"Ed..." "Hello...?" "Dang it Ed!"

That voice, what? What's..

"Brother! Wake up we're gonna be late!" The voice came in quiet like an echo, and then louder until it was clear.

That was Al's voice, I sat up slowly and hoped I wouldn't fall back onto my bed. What did he want at this hour? Was the sun even up?

"Yeah, Yeah...what is it.." I replied. Silly little brother was always getting himself worked up. As I looked on at him and wiped the sleep from my eyes he stood in front of me with an annoyed look on his face. Dork, he couldn't look serious. It just came off as some sort of cute pout.

"We have to meet up with Colonel Mustang before ten o'clock! Its nine forty five! Get up and get dressed!" Alphonse shouted at me, he was always playing parent. Ugghh. Realizing he was right I threw my clothes on and my red jacket, then shoved my feet into my shoes, which was hard because one of them was asleep. Damn it. There was always something. Quickly I grabbed a piece of toast and then ran out the door with Alphonse. It wasn't easy braiding my hair while keeping the bread from falling out of my mouth. But no one cared about that.

As we made our way down the hall all I could think about was how I didn't want to go to the stupid evaluation. Doctors of any kind sort of pissed me off. I swear they tried to hurt me every time I saw them. Maybe he would try to read my mind and it would give me a headache. Knowing my luck.

After we made it to Mustang's door we knocked and then went in. Thankfully I was done with my toast but Al yanked me around and wiped the crumbs off of my shirt. He was such a mother. I blushed as I hoped Roy hadn't seen him do that. I wasn't some kind of child that needed looking after! Especially not by my little brother.

"Hm...Right on time." Roy stated blandly as always in that deep voice that tended to annoy me on contact with my ears. Why did he annoy me so much? Was it because he cared about me? Or because he was such an authoritarian it angered me. "Alright let's go, we've got to get down to the medical wing, he's waiting in his office." He answered. Why did it have to be in the medical wing? He wasn't even a real doctor! He was just some guy that would look at me and figure if I was coo-coo or not. I tried not to glare and took a deep breath and let it out. I needed to relax. I wasn't scared right? Pshht...of course not. But damn, my freaking cat ears and tail were annoying as hell. They were gonna take some getting used to. If fact, I was scolded yesterday before we left to the restaurant because Havoc tried to scratch my ears and I nearly killed him. Well, I would have if I had had my automail. I even swooped my hand over the other to make my blade, but nothing happened. And that was embarrassing. The guy laughed at me though he tried not to. Hmph.

In my thoughts to myself I hadn't realized that we were coming up on the medical wing of the building. A chill ran up and then back down my spine and strangely it went out my tail. I just knew it was probably all puffy like some scaredy cat. Ug, I just used a cat joke against myself. Shit.

*knock knock knock*

Mustang rapped on the door and I hadn't even realized we had even gotten there. I guess I was spacey that day. The door was typical, like all of the other ones, but on the door a few feet above my head (I'm not short!) there was a plate that read "Dr. Hophsten " Oh great. This guy again. I didn't know he was a psychiatrist...or..was that the right name for him?

After knocking Roy opened the door for us and I reluctantly went in, Alphonse right behind me.

"Ah, hello Edward Elric." The man smiled at me, and I couldn't get myself to smile back. "And you Alphonse, how are you?" I didn't know how he knew my brother yet, maybe they had already had a psycho-babble session? Or maybe he was just his doctor as well, like he was mine. Poor kid. "So how are you feeling Ed?" Classic first question. I sighed heavily.

"I'm fine. Like I said before." I said with a touch of curtness to it. Roy nudged me from the side though and I glared. "I feel the same. My tail is annoying and the ears are even more annoying because people keep trying to touch them."

What was this guy after? Was I going to answer wrong or something and lose my state alchemist watch? I didn't know why but this guy really seemed like he was just out to get me. But then again, all doctors are like that. Doctors are bad, not good. They poke and prod and touch you in places only you should see! And then they make you take nasty medicine and..ug...anyway..

I watched as Dr. Hophsten jotted something down on his board. No one had said anything during the pause of him asking me the question. It felt like I was on display or something. I looked up at Roy who seemed to catch the awkward vibe.

"Should we start then?" The Colonel asked for me. Had to admit, he was good at reading situations. Al stayed quiet the whole time, he seemed more interested in the pictures on the wall and playing with his fingernails. He was still getting used to his body again.

"Yes, yes, come this way please. Just into my other room here." The man answered. Other room? As we were escorted in through another door we walked into what looked like a typical hospital room. Complete with a bed on wheels, a SHARPS disposable box on the wall, jars of odd miscellaneous things like long popsicle sticks (that's what I call them), long Que tip swabs, short Que tips, band-aids, a little box with small bandages in it. And of course no doctors room is truly complete without its strange collection of pictures of skeletons and muscle portraits and signs teaching you how to properly wash your hands to prevent the spread of germs.

I jumped slightly when he squirted some hand sanitizer into his hands from a dispenser on the wall. The sound was louder than it needed to be. I didn't like this. Not one bit. I, Edward Elric, was in perfect health and did NOT need a check up! I could feel myself starting to sweat a little and I knew my breathing was getting fast even though I tried to force it not to. I didn't need them thinking there was a reason to hold me down or something. That would just freak me out more. Still though, hand sanitizer. That meant he was gonna touch me.

He smiled at me and seemed to just take in my appearance for a minute. Creep.

"Why don't you go ahead and take your jacket off and sit down on the bed for me. Okay?" He suggested to me and that was what it was too, a suggestion. So I replied with, "Nah, I think I'll be okay standing."

Dr. Hophsten seemed to be a little lost of what to do, maybe he sensed I wasn't gonna listen because he looked up at Roy and then Roy decided to look at me. I tried not to glare but he tilted his head a brief moment towards the bed and I knew that was his silent order. This sucked. I tried to see the best of it and slipped my jacket off of my arms and tossed it carelessly to Mustang, who caught it and sighed as I sat down on the bed. Which everyone knows are always uncomfortable.

"Thank you." Hophsten smiled. I sighed once again and closed my eyes for a sec to make sure I was relaxed enough. I didn't know why these things freaked me out, they just did. Ever since I was little. Of course, I did sort of hear my mother screaming in pain when giving birth to Alphonse, and I remember her screaming at the doctor saying that he was hurting her. But then, maybe I misunderstood that. But since then, ALL doctors were evil.

"So, I'm going to go ahead and take your blood pressure and your temperature okay? Won't hurt or anything, you don't gotta be scared."

"I'm not scared!" I yelled, too quickly. Crap. The doctor smiled anyways and grabbed the cuff and wrapped it around my arm, his hands were damn cold too. Proof that they were all cold blooded and evil. In my opinion. I waited and tried to relax my breathing as the cuff tightened and tightened almost to the point of pain, but then stopped and released it's death grip on my arm. After Hophsten took it off I rubbed my skin of the irritation and waited for what the man had to say. But he didn't really say anything.

"Okay, good. A little high but that's okay." He commented after a few moments of taking notes on his clip board. "And temperature.." He said after he put down the board again and stuck a thermometer in my mouth under my tongue. It was a little bit before he removed it and smiled happily at the result though he didn't say what it was. Normal I guess. After all of this Roy and my little brother sat down in some chairs that were available and the doctor sat down on his wheely chair. Not gonna lie, it looked like fun. A little, just a little...

"Now then, I'm going to go ahead and ask you to undress."

What?

"Um..." I couldn't find words. "Why?"

I could feel myself tense up. This was always embarrassing and way too past the personal bubble.

"I just need to do a complete physical that way I can see if your new features have any unwanted abnormalities. I promise I won't hurt you okay?" There it was again! He was talking to me like a child! So I did the only thing I could think of, I scoffed and smiled sheepishly.

"Hah, whatr'ya worried about? I'm fine. I'm not scared doc." I said as casually as possible. Quickly I undressed down to my underwear which was pretty humiliating having my commanding officer see me like this, but he didn't seem to care. Good. The doctor seemed fine with me leaving my shorts on, which was also good, cuz I wouldn't have taken them off. No way!

"Can you lay down please?" He asked. I felt another chill go up my spine and down again and out my tail. I heard Al snicker and I glared.

"What?" I snapped. But he just tried to stop his laughing. I followed his eyes back behind me and saw that my tail was bigger than normal because it was all poofed out, like a Halloween cat or something. I blushed like mad, I could feel it. So I snatched my tail in my hands and held it close to my chest. "Shut up! I can't help it! I'm...I'm...cold." What? It's all I could come up with of why I could have chills and goosebumps.

"Quite alright, please lay down now Edward." Hophsten said and as much as I really didn't want to I laid back and the cool sheet made me shudder. My back was awkwardly flat and I took a deep breath, though I concealed it well enough and then let it out. This was probably almost over. I heard the wheels squeak as the doc wheeled over to me and I didn't like how he hovered over my head.

"These are quite beautiful you know. At least they aren't deformed or anything. " The doctor chuckled and I felt myself blush again. Why did I have to do that?

Roy saw me blushing apparently because he stood up and went over to me where I laid and smiled. "You'll be alright. Just chill." Was he really trying to comfort me? I was doing everything I could to seem like I was perfectly fine! Unmoved by this visit. When Hophsten started touching my ears I yanked my head away and partially sat up.

"Don't touch them.." I said in as controlled of a voice as I could do. He seemed a bit surprised and raised a brow but then smiled sweetly, and those blue eyes seemed to send soothing vibes because for some reason I let him gently push me back down. He didn't even say anything. He just looked at me in a way that sort of made me feel like everything was alright. I hated this. As he started feeling my ears again and looking them over and moving them around I couldn't help as I eventually closed my eyes and relaxed. Way more than I should have. The touch, it just, felt so good. It, was making me tired...I had to do something so I forced myself to sit up again and shook me head. The sound of my ears flapping back and forth was sort of a silly sound and Al smiled. What could I do. But again Hophsten just locked eyes with me and I sighed as he put a hand to my bare chest and made me lay down again and began feeling my ears once more. Soon I was lost in a calm I couldn't get out of. And a thrumming started in my chest and head that was also soothing...and I was gone..

...

Nar. p.o.v.

"There you see? He is completely harmless now, and in a deep sleep. Almost like a trance. This is what I was curious about. It seems he also has cat behavioral traits, not just the appearance." Doctor Hophsten said as he smiled to Roy and Alphonse and looked on at the sleeping Ed. But that wasn't what was interesting, what was interesting was that Edward, was purring. And he had no idea about it.

"So, what does this mean?" Roy asked as he looked over his charge and watched as his chest rose slowly and fell back down as he breathed quietly.

"It means that I will definitely need to perform other tests, psychologically. If he continues to show me these behaviors, he may need to be pulled from the military. Because these actions could get in the way and become dangerous if he were ever in a tight situation.." The doctor answered seriously but then noticed the disappointment on Alphonse's face. "Whats wrong child?"

"Nothing, it's just, brother worked so hard for a position as a state Alchemist. I would hate to see him lose that." The boy answered as he looked worried towards his big brother. The room was silent for a few moments until the doctor spoke again.

"I promise you I will do all that I can to keep him a state alchemist." William Hophsten smiled and moved back over to Edward. "This might be a bit awkward for you two, but you may stay if you choose. I need to check his tail, which why I was hoping he may fall asleep first..which he did.."

"How did you get him to cooperate so well? If I know Edward, I know he hates taking orders, and two, he hates doctors.." Roy questioned.

"Ah that, well, my brother is a veterinarian, and he has told me many facts about all sorts of animals. One thing I know is that cats are very persuaded by eye contact. Direct eye contact done in the right way can even change a cats mood. I didn't know if it would work, but it did. So that's good." He smiled happily and wrote down some more things onto his clip board. then flipped the page so there was more room for notes.

Carefully he moved back over to Ed, who was still purring peacefully. "Colonel, could you help me turn him over without waking him up?" Roy seemed surprised by this but moved to assist him. With one gentle movement the two managed to turn Edward onto his stomach without waking him, and his purr even continued. Roy couldn't help but chuckle and sigh at the sight. It was all so new for everyone. "Thanks." The doctor said and the moved the hem of Ed's boxers just a little, just enough to check the point where his tail met the very low of his back. After some feeling and note taking he went over to a cabinet and pulled out a purple colored mask. It was strange and seemed to be made of a sort of rubber material.

"I'll need to draw some blood, but that will definitely wake him up unless I help to keep him asleep. Alphonse, could you please hold this as close as you can to your brothers nose and mouth without touching him? The touch may wake him but the mask's scent will help him stay unconscious for a little while longer."

Al immediately jumped to the opportunity to help and did as he was instructed. "He has to smell it?" Al asked curiously and sniffed it himself but the doctor simply stopped him.

"Ahah, you may not want to do that Al."

The boy smiled sheepishly and did as he was told and held it up to Edwards nose and mouth, after a few minutes Hophsten moved to get the things needed for a blood draw, and after another minute or two he was finished, and removed the needle from Edwards arm and pressed a cotton swab to it and held it for about three minutes and then tossed it away. The bleeding was stopped.

"There! Now we are all done with this part of the evaluation. Just let him sleep for a little while longer and we can wake him up. I just need to get these viles out of here, if everything you said is true Colonel, it would be bad if he knew we did this." The doctor explained and was happy to see that everything was going along well. After the doctor left to take the blood samples away Roy turned Edward back over and when he did the boy stirred a bit, so he stood by and watched.

...

Review!