Dear Gabby,

How are you mi hija? Are you doing fine? I hope you are. How is America treating you? Good perhaps? I wish that very much as well.

I miss you very much. Feli misses you too, Lovi pretends not to, but he too misses you. My prayers are always about you mi hija. Please take care of yourself. I wish I could see you, I miss you very much.

Please write me back.

Love,

Papa Spain

Gabriela re-read the letter over and over again, it may kill her to say this, but she dearly misses her Papa. She misses him.

"Feli and Lovi, huh?" a half-hearted smile managed to form its way to her face. Her brothers – who were also Spain's colonies, she managed to see them a few times and yet, they were almost like her own real brothers.

Gabriela was hunched over her bed with the letter in hand.

'…Please write me back.'

Blankly, she re-read the same sentence again and again.

And then she crumpled the letter and tossed it across her room. Hatred filled her insides, sadness hollowed her heart, tears she kept at bay were starting to stream down her face. She couldn't explain this feeling inside her.

She threw herself against her bed, laying an arm over her eyes.

'…Please write me back.'

It was almost a plead, she could almost hear his own voice just saying those words.

'Please write me back.'

It would be so unlike him to sound so desperate.

'I miss you very much.'

It was too much to bear.

That was Spain's 19th letter she left without a reply.

That evening, America decided to waltz into Gabriela's home with two bags of McDonald's take out in hand. Obnoxiously making his way through her home, he strode confidently through the corridors until the hallway until he was right outside her door.

Without announcing, he presented himself.

"YO GABBY, WHASSUP YO!? I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN FOREVER, OH AND I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND, BUT I BROUGHT-" he paused when he saw the state she was in. her hair was a mess, her eyes were swollen red and her cheeks were puffy and tear stained. "…Mcdonald's…"

"A-Alfred?"

He said nothing. His bright and jubilant, and not to mention obnoxious-self quickly evaporated at the moment. The blond could only do much as to wave weakly at her.

They stared for a full minute.

Gabriela was first to break eye contact, quickly wiping her eyes for any evidence that she had been crying for a while. If there was one thing she hates most, it's showing her weak and fragile side. She hates it even more if someone was to bear witness to it.

Although she was trying, the tears wouldn't stop flowing. They only came back to start anew.

This is embarrassing, she thought. And in front of Alfred to boot!

Heavy footsteps started to head off her way, but she was too busy wiping away her tears to notice. It was only when Alfred sat behind on that she noticed his presence. The plastics of McDonalds, he set them to the side. With one hand, he reached out to cup her cheek, making her face him, and asked in a gentle tone. "Why are you crying?"

She felt tongue-tied, unable to stray away from those beautiful blue eyes. His calloused hand against her cheek, it felt so warm that she couldn't help leaning against his hand.

But then, they were friends right? He deserved to know what was wrong.

She sniffled, looking behind him to a stack of crumpled papers. Alfred followed her gaze and turned, blue eyes widened at the site.

He stared, mentally counting them until he felt Gabriella shift against his hand. He quickly turned back to her, she wondered if he earned a whiplash from the action.

"I-I…I've been an unfair daughter to him." She croaked, feeling his hands slip away from her face. She bowed her head, her hair falling to hide her face. "I guess, I'm probably scared of what I should say to him…he's my Papa, I miss him too bu- mph!"

She wasn't able to finish what she said after Alfred shoved a burger to her mouth. Swallowing, she looked up to the blond, only for him to shove fries to her mouth again. He was smiling?

"Eat up." He said simply, taking a bite out of his own burger.

"H-Huh?"

He didn't reply for a while as he simply ate and ate burger after burger, Gabriella awkwardly watched taking a few bites of her own burger. She knew Alfred was weird, but she never expected him to be this weird when it comes to food.

But at the same time, she liked it. His effort to make her forget her troubles even for a while, she liked it. She felt touched.

"Don't be sad Gabby!" Alfred said in a mouthful, Gabby laughed as she sipped her Coke. "You know what always makes me happy?"

She shakes her head.

"Food." She snorted. "Yep, believe it! Whenever I feel sad, alone or just plain depressed, food is all I turn to. All those negative emotions drain your energy, and your hunger!"

"I can't believe you just said that!" she laughed lightly smacking his arm. "You seriously do that?"

"Uh-huh!"

"It's a wonder you're not fat."

"HEY! Excuse you, but I got a whole pack of muscles. I NEVER get fat!"

Her eyes turned heavenward, she took a bite out of her last burger. "Yeah right." She mumbled.

They had just finished two dozen burgers and fries, leaving litters around her bed.

'BURP!'

Gabriela raised a brow.

'BUUURP!'

Alfred looked amused.

'BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP!'

Gabriela crossed her arms.

'BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUURP!'

Alfred tried to burp, but nothing came out. Gabriela seemed victorious, that is until…

'BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP!'

They laughed, Alfred becoming the victor among the two.

Once they had stopped laughing, Alfred noticed a smudge of ketchup beside her cheek. And without thinking, he cupped her cheek and gently wiped it away with his thumb. He felt the smoothness of her skin against his fingers, so smooth. And without thinking, he licked off the ketchup from his thumb.

Gabriela stared, eyes wide opened and turning to avoid his gaze. He did not look away from her, rather, he found himself staring at her. His eyes softening down at the nation before him, he rather liked seeing her flush.

She suddenly stood up from her bed and walked towards the direction of the letters, one in particular which was farthest from the rest and by the looks of it, it was new. She returned to her bed, sitting beside him and showed her the letter. He was shocked; he was not one to read anything so personal such as a letter. But seeing that she was showing it to him must clearly mean that she trusted him. He took it in his hands and read it, feeling her eyes on him the entire time before laying down on her bed, her back to him.

When he finished, he trailed his blue irises to the girl before him. She was heavily affected by her father's words, she was probably too scared to write back or say anything to him at all. He heard her sniffle again, she isn't gonna cry again is she? He sighed.

Very carefully, he lay behind her. She stopped sniffling and gasped when she felt his strong arms slowly wrapping around her waist, drawing her near to him. His nose buried into her hair, he smelled all kinds of flowers and coconut.

"It's not fair to keep your problems to yourself you know."

She craned her head to him, staring at him for a full minute.

"I'd rather keep them to myself."

His hold around her tightened, she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Aren't you being a bit selfish?"

"…I'm just scared of trusting people again…"

Alfred said nothing for a while.

"…I'm scared that, the ones I trust most are going to hurt me again, to betray me and use me for their own benefit. Papa was like that."

"But he loved you didn't he?"

Silence.

"Even if he hurt you a couple times, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to. He loved you like a daughter."

Silence.

"If only you saw his face when he was about to leave, I remember he couldn't stop saying how he's going to miss his unica hija and how he's going to write to you each and everyday."

Silence.

"And when you two hugged one last time, you should have seen the pain in his eyes. Clear as day, they were so hollow and lifeless. You were his daughter Gabby, he loved you very much. He did not mean to hurt you, to use you or to mistreat you. He had no choice Gabby, but at the end of the day, he loved you very much."

She couldn't help it anymore.

Turning to her side, she buried her head to his chest and cried. Alfred tightened his hold around her, stroking her hair comfortingly just to calm her down. She was crying too much that it pained him.

When he was sure that she had calmed down, he pulled away to see her face and felt his breathe hitch. How can someone be this beautiful after crying so much?

"T-Thank you…"

"You're welcome." He smiled, and without thinking, he leaned over to gently kiss her lips.

Gabriela's eyes widened at the feel of his lips against hers, before she knew it, she wanted more and initiated a kiss all on her own. It was a sweet, gentle kiss. One that could almost take her breathe away.

Alfred kissed back as much as he can, trying to keep in sync before they pulled away for air. Their eyes locked on each other, their cheeks flushed.

Gabriela suddenly yawned, showing how exhausted she was. He laughed, kissing her lips one last time before returning to their previous position. They bade each other a good night before dozing off to sleep.

And when Gabriela woke up the next day, she found a pair of blue irises watching her. "Hi…" she said meekly.

"Good Morning…" he greeted with a kiss to the corner of her mouth, she blushed.

"Al-Alfred?"

"Hmm?"

"…C-Can you help me write a letter to Papa?"

A/N: College is hectic that I think I'm going to die /cries I think I like this chapter. Oh, and if you're wondering, there's a time lapse here, it's about 2 years since the previous chapter. So yeah, AmericaXPhilippines is here, but not for long. we are nearing the ending of this folks! HAHAHA, I should've finished this last year. DAMN YOU LAZINESS! /dies