Warnings: None that I can think of, although it's a little more serious than usual- it's the second part of the arc started in Chapter Thirty-Six, which I sort of skipped over for the last chapter. Also, please see the end-notes for a few important announcements.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Never Give Up, Part Two

"Alfred! Alfred! The Supreme Court upheld the health care reform bill!" The country in question was practically tackled by an extremely excited former Speaker of the House. "Can you believe Roberts actually joined the liberal wing of the court? I never thought the day would come when that old man joined the same side as us! This is such a great day, I can't wait to go tell Hillary!" Nancy Pelosi bounced up and down excitedly. Alfred had to smile a bit at that- she always had been rather demonstrative when she was emotional, and at least she wasn't squishing him this time.

"I'm happy for you," Alfred said, returning the hug. "This is a really big victory for the president's administration."

"What's the matter?" the woman asked, eyeing Alfred suspiciously. "You're not as excited as I thought you would be. This is a great day for America! We're finally going to be protecting our citizens, the way we were meant to! I thought you would be thrilled about this!"

"It's not that I'm not happy about it," Alfred replied. "But you do know that this is only going to cause even more divisions. Do you really think that the Republicans are going to give up on trying to repeal this law, even if the Supreme Court said it was constitutional? The court was split- if Roberts had voted the other way the law would have been struck down. It's still contentious, and now it's one more headache I have to worry about come November. You guys should be thinking about that too. There's a lot of people out there who are still upset by this," he warned. "You need to be careful. The President needs to strategize, and to prepare for even more challenges. I've heard rumors of even bringing impeachment proceedings." Pelosi rolled her eyes.

"Oh, it's not like they can actually do anything. They're just a bunch of hot air! Can't you loosen up and enjoy a victory for once?"

"But that's just it- it's not exactly a victory, not for all Americans. I can't really celebrate when I feel like my head is going to split open from all of the partisan fighting," Alfred replied, somewhat more harshly than he'd intended. "It's fucking Independence Day in a few days, and I can't even get excited for it because I feel like I have the flu! Feel free to celebrate your victory, Ms. Pelosi, but please leave me out of it. I am going to take an Execdrin and lie down." With that, Alfred stomped off, leaving a shell-shocked Democratic congresswoman in his wake.

It wasn't as though he'd actually intended to be so harsh on Pelosi, but he had been telling the truth. For as much as there were Democratic politicians celebrating their win on the health-care reform legislation, there were just as many pissed-off Republicans cursing the name of every single Democrat they could think of. And it was giving Alfred indigestion. This was a perfect way to spend his special day- Independence Day, for crying out loud- dealing with the aftermath of divisive politics. Besides, he was still thinking of the conversation he'd had with Newt Gingrich a few months prior. Idealism was only getting him so far. No matter what anyone suggested, it was going to be met with vitriol and invective. The Democrats could propose a bill saying that fluffy kittens were nice and the Republicans would filibuster it. And the Republicans could try to pass a a bill stating that puppies were cute and the Democrats would shoot it down. To be honest, it was exhausting, and with the Fourth of July coming up, Alfred couldn't find it in himself to care.

2012 was going to be his 236th birthday, and if he hadn't managed to figure it out by now, would he ever? He knew that compared to his fellow nations he was still very young. China had been around for so much longer and he seemed to be doing okay, although he still had that problem with communism. England had been around for a thousand years or more and he was still going strong, although from what Alfred had seen, the other nation had his own fair share of issues with partisanship. If countries that had been around for thousands of years couldn't get it right, what hope did he have?

This year as also an election year, and Alfred had the nasty feeling that this health-care reform thing was only going to make the fight even more bitter than usual. The decision had all but been made that Mitt Romney was going to be the Republican Presidential candidate. Which complicated things a lot on the health-care front. The man had been the architect behind Massachusetts' own personal health-care reform, but now he was denouncing everything he'd done to that end? If there was one thing Alfred knew his people despised it was a flip-flopper. There was no way this was going to end well, and Alfred feared that the end-game would be more trouble than it was worth. Was it really worth neighbor turning against neighbor for this one law? He'd already seen what could happen when things got out of hand over policy. He'd already had one civil war, and while the other nations assured him that it was normal, common even, for a country to expereince more than one, Alfred did not relish the idea of having to go toe-to-toe against his psychotic split personality. Again. Arnold F. Jones, better known as the Confederate States of America, was a well-kept secret. None of the humans alive today remembered him at all, and in the official records, Alfred's "evil twin" had been all but erased from existence. Most of the time, Alfred himself forgot he had ever existed, eiher.

But in more recent times, Alfred could feel that secondary personality lurking around on the edge of his consciousness. It was fleeting and barely noticeable, like the soft alightment of a butterfly on a flower, but Alfred could tell it was there. It hadn't grown strong enough to form its own thoughts yet, but Alfred worried that if things continued the way they had, it was only a matter of time before he started hearing that wicked little voice in the back of his mind, telling him things he would prefer not to hear. If that continued, it was inevitable that his secondary personality would split away from him, and then he'd have another Civil War on his hands.

The thought daunted him. This election couldn't end soon enough.

To Be Continued

Author's Comments:

I am so, so sorry that I haven't been updating this fic regularly. I wish I had a better explanation as for why, but to be honest, I just don't have the energy or the interest to do so any more. I'm still going to finish this fic, and I'm going to do everything in my power to update at least twice a month until November, but that really depends on what happens in the political sphere, if anything comes up that's worth writing about.

On a slightly happier note, Happy Fourth of July to everyone, and if you're not American, Happy Wednesday! I, unfortunately, will not be having a Fourth of July, thanks to my miserable job and lazy fucking coworkers. Can you tell I'm a bit cranky about missing my favorite holiday? Whee. Excuse me while I go find a container for my joy.

Sorry for the depressing update.

-Kaboom