Hey all! Well, here it is finally. Chapter ten. Ooo, I've just been waiting until this story hit double digits. I'm so happy right now. Oh, but I'm chattering. And here I promised I'd keep chatter to a minimum...sigh. Two more reveiws, since three seems to much for my story to handle a chapter. growls

Journey Again

Chapter 10: Tough Customers

Edward strode down the street, his hat pulled securely over his ponytail to repel the persistent rain. Glancing up, he wondered when it would ever stop. Six days now it had been raining without mercy. All he wanted was a little peace. To make it worse, there was thunder rolling around in the distance. From the way the wind was blowing, Ed knew that storm would be over them by tomorrow and gone another day or two. Then, hopefully, the rain would halt completely.

Still, that wasn't much of his worry. As he approached his old house, a sneeze blew from his body. A violent one that almost made his chest burn. "Maybe Al was right," he muttered to himself. "Maybe I am getting sick…" With a shake of his head, he jumped up the stairs and hurried in the door to the empty house. This was probably the last time he'd ever have a need to look at it.

There wasn't much good that came from this place, nothing that attached him to it dearly. The only thing he regretted was that he was giving up his first house so soon. With his scraps of money he had paid for this place and had kept his little brother fed and taken care of. After all that, he was beginning to wish he was back in Central being the military's puppy. He had been to young to be a full grown dog to them, but he was at least their puppy. Like Danni was Winnie's puppy.

They had expected to be able to train and discipline him like any other puppy, they had expected some kid they could manipulate. He was sure that's what most of the higher ups saw. That or they laughed at the thought. Until they saw his skill. To be twelve and have the skills he had. It had probably made the others jealous. A smirk climbed upon his face as he thought of how he'd gotten in. He had made flowers. Of all the things he could have done, he'd made flowers out of a dangerous situation. Still, it had gotten him what he wanted.

Just as he resolved to go make sure the house was still in perfect form, a knock echoed from behind him. "Yes?" he replied in a grown up way, jumping a bit as he saw Riza was the one knocking.

"This was your house?" she replied in shock.

"What's wrong honey?" Roy's voice echoed from behind. Ed's brain lit up in fireworks. This Roy's family wanted to buy his house. This Roy, someone he would kill if he had the chance now because this personality was overboard. If Roy ever met Roy…well, it would be a nightmare. Roy Mustang would probably light up this Roy in seconds just by how immature this Roy was.

"This is the Elric house!"

"Is that so?" Edward wanted to growl, like any good guard dog. Roy spoke as though he'd known this all along and planned on all this.

"Are you sure you want to even check it out?" Her voice was trembling with mock-fright. "How do we know that their gypsy friends haven't put hexes over it?"

"I don't believe in those foolish gypsy traditions." Roy quickly made his way up the stairs and rested his arm around his wife's waist. "This house is the perfect size for a small family." Edward nodded, opening the door wider.

"Might I take your hat, sir?" he offered quietly as he placed his own on the rack that was still there. "I just got here from moving the last of my things."

"I can place my own hat." Roy defiantly moved Ed's hat and placed his own in it's place. "Come on, Riza, you need to get out of the cold and rain. For the baby." She nodded as she allowed her husband to pull her in, neither of them removing their soaked shoes, both allowing the mud to sink into the carpet.

"If you would, please…" Edward pulled his own shoes off in an example. "I try to keep a really clean house, and taking off muddy wet shoes helps keep it so."

"You talk as though you still own it."

"I own it until you buy it and I hand over the deed." Roy looked at him, both sets of eyes glaring at each other in defiance. "Now, if you will, I wish to show you the kitchen. I have kept the refrigerator and the china where they are here, gifts along with the house." He hurried towards the kitchen, almost fearing what they would think of the dear old stove. It was his deepest hope he could trick them, but something inside was saying 'no such luck.'

"What is that?" was the first thing that escaped Riza's mouth with a hint of horror. "Is that thing…a…stove?"

"Yes, although you don't need to use it as such. This is a very old home, but it has been kept good due to renovations. Now, Al and I couldn't afford a stove, so we just used this old one. Even if you won't be cooking with it, the thing still keeps nice warmth in the winter." He glanced back at them, only to find that they had long lost interest and were inspecting the refrigerator and the china that was stacked up elegantly in the cupboard.

"This is fine indeed," he heard Roy compliment. "You must do something right to afford these." Edward opened his mouth to say that they were just sort of something he had acquired from a dead friend, but thought better.

"Would you like to see the upstairs now? It's nothing amazing, but there are two bedrooms, each with their closet, and a bathroom. A typical townhouse."

"Oh, yes!" Riza cheered. She was excited to see where her baby would be spending his days and nights, where he would be growing up for the next few years. That was, until they had another child or two and had to find something bigger.

"Well lets go then." Ed put on his best smile as he led her up the stairs, followed by a grumpy Roy. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the house, there was nothing he could complain about. Ed had known it would be tough if everything was perfect, he was just glad nothing wasn't perfect. Slowly, the first bedroom door was opened.

"This room is perfect," Riza sighed. "Isn't it dear? Look at it, the perfect nursery. That window is in just the right spot and the bathroom is right across the hall…" Ed smiled a bit greedily. They were going to pay good money for this perfect little place. He pranced down the hall to open the next door, revealing a nice calming room. This had been where Al had slept, a place that would actually put him to sleep.

"Well," Roy breathed out as he stepped in. "I must say, you have impressed me Elric. When I saw your house was for sale, I swore that no one would ever want to buy it. Now I think that I just might have to. It sure beats the other houses we've seen with their problems."

"Thank you sir," Edward soothed over.

"What's with this sir all the time? You're not in the army, but you have the manners of a well-trained officer."

"Yes, sir, my father fought in…the last war. He barely lived from that, and he died a few years later when my little brother was too young to remember him."

"I have a similar experience with my father. His memory is just shadows to me." Edward braced himself as Roy's hand slapped him approvingly on the back. "How about we go to that dear café of yours and talk about the price?"

"Um…I really must be getting…"

"Nonsense, you can spare a little time for a beer."

"I don't drink beers."

"What man doesn't drink beers?" Roy thought about it for a second. "I suppose being raised by your mother, she probably wouldn't allow the slightest bit of that, would she?"

"No sir."

"Well, there's always a time when a boy has to grow up. Riza! Come on honey, we're going to go get lunch and buy this place."

"Really?" the woman replied with excitement. Edward had to back away so she could worm her bulging belly over to her husband to give him a kiss. It was a rather creepy sight to Ed. He had always noticed that Riza had her eyes on Roy and Roy had his eyes on Riza, even though neither of them seemed aware. It just seemed so odd they had noticed on this side. He wasn't sure he could get used to this.

"But sir…" Ed found himself whispering. "I don't have my money with me…only the deed to the house."

"Well then, I'll treat you," Roy laughed, leading the two down the stairs and out the door, impatiently waiting for Ed to lock the door. "Come along, I want to get there before the lunch rush."

"There's not much of a lunch rush there," Ed whispered, barely loud enough for Roy to hear.

"Are you saying the place isn't very popular?"

"It's more popular at dinner. That's the time when it's hard to get a seat."

"You seem to be there often."

"Just supporting a friend."

"That gypsy?"

"Winnie. The newest waitress there. Her father died recently." Riza crooned out a little whistle of sympathy.

"You really are a sweet boy," he heard her whisper.

"Let's hurry still," Roy said, pulling them down the street. Edward had paused in thought, wondering what felt so strange. The rain was soaking into his scalp when he remembered their hats were still in the house.

"Hold on!" he demanded, running back and busting in, pulling the hats of the rack. "We forgot out hats!" Roy's hand reached up and touched the wet hair that rested up on his head.

"Thank you, for remembering," Riza complimented again. "I can't have my husband getting sick." Roy rolled his eyes in annoyance. He was desperately looking for a flaw to pick on, a flaw that could tear this gypsy lover apart, but there was nothing. Ed was playing all the cards perfectly. And the house was in perfect shape.

"No problem," was the instant reply as Ed handed over the man's hat, stifling another sneeze.

"It seems as though you're fighting off your own cold," Roy joked as he pulled Ed's hat out of his hands, only to pull it down on the blond head. "Like I said earlier about a beer making a boy a man, it also helps cure sickness."

"I've never heard that one."

"You'd be surprised." Ed put on a real smile. For now he could pretend that he was back home in Central, for now he could pretend that Colonel Roy Mustang had married Riza and this was all normal. Except the Gestapo were hard to ignore. Everyone watched as they made their way to the café, settling in comfortably. It was then Ed remembered: Winnie and Emilie had their lunch time together here.

"What's wrong?" Riza asked sweetly. "Are you afraid that gypsy girl is going to hex you?"

"No…" Ed whispered. "I'm afraid Winnie will see me here. She has lunch here every day…I don't want to upset. It's sort of hard to help someone who's mad at you."

"That's true enough…oh, waitress!" Riza called out to the first girl she saw, and Ed almost cried. There, with her dark brown hair tied back in a ribbon, was Emilie. He pulled his hat down and looked to the table, hoping with all his might that she wouldn't see him.

"Yes?" Emilie shied over to them, her tray carefully balanced on her hip.

"Might we all three have the house special?"

"Of course!"

"Two beers and water," Roy demanded coldly, giving Ed a little push. All the boy did was grunt in agreement. There was nothing else he really could do. "Are you feeling alright?" There was a faint nod as Emilie slipped away, disappearing behind the door to fill up the drinks and send out the order. "What's wrong Elric?"

"Could you call me Ed please?" was the reply as Ed looked up. "I just don't want her to see me. She thinks I'm very closely tied into the military because of something my brother and I were talking about…she'd probably throw those beers at us instead of serving us."

"You two had something going on?"

"No! Nothing like that…I just looked after when she was hit by a car. See, she's not really a gypsy. She just has the looks of one because of all the different cultures her family is related to. They…they came from America around nineteen hundred to live with their German relatives and have been here ever since, even through the last war."

"You believe her stories?"

"There's no proof to deny them."

"Gypsies are storytellers, born to lie."

"What if it's the truth? How can you tell that it's not?" Roy opened his mouth to contradict him, but found no come back. "Ah, see? There's a reason behind my insanity."

"You are a gypsy lover, aren't you?"

"Not a gypsy lover, just not a gypsy hater."

"An interesting concept indeed." Roy smiled widely as Emilie appeared out of the door that led to the kitchen and back room. "Perhaps it's a novel concept."

"Roy?" Riza asked sweetly. "Are you having a change of heart all of a sudden?"

"Perhaps, we'll have to see…Edward, what are you doing hiding your face like that? There is no need to do so, you are a paying customer after all, giving her the paycheck." Emilie set down the drinks, unaware of the conversation that was taking place as Winnie had just walked in.

"Emilie!" Winnie called. "Please don't tell me you still have some tables to serve."

"I'll be taking over now," Gretel cheered as she pushed Emilie towards Winnie's table. "You go have fun with your friend and we'll bring out your meals."

"Thank you Gretel," Emilie crooned back, handing over the tray and allowing Ed to glance up as she made her way to Winnie's table.

"If I didn't know better I'd say that gypsy put a spell on you," Roy hinted.

"Huh?" Ed whispered, glancing away from her in a hurry.

"You. Have. A. Crush. On. Her." The words came out choppy and deliberate. Roy was just as playful as ever.

"She's a friend! I just don't want her to hate me…like she does now."

"Oh? Well…I suppose it's only natural…" Roy paused, realizing what he was saying. "Why am I…?"

"It's your nature."

"Huh?"

"Your nature makes you nice, underneath all your sarcasm. Trust me; you're just like Colonel Mustang, just a little less polished."

"Is that who you thought I was?"

"Yeah. Except…Colonel Mustang could never tell the girl he liked that he liked her…She'd probably have grabbed the guns and ask him if he'd cracked his head on something, that's how strange it would be." Roy paused, wondering how a kid like Ed sounded so wise and knowing. "Even though I hated him at times, he taught me more than I'll ever be able to understand."

"Really? So are you sort of his little monk boy?" Riza let out a little giggle at the thought. "After all, Buddhist monks carry on the wisdom of Buddha…so I suppose you are a…em…Mustangist Monk?" Ed's face snapped to anger. He had just admitted that Roy was smart and now he had become Roy's monk…how did that happen?

"He's to sarcastic to ever be remembered as someone smart! Honestly, you think he's being smart and all of a sudden he bursts out laughing and it turns out it was all a joke. No one would want to be a monk to his sort of way of life."

"Is that so? And for a second you were talking about him as though he were your father…or someone else worth idolizing." Ed stopped short. It had happened…He had sort of let Roy take the place of a father that was never there, that wasn't a part of his life. Fathers were meant to always look after their kids, tease them and joke around with them and raise them…It took Roy's look-alike to make Ed realize just how dear he held his military family.

"Ed…what's wrong?" he heard Riza's sweet voice call out all motherly.

"You're going to be good parents," was the reply. "Roy? Just don't go and die on the kid, ok? Kids need fathers. Your kids would be unlucky if they found their father-figure in someone else." The room seemed to fall to a hush, except for the giggling at the girls table across the room.

"Oh, Emilie?" Edward heard Winnie speak. "You'll never guess what Ed kept, when he sold almost everything."

"Some family heirloom?" was the shy reply.

"No, something important to you."

"My mother's dress?" The girl appeared to be in shock. Edward almost laughed from his seat across the room as he attempted not to gag at the smell of the beer.

"He's not that bad, Emilie. You really should give him another chance. You may find that he is a good friend to have. Someone who will help when times are rough."

"I suppose…I have to be accepting of your friends, because they are your friends after all."

"Just because of that? Gee, aren't you so kind. Whatever happened to just being someone's friend because they are nice and they are a good person? You didn't even take the time to really know him."

"Well…I don't think it's a good idea that we hang out to much anyway."

"Oh? Why…why not?"

"He's got a reputation, right? That in itself is bad enough." The voices soon became hushed, lost in their own world as Roy picked up on his own conversation about his plans for his son. Edward just smiled and nodded, pretending he cared as his mind went completely to Emilie and Winnie, wondering how their conversation was going.

"You sound like you care about him."

"If he's as nice as you say, who wouldn't? I mean…He took me to the doctor and paid the bill and all that…"

"Is that so?" Winnie knew the whole story, but it was fun to hear it from Emilie. It meant Emilie was reconsidering running away. It meant that soon she might come home to stay with them and their little family. She was just what they needed after all. Someone had to be the glue that held everything in place.

"Yeah. And he didn't complain when I ruined dinner…Al just made something better. Usually I can cook, but I'm actually just most used to camp fires…I traveled a lot when I was younger. Not many gypsies do that anymore, really. At least, few that I know. I'm sure there are several that do. Just none that I met in the little towns. But my family, we traveled."

"It must have been fun, to see all different sights. I've been stuck in this city all my life."

"I wish I could live in one city. Have a family and all that in a nice comfy home."

"You could…you know."

"How? I'm a gypsy in this sort of world. My home is a room in the back of a café."

"You could…stay with me and my other roomies."

"Who are your other roomies?"

"Why don't I let you meet them on your own?"

"Huh?"

"We're probably going to have a house warming party, except, we have no one to invite. They have no friends, I have one. So…if you came we'd be able to have our party."

"Is that so? Are you sure they wouldn't mind a gypsy being there?"

"Why would they? I wouldn't have roomies that wouldn't like you. Honestly, you are so fun!"

"Is that so? Well then…I suppose that I'll just have to come. You can't have a party without the life of the party." Winnie let out a nice giggle as she spooned down her soup.

"Then that settles it! In three days you will come home and spend the night at my house. Oh…and if you like my home, you know you're welcome to make it yours as well."

"What?" Emilie jumped back at the offer. "What do you…mean?"

"You could be a part of our family, if you'd like. Although, you'll have to be tolerable. My roomies are boys after all. Which is the main reason I'm inviting you…It's kind of creepy being the only girl in a house with two handsome men like them." Emilie couldn't help but giggle a little, and then the two started into outright laughter.

Edward, on the other side of the room, heard the laughter picking up and soon fell out of conversation with Roy, paying attention once more to the girls. "Ed…" Roy said calmly. "Ed!"

"Huh?" the boy replied, glancing back.

"You were staring again. You're never going to convince me that you don't like her even a little bit. Every time you hear her voice you have to look over at her."

"I'm just…worried. She gets into a lot of trouble, even for being, well, a gypsy. She's just so prone to accidents…And I just barely got to know her. In the two days, she'd been hit by a car and burned herself on that old-fashioned stove we have in the house."

"Is that so? Hm…maybe it's not so safe with children…"

"It's fine, so long as you don't heat it when the baby is old enough to get around. You can get a real stove. Al and I could never actually afford to replace it…We're still going to have a hard time getting by even now that we're going to live in a house with two incomes and all the money we made by selling our things."

"That's so sad," Riza whispered. "Didn't your family leave you with anything?"

"Not our father or our mom, and I don't know of any other living relatives we had." He paused, wondering if Envy was someone who could have been considered as living. It didn't matter at this point anyway because Envy was dead as well. As was Envy's mother.

"So you've made your own livings all this time? No wonder you haven't signed up for the military like a normal man."

"I lost my brother once, a long time ago. We're finally together again and I'm going to make sure he has a good life. He deserves that much, for what he's been through because of me."

"You sound so grown up," Roy laughed. "But you're just barely and adult. I wonder what a child could have gone through to grow up so, well, grown up." Edward let out a sigh as Roy went into his usual sarcastic self. A serious conversation had gone straight back to sarcasm.

Ok! Since no one seems to pay attention when I ask for favors at the top of the chapters, I'm going to ask for one here. What do you all think I can do to re-write the summary and make it more entrancing. Something that makes people go: OOO! That looks like it's going to be an AMAZING story. (Even though it's not really anything special...90 of book sales happen because of 1) The summary and 2) Publicity. I'm not that popular at the moment, but I know a better summary would get more people's attention.)