Iryna packed her bags without saying very much at all to her siblings. She and Emma had arranged the trip and while she had made Natalya and Ivan aware, family relations were still rather strained after her altercation with her sister over her date with Matthew.

Part of her was embarrassed that she had let her temper spill over like that and wanted to apologise, but it was so hard to do now she had said what she had been starting to think after weeks of overbearing 'help' that really interference. She was fed up.

Besides, knowing her stubborn younger sister, Belarus wouldn't apologise first and Iryna had also had enough of always being the peacekeeper of the family, the first one to give up on any argument or grudge. She wanted to be able to live for herself for a little while, not for her family.

Taking everything she brought with her to her brother's house, she set out to Belgium at the earliest possible opportunity. Arriving at the airport to be met by Emma was a breath of fresh air. She no longer had to think about issues at home, she had got away.

Hugging her friend, she smiled as she said, "Thank you so much for letting me stay!"

The Belgian woman embraced her in return, "You're welcome! C'mon, let's go to my house and sort all your stuff out, then I'll give you the guided tour and we can find something to do together," She told her, excited to be with her and eager to cheer her up. She felt sorry for her Ukrainian friend, knowing everything she had gone through lately, both in her attempts to find love and in her issues with her family. And she wasn't the only one, apparently...

"Oh, and I nearly forgot!" Emma suddenly stopped as swiftly as they had begun to leave the airport and produced a slightly squashed bouquet of Tulips from her handbag, "These are for you, from Tim," She revealed.

Iryna blushed, surprised by the gesture, but nevertheless took the flowers, "That's nice..." She smiled, but couldn't help but add, "But I hardly know your brother...Why is he giving me flowers?"

"Well, naturally I told him some of the stuff that's been going on lately and he wanted to make you feel better," Belgium explained, "I know he doesn't seem it, but he's sweet really," She told her, before sniggering, "He even writes romantic poetry sometimes...Although I think that's when he's high..." She added, more because it was funny to her to make fun of her brother than because her friend needed to know.

"Well, I appreciate it," The Ukrainian woman replied, glad that she was receiving a warm welcome on her trip and touched by the sympathy from her friend and her friend's family.

She ignored the other remarks about the aforementioned family, not sure what to make of them, and walked on in companionable silence with her Belgian friend until they reached Emma home, a relief for Iryna, who had brought rather too much luggage with her and was struggling to carry all her bags as well as the flowers. She got her things inside and once Belgium had helped her settle into her spare room, she had unpacked and arranged her flowers in a vase, the two women turned their attention to finding a fun way to blow off steam and relax.

Emma's main goal was to find something to do that would cheer Iryna up, so she suggested something, "Hey, if you're still looking for love, we can work on that, you know, away from family pressures," She offered, slightly nervous as she was unsure how the Ukrainian was feeling about that topic, but she did think the lack of stalking siblings around might make it easier to handle.

Ukraine thought about that as well. It would be nice to meet someone where her siblings couldn't get involved, and if she was going to be planning dates with her best friend, it might be quite fun. "Alright," She agreed, "Where shall we start?"

"Ohh, I know, I know!" Emma started giggling and ran over to the computer in the room, "There's some fun stuff on here," She explained to the baffled Ukrainian woman. A few moments later, once she had switched the computer on and found what she was looking for, a page appeared. It was bright pink and full of 'love calculators', 'romance horoscopes' and devices promising to reveal the name of one's soul mate.

Ukraine started to giggle as soon as she saw the ridiculous website, which was quite probably aimed at gullible teenagers with silly crushes. Belgium started to laugh as well, "Oui, that was my response when I found it too, but I thought it would brighten you up!" She admitted when they had both managed to contain their amusement.

"Well, it worked!" Iryna replied, still sniggering a little bit.

"Good! On a slightly more serious note, we do need to find a place to start," Emma observed when the fun and games were finally over. Then an idea occurred to her as her gaze wandered around the room and fell on the vase of Tulips. "Oh, I know! I can set you and Tim up," She suggested, "I'd like to have you for a sister-in-law someday," She mused.

"Let's not get too carried away," The Ukrainian stepped in to stop her friend from imagining a future where she was married off to the Netherlands, "A date might be fun though," She agreed.

"I was teasing," Emma told her with a giggle, always amused by how her friend still couldn't tell, despite the fact they had been friends for a long time now, "But sure, that can be arranged," She assured her.

Iryna kept quiet while she let her friend plan out how she would set her up with the Dutchman. She was busy thinking about how this might go. A new potential date, away from her family...