A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long!! Senior year is starting to kick into overdrive! Thank you so much for all of the support! 3

Chapter 11

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962

"How's the construction coming Ismael?"

A glance out of the window confirmed that everything was right on schedule.

"Smoothly."

There was an unseen smile on the distant line. "Good. Keep me updated. I'll call back in a few hours."

"You're going to keep your end of the deal right? If not, you can kiss your missiles goodbye."

The man took a long puff of his cigar, letting the exotic flavors dance around in his mouth. He let out a cloud of smoke from his mouth and nose, looking like El Chupacabra. Some wafted over towards the phone, which seemed to travel through the cord and to the receiver on the other line.

"Of course Ismael. Now why would I betray your trust? You have given me a great opportunity, just as I have done the same for you. Together we could exact our revenge on the United States. You remember the Bay of Pigs don't you?"

There was a scoff as Ismael chewed on his cigar.

"That's a stupid question. Of course I do! As long as you protect my people, I have no problem with you using my land, Ivan."

There was a quick intake of air on the other end that quickly escaped as a chuckle in cloud of smoke. Or rather, just carbon dioxide as it hit the frigid Siberian air. "Thank you Cuba. I can promise that you will be rewarded greatly for your cooperation. Now if you excuse me I have a few more calls to make. I will call back later to check up on the progress."

A click signified the end.

Alfred had a lot on his plate. The peace of mind that he had only just begun to adapt too was slowly fading away. The realization of just how far behind he had fallen in many aspects of the 'war' was causing unnecessary stress on the young nation and his equally young leader. Alfred did his best to try to help guide President Kennedy in how to handle Russia but there was little experience between the two. Like with presidents in the past, the duo sat in the Oval Office; away from the pitter-patter of little feet and the giggles that went along with them.

Though it was only the fourth day into October, the Kennedy's children made sure to remind everyone in the House that Halloween was on its way. Alfred truly enjoyed their enthusiasm because he certainly didn't have any of his own. He felt something was off, he couldn't say exactly what it was, but something didn't seem right and it unnerved him to no end. Alfred seemed to always have that strange feeling that someone was behind him; the so-called 'sixth sense.' He became on edge about every little thing and was suspicious of everyone. His peace of mind was short lived and already forgotten.

"Alfred, are you alright?"

The personified nation blinked. President Kennedy was leaning towards his deck, looking directly at him. "You blanked out for quite some time. Got a lot on your mind?"

"'A lot' is an understatement. I don't know what to do about this 'cold war' thing anymore. It's just gotten so old but I can't let that communist beat me!"

"An occasional loss is alright, Alfred. We learn from them and we move on. What we learn from the past can only improve our future." Kennedy smiled when Alfred nodded. There was a brief silence before there was a knock on the door. "Excuse me Mr. President, but there is a call for Mr. Alfred on line one. It's very important." With that, she quietly shut the door.

Somewhat puzzled, Alfred looked at the phone on the president's desk and cautiously picked up the call. "Hello?"

"Ah, hello Alfred. How are you doing this fine, October day?" The think accent gave the speaker away instantly.

"Ivan! How'd you get this number?!" He and the president quickly exchanged glances as Alfred motioned for Kennedy to leave. Nodding, he left the office for the safety of another room, just in case. "Why are you calling me?!"

"An old friend can't call in to see how you're doing? How rude." The sarcasm in Ivan's voice only angered the already fuming American. He had to take a deep breath to remain calm.

"You are not my friend, Ivan. Now tell me, why did you call?"

Russia smiled and nodded, unbeknownst to Alfred. "Ah yes, I called to inform you that your boss's mistake will come back to haunt you."

Breath. In. Out.

"What?"

"The failed Bay of Pigs invasion." He emphasized the word just enough to drive a knife in the deteriorating mind that was Alfred's.

"That was a matter of my national security and had nothing to do with you. Why do you care?"

"President Kennedy is too young. He is not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations. He is too week and therefore, so are you."

Breathing.

In.

Out.

A sharp intake; like knives.

"You don't know what you're talking about you crazy commie. You don't know what I, what we, are capable of!" Alfred made sure not to grip the phone too tight, because he knew he could break it.

"We will see little one, we will see."

A click signified the end.

It had been almost a week since Russia's call to the White House. Luckily, few people knew about the call and so word didn't spread. The last thing Alfred needed was to see his people in chaos like during the Red Scare. There was increased security around the President and his family as he continued to focus on the problems state-side, like turning the economy around and trying to settle the heated civil rights debate. Alfred felt sorry for his boss having to juggle so many important things. He, like the rest of the world, was changing. Only he was being bogged down by Russia's ever-looming shadow.

Alfred was currently re-reading a scripted version of the phone call between Russia and himself out in the garden. Of course it had been recorded and not ten minutes after the phone was set down did a secretary come in with the transcript of it and Alfred hasn't put it down sense. Something was troubling the American's mind. There had to be some hidden meaning behind the communist's words. He quickly skimmed over the words and found a few things that stood out. He made sure to circle them in red pen.

"your boss's mistake will come back to haunt you."

"The failed Bay of Pigs invasion."

"President Kennedy is too young. He is not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations. He is too week and therefore, so are you."

Alfred stared with intensity at the words. Maybe if he scared them or threatened to blast them with his laser beam stare, the words would talk.

Why did it seem that Ivan was bringing up Cuba? Alfred went over what he knew of the small nation in his head. Well, they were currently going through a revolution, which he had tried to stop. This, he knew, was the Bay of Pigs failure that many held against President Kennedy and himself. He also knew that Cuba was very close to Florida, which was one of the reasons they invaded. The last thing they needed was the revolution spewing into his land. Same went for the people of Cuba who tried to flee.

Alfred let all of that settle for a moment. Just what did it all mean? There had to be something! The young blond ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply. Then he remembered his conversation with the President about the invasion.

America blinked and leaned slightly forward. "But why? Cuba hasn't really done anything. Sure, Marxism isn't the greatest thing ever, but they're not bothering us."

Kennedy nodded in understanding. "It is to prevent them from bothering us. As you said, Marxism isn't the most ideal form of government and with Cuba being so close, they could become a real threat. The invasion would be fueled by exiled Cubans. All we would do is back them up."

The president's world soaked in Alfred's brain for a few minutes. He had never thought of that before. Since Fidel Castro came into power, America had just simply ignored what his southern neighbor was doing. It unnerved him that the two nations were so close. At least with Russia there were several hours of distance, but he and Cuba were in the same time zone for God's sake! Alfred nodded and stood up.

"Go fourth with the invasion. We can't risk having an enemy so close to home."

Alfred jumped out of his seat and ran as fast as he could to find the President. He had finally had his epiphany and couldn't waste any more time in relaying his new-found knowledge. As soon as he was inside, he immediately ran to the Oval Office. He burst through the doors and was relieved to see his boss sitting with his brother, U.S Attorney General, Robert Kennedy.

"Mr. President! I know why Ivan called!"

Reasonably startled, the older Kennedy ushered for Alfred to sit down to catch his breath. "What do you mean Alfred?"

"I know the reason behind his call to the White House last week! He was talking about how the Bay of Pigs invasion would come back to hurt us. He said that we were too young, and therefore to weak." The Kennedy's didn't seem to follow his logic.

"Then, I thought back to our conversation about the invasion, and how we were so worried because they are so close. Then," Alfred continued, sitting on the edge of his seat. "I remembered how angry Russia was about our missile testing in Turkey and that got me to thinking 'how would Ivan get us back?' And the answer is with Cuba!"

President Kennedy had a melancholy look about his face. "So you think that Russia is using Cuba to build missiles so they can get closer to us, just as we did with them?" Alfred's confermation nod only deepened the look on his face. The president turned to his younger brother, who wore the same look as he. "Bobby, take this info to the Air Force immediately. I want to confirm this with the best reconnaissance aircraft we have."

"Of course!" The younger Kennedy quickly stood up and was out the door in a few seconds.

"Well done Alfred. If your allegations prove to be true, it will save thousands of lives."

Alfred smiled. "I hope so."

Just as Alfred had suspected, the reconnaissance mission had taken pictures of a construction site in western Cuba. It wasn't long before the word spread throughout the nation and soon, the world. The president assembled with fourteen key officials, including his brother, to discuss their plan of action. It seemed that there were five options; Do nothing, use diplomatic pressure to get the Soviet Union to remove the missiles, an air attack on the missiles, a full military invasion or the naval blockade of Cuba, which was redefined as a more selective quarantine.

Well, doing nothing was never an acceptable option. An air raid would only give the world an assumption that the U.S was no more than a bunch of "trigger-happy cowboys" who would lose Berlin because they could not peacefully resolve the Cuban situation and as much as Alfred liked the title, even he knew it wasn't the right decision.

The group had decided that a blockade, though usually an act of war, was necessary. Kennedy felt that the USSR wouldn't attack because of a mere blockade. He ordered many of the top military troops to settle in Georgia and to be prepared to invade Cuba at a moment's notice. The President addressed the nation and the world shortly after.

"To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons be turned back."

Alfred was extremely excited to have discovered the missile before it was too late. This was a huge accomplishment by the Kennedy administration and was a positive step for the U.S in the Cold War. Now all they had to do was get Russia to give in, which the blond knew was going to be a challenge in and of itself.

Russia was infuriated. How had that idiotic nation found his missiles?! Ivan paced from one side of the room to the other, leaving an indentation in the think carpet with his boots. He was so close to finally ridding the world of that narcissistic nuisance and now his plans had been crushed. There was a knock on the door and the large man came to a halt. "What is it?" It was hard to miss the irritation behind his voice.

"Uh, It's Cuba, Russia. He's here." A frightened Lithuania sputtered through the door.

"Let him in." As the door swung open, Russia settled himself in his favorite seat.

"What the fuck happened to our deal Russia?!" The tanned man burst into the room and walked right over to the larger man. Lithuania, seeing that a yelling match was about to begin, quickly shut the door and left the men alone. "You were supposed to protect me! And now that damn America has found me out!"

Russia had his eyes closed and surprisingly had a calm look about his face, as if he were sleeping. It was a complete 180 from how he was just minutes before. "I have held up my side of the deal. He has not attacked you and if he does, only then will my words be put into use."

The Cuban gave a stare that seemed to pierce right through the Russian. He signed deeply and pulled out one of his famous cigars. He offered his ally one, who respectfully declined. "I'd prefer if you didn't smoke that in here."

"I don't give a shit." Ismael lit the thick end and took a few puffs to get is started. Immediately the room was filled with the sweet and bitter smell. He dragged a chain over so he was face-to-face with Ivan. "So, what are we going to do?" A cloud of smoke drifted over to the larger man.

Russia coughed a little and waved the smoke away from his face. "Well, Alfred has posted an embargo on your country, which is an act of war."

"So does that mean this little 'cold war' between you too is finally gonna be put into action?" He took another puff and lightly smiled as the flavors danced around in his mouth. This time, he made sure to blow the smoke up and away from the towering Russian.

"I'm not sure yet. But what I do know is that his actions will not go unanswered. Alfred is a fool if he thinks that I will just give up. I think there is some bargaining to be done." With that, the Russian stood. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go make a phone call." Ivan walked over the trail he had left in the carpet and quickly exited out the door. Cuba shrugged and continued to enjoy his cigar. Whatever Russia was planning on doing, he had better do it soon. With this embargo, Ismael started to feel the beginnings of a cold.

It had only been two days since his people were notified about the missiles and Alfred felt restless, just as his people did. He would never admit it, but knowing that nuclear missiles were so close to his home unnerved him. He had seen the destructive power they held and it was frightening to know that the weapons that he had created were now being used against him.

Alfred was sitting in the garden again. Thought it was quite cold, he continued to return to his favorite spot in the white house. He imagined Russia throwing a fit about the embargo and chuckled at the thought of the large man acting like a toddler. He smiled and looked up at the sky. It was a crystal-clear blue and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. It was peaceful and Alfred smiled. Even though he was feeling paranoid again, it was the simple things such as looking at the sky that calmed his nerves.

But, as if on cue, his trance was broken by one of the maids. "Excuse me, Mr. Jones, but there is an important call from a Mr. Ivan." She quickly handed him the phone, but quickly whispered in his ear "The call is being recorded." He nodded in understanding before she left.

"Hello?"

"Ah there you are. Just how long does it take for you to answer the phone?" Alfred wasn't even surprised that Ivan had called. He knew why.

"So I take it you want to talk about Cuba?" His voice showed little interest in their three second conversation.

"Well, aren't you smart? I would like to discuss the recent quarantine you placed on him. Really, Alfred, I would have thought you knew better, but then again, your boss does not."

Alfred sighed. He really wasn't in the mood to discuss this over the phone. "It's nothing to be discussed over the phone, Ivan. The only time I'll 'discuss' it with you is in person."

Ivan smirked on the other end. "Eager to engage me? Fine, where do you propose we meet?"

"The U.N building." He paused for only a second. "With the others present. This involves them as much as it does us."

"If you say so. Tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Little one."

A click signified the end.