A/N; Ok. You can hate on me, but I have a valid reason. Testing. Yah, it's that time of the year again. The time when New York state works you 'till your eyes are bleeding and you're hand is offically crippled due to constant writing. Also, I have decided to cut the chapter. But I have the next two chapters typed up, so I'll be updating sooner that this. So, this is your friday miracle. Translations at the bottom. Ah, also, please vote on the poll on my profile. Pairings don't come for awhile but still.

Disclaimer: I want to own Hetalia for my birthday, but I'll have to wait until December...

Roderich watched as Hungary departed from the room with the teenager in her arms. Really, he thought, Women nowadays should be more modest and delicate. He turned back around, closed the lid to the grand piano and grabbed his sheet music to place somewhere for later. Pushing the bench back near the piano, he too departed from the room and closed the doors behind him. Many thoughts were racing through his mind as he walked past the kitchen mindlessly and made a right into a hallway. Austria shoved the questions away as he neared a pair of bland, chestnut colored doors. He pushed them open and entered the room.

There was a regal desk at the far end containing whatever papers he had for this week's upcoming meeting accessorized with a leather swivel chair. A single bookcase on the right was overflowing with some copies of American novels like 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer', a few books by German philosophers and more stacks of sheet music then one could count.

The rug looked worn out and the red curtains were drawn tight. The image of the room was anything but inviting yet that wasn't of importance to Austria. He walked over to the desk and pulled a drawer open. After placing the sheet music in, he closed the drawer and walked back out of the room not bothering with the doors this time. Roderich made his way to the kitchen to help Hungary start the dinner but stopped when he saw that she had already started.

"Elizabeta," Roderich started. She turned around briefly before going back to peeling the carrots.

"...Are you making Gulasch?"

Hungary nodded; "Yes. I'm working on the vegetables right now."

Austria hummed the 'Skater's Waltz' as he started to pull out all kinds of different ingredients from the cupboards. His humming was soft but you could tell that he was bothered and Hungary heard it.

"Mr. Ausztria… is bothering you?" she questioned while grabbing a few Cayenne chilies from a hanging basket that was just overhead.

Austria shook his head absentmindedly while mixing the ingredients for dough. "Nein…It's just…vhat are v'e going to do if the other countries learn of her?"

Elizabeta put the sliced Cayennes, carrots and onions into a bamboo bowl – curtsey of Japan – and began cutting a pound of beef chuck into cubes. She looked over to Austria to see what he was doing and giggled when she figured out what he was making. Almeásrétes. Mr. Ausztria is so predictable. Her laughing died as another matter invaded her mind. Should I tell him of the scars? I don't want him to worry, but….

"Elizabeta, can you hand me ein Messer and one of the roller pins?"

Hungary shook her mind free of all thoughts then proceeded to one of the utensil drawers.

"….Mr. Ausztria…."

Roderich looked up from kneading to see Hungary handing him the aforementioned knife and roller pin. He thanked her briefly before cutting the dough into three small separate loafs. A long silence prevailed for the better half of the hour while Elizabeta went back to preparing the goulash. After a while was beginning to unnerve Austria. As he finished brushing the apple strudel with melted butter and placed the finished product, he tried recreating the conversation; "So vhat vhill you be presenting at the Vhorld Conference, Elizabeta?"

The Hungarian looked up from the soup pot confusion; "Huh?"

"I said-" he started but was cut off.

"Oh. Well, I've thought up a few methods for solving the global warming issues and I will be proposing my ideas at the meeting."

Austria shook his head thoughtfully and took a seat at the dinning table that resided near by. "Hmm. I shall be presenting a revised version of the Austrian budget as a foundation for the rest of Europas economy."

Elizabeta looked up surprised. This was one of the few times Austria decided to take part in the meeting, since he had an unexplained distaste for the other countries. Of course, not every country had a perfect unscarred relationship. At that moment, a certain troubling thought came back on cue I…should tell him about the scars…Yah! Yah…I should….

"….Mr. Ausztria…"

Roderich snapped out of spacing out. This was so unlike him. Spacing out? Usually he was alert and proper with a clean mind. What was making him so troubled – the girl? How could a simple girl make his so distressed? He stood up and shook the thoughts away again.

"Yes Elizabeta?" he said while walking over to the oven to get the completed pastries.

Hungary tapped her nails against the granite of the countertop worried what Austria might have to say about the scars. But still! She had to help this girl. Why did the child have so many scars in the first place?

"Ah – Um. That is…I have something to tell you about."

Roderich titled his head. What in the world could possibly be so hard to say?

"Yes. Vhat is it?"

She walked up to him and took his hand causing the faintest of a blush to spread across his cheeks. They walked to the dinning to the dinning table and once again, Austria took a seat. Hungary took the set next to her ex and breathed in deeply.

"The girl, when I was dressing her I found-" she began but Austria didn't want to hear it; "Elizabeta! Do not tell me of such vulgar things!" The blush had gotten deeper and it wasn't helping.

"No, no! It's nothing like that!" Hungary innocently waved her hands in front of herself for emphasis. "The child has scars."

The Austrian looked taken aback. "Elizabeta, every human has scars not matter how young.

Elizabeta shook her head. "No, she has a lot. All over her back! That's not right for a girl of fourteen!"

Roderich shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder; "Elizabeta look-"

Their conversation was brought to an abrupt end when a sound came from down the hallway to the girl's room. Bang. Thump. "Sorry!" They both looked at each other and sighed. Austria to his hand off of Hungary' shoulder and began to walk off in the direction of the sound but not before turning around. "Ve'll continue this discussion later."

-MWH-

"Ugh…." Julie cracked one eye open but remained still.

The room was shrouded in darkness except for a streak of light on the wall that was emanating from the door. An irritated sigh escaped from her lips. This would always happen; She'd get so tired that she'd fall asleep, and a few hours later, she would wake up feeling groggy and dizzy, with no sense of time. Kicking the bed sheets away from herself, she slowly pulled her self up into a sitting position. After a wide yaw, she fell back on to the bed and stretched her arms out.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Huh…. I guess I should get up." She mumbled to no one in particular. Julie rolled over on her side and stared blankly at the door before rolling over again and falling onto the carpet. She groaned and pushed herself up off the floor lazily. After tugging her dress to and making it somewhat neat, she began dragging her feet towards the door. IT didn't help that she was in the dark, but what did she care? Julie pulled the door open and wincing at the sudden burst of light. Why did I do that? She rubbed her eyes and pushed the door out of the way. Everything in the hallway was covered in darkness too, so she hand to use the wall to guide her. Bang. Halfway through she bumped into something and tripped. Thump. She rubbed her sore bottom and hissed at the pain.

"Sorry!" she called out just incase she woke someone up.

She froze when footsteps started coming down the hallway towards. A voice called out to her.

"Vhat are you doing?"

"Oh, Mr. Edelstein? What are you doing up?"

Austria felt a vein pulse in his temple and shook his head. "I vhas about to have dinner. Vhill you be joining us?"

Julie felt a smile edging at the corner of her lips and tried to suppress it immediately. Even thought he had asked in an irritated tone, his offer was much appreciated. It was…. nice. She nodded. "Only if you turn the lights on 'cause I can't see a thing."

Roderich sighed. He was tired. He just wanted to have his dinner in peace.

"Yes, of course."

He went a little back down the hallway to a light switch and flicked the lights on. Hungary came walking down the hall with a look of concern; "What's going on, Mr. Auzstria?"

Not soon after Julie came in sight and it was shocking, truthfully. It wasn't just the now creased dress; it was the fact that she looked groggy and her out of control bedhead. She looked at herself in a near by mirror hanging near a painting. She gaped wide-eyed and commenced to laugh.

"I should fix my hair, shouldn't I?"

Before Austria could say anything, Hungary jogged over to Julie. She turned back to Roderich; "I'll take care of it. Can you set the table, Roddy?"

Austria blushed at the nickname. He was a bit skeptical at first but agreed as Elizabeta whisked the adolescent away to get ready for dinner. He went back to the kitchen and took the apple strudel from the oven. After putting three place settings, he commenced to bring out the food. In the process, his mind began to wander. Scars are nothing new. I have scars and so does Elizabeta, so why does she waste her time worrying about other's scars? First I must discuss the topic of the girl with her, though. He scoffed and scowled a little. And I hope that Ludvig took care of America and England. If not, I'll scold all three of those dummkopfs.

His thoughts were cut short as Hungary turned a corner and came out from the famous hallway, pulling the girl beside her. Roderich's eyes slowly widened. The sight was foreign to his eyes. The girl's hair was like curled locks of chocolate brown, bearing resemblance to Shirley Temple's tresses and she was dressed in a European nightgown which was overdone with frills. Her slightly tanned skin clashed with the ivory color of the garment giving the whole image an Arabian feel to it. She coughed and looked away as she felt his gaze bore down on her.

"Hey. Mrs. Hedervary, is this all really necessary? Not that I don't love my hair curled…." Julie trailed off as she began pushing a lock of hair up then watching it bounce back down.

Hungary smiled and playfully squeezed the girl's substantial cheeks. "Yes~ Juri-chan, you look absolutely adorable and lovely."

Julie's eyes widened in shock. Adorable and…lovely? She could feel her cheeks heating up; making her efforts to control is futile.

"R-really?"

Elizabeta saw this and smirked. This girl was just too cute. She was like Romano only with a little bit of Italy's personality sprinkled on top. "Yes~."

"Juri-chan?" Austria inquired, "Vhat's Juri-chan?"

Hungary giggled. "It's my nickname for her. Her real name is Julie Louise." She turned back to Julie; "Now please, take a seat between Mr. Edelstein and me."

The child didn't argue and sat at the table. But, there was something refined about it. Her back was strait, her hands neatly place in front of her on the table and right away she took her napkin and placed it in her lap. Both Austria and Hungary saw this and gave each other a look. Hungary began to serve the two, starting with Julie. She began to pour some Goulash into the girl's soup bowl until Julie gave a polite little 'Thank you'. Elizabeta did the same to Roderich's soup until he too said 'Thank you'. Julie started to eat right after Austria, and European style at that. She took her soupspoon and scooped away from her instead to her as so many people mistakenly did. Not leaning over her plate, she brought the spoon to her lips and quietly sipped her soup without spilling a drop. If you didn't know any of them you would have mistaken the three for a rich European family in New York.

Hungary looked at Austria and nodded. "Juri-chan, how did you learn to eat like that?"

The girl looked up from her soup. "Oh, my mom is French; so is the rest is my mother's family. My grandma was born in 1916, so she's very strict on manners as you can see. So I was taught how to have dinner table and bedside manners since I was seven."

Austria looked bewildered. "French? So you're related to zhat perverted dummkopf?"

Julie gave a hurt appearance. "Hey! I might not know German, but I certainly know what 'dummkopf' means. He's really not that bad, seriously. I love my mother's country. I'm very proud to be the daughter of a French mother."

"You have a serious pride for being 'French', huh? But isn't France…annoying?" Elizabeta said while leaning in for a spoonful of Goulash.

Julie shook her head lightly and Roderich could see that her mind was staring to wander. "No, no…it's…sweet. All sweet memories of the countryside, my grandmother's simple cottage house with her little garden full of snails I use to love to play with, simple French cooking and nice little trips to the boulangerie…"

Her eyes were starting to glaze over but she quickly regained consciousness of herself. "Oh, sorry. I tend to babble about France." She quickly apologized.

The Austrian felt as thought betrayed by his own ears. No one – and he meant no one, ever talked about France in that way; quite the opposite most of the time. And what's even surprising…she made it sound sweet but – sad. The way she talked about the French countryside was heart melting and…distant. Resembling as thought she will never see again. He took a deep breath; "No, no. It's quite all right. But, please do finish your schoup. It's Mrs. Herdervery's specialty."

Hungary raised a brow at the formal name-calling.

Dinner went by without a thought, and when it came time for dessert, the girl was already falling asleep. But when she saw the apple strudel, her eyes snapped open.

"Is that-" she started but Hungary decided to finish the sentence for her; "-apple strudel? Why, yes. And this is Mr. Edelstein specialty." She snickered at Austria for blushing.

Julie was glowing; her face all lit up like an American Christmas tree. "May I have some, please?"

This only made Austria's blush become more prominent but he coughed it away, much to Elizabeta's dismay. "Yes, but after you must go to bed. V'e vhill have things to do and things to discuss tomorrow."

The girl squealed in delight and took one of the pastries. After she wolfed it down and complemented 'Mr. Edelstein' on how skilled he was, she bid them goodbye and went off to brush her teeth.

Roderich sighed. "It's like ve're raising Italien all over again."

Hungary patted her spouses back. "Don't worry, it will be fun."

Austria started and then got up. "Can you clean this? I shall go make sure the child is in bed." Elizabeta nodded and turned to clean the dinning room. He took off in a different direction and soon came the girl's temporary room. He pushed the door open, but she wasn't there. That's when he heard singing coming from the bathroom.

"I can't say what's next.
And I got nothin' up my sleeve.
But I don't lose my head, cause it ain't really up to me.
And I'm doing just fine. I'm always landing on my feet.
In the nic of time and by the skin of my teeth.
I ain't gonna stress, cause the worst ain't happened yet.
Somethings watching over me, like Sweet Serendipity. Sweet Serendipity~"

He started to push the door open when he saw her washing her face.

"I don't ask for a lot.
No nothing more than I need,
because I love what I got.
Don't need to play the lottery.
I just want to be strong,
at the end of the road.
I don't want to hold on.
I want the strength to let go-"

She jumped at the sight of him. Clutching the area of her chest where her heart should be, she wheezed out; "Oh god, I didn't know you were there. 'Scared me."

Austria scoffed; "This is my house, of course I'm here."

"Yah, I know. My mom says the same thing to me. She tells me I should be a little less paranoid."

Roderich nodded. "She has a point. Now come, you must go to bed. Tomorrow shall be a long day."

Julie closed off the sink and dried her face, then closed the lights and followed the Austrian. She snuggled up into the somewhat comfy bed and started to dose off as she had been doing earlier. He closed the lights of the room and gave a brief 'Sleep well'. And as she began to dream about whatever fourteen year old American girls dream about, he shook his head and wondered to himself; Tomorrow will be a long day.

Translations;

[Gulasch] German for Goulash

[Nien] No

[Almeásrétes] Apple Strudel

[ein Messer] A knife

[Ausztria] Hungarian for Austria

[Boulangerie] Bakery

[Dummkopf] Stupid head

[Italien] German for Italy

The song the girl was singing was 'Sweet Serendipity'. Yeah! Almost no translations!

Please Review! I need some love in the form of writing. Even if you speak another language. Actually, it would be cooler like that. Or France shall visit you in the middle of the night. Thanks to all my reviewers so far!