I do not own Hetalia, okay? I have a better streak on this than before. Have a few different pathways this could go haven't picked a way how I want it exactly to end. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Alfred sighed as he sat back in the car. He had honestly hoped there was some storm system that caused Ivan's fight to get cancelled and there'd be a blizzard keeping him there until the airport was cleared out and in that time Ivan's boss would just give him the assignment in the US so he would never have to go back to Russia ever again. But he had to admit the truth, he had to go back and it was going to be a little while until he could see him in person again. He was going to go visit in the summer no matter what happened, he promised Ivan that. Not wanting to rack up too long in the parking lot fees, he had left when the customs officer had told Alfred to break it up and that he would pull him away from Ivan by force if he did not leave him alone. With that Ivan had given one last deep and slightly tearful kiss and Alfred waved him off. He sat at a red light, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"I know he likely isn't even on the plane yet…." Alfred sighed. "He'll cuss me for calling while driving." Alfred sighed. "Relax Jones, it hasn't been that long…. He'll be fine, he's a big boy…." He told himself then laughed slightly "A very big boy…."

Lien headed back to her aunt's house, and sighed. What Li said shouldn't be bothering me so much…. but it is…. She thought as she laid back down and looked over at the old picture she had after the first big performance the band had in Hollywood. "That hair on him does not suit him…." She said with a laugh. Although it wouldn't do to at least not hear Li's work…. She thought as she put in the cd he had given her and began to listen. Expecting to hear some clichéd gangster rap, she sighed and laid back. "This isn't that bad actually…." She said as she heard lyrics that expressed a struggle to achieve and being bound by cultural norms that he himself was tired of. Maybe he could replace Alfred if he doesn't want to come back…. I mean if that Ruski didn't brainwash him…. Lien thought. Looking over at her phone, she sighed. Last two times she had called, she was hung up on before even she could even say hello. "Third time the charm as they say…." She said as she dialed Alfred's number.

Alfred lay down on his bed, not wanting to talk to his fathers until he had decided to, or at least known that Ivan was on the plane okay. There wasn't much that could happen once he had crossed the gate, but he still was worried. That Ivan may doze off and miss the flight. That someone could pick a fight with him, all sorts of worries ran though Alfred's mind. He lay back on the bed and put his pillow on his head and lay back when his phone rang. "Oh Lien!" He said answering with a smile. "I've haven't spoken with you for a long time."

"Hey Alfred…." Lien said. Don't get too mad at the past two rejected calls "So, how has it been for you the past few days…."

"Meh, I guess I've been really busy with things." Alfred laughed, trying to be friendly. "I just had to see Ivan off at the airport…."

"Yeah…." Lien said. How has that Russian bastard been? He just use you like that one guy did?

"Yeah….." Alfred sighed. "I kind of wish that his company would give him a job over here, I mean they're already planning a few things and expanding anyway…."

Lien took a breath. She had heard Alfred talk like this before. With the other lovers he had while they were working their way in the scene. And she knew how all that ended. I should have told him long before all this happened. I should have. She sighed and went on. "I hope it works out…." She added politely.

"I do too. I feel like this guy is one of the best people I ever met. And great in the sack…." Alfred said.

"Thanks for sharing." Lien said annoyed.

"Sorry, forgot you didn't want to hear about that." Alfred said as a tense pause filled the air. "Is everything okay out there, how's your school, how's your…. what was it…bác gái?"

"Oh, my auntie, she is okay. Still running her restaurant and doing pretty well. Still in a love hate rivalry with Yao…." Lien said as a tense pause came back. They could tell that the inevitable question was going to have to be answered and Alfred had avoided it. After talking with Matthew and Ivan, he had decided he was on a pretty stable path, and he didn't want to take the same chance he had done when he was younger. "Ummmmm I've been talking to the guys from the old band…."

"I know…." Alfred said. He still held some resentment. "How they doing?"

"Lukas has a job at the ports." Lien replied.

"Good honest work…." Alfred sighed. "I think he might like working by the ocean."

"Yeah…." Lien replied. Best to ask it. She gulped as she thought about her next words. "So ummmm have you thought about what we talked about last?"

"About what?" Alfred asked, not liking where this was going. He knew he was going to have to talk to them about it at some point and knew that they were not going to like what he had to say but he knew it had to be said and it was best if they all aired it out beforehand.

"About the second chance for the band?" Lien said.

"Yeah, I have…." Alfred began.

"So, what do you think?" At this, another message came through. Alfred looked at his phone and saw it was Ivan who was sitting at a McDonalds in the airport terminal holding a Big Mac and an Oreo McFlurry in the picture and under it he sent in a message, My plane is delayed a little bit so I figured I would get something for lunch. Something like our first date…. Alfred smiled and held the phone close. "Hello?" Lien asked.

"Nothing," Alfred began. "Ivan just sent me a picture of him at the airport. See our first date was at a McDonald's on his birthday and he ordered a meal like what I got him while he waits because his plane is delayed. It's so sweet."

"Yes…. sweet…." Lien began. "Look, how did you meet Ivan?"

"In a bar." Alfred began. "Passed out and woke up in his hotel room."

"Oh Alfred…." Lien began.

"Well, I gave you the CliffsNotes version, so it sounds awful now that I think about it…." Alfred said thinking that what he did say sounded just so sordid and bad. "But it was Christmas and I had had just about enough of my dad fawning all over my brother because he made 'responsible choices early on'" Alfred said in a bad mocking cockney accent. "And all his backhanded insults towards me that I just headed to the bar at the hotel I work at and just kept drinking it away with the Thorogood Specials."

"Thorogood Specials?" Lien said. "I don't recall that being on the menu when we performed there."

"It's like the song, by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, one bourbon, one scotch one beer." Alfred said. "Had quite a few of those, passed out soon after my dad came to try and take me home, wasn't having any of that shit. Ivan saw my lyric notebook, liked the stuff I had and since he had an extra bed in the room he was in while over here for business and let me sleep it off in there and got me the usual hangover treatment Gilbert got me when we drank too much together, black coffee and some McDonald's sausage biscuits. And well, it kind of grew from there…."

"So, you've known him about 3 weeks and already over the moon for him." Lien said plainly.

"Hey, sometimes you know, you know…." Alfred blushed.

"3 weeks is hardly enough time to get to know someone." Lien said. "And then add to it the stress of a very long-distance relationship. You won't be just a few time zones apart like we are."

"Yeah 8 hours." Alfred said. "We discussed this. But he's the one who showed me something I kind of like and a good plan that has my dad happy, that I find interesting, and I won't be the loser in the community college at 26 with no plan in life destined for some shit job for the rest of my life. Lien, I am tired of being compared to Matthew and being the failure and the joke."

"But you weren't a failure! You weren't a joke! It was not your fault." Lien said. "And it might not happen again! You don't need to give up on that dream! We have a second chance that won't be like that other agency that signed us!"

"Okay so how would I finish my degree; how would Lukas make it in? You're in Bakersfield trying to become a teacher, just how would we make this work? I also don't want to have my image totally fucked with because some fat cat in an office that don't know shit about shit and then get into a fight with people who I thought were friends because of that crap and then when I am not even out of the state of California get asked by some creep at the truck stop in the San Fernando Valley to do a porno. God when that guy asked, I just floored it until I got to some gas station on fucking fumes. I don't want to come home like I did before, begging for my fathers' good graces while I figure out what the fuck wrong, I did with myself! I don't want to work myself to exhaustion like I did. Oh sure, I never looked it around you guys because I knew we had that dream there. Or thought we did." Alfred said.

"But these people seemed to really like the music according to Lukas!" Lien said.

"Look, I am not known for being able to read the room or read people, but Lien, maybe there's something else, some other reason you may want this?" Alfred said.

"And who put that in your head? That Russian booty call of yours?" Lien snapped as she covered her mouth realizing what she said.

"Okay seriously Lien. Not cool. You jealous of him or something? You don't fucking know the guy! Hell, that bastard from Vegas you knew better! Look, I think it's time we all move on and try and move on with our lives. I am not chasing that shit anymore. I'm done. I am not gambling with that anymore. I don't want to go through that hell of a breakup, that hell of a solo trip home over thousands of fucking miles. You were lucky your auntie was in Bakersfield. Try crossing the whole fucking country by yourself. Gets pretty damn lonely after you were practically sexually assaulted in a gas station. Okay, maybe being said you look hot in porn isn't exactly sexual assault, but you get the idea, made me very uncomfortable. Don't trash the good thing you have for something that might never fucking be." Alfred said.

"Sounds like you've gotten both Matthew and maybe Ivan to speak for you! I know your brother is very good with that psychobabble, you used to make fun of him for it!" Lien said as he voices started to rise.

"Well maybe they are smarter than me and I finally listed to those who are." Alfred sighed.

Lien was annoyed and began, "What happened to the Alfred F Jones I used to know? Who had his heart set on a dream and a goal, no matter how impossible it seemed and how much the odds were against him? Huh? Did he just quit? I thought you never did! You wanted to keep trying when everyone else wanted to quit!"

"I told you why I don't want to try it again. It's a bitch mistress. And I don't want that anymore." Alfred sighed. "Why can't you respect that? I have found a good safe plan that I am happy with. I don't want to risk things on something that will never be."

"That's not the Alfred I fell in love with…." Lien said quietly as she heard a 'What?' and hung up realizing what she had done. She looked down and saw Alfred trying to call back, assuming that she had a bad connection, but just let it ring. He's probably mad at me for some of the things I said. And do I even want him anymore? He's moved on. She thought as the phone went to voice mail. "Hey, Lien, I think I had a bad connection and couldn't make out what you said. I'm not mad at you, no, can we still be friends? Heck if the rest of you guys want to try it again, I'll be rooting you on, but I just can't. Dream's changed." She sighed as she turned off the phone so Alfred would stop trying to call her and laid back on the bed. "Suppose I should tell the rest of them tomorrow." Lien said as she closed her eyes, trying to put the last conversation behind her.

The next day proved to be rather disastrous as well. She hadn't gotten any more calls from Alfred after she had turned off her phone, but when she relayed what Alfred had said, leaving out the insults she had given to the man that he was dating and then accidental love confession before never contacting him more again about the matter, the reaction was not what she expected. Lukas seemed okay with it, as he was starting the job on the pier soon and he knew that the odds both a job like that and being a semi-professional rock star would not work well together. He was of a similar mind as Alfred that he was tired of the risks and chances and wanted a stable job for himself. Coming out of Lukas, even though it is the same message as Alfred said, doesn't seem to bother me as much…. Lien thought. On the other hand, the one person who she thought wouldn't mind Alfred saying he wouldn't come back, Roderich was outraged.

"Who does he think he is? Walking away from such an offer as this? Does he just want to give up on it all?" Roderich sighed. "We are all in this Los Angeles Hell hole because of him."

"Stop scapegoating your discomfort and either beg for Daddy's forgiveness or adapt." Lukas said. "How did your orchestra audition go anyway Lestat?"

"Stop calling me that!" Roderich replied. "And not good. 4th chair." He rolled his eyes at the looks of confusion from Lien, Lukas, and Christensen. "It's the lowest tier."

"You got to pay your dues dude, at least you're in." Christensen said. "You probably have tons of practices and shit to go to anyway, so it might make it hard. Like Lukas's work schedule and stuff…." He said trying to put a positive spin on his disappointment.

Lien, reading the room and crushed dreams took a breath. If Alfred won't join us, and said he'd cheer us on if we tried on our own, may as well offer. "I met a nephew of my auntie's business rival…."

"We know your aunt wants to fuck that other restaurant owner in Bakersfield she talks about constantly." Lukas said. "Maybe you shouldn't have your phone up so loud so I can hear that conversation." Lien looked at him cross. "Go on though. What's going on there?"

"Well, his nephew Leon actually does some rap himself. It's not trash." she added seeing Roderich roll his eyes. "His lyrics are actually pretty good and meaningful. He wrote it himself. You know like Alfred used to." She ignored the pain in her heart when she said that, pushing away the feeling like she was betraying Alfred by offering the replacement of Li. "Kind of reminds me of some of Linkin Park's early work you know, Hybrid Theory and Meteora if we were to put our rock skills with his rap. He gave me a CD of his that he made if you want to listen to it…." She said holding up the disk.

Lukas, Christensen, and Roderich looked at the disk in her hands and then back to Lien. She did have a point, they had an offer, they were down their front man, but this new guy might be the one that could make their dreams come true musically. "Would he mind seeing if his stuff works with ours?" Christensen asked.

"If you're serious." Lien said. "I can call him up and he'd be willing to see."

"I don't know…. doesn't feel right…. like we're stabbing Alfred in the back…." Christensen said. "And what if the producers don't like this angle and liked Alfred singing instead…."

"He brought us out here on a chance and won't take a chance that is better than the one we had the first time," Roderich huffed "Forget about him." Christensen looked scandalized. "You said he didn't mind if we tried on our own?" Lien nodded. "Let's try it. What's the worst that can happen?"

"You're sounding like Alfred there…." Lien said.

"Maybe, but a chance is a chance…." Roderich replied curtly. "Call this Leon guy."

"Okay." Lien said.

"Okay so listen to the Queen of the Damned soundtrack Lestat…." Lukas said as Christensen laughed.

"Fuck you guys." Roderich sighed.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. Things are picking up at work so I don't know how fast I will be able to update but I will. Honestly, other than that, I don't have much else to say but remember to read (well you just did) and review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm.