Arthur had finished Francis' dress but he was unable to sleep so he trudged down to the basement. He entered through an old door and quickly locked it behind him. All around him were tall bookshelves filled with different items. Some held various items in jars while others held books so ancient and fragile that anyone else would worry about even breathing on them for that might cause them to fall apart. But Arthur knew that the books were more than sturdy as they were held together with magic in their bindings.

The books were the reason he had come here in the first place so he headed in their direction. If his answer was here, he had no idea where it could be hiding so he pulled the first book off the shelf and sat down in a chair to look through it. Nothing particularly helpful leapt out at him so he placed the book on the floor by his chair and retrieved three more. Two were set on a side table while he perused the third.

When Arthur woke up he was surrounded by books. Several were still piled on the side table next to him and one was open on his lap. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to wake up a little more. He lifted the book from his lap and laid it on top of the stack next to him. A quick look at the bookshelves told him that even though he had a dozen books on the floor by his feet, he still had hundreds of books he had yet to touch.

With a sigh, he stood up. There was no more he could do at this time. Later, when Francis was asleep once more, he could continue his research. Now he needed to make a call.

The last touches were just being placed when he heard the front door open. He walked downstairs to find Francis with his assistant.

"Thank you, Miss Archer." The young woman nodded politely. "Come with me, Francis. I have to show you something."

The boy hugged the woman quickly before hurrying to Arthur's side. Together they walked to Francis' room. Arthur opened the door and the boy gasped. Gone were the gray sheets on his bed. Instead there were pretty blue ones under several colorful pillows. The gray curtains had also been replaced with cream ones which let quite a bit more calming light into the room. The desk and nightstand now held matching blue lamps with cream lightshades. Next to the desk was a comfy chair in the same light blue as the rest of the room.

"It's beautiful, Mr. Arthur!" Francis cried and hugged him tightly.

A small, fond smile appeared on Arthur's face as he gently pet his hair.

"I'm glad you like it, dove," he whispered. "The room didn't look much like you before so I wanted to fix that." He looked at his watch. "I have to talk to Miss Archer for a bit but I bought you some more books so you can read one while I talk to her."

Francis nodded and picked up a book from the small pile on his desk before slipping into his new chair to read. The man left him to it and went to rejoin his assistant.

"That was kind of you, Mr. Kirkland," she said as soon as he was in the room with her again. "What inspired you to do it?"

Arthur let out a long sigh.

"I realized that I do not know what caused Francis to change so I began to research possible cures for him. And it hit me that he could be stuck like this for many more months or years and if he is going to be in this form for that long, he should at least be comfortable." His assistant began to say something but Arthur asked, "What did you need to discuss with me, Rachel?"

She seemed a little frustrated at being cut off but still answered.

"I wanted to remind you that next week you have a meeting with Mr. Beilschmidt and Mr. Gauck. Mr. Cameron and I will be in attendance with you."

The man groaned.

"I had forgotten about that. Can you cancel for me? Or go without me? I cannot leave Francis alone."

Rachel shook her head.

"Mr. Cameron said today that you must go."

"Doesn't he understand that I can't? I have to stay with Francis so nothing happens to him."

"He said that he will send men to protect him."

"He needs more protection than a human man can give! He can only be protected by a nation so I can't leave him!"

"We will figure something out but for now, leave that night marked on your calendar." She took a deep breath. "I also need to tell you that we have discovered that Mr. Beilschmidt has been searching for Francis."

Arthur froze.

"What? Why?"

"Well before Francis disappeared, the two of them had a romantic alliance so surely it is natural that he would be worried about him vanishing."

The English nation scoffed.

"Their alliance is a sham. Francis just likes powerful nations and Ludwig only likes him because he is an easy lay."

His assistant frowned at him.

"Remember that the man you are talking about is currently an innocent child living in your home. Take care when addressing him or you will hurt him."

Taking her words to heart, Arthur felt slightly ashamed of himself.

"You are right. I am just a little frustrated by all of this. I do not trust Ludwig when Francis is in such a vulnerable state so I do not want him anywhere near him. It makes me a little nervous that he is looking for him and now I really don't want to leave Francis with humans for protection."

"We will figure it out, Mr. Kirkland. Francis will be safe."

AN: Arthur is just a little jealous of a certain relationship but he will be fine because he has Francis in his care. And he doesn't really mean what he said about Francis.

Before you say anything, I know that Gauck is no longer the President of Germany but neither is Hollande for France so just remember this is story takes place a few years ago.

Italics- speaking in French or internal thoughts

No Italics- speaking in English