AN: I'm so glad people read this! Special thanks to Book Thief101 and the anonymous Eatty for being my first reviewers! And also thanks to ncalkins, for making me laugh so damn hard.

I was going to update my other story, but it had a Spain/Veneziano scene...after typing that I needed to balance it out with some good ol' Spamano inspired angst so I didn't get diabetes.

Chapter 2: Angel's Worry

When Spain pulled up to the wrecked red Ferrari he knew that it was too late. He vaguely remembered parking in the middle of the street and running up through the small crowd. He had pushed his way through and nearly knocked over the police officer questioning a nearby shop owner. They might have said something to him but Spain didn't remember. All he was aware of were his own frantic thoughts and a rising sense of despair.

"I just...I couldn't...he was gone. The car was wrecked and he was gone," muttered Spain as he stared blankly at a gray tabletop. The events of that dreaded day kept playing in his mind, soundless, but he could feel his heart tighten every time he pictured that broken and empty car. Its owner had always taken such good care of it, but now... A gentle hand was placed on his shoulder but Spain took no comfort from the touch.

France looked up from his friend and locked eyes with England across the table. The island nation stared back, tapping a pen against his small notebook. The pair had volunteered to spearhead the effort to recover the missing Italy Romano since there had been no progress in the past three days. If France had his way then they would not be interrogating Spain until the distraught man had a full night of chemically-induced sleep (he doubted that Spain would willingly sleep while Romano was missing). But England, ever thoughtful, insisted on conducting the 'interview' as soon as they could pull the Iberian nation off of his desperate search of the streets.

England cleared his throat. "What do you remember, Spain? How bad was the damage to the car ?"

"It was...bashed in on the passenger side," Spain mumbled as calmly as he could. His eyes were glassy and his hands shook as he twisted them in his lap. "There were a-a few bullet holes in the remaining windows. I didn't see any blood. There wasn't a b-...a body." Spain choked on the last word and buried his face in his hands.

France sighed and knelt down by his friend. He grabbed Spain's wrists and with a few gentle words he pulled the tormented man's hands away from his face. "Espagne, please," he said softly as he placed his hands on his friend's cheeks, trying to make him look up away from the table, "You have to tell us. I know it is painful, but you must try to remember. Then we can help you find what happened to little Romano."

"They took him," said the Spaniard softly. His dark rimmed eyes flicked up to France's face before returning to the table. "What is there to find out? If Feli can't find him..."

"I'm sure little Feli will be able to sense him soon, you just have to give him time. Would you like to call and-"

England interrupted France with a grunt and leaned forward. He calmly placed his notebook on the table, filled with a few remarks that Spain had provided earlier. The man said, "North Italy is busy with his officials, trying to find out why his brother was targeted and if there were any people watching his house or office. I requested that they let us know immediately if they find anything of importance."

The Iberian nation's head snapped up. "Feli's not out there looking anymore?" asked Spain with disbelief.

"Non. Allemagne made him return home." Spain bristled at France's words. The blond nation placed his hand on his friend's shoulder again in an attempt to calm him. "Do not worry. He merely thought it would be more practical to inform Italy's leader of what exactly had happened and get the military to start searching. You know Germany will do whatever it takes to help our little Italy, so you can relax. He has a plan of his own to help recover little Romano."

"B-but then I should do that! I should tell my boss and try to get a massive search-"

"Enough, Spain," growled out England. His tone was harsh and his eyes pierced the tanned nation with displeasure. "We are here to help you reorganize your thoughts so we can try and find a clue and formulate our own plan to find Romano. You still want to find him, correct?"

"O-of course! Why wouldn't I-?"

"Then do us all a favor and shut up. You and Italy wasted time with your inefficient and rather pathetic searching. Do you really think the kidnappers would keep Romano in your country?" England held up a hand to stop France from interrupting. His eyes were steely as he stared down Spain on the other side of the table. "They-whoever they are-must have planned this kidnapping for a long time. They would have known that you would respond immediately. Therefore, they would have acted swiftly and moved him as far away as possible in the time they had. Searching the streets had been a waste. If you had used your head, then you would have contacted all the nations as soon as he went missing. We could have put every airport, every train station, every police force working near every border on alert. But instead we have lost three days when all we heard were rumors and panic. Do you understand? We have lost three days. People who are kidnapped and not found in the next 48 hours are likely to never be found because all the leads dry up. Now you better shut up and stop wasting my time. The more you waste, the more likely it becomes that you will never see Romano ever again." France sighed. What England said was true, but couldn't he have held back, for Spain's sanity's sake? Of course not, they still hated each other. The blond nation turned back to his friend and his breath caught in his throat.

Silent tears fell down Spain's shocked face. His mouth moved, soundless and slow, as if he were trying to speak. "Spain..." muttered France sympathetically as he leaned down. He placed his hands on Spain's shoulders again and squeezed them in what he hoped was a comforting manner. The tanned nation finally looked at him but his eyes were distant. France sighed and said, "It may be better if we put this off until after you get some sleep-"

"But that would be too late! We have to find him now!" Spain wailed as he finally found his voice. He clutched tightly at the front of France's shirt, then tried to stand. France struggled to keep the much stronger nation in his chair. "I have to find him! I promised that-"

"Mon Dieu! Will you sit and listen?! We're trying to help!"

"You aren't helping!" Spain roared in despair as he finally pushed France away. Tears fell constantly as his face twisted in despair. "Romano is out there somewhere and I have to go find him now!"

On the other side of the table, England stood. He glared at the distraught nation darkly and ordered him, "Sit down, Spain."

"No! I have to be out there! You don't understand, he needs me! I have to find him!"

"Sit now, Spain. Do you want to see Romano again or not?" France was surprised at the control of England's words. Gone was the accusation that the island nation had spoken with before. All that was left was a calm sort of finality that instantly took Spain's attention.

"O-of course I do! I need...I need to find him."

"Then sit down and tell us everything. These kidnappers must have left a clue. We just have to find it." To France's further surprise, Spain heeded England's words and sat down. His anger seeped away and left only sorrow in his expression. Two lone tears slid down his already soaked cheeks as Spain struggled to reel his emotions in.

France sighed and placed a hand on his friend's back. Seeing the normally cheerful nation so broken tore at his emotions. "Mon ami, you look awful. I will get you some coffee, but after this meeting you must promise me that you will try to sleep. Et vous?" France reasoned gently.

"I-I will. Gracias, Francia," muttered Spain as he looked up at his friend with tired eyes. The pain that shown through made France's heart burn. With tender hands he cupped his friend's cheeks and pressed a soft kiss to the top of his hair.

France gently whispered, "I will help you find Romano. I promise." Then he pulled away and left the room.

Spain struggled to control himself as France left the room. What England said had hurt him more than he thought possible. What if he had done something different after Romano had disappeared? Instead of panicking and calling North Italy, who also panicked and flew out to Madrid immediately, Spain could have called his much more rational friend France. Maybe he should have called England instead, no matter how much he hated the man. Or even Germany would have been a better choice considering how much more logical the blond nation was. He could have organized the search much better than him and Italy. If only Spain had thought to make the right calls before he wasted days tearing apart his own country looking for the missing man who had already been long gone.

If only Spain had not let Romano go to the store on his own. If only he had insisted on being a good host and had gone to the store without Romano. If only he hadn't forgotten to buy the cheese in the first place. If only, if only, if only...

From across the table England cleared his throat. When Spain looked at him the man leaned forward and folded his hands on the table. He stared down the other nation as he said, "I don't think talking about the accident will help us at all. Instead, I want to focus on why Italy Romano was taken. Do you have any theories?"

"None," answered Spain honestly as he looked off to the side. He couldn't bring himself to stare at the other man for too long, couldn't bear to look into someone else's accusing eyes. He saw that enough when he looked at himself in the mirror. "Nothing had been wrong with Lovino lately. No mafia problems for the past few years, no major political shifts...of course there were the economic issues, and new elections, but we've all felt that..."

"You are sure he didn't have any mafia problems?" Spain nodded. England gave an exasperated sigh and crossed off a few sentences on his notepad. "It seems that South Italy did not do much business outside of his own country. Did North Italy handle those?"

"Si, Feliciano did all the foreign work and Lovino did everything with domestic affairs." England nodded and wrote a few more notes. He studied his work and made a few tick marks beside certain sentences. Spain hesitated before he finally looked at the man and asked, "So...we hate each other. Why are you helping me?"

The blond nation bristled and stared at him with narrowed eyes. "A nation has been kidnapped. I am helping South Italy, not you. Now focus. We have a lot more to go over. Such as...why was South Italy at your house and who would have known?"

"What do you mean, 'why'?" asked Spain defensively. He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.

"What the bloody hell do you think I mean? I just need to know why he was there. Stop being so stubborn."

Spain studied England silently before he looked off to the side again. "Romano came over to my house every Friday. If he couldn't make it that weekend then I would go see him."

"When did you last go to his house instead?"

"I don't know, a month? A month and a half?"

"So this was part of his regular schedule...they probably weren't targeting you then."

"...what? They were targeting me?" Spain shouted in surprise.

"I said they weren't. It was only one possible theory. But if they were after you, then they would have done it when Romano wasn't there. That means they were focusing specifically on Romano, not just a random country... Considering how quickly they escaped, this was a well-thought out kidnapping. They would have been watching both of your houses. They would have known Romano's schedule as well as yours. What I want to know is why they decided to kidnap Romano here. Don't let it go to your head, but any normal human who tried to take Romano when you were around would just be asking for a death sentence. If they were watching you both then the kidnappers would have known that."

"Then why would they take him when he was visiting me?"

"It is most likely that they planned on taking Romano when he left your house. They probably just staked out your house to observe, then intended to run him off the road and take him when he left at the end of the weekend. You wouldn't set off an alarm because he wouldn't be expected home for several hours. By the time any of us noticed they would have gotten away with it and left us no clues...not like they haven't gotten away already, but I digress."

"But they didn't do that!"

"No. You said that Romano called you and told you about the cars tailing him. He noticed that he was being followed and the kidnappers realized they were compromised. At that point they probably had to act or lose their chance. They acted."

"Then...what? How does this help us find Romano?"

England sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. Spain hadn't noticed before but the other nation had dark circles around his eyes as well. Why would the other man lose sleep over Romano getting kidnapped? They never even talked! Well, sometimes England would try to talk to Romano, who would run away and hide behind Spain every time, afraid that he would be forced to eat those terrible hell-spawned scone things... Whenever that happened, his little Roma would drag him off and insist on having Spain make him some real food, like he used to when the nation had been just a child. Spain had been able to take care of him so much better back then...always saved him whenever France or Turkey tried to kidnap him...unlike now.

"SPAIN! Pay attention!" The Iberian nation jerked up out of his reverie.

"S-sorry, I...I think I need that coffee."

"That frog should have been back by now. He's probably been distracted by a receptionist or something. So, what part did I lose you at?"

"Um...all of it, I think." Spain had the decency to look embarrassed. England sighed and sent him a glare. He spun his notepad around and pushed it across the table to Spain. The taller man picked it up and scanned over the notes.

"First, we know that Romano had been followed for a while," explained England. Spain gave up trying to read and devoted his attention to the smaller nation. "Second, he was targeted by a group that probably wanted something from the Italian government, if not something from Italy Romano himself. It may even be an Italian group responsible for the kidnapping. That we can determine because Romano was targeted instead of his brother, who would have been known outside of the country. It appeared that Romano rarely traveled outside of his own country except to visit you."

"Roma knew other people though. Bella-"

"He hadn't visited Belgium in over five years. I know, I checked with her while France was trying to track you down. Also, the last World Meeting that Romano attended was seven years ago, in New York. Other than his visits with his brother Romano did not get out much. He seems to be an extreme introvert. That means that normal humans would rarely ever get a chance to see him, unless they were Romano's own citizens or yours'."

"My people would never-!"

"I know. I ruled out any Spanish groups because you would have been able to sense the presence of your own people when they watched your house, or if they were watching Romano's house on those rare trips you made to see him. On the other hand, Romano seldom ever left his own country. He might not be attuned to picking out his own citizens' presence because he was constantly around them."

"Okay...so we need to focus on searching Italy? But what reason would any of Romano's citizens have for kidnapping him?"

"That I do not-"

"Mon ami, I brought your coffee!"

"Don't interrupt me, frog!" England shouted out.

The Frenchman ignored him and placed a doctored coffee in front of Spain. He pulled up another chair to the gray table and rested his elbows on the surface, chin nestled on top of his laced fingers. "So, Espagne, drink up and then we shall think of a way to save little Romano from his own people. Angleterre here seems very sure about who is behind the kidnapping."

"I am not 'sure', you fool. It is just the most likely scenario," grumbled England as he fidgeted nervously with his collar. He grabbed his notepad back from Spain and jotted down a few more lines. "Even if we suspect it was a group of Italians, that doesn't guarantee they took him back to Italy. They could have taken him to your country for all I know. Or somewhere we would never think to check. Brazil, for example."

France clicked his tongue and turned a disapproving eye upon the island nation. He let out a dramatic sigh as he said, "It is still a good place to start. I am sure Italie will not mind. Now we just have to decide the method of search."

"Can't we just bring Feli along?" asked Spain as he sipped at the lukewarm coffee. It tasted like hazelnuts. "He can sense if his brother is nearby."

"That might be all we can do until we have more clues. Hopefully North Italy will be able to discover something in his country that will give us a face or a location. Until then all we can do is search and put law enforcement officials on alert."

"Angleterre, there is another way. Young Amérique is more than willing to put his information network to use, and if we know it is a group in Italy that kidnapped Romano then he can provide agents to infiltrate every group."

"We're perfectly capable of doing those things ourselves! We don't need to bring him or any of his CIA or FBI or NCIS or WPA or...whatever new thing he has into this!"

"But that would give much faster results, non?"

"Do you think Italy would want America to have free reign to place his agents wherever he wanted in the country?!"

"America is more than willing to!"

"And that is exactly why we won't let him help! He'll think he's saving the day and instead all he did was undermine our authority in our own countries!"

"You don't think he'd really do that to Italy, do you?"

"No, he wouldn't mean to, but America's way of helping only makes things worse in the end. We have organizations of our own that can do the same work anyway. We do not need him."

"Hm. It would hurt him to hear you say that, Angleterre."

Spain watched the two other nations bicker as he sipped more of his coffee. They had practically gotten off the important topic. No matter how much they planned here, Romano was still out there, and they had no idea who had taken him in the first place. If England was right and Romano had been kidnapped by Italians then they would have trouble finding him, especially if the people that took him were from Southern Italy. But why would any of Romano's own people kidnap him, when he was in Spain's country no less? It made no sense to the nation. Why would anyone want to kidnap him? It hadn't been that unusual for Turkey or France to try and kidnap Romano when he was a child, but this was different. The present was a different time, one where the nations tried to avoid war as much as possible. They all tried their best to work together. What would be the point to kidnapping half a nation, especially one that avoided human contact as much as Romano? Why had he been kidnapped and what were they doing with him now? Spain could only hope that a ransom note would show up soon. Maybe people had just seen Romano's fancy car and noticed his government job and thought they could kidnap him for money? Yet that was too simple, too unlikely. Three days had passed and there was no ransom note. They still knew nothing.

All Spain could do as he ignored the other two bickering nations was wonder where his Romano had been taken. He hoped they were taking care of the man, hoped they were feeding him and keeping him safe. Spain couldn't guarantee their safety otherwise...whoever they were. Yet he still had faith that they would find the culprits. He stared down into his half-empty cup of cold coffee as he whispered, "I will find you, Romano. I promise." He prayed it wouldn't take too long. Every moment Spain spent apart from his little Italian was torture.

Maybe after he slept they would have a new plan...

AN: Please review!