I'm sorry...~America

Work day

(Sup guys
I ended the last chapter pretty poorly sorry
It's pretty early rn where I am and I haven't had much sleep sooo...tbh I'm too lazy to connect the dots so here's the summary of where we are in the story rn)
It's been a week since the Jones' have moved back into Alfred and Matt's childhood home, the kids are settled in and so are the parents, now they can actually focus on raising their kids.
Rn it's seven in the morning and the parents are up, Alfred's getting ready for a meeting and Christina is getting the kids ready for the day.

~Alfred's POV~
"Alfred can you please take the kids with you today?"
"Um...sure what's up? Where are you going?"
"I have a job interview today and I don't know when I'm going to be home...and to be honest I'm not entirely comfortable with hiring a nanny or sending them to a daycare without doing proper research"
"Okay yeah I get it" I smiled and kissed her cheek whilst tying my tie, "I can bring them with me don't worry about it" Christina smiled and kissed my cheek in return, "thank you Alfie I promise I'll make it up to you." "Oh I like that idea" I grinned at her flirtatiously and she rolled her eyes at me with a chuckle before walking over to Jessie and Joaquin, "mama has to go now, so your gonna go to work with Papa okay? So be good for me yeah?"
"Okay mama" The twins both nodded and gave her a big hug before waving goodbye to her as she walked out the door. I smiled at them and picked them up placing them at the dining table, "alright let's see you guys need to eat before we go anywhere so...what do you two want for breakfast Huh?"
"Yogurt!" I frowned and gave them a look, "yogurt? Since when have you two liked yogurt?"
"Grandpa!" I grumbled under my breath, "of course grandpa gave you yogurt..." I looked at them again and smiled, "well I'll get ya some yogurt but that can't be your entire meal...how about some fruit huh? You like strawberries don't ya?" Joaquin gagged at the word and Jessie grinned at it.
"Okay...well Jessie likes Strawberries at least, Joaquin how about a banana huh buddy?"
"Yeah!" I chuckled and got their food ready, "alright then two servings of fruit and yogurt coming right up" the twins cheered and ate every last bite of their breakfast as soon as I placed it on the table. I checked my watch once they were finished and realized what time it is, "oh crap Ludwigs' gonna have my head...Come on guys grab your stuffies it's time to go" I helped the kids down off their chairs and let them grab their stuffed animals before getting them buckled into the car and driving to the HQ.
Once I finally arrived in the parking lot, I got a phone call that I just knew was from Germany before I even answered it, I walked to the back of the car and started unbuckling Jessie from her seat belt as I answered the phone, "hel?-" "where are you." Ludwig cut me off before I could even answer him.
"I'm in the parking lot right now I'm sorry I have the twins with me and-"
"Oh, I see in that case take your time, we can wait a little longer." I felt my eyebrow twitch with anger and disbelief, are you kidding me? So if I didn't have the twins with me Ludwig would just be nagging my ass off! Urg well I do appreciate him not making me look bad in front of my kids so I guess I shouldn't be too annoyed. "Right yeah thanks...I'll be up there in a second" I hung up the phone and got the twins out of the car and rushed into the building and to the elevator. "Papa papa! Grandpa!" Joaquin pointed to the elevator where Francis was standing smoking a cigarette, "ah- Alfred!" Francis quickly put out his cigarette and disposed of it scratching the back of his head, "I didn't know you were bringing the twins"
"And I didn't know you started smoking again."
"Heheh...Germany's really been pushing me lately cut me some slack" Francis opened the elevator and got inside with me and the twins. "What are you going down here anyway? Shouldn't you be at the meeting?" Francis shook his head, "we're all on break waiting for you, I should have guessed the only reason Germany would allow that is because the twins are here, speaking of which Bonjour mes petits chéris!~" Francis waved to the twins who waved back in confusion of the French words. "Mmph. Alfred I'm disappointed in you have you only been teaching them English?" I gave him a look and shook my head, "no. Christina's been teaching them Spanish too, teaching them French on top of that would be too much for three year olds"
"Hm...I suppose your right...I'll just have to teach them myself then" Francis smiled at the twins and they smiled back even though they have no clue what's going on. I smiled and chuckled, "yeah sure okay." The elevator stopped and let us out, I held Jessie's hand and she held Joaquin's as we all walked into the meeting room together, inside everyone was sitting and waiting for us; and right next to my chair were two chairs with booster seats ready for the twins. "Um...Who bought the seats?"
"I did, I figured you'd be bringing the twins more often so I decided we should have seats ready just in case" Arthur stated proudly and everyone else nodded in agreement. I gave them all an untrusting look as I sat the twins down in their chairs, "okay since you've all agreed to idea of having my kids at the meetings, I can trust all of you two censor yourselves right?" I looked over at Romano specifically who is known for his potty mouth.
"Hey! Dont look at me everyone else here is just as guilty!" Italy chuckled and covered Romano's mouth with us hand, "ve~ we all agreed to censor ourselves as long as the twins are around~"
"The fascination you all have with my children is worrying..." I sat down next to the twins and looked over at Germany, "sorry I took so long...we can start the meeting now right?" Ludwig nodded and stood up passing a folder out to everyone, "I would like everyone to take a look at the contents of their own personal folder once I've finished with my explanation." Germany handed me a folder which Joaquin immediately wanted to get his hands on so I let him hold it whilst I kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't open it. "We're going to do a sort of...project. Inside the contents of your folder is the name and face of one country in this room, it is different for everyone and I have made sure no one gets themselves or a country they have family ties with. Whoever you get in your folder is who your going to have as your guest for precisely one week so that you may get to know each other and learn from each other. After the week is up I would like each of you to write a report about your experience and what information you've gained from it."
"Wait I'm sorry. Hold on. Are you making us do a bloody school project!?" Arthur stood up and held up his folder, "It's not a school project. It's an experiment to see what would happen if two unfamiliar countries were to be stuck with one another" Germany stated plainly and sat down.
"I'm sorry I'm kinda on Britain's side...I don't see the point of this experiment at all, in fact it's rather annoying" Russia smiled intensely causing all of us to sweat. "Listen...the reason we're all here is because our end goal in life is the same. World peace. So if we wish to achieve world piece we first need to be able to get along with those we dislike, perhaps even our enemies. This is a necessary step to peace so we're going to do it end of story. Are there anymore questions?"
No body made a sound. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair trying not to look to annoyed in front of the kids, "man this is gonna suck...Christi is gonna kill me- depending on who it is anyway"
"Alright then, please all of you open your folders and get together with your partner."
I hesitated for a moment and gave my file to the twins, "I can't seem to get this darn thing open...can you two help me? I just don't think I'm strong enough" the twins both nodded and easily opened the folder, I smiled and acted surprised, "wow! You too are amazing! So strong!" The twins giggled as I took the folder back and looked inside of it. "Ah..." I looked up and across the room at Mexico who was already staring at me with a smirk holding his folder up with my picture in it. "I guess it's you and me amigo huh!" Shit I knew he didn't like me...Ludwig wouldn't have put us together if he did. Ludwig put his hand on my shoulder and whispered, "relax America. I let you off easy because I didn't want there to be some sort of scene at home in front of your kids. I'm sure you two will get along fine"
What the hell!? Did he just read my mind!? Ludwig waved to the Twins before walking over to his partner which was Russia, Jesus good luck with that I can't believe he actually assigned himself to Ivan...
"Papa who's your partner?" Joaquin leaned over his seat to try and see, "Ah...it's um..Mexico, remember how we went over all states last night? Well Mexico is the country right below Texas" I smiled at him nervously trying to keep everything educational since I'm still trying to teach them about the world.
They don't quite understand that I'm a country but they understand I'm not a human and that their not allowed to talk about it to strangers. Mexico got up from his seat and walked over to us, "I guess we have to spend a week together Eh?" I stood up nervously and held my hand out, "yeah I guess so...if I'm being honest I look forward to it" Mexico stared at my hand for a moment and chuckled before shaking it, "as am I, this is going to be very entertaining"
"Heh yeah..." Mexico turned to the Twins and smiled at them kindly, "hola ustedes dos es bueno volver a verlos! Do you remember me?" Joaquin and Jessie looked at me nervously and held each other's hands. Mexico laughed nervously and stood back up, "I suppose they don't remember me Eh..."
"Come on you two...say hello, this is José he's nice"
Jessie waved politely and Joaquin muttered out a shy hola. "Oh? So you've been teaching them español?" Mexico looked at me surprised.
"Uh no...Not me, Christina has...she wants them to be fluent in English and Spanish and I agree I think it's good that their learning both"
"Mm yes I agree as well, I think everyone should know at least two languages, it just makes like easier" i smiled nervously and nodded, things seem to be going well so far...I don't know why I always get so nervous around Mexico...he's a nice guy and economically our Countries thrive together since we're such good trading partners...but there's just something about him that's so intimidating...I don't know if it's because a vast majority of my people are racist against his people or what but I feel so guilty around him like I walked into his house and burnt it to the ground before blaming it on his dog.
I know that's a weird analogy but I really can't explain it, "oi. Amigo you've been staring bullets through my head what's wrong?"
"Oh nothings wrong I'm fine"
"Oh please we wouldn't be put together if nothing was wrong" I glanced at the kids and then back at Mexico, "let's just talk about it later okay? Why don't we go back to my house for now" Mexico nodded and decided not to ask anymore questions until we got home. Once we were home I put the twins to sleep for a nap and sat with José in the living room, "okay Amigo, be honest with me what's your problem?"
"I don't...have a problem...seriously I don't"
"Then what's up? Why does your face piss me off every time I see it and why do you look like a broken puppy every time you see me?"
"I don't know...well okay I do- I think...it's just...do you ever get that feeling in the back of your neck? You know like you can feel what almost everyone in your country feels?" José nodded and let me continue. "Well...I feel a lot when I see you...some of it's blind rage, most of it is guilt and anger at myself...I think it comes from the large population of Mexican Americans...a lot of my people deal with racism everyday and my government won't really do anything about it...so as a result their emotions tend to build up on my shoulders...so every time I see you I dunno I just...all of their emotions start hitting me at once and I feel like I just ran over your dog"
"I think I get it...but still you really shouldn't let it pile up on you like that, your emotions have an impact on your people too. So the more miserable you feel the more miserable they'll end up feeling as well. Didn't you learn that from the Great Depression?" I bit my lip and nodded, "yeah your right...but still what's up with you? You said you get pissed off every time you see my face."
Mexico sighed and leaned back, "that's because you look at me like a beaten dog. It's pitiful and it makes me angry to see you only treating me like that"
"Shit...I'm sorry I can understand how'd that get old really fast..." Mexico chuckled and leaned back on the couch, "I appreciate the apology. I suppose I'm sorry for being so harsh on you...I always thought you just didn't like me as a person"
"Well how could I decide that when I hardly even know you outside of work?"
"Mm. Fair enough. In that case let's get to know each other a little better" I smiled a little feeling a small wait get lifted off my chest, maybe Germany was right about this experiment; it might actually create some good relationships. "What do you wanna know?" Mexico ran his fingers through his hair and looked at the ceiling, "ahhh...okay yeah I have a question, how did you meet your fiancé?"
"I met her completely on accident actually...in fact nothing would have happened between us at all if it weren't for...um..." I blushed and scratched my cheek, "Matt left the blinds open in the bathroom and...well Christina lived next door and...." I sighed and buried my face in my hands, "she saw me naked and Matthew totally forced us into a date just so I could apologize to her for flashing her" José covered his mouth in order to silence his heavy laughter and not wake up the twins, "oh dios mio eso es asombroso!" I waited until the redness in my cheeks faded away before looking at him again, "okay um...what's your relationship with Spain? You two always seem to be butting heads"
"Oh he and I are just rivals, I don't like him and he doesn't like me but I have respect for him and I believe it's the same for him too."
"Ah right...honestly? It looks like you two are an old married couple..." Mexico laughed aggressively and rolled his eyes, "as if I'd ever be in a relationship with him. PFT" hm...the way you say it gives me the feeling your totally into him. "Okay my turn um...if you don't mind me asking, what happened to you a few years ago? You know when you like...dropped off the map and freaked everyone out?"
"Oh I was going through a depressive episode desperately trying to find a way to kill myself"
".... Jesucristo are you okay?" I chuckled a bit at the question, "if I'm being honest? I have no clue"
"That concerns me greatly...."
"Well as of right now I feel fine, things were a little rocky before the twins were born but now that I'm a father and- we'll soon to be a husband I feel...a sense of purpose I didn't have before"
"So you...don't want to kik yourself right?"
"No not at all" ((not right now-)) Mexico let out a sigh of relief and rubbed his forehead, "Jesucristo you talk about your depression so calmly it's scary"
"Heh...sorry about that...so while I was gone...what was going on? Ya know at the meetings without me...what were people saying?"
"Well some of us thought you were actually dead already or that you had been through a traumatic accident...none of us really knew what to think or do...Your brother was pretty pissed with all of us since we all sort of had a silent pact to just not talk about it...we thought it would only upset him more"
"...." I sighed and sank down into the couch, "I wanna kick myself for that shit...I swear I'll never do anything that selfish and stupid ever again"
"Well that's good to here...that's probably a smart idea" we both looked up as we heard the front door open and the clacking of Christina's heels entering the living room, "hey Alfred I'm ba- oh! Um- hi I didn't know we had guests coming over" Christina smiled and set her bag down but I could tell it was definitely forced, "oh uh...one sec José, Christi can I have a word with you real quick?" I went into the kitchen with her and shut the door, "hey what's with the fake smile did something happen?"
"It's not really that big of a deal...I'm just sour because I know I didn't get the job...but it's fine I'll get another interview at some point"
"Oh Chrissy...I'm sorry really..." I held her hands and kissed her forehead gently, "thank you...but it's okay like I said I'll get another interview...so what's up with José in the living room? I never thought you would have invited him over"
"Um...actually I didn't really have a choice, it's a work thing you see and um....he kinda has to stay with us for a week"
"What? Alfred we just got our own house-"
"I know I know...but it can't be helped it's either he stays here for a week or I go to Mexico for a week"
"...hm...okay fine he can stay but you need to invite him to the wedding while he's here or else your never going to do it"
"Hey that's not true I already made his invite!"
Christina gave me a disbelieving look.
"...okay I thought about making his invite but that's one step away from actually doing it"
"Just ask him alright? Please?"
"Yeah yeah I will..."