Chapter 7

Matthew Williams had gotten his doctorate many years ago, but always went to classes, always attended more and more conventions, he never stopped learning. When the other countries, the few who remembered him, asked him why he felt it was so important to be so up to date on the medical profession, he always said it was to make sure he could be helpful in any situation.

When Matthew stared over a sheet of paper, covered in the names of prescription pills, all of them for diets or weight loss, most of them dangerous, many of them possibly fatal to mix with each other, He almost wished he didn't understand, that he could stand and stare oblivious, like Arthur and Francis were doing to him right now.

"How many is he taking? Do you know any quantities?" Matthew asked, trying to be as professional as possible. Ah, so this is why doctors aren't allowed to treat family.

"Arthur, you stay here. I'll go ask him, alright?" Francis smiled and softly patted his shoulder before wandering into the house, slipping a pen from the counter before heading into the living room.

"What are you doing so far?" Mattie asked, staring ahead, feeling as if his life were slipping away. Like he was half dead, the other half gone with his brother. Somehow the truth was so much more than the fear on his way over had been. At least he'd still had that hope, but now it was gone. He thought maybe he could just make sure he gained his weight back easily, but that was gone now.

"Making sure he eats, and doesn't throw up. We took all of the pills, but we gave him back the vitamins after making sure that's all they were. As thin as he is, he keeps saying he's too fat, and Ivan-" Arthur sniffed, wiping his eyes. "Ivan said it's our fault because we kept picking on him over his weight." Arthur sniffed again, his eyes locked on Mattie's soft eyes.

Arthur felt a chill as he noticed them for the first time. Usually a soft violet, his eyes were nearly mauve right now. It looked like the same eyes Ivan had before he did something terrifying. "That's not how this works. It's not our fault, exactly, but it wasn't a help. Eating disorders like this are caused by mental conditioning. We picked on him and made him feel fat. He started dieting and losing weight, but the diet grew out of control and started eating away at him. The problem is, his self image makes him see himself the same way he looked before, if not worse. He doesn't understand that he's thin." Mattie stared ahead, a blank expression. "He will understand his life is in danger before he realizes he's not fat, so you have to be prepared for that." Mattie looked down, looking over the pill lists. "Can I have the bottles of pills, please?" He asked and Arthur stood, stumbling into the kitchen to pull them from the chained cabinet. He brought the bag out and Mattie winced as he looked at the size of it. He wouldn't have survived to take them all if he hadn't been found. He started shifting through, finding the bottles and looking over labels. He would be making sure each one of these doctors was suspended for this, if not worse.

"Here's the dosages he was on." Francis slid the list before him and Mattie frowned.

He had been taking them all. It was a miracle he hadn't suffered a heart attack yet at the amounts he was taking. "You're all going to be here with him for the next month, right?" He glanced up and Arthur nodded.

"If not longer. We won't leave until he's better." Arthur spoke with conviction, which finally caused a sadness to cross Matthew's eyes, but a smile started at his lip.

Arthur had always been such a kind father.

"It could be years before he's over this. It's not just like you can snap your fingers and he'll recover. He should be put into therapy. He should be hospitalized, but if you'll be taking proper care of him, this would probably be better mentally for him." Mattie looked over the lists again before pulling out pill bottles and sighing. He had to stop and think, or pull out his laptop to make sure he was correct a few times before handing three bottles back to Francis. "One of each, once a day. Have him take them at separate meals, one at breakfast, one at lunch, one at dinner. There are fourteen pills in each bottle. That should be enough to ween him off. He might fall into depression. If that happens, call me, and I'll get him something for that. I'm not going to stay, but I won't be too far away, either. As his doctor, I don't want to be too close, in case something happens, and a hard decision needs to be made." he glanced down, closing his eyes.

"And as his brother?" Francis asked softly, patting his shoulder, and Mattie just sat there, numb.

"I don't' know. I want to go hug him, then punch him in the face. I'm happy this was caught before he died, but I don't think there would have been much more time til that. I wish you guys would have gotten this punishment six months ago. It would have been so much easier then." Mattie leaned forward, his head resting on his hands. "I should go see him." Mattie nearly whispered before standing, sliding his laptop back into its bag, and the pills into the bag. He walked around and put them into his scooter's basket before walking through the front door with Francis and Arthur at his sides. Francis lead him through to the living room, and Alfred glanced up, seeing Mattie and smiled gently.

"Hey, bro. Long time no see." He watched as hurt eyes looked him over.

"I saw you at the meeting two days ago. Take off your shirt." Mattie spoke softly and Alfred frowned, but did as he was told. He knew the look in his brother's eye. That was the look he had before he helped England burn the capital down two hundred years ago. It was the look he had when he beat the hell out of Germany at the border of Netherlands seventy years ago.

This was not a look to be trifled with. He slid the shirt off and stood, letting Mattie look him over as he wished. Eyes wandered over him from everyone else in the room. Ivan let out a sigh before Mattie spoke again. "How much do you weight?"

"91 pounds." He answered, his eyes shifting, but only Mattie understood the weight.

"You way six stone." He spoke, watching as Francis and Arthur's heads turned in surprise. "You're pale, and I heard you've passed out twice since you got here yesterday. Alfred, you know you need help, right?"

"Just a couple more pounds, Mattie. That's all I need-" Alfred's words halted as a hand was brought harshly across his cheek.

"Mathieu!" Francis gasped out as Matthew glared at his brother.

"One more word about losing weight and I will have you committed. Do you understand me?" He asked and Alfred nodded, surprised at the hostility his brother had. It was easy to forget he could be like this too. "I've given Francis three medications to keep you from dropping dead from a fucking heart attack, which it's honestly a surprise hasn't already happened. Take the vitamins you have, three a day."

"I'm only supposed to take two." Alfred mumbled and Mattie turned to Francis, who reached into his pocket to pull a bottle out and handed it to the younger brother, who looked over the label.

"Take one just before each meal. Three a day. Do this until you reach 110." Mattie stared before a hand slid over his eyes. "God dammit, Alfred! This isn't alright!" He cried and Alfred grasped his shirt and slid it back on, his eyes wide and staring. He didn't know how to handle this.

"I'm sorry." He whispered and Mattie rushed forward, tossing his arms around him.

"You're so thin I can feel all of the bones..." Mattie cried. "You never cared before what anyone else thought! Why did you suddenly fall into this?" Mattie hugged him tighter and Alfred finally relaxed, hugging him back.

"I don't know. I just woke up one day and looked in the mirror and decided it was too much. I was done being picked on for being fat. I didn't even realize how thin I got til I saw the picture on Ivan's phone an hour ago. How can I look like that and feel this fat at the same time? It doesn't make sense!" Alfred cried and Mattie felt relief.

He was realizing he really was too thin. "It's because your eyes are biased about your looks. Don't pay attention to them! Don't look at yourself in a mirror. Don't worry about how you think you should look, because you're not seeing yourself right. Listen to Dad and Papa. Listen to me." Mattie backed away, grasping the sides of Alfred's head and looked into his eyes. "Don't worry about what you look like. Worry about how healthy you are." He looked into blue eyes and watched for that short nod he knew would come before backing away. "I'm going to the cabin. I'll be there for the month. If you need anything, let me know. If you start falling into a depression, let me know immediately."

"So you'll be around?" Alfred's spirits lit a little and Mattie nodded.

"I'll be coming by regularly to check on you. I don't want to be here too much. I don't want to be influenced by the situations if something happens." Mattie ran a hand over Alfred's hair and sighed.

It was so dull in comparison to what it usually was. "If you need me, though, you know I won't stay away. Just take care, alright?" He asked softly and Alfred nodded, a genuine smile crossing his face before Mattie turned and walked back to the scooter and quickly drove away.

"What cabin was he talking about?" Francis asked as he watched the scooter go to the next house over and pull into the driveway. "Ce que l'enfer..." Francis stared before he burst out laughing, realizing that indeed, Mattie was next door.

"He has the cabin next door?" Arthur asked with a humorous smile and Alfred chuckled, nerves setting in.

"I annoy the hell out of him, so he doesn't' want to stay at my place, so he got a vacation home there." Alfred watched with a smile.

"I'll go make lunch. You two can keep an eye for a while, Da?" Ivan asked before turning and walking away, leaving Arthur and Francis looking at Alfred, who was now staring at his shoes.

"I can't do anything too much, you know. You took my pills, you're forcing me to eat. What am I going to do?" He sighed as he turned and walked inside.

"Try and get in touch with another shady doctor? Start trying to exercise? I know you don't like being watched like this, love, but we need to make sure you're getting better." Arthur spoke softly, running a hand over Alfred's shoulder.

"I can still teach Ivan to swim, right?" He looked over and Francis sat up, a little surprised at the question.

"That shouldn't be a problem, I don't think. Let me check with Mathieu, he knows more about this than I do." He frowned as he pulled out his phone.

"We need to find something to do for a month, and now we're going to be making sure to eat healthier. We can look up recipes and try them out!" Arthur smiled, causing a nervous ripple through the others in the room.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Francis cringed, hoping they could talk him into NOT trying to cook. "We could go hit all of the tourist attractions!" Francis grinned. "We're in Hawaii! We can go to a luau and watch the poi spinners!" He grinned.

"If Matthew thinks it's alright, maybe we can learn to do it ourselves. It might be fun." Arthur grinned and Francis nodded, looking at the boy between them, his head down.

"What do you think?" Francis asked, watching as Alfred stared at the carpet.

"Maybe we could go fishing, or scuba diving. There's a lot of beautiful areas around here for that, but it'll have to wait til Ivan feels better on the water." Alfred sighed. "It's kind of hard to come up with something for such a mismatched group." Alfred glanced over as Arthur grinned.

"We can play cards." He looked between the two, who both yelled out at the same time.

"You cheat!"

They looked between themselves for a moment before they all started laughing. It wasn't long until Ivan joined them, a soft smile on his face. "What's going on?" He asked, seeing Francis with a pad of paper on his lap, writing with a smile.

"We're looking over things to do for the next month." Francis smiled. "Mathieu says no exercise, but swimming and light exercises should be fine, as long as he's not doing laps." Francis smiled as he looked up, seeing Ivan watching with curiosity.

"That means I can still teach you to swim." Alfred grinned and Ivan sat with a nod. "I still like the idea of learning poi. That sounds like a lot of fun." Alfred grinned and Ivan stared.

"Poi?"

"Yeah." Alfred lit up. "It's like fire on a string, and you swing them around like a dance. It's a big thing here in Hawaii."

"Actual fire?" Ivan sat up, surprised. America was known for being stupid, but dancing with fire was usually considered a term, not an actual thing!

"Yeah! We're going to hit a luau tonight and you can see! It'll be fun!" Alfred grinned while Arthur patted his back.

"And better than those damned hamburgers you used to eat. Maybe this'll be a good way to reset your diet?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He doesn't want it set to what you'd feed him!" Francis snarled. "Crisps and spotted dick, deep fried everything, scotch eggs, it's no wonder he turned to hamburgers and chips!" Francis watched as Arthur's eyes widened in surprise.

"But... scotch eggs are really good." He frowned as he turned, looking down at his knees as Alfred started to laugh.

"They are." He grinned, sliding a hand over Arthur's shoulder and giving him a hug.

"You all are closer than I would have thought." Ivan smiled, looking at the group.

"Of course we're close." Alfred smiled, hugging both others to him. "Francis and Arthur are like my parents. They raised me and took care of me. We may fight a lot, but isn't that normal with families?" He asked and Ivan watched before his eyes shifted to his knees.

"I wouldn't know." Ivan sighed. "No one raised me like you. I had Irunya and Natalia, and Irunya did take care of me a bit, but I've not been allowed to see her since 91." Ivan watched with a little jealousy at the familial display before him. "Maybe family just means something different on my side of the world, but I've never gotten into a fight with them, picked on them and then just been able to laugh it away." He watched as they eyes on him widened.

"I'm sorry." Alfred spoke softly. "Maybe it's time to try and make a new family, then."

"The last time I tried that you broke me, America. You helped them break away from me, and they won't even look at me now." He watched as Alfred's eyes widened.

"If you're thinking of the U.S.S.R. As a family, you need more help than I thought! It's fine, we can teach you." Alfred grinned, missing the paling faces at his sides.