So, Flora, Clara to Mustang but Flora still to everyone else, had finally found a confidante. After Mustang had told her of his sacrifice for Edward's alchemy, they literally sat on the floor of the library and just talked. She found it amazingly comforting to know she could talk freely to her commanding officer—She could tell him about her father, about her secret love for alchemy, even about little things, like how weird it was to see Edward only have to clap his hands when she had to draw a circle. Things that she couldn't speak about with anyone else. It all just spilled out of her without her being able to catch any of it, and Mustang took it all surprisingly well. She even told him about going through puberty and using alchemy to get rid of her acne and period pains, to which Mustang claimed was cheating.

So when Mustang leaned against the wall of the library under the dark glow of the lamp and smiled at her as she was perched on a pile of books, and said, "So have you found someone here in Central worth perusing?" She almost fell over.

"What?" Clara yipped, "Of course not. I've been a little busy trying to stay alive!"

"Don't be so surprised in me asking." Mustang waved away her worries, "The best way to find your one true love is to fight for your life alongside them."

Clara made a face, "But I've only fought alongside—"

"Edward."

That was another thing they had spoken about just a few minutes prior. How, no matter what conversation they were having, it always seemed to go back to Edward Elric. He seemed to be the driving force of life in general, with his entire spark.

Clara was blushing madly at the mere mention, and she shook her head, "Don't be ridiculous. Edward surely has someone."

"Used to." Mustang corrected, "It didn't work out." He shifted his weight and pulled a book from behind his back, "He's not the love type, you know."

"So he's single?" Clara asked.

Mustang glanced up at her and smiled, "Single."

Clara couldn't hide her blush while she absently picked up another book and moved it, only to have something to do, or to move. Mustang watched her keenly while she did so.

"I love someone." Mustang pointed out. This caused his subordinate to glance up at him, curious as to how the great General Roy Mustang could love anyone, and he continued, "I've loved her for years. Ever since I first fought with her. That's how I know you love Edward."

"But everyone says your single." Clara pointed out, trying to ignore his assumption, "There's been so many rumors."

"Sure." Mustang said, as he looked past Clara to the window where he could see the sky, "There has to be rumors. I needed to protect her, you know."

"Is she pretty?" Clara asked.

"Gorgeous." Mustang mused, his voice low and relaxed.

"She is." Clara agreed, causing Mustang to glance at her sharply, confused, "It's Hawkeye, isn't it?"

It looked for a moment that Mustang was going to yell at her, but his face quickly morphed into a smile and he said, "Yeah. It is."

"So then why do you keep it secret?" Clara asked, "Why tangle with other woman when you have the one you want? That's a rumor as well—you and Hawkeye."

"For protection." Mustang said again, "She's still my subordinate, you know. It's a little more difficult when you work together. If she was a civilian, well, it'd be easier…"

"That's really sweet." Clara mused, and Mustang shook his head at her, amused. The two sat in silence while Mustang stared out through the window once again, thinking.

This silence was broken by Clara's small voice, "So there's no point in ever loving Edward, then."

"There are some things you sacrifice when you're military dogs, yes, and a normal relationship would be one of them." Mustang confirmed. "But then again, you joined the military in your own free will, against the wishes of your father. How honest and domestic did you think your life was going to be?"

"I thought I would do my time with the military to pay for university and work as a surgeon for the rest of my life..." Clara stated.

"The military is like a disease." Mustang stated, "Once you've been exposed to it, you'll never completely rid yourself of it. Just look at Tim Marcoh—he was running away from the military for years. We still found him." Then he got up from where he was sitting and moved to the window to open it and let some of the fresh air in, "And that was Edward's plan as well. Use the military for a few years for access to resources, then resign the moment he could. And he's still here."

Clara was staring up at Mustang with concern. Had she really made that wrong of a move?

"Your choice." Mustang said while he strolled through the room and went to leave her in the library, grabbing a folder on the way, "Your sacrifice. Though, if you like, I can help you with Edward."

"Oh please don't." Clara asked, "I don't want people getting involved in some silly crush…Please."

Mustang shrugged his shoulders and reminded her, "You're not a child anymore when you join the military, flower." And he left her.

Clara stayed sitting in the middle of the library thinking to herself for a good two hours. She had gotten up during this time to tidy a few papers, but every time she moved, she'd stop and think some more. That's all she seemed to do, that's all she seemed good for. To think. To look pretty, to sway with the winds of her peers, and to quietly think. She thought while she was operating, she thought while studying, she even thought in her sleep, these thoughts causing her to wake up with a start and think about what she had just thought. Edward and Mustang, on the other hand, though thinkers in their own right, were actors. They thought, and then they did. Could she act if need be? Could she sacrifice if need be?

She walked home alone thinking, and when she greeted the other students in her dorm building quietly and explained that she'd be spending the night alone with a book instead of going out to dinner, she was thinking. Her head hurt.

She was sitting on her little couch near her kitchenette absently counting the tiles of her ceiling when she heard a knock. Prepared to explain, once again, that she wanted to be alone that night, Clara pulled herself up from her chair and sauntered over to the door. "I told you, I wasn't really feeling—" But she didn't finish her sentence, for when she opened the door, Edward himself was standing there. "Edward?"

"Hey." Edward greeted smoothly, "Sorry. Mustang wanted me to give you these." He held out a folder for her to take. It was one of the folders that were in the library, with the word MEDICAL RECORDS 1906 written on the top. Oh, she thought sourly, why did you have to do this, Mustang? She took it.

"Thanks." Flora said, "Sorry. Would you like something to drink?"

Edward accepted and she let him into her dorm. He glanced around and said wistfully, "Your apartment looks different when we're not fighting for your life. Look, I never noticed your walls were blue…"

"I painted the walls when I got here." Flora said absently while she opened the folder, confused, "I figured I'd be here long enough, I wanted my surroundings to be—"

"Pretty." Edward finished, "What's in the report that's so important? He called me up personally to deliver it." He stood in the middle of her small hallway, his hands in his pockets, watching her against the light.

Flora pulled out a little note written in Mustang's handwriting, that said, 'Take action.' simply in black pen. She quickly stuffed the piece of paper into the folder harshly, silently cursing the General. She glanced up at a confused Edward, "I made a mistake." She lied, "I got one of my diagnostics wrong."

"Really?" Edward said, annoyed, "What would he know anyway?"

"You'd be surprised, Edward." Flora said kindly as she walked into the kitchen, damning the General to hell and back, "Milk?"

She heard a chuckle behind her as she opened the fridge, "You know I hate milk." She heard Edward say, "Why are you so intent in getting me to drink milk?" But he took a seat at her small kitchen table anyway.

"I just think you should give it a try." Flora said, "I'm your doctor. You should take my advice." She placed the empty glass in front of Edward and went to grab more things from the cabinet.

"That doesn't help." Edward sulked, "A glass of water would be just fine. You don't have to go through all the—what are you doing?"

Flora had taken a tin of cocoa and was putting a couple of spoon-fills into the empty glass. Then she started to pour the milk in, and when Edward had asked, she was in the middle of stirring her concoction. She said smoothly, "Try this before you give up on milk."

Edward narrowed his eyes at the presented glass while Flora went to sit across from him, preparing a glass for her self. Normally, he'd start yelling about how milk was milk no matter what form or flavor, but the chocolate was too tempting. He picked up the glass and took a tentative sip, staring Flora down. Her cheeks flushed under his golden gaze.

Edward put the glass down, a chocolate milk mustache gracing his upper lip, he licked it away and said, "Wow…You really know your milk…"

"You sacrifice some of the nutritional value of normal milk when adding chocolate." Flora explained.

"A worthy sacrifice." Edward mused while taking another sip, "All sacrifices are worthy."

Flora perked, "All of them?"

"If you want it enough." Edward said while sipping, "Why? Have you been thinking about sacrificing something recently?" He spoke as though this was general conversation to him, but it wasn't. Not to normal people. Normal people don't plan sacrifices.

"No, of course not!" Flora bluffed, "I just had a conversation with Mustang about the Gate."

Edward stopped his sipping abruptly and would have slammed the chocolate milk on the tabletop if it hadn't been Flora's. He gave her an intense look, "What?"

"The Gate." Flora said, "You know, it's the—"

"I know very well what the Gate is." Edward snapped, "What did he tell you about it?"

"He told me about how someone might have to pay a toll…" Flora whispered, suddenly aware of his attitude. So much for "taking action" tonight, whatever that meant. She hid the folder on the counter smoothly.

"Did he mention any particular…tolls?"

"Only his own." Flora stated.

Edward seemed to relax as he leaned back on the chair, and he reached up to paw at his hair. Flora gave him a look. He explained softly, "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. I'm sure you're aware of that."

"Equivalent exchange."

"This exchange that occurs…" Edward continued, "It's not just alchemic. It's humanity in itself. We as humans must give to take, must take to give, and must keep a balance between the two for our lives to be in harmony with others. If this harmony is out of balance, we have disagreements. Think of the very rich man in a village of the poor, for example."

"And this balance." Flora ventured, "Applies to everything?"

"Everything." Edward said, "Even you have sacrificed bits of your life to be here. I have, Mustang has, it's how we keep going. Without sacrifice, we have no growth. Without growth, we don't move forward."

"What have you given up?" Flora said, leaning on the table to listen to him, "For the military." She could have turned on the kitchen light so that she could see him clearly, instead of the single warm lamp, but she liked how cozy this was.

"Everything, almost." Edward said, "Freedom, time, love, even time with Alphonse."

"And was it worth it?"

Edward had gone back to sipping his chocolate milk, watching her. He said softly, "Think of this chocolate milk, for example. You've given me milk, which is apparently good for you. But to get me to drink it, you've added chocolate and sugar. If I were to drink chocolate milk for the rest of my life, I would technically be healthier than I would be otherwise. So I end with a profit, right?"

Flora nodded, "But you could be allergic to cocoa for all I know. Or sugar intolerant."

"Sure." Edward said, "And that's the risk I took for trying it."

"Are you saying that you're willing to take risks to try new things?"

"If they are going to taste good." Edward said, "I wasn't about to try milk with pepper or salt."

Flora nodded and mused, "So you have to want to take the risk."

"To sacrifice." Edward concluded, and he held up his finger and waved it in a circle, "Full circle. That's humanity. And milk." He sipped.

"And flowers." Flora added.

Edward laughed at the old joke, "And trees!"

Flora smiled at him while he took another sip, savoring the chocolate. He had relaxed since his outburst; it was the first time she'd actually seen him relaxed. She took another sip of her own chocolate milk and realized she put too much chocolate in.

"I should go." Edward said finally, finishing his glass and getting up to place it in the sink, "Alphonse will be wondering where I've ran off to. I was only supposed to be gone for a few moments, you know."

"Sure." Flora said, deflated, while Edward went to take her empty glass and put it in the sink for her. He washed them both silently while she thought, watching him. So many things have been on his shoulders; she could see how one shoulder was higher than the other. His footing was unbalanced as well, one was heavier. Then she cursed herself for thinking and not acting once again. Disappointed in herself, she slumped in the chair and resolved to finish her novel before the next morning.

She only perked up when she felt something soft and warm against her cheek, and Edward had reached around the back of the chair to squeeze both her shoulders reassuringly in his kiss, and he reminded her in a soft voice, "Equivalent exchange."

Edward walked home smirking; Flora spent the night thinking and feeling her cheek.

_
Hi all! thanks so much for reading! Sorry I've been MIA. I'm working on some other writing projects and Fanfiction is meant to just be when I let off steam. Don't worry though I'll finish this. :) This chapter is mainly just some fluff. The next one will have more plot again!