A/N: Hello guys, sorry for not updating this in a while. I've just been really busy, since it's the end of the school year and all. Thank god tomorrow's the last day. Sucks that I still have two more exams to do. Exams can go die :(
So yeah, hopefully I'll have more time to update this summer, but I do have a bit of homework I need to do for AP biology, and some other things I will be doing as well.
It'd been four weeks since Russia and England had discussed what they could do about the eye appointment America was in need of, and once again, the uncivil nation's caretaker had his decision, about the one he was caring for being ready to visit a doctor within three weeks, proven faulty. This was all due to the fact that after three weeks had passed, America had still shown no signs of being comfortable in the unfamiliar environment, which was his own home, despite the fact that Russia had spent much time trying to make him more familiar with every room in the building. In that same time, he was unable to make him comfortable around Canada or England either. Even if things didn't appear to being going too well with this at first glance, the three nations caring for him could tell there was still progress being made. This was possibly due to the fact that they still had faith in the poor nation's condition, and were therefore, willing to squint in order to detect the minute details of progression in America's behavior. This was something all three of them were aware of; the nations who doubted their vulnerable convalescent would be unable, or more accurately, unwilling to view things the way they did due to the lack of faith they had, and the more time spent spent watching America's condition slowly improve, the more shameful they found the harsh assumptions.
Despite three weeks not being enough time, four weeks had surprisingly turned out to be a much better. In fact, it was perfect. Not only was it the time in which they had found an eye doctor who was willing to take up the challenge of handling America, but they also had the credentials to prove they were able to handle strange cases such as his. Perhaps it wasn't far of a stretched, from what was normally expected of an eye doctor, to take care of a full grown male who was uncivil, but they still wanted to be on the safe side and not have any random doctor, especially one who wouldn't be able to communicate to him too well, take up the job.
Another reason why four weeks had been a decent amount of time to wait was because America had become more comfortable around the other three nations. Sure, he still held his suspicions at times, and would sometimes flinch whenever he wasn't expecting one of them to approach him, but it was still a vast improvement, nonetheless.
The three nations caring for him spent the first half of the morning making sure he was ready for the appointment. In a normal situation, it wouldn't have taken someone so long to prepare for this sort of thing, but as always, he was being difficult.
Despite the many baths he was given during the time he was under their care, he would still refuse to keep his head up and his eyes shut tight whenever one of the nations needed to rinse his hair out, no matter how many times they tried to hint the fact that he should do this, or try to keep his head tilted up. Due to his refusal to cooperate, he would end up shutting his eyes in agony when the shampoo or conditioner slid into his them. This sudden pain would also cause him to try and lean as far away as possible from the one who was bathing him, as if he believed they had hurt him on purpose. It would take quite a bit of time in order for America to be over the shock, and since trying to keep him still was pointless for the two weaker caretakers, they would wait until he calmed down a bit before wiping his eyes with a wet washcloth. Since this would always rid him of the pain in his eyes, he would sometimes forgive them for 'purposely' inflicting pain upon him.
Then there was the fact that whenever they tried to make him eat his food like a civil human being, he would end up making a mess regardless of their efforts. As disgusting and exasperating as it was, they understood it would be wrong to be angry with America about this. It wasn't as if he could help the fact that he was a messy eater (especially since he already sort of was one when he still had his memory, though not nearly as messy as he was in his current condition). He didn't know any better, and they were sure if they continued to teach him how to eat properly, he would become more polite at the table.
What was most annoying about preparing America for the eye appointment was the fact the it was difficult to change his clothes. He would always make a fuss, since the process was so strange and uncomfortable to him. Attempting to slip some shoes onto his feet was even more laborious. He would always try to kick them off whenever so much as a centimeter of his feet were in them. At this point in the morning, the three nations caring for him were growing tired of this difficult behavior, and since there wasn't much more time until the appointment, Russia held his legs still so that they could put his shoes on. He understood this action would only end up creating anxiety within the American, but at the same time, he figured there had to be a point where it was necessary to show America he needed to be more obedient, and let them do what they needed to do. At least keeping his legs restrained for a minute wasn't the too horrible, even if it did cause the one he was caring for a bit of extra stress. He knew that the young nation would be fine.
America had tried to tug off the shoes, but he was finding it rather difficult to do so, much to everyone's relief. Based on the way he was trying to pull them off, it didn't seem as if he'd had yet figured out that he would need to untie the laces first (they'd been tied tightly enough so that it would be difficult for him to slip the shoes off). It was when they were in the car that he'd given up on trying to remove the shoes, and decided that trying to unbuckle his seat belt was more important than ridding himself of the strange bundles of leather and rubber binding his feet. Of course, no one was at all okay with this new objective of his, and so they waited until Russia had managed to make him stop attempting to remove his seat belt before starting up the car.
Since America was now unable to rid himself of the two things that were 'binding' him, his irritation only became much worse as he sat there and waited for them to arrive at the doctor's. Russia noticed this high level of anxiety, and decided to try and comfort him in an attempt to make him feel better. At first, being hugged with one arm had slightly heightened his anxiety, but it wasn't long before he started to feel a bit better about what was going on, and as time passed on during the car ride, his breathing had evened out.
What had been a large reassurance to the three nations that were responsible for taking care of America was the fact that they had set up this appointment so that no one, except for them and the doctor, would be around the uncivil nation. They knew that it would be better for everyone if random people weren't sitting around in a lobby while America was in it. They just knew that there would be all sorts of trouble caused, and that the strangers would not only make the poor nation feel extremely uncomfortable, but they would probably end up being appalled by his rude, animalistic behavior. Besides, no one would want to have the explain the reasoning as to why a full grown adult was acting so strange, without revealing too much. That would just be nerve racking. Aside from this set up being less of a hassle, it also meant that when they entered the building and were near the room in which the doctor would be working with the young nation, they wouldn't have to wait for so long to start the appointment.
It seemed as if upon arriving at the door towards the room, the doctor had heard them approaching, as the door had been opened the moment they arrived. A smile decorated the doctor's face when she caught sight of her patient, and it wasn't long after she emerged from behind the door that America decided that it would be better for him to hide from her, and so he slipped behind Russia's tall form; hoping that he could use his larger figure as a shield against the stranger. As much as he still didn't trust his caretaker, at least he knew him better and was more willing to put his life at risk for him, rather than for this woman.
Unfortunately, Russia wasn't going to allow him to hide from the doctor, as he moved himself so that he would no longer be in front of the scared nation, and began to gently push him towards the towards the woman. The friendly smile remained on the doctors face and she appeared to be unfazed by the shy behavior, as there was not even the slightest bit of judgement in her green eyes. Instead, Canada could detect a glint of sympathy within them; as if she could understand America's fear perfectly. The doctor gave no verbal acknowledgement towards the way the young nation was feeling, though, as she told the frightened man in front of him, "Hello, my name is Dr. Stephens."
She knew that it was pointless to try and introduce herself to him, as she had been informed before hand that the man in front of her couldn't speak, or understand any form of verbal communication. She didn't see any harm in expressing a friendly tone towards him, though, in the hopes of making him feel better.
Confusion began to pick at America's mind when he heard the woman's voice. Never had he heard a human speak with a voice that sounded so high pitched. Sure, it wasn't squeaky or revolting, but it was definitely much higher than the husky voice a man would often have. In fact, the sound was soft on his ears, and somewhat pleasant to listen to. Feeling a bit more at ease in the woman's presence, he decided to examine what he could of her figure with his blurry vision. He was shocked to find that the human wasn't so large at all. In fact, she was more than half of a foot shorter than him, and appeared to be a bit on the slender side as well. Noticing the vast size difference between them, he figured that she wouldn't be much of a threat at all. There was also something else about her that was different from the scientists that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He shrugged this off, though.
The doctor's smile grew brighter when it looked as if America was becoming more calm in her presence, while everyone else in the room became confused by the sudden relaxed demeanor. Ignoring the confusion, Dr. Stephens told them, "Why don't you guys come into my office now?"
The eye appointment had gone much better than expected. Even if America did sometimes grow confused and a little nervous about the procedures being performed on him, he still maintained his composure, and was well behaved while the doctor did her job. Not once didn't he try to move away from her, or fidget when he needed to stay still. This nonchalant behavior throughout the procedure made the three other males even more confused. Sure, the doctor wasn't causing the young nation any harm, but they still would've expected him to start panicking at some point.
Then, England realized something. All of the scientists who had tortured America for two years straight were men. It was men who had hurt him, not women. In fact, he was sure that it was possible the uncivil nation had probably never seen a single woman since he had his memory wiped. This caused the situation to make much more sense, and in fact, he was sort of happy with the fact that not all humans were frightening to his former colony. Though this still did make him feel a bit terrible for the fact that, all thanks to a certain group of men, poor America believed an entire gender wanted to hurt him, and that was simply not true. He didn't blame his former colony for this fear of males, as he didn't know any better, nor could he help the fact that he'd been traumatized by them. Instead, this all became another reason for him to loathe the scientists who inflicted non-stop suffering upon the poor nation. He really hoped that they would suffer for a very, very long time for this.
When the appointment was finally over, the doctor had rewarded America with a small piece of chocolate for handling the procedures well, and to make him feel better about the slight discomforts he had to deal with. Of course, the young nation was delighted by this, and savored the piece of chocolate that was handed to him.
As much as he had wanted to stay around the woman, he knew that he would have to leave, now that he was being urged to leave the room. For once, since he'd lost his memory, he actually felt an empty pit expand in his stomach at the idea of leaving another human being. He didn't understand what this strange emotion was, but he wasn't at all a fan of it, and wished that it would go away. Even if he was feeling miserable, though, he still wanted to express his gratitude towards the woman by giving her a look that showed he would miss her. It was the only way he knew how to say 'farewell' in his current state of mind.