Liberty Jones

Chapter Four

Ana looked at him once he finished the tale, her eyes full of sorrow.

"Papa, I'm sorry."

He took a deep breath. "It was a long time ago. You'd think I would be over it by now."

"Nyet, papa. Things like that cut deep, and never heal entirely."

He looked at her. "When we named you, I wanted to call you Catherine at first. But then you smiled, and the way you did it reminded me of when Alexei and Anastasia were little, and would cling to my legs. So I decided to call you Ana, after her."

"I thought it was because there were a lot of famous Anastasias in your history."

"Well, that as well."

She hugged him, something she didn't do a lot anymore. That was what happened when children became teenagers.

He held her close.

"I love you, papa."

"I love you too, Ana."

When she's fifteen, he starts teaching her how to run her country.

She sits in on the world conferences, and sometimes Ivan and Arthur will hand her the materials they've prepared, and have her present it on her own.

Everyone talks to her affectionately, and tells her how good she's doing.

But when she's sixteen, Ivan catches her with a needle in her arm. Heroin.

He's angry, and everyone knows it. Finally, she leaves the house, hoping for a little bit of outside help to help her get rid of her addiction.

Ludwig takes her in, and soon she's behaving better than she ever has before, and everyone knows it. She learns a lot from the older country, including very strict discipline, how to achieve a balanced diet and the peak of physical fitness, and, thanks to the presence of Italy in Germany's house, how to make pasta.

But Ivan's still upset, and glowers in his house. No one knows what to do.

Eventually Ana, now eighteen, just simply takes the cue and leaves, moving out to do her own thing. She settles in the northern border of the New Republic, and Matthew checks up on her constantly. Arthur still helps her handle some of her affairs, but her mindset has really changed since Germany took care of her, and she begins to do almost everything on her own.

At the world conference the next year, she shows up. Her blond hair is pulled back, though she's left the cowlick alone. She wears a nice shirt and pair of pants, though Arthur had to force her into the dress shoes, instead of the leather boots she usually wears.

She wears Al's old jacket that he had left with Matthew, and he gave it to her after she'd been clean for a year. The number on the back is faded, but no one cares.

She's one of the first to arrive. Punctual, thanks to Ludwig. But eventually, she gives up on the dress shoes much to Arthur's disappointment.

Her eyes stay locked on the door, and finally, the towering Ivan enters the room.

She stands up to greet him, but he turns and heads to his seat before she can.

Ludwig looks up, and can see that she's shaking with rage, but he watches her swallow it, and sit back down.

They talk about the world issues for a few hours, and then there's a break.

As Ludwig had arranged earlier, Italy and Romano stand in the door as a convenient roadblock. Ivan tries to slip past the two brothers, but he can't.

And the second Ana catches his arm, the two brothers move.

Almost everyone exits, and Ana drags her father to the back of the room.

Ludwig sits, watching the two.

He can hear the rapid Russian flowing from Ana's tongue, and Ivan stares at her.

Her tone gets angrier and angrier, and eventually Ivan turns, rushing from the room.

"Russia, wait!" She calls after him, and suddenly her voice is back to normal, and almost sobbing even.

Russia doesn't show up for the next half of the conference, as no matter who tried to kick him out of the hotel room, he ignored them.

When Ana stands up to speak, everyone goes silent.

"I know that this isn't an important matter, but I'd like to request that from now on, everyone call me Liberty Jones instead of Ana Jones. I know this might be hard for some of you to get used to, but please try to use my middle name from now on."

They all stare. Was the fight really that bad?

Then Matthew nods. "Well, Liberty, let's get this conference back on the right track, shall we?"

And then the previous discussion continues.