I'm back! Yay.

Thank you for your reviews, guys. To be honest, I'm always terrified that they're going to tell me these chapters suck, and that they're horrible, and that I'm a horrible person. So I get really anxious when I see a notification letting me know that someone reviewed my story. But I'm always pleasantly surprised with all of y'all's glowing praise and helpful criticism. So thank you for making me smile.

And for the events that will happen in next chapter, do look at the bottom of Chapter Two. A clue is hidden in the society explanations there.

ScarletPrussia: Don't worry, I'm getting that sword thing covered in this chapter. xD Thank you for your reviews, though! I'm really glad you like it, and I'm so surprised that you continue to read this. I absolutely adored your fan fiction when I first came upon it, and it inspired me to write this one, and to discover that you're reading and actually enjoying this is so unbelievable for me. SO thank you! I hope I'm not taking things too quickly with their character changes?

Guest: As a matter of fact, I do! And I'm thrilled with your idea. I shall get working on it over this weekend. :3

Shoutout to the Following People for Commenting: BlackWitchesCat, vellymymare, sovaleika, and meep. I adore all of your opinion's and reviews, so keep 'em coming!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hetalia franchise. For the fourteenth time.

Enjoy!

A Botched Reconciliation

"We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward."

―Alison Croggon

The next day dawned bright, the sun peeling like oranges over Eliza's back and along the contours of her face. Gilbert was watching her through half-lidded eyes, one hand stroking lazily up and down her back, sliding beneath her brastrap and then away. Her form was a comfortable weight on his chest, her hair curling out over the rest of Gilbert's bare chest that she wasn't lying on. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she began to move her arms and legs as she awakened.

Her parents were due to return that day, though Gilbert doubted that they much cared if he and Eliza were up and ready to greet them or not.

So he lay in contentment, waiting for Eliza's sleepy voice to break the smooth silence of the morning hours.

"Jó reggelt," she murmured, throat not quite functioning properly. Gilbert tilted her chin up and kissed her.

"Gutenmorgen," he rasped out, his voice a confusing blend of gloss and sandpaper.

They were slow to get their day started, and even while they were getting ready, Gilbert saw Eliza's hand subconsciously drift to rest on her belly.

He supposed it was only natural for Eliza to wish that she was pregnant. That was an Omega's first desire, after all. It was an instinct that was ingrained in their heads since the dawn of time.

But he secretly hoped that she wasn't. He didn't want kids, neither of them were ready. He wanted to graduate high school, and though he was still having difficulty with the idea of "Omega's Rights" he found that he too wanted her to graduate.

Because Eliza was meant for more than just raising children. She had ideas and goals and dreams and drive. There was so much she could put her clever little mind to than just raising her and Gilbert's children—not that he didn't want her to do that either.

Nothing was said on the subject, however, as he knew that Eliza probably wasn't even aware of what she was doing. They ate the traditional breakfast of Eggo waffles, and Gilbert stared vaguely at his hands. He and Eliza had decided not to go to school that day, as it was a Friday anyway and Gilbert still had to talk to his father. He had completely forgotten to yesterday, and was now very set on completing his mission.

Eliza sat at the table, her fingers turning through the pages of a book that she seemed to be fascinated with.

Gilbert peered at the title, having to tilt his head to get a proper look at it. The cover was a rather racy picture of a bare-chested male Alpha. One could only see half of his face, blond hair spiraling down to his jaw, and the Manhattan skyline trailed along the bottom of the book, blocking out the boy's legs and pelvis.

The title was The City of Bones and Gilbert was already not fond of how it looked. "Elizaveta, what on Earth could you possibly be reading?" he questioned, noticing the glaze that was in her eyes as she looked over at him. She must have been really immersed.

"I'm reading the City of Bones, what does it look like?" she asked. She could smell the unnecessary and petty jealousy emanating from Gilbert. Sighing, she shut the book and slid it across the table towards him. "Here, read the back cover."

Dubiously, Gil picked the volume up and peered at the back, his red eyes ducking over each word.

He raised one eyebrow. "An Alpha couple?" he asked her, eyes flicking to clash with her green ones. "What a preposterous notion." He put the book down and pushed it back over to Elizaveta, seeing the flush of irritation beginning to spread up her neck and around her ears.

"It is not preposterous. In fact, it's getting more common, so don't be all high-and-mighty," she grumbled before resuming her reading.

A half-an-hour passed before there was the sound of the front door opening and shutting, and then the gentle murmur of Hungarian tongue.

Eliza's parents were home.

Suddenly ten times more nervous than he had been previously, Gil began to drum his fingers anxiously on the wooden table, not noticing the amused smile that Eliza threw his direction.

Etel was the first in the room, Aranka following her. Both were wearing large smiles, though Aranka paused upon entering and scented the air, her brow crinkling a moment before she relaxed. Gilbert didn't question it, though he did see Elizaveta shifting next to him in response to her mother's strange action.

Awkward greetings were given among the four, before Etel disappeared. Sensing that Aranka wanted to talk to her daughter alone, Gilbert elected to return to Eliza's room. He had to think about what to say to his father anyway.

Once Gil had vacated the room, Aranka took his recently emptied chair. Eliza peered at her mother, every nerve in her itching to run up after Gilbert and wrap her Alpha around herself. But that wasn't practical, and so she chose to remain seated.

It was an awkward silence, neither of them wanting to break it with the first chance at voicing uncomfortable sentences.

"Eliza… You do know that you aren't pregnant, right?" said Aranka, being the bigger person in the scenario.

Liz sighed and nodded her head, shifting in her seat once more. Her body was crying out for Gilbert, it was rather pathetic. She was laying it down to her waning heat. "I know, Anya, but I don't know how he'll take it." She ran a nervous hand through her unbrushed hair.

Aranka's eyes softened. "Oh, Eliza, if he loves you than he will not care."

Elizaveta shook her head vehemently. "He came from a traditional family, how am I supposed to know what he would think? What if he was expecting me to get pregnant?" Her tone was rapidly growing more strained, and Aranka reached out to hug her beautiful Omega daughter close.

"Go talk to him about it," she advised before pressing a kiss to the crown of her daughter's head.

They spent a few more minutes talking about things that were of little importance, no doubt her mother's attempt at trying to get Elizaveta to calm down, when she heard Etel calling for her from the other room. Sending a reassuring smile to her daughter, she stood and went to see what it was her mate could possibly want.

Liz fled up the stairs, pathetic in her desperation to be near her mate.

Her mother had known that she wasn't pregnant because Omegas can sense that sort of thing. If another Omega near them is pregnant, they will be able to smell it altering the Omega's scent before an Alpha would be able to. Call it an Omega superpower.

The flaw was that Omegas would frequently grow insecure around pregnant Omegas, or upon being told that they weren't. When they got into this mentality, they would cling to their mates with an intenseness that Alphas sometimes found to be off-putting.

Gilbert could smell the distress marring his mate's scent seconds before she entered the room. Peering over his shoulder at her from where he'd been staring out of her window, he saw the torment in her eyes and immediately turned his body towards her, instincts snapping at him to figure out what was hurting his mate and fix the problem.

Eliza walked towards Gil and wrapped his arms around her, resting her forehead on his chest and drinking in his scent. Her hands fisted in his shirt, her mind rapidly smoothing at the comfort provided her by the man she loved.

"Gilbert, there's something I need to tell you," she said, taking a moment to breathe.

He rubbed her back in an absently smoothing gesture, though she could sense his anxiety. He no doubt thought that she was going to tell him she wanted to leave him, or something along those lines instead of her actual truth. Like she would ever tell him she'd kissed Roderich before Gilbert got serious about her.

"I'm not pregnant."

She felt his arms tighten around her a moment, before he let out a sigh of what felt to be relief.

"That's great, Liz. Danke Gott because I don't think we would have been ready for a kid."

Gilbert could feel her confusion in the tenseness to her shoulders and back.

"I want to graduate high school before we have children. And…" He hesitated at this, not sure if admitting it aloud was the best idea. "And I want you to graduate as well." He tucked a stray curl behind her ear, his fingers dipping down to circle the mark on her neck.

The odd part about those marks was that they frequently adopted the color of their creator's hair. So his mark was rapidly turning white. Antonio's mark was as dark as his brown hair, standing out on Lovino's tan neck.

"You have dreams, Liz, and I don't want to be the one to hold you back from those. We'll have kids when you're ready—when we're both ready—and I don't think that we are." He knew that he was making a big leap here. He'd gone far from where he'd been a few weeks ago. It was rather startling, but he found that his affection for Elizaveta was influencing these changes. He wanted the best for her, and he could see that holing her up in his home was not the way to go.

That wasn't to say that he didn't still want three to four children, but that was a battle to be undertaken another day.

Eliza was flushed with a pleased smile, and she rewarded him for his efforts with a kiss. "I love you."

It was a couple more hours before either of them managed to gather the gumption to suggest that they go visit Gil's family. Gilbert was working on Statistics homework and Eliza was grumbling over a piece of embroidery that she was supposed to have finished by Monday. It was a pain in the ass to complete, however, and was giving her more pricked fingers than was entirely necessary.

Finally, at the behest of Elizaveta-who had grown so sick of her homework that she wanted Gilbert to go and get his self-assigned homework over with-they slid into the truck and took the longest way to get to the Beilschmidt residence. Eliza could see that Gil was doing that on purpose. Her mate was unnecessarily nervous, but she let him find his own ways to calm himself down.

They both stood uncomfortably in front of the jet black Beilschmidt door, the address of the place spiraling out in curled silver lettering on the bottom edge. A peephole was in the middle, the mailbox situated next to it on the same wall the door was in.

The sound of footsteps rumbled from the other side and after a moment of silence, and no doubt deliberation on the other end, the knob was turned and the slab of wood pulled open.

Ludwig stood across from them, bare-chested and with bandages wrapping a fascinating design of crossing lines across his chest. His black eye had nearly completely healed, and other than the obvious, he seemed pretty well off.

Gilbert wanted to weep from relief.

Feliciano peered over his mate's soldier, his eyes alighting on Gil and Eliza with innocent joy. "Gilbert, Eliza!" he chirped happily, trying to make his way around his unmoving mate, but Ludwig held him back, a warning sound emitting from his throat.

Feliciano bowed his head and shuffled away, sending a morose look Eliza's way before scuttling up the stairs.

"Ludwig," said Gil, stepping forward hesitantly from where he had stood. This move did one of many things. It put his foot in the doorway, should his younger sibling try to slam the door shut, it got him closer to his brother, and it shifted his body in front of his mate's.

Ludwig's eyes narrowed, having noted these things as well. Sighing, he opened the door further and gestured for the two to come into the house. Clearly the younger Beilschmidt and his Italian mate had yet to find a house suiting them.

Gilbert's father was presumably in the office, and his mother possibly upstairs, or possibly in the kitchen.

Ludwig spoke first. "Gilbert, why have you come back?"

"Because things didn't end on the right foot."

"You tried to kill him!"

"He tried to make me leave Eliza!"

"That doesn't matter. She's an Omega, you can find another."

Red eyes narrowed warningly. "Watch yourself, Ludwig. If I said the same of Feliciano? He's just as replaceable, if not more so. Anyone can find a flighty, silly Omega on the streets." He knew he was being unnecessarily cruel, but Lud had hit a nerve.

Silence let him know that his point had been made, and so he guided Eliza to the sofa and took a seat after settling her down. One hand fell around her waist and he peered up at Ludwig from where he'd situated himself. Only two seconds in the door and he was already arguing with someone. Not a good omen.

"Do take a seat, there's no need to be so nervous, Bruder."

Ludwig sighed and did as told. He still showed deference to Gilbert, as his brother was the eldest Alpha in the room at the moment, a fact that was soon to change as their father strode in.

The man stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of his exiled son sitting in his living room. His expressions were quick and minute, ranging from happiness, relief, frustration, anger, irritation, and then back again.

"What are you doing here, Gilbert?"

"To explain something."

"What do you have to explain?" Alfher's nose wrinkled as he peered at Eliza through slitted blue eyes. "I can see that you've claimed her. We have no want for Hungarian Omegas in our bloodline."

"And yet you will accept Italian?" asked Gilbert, incredulous and affronted. "For God's sake, Hungary was of much more aid to Germany in World War's One and Two than Italy, if that is your problem."

Alfher scoffed. "That is a stupid point that you made. My problem is that she is so clearly not of a disposition accepted in this family. Your Omega barely considers herself an Omega at all."

Eliza wanted to speak up at this point, but had vowed to keep her mouth shut. It wasn't her place. Gilbert could handle this. She was just there for emotional support and to calm her mate down if things got too intense.

"Well, that is Scheiße. Look at your own mother for proof of that." Snapped Gil, his eyes widening in horror seconds later as he realized his mistake.

His father was white with rage at the end of this statement, and if it were not for Eliza sitting next to Gilbert, he doubtless would have lunged forward to strangle his son. But he wasn't going to put her in danger, as injuring an Omega could result in jail time.

Alfher's eyes locked on Eliza at that moment, a delightfully appalling idea occurring to him. "Oh, do be careful what you say. You forget that I saw what Eliza was doing with those daggers. You forget that it was she who knocked me to the ground." He saw dread creeping into his son's red eyes, and a terrible smile of his own was coming into play. "I know that it wasn't her father who did that. Her father knows better than to involve herself in those sorts of fights. But her daughter, now that is another matter altogether. You do know what this means, Gilbert?"

It was horrendous what this man was suggesting, but Gil had no other choice but to listen.

"This means that I can get her family, and your lovely mate, locked up. Who knows, I may even throw you in with them for being a blood traitor."

"Why would you do that?" murmured Gil, his volume a fraction of what it had been before.

"I want my son back, Gil. I want the boy I raised to return to me, I don't want this changed creature. I want the lad who happily wielded his wooden sword, and who was more than eager to tell me why Omegas aren't fit for jobs. I want my son back."

Alfher sounded so broken in those few sentences. But that wasn't going to excuse what he was threatening. "And you can have me back, Vader, you can have me back. I still love fighting. Why would you do this to Eliza? Why can't you accept that I love her?"

"You deserve better."

Gilbert got to his feet then. "Nein." He said sadly, his eyes crawling over to the kitchen. "Did you ever love Mutter?"

Silence fell after the question, broken only by the shifting of Ludwig in the black leather chair he'd seated himself in.

"Nein." Was the final response, resulting in a sharp intake of breath from West. Gilbert had forgotten how innocent his brother was.

"Than you don't understand." Knowing that he shouldn't turn his back on his father, especially as the man had so much ammo to use against his son, Gilbert did it anyway. He and Etel could confer about what to do when he returned to Eliza's house. In the meantime, he needed out of his old home.

"I'll go get my stuff. Don't worry, you won't see me again after this."

Gliding two stairs at a time up to his room, with Eliza firmly in tow, he took a moment or two upon reaching his destination to hug her tightly.

She pressed her face into his neck, nuzzling into it in as comforting a manner she could muster before he eventually pulled away and set about to packing.

Sensing that a bit of alone time might be desired, Eliza told Gilbert that she was going to go find Feliciano before slipping away in search of Ludwig's room where, doubtless, the Italian Omega was staying.

She wasn't disappointed, as he lay there in the beginning of a nest, working a blanket into one of the sides. Smelling the room, Liz realized that the Omega was in preheat.

Clearing her throat, and announcing her arrival with a rap of her fists against the door frame, she smiled warmly at the startled Omega. Feliciano returned it with a beaming replica.

"Szia, Feli," she said, walking into the room and taking a seat in Ludwig's desk chair. She hoped to talk to the German boy himself, but figured that she could settle for Feliciano's company in the meantime.

"Ciao!" was his enthusiastic response.

Running her finger along the smooth wood of Ludwig's desk, Eliza tentatively broached the subject she'd hoped to talk to Ludwig about.

"Wasn't your mate being stupid when he called Lukas a slut?"

She knew that Feliciano was aware of what night she was referring to, and she saw the boy's eyes flit nervously about the room. It would be against what he'd been taught to speak against the actions of his mate. Eliza shouldn't be forcing him to step out of his comfort zone.

Clearing his throat, Feli gave an automated response. "I stand by my mate in all of his endeavours."

Eliza made an exasperated noise before she was interrupted by the very annoyed and very Alpha scent that was Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"Eliza, we are leaving," he snapped, noticing the way the girl shrunk a little in her chair before standing and leaving the room as elegantly as she could. She said goodbye to Feliciano, was barely allowed to get two words in towards Ludwig, before she was shoved out the door and guided rather forcefully to the car.

"What were you trying to get Feliciano to say back there, Liz?" snapped Gilbert angrily, pressing her up against the side of his vehicle and glaring in a threatening manner.

Liz cleared her throat and did her best to meet the Alpha's eyes, though it was proving increasingly difficult. Eventually her eyes slid from his to glare at a spot of bushes just over his right shoulder.

"I just wanted him to say that what his mate had done wasn't right…" she mumbled, not really seeing what was wrong with that. Gilbert's weight disappeared after a moment and her mate sighed.

"When will you realize that the changes you want to enact aren't going to happen at the blink of an eye?" grumbled Gil before throwing his bag into the back of his truck and hopping into the driver's seat. He waited for Eliza to slide into the passengers before starting the engine and pulling out of the driveway of the only home he'd ever known.

They continued their argument all the way back to the Hédérvary home, until he was eventually able to convince Eliza that forcing Feliciano to speak badly about his mate was a horrible thing to do.

"I suppose I can't trust you to not do that to me when I'm not around, huh?" accused Gilbert as he took a right turn, his eyes sliding along the road in front with a calculated cautiousness. He was only just now allowed to drive with a passenger in the car.

Eliza was loud in her protests.

"Well that's just what you tried to make Feliciano do! How can I be sure you won't try to talk about me to get other Omegas to open up about their Alpha mates!"

"Because you don't argue with me about Omega's Rights anymore!"

"Oh, so you talked about me before?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did, because I hated you back then. You were so rude, and cocky, and arrogant."

"And acting like a fucking Alpha should. I swear to Gott, Eliza, I am this close to doing something I'm going to regret," as if to prove just how close he was, he held up his pointer finger and thumb and narrowed them together so that there was only a sliver of space between the two finger pads.

Liz huffed and opted not to further test him. She hated to see his logic.

When Gilbert told Etel of the new problem, the Hungarian alpha swore in her native language. "Gilbert," she said after her little bout, "this is not good. Not good at all." Her fingers were drumming out a nervous rhythm on the desk, her eyes distant. She was trying to figure out a way around the threat, but there was nothing. "If he tells of her using daggers, we are doomed. We will need to leave the country if we hope to stay away from punishment.

They discussed the matter long into the night, Gilbert's rough, gravelly voice twining with Etel's significantly smoother one. There was simply no solution, and eventually Gilbert slugged himself up to the bed with Eliza, letting the presence of his mate ease him into sleep.

School rolled around Monday morning with an unwilling Gilbert refusing to leave the bed. Eliza somehow managed to get him out of it, into a shower, and in fresh clothes within the span of an hour, which was going to make them both late for school.

They'd slaved over their separate homework the night before, working and toiling over theorems, for Gilbert, and menial things such as which spices go with each other for Eliza.

Honestly, it wasn't like there was a point to her graduating high school. She wasn't learning anything of import in her classes.

When they arrived on the campus, Eliza shrinked into her mate's arms as the smell of a pregnant Omega hit her like a runaway rhinoceros.

It was Lovino, and Antonio was rather lovingly and possessively leading his mate over to the Prussian and Hungarian duo.

"Gilbert!" yelled the Spaniard from several yards away. "Will you be this child's padrino!"

"Ja!" returned Gilbert, and the two eventually moved away.

Knowing enough about Omegas to be knowledgeable of the jealousy such an incident was going to cause, Gilbert led Eliza into a more private part of the school and soothed her frayed nerves with gentle words and kisses.

They were both calmed down enough by first period to move on relatively unruffled with their day.

Until, that is, Gilbert saw Eliza talking to Roderich in the hallway. It wasn't just a normal conversation either. Oh no. The Austrian Beta was posturing in front of the Omega female, doing things that he no doubt researched to impress her. Things that would come naturally to an Alpha, but not so naturally to a Beta. Apparently Roderich hadn't seen Gilbert's mark on Eliza's neck, and the Prussian Alpha was more than eager to remedy the situation. Because Elizaveta wasn't being the most polite by not telling the young man in front of her about her lack of single status anymore.

Gilbert wove his way through the crowd, all his senses trained on the two.

If anyone saw problems with this, please let me know. Once more, I have written it late at night and am too tired to read through it. I'll probably go back over and make major edits tomorrow morning. So yeah.

Rant of the Week: High Expectations

Parents are lovely. I love my parents, I do. But when they expect all straight A's from me the first six weeks that I'm in high school, and I can't deliver on that promise, I don't want them to continue reminding me about it. I already am mad enough at myself, right? So who the hell wants to be continuously reminded that they failed at something? I didn't fail the class, I got an 89, but still. I hate it. Parents need to understand that they're children have to live their own lives, not be slaves to the parent's whims and desires. I understand that the parent wants the best for a child, but there is way worse out there than a B. And a really fucking high one at that. It scusk, you know, because you walk into the damn room, here your mother/father say something about your grades, and are forced to turn around and walk right back out lest you be forced to undergo minutes of lectures about studying and not slacking off and 'watching yourself not get accepted into college.' It's all just mentally draining.

Do you feel me?

Anywho, have a lovely day my followers/readers!