A/N: A request for someone on dA; truly the last one. I decided to go with Fem!England here for the kicks of it, and because I thought it would be fluffier. Enjoy~

"Alice is in the hospital."

Alfred blinked and glanced up at his mom from his video game. "Alice...?" he asked, confused. He wasn't friends with anyone named Alice.

"Kirkland. Remember, from when you were younger?" his mom prodded.

"Oh, right!" Alfred remembered now. When he was a little kid he'd been best friends with Alice Kirkland, the English girl across the street.

The Kirklands had moved to America when Alice was four, and she and Alfred had become friends immediately. They did everything together- went on adventures in the woods, got into trouble, played with Alfred's action figures and Alice's stuffed unicorns- they were even in the same kindergarten class, and because of their last names lay next to each other during nap time. That had continued through elementary school, where they always partnered together.

But then Alice had moved. Her father's job, which was the reason they came to America in the first place, caused them to have to move back. Alfred and Alice had been nine, and the American hadn't heard from her in the eight years since.

"What's that have to do with me?" Alfred asked. He didn't want to sound mean or anything, but the English girl really hadn't been a part of his life for the past few years.

His mother gave him A Look. "They moved back last week-"

"What?!"

"Let me finish. Alice fell while setting up the library and passed out. They admitted her in for observation, but I thought it would be nice for you to go visit her. She'll be going to your school starting Monday, after all."

Alfred put down his controller. "How do you know alla this?"

"I was just speaking with her mother. We think it would do her good to see a familiar face." There was something in the woman's expression that hinted at more to the story, but she didn't offer any more information.

"All right, I guess. When'll we go?"

"Now."

"What?! No, at least lemme finish this level!"

"Alfred, come on. You can finish later, and I told Rose we'd be there by five-thirty.

Alfred glanced at the time and groaned, then set his controller down, saved the game, and turned the console off. "Fine. Ugh, but I don't even know what she'll be like now."

"You'll just have to find out, won't you?"

"Don't blame me if things get awkward..." Alfred muttered, following her out to the car.

"Just be yourself, and everything will be fine."

They were almost to the hospital when Alfred was struck by a sudden thought. "Hey Mom?" He waited until she was looking at him. "Why didn't you tell me they moved back before?"

"Rose wanted to get settled in before letting anyone know. She called yesterday morning for the first time, but it slipped my mind."

"Oh. And why exactly did they move back?"

"You'll have to ask Alice."

Rose was waiting for them in the hallway outside Alice's room. "Amelia, you came! And oh- Alfred, is that you? You've grown so much!"

Alfred heard Rose's voice with her lilting accent and it was as if they had never left. He grinned and hugged the woman, having to bend down a little bit because of how much taller he was now. "It's real nice to see you again, Ms. Kirkland."

"Call me Rose." the English woman insisted. "Go on in to see her. She'd been excited to see you again, despite her appearance."

"Sure." Alfred let Rose go and approached the door, his heartbeat speeding up a bit despite himself. He knocked, and without waiting for a reply, entered.

He really didn't know what he was expecting. The girl on the bed somewhat resembled the picture of Alice he had in his memory, but the features were sharper. Her blonde hair was longer and tied in a braid that hung down her shoulder with messy bangs and other, slightly shorter strands that hung around her face. The eyes and eyebrows were the same though- brilliant green, and fuzzier and darker than normal.

"Hey there." Alfred said, his voice hushed for some reason.

"Alfred?" Alice asked.

"Yeah."

"You got glasses."

Alfred instinctively reached out to touch the rims on his nose. "So did you." he replied, nodding at the pair resting on the bedside table.

"They're for reading. But err- hello. Forgot to do that earlier, silly me..." Alice's voice lowered until she was talking to herself, but then her eyes snapped back up to his face. "You look well."

"Thanks." Alfred offered a grin. "So do you."

"I'm in the hospital." Alice raised an eyebrow.

"I mean besides that!" Alfred laughed nervously and fell silent. Damn. This was bad- it was already getting awkward and they were less than five minutes into their conversation! He had to step up his game. Grinning broadly again he marched over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

Alice blinked, moving back a bit. "What are you doing?"

"I wanna sit." Alfred shrugged. "So I heard you moved back like a week ago."

"Yes, we're down the street from your house now."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Alice seemed startled.

"Why did you move back?"

"Oh." Alice looked down and intertwined her fingers. "Mum and Dad got divorced. She wanted to come back here so she did with me and Liam."

Alfred reached over and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry..."

"It's fine. It was a self-destructive relationship anyway." Alice slipped her hands from under his.

"Yeah..." Alfred moved his hand back, unsure of what to say now.

For the remainder of the time before Amelia stuck her head in, they sat in silence only occasionally broken by awkward attempts at small talk. Alfred really didn't know why he was having such a difficult time- this was Alice. But maybe that was the problem.

"Hey there guys!" Amelia opened the door and came in just as Alfred was about to ask about the weather for the third time.

Alfred jumped up. "Hi Mom!" he said, relief flooding through him. "Why don't you talk to Alice for a while?" He stood up and moved to the door. "Bye, Alice. Nice to see ya." Then he was gone.

"Good bye." Alice murmured to the closing door. "Thank you for coming."

Alfred breathed a sigh of relief when he got into the hallway. He didn't always catch on to the atmosphere in a room, but in that situation it had been hard to ignore the glaring awkwardness. Rose wasn't anywhere in sight, so he left the building and waited by the car, headphones plugged in and over his ears.

Amelia came out about fifteen minutes later, and they went home. The entire ride Amelia chatted about how wonderful it was that they moved back and how much Alice had grown and changed. Alfred nodded in the appropriate places, but overall he had an unsettled feeling in his stomach.

Alice started school that Monday. She ended up in three of Alfred's classes: English, History, and Physical Education. Alfred offered her the seat next to his to sit in which she took, grateful to have even a semi-familiar face nearby. The American tried to talk more with her, but he still didn't know how to approach her.

On the whole Alice seemed very reserved. She was very different than what Alfred remembered. At first there had been a buzz in the grade that a new British student was coming to their class, but Alice was generally unsociable and soon everyone forgot about her. She carried herself with a high and regal grace and became a quick favourite of many teachers.

But she wasn't fun.

"Hey Alice!" Alfred was once again trying to reach out to her. "Since practice is cancelled and me an' Kiku an' Gil still wanna play some, we're gonna go to my house and play in the backyard. You wanna come too?"

Based on his muscular build and height, many people would assume that Alfred played football, but in fact he was on the soccer team. He had admittedly been thinking about joining the football team, but his best friends Kiku and Gilbert had wanted to play soccer and he ended up going with them. The blond seemed to have a knack for international friends because Kiku was Japanese and Gilbert was from Germany.

Alice glanced out the window at the gathering storm clouds. "In the rain?"

"Yeah, that's the best time! Then we get dried off, pile under a whole bunch of blankets, and watch some movies!" Alfred replied enthusiastically.

The English girl looked down. "No thanks." She lightly brushed past him and walked away.

Alfred was crestfallen, but his moping was cut short by the arrival of his friends. They had fun kicking the ball around and practicing their skills- and per usual almost got sick afterwards- but all Alfred could think about was how badly he wanted Alice there as well. He felt a little disappointed in himself- his childhood best friend had come back and here they were, treating each other as utter strangers. Maybe he wasn't being persistent enough?

That had to be it. Alfred vowed to himself that he would try harder, and keep on trying until Alice was close to him again.

The next few weeks brought numerous attempts, some successful, and others utter failures. He tried everything from tutoring to help in class to project partners to sitting together at lunch to even just attempts at small talk. Asking for help got him the farthest. He also invited her over a few more times, but she always declined his offers.

Then they moved on to swimming in P.E. The school had an indoor swimming pool for the swim team and gym classes. Alfred really liked the swimming unit, but Alice looked apprehensive on the first day.

As almost anyone in school, Alice had her 'enemies'. People that disliked her for whatever reason- her looks, her grades, her attitude, whatever. It so happened that a few of those people were in the class.

They were standing around the poolside and the teacher was explaining the syllabus when there was a loud splash from the direction of the deep end. The first few seconds no one reacted, seemingly startled by the sudden noise. Then heads started to turn.

"Who what that?!" the teacher asked, anger visible on his face.

"It was Alice." one of the girls standing nearest the spot said.

Alfred froze. Alice. Memories stared flooding back to im. Alice was afraid of the water- she always had been, ever since she was little. Alice couldn't swim.

Tossing all other thoughts aside, Alfred dived in after her. She was sinking slowly to the bottom of the pool, eyes closed and barely moving. Alfred swam down and gathered her up bridal style before kicking off to the surface.

When they broke through Alice started coughing and gasping for air, leaning in closer to him. He made his way to a clear area of the edge and lifted her out onto the ground before climbing out himself. The other students immediately tried to all come closer to see, but Alfred kept them back while Alice recovered. He saw the teacher was about to say something, but he cut him off.

"I'll take her to the nurse." he quickly offered. "Y'know, just to make sure."

The teacher frowned slightly but nodded. "Fine. Come back for your stuff later." His look also said 'I need to speak with you about this later'.

Alfred nodded and scooped Alice up again, ignoring her faint protests that she could walk by herself. "Ya nearly drowned, Alice. Just relax."

Alice huffed but looked down, falling silent. Alfred glanced down at her in concern and shifted her more to one arm so he could grab his jacket on the way out.

The nurse received them with surprise. She gave both of them towels and some random dry clothes. Alfred finally set her down so they could dry and change. After that the nurse tried to dismiss Alfred since he was fine, but he convinced her to let him stay. Alice was ordered to rest for a while in one of the rooms so she could get over her minor shock, so Alfred just stayed with her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Yes. Thank you." Alice shivered slightly but smiled gratefully at him.

Alfred grinned back at her, happy that she finally smiled at him. Then, noticing her shivers, he covered her with his jacket. "Someone pushed you in, didn't they?"

Alice looked down. "Yes. It was one of the girls nearby, but I dunno which one exactly it was."

Alfred's eyes darkened in anger. "Those- Those-"

"Yeah, I know." Alice gave a halfhearted shrugged. "But what can you do?"

"You've got me, the hero, to protect ya!" Alfred said fiercely. "Plus you can tell Teach. I'm pretty sure right now he thinks you jumped in."

"But I didn't. I never would, you know I can't swim."

"Yeah, I know. So we'll just go talk to him when you're feelin' better and explain what happened. He'll believe us, he knows I don't lie."

"All right, sounds like a plan." Alice suddenly paused as a thought struck her. "You're still obsessed with superheroes?" she asked with a teasing smile.

Alfred blushed a bit. "Well not obsessed maybe...but I still like 'em. And I'm a hero now too! I saved you, didn't I?" He puffed his cheeks and chest out proudly.

Alice laughed despite herself. "That you did."

"Hmm..." Alfred's expression turned mischievous. "What about you? Do you still like unicorns so much? How many toys you still got?"

The English girl reddened. "I- You- none! I'm no longer interested..." She withered slightly under Alfred's bright gaze. "One or two...or five..."

"Knew it!" Alfred laughed and couldn't resist hugging her. "I knew you were still my Alice under all that stuffiness!"

Alice went still. "Your...Alice?"

"Yeah. My best friend." Alfred pulled back a bit so he could look her in the eye. "Can we be friends again?"

"I..." Alice looked at him and had to avert her gaze. She suddenly threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "Yeah."

Alfred was surprised, but after a moment he hugged her back, smiling broadly. "That's great!" Her wet braid dampened his fresh shirt, but Alfred didn't mind- he'd just gotten his best friend back.

A/N: I'm just using Amelia and Rose for the names of the mothers because those are names commonly associated with the respective nations, and I didn't want to keep saying 'Alfred/Alice's mother' or 'the American/English woman' all fic long.

Also, I've noticed that in a lot of these reunion fics they always seem to go 'oh you came back' to 'you've changed so much' to 'drama!' to 'kissing and lovers' automatically. Why can't they just go back to being friends? Friends are good too (for now XD)