I don't own Hetalia, okay? I know it's been a little while since I have updated, but I do want to get this one done, I do have some of the future scenes already written out. I do have work and studying for the CPA exam coming up, but one thing I have noticed is I can write better when studying. Maybe I need to work distracted from lessons, I mean I have been writing fanfic for a long time and I always wrote my chapters while in school while the teacher was teaching and still graduated high on my class. Well, I am rambling now, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
Alfred stood at the altar of the church nervously. This was it; the month had been nothing but plans, fittings and sneaking into the north side gang's speakeasy after winning over Feliks to get intel each time. Well, each time that Feliks was there, he often had run into the "rabbi" at Gilbert's shop and was the one that got him in on the gang's good books after that disastrous first attempt. Now Julius was walking Lovina down the aisle for the wedding. This is it, another month we can come clean about what happened and hopefully Julius won't keep trying to get me killed. If nothing else, we'll have a few weeks in Florida while Julius said he would get us a house away from his but close. Alfred thought meekly. He looked over at Lovina who had her hair flowing down under her veil in a long white gown that fit her perfectly with wide cuffs and beaded embroidery on the ends of a gold color, giving just an accent of color to the white gown. Lovina had told him that Helena was helping her with the gown, and this was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
The days before the wedding had seemed like a blur to Alfred. The day after he had come home from the speakeasy, almost repulsed at how Arthur and Amelia were acting, Giovanni had insisted he come with him to take some of Julius' laundry to some place across town that some Arthur Kirkland was supposedly the landlord of. Giovanni had explained that they believed that the mysterious Wulver was this Arthur Kirkland, and they were going on a scouting mission.
"Do you think they will be able to clean this?" Alfred said as he noticed a blood stain on the suit that Julius had sent with them to get cleaned.
"It's a message." Giovanni explained.
"How will they know it's a message?" Alfred asked on the drive over to the laundry. "I mean are you just going to say that it is Julius's suit?"
"The underworld is a funny thing." Giovanni explained. "You are new to it. And your role is one that so far at least is one that no one would suspect much of. Going to the Wulver's speakeasys and befriending that albino that runs the ice cream parlor are things that any warehouse worker that came from a failing farm in Wisconsin would do. You play the everyman, the grey man perfectly for our needs." Alfred sighed in relief. "But the underworld is full of people who know each other, who know reputations, who have a tense agreement. Stay on your own turf or else. Chicago is Julius' 'turf'" Giovanni said as they pulled alongside the laundry. "I am known to be with the man a lot. If they are in the underground, working in the shadows on this, they will know by my presence."
"But me coming with you?" Alfred said, "Won't that blow my cover?"
"Julius thinks that it would not hurt." Giovanni said as Alfred rolled his eyes. If I am going to be going to their speakeasies anymore, then if they see me with you, they will likely assume that I am part of your gang. "And besides, you are marrying Lovina. You are becoming part of the Family and this role you have in here will change." Alfred gulped. He knew the stories, and while sure he had pulled a gun on Feliciano and Lovino when they had first come to his farm, thinking they were bankers, he had to think to himself if he could have done it, if he could have pulled the trigger. If I had shot a banker, could I run out west or to like Alaska and pretend I'm someone else, maybe use Mattie's name as we look so much alike... "And anyone who poses a threat to the family in any way you will need to be able to handle in any way that is possible. Even killing them. If you don't, they will hurt Lovina and your children." Alfred gulped. Did he know...does Julius know and told him... "In the future obviously."
"Yes, in the future." Alfred said as Giovanni parked the car and turned it off.
"Follow me. And hand me the suit." he said as Alfred grabbed the suit and handed it to him. He got out of the car and Alfred followed as a bell rang and a young man came to the desk.
"What do you want?" the young man said.
"Ay-yah!" An older man said as he came to the counter from the back. "I am sorry, Li is very disrespectful. How may we help you today?"
"I have a suit that my boss needs washing, and I have heard excellent things about this shop." Giovanni said.
Yao looked on suspiciously, he could tell that something was up with this man, he was Italian and Italians did not usually come this way. And he looked much better than other Italian immigrants he had seen. Luckily the door was shut and locked to the backroom and a curtain was over the windows so that they set up for the speakeasy and storage that Arthur had insisted be in there. The fact that he looked this nice, drove up in the car, told Yao that this was a man with powerful connections, connections to Julius, the Emperor of the South Side, as he was called, drawing on his Italian roots and Roman heritage. And he knew that if Julius knew about the Wulver gang, then he would be going after them and a bloodbath would begin. It was bad enough he knew that Li had become a pickpocket and that they had lived well off what he could do.
"Let me see." Yao said as he took a look. "Ai yeah, that is a tough stain. It will take much work to get out."
"How much?" Giovanni said.
"Ai yah..." Yao knew that this was Julius's money. He could easily afford anything he charged, and they were likely to not say anything. "5 dollars."
"Here." Giovanni said handing the money. "And it had better have been worth the money." He motioned to Alfred, "Our work here is done." And Alfred followed.
Once Yao saw the car leave, he looked at the suit. "Julius killed someone." He spoke. "And I have his money. Well, I'll clean off his crime and then try and get more of his money."
"And that blonde haired guy was at the speakeasy." Li said.
"He was..." Yao said. "Does Arthur know?"
"I don't think so." Li said. "Should we tell him?"
"Yes. But we can't let Alfred know. If he knows, then we can't get him to get information." Yao said.
"Why would he join with Julius? He's obviously not Italian." Li said.
"I do remember hearing Gilbert talk to him. Something about knocking his boss's granddaughter up. If Julius is his boss, then he's involved with one of his granddaughters." Yao thought a few seconds. "We need to look at the wedding announcements. It is likely that he is being forced to marry the girl and we might get some intel that way."
However, now Alfred was at the altar, watching Feliciana walk up in front of Julius and Lovina. Alfred looked over at the back at Lovino, who was looking at him like he would kill him if he ran off. Part of Alfred wanted to do so, knowing what was going on, but his honor would not let him do that to her. He knocked her up and he would not leave her to raise that child alone. Lovina smiled as Feliciana stood beside her and Julius smiled looking at Alfred as he headed to a seat in the front pew. Alfred sighed as the Priest began to speak. He had heard Catholic weddings could be long, but he hadn't recalled any he had been to at all to compare it to. Lovina headed over and took his hand "I'm with you, I just want to say the I dos and be done with this." She whispered. "And I will never understand my grandfather's obsession for this to be religious Thank god I talked him out of Nuptial Mass."
"You're kidding me?" Alfred whispered.
"Nope. Some Catholic weddings have a whole Mass service afterwards." Lovina laughed.
The priest then coughed and looked at Alfred and Lovina sternly. "Do you, Lovina Katherina Vargas take Alfred Franklin Jones to be your lawfully wedded husband to have and hold in sickness and health, richer or poorer, for better or worse, until death do you part?"
"I do." Lovina said, swearing she saw her grandfather have a devilish smirk at the 'death do you part' line. That's nuts, Grandpa would not want.
"And you, Alfred Franklin Jones take Lovina Katherina Vargas to be your lawfully wedded wife to have and hold in sickness and health, richer or poorer, for better or worse, until death do you part? The priest said, looking at Alfred with a scolding look.
"I do." Alfred said. He knew that this life he had married into was going to be the death of him, but if t wasn't this, it was going to be something else. And Lovina was actually really sweet when she wanted to be. If he had never gotten roped into this, he would never have met her. Back on the farm he normally kept to himself, not wanting to get close to anyone since he had lost his best friend in the war. He had actually pictured himself dying alone.
"Good." The priest said. "Now you may exchange the rings." He said as he held the tray in between the both of them. Alfred untied the bow and slipped the old yet somehow still beautiful ring on Lovina's finger with a quick kiss from her hand.
"I saw guys in France do that in the war." Alfred smiled.
Lovina rolled her eyes and took the ring and slipped it on his finger. "Well, I am not marrying a Frenchman, am I?" She smirked back.
"Let me be the first to present to you Alfred and Lovina Jones," The priest said.
At this Julius got up. "Now, let us celebrate the happy couple in the Lexington Hotel banquet hall."
The crowd got up and headed out, while Alfred and Lovina stood there, hand in hand. "Don't we usually walk down the aisle out before everyone storms out to the reception?" Lovina asked her grandfather.
"Well, when you do this again, we'll let you have that." Julius said under his breath.
"Excuse me?" Alfred asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Now that you're in the family, I couldn't be happier! What's hers is yours and what's yours is ours."
"Huh?" Lovina asked. Did grandpa want me or Felicia to marry Alfred so he could get the farm without needing to pay him for it? There's still a mortgage on it, at least from what I last knew….
"You two must be starving! Helena has been working with some of the chefs since the early morning to make sure that you will have the best reception ever. In fact, there is a limousine waiting outside for the both of you to ride in style to it." Julius said.
Alfred held his arm out for Lovina to grasp and they headed out of the chapel towards the limousine that Julius had promised. Now in a month we can say that Lovina is pregnant, so we don't have to keep pretending. He thought as he opened the door and let Lovina inside and the driver silently started the car. Julius was riding with Giovanni, leaving Alfred and Lovina alone. However, neither one had wanted to say too much to each other in case the driver would tell Julius. We cannot live like this, even if I can soon tell the truth about being pregnant. Lovina thought as she looked out the window. But how to get us out? She thought. I mean Alfred was willing to put up with this bullshit and get put in dangerous situations just for me and our baby…. She placed her hand over her abdomen, knowing that the driver wasn't paying attention to things like that.
"So ummm…" Alfred began. "You ever been to the Lexington?"
"A few times." Lovina said. "It is actually a very nice place. Heard that Grover Cleveland spent his honeymoon there."
"Well, if it's good enough for a president's honeymoon…." Alfred laughed. "To think a simple farm boy like me would even see the inside of that thing."
"Well, you're a part of the family now, so get used to the better things in life." Lovina said. "Although I did like the lake at the farm."
"I'll say" Alfred said. "Maybe we can see the cows and go fishing one of these days…."
"And I can play with your cowlick without worry." Lovina said as she ran her finger up the cowlick, causing Alfred to shudder.
"Lovina…." he blushed.
"A girl knows what she wants." She smiled. "And we can do it."
"After the reception lovebirds." The driver spoke, breaking Alfred and Lovina's attention from each other. "We're here."
"Shall we?" Alfred said as he helped Lovina out of the car.
"Well, at least Helena's in charge of the cooking. And she's pretty good at it." Lovina said.
"Can't wait." Alfred smiled as he pulled Lovina's arm in his and walked into the hotel, looking around at the luxurious place and following the driver to the ballroom where the reception was to be held. Damn, at least this is a nice wedding, even if my in-laws are awful…. Alfred thought.
So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. The Lexington was an actual hotel in Chicago at the time and that was where Al Capone ran his operation. Sadly, it has been torn down and a modern development where it was located is there today, but I had to put a historical fun fact in there. So, remember to read, well you just did, and review. Ciao for now,
Otherrealmwriter
Aka
Realm