Rome Returns... Again

Germany had once again been having trouble sleeping. His problems weren't even Aksel's fault, the 8 month old baby had been sleeping much like his mother, and didn't wake up in the middle of the night. Germany was lying in bed, an arm around Italy, and he had his eyes closed. The Germany was desperately trying to sleep. He had almost drifted off to sleep before he heard something.

"Okay, I see-a Italy, and I see-a the German, but where is the mother of this child that my little Italy is-a supposed to have?" asked a voice.

The sound caused the German to react quickly, releasing his arm from Italy, and drawing a gun from his bedside table. Germany looked and was faced with none other than Italy's grandfather, the Great Roman Empire. Germany's arm relaxed, and he lowered the gun. He let out a sigh.

"Vhat ze hell are you doing here?" Germany asked the old man, giving a facepalm as he did.

"I'm-a here to see my-a great-grandbaby and the mother of this child!" Rome explained. Rome gave Germany a confused look. "I don't-a know where she is, have you seen the mother of Italy's child?"

Germany turned a deep shade of red. "Erm... vell I hate to be ze one to tell you this, but there vasn't a woman involved in this baby."

Rome's eyes widened. "You-a mean that you two adopted a baby?"

"Nein, nein, nein. I mean that Italy vas ze baby's mother. He vas ze one who gave birth to him." Germany explained. Rome's eyes widened even more.

"You're-a telling me that my-a GRANDSON had the baby? Let-a me guess, next you're-a going to tell me that you're-a the father of this baby, aren't you?" Rome asked rolling his eyes.

Germany blushed again and nodded. "Ja. I am ze father." Rome looked as if he were about to faint. Germany quickly tried to come up with a way to calm down the old man. "Erm, vould you like to see your great-grandson?" Germany asked. Rome's eyes lit up.

"Of course I would!" Rome exclaimed. Germany carefully climbed out of the bed, being careful not to wake Italy. He led Rome down the hall to Aksel's room. Germany silently opened the door, and walked into the room, with Rome close behind.

In the crib, the light brown haired baby was tucked in under a green, white, and red blanket. Germany noticed that the baby had rolled onto his stomach, and picked him up, and put him in the crib on his back once more. Aksel let out what sounded like a light "~Ve" and scrunched his face up like he was going to cry. Germany quickly picked the baby back up and rocked him a little. Crisis was averted, and the baby calmed down. Rome looked down at his great-grandson.

"Oh! He's-a so cute! He looks just-a like Italy!" Rome cooed. Aksel's eyes slowly opened. Rome looked at Germany. "Well, I'll also admit he does-a have a few of your features, like your eyes and nose."

Aksel looked up at his father. The baby was really confused on who this strange dark haired man that was looking at him was. Aksel didn' like the attention of this strange man. His face scrunched up again, but Germany quickly popped the scone pacifier into the baby's mouth. Aksel quieted down, but was still unhappy with the man's presence. Germany bounced Aksel a little bit and tried to get the baby to go back to sleep.

Rome's eyes lit up again. "I know! Let-a me try to put him back to sleep. I took care of Italy when he was a little bambino like this. I'll-a sing him back to sleep. Let-a me hold him." Rome said. Germany gently passed his son to the older nation. Aksel looked back at his father with eyes that said "Vati? Why are you giving me to this strange man?" and sucked on his pacifier.

Rome rocked the baby in his arms and started to sing... very very badly. Aksel didn't like Rome's singing at all. The baby spit his pacifier out, and was about to start crying, but Germany caught it out of the air and put it back in the baby's mouth. This caused Aksel to let out a giggle.

"Ok, he obviously doesn't like your singing. Maybe he's hungry. I'll go varm him up a bottle." Germany said as he walked downstairs to the kitchen. Rome followed, still carrying Aksel. Germany put a bottle in the microwave and watched Rome and the baby.

Aksel was still very confused on who this strange dark haired man was. He was wearing funny clothes, and he couldn't sing, but Vati seemed to trust him, so he must be okay. Aksel looked up at Rome with a confused look on his face. The baby placed a tiny little hand on his great-grandfather's nose. Rome let out a laugh.

"No, no bambino, don't-a grab Grandpa's nose." Rome said, gently removing Aksel's hand. Aksel let out a giggle and put his hand back on Rome's nose. Germany smiled. Rome an Aksel continued their "game" until Germany came over with the bottle. Germany took Aksel from Rome and removed the pacifier from the baby's mouth. He put the bottle in Aksel's mouth and the baby began to drink happily.

"Aww, he eats-a just like Italy used to!" Rome said as Aksel quickly downed the bottle. Shortly after finishing the bottle, Aksel's eyes slowly closed and the baby drifted back to sleep in his father's arms. Germany carried the sleeping baby back upstairs to his crib. He gently laid the Aksel down on his back, and tucked him back under his blanket. Rome had been standing in the doorway, silently watching the German. Germany walked back out of the room and quietly shut the door, then looked at Rome. The former empire had tears in his eyes, and was smiling.

"Thank-a you so much. Both for the beautiful great-grandson, and the wonderful night. You've given an old man a lot to be happy about, and I thank-a you for it." Rome said. His face grew serious. "You be-a good to my little Italy, got it?" Germany nodded and Rome wrapped the German in a tight hug. He let go, gave a wave, then left.

Germany climbed back into bed with Italy without a moment's hesitation, and almost immediately fell asleep.

The next morning Aksel woke up first, and let Italy know by letting out a loud cry for attention. Italy yawned, let out a "~Ve" then rushed to his crying baby. Italy walked over to the crib and picked the brown haired baby up.

"~Ve. Good morning, Aksel!" Italy said as he rocked the baby a little bit. Aksel stopped crying and smiled at his mother. "Is Mama's baby hungry?" Italy asked the baby as he carried Aksel back to the bedroom. Aksel's eyes lit up a little. The thought of food sounded good to him. Italy set his son down next to Germany. "~Ve. You wait here with Papa while I get you a nice bottle." Italy left the room.

Aksel was sitting up on his mother's pillow. He flopped over to get a better look at his father. The baby let out a giggle and grabbed onto Germany's nose. Germany felt the tiny hand and his eyes fluttered open. He saw Aksel's face and smiled. "Guten morgen, Aksel." Germany muttered. His eyes fluttered shut and he went back to sleep. Italy came back in with a bottle. Aksel heard his mother and let out an excited "~Ve!" and started reaching up with his little hands towards the bottle. Italy smiled.

"~Ve! It's not very often that Papa sleeps in this late." Italy said as he picked the baby up and started to feed him. "You must have had up all night again."

Grandpa Rome was standing in the doorway looking in on the scene and smiled. He was so proud of his grandson for having such a beautiful baby. He was going to have to tell Germania about this when he went back. Germania would probably like to know about how their grandsons had a baby together. Rome was very happy.