I do not own Hetalia okay? I am glad so many of you like this story. I don't have much else to say here so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

September 17th 1917

Dear Ivan,

I know you want to know how things are going back here and it has been an adjustment to say the least. I have been taking good care of your home. Back at the end of June, Fredka's brother had moved in with him and Natalya. According to him, the war did not do Matthew any favors. It changed his personality greatly from what Fredka has told me. In addition to the injuries he sustained you know about, he has a bad case of shell shock. Pretty much any time there is a loud bang, like the trolley going by or trucks backfiring send him into war flashbacks until someone reminds him where he is. They don't necessarily come out of nowhere but he does have a few signs he claims he can tell when a bad spell is coming on. During these he often quickly heads to my, well yours as well, house.

You see he does not want to scare Nikolai. Nikolai has been the one thing that keeps his will to live going. He had been discharged from his Mountie unit as soon as he was discharged from the military. That crushed his soul and while I had helped to take care of him when he had these spells or simply his injuries "acting up" which is happening more often as the fall is starting to set in, he has told me many things he for one reason or another does not want to tell Fredka or Natalya. He finds it cosmically funny I was the one who took his vital statistics before his prewar exam and jokes that he finds it funny I am still single. He hasn't talked to anyone else like that. In his darker moments he confessed to me if he didn't have Nikolai, he'd fall into drink or end his own life because of what he had lost from the war. We'd offered to take him to church with us a few times and he did go but said he didn't feel like it much after that. I think he's lost his faith. It can be disheartening to see that, but I know he has to find his way on his own. Forcing one to do a certain thing is never good for coping.

One ray of hope that we all in agreement with is that we cannot wait for Natalya to give birth again. She is huge as there is only about 2 more months to go. And we are nearly certain there will be twins. Matthew thinks there is going to be a boy and a girl. Natalya doesn't mind as she has a son already. Just think what she would do to poor Fredka if she only had girls. Remember how crazy she was to have Nikolai in the first place? She's been very good to both Fredka and Matthew in all this, upholding her wifely duties well. If you recall, Fredka was worried how well she'd tolerate Matthew living with them. Even with his shell shock, she has been appreciative of him as long as he doesn't as she called it, "become a drunken lout". Maybe having Nikolai has softened her? Although honestly it has bred more resentment in her against European Aristocracy than she had even before we came to America. You do remember some of those rants she had then. I swear if we had stayed she'd be part of that 'People's Revolution' I hear about from some of the others from the old country. You were right, finding a man who is 'man' enough to handle her did her wonders.

Your loving sister,

Katyusha.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? I know I time-skipped a bit but at the same time I want to get a big part done and it happens soon. So anyway, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.