Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist and no money is being made off of this fanfiction. All rights belong to Himoru Arakawa, and I heavily suggest that you go enjoy the series she's created. Even the ones that aren't FMA. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

Sabrina and Gabe never came out of their rooms throughout the rest of the day. Despite feeling at fault, Jamie contented himself by stepping out to look after the Market and sorting through the few automail products up for sale. By mid-afternoon, no customers showed up, and he closed shop early, his impatience beginning to get to him. He decided to pack up his little belongings to get his mind off of current matters and headed off to his and Sabrina's shared room, stepping by the closed door to Gabe's workshop without a glance.

A knock to show his presence received no response, and finding the door unlocked, Jamie quietly pushed it open and peeked inside. He found the room almost pitch-black, dense curtains shut and blocking out the sinking sun from the window, but there was enough light to make out the form of a girl huddled in her bed, a heavy quilt pulled up over her entire body to shelter her from the rest of the world. Whether she was awake or asleep, Jamie didn't know, but he chose to leave the girl to her privacy and crept to his own bed. Getting down on his hands and knees and peering through the darkness, the boy reached under the bed and pulled out his luggage bag, clicking it open and rifling through its contents.

A spare change of clothes, a toothbrush, a handheld map of Amestris, and extra cens for emergencies. It was all he felt he needed for traveling, and it had lasted him well enough.

By dinnertime, Jamie found himself eating alone, the house completely quiet save for the occasional creak of the building. Afterwards, he decided to check his automail. If he was traveling across the country, he needed to make sure his prosthetic was finely tuned and in top form. He picked up a can of oil, a rag, and a few tools from the shop and stepped out into the cooling dusk.

The sun had disappeared behind the canyons, leaving in place a darkening sky filled with never-ending stars, the moon a glowing crescent amongst them. Jamie found himself relishing in the calm serenity of his environment compared to the earlier chaos, and he sat down on the edge of the porch and put down his equipment. Carefully, he slipped his sapphire ring from his hand and set it to his side, pulling off his gloves with ease and his hoodie following suit. With only a t-shirt to cover his upper body, the boy set to work on examining his right arm.

Titanium shown in the moonlight, making his automail arm glow a pale blue and reflect against his dark surroundings. Jamie slowly curled his fingers in and out, clenched his hand into a fist over and over, and bent his arm repeatedly, testing his joints. Even after two years, he still wasn't used to seeing a mechanical creation replace his arm of flesh and blood. He didn't think he ever would be.

After checking and noting that his joints and movements were in top condition, Jamie moved on to the polishing stage, having already cleansed his arm of dirt and grim when he took his shower after the morning spar. He dipped the rag into the can of oil and set to work on buffing his automail, rolling his sleeve up to start from the port that connected his arm to his fleshy shoulder. As he polished down his limb, his eyes drifted to where his healing scar that extended from the port and shoulder to the right side of his chest was hidden behind cloth. The scar, he remembered, was acquired while he was enduring automail surgery, when Gabe had to tear open and dig deeper into his skin in order to fit the port into his socket.

Gotta hand it to whatever took yer arm, Jamie barely recalled the old man's bitter humor through his pain filled memories, remembering how he could barely hear the mechanic over his own agonizing sobs. Did a fine clean cut.

The thing that took his arm…

No. It wasn't the time to be thinking about that thing. Jamie shook his head to clear his thoughts and focused intently on his polishing, yet a sense of unease refused to leave him. He sat in silence for a few minutes until the impending creak of the floorboards in the house broke him out of his thoughts. The boy paused in his work, setting the rag down as the footsteps drew closer, right until they were at the doorway.

"Should've done yer buffin' farther out, kid," a gruff voice said. "I could smell the oil from my room."

Jamie stared hard at the ground, ignoring Gabe's remark and focusing on his automail once again. He felt the old man's presence draw closer until he seated himself right next to the teenager. Out of the corner of his eye, Jamie noticed that the mechanic had a lit cigarette between his lips, making the boy briefly scowl in disapproval. He wasn't sure if Gabe noticed, but the old man drew in a long breath before blowing the smoke out in a veiled cloud, as if he was aiming to annoy Jamie.

"Beautiful night, eh?" Gabe asked, his head tilted up towards the sky. "A cool evening after a humid day and sitting out under a blanket of stars. Sure don't get better than this, 'specially in the southern parts."

Jamie gritted his teeth behind his lips. Now he was sure Gabe was poking and prodding at him, trying to get him to snap and say something, trying to draw him into a conversation, trying to convince him to stay. He didn't care to admit it, but the old man was close to bringing him to his breaking point, his patience already worn thin from the earlier morning. Especially since Gabe was blowing out another breath of smoke and tendrils were drifting into Jamie's face.

"In fact," Gabe continued after he finished drawing out his breath, "This brings me back to that one night, 'bout a year and a half ago, when you were tryin' to sneak out to-"

"I know what you're trying to pull Gabe," Jamie interrupted, his eyes staring at his arm. "It's not going to work. I've had my mind set on returning home for a long time. Sabrina and I are leaving tomorrow morning and there's nothing you can say to make me rethink my decision."

Jamie could feel Gabe's head turn onto him, but he didn't expect a snort to follow. "You're still uptight about that?" the old man asked. "Hell, I ain't gonna stop you. I figured you can take care of yerself just fine."

Unable to stop himself, Jamie turned to look at Gabe in confusion, his eyes narrowing. "So why did you come out here if you didn't want to stop me?" he demanded. "It can't have been just to have idle chit-chat."

Gabe chuckled with a smirk and shrugged. "Ya got me there, boy," he admitted. "I ain't one to bring up a conversation 'less there's a good reason behind it."

Jamie waited for the old man's answer, but he noticed he was hesitating. Gabe dragged out his smoke before releasing it into the air once again before asking in a heavy voice, "Why d'you wanna get Sabrina involved in yer goals all of a sudden?"

Jamie felt taken aback by the sudden question, but he found himself recovering quickly, his frown deepening. He could practically see the trap Gabe was trying to lure him into. He'd known the old man long enough to figure out that he was sly and crafty with his words and could easily trap someone in his clutches with a single sentence. Still, the boy didn't see any sense to avoid it or drag it out any further. He decided to play along and see where Gabe would try to lead him to.

"Because she's my partner and she chose to come with," he simply replied.

Gabe snorted again and Jamie could tell he was rolling his eyes behind his shades. "Right. Like you gave her much of a choice to begin with," the old man said, flicking the ashes from his half burnt cigarette.

Jamie scowled. Again with the taunts. He remained silent, knowing that whatever he chose to say would only worsen his case. Unfortunately, Gabe took it as a sign of hesitation and continued.

"Don't lie to me, kid. You told her she had to go with you tomorrow mornin' or you'd leave her behind, whether she was ready and willin' or not, didn't you?"

Jamie remembered his words from the spar clear as day. Tomorrow morning. With or without you.

He remained silent.

Gabe grunted and whistled out smoke through gritted teeth. "Brings me back to what I was originally sayin'," he went on. "A night like this reminds me of one that was almost exactly like this 'bout a year and a half ago. I remember 'cause I was standing out on this porch, having a smoke break before bed. I needed that smoke too, 'cause I had just finished givin' Sabrina her painkillers fer the night. It was during the worst parts of her rehabilitation, and I remember almost every night she couldn't fall asleep without somethin' to ease the pain. Couldn't blame her. Heard its hell ter try and learn how to walk again after bein' handicapped.

"Anyway, I remember happenin' to glance up towards the upper floors of the shop and seein' yer light on. And I thought to myself, 'Now what in the world is that boy doin' up so late? Don't tell me the pain's botherin' him too.' So with my career instincts kickin' in, I put out my cigarette and headed back inside to investigate. But when I got to yer doorway and I pushed open that door, you know what I saw?"

No reply. Gabe didn't wait long for an answer.

"When I walked into yer room, I saw you standin' fully dressed in traveling clothes, leanin' over a luggage bag and crammin' crap in there like the military was comin' fer ya. And I said, 'Boy, just whattya think yer doin'?' And you jumped and spun around to face me and I immediately noticed the purple rings under yer eyes. You hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in ages.

"You didn't respond, so I repeated myself." Gabe paused before turning to Jamie, his voice falling to a low and dangerous tone. "You remember that whole conversation, don'tcha?"

Again, no reply.

"Well, you started out by tellin' me you was leavin'. At first I didn't believe a word you said and I laughed. I told ya, 'Don't be an idiot, you can't go anywhere after only six months of recovery.' But you went on, sayin' on how you was all prepared to head off to this hometown of yers. And I could tell by the look in yer eyes and the way you talked that you were dead serious.

"'Course that just made me get confused and frustrated. I asked you what you would do with yer arm and you said you would figure it out later on. Then I knew you were bein' stupid. Even with a glance, I could see yer arm was so stiff and jerky, you could barely move any of yer joints without grimacing. So then I brought up Sabrina. I said, 'What about yer friend? She ain't in no condition to travel anywhere, not on them legs of hers.'"

Gabe clenched his hands into fists and Jamie could hear the venom in his voice. "I still can't believe you had the decency to say you were prepared to leave her behind and run away without so much as a goodbye," he growled. "'Specially after all the stories she used to tell me about the two of you when you was kids…"

Gabe drifted off, his body relaxing and the cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. Silence filled the atmosphere as minutes passed and ashes fell and drifted to the ground, until the cigarette was burned down to its last limbs. Jamie remained quiet, his body hunched over as he kept his gaze to the sand at his feet. He felt unnerved at Gabe's lacking rant, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to speak. After several moments, he finally heard Gabe sigh heavily and shift beside him. "Jamie… Look at me," came the deep and raspy voice of an old man.

Jamie felt himself tense up in surprise and, despite himself, he felt his head lift up a few inches. Gabe hadn't called him by his actual name, at least not to his face, since he had tried to run away a year and a half ago. It had always been "boy" or "kid", and anything otherwise would be considered strange and unwarranted from the mechanic. It was a sign that something grave was happening and all orders had to be obeyed. He learned that from his own father and even his guardian taught him the rule years ago.

Slowly, the teen looked up and met Gabe's gaze. In fact, it was his eyes that shocked him. For the first time since the old man had crossed his path, Jamie had never seen the mechanic without his trademark shades covering his eyes. Until that moment, Jamie never knew that Gabriel's eyes were red with power, intense emotion, and bloodshed from a dead race.

"You're…" Jamie always had passing thoughts of the old man's race, but he never considered them to be true. Even now, he could barely finish his statement, and his words died on whispering lips and were lost in the silence. He regretted breaking his silent vigil immediately afterwards, but the man before him had shocked him out of rational mind.

Gabe seemed to pay no attention to Jamie's astonishment as his scowl deepened, his blood-red eyes flashing in brief anger. "I never did tell you why I lost my temper that night, why I screamed and cursed and threatened you," he said, his voice low. "But yer words disgusted me and angered me beyond control… Because they reminded me of myself.

"I'm gonna tell you a story, son. But I don't want you sayin' a word of this to another soul, ya got me?"

Jamie didn't respond. He didn't even look away. Gabe wouldn't let him break eye contact, keeping hold of him with his fierce gaze. Even when the old man took his cigarette out of his mouth and flicked the remains away, he didn't so much as glance away.

"This might be hard to believe, but at one point in life I was the same age as you are now," Gabe began. "In fact, ever since my old man lost the use of his legs at an early age and I met a traveler with automail limbs that was driftin' through my land, I always wanted to craft such a tool that would help people carry on in life with a lack of amputations to hold 'em back. As you probably figured though, my people were against such creations that went against our God's will. To them, automail and even alchemy were sins and signs of a man's arrogance to recreate what Ishvala gave us in our own image.

"I did my best to settle down by marryin' and startin' a family, but even with a lovin' wife and a few kids, my callin' grew stronger through each passin' day until I couldn't cope with it any longer. So I left without a word. I knew my family could support themselves and I didn't want to crush their hearts by tellin' them my plans, but even to this day, I feel horrible for not sayin' goodbye. I told myself I would return and formally apologize once I learned how to make automail and started my own business."

The old man chuckled, his laugh dry and humorless. "You've probably figured this out by now, but I never got the chance to see my family again. Nor will I ever…"

He fell silent for a few moments before letting out a heavy breath, finally tearing his eyes away from Jamie and slipping his shades back on. Once those blood red eyes were hidden, Jamie felt some of his tension drain away, but part of him forced his body to remain rigid. Meanwhile, Gabe had tilted his head back and was observing the stars in the night sky. Or perhaps he was looking beyond them.

"I ain't sure if your skull's thick enough to not notice that Sabrina cares deeply for you," Gabe continued. "That girl cares about you as much as if you were her older brother. Heard the words from her mouth myself even, tellin' me how you've been with her since she was growin' out of diapers and how you're practically a part of her family. To her, you're the only thing she has left."

At this point, Jamie had lowered his gaze back to the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting crossed arms on his kneecaps, his chin digging into his fleshy arm. He heard Gabe give out a few harsh coughs beside him and the mechanic spoke again, his voice hoarse.

"I don't exactly know what the two of you went through that sent you to my doorstep in the first place. Nor do I really wanna know. People have their secrets. But there were times when I would check on Sabrina in the dead of night and I'd hear her talkin' to herself. Sometimes she was sleepin', sometimes she was half awake, hell a few times I caught her when she was sittin' upright in bed and starin' at the wall. Each time I heard her mumblin' somethin' 'bout how it was her fault, she caused somethin', you didn't deserve her, or some kind of pain. And it made me wonder what she's done for you."

Jamie was silent. He knew what was coming.

"Clearly she'd done a lot, even I can tell that much. And in some mindset, ditchin' her and runnin' back home was your way of repayin' her back then."

And there it was. The elderly man's words stung, but the pain quickly faded. Like a pinch to the boy, it was gone as quickly as it had come.

"Don't get me wrong," Gabe said. "I'm glad you decided to listen to my advice and stick around fer a while longer. And I'm happy you've decided to take Sabrina with you instead of being low and leavin' her in the dust. But you're not the nicest guy on the planet either, especially to her. In fact, I wouldn't have let her go with you if she wasn't so damn attached."

With a grunt, Gabe pushed himself to his feet and stretched out his joints. Jamie made no move to join the mechanic, and for a few minutes he could feel the crimson eyes behind shaded glasses staring at him, as if trying to read his mind. Then the man slowly turned and left behind only whispered words before stepping inside the house and closing the door behind him, leaving Jamie once again alone in the silent night.

The boy remained still, his face hidden behind shadowed bangs as time slowly passed him by. A cool breeze swept in, signaling the start of a summer fading into autumn, but he was sinking too deep in his thoughts to notice the chill that swept through his body.

He ran the old man's departing words over and over again in his mind.

Consider yerself lucky that you have a family who would die for you and a home to return to.

He didn't move for the rest of the night.

A/N: Woah, another chapter on time! Just in time for Christmas! Clearly this is a big accomplishment for me since I usually have a bad habit of missing deadlines. But whatchu guys think of Jamie's inner turmoil and Gabe's backstory? Things are getting intense and hopefully the story will be moving along to the bigger plot soon, especially since finals are coming to a close for me and I'll have time to write more! WEWT

Before this chapter ends, I would like to deeply thank The QAS for being a faithful reader and reviewing every chapter I've put up. Seriously, even if its just been four so far, it means a lot to me. You rock dude!

Anyhoozies, see ya on the next update. sharia013 signing off~