My Own Failure --- Ch-1, Pt-1 ((USxFem!Lithuania))

[litsy-kalyptica.livejournal.com]

Briefs:
Title:  "My Own Failure"
Author:  Litsy-Kalyptica
Pairing:  US x Fem!Lithuania ~<3
Rating:  PG for this part :3
Summary:  The days leading up to Tori being taken away from Alfred, what happened afterward, and the consequences of a promise he couldn't keep.


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"Whenever I looked at her...
All I could think about...
Was my own FAILURE."

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He knew he was lucky to have her. Not only for the great company, but she was really the only woman in New York willing to carry the groceries. Alfred made sure to take note of that as he walked down the busy sidewalk with her, almost uncomfortably close and wary of passerbys, but it was hard to focus on such things when the late autumn gusts are stinging your eyes and nose.

Alfred pulled his thick bomber jacket even more tightly around his built form and shivered in the path of another biting wind. "I wonder if winter's coming early this year?" he pondered, shivering still. "It's even colder than it was yesterday!" His trademark grin never wavered, but the freezing temperatures were frustrating and he'd always been a bit of a hothead.

"That it is, Mr. America..." Tori smiled sadly. Alfred turned his head slightly and watched her walk, and smiled even brighter inwardly when she stumbled -just a little- because it amused him how a large grocery bags filled with the essentials (and a candy bar, at Alfred's childlike insistence) clutched to one chest could complicate something so trivial as walking.

But then he froze. He noticed Tori's nose and ears were an almost luminous shade of red, and her eyelids were slightly tinted purple. "Huh?" he voiced to no one in particular, more of a vocal tic. Tori was a few steps ahead now, taking a moment to notice that her employer had haulted. "Mr. America?" she called quietly. "Are you alright?"

"Aren't you cold?" he asked. Had he really not noticed that all Tori had to protect her from the cold was a worn-thin sweater?

It took Tori a moment to process his question; Probably 'cause she's so cold, Alfred reasoned guiltily. When Tori finally did understand the question, she turned away from Alfred, looking at the groceries, the sidewalk, anything but him. "I'm not one to complain, sir," she replied softly.

Alfred smirked. Tori had been working in his house for five years already (which neither of them could believe, still), and if there was anything at all Alfred had learned about his little housekeeper, it was that she prefered to suffer in silence. He knew -be it through her actions since, or through Ivan's visit a few years ago (calling the poor girl his "ex," to which Alfred still cringed)- he knew. And now, whether or not she was already aware, he had to inform her that he was not so oblivious to this. "Well, I know that..." in mock exasperation. "But-..."

He paused as his baby blue eyes met the emerald green ones of the young woman with whom he strolled. For that moment, he couldn't speak, couldn't move... hell, couldn't even breathe. Had he really gone this long without realizing just how deep the shining orbs were? "But, it's..." he managed after several moments in a statuesque form and of Tori staring with concern (which did not make his trance any more detainable. "It's... just a question..."

Tori smiled and turned back to face forward, and the lack of eye-beautiful-eye contact let the mesmerization loosen its hold on Alfred's mind. "Well?" he smiled, leaning forward slightly as he walked to catch a glimpse of her face.

Tori's head shot up to look back at him, and Alfred found enough willpower to not be taken hold of again. "Eh?" she asked, startled and not really remembering what they had last spoken about.

Alfred couldn't help smiling. "Aren't you cold?" he repeatedly kindly. He didn't mind repeating himself, especially since he knew he was so slow neither could even count how many times Tori had needed to repeat herself.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked, still beaming at her. He saw her blush a little, but that might've been the cold weather getting to her, because he also noticed that she wasn't smiling. Instead, she dipped her head and stared at the eroded sidewalk as she mumbled a quiet answer.

"... Just a little..." the pretty brunette replied. As soon as she said it, a shiver ran up and down her spine and reverberated in her shoulders. Alfred's eyebrows knitted in concern. He'd just noticed how thin her sweater really was, and being the gentleman he knew he was somewhere deep inside, didn't wait for another denial. He removed his own coat and offered it to her, but when she politely refused, he gently draped it on her shoulders nonetheless.

"Th- thank you, sir..." Tori stuttered gratefully, but she just shivered again, even with her employer's jacket around her. Alfred smiled warmly -warmly enough to keep Tori from shivering again, she thought.

"Just a little, huh?" he asked, still smiling. It was contagious, too. With Alfred smiling at her like that, and now with a muscular arm on her small shoulders... it was enough to make her smile through the icy cold.

"Well, no wonder!" Alfred went on enthusiastically, tighteningly his grip on her shoulders playfully. "You won't last the winter in that tiny thing!" That was when he remembered something. "What happened to the coat I got you last winter?"

Tori looked down at the ground guiltily, her eyes downcast sadly. "I..." she murmured. "I outgrew it... I'm sorry..."

Alfred still grinned, but the corners of his mouth drooped a bit. Not because he was upset that she'd outgrown her coat, but because for some reason, Tori was upset about it. What could be bothering her?

He decided to approach the subject cautiously. "What's the matter? You didn't do anything wrong!" Maybe he voiced it a bit louder than he'd meant to, but he couldn't help that! He was just a naturally loud person!

Tori sniffled, but her face was still hidden by thick brown bangs hanging in front of her gorgeous green eyes. "I... guess I must've... gained weight since last year... I'm sorry!" She sobbed.

Alfred's eyes widened. Why was Tori so upset? What was making her... cry? Alfred was never the type of guy who could handle any woman crying, especially not one that had been living in his house and working for him so attendently for the last five years!

... But he still didn't know what to do... He'd never had to comfort anyone before... And he didn't even really understand why she was so sad.

"Tori..." he tightened his hold on her gently, a sort of makeshift hug as they walked the streets of New York. He didn't know what to say, much less how to put it delicately. But he'd try anyway, just to see her smile.

"There's nothing to be upset about," he reasoned. "When you first got here, you were all skin and bones. I feel sort of guilty that it took so long for you to get a little meat on ya!" It took him a moment to realize that that might've been the wrong thing to say, and he cautiously turned to see her reaction. But she was smiling gently, even with the tears still streaking her rosy cheeks, and Alfred knew he'd done a decent job with this. As he looked at her, smiling and the tears in her eyes disappearing, he felt proud for both of them...