Just so you don't accidentally skip over it and become immensely confused, LOOK! THERE'S A TIME SKIP! XD So, yeah, now that it's blatantly obvious it is now May, 1949 in the story as the date at the beginning implies. This may be the last you see of nice Russia for a while so enjoy it because the next time we see him he'll be a little nuts. Thanks for the reviews, thanks so so much!
May, 1949
Despite the fact that summer was drawing ever closer, it was still only mildly warm outside. Berlin sat on a stool near the sink, her chin resting in the palm of her hand as she gazed out the window. Latvia was running around outside and Hungary was nearby watching him. She sighed. It'd been an uneventful month and things had been rather boring. She hadn't seen America since that day in November.
He'd still sent letters and she had written him back twice. She would've written more but she didn't want to be caught communicating with him lest all hell break loose. The blockade hadn't really annoyed her all that much in the beginning but having not seen her family for over five months, she felt alone and isolated. She sighed yet again and left her place by the sink, daring to wander around the house in search of something to do.
She wandered the halls, looking at various things on side tables as wells as paintings and pictures hung on the walls. A few were of current government officials, a few were of Belarus and Ukraine, and one she wouldn't have expected to see was of Anastasia and her mother and sisters. She continued through the house until she ran into Lithuania, who seemed in a hurry,
"Ah, there you are! Ivan told me to find you and tell you he needs to speak with you as soon as possible."
"About what?"
"You'll see. I'm sorry; I have to meet someone somewhere."
With that he ran past her and several minutes later she heard the front door slam. She raised an eyebrow at his odd behavior but started in the direction of Russia's room nonetheless. Once outside his door she knocked three times,
"Come in."
She entered the room and saw that Russia was, once again, staring at the map of the USSR. She approached cautiously. A few weeks ago she'd been called to his room and had been beaten for reasons she still didn't know of. Then again, sometimes there were no reasons.
"Toris said you needed to speak to me?"
"Da. I wanted to tell you to go see your brother."
She was silent for a few moments. Then came the only response she could think of,
"…What?"
"Go and see your brother, he's worried sick about you."
"But the blockade-"
"The blockade was removed this morning. Go and see him, I'm sick of having to watch you mope around the house with nothing to do."
She stuttered for a moment before she found the words,
"Thank you…thank you so much!"
She turned and walked quickly out of the room, her pace quickening as she began jogging through the halls, eager to leave. She clumsily put on her shoes and then went out through the front door, running once she hit the streets. As she neared where her brother would likely be, she found her legs and feet were moving faster than she realized as she was now sprinting to her destination.
Upon seeing their old house she stopped outside the front steps for a moment to catch her breath before running up tot eh door and frantically knocking. There was a shuffling noise before her brother finally opened the door, a look of surprise and disbelief on his face,
"Schwester?"
"Bruder!"
She hugged him, tears forming in her eyes,
"The blockade is gone! We can finally see each other again, they took down the blockade!"
For once West smiled and hugged his sister for the first time in months. Then a thought struck him,
"Wait, where's Gilbert?"
"Over here you schwachkopfs!"
The two siblings turned to see the former nation jogging towards them from down the street. Berlin let go of West and ran towards him, nearly knocking him over,
"You're okay!"
"Of course I'm okay, I'm too awesome to get caught you know!"
She buried her face in his shoulder,
"I missed you."
"I missed you too, schwester."
She spent the rest of the day with her brothers, asking where Prussia had been hiding and how he'd managed to stay hidden. They discussed what had happened on West's side of the blockade while it was in place and then the discussion turned to Berlin herself and all that had happened while they'd been separated. She kept the explanation brief and left out the details where she'd been threatened, beaten, or had hidden herself to keep out of harm's way.
She didn't leave until the late afternoon and didn't return to the house until early evening, just in time to help with dinner. She had a smile when she returned though, an extra skip in her step and so did everyone who had gotten the opportunity to leave and visit others they hadn't seen for months. Hungary had gone to visit Austria. Latvia had gone and visited Sealand and had sent word that he was staying the night at Finland and Sweden's house.
Estonia had gone to visit Denmark for whatever reason. Lithuania and Poland had run off somewhere, likely visiting allies beyond the blockade and thanking them for they're support (not that Berlin had noticed anyone but America helping, but then again she wasn't exactly on good terms with anyone else).
Berlin suddenly realized that she was the only one who had returned to the house that night. She thought about that for a moment. Maybe she did have Stockholm syndrome after all? No, she'd returned because she thought the others would return as well. They'd be back by later in the evening or early tomorrow morning. Russia would go looking for them if they didn't and he always found them. Always.
She cooked enough food so that if a few of the others returned home later that night and were hungry they would have something to eat. She ate by herself downstairs, washed the few dishes that she had used and then made up a tray for Russia. With a smile on her face, she ascended the stairs and passed through the hallways to Russia's room, knocking three times as always,
"Ivan, I have dinner for you."
"Come in."
When she walked in Russia looked surprised to see her,
"You came back?"
"Of course I came back."
"Why? You could've stayed the night with your brothers."
"Just being able to talk and see them was enough for me. Besides, Prussia snores."
"Everyone else is staying somewhere other than here."
"Well I'm not. Is there anything else you need?"
He blinked and was silent for a moment before answering,
"Nyet, there isn't."
"Alright then."
She smiled, confusing him even more, and then left the room, returning downstairs while humming some random song she'd heard on the radio. An hour passed. Two hours. Three hours. It was dark outside and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. She sat on the stool she had that morning, gazing out the window once again. Russia had good reason for being surprised at her return. For one, he'd hurt her quite a bit, mentally and physically and not just during the Cold War. She also hadn't seen her family in months yet she hadn't decided to stay with them which anyone would consider odd.
As the minutes dragged on, Berlin grew bored with just staring out the window. With only Russia and herself occupying the house there really wasn't much to do. Then a thought struck her of something that they could both do. A smile broke out across her face as she raced back upstairs, not bothering to knock on Russia's door before practically breaking it down in her excitement,
"Ivan!"
He jumped at the sudden intrusion, giving her a concerned look,
"Da?"
"Are you doing anything important right now?"
"Not particularly, nyet."
Her excitement level seemed to increase with this answer which made him even more concerned,
"Anya…did you accidentally consume lighter fluid or something else that is unhealthy for you?"
"No, I just had a really awesome idea! Do you have a telescope somewhere in the house?"
"I think there might be one in the storage room next to the door that leads tot eh basement. Why?"
She rushed forward, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him along with her,
"Come with me!"
She pulled him through the halls to the door of the storage room which she promptly pulled open and practically dove into. At this point Russia was thoroughly lost in what her intentions could possibly be. Not really knowing what else to do, he leaned against the door frame and watched the German-gone-insane search for a telescope,
"Aha, found it!"
After that, she grabbed his arm once again and dragged him through the house and out the door to the backyard where she set up the telescope,
"Anya, what exactly are we doing out here?"
She smiled at him,
"Look up."
He did as she said and then realized what her goal was. There really wasn't a single cloud in the sky and a few of the street lamps on their block were damaged and weren't lighting up. This gave them a near perfect view of the stars. Russia smiled,
"This is what you were so excited about?"
"Yes. I haven't seen so many stars in a while; I want to see if I can find some constellations."
"But…why bring me?"
She twirled a piece of her hair around her finger and looked at the ground shyly,
"Well, since there's no one else in the house I thought if I just left you might get…I don't know, a little lonely, so I brought you with."
She looked up and smiled at him, a light blush dusting her cheeks. Russia blinked, not expecting that answer in the slightest. It was silent for a few moments before the taller spoke,
"Which one is Cygnus again? I can never find it."
Berlin smiled, turning to the telescope and turning it slightly, adjusting the view of the sky before answering,
"Come here and look, it's actually visible!"
And that was what they did for most of the night: stargaze. It was the first time that both of them were entirely relaxed around on another, Berlin not expecting to be hit or yelled at and Russia not being feared by her. By the time they went back inside it was almost dawn and they never actually went to sleep. They stayed up even later and talked. Just…talked for once. When they finally went to bed, Berlin sat up staring at the ceiling in her room for a while longer before letting sleep take her, a thought prying at her conscience as well as one of the tugging strings as she fell asleep.
If only it could stay this way…
Dear god, I think that last paragraph just rotted part of my teeth…and perhaps my brain, who can tell? Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. There will be another time skip in the next chapter (possibly two actually), just thought I'd give you a heads up. Again, I hope you liked this chapter. I need reviews for I am a review vampire and without them I will die, ja? *puppy eyes* Pwease?