Hey guys.. sorry, I had this typed up ages ago, but I was waiting for someone to send me something so that I could edit the end of this chapter and add a bit on… But yeah… I would've typed more by my inspiration levels suddenly when blamph-squilsh-splat and landed in the dunny which then got flushed by my annoying siblings.

I hope you all had/have a Merry Christmas and there shall be a Christmas omake if a certain amount of people ask for it~ Maybe just a Christmas-y bit in the next chapter? Eh, we'll see~ Vote for that too~ ^.^' ( - Author is clearly too lazy to make her own choices)

Enjoy~

Rolling her eyes, Kate turned off the alarm and finished pulling her arm through the sleeve of her uniform. Honestly, why did she set that thing if she woke before it on workdays and forgot to turn it off on her days off? Right, that was it, paranoia that if she did end up turning it off, she wouldn't wake up that morning. Damn it.

Not that is was actually necessary for her to be at work early; as a matter of fact, there was no really 'attendance' time for the delivery people of Flying Mint Bunny Co., they just had to be able to finish all their rounds before 7 o'clock at night. Still, Kate preferred to go to work early in the morning –funnily enough, waking up earlier generally put her in a good mood- and have the afternoons off to herself to muse –not sulk, damn it- over things.

Wondering out into the kitchen, Kate checked the clock while pressing the power button on her coffee machine. Yup, 6:50. Okay, so she had ten minutes until Arthur woke up and she had to tell him to go and apply for the waiter position down at the restaurant –or the pub would be fine, she supposed, although she wouldn't get to see him in a waiters outfit then- and not to cook anything for anyone in a way that wouldn't either hurt his feelings or set him off on a rant at her. As for Francis… she had no idea what time he woke up, so she supposed she just had to tell him not to grope anyone who appeared at the door or to rape anyone inside the house.

"Ah, I thought I heard someone mumbling. Good morning." Startled, Kate whipped around to be greeted with the sight of Arthur in his pajama's, which consisted of a baggy t-shirt and some long pants.

"Huh? Oh, um, good morning. Sorry about that, didn't mean to wake you." Damn, she must've been thinking out loud again; she'd have to kick that habit if people were to be living with her, especially if people were going to end up sleeping on the couch like Arthur had last night (he refused out right to share a room with Francis and neither Francis or Kate were willing to give up their rooms, although Kate had the impression that –based off characteristics- Arthur was going to kick Francis out of the room at some point today).

After putting the sugar and milk into the coffee, Kate went to sit down at the table, both coffee and a bowl of yogurt that she must've prepared while not really paying attention out of habit, while relaying the instructions to Arthur, who was giving her a slightly disgruntled look for some reason.

"Okay, well, I've got work today, so there are a few rules." Oh, whaddya know, she'd just thought up a couple more. "One, I need you to keep an eye on Francis and make sure that he does not, on any condition, go into my bedroom. Ever. I'm sure you're gentlemanly enough- is that the right way to put it? I'm not sure…" Oh, right, the thinking aloud problem again. Oops. "Um, yes, anyway… I'm sure you're gentlemanly enough to not go in there yourself." Receiving a nod, Kate continued.

"I also need you to apply for a job down at the restaurant that's just a little down the block; their pay is good enough to help pay for your stay. And… uh…" Yeah, now she was stuck. "Could you… um… stay out of the kitchen for today, please? I prefer for people to be familiar with the rest of the place and people in here before they go and mess up my kitchen." Yeah, that excuse would work for today; she needed to ask Katrina for her list of excuses to keep Brit's out of kitchens while she was there today.

"Of course, love. Is that coffee?" Oooooh. That would explain the disgusted look. Grinning, Kate downed the rest of the drink and dumped the dishes on the kitchen bench.

"That which it would be. Problem?"

"Ergh, coffee is a disgusting drink; tea is much better." Grumbled Arthur, taking a sip of the cup of tea he had just made and walking over to the bookshelf in the lounge. Shrugging, Kate walked over to the advent calendar that sat in the hall next to her keys and check the date on her phone before popping the chocolate from the day's section into her mouth.

"Eh, it's a matter of opinion, really. I personally don't like tea that much, but still drink it."

"You appear to be in a much better mood then yesterday." Arthur eyed her suspiciously, holding The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in the hand that wasn't holding the blue and purple striped mug. "And don't talk with your mouth full."

"Not really, have to be cheerful though. 'Customer Service' or something."

"Ah." And with that, Arthur took a seat on the leather couch and opened the book.

"Yeah, well, I'm going now. Don't burn down the building or something equally stupid while I'm gone." Receiving only a 'hm' in response, Kate slipped on her work shoes –both literally and metaphorically- and left.

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,

Parking in the loading bay in the underground car park for the –really creepy- green building with a giant mint flying bunny on the roof –it was waaaaay out of reach from the city, not really wanting annoyed customers to blow up the building-, Kate hopped out of the car and walked over to the office. Sitting behind the desk was a ten year old guy who appeared to be in a really intense game on the ds, pressing buttons really quickly and glaring at the screen consistently.

"Um, excuse me; do you know where- Oh my god, is that Pokémon HeartGold?" Rushing around the desk, Kate peered over the pink streaked blonde hair to get a better look at the screen. Ah, her secret –or not so secret, to her family- obsession; Pokémon.

"Urgh, you use Ursaring? Why evolve it? Teddiursa is so much cuter!"

"Yeah, but Ursaring has better states." Commented the boy, leering at the screen. "Come on, idiot, beat that Vulpix."

"Noooo, don't beat the poor Vulpix! It's so cute!"

"Yeah, but it's in the way of me and my Roselia!" Frowned the kid; no, pouted the kid. "Damn Vulpix."

"Pfft, the only good Roselia is a Sassy, male one!"

"That's what I'm trying to get!"

"High-five, kid!"

After highfiving and finding out where exactly his mother was –the lady who handled all the paper handing out-, Kate proceeded to the loading area. Okay, so maybe not all her good mood for work was fake, but she wasn't going to tell them that.

"Hey, Bob, I'm back! Didja miss me?"

"Pfft, miss you?" Snorted a tall, muscular brunette with a cigarette in his mouth. "Yeah, right, and tomato's aren't red."

"Gee, thanks, I knew you loved me."

Kate grinned, handing over the papers to confirm that she could take a certain number of unit boxes in her truck. "Truck's in the usual place. How's Penelope?"

"She's good, pregnant."

"Oh my god, that's great! Congratulations!" Penelope was Bob's wife and they had been waiting for almost three years for a kid.

"Yeah, yeah." Ah, Bob, always one for emotions.

Under the shade of a coolibah tree,

Waving goodbye to Bob, Kate turned and stared at the open truck in front of her. Obviously one of these was going to end up at her house… could she-? No, she shouldn't. She really, really shouldn't. It wouldn't be fair on the other customers. Then again, it's not like they would do that though… they all would. Or, at least, Katrina would.

"Okay, fine." Sighed Kate, selecting a random box and peeking into the manual attached.

'IVAN BRAGINSKI: User Guide and Manual'

"Awww hell no!" She muttered, closing the manual and slamming the back of the trust shut. Mentally noting not to pick that one, Kate climbed into the front and started up the truck; might as well get moving.

Hmm, maybe she could give it to Katrina as revenge?

'Yes,' thought Kate, an evil smirk sliding across her face. 'It would be a perfect gift for Katrina.'

And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled.

Double checking the list, Kate pulled out of the drive way she had parked in and resisted the urge to play with the bandage that her leg and recently acquired. Why did so many customers have to have vicious, large dogs that were clearly too over protective? It was so unfair! And if they didn't have a damn overprotective, scary dog then they had a stupid, overprotective, scary cat! WHAT WAS WITH ALL THIS! IT WAS JUST HER JOB, DAMNIT!

Ahem.

Moving on…

She only had that new chick –Laura Brown, if she remembered correctly-, Katrina and herself to go. Pulling into purple chick's –'Laura,' Kate berated herself- driveway, she mused over which unit the person must've gotten last time; maybe a Yao Wang unit? They'd had a large shipment of those lately… although, they'd also received a large shipping of 'new and improved' units also… although, technically, they had yet to be known as 'improved' as the area was actually testing these out, but the point remained.

Selecting out a random unit box, Kate wheeled it up to the door and rang the doorbell and was greeted with a smile-turned-frown. As in, the girl had been smiling when she answered the door, but that had quickly turned into a frown when she saw exactly who was at the door.

See? She had been right; everyone glared once they knew what she was there for!

"Hello, Miss. Brown, if you would sign here." She had a feeling that this person wasn't one to get friendly with the person who kept delivering hell. Still… Laura's house was unusually… quiet for someone who had received a unit.

"Where would you like the box?" Kate asked politely, taking the clipboard back. "The lounge again?" Nodding, Laura moved aside for her to get past. If she peeled her ears, she could hear muttered insults. Hmm, that was strange. Last week she had had no problem with swearing at her… maybe she had an Arthur Kirkland unit? Those were pretty strict on language –as she had experienced herself.

"Mother Russia, is this 'Alex'?" Huuuuh? Well that would explain the whole language thing, she supposed, but still; 'Alex'?

"No, this is not Alex." Waddaya know; Laura could speak without swearing and in a nice tone! Naw, she must have high maternal instincts. "This is… uh, it was Kate, right?" Nodding, Kate turned around to pull off the manual just as the doorbell rang. "Yes, this is Kate. The person at the door must be Alex; Ivan, wait here with Kate, okay?" As she walked past, Laura nudged Kate in the side.

"Please, keep him out of the way for a bit. I know I wasn't nice last time, but please, I have to explain this to my boyfriend somehow; and he doesn't know that much about Hetalia."

Ah. Yes, that was gonna be complicated. Nodding ever so slightly, Kate turned around and smiled awkwardly at the little!Ivan unit. Sure, Laura might have had high maternal instincts, but Kate's were just Crappy. Really Crappy. With a capital 'C'. Kids terrified her.

"Um… yeah… hi, Ivan! I'm Kate, a good friend of Mother Russia's," –lie number one- "but she has something she needs to do, so I'm gonna be with you for the moment." Great, just great. Now she sounded stupid. To a kid.

"What's Mother Russia doing?" Questioned Ivan, tilting his head to the side innocently.

"Um, she's…" Quick, think of something! Use that random, fast brain of yours Kate! "-preparing her friend, Alex, to show to you." Please, all that is holy, make this work.

"Oh, okay." And now there was a large gape of awkward silence.

"Ah!" Yay for brilliant ideas! "Do you know where L- Mother Russia keeps her card games?" Nodding, Ivan walked over to the TV set and pulled a pack of UNO cards out from the draws underneath it.

"I want to play UNO, comrade Kate."

"P-?" Oh, eff… that was a baaaddd habit. Had she really just nagged Ivan about his pleases? This was Ivan! IVAN! Creepy, Russian, killer dude who was suddenly going to grow up from his forced kiddy state and slaughter her into tiny pieces.

"Please?" Oh, right, paranoid; had to work on that one too. Smiling, Kate nodded and took the pack of cards, shuffling them as she sat down at the table.

"Sure thing, kid. Come on; I'm gonna kick your ass!"

You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.

Oh, what a joke.

"I won again." Kate felt like slamming her head into the desk. In the end, Ivan had just kicked her ass. For the fifteenth time. Laura walked into the room just then, and a tall, black-haired man stood behind her, arms wrapped around her, both of them smiling broadly. Kate felt herself sending them both a smile too, before she stood up, dusted herself out and held out her hand for Ivan to shake.

"Good game, mate." Grinning, Ivan shook her hand.

"Good game, comrade Kate."

Scary… shivering slightly, Kate picked up the manual and handed it to Laura.

"There you go, that's the next one. I'll see you soon-ish. Nice meeting you, Alex."

"Nice to meet you, too."

"Cya…" Kate could see Laura restraining herself from swearing around Ivan, so she just grinned and waved her off before walking out the door. As she did so she could hear Ivan's footsteps run up to Laura and Alex and easily hear his cheerful cry.

"Mother Russia! Mother Russia! Guess what?"

"What, Ivan?"

"I kicked comrade Kate's ass!"

"KAAATTTEEEE!" Wincing slightly, Kate let out a laugh as she ran to her truck and pulled out of the driveway, waving to the ranting Laura who stood in the door, waving her fist at her. Ah, yes, next visit was going to be… pleasant.

So now she just had Katrina's stop before she went home. Pulling up at the farm house, Kate waved at the girl who was sitting on the front porch, clearly waiting for her.

"Hi!"

"You're late! Well… later than usual. I want to question you about your units!"

'Ah, Katrina, you never cease to amuse.' Kate thought as she pulled out the double trolley and put the Russia-in-a-box and other random box on the trolley and rolled it up the drive.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's this? First you ignore my demands and then you unload two boxes? Dude! This is a conspiracy!"

"No, this is the holiday cheer. Christmas present for all our clients." Well it wasn't an actual lie; she had had to ask for a spare one early because they were doing the Christmas rounds too, just not today. OH SNAP! That meant she was getting two too!

"HA! That means you're getting two also!" Damn Katrina for being relatively quick on the mark. Shrugging as though she didn't care, Kate dumped the two boxes in the lounge, noticing as she did so that Gilbert was –once again- hiding behind the couch.

"Um… 'Trina?"

"Hmm? Oh, snap, another Ivan! Can't you swap this?" Cried out Katrina in dismay as she looked over the manuals she had stolen off the box; this time without falling over, mind you.

"Hahaha, not on your nelly. Why is Gilbert hiding behind the couch again?"

"Oh, him; he's hiding from Ig's."

"…why?" Kate wasn't entirely sure she really did want to know, but curiosity –naturally- got the better of her.

"He insulted his knitting."

"Ooooooooo, seriously, mate? You have a death wish." Patting Gilbert condescendingly on the head, Kate turned and grinned at Katrina.

"Well, if that's all, I've gotta go home and make sure Arthur hasn't burnt down the building."

"MY COOKING IS PERFECTLY FINE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

"NOT YOU, ARTHUR, DIFFERENT ARTHUR!" A faint 'oh' could be heard along with a couple other embarrassed mumbles, causing Kate, Katrina and Gilbert to snicker.

"Although, technically, they are the same unit version…" This comment from Katrina just caused all three to laugh harder.

"S-so, you got an Arthur unit?" Choked out Katrina once she had recovered from her giggling feast.

"Yup, and I still have to go and make sure he hasn't burnt down the apartment. Cya in two days- and don't get a dog." The last, snarled bit caused both Gilbert and Katrina to give her weird looks as she walked out the door. Pfft, of course they wouldn't understand. It took being attacked everyday by at least one giant, overprotective beast to get it. Stupid beasts.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

It probably wasn't a good thing that she was honestly surprised about the fact that the building was still standing straight, Kate mused as she parked the truck. But then again, look at all the ways it could have gone wrong; Arthur could have tried cooking and burnt down the entire thing, Francis could have been kicked out multiple times for groping people and caused there to be multiple holes in the side of it, the two could've gotten into a fight in front of the TV set and started an electric fire and-

No, it most defiantly was not a good thing to be surprised at this fact. Maybe she should get professional help, maybe a psychiatrist? Hmm, but then again… going to a physiatrist could get the company shut down, for both legal and illegal reasons, and then she would be without a brilliant paying, easy, lazy job and then she would still be living with Francis and Arthur because no one should kill them; they're living beings just as much as Kate was. And if they didn't then that put the both of them at stake as well.

Damn it, looks like a psychiatrist was out of the option, then, Kate decided as she unlocked the front door to her apartment and dumped her stuff in the front hall. There was no way she was being responsible for anyone's death; unit or otherwise.

"Hey, guys, I'm home. Can someone come back downstairs with me? I need some help carrying the box into the lift and up- What are you doing?" Walking into the lounge room, Kate was immediately pulled into two sets of arms, one feminine and one masculine, and squished between two different chests.

"~!"

"Kate, mon chaton, you missed out on all the fun~." Eye twitching, Kate pulled herself out of the stomach clenching hug –or, rather, tried to.

"Jade, let go of my left. Frenchy, the right needs to be free also. NOW." Kate demanded when neither party let go.

"Naaaawww, Katie-poo is being a big meany poop~" Whined Jade, clearly full out drunk. Francis, also slightly tipsy, let go and leant back on the couch armrest in a way that was clearly meant to be 'sexy', but only really succeeded in making him fall over and onto the floor. Spinning around to face the sobbing Arthur, Kate scowled and tried to put on her sternest voice.

"Arthur. Stop crying. Now." Ha, success. She had scared him sober! "Now, I need you to go and lock Francis in his room. Please." Kate added as Arthur scowled at her, clutching his head and clearly demanding some manners. Nodding, Arthur grabbed one of Francis's ankles that were stuck in the air and dragged him into the main hall. Huh, weird; Arthur must've started drinking after Francis –and maybe even Jade- to be soberer than the two of them.

Jade; now there was a problem. Kate frowned as she faced her neighbor, who was currently staring at the TV screen which was showing some old cartoon.

"Oh, god, how am I supposed to explain this to your parents?"

"Eeeeeh?" Slurred the blackette, turning around and grinning lopsidedly. "Donn warry 'bout zem, zay leeeeffftt~"

"Huh? Whaddaya- never mind, I'll ask later, when you're sober." Kate shook her head, looping her arm around Jade and helping her out and into her own apartment.

Jade's apartment was unusually neat with a couple of boxes lying about here and there. Since the layout was almost symmetrical to her apartment, Kate could make an estimate as to where Jade's bedroom was and placed her onto the bed. Pulling a blanket over the girl who had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, Kate shook her head softly and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving.

It wasn't until she had locked Jade's apartment behind her, grabbed Arthur from her own and was half way down to the car park that she realized exactly what she had done and Arthur sent her a weird look as she slapped herself in the face –FACEPALMED, she facepalmed, thank you very much!-, but didn't bother to question her about it as the lift doors slid open.

You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me

Opening the manual that was on her lap, Arthur sleeping on the couch opposite, Kate had the overwhelming desire to go back to when she was just 13, typing up Mary-sues and being blissfully oblivious to it and playing Pokémon games with all her friends in the backyard and pool. Chasing snakes and trying to find a koala in the gum tree's in her backyard. But no, nooooo, now she had to be in freaking America –not that she really minded that much, she just needed something to complain about- with a job that got her freaking enemies that extracted revenge by sending her perverts, old men and now psychopaths! GOD VERDAMNIT!

"NATALIA ARLOVSKAYA: User Guide and Manual"

Dear god, the world hated her.

Review please~ Reviewers get a CHRISTMAS OMAKE and maybe even an appearance in said omake… we'll see!