Needy Child

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, nor do I get any profit for writing this. Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya, the fanart at the top is a work from gogo (pixiv member ID=192525)

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Chapter Five

The minutes seemed to stretch into hours as America waited.

He didn't know for how long Eleanor had been gone, but it felt far too much... she should have reached the town by then. Why wasn't she coming back? What was keeping her?

"Relax," said Kumajiro, and America realized that he had started chewing on his lower lip. "She's going to be back. It's going to be all right."

America didn't answer him, choosing instead to replace the cloth on Canada's forehead.

The child wasn't any better than before, his skin was still heavily flushed and hot, and his body was shaking. America itched to wrap him in as many blankets as he could, but Eleanor had been firm about it.

His breathing, however, did sound a little better now that he was propped up by the pillows. It was still shallow and raspy, but slightly less than it had been before.

It was still far from ideal, however, and America couldn't help but fear that there was something seriously wrong with his brother. What if a colony could die of a common illness? England didn't know many colonies, after all, maybe it had just never happened before...

"Will you relax? She hasn't been gone for too long. You'll only make things worse if you keep this up." Kumajiro's voice was tinged with mild annoyance.

America forced himself to take a deep breath and relax his tense shoulders.

He hated having to wait. It reminded him even more of how helpless and useless he was in that situation, making him dwell on everything that he could have done differently to prevent the accident from happening.

He almost wished he had been the one running to get the doctor, but that would have meant leaving Canada alone, which was even worse. No, he just had to wait.

As time passed, however, America couldn't help but grow more and more restless, millions of thoughts whirling into his mind. What if something had happened to Eleanor? What if the doctor didn't want to follow her? Or maybe she had run into Jane, who had convinced her that Canada deserved his punishment and didn't need any medical care since he was going to recover anyway...

"Where's that doctor, Kuma?" he asked, tapping impatiently on the mattress.

The bear glared at him.

"She has to go to the town, find a doctor and come back here," he snapped, "It's going to take a bit, they can't fly."

America was still convinced that it was taking far too long, but he pressed his lips into a thin line and refrained from answering.

Finally, finally, after what seemed centuries, America heard the door open downstairs, and two sets of hurried footsteps get closer to the room.

He straightened up, tensing, ready to jump to his feet and reproach Eleanor for being so late, or maybe welcome the doctor and tell him about Canada's situation, he didn't know what he was going to do, but he couldn't wait a minute longer...

The footsteps stopped in front of the door, which was promptly opened, revealing the two frames on the doorstep.

America froze, the breath caught in his throat.