I know, I know, this is terribly late. I've just been really busy lately and any ability i had to write has been leaving me lately. Thanks for everyone who's read/reviewed/followed/favorited! Special thanks to ilfreitas for helping me in created Portugal both the country and the character. Next chapter will most likely be taking place completely in Portugal if all goes to plan. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: don't own anything

Chapter 13

The next morning Alfred stood in front of the door to Arthur's room reciting in his head what he was going to say.

"Um, Arthur about yesterday, I didn't mean what I said. I …really care about you and…" His mind went totally blank at that point like it always did. "Argh!" he shouted and threw up his hands in exasperation. Why was this so hard? Why was he doing this anyways? He was the hero and heroes did not stand stupidly outside their crush's door thinking of what to say. Alfred clenched his fists nervously. He was just going to walk in and talk to Arthur. That seemed like the best plan. As he was just about to know the cleaning lady came by with her cart, stopped next to him, took out her keys, and entered Arthur's room with her cleaning supplies.

"Huh?" Alfred stood there not entirely sure of what just happened. If the cleaning lady went in, didn't that mean that Arthur wasn't there anymore? In a slight panic Alfred rushed to the front desk to ask if Arthur had already checked out of the room. Apparently last night he and someone else checked out and were headed to the airport judging from the tickets that were stuffed hastily in the Englishman's pockets. The receptionist was positive it was Arthur he saw since not many people check out of a motel in the middle of the night. Alfred felt his heart plummet. Why was Arthur gone and with a plane ticket of all things? He scrambled around in his pockets to find his phone and quickly punched in Arthur's speed-dial number. No answer. Alfred then realized that Arthur probably didn't even have his cellphone and probably had it taken away a long time ago. Cursing he punched in Chief Vargas's phone number and waited for the man to pick up.

"Hello?" came the answer finally,

"Chief, it's Alfred here and I've been wondering,"

"Ah, Alfred! I was just about to call you! From now on your partner is Michelle,"

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Arthur quit last night. He's probably on a plane to Portugal right now,"

"What? Why?"

"This and that, nothing to talk about really, oh and by the way you can start heading back to New York now since we're just about finished over here. The regular law enforcement can handle it from here. I think by now Francis and Charles would like some company back in New York," he replied in the most infuriatingly offhanded fashion, and then proceeded to hang up without further notice. Alfred looked at the phone like it had committed some sort unspeakable sin. None of the questions had been answered and only more came. He quickly grabbed his few belongings from his room and checked out of the room.

Alfred practically sprinted to the airport and bought a ticket to New York. Both Francis and Charles must know something if they were the ones that were chosen to rescue Arthur, and he was going to both get some answers and Arthur back even if it meant having to chase Arthur down all the way on the other side of the ocean.

Arthur looked out at the clouds that were whizzing by. He had called Gabriel to tell him he would be coming and now there were only a few more hours until he would arrive at Porto where Gabriel would pick him up to take to Aveiro. Arthur smiled. Gabriel had taken over his father's shipbuilding company. The two had always loved the seas and Gabriel always did seem so much more suited for building ships than being a special agent no matter how good he may have been as one. He closed his eyes and relaxed. A sudden pang of regret overtook him and instantly his eyes flew open again.

"I'm sorry Alfred, I love you," the whisper faded into the silence unheard.

Alfred had finally arrived back at New York. He quickly hailed a taxi and headed toward the station. Inside was Francis calmly flipping through few papers and drinking a glass of wine. Alfred made his way over and slammed his hands on the Frenchman's desk,

"Why did Arthur leave?" Francis looked up at his interrogator,

"Alfred it's not polite interrogate someone without even greeting them," Alfred sighed,

"Fine, you are now being graced by my heroic presence which is very, uh, glad to see you. Now can you answer my question?" Francis smirked,

"I am not allowed to tell you the reason, are you sure you don't already know?" Alfred's silence confirmed the answer.

"I know it has something to do with his past but I'm not sure what that really has to do with anything,"

"I'm not allowed out any information Alfred. If you want to know what happened to Arthur then you'll have to find him and ask him yourself," with this Francis pushed a booklet towards Alfred, got up, and left. The American looked at the booklet that was handed to him. It was an atlas that had been bookmarked on the page of west Europe and the city of Aveiro, Portugal was carefully circled in red ink. Alfred grinned; He was going to Portugal.

As the American walked out Francis walked back in. Thank goodness he still kept some kind of contact with Gabriel or he wouldn't have been able to pull that stunt. Leaning back in his chair Francis held his glass of wine up with a soft smile,

"To those two idiots," there may be some chance getting those together after all.

Arthur stepped out of the baggage claim area and scanned the crowd of people in the airport. A sign with his name caught his eye. He smiled as he walked over to his old friend. The man was slightly taller than him with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes.

"Bom vê-lo Arthur," he greeted,

"It's good to see you too Gabriel," Arthur meant it too. As he followed Gabriel to his car Arthur really hoped he had made the right decision.

"I can't wait to show you some of the ships I've been designing. Granted they most likely won't ever be built but I think you'll still like them anyways," Arthur nodded. There were whole crews of designers for Gabriel's company but the man always had a passion for creating designs himself. Arthur remembered once he had given him a replica of an old English pirate ship in a bottle for his Birthday. Even Alfred had thought it was pretty cool when he showed it to him. He had looked so cute when his eyes were shining like that. Arthur smacked himself in the head. Why was he still thinking about Alfred? Didn't he leave so he could just stop thinking?

"Arthur, are you still listening to me?" Arthur snapped out of his thoughts,

"Ah, terribly sorry Gabe, I must be tired from the flight," his friend gave him a pat on the back with the hand that wasn't on the wheel,

"Go ahead and sleep for a while, we'll have plenty of time to talk later," grateful for his friend's understanding Arthur closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

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