Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You look horrible” New Jersey sat down next to Pennsylvania who had his head in his hands, his whole demeanor was different. Less confident, more tired, he was put together well enough but the bags under his eyes said he had barely slept the night before.

Pennsylvania sighed heavily, “Not now,” 

“Why?” Jersey picked up a teasing tone, “Are you hungover again?” 

“Worse, stone cold sober” He was shocked by that, far more shocked then he would have been if Penn were drunk at work. 

“Have you been sober once in the last fifteen years?” 

Penn laughed dryly at the sarcasm in the comment, and shook his head; “With impending war figured now's the time” 

“Ha! Yeah I don’t believe that” Jersey turned in his chair to be able to look at Pennsylvania directly, “Did Ginny finally tear you a new one?” 

“No, I just decided to stop” he was starting to get annoyed at the others' insistence. Not in the mood for conversation at all, much less this conversation. 

“For the day?”

“For a while” New Jersey looked skeptical, he wasn’t mad about the other starting to deal with his bad habits; just confused on why and not entirely sure he believed it. Pennsylvania went back to staring off into the distance. 

“You still look horrible” New Jersey knew the only way to get an answer out of him would be to piss him off and his efforts were rewarded; Pennsylvania looked at him something in his eyes, a sadness hiding under the exhaustion. For a moment Jersey stopped, he went to retract his statements, not ready for some deep conversation but was going to get it anyway. 

Pennsylvania sighed shakily, glancing around the room to make sure those milling about were close enough to hear. Even then he dropped his voice to just above a whisper; “A week or so ago they told me if I can’t get myself together they would find different caretakers for Congress.” 

Jersey’s eyes went wide, he could understand partially why they would say that Penn wasn’t the most responsible of the thirteen; but they could all see he loved that kid more than life itself. He didn’t want to know what spiral Pennsylvania would go through if they took him. 

“I can’t let them do that, Jersey.” Pennsylvania sounded as if he were close to tears at the mere thought of it. New Jersey understood, he wasn’t sure he would be much better if someone was threatening to take East and West from him. 

“So you went cold turkey?” 

Penn nodded, “I figured out I can’t just have one drink without it turning into more, so I just won’t” 

“How long since you’ve slept?” 

“I got an hour in last night” 

Neither had to say out loud why he wasn’t sleeping. Pennsylvania had horrible night terrors, even when he was a kid. After the French-Indian war they got worse, he couldn’t go a single night without them, he got desperate and figured blacked out was better than not sleeping at all. What was supposed to be a temporary solution until he could sleep normally again spiraled, and now he was always a bit drunk. He claimed it made it easier to get through the day and no one was going to tell him how to live his life. 

Congress hadn’t been around for long but everyone remembered the day Penn introduced him to them clearly; Con was about four–no one bothered to ask if he came around like that, or if he had been around longer then Penn let on–, he wasn’t fidgety like most kids his age perfectly happy to sit on his dads knee and listen during meetings. The boy had Penn’s eyes, but New Jersey swore the longer you looked at him the more he could pick out pieces of all thirteen of them. 

Even then it was hard to not watch them during meetings; Pennsylvania, while still louder than most, wasn’t as loud when Con was in the room. He would make everyone else stop talking just to listen to little comments the boy had, usually about noticing a bird outside the window or something equally silly. Pennsylvania would nod seriously at every single comment though. Penn used to be the last one to leave when they went out, and now when they met for dinner or something of the sort he was the first to leave; going on about needing to be home to put Congress to bed. New Jersey couldn’t imagine another colony doing better at taking care of him–well, maybe Virginia but that was unfair as he had experience. 

Pennsylvania definitely noticed the long silence as New Jersey tried to figure out what to say, how he could help somehow;

 “It’ll be a bitch but don’t worry” Penn offered a small smile, “I’ll be fine, needed to do this anyway” 

Jersey nodded, opening his mouth to say something else before being cut off by a small voice echoing through the room: “Daddy!” 

Pennsylvania turned his head so quickly Jersey swore he heard his neck crack, but the other smiled sincerely for the first time that morning seeing Virginia come in Con in his arms. The little boy was already reaching out as Penn got up to take him from Ginny. 

“Did you have fun sleeping over?” 

Con nodded excitedly “me and uncle Ginny–” 

Penn’s eyes flicked to Virginia, New Jersey having to try not to laugh at the glare as Penn was insistent he was not letting any of the thirteen be an aunt or uncle but had so far failed in getting his way. Con got his dads attention again and went on about the things they did and how late he was allowed to stay up; Penn’s expression the whole time stuck between happy that he had fun and already building his lecture for Virginia on how Congress won’t be allowed to come over anymore if that’s how the night is going to go every time. 

The meeting was called to order and everyone found their seats, Con as usual sitting on his dads knee even if there was an empty seat next to them. Jersey watched Penn barely paying attention, too focused on his son. Everyone could tell he loved him, but knowing what he did now Jersey was sure Pennsylvania would do just about anything for the kid. 

Chapter Text

Expecting to wake up to your partner lying next to you and instead being alone in bed is never a good way to wake up in the morning; it is an even worse way to wake up at two am. Maryland sat up listening closely, the baby hadn’t woken up, DC making even the smallest noise was the surest way to get them both up in a moment. They listened closely for movement to indicate Nat was just up for the bathroom or a drink, but nothing there either. 

She got up rubbing her eyes, Maryland expected to have to go look for him but the moment they left the bedroom there he was in the hallway. National Guard glared at the stairs like they had personally wronged him–granted Mary had seen him trip down them at least twice–. 

“What are you doin’ hon?” He was startled a bit hearing them after an hour of absolute silence. 

She watched his expression soften, he rubbed the back of his neck suddenly realizing what he was doing was a little bit silly; “I heard something” 

Maryland tilted their head, maybe she had missed DC crying “Was the baby up?”
“No.” He shook his head, going back to looking down the pitch black staircase “Outside. I was worried someone was trying to come in” 

They put together the rest of the dots themselves, “So you went to check then stayed out here just in case?” 

He nodded, looking even more sheepish the longer he thought about it and realized it was more than likely just an animal or the wind. “Don’t want anything to happen to either of you” 

Maryland was stuck between amused and concerned, he had never been this way before the baby and she was worried he wasn’t getting enough sleep anymore. But it was silly that a currently sleeping two month old had so much power over a full grown man. 

She took his hand, pulling him away from the stairwell, “I’m safe.” 

He moved, taking their wrist instead to be able to feel her pulse, almost as if he didn’t believe her. But upon feeling it nodded hesitantly letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

Maryland steered Nat towards the bedroom across from theirs, opening the door and walking as softly as she could until they both stood over the crib in the corner of the room. Instinctively almost they both held their breaths to listen to DCs. Nat reached down softly, setting his hand on the infant's chest, feeling his chest rise and fall calming most of his fears. 

“And he’s fine too” Maryland added to their earlier statement, resting her head on his shoulder. 

“I’d feel better if he slept with us” He hesitated before adding, “Just tonight, incase” 

Maryland decided not to mention that Nat had been the one so insistent DC should never sleep in their bed lest they have a hard time getting him to sleep on his own when he got older; she just nodded. “Just incase” 

She turned away, reminding him to do his best not to wake him up. It wasn’t long but by the time National Guard came into their bedroom, DC held carefully in his grasp Maryland was already back under the blankets and half-asleep. They were awake enough to watch DC stretch out upon being set down in the center of the bed, his little hands balled into fists, his face scrunching up making him look angry.

The mattress shifted just a bit as Nat got back into bed as well, he must have noticed the face as well; “That’s the same face you make when you get woken up unexpectedly” 

Maryland furrowed her brow, “I do not make that face”  

“Yes you do, you’ve just never seen it yourself. I see it every morning” He spoke very matter of factly, and they were too tired to argue with him. 

“Are you going to sleep or just watch us all night?” 

“I’ll sleep” he promised, though the lack of any actual effort to get comfortable told them he was just saying that to get her to go back to sleep. 

She kept her eyes open just enough to be able to watch his expression, the usual skepticism and anxiety clouded over by a look of pure adoration for Maryland and DC. It was just enough to keep them from getting too upset over Nat not going to sleep.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Maine followed Massachusetts, quickly running out of breath, he was always confused on how the other moved so quickly for being so small. “Can we slow down?” 

“No.” Massachusetts kept his voice low, Maine tried not to roll his eyes, the other was absolutely convinced someone was following them at all times. “We’re in enemy territory, we have to keep moving”

Maine also decided not to comment on the fact that he was still a bit French territory, even if Mass should know that considering the only reason he brought him with was to be a translator. It’s not as if he minded, honestly he had found an odd comfort getting to speak French so much in the past weeks; it also made him spend more time then he ever had wondering how different his life would have been if Quebec or Newfoundland had found him before Massachusetts had. The only conclusion he had come to was it would be mostly the same, sitting between the French and British, trying to stay neutral to it all for the good of his people. He looked up to Massachusetts, unable to take his eyes off the gun on his back; he would always end up on a side anyway. 

He was so lost in his thoughts he ran directly into Massachusetts, both of them falling to the ground; Maine sitting up quickly putting his hand to his head already knowing there would be a bruise. “Why did you stop?!” 

“Shut up!” He whispered yelled, getting up quietly scanning the area around them suspiciously. He had heard something Maine clearly hadn’t. He took the gun off his back, starting to load it. 

“Mass!”

“Shut up, Maine.” He said again, sounding even more serious this time. “Whoever you are, come out!” 

Maine held his breath, getting up and standing behind Massachusetts. There was rustling in the trees, but it sounded more like the wind, or squirrels and birds regular forest rustling; not a person. 

“Mass I don’t think anyone is–” He stopped, as someone hesitantly stepped out of a thicker bunch of bushes. Massachusetts lowered his gun, looking at the… child in confusion. He was eight, maybe nine, his clothes appeared to have been nice once but were just a bit too small and had patched knees. His hair was dark brown, definitely past due for a haircut and someone had tried to hide that by putting it in braids. 

But what stopped them both in their tracks were his eyes, one was green and the other violet, regardless of color both were unnaturally vibrant, his pupils surrounded by matching rings of gold. 

“You see what I'm seeing?” 

Maine nodded but didn’t say anything, instead moving to stand between Massachusetts and the newcomer. “Louisiane?” He asked cautiously, this was none of the thirteen, and while he knew Florida was near this kid looked absolutely nothing like Spain, and he had heard Florida was a spitting image of his father. 

His demeanor didn’t change, nervousness still being conveyed in the way he didn’t make eye contact and he kept deathly still where he stood; but despite it he smiled, nodding wearily. Maine knew that wasn’t enough, plenty of people could guess who he was and not be friendly. 

“I–” he backtracked the sentence, now gesturing to Massachusetts as well “We won’t hurt you. I’m Acadia” 

Mass huffed, “You know I don’t like it when you use that name” 

“That’s how he’ll know me,” Maine snapped back, slipping back into English from French. 

Suddenly Louisiana’s face changed, he looked excited, Maine almost getting knocked over again as he half threw himself into his arms hugging him. Massachusetts laughed at the surprise on Maine’s face. 

“Did Maman send you? Is she coming back soon? When she left she said it would be the normal time but then that passed and she didn’t come back!” It took Maine a moment to realize ‘maman’ was France. Quebec was the only one of them up north who called France mother, he, Newfoundland, and Hudson, were usually more formal out of some habit none of them even recalled making. 

Louisiana hadn’t let go, but had loosened his grip enough to look up at Maine, his expression hopeful. Maine had only ever seen him once as a baby, after that he only heard about him from France, she was big on nicknames and while he and the other three were snowflakes, Louisiana was a raindrop. He understood where the nickname came from, everything about the boy looking up at him was small and soft, but not cold like flurries, warm like spring rain. He couldn’t disappoint him. 

Maine nodded, “She did.”

Louisiana smiled wider, letting go now that he had his confirmation that Maine wasn’t going to run off without him. If France sent him to get him he couldn’t run off without him. As he stepped back though Louisiana could see Massachusetts again, who despite putting his gun away still looked quite guarded, some of the hesitancy returned.

Maine noticed and leaned down to be at Louisiana’s height, “That’s just my…” How should he explain Massachusetts? He couldn’t call him his brother, not right now anyway; Louisiana might have been young but he wasn’t dumb enough to not recognize English. He couldn’t have him thinking he was a traitor to France or anything like that, it might send him running. 

He started again, “Louisiane, that is my friend Samuel, he insisted on coming with to find you to keep me safe” Maine elected to use Massachusetts' human name, just in case the other recognized his real name. 

He nodded, looking Massachusetts over, “That was nice of him” 

“Very nice of him” Maine agreed though he had to keep himself from laughing considering he was the one who was dragged along. 

Massachusetts looked offended, “What are you saying about me?” 

Maine stood back up, asking Louisiana for just a moment of privacy to talk to his friend. He put his arm around Mass and pulled him a few feet away; “That’s Louisiana.” 

“How do–”

“Not important right now.” His mind was racing, if Louisiana was here then France could be too, or someone she trusts enough to leave Louisiana with. “We need to find somewhere to lay low, we’re going to have to take him with” 

“No.” Massachusetts was firm in the answer, they weren’t taking Louisiana with them. 

“He thinks France sent me to get him” 

“Why the hell did you tell him that?” 

“I didn’t, he assumed, I went along keep your voice down so you don’t scare him” 

Massachusetts couldn’t voice his disapproval before Maine turned back to Louisiana, “We’ve gotten a bit lost, do you think you can show us somewhere we can stay for a few days?” 

“You can stay with me!” Louisiana exclaimed, “The house isn’t far from here” 

Maine looked around confused, he and Mass had been in the area for awhile and it was just trees and swamp. 

“What’d he say?” Massachusetts asked, just as confused as Maine was even if differently.

“He said where he lives isn’t far” Now Massachusetts joined him in the correct kind of confusion, also scanning the trees looking for any evidence of a road even. Nothing was in sight. 

Louisiana noted their hesitance, “Maman didn’t want anyone stumbling ‘cross it, but I promise it’s close!” 

Massachusetts gave Maine a look saying he wouldn’t even consider staying in the enemy's house. Unfortunately for Massachusetts he didn’t speak French so he couldn’t argue with the eight year old offering them a place to stay. “We’re going with him” 

“No!” 

~~~~~

Maine hadn’t realized how late it had been when they ran into Louisiana, just a couple hours and it was already well past dark. Sure enough once they had their newfound guide getting through the swamps was easy, and sure enough the house was hidden in plain sight. Loui had let him know that New Orleans was really only an hour away by foot; Maine questioned how he had missed that and how he and Mass hadn’t been coming across more people if that was the case. 

Speaking of Mass, despite how against he had been coming with him now that they were in the house and France seemed to be nowhere in sight, and he had been assured Loui was in fact just Maine’s eight year old brother and not some wartime mastermind he had calmed down, and even dare I say, warmed up to him. 

“How did you know it was Louisiane?” Massachusetts asked, the whole house and Louisiana had decided to fall asleep on the couch with his head in Mass’ lap. 

Maine sat in a chair across from him, he was lost thinking about how he was going to get the mud out of the carpet before France was ever able to see it. He still couldn’t believe Mass wouldn’t listen and take his shoes off before dragging it in the house. 

“It was the eyes” 

“Most personifications have odd eyes, his just stands out more. Doesn’t tell you who he is” 

Maine looked down, he sighed heavily. “When I was younger, one of the few times I was ‘French’ and not English, France brought Louisiana to Quebec City. He was tiny then, no more than a year, I haven’t seen him since but you don’t forget those eyes” 

“Didn’t have time to stick around?” 

Maine sighed remembering how excited they were to have Louisiana around, even Hudson was fond of him and he didn’t much like anyone. Everything was perfect, a full family for once, Louisiana was her favorite too. No one much minded though, her favorite child being in the house made her kinder. Then as soon as the first frost hit it went down hill, a string of doctors coming through the house, France got mean, her colder children always the reason for her problems. 

 “They showed up at the end of summer, but were gone before it really got cold. Lou doesn’t do well in the cold, as soon as they returned to a warmer climate he went back to being himself and France never brought him north again.” 

Mass looked worried for a moment and pulled his coat, which Louisiana was using as a blanket, closer around him. Maine tried not to laugh, it was funny how quickly Massachusetts had attached himself to the boy, even if they couldn’t say a word to each other. 

“I wouldn’t worry about that down here, Mass, it's hot as hell”

Massachusetts scoffed but just nodded, he was well aware of that after the amount of time they had spent in the area; for once a frigid Boston winter sounded lovely. His eyes went between Maine sitting on the couch across from him, and Louisiana asleep on him. Maine had teased him about never expecting him to be good with kids, Mass had just shook his head and ignored it. He was the second eldest of the thirteen and brought Maine up himself; it would be more surprising if he weren’t good with kids. 

He set his vision on his little brother, Maine was sixteen, barely an adult even if he wanted to act older than he was. 1692 was a long year, but truthfully Massachusetts didn’t remember most of it, too busy chasing after a four year old. Maine had been around for awhile (some even theorizing he could be older than Mass or Ginny if he was really Acadia) before Mass got him permanently, and all he knew is when he did the world stopped. Sure, he was an idiot more often than not, but however little he cared for his own safety Massachusetts would do just about anything to keep him safe. Including taking him on this silly goosechase with him to keep him from what was happening back home. 

“You should head to bed” Massachusetts started trying to move Louisiana without waking him up, not ready for more of those boundless amounts of energy he had. 

Maine yawned, “I gotta put Lou to bed first” 

“I got him” Mass finally was able to get up, holding Louisiana, the younger almost automatically wrapping his arms around the other grumbling something Mass didn’t understand, though he didn’t wake up so he assumed it wasn’t important. “Go to bed” 

Maine looked at him skeptically for a moment, but nodded; “No ones come home yet so I’m assuming any bedroom is up for grabs” 

Massachusetts nodded and once Maine had a go ahead he didn’t waste another moment going up the stairs to find somewhere to crash. Mass followed behind slower with the eight year old hanging on to him, it occurred to him halfway up the stairs he wasn’t sure which room was Louisiana’s, so began the hunt, it took three doors–including what he was pretty sure was France’s room–to find it. Well, he thought it was at least, the room looked more lived in then the previous three. 

He had to half pry Loui off him to get him in bed, pulling the blanket over the younger, he stood straight looking down over him for a moment. Mass wondered how anyone could leave a kid out here by themselves, how lonely it has to be. He shook the thought off, there was no use trying to figure it out now, he could do that in the morning. For now he thought sleeping in France’s room would be a pretty great fuck you.

Chapter Text

Being the designated driver had very few perks and far too many responsibilities, the top one being keep an eye on the people you were driving for who in this case happened to be the rest of the Thirteen; she was just supposed to drive PA home and make sure the rest got cabs to wherever they needed to be, that was it. Simple enough. But she lost them, she searched the bar they had been at, combed every bar and club in walking distance, even went up to random people asking if they had seen a rowdy group of around twelve people, three women, nine men, an aura of dumbassery. The car was still here, she was sitting on the hood staring at her phone, she had tried all twelve twice and nothing, she made sure they all had their ringers on but it was probably a combination of died and couldn’t hear over music. 

There was a long moment of consideration about going home, maybe for once in their lives they were responsible for themselves and had gotten a ride home, more likely they were still wandering somewhere having a good time entirely forgetting Virginia was ever with them. She stared at her lock screen for another moment before deciding waiting any longer wouldn’t magically make them turn up. She wasn’t in charge of them anymore, if anything happened it was Gov’s responsibility not hers, she had done what she could. Unfortunately, just as she came to peace with this decision her phone rang, it was an unknown number but she answered anyway. It was probably one of them calling from a payphone. 

“Hello?”  

“Hi, it's Georgia.” Despite her peace with the decision, she sighed relieved that at least from his voice over the phone he seemed unhurt. 

“oh thank god, I didn't know where y'all had gone and…” Virginia stopped, momentarily suspicious, at some of the eerily familiar background noise. “Wait, where are you calling from?”

There was a long moment of hesitation on the other side of the phone before, “what answer’ll make ya the least angry?” 

Virginia groaned, getting off the hood of the car and getting in turning it on, already knowing the answer. “Anywhere but jail” 

Another long moment of silence, “now don't be angry.” 

“who all is there with you?” She pulled out of the parking spot, heading towards her educated guess of which station they were at. 

Georgia tried to brush it off with an unworried grumble of not that many of us, followed with a full volume “just the Carolina's, Delaware, Maryland, PA, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. We don't know where Jersey is.” 

Of course, of course it would be too convenient for all of them to be arrested and in one spot to make it easy to come get them. She wouldn’t put being halfway across the country past Jersey, he moved fast when he wanted to. 

She set the phone in her lap putting it on speaker, last thing she needed was to be pulled over now. “What did all y’all do to get yourselves locked up?” 

“When you went to use the bathroom Rhode started a fight, we were just going to get kicked out but then York threatened the bartender on the way out, Mass and Conn lied about being lawyers, PA impersonated a cop, Mary lied about being pregnant, Delaware faked a heart attack, and Jersey stole a car. Took the rest of us because we were all together causing trouble by that point” 

Virginia had to resist banging her head into the wheel, settling instead for the trademark tired mom sigh (or at least that's what other states claimed it sounded like), she knew they would make her explain it all to Gov even if she hadn’t been there.

“I’m on my way, don’t let PA get in another fight before I get there, we're all going to look for Jersey after” 

“Yes ma’am,” with that the phone hung up, either the time was out or Georgia just hadn’t bothered with saying goodbye. 

Virginia had asked once why Georgia always was the one to call when they all got in trouble, Mass claimed it was because he was the youngest, she had the freshest memory of his innocent little face making it more likely that she would come get them if he called. It was pure manipulation. She was mad it worked.