Bonus Chapter

As always, the big bi-annual state meeting was nothing short of chaos. What was supposed to be a calm, rational discussion on recent medicinal advances had taken a sharp turn for the worst when they discovered Alabama and Louisiana had yet to arrive. Rather than begin without them, the majority of the States had decided to strike up various conversations and arguments around the table.

DC sat back and watched it all unfold, annoyed aqua eyes constantly looking out for anyone taking things too far.

Ohio and Michigan waged war from opposite ends of the massive table, bombarding one another with an arsenal of paper airplanes and balls provided by the states sitting near them. (Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska were the main culprits.) Massachusetts and New York could be heard loudly arguing over who had the better hockey team (or teams, in New York's case). A little ways down the table, Connecticut was giving Washington come advice in regards to one of his newest pet projects while Oregon made funny faces behind Washington's back. The Dakota twins and Carolina twins had gathered together to quietly talk about something that no one else had any interest in. New Hampshire had cornered Vermont into sitting next to him with a little help from Maine, who seemed amused by the pair of them.

DC caught Pennsylvania's eye and nodded, signaling for her to get the meeting started. Alabama and Louisiana may be running late, but that didn't mean the rest of them had to as well. The Keystone State stood up and cleared her throat.

The noise continued. A paper airplane sailed past Pennsylvania's face, courtesy of Wyoming, who decided to join in on the fun. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands into fists. "Attention, everyone!"

Idaho glanced up, but was then immediately pulled back into his conversation with Wisconsin and Iowa.

Before Pennsylvania could lose her temper, Texas loudly banged his briefcase on the table, causing conversation to slow to a stop as everyone turned to look at him. "If ya'll would pay attention to Penny now, that'd be great," he said calmly.

Pennsylvania smiled at him appreciatively. "Lets get this meeting started! First up for business-"

"But Daniel and Suzanne aren't here yet," spoke up Missouri. "We can't start without 'em."

"Yeah," agreed Kansas. "Lets talk about something else first. Y'know, have a rational group discussion about something that's been going on for a while now. Like something Allison accidentally started?"

New York looked up from the silent thumb war she was waging with Massachusetts. "What are you blaming me for now, Theo?"

"Oh, you know. You were the one who barged into dad's bedroom last May and started this whole crazy ordeal. Shouldn't we talk about it? I'm not talking about sharing our feelings or nothing, but we should figure out how we're gonna handle this," Kansas said.

"We'll support dad in whatever he decides," Maryland said firmly.

"Well duh," Kansas drawled. "What I said was, how are we going to handle this. And by that I mean, obviously not everyone is happy by this turn of events. And a few simply don't care either way, so long as dad's happy."

"And then there's Virginia, who couldn't be happier about this than if she'd planned it out herself," Colorado remarked, casting a teasing grin towards his older sister. His words elicited some laughter from the other states and a sheepish smile from Virginia.

Florida sighed dreamily. "I think it's sweet. After all this time, they still care so much about one another."

"And dad's never looked happier," California spoke up, always ready to back up his favorite sister. "And really, that's all that should matter to us. That's why we decided we should all meet England, remember? To see dad around him - to make sure. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't see anything to show that dad's unhappy."

Pennsylvania scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, but said nothing. She couldn't dispute that the two genuinely cared for one another, no matter how much she disliked the idea of them being together. She directed an annoyed look at Massachusetts, who had once been her most dependable ally, but had since relaxed and come to accept what was going on.

The Bay State ignored her, instead leaning over to whisper something to Rhode Island, who raised an eyebrow in response.

DC could only sit back and watch as chaos once again descended upon the room.

Forty minutes later, Louisiana and Alabama had still not arrived. DC was beginning to develop a headache and was debating whether or not to call the meeting off for the day and try again the next day. Considering how wound up everyone was, it would probably be for the best. DC could see Connecticut's hand slowly reaching for his revolver (despite the fact that he'd been asked to leave it at home) and South Carolina and North Carolina had long since headed for different areas of the table after an argument that got out of hand. South Carolina went directly to Georgia, who seemed to be doing her best to soothe things over. North Carolina had retreated to the part of the table where Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and West Virginia had taken up residence, since Virginia was busy trying to calm down Pennsylvania and Massachusetts with help from Delaware and New Jersey.

At least the western half of the states seemed to be behaving, though DC was starting to get a little weary of the way Alaska had spent the entire time talking quietly on the phone. Unfortunately, there were other (louder) things to worry about, so any pondering about what the northernmost state was up to got pushed to the back of the Capital's mind. The rest of the western half - Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma - were busy playing a game of rock-paper-scissors.

DC stood, preparing to call order and announce that they'd pick up things the next day - as well as tack on another day since they hadn't gotten anything done, when the double doors swung open.

Silence fell over the room as everyone turned to see who it was. There stood Alabama with a huge grin on his face, pushing open the doors with both arms outstretched.

"May I introduce, the always-lovely and talented, Miss Suzanne Fleurette Jones!" He exclaimed, pushing the doors open a little wider to reveal Louisiana standing behind him, leaning heavily on an ornate cane. She shakily stepped forward.

For a moment, the sound of her cane striking the floor was all that could be heard in the otherwise deafening silence.

But then Mississippi let loose an ear-splitting whistle and shouted "Lookin' good Suzie!", which jarred his siblings into action. They swarmed around her, making sure to give her some space so she wouldn't feel overwhelmed, chattering excitedly about her recovery.

It was the first time DC could ever remember being happy about postponing a conference for the day.

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The End

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And that's it. Except for any mini-stories I might write in the future. However, since the odds are that neither America nor England will be a major playing in the mini-stories, all of them will be posted over on the tumblr I created for this story. You'll also find extra notes about things, some of the doodles/colored doodles I've done of the states, and various other odds and ends. I think it also makes it easier to ask questions.

The link to it is at the top of my profile. (the11thstate . tumblr .com)