Chapter 11: Day 5, Part 2

A/N: Admit it, you thought I abandoned this, didn't you? Gonna take a lot more than school to make that happen. Apologies for the rather terribly timed cliffie, I didn't do that on purpose. And apologies for the relative shortness of this chapter and any mistakes, it was a bit of a rush to get this up while I had time.

"I've finally accepted the fact that we're not getting out of this and then you go and tell me that some lunatic under the pseudonym 'Bob' not only knows about us but has blackmail against us. I take it back, Roosevelt was a better boss than your current one."

"Hey, it was the First Lady's idea."

"She isn't the one giving you direct orders, which in turn forces the rest of us to follow those same orders. Damn globalization, I swear. And to think I actually turned town Wales' offer to sub in for me that meeting."

They were a block away from wherever the address was located and a certain blond had complained literally the entire time. To his credit it was the middle of the night after a very stressful day going from one wild goose chase to the next.

"Why would Wales offer to sub in? I thought you guys like, hated each other or something?"

"We do not! All four of us get along perfectly well, thank you very much."

"But remember Scot-" (1)

"That wasn't my fault. Do you know what we're supposed to do once we get there or did 'Bob' not divulge that information?"

"I'm assuming we just walk inside, the lights are on and the sign says open." Every other building on both sides of the street were closed down and locked up for the night, except this one. The glowing Golden Arches stood out proudly against the rest of the darkened environment and even from the car they could smell fryer oil.

"I'm beginning to question whether you made Bob up just to annoy me or if the Universe is suddenly making me pay karma debts all in one go."

"I vote we go after them."

"Gilbert, this isn't a democracy."

"Well it isn't a dictatorship either, West so I say we go."

"Ve~ why don't we just wait for them to come back?" Italy curled up on the couch leaning lazily over the armrest, trying to hide the fact that he was dead tired.

"What if they aren't coming back? We've already established we've lost- now it's basically a free-for-all to LA for those plane tickets." Romano said. The ten of them sat in a loose circle between the living and dining room with almost every light in the house on.

"But the tickets were in the RV weren't they? Or at least the final clue would have been to where they were?"

"It's a little thing called will-call. Our boss already paid for first class tickets halfway around the globe on an American airline no less. I, for one, am not paying out of pocket for another one." Airplanes sucked, even if you had your own private jet complete with an endless minibar and Jacuzzi. Commercial airlines were a league of their own.

"If push comes to shove I will fly out of St. Louis in business class. As Romano said, we've already confirmed that we've lost. What's keeping us here?" China said, wishing they had at least bought something edible for their overnight stay in the townhouse.

"Not much. But I'm not the only one whose ID and wallet are now missing. For one thing we can't go anywhere or do anything without them especially if, for whatever reason, we need a license or even a credit card. And on top of that, whoever took the RV now has the identities of twelve Nations, even if they're fake." Germany grumbled, crossing his arms halfway though.

"Why can't we hunt them down and make them give everything back?" Russia longed for Mr. Pipe, it always got the job done fast and simple. None of this political correctness all the kids were worried about ever got in the way.

"I think we should just wait for America and England to come back. Maybe they left because of the missing RV, eh." No one ever listened to the voice of reason, especially when said voice belonged to Canada.

"He's got three other cars and one of them is an SUV. Why don't we just drive back to St. Louis and leave? I still have my phone, I can call anyone I want."

"Guys-"

"I really don't think we should just up and leave without telling them."

"Hey, wait-"

"I agree with China, let's go."

"Dudes!" America shouted, "I haven't been that terrible of a host, have I? Party guests should at least say goodbye before leaving early."

"Where the hell were you?"

England held up a silver brief case with a sour expression on his face. "Willingly delivering us to the next circle of Hell. We've got a problem and leaving now will only make it worse."

"What do you mean?" Germany asked.

England gestured for America to deliver the news, which he did. "Bob." Kinda.

"…Bob." France said slowly, and America didn't take the hint to elaborate, just tossed him the briefcase.

"Remember that one April Fool's Day like, forever ago?" Everyone instantly gave France and Spain venomous looks. Except Italy, who was trying to retell the day in vivid detail to his brother. France just shrugged and flipped open the latches on the briefcase, allowing a pile of sealed manila folders to fall to the floor.

"Wasn't one time enough, aru?" China groaned, not wanting to relive even the memory of the terrible day. Italy was at the part in his story when he tried showing Germany his picture, much to Romano's displeasure.

"Look, I know we're tired and I know this sucks but come on, guys!" America began, slamming the briefcase shut and tossing it into the other room. "We've been through worse! I mean, this isn't war, there's no paperwork, and no bosses within a ten mile/kilometer/whatever radius. Yeah we're stranded in South St. Louis with almost no money or phones, and a crazy blackmailer with a stupid name-"

"Fantastic pep talk, America."

"-But thirty years ago cell phones didn't even exist and ninety years ago no one on the planet had a lot of money anyway. We're stuck with each other next month anyway, and we can hate ourselves and point fingers then. But, for now, can't we just get along and enjoy what little vacation we have? The Midwest may be cornfields but you haven't seen everything yet! When do I ever disappoint?"

England opened his mouth to answer, along with China, Canada, Germany, and Russia. "Don't answer that, I was being rhetorical. I'm the country people go to, to live their dreams, if I was boring we definitely wouldn't be here right now. Just give me a few hours and I can get us moving again. Even though we lost, wouldn't it feel really damn good if we proved our bosses wrong and actually got along for the last few days? There's seven days left to get to LA and we're almost halfway across the continent. So what if we don't find the RV? So what if Bob screws us over? It won't last forever, and at least we'll be suffering together. So, what da'ya say?"

The gathered Nations glanced around eyeing each other, waiting to see who would speak first. "Will there be vodka?" Russia cocked his head like a dog, a curious expression on his face.

America nodded, "Absolut Vodka. And 'Mano," The Southern Italian glared at the nickname, "Cali's the world's garden. East of Eden. Some of the best tomatoes on the planet." Romano's expression just barely softened. "And Francy-Pants, we got barrel after barrel of vintage West Coast wine. China, San-Fran's callin' your name, you to Japan. And that's just Cali. We still got 2,000 miles of golden opportunity ahead of us. We're not racing against time anymore, dudes, we got all the time in the world."

America held out his hand like a little league baseball player, grinning wide with excitement. "Who's with me?"

Romano sighed, knowing he'd regret what he was about to do but doing it anyway, "For the tomatoes, bastardo."

"So, instead of going to a random rinky-dink town in a state none of you have even heard of, I've got an idea."

Their caravan of antique cars made quite a show when it pulled into the gas station, drawing several pairs of eyes to the '67 Chevy, '64 Cadillac, and other classic models all appearing as though they came fresh off the assembly line. What could he say? America liked his cars.

"I thought we were driving to California?"

"We are, we are. But Cali's a long ways away from here. Trust me, you'll enjoy it. It's a full day's drive nonstop from here, which is why we're making a pit stop along the way. But if we do, we gotta make a deal first."

The other Nations exchanged wary glances, "What deal?" China asked.

"Not that kind," America assured, "We gotta make a deal that if Bob decides to remake April Fool's we just pretend it doesn't happen. For the next seven days we don't care about anything that has to do with work, politics, or anyone outside of us twelve. We're on 'holiday', deal?"

"Sounds fair." Prussia agreed with a nod of approval.

"Are you going to tell us where we're going now?" England asked.

America seemed to ignore him, not answering until he was back in his car with the engine running. "Viva Las Vegas, dudes."

"You told me it would work, and it ended up doing the exact opposite of what it was supposed to. What do we do now?"

"Yeah, she's right. I should've called Leon instead of teaming up with you. Ruining my hair with cheap dye…"

"Oh relax, everyone will get what they want in the end. I get my pictures, and you three get your brothers all to yourselves. When have I ever been wrong?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"If there's one thing I've learned from living with them for decades, it's that pacts never last. It just takes a little more time."

A/N: So, have you figured out who's who yet? A character that loves blackmail and pictures, and two others that have strange obsessions with their brothers. I didn't make any OCS. Again, do not expect the new chapter any time soon (2 month hiatus kinda just happened that way).

Footnotes:

1. Last year (2014) Scotland held a referendum on whether or not they would remain a part of the United Kingdom and the vote came super close to them leaving, like only a few percentage points away from a less-than united kingdom.

Happy Halloween!