Deadly Secrets

10.

America's POV:

I smiled to myself as I walked over to the front door, it's felt like forever since I saw the Thirteen after they all visited for New Year's. I looked out of the peephole in the door before opening it, after all you can never be too careful, and greeted my oldest children. They all smiled as they said hello and I hugged each of them as they came into the house. I did a quick head count before saying, " You're all here! I was expecting you to come in groups."

"Well we were gonna," North Carolina started, " but Del and Virg insisted on planning it out so that we could all meet at that old diner we used to go to before coming here as a single group."

"Well, I hope you're not too full from that diner. We made enough pancakes for all of ya, and we even used your uncle Nada's recipe," I told them.

At that all of them said something along the lines of, "well, it was about two hours ago, and I didn't eat that much," or, "I could eat," ...well, all of them except for Pennsylvania, who said, "I don't care how full I am, if it's his recipe I'll shove 'em down my throat anyways," as she made a beeline for the kitchen and others looked at each other and then her before agreeing and joining her. I just sighed and followed them back to the dining room before sitting back down in my seat and waiting for them to join us.

Once they sat down, they were greeted by all of their siblings... all at once, which was sweet but extremely loud. Dixie and I managed to calm them down a bit and the rest of the meal went smoothly with the states chatting with each other and having a good time in general, even the territories seemed to be having a good time, Sam was talking to one of the younger states that was sitting next to her, as was Guam, while Puerto Rico was sitting on Delaware's lap talking to him, and Vee was sitting on South Carolina's lap listening to the conversations going on around her. The territories were actually much more well spoken than one would expect, this is because while they may look like toddlers they have been alive for decades and, naturally, are much more intelligent than a human toddler.

As I watched Dixie struggle to feed Mar, who was bouncing up and down, excited by all of the people and sounds around her, I saw Oregon get up to put his plate away. I decided that I might as well tell them all now before the chaos of clean-up and everyone getting ready for the day began. I stood up and cleared my throat, signaling that I was about to announce something, it took a moment but soon enough everyone was quiet. "First-off, I would like to welcome the Thirteen home again," I paused for them to finish officially welcoming their siblings home, "but I also have something else to announce. Due to recent events, I have decided that it would be safest for us to move back to the big house before November, when we had planned to go." I watched their reactions, and was glad when I saw that they took it well, I know they don't like to move very much because of the long car rides in packed vehicles but when I looked at them I saw the states nodding their heads and heard them mutter agreements as well, knowing as well as I do that staying could mean another attack.

Ohio was the first to raise her hand with a question, I nodded in her direction, signaling her to speak, "When're we gonna leave?"

"I plan on having us on the road by around six pm tomorrow in order to avoid most of the traffic, so that means everyone who isn't going to drive should bring a blanket or pillow to help them sleep."

New Jersey was the second one to raise her hand, "Who's gonna drive?"

"I'll get to that in a moment, are there any other questions?" Everyone shook their heads in the negative, they had done this countless times before, maybe not with such short notice, but still there were no other questions they felt they didn't already know the answer to. I nodded my head absentmindedly, " Alright then, I want everyone who can drive to stay here but those of you who can't can clean up and do your thing, alright?" they nodded their heads, "Alright then."