I do not own Hetalia, okay? I know it's been a little while since I updated this one, but well life does get in the way of things and weaken inspiration. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

The night had passed without any incident. At 2 in the morning, Arthur had called it a night and Alfred made his way to a payphone he had agreed on with Feliciano to call and let him know it was time to pick him up. So, Julius did what I told him. Well, that's fine. He thought as he stood by the phone, waiting for Feliciano to pick him up. He yawned as he looked through the deserted city streets, keeping an eye open for anyone who might want to do him harm. Not like I couldn't take down a mugger or something. But then Julius finds that I did that he'll want me to do more than just spy on the rivals in their speakeasy. Like I would bother doing it for either side if it wasn't for Lovina. He thought as he lit a cigarette and looked as fog started to creep in off the lake. Looking towards the south, he saw headlights of a car start honking at him. Alfred rolled his eyes and moaned. He knew who it likely was.

"Hello Alfredo!" Feliciano said. Alfred rolled his eyes. He was getting tired of being called that by Julius and anyone else in his circle. "So, the evening is over?" He said loudly.

"Yes." Alfred said as he got in the car. "And you are much too loud. Someone's bound to hear and people like to talk."

"Yeah, Grandpa said something like that too." Feliciano said as Alfred finished his cigarette and sat in silence. He didn't want to smoke around Lovina, knowing she was pregnant and had given up smoking as Helena said it would be better for the baby if she did so. Anyone who asked her was told that she was looking up to Helena and following her example. It was good enough for the rest of her family, so it was good enough for Julius. However, both Alfred and Lovina couldn't help but feel that he knew the truth somehow. A tense silence filled the car until Feliciano spoke up. "Grandpa didn't say who you wanted as best man."

"Just having it be Lovino, even though I swear he wants to stab me." Alfred said, almost certain that he knew as well.

"That's just my brother. That's his way." Feliciano said. "Even if he says he hates you, he cares about you." Feliciano said.

"Oh boy, will I take your word for it..." Alfred sighed as he looked out the window as they pulled into the garage. He got out and slammed the door behind him. "I'm going to see if Lovina is still up."

"She said she needed her beauty sleep. Don't disturb her." Feliciano said.

Smart girl... Alfred thought with a smirk. Helena must have told her to get some rest. He headed up to the stairs and to the room that he and Lovina shared. She was already asleep. He smiled, seeing her relaxed. It was rare he did. She often carried a scowl on her face, but he knew how she was deep down inside. He took a drink of the flask that Gilbert had given him as an "early wedding gift." It seemed that Gilbert was the only one he could express his feelings to and even then, it was only partially. Not like he could say "hey I knocked up the granddaughter of Chicago's most infamous boss..." If Lovina was any other girl, this whole affair would be a lot easier. Sure, there'd still likely have been a shotgun wedding, but it seemed so much easier. I wish Lovina and I could be as free with our relationship as Arthur and Amelia. He sighed as he started to quietly change into his pajamas and crawl into bed next to Lovina. Taking extra care to place each piece of clothing down quietly, as he sat down to untie his shoes and remove them, one of them slipped and fell upon the linoleum of the floor, echoing across the room. Lovina jumped up and looked around squinting. "Sorry honey." Alfred sighed. "My bad."

"You're home." Lovina said plainly. Alfred smiled, not knowing if she was simply too tired to be mad or was more worried about him than he thought.

"Yup. Nothing happened, other than this guy Arthur who is there all the time, and the singer Amelia are all over each other like a pair of eels." Alfred said. "Oh, and some Russian guy's sister threatened to slit my neck."

"This does not ease my concerns." Lovina said.

"Well, we'll be off in Miami for a few weeks away from this all anyway. I mean think about it, the sun, the sand, just us." Alfred smiled feebly trying to make the best of the bad situation they knew they had.

"Yes, that's nice I suppose..." Lovina said as she pulled her knees close to her as she sat up, knowing that in a few months this would not be possible. "And when we come back, I don't have to keep acting like everything I eat makes me sick, which it is weird."

"What do you mean?" Alfred asked as he changed his clothes.

"I am growing hungrier by the day. Which is to be expected. But any time I eat anything, I end up throwing it back up. Felicia is dumb enough to buy what I say when it is just some stomach flu or bad milk or something like that. Grandpa, I think he's getting suspicious." Lovina sighed. "Helena told me this was quite normal in pregnancy at times, and she is keeping my secrets, I trust my grandfather's mistress more than him."

"Says something, doesn't it?" Alfred laughed as he joined her in bed.

"Yes." Lovina scowled. "Makes me wonder if I wouldn't be better off back in Italia." She could feel Alfred frown. "Maybe if our fate were in better hands, you would have been stationed on the Italian border, I could have met you there and then you'd never have to come here."

"Or we could have married then, and your grandfather would never have been involved like he is now. He didn't have this whole thing when he was in Italy did he?" Alfred asked as Lovina nodded. "See, this whole mess wouldn't have been our problems and we could have gone wherever we wanted. You know I didn't end up on that farm when I came home directly."

"No?" Lovina asked.

"Nope. My dad was a total asshole and still alive. He became a different animal when my mother died." He said as she looked at him concerned. He brushed some of her brown hair out of her green eyes. "God, I hope our kid takes after you. Junior would be the best looking kid ever." Lovina sighed rolling her eyes, but she smiled.

"I'm so glad you are excited for the bambino" Lovina smiled. "I'm sorry."

"If I told you once, I've told you many times, it wasn't your fault alone. I put you in the family way, so it's my duty to look after you and the child. And if helping your grandfather do his dirty work is how I do it, well your needs come before mine." Alfred smiled heroically.

"You know that's bullshit." Lovina scolded. "If we had it our way, if Grandpa was never the controlling factor in our lives and we still found ourselves in this situation, where I was still pregnant after our... encounter, what would you have us do?" Alfred bit his lip. He didn't know quite what to say. "I will not judge." Alfred looked at her knowingly. "Okay, I may think it may be dumb, but it had better be safer than nearly going to jail, getting killed or having to kill."

"I've killed before..." Alfred started.

"In the Great War. In war that is inevitable fact. You will need to kill. I can forgive that. If you end up having to kill in service to grandpa, well, I'll never forgive him." Lovina's tone grew darker. "I know you would have to do it to save your life. You could never pull a trigger in cold blood."

"Did Feliciano and Lovino tell you that I held my old trench broom to them when they first pulled up to my farm?" Alfred asked.

"Yes." Lovina said. "Lovino told me it very well. You thought that because of grandpa's car that they were bankers trying to foreclose on your farm. I understand why you'd want to shoot bankers." Lovina said. "We left Italy when it was in economic ruin from the war. Feliciano was able to stay to help grandpa, grandma, Felicia and I. But it was Lovino who was sent to the front lines, only to come back to low wages and high costs of living. I have no idea how grandpa did it, but he got everything he could for what we had to get to Chicago and he opened up his restaurant and around the time the Volstead act became law, he got the idea to start bootlegging and I guess, he's actually good at business."

"I should say so." Alfred said as he looked around the bedroom.

"Well, the economic now fascist shithole that Italy is now..." Lovina said, "Back to what I asked."

"Anything I wanted to do?" Alfred said.

"Anything within reason." Lovina scowled.

"Okay I want to move out west. I hated working in these factories out in this area. It was too grimy, loud and hard to breathe." Alfred said. "If there was one thing, I didn't mind about moving back to the farm when my dad died was that it was out in the middle of nowhere and the air was fresh, yes even with the smell of cow shit." He laughed. "But I knew some guys from out in like Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and California and they made it sound so good and that I might be able to get work out there or get a ranch and raise something of my own. I mean I already had cattle experience. I would be like Wyatt Earp...might even meet the guy too. Can't believe he's still alive..." Lovina rolled her eyes. "I know I was born too late to be a gunslinger. But some of the things that the west was appealing for is still there. The big open sky, fresh air, well as long as you're not in Los Angeles from what I hear..." Lovina looked at him annoyed as he was rambling. "Point is that I would love to take you, junior and go out west and start a ranch or make a life for ourselves out there. Everything is so big and open. If you want warm and dry, Arizona, or there's cooler in Northern California, I heard that some spots even have climates like Italy so there's just so much we could choose from." Alfred smiled. "You're going to call that dumb."

"No." Lovina said. "I don't think that is stupid at all." She smiled. "I like that idea."

"Well, it can never be." Alfred said, trying to convince himself that his place, their place was here in Chicago as a part of the family

"Nothing is impossible." Lovina said as she got up and pulled a small box from the dresser, turning the bedside lamp on. "Here., I got this for you." She handed it to Alfred. He opened the box and looked at the rosary. "While I frankly couldn't give a fuck if you converted or not, it was important to Grandpa. Why, I have no clue when he violates practically all of the 10 commandments..."

"I'm pretty sure that it isn't very Christian to run a mafia and smuggle booze..." Alfred laughed.

"Oh, he runs some soup kitchens and employes people who wouldn't have work otherwise, that's how he justifies it. Real ends justify the means bullshit." Lovina said. "But that rosary is one featuring Saint Michael. He is the patron of soldiers and policemen, to those who fight for justice. I told Grandpa I picked this one because of your military history and he ate it up. But you fight to make us safe, even if it is in scum." Lovina said. "Saint Joseph is the patron of fathers, but I don't want to have that implication on you yet, not until it is safe to reveal." Lovina looked away blushing. "And if nothing else, I can trust you will do good by our child."

"Well, I swore to not be like my father. I mean if he was so bad my brother ran off to Canada to fight in the hellscape that Europe was, then he really sucked." Alfred laughed, trying to break the tension. "I guess he had more guts to get out than I did..."

"Defiantly." Lovina said. "But I trust you. I know you would never leave us."

"Intentionally leave you, I would never do." Alfred said. "But..."

"There's always a chance you can get killed..." Lovina said. "And I can't shake the suspicion that maybe, grandpa knows and wants you dead. Nothing like bringing you into the fold and putting you in dangerous situations. And your farm is then in the family."

"You wouldn't think Julius would do that?" Alfred gulped. Lovina looked at him crossly. "Right, right, it is in character for him..."

"Cheer up." Lovina said as she rolled Alfred onto his back and sat on top of him. "Soon we will be married, and this will not be a sin, but we have already done this once, and the good part about Catholicism is that once you confess your sins to a preacher, you're cleansed. If it works for my grandfather who has done worse than let their physical desires get the best of them, then well, it will for us." She ran her finger up Alfred's cowlick, knowing how much it made him melt.

"Well, you're certainly helping." He said as Lovina moved in closer for a deep kiss and he pulled her close and ran his hands through her thick brown hair.

"I'm glad I could." She said as she ran her hands down his chest. "Now let me work and do not be too loud."

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I don't have much else to say here honestly. Hopefully updating can come faster but who knows. Anyway, remember to read, well you just did and to review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm.