AN: Two apologies. First, I am sorry this chapter seems a bit rushed. I had trouble finding a happy medium between getting to the point and putting in the little details. Second, I fully intended to post this months ago however September quickly became the month from hell and October didn't start off much better. But life is back on track and going full steam ahead with many positive changes, so I fully intend to pick this fanfic (as well as the other one people have been messaging me about) back up!

Happy Holidays! : )

~Loona

Traveling Soldier

He didn't know what was going on. The world was dark. His angel was gone. He saw nothing, only felt and on occasion he heard voices. They were distant, saying words and things he did not understand. He felt he should recognize them, they weren't the demons he'd been tortured by since he could remember. They weren't the faceless demons that woke him each day.

They weren't trying to wake him at all. He found it odd, but was relieved by the peace. He felt warm, not from the harsh desert heat but from a sense of security. Although he was not ready to awaken he knew he would not open his eyes to the prison but somewhere far from the dangers of his captors. He felt no pain, though the numbness was gone.

With the renewed hope that maybe he had found the place he truly belonged, he let the steady beeping lull him to sleep.

It was not uncommon for Natalya to remain silent for long periods of time. However, in the centuries of knowing his younger sister, Ivan knew that her silence was not always the same. More often than not, it was a result of either racing thoughts or simply the young woman zoning out to think of nothing. But today was different.

Natalya stared out the window, watching the passing landscape but not seeming to see anything in front of her. Her expression was blank, and her face paler with every passing moment.

"We are almost being there, Natalya. Arthur sent me a message that they had arrived just after I got to your home. We should be able to go straight to his room, da?"

If she heard him, Natalya made no response. Frowning, Ivan remained silent for the remainder of the drive.

"I do not want to do this now, Alfred wanted a say," Natalya snapped.

Ukraine sighed, nearing tears as she closed the catalogue. "Sestra, I know, but you cannot wait, you should be planning now. I know Alfred wanted to be a part of it, but…you don't know if he'll be back in time."

"He promised. Alfred does not break promises. It is…unheroic as he says."

Ignoring her sister's look of pity, Natalya closed her laptop and set it aside. "Anyway, I have always wanted children. I know exactly what I am wanting and needing. Having Alfred here when I decide on things for the child is merely to make him feel like he has a say in things."

"Poor Alfred had no idea what he was getting into with you."

"He knew exactly what he was getting into long before he married me."

"You should at least let him have some say, I'm sure he'll want the child to be—"

A firm knock on the door interrupted Katyusha's response. With a frown, Natalya quickly got up and made her way to the door. Her heart started racing as she looked through the window and quickly opened the door.

"Arthur, Francis, what are you doing here?"

Arthur nodded his head, avoiding her eyes. "May we come in, Natalya?"

Stepping aside, Natalya beckoned the duo into the living room where her sister waited.

"Bonjour, Katyusha, you are looking lovely as ever," Francis greeted, though the sisters noticed his words did not seem as cheerful as usual and both men seemed as if they had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"You flatter me, Francis. It is a pleasant surprise to see you, Natalya and I were just starting to look over things for the baby."

"The baby? Of course," Arthur replied. "Everything is well I hope?"

"It is Alfred, isn't it?" Natalya asked. "Something happened."

With a nod, Arthur pulled out the letter that had been delivered to him several hours before. He handed the letter to the Belarusian before stepping back to allow her sister to move towards her.

"He's…missing, Natalya. Francis and I will be going, along with a few others, to lead a team to search for him. As a nation he is a person of utmost importance and we will find him."

"No, he said he was not doing anything dangerous. He said it was merely politics."

"He did not want you to worry," Francis assured her.

Natalya sat on the couch, staring at the letter in her hands. "They know nothing? They do not even know if he is alive?"

"We will tell as soon as we find out, Natalya, but they could not give us information for fear it would be intercepted."

Katyusha reclaimed her seat on the couch beside her sister. "Alfred will be alright. There is nothing to worry about. He will be back home soon, and you can yell at him for being an idiot."

"Alfred did not want you to worry," Arthur told her. "This is probably nothing, for all we know he wandered off, he's done that before. We'll get this sorted out, Natalya."

"Oui," France agreed, "and he will be back in your arms the moment we find him. This is just…a misunderstanding we are sure."

"We do have a flight leaving in just a few hours. If you should need anything, do not hesitate to contact us, or Matthew. We can be back here within a day if anything happens."

Natalya nodded, finally looking up at him.

"And we will let you know the moment we find him. We'll have him call you himself and beg for your forgiveness at his immaturity."

"Thank you both. We will wait to hear from you," Katyusha told them, gently patting Natalya's hair.

The two men nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait," Natalya called. "Thank you, for telling me what was going on."

"Alfred gave very specific instructions on how to handle situations like this," Arthur said. "Don't worry, Natalya. He'll be home soon."

"Natalya?"

A hand on her arm jolted Natalya from the recesses of her mind. With a startled look, she turned to her brother.

"We are here," he told her.

Natalya stared at him a moment, as if his words made no sense to her. As soon as his words sunk in she threw open the door and broke into a run.

"You should have been back by now."

"I know, doll, I'm sorry."

"I do not want an apology. I want you on the next flight home."

She could hear a sigh from the other end of the line. "I'll see what I can do, Nat… I got caught up in some…paperwork."

"Paperwork? That is all? You are not…being a hero?"

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright."

"That did not answer my question."

"Natalya, please, just drop it. I gotta get back to things soon."

"You are hiding something and I want to know why."

"You have nothing to worry about, Nat."

"There had better not be a mark on you when you get back to me."

Natalya relaxed slightly as he heard him chuckle.

"Not a scratch," he agreed. "You can check me over as long as you want once I'm home. I should go, it's late over there."

"It is not that late."

"I'll call you later, about the time you wake up okay? I should be done with things by then."

"I am supposed to sleep without my hero here to protect me?"

"I'll be home soon, Nat. I promise. I gotta go now. I'll talk to ya later."

"Fine. I will talk to you later, Alfred."

"Hey, come on, Nattie, you know I hate working like this, especially away from you."

"Then come and do your 'paperwork' here."

"I would if I could. Can you at least smile for me before I go?"

"I'm smiling."

"No you're not. Come on, baby."

"Do not call me that," she snapped.

"One smile before I let you go to sleep?"

"You are thousands of miles away, how should you know if I am smiling or not?"

"I can hear it in your voice."

Natalya shook her head, unable to stop the small smile from forming. "I am smiling, Alfred. Now get back to work so you can come home."

"I'll call you in the morning. Love you, Nat."

"I love you too. Stay safe."

"Always. Love you."

Once he hung up Natalya lowered her phone and set it on the nightstand beside her, double checking that she had the ringtone set at the highest volume. She switched off the light and burrowed under the covers, his pillow hugged tightly to her chest.

Morning would come, but her phone would not ring.

"There was some internal bleeding. He had several bones which had been broken and allowed to heal improperly. Those were re-broken and set properly. They should heal within a couple weeks, possibly sooner given the recovery abilities of your kind."

Arthur and Matthew barely listened to the doctor as he continued a detailed description of some of the injuries their brother had sustained. They had barely been back in his country a day, and had only just gotten to see him after he was rushed into surgery.

"I will say this," the doctor continued. "If he were not your kind, he would have been dead long ago. Even with your healing abilities, the fact he survived what he was put through physically is a miracle."

"When will he wake up?" Arthur asked, finally turning his focus to the human man.

"We aren't sure. He could wake up today, or it could be a few weeks. There's no way to know for sure. Right now we just wait. His vitals have returned to normal, we'll be keeping a close eye on him."

"Thank you."

With a nod, the doctor turned on his heel and walked out.

Canada moved to sit on the edge of the windowsill. "He'll be better now, won't he, Arthur? Now that he's back in his own nation, he'll heal a lot faster."

"I don't know."

The two fell silent, listening to the steady pulse of the machines. Outside the room nurses busied themselves with other patients. Every so often visitors would walk by, oblivious to the nations in the darkened room.

"Natalya!"

Running footsteps moved closer and closer, suddenly coming to a stop outside the room. The young woman stood in the doorway a moment, her eyes locked on the man lying in the bed. A moment later Ivan appeared behind her, giving her a slight nudge that caused her to move further into the room. Her expression remained blank as she stepped up to the foot of the hospital bed.

Arthur and Matthew exchanged a look before quietly moving past her to join Ivan in the hall.

"She wanted to see him," Ivan stated.

"She has a right to," Arthur replied. "How are the children?"

"They were sleeping. Kat is watching them. How is Alfred?"

"He made it through the operations when we got here. The doctors said he flat lined a couple times, but…now we're just waiting for him to wake up."

Ivan nodded, glancing into the room to see his sister hadn't moved.

"Francis had to meet with his boss in Paris," Arthur said. "But once he gets here we'll be rotating, just in case Alfred wakes up. We don't want him to wake up alone."

"I will help if I can, da?"

Matthew smiled. "Thank you, Ivan."

Natalya suddenly joined them, startling the three men. "I wish to go home."

"Already?" Ivan asked.

She nodded, moving between them and towards the door leading out of the unit.

"She seems upset," Canada whispered.

"Da…. I have to go. Let me know what you work out with babysitting America."

"Don't let him hear you say that."

"What else would you consider what we're doing?" Arthur asked. "Alfred always was like a child. Ivan, get Natalya home safely. She should be with the children right now."

Giving them his usual smile, Ivan bid the two goodbye and followed his sister out to the car.

Natalya visited the hospital daily, though she never stayed for long and she never moved closer than she had on the first day. Arthur, Matthew, or even her own brother would give tell her what was happening, usually just repeating medical spiels that Natalya did not care to hear. In her mind, that was not her Alfred.

The man in the bed was bruised and beaten. He was weak and unresponsive. His eyes were always closed, not alight with the over exuberance he always displayed. He wouldn't smile, his expression remained blank.

And soon, very soon, she would return home from visiting this stranger in the hospital to find her own Alfred alive and well at home. The last several years will have been a bad dream, and he would be playing in the backyard with the children like a normal parent. The four of them would cuddle on the couch and watch those ridiculous cartoons Alfred still enjoyed. They would be a happy family, just like they'd planned.

Though Natalya knew Alfred would have gone along with whatever she planned, when it came to the twins, she needed him. Although it was clear they were her children as well, there were times the mischievous pair were clearly the offspring of the self-proclaimed hero. Amelia in particular could arguably be an exact copy of the American with her personality. She had her father's eyes and his shade of blonde, but looked exactly as Natalya had as a child. Nikolai resembled a younger America, even Arthur couldn't believe the resemblance. Like his sister, only his hair and eyes varied.

It was a few weeks after Alfred had returned to his own nation when Natalya sat surrounded by pamphlets and forms. It was only a few months before school would begin again, and the twins would finally be old enough for kindergarten. While they were already enrolled in preschool, the same school Alfred had favored when the subject of their schooling came up long before he had been called away. Unfortunately, Natalya had long since forgotten the elementary school Alfred had demanded any child they had attend. She had ruled several out already, though even she had overestimated the number of schools in the area that were open for the twins to attend.

She groaned, resting her head on the table as she heard a soft knock on the door. Getting up she opened the door, uncertain as she stood back to let Matthew enter. While she relaxed slightly when he smiled, she couldn't help but worry about why he had come unannounced. It wasn't like Matthew to show up without warning. In fact other than her brother and sister, Alfred had been the only one to just drop everything to see her.

"Hey, Nat. Sorry it's so late."

"Do not apologize. Is….is he alright?"

"Alfred? Yeah. No changes. I actually wanted to ask a favor."

"I got called back to Canada for an emergency meeting with my boss. Arthur is with Alfred right now, but he and Ivan have a meeting with the G8 tomorrow, and well…we don't want Alfred to be alone."

"You want me to go sit with Alfred?"

"Just while the kids are at school. Just in case he wakes up." Matthew shrugged and smiled at her. "He'd rather you be the first thing he sees when he comes out of this anyway."

"I will go, Matthew. Is there any hope of him waking up?"

"We still don't know. He'll be okay though. He will. He's Alfred."

Natalya hummed in agreement.

"He's going to hate everything he's missed." Matthew looked around the room, with the walls covered in pictures of the twins. "I'm sorry we didn't find him sooner."

"He is the idiot that got captured." Natalya turned away, her eyes falling on the table with the papers that might just become her undoing. "Matthew, do you by chance know what schools Alfred might have sent a child to?"

"World Academy," Matthew replied, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.

"World… no that can't be right. There is no…World Academy. It would be in here." Natalya shuffled through the papers.

"It's not really…that open. It's kind of a special school. Alfred helped found it. They don't have a preschool, I think Al was working on it before… Anyway, it's an elementary, middle, and high school for top students. It accepts international students too. It was kind of Alfred's secret project. I can get you an application. I just got some for special students in Canada actually. They would probably kill to have Alfred's kids in school there."

"Alfred never told me…"

"He didn't talk about it much with anyone really. I only knew because I ran into him there and he spilled everything. Not even Arthur knows."

"I'm his wife and he did not tell me."

"Eh…" Canada shifted awkwardly. "He didn't tell anyone, Nat. He might've been a loud mouth, but Alfred had his secrets. Anyway, everyone think he's an idiot. So who would have thought he started a special school?"

Natalya frowned. "That doesn't explain why he kept it from me."

"I'm sure he would've told you..." Matthew shrugged. "I hate to leave but I have to get back home. We'll all be back as soon as we can."

"I know."

"Alfred will wake up soon. I just know it. And I'm his twin, so I know these things."

"If you are going to try the twin telepathy claim, the twins already beat you to it."

"It works though, eh?" Canada smiled.

She wasn't typically one to tire easily, but Natalya was quickly beginning to dislike standing in a hospital room so long. Her eyes seemed drawn to the chair beside the bed, where the others would always sit. Normally they would spend their time talking about useless nonsense as if Alfred was aware and conversing with them.

But even Natalya had to admit, his condition had greatly improve since he had returned home. Most of the paleness had returned to his more lively tan. The nurses had washed up his hair, and even his trademark curl had more of its shape as the days passed. There was no question that he was improving, but the man would still not wake up.

There had been some instances that they believed he would. Francis had mentioned hearing the young man mumbling one evening. On another day, Matthew swore Alfred clenched his hand into a fist, but by the time he was able to find the doctor said hand had relaxed back into its previous position. Even Arthur had noted the slight flutter of his eyelids every once in a while, and he had even gone as far as to claim Alfred had fully opened his eyes just a few days before.

"This is stupid," she muttered, giving in to temptation and moving to the seat.

She sat quietly for a moment and continued to stare at her shoes as she began to speak. "You're an idiot. You don't pay attention when you're awake, but the doctors say you might be able to hear us."

As expected, she received no response.

"I had twins you know. You promised to be back before the baby was born. Do you have any idea what a handful one child is, let alone two? They are almost five…you've been gone for more than five years, Alfred…and now you're just lazing around like the…useless unheroic idiot you are."

She finally looked up at him.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is when children start questioning who their father is? When all they know of you is pictures and stories from the rest of us? Amelia is just like you, you know. She tries to play hero and gets into trouble. Nikolai is better behaved, but he still wants to be just like you. He is very smart though, so I am sure he will outgrow that." Natalya smiled. "The sooner you wake up the sooner we can be a family."

For a while Natalya continued this way, uncharacteristically rambling various things. Mostly she described the children, the trouble the pair got into and all the ways they reminded her of their father.

She paused to take a break, leaning forward as she realized his eyelids flutter slightly. She reached over to brush a few stray strands of hair from his face. Without thought she moved to sit on the edge of the bed, gently caressing his cheek.

"You are not cold anymore. They said you were cold…like death. Alfred, come back to me."

Natalya suppressed a scream as a hand shot out of the covers to grab her wrist. She stared at Alfred, who otherwise remained unmoving. After a moment his grip loosened and Natalya caught his hand in hers. His eyes began to slowly open. He stared blankly for a moment then shifted his gaze to their intertwined hands.

"Alfred, can you hear me?"

Her question was met with silence, but he slowly looked up at her. Natalya frowned as dull blue eyes stared back at her.

"Mr. Jones is awake," the nurse realized, having just walked in. She immediately turned on her heel to rush to inform the doctor.

"Alfred?" Natalya repeated.

"'t's'you," he mumbled. "Angel."

Natalya smiled. "We were so worried. I thought you would never come home."

Alfred frowned in confusion.

"Alfred, are you really awake?"

"Who…who are you?"