She knew she would meet him someday. It was inevitable, yet Merete did not expect it to be so soon. The colour of his eyes, his hair, every feature of his face, only by looking at it, it brought her pain. Yet, she could not stop looking, as if trance, she kept staring at the Austrian man, enchanted by the features of his face, of the skin she had not seen for four years.

All of the memories came back in a flash, the feelings making her weak in the legs and bow down her head like a silly school girl. After what it seemed like foverer, a small voice got her out of her trance.

"Mama?" Anniken asked, her little curious stare pinned on the unfamiliar male. "Who is this?"

Roderich was not stupid. He recognised the small girl in his ex-wife's arms immediately. It could not be anyone else of course. She had the same cheek bones as him, the same eyes but everything else resembled her mother's features. The same curly, blonde hair, the small nose, the chin. Moving his gaze up from the child and to Merete, the male felt his eyes watering. He couldn't believe it. Was she really there, or was it just a dream? He wanted to reach closer and place his hand on her cheek, pull her closer and show her how much he missed her. Yet, he knew how stubborn she was. If she wanted that, she wouldn't have hid for four years. She wouldn't have left him back then. The Austrian man could not let himself get emotional either. But only looking at the face of the Dane, those perfect eyes, the flawless skin made him feel the emptiness in his heart, the emptiness which only she could fill, even stronger. Yet he kept his face free of emotions, only cracking a small smile at Anniken's direction.

"Just an old friend of mine. Why don't you go to find Aunt Elisse? And do not talk with strangers." Merete muttered, placing the small child down on the ground before looking back at the male. "What do you want, Østrig?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Is this her? Is this Anniken, Merete?" He asked as their eyes met.

" This is none of your concern. Now if you excuse me." She said, walking past him in order to find her daughter. But Roderich could not let her go just now, that he has found her. He wrapped his fingers around the Danish woman's wrist, pulling her back in front of him.

"Answer me, Merete, is this my Anniken?" He repeated, keeping his hold on her wrist. Just this simple skin contact made him shiver, the hairs on his neck standing up. Slowly, he weakened his grip, to slip his hand in her own, bringing it up to his chest. "It is my daughter, my beautiful daughter. Our daughter. Why did you keep her away from me for so long, Merete?"

The Danish nation pulled his hand away as soon as he placed her on his chest, as if he had burned her. "You do not deserve her, us." The blonde said, her voice free of any emotions and she looked straight at the man's violet eyes. It has been too long now that she had played the wounded doe. No, it was almost as if she had forgotten she was once upon a time a fearsome warrior, one that brought fear in the enemy' just by mentioning her name. "You were the one that left us, for your brother in law! How dare you blame me for leaving you, when you went after Elíná's husband to be? How dare you?" Slowly raising her voice, she took a few steps back, holding her finger up as a warning to the Austrian. "I was not loved in this marriage, and I had no reason to stay, so don't you dare to blame everything on me. I spent those four years raising her without you, and believe me, I can do it for a fifteen more. So don't you think even for a moment you can come back crashing in my life, even if only because of Anniken. Stay. The. Fuck. Away." The last words were somewhat shouted, which earned the blonde a few strange stares, which were met by the fire in her eyes. It seemed that she finally had been noticed, a few of Eastern European nations staring at her in disbelief. Not caring much about this, the Dane gave one last gesture to Roderich with her finger before walking away and leaving him speechless.

There was a better version of this chapter, but unfortunately, due to technical errors (tablet being a bitch) it was earsed. Well. Enjoy my attempts.

~DiAngeloFan