I'm on a roll :) hope you enjoy and I'd like to thank all those who have reviewed so far!

Central Times

As I did my research on this recent war, Winry came over to vent.

"I hate that he's in the military," She fumed. "His brother hates it too but for some reason Ed won't resign." She let out a breath through her nose and pulled up a seat next to me. "Rori, I don't want to loose him. We've been friends since I can remember."

As I typed I sparred her a glance. I haven't even known Ed for a month and I know exactly what she felt. Sure, I haven't known him for long but I didn't want to loose him. "Give him some credit though. I'm sure he's a great soldier and it also depends on what his role is."

Winry frowned, "I think he'll be on the front lines." She then glanced at my in progress article, then at me. "Are you being sent out there too?"

I stopped typing in mid-sentence. I never even thought about that being a possibility. "I don't know. I don't think so."

She shook her head, "I hope not." She gave me a side hug, "I know we haven't known each other long but you've become a friend of mine. I don't want anything to happen to you."

I rested my head on top of hers and patted her arm gently, not knowing what to say. After a few more minutes Winry left to go to the bathroom while I finished up the article. I printed if off, retrieved it, then went to Lauren's office.

"I finished," I stated, placing the papers on the desk.

"Good," She said. "The next part of this project is to pack your bags. I'm sending you to one of the camps set up near South City to get some interviews from troops. I'm sending you, a photographer, and another journalist. The journalist I'm sending with you has done this type of work before so he'll be able to give you tips and such. Consider this training. Any questions?"

Yes a truckload but I didn't really know what to ask first nor what to even say. All my brain could tell me to ask was, "When do we leave?"

She pushed her reading glasses on and replied, "Tomorrow morning. Meet them at the military base."

I left the office feeling numb. I was going to a battleground. I glanced up skyward, God why are you doing this to me?

"So, what did she say?" Winry asked as I approached her cubical.

"I'm going to South City," I replied. "I'm going to interview soldiers and write about the surroundings and such."

"What?" She shouted, causing those around us to give her dirty looks. She didn't seem to notice nor care. "Are you going alone? When are you leaving?"

I shook my head, "A photographer and another journalist is coming with me and I leave tomorrow morning."

She brought her hands to her hips, her face scrunched in worry. "Why didn't you turn the project done?"

I looked at her in shock. "What?" I never even thought of that as an option. Why would I turn such a wonderful opportunity down? Sure, I was scared out of my mind and queasy about the fact that I was going near a war zone, but still. This is an opportunity that could boost up my career early.

She dropped her hands to her sides with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry, I'm just really overwhelmed right now."

"I understand but really I think I'll be okay," I told her. "You can always email me since I get email on my phone."

"If you see Ed while you're there can you give me updates about him?" She asked.

I nodded. "Sure."

The rest of the day went by hazily. At the end of the day my mind was so filled with doubt that I almost turned around and told Lauren that she should put someone else on the project. But then Winry would win. Win what I wasn't sure but she would win. I would cave under the pressure and not be assigned any more big projects while she would be put back on top and given projects that should have been rightfully mine. As I climbed my apartment stairs I subconsciously climbed the extra flight that would take me to Ed's floor.

What am I doing here? I asked myself, eyeing the bold numbers 314. Well, it wouldn't hurt to tell him good luck and maybe I would see him.

I took a deep breath before giving a sharp knock on the door. A few seconds later a tired looking Ed appeared, a shadow of hair lining his chin. Sexy. Oh God, please don't tell me that I thought Ed was sexy.

"Hey," I greeted. "You look…tired."

He ushered me in and it surprised me how clean his apartment was. "Yeah," He said. "You heard about the war, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Winry told me that you'd be deployed to the front lines."

"Well, I'm not really going to the front lines per say. I'm going to South City to assess damage, help people in need, search for bombs that could be hidden," He sighed. "It's a real mess down there. The base down there was bombed so almost all the soldiers from here, North City and West City are going to be down there."

"What about East City?" I asked curiously.

Ed shrugged, crashing down on his couch. "Wasn't told anything about them." He gestured towards the chair across from him. "Wanna sit?"

My first instinct was to say no. To say that I had to run home, but in all honesty I didn't want to go home. I didn't want to go back to a lonely studio with no one waiting for me. It almost scared me how much I wanted to be here in his apartment. "Sure."

I took a seat across from him, glancing around the apartment. It was so clean that I was scared that he had a girlfriend.

"Why are you looking around like that?" He chuckled. "Surprised that it's so clean?"

Luckily my skin was just dark enough to hide my blush. "Kind of."

Ed laughed, "Its my little brother's doing. Whenever he comes and visits me he scolds me about being messy and rearranges everything."

I liked his laugh; he should do it more often. I've noticed that he doesn't laugh outright very often and he only gives smirks and half smiles. What is he hiding? What was his secret that he couldn't totally open up to someone? Or maybe it was just me (I have to keep reminding myself that its only been a week or so).

"So have you written any articles about the war?" He asked.

"I just did today actually," I replied. "And I've been assigned a project that would take me to South City."

His eyes widened and he shot out of his slouched position into an upright one. "What?"

I blinked, "Uh yeah, I'm going to write about the surroundings and interview soldiers. I'm going to have a photographer and another journalist with me too."

His mouth twitched into a frown. "It's too dangerous."

I sighed, "Ed, we'll probably have military protection. Heck maybe you'll be one of our guards."

That didn't seem to calm his nerves. "Still."

I tried to give him a reassuring smile, "Look, I'll be fine. I won't be there long anyway."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning," I replied. "You?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Well then," I started, picking up my purse from the floor. "I guess we should both get some sleep." It was so weird to see the protective side of Ed. It made me feel weird inside and I didn't know how to process it. I figured that maybe If I left then I could figure it out.

"Look," He said, a blush spreading over his features. "Sorry about that. I just…I don't know. It's dangerous out there and I hear about journalist being caught up in war zones and they end up loosing their lives. I don't want that to happen to you."

I felt my face heat up and a silly grin try to make its way to my face. "I appreciate the concern Ed, really, but it comes with the job," I reached out and touched his arm gently, an electric feeling going through my fingertips. "If it makes you feel any better I'll try and look for you."

He nodded and told me that would be fine. We said our good nights and I headed to my studio. I grin made its way to my face, he cares about me! I just wish that I could have seen that side of him under different circumstances.

~.~.~

That next morning I woke up at 6:30 and was packed and ready to go by 8. I figured I didn't need to be dressy for a flight to a war zone so I wore a simple pair of jeans, sneakers, and t-shirt. I locked up the apartment and headed downstairs to catch a taxi. I shouldn't have been surprised that Ed would be standing there in his military attire but for some reason I was.

"Ready?" He asked. Seeing my confused face he continued, "Aren't you going to the military base?"

I nodded, "I just didn't think you'd be here when I left. I thought you would already be there."

The car ride over to the base was silent. Not a tense silence but a comfortable one. After we passed the front gates and parked we made our way inside of the base. So many people were running around and shouting that Ed had to grab my wrist and lead me through.

"Are you Rori Hawkins?" A young girl, at least college aged, approached me. She wore a simple white shirt with a multicolored scarf around her neck and simple jeans; her deep red hair held in a bun.

"Yes," I replied. "And you are?"

"Scarlett Bane," She replied, dark blues eyes looking at me with excitement and wonder. "I'm the photographer that was assigned to go to South City with you and Duke."

"Duke?" I questioned.

She pointed over to a man, at least in his thirties, totally bald and dressed in a military uniform. He was talking to two other people and seemed to be in a deep conversation. "He's Duke Lukeinrow. He's an official military journalist and he'll be a group leader of some sort."

"I see."

One of the men talking to Duke called Ed over by his last name.

"I'll catch you later Rori," He said, walking over to the dark haired man.

"So you got a military boyfriend?" Scarlett asked with a smirk.

I blushed and looked away from her, "He's just a friend of mine."

"Sure, if you say so, but I bet in your head you picture him naked."

My head snapped over to her, "What?"

She let out a cackling laugh, "Am I right?"

"No! You are so wrong that it's not even funny!" I glared at her as she continued to laugh. "Are you in high school or something?" She's so childish.

"Nope, I'm a senior at Central University," She replied with a grin.

Duke motioned for us to come over and we shuffled our way to through the crowed.

"Rori Hawkins I presume," He asked, eyeing me. "Why did they give such young women this assignment?"

Scarlett placed a hand on her hip with attitude, putting more weight on her left leg. "You trying to say something? Cause quite frankly I think Rori and I are perfect for this. Right Rori?"

I looked at her uneasily. "Right."

"Oh come on, aren't you the least bit excited?" She asked.

"War's not exciting," Duke and Ed blurted at the same time. Wow, that was a little scary.

Scarlett puffed out her cheeks, "I'm aware of that! I'm talking about just the experience of it. That fact that through my pictures I can show everyday people sitting comfortably at home just what our troops go through. Through my pictures I can put these images in their minds and it will stick with them. Eventually it will make them want to do something to help." She turned to me and asked, "Don't you feel like that through your writing?"

"Honestly, I've never though about it like that. I always knew people would read my writing but I never thought about the impact that it would have," I gave her a smile. "You're not that bad, Kid."

"I'm not a kid."

"Well Kid, to me you are." For now on her official nickname is Kid.

Duke didn't seem to agree with Scarlett and I but he didn't voice this. Instead he turned to the dark hair man and asked, "Roy are we going to be on your plane?"

The man named Roy looked at his clipboard, "Yep, you three are with us. Riza, can you go see if they're ready for us yet?

"Yes sir," The blond woman saluted before walking away.

When we got on the plane I sat nervously between Scarlett and Duke. What would I see when I got off this plane? A field of dead bodies? Burning buildings? It made me queasy just thinking about it, and the fact that the plane was dead silence didn't help either. I glanced at Ed who was on the other side of the plane and saw him staring into space; a serious expression adorned his features. I eyed the gun that was strapped to his back; it made me wonder if he had ever shot someone.

"Look what I did for you," Scarlett whispered to me, showing me her camera. She had taken a picture of Ed staring into space.

"Delete that Kid," I quietly scolded.

"No, its going into my portfolio," She replied. "I'll even give you a copy later on."

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention out the window. In less then two hours I would be in South City, a war zone. I bit on my bottom lip nervously; it was way to late to bail out now so I was determined to make the best out of this experience. I tired to think about it the way Scarlett did. I would be planting an idea in someone's head through my writing. I would encourage someone to make a difference. I glanced towards Ed again and found him looking at me, that same protectiveness that was in his eyes last night was there right now. I didn't have time to analyze it because he looked away. I shook my head and tried to forget about it but for some reason I couldn't. To pass the time away I decided to pull out a book and try to mentally escape.