Chapter 2:

This was a great morning.

Alfred considered any morning over 70 degrees and he can sleep late, a good morning but today was something special. Because today he woke up to an early birthday present from Prussia in the form of a short minute and a half video; of a drunk England having a firework erupt in his face. Naturally, Alfred hoped his former guardian was alright, although (having experience with fireworks blowing up in his face) he was certain Arthur would be fine. On the other hand, Arthur was a little frail compared to himself. So maybe the old man was hurt, then again if he did get hurt Prussia would have sent a follow up video from the hospital. In the end, Alfred decided it was probably okay to laugh at the video, and promptly continued watching it on loop for a half hour, all the while laughing like a maniac.

After about the 24th viewing, the video had admittedly lost some of its charm, and Alfred quickly became bored with it. Instead, he decided to make a second cup of coffee and watch the city through his window. The view from his apartment was of central park, and he often found himself watching his citizens go about their lives. Typically, once he realized what he was doing he made himself feel like a creep and forced himself to focus on something else. Today he was drawn away from the window for another, though not uncommon, reason: After noticing a Hotdog cart he realized that he was considerably hungry. However as soon as he started making himself lunch, he heard his home phone ringing in the other room. He decided it was either work or a telemarketer, and he was in no mood to deal with either. So, he made the executive decision to ignore it and continued making himself a breakfast sandwich. He was interrupted three more times by the sound of his house phone and another 5 times by his cell, which he could not answer even if he wanted to give how it was currently MIA somewhere in his apartment. After rummaging around in search of the damn thing, only for its whereabouts to remain a mystery, he was thoroughly irritated. Not only was his phone missing for a third day in a row, he still hasn't gotten to eat his sandwich, on top of all that someone kept calling him on his day off and it was really starting to piss him off. That's when he heard a strange sound, a sound that made him stop in his tracks: the phone in his office was ringing.

He inspected his office to insure it was indeed the old red phone that was ringing, and sure enough it was. Alfred was thoroughly shocked to find this phone ringing, rightfully so; given that the phone had never rang once in over seventy years. That phone was installed after world war two in almost every nation's office, each one was linked directly to America's red phone. The idea was whenever someone needed his help desperately, they could directly contact him.

He was so shocked that someone had actually used the thing that he almost forgot to pick it up. However as soon as he grabbed the receiver he was pulled from his trance and the reality of the situation hit him like a bus. Someone was calling him, on the red phone, no one ever used the red phone. This had to be bad. Did someone get nuked? Was world war three on the other end of the phone? By the time he actually picked up the phone he was legitimately concerned and quite a fair bit nervous. He took a deep breath and finally said:

"Hello? This is America." failing to keep his voice from wavering.

"Well it's about bloody time!" the voice on the other end was furious.

"E-England?" Alfred's heart sank, Arthur was thoroughly against the red phones, so for him to be using one this had to be serious. "Are you hurt? What happened? Is it war? How many casualties?"

"Wot...casualties...what the hell are you on about? Nothing happened you git! That's the problem! Did you forget how to answer the phone and breathe at the same time?" In an instant Alfred's fear washed away and he responded to Arthur's comment with a bout of loud, obnoxious laughter. When he finally calmed down the voice on the phone was absolutely livid. "What's so funny! Christ America why is every interaction I have with you a pain? I'm just trying to talk to you, and you insist on making it unnecessarily difficult. Typical American."

"Yea, yea, but Iggy, as much as I want to talk to you dude, this line is for emergencies only. What if someone tried calling and I was busy chatting to you?" He said, trying to sound somewhat serious.

"You wot mate? America, this is the first time anyone has ever called this phone! And besides this is an emergency!"

"Oh, shit dude are you serious? Is this about the firework?"

"Firework? What bloody firework?"

"Nothing, never mind, what did you need the hero to do? Fight bad guys? Or rescue you from communism...again?"

"No, you wanker, I'm going to be at a European conference and need a sitter for Sealand. Can you do me a favor and watch him for a few days?"

"Dude wait, there's a meeting? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Because it's a European meeting, it's only for European countries, and last time I checked, you are not European."

"Oh...Gross Europe, good call not inviting me, sounds lame anyway. But then why do I need to babysit New Zealand? Isn't he going to be at the meeting, plus he's not that much younger than me, is he?"

"No, you dense oaf, not New Zealand and he isn't European Either. I mean Sealand, the micronation.

"Dude, did you just make that up?"

"America, I'm not in the mood to handle your stupidity. Can you watch Sealand or not?"

"Well I don't know…"

"Alfred please, it's just a few days." England sounded tired. There was something else, something Alfred hated hearing from the older nation. It was faint but the desperation was clear as day to the American, it caught him off guard in the previously light conversation. That voice caused him too many sleepless nights, it was always the same question back then: 'Alfred, I can't do this on my own. I need help. Please join the war.' Hearing the usually proud British Empire beg for help always made Alfred unable to say no. Suddenly he was back in 1940, at his desk in the dead of night. His head in his hands, staring at the phone, just waiting. Waiting for news about this night's bombing, waiting for when Arthur would call, and tell him he was safe.

"Hello America, are you still there?" England's voice was back to normal, and Alfred snapped back to modernity.

"Y-yes, yeah I'm still here. I was just thinking about stuff, but yea sure I can watch the kid if it's that important." He was feeling a little lightheaded, thinking about the past always made him feel sick particularly the stuff he'd rather forget.

"Great, I'll bring him over later. Thank you." and with that the line went dead.

"He really knows what buttons to push" Alfred said to himself, " I should probably clean up a little before they get here." as he said this Alfred began tidying up his apartment, although it was relatively clean all he needed to do was straighten things up a little.

After about an hour of cleaning, and his daily exercise Alfred sat down on the sofa, hoping to relax a little before England came to drop off Sealand. However as soon as he reached for the remote, he heard an extremely loud rumble emanate from his stomach. He looked down in confusion before it dawned on him, crap! He forgot to eat Lunch!