A.N.) I listened to a variety of songs while writing this to make this extremely fun, including:
"Price Tag" by Jessie J,
"Never Knew I Needed" by Ne-Yo,
"What's My Name?" and "Love the Way You Lie II" by Rihanna,
"I Knew You Were Trouble." by Taylor Swift,
"The Boys" by Nicki Minaj & Cassie,
"Your Body" by Christina Aguilera,
"As Long As You Love Me" by Justin Bieber feat. Big Sean,
and a whole lot of Shirley Temple (I do not know why). Okay, just felt like sharing that. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

What It Means to Be the Wife of the Emperor

Chapter 4: Another Mother In-Law From Hell

Lan Fan was extremely grateful for the mercy done upon her. Had Dr. Knox not been enough of a grumpy man with oozing disdain for non-entertaining culture, Lan Fan would be eating dinner with Ling's mother alone. This entire meeting was so uncomfortable without her husband present. The three sipped their spicy hot and sour soup; the bowls were steaming with the fragrance of seasoning and herbs. Other than that, no one moved. It was a tense atmosphere for one of the smaller dinning rooms in the Imperial Palace's East Wing. The brightness of the hanging paper lamps made the outside even darker and Lan Fan even more self-conscious.

It was like Lady Yao came at a selfishly ill time on purpose just make the Empress more miserable than she already was. Lan Fan suffered holding the pain of nausea, threatening to strike at any moment. She found it difficult to swallow without the back of throat gagging. On top of that, Lan Fan had to quietly deal with Lady Yao occasionally glancing up and just staring at her arrogantly. The older woman was not in her prime but still fairly beautiful. It made the already stressed Lan Fan fear what this woman would say to humiliate her.

"That's a lovely dress you wear, Empress," Lady Yao said. It sounded like she was surprised. "My son treats you well."

Lan Fan had to bite back her despise. How could she refer to Ling as her son? She never gave a damn about him until he was old enough to become a candidate for successor. Lan Fan and her grandfather really loved him, but that would always be undermined by a mother's fake love. It only made her nausea twist.

Calm down. You're blowing things out of proportion, she thought to herself.

Sure, Lan Fan was given a pretty clear and direct insult, but she was only concerned for Ling.

To muster some respect Lan Fan always thought a noble deserved, she buried all her resentment deep down inside. Softly, she replied. "Yes, I am very grateful to my Lord."

Dr. Knox grunted, obviously disgusted by the foul play. "You're saying that like you don't expect her own damn husband to take care of her." Satisfied, he continued to eat.

There was no rage to be seen on Lady Yao's features; only pity was there. She expected what was supposed to happen to commons who think they can speak to a noble like Dr. Knox did. But to Lady Yao's outrage, none of the guards moved from their spots. They didn't care that the mother of the Emperor had been mocked by a foreign commoner― No! It was because the Empress's orders meant more to them. She was one of them. This little problem would prod at Lady Yao's nerves all day if no action was taken.

With an intense glare, Lady Yao turned to the young lady at the head of the table. The humiliation only grew when Lan Fan continued sipping her soup as if nothing had happened.

Lady Yao had no choice but to give up.

By the time the servants came to take the bowls, Lan Fan felt her mind collapsing. She didn't want to fight or scream or cry. She just wanted to lie down. The sooner this endeavor ended, the sooner she'd be closer to Ling's return, and sooner her life would be brighter.

She thanked the server when the main course of Peking Duck was placed in front of her. She was about to completely forget her troubles and just have a nice meal when Lady Yao's loud scoff forced for alarm. Strained and scared, she looked up from her plate to meet her mother in-law's astonished stare. What is it? she thought in mind, but didn't say.

… She waited.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Lady Yao pushed. Lan Fan gave an innocent stare. The older woman pointed to the waitress girl standing beside her chair. "I've asked this servant twice for more water and she has failed to do so!"

Lan Fan had no idea had to respond to that. She could anticipate what a noble would do with such a situation, but she would never be one to inflict punishment. She personally felt more sympathy for the frightened girl being pointed at for something so small.

Lan Fan smiled at the servant. "It was an honest misunderstanding, Jia Li. You may retire."

"Thank you very much, Milady," Jia Li sighed in relief before quietly leaving the room.

The air had been given a more hostile music. Of course, Dr. Knox ate his food, oblivious the built up fury ready to topple. Lan Fan thought she could finally get back to her plan of eat and run, but once again, Lady Yao wouldn't let it happen.

"An honest misunderstanding?!" Lady Yao slammed her palms on the wooden table and stood from her seat to tower over her queen. "Clearly, little girl, you have no sense of dignity! You are just going to let commoners and serfs treat your Excellency's own mother like second class! You were not meant this; you're just a slave yourself!"

Lan Fan wasn't going to talk back, so things were expected to die down once to raving woman released all her steam. Unfortunately, having Dr. Knox around turned into another curse, because he was protective.

The guards didn't even get to move when angered old man jolted from his seat. "Listen here, Hag. The bottom line is that your son thinks this girl is a Queen, and all the tantrums you can muster won't make anyone give a damn about you opinion on the subject. You're just pissed that Lan Fan isn't a mindless drone that falls to whatever you want."

"How dare you! Lan Fan, are you just going to let him disrespect me―?"

Lan Fan stopped listening. She watched them yell back in forth, but their voices were muffled. One thing that was confusing her was whether or not to respond to Lady Yao insulting her, or to Lady Yao's demands for support. Another thing that left her dumbfound was how much Dr. Knox was willing to defend her. The biggest problem was the feeling of a headache and nausea overwhelming her.

Lan Fan focused back to her two guests hoping to end the insanity.

Lady Yao, however, wanted some kind of power and victory in this dispute, so she turned to the baffled young empress and said anything that she knew would hurt. "Darling, think about it. You aren't that pretty compared to most. Your arm condemns your chance of being attractive. What's he going to do once you have an heir, or when you get older, or God forbid, gain a little weight? Do you really think my son, offspring of a long line of womanizing men, is out there only doing work?"

"Hey Ling, all you've done since we got here is work, nonstop! What gives? I thought you hated paperwork," Ed mumbled to the Xingese across the dinner table, shoving a roll of bread in his mouth.

Ling halted looking reading his stack of papers and glanced at his blonde friend. "I'm doing this because I'd rather do work than eat. What do you think I'm doing this for, Ed? I'm trying to hurry and get back to my wife. If I finish this tonight, I'll only have to go to a meeting tomorrow, so we can leave early and be back by tomorrow night."

"Whatever. Touchy."

…

"Where's Al at?"

"He already finished his food and left. Took his annoying, though subtle, thoughts of the beansprout girl with him."

"It's amazing; he's around her all the time and has done little progress."

"Hm."

…

Ling grinned. "Hey Ed, do you realize that once Al and Mei marry we'll officially be brother in-laws?"

…

"Damn, I'll have to talk Al out of liking the runt."

"I guess it won't happen for a while considering it took you almost three acceptable years to move forward with Winry."

"Well, look who's talking, Idiot! You've been around Lan Fan your whole life and just barely did anything about it!"

"Shut up, Ed! I gotta get back to work so I can go to home. Lan Fan might need me."

"I don't think you give her enough credit."

Lan Fan ran her brush throw her hair one more time before declaring herself complete and ready for bedtime. After such an event, she really needed to sleep. Lady Yao bombarded with accusations and insults back to back with no mercy, and Dr. Knox argued back. Once Lady Yao had finally decided she was fed up and stormed off, Dr. Knox lectured Lan Fan for "taking that hag's bull" and not standing up for herself. She didn't know what to do, so she listened to everything said to her but never responded. The guards didn't know what to do either. With the dinner was finally over, her two escorts asked who she wanted arrested, but she answered by a quiet no.

All the way back to her room, through the process of cleaning up, Lan Fan just stared straight ahead, passed everything. It was like she was having a silent meltdown. Everything in her life was pressing her patience. She just wanted to avoid blowing up like that afternoon and hopefully gaining some kind of dignity again.

As she walked across her bedroom on the path to her bed (and finally ending this nightmare of a day), she stopped to look out the biggest window of the room. Practically piercing the sky with her pupils, one thought screamed at her. Go! Go! Go! Just leave. No one will know you've left. You're going to come back anyway.

It would be so easy. She could just hang around in the trees, do some training, visit her grandfather's grave, or something. Anything that would help her grasp a time when things were simple and already figured out for her. The times where she was born and raised to be a guard and protect Ling Yao till the moment she perished.

She wondered when that life had changed.

It wasn't when they where children; her duty was clear and branded in her mind at that point. It wasn't when they traveled in the desert in the hopes of helping him achieve his goal; sure she cared a lot about him, but that didn't erase her plans. It wasn't when they were separated for six months and she finally realized that she was in love with him; she was still going to only be his bodyguard. Where had things been thrown off so bad that she ended up retired and married to her master?

Maybe she needed to see this from a different angle. Back when they were kids, barely beginning the relationship of prince and servant, Ling was always so nice to her. He wanted to share everything he had from toys to experiences, which was unusual for the greedy, egotistical kid.

The travel to Amestris was… different. When it was her shift to keep watch and Fu slept, Ling would wake up and sit with her and talk to her about anything on his mind. He'd sit close and look at stars or the distance with her.

The six months they spent apart took a harsh toil on her, but during her recovery and intense periods of depression and extreme self-hatred, Ling's note was always what she needed to get her head back together.

After he advanced to Emperor, he did what he could to make her happy and secure. He moved her into a room close to his. He tried to be alone with her as much as possible and have talks like in the desert. He always fixated on her well-being (like her automail, wounds from battles, etc.).

…

He always loved me, didn't he?

Lan Fan was destined for this life when she came into contact with the most selfish, honorable, sweetest guy next to Greed himself.

She wasn't going to leave anyways; he ordered her to stay in the Palace till he returned. It did matter how awful things became. He loved her and that alone was what made her suffering worth while. She could smile again.

The day officially ended as Lan Fan went under the covers and hugged the biggest pillow beside her own. It was over… No more bombarding advisers, no guards watching her every move, no bratty middle-aged woman, or disappointed father-figure. She closed her eyes and sighed.

No Ling either though. But she could last. She only hoped that he was warm tonight and had a better day then she did. Her arms tighten around the pillow, pretending like she was sending a message to her husband. Goodnight, my Lord. I'll always love you.

"My wife understands. She's the one that I chose to live by my side. No more words that need to pass between us now. That's what it means to be the wife of the Fuhrer."

Lan Fan frowned before falling asleep. He still plagued her mind. It was unfortunate.

It was scary.

It was miserable still.

A.N.) Have a nice day, everyone!