When Mexico entered the conference room the next morning, it was already in chaos. Locating her name tag near the middle of the table, she set down her briefcase and looked around. After taking in the small clusters of arguing nations, she finally spotted Canada standing out of the way near a window and pushed her way through the crowd to join him.

"What's gone wrong?" she demanded once she reached his side. "This has to be a record, even for us."

Canada started slightly, unused to personal attention when in Europe, then laughed.

"Apparently Germany snuck in here this morning to rearrange Spain's seating assignments." He grinned. "They were all nice and alphabetical."

"Naturally." Mexico shook her head.

"So when Spain came in this morning to check on things, he swapped his spot with Luxembourg so he'd be next to Romano. Then Sweden moved Finland next to him, France kept invading Cyprus's personal space until he agreed to switch, and Hungary decided Veneziano needed to sit next to Germany." He paused, lifting Kumajiro higher in his arms so he could rest his chin on the bear's sleeping head. "And now Poland and Malta are in negotiations so he can sit next to Lithuania, Estonia keeps trying to convince Romania to swap with him so he can sit next to Finland, Sweden is glaring threateningly at Romania to make sure he doesn't change, and America is sulking because he's ended up on the end.

"On top of all that," he continued, eyes dancing as he tracked the nations as they moved 'round and around the long table, "Norway apparently refused at the last minute to watch Sealand so Sweden had to bring him, England's trying to kick him out but Finland won't let him, and Romano is still yelling at Spain for sneaking into his room last night to wish him an early Happy Valetine's Day. Spain, meanwhile, is teasing Germany for changing his original seat assignments and Austria keeps moving away from Hungary, who's looking extra predatory. I think her 'yaoi mind' is in overdrive because of the holiday."

Mexico stared at the northern nation for a moment, then started snickering. "You always get the best gossip," she chuckled.

"It's one of the upsides to the way Europe forgets me," he laughed.

The loud roar slowly began to diminished as the invited nations started taking their seats. Spotting the pair by the window, America dropped his notebook and and briefcase at his seat and ran over to join them.

England followed moments later, clearly irritated by the early chaos.

"We're getting started," he began in a sharp voice.

"Look, this will take 2 minutes," America interrupted. He waved a hand towards the table. "You go be, ya know, European over there while we take care of important North America business."

"What the hell does that mean?" England groaned and rubbed his temples. "Nevermind, just hurry."

Mexico and Canada watched England retreat to his seat across from America then turned their attention to their noisy neighbor.

"Right, so, quickly," America whispered. "The $1 million question."

"Why are we here?" Mexico suggested.

"Exactly!" America replied. "Canada?"

"What?" his twin asked in surprise. "Why are you asking me?"

"Uh, because you're the gossip guy. Plus, you're more . . . Europe-y. And this is all EU stuff sooooo . . . " America trailed off expectantly.

"I am not!" Canada hissed. "Anyways, this was your idea!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Wait," Mexico interrupted, "if none of us know why we were invited, why ARE we here?"

The twins were silent.

"Bailout?"

"Shut it," Canada muttered.

Mexico sighed.

"Your two minutes are up!" England suddenly yelled.

"Meet back here after the break," America whispered before spinning around and dashing over to his seat at the nearby table end.

Canada and Mexico shared a long suffering look before also leaving the window.

Upon reaching her assigned seat, Mexico froze. Fury.

"France!" she hollered, spinning to face the languid blonde at the far end of the table. She pointed the the clear glass vase that had been in her room . . . and now held two flowers instead of one.

"Your gift from last night would wilt after spending all day in a dark, empty hotel room." He smirked and leaned back. Canada gave her a helpless look from beside him.

"You broke into my room?" she demanded.

"Of course not." Still smirking, he flourished his hand and a thin plastic key card appeared in his long fingers. "You dropped this last night. I meant to return it to you today."

Mindful that everyone was now watching the exchange with anticipation, Mexico felt her face start to burn in embarrassment and frustration. Stalking around the table, she snatched the card out of France's hand.

"Stay out of my room," she snapped, "and that flower-"

"Neither gift," France interrupted, "is from me. The new one," he added, eyes dancing, "could only have been left for you in the past few minutes. From your admirer, I would presume."

At the other end of the table, England leaned forward and craned his neck.

"The white one is a hibiscus, which means "Consumed by love." He paused while considering the other.

"It is a Peruvian Lily," France noted while Mexico stood frozen next to him. "There was a note that accompanied it last night."

With a slight frown, England pulled out his phone and did a quick search. "That's a fairly new breed," he commented, thumb flicking through the search results. "But I appears to mean "Devotion.""

Spell broken, Mexico bolted for her seat. Her face felt like it was on fire. Spain patted her hand once she was seated.

"You'll have to tell Boss all about it!"