A/N: Oh, bejeezum. These last few weeks have been soooooo stressful! Almost every moment I've had to dedicate to the Business Professionals of America club, since all projects needed to be done before we left for district Saturday. Almost all of us passed on to state, so yay! :)

Anyways, I still want to thank you guys for all the attention given to this story. I actually finished this last night, but didn't actually finish typing it until today. So, without further ado, here you go.

Chapter 2: Family Time

"Will you be wearing your brown suit to the world meeting, fratello?"

Romano flinched. Well, shit. He completely forgot about the world meeting. He covered himself by scowling at the spaghetti and stabbing the meal with a fork. "Of course I'll be wearing the brown suit!" he snapped. "It's the only one that you didn't ruin yesterday!"

Italy, who had been staring without actually staring at Romano (How the hell can he see where he's walking? Romano thought), sagged his shoulders, curl drooping. "Ve~ I didn't mean to trip and spill lasagna in your suitcase!"

Romano muttered under his breath, shoving the spaghetti forkful into his mouth. How his brother managed to trip on a flat surface and why he decided to surprise Romano with a pan of lasanga still was a mystery.

After apologizing, Italy's warm smile returned. "Ve~ I can't wait to see everyone at the meeting. Especially my friends Japan and Germany~"

Upon hearing Germany's name, Romano scowled. "You spend too much time with that bastard."

Italy's smile stayed on his face. "But Germany is a great friend. I wish you'd get along with him."

Romano would've snarled at Italy for that remark, but something else grabbed his attention. Stiffening up, Romano gaze flickered from Italy to the bathroom door, where the bloody towel stuck out of the door frame.

Italy, clueless as to Romano's sudden discomfort, kept chatting on about the wonderfulness of Germany.

Romano sprang up from his seat. "Uh, I should continue fixing that faucet." Without waiting for a response, Romano left his brother in the kitchen and made a dash for the door without actually making a dash.

He opened the door and kicked the towel into the bathroom. Romano then turned around, closed the door, and locked it. "That was close," he told himself, throwing a look at the bloodied cloth laying crumpled on the floor.

A knocking sound resonated in the small space. "Ve~" a muffled voice spoke. "Fratello, is everything alright?"

Cursing to himself, Romano grabbed the towel and chucked it into the tub, pulling the curtain to close it. "What the hell do you want?" he yelled, volume raised to that he could be heard by Italy better.

"Ve~ You didn't finish your pasta."

"I'm not hungry, dammit!"

"But fratello always finishes his pasta..."

"I need to fix this faucet, Italy!"

There was a pause on the other side. "Oh! You want to fix the faucet so that we can use the bathroom quicker?"

"Yeah, sure." Romano cracked the door open to reveal one (closed) eye of Italy. "Look, this faucet may take me all day. Why don't you go spend the day with someone? Someone who's not that potato bastard!" he added, seeing Italy' s excited face.

Italy sagged his shoulders, but only momentarily. "Ve~ I guess I'll see if Japan-"

"Good enough," Romano stated, slamming the door shut. He waited by the door, listening to Italy punch numbers into the phone before starting a conversation. Some movement in the other rooms, then Romano heard the click of the front door and knew that he was alone.

Deeming it alright, Romano moved away from the door and opened the curtain back up. "That was close," he said to himself again, eyeing the pile of bloodied towels and clothes.

Italy, Romano decided, usually spends too much time around the German nation. One thing Romano feared was that all the time Italy spent with Germany might eventually corrupt his little brother. The solution? Lock the German nation in the basement while "persuading" him to never see Italy ever again.

The plan was simple: nab, "persuade", drug when not present. So far everything was working for Romano. The only flaw he found was that he needed a place to store the items used, and the bathroom was the closest room to the basement that had a door, so…

Digging through the pile of clothes, Romano found what he spent minutes looking for. Pulling out the knife shining with blood, Romano never pictured the face that twitched with pain, the grunts that couldn't contain themselves, or the blue eyes that asked the silent question of Why?

Instead, all Romano saw was the light of Italy's smile, the comforting "Ve~"-s, and the happiness glowing out of amber eyes.

Tightening the grip he had on the knife, Romano kept the image of his younger brother in his mind. "I'm doing this for you, Italy," he murmured. "All for you…"