Finally! I have finished the sixth chapter! I apologize for the long wait, but I just went through a long time with no writing. Yes, it was horrible.

February 2nd, 1939

Alfred was walking down the hallway with his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans, having just awoken not that long ago. He was currently staying in Ludwig and Amelia's home on the pretense that he was visiting the two. In truth, he was closely observing the actions of Germany. The tension that was building up in Europe – he didn't even want to think about what was happening in the Pacific with Japan and China at this moment – lit up his instincts that told him all hell was about to break loose. He had absolutely no plans of getting involved, especially not if it involved him fighting against Germany. That would be chaos on a personal level that he just did not want.

He was suddenly passed by a blonde-haired boy, running at full speed towards the stairs, his rucksack bouncing up and down with the movement. Alfred noticed that he was wearing an outfit Arthur would approve of; a white button-up topped with a navy blue sweater vest and red bow tie, black slacks supported by a belt, and black dress shoes. It was definitely something Arthur would have picked out, momentarily making him wonder whether Amelia had gone and spilled the beans to the man, who turned out to be not angry and was so delighted that he sent over the ensemble. Not a chance in hell, his inner voice replied, prompting him to lay the blame upon Ludwig.

"What's the rush, little guy?" He called to the figure's back, a grin now alight on his face.

Hans stopped in his tracks, turning around to face his uncle, offering up a bright smile. "Herr Hitler is taking me with him to inspect the SS today." As a side note, he added, "And I am not a 'little guy', uncle. Mutti says that I am growing up quickly."

Alfred laughed, walking close enough to Hans to mess up the boy's hair with his right hand. "She hit the nail on the head there. You look twice your age already."

Hans quickly flattened his hair, giving his uncle a reprimanding look for having displaced it in the first place. "Soon, I will be as big as you, uncle. You must help me become one of the greatest nations then."

Alfred stopped laughed, pausing at these words. Help Hans become a great nation? But Hans was not a nation. He was Amelia and Ludwig's son, perhaps a human – no, he was not human. His significant growth in only six years confirmed that. Glancing downwards, Alfred stared into Hans' determined blue eyes. He was a nation, a growing nation. The United States was wary of this nation, unsure of his intentions. But Hans, he was Alfred's nephew. Alfred wanted to help him, would always help him. And so, with his smile returning, he said, "Of course, buddy. We'll make this world one awesome place to live in together."

Satisfied with this response, Hans walked with Alfred to the front door, said goodbye, and ran to the waiting car outside the front door. The window rolled down, Alfred caught sight of Hitler, who stared back at Alfred, smiled, and nodded his head. Alfred responded in kind, waved to Hans, who had turned around to do the same before hopping in the automobile, and then softly closed the door. He wondered if Hans was now telling Hitler who he was. Probably, Alfred could see the question swirling in his eyes. He was assessing him, like a chess piece.

Three different voices greeted him at once as he entered the dining room. Amelia, Ludwig, and Gilbert were already seated at the table, an open chair beside Gilbert presumably there for him. He sat, taking in the aroma of freshly cooked eggs, sausage, and biscuits with gravy. The last time he'd actually had a decent breakfast was December 25th of last year when Rosslyn and Eleanor cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for everyone. Christmas with the states had grown more lively and joyous as the years went on, though it had taken the food a few decades after Arthur's absence to become delicious.

"Alfred, here," Amelia was passing him a glass of champagne, to which he responded with a raised eyebrow. Champagne for breakfast was quite strange. Had Amelia hit her head lately? Did she know what time it was? Regardless of these thoughts, he took the glass slowly; Amelia grinning all the while.

Raising her glass, Amelia cleared her throat, "To the end of the Mexican-American War."

And suddenly it made sense – the champagne, Amelia's grin. This was the day Amelia and he had stopped fighting Juan and Maria. The day that the *Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago was signed, ending the war and ceding a large part of Mexico to the United States. He also remembered having paid 15 million dollars for that ceded land, forgiving the Mexican war debt, paying off Mexico's debt to the people who already inhabited that new land (3.25 million, as he recalled), and then paying another 6 million six years later for Arizona and New Mexico. Looking back, he thought, that was a lot of money he would have liked to have around now. Mirth in his eyes, he clinked his glass against hers, "This makes 91 years since the end now."

"I can hear Juan's curses from across the Atlantic."

"Maria breaking dishes while fussing about those damn gringos."

"Did you two really steal land from Mexico?" Gilbert, egg halfway in his mouth, had asked nonchalantly.

Simultaneously, Amelia and Alfred set their respective champagne glasses on the table, and shouted, "We did not steal it!"

"Our government paid a total of 24,250,000 for all that land," Amelia huffed, her arms crossed over her chest.

Alfred continued eating, stabbing his fork rather aggressively into a sausage. It irked him whenever someone spoke badly of his nation, due to all that patriotism, he supposed. Sure, he knew how to own up to the mistakes of his country, but people making accusations was something he deplored. The mention of stolen land in Germany's letter to Mexico that further prompted him to get involved in WWI had upset him more than the fact that Germany was asking Mexico to attack the United States.

"Hm," was Gilbert's acknowledgment of Amelia's words. You could tell from the way his eyes studied his plate of food that he was still mulling over whether the land was stolen or not.

"Alfred," Ludwig called to the blonde man, speaking for the first time since Alfred had sat down. He was staring intensely at the American, making Alfred shift his full attention to the German. "The uranium atom…" He stopped, furrowing his eyebrows.

Alfred sat up straighter, suddenly on guard.

"You split the uranium atom in two?"

Alfred nodded. "Dunning, Henderson, Slack, and Booth did it at Columbia University."

"So nuclear fission has been confirmed." Ludwig smiled, though his eyes betrayed a different emotion. "Imagine the rewards of this discovery."

"Rewards?" Alfred looked troubled at the thought. "**Dunning said this discovery would have far-reaching consequences."

Amelia looked up from her plate at the two men. "Consequences? You think it could be dangerous?" This also drew the attention of Gilbert, his eyes trained on his brother. There was something going on with Ludwig, he'd noticed it years ago. The excitement in his voice over this whole nuclear fission ordeal was unnatural and further added to all the other odd things Ludwig had been supporting – the reoccupation of the Rhineland, annexing land from Czechoslovakia and the whole of Austria, burning Jewish buildings, supporting the Spanish nationalist, forming an Axis with Italy, and so much more.

Ludwig looked to Amelia, his eyes searching hers for that hint of doubt he'd seen in them ever since he'd annexed Austria. "Nein, not consequences, but rewards. It will greatly aid the German nation." There it was, that doubt. She didn't believe in what he was doing. But he was doing it all for her and Hans. Eventually, she would see that.

"How's Arthur," asked Amelia, switching the subject abruptly. She could tell that it was bothering Alfred greatly and Ludwig's mysterious behavior was, frankly, beginning to worry her. A lighter subject – one about adopted family members – she hoped, would lighten up the room's mood. Seeing as she hadn't seen them all in years due to her need to be incognito, it was actually something that she didn't have to pretend to be interested in.

"Grumpy, as per usual. He's been on edge lately…paranoid." Subtly, Alfred's eyes averted to Ludwig at this, implying that he blamed Arthur's recent paranoia on said man. The last time Alfred had phoned Arthur, he'd gone on about how he was sure the Germans were up to something dastardly. They were going to start another war, he'd said, and he hoped that Alfred would see fit this time to jump in a little sooner. At this, Alfred had shook his head to himself, and told Arthur that he had important business to attend to just to avoid listening to the man go on about his late entrance into the First World War for the hundredth time.

Amelia nodded. "Arthur's always going to be Arthur. And Francis?"

"Still a perv," was the short response from Alfred.

Gilbert sighed, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "Francis has been such a downer lately. He's always talking about Antonio and the civil war in Spain."

"It is understandable. There are many French fighting on the losing side."

"You are right, bruder. German citizens fight on both sides too. And your citizens, Alfred, there are many of them fighting in Spain as well, right?"

"Americans are fighting in Spain?" Amelia was surprised by this revelation. This was news to her. She hardly knew what was going on at all out in the world, except for what little Ludwig relayed to her. Usually, she did not think much of this, because she trusted him to tell her important things. But this – he hadn't told her this and it was important. So, with accusing eyes, she turned to him, "Why didn't you tell me this?"

Ludwig stared back at her calmly, Alfred and Gilbert watching the two as quietly as a fly on the wall. "It was not important."

"Not important?" Amelia's voice had gotten louder, something that only happened in three situations: 1) When she was extremely happy and/or excited, 2) When she was angry and 3) When she needed to assert her authority. It was number two on this occasion. "How is that information not important?"

"They are not supported by your government."

"That's true, Amelia, the government doesn't support them. They're fighting on the same side as the Soviet Union," Alfred tried appealing to her, knowing just how quickly the woman could get riled up and how difficult it was to settle her down again.

Gilbert jumped into the conversation next. "Anti-fascists, pro-communists?"

Alfred gave a short nod, "I mean, I don't think they're all communists, but they're definitely anti-fascists. That's not a bad thing, but politically, they're untrustworthy."

Ludwig and Gilbert both gave a nod of understanding, and though Amelia understood the situation better, she still had a frown on her face. That Ludwig had not told her this, she didn't know why, but it upset her more than it should have. What else had he not told her? What else would he not tell her? Was it really necessary to continue on in hiding after all these years or was that just what Ludwig wanted? That such thoughts permeated her mind made her tremble at just how fragile their relationship was becoming. If she couldn't trust him now, perhaps it meant that she had never truly loved Ludwig. It made her want to break down in tears right then and there.

"Alice told Arthur to tell me to tell you to use the bloody phone once in a while," Alfred said this with a forced smile, again trying to appease Amelia. He could tell from the look on her face that it wasn't just Ludwig not telling her about the situation in Spain that was bothering her.

Amelia let out a short huff of air, "Why? So that she can yell at me over the long distance? No, thanks."

Things we skipped over to get to this chapter (I'm trying to only mention significant events): 1936 – On October 20 the Japanese-backed Mongolian troops attacked northern China (Battle of Suiyan); the Rome-Berlin Axis was formed on October 25 (Italy and Germany alliance startup); the Anti-Comintern Pact (basically saying that they were against Communism and all for Fascism) was signed by Japan and Italy on November 26; Hitler made it mandatory for all males ages 10-18 to join the Hitler Youth; and the Chinese Civil War ended (temporarily, on December 12) so the two sides could unite against Japan.

1937 – On July 7, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurs, which is usually regarded as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War; In November Japan had two decisive victories against China, then in December established the puppet nation of Mengjiang (backed by the last Chinese emperor, I might add); Italy left the League of Nations on December 11.

1938 – Austria is annexed by Nazi Germany on March 13; The Soviet-Japanese Border Wars begin on July 29 with the Battle of Lake Khasan (the Soviet Union won that battle in August); The Munich Agreement was signed on September 30, giving Nazi Germany areas along the border of Czechoslovakia (signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy without Czechoslovakia) – a matter of note is that the French and British thought that this would help prevent another war and bring about appeasement to the Germans; Kristallnacht began in Germany on November 9 – Jewish shops and synagogues were smashed, looted, burned, and destroyed throughout Germany

1939 – On January 23 the British government deals with the 'Dutch War Scare' (there was misinformation that Germany would attack the Netherlands in February); the uranium atom is split for the first time at Columbia University in the United States on January 25; Plan Z, a five-year naval expansion plan is enacted by Hitler on the 27th of January

*I am so tired of reading online comments that say the United States stole the southwest from Mexico. Read a history book (and stop jumping on the metaphorical 'bandwagon'), will you? The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War, was signed on February 2, 1848, by Nicholas P. Trist, for the United States, and by a special commission representing the collapsed government of Mexico.

Under the treaty, Mexico ceded to the United States Upper California and New Mexico (including Arizona) and recognized U.S. claims over Texas, with the Rio Grande as its southern boundary. The United States in turn paid Mexico $15,000,000, assumed the claims of American citizens against Mexico, ($3.25 Million) recognized prior land grants in the Southwest, and offered citizenship to any Mexicans residing in the area. Then a few years later, the US bought the land that is now Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico for another 6 million dollars (actually, the US sent 7 million, but somewhere in Mexico 1 million of it was lost). Territory has been gained and lost in wars for centuries without paying such a large sum of money, so I suppose most all land has been stolen then.

**Dunning wrote in his diary after the experiment: "Believe we have observed new phenomenon of far-reaching consequences". The work at Columbia did indeed confirm nuclear fission, which was suggested by Austrian physicists Otto Frisch and Lise Meitner. German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann were the first to split uranium atoms in two by bombarding them with neutrons.

Please do review and tell me what your thoughts are on this chapter or any previous ones! Thanks!