Konnichiwa, minna-san! I'll be updating two chapters today! I may or may not be going out of town next week, so if I do end up being out I want the chapters to at least be caught up. Chapter 5 is a little longer than this one, so I hope you all will enjoy that. I have no expertise on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so I hope this portrayal is at least slightly convincing. Happy Reading! Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Okay, Sis. Take your aim…that's it…noooww…"

"Come on, Big Brother!"

He chuckled softly, "Fine, fine. Shoot."

I paused to take another second, then confidently pulled the trigger. The bullet cascaded toward its target and barely brushed the base of the bottle.

"Nice try, Harley. At least this time you touched the bottle. Now hand over the gun."

"Wait!" I pleaded, setting up, "Just one more time, please. I'm sure I can hit it if I can get another try."

"Oh no", he picked the small firearm out of my hand, "I'm already risking too much by letting my baby sister use a gun."

"I'm twelve years old. I might be a kid, but I'm not a little kid", puffing my cheeks in annoyance.

"Well, Kiddo, you wouldn't want to be doing target practice for too long. You know Dad's coming back today."

"Oh yeah! You're right! Can I go to the train station with you to pick him up?"

"Of course! Come on."

We walked out of the large field of our backyard and onto the winding pathway around our house that descended down the medium slope. I ran down excitedly, feeling a blast of air blowing my braided pigtails back.

"Wait up, Harley!"

I slowed down just a smidge, but tried to keep up my pace going.

Soon we arrived at the station in a slow jog. It was a bit of a few miles from our house, and we had ran straight through the market. It would have been better to go by car, but just the thought of seeing our father again gave us the energy we needed to keep moving. We stood a good distance from the tracks. The large locomotive finally pulled up and let out a sigh along with a transparent cloud of smoke.

From the sea of people emerging, we spotted our dad. But…he looked a bit different, wrapped around his left eye was a gauze.

"Dad! Dad! Over here", Sven called out to him.

He stepped leisurely but purposefully toward us. Despite the bandages, he looked neat and clean cut in his impeccable uniform.

"My, my. How the both of you have grown", he gave us each a hug. "I've missed you and your mother very much. As well as Harnett."

"We've missed you too, Dad", I said, "Glad to see you're home."

"Yeah", Sven picked up his luggage.

As we made our way home, we chatted about all the things Dad had missed. The town festivals and celebrations, Sven's enrollment in the Police Academy, even the occasional visit with the Armstrongs. Dad listened intently to all we said, only speaking to ask questions.

"Ah, here we are. Home sweet home."

We stepped inside the house where we were met by Mom. She hugged Dad tightly and covered his face with kisses.

"Welcome home, Dear", she held his hand.

"I'm glad to be home."

We gathered around the dinner table, continuing the conversation from our walk back and talking about other things too. Dad and Mom would occasionally steal glances at one another. It was really sweet.

"Harlene, it's your turn to do the dishes tonight."

"Ok, Mom."

I tried to clear all the dishes from the table in go. However, I accidentally tripped over one of the chair legs, but then luckily caught myself. Unfortunately, one of the cups fell to the floor and shattered.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to drop it-."

"Everybody get down!" Dad yelled.

"Huh?"

Dad pushed Mom under the table, then pulled out a gun from a holster hidden behind his jacket. He pointed it in my direction.

I stood there frozen; unable to move. He had never tried to hurt me before.

When I saw his finger slowly pull on the trigger, the only thing I could think to do was crouch down and put my hands over my head.

The shot fired and I heard the bullet whizz past me; it hit the wall behind me and made a small hole. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Sven was overtop of Dad. He must have tackled him.

"Dad, snap out of it! You're at home!" urged Sven.

Dad's glazed eyes soon filled with colour, "Huh?" he looked up and around, then blanched when he saw me, "Harley…I'm so sorry..."

"I think it's time for Harley to go to bed. Sven, can you take her?" Mom came up from underneath the table.

"Yes, of course", Sven answered, getting off of Dad, "Let's go, Harley." He started leading me away to the stairs. "You're shaking like a leaf. Why don't you sleep in my room tonight."

I nodded, "O…k…"

I didn't get much sleep that night.

I hope to be able to read some reviews for this chapter. See you in the next chapter!