AM: -is sopping wet with a huge bump on the back of her head- -nervous laugh- Well… To a few of you who reviewed… I said I'd have this chapter out on Friday… but Tori didn't wake me up until Saturday, and I had a minor concussion so yeah… (No not really, of course).
TK: Well, it's not my fault you wouldn't wake up on your own.
AM: Okay… so life sucks, and I can't think of anything else to put in my author's note, so I'll spare you all my rambling, and get on with the story!
TK: For once…
AM: Oh Yeah! Invader-Nehima had asked me about what Roy was doing during all of this, and I realized that I forgot to put Roy in the last chapter… XP I'm a moron… That would be why the chapter seemed shorter than it was…. Eh…. sorry guys…
TK: You really are a moron…
AM: Oh, look, the author's note got long! XD Well, life sucks for you, Tori!
TK: Whatever…

Disclaimer: I liek totally don't care….

Thanks: anmbcuconnfan, Invader-Nehima, A Slice above the others, and Chelsea-chan (who hasn't reviewed yet, but says she will)

AM: Oh! I've lost reviewers! –sob-
TK: Told you life sucked….
AM: Oh shut up!


Chapter IX: Paperwork, Whiteout, and Friendly Visits

Meanwhile in Central HQ, the Colonel was wondering if it was actually possible to make a bigger idiot of himself… probably not. Unless he did something drastic like running out in the middle of a crowded street in his underwear and singing that annoying laundry soap jingle very loudly… (1) Of course, he would never do that, because that would be ridiculous. Though, he found himself wondering if he came up with that idea from some sort of experience with a drunken comrade… or something like that.

He hoped that maybe working on the paperwork Riza had dropped off a few minutes ago would help him take his mind off of his mortification. So, he picked up a pen and scanned the paper, humming a tune as he read.

In about the middle of the paper he began to wonder exactly what tune it was that he was humming. He put down the pen, a frown gracing his features, as he slowly hummed the song to himself and after a few measures (however the colonel knew nothing of music and naturally had no idea what a measure was) he realized that the song he was humming was… that disgustingly irritating laundry soap jingle! Unfortunately, thinking about the soap jingle made him think about running out in the middle of the street in nothing more than his boxers and singing it loudly, which made him remember why he even thought about that in the first place, which made him even more embarrassed with himself than he was before… if that was even possible.

"Maybe it's because I love you, Ed!"

Roy's forehead hit the desk… hard. Love? Was that really what he'd said? Fond of… certainly… Infatuated with… most likely… but love? Where had that even come from? (2) But, it didn't matter where it had come from, what mattered was that he screwed up, and he needed to set things straight. The only problem was… how the hell would he go about doing that?

Actually, that didn't matter currently either, because just as Roy began to ponder how he would explain himself to Edward, Riza walked in, raised a disapproving eyebrow at the pile of still unsigned paperwork and placed another stack on the desk.

Now, instead of wondering how he could set things straight (or the more favorable not so straight), he was wondering where all of this paperwork was coming from! Maybe the higher ups were dumping their paper work on him… He quickly filed that idea in the back of his mind along with all of his other "when I'm the fuhrer" schemes.

Unfortunately, the Colonel soon discovered that now was not the time to let his mind wander, especially when he heard the familiar sound of a certain somebody's favorite gun being taken out of its holster, and being cocked. "Colonel sir, I noticed that you've been getting behind in your paperwork, and I fear you're in need of the proper motivation." Hawkeye threatened moving to stand behind her commanding officer. Roy soon felt the cold metal of the gun's muzzle being pressed to the back of his head.

He would have questioned Hawkeye's loyalty to her commanding officer, but the last time he did, Riza said something about shooting "Roy, and not the Colonel" whatever that meant… So, instead of complaining, he reluctantly picked up the pen, reached for the first sheet from the pile (the one he'd started on earlier but was interrupted by a stupid evil jingle), finished scanning it, and scribbled his signature.

Why was it that his life sucked so badly today?

xXx

"Are you completely insane?!" Emiko practically shrieked, causing both Trisha and Kameko to jump.

"Probably…" Jordan replied, removing her fingers from her ears. She had plugged them earlier, and Trisha wondered if she was actually expecting Emiko to act like that. "I'm probably also deaf now too…" she remarked, placing her fists on her hips.

Earlier, after Jordan had left, Trisha had gone off to find Alphonse, who had fallen asleep in the library again. She often worried about her youngest son, he was often sleeping, and when he wasn't he was reading or eating… it was like he didn't socialize with anyone… almost like he wasn't really there… Come to think of it, she hadn't gotten a proper explanation of Alphonse's conditions from any of the three workers she was familiar with. She'd have to ask them about that later…

After she'd taken Alphonse to their shared room, Jordan had appeared out of nowhere with Kameko in tow. She'd explained that they were going to convince Emiko to help them send Trisha back to Amestris, which was what they –or rather Jordan was doing now.

"I don't care about you or you hearing… I do wish you were a mute though…." The dishwater blonde muttered, still miffed about the hand-licking incident earlier.

"Emiko, think about it for a moment." Kameko stepped in, "You're- no, everyone's upset about Trisha's death being a mistake…" Here she motioned to Trisha, "So why don't we fix it? You know like putting a bunch of white out over the whole incident." she suggested clasping her hands together.

Trisha gave the blonde a blank look, as did the other two in the room, "White out" she questioned furrowing her eyebrows slightly, "What's that?"

Kameko looked surprised, "White out… you know, the white liquid you paint over mistakes you make in pen or marker…" the small blonde attempted to explain.

Trisha shook her head, "I don't have any idea what you're talking about…" she said, smiling a bemusedly.

"You're not alone…" Emiko muttered, rolling her eyes.

Kameko let out a sound of frustration, "You guys!" she whined, "What do you mean? You've never heard of white out?"

"Please excuse us for living in different worlds without your alleged white out." Jordan said sarcastically, picking up a book from the nearby table.

"You're not excused!" Kameko countered sticking her tongue out at Jordan, "Now you don't know what I mean! You're so dumb."

Jordan held the book aloft and aimed it at the petit blonde's head, but before she could throw it, Trisha snatched the book from her hand, and lightly hit her over the head with it, "Stop abusing books." she scolded, gently setting the book back on the table.

Jordan grinned sheepishly, and shrugged, "Sorry." she apologized and leaned against the table.

"Hellooo?" Kameko said loudly, "Doesn't anyone care about my idea?" she asked.

"No." Jordan replied, shutting her eyes, "Because we don't understand your idea." she complained.

Trisha simply shrugged, "Why don't you explain your idea instead of comparing it to something we've never heard of?" Trisha suggested, eager to hear the idea.

"Right…" Emiko agreed, sitting down in one of the chairs situated around the table Jordan was leaning against. Trisha and Kameko followed suit. Kameko clasped her hands together in front of herself on the table, and Trisha wondered if it was something she did when she was excited about something.

Jordan opened one eye and glanced lazily at Kameko, who made a face at the tall brunette. She merely smirked and sat down in the chair next to Kameko and looked at her expectantly.

When the blonde began to explain, Trisha couldn't help but get even more excited. She was going home! She could see Edward again! And her house! They could go back to being the happy family they were before her illness. And maybe…. maybe Hohenheim would come home… maybe Edward would realize that he didn't abandon him, that he had something he needed to do, and he'd promised her he'd come back.

Maybe she'd live to see both of her sons get married to nice girls. She began to wonder which one would marry Winry. She couldn't wait now. Now that she was so close to going home!

xXx

Edward and Alphonse walked up the long path to the top of the hill that the Rockbells lived on, both lost in their own thoughts.

Edward was dwelling on what Roy had said to him earlier today, and still trying to decide his thoughts about it. He was also still arguing with his stupid side, trying to convince it that it was stupid.

Alphonse, however, was thinking about different things. Usually, on a trip to the Rockbells he would be thinking about Winry, and how excited he was to get to see her after not seeing her for so long. He'd think about how guilty he felt for leaving her out of the loop, but at the same time, worried about what she'd say if she found out what exactly it was that they were doing. However, this time, he was thinking about something completely different. He was stuck on the fact that he had memories of things he knew never happened. He could remember Hughes showing him photographs from a photo album. They weren't just photos of Elysia either, there were pictures of he and Roy when they were younger, pictures of a younger Gracia… like there were pictures from his whole life. These memories, though, weren't really memories at all really, but rather dream. He wondered how it was possible to remember dreams though, because he didn't dream, nor did he sleep.

This thought led him to wonder how he knew all of the texts and stories he'd never read before, and why he felt like he was so close to Mom even though she was gone. The more he thought about all of these things, the more he began to get a strange feeling in the back of his thoughts… like something here was going to change… drastically.

"EDWARD!!!" a female voice screamed angrily, as a wrench flew toward them and hit his older brother in the head. Edward fell to the ground clutching his head, but they both noticed how the wrench returned to the girl who'd thrown it… almost like a boomerang.

"That's not even normal!" Edward yelled, standing up, but still holding his head tenderly, "And that really hurt!"

Winry ignored him, instead, running up to Alphonse and hugging him the best she could without injuring herself, "Hi Al!" she said beaming, "If you guys were going to drop by, you could have at least called." she remarked, then turned to Edward with an evil glare, "Unless that is… you've ruined your automail again… then I'll just have to kill you." she threatened, holding the wrench up menacingly.

"No actually, it's in perfect condition." Edward replied, completely forgetting the concussion he probably had. He actually sounded quite proud of himself, rolling up the sleeve of his coat and taking off his right glove to show off his neatly polished almost new looking automail.

Winry just stared at it for a moment, looking absolutely ecstatic, and for a moment, both brothers thought she was going to cry. "You mean… you actually took care of it?" she asked, clasping her hands together and grinning, "And you actually just came for a visit?"

Edward smiled sheepishly and scratched the base of his braid, "Yeah, actually…" he muttered.

Winry squealed with delight, and hugged both of the brothers, still mindful of the sharp points on Alphonse's armor, "Thank you." She said quietly, "You have no idea just how much this means to me…


AM: I really like Winry… and I always feel sorry for her when Alphonse and Edward just show up for automail repairs or whatever. So… I decided to be nice to her. She really just wants to spend time with her childhood friends like she used to, right? (Oh yeah, and AlWin in this... eventually...) And just so I don't get any questions about it: Just because I've watched the anime doesn't mean that I like it… quite the contrary actually… So then, Roy wasn't the one who killed Winry's parents (I've always hated that… I wish they hadn't done that…) –grin- right, onto my little comments.

(1) The laundry soap thing… it came from the origin of the term "Soap Opera" because when they were still listened to on the radio, soap companies often sponsored them… Of course that was in like the 1920's in the States, wasn't it? So I'm in the future a bit… Oh well…

(2) Tori-kun interjects that it came from me… even though that's kinda obvious….

TK: Yeah yeah… whatever…
AM: And now there's your nice long chapter… well not really long… average length for me. And don't worry, you will get to hear Kameko explain her plan… but that's in the next chapter…. XD and I'm in too much pain to fight with Tori, so I'm leaving.

-Ai

Minako-baka