DX another week of late updates. I'm so sorry guys! My brother got his wisdom teeth out this last week and I had to take care of him. I am officially giving up on promising consistency with updating, I clearly can't keep them. But here's the next chapter. History at the bottom if anyone wants it.

England's P.O.V.

The white box seemed to challenge me. America was willing to admit he was going to propose to a married woman. Surely I could step forward and admit to something less...

Without really thinking about it, I cleared my throat. The three sets of eyes came to me.

for a second, I froze. The fleeting moment of courage gone. Locking gazes with each one, silently having each promise that whatever was said here, stayed here, before starting.

"When Elizabeth was born in 1530,King Henry was positively livid..." (1)

"Please, your majesty, calm down." I tried desperately as King Henry stormed about the room. Broken pots the only testimony to his fit.

"Calm down?" he demanded. "Calm down?! Blast it all man! Everyone said Anne would have a boy! Not this girl."

"You heard what she said, your highness." England soothed. "A healthy girl now, a lusty boy next. Your heir will come."

"It better." he grumbled.

There was no question of Henry's feelings towards his daughter. When she was christened into the church he did not attend. Once she was three months old, her great-uncle and I escorted her through London to her home.(2)

Her cradle was between us. It was heavily oriented, and she was fast asleep. Her uncle sighed. "This poor child. Rejected by her father simply because she wasn't a boy."

"I'm sure he'll come around." I assured him. "She is a princess. Once she has grow a tick, then he will accept her."

The carriage shook violently, causing Elizabeth's cradle to rapidly shift. We caught it in time to stop her from falling out, but not to keep her sleep.

Her cries quickly entered the carriage and after a moment's hesitation, I scooped her up into my arms and began to softly silence her.

"Well," her uncle said. "At least she'll have someone to lean on."

The way she felt in my arms. Slowly succumbing to slumber. The content and innocent face that gently snuggled deeper into my embrace. How on earth could anybody reject such an adorable creature?

We left her at a castle in Herefordshire with her half-sister Mary. She was less then...pleased..with the whole ordeal(3). However, King Henry took a new interest in Elizabeth, and helped Anne with her nursery.

On one of my visits to the Princess, I met her caretaker, Lady Margaret Bryan.(4) She had just put Elizabeth down for her nap, so we shared a cup of tea.

"She's so bright and loving." she told me. "She's a pleasure to watch, and care for. But one must be wary of her tantrums."

I chuckled. "So she can be a handful?"

"Only when you take something she wants." she laughed in agreement. Her gaze went to the ceiling. "Speaking of which. If you'll please excuse me Sir Kirkland."

"But of course, Lady Margaret. I nodded. How on earth did women know when children needed them...?

Satisfied that Elizabeth was safe and happy, I left to face more pressing matters in the palace.

Her mother, Anne, had conceived twice more. The first was a miscarriage and the second; a still born. Anne was beheaded. Before Elizabeth was three, her father had remarried to Jane Seymour, who was already pregnant.

Elizabeth was stripped of her title. By the time she was four, she'd outgrown most of her clothes, and there was no money for her to get more. Lady Margaret and myself petitioned to Jane, she showed mercy and king Henry showed more affection towards his daughter when she attended court.

Other than the rare times that she visited court, I barely saw Elizabeth. With King Henry continually remarrying and getting annulments from past wives,(6) I had to much to work on. That and his only son was declared the future King of England, so I had to begin with preparations for that

By the time Henry died, his last wife Katharine Parr(7) had convinced him to reinstate Elizabeth's title, and she moved in with her latest step-mother. However, when he actually died, she was orphaned and lived in White Castle with Katharine.

The poor girl was lost. In fact I believe we all were to some extent. Katharine married the lord over Prince Edward, Thomas Seymour. He and Elizabeth became good friends and gossip being what it was, turned the whole country's opinion of the two rather ill.(8) Elizabeth left her step-mother's house. Later the whole mess was investigated, scaring Elizabeth into being nothing if not a virtuous woman as to stop any further mistakes that could possibly lead to an early death.

This entire time period was a large mess, however I was able to sneak a few hours away to be with the princess.

"Honestly," she sighed. "England and it's politics can give one a mighty large headache."

"You should've seen it when it started..." I mumbled.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Nothing your majesty." I took another sip of the earl gray tea in my hand.

"Good sir," she smiled over her cup. "you should know better than to speak untruths to me."

"Of course, princess."

"Then what did you say?" she sipped.

"Imagine what it would've been when it started."

"This country can do so much for Europe." she mumbled. "But only when the royals and nobles can forget their social standings and these marriages."

"Your majesty forgets." I mentioned. "Without marriage, there can be no heir. And with no heir, there is no ruler."

"And with no ruler we English will be as lost as blind bats in the day." she sighed. "I fear the day that I too must submit to such needs of society."

"It is necessary your highness."

"Perhaps you are right." she agreed. With a glint in her eye that suggested I wasn't.

Elizabeth's life was nothing but a large mess that someone decided to sort out. Imprisoned by her half-sister on false charges, deaths of several that somehow affected her status in society, finally she ascended to the throne. The people of England loved her.

"There wasn't a spot in Europe that she didn't touch and change. However, when she was told to marry she claimed that she was already married." I smiled at the memory.

It wasn't official. Not even close. But it did make me smile everyday. It was a traditionally muddy day in England, it was just me, her and our private joke. I can't remember the exact date. She just woke up one morning and said the next day she would commit herself to her country and that it translated into an "unofficial" wedding.

There was nothing that was traditional about the whole thing. The dress she wore was a beautiful orange, not a stitch of white on it. We didn't have a pope and we wrote our own vows.

"Do you, Sir Arthur Kirkland take me Queen Elizabeth the first as your unlawfuly wedded wife?" she asked in a mocked serious tone.

"I do." I said with the same level of mockery for our private event. "And do you, Queen Elizabeth the first, take me, Sir Arthur Kirkland as your unlawfuly wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Then may I kiss the bride?"

"No." she smirked.

I gently grabbed her hand and kissed each of the delicate rings on her fingers. Kiss, "Your highness." Kiss. "Majesty." Kiss. "Greatness." Kiss. "My ruler." I kissed the final ring, the one on her wedding finger. "My queen."

To this day, I'm unsure if she had any form of seriousness to it or not. But she never failed to smile when I would take her hand, kiss the ring on her wedding finger and whisper "My queen." showing that I still honored our mock wedding.

To her final days, I remained faithful to Elizabeth, promising to never leave her side unless she asked. Always losing people, times constantly changing as well as the people who surrounded her, she deserved someone who would stay faithful by her side. I had decided that was to be me. I was her country. She had known it when she had taken the crown. So on her right side was where I stayed, she would never be alone again in her life as long as Great Britain stood tall, proud, and very much alive.

"I failed her." I whispered at the end of my tale. "I wasn't there for her last moments. I knew she was dying, I could feel it. And yet I left her in someone else's hands, left her to be tended by other's who didn't know anything about how to treat her."

"What was it that took her, mon amie?" France prodded.

"Heartache." I answered. "Something that I alone, could've fixed. I was the only one who loved her from the start, and the only one who loved her far past her end."

-Extra Bit Elizabeth's P.O.V.-

My heart is breaking. Here in the dead of night. I've lost so many and in my old age, I simply can take no more. My apologies, my dear knight, that I can't hold on long enough to see your beautiful emeralds for eyes one last time. Even though they are the only things that I can see as my eyes shut for the final time.

I hope he takes good care of himself. Nothing will be worse for the motherland if the country is wrought with grief for one ruler among many. I give my last prayer to him, that he'll be strong through this time, that he'll know forever and always,

I am married to my country.(9)

One more down. Two more countries left! Here's the history behind this O3O

1. Elizabeth was born September 7th 1533 at Greenwich Palace. Everyone predicted a boy and Henry was not happy when his wife gave birth to his second girl.

2. Gaining a home of your own at only three months was simply the etiquette of this era.

3. Mary was 17 when Elizabeth was born. Henry demanded she give up her title as Princess of Wales and become Lady Mary. She was also declared illegitimate. And when she was told to pay her respects to the newborn, she cried saying she knew no other princess than herself. SHe lived with Elizabeth as subservient. She never liked Elizabeth.

4. A baroness who Elizabeth called Muggie. She was also caregiver to her half-sister Mary and half-brother Edward.

5. May 19,1536. Anne Boleyn is beheaded on tower hill on charges of treason, adultery and incest.

6. Henry the VIII is famous for having 6 wives during his reign.

7. Katharine was the only one of Henry's wives who lived.

8. There was a rumor going around England that Queen Elizabeth was having an affair with Thomas. After the investigation it was publicly announced that nothing had happened between them. However, Thomas was killed for high treason.

9. She did in fact say those words and I couldn't ignore that. XD