Hi guys and welcome to my first (published) fan fiction ever! \^o^/ Hope all you lovely readers out there enjoy it! I don't own Hetalia or it's characters, but I do own the plot of this story! So, without further ado: Shattered Emeralds.

Arthur Kirkland begrudgingly stood in front of the door to his younger brother's penthouse apartment. He rung the doorbell, embarrassed by the fact that he had to live with Alfred, even if it only was only temporary…

He was torn from his thoughts when the door opened to a young woman with green doe-like eyes and brown hair done up in a bun. She regarded him with a smile.

"Hello. Would you like to see Mr. Jones?" she asked politely.

"Well, yes," he replied, a bit too matter-o-factly to his liking. 'You're a gentleman,' he reminded himself, 'Act as such.'

"Please, come in," the woman invited, not reacting to the seemingly rude response.

"Thank you," the Englishman replied, politely this time, picking up his suitcase and dragging his wheeled bag into the large sitting room.

"If you'll wait here, I'll go get Mr. Jones," the woman turned to leave, but then spun on her heel, remembering something.

"I'm sorry sir, I forgot to ask your name," she said shyly, obviously embarrassed by her forgetfulness.

"Arthur Kirkland," he said proudly. Then added, not so proudly, "I'm Alfred's brother."

A surprised "oh" escaped the young woman's lips, before she smiled brightly.

"You're his brother? I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Kirkland!"

'She obviously hasn't heard that I'm a doctor…'

"It's an honor to meet you," she said suddenly giddy, "I'll go and fetch Mr. Jones."

She turned again, more hurriedly this time, calling a "Make yourself at home" over her shoulder as she went.

'What a strange girl,' Arthur thought, sitting on a rather…stylish sofa, 'So happy and…cute.' He then realized that these were probably the exact reasons that his brother had hired her. Assuming she was the housekeeper, she was also very hardworking. Arthur knew how demanding it was to keep up with the mess Alfred made, but the flat, from what he could see, was very clean and tidy. 'Hope he's paying her well for her troubles.'

"Iggy!" Alfred beamed, strutting into the room, "It's great to see you again, big bro!"

Arthur stood and his "bro" bounded up to him, enveloping him in a hug.

'Why didn't I stay with Matthew?' the Brit inwardly questioned, reluctantly patting Alfred's back.

"Nice to see you, too, Alfred," he replied, trying to be polite.

The young woman, who had followed her employer back into the room, stood a few yards away, patiently waiting the greeting to end.

"May I get you anything, Mr. Jones, Mr. Kirkland? Coffee, perhaps?" she offered.

"Coffee's fine for me, Tori." Alfred said brightly, flopping down on the couch.

"Tea, if you have it," the older man said, "And if you don't mind, it's Doctor Kirkland, love."

'Love? Where the bloody hell did that come from?'

She nodded, pink tingeing her cheeks as well as the man who had addressed her. She headed for the kitchen, and Arthur quietly sat down.

"So, Tori." he said after a moment, trying to sound nonchalant, "She's your housekeeper?"

"Yeah. Her full name is really pretty, but I can't remember how to pronounce it," the younger man said shamelessly, "She's from Lithuania. That's somewhere near Russia, I think…"

His brother just rolled his eyes at his ignorance, but continued on with polite conversation none-the-less.

"She's a very nice young lady."

"Yeah. Cute, too."

"Alfred, that's no way to talk-"

"You see her blush? Freaking adorable," the American said, cutting him off, "Especially after you called her 'love'."

"But…that was…I…"

Alfred laughed as his older brother tried to splutter out a reply, both turning red-faced. They tried to compose themselves after a long moment as Tori reentered the room, carrying a tray carrying the men's drinks along with milk and sugar.

"Your coffee, Mr. Jones," she said, carefully placing the tray on the coffee table, "And your tea, Dr. Kirkland."

"Thank you, Miss…" Arthur trailed off, encouraging Tori to finish for him, stirring his tea.

"Laurinaté," she said, smiling, turning pink again, "Viktorija Laurinaté. You can call me 'Tori,' like Mr. Jones does, though."

"I told you her name was pretty," Alfred commented, making said-person turn red.

"Th-thank you, Mr. Jones," she said meekly, then rushed to leave the room.

"Oh, Tori wait!" Alfred called, "before you leave, show my brother where his room is."

"Alright," she squeaked, nodding and continuing on her way.

"Do you intend to make her embarrassed like that?" Arthur demanded.

"Jealous?" his younger brother challenged, then added, "You know, I bet I could get her to wear a French maid's outfit if I wanted."

Arthur nearly spat out his tea. He thought he felt his nose begin to bleed, but he was only imagining it, thank God. Alfred ignored this, continuing his thought out loud.

"Francis probably has one floating around his place. She's so obedient, you know…"

"I think that's quite enough, Alfred," Arthur said sternly, "Can we change the topic to something more civil?"

"Fine. Any suggestions?"

"How's Matthew doing?"

"Eh, pretty good. Seems pretty happy now that he's seeing Gilbert."

"Gilbert? That German boy?"

"That's the ticket. Other than that, he's pretty much the same," Alfred swished what was left of his coffee around his mug, "How've you been?"

"Fine, thank you," Arthur replied, sipping his tea.

"Care to elaborate, limey?"

"Well," he replied, stiffening at the insult, "I'm a bit tired from jet-lag. I think I'll turn in soon."

"Me too," Alfred stood up, stretching, "Got work tomorrow."

"But you're drinking coffee."

"Nice observation, Captain Obvious."

"The caffeine will keep you up, git." the elder retorted.

"Oh," the young American blinked, "Well, either I've become immune to it, or Tori just gives me decaf past a certain time."

"Hmm." Arthur replied, finishing off his tea, "How responsible."

"Tori!" Alfred yelled. The young woman appeared a moment later.

"Yes, Mr. Jones?"

"Show Iggy to his room," he ordered, already heading to his own room.

"Yes, sir. Follow, please, Dr. Kirkland," she said, smiling sweetly.

Arthur gathered his things and followed Tori down a small hallway adjoining to the sitting room.

"The bathroom is at the end of the hall, and this," she said stopping in front of a looked identical to the others in the hallway, "is your room."

She opened the door for him, and he stepped inside.

"Thank you, Miss Laurinaté."

"If you don't need anything else, I'll be leaving for the evening," she said, obviously stifling a yawn.

"Oh, no, by all means," Arthur smiled, "Good night, Miss Laurinaté."

"Good night, Dr. Kirkland," Tori bid gratefully, shutting the door as she left, leaving Arthur alone in his new room.

He looked around while changing into pajamas, too tired to unpack anything else. He found the room unexpectedly pleasant; the walls painted a calming blue and the furniture looked to be made from solid oak. The hard wood floor(probably also oak) was covered with a few navy blue throw rugs in places, the rugs matching the very inviting bed sheets.

"Well done," he said to no one, testing the bed with his hand. "Memory foam? I'm impressed, Alfred. Surprisingly impressed."

Arthur turned on the bedside lamp and went to turn off the main light of the room.

Content with the warm glow of the lamp, he curled up with a riveting fantasy novel, and

soon fell asleep in his new (and quite comfy) bed.

Well, there she is! The first chapter, that is, because if this was a one shot, I would suck! I hope you enjoyed it to some degree, even if it was to laugh at the...whole thing. Anyway reviews are appreciated. Hope to see you next time! Bye!