Chapter 9: Tomato Box Fairy

Germany woke up early as usual, got Italy's arms off of his, got up to dress and make himself look presentable, went down to the kitchen to get something quick to eat, and was about to head out when he heard the soft pats of a pair of feet and turned to see the girl, obviously just woke up, look at him with tired eyes and went up to her.

"Guten Morgen, Fern-Lui." He said as he picked her up. "Why are you up so early?"

"I heard you go down here…" She said sleepily as she rubbed her eye. "And I wanna tell you to have a good day at work and don't be late coming home, but be safe…"

He was touched by this and hugged her. "Danke. That's very kind of you." He looked at her again and set her down. "Now, can you make sure Italien und Onkel Preußen are behaving themselves and not damage the house while I'm out?"

She giggled and nodded. "I will!"

He chuckled and patted her head, earning more giggles. "I shouldn't be at work for too long, but I'll call if there's a change in plans, good?"

"Ja!" She said as the German stood up, headed to the door and waved to her before walking out into the cold.

0o0o0o0

For the most part of the morning, she drew pictures in her sketch book before hearing Prussia come down and announced that he was going to hang with France for awhile and she told him to be careful and have a great time. Then Italy came down and started preparing some noodles for pasta that they'll be having for lunch, which she helped out and both cleaned the place afterwards. Once the task was done, she and Italy walked the dogs out into the cold, snow covered land.

While they were out, they headed to the park and both the Italian and the girl couldn't help but laugh at how silly the three dogs were as Blackie and Aster were doing their own version of sledding on their sides while Berlitz ran alongside them until he got into a deep pocket of snow, in which the two dogs came back to dig him out.

Once they were back home, Italy was starting lunch as Fern-Lui gave the boys a bath, which thanks to all the energy spent playing in the snow, were well behaved in the warm water, dried down with a towel, and then headed to the fireplace to further dry off by the fire and sleep.

0o0o0o0

A little after three, Germany returned from work and like he said earlier, he didn't have to stay at his office for long and found the Italian and the girl on the couch, having a siesta. He saw that there was a blanket over the two, but the Italians clothes were tossed to the ground and sighed. 'You think he would've learned by now…' He thought as he folded the clothes, noting that the pair of underwear were missing and, therefore, the Italian was wearing underwear. He saw that the girl, at least, folded her clothes and placed the Italians clothes next to the girl's before looking over at the two and couldn't help but smile.

Both Italian and girl did look alike with their faces pressed together side by side, and he took note at how the Italian had his arm around the girl and recognized it as a protective embrace. He saw the girl looked to be in pain as she whimpered before Italy hummed, causing the girl to look peaceful once more and nuzzled up against the Italian murmuring "Mamma", which the Italian responded by wrapping his arm more around the girl.

He shook his head, but he found it endearing that the Italian, though useless as a fighter, can be protective when finding something to protect. He placed another blanket over them, found a book to read and sat down in an arm chair not too far from the siesta duo and passed the time reading.

0o0o0o0

Not long as he finished reading the second page, he heard something go through the mail slot on his door and got up to get it. He saw a few bills and a letter from his boss that he remembered mentioning earlier at work, and one envelope that he knew right away without even looking at the return address.

"America…" He said with a sigh as he went to his home office to place the mail on his desk while bringing America's envelope back to the living room and opened it. And he looked at the decked out Christmas tree on the card cover and opened it to see that it was an invite. "Not surprised…" He said as he read the time and location of the Christmas party and rubbed his eyes at the 'if you don't come, something bad will happen' line. "Really, America? You have to use that line again?" He murmured as he knew for a fact that Italy would beg him to go if he had a hold of this invite.

But, last year America was busy with other things and that left with the other nations some breathing room to themselves. At least he got a breather, he noticed that a few felt a little out of place during the holidays without the usual forced invite, but it was quickly passed. Last year was also a lonely time for him because Italy spent his Christmas with Romano, which he was sure the elder Italian threatened the younger to stay and not come to his place. And his brother was somewhere, he didn't bother tracking his whereabouts anymore. Italy did come over later Christmas Day to give him his gift, wanting to personally deliver it, most likely an excuse to come over but he was welcomed in anyway.

But now that Fern-Lui is in the picture, for now, this would be the first time that she would learn just how outrageous the nation's Christmas would be like, but then again she would enjoy it, being a child and all. And he remembered that Russia didn't really celebrate Christmas on the traditional date, so there's a likely chance that he wouldn't be there. Then again he did show some likeliness towards the girl since Thanksgiving, which he wasn't sure the nation celebrated or not… most likely not.

He sighed as the answer was clear to him as the snow on the ground outside, they were going to the party.

Soon siesta was done and the two got up, dressed, and both greeted Germany with hugs and random chit chat before Italy went into the kitchen while the girl asked what the book was about, which the German explained what he had read so far and saw the time to let his dogs out once more.

0o0o0o0

When dinner came around, the German mentioned the invite, and like he expected Italy seemed really excited and the girl seemed happy about it as well when the phone rang. He excused himself to answer it and the caller was not what he expected to hear. "Finland?"

"Hey Germany, did I interrupt anything?"

"No, just finishing up dinner, how may I help you?" He asked, hearing the nation laugh a little.

"Sorry for calling unexpectantly, but I was wondering if I could borrow Fern-Lui on Christmas Eve."

Germany knew the nation was deemed Santa around this time of the year, and he knew the nation long enough to know he can trust him. "May I ask why?" But it never hurt to ask.

"Well, I figured she would help me out with delivering gifts. I am busy this time of year and I think she would enjoy it."

He nodded understandably, but he knew that the girl was old enough to know what she wants when given the choice. "I don't mind, but I have to let her know first and I'll tell you if she wants to or not."

"Okay, I just wanted your okay first. And ask Italy as well, since he's the 'mom' and should know as well."

"Right. Did you get invited by America as well?"

"I did, that's one of the reasons why I'm calling because I can pick her up along with Sealand, do the Christmas thing, and I'll drop her back off. I think she might enjoy it. Seeing all our houses from a bird's eye view."

"I guess. Thank you for calling, Finland. I'll let you know what the decision is."

"Can you call tomorrow? I'll be busy after this."

"No problem." He said as both said their last say before hanging up and rejoining the two.

"Who was that?" Italy asked.

"That was Finland."

"Ve~ It's been awhile since he last called."

"Ja." He said as he finished his water and looked at the girl. "He asked to borrow you on Christmas Eve."

"How come?"

"Oh, that's right you don't know about Finland!" Italy said. "Well, Finland is Santa Claus around this time of year."

"Huh? Santa Claus?" Looking completely lost.

"Sì! Sì! I bet he wants you to help deliver gifts!"

"That sounds fun!" She said and the excited chat between the two continued.

'Well the answer's clear.' Germany thought with a smile as he gathered the finished dishes and cleaned them in the sink.

0o0o0o0

The next day, the trio started putting up decorations before Germany headed out to find a tree, brought it back, and all of them decorated it.

"It looks beautiful!" She said as the lights, tensil, ornaments, and other such things were on the tree.

"But there's one thing missing." Germany said, making the girl confused.

"Sì, sì, there's something really important that's missing on this tree!" Italy said, also knowing where this was going.

She looked at the tree and thought everything was accounted for before realizing what the two nations were talking about. "There's nothing on top of the tree!" She said as Germany took out a delicate looking angel from the box and gave it to her.

"Would you do the honor of placing her at the top?" He asked, seeing the girl nod shyly as he picked her up and she carefully placed the beautiful porcelien angel on top of the tree.

Then they stood in front of the tree a moment longer before the German made dinner, which neither complained as the food was still good, but not as good as Italy's.

0o0o0o0

It was sometime after dinner that Prussia decided to come back, looking flushed and Germany, knowing the signs of a drunk brother, dragged him up to the bathroom, turn the water so that it was cold, but not too cold and placed the ex-nation under the spray, which the albino started to curse and shouted at him, the definite sign that he was back to his senses.

After that bit of excitement, Prussia ate what was left of the dinner, though it was small, when Fern-Lui came and asked him how his visit was, which began a long, self-centered tale about how awesome he was and the like, which the girl did enjoy as she laughed at some of the things that the ex-nation found funny and the bird fluttered around and sometimes landing on the girl's shoulder and nuzzled against her.

0o0o0o0

Soon she was in bed and Italy was tucking her in when she asked for a story. He thought of one and told her. "Have you ever heard of the Tomato Box Fairy?"

Germany happened to be within earshot of them, about to wish the girl a good night, but stopped to listen to the story.

The girl shook her head as she was eagar to listen to the tale.

"Well! The story starts with the little Tomato Fairy who went into the woods one day and got lost. The Tomato Fairy had a crate of tomatoes that he received from his brother, but it was far too heavy for him. So he figured if he ate a few it wouldn't be so heavy. This worked for a while until he realized he got lost and all the tomatoes were gone. You could imagine how scared this fairy was when he realized that he was alone in the woods with nothing else to eat. But then he heard something deep within the forest and hid into the crate and made sure the lid was hard to open. He waited and waited and thought he was safe until he heard a voice and something tapping the top of the box, making him yelp in surprise, alerting the scary being. Quickly, he told the scary being that he was the Tomato Box Fairy, and that they should be friends and play with each other.

"There's someone in here." The scary being said, scaring the fairy as he felt the crate move and started to painic.

"Wait! Stop! What's the point of seeing the Tomato Box Fairy's insides!" He cried out and all too soon the lid opened and he started to cry out and apologized to the scary being and asking him not to kill him because he was still a virgin, and there's no use killing a virgin after all and plead the scary being that he didn't want to die."

Germany face-palmed when he remembered that was how he and Italy met. 'She didn't need to know what you said word per word…' He thought as the story continued.

"The Tomato Fairy cried and begged until the scary being asked if he was related to his grandfather, the great Fairy Emperor. He stopped crying and was immediately relieved that the scary being wasn't going to hurt him and figured that he knew his grandfather."

"What's the scary being?" She asked.

"Ve~ I'm getting there." Italy said with his carefree smile. "The fairy saw that the scary being was a tall, muscular, and commanding human, but he figured that the human was very nice and not at all scary as he was told. But then the human hit him with the back of the rifle, but it wasn't too hard, but hard enough that it hurts a bit and captured the poor little fairy."

"What happens next?" She asked, into the story as she sat up.

"Well, the human brought the fairy to his home and immediately liked it there and didn't mind at all that he was captured. This confused the human and more than once did he try to free the fairy for any sense of how a real captured fairy should act, but the Tomato Fairy always comes back to eat, sleep, and sing to his captor."

The girl giggled as Germany shook his head, remembering that time all too well.

"Well, the Tomato Fairy's brother didn't like this at all and demanded to have him back and brought an army to get him back, but the human let the fairy go without any resistance and the Tomato Fairy was happy to be home with his brother." Italy said as he hummed. "He was happy to eat tomatoes again, but then he felt a bit lonely without his human captor. So when he heard that the human was around, he went up to him. At first the human didn't want anything to do with him, but the he proposed a friendship with the human. The human never had friends before so, as strange as it was, he accepted the friendship and they lived happily ever after."

Germany face-palmed, but couldn't help but grin at the ending. 'That Italy…' He thought as he saw the girl giggle and hugged the Italian before being tucked in once more and Italy kissed the girl on the forehead, much like a mother would, and told her good night.

When Italy shut off the light and looked to see the German, he was startled, but immediately relaxed. "Hey Germany, you wanted to say good night to her too?"

"Ja. You go on ahead."

"Okay." He said as he immediately headed to Germany's room, which the German shook his head before going into the girl's room and patted her head.

"Gute Nacht, Fern-Lui."

"Gute Nacht, Vati Deutschland." She said as she smiled and snuggled under the covers a bit more and looked to be asleep.

Germany smiled softly as he exited the room and entered his, seeing Italy's clothes on the floor, folded them, dressed for bed, and went to his side, which the Italian latched his arms around his and told the other good night and turned off the light. He closed his eyes for about five seconds when he heard the sound of a camera taking a picture and opened his eyes to see Prussia just running out of his room. "East!" He called, waking up the Italian as he got out and chased his brother down to the Prussian's bedroom door and spent five minutes trying to get the man to come out.

"What's going on?" The girl asked as she stuck her head out of the doorway.

"You're Onkel being an idiot!" Germany said as he sighed. He tucked the girl back in bed and headed back to his room.

"Ve~ Is everything okay?" Italy asked as Germany settled back to his side of the bed.

"Ja, Italien, just mein Bruder up to something." He said as he rubbed his eyes. "I'll deal with him in the morning." He sighed as the Italian latched his arms around his once more and slept peacefully that night.