A/N Oh, my Spirits, I am SO sorry for the long wait! T_T My personal and school life turned hectic and I couldn't find time to post this! But thank you Californialoving, watergoddesskasey, Canadagirl52, SanityAintOptionalnotlogedin, Sixx Shi, Ayumi Kudou, and littlewolfwindspeaker so much for reviewing last chapter! ;u;

To make up for my lack of posting anything, I decided to go ahead and post two chapters today! So this is the first of two new chapters! ^^ Please, please review! I love hearing feedback from all of you guys!


The two stayed up for a few more hours talking before they decided to go to bed, Italy opting to sleep with Germany instead of his own bed.

The Italian was on the brink of sleep when their bedroom door slowly creaked open. Small feet padded towards the bed and a tiny, shaking hand patted Italy's shoulder.

"Feli?"

His eyes blinked open sleepily as he raised his head slightly to get a better look at whomever was waking him. As his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he spied Sinopa's small form standing nervously beside him, her stuffed fox dangling from one of her hands.

"Hmm, did you need something, bella?" He murmured sleepily, lifting himself a bit higher and supporting his weight on his forearms.

The little girl sniffed and whispered, "I-I had a b-bad dream. C-can I-I sleep with y-you?"

Understanding dawned on Italy as he smiled warmly.

"Of course you can, bella. Come here," he whispered, sitting up fully and opening his arms to her.

She sniffled again before rushing into his arms, burying her face into his chest. Italy wrapped his arms around her and gently rocked her back and forth to calm her.

"T-the dream was scary, Feli! I dreamed t-that that bad man shot Mama again! Then he s-shot y-you an-and Uncle Luddy a-and U-Uncle L-Lovi! It was the s-scariest dream I-I've ever had Feli!" she sobbed, clinging to the Italian as he rocked her.

"Ssh, it's alright [1] il mio piccolo tesoro. You see, I'm alright, and look! Ludwig is fine, too! It was nothing but a dream; It can't hurt you," Italy cooed, gently shifting so that they were both on the bed.

By then Germany was awake and had shifted to face the two. When the girl had finally calmed down again, Italy gently set her between Germany and himself and covered her with the blanket. When he had laid down again, Sinopa snuggled up to him and pillowed her head on his arm.

"T-thank you...Papa" she whispered into his chest as she fell asleep again, not realizing what she called him.

Italy only smiled down at her and gently petted her hair.

"[2] Buonanotte mio colibrì, sweet dreams." He whispered, kissing her forehead and glancing up to meet Germany's gaze.

Italy smiled at him too before laying his head down and falling asleep, Germany following soon after. Sinopa didn't have any more nightmares that night.

The next couple of days went by pretty much the same way. As much as Italy and Germany kept the orphan occupied and happy, Sinopa always had breakdowns throughout the day. They always came after something reminded her of her mother or her current situation. It could be something a small as a song on the radio or quite often after Sinopa mentions something about her mother. Nonetheless, they were always trying on all three of them.

Romano came back on the third day Sinopa was there. He quite often kept to himself, either shut up in his room or out in the garden, working with his tomatoes. Sinopa, sensing his harsh demeanor, stayed out of his way as much as possible. Despite his apathetic air, Romano was curious about the girl as much as she was curious about him. Whenever his curiosity got the better of him, he often sat in the living room and watched her interact with Feliciano and Germany.

On the fourth day, the same cop came by and gave them permission to go get some more of Sinopa's things from her old house. He also informed them that the police had already alerted the school and Adsila's work of the woman's death.

Gently taking the girl's hand, Italy followed the cop with Germany to the house, which surprisingly wasn't too far of a walk. Sinopa seemed both overjoyed and saddened at the prospect of seeing her old house again.

When they got there, the man unlocked the door and held the door open for them, handing Germany the keys and telling him to lock it up when they were done. The first thing that they were hit with was the sage-like and earthy smell of the house as all three stepped in. Sinopa paused and took a deep breath, a sad smile gracing her lips.

"I missed this smell," she murmured, letting go of Italy's hand and wandering down the hallway.

Curiously, Italy followed while Germany examined a picture frame set on a small table.

It was of Sinopa kneeling in a light blue and lavender dress. In the picture, she was kneeling on a grassy hillside holding her favorite fox, smiling prettily at the camera. The little cowlick she had was sticking up and her scar stretched across her right cheek.

Germany carefully set the picture back down and continued examining what was once Sinopa's house. His eyes wandered from one object to another before pausing on something hanging on the wall. It was another picture, hanging in a dark wooded frame beside the window. Curiosity perked, the German wandered forward and scrutinized the picture.

A younger looking, scar-free Sinopa sat on a woman's lap. A man stood beside the woman and behind an elderly woman in a wheelchair. Both women had many of Sinopa's features, including her eye shape, but it was the man that shared his nose and his cowlick with the girl. All of them except the elderly woman had dark brown hair, the man's border-lining on black. They all had the same dark tanned skin, the elderly woman's darker then the younger three. All four of them were smiling at the camera, Sinopa looking like she was laughing at something.

Germany concluded that this was her family, her mother, father, and grandmother before her father died. He smiled faintly as he gazed at the happy expression on her face before turning his attention to the hallway, where the girl and her Italian were. He wandered down the hall and looked to the left through an open door. Sinopa and Italy were sitting on the bed, going through an old photo album. Germany stepped in, drawing the attention of both the occupants and sat on the bed beside Italy.

"Ve~ hello Ludwig!" Italy chirped, earning a giggle from the girl beside him.

"You're silly, Feli!" Sinopa giggled, gazing up at him with wide adoring eyes.

Italy smiled down at her and gently ruffled her hair. She squeaked indignantly and ducked away, smoothing out her hair again with a grin.

"It's so nice to come back again," she commented, gazing happily around her room.

The walls were painted a soft green, almost a mint color. The curtains matched the walls with a bright yellow chord to tie them back with. Posters hung on almost every wall, most of them depicting a red fox. There was a honey-pine beside table beside Sinopa, a small jukebox-looking alarm, a small tape player, and a small potted plant sitting on top of it. The plant's leaves looked slightly wilted, but still green and healthy.

"Vhat's this?" Germany asked, leaning across Italy and Sinopa to pick up the alarm, looking it over curiously.

"Oh that! That's my alarm for school. It plays really old, but cool music to wake me up in the morning," she replied, reaching over and taking it, pressing one of the buttons on the face.

"One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, rock, five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock, rock~," the alarm blared, making both Italy and Germany jump.

Sinopa smiled and danced in place to the song until the recording ended.

"It has five more songs I can choose from, but I like that one the best," Sinopa informed, setting it beside her.

As Germany gazed at her, he noticed something hanging on the wall over the head of her bed. Sinopa noticed his confused look and turned to see what he was looking at.

"Oh, are you looking at my dream-catchers?" she asked, pointing to the objects of the German's attention.

"Vhat are they?" he asked, making Sinopa giggle, gently taking them off of the thumbtacks and holding them up for Germany to see.

"Their dreamcatchers silly! Mama and Daddy made these," Sinopa pointed to the two bigger hoops, "and they helped me to make this one," she pointed to the smaller hoop, attached in between the other two.
"Mama told me that it's 'posed to be hung at the head of the bed. It's 'posed to catch bad dreams before they go into my head and let the good dreams through."

Germany and Italy gazed at the hand-made objects with interest; both of them had never seen one before. Germany carefully extended a hand and Sinopa, guessing at his intentions, gently handed the hoops over. He ran a soft finger over the webbing of one of the larger hoops, marveling at the tautness and the handiwork evident in all three of the hoops.

Feathers and beads hung from the sides of the three leather hoops, the tips of the dark brown and black feathers hanging even with the bottom of the small hoop. All three were wrapped in light brown leather and had white sinew that made up its web. Germany noticed small beads were attached to the webbing of all three. One of the large hoops had tiny shells, the other one had light blue beads, and the small one had beads of all shades of green. The smaller of the three wasn't as professional looking as the larger two but was equally as charming, if not more.

Being careful not to harm the beautiful creations, Germany handed Sinopa back the dream-catchers. She smiled and set them on the bed beside her.

At Italy's confused face, Sinopa giggled and stated, "I'm bringing them and the picture book back with me when we go back home."

"Ve~ That's a good idea, bella!" Italy chirped, smiling widely at her.

She grinned back and turned her attention to the tape player beside her, picking it up and pocketing it. Germany wanted to ask what it was, but decided to wait until she was ready to tell them. The girl hopped down from the bed and went around the room, taking a few posters down and laying them on the bed.

For the next hour or so she and Italy went around the house, gathering things that she wanted to take back. Among those things was a hand-woven basket Sinopa's great-grandmother made and passed to Adsila, the old family picture, a few bundles of dried sage, Adsila's own dreamcatcher, and a few other objects Sinopa deemed precious. Germany meanwhile helped roll the posters and put things into a suitcase that Sinopa found.

As Sinopa was passing by the kitchen, she paused and wandered into it, bending down and reaching underneath the sink. She grinned when she found what she was looking for and pulled it out. It was a metal pan with a lid that opened on both hands and a wooden handle attached to it. Italy wandered in after her and paused when he saw the pan.

"Vee~ What's that bella?" he asked, bending down beside her.

"Oh, it's Grandpapa's old popcorn maker. He gave it to Mama when he went to go join the Great Spirit. Oh, I remember Grandmamma's house always smelled like popcorn! She always used to have a basket of popcorn out for us to snack on!" Sinopa replied with a smile, holding the pan fondly.

Italy smiled and gently took the pan, looking it over carefully.

"Vee~ Do you want to take it back home?" he asked, handing it back to Sinopa when she stood back up.

Sinopa nodded and scrambled to the pantry where she retrieved a tall container full of small yellow-brown popcorn kernels. She grinned up at Italy and wandered back to her old room where she helped Germany pack the popcorn into the suitcase. Before any of them had a chance to say anything, a loud knocking came from the door. Sinopa and Italy jumped at the sudden noise.

"I'll get it," Germany stated, standing up from his kneeling position and marching down the hall.

Sinopa and Italy followed curiously, the girl holding tightly to the Italian's hand. Germany grasped the door knob and opened the door wide enough to poke his head out. Standing on the porch was the cop from earlier, Celio.

"Ciao. I came by to see if you guys were pretty much done here," Celio said with a small smile.

Germany grunted and glanced back at the two standing in the hallway. Italy nodded and Germany opened the door wider, giving the man a full view of the house. Celio smiled gently at a slightly-frightened Sinopa and gave a little wave. Sinopa blinked and gave him a small smile in return, her little fists still clinging to the hem of Italy's shirt timidly. Germany stood to one side and let the man come through, remaining standing a little off to the side.

"Are you guys about done here? I was sent to help pack if you needed help," Celio asked, gazing at the girl, who nodded.

"I was also sent here to inform that Adsila Scott, your mother, right?" Celio looked at Sinopa, who nodded her agreement.
"Well, I'm not entirely sure if you know about this, bella, but you have an aunt in the United States. Since you have no other living relatives, you are to be sent to your aunt's to live with her."


Translations:

[1] il mio piccolo tesoro - my little darling

[2] Buonanotte mio colibrì - Goodnight my hummingbird