A sea of unsynchronized clapping followed a booming voice after giving its last outstanding statement. As the President was escorted to another secure and more private area of the campus building the majority of the onlookers also began to walk away. It wasn't long before all that was left was those cleaning up and two suit-wearing men that nobody had bothered to notice to begin with.

America was the first one to move from his spot near the podium, England for once didn't bother to try and hide the slight smile forming onto his face. "Hey man glad you could make it." He pulled his friend into a hug before any reply could come forth.

England was stiff against him, his eyes widened briefly in surprise at the unexpected contact. He recomposed himself rather quickly guessing that the long period of time spent isolated had made him miss his home and friends. "It's good to see you again, America." He lightly pushed the larger away, ending the embrace.

England's forehead creased when he stared up at America. His cheery demeanor did not reflect his features. Large bags sagged under his blue eyes, which were not looking as bright as they usually did. His chapped lips were paler than before as well as the color in his face which resembled the sky on an overcast day.

However any growing concern he had was shaken off when America spoke again. "You too, it feels like it's been forever since I've seen anyone." It had been only little over a year since he had seen any other nations, for a human that was a long time but for a nation like himself it was rather short and expected. Depending on where they lived, some nations only meet a handful of times a year while others could see each other a few times a month.

England noticed his friends gaze moving in different directions, as if he was looking for something. "Is something the matter?"

America hesitated, turning his head slightly, before answering. "Didn't you say that um . . . that . . . that someone was going to be here too?"

It took a few seconds before the answer clicked in the English man's mind and a look of realization found its way on his face. "O-Oh that's right, I almost forgot to tell you that Canada's plane had been delayed so he'll have to meet us later this evening."

Nodding, he shrugged his shoulders at the reply. "Sounds good." A look of contemplation met his features before he continued. "There's something I wanted to tell you alone anyway."

Instinctively, England took a step closer towards him. "Did something go wrong up there?" His voice had lowered in volume despite the lack of people around them.

America turned to the right before slowly walking off in that direction as England followed directly next to him. Leaning down to match the Englishman's height he whispered. "We can talk on the drive back to D.C." Nothing else was said between the two after that.

. . .

"It's been a month Danny, get over it."

A young man a little over the age of twenty-three slowly moved his gaze from the flashing scene outside of the car window. His hunter green eyes lost their look of carelessness at the sight of his sister, Jane, in the seat next to him.

She shrunk back at the familiar heated glare. Over a month ago the look had only been given to her on certain occasions where she truly deserved it. However now it seemed that this was the only look he gave her. "Over what?" There was an agitated edge to his tone as if he had been offended by her words.

Her rather calm demeanor faltered for a second as she briefly mimicked his fractious expression. "You don't have to remind me how . . . disappointed you are in my decisions every time you look at me."

Snorting he shook his head in somewhat amusement. "It's just sad that you're going to throw away a full ride to Maryland." There wasn't any sympathy shown in his voice as one would expect.

"Throwing away?! I'd be throwing away an opportunity only given to a little less than twelve hundred students in the entire country if I went to the University of Maryland." She sighed in frustration and leaned back into her seat. "Besides the Naval Academy will get me farther along in my goals better than if I went to Maryland."

A simple roll of her brother's eyes left a gash on her ego, that had of recent grown rather large, and a dull pain in her heart. "You do know that being in the military means you can't whine and complain about anything."

"I don't complain."

"I don't wanna go into the water there's shark's in there, I'm bored I don't wanna play monopoly anymore, Mo-om Danny's being mean to me." He taunted her; the tone purposely too effeminate.

"I don't complain to people who aren't my family." A growl formed in her throat as she thought over her words. "If anyone's complaining it's you. All you've done since I got accepted is complain and moan. I would think that you of all people would know how hard it is to do something like this and would be proud!"

"Proud?" Disbelief was evident on his face. "Oh I'm definitely going to be proud when I'm picking your ass up from the Academy, Half-way through Plebe summer because you quit like everything else you've done!"

"You think I'm going to quit like you did?"

"You quite soccer because it was too hard, you quit playing the Piano because it was too hard, you quit jazz band because it was too hard. Every time you do something hard you quit and the military baby sister is the hardest of them all."

"I'm not you so just shut up!"

"You're the one who talked first." She didn't try to have the last words after that.

Like most siblings, Jane and her brother had ups and downs in their relationship. To her, today was the lowest point they had ever reached and showed no signs of going back up. The reason for it had to do with her decision to go to the Naval Academy, an undergraduate college that prepares young men and women to become professional officers in the military. Students there attend the academy for four years, graduating with a bachelors in science, before serving in the military for at least five years.

Danny knew this place all too well due to the fact he had once been a midshipmen but eventually quit for reasons few actually knew, Jane was one of them. His reason for leaving the academy was why he was the only family member she had that hated her choice.

However, knowing this reason she could never truly hate her brother. Glancing back to him she noticed the odd expression playing on her brother's face. She expected him to silently fume at the very least-like most people would. However it was obvious to see that the only thing he looked like at that moment was disappointed and she hated it.

Danny was a rather pale and lanky young man unlike his short and round father. He kept his light mahogany hair at only an inch longer than a buzz cut and a small amount of stubble on his oval shaped face was only noticeable to those who came near him.

Jane, on the other hand, was only five foot four with rather scrawny arms, something that would eventually build up in muscle during the rigorous training that was Plebe summer. At one point her hair had been the same color as his until she had decided to dye it burgundy earlier in life. Now, after not dying it in a while, her hair was noticeably darker than his; currently it reached a little bit past her shoulders.

Looking outside Danny could tell that they would reach downtown Annapolis soon. There they would meet up with their father for lunch. Their father coincidentally worked at the Academy as civilian computer technician and was getting off work early due to some event happening there.

"That's strange." Jane blinked at her brothers words. She hesitated before looking ahead towards the road where she noticed what he was talking about.

A good distance ahead of them was the scene of a car crash, something that in these times was extremely rare. Many years ago automatic cars had just started out as the newest and safest version of transportation possible. They required no manual assistance from people to get to their destination. All someone had to do was type in the coordinates and the car would take them there.

Despite this, there were times when something inside the car would go wrong and it would falter. As the two of them came closer to the scene she thought of a time when many tests and court trials were put in place to see if it was dangerous to do certain things while inside the car such as eating or drinking.

Some believed that by spilling liquid on the dashboard it could short circuit the electrical components and cause a crash. Instead, it was proven during these tests that only a couple times out of hundred did spilling drinks do anything, it was not enough to get any restrictions passed. Besides no one had yet to die because of something like that.

. . .

"What happened?" This was the first thing England had said since they left the campus and now they were driving down the city streets of downtown Annapolis.

A puzzled look came to America's face as he glanced toward the other man, however after a few seconds it was replaced with frown. "What do you mean 'what happened?' It sounds like you expected something bad has already happened."

England scowled at the rather impetuous and farfetched statement. "What else would be so important that you didn't want anyone else to hear?" America could tell he was beginning to get annoyed as evident from the impatient tone he was using.

He took a deep breath before answering. "Well to be honest, you were somewhat right when you asked if something had happened." There was a silent pause. "It's not that something bad had happened but more on along the lines that something might happen."

"And why couldn't Canada know?"

He looked down towards his hands. "I don't want it to affect his decision." There was a hidden guilt in what he said that England immediately honed in on it.

"So you're going to lie to him and pretend everything's okay so he'll say yes!" He instantly turned his head to glare at the younger nation, irritation rising with every second. "You're going to let him go up there when you know that something might happen that could potentially endanger him." America had tried to speak up more than once during his scolding rant, but England's voice only raised in volume every time he opened his mouth. "And why would you tell me something was wrong when I'm going to be up there, just because I said yes once doesn't mean I can't withdraw my decision!"

"Listen it's not that I think that something might happen to you guys but well rather to . . . me." And for a few moments all England did was look at him as his previous emotions began to die down some.