Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.

Warning: This story contains drug abuse, rape, and mental disorders. It's rated T until further notice.

That day, Alfred did not show up. It was the first time he'd missed one of his sessions which worried him a lot. It was not good for a client to miss a session; it could make all their progress worthless, but unfortunately there was nothing he could do at that moment. It was way pass the hour sessions and sadly his brother and niece had arrived.

"Uncle Arthur!" A little girl screamed from outside the office, before she ran towards the Briton and quickly wrapped her arms around his waste, giving him a huge smile. "I've missed you so much, Uncle Arthur!" She exclaimed, snuggling into him. Arthur chuckled and ruffled her dark hair affectionately.

"And I've missed you too, Michelle. How has my favorite girl been doing lately?" Michelle was Francis' daughter, but not completely. You see, Francis' wife; Jeanne, could not have children, which saddened her a lot and made her think she would never have anyone as her partner, because they would find her unappealing. However, Francis did not find this an inconvenience. Two years after he met her at a night club in Paris, he proposed to her. The wedding was a small party, and only close friends and family were invited. They moved to France for two years, in which they adopted Michelle. She was dark skinned and a bit tall for her age, and her hair was a dark brown. Most people mistook her for black and it annoyed her greatly. They moved back to the UK, giving Arthur a great surprise, none the less, he was happy to see his brother and family again. Michelle let go of him and took a seat in the chair beside him. She started off telling him all about the new things she has been doing up until the present time, which involved a lot of school work, after school activities, and studying.

"Dad finally let me go to that music school. I'm learning piano and my teacher is really strict, but also nice and really good at playing piano. He said he is a band director and has directed an orchestra in some placed called Vienna, can you believe that! Uncle Arthur, where is Vienna? Oh, I have a great idea! You should come to our house; I could play you something in the piano! According to Mr. Edelstein, I've gotten much better this pass few days." Michelle said, bouncing up and down in her chair with excitement in both her eyes and her actions. Arthur chuckled softly and nodded, promising that he would make time to go to their house and hear her play.

After that, they made their way down and out of the building; people were walking down the streets, moving towards bus stops, metro stations, or their own cars, all going home after a long day of work; in the front of the building, a silver Mercedes was parked, it looked smooth, fast, and very new. Arthur turned to look at Francis, quirking an eyebrow at him, to which he just shrugged and slightly smirked. Michelle, oblivious to the stares their uncle and father were giving each other, quickly jumped in the back seat, putting on her seat belt. Arthur, too, entered the car, the smell of new leather and some air freshener hitting him immediately, quickly clarifying his suspicious about the newness of the vehicle.

"Show off," He mumbled as soon as Francis hoped into the driver's seat, which made him smirk wider. The Briton bit the inside of his cheek and buckled his seat belt while looking out the heavily polarized window, damn Francis and his greediness. The ride was quiet, boring almost, the only sound coming from the radio and even that sounded like a small buzzing sound in the background. Eventually, Arthur tried concentrating on the soft melody, but found it too complicated to do, so he gave up. Fortunately, they arrived at their destination fairly quick, thanks to the light traffic of cars going their way, after all, everyone was eager to get home.

"We're here!" He announced with an excited tone that sounded too fake to fool anyone. Michelle did not notice this and squealed excitedly after Francis announced this. Arthur just sighed, but tried his best to smile a little for his niece; after all, she wanted to spend time with not only her dad, but him as well.

"I can't wait to play one of those games... Oh and the food! This is going to be so much fun!" She said, practically bouncing in the back seat, Arthur shook his head, sometimes he wondered how on earth did Michelle had so much energy in her, but frowned as he did so because it reminded him of a certain blond American that could be as energetic as her, Francis gave Arthur a stern look, warning him to not ruin this for her, which made Arthur quickly shake his head and smiled as he noticed the continuous chatter coming from the back seat. The two older men following the young energetic child had a hard time keeping up, but somehow they managed to stay close. Michelle ran around, bouncing from place to place, laughing at silly things and quickly trying any game she passed by; she was a winner, meaning, when she wanted something, she would get it not matter what the cause was, this had gotten her three stuffed ducks, a gold fish, two giant stuffed animals, one a panda and the other one a white bear, and lastly a small key chain with a little fairy in it.

After what felt like a lifetime of walking around the place, they made a stop at a small food court where they were selling from slices of pizza to Arthur's old time favorite fish n' chips. At the end, he bought a soft drink, along with a bottle of water, Michelle asked for fish n' chips, making her father frown and shake his head at his daughter's poor food taste, and Francis ended up with a soft drink as well. They sat there for a while, idly chatting and mostly looking around at the families enjoying the night. Michelle kept chatting about her school friends and her music teacher, how he told her stories from places she'd never visit, but wanted to, and how she will be a world traveler when she grows up. Arthur smiled and nodded at her, slightly amused at her dreams, but genially happy that she was this spirited to travel, who knew maybe she would someday make her wish come true. Afterwards, Michelle jumped up and screamed a name in a high pitched voice, making both Francis and Arthur cringle at the sudden sound, they both turned around to see the child running to a girl, quickly wrapping her arms around her and giving her a kiss in both of her cheeks.

"Papa, I will be back soon!" She called out once she noticed her father looking at her and took off with the little brunet. They watch her go until they could no longer see her, before turning around and shaking their heads off at the boldness of the child.

"So, tell me Arthur, what's wrong?" Francis asked after a moment of silence. Arthur kept his eyes on his bottle of water, not making any sign that he was going to answer before he sighed heavily. Francis somehow knew when something was bothering him and it was the other way around as well. They had this unknown connection to know when the other needed help and for that they were both grateful, since neither of the men knew how to express their feeling or inner thoughts correctly without getting into a huge argument with themselves on how they should not bother others.

Arthur turned to look away from him, lazily looking over the few people around, noticing what they were wearing and how they acted.

"Do you remember the e-mail I send you a while back?" Arthur asked, quickly remembering that rushed email that night, the first night he'd gotten Alfred's file home, that night where he stayed up all night studying his case, searching for answer to unasked question.

"What, about the American? Is he giving you problems?" Francis asked, to which he nodded, not only answering his question, but also noticing that Francis very well knew who Arthur was talking about.

"Is not big problems; I mean, he comes to every session and we have the usual talk, but with him I seem to never progress. It's like I'm stuck in the same place we have started, and the one time I do feel like I have accomplished something; that I have helped him just a little, he does something that makes me feel like I haven't... Frustrating, since we both know how much I dislike being useless." Arthur noticed how he ended up giving Francis a little rant; a tired sigh escaped his lips, it was complicated and troublesome, Arthur would repeatedly find himself thinking of him, of his personality, his other personality, and how many other personalities were left to discover.

"Arthur, you do not have to deal with him alone, remember? Your teachers repeated this to you various of times, why don't-"Francis said, but Arthur cut him short, shaking his head repeatedly at his words, because he knew what he was saying and it made him mad, mad that Francis thought of this, mad that he brought up the forbidden topic, he was not going to give up damn it!

"Shut up," He took my hand away from him, not wanting to feel the touch of someone who had just told him to give up. Yeah, Alfred might be a hard case, but just because he was, did not meant Arthur was going to give up that easily, after all, he came to him and no other, him.

"You don't know what you are talking about. I never said I needed help, I said he just worried me a lot. I do not need help from anyone." Arthur sounded stubborn to his own self, but he was not taking his words back. Francis shot him and annoyed look, he hated when Arthur got stubborn.

"If you're sure, but just remember that, Arthur, a little help is never bad" Francis had said quietly. He gave him another annoyed look and lastly shrugged, which meant he was dropping the conversation there. They stayed quiet for another while, once again, looking at the people walk pass. Arthur sighed once more, feeling a bit guilty for reacting so angrily at his suggestion. After all, Francis was just trying to help him.

"Fran-"

"She's in the hospital," Francis interrupted. He stared at him for a while, his mouth shaped in a little o, his mind quickly jumping to one person only. Arthur gave Francis a sympathetic look, before reaching for his hand and squeezing it softly in comfort

"I'm sorry Francis." That was the only thing he could say and he hated that, he hated being powerless to help. Francis gave him a bitter smile and a sharp nod, understanding what he meant. He looked defeated, hopeless and worried, extremely worried. Arthur knew something else had happen and he waited patiently for Francis to be able to tell him.

"The doctors said she was not going to last much longer." There was sadness in his voice that made Arthur's heart clench painfully, knowing how much Francis was hurting because of this. He knew how much Francis loved his wife, Jeanne. Arthur was a soul witness of their growing love towards each other. He remembered the nights Francis would stay up late telling Arthur how wonderful Jeanne was, how beautiful and sweet, how brave and strong she was. How she was his first true and only love. Arthur thought of Michelle, how little had she spend with them, how she was going to be after she found out about this.

"Does she-"

"She only knows that Mama is very sick." Arthur nodded, understanding Francis decision. Jeanne had been diagnosed with cancer months back. She had gone to therapies to treat it, but they were not working, so she gave up on them and decided to live what little she had left with her family. Nothing had been said to Michelle yet, and now, he worried on how she would take the parting of her beloved adopting mother.

"She's strong, she'll know Mama is going to a better place where she will not in pain," Francis mumbled, squeezing Arthur's hand tightly while he tried hard to keep in his unshed tears. It almost sounded like he was asking if what he said about Michelle, about Jeanne, was true. Arthur turned to look at the crowd again, thinking of Michelle. She was strong, she was optimistic, but also she loved both of her parents to death. They had saved her from that orphanage, after all. He sighed and turned back to his brother, nodding at what he had said.

"Yes, they will be alright," Arthur promised him. Francis nodded in gratitude and continued to hold onto his hand. For the rest of the night they said nothing more about Jeanne or Alfred. Michelle finally walked back to them and announced how tired she was with a yawn.

The ride back was quiet. Michelle had fallen asleep and the radio was turned off. Francis drop Arthur in his apartment first, saying that he will be keeping him up to date with what was happening, he nodded and waved goodbye to him as he drove up the street. It was quite late. A rush of wind startled him and send shivers up his back, quickly, he searched for his keychain while making his way to the little steps of his apartment building, but was stopped as he ran into someone.

"Bloody hell, look where-" Arthur said before he stopped in mid-sentence right in front of him stood Alfred Jones, the guy that he had been worrying over this afternoon. Alfred's eyes were red, his nose cold, and his sweater seemed to be doing nothing to protect him from the cold; his lower lip was being violently abused by his teeth. Arthur tried to find words to say, but they had all been erased from his mind as he kept staring at him. Alfred kept biting his lip to the point that a little blood was starting to show from between where his lip met his teeth, he freed his lower lip from the torturous prison and quickly licked his dry lips.

"Can we talk?"

*Notes*

This Chapter has been change to third person, at last, dear God this is way over due. Also I like to thank my dear friend, sassy-gay-karkat, for editing this chapter for me.