America led me inside. He gave me one of his shirts to wear. It seemed that he had been to this house numerous times to visit his brother, since everything had the American touch to it. The shirt, which had a batman symbol on it, was so long on me it was about an inch above the back of my knee. Alfred dumped my muddy and wet clothes into the washer. I twisted my wet hair into a braid. I washed the mascara that had ran down my cheeks like tiger stripes off. I stopped and looked at myself in the mirror. Even though I was 5 ft 6 I felt small.

Alfred pulled out a tub of chocolate Ben and Jerry's ice cream and two spoons. Comfort food. He took the top off the ice cream and handed me a spoon. I dug the spoon into the ice cream and licked at the spoon. My eyes felt blood shot.

"Do you wanna tell me what happened?", Alfred asked while taking another spoonful of ice cream.

"Me and England got in a fight and he kicked me out.", I said tonelessly. America could tell I didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Do you want to watch a movie?", he asked. I nodded. America got up and began walking to the living room where a big plasma tv was. I grabbed the tub of ice cream and hugged it to my chest as I followed him. Alfred sat me in his lap. I didn't protest. I just ate my ice cream and wallowed in depressing thoughts. He pulled up Netflix on the tv screen. "Do you want to watch the Avengers?", America asked as he flipped through the suggestions. My face brightened a little. The Avengers was my favorite movie. America wrapped his arms around me. He smelled like cinnamon, I noted. "Who's your favorite Avenger?", Alfred asked.

"Loki."

"But Loki isn't an Avenger, he's the villain!"

"Loki is damn sexy. That's why.", I said as Loki appeared on screen.

"My favorite Avenger is Captain America.", Alfred said with a sheepish grin.

"I would have never guessed."

We sat in silence for a while. It wasn't an awkward silence, rather, a peaceful calm silence. I leaned my head back against America's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me a bit more. I was starting to feel at least a tiny tiny tiny bit better.

"Alfred?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Thank you."

He stroked my hair and hummed softly as I fell asleep.

America's POV

Mari looked so peaceful, lying there in my arms. I stroked her blond hair and wound a small strand that had come undone from her braid around my fingers. I was going to kill that British Bastard. I gently scooped Mari off my lap and put her ice cream away. I heard a soft knock at the door. I opened it to see England standing before me. His eyes were red rimmed and his hair stuck out in random directions. Stains showed on his white shirt and blue plaid pjs. I hadn't seen him so bad since the revolutionary war.

"You have no right to touch my girlfriend!", He hissed at me.

"Uh, dude, she's not your girlfriend anymore. You kicked her out of the house and locked the door. That's as bad as it can get.", I said with a slight growl. Arthur's face paled.

"What should I do?", he moaned.

"I'll tell you what to do. You stay away from Mari. You don't deserve her and you never will. Your an awful person, all you can ever do is push people away. Mari is to smart, to kind, and to pretty to be around you. If you ever hurt her again I will kill you. Do you understand me?", I said seriously. And I meant it, too. A tear leaked from the corner of England's eye but he quickly wiped away. "You bloody git.", Arthur said. I growled and he turned and briskly walked back to the safety of his house. I went back inside and picked Mari up bridal style and carried her to bed.

"Don't worry, love, I'll protect you.

I swear."