I don't own hetalia

"Dad?" Damien looked up from the papers he was reading to see his daughter standing next to him. She was in her night clothes, her brightly patterned shirt and shorts subdued in the low light.

"Yes, Anna?" He swiveled his chair and she sat down near him in a chair near by. Her hair was very long, and sitting down, it extended down her back to her waist. Her slim figure looked even smaller in the low light.

"Papa, could you tell me more of your past? I think I'm old enough. You get distant at times, and I don't know why, and I get worried about you. I wanna help you." Damien knew she wondered just why he'd adopted her at the age of '22', how they were able to sustain such a livelihood when she knew he didn't work. Maybe she was old enough to get a bigger picture of it. But he'd have to be careful of how much she would learn. It had taken him years to put his life together, and he wanted to keep it the way it was as long as possible.

"When I was younger, I was on my own for a very long time. I had a few rough years in my late teens. You…you see, I had a childhood friend. For years, I saw them as an older sibling." He made sure not to give this friend a gender. Now that he was going to finally breeze over his once relationship, he was going to make as little fuss about it as possible. He wasn't sure how Anna would take it if she found out 'Daddy likes men!'. "You know my toy soldiers?"

She looked behind her to the bookcase on the far wall, and the small box of soldiers that laid therein. "Yeah…"

"They gave those to me. But after many years of being so close, we had a falling out… and we stopped talking altogether for a long time."

"What was their name?"

Damien couldn't, no wouldn't answer that one. He'd stopped speaking that name aloud. Why had he agreed to answer these questions?

"That isn't important, but I discovered when I stopped seeing my best friend that I loved them more than a friend. It was years later that we made up…and I guess you could say made out…and for once in my life, I was happy." He became distant once more. "And then it was over. Sometimes I just get reminded of it, and, well, it makes me sad, but I know that part of my life ended long ago" It had been ten years since he'd told Arthur he loved him…

"Well…why don't you date anymore, then?" She paused, not used to hearing much about her father's past, and the even rarer answer to a question. "Dad, you never do anything. Jenny's mom is a widow, and she dates and crap. You don't date at all. You just spend the day at the house."

"I used to date, before all that, but I'm not quite ready to love again. Now go to bed, sweetheart." She heard the finality in his voice and knew she wasn't going to get any more out of him.

"Good night, Papa." Again, he left her with more questions than answers.

"Good night."

USUK

Damien heard the door slam downstairs and knew his daughter was home. He got up from his work (well, it was more of stalking the news and keeping track of economic things and government developments) and walked down the hall to look over the banister.

"Hi Daddy, Marco and I are going to work on a school project!"

"Hi Mr. Moore!" Marco was a year older than Anna, and he was a handsome dark haired boy. One day, when Damien opened a book Anna had left in the kitchen,(which he very soon afterward, realized was her diary) he'd read all about 'the cute Italian soccer captain who is the same history class' as Anna. When she'd found out what he'd read, she'd made him promise secrecy, as Marco was now her friend.

"Hi Marco! You two have fun, and Marco, please stay for dinner!"

"Thanks Mr. Moore!" Anna sent her father an appreciative glance his way before leading Marco off.

He watched them as they went out onto the back porch of the house and set out a poster. Getting himself a cup of whatever from the fridge, Damien walked upstairs to his bedroom and watched as they laughed and talked. When Marco accidentally set his hand on Anna's when reaching for a marker, he smiled, seeing them both blush. He knew Anna's crush was one lasting for two years, but now he saw it was returned. He shook his head in amusement at them, and went back to his work.

After making supper for three, he sat down with Anna and Marco.

"So, what did you guys do today?"

"I missed the first half of the day to go on that diplomatic field trip, part of that program I joined." Anna had joined 'Young Diplomats of America' or whatever because of a suggestion of a teacher when she found out Anna was fluent in four languages. Damien still wasn't sure how he felt about the whole thing, seeing as it was growing closer and closer to his old life, but he wasn't going to hold back Anna for his past. She seemed to love the idea of diplomacy, and if that was her dream…

"Yeah, you left me all alone in Math! You know Trig isn't my strong suit!" God, that was right! Anna was fourteen and a half and was in eleventh grade. Why was that always a shock?

He drove Marco home because of the rain, which had started to fall during their dinner soon after.

Entering the house once more, he found his daughter drawing in the kitchen.

"Do you really want to be a diplomat?" She looked up.

"Yeah. It was awesome. Apparently, there was a meeting happening while we were there. There were these two guys in the hall…!"

"Yeah?"

"Well, it was in front of the diplomatic offices! One was swearing a bunch, but the other, if my Spanish is correct, was a total ditz, yammering on and on of how the other was like a bright tomato!"

Damien's eyes went wide and he went into a semishock. "Oh?" He coughed.

"Yeah, the Spanish dude kept making weird noises. Like, fusoso… something or other. I think they were gay." Damien was quiet, contemplating the fact that his daughter had met someone from his past, the one he worked so hard to hide. He never went into New York City during the first week in February, the third week of June, and the fourth week in October, knowing that their meetings were being held, as they always were.

"Dad? Yoo-hoo!"

She turned around to look at him, her eyes full of confusion.

"The only reason you remembered them was because they were gay?"

"Well, part of it, but I think gay people are fine! They were just funny to watch. Why? Did I offend you in some way?"

"No—no, of course not." He stood and walked towards the stairs. He was relieved that she had only noticed Lovino and Antonio because of their being gay, and not because she'd talked to any of them.

"Papa?" He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and turned to look at her.

"Yes?"

"Are you… gay?" There was an extended pause, which caused Anna to flinch. She watched as he opened his mouth, probably to just change the subject, but not this time. "I'm sorry! Did I go too far? Please don't be mad!"

Her question caught him off-guard and out of nowhere…Anna had only posed the question because she'd started to notice certain things about her father, and had been wondering about this for some time. When Damien saw the look of guilt on her face, he felt it was time to give her one more piece of the puzzle.

"Yes. That friend of mine…all those years ago, was a man…" She watched as her father smiled sadly, then climbed the stairs. "I'm not mad…just…nostalgic."

Author's note: I'm so sorry! I fell asleep while watching a movie last night... then woke up at ten this morning...

I tried to write Anna as best fitted her age group...(aka, I'm her age in the second part fourteen)

I LOVE YOU GUYS WHO REVIEWED! Please review if you have any questtions or I have logic problems. Or if you just wanna say hi (or talk about American or British history, such a history buff!)

(Yes, Spain and Romano in Cameo... FUSOSOSOSO!)

Fun Fact: Abe lincoln dreamed one night a few weeks before his death about seeing himself laid out in a casket and his wife next to him. His body also was almost stolen twice and was moved thrice and now lies under ten feet of concrete. - (idk why I thought about this, probably by reading "Gone with the Wind"... AMAZING BOOK IS AMAZING! but it is all true, if I remember correctly)