It had been about four years since Alfred had found Matthew, or rather since Matthew had been dragged in by Kumajirou. Matthew now looked six and his English was much better than it had been. This was in part due to the fact that he and Gilbert's favorite game was 'name that object'. Needless to say Gilbert had been learning the root native language and Matthew had been learning both English and German. Gilbert also had begun making a habit of coming over to simply spend time with the North American brothers over the past four years and would watch Matthew whenever Alfred had business to take care of for either of the nations he was helping to run. Now that Matthew was a little older the Canadian government wanted him to get some kind of education, and taking into account the fact he has been growing at a normal human rate the Canadian government informed Alfred that he would need to find a school in America to send Matthew to. Alfred had been more surprised they wanted him going to an American school than anything else but had agreed to it. It didn't take long for him to find a school that met his standards and sign Matthew up for classes.

It was Matthew's first day and Alfred was dropping his brother off at the school he had chosen. It was a public school, Alfred figured it would be better than sending him to a private school full of rich brats that thought money made them better. Matthew was clinging to his side as they walked into the building and followed a few other new students to the classroom.

"Let's see, you've got Mrs. Wagner for your teacher Mattie."

Matthew yanked on Alfred's pant leg, pouting up at him.

"Don't wanna go."

Sighing Alfred kneels down beside his brother outside the classroom.

"Come on Mattie you gotta go to school. You can make friends here. They'll even be your own age."

"Don't wanna. Wanna stay with Brother and Gilbert. Don't wanna make other friends."

Alfred sets a hand on his brother's head at his stubbornness. He knew he should have tried harder to get Matthew to play with other kids more but between his job and what they are it was hard finding kids for Matthew to play with. Add to that the fact he only recently learned enough English to communicate easily and it just wouldn't have made much difference.

"Look. Behave, try to make friends and do what the teacher tells you and I'll take you out for dinner at IHOP and you can have pancakes and maple syrup and all the ice cream you can handle, deal?"

Matthew pouts but seems to be contemplating the deal before nodding and holding out his hand to shake on it. "Deal."

Alfred smiles and takes the hand before pulling his brother in for a noogie. "Alright, now behave ok. I want a full report on what you do today, got it?"

"Alright Brother."

With that he runs off into the classroom to try and make friends with the other kids. It was then that Alfred noticed the teacher standing beside the door smiling at him. He smiles nervously at her and rubs the back of his head.

"Eheh. I guess I kinda spoil him."

She shakes her head. "There isn't really anything wrong with it, just be careful that you don't spoil him too much or he won't be able to make many friends." She holds out her hand. "I'm Mrs. Wagner by the way."

Alfred takes the offered hand and shakes it. "Alfred Jones. Matthew's my little brother."

"Ah, I see. Usually its parents that drop off their children on the first day."

"Ah, well I'm Matt's legal guardian, so it's kind of the same thing. Our parents are kind of gone..."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It must be difficult raising your little brother, but you seem to be doing a good job so far."

"Yeah, well I have had help. Got a couple of friends that help me keep an eye on him when I have work. They may come and pick him up or drop him off occasionally when work gets busy. I already informed the school so there won't be trouble there."

"Ah, I understand. Its nice to know you are being responsible about taking care of him. I had best be getting back to the class. It was nice to meet you Mr. Jones."

The teacher turns and heads back into the classroom and Alfred sighs in relief. He had been worried that the teacher would think he wasn't capable of taking care of his brother. It seemed people just assumed one way or another whether you were a good parent based solely on age and relationship. Him being a single guy raising his little brother, and most people assumed he was barely out of high school or college, made a lot of people think he wasn't capable of taking care of Matthew properly. As long as Matthew was happy though it didn't really matter to him what others thought.

After Matthew had run into the classroom he had looked around and spotted some of the other children tossing a ball between them. Remembering his brother wanting him make friends with the other children he walked over to them and got their attention.

"I play too?"

"Huh?" The other kids stopped playing to look at the new arrival, who was smiling sheepishly at them.

"What was that?"

"Does he want to play with us too?"

"He talks funny."

One of the boys steps forward and frowns at Matthew. "No we don't want to play with a baby like you. Go away."

The boy turned his back on Matthew and went back to playing with the other kids, ignoring Matthew. Matthew meanwhile looked about ready to cry. He wasn't a baby and he didn't talk funny. He just didn't speak English very well. Rejected from playing with the ball with the others Matthew goes over to the corner where the toys were stored and looks up at the playhouse/treehouse built into the corner. He looks around and doesn't see anyone else around and climbs up into the attic space of the house. Once up amongst the fake branches of his tree-like getaway Matthew looks around and spots a teddy bear in the corner. He crawls over to it and pick it up to cuddle with, reminded of Kumajirou in doing so.

"Hey you ok?"

Matthew started at the question and glanced over at the hatch for the ladder where a girl with brown hair was poking her head up through. Matthew didn't answer though which caused the girl to frown and climb the rest of the way up and in.

"Did those jerks make you sad? You shouldn't worry about them, they aren't worth getting sad over." The girl turned her steely blue eyes on him and smiled. "But don't worry I'll play with you, so don't be sad."

Matthew relaxed a bit as the girl said she would play with him and Matthew nods.

"Ok, I won't be sad. I'm Matthew." He holds his hand out to her to shake hands as he had seen his brother do to others when meeting them for the first time.

Smiling cheerfully the girl took his hand in hers and shook it. "I'm Christine."

After that the two got along very well. Matthew told her about his brother and Gilbert and even about Arthur, who came over from time to time to help his brother out with work. Christine took it all in and told Matthew about her own family. When the teacher called for everyone to gather at the front of the class to begin their lessons Matthew was pulled over to a seat next to Christine. At one point the teacher called on Matthew to share something about himself with the class. Matthew nearly broke down into tears when everyone started laughing at him for not being able to speak properly. Christine, though, had jumped to his rescue and told them all that just because he didn't talk like the rest of them didn't mean he was stupid. She had turned a smile to Matthew then and asked him to tell them about the language he had told her about that he did actually speak well. Drawing courage from his friend he spoke a few sentences in his native language before sitting down again.

The rest of the day went much the same with Matthew struggling to speak proper English and Christine helping him with it and keeping away anyone that may bully him. At the end of the day Matthew waited on the steps of the school with his new friend while they both waited for their respective guardians. It didn't take long for Christine's mother to show up and for Christine to introduce her new friend. Just as Christine's mother was turning to take her to their car the teacher came out and headed for Matthew. Matthew turned to her with confusion when he saw her expression.

"Matthew. I'm sorry, it seems your brother's gotten caught up with work and can't get away. He says someone will be by to pick you up in an hour."

Matthew looked down sadly but nodded and took the teacher's outstretched hand.

"Come on, you can wait in the classroom."

"Ok."

As Matthew was going inside Christine was pulling on her mother's arm to stop them from walking away.

"Mommy, can we stay too and keep Matthew company? Please mommy?"

Matthew and the teacher both stop and Matthew looks back hopefully at his friend, not wanting to not have anyone to play with. Christine's mother and the teacher exchange glances before responding.

"Of course we can dear."

"Yay!" Christine lets go of her mother's hand and runs over to hug Matthew tightly and happily. "Come on Matthew lets go play."

The two children ran off and back to the classroom leaving the adults behind.

It was about an hour later when a man in a black suit with sunglasses appeared at the classroom door asking for Matthew. Matthew ran up to him smiling and hugged his legs.

"Mr. Mercer!"

"Hello there Matthew. Your brother got tied up with work and asked me to take you home, I hope you don't mind."

Matthew shook his head and smiled up at the man in the suit. "I no mind. Oh, this friend Christine." He motions over to Christine and Mr. Mercer smiles at her and then at her mother and the teacher.

"Thank you for keeping him company while I made it over here."

"Its no problem, he's been a pleasure to look after."

A few more moments of small talk and they all go their separate ways with Matthew getting tucked into a sleek black car before the two drove off. When they made it to Alfred's house Mr. Mercer helped Matthew out of the car and led him inside to wait for Alfred to get done with his work.

When Alfred finally made it home he was exhausted and wearily set his things down in the foyer before heading for the kitchen where he could hear the secret service agent and Matthew chatting and making or eating dinner.

"Hey, I'm home. Thanks for getting him Mercer."

"Not a problem Mr. Jones, he's a sweet kid and I really don't mind looking after him for you, I know how demanding your job can get."

Alfred smiles at the him and sees him out before settling down to eat what had been set aside for him. As soon as he did Matthew regaled him with tales of his day and all about Christine. Alfred smiled and listened along.

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Fluffy filler but it's too cute to pass this up.

I'm glad so many of you like this so far. I hope you all will check out my other stories as well. As always please review.