"So, when are you leaving?" Alice asked her brothers as they all settled down for dinner that night.
Having gotten over the fairy incident yesterday, the moment they had gotten home after a rather chaotic yet oddly enjoyable picnic, Alice had immediately ran down to her basement and shut herself on work room, only coming out when it was time for dinner or when she had to sleep. Which translated to only when Seamus dragged her out of the room to force feed her or strap her to her bed.
When morning came (or more specifically, when she woke up, since it had already been noon when she roused from her sleep – something that only happens when she got stuck working until morning or after hers, Julchen's and Matthia's drinking escapades. Her brothers hadn't even woken her up, the arseholes) she wasted no time in getting ready and hurriedly ran back to her work room.
Thankfully, her brothers had understood her intentions and left her to her own devices, sending her food and tea during the appropriate times. It was only really until dinner came by that once again, she was forcefully dragged into the dining room.
Dinner had and will always be a family affair at the Kirkland household. They may be able to take breakfast and lunch at whenever and with whomever they want, but dinner should always be taken together as a family. This had been a very holy rule that their darling mother had strictly enforced. And all be damned before the siblings would give their mother dearest any reason to step out of her precious retirement and whack them senseless with her values again.
The woman had been, or is according to Romulus who regularly visited his grandsons and sometimes stopped by whenever their mother had a word for them, a work of art.
The only exemption to the rule was when one or none of them were together in the same house – which had been always, before this whole fiasco.
It was Dylan who answered her between bites of his curry rice. "That depends, on when this'll get fixed," He said as he gestured to her. She scrunched her eyebrows at that, not at all liking the answer.
It honestly never occurred to her until her fifth failed attempt that day at finding out the counter spell to her, as Julchen dubbed, GenBen Spell that at some point her brothers would have to return to their respective sides of the Island – or in Peter's case, Sweden. After all, they had never stayed at her place for longer than necessary.
Not that she really wanted them to anyway, of course.
Really.
She turned to Alistair, knowing that if there's anyone who can change her other brothers' mind it'll be their eldest. Besides, she's confident he'll contest to what Dylan stated, considering no one hated being at her house more than him. "Please tell me he's joking."
The Scottish Island raised a thick eyebrow, amused, "He's joking."
From certain points on the table, Seamus and Peter snickered.
"Alistair!" Alice couldn't help but groan, having enough of the bullocks her brothers seem to pull out their arses every single time. Oh, when would they ever grow up? "When do you intend to leave?"
Really though, did they intend to stay for longer?
The redhead shrugged and scooped another serving of curry into his plate. "Ye 'eard th' sheep bastard. We won't leave 'till ye've turn back into a lad."
Okay, apparently they did.
In all honesty, this should have warmed her up at least a little bit, they do care for her! And here she thought they actually hated her! But instead, the response made Alice absolutely livid. No way. No way in the bleeding fucking hell were they staying in her home for longer than three days. They'll all kill each other! There was a reason they all decided to go their separate ways.
"Except for me though!" Peter exclaimed, interrupting whatever retort Alice had. "Papa says I'll need to be back home by tomorrow as we still have to pack our things. We'll be moving to Uncle Matthias' house apparently." The little fort pouted.
Dylan fondly patted his head and smiled gently at the micro nation. "Don't worry little one. First thing in the morning we'll immediately fly over to Sweden to personally send you back to your papa." The youngest Kirkland beamed at him.
Another Kirkland, though, seemed against it.
"Why do we need to? The brat can clearly get there himself." Seamus muttered between munches of his dinner. Dylan smacked him on the head.
"Seamus..." The personification of Wales warned the younger northern half of the Irish Island. The redhead glared at him but said nothing more, violently shoving a spoonful of curry in his mouth instead to show his displeasure – and proceeding to choking violently immediately after.
They all ignored him. He'll live, unfortunately.
"And we're getting off topic," Alice sighed. "Really, you all know we can never exist under the same roof without losing our minds and committing a massacre."
"Well," Alistair commented, not even glancing her way as he scooped another serving of curry making Alice grimaced at that. She had already forgotten just how much the other ate – almost as much as a certain American. After all, Alfred had to inherit that from somewhere and it certainly wasn't from her. "Ah guess it's time we started learnin' how to again. Ah mean, how hard could it be, ay? We managed before."
The personification of England growled at him. "No. I refuse to let you gits stay at my house for more than a week. Fucking hell, I'm a grown man! I can take care of myself!"
Almost instantly, she received two smirks, one patient smile and one confused look. The response, in turn, made her confused.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" She asked, squirming a little at their attention. Now what has gotten into her brothers' minds?
As usual, it was Dylan who answered her, "Love, as much as I would hate to point this out, but you are hardly a grown man. A woman, yes, but you are no longer a man." Alice's cheeks burned faster than the speed of sound and brighter than a firetruck. Right… she honestly forgot that little fact. "With the way things are now, there's no way we could leave you alone. Now, can you understand where we're coming from?" Dylan patiently continued, rewarding her with a wide smile when she shyly nodded her head in agreement. As embarrassing as it was to be chastised by the older like this, she did understand.
She forgot that for all of her brothers' short comings, they had always treated women with the utmost respect. This had been the very first value their mother drilled into them, after all. She knew she'd do the same if any of her brothers were in the same predicament – to hell with age old grudges! Family always came first.
No matter how annoying said family was.
"And besides," Alistair added, now finally finished with his meal and was now downing a bottle of booze like it was life itself, much to the surprise of everyone. He looked her straight in the eye, emerald clashing with emerald, before his gaze softened with an almost fond smile gracing his lips – ultimately giving everyone else around the table something closely related to a heart attack because brusque Scot was never soft nor fond of anything. After all, the other was the one who toughened his siblings through constant insults and physical assaults. "Despite how everythin' may seem, we dae greatly care for ye so ye can't blame us fur being worried. Ye're our dear little brother after all, ay." He paused, a rakish smirk now replacing the earlier soft tilt in his lips, making everyone breathe in a huge sigh of relief because there it was, the usual Alistair Kirkland. "Well, sister ah mean."
Any retort Alice had ready for that little push evaporated when his words registered in her mind.
Well, what was she going to say to that?
And so, for the duration of the night, the personification of England had remained silent, face never losing the burning intensity of a blush – especially when a clearly amused Alistair made sure to take advantage of the moment and constantly threw different forms of affection her way.
A/N: Wow… wouldn't you know? Another late update…
Now, before you all kill me, let me just make it up to you by doing a DOUBLE UPDATE! Isn't that fun? And don't tell me you don't want it (oh you know you do) because to further make it up to you, the chapter next to this is JULCHEN'S MISSING CHAPTER (yes, I have finally managed to retrieve my files back from my aunt's computer. Hallelujah!)
So I won't make this too long and keep you guys waiting. Do head on to the next chapter to find out how our favorite Prussian and Canadian managed to find Gilbird.
Edited by CriticKat
BONUS:
"Alright," Seamus grunted, staring expectantly at their older Scottish brother. It was already late and they had successfully put Alice and Peter to bed with minimal probing, leaving the older remaining ones up and enjoying a night cup. "As much as I agree with the bollocks you spouted earlier, what really made you say all that?"
"Now that had been a surprise." Dylan mused, chuckling as his eyes never left the blaring television.
Alistair graced them with a look before downing a full glass of scotch and stared at a distance, face contorted in an expression full of pain it successfully managed to grab the full attention of his younger siblings.
"Ali-" the personification of Wales started, worried.
The older redhead interrupted him, emerald eyes glazed in reminiscent. "Mum visited me last night, regardin' Arth- Alice's situation. Ah'll leave what happened next to yer imagination. That's most likely what happened anyway." And without further ado, grabbed the bottle of alcohol and chugged it down.
The other two men turned silent before Dylan broke it with a soft "Oh..."
And nothing more was spoken in regards to the topic.