Would I ever get used to this? I looked myself in the mirror. I ran my hands down my side along my new curves. I wouldn't be able to hide this from the other countries. How would Germany react when he saw me? I wasn't satisfied with any of the clothes in my closet. None of them fit me. I would have to go shopping. I settled for my regular uniform and headed out.

I had seen women in these before, but I had never seen so many sizes. Most of the other clothing was pretty simple. One number, and they were usually pretty small. These numbers were bigger and had letters, too. I picked up one. There was barely anything. It looked really itchy. Why would someone wear one of these? The sales woman said that every woman needs a few. I held it across my chest. I suppose it could be cute. I had a few plain ones now and one with lots of flowers.

"Italy? Is that you?" I heard a voice call. He was the worst person to find right now. I wanted Germany to know before him. I put the bra down and crossed my arms over my chest. Could he see them?

"oh ah..hello France!" I said, facing my body away from him.

"Picking out a present for your lady friend? I can't believe you're so grown up. I hope you're not planning to woo her like that. Your clothes look atrocious. Why are you wearing them?" He moved closer to me.

"I think Romano was playing a prank on me. In fact he's probably looking for me right now to laugh at me. I should probably go." I tried to get past him.

"I can't allow any relative of mine going out looking like that." He started to pull my shirt off of me. I grabbed the bottom and fought him to put it back down. I was clearly at a disadvantage.

"Why the sudden modesty? We're all men aren't we?"

"P-please big brother…I just want to…"

"Let her go!" A voice called out. My heart lifted.

"Germany help!" Did he know who I was? Would he come to save me?

He ran over and pushed France off of me. He grabbed me by my waist, and I wrapped my arms around him. He was back! I was so happy. He held me so closely; my skin felt electrified where he touched. I didn't even care if France found out now.

"I don't want to ever see you touching her like that, understood?

Both France and I picked up on that key word. Her. Germany knew I was a girl.

"Italy, you're a girl?" France said, eyes wide with shock just now seeing my curves.

"Italy, are you done here?" Germany said to me, moving his hand to mine

"Al-almost. I just got to check out." Germany paid for my new clothes, and we left the store. Germany waited on a bench while I went to go change. I blushed when I came out. I hadn't worn girl's clothes in so long. The soft fabric of the skirt felt weird. Germany invited me to sit along side him on the bench.

I sat down beside him. We were only a few inches apart. I started smoothing out my skirt. He must be so confused. This was going to be hard to explain. Germany grabbed my worried hand and started drawing shapes on the back. It calmed me.

"You look so beautiful like this," he said. I blushed at his compliment.

"You being a girl, it makes so much sense, like a big piece of life that was mixing fit right back into place. It explains so much." He paused, looking at me. I could see so much love in his eyes. It left me speechless.

"I started to remember things. I got these strange memories form when I was a child. I got memories of you. I remember you dancing across the floor as you cleaned. I remembered you making the most beautiful drawings. I remember how cute you looked with daisies in your hair. I remembered how sad you looked when I sad I wanted to be with you forever, and how I wanted more than anything else to make you happy."

"I'm tired of looking back to the past. I'm so much different then the person I was back then. I no longer want the power and the glory I wanted back then. But there's one thing that hasn't changed."

Germany pulled something out of his jacket. It was white with ribbons on the side. He gave me my old set of bloomers.

"I don't want to say goodbye to you, ever. I want you to take back you're parting gift because I don't plan to ever leave your side."

I clutched the underwear close to my chest. Tears formed in my eyes. I didn't think I could possibly be any happier.

"I guess I'll give you yours back, too." I enthusiastically threw myself into giving back his kiss, but this wasn't a fair exchange. Germany gave me so many kisses in return. I would never be able to return his love back for as long as I lived. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on mine.

"Ich liebe dich für immer."*

* I love you forever

AN: Thank you so much for staying with me the entire story! I really appreciate the support! I wrote another story. It is a prequel, sequel, but not an in-betweequel focused on some of my favorite characters that didn't get the ending they deserved. It is called Another Tomato Box Fairytale and is completely finished.