I'm sorry...~America

Finland returns

~Christina's POV~
Once we got home Alfred and I got the twins ready for bed and rocked them to sleep before placing them in their cribs. "Hey I think I'm gonna go take a shower, perhaps you'll join me?~" Alfred teased me with a smirk and kissed me tenderly, I chuckled and kissed him back before pulling away, "actually I think I'm going to go see if your father needs any help with dinner" Alfred pouted and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "Are you sure? Sometimes he can be a little difficult when dealing with food..." I smiled at him and kissed his forehead, "I'm sure, even if he is a little difficult I'd still like to try my best to build a relationship with your parents" "Aw...your so sweet...okay finnnne I'll let you go"
"Hah! As if you could control me" I laughed at him and flicked his forehead playfully before leaving the bedroom and heading downstairs. I could hear the sink running in the kitchen from the hallway so I assumed he was already getting washed up to start cooking. I took a deep breath and reassured myself quietly, "you got this Christi...they already like you so there's no reason to be nervous. It's just your fiancé's father...hehe..." I swallowed my nerves and walked into the kitchen with my hands behind my back."Um... Francis? I hate to bother you but I was wondering if you could help me"
"Hm? Sure what is it? Are you alright?" Francis dried his hands off on his apron and brushed his hair behind his ear. "Oh yes! I'm fine I was just um...well you see I've gotten so used to your food that I think I'm really going to miss it when I go back to America...so I thought maybe you could teach me a few recipe's" Francis' eyes practically sparkled as tears started to appear, "Oh Christina...nothing would make me happier then to pass my recipes on to my future daughter-in-law!" He gave me a big excited hug and a bright smile before handing me an apron, "in fact you can help me make dinner for tonight" I smiled and put the apron on, "alright then! I promise I'll make you proud Chef" Francis smiled at me and patted my head with pride.
"So what are we making?" I quickly pulled my hair back in a tight ponytail before washing my hands.
"Hm...well let's see we need to serve six adults and one picky child...so I think we'll have two main dishes, a simple Beef bourguignon should do...oh no I'm still thinking French..maybe a Nordic dish would be more appropriate" Francis rubbed his chin and began mumbling to himself, "but maybe that's a little too much I should keep it simple...but still their not here for fun so maybe a familiar meal with make them feel more at home- arg!" Francis groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. "Um...maybe we could make one Nordic dish and one dish that you'd like to eat" I suggested carefully picking my words as to not stress him out. "No one ever eats what I want to eat" Francis sighed and scratched his head, "but I suppose that is a good idea only I'll just decide on a simple recipe for the second dish since you were wanting to learn some of my recipes" Francis smiled regaining his confidence and clapped his hands together. "Alright we'll make Beef Bourguignon and Gravlax for our main course and then a beautiful Fraisier cake for dessert." I scrunched my face up a bit at the word Gravlax, "um...what's Gravlax? It sounds horrible" Francis chuckled and grabbed a bunch of ingredients from the pantry. "It's actually quite delicious, it's smoked salmon on avacado toast to put it simply but the way I make it there's just a little bit more to it- urg" Francis struggled to lift a big sack of potatoes out of the pantry. "It's okay I got it" I knelt down and lifted the bag for him quickly placing it on the table. Francis stared at me for a moment and held his forearm dramatically, "Oh mon Dieu am I just old or do you lift weights?"
I chuckled and patted his shoulder, "no your not old, I actually used to wrestle back in collage so I've built up some muscle over the year." Francis sighed and shook his head, "why you chose Alfred I'll never know...your too good for him" Francis grabbed a knife and cut open the potato sack, "Aw don't say that...Alfred's absolutely perfect in my eyes"
"Peut-être que tu devrais faire vérifier tes yeux..."
(( "maybe you should get your eyes checked))
Francis mumbled to himself in French before handing me a potatoe. "I assume you know how to make mashed potatoes Oui?" I gave him a small nod still wondering what he had just mumbled. "Alright well I need you to make some whipped potatoes, it's basically the same process but once you've peeled them your going to chop them up into small cubes before boiling them, once their boiled add the strained cubes into a mixer and add salt,butter, and milk" Francis got all the ingredients and tools I would need laid out for me on the counter, "I'll prepare the Gravlax for now" I nodded and got started peeling the potatoes.
"Hm by the way Christina I was wondering...had Alfred told you anything about his and Finland's relationship?" Francis asked me whilst he delicately sliced an avacado before digging the pit out.
"Well I know he helped him fix his relationship with Matthew...but that's about it..."
"Well Tino did a lot more then that for Alfred, though he probably doesn't remember it very well.."
"What do you mean?" I set the peeler down and grabbed a knife to start cutting the potatoes.
"Let's see...I think it was 1499...when Tino actually found a young infant Alfred in a field in what is now the state of New York" Francis toasted some bread and leaned against the counter whilst he waited for it to toast. "What on earth was Finland doing in New York?" Francis chuckled and got a devilish look on his face. "Why- well you see even in the 1400's we countries have had to have world meetings, and every few hundred years we change the location of our headquarters so no one butts heads over it.
And our new HQ just so happened to be located in New York."
"Wait but America wasn't even colonized yet, why would you put the head quarters there?" Francis sighed and scratched his chin, "we find unused land and we use unused land" I shrugged and let him continue. "Anyway, since it was a new location Tino ended up getting lost on his way to a meeting and stumbled upon a crying baby all alone in the woods...we didn't know it at the time but apparently he had been separated from his twin brother, whom I found later on a-" Francis stopped and cleared his throat, "well that's another story, all you need to know is I was a pirate at the time"
"Wait what-" Francis cut me off and continued, "so Tino's legendary motherly instincts took over and he decided to take Alfred in until he could find him a suitable family. So Tino actually raised Alfred for a good...88 years of his life" My jaw nearly hit the floor from shock, "that's insane! 88 years and he doesn't remember it at all?" Francis shook his head, "you have to remember that we age differently...so his brain wasn't developed enough to remember all of it...but Tino did love him, very much...that's why he gave him to Arthur" I dumped the potato cubes into the boiling water before setting my cutting board down. "Wait what? If Tino loved him- and he raised him for so long why would he give him up?"
"Well...back then Finland was constantly going through wars and famines...he was growing weak and eventually he wasn't sure if he would be alive much longer...so he decided to give Alfred up so he wouldn't leave him alone again" I felt tears start to well up in my eyes, I sniffled and quickly wiped them away. "That's so bittersweet...then he must have missed him terribly all that time right?"
"I would imagine he did..." Francis sighed and sliced the salmon into fine strips. "But I wouldn't know for sure, you would have to talk to Tino about what happened after that" Francis finished the Gravlax's and placed each one on a serving dish. "I think I will...I'd love to know more about Alfred's childhood but to tell the truth I'm scared to just ask him"
"Ah I know what you mean...sometimes it's hard to relieve the past...but believe me there's no need to be afraid, yes there have been plenty of sad moments in all of our lives but nothing we haven't already learned to cope with, even if it does upset us to think about it we all get over it eventually" Francis gave me a tiny smile and I smiled back. It took us a long time but eventually we got everything finished and put together just in time as Arthur pulled up to the driveway and brought Tino and his family inside.
"Francis we're home! Please make yourselves at home while I go fetch Alfred" Arthur excused himself and made his way upstairs as Francis and I walked out of the kitchen. I'm embarrassed to admit it but I was stunned to see what they all look like for the first time, the short man that I assumed to be Finland was so pretty I almost thought he was a girl. The tall brooding man behind him- who I assume to be Sweden- reached out and placed a hand on Finland's shoulder. Finland chuckled and touched his hand gently, "there's no need to be so nervous Bert, everyone here is nice" the little boy who recognized immediately as Sealand tugged on Finland's jacket and gave him puppy dog eyes, "Momma that lady over there...is that Uncle Alfred's fiancé?" Finland smiled and patted his head, "yes I would assume so, why don't we introduce ourselves hm?" Sealand looked at me sheepishly for a moment before hiding his face in Finland's pant leg. I chuckled and walked over to them with Francis; I approached Finland first since he seemed to be the only one interested in socializing, "hi...I'm Christina, Alfred's Fiancé...it's nice to meet you I've heard so much about you"
"Hi Christina it's nice to meet you too, I'm Tino and this little guy is Peter" Tino chuckled and ruffled peter's hair. "And this is my husband Berwald, please excuse his manners he's not very good with people...or words" I smiled at them all and nodded.
"It's very nice to meet all of you, I'm excited to get to know you all better" Berwald huffed in response and gave me an emotionless stare. Tino got a nervous look on his face and decided to break the silence, "well it smells lovely in here, Francis I don't remember the last time I tasted one of your meals"
"Well I can promise you this will be much better then the unseasoned duck we shared on my ship"
"I hope so" Tino laughed and gave Francis a small friendly hug. Berwald bent down and lifted all of their bags and made his way towards the stairs as Alfred and Arthur came down with the twins.
"Oh-hey Sweden" Alfred stopped to greet him but Berwald just gave him a nod and continued up the stairs, Tino really wasn't kidding about the bad manners. "Why don't we make our way to the dining room? Christina and I just finished dinner" Francis smiled at me before taking everyone into the dining room. Tino gasped and smiled at the spread close to drooling, "oh it looks amazing! Is that Gravlax?"
"Oui I made it from scratch, I thought you'd like it" Francis grinned with pride, Arthur elbowed him for bragging. Alfred held my hand and whispered, "what did you make?" I gestured to the Beef Bourguignon and whispered back, "I made the entire thing myself and I got to help make the cake too, your dad really is an artist in the kitchen" Alfred chuckled and kissed my cheek whispering softly, "yeah but I'm sure your dish will taste even better than his..."
"I heard that blasphemy Alfred F Jones!" Alfred and I laughed as we got the twins situated in their high chairs. "Aww...The twins are beautiful...they look so much like their parents" I smiled and took a seat next to Alfred, "thank you...Their names are Jessie and Joaquin" Tino awed and held his face which was starting to turn pink, "I remember when Alfred was that age, he was so cute it should have been illegal"
Alfred blushed and fixed his glasses, I always find it cute when he does that I can tell it's a nervous habit.
Berwald entered the dining room and took a seat between Tino and Peter, "thank you for preparing this meal." Berwald's voice was crazy low! I've never met someone with such a deep natural voice...it's not even gravely either it's as smooth as butter...like Morgan Freemen or Bing Crosby. Once everyone was seated and had said their thanks they all dug in whilst Francis and I watched them awaiting their approval of the food. The room seemed to flow as smiles were brought to everyone's faces, even Berwald had a tiny peaceful smirk.
"Herranjumala....You two did amazing I've ever tasted anything like this" Tino praised us and stuffed his face, Peter nodded in agreement, "the beef stuff is really yummy! But the carrots are super gross and mushy..." Berwald put his hand on Peter's head and looked down at him, "apologize" Peter frowned and moved his head away, "why? They are nasty I hate cooked veggies!" Berwald gave Peter a nasty look, "because that was rude" I have to admit that's funny coming from the worst mannered man i've ever met.
Peter sulked and hesitantly looked up at me, "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hurt your feelings"
"No it's alright, to tell you the truth I don't really like carrots either but if you eat them your able to see in the dark so I eat them anyway" Peter's eyes sparkled with childish amazement, "really!? Mama is that true?" Peter leaned over the table in order to see Tino past the Swedish wall. "Well...I don't know we'll have to eat them and find out won't we?"
Peter looked back at his plate now determined and started scarfing down all of his carrots. Francis chuckled and whispered to Arthur, "it would have been nice to have Christina around when Alfred and Matthew were little huh? Maybe she could have gotten them to eat your gruel" Arthur chuckled.
"Yeah maybe- HEY!" Arthur glared at Francis who bursted out into laughter, we all joined him shortly and even Arthur ended up cracking up just a little.