Omg guys! I'm sorry I'm so late today! I ended out sleeping in! I needed it, but I still feel bad it was so late today!

But no seppuku in your honor. Sorry.

Lavendor Queen – Thank you for your review! And I totally have to agree. He's going to be one of the final four. But a secret, just for those that read this part: Someone you think will be in that last part won't be, and for a sad, sad reason. (Not death)

Anywho, on with the show!

Disclaimer- Prussia is here to invade all the ladies' vital regions! Woot!

Chapter 14

Alfred knocked on her door early morning after having realized that though they'd received the initial list on time last night, at breakfast Francis and Mattie both admitted they hadn't seen the girl since the meeting the afternoon before. He waited for a moment before the door flung open and she came stumbling out with her hair done up in a tight bun, her eyes were surrounded with dark circles and she still wore the leather outfit from the night before. She looked around wildly and noticed him staring with his jaw dropped and grinned, standing back up.

"What's up?" She asked and coughed. Her voice had sounded horribly croaky, like she'd been talking all night.

"Are you alright? Where's Peter?"

"He decided to drop out after I explained I had sex with his dad." She turned around and walked back into the room with Alfred staring at her in shock.

"Please tell me you didn't! And if he's gone why are you still in his room?"

"He asked me to lock it on my way out, and I totally did. Told him it would be too awkward for him to be in the competition due to it, and it's true. Seriously, can't do the dad then show any romantic interest in the son, that's just gross. And creepy." She said as she started back into writing in the notebook, which was now a fairly impressive catalog of the texts sent in the last 18 hours.

"Come over to my room and get a shower and change of clothes. After that, you need to eat."

"Can't, been insanely busy."

"I washed Mattie's shirt he lent you, and I can get your other stuff from Arthur, so you'll be more comfortable then if you keep wearing that heavy leather." Her hand slowed and she looked up as if to let him know she was tempted, but still wanted to work. "If you don't eat, your hand will never heal, and we'll probably never understand what you're writing." He watched as she groaned and stood. She wrote out a thank you note and left it on Peter's bed before grabbing her stuff and heading out.

She was so tired she didn't think of things in order and jumped into the shower, not even thinking when Alfred came in with the towel and clothes for her. He'd had to go through her stuff and realized she had three dirty shirts, four dirty pairs of pants and multiple unmentionables in the bottom of her bag, with the clean stuff still in the bags on top. He tossed everything into the laundry, but knew he'd have to make sure she had more clothing before she left. She had four nice dresses, but they weren't really the most appropriate for a girl like her. He tossed in a pair of his own jeans and Mattie's shirt. A bright red sports bra, which he discovered was all she had, and thank god she still had underwear and socks. He'd noticed some lingerie, but wondered if Ludwig had already had her wear it and it was instantly creepy. He knew there were a few skirts and pairs of leggings and workout clothing in the bag, but it all got tossed into the laundry. Something from Arthur's room was spilled on it and honestly neither of the boys wanted to explain what it might be.

She came out looking a little less like death warmed over and upon hearing the water shut off Alfred cracked the door and stuck his head in. "I brought some clothes in for you, there's a towel on the counter."

"Thank you." Her voice sounded really small and Alfred started to worry as he closed the door to let her dress in peace.

She came out a couple minutes later and he was able to get a better look. The dark circles under her eyes seemed worse now that the makeup had been washed off. She looked pale, and her skin seemed dry. "Good god, did you even try to sleep last night?"

"I couldn't." She sighed and cringed as she accidentally hit her cast on the door frame on the way out.

"I get it. You don't want to accidentally sleep with anyone else." Jasmin looked up at him, startled and a little surprised. "I know that everything between you and Arthur and I was something you wish you could take back." he looked at her with a sad expression. "But don't suffer because of it."

"You're wrong." She said, looking down with a blush. "No one so far has been an accident. The problem is, I can't help but be drawn to others who I'm afraid would be. I don't want to... do something with someone I don't feel I can trust."

"Then we'll protect you. Please take your pain meds." He asked with a worried look and she sighed. "If you start to molest anyone you haven't already molested, we'll divert your attention, alright?" He gave her a grin and Jasmin nodded with a sigh.

"Fine, right after I get a drink." She frowned when he pulled a bottle of water out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Dammit."

She came into the kitchen surprised to see most of the people still there, sitting and chatting quite happily over a few plates of assorted snacks. Ludwig and Roderich, the Koreas, Sweden and Japan, Norway, Estonia and Greece all sat around while Alfred gave her a pointed look and she sat down, half pouting and half feeling bad for making him worry.

"Don't move until I bring you out something to eat." He said with his hand on his hip and Jasmin nodded, wincing at the worried glance.

"Mein Gott, Jasmin, what happened to you?" Roderich asked at seeing the circles under her eyes.

"I was busy with the lists." She sighed and laid her head down on the table.

Roderich sighed with exasperation as he looked at her with a small frown. "At least Peter should have told you to take some time to rest. He did bring you dinner, right?"

"He left right after the meeting." Jasmin mumbled into her crossed arms and refused to look up, knowing the looks they would have been giving her.

"Jasmin..." Japan frowned and looked around at the guys all staring at her with mixed emotions. "I'm glad to see even though you're from America that you are such a hard worker." He said as he stole a unagi nigiri from a tray before him. He slid the rest of the tray over to her and she looked up, saw the tray and stilled.

"Unagi?"

"Hai."

She blushed and took one and thanked him before eating it. She laid her head back down and he sighed. "You can have more, you know he's probably going to make you a hamburger." Japan said and Jasmin felt her stomach contract violently at the thought of hamburger.

"Oh, don't even mention that. Ew..." She cringed and Ludwig sighed, going out to the kitchen. Alfred was indeed in the middle of frying a hamburger and Ludwig looked at him with a frown.

"You know she won't eat that, right?" He asked and Alfred stilled with confusion for a moment before panicking.

"I forgot!" He yelped and Ludwig tossed a few things together, pulled out a few pans and even though it was quick, he was able to pull together a few things he knew she'd like.

Three more unagi nigiri, a small plate of wurst and sauerkraut, pan fried red skinned potatoes. "Kiku, one moment of your time, please." He asked and Japan came out, worried about leaving the girl with the other men. "Alfred and Roderich will keep an eye on her, they'll be fine. Could you make her up some of your tea? I know she loves that kind of stuff."

"Hai, I'll do so right away." Kiku nodded and reached for the shelves with the matcha and cups and the wisk with a determined look on his face.

Ludwig brought out the plates while Jasmin chatted peacefully, getting to know the other countries. Estonia seemed to be amazed at the thought that someone honestly had good things to say about Russia, but Jasmin shook her head with a smile.

"He really is nice. Honestly, ask him what he wants to do, ask him what he likes. Spend time getting to know him and explain the problems that you have with him without anger or fear of him. Believe it or not, he doesn't really want to hurt you, he thinks of you as one of his closest friends." She said with heavy eyes and Estonia stared with a shocked expression while North Korea seemed unhappy to gain the mental image of Russia being kind. South Korea, on the other hand was sucking down a bubble tea and listening to music on his cellphone.

"Here, go ahead and eat." Ludwig put the plates down and Jasmin thanked him before fighting with the fork before Alfred stole it and ran back into the kitchen, grabbing the chopsticks. Japan was bringing out the tea when Alfred gave her the sticks and she sighed, thanking him again before eating.

"What's with the chopsticks?" Norway asked, and Alfred leaned back, allowing her time to speak.

"With my broken hand, it's hard to hold silverware, but I'm ambidextrous with chopsticks, so this is easier on me. Thank you, Alfred." She turned to him with a soft smile and he nodded, finally letting some of the worry slide from his face now that she was eating. She watched with wide eyes as Japan put the cup of green tea in front of her and she smiled, bowing to him.

"Thank you so much."

"Ie, Just glad to get to finally see you smile." He said softly and Jasmin looked up with a sad smile to him.

"I haven't treated you fairly, and for that, I do have to apologize. I know you wouldn't have done the things you thought of, and I do realize you were looking out for my best interest, but sometimes it's hard for me to forgive and forget, you know?" She watched as his eyes widened slightly and he smiled. It was the first time she'd seen it and the thought she had been making him unhappy caused her to lose her own smile. She ate quickly and thanked the boys. Alfred sighed and took her back up to his room and told her to lay down and get some sleep. She normally would have fought about it, between still having work and being alone in a guys bedroom, but it's not like they hadn't already seen each other naked, what was the worst that could happen?

She closed her eyes and was asleep instantly. She woke about three hours later, and though it was only a few hours after lunch, she wasn't able to go back to sleep and found her way back downstairs. Her notebooks were gone, her cellphone, she's pretty sure was with it. She couldn't reach anyone like this, so she found her way to the kitchen, surprised to see it empty. She looked around and smiled, deciding to make herself a snack before heading out to find the others.

She was in the process of kneading bread when Sweden came in and watched her, slightly surprised. "Sorry! Am I in the way?"

"No." He said and reached behind her, grabbing a cola and sitting, watching her with interest as she kneaded. She found a rolling pin and opened the fridge with a grin before heating the oven and pulling out some ingredients.

By the time she was done, somehow she'd gone from making a loaf of bread to seven pizzas! Sweden seemed to be amazed at how badly that whole situation had turned while she frowned. "How in the hell did I screw things up this badly? It was only supposed to be a loaf of bread..." She sighed as she pulled the last pizza from the oven and turned to Sweden with a smile. "You're more than welcome to any of it, if you're interested." She sighed, sad she couldn't even text the Italy brothers to come get some when she heard Veneziano's voice and grinned. "Pizza!" She called and two interested faces peered around the doorway.

One was Florentine with chicken, feta and spinach. One had tomatoes and oregano. They all only had a touch of sauce, save the Florentine and the White pizza, which was a more american style pizza with loads of cheese, bacon and ham. It was about three minutes later others came to the smell and started nibbling while Jasmin got to finally start talking to the Italy boys. She was surprised to find that even though she always thought Romano was annoying in the show, in real life he was much more interesting. Though he did carry a vicious mean streak, he was fun to chat with. He seemed to be into pranks a bit, and decided that after finding out how long an eternity was, it was pointless to do so much for everyone when nothing really happened because of it and spent more time just enjoying the life he was able to live. This was a specifically uplifting conversation for Jasmin, as she heard so often about the office, or work, it was refreshing to find out someone was more interested in enjoying what they had.

Veneziano was the opposite. He enjoyed his time in the office, as he felt safe with all of the white paper. This caused Jasmin to choke on her pizza for a moment, before waving it off, miraculously avoiding laughing at the mental image of him making white flags. He looked sad while he spoke, which did worry the girl. Italy wasn't supposed to be a sad person, he was supposed to be vibrant and lively. She was eventually able to find out he missed the time he used to spend with Germany and Japan.

When he said he missed them, Jasmin hadn't meant to. She held her head low, hoping no one would notice as she snuck away a napkin and pretended to wipe her mouth. Romano noticed and sighed.

"Why are you crying like that?"

"Veneziano isn't supposed to be sad like that. He's supposed to be happy and bright, and the thought that he isn't is heartbreaking to me." She smiled sadly and Romano sighed.

"No one can be happy all of the time. Trust me, I tried. If you don't respect the sad times, if you're not forced to live through them, than what in the hell are the good times good for, bene?"

"Yeah, but it's still sad to me." She sighed and Romano smiled at her.

"Thanks for worrying about my brother. I may not be good at showing it, but I am grateful." He said as he lifted another slice of pizza and Veneziano nibbled on his third piece.

"Dude! Pizza!" Alfred came through the door and grabbed a slice without paying attention and choked on the slice. "Why in the hell is there spinach on this? Gross!"

Jasmin laughed at the sight and slid the white pizza to him. "This'll be more your taste. It's a white."

"A... white pizza? There isn't any sauce." He frowned, poking at the slice he pulled out and Jasmin grinned.

"It has garlic butter instead. Not everyone can eat tomatoes, you know."

Alfred looked at her with wide eyes and frowned. "Can't have citrus, can't have tomatoes, won't eat Hamburgers, I feel so sorry for you!" He said as he sat and took a bite, deciding this was good anyway.

"You can't have tomatoes?" Veneziano asked and Jasmin shook her head.

"Too acidic. It'll give me ulcers." She said as she took another bite of the Florentine pizza, which Alfred had dumped his piece on her plate. Romano stared at the horrible manners and was about to scream when she lifted it and took a bite, the two of them chatting about the location of her missing supplies.

"Your stuff has gone missing?" Veneziano asked and Jasmin nodded.

"Even my cell phone. I was hoping I'd left it here earlier, but I guess I wasn't that lucky." She sighed and Sweden stood, walking from the room without a word.

Everyone was a little surprised later when he came down with North Korea at gunpoint.

"What in the hell is this?" The man asked as Sweden gave him a dark glare, the one he usually didn't intend to give.

"Give her back her supplies." Sweden said with a low tone and North turned to him with a glare of his own.

"You aren't my boss! You don't tell me what to do!"

Alfred pulled out his own cell phone and called Jasmin's phone, hearing it ring from the shorter man. Jasmin stood and walked over with crossed arms as the man stilled in shock. "I... just found it earlier. I was going to return it, I swear." He said as he pulled out the phone and notebook. Jasmin looked through it and discovered quite a few changes had been made to her list.

His handwriting was definitely better than hers was right now, and he'd restructured the list based on the texts he'd seen, so it was in better order. The telephone numbers were written down nicely, as were the dates, who would have control of safety from when, and the airplane travel had been included, so everyone would actually get a full week instead of six and a half days. She noticed a few of the weeks moved around and after looking discovered some texts saying the weeks given were bad. "You were trying to help me out." She said as she looked up, a little surprised at the younger man who still looked murderous.

"Sweden, please lower your gun." She asked, looking up and the man complied before heading towards the pizza.

"Thank you for this. I hated to have to rely on others to do this work for me, but you were really thorough." She looked over a few more pages and smiled, looking up at the man who now stared at her with a surprised glance.

"It's no problem. If nothing else, I am organized." He bowed and turned, leaving without another word.

Jasmin sat back down, a little surprised as Alfred snorted. "You really seem to get along with the commies."

"They're just people, like us. Nothing more, nothing less." She looked over as he pouted, grabbing another slice of the white pizza and Jasmin just chuckled, rolling her eyes.

Tomorrow would be it. This would be gone. She'd be headed out to... North Korea? She chuckled as she looked over her notes and such and could only grin.

Fine, for getting her stuff in order, she'd grant him the first week. "I'm gonna miss this." She said absently as she ate and Romano, still surprised she was able to calm down an upset Korea, watched. Her face fell. Her heart sank and he could see it as it happened.

"What's wrong, Bella?"

"For the last week and a half I've been surrounded by people all of the time. Lively, brightly shining people. Everyone has been so interesting! But to leave for this means it's over. Even when it's over, I won't be able to be with everyone like this." She sighed and quickly found Alfred hugging her.

"Jasmin, we're like this about a week out of the month, every month. If you get a little lonely, you can come out early. I promise you, you won't be lonely for long, alright?" He backed up so he could look into her eyes and she smiled, nodding.

She still knew it wouldn't be the same.

She understood things were going to be different.

But the thought of not being able to be around Mattie and Alfred, Francis and Arthur all the time was heartbreaking.

She was surprised that before she even started crying she had Alfred and Sweden hugging her, with Romano patting her on the back.

Of course, he would later claim he was only getting more pizza.

So that's it for this chapter! The next chapter is the trip to North Korea, which is a pretty harsh chapter, but it's also pretty much the end of the Mary Sue behavior. After that she bucks the fuck up and stops being a walking injured tragedy! In chapter 17 I introduce a mystery! Mwahaha!

Review and let me know what you think so far!

Auf Wiedersehen

Jasmin

Translations

Italian

Capire- Understand