Ameribel THREE~ LAST ONE

The next morning Alfred and Belarus were sitting in a café trying to fight off the bitter cold with steaming mugs of coffee. Alfred takes a slow sip his glasses fogging up as he looks over at her. While he could not wear his normal leather jacket, as it was too distinct and they had still not found his assassin, he was at least wearing something more his style, in blue jeans and red white and blue parka. Where he found that thing she had no idea but she had to admit it reflected his mood this morning, which was spontaneous and loud. Alfred finally speaks managing a "quiet" voice. At least they were outside.

"So Nat-"

He is cut off by her glare.

"You may not call me Nat." While she was "glad" that he was ok, she wasn't that glad. Alfred blinks and grins widely.

"So Nat you really walked all around the city for an entire year to find me?"

Belarus sighs and nods not speaking, instead taking a sip of her coffee and reflecting on the conversation earlier that night.

~~~flashback to last night~~~

As Belarus explained everything that happened Alfred's eyes grow wider and wider and he begins pacing on the sidewalk while she watched calmly standing still.

"So you're telling me that I was shot? And then hit by a car?" He blinks running a hand through his hair. "Someone must really want me dead. But I don't even remember that much! And how did I remain hidden for an entire year and not remember it?""

Natalia sighs and nods stopping his annoying pacing and leads him back to "his apartment" before anyone noticed him.

"Of course you are in this "cold war" with my brother. Of course he wants you dead. As for the entire year apparently when you were shot you stayed in that warehouse for that night while your body healed, since it was only a bullet and not something that had happens your country. "

Alfred nods slowing looking down as they walk through the dark and silent streets, the lamps making their shadows long. While nations could be harmed by things such as bullets, it would not kill them as long as nothing like a natural disaster or, something like the Great Depression happened to their country. Or at least they now knew this, nothing like this had ever happened before. Finally after a few minutes of silence Alfred looks up once more.

"Yeah I guess so. Do you know who he hired?"

Belarus shakes her head pulling out the file of information that she had collected and always had with her.

"No but I have all the information I did find in the last year in here. The assassin must have known your route and followed you enough to know when you would be at that warehouse. They might have even made contact with you, but must not have known about your status as a nation or else they would have known that bullet could only hurt you. Or at least we now know that. Do you know anyone like that?"

Alfred shakes his head rapidly.

"No the only person who walks with me is you! Or more like I walked with you."

Belarus looks at him and places her hands on his shoulders stopping their walk before he started to blabber again.

"Focus Alfred…. Think hard."

Alfred nods and catches himself before he started to stare into those violet ice eyes.

"Ok… I'll try. But some things are still hazy; I don't really remember the day that I got shot. In fact all I remember is being excited about…" He stops and looks down closing his eyes apparently thinking about that day. "

"Let's see… I got the tickets for the play…" He blushes faintly but continues on.

"Then I saw this lady walking across the street and she dropped her grocery bags, so I helped her out to her car. After that I got some breakfast and started to go to the road where you usually walk. The next thing I knew I was hit by something in the chest and…. That's it… I can't remember anything else."

Alfred looks up at her with a pained expression on his normally cheerful face. Belarus blinks and taking her hands off of his shoulder she pushing him gently so that they were waking once more.

"What did this lady look like?"

Alfred blinks staring, grasping at the flashes of memory's that whirled around in his head.

"You think…. Well she had black hair, blue eyes…"

Belarus sighs. No one she knew fit that description.

"Oh and she stuttered a lot!" Natalia blinks as a sudden flashback hit her. A timid woman… with a stutter… Who had made such a fleeting impression.

~~~Present time~~~

Alfred waves his hands in front of her face.

"Nat? You still with me?"

Belarus nods curtly, blinking as she slowly reigned her thoughts back in.

"Alfred you need to go back to the hospital…" Alfred blinks setting his coffee mug down and looking at her through foggy glasses.

'What? Why? I feel fine!"

Belarus rolls her eyes and motions him closer to her. Alfred blinks and leaned in over the table looking up at her with a curious expression on his face. She places a hand on his neck pinching the correct nerve. He blinks for a moment before slumping over his face falling into his doughnut. Belarus sighs faintly and moves the plate and wipes his face off before calmly taking a deep breath. She waits for someone to walk by before standing up apparently in a frenzy.

'HELP! HELP!'

She smirks inwardly as a man rushes over and she explains "frantically" that her boyfriend just suddenly collapsed. The man calls for an ambulance and she was soon roaring away to the hospital holding the hand of her "boyfriend" as they rode in the back. Alfred blinks looking up at her as they pulled into the hospital. He starts to speak but Belarus shakes her head swiftly and puts a finger to her lips. Alfred blinks and thankfully he got the message closing his eyes again and even managing to slow his breathing so that his chest movements were barely noticeable.

Surely his was a life threating condition.

The EMTs rushed him into the Emergency Room. When Alfred finally "wakes up" he looks around dazed and confused. He tells the doctor's about his recent amnesia and they thought it best to put him in a room. They left him alone with his sweet caring girlfriend who was with him the whole time looking on worriedly. When the doctors finally leaved, to give this sweet couple some privacy, Belarus and Alfred looked at each other for a split second before he started to chuckle and she cracked a slight smile. That was amusing.

"Hey we should work together more often! We're a great team, and your acting was great! But did you have to do that during breakfast? I still smell doughnut… Not that I'm complaining of course."

Belarus shrugs slightly letting go of his hand as she realized that she was still griping onto it tightly.

"You were not going to stop talking."

Alfred blinks and smiles sheepishly rubbing that back of his neck with his hand that was not hooked up to IV'S.

"Yeah maybe your right."

Belarus nods curtly sitting down, folding her dress neatly under her preparing for the long wait. Alfred looks around already bored again.

"So what now?"

"Now we wait for a new nurse who stutters."

Alfred blinks and nods looking down at his hands.

A few hours pass and only a few nurses come in, none of them the one with a stutter. Alfred entertains himself by flicking through TV channels, never stopping on one show for more than five minutes. After all they were all in Russian. Belarus remains tensed ready for a fight, waiting for the nurse. Soon visiting hours were over and Belarus had to leave. Standing up her back sore from sitting tensed so long, she walks over to Alfred's bed and he looks up from his incessant clicking.

"Alfred she will come in the night, and she will be coming to kill you."

Alfred nods slowly grinning up at her in the hospital gown that some other nurse had brought him along with some food, which he had quickly wolfed down.

"Yeah I know. And look I want you to get out before she does. I can't have my damsel getting hurt!"

Belarus blinks and remembers her reason for trying to find him again in the first place.

"Alfred why do you care so much about me? Why follow me every day?"

Alfred blinks and smiles widely up at her, and she knew that he was about to go off on another one of his rants.

"Well I'm a man of simple goals. You were a damsel in distress. And I don't mean when you almost got hit by the car. I mean I just had to save you from yourself! You just seemed so sad and lonely walking down the road I just knew that you needed a friend even if you didn't."

Belarus blinks and was about to respond when a doctor comes in and "gently" reminds her that visiting hours were over. She nods placing her worried girlfriend facade back on as easily as if she were placing a ribbon in her white hair.

"Ok thank you doctor... Now call me if you need me sweetie."

She places a gentle kiss on her "boyfriends" head and Alfred for his part did his best to look content, which was not very hard.

'Thanks snowflake, you're the best. I love you."

Belarus giggles ditsy as the doctor rolls his eyes.
"Ma'am please you two can exchange your "sweet nothings" later, he needs rest now."

Belarus nods sadly, looking at her lover as if she never wanted to part with him.

"Ok thank you so much for keeping y precious cinnamon bun healthy."

The doctor sighs heavily, done with this romantic young couple.

"Alright, alright you're welcome, now go."

She nods sadly and blows a kiss to her "cinnamon bun" before walking out sighing heavily one out of earshot of the disapproving doctor. She rolls her eyes at her and Alfred's exchange. Snowflake. Where did he come up with something as silly as that?

Shaking her head she walks to the nurse's locker room and easily finds a dress in her size from a locker she picked her way into. She pins her hair up in a bun and hides it under a nurse's hat. She donned some fake glasses and white nurse shoes before walking around the halls, making sure to avoid any real nurses or doctors. Finding a back door close to Alfred's room she walks out hiding her clothes and normal shoes in some bushes under a lamp in a nearly empty guest parking lot. Going back inside the she walks around aimlessly her violet eyes scanning for any sign of black hair, or blond hair as she had saw with the nurse. Or perhaps it was brown? She could not truly remember that women had made such a fleeting impression, very clever on her part.

Finally just as the long hand on a clock was almost done creeping onto twelve she catches a flash of blond hair out of the corner of her eyes, and it was heading to Alfred's room. She turns on her heel swiftly and follows at a close distance. She peers into his room through a crack in the door as the nurse who had blond hair walks over to Alfred's bed and with one swift motion knocks him out before he could struggle. She smirks and slips a sly hand into her pocket, pulling out a long needle and flicking it with her right forefinger. She moves over to Alfred bed and smooth's his hair back, kissing his head, leaving a red, no scarlet lip print. Belarus's eyes widen, she knew that signature. It was the same as when he was in the warehouse, only then she did not recognize it for it had been smudged.

The Scarlet Rose was known as the best in her trade, being able to disguise herself as anyone and being able to finish any task. The only two things known about her is her scarlet signature, and her stutter. But now Belarus knew four things about her. She was standing about Alfred bed about to kill him, and she was going to go down.

Belarus sneaks into the room, closing the door behind her calmly as the Scarlet Rose slowly turn around. She smirks at her glaring before walking up to her and staring her down.

'You will step away from the American."

The Scarlet Rose smirks.

"O-oh i-is s-someone in l-love? D-don't w-worry d-dear, you'll j-join your l-lover s-soon e-enough."

She smirks pulling out a gun form her other pocket. Belarus rolls her eyes. Humans were so stupid. She moves rapidly and flips her over her head slamming her onto the cold tiled floor before knocking her out in the same fashion as she had done Alfred. She stands up adjusting her hat before walking over to the unconscious American and slapping him lightly on the face. He bolts up looking around wildly.

"Nat! Look out she's here!'

She nods slowly unhooking him from the IV calmly as he peers down looking at the unconscious woman.

"Oh… Never mind."

He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and frowns wiping the lipstick stain off.

"Ugh gross she kissed me, it's like getting kissed on the cheek by an aunt that's trying to murder you."

Belarus nods slowly handing him his clothes, as she moves around the room upsetting chairs and medical equipment making them fall to the floor with loud thuds.

"Come on our job is done here. In the morning the other doctors will find a nurse with poison in a needle and a patient missing, with the room trashed. Even an idiot would have to figure this out. And if this is not enough they will see a blond nurse leading away said patient and then coming back later to his room alone."

Alfred blinks nodding as Belarus walks over to the window turning around as he changes and opening the window.

"Hey Nat…. You're a genius."

She turns back around and finds him done with a dopey smile on his face. He thinks again and looks at her worried.

"Ok that a really good plan but…. How are you going to get out once you come back?"

Belarus points to the open window and looks down. Luckily it was on the first floor so she would not need any of her special equipment. Alfred strides over and nods once inspecting the distance he nods giving a hum of approval.

"Ok yeah you'll be fine!"

Belarus nods and as a final touch she places the incriminating needle on the table by Alfred's bed. It could not be right next to the nurse, for that would look too staged. This done she leads Alfred out of the room appearing to be forcing him out. Alfred "struggles" and squirms around as they exit the empty hospital out of a back door. Once outside Belarus tosses away the nurse hat and slides on her dress easily as Alfred goes to look for a way out that would not involve being seen by any cameras. While it would be easier to keep her nurse's dress on, it would mean risking a camera seeing her and she could not be charged for this "crime". She was just putting her ribbon in her hair as he came back grinning.

"I found us a way out!"

Nodding slowly she follows him walking through some bushes and out into a dimly lit alleyway. They walk along in silence before Alfred whirled around on her making her stop short.

"Hey Nat are you ok? You haven't said anything since I woke up."

Belarus looks away sighing heavily.

"I'm fine Alfred if you are suggesting that I am not. I just fought a women with poison in a needle about to kill you after she kissed your head, if I wish to remain silent then I will."

Alfred blinks and then smiles chuckling as she stares in disbelief. 'Why on earth is he laughing? Maybe is finally cracking up….'

"Oh I get it! You're jealous! Well don't worry if you want to kiss me you can!"

Belarus frowns and walks over about to stamp on his foot. She sighs backing away and only turns away.

"You're an idiot."

Alfred only laughs some more, however she surprised herself by finding that it was not in an unfriendly way.

"Ah I'm just yanking your chain Nat. But it is nice to know that you do care for me." Belarus rolls her eyes grumbling and looking at the time.

"I will be back, stay here Alfred."

She runs back to the hospital slipping her nurses dress back on going to his room. She looks at the assassin and finds that she is starting to wake up so she calmly strides over and leaning down she pinches her nerve again , making her fall asleep once more. Belarus walks over her with a satisfied smirk and slips out of the window easily landing with a graceful thud onto the parking lot below. She glides back over to where Alfred was standing his hands in his pockets.

"Ready to go? You didn't get hurt did you?"

Belarus shakes her head smoothing down her skirt.

"Yes I am fine. Let's just hurry up and leave before anyone catches us."

They walk back down the empty streets to her apartment. Once outside his door they stop and look at each other neither of them speaking for a minute. Finally it was Alfred who broke that silence.
"So what now?"

Belarus sighs, knowing that he would ask this question, she had been thinking about it the whole trip back. While it would be nice to have someone to talk to for once, someone who was not scared of her, she knew it was impossible.

"Now we go our own separate ways." She looks away focusing harshly on a street lamp. If looks could kill that lamp would have exploded.

Alfred blinks and then smiles widely and picks her up hugging her despite her protests.

"Yeah we could do that, oooooor you can join me on a date to go see Romeo and Julliet."

Belarus blinks and then sighs softly.

"You have to set me down if I am to go anywhere."

Alfred grins even wider if that was possible and sets her down kissing her quickly leaving her blinking stunned for once in her life.

"Great that's totally a yes! I'll see you later Nat!" With that he kisses her cheek before walking away on the street nearly running with excitement. Belarus shakes her head a slight smile playing on her lips as she looks up at the stars. The cold war was ending and spring was on its way.