Not Over Yet

Part 7

True to his word, three cups of coffee later and one more to go for good measure, Alfred made his way to the living room to join his guests. However, the usual, daytime Alfred was still nowhere to be found. In his own words, the three were not privileged to his mask of pleasantry when they caused all his problems in the first place. Since when had Matthew became a source of Alfred's problems?

"Go back to sleep, Fredka. I will take care of this." Russia offered.

Alfred quirked an eyebrow, "Quietly?"

Matthew and Arthur nearly choked. He was considering it!?

"Da!"

Alfred snorted, "I bet. Like how you explained everything? The moment Nikki decides to come down here, Jackie will be right behind her with one of my guns, you know."

"Who is Nikki, eh—"

Russia's dark miasma began to gather, "Do you speak about my ineffectiveness or my methods?"

"Both, because your methods are ineffective. Let's not forget why we are here, shall we?" Alfred stated simply, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Why exactly are we here!?"

Those were the words Matthew had been waiting to say all night, and he had expected feeling relieved when he had. That was not the case. Instead, he suddenly felt incredibly awkward and vulnerable when all the eyes in the room were on him. Right, he was the only one out of the loop here.

Alfred sighed softly, "Mattie, sit down and I will tell you."

Matthew had not even noticed he had stood up earlier, and flushed at having it pointed out. Quickly he retook his seat and nodded for Alfred to continue.

"The abbreviated version of this very long story is that you are here because I not only have a little brother, but a little sister, too. The moon."—Matthew's jaw dropped—"I had a treaty with Soviet Russia to keep her a secret from the rest of the world, but he messed up and Arthur saw Nikki, my sister, and I had a lot of stuff to do today so I left Ivan here in charge of explaining everything. Let's just say he was lacking in the compassion and understanding department. So we are all here."

Where exactly was Matthew supposed to begin here? Clearly Arthur was not going to start the onslaught, so someone had to.

"Al, how could you!? Again, really!?" he ranted, "First Jackson and now someone else? How many people are you hiding from the world, from us, from me!?"

Everyone in that room had expected Alfred to soften from his harshness to pacify his brother. Nope.

"How could I!? I was in the middle of the Cold War, still hiding Jackie, and she was a nation born in space! I already had to fight Ivan over her as soon as the rocket landed, and facing the same thing from the rest of the world was just not that appealing, to either of us, so we agreed on a treaty. That is why she became a secret. The reason she stayed a secret was because I have not had time to even think about revealing her. Heck, Jackie has not even put in his two cents yet. She just woke up out of her hibernation not too long ago, which she slips in and out of for years on end, by the way, and I just picked her up from the hospital that was monitoring her health afterwards yesterday after I left the meeting because it is unhealthy to go for years at a time on life support. That was why Jackson even called me in the first place. Before that I have not had a chance to sleep between visiting her in the hospital and preparing my presentation. Even Vanya here was only caught because he has not slept in days, like me, because he was trying to get all his work done in time for the meeting so he could actually stay here a little while and visit Nikki. And, really, we went through all of this with Jackson. If you two do not trust me on my reasons by now there is nothing I can do. I did what I did and I cannot do a thing about it now, but I did it because I thought I was right at the time. I am tired of being doubted for my past when I am not doubting you guys for yours!"

By the end of Alfred's rant both Matthew and Arthur were speechless. What all had Alfred been keeping inside of himself for this long? It made that familiar feeling of guilt rise up in Arthur's throat. He had been pretty selfish lately, had he not? He never once thought about Alfred was going through, even in the incident with Jackson. The American may have accepted that he deserved all the doubt and suspicion, but it still must have hurt. If anyone was being distrustful, it was Arthur. Now that was a smack in the face. Even Matthew felt similarly. He never really went off on people, but when he did it was usually the right thing to do. This had not turned out to be, at all, and the tomato red that was devouring his skin told everyone he realized that. He really did take Alfred for granted sometimes, as one of the few people that readily recognized him and put up with his sometimes pointless nagging. Even Ivan was somewhat affected by the speech, in that he was silent and frowning.

Alfred shook his head, "Look, I did not want to yell at you guys but it is"—he glanced at his watch—"five in the morning on a work day when I have not slept in"—he started counting on his fingers—"about a good one hundred and sixteen hours. You start counting after a while. And all of this"—he threw his hands up in the air—"could have been solved at seven if Ivan had just explained things normally, or I would not have even been woken if you two did not come beating down my door and waited until tomorrow instead, like normal people. So excuse me if I am a little curt."

Everyone in the living room nodded and Alfred smiled for the first time since they all had seen him that night.

"Good, so now I am going to go back upstairs to stare at the ceiling and pretend to sleep, while you three are more than welcome to stay the last few hours before daylight. Help yourself to the kitchen and fight amongst yourselves for who gets the guest room, the couch, and, finally, the floor. Good morning, then!"

Not even giving them a chance to respond he made his way up the stairs. There was an unspoken consensus that even if he had he would not have listened anyway. Arthur laughed internally at the thought. He was being far kinder than he had to right now, why should he?

"I get the guest room then, da? I was here first." asserted the Russian.

Matthew shook his head vehemently in protest and Russia's miasma slowly began to encroach on the Canadian. The sight caused the Englishman to raise a pronounced eyebrow.

"What exactly do you think you two are doing?"

Both the Canadian and Russian immediately froze and started staring at the Brit.

"You want the room, too, eh?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and moved his hands to his hips, "No, I do not want the bloody room."

"Then—"

"But neither of you two are getting it either."

Matthew gulped. Any and all fear that Arthur had possessed earlier was long gone because he just cut off the Russian.

"You two caused this mess just like me, and I will not be the only one making it up to him."

"What are we supposed to do, (da/eh)?" they chorused.

"Housework, of course. Jackson does a pretty thorough job, but they both have at least fifty houses each. That is a minimum of a hundred between them. Plus there are three residents, one of which being a small child that must be cared for and the other two with demanding, full time jobs. Any and all relief from this domestic work will be greatly appreciated. Now someone grab a duster and the other a broom, that is all I ask while I cover the rest of the odds and ends, and do your job thoroughly because I know where Alfred keeps his white gloves. Expect inspection."

Alfred was right, Arthur could really be a tyrant when he wanted to be. Matthew wanted to declare independence himself right about now, or at least have the choice to pay the taxes, representation in parliament or not.