A/N: So, I've decided to drop the present tense-ness, because it's a bitch. Dood, what if I wrote this whole story in future tense? My god, that would be ridiculous. Anyways, I don't own anything here except (I guess) Texas, because he's awesome. Yay for Spanish influences!

"You're daughter is annoying, I hope you are well aware of this," I said through my grin and wave.

"Yes, I know. But whatever. She rakes in a lot of money," Al returned through his grin. We were finally leaving the Hell-hole called California. Nikki had brought us to the airport in her fancy limo and now we were waving and grinning frantically as we were leaving. Nikki was shutting things like, "I'll miss you!" and "Come visit again, soon!" I think she was just trying to get me to speak with my accent again.

"That's a horrible reason to love your daughter," I muttered as we turned and board the plane, Al flashing a flirty grin to the boarding hostess. What is this feeling in my stomach? Not jealousy, right? No. Just annoyance, of course. The bloody git was always acting like this.

"I call window seat! The hero always gets the window seat. Y'know, to see missiles and all that jazz," Al yelled, starting to run down the aisle. With a sigh, I stopped and waited for Al to realize he had ran past our seats. The curtain separating the first and second class opened and Al's blue eyes peeked out at me. He shamefully walked in and I let him take the window seat. This kept Al quiet for a good fifteen minutes while we waited for the plane to take off.

But when the pilot came over the loudspeaker, Al looked like he was ready to explode. I had to literally grab onto his shoulders and keep him from jumping up and into the cockpit.

"Good morning, everyone. This is your pilot here, Captain Arnold F. Jones. I'd like to wish everyone a most comfortable flight. If you have any question please feel free to just hit the button with the little person on it just above you. The flight attendants will try their best to answer your question. If they can't answer it, you can come and ask me. Now, it will take us about two hours to get to Austin, so just sit back and relax. Here we go!" the captain said and Al pumped his fists in the air, excited.

"Arthur! Did you here that? The pilot and me have the same name! Well, except the first name, but still. It's so cool! That just proves I'm destined to be a hero! I mean, all heroes can fly! I already know how to fly though, hmmm. Maybe this is destining the pilot to be a hero. We can't have two heroes, can we? I mean, that's like a sequel. Artie? Artie!" Al grabbed my shoulders and shook me. I had zoned out, what was he saying? Something about heroes? "Were you even listening? Really? You think so? What? What was I saying?"

"You were talking about heroes...? Right?" I hesitated, but Al just grinned, satisfied with my answer. He sat back and started to reach up. I smacked his hand away and glared. "Come on, Al. It's two hours. Can't you just go back to sleep or something. Seriously. And oh, don't call me Artie. You know I hate that."

"But Arthur is so stuck up...Can I call you Iggy? No? Hmm...Well, I guess Arthur's good for now."

And so it went for two hours. If it weren't for the fact that we were in the air, I'm pretty sure we would have been kicked off the plane. Alfred had hit the Call button about four times in the first hour, had tried to order wine without his I.D. three times before the attendant threatened "plane arrest", motioning towards the uniformed guard. Alfred had managed to recite the Declaration Of Independence and Bill Of Rights perfectly and started singing his national anthem loudly and managed to get a bunch of kids from second class to join in, he also ordered three hamburgers before I stopped him, and managed to get into the cockpit. And that's where he was until the end of the flight where he came out with a pilot hat, a pin, and a goofy grin.

"Satisfied Al? Let's go, I'm sure Diego is just eager to see you," I said as we left the plane. Al nodded and pointed to a McDonald's before running off to it. I groaned, how does he eat that stuff? So, I waited wondering if Diego, Texas, was coming to pick us up or what.

"Let's go, Diego said to meet up at his place. He said he had a surprise for me. I love surprises!" Al yelled, devouring his hamburgers. He was legitimately eating two at the same time.

"Diego! Where are you?" Alfred yelled, practically kicking open the door.

"Dad! Stop! Don't kick down the door! I'm getting sick of paying for it. Listen, and I have company. I told you this, sí? You know them, Norte and Sur México," the voice got closer as a teen with dark hair, dark brown eyes, and tan skin walked into the room. Trailing behind him were a female and male, both I barely recognized.

"Hola, Alfred! ¿Qué pasa? Y, oh, Inglaterra! ¡Qué placer!" the female, South Mexico called, raising her hand in greeting. "I haven't seen either of you in a long time, how are you both?"

"Shut up, Nieve. Don't show off with your Spanish. What's up, guys?" North Mexico stood close to Diego, his fingers lacing with the Texan. Nieve rolled her eyes.

"I'll try, Fern," the female nation rolled her 'r's longer than she needed, this seemed like a usual retort because Fernando, or Fern, sputtered and then turned away.

"Nieve, Fern! What are you two doing here? Artie! Do you know the Mexicos?" Al said hugging the twins.

"Of course, I haven't seen either of you in about sixty years though. I assume you've both been well?" I asked, smiling. Both Mexicans grinned, Nieve glancing at her brother and the state, nudging Diego. Diego cleared his throat.

"Uh, dad. I got somethin' to tell you. And don't you get upset. But..." Texas trailed off, looking at Fernando.

"I was wondering if you'd let me uhm..." Fernando trailed off this time, shifting, his face going red. Al and I cocked an eyebrow. Nieve sighed.

"They're going out, Fern wants your permission, Alfredo," Nieve said, exasperated. I turned with Diego and Fernando to see Al's reaction. His face gave away no emotion, then he slowly smiled.

"This is what you wanted to tell me!? This is great! I just have one thing to say. No stealing my children, you got it Fern?" Al then ran to his kid and neighboring country and pulled them into a hug. Nieve stepped back and adjusted her glasses. Al then pulled her into a hug and she blushed, hesitantly patting his back.

"Isn't this great, Arthur? My baby's in love!" Al was jumping up and down, excited. Diego and Fern's faces turned a bright shade of red. "I wish I had a lover. You two are so lucky to have each other!"

"Al, do you have anything planned or are we here just to bother your son and his friends?" I asked, suddenly annoyed. I wasn't in the mood to hang out with a love sick couple. Al cocked an eyebrow adorably. Oh God, did I just think that? No. Not adorably, he just cocked his eyebrow, gosh.

"Well, no. Is there anywhere you wanted to go? We could go to the beach," Al said, his smile forming into a frown. Oh Al, don't frown.

"Yeah, I guess that's good with me. Which...one?" I asked, smiling. Anything to keep that frown off his face.

"Oh, go to the Gulf! The sharks should be gone since the weather's getting warmer and getting too warm for los tiburónes. The sharks," Nieve flashed a grin and pulled off her glasses. "Sí, they should be gone. You can't really swim though. But it should be fun, how do you say? Nonetheless?"

"How you know that just by looking at your glasses, I'll never know. I mean, I've tried it, but it doesn't work!" Fernando complained, reaching out for Nieve's glasses.

"Parada! Stop, it's not just glasses. It's the Gulf Of Mexico and you know that. Just like we can feel when someone is attacking our land, I can tell what's up with the Gulf," Nieve glared at Fernando and literally pulled a map out of a fold in her dress. She unfolded it and Al and I gathered round her.

"Alright, we're here. If go down this street here and turn onto the highway here and follow it down Route 4, you'll get here. Go on for like fifteen minutes and olé! You're there!" Nieve's finger traced the path on the map of Texas. "Got it?"

Al and I nodded, taking the map that Nieve shoved into our hands. She pushed us out the door.

"¡Adiós! See you later!" all three yelled and waved to us from the doorway.

A/N: So, I'm gonna end it right here because it's getting too long. Next chapter they'll be at the beach. Together. :D