Chapter 14 is up! XD Sorry to keep you all waiting, but classes are over (until Monday) and I've passed! 8D So I was out celebrating. XD

After two hours of driving, and a pit stop or two for food, gas, directions and a bathroom break, Laura finally pulled into the parking lot of the Washington Hospital Center. She left her luggage in the car, and paused only long enough to feed a little Friskies to the occupant of the pet carrier in the backseat. Then, leaving the windows cracked, Laura locked the car and headed into the hospital.

She was used to getting odd looks when she came to America, and that's exactly what she got when she walked through the main doors, dressed head to toe in black and acid green, with spiked bracelets and a collar, and a red scarf draped casually around her neck. Laura ignored the double-taking staff and patients-in-waiting and walked up to to the front desk.

"Pardon me," The secretary looked up. "I'm looking for a friend of mine who was recently admitted - one Nathan L. Cameron. Could you please inform me as to which room he is in?" The secretary looked Laura up and down, from the dark blonde hair with acid green streaks pinned up into a peacock-styled bun, to the too-short, pleated black skirt over bright green leggings and black combat boots.

"…are you a family member?" She asked in a bored tone. She saw weird and crazy people all day ever day. This outlandishly dressed, obvious tourist was nothing new.

"The holder of power of attorney, actually." Laura replied, her tone switching from calmly polite to clipped impatience. "And a friend of the patient. Please tell me which room he has been placed in." The secretary looked down at her keyboard, away from Laura's piercing green eyes. What obsession did this woman have with green?

"May I ask who is visiting?" She asked, already pulling up the appropriate visitation form.

"Laura Archer." The woman replied. The secretary nodded and filled in the form, applying the information she had already been given in the form of a thinly-veiled barb.

"Nathan Cameron is in room 322," She supplied. "Just down the hall and to the left. Take the stairs up two floors, and follow the signs." Laura smiled, immediately back to her former cheery persona.

"Thank you kindly, ma'am." She nodded to the secretary and walked in the indicated direction. As soon as Laura was out of sight, the secretary sighed heavily.

"Freaky British tourist…" Down the hall, Laura heard the echo of the insult and growled.

"Annoying, vapid, typewriter-slave…" She growled in retaliation. The woman pushed open the door to the stairway and entered a cool tower of steps, where sound echoed significantly from top to bottom. Laura took her time climbing the steps at a leisurely pace, enjoying the heavy clop of her boots on the concrete. There was a stairwell just like this back at Oxford; she'd always wondered how the acoustics would sound there. Perhaps this was a good indication?

Laura finally reached the third floor, and left the stairwell for the correct set of rooms. The numbers on the doors started at 300, and counted up, odds on the right, evens on the left. Laura followed the numbers until she reached room 322, and knocked politely.

"Who is it?" A familiar voice called.

"I'll give you three guesses," Laura smirked. "And the first two don't bloody count." She opened the door and walked inside, her smile growing at the same time as Nathan's. "Got your self into more trouble, have you, you git?"

"Laura, be nice…" Nathan whined. "It really wasn't my fault this time!"

"No…" Laura agreed, walking over to the young man's bedside. "I can't blame you for being an idiot with an adrenaline addiction, can I?" She smirked humorlessly. "But I can blame you for not calling sooner." Nathan looked away guiltily.

"I didn't want to get you involved….the Bratva has a big reach, and…" Nathan trailed off. Laura sighed….and smacked him upside the head. "OW!"

"Get this through your thick skull, you git." She growled. "I've been taking care of myself since the 1700s. I'm not afraid of some 30 year old Mafia wanker who thinks that, just because he carries a gun, he's a bloody god." She frowned. "Give me five minutes with any of them, and I'll have them crying for their bloody mummies before the clock hits 4:59." Nathan smiled quietly.

"…..thanks, Laura." Laura's smile softened.

"No trouble, kid." She ruffled his hair. "We have to stick together, you know." Nathan smirked.

"Yeah…..hey, can I ask you a question?" He asked. Laura shrugged.

"I suppose."

"Did you get dressed in the dark? Or did your closet throw up on you?"

"….."

SMACK!

"Ow! Laura!"

The winter wind was cold in D.C., though not nearly as cold as a wind anywhere in Russia in winter. Ivan thought the weather was quite balmy as he walked around the hospital perimeter with his daughter. Svetlana still clung to her fur coat, but this was more out of the need to keep her hands busy, than for cold, as she never shivered when the wind picked up.

To be perfectly honest, Ivan had never planned on being a father. He had no knowledge of how to be one, and even less knowledge of how to deal with a daughter who may be just like him. It helped that Svetlana was neither a young child nor a teenager - as he had heard that they were the most difficult to deal with - but a young woman instead. She had already gone through puberty, and that was something Ivan was not prepared to deal with.

He glanced sidelong at his daughter, and realized again how much his daughter she really looked. Her hair was certainly that of her mother's - long, silky, and brown - but her eyes were just like his. She carried herself in a proud manner, despite the stress surrounding her everyday life. Her attitude toward the world was guarded, like his - albeit his form of guardedness manifested in childish immaturity, while Svetlana's appeared to be more of a foreign aloofness. She was far from that, however, if her attitude toward the American boy was anything to go by.

Before long, they had circled around the whole hospital, and the parking lot several times. They talked of different events in their lives, getting to know each other little by little. Svetlana learned about her two aunts, Belarus and Ukraine, and how terrified her father was of the former. Ivan learned that Nathan was not Svetlana's first significant other, though he was the first she became serious with. The two returned to the hospital, and took their time walking back to Nathan's room, still talking. Svetlana reached the door first, opened it, and gasped.

"Laura!" The young woman hurried inside to hug the older woman standing beside Nathan's bed. Ivan walked into the room and quietly shut the door, looking over this odd green-and-black woman with a raised eyebrow. Svetlana pulled back from the hug, smiling brightly. "I did not think you would get here so fast." Laura grinned.

"Never underestimate the power of a smile, a posh accent, and a good old-fashioned 'get-me-on-that-plane-before-I-rip-you-a-new-one' speech." She laughed. Ivan blinked. A British accent? Punk clothing? Colorblind fashion sense? Why did this remind him of someone? Svetlana reached over and tugged on his sleeve, urging Ivan to come closer.

"Laura…this is my father." She introduced him. "My real father, Ivan Brakinski." She looked up at Ivan. "Father, this is Laura Archer…she's like us."

Arthur could feel a migraine coming on. He leaned forward in his chair, propping one elbow on his knee as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "He passed out." He repeated.

"Yup." Alfred replied over the phone. "He kinda stared at me for a minute, and then he sorta went limp." Arthur sighed heavily.

"How long ago was this?"

"Erm….an hour? Give or take? I left the room after that so I could call you." Alfred admitted. "Um….Iggy? Can I get some advice?" Arthur felt a vein in his head twitch.

"Don't call me Iggy," He growled. "…and what sort of advice?"

"Fatherly advice…" Alfred paused. "I didn't think I could ever really be a dad….I don't know what to do! You raised me! Tell me what to do!" Arthur sighed.

"It's not that simple, Alfred." He replied. "You need to spend time with Nathan. Get to know him. Bond. Don't let him to stupid things. Etc." Alfred laughed nervously.

"Well…considering the circumstances we met under, I think it's a little late for the last one…" He muttered. Arthur facepalmed.

"I don't want to know." He muttered around his hand. He dropped it to hls lap and sighed. "Listen Alfred, there's no 'How to be a Dad' guidebook - you make it up as you go."

"But what if I screw up?" Alfred whined. Arthur's eyebrow twitched.

"He can't possibly turn out any worse than you." He retorted. Alfred didn't seem to accept this answer.

"You have to help the Hero be a dad! Come over here and help me!" He demanded. Arthur growled.

"Alfred, I can't just drop everything and fly to Americ-" Alfred interrupted him in mid-sentence.

"Yes you can. Leave tonight. Call me when you land. " Arthur blanched.

"Alfred, I can't-" He was rewarded with a dial tone before he could even finish protesting. Arthur snarled in frustration and slammed his phone down on the side table, nearly upsetting his, now cold, cup of tea.

How could that self-absorbed American possibly expect him to drop everything and fly across the Atlantic to deal with a problem that wasn't even his? There was no way in bloody hell he'd ever go! Ever!

Laura has arrived, Ivan and Svetlana did some father-daughter bonding, and Alfred is being...well, Alfred. XD

1) Sile Authoress - Behold! Punk!Laura in all her glory! XD

2) Aviantei - Thanks for reviewing! ^_^ Good luck with your story

3) QueenTutahkhamun - XD You know you're putting ideas in my head, right?

4) Everyone else - Thank you so much for the support and reviews~ ^_^