The trip to Russia was a long one, you hated long trips.  Thankfully, you had brought a bag of stuff to keep you entertained at the meeting.  You had your laptop, iPod, iPad, and all kinds of gadgets America had gotten for you.  He always made sure you had things to entertain you during the meetings.  He knew how bored you could get when it turned to fighting.  He always relied on you to take notes on the important stuff for him and give him the cliff notes version afterwards.
You were lost in your thoughts as you danced up and down the aisle of Ivan's private jet, listening to your iPod.  Oblivious to the what the others were talking about, you happily stayed in your own little world.  You smiled as you noticed Lithuania get up and head towards the back of the plane, which is where you just happened to be.  You had never had the chance to talk to the quiet nation, but he seemed nice enough.
Once he was within reach, you grabbed his hands and started dancing with him.  You had the biggest smile on your face and were giggling, which in turn caused Lithuania to smile nervously at you once he got over his initial shocked reaction.  Not being a very coordinated dancer and not knowing the beat you were dancing to, he did his best to move with you.  Seeing him struggle, you took one of your ear buds and put it in his ear, smiling bigger now that he was keeping up with you a little better.
“Ready?” you smiled.
“For what?” He asked as you started to dip him.  He was heavier than you thought and the fact that he wasn't ready for the sudden dip caused you both to fall, with you landing on top of him.  You were now laughing uncontrollably.
“Sorry, I didn't know what you were going to do.” he blushed.  You were laying right on top of him with your head resting on his chest and it made him a little uncomfortable, you managed to get your laughter somewhat under control and smiled up at him.
“It's ok, it was my fault, I should have warned you earlier.” You said, wiping tears from your eyes.
“Ready to try it again?” you beamed.
“Nyet.  You are being too noisy and I can't concentrate on  my work.  Sit in your chair and be quiet.” Russia said as he grabbed the back of your shirt, lifting you off Lithuania and shoved you into an unoccupied seat.  You fell very ungracefully, your back hitting the arm rest and your head hitting the wall of the plane, shattering the hair clip that was holding your hair up.  You looked at him with a look of utter shock and fear.  It had been centuries since anyone had treated you so roughly.  As the pain started to register, tears started to form in your eyes.  Russia just looked at you and with a huff, went back to his own seat.
“___, are you ok?” Lithuania asked.
“Why did he do that?  I don't understand.  I wasn't doing anything wrong.” You sobbed as you grabbed Lithuania and buried your face in his shoulder.  He hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms around you and tried his best to comfort you.  He picked out the broken pieces of hair clip from your hair and threw them on one of the empty seats.
“Mr. Russia is very temperamental.  He likes peace and quiet when he works.  He's not used to your amount of energy.  Until he has time to get used to you, maybe you should tone it down a little.” He said, trying to be quiet so Russia wouldn't hear him.
“If he doesn't like me, then why did he agree to accept me as part of the peace treaty?” You sobbed, very upset that there was someone who didn't like you.  Even England never treated you this badly.  Sure he yelled at you, but he was always nice and always apologized for yelling.
“It's because Mr. America was so adamant about you not going.  He saw the attachment and all he wanted was to hurt Mr. America.  You'll get used to it.” He smiled as he wiped the tears from  your cheeks.
“I don't want to get used to it.  And if that's the only reason I'm here, then I don't want to be here anymore.  I did this to help Alfie, not hurt him.  I thought Russia was nice, I mean, he's always smiling and he looks so happy.”
Lithuania was quite surprised at how innocent you were and how, like America, you apparently couldn't read the atmosphere, even though you were a few centuries old.  He was amazed the American had managed to keep you so sheltered.  He had seen you in meetings, you were always smiling and writing.  He noticed that whenever the fighting started, America had put head phones on you and given you something as he turned the chair around so you couldn't see or hear the fighting that was going on in the room.  He actually envied how much America cared for you.  But he knew that America's over-protectiveness was going to be your undoing.  He hoped Russia would go easy on you until you learned the workings of his house.
“Unfortunately, that's not the case.” He sighed.
“Mr. Russia can be very temperamental, and the smile hides it.  Most of the other nations are actually quite afraid of him.”
“How come no one ever told me about it?  I was always led to believe that he was very friendly.”
“I guess they just wanted to protect you.”
“I'm scared.  What's going to happen to me living with Mr. Russia?” You asked, clinging to Lithuania even tighter.
“Don't worry, you'll be fine.  I'll be there to help you and I'm sure Latvia and Estonia will be happy to help you adjust to things as well.” He smiled, gently pushing you back so you were sitting on your knees.  You gave him a meek smile and again, wiped away the tears.
“Thank you, uh.......”
“Lithuania.” He smiled.
“I know that, but what's your other name?  Now that we're friends, I want to call you by your human name.”  This caused Lithuania to blush again.
“Oh, um, it's Toris.”
“Thank you, Toris.  I look forward to getting to know you and the others.” You smiled a little brighter.

Ivan let out a heavy sigh as your conversation ended with Toris.  He had heard the whole thing, though he pretended he was doing his work.  It wasn't his original plan for you to be scared of him.  Truth was, he really liked you.  You always had a genuine happy smile on your face and laughing.  He saw how America doted on you and the way you would smile up at him and hug him.  Ivan wanted a warm relationship like that with you, too.  He realized the minute that he pushed you into the seat that it wasn't going to happen.  He hadn't wanted to hurt you, it was just that sometimes, he didn't know his own strength.
“If you look outside, ___, you can start to see some of Russia.” Toris smiled as he helped you into your seat.  You looked out the window and frowned.
“It's all white.” you said.
“You've never seen snow before?” he looked at you shocked.
“Only in pictures or on TV.  Alfie doesn't really like the cold so we never went to the mountains.  He never even took me to go see Canada during the winter, it was always in the summer.”
“I don't mean to be rude, but I don't believe I ever caught your country's name.” he was ashamed to admit it, but all he knew about you was your human name and that you were a small country near America, but he didn't recall ever hearing which one.
“It's ok, Alfie liked to keep it a secret.  He's always been a tad overprotective.  But I'm Saint Kitts and Nevis.” You smiled.
“I can't say I've ever heard of it.”
“It's ok.  My  home is actually in the West Indies, I'm closer to South America, than North America, though.”
“So you're a tropical country?” He asked, glancing towards Ivan's seat as he saw the large nation sit up.
“Yup.  Sun and sand all the way!” You laughed.
“I think I would like to see it someday.” Toris smiled back.
“Ohmygosh!  That would be so much fun!  We could go swimming and make sandcastles!  I love the ocean, you know, when I was younger, listening to Pirate tales and what-not, I used to imagine myself as a mermaid.” You whispered, a little embarrassed.
“How did you manage to stay hidden for so long?” He asked.
“Oh, the village elders always kept me hidden when outsiders came.  They worshiped me as the spirit of the island.  I even had a different name, it was a really cool one too.  Wanna know what it was?”  Toris nodded eagerly, obviously intrigued by your story.
“Kitts was Liamuiga and Nevis was Oualie.  Pretty, right?”
“If you are two islands, then shouldn't you have a sibling?” he asked.
“I used to.  But he was discovered by a rival nation and killed a long time ago.  I took over his island so nothing bad would happen to it and vowed to always keep it safe.”
“I'm so sorry, I didn't know.” He said, reaching his hand out as if trying to comfort you.
“It's ok.  It was a long time ago and I have Alfie now to keep me, well, I guess I had Alfie.” You said, hanging your head as the tears started to form again.
“____, please don't cry anymore.  I know what we should do when we get home.” He smiled, trying to change the subject and cheer you up.  Wipping away the tears, you looked up at him, hopeful.
“Have you ever made snow angels or a snowman?” He smiled.  You shook your head.
“Well, I guess it would be very similar to your sandcastle building, but with snow instead.  Sometimes, Estonia, Latvia and I even have snowball fights outside.”
“Really!” You began to smile again.
“Yes, it may be very cold, but the snow can be quite fun.”
“In some places, they even live in houses made of snow.”
“Oh, I've heard of those, they're called igloos!  Do you think we could try building one of those?” you asked.  He chuckled and nodded.  He heard Russia cough and he stiffened and looked warily at the where Russia was sitting.
“I'll be right back.” He said, getting up.  You watched him, then looked back out the window.  You were actually kind of looking forward to playing in the snow.  You were also glad that Toris was on the flight.  Who knows how it would have gone if it had only been you and Russia.  You shuddered at the thought.

“You may want to sit back and buckle up, the plane is almost ready to land.” Toris said as he sat across from you again.  You smiled at him as he sat down and buckled up.
“What are Estonia and Latvia like?  And what are their names?” You asked as you buckled up too.
“Latvia has a tendency to speak before he thinks, oh, and his name is Ravis.  Estonia is Eduard and he's pretty good with electronics, so if anything happens with your stuff, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help you fix it.  But they are both fairly quiet, Eduard is in charge of cooking, Ravis does most of the cleaning and I help Mr. Russia with his paperwork.  I'm not sure what you'll be doing yet, but you will end up helping around the house as well.”
“I'm gonna have chores?” you asked in disbelief.
“Yes, didn't you have to do anything at Mr. America's house?” he asked, surprised by your reaction.
“No, we just played and hung out all day.  The house was always magically clean.  Hey, you can keep a secret, right?” you whispered, leaning closer to Toris.  He nodded.
“Well, I've actually seen fairies and stuff cleaning his house.  They were my friends too.  I didn't tell Alfie, because I think he would have freaked out a little about it, well, that, and he wouldn't have believed me anyway.  He actually had lots of magical creatures surrounding his home.” you smiled.
Toris looked at you wide eyed.  It was obvious you believed in these creatures, he had caught England talking to his “magical friends” a few times as well, but he didn't actually believe they were real.
“Hey, Toris, are there magical creatures that live near Russia's house?” You continued to whisper.  He thought for a moment, not sure how he should answer.  He didn't want to hurt your feelings by telling you that things like that didn't exist, but he didn't want to lie to you either.
“I'm not sure.  I've never seen anything like that around before.”  You smiled.
“That's ok, not everyone can see them.  Thankfully I was blessed and can see them.  But then again, with the good comes the bad.  I have seen some very scary things, too.  Always when I was alone though.  I haven't seen any bad ones since I moved in with Alfie though.  I think all his positive energy keeps them away.” You smiled.
Toris had a thought, if America's positive attitude only attracted good things, then what kinds of things would you see in Russia's house?  A house that was shrouded in negativity.  He shuddered at the thought.
You were jostled in your seat as the plane made contact with the ground.
“Ah, we've landed.” Toris smiled at you, you returned his smile, though you weren't as thrilled as you were when you boarded the plane.
“Hey, Toris?  Am I gonna have to spend a lot of time alone with Mr. Russia, or will someone always be with me?  I don't want him to push me again.” you asked as you looked down and fiddled with your fingers.
“I don't know, but one of us will do our best to be with you at all times.”  You breathed a sigh of relief.

Ivan hung his head in his hands.  He had listened to your entire conversation.  Perhaps he could still make things right, he would let you get comfortable in his home, then he would slowly separate you from the Baltics, forcing you to spend more time with him.  Then you could get to know him better and perhaps, then you would see he wasn't the monster he appeared to be at times.