Hello everyone! I'm back. I swear, my internet these days. Grr… it better start working again before I kill all twelve people in this house!

Er… anyway… many thanks to my beloved reviewers;

FangirlOfDOOOOM…er…I'm sorry? Thank you? I'm not really sure how to respond to that but thanks anyway!

The wonderful elizabeta H. Austria; here is your next chapter, my impatient viewer. As promised, you will find out what's happening with England and her gang.

Chapter 12: Primrose

"What the fuck do you mean he kissed you?!" Jake Jones demanded.

Arthurine Kirkland glared, speaking as best she could with a bruised and sore throat. She was still gasping, even though she'd managed to make him put her down (with a strict order and a kick to the kneecap).

Her throat burned on both the inside and the outside, she tugged her nonexistent collar up higher and, for the first time in a long time, wished she still had her long hair to cover it. She didn't even want to think about what it looked like.

She'd started explaining things to Jake a little while ago but he seemed to be having trouble with the idea of Jean willingly kissing anyone.

"I meant exactly what I said, don't you take that tone with me young man! And watch your goddamn language!" Arthurine snapped, wincing.

Jake actually looked guilty, "sorry ma'am," he said meekly.

Arthurine almost raised an eyebrow; apparently Olivia hadn't gotten strict with him very often.

She rubbed her throat, "well anyway, yes, Jean kissed me. And Olivia saw, she ran off crying. That was about two hours ago, I haven't seen either of them since." Cuz she'd fucked up with her best friend and spent from then til now hiding in a forest.

Coward, she scolded herself mentally.

"So let me get this straight." Jake said slowly, Arthurine didn't think she liked the look in his eye, "after knowing full well that Olivia had been in love with him for thousands of years he declares his love for a woman who looks exactly like Olivia that he met what? Three, four months ago? And this is after spending thousands of years hiding behind the pathetic excuse that he's unable to love when we all know he's just too chickenshit to do so. Is that it?"

"Err…well…" Arthurine tried to think up something to say in Jean's defence that didn't sound like it was an excuse she'd thought up at the last second to defend Jean. She was coming up blank.

"It sounds bad when you say it like that." She said at last, though Jake was equally aware of what she didn't say.

Yeah, pretty much.

Jake stood from where he was crouched down by a kneeling Arthurine, "I'm going to kill him," he said in a voice so low and deadly England barely heard him.

She sprung up and caught his hand, "don't!"

Her world spun, she had low blood pressure and had just gotten up much too fast after being strangled and slammed against a tree. And it had been a long day.

England staggered, apparently Jake had faster reflexes than Alfred or Francis, and he caught her and cradled her against his chest, as her vision went in and out of blackness.

He tapped her face, "can you hear me?"

She sat up, or tried to, easier said than done when you were being carried bridal style by a homicidal version of the guy you liked.

"I'm fine, just a dizzy spell." She panted, clutching onto Jake's shirt for support with one hand and her own head with the other.

Jake started walking, "am I even going the right d…arn way?" He seemed to be censoring himself at her request.

Arthurine tried to focus her eyes long enough to see the forest around her, "yes, you are. Please, put me down now, I can walk on my own." Her head lolled against Jake's chest, utterly exhausted, what's wrong with me? Must be all those late nights, and maybe I'm getting old. She allowed herself a grim smile at that one.

Jake snorted but thankfully didn't press the point.

He saw her house up ahead and just as the back door appeared in view it burst open revealing three people. Two males with dark blond hair and a female with bubblegum-pink hair wearing a long-sleeved powder blue sweater over a white collared shirt and long pink shirt.

Alfred broke away from the other two and ran up to them, "England!"

He reached them; panting, blue eyes alight with worry, "England!" He cried again.

His ex-colonizer stirred weakly, "oh stop yelling you hamburger-loving idiot," she sighed, "I'm alright."

Typical America, he laughed at every time something bad happened but the moment she was in real trouble he was always right by her side, pushy, loud and annoying, making sure nothing else happened to her. Though mostly this was because he was the one who had gotten her into trouble in the first place, or was connected in some way, she thought, with a roll of her eyes.

America held out his arms, "give her here," he snapped angrily, he didn't know who Jake was-though he could make a pretty good guess- or what he was doing here and he didn't care. All that mattered right now was Arthurine. She was all that had ever mattered to him, he reflected.

At first England was annoyed at being passed around like a piece of baggage when Jake handed her to Alfred.

Then his arms surrounded her, she felt the familiar and comforting material of his jacket under her cheek and sighed softly, shutting her eyes again. His familiar and comforting chocolate lynx deodorant and less comforting but just as familiar smell of hamburgers enveloped her and Arthurine couldn't help but smile slightly.

This was the one place in the world where absolutely nothing could hurt her.

Oh I'm as bad as Olivia, she thought ruefully as America, her America, carried her back into her house. Actually I'm more pathetic than she is; at least Jean isn't hundreds of years younger than she is. Though my chance of getting the guy I love is far better than hers. She let out another sigh, this one much louder and sadder than the first one.

And I don't have a freaking chance.

"Are you feeling any better now?" Olivia asked with concern, Arthurine sighed, it'd been about an hour since Jake had carried her back and about fifty-nine minutes since she'd started feeling better. Everyone just needed to relax.

"I'm sorry," Jean said quietly, "I started this."

He caught Olivia's gaze over the couch Arthurine was resting on, red and blue met briefly then they both glanced away awkwardly.

Arthurine saw this but chose not to bring it up. She waved her hand, "this isn't your fault Jean." Or at least not completely.

"Don't worry about it blondie, after I rip your freaking head off, everything will be great again!" Jake said, coming into the room, hands tightening on his trusty baseball bat.

Jean sighed and his shoulders slumped but he didn't even bother moving away, Arthurine swung her legs over the side of the couch and began to stand as Jake move forwards.

"Jake don't-" She began.

A silvery dagger whizzed past Jake so close he almost lost his nose, he froze, body rigid with horror as the dagger buried itself in the opposite wall. Jean on the other hand didn't even blink, he was used to this.

Arthurine followed the dagger's path backwards to Olivia who had a slightly mad glint in her eyes as she lowered the arm she had used to throw the dagger.

"Now now Jakie~!" She said in a cheery, sing-song voice, "After all these years you should know better than that~!"

Jean caught Arthurine's eye this time and rolled his slightly, Arthurine couldn't share the sentiment.

Just then America re-appeared, holding a glass of water in one hand and a damp cloth in the other, seemingly oblivious to the fact that two of the room's occupants had just tried to murder two occupants.

"Can I get you anything else?" He asked worriedly, Arthurine almost sighed, there was nothing wrong with her! She'd been in far worse shape before and he'd done nothing but laugh.

"Get him out of here," she hissed, jerking her head at Jake, keeping the cloth that he'd tried to place on her head (but at least it wasn't a hamburger this time!) in her hands and setting the glass on the coffee table.

America looked at Jake and noticed the baseball bat in his hands, he jumped up and bounded over to him, clapping his other self (though if he'd noticed that he gave no sign of it) on the shoulder. "Dude! How about you and I go grab a burger together!?"

That was much subtler than England had been expecting and she was eternally grateful.

Jake shook his head, "I'm a vegetarian actually." He informed Alfred, whose jaw dropped. Arthurine's eyebrows rose too, she hadn't been expecting that.

"He means 'get out,' Jake," Olivia said sweetly and much less subtly. She stalked over to the wall and yanked her dagger free. "Sorry about the wall Arthie," she said.

"Don't call me that," Arthurine said automatically. The only nicknames she tolerated (other than France's) was the occasional 'Arthur' from one of her brothers or 'Alice' from America.

She smiled, remembering that one. When they'd been younger Canada had had a horrific time trying to pronounce her name, for some reason he just couldn't wrap his tongue around it. It was the same as England not being able to say 'tarantula' when she was younger, America had had a hard time with 'cinnamon' too.

So she'd needed a nickname that wasn't just 'England' so Canada could call her something personal too.

So America had suggested 'Alice' apparently her blonde hair and favourite blue and white dress reminded him of Alice in Wonderland. And hadn't that stuck. They still called her that sometimes.

Olivia, stowing her dagger away in her skirt, walked out the door leading to the rest of the house as Jake turned and went back out the other door into the kitchen. Jean hesitated for a few seconds, then followed Olivia.

This left America alone with England. Alfred shrugged one shoulder to say 'I tried' while Arthurine shrugged one of her own, 'no big deal.'

Outside in the hall Jean hurried forwards a few steps and caught Olivia's arm, "we need to talk."

She stared back at him wordlessly.

America knelt down beside the couch again, "hey England, I've been thinking," he said seriously.

"About what?" Arthurine asked, taking a sip of water. Her bored tone masked her curiosity; anything America had been seriously thinking about was cause for interest.

"You know how all of your brother's have big eyebrows?" He asked.

England automatically knew this was going to annoy her, "yes?" She pressed.

"Well, I was just wondering why you don't?" He said seriously.

Irritation flared through her, this was what he'd worried her for? "Well I used to America!" She snapped. "But I gave them all my love and care so they grew up, staged a revolution, stabbed me in the back, broke my heart and threw all of my love into the dirt! But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you America?!"

She got up off the couch and stormed away a few steps as America's blue eyes widened; I was trying to lighten the mood. Where the Hell did that come from?!

Fortunately England's anger and confusion disappeared much quicker this time. As Alfred turned to leave, mumbling an apology, she ran around the couch and caught his hand. It went much better than when she'd tried to catch Jake's hand and stop him from leaving.

"Alfred wait! I'm sorry. I'm being a bitch to everyone who's nice to me right now." She said regretfully.

She expected him to mumble some excuse and bolt out the room or get all bright and cheerful again and ignore the issue. Instead he laughed slightly and ran a hand through his blond hair, "you're not having a good day, are you?"

She wasn't having a good past four months but England didn't say that. Instead, she shook her head wordlessly. Then she sighed and ran her own hand through her own blonde hair, "And you're not the only person I need to apologize to. I need to go to France."

"France, why, what's he done?" America asked, he knew of her rivalry-like dislike of the country.

"That's the thing, he hasn't done anything. He's been perfect and I ripped his head off for it. And now he's not answering any of my calls." England's conscience just wasn't going to let her rest until she'd made things right between them. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried again, just in case.

Nothing.

"I'll come with you then," America offered, England nodded gratefully.

"I was hoping you'd say that." She admitted.

They were at the door Jake had gone through now when America stopped and caught England's shoulder, making her stop too. "Hey, Arthurine. Wait a sec, there's one more thing."

England blinked at the use of her real name, she didn't think she'd ever heard him actually use it before, "what is it Alfred?" She questioned as he cupped both her cheeks with his gloved hands, playing with the tips of her short hair.

"What on Earth do you think you're doing?" She demanded as he leaned forwards.

America smiled, "changing everything completely."

And then his mouth covered hers.

Dudes! That was so not meant to happen! The kiss was a spur of the moment decision! But it felt right!

Anyway, the plot thickens! Yay! And I named this chapter Primrose because it means 'I can't live without you.'

...yeah, my friend and I came up with the eyebrows scene when we realized that Nyo!England doesn't have bushy eyebrows.

R & R guys, tell me what you think!

Bye!