a centuries old vase I got from my friend Japan. It was worth more than you can imagine," she told him.

"I'm sorry", he said softly, looking away.

"Does it look like that's going to fix my vase!" she suddenly cried with frustration. That vase had been older than most of the objects in the room. It had been a handmade, extremely expensive gift she had received from Japan. He had given it to her on the anniversary of their fifth year of friendship.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" he said looking up at her with guilt and regret. He clenched his fists for a moment, instinctively and forgetting about the shards he held in them, but had to open them again immediately. Deep red stripes coloured his hands.

"You destroyed something worth millions! Something with emotional value to me!" she yelled at him, and he stood up to face her. Even though he towered over her at a head taller, she didn't back down. "I told you not to touch anything that looks breakable or valuable!"

"I'm sorry!" he yelled back, seeing the anger in her deep, green eyes.

"You idiot! Are you stupid?! Can't you listen to what I tell you?!" Her hand rose in midair, partially as a gesture she made while yelling, partially as a threat.

His ears flattened against his head, and his eyes suddenly shot to her hand. His tail hung low, almost between his legs. There was a spark in his eyes. She stopped moving and yelling, frozen in her position. If she went a step further, England was afraid she knew what would happen. The look in his eyes, it was on the fine line between fear and anger. It would take just a little more, and Russia could snap from guilty and threatened, to defensive and aggressive. She didn't want to deal with that.

Her hand slowly lowered, and she made no sudden movements. She shakily took a deep breath to calm herself, but it didn't work. Now that she thought about it, she doubted she'd know how to handle an aggressive Russia. If it had been something less old, or with less value, maybe she'd be less upset. She looked at the shards of the broken vase. The anger, frustration and volatile energy seemed to change into sadness, affliction and tiredness. On one hand, it was just a vase. On the other hand, it had been very valuable to her, and she had insisted that Russia should keep himself safe and silent.

She felt a tug at her sleeve, and looked away from the mess that had been made. Her forest green eyes met his violet ones. "Sorry", he said softly, "I really didn't want to break it."

She knew it was partly her fault, because she left him to do anything he wanted. She should've seen it coming. And his big, puppy eyes looked at her with regret and hope for forgiveness. Alice parted her lips, but she couldn't say anything. She pulled her arm away from him and walked out of the room. The Brit had no idea what to say or do, honestly. All kinds of feelings burned in her veins; she needed some fresh air.

Outside, the wind, sneering in her face, and tiny drops of rain felt nice. She let her thoughts whirl up and calm down again. She tried not to think too hard on the vase, and told herself it was just an object. Still, there was a burning feeling in her chest; she wanted to hit Russia. Hit him in his cute face to show him what she thought. "No, he isn't cute", she told herself.

But Alice couldn't hit him. She didn't want to make him mad. So far, she was the one that decided and ordered, the boss. England wouldn't want him to get angry and eventually dominant, if he realized that he could overpower her. She looked at her hands, and felt the need to hurt someone slowly slip away between her fingers.

After a quick fifteen-minute walk she came home again. The cold gusts of wind seemed to have blown away her worries for a moment. She came to the conclusion that being mad at him would not result in anything good. As she closed the front door behind her and took of her jacket, she heard a noise coming from the kitchen. While taking a deep breath, she entered the kitchen.

On the table a hot cup of tea awaited her. Russia sat on a chair, next to it. The place before the cup was empty. His two soft purple eyes looked up at her. His ears slightly folded back, and she stopped walking. There was a short silence between them. Alice stared in his big, puppy-eyes and felt any anger or frustration that was left vanish and make place for an emotion she couldn't really place. Her feminine side really fell for how cute he looked, but she was a grown up adult and had enough discipline to know how to react, or better said, how not to react.

"I made you tea", he muttered and she blinked. Slowly her body started moving again and she sat down next to him. She didn't say anything. She averted her eyes from his face and observed the steaming cup of tea for a few seconds. She took the warm cup into her cold hands, and brought it to her lips. While she drank a little, Ivan's eyes followed her every movement. Honestly, she had no idea what to say to him. The silence seemed fine, yet uncomfortable. Softly she placed the cup back on the table. Her lips parted, and she wondered what words would roll out.

"Sorry." Russia spoke before she could say anything, "I really didn't mean to break it."

His big eyes stared at her. Her eyes were pinned on the tea. Alice knew that the moment she would look into his shiny, pleading eyes, she'd not be able to utter any useful words. She only now noticed how tense she actually was, and tried to relax into a looser position. A sigh escaped from between her lips and, she turned her head to him.

"Thank you, for the tea", she said, looking straight into his violet orbs. Unintentionally, it had still sounded cold, or at least distanced. "I'm sorry as well", she continued and looked at the cup of tea. England wanted to say more, but instead raised the tea to her pinkish lips and sipped.

"I cleaned everything up and put it somewhere safe," he added.

Immediately her eyes shot to his hands, but they were on his lap so she couldn't see them.

"Show me your hands", she ordered. He didn't seem to be bothered by her almost commanding voice at all and slightly stretched out his arms to her. His hands opened for her and they were peppered with crisscrossing red lines. She sighed, barely audible, then got up and gestured for him to follow her.

England searched for something to disinfect his wounds with and told him to sit down and sit still. She easily found what she was looking for, and as soon as the strong smell of the disinfecting liquid spread in the air, Russia turned his head away and held his hands close to him. "It stinks."

"Of course it does, now give me your hands." She reached for his hand. but he pulled them back. He pulled his scarf up so it hid his nose.

"I don't want-"

"I don't care. I didn't ask whether you wanted this or not, now give me your hands," she said, and gave him a warning glare. When he didn't react, she took his hand in hers and pulled it towards her. She held the palm of his big hand up and carefully disinfected it.

"See, it's not that bad. Now give me your other hand."

He wanted to shake his head, but she had already taken hold of his other hand and he let her pull it closer to her. He felt the alcohol burning in his cuts.

"It hurts," he pouted slightly as he pulled his hand back, and looked at England with a frown.

She sighed, and put the disinfecting product away.

"It's alright, just let me bandage your cuts and you'll be free to go."

Luckily he calmly waited for her to search what she needed.

"England?"

"Yes?" she responded as she started wrapping the soft cloth around his hands.

"Can I go outside?" he asked and looked at her with big eyes. Was she mistaken or, was he using his dog-features to his advantage? His ears were slightly folded back and he was definitely looking at her with a pleading, cute face.

"Err, okay", she said and immediately a big smile was plastered on his face. This was the first time she saw him using the puppy-face to his advantage. She wondered if he had observed her and seen her reaction to his behaviour, or whether he did it automatically when asking for something.

"Put this cap on", she pushed a beige cap into his hands. He frowned when he saw it.

"I don't want to wear it", he commented.

"I didn't ask what you wanted", she said and insisted that he put it on, "I can't afford to explain to humans why you have dog ears. Now, keep your tail low, then it shouldn't be visible underneath your coat."

He sighed but obeyed nicely and listened to what he said. "Perfect. Let's go, I need to shop for some groceries anyway," she told him.

They came back about an hour later and she went into the kitchen. "I'll make us some dinner, okay?"

He followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the table. His eyes followed her movements as she swiftly prepared the food. He noted that she was busy with the cooking, because she looked concentrated and at ease. It was nice to see her that way. A good half hour later she was done. She honestly looked happy with what came out, though Russia was not able to tell what it was. Neither could he smell what it was. The texture looked a bit odd and the colours weren't appetizing.

She put down his plate in front of him and sat down, opposing him. He carefully tasted a bit, and swallowed it. He didn't feel like his body was able to take more of it though, and he stared at the food as if it was going to kill him. When he noted that England ate it without complaining, he felt his stomach twist.

"Um, I'm not that hungry anymore", he said and eyed the food with concern. Alice looked up to him and sighed.

"You should eat something though", she frowned.

"Yeah, but, not this."

"All right. I'll make you sandwiched instead. I'll order something tomorrow for dinner", she said. There was a sad undertone in her voice and she stood up.

"You can finish your meal first," he insisted but she said it didn't matter. Eventually they were eating again in silence. He munched on his sandwiches with meat while she continued to eat whatever was on her plate.

Afterwards, England settled herself on the couch with some embroidery she wanted to finish. She turned the TV on and Russia sat down next her. He watched the TV for a few minutes but then turned his head a little. His eyes examined how she embroidered. He liked how small her hands were, and her thin fingers; he'd like to hold them in his big hands. Ivan was actually getting bored, but he was fine with just sitting there, next to England. At least there was some life around him; it felt less lonely and less boring in the mansion when she was around. Whether she was ignoring him or scolding him, he just didn't want to be alone.

"It's time to go to bed", Alice stated when it was past 10pm, and she carefully put her embroidery aside. Russia got up as well and turned off the TV. "Goodnight", she said to him and walked away.

"Goodnight", he answered when she had already disappeared behind the door, and he went to his guestroom. He dressed into the nightwear and lay down. He lay on his back, watching the ceiling. When ten minutes later he still didn't feel any closer to falling asleep, he turned on his side. It didn't seem to be the position that kept him from falling asleep. The room felt large, cold, and empty.

England was going to be mad at him. Probably. He knew she wasn't going to be happy about it, but when midnight passed and he still hadn't been able to fall asleep, he had gotten up. Now, Russia stood in front of her bedroom door. But he didn't dare knock; what if she was sleeping already? She most likely was. A sigh forced itself from between his lips and he quietly, slowly opened the door. It was almost perfectly silent. Only England's deep, slow and regular breathing filled the room. Ivan tiptoed over to her bed and stared at her sleeping figure. She was a pretty girl; it made him wonder why she didn't have any boyfriend or someone else that lived with her. It seemed pretty lonely here, without anybody else around.

England's bed was king size, it made her small body look even more petite. Luckily she was sleeping on her side, with her back turned to him, leaving ample space for at least a person more beside her. However, Russia was a tall man, and there was just enough room for him. Very carefully he lifted the sheet and sat down on the mattress. He pulled his legs up onto the bed, and soundlessly slipped them underneath the sheet. Finally, he leaned back and lay down on the bed.

Alice shifted, and Ivan froze. She turned to lie on her belly and for a moment clutched her pillow in her hands. Her lips parted a little and she mumbled something smothered into her pillow. The Brit seemed to be a light sleeper. He allowed himself to breathe again and relaxed. His eyes closed and his breathing became deeper. This room felt warmer, and even though it was bigger than the one he had been given, it didn't feel as empty. Her scent danced through the air and he inhaled deeply. She smelled nice.

"Eek?!" A loud shriek awoke Russia from his sleep. A thud followed. His ears were erected and his muscles immediately tensed. He stared at the empty place in the bed next to him, where the sound had come from. He also wondered for a moment why he wasn't in his own bed.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed?!" Oh, right, he remembered why he was here.

"I was sleeping?" he said and she got up from the ground. Her face turned red, though he couldn't tell whether it was more from anger or embarrassment.

"Why in my bed?" she asked. Now, Russia for the first time actually got to see her sleepwear. She was wearing a light blue nightgown that reached halfway down her thighs, and it was sleeveless. Her hair loosely brushed over her shoulders and arms.

"Because my bed was cold", he answered softly. England's words faltered in her throat and she stared at him for a moment. She felt her cheeks turning red and hot. Eventually she huffed, and ran her fingers through her hair. Russia didn't do or say much more. He watched her leave the room, heading towards the bathroom. Until she was completely out of view, he had followed her elegant movements. He quickly shook any thoughts about her away and slowly got up.

Translations:
Спасибо (Spasibo) is Russia for Thank you.

That's it for this chapter. I'm sorry for making it so long while there doesn't happen much, but I promise that the next chapter will be more interesting. I hope it was kind of okay. Tell me what you think about it so far, da?
Review~ !