This took too long -.-

Anyways enjoy and Happy Paddys Day :D

Ireland's eyes snapped open, her mind racing at the sudden realisation of what she was doing. She was kissing England in the middle of a street. She didn't know which one scared her more, the fact that she had kissed England back or the fact that she did it in the middle of a street where everyone could see them. Pushing herself away she stared wide eyed at England who looked down at her confused about her actions.

"I'm sorry I uh... I just need to go," she stammered and spun on her heel and fled down the street. Leaving England to stare after her, his mouth hanging slightly agape.

It wasn't until he heard people around the corner that England snapped back to reality. He was awestruck as the situation finally hit him. He hadn't meant to kiss her, he would never do anything like that in public he was a gentleman and gentlemen don't conduct their private affairs in public. Let alone make a girl run off after.

"Mr. Kirkland!" a voice called urgently from behind him, successfully breaking him out of his thoughts.

"What the bloody hell could be so important that you interrupt me now?" he snapped and turned to glare at a young soldier with curly brown hair that was racing up to him.

Stopping at the look he received, he cautiously proceeded to tell him about a riot that was breaking out in the town. Hurrying the young man on England scurried towards the source of the outbreak.

The further they went towards the centre of the town the more crowded the streets got until eventually they were met with a wall of people.

"This way sir, we cleared a path into the centre for you," the soldier told him and led him off to the nearest building which had a line of soldiers anxiously pushing back the crowd.

"Why would you need me to go?" England asked now thoroughly annoyed at being called to deal with something so trivial when he had much more important things to deal with.

"Because we think it's your brother who caused this," the young soldier shouted back to him, the crowd had started getting restless as angry yells started echoing through the air.

"I swear if that git did anything..." England mumbled to himself but was brought to a quick stop when he pushed his way past a line of people to stand at the edge of a ring that formed at the very centre of the crowd. To his sheer horror Scotland stood pinning one man to the ground with his foot on the man's chest and holding another man in a headlock. His eyes widened when he suddenly heard a loud clatter and looked at what the man Scotland held in a headlock had drop. A dagger.

"Ah lad there ye are!" Scotland exclaimed with a massive grin on his face. Without a second of hesitation he pulled the man who he had in a headlock and grabbed for his wrist, twisted the man around and a loud snapping noise rang through the air. England grimaced and couldn't help but pity the man who crumpled to the ground screaming in agony as he clung to his wrist. "These bastards tried to rob those lasses over there and I had to step in." He sat down on the other man's chest and whipped another dagger from the man's belt and held it throat.

"How in the blazes did this happen?" England gasped and tried desperately to remain calm, there were too many people around to be seen panicking.

"Well him," Scotland pointed at a man lying unconscious a few yards away, "I saw him stopping the lasses and then the one here," he nudged the dagger closer to the man he sat on neck. "He walked up behind them, I saw the dagger and... hey would ye shut up!" he yelled angrily at the still screaming man. The man glared up at him with dark brown eyes but fell silent with a whimper. "Then he threatened the lasses oh and that man over there," he nodded towards the now silent brown eyed man, "he was just asking for his wrist to get broken. He threatened to throw a kitten in the water if they screamed and told them to give over their money and jewellery."

"Is that..." England glanced to his side and noticed the women Scotland referred to and saw one was holding a kitten. Shaking his head he commanded the soldiers to arrest the men and turned his attention back to Scotland. "Right now say I where to believe you, why are you even here?"

"Ah... I was going to the pub but then I had to stop these guys," Scotland explained and consciously rubbed the back of his neck. "Look lad I had a weird day and I don't need my wee brother making it worse."

England glared at his brother but decided not to press for any more information. He was having a hard enough time dealing with his own problems. Waving for the soldiers and guards around to start clearing the crowd he led Scotland to the dock headquarters.

"So I was talking to your girlfriend this morning..." England started and pulled open a rough weather beaten door to a large white building. "Funny you never mentioned her."

"Well I didn't see any need to tell ye," Scotland answered shortly and cast his eye over the inside of the room.

They had entered a large roughly decorated trading post. A wooden counter sat at the back of the room surrounded by sailing merchandise. The walls were lined with ropes and anything else needed on a ship. The man behind the counter shot to his feet when they entered and moved around the counter to approach them. Scotland could only marvel at the fact the man was still able to move, he was almost the skinniest man Scotland had ever seen, he wore rough brown trousers that were obviously too big for him, a stained white shirt. He was balding but had wispy pale grey hair combed over and kept in place with a wooden clip. Despite his body, his eyes were a bright blue and lit up his gaunt face and made his crooked white teeth oddly stand out. This was not a man Scotland could ever have imagined England would normally associate with so he could not imagine what the reason behind this job was.

"Ah good to see you sir, I'm so glad you could come down," the man said in a strong Yorkshire accent and he pulled England's hand into a firm handshake. Scotland had to admit, the man's energy impressed him.

"Yes well I heard there was a serious matter to attend to so I had to come down. Allow me to introduce my brother Alistair, he will be helping as well," England rhymed off with a smile Scotland knew he had practiced in a mirror.

"I didn't know you had a brother sir! Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Phineas Cumberbatch the owner of the finest ships supply and boat rental post in the new world," he took Scotland's hand and beamed up as he happily shook it.

"Aye... well nice to meet ye," Scotland answered, feeling a little awkward from the strange atmosphere. England seemed to both want to impress the man, but to get this job over and done with. Whereas Phineas seemed to want to delay them for as long as possible, he may have never been one for reading the atmosphere but even trying he couldn't figure out exactly what to do.

"You're Scottish!" Phineas exclaimed in delight, "you know my wife's Scottish, she from... now let me think. Oh yes! She's from Skye, lovely place up there but a bit cold. So tell me how is it that you're Scottish and Mr. Arthur is English?"

Scotland and England stared at the man in complete shock, it wasn't often that someone asked them something like that.

"Well you see... I suppose we were raised separately," England explained after some thought.

"Ah well that I suppose some things can't be helped," he replied easily, ignoring the tense atmosphere building in the room.

"Anyway why are we here?" Scotland asked before Phineas could say anything more.

"Oh right of course," Phineas moved to the back of the shop and pulled out a wooden box, "I found this hidden in one of the boats I hired out, I wasn't really concerned but then I opened it and found these," he lifted the lid and pulled out a few sheets. On each sheet was an outline of the Kirkland mansion. Each sheet bore a detailed diagram of each room, the only room that wasn't scoped out was England's own study. Instead there was a map showing the floor his office was on and a spot marked with an 'x'. England could only assume they were planning to target that along with the other rooms marked with 'x's. This only told England and Scotland one thing, there was someone working in the mansion who was either selling information on the layout or helping people scope out the place for a robbery. Stuffing the papers into his pocket England stepped back from the box and nodded to Scotland.

"This is very interesting Phineas. I will make sure you are rewarded for showing us this. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"Only that it was a group of young men who hired the boat, but I don't think that will be of any help," he told them with a sigh.

"Aye I don't think we can use that," Scotland agreed, "I guess we should get started on finding out who made these and catch the men behind it."

"Yes, well thank you Phineas but we must go now," England informed him and led Scotland out the door. Phineas saying farewell as they went.

Outside in the street they quickly made their way through the streets until they reached the marketplace were England announced he needed to attend to some business. Winding their way through the streets Scotland soon found themselves in a very familiar place. At the end of the row of stalls sat the music stall, behind it was Eibhlan who looked like she ate a lemon when she saw the two of them.

"Well, would ye look at what the cat dragged in," she sneered and folded arms over her chest.

"Yes indeed now if you don't mind we're here to talk to the owner of the stall," England answered and smirked at the Irishwoman.

"He's not here now, do ye want to leave a message?" she offered in fake cooperation.

"I'd rather not, now do tell me when he will be back and I won't close this down now for operating without my express permission," England told her and turned his attention to the objects on the stall, taking his time to inspect some of the smaller instruments.

"He won't be back until six, think ye can wait that long," she remarked and took a seat on the stool behind the stall, propping her feet on a box beside it.

"That gives us plenty of time to get to know each other then," he looked up at Eibhlan and used the most genuine smile he could muster, "after all you appear to be dating my brother and are very good friends with my wife." He added extra emphasis on the last word and glanced back at Scotland knowing it would annoy the red haired nation.

Scotland could only stand back and watch his brother and Eibhlan talk until that point, as much as he wanted to grab England and drag him out of there he knew he couldn't.

"Lad, listen to the lass. The owner won't be back till later and didn't ye say ye had a lot of work to be done?" Scotland asked, trying to encourage the blonde to leave.

"I'm sure my other patrons won't mind delaying their meetings a few hours," England quickly brushed off any concern Scotland had. "Now tell me... Eibhlan, did you ask Alistair about the wedding?"

Eibhlan stared at him in shock, she was not expecting such a blunt and straightforward question. After a minute she eventually nodded slowly but said nothing.

"Good," England smiled, "I'm assuming he said yes, I can't imagine a reason why he wouldn't." England cast a look over his shoulder to see a furious looking Scotland edging closer, if it wasn't for the fact Eibhlan and a lot of humans were nearby England knew Scotland would punch him. For now though, he was safe.

"He..." Eibhlan looked at Scotland briefly then to the ground, tears forming in her eyes. "He said no..."

"What? That's absurd!" England exclaimed and turned in mock shock to face Scotland, he was expecting Scotland to reject the girl, now at least he got the pleasure of mocking his brother. "Why in the blazes would you reject such a girl?"

"Who did he reject?" came a question from a boy who appeared red faced and covered in dirt behind them. Turning they gasped when they saw America grinning at them and clutching a dog to his chest. The dog trying to jump up to lick his face making the boy giggle with glee.

"Alfred! What are ye doing here?" Scotland asked and rushed to pick the boy up, he clung desperately to the dog making Scotland carry both him and the canine.

"I... my nanny let me leave early so I thought I would come to say hello to Eibhlan," he answered as honestly as he could, "who did Alistair reject?"

Scotland glared down at the boy for a minute before placing both him and the dog back on the ground and pinched his nose. "Look lad, I'll explain that later. Now tell me were ye got the dog."

"Oh him, I just found him eating out of some garbage. I think he's a stray, can I keep him?" he beamed up at the adults and hugged the dog closer. It's brown fur ruffling around America's arms. The dog looked at the older nations at the question tilting his head allowing one ear to stand up straight and the other to fall over its eye.

"Alfred, you know you can't keep that dog," England tried to explain but was quickly met by protests from both America and Eibhlan.

"Why would ye want to deny the wee dear a dog? Ye really must be a monster to do that," she practically spat at England.

England glared at the woman but gave in after a minute, "Fine Alfred but you have to clean up after it," he said with a sigh. "Now please go find the owner of this stall right now!" he turned his command towards Eibhlan who was now beside America and petting the dog.

"Fine, you're looking at her," Eibhlan said in almost a mumble.

Both Scotland and England tensed to realise that Eibhlan was the actual owner. Scotland had never asked who ran the stall but assumed it was one of the men who worked on it.

"What? Why'd ye never tell me?" Scotland asked before he could stop himelf.

"It didn't come up and I never thought ye'd be interested, especially now..." she let the last part trail off and made her way back to the stall, leaning over it and entwining her fingers together as she did so. "So what is it ye wanted to ask Mr. Kirkland?"

"Very well then," England started but was abruptly cut off by a hand swiping him out of the way.

"What do ye mean by that lass?" Scotland demanded and stalked up to the stall, leaning his hands on the wood.

"I meant that ye wouldn't be interested in anything I actually care about, what else could I have meant?" she replied, her voice icy and rage burning in her eyes.

"Ye know that's not true, this is about that wedding isn't it?" Scotland shot back at her.

"Now why in the hell would it be about something like that?"

"I can't see any other reason why ye'd say that."

"Fine! Fine it's about that."

"Why? Why is it so bad that I don't want to go to some wedding with ye?"

"Why? Ye actually have to ask why? The one time I ask ye to do something for me ye say no and ye don't even give me a fecking reason. Why wouldn't I be mad?"

England and America stood back watching them get angrier and grimaced with every shout until eventually England had enough and tried to stop the fighting. It failed miserably, sighing he took America by the hand and led the boy off. The most he could do now was shield the boy from the worst of Scotland's temper.

Not noticing England and America leaving and the attention they were getting Scotland and Eibhlan continued their fighting.

"I said it was complicated and I really want to tell ye."

"Why is everything so damn complicated with you? It's like you have some big fecking secret but as far as I can tell you're just like every other man I've ever met!"

Eibhlan's eyes burned with fury as she stared down the Scot. They had moved away from the stall and were now standing near the entrance of an alley, it was the first time she noticed the growing crowd around her and some of her friends return to the stall. She needed to end the fight soon. Scotland felt it too, the fight was building up and if he didn't stop it soon it could get to a point of no return. Then Eibhlan started laughing causing Scotland to freeze in his spot in shock.

"Actually you're not like every man I've ever met, you're much worse," she chuckled and smiled at him, he could see tears forming but tried to ignore them, he couldn't.

"How?" Scotland couldn't help but mumble, he was glad he realised England had taken America, he did not want them to see him make a woman cry.

"You're gonna laugh at this, considering how little I know about ye but I'm in love with ye."

The words hit Scotland like a ton of bricks, he had not intended to make the girl fall for him. It was only some simple flirting, some harmless dates. Wasn't it? That's when he realised something about himself, he had let this girl get under his skin. He actually let himself care about what this girl thought and that scared him, only one other person got that close to him in the past and that still haunts him.

"Ye know what, I think it's about time we called time on whatever this was. I had fun Alistair but if I'm honest it's been how long now and we haven't even..." she never got to finish her sentence as she tried to pass him to go back to the stall. Instead he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to him, silencing her with a kiss.

"Kissed, aye I know," Scotland mumbled and pulled away far too soon for Eibhlan's liking. "Look lass I'll go to the wedding and see if we can let ye in on why everything's complicated. I know Fianna would want that as well considering how much of a pain in the arse it is to keep this damn secret."

Eibhlan nodded slowly in understanding, still shocked at what happened.

"But ye have to listen to me now," Scotland continued and fixed her with a firm look, "if we do tell ye, ye can't tell anyone. Not even yer family."

Once again Eibhlan nodded.

"So umm..." she was at a loss for words as she tried to figure out what to say. "That kiss... and you'll really go to the wedding?"

"Aye I will."

"Ok... so ah that kiss... you why?" she looked up at him worried he would say something horrible that she would come to hate him for.

"Because I wanted to... and I didn't want ye running off after ye said that. Honestly... I never let anyone get this close in a long time and the whole thing scares me," Scotland sighed and looked up to watch the clouds.

"Ok, I should get back... the rest might be worried about me," Eibhlan explained nervously and a small smile graced her lips.

"Aye, that might be a good idea," Scotland agreed and stepped in closer to kiss her one last time before she left and ran back to the stall, a faint blush playing on her cheeks.

Turning on his heel he found himself walking out of the town and into the forest.

Meanwhile

"Engwand why were you with Scotland and Eibhlan?" America asked after England had bought his new dog a collar.

"Sorting out business lad," he answered calmly and helped the boy put the black leather collar on the canine. "So what are you going to name him?"

"I hope you weren't being mean to them," America mumbled and stood back to grin at his new dog, "I'm gonna call him Bob."

"Of course not I was just looking to apply a name to the stall, just for paperwork. They didn't do anything wrong this time so I couldn't do anything," England smirked to himself. He really had no reason to go to the stall, he just wanted to mess with Scotland a bit. "Why in the bloody hell are you naming that dog Bob?"

"Cause it's always Bob," America shrugged and grinned his mega watt smile at England. "Come on lets go get candy!" he exclaimed happily and ran off, Bob trotting happily behind him.

"It's sweets Alfred and slow down right now!" England called after him but to no use, the boy had ran into a shop and he could see America running around, glee etched into his face.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Scotland soon found himself at the edge of a pond watching Ireland use her magic to channel the water into flowing shapes in the air. Occasionally she would form a bubble then freeze or boil it until the bubble burst into a million particles, raining either tiny shards of ice or a mist of boiling water onto the ground. It was very clear from her quick angry movements she was confused about something important.

"Want to talk about it?" Scotland broke the silence and stepped out of the shadows he was hidden in.

"Scotland, why'd ya not say ya were there? You almost gave me a heart attack," she gasped and let her latest water creation collapse back into the water.

"Ye never use that magic anymore and it's pretty impressive to watch," he answered simply.

"Right... and no I don't really want to talk about it," Ireland said and analysed the water. She was standing waist deep in the pond, soaking her navy trousers and filling her black boots with water and sludge.

"Are ye sure? I'm great at these things," Scotland smiled at her and offered her a hand out of the water.

"Since when?" she quirked an eyebrow at the man and took the hand.

"Since less than an hour ago," he told her and prepared to pull her out of the water. What he didn't expect was to be dragged into the pond with a loud splash.

Surfacing he gasped for breath and wiped some pond weeds and slime from his face. Twisting to give out to the Irish nation he burst into laughter when he saw Ireland doubled over laughing hysterically. Seizing the opportunity he grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her head first into the green water. It quickly divulged into a water fight with each of them trying to beat the other. Afterwards they crawled out and stared up at the trees, grins plastered to their faces.

"God, I needed that," Ireland murmured and turned on her side to look at Scotland. "So patch things up with Eibhlan?"

"How did ye... wait she's Irish of course ye know." Scotland stared at her briefly but turned his attention back to the trees. "Aye."

"Good, and don't worry I won't be spying on ya anymore. I was just worried when I heard she was gonna ask ya to that wedding." Ireland informed him.

"Good... how are things with England?" Scotland didn't want to ask the question but he knew he had to.

Ireland didn't answer, she was almost afraid of what he would say.

"I'm gonna guess they went well if ye asked anyone else, but you don't know how to deal with it."

Ireland sat bolt upright and stared at him, her eyes like saucers.

"H-how did ya...?"

"How did I know? Well I was with England earlier and he wasn't trying to kill everyone." Scotland shrugged at his answer and closed his eyes to avoid looking at her. "So what happened?"

"He kissed me..."

"And?"

"I kissed him back..."

Scotland turned to look at her, he knew she wanted to say more but needed some form of encouragement.

"...and I think I like him."

That was the moment Scotland wished he never had a heart.

Chapter end

Reviews?

Also I apologies if I missed any typos or anything