It only took 30 minutes for Arthur to come back into the room, but Amelia had already grown bored and found her eyes wandering around the room. When she spied Arthur coming down the stairs, a smile unconsciously found its way to her lips.
"Corner time means nose to the corner." Arthur grumbled out.
Amelia quickly ducked her head back to the corner. "Sorry, Artie."
Arthur stepped beside her and spun her around. "Corner time is over." As he said this, he opened his arms to embrace her. She quickly dove into his arms, almost knocking him to the ground. Arthur let out a gentle laugh as he combed his fingers through her hair. He planted a kiss to her forehead.
Amelia didn't want to ever get out of Arthur's arms. She finally was getting what she had gone through so much to get. Her emotions betrayed her and she sobbed on Arthur's shoulder. Arthur was confused by the fresh wave of tears. Her punishment was over so the renewed cries seemed out of place. He pulled her away from his chest to get a better look at her. He must have underestimated her current emotional state.
"Hey." Arthur rubbed his thumb under her eyes to wipe away her tears. "What's the meaning of this?"
Amelia tried to cover her face with her sleeve, but Arthur batted her hand away. When her crying didn't ebb, Arthur guided her to the couch. He handed her back her pants and turned away while she slipped them back on. When he didn't hear her wrestle with them anymore, he sat on the couch and she hopped in his lap, careful to keep her stinging bottom off of his knees. She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her head on his chest.
"Wanna tell me what's got you so worked up, my child?"
"I don't like him." Amelia muttered into Arthur's chest. Arthur strained to hear what she had said.
"He's your boss. You don't have to like him. You do, however, have to obey him."
"Don't want to." She said less audibly.
Arthur moved her chin from his chest as a silent warning to not mutter. "I'm sorry you feel that way."
"Artie, have you ever disobeyed your boss?"
Arthur bit the inside of his mouth. He could think of quite a few instances when he had. "I can think of a few times."
"What happened?" Arthur had no desire to tell Amelia about those times, but he figure he should put his pride aside for the moment if it would help her out. It helped that Amelia was staring up at him with her bright blue eyes. He couldn't say no to her.
"Once, when I was still a young lad, I was tricked into growing out my hair by a certain long haired-blonde." Amelia giggled as she knew Arthur was talking about Francis. "Anyway, it was at a time with the church had alot of influence in government. The bishop forbade me from doing so, but I hid from him for six months to let it grow."
"Six months?" Amelia questioned and Arthur nodded back. "What happened?"
"Well, when I showed Francis, he told me he'd style it for me. The damn frog cut it all off, just to make it the same as it was before I grew it out." Amelia laughed. Arthur smiled back at her, happy to see her smile again. "Anyway, I eventually had to go back to face the bishop. He wasn't very pleased with me."
"What'd he do?"
"Oh, I got quite an earful. The king was there as well. While the bishop threatened to do outrageous punishments to me to 'teach me a lesson,' I was lucky that the king spoke up for me. He assured the bishop that they could contact any of my big brothers and they'd handle me." Arthur shuttered at the memory. "I remember Allister being very disappointed to be called to my house to have punish me."
"Did he spank you?" Amelia asked quietly.
Arthur nodded. "You aren't the only nation that gets a sore bottom when you're naughty."
Amelia felt empathy for Arthur. She frowned. "How old do nations have to be until they are too big to get spankings?"
Arthur laughed at her logic. "There isn't a magical age that one reaches, Amelia. I suppose the best answer I can give is when a nation doesn't give his or her older siblings or parents a reason to spank them."
"Do you still get spankings?"
"I haven't gotten one for quite some time. I also haven't given anyone a reason to find it necessary to punish me that way." Arthur gave Amelia a pointed look that made her blush and hide her face in Arthur's chest.
"My turn to ask a question." Arthur said. Instead of looking up at him, Amelia kept her face buried, as if she hadn't heard what Arthur said. "Amelia, if you knew I'd spank you for coming out here, why did you come?" Amelia suddenly found interest in playing with the hem of Arthur's sweater. "Amelia." Arthur called to get the girl's attention.
"I just wanted to, okay." Amelia harshly bit out. Arthur wasted no time propping his leg up so he could swat her bottom once more. Amelia bit her bottom lip and moved her hands to protect her rear. "Ow." She cried.
"Want to try that answer again?" Arthur firmly said. "I'd hate to have to give you another spanking for giving me lip."
"Meanie." Amelia said under her breath. "I knew you'd probably spank me, but I knew you wouldn't send me back." Amelia finally got her words out.
"What do you mean I won't send you back?" Arthur started to feel horrible about the situation. His boss's orders were to do exactly that.
"You know. Like just throw me on a plane and hope I work things out with my boss." Amelia clarified herself. "I knew you wouldn't do that to me." By now, Amelia looked up at Arthur. Arthur was worried his face would betray him so he grabbed Amelia up into a hug to hide his reaction.
"Amelia." He chide in a lacklustre way. "You belong in America. You can't stay here for the rest of your life."
Amelia lightly laughed. "Not my whole life. Just the next four years. Think of it like a vacation."
Arthur didn't find that as humorous as she had. "Sweetie…" Arthur was cut off.
"I don't want to go back!" Amelia's voice hitched as tears formed in her eyes once more. "Please, Arthur! Don't send me back!" She grabbed Arthur's chest as she openly cried as he continued to hold her.
"Of course I won't, my dear." Arthur smoothed her hair back to plant a kiss to the top of her head.
