A Suit Case Life

Disclaimer: I do NOT own FMA ^^

A one-shot for rachLA contest. Go and read her story here!

.net/s/7856258/1/Whatever_Life_Gives_Us

She's an awesome writer so please ^^

"You're still up?" A blanket wraps around the obsessive alchemist's shoulders. He's slumped over a piece of paper scribbling like crazy. Not like she ever knew what his scribbling's were about she just knew that they occupied most of his time. In the end he always got up with rings under his eyes yawning. He would wash the charcoal, lead, or ink from his fingers, undo his blond mane, and announce his need for sleep.

Usually she would be asleep by the time he did so for only those who were crazy stayed up to the hours that he tended to. "Of course I am, I'm a professor…I have responsibilities."

"Your responsibilities are going to kill you," Gently she takes his hair which had been thrown into a lazy and not so well done ponytail and begins to braid it. His hair…it had grown over the years and despite the fact that she insists she likes it long, he cuts it to the length that he deems comfortable. It was his hair and he could do what he liked with it. "I mean it; you should take care of yourself."

"Yeah yeah," Edward yawns lazily. He leans back in his chair, looking up at her pretty face. A lock of her deep red hair tickles his cheek. "Then what would you do?"

"Praise you for taking care of yourself of course." The girl puts on a smile just for him. Maybe just maybe he would listen to her and go to bed, although that was highly unlikely. "I'm not done."

"Doesn't matter. It's going to be undone anyway."

"It matters!" She insists.

Edward frowns. "Why?" Intrigued slightly.

The girl smiles down, of course he wouldn't realize. "I'll tell you when you're older."

"Don't treat me like a child." He says seriously. That was something that he's never liked…perhaps it's because he never got a real childhood. Never had the chance to be a teen or to do all of those things that he was supposed to do. When asked one day if he missed it he had told her that he grew up fine without it.

She had frowned then and took his gloved hand in her two. When he turned to look at her she was near tears, which made him fret. Edward wasn't someone able to deal with tears of all things. "What?"

"I...I'm so sorry…" Was her answer to his question. His look told her that her answers hardly satisfied him. So with a sigh she said "I'm just remembering all the happiness that came out of my teen years and to think that you missed out on that…I'm sorry."

She was so strange, this girl. Never had he once met one like her.

"Psst, look at him. Isn't he real nice on the eyes?" Back behind the bar two girls stood with their trays folded nicely in their laps. "Amelia…take a look, come on."

"He is." Amelia agrees. He had to have been a first timer, the way he was actually looking at the menu instead of having a favorite. You could always tell the newbies from the oldies, the newbies actually asked for the menu.

"He's yours…my boy is back at home."

Amelia nodded to her with appreciation. It had been awhile since she had seen such an interesting specimen of a human being. Especially one so fine on the eyes. "What may I get you?"

"Coffee…black." Edward searches the menu, his golden eyes scanning the pages as if he was reading one of his books on his preferred subject. Just as she had predicted, this was his first time. The base was too noisy for his taste and Mustang was sick of Edward knocking the lights out of people who has said the wrong things. "And…"

"You want the pot pie."

"What?" Edward peers up at her just over the top of the menu that he had been hiding in ever since she had appeared. He had expected her to just leave to give him a moment, naturally she chose to stay and wait for him.

"The pot pie…it's what people around here eat on Tuesdays. That and some sugar cookies to go with your coffee and maybe if your still hungry you'll have a piece of apple pie." She's already writing all of this down. "Tell me I'm wrong." She challenges lightly when he raises an eyebrow.

The girl had guts…that or she was oblivious to who he is which…well wasn't likely considering how everyone knows who he is. "Thank you…I think."

"I'll do your thinking for you." She says, before he can comment on that she's off heading into the kitchen. Later that evening on his fourth cup of coffee, his apple pie half-finished she joined him at his table, watching him read like she had done half the night.

Little did she know, he had been watching her as well. Everyone here seemed to like her, customers greeted her with jokes and laughs while the ladies told her how lucky she was to have such beautiful red hair. A few men eyed her longingly as she took their orders, they left hefty tips.

"Alchemy…" She muttered after taking a look at the title of his book. "Isn't that…like magic?"

"Magic?" That did it. He had tolerated her the entire night but just the comparison of science to magic was ridicules. He had to correct her…but he decided to do it nicely. "It's science. You know…everything."

"So it's magic." She noticed his look. His left eye twitched annoyed at the mere word 'magic' which only made her wonder why. "What you call science…we can call magic. They say that everyone in the world can trans…trans-"

"Transmute."

"Yeah that…they say that everyone has the ability to do that. Everyone is born in this world able to achieve anything that they want, I'm not a baker but if I study hard enough and try I can be a baker. It's true that I don't know the structure of this table but I'm positive that you have a rough idea," Amelia draws circles on the tables using her forefinger. "And when you take it apart unnaturally like that…it looks like magic, something wonderful and something different."

The way that she thinks…it was very different from everyone else. She has reasoning that doesn't sound ridicules, it made sense to him. "The only difference is equivalent exchange."

"Which is?" Her head tilts slightly.

Edward can't help but smile. "You tell me since you seem to be the smart one at the table."

"Hmmm…" Without warning she takes his book from his hands, receiving little protests from Edward, and begins to read. It's an advanced book but even it had the first law of alchemy wrote on the first page. "So…it's almost like everyday things. Like take this for example, I give you food and you pay me for it. Equivalent exchange."

"Exactly." Edward nods.

Amelia frowns suddenly. "But what if…I overcharge you on purpose. Say I jack up the price of my pot pie just because I know that you'll pay it…where's the equal exchange in that?"

"You'll pay for it later," He was genuinely surprised that a girl like her could see something like that. Most people take things at face value and just accept it, she questions. "When people decide that they no longer want pay for your pot pie they'll go elsewhere and your business will suffer."

"True…" She could see it now. Even if she didn't pay right away it would bite her later with vicious force! "So you're an alchemist then?"

"I like to think so," Edward leans forward, elbows on table and face in palms. "I'm Edward Elric the FullMetal alchemist. I live with my brother Alphonse at the local military base."

"So your part of the military huh? I suppose that means you deserve a discount."

"A discount?" Edward asks.

She points to his coffee. "Every time you're here I'll give you free coffee."

"Great," Edward smirks. "I risk my life every day and what do I get? Free coffee, wonderful."

"Be grateful." Her smile made him want to smile.

It wasn't the coffee that had him coming back. It was her interesting conversations. Each and every night that he walked in the waitresses would go nuts and send Amelia out there who would always be ready with a fresh cup of black coffee.

She had put milk in it one time and that sent his sputtering and telling her all about his problem with it. Amelia had told him that she just had a feeling that he didn't like milk hence the reason why she poured it in his coffee.

Edward twitched, narrowing his beautiful eyes into dangerous hardened gold instead of its usual liquid. "And the reason why you couldn't just ask me is…"

"Because in alchemy you ask questions later. It's about experimentation."

"No, it's about deconstructing and reconstructing."

"You can't honestly sit there and tell me you know the molecular break down of each and every item around me." Amelia says.

Edward raises an eyebrow which means that he'd gladly accept her challenge. Of course he didn't know down to the very last speck but he had a decent idea of things. It was part of his job, he needed to know. Just being able to know these things had saved his butt quite a few times during certain battles.

"So if I give you any item of my choosing then you can make something out of it?" This seemed to interest her. He didn't want to nod in fear of her doing exactly what she did the next night. She brought him a bucket but not just any bucket, this bucket was full of sand. "Okay magic boy, make it glow!" She smirked like she knew it all.

"Too easy." Sand could be made into nearly anything. Was she trying to mock him? "And don't call me that! Stand back and watch." Lingering eyes did just that as Edward gave his hands a good clap and stuck them into the sand. It glowed just as she had expected it to.

Raising from the sand came a spear as long as his arm detailed with a dragon that's tail went the length of the spear curling around it as if it were its home to protect.

Amelia let out a nifty whistle when the light dimmed down. "Now that…is pretty cool. I bet that you could make one heck of a sand castle."

"…" Edward didn't have a response for that. One clap later and the spear was mere sand in a bucket again.

"I think that someone has earned his coffee tonight." Amelia takes her seat like usual, she slides his coffee over and it's as black as can be. Just the way he liked it.

"I've been meaning to ask…why don't you ever get in trouble?"

"For?" Amelia puts her chin in her palms.

Edward gestures to her. "Sitting down and doing nothing."

"Oh…" Amelia's smile disappears immediately. No one has ever really asked her that question before, but then again Edward is the first one she has really taken the time to sit down and talk to. She figured that by now…he deserves an honest answer. "Probably because…I can just up and leave."

"Huh." He doesn't ask any more on that. She didn't seem to want to talk about it anyway. Instead they spent that evening talking about his job as a professor. He teaches young alchemy students and refines their skills. Nearly every one of his students have joined the military. They passed that exam with flying colors.

"What did you make for your exam?" Amelia forks a piece of his pie in her mouth before he can object to it.

"Flower petals," Edward answers, his hand is outstretched for his fork. "Gimme. Alchemy is done by drawing a diagram, starting with a basic circle. I can use alchemy without a circle."

"Why?"

He knew that she would ask that. It wasn't something that he had told anyone. Everyone who needed to know, knew by now. There was no need to tell her. "I'm just that good."

Amelia's smile seemed dimmed. She hardly knew anything about alchemy but she was starting to know Edward and he wasn't much for gloating then he was for expanding her knowledge. It just wasn't like him to just pass it off like that.

She never did bring it up again.

"You're leaving?" Edward nearly spat out his coffee when he heard her several nights later. "Why?"

"I need a change of pace." It wasn't a lie, just not the entire truth. She wasn't much of a liar she just never really tended to give the entire story away. Her land lord had always expressed a certain interest in her, but last night he had stumbled upon her smelling of cheap beer. He acted on his drunken whims and so she was going to leave. "I'm sure that you'll still get your free coffee-"

"I don't give a damn about the coffee!" Edward swore. He was irritated and yet not completely sure why. The idea of not seeing her…was frustrating to him. She had become part of his daily life since the time they had met…and yet she was just going to up and leave on a sorry excuse like that? "Why tell me? Why not just up and leave?" He had to know.

"I wanted to see the reaction," Amelia leans forward to wipe up some of his spilt coffee. In his little outburst he had set his coffee back down not so elegantly. "Of someone who actually cares about me."

"And?" Edward takes the rag from her to wipe up his own mess. Sometimes he tended to forget that she actually works here.

"I feel bad for wanting to leave." She snatched her rag back at the same time he grabbed her wrist pulling her forward slightly.

"Then stay." Two words. Two little words and yet he'd always remember them.

He'd always remember her reply as well. "I have no place to stay."

"We'll look together tomorrow after I get out of work," Edward insists. He starring at her with his golden eyes, starring hard with a look of determination that she would see more often than not after today. "Don't worry about the cost; I'll take responsibility for it."

"I can't let you do that, you hardly know me."

"And I never will, unless you stay." The way he says it makes it hard for her to argue with him. It was hard enough considering who he was. "Consider you telling me as your payment."

"What? Why?" Intrigued, her head tilts just a little. She forgets that she's supposed to be emotionless right now.

Edward shrugs, a lot happier now that he got his way. "Because I'm the only one you told." As odd as this was, he knew that it was true back then.

She remembered finding it funny how right he always is. "Hey Edward."

"Yeah?" Edward raises his half-filled coffee cup back up to his lips.

"Thank you." She leans across the table to kiss his cheek. This time he really did spit his coffee out, most of it went on himself. Her rag was already out.

"This is nice!" Amelia twirls around in the middle of the empty space. Her skirt bells out as she twirls, arms stretched out line wings, a smile on her face. "Plus I can walk to work…I want this one." From the living room she runs to open the small balcony.

"You're impulsive." Edward sighs. This was the first place that they looked at. It wasn't even a house, it was an apartment, granted though a nice one. "Are you sure?"

"What's not to like? The view is incredible, come see." She beckons for him to join her. He does, the sun is strong and warms him almost immediately upon stepping into it. She was right, the view was amazing from up here. Even more so when she turned around and smiled at him. He starred at her for a moment quite possibly looking rather stupid in the process. "Edward?" She asked when he said nothing.

Edward shakes his head to clear it. "It's nothing. Let's go and talk to your land lord."

When she moved in, Edward eagerly helped her lift furniture, he also took the liberty to introduce his brother Alphonse who was just as handsome as Edward.

"It's a pleasure." Amelia greets him with a warm hug at the same time as curses rang out.

Edward was literally hopping mad; he had dropped quite a few hardcover books on the wrong foot instead of his preferred right. "Dammit!"

"You didn't break anything did you?" Amelia leaves Alphonse to tend to Edward. They were just hardcover books but Alphonse was smiling anyway wondering if his brother even noticed how ridicules he was being over something like that. "Maybe you should take a break."

"We've got too much to do," Edward looks up at her. That however was a lie that they both knew, the girl hardly owned anything. "…"

"I know what you're thinking," Amelia picks up a suit case that's full of clothes. "I want to be able to pack up my life in a suit case and leave someday. It's with that freedom and option that I'm able to keep smiling."

"Is that why you never get too close to anyone?" Edward takes her suit case, Alphonse announces that he's going to grab the living room table next.

"Exactly…except you of course." She's picking up the books he had dropped. Amelia knew many people but none of them were close enough for her to be able to call them her friends. "Except you." She repeats perhaps just to clarify it to herself.

"For most of my life I've lived like you do, even had a suit case." Edward recalled the times that he spent searching for a certain red stone. It was with that stone that he could fix everything and yet now…it was that stone that had caused so much hardship. In a way it had fixed a few things.

"Maybe that's why we're here now Edward. Something is telling me that I no longer need that suit case," Amelia looks up at the blond alchemist. She's forcing a smile. "It'll always be in my closet Edward, until someone gets rid of it for me."

The day that he had tossed it was the night that he had told her that he wanted to be with her and she had shot him down immediately. Edward, seeing no reason why had demanded an answer from her and she shrugged it off.

"I'm afraid." She takes a few steps back, trying to avoid as much eye contact as possible.

"Of what? Don't you dare say of me!" Edward snarls. Never been one for many kind words, only one to lash out…well this situation was no different. She had given him the answer that he didn't want and now wasn't explaining herself to his satisfaction. The idea of him being the reason that she refused was completely unfathomable to the blond.

"I would never," She said sternly. It amazed her that he would even suggest such a thing. He's never given her a reason to be afraid. Not even when he shouts. "I've never been afraid of you." Which she herself found amazing. She had watched him beat the snot out of a man who had dared to grab her roughly in his presence.

"Then what?" Edward demanded. He was mentally adding all of this up; there was no reason for her to say no. None that he could find. Women were a complicated species however.

"I don't know what; all I know is that I am afraid. If it was something that I could name then I would have done so when I first met you. It's not you that scares me…it's what you offer I think," Amelia is circling the room starring at Edward who's eyes have never left her. Even though it was she who circled him as her prey, their positions were the exact opposite. "You're successful which means financial security. You've already given me a home and safety, now your offering yourself as well. If this is equivalent exchange then I'm so in the hole. The scales are tipped with me up high."

She never expected to stump the famous alchemist, but she hadn't expected him to answer so quickly. "You think I care about that? Well you're wrong. I can't break this down; this is something that we'll have to work together for. In the end as long as we're happy then that's all that can matter." He had expected something….but not this. Not her giggling so abruptly and trying to control herself.

"What? This is hardly something to laugh at!"

"On the contraire my fair Edward, you would throw away your looks just to be with me? The very things that you've lived your whole life living by?" There was no way that she could believe that. He's an alchemist; he breaks down everything from objects to no doubt this very conversation. He was formidable and well respected for he never wavers.

Until now.

"This…this feeling is outside my laws Amelia."

Just like that he was plunging into something new, something unknown. The way he was looking at her then…she couldn't deny him a thing in the world. "Alright…I'm willing to try." She found herself saying.

"G-G-Good…" Now it finally sets into him. He was completely fine as long as there was objective or a solution to some problem, but now what?

"Edward." She points to her bedroom.

"W-W-What?" He looked from her to the bedroom and right back to her his mind dwelling into even darker thoughts.

"You might want to do something about that suit case," Her smile became that much bigger. "After all I don't think I'll be needing it."

"I could show up tomorrow." Amelia leans forward her hands bunching up his partially undone white shirt. She always thought that he looked charming in white. "I could watch you shout things at helpless wannabe alchemists and you could try to compose yourself when I clap and say 'good job'."

"Or," Edward blushes. "You could stay home and wait for me. You know…like you always do." Besides the idea of her in his classroom with a bunch of hormone driven men was slightly irritating to Edward.

"Then I suggest you go to bed when I tell you to. I don't want to have to look at a zombie in the morning Edward." She insists.

"Why does it matter…I mean about my hair." Edward persists. At least he has stopped working, his full attention now on his girl. Despite the fact that she looks upside down.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I do…"

"Why?"

"Just tell me already!" Edward nearly whines. He manages to keep his voice nice and manly though.

Amelia's hands trail upward to his neck where they splay out like spider webs. "Because, no one else is allowed to of course. It's because you allow me to do that…I know that you love me. It's like when you allow me to shampoo your hair or pick out your clothes in the morning…it's important."

"I see," No he did not see. She was…an odd one to say the least but it was her that he loved. That feeling that can never be explained…he hoped that together maybe just maybe they could find the answer together. "Alright you win I'll go to bed. Want to tuck me in?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Not when your being a smart mouth." She taps his nose with a forefinger, a slight pout appearing on her lips.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." With a quick tug at the back of her neck, he kisses her softly goodnight.

"Don't forget your blanket Ed." She takes it off his shoulders. Edward stands and groans as he stretches his arms, his automail reaching for the ceiling. With a lazy yawn he scratches his stomach. With a sigh he walks into the bedroom.

Amelia watches him go for a moment, his blanket still in her small hands.

"You coming or not?" Edward hollers from the bedroom.

With a smile on her face, she drops the blanket and practically sprints into the bedroom.

Long for a one-shot I know. Enjoy and read and review!

Thanks rachLA