The week following the press conference where Alfred and Arthur very publicly declared their love for each other was eventful, to say the least. The group had returned to Hawaii, saying goodbye to Hope, Emily, Maddy, Canada, and France. Arthur stayed with Alfred in the Hawaiian mansion, intending to lay low for a while and see how the general American and English populations would react. Said populations had been rather accepting, despite neither of them allowing the marriage of the two representatives based solely in the fact that they both seemed to be boys.

The craziness was finally starting to die down, and as Sabrina lay on her bed, reading the last manga novel of Fullmetal Alchemist, she felt at peace for the first time in a week.

"Sabrina! Brina! Bribri!" Alfred shrieked, running into her room, startling Sabrina, which caused her to promptly drop the book on her face.

Pushing the book to the side, Sabrina sat up, unconcerned. Alfred had at least three meltdowns a day. "What's wrong now?"

Alfred grabbed her arms and shook her violently. "How can you be calm at a time like this?!"

Sabrina sighed and marked her page. "Well, if I knew what was going on, maybe I wouldn't be as calm."

Alfred nodded vigorously and allowed Sabrina to pry his fingers from her arms. "Ya know how we're gonna got the world meeting soon? I was gonna send the list of people going to Sweden, and then, like, point two seconds before I hit the send button, Taylor came in and told me she was leaving!"

Sabrina squinted. "Did she tell you why?"

Alfred nodded again. "She said her mom was sick! Dude, this sucks so bad!"

Sabrina stood up. "I'll talk to her. You stay here and don't touch anything."

Alfred saluted her and sat delicately down on the bed.

"Taylor, can I come in?" Sabrina knocked on the girl's door.

"If you're gonna tell me to stay, then no, you can't." Taylor's voice sounded tired and agitated.

"I just wanna come in and talk. I don't know what the topics we'll cover."

Taylor's response was the rasp of the deadbolt sliding back and the door clicking open.

Taylor's room was exactly like how Sabrina's had been before she painted it. The only difference was the hundreds of pictures that sat on every single available space and hung all over the wall where Taylor could reach. The ocean seemed to be a recurring theme, as was a surfboard, a green one with silver decoration. There were no people in any of the pictures, except for one. It was also the only framed picture, and it rested on Taylor's nightstand. It was of a woman with short blond hair that created a curly halo around her grinning green eyes. She had a kind smile and skin that looked worn from overuse.

"She looks like you," Sabrina half-lied. The woman in the picture and Taylor had the same face shape and hair color, but other than that, they looked nothing alike.

"Mom? Nah, you don't have to lie. I know we don't look alike," Taylor said, trying to shove the clothes she had worn to the press conference into an already overstuffed suitcase. After trying and failing for several minutes, Taylor threw the clothes across the room and sat next to Sabrina on the bed with a huff. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Taylor spoke up again. "She's really sick you know, I'm not making it up to go home."

Sabrina nodded. "How is she sick?"

Taylor ran a hand through her hair. "They don't know; they've been trying to figure it out for the past week. According to my stepdad, she's been getting sicker and sicker; she has a tough time getting out of bed now and she throws up whatever she eats. I can't take being away from her for much longer."

"Do you think you're gonna regret it, leaving here?"

Taylor barked out a laugh. "Not likely. I never really made best friends with anyone like you did with Carly. And besides, I'm a surfer. I'm not cut out for politics or running a country or whatever." She looked at Sabrina with peace in her eyes. "Can you understand that?"

Sabrina opened her mouth, but a voice interrupted her. "Yes, I can understand that," Alfred said from the doorway. Taylor smiled widely at Alfred and held her arms out for a hug. Sabrina took that moment to quietly exit the room and go down to the kitchen to see if they had any strawberries. To her delight, they had three cartons of them.

England was also in the kitchen, methodically dipping a tea bag in a cup of steaming water. When he saw her, he smiled and lifted his cup. "Would you like any? It's Irish Breakfast."

Sabrina shook her head and bit into one of the strawberries. Carton in hand, she turned to go back up the stairs, but England grabbed one of her shoulders. Startled, she turned around, to see an almost pleading expression on Arthur's face. "Can I talk to you?" he asked.

She nodded and swallowed the bite of strawberry in her mouth. "What's up?" she asked.

Arthur nervously looked around the kitchen, as if the microwave or the melon baller was spying on them. "Can we go into the living room?"

Sabrina nodded again and took another bite. She followed Arthur into the living room and sat next to him on the couch.

"If this is about the whole tabloid scandal thing, I'm really sorry," Sabrina said.

Arthur waved a hand. "That's not it. I was never mad about that. I was going to talk to you about Alfred's choices in companion. He's not the Doctor, he can't have another one, so he has to get it right the first time, and I want it to be you."

Sabrina choked on the strawberry seed she had been trying to pick out of her teeth. "Me? Why me?"

Arthur sat back in the couch. "Since Taylor is leaving, that leaves the four of you. Carly and Tyler aren't going to get it, you don't really date humans when you're a country, and the affection they have now and would try to continue when one of them is a country would just be stressful and detrimental to both of them. So that leaves you and Ali. Now, because Alfred's a bloody idiot, he can't really see that Ali is not the best pick. You're not the perfect choice for a companion, but you're the best we have here, which means the best out of all options available to Alfred."

Footsteps creaked down the steps and England looked as if they had given him a heart attack. He gave Sabrina that she could clearly tell meant "Tell No One."

England looked at his empty hands. "It seems I've forgotten my tea in the kitchen," he said absentmindedly.

Alfred stalked into the living room and spotted the two on the couch. "What're you two up to?"

"Nothing really, I was just asking Sabrina if she knew why Taylor was leaving," England lied smoothly, standing up and tugging on Alfred's shirt collar.

Alfred nodded and stumbled out of room. Arthur shot Sabrina a look. "Poor boy, he really liked Taylor. I would get packing if I were you, we have a world meeting tomorrow. I'd pack three coats."

Sabrina looked out the window it was eighty degrees and sunny. "Why?"

"Well, the meeting is in Sweden."

Beta's Note: Aand, we're back folks! Didn't I tell you guys to cut it out with the death threats to Luna? Not cool guys, not cool.

But yeah, I officially can post whatever I bloody feel like it anytime I bloody feel like it! Yay! I'll try to get the twelfth chapter up as soon as I can, just because I have internet doesn't necessarily mean I have unlimited free time, unfortunately. Band is getting super busy, we have a concert next week, and we're gearing up for Solo and Ensemble Contest (which you would know about if you read my Lord of the Flies fic, Lord of the Band Geeks (I also know it's not cool to advertise your stories on your friend's, but I don't care. Just kidding, yes I do. Love you Luna!)) But yeah. Super busy.

I'll try to get a chapter of Draco and Harry's Bedtime Stories up sometime this week, but I can make no promises.

Love you darlings! Please Review!