I'm ALLLLLIIIIIIIIIVE! ^_^'''
Sorry I haven't updated in like...4 weeks, school's catching up with me now and I have finals soon so not much time for writing, forgive me and enjoy! Specially since I left you all on a cliff-hanger(sorry!)

It was late at night when the doctor finally arrived. Everybody patiently waited in the living room while Dr. Smith was upstairs with Sam. Winry, Mei and Pinako were sitting on the couch together, Alphonse leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, and Edward paced the room for probably the hundredth time that night.

"Damn it, what's taking so long?" he cursed under his breath.

"Why don't you sit Brother?" Alphonse said calmly.

"I can't..." he replied looking at the floor walking like a lion back and forth in a cage, his mind was way too full to stop. He felt as if the doctor had been with Sammy forever, what was wrong with him? He was just fine a few hours ago. Did he eat something bad? Was is something they did? He glanced up for a moment and could see his wife on the sofa with Pinako, she looked like she was lost in thought as well. He imagined she was probably thinking the same things he was.

Finally Dr. Smith came downstairs removing his stethoscope, a look of deep concern on his face. Everyone immediately stood up impatient for answers. The exasperated look on the doctor's face already indicated it wasn't good news,

"Well I was afraid of this..." The doctor sighed, "This has been going around, I've already treated 5 people this month."

"What has been going around Doctor?" Alphonse spoke up when nobody else did.

"It's a severe illness, it's symptoms include fatigue, high temperature, and difficulty in breathing." he paused for a moment, clearing his throat before continuing, "So far the people infected have gotten over it...but..." Everyone froze, wanting to know what he was going to say, but at the same time they didn't, "But so far my patients have been at least seven years old..."

Ed could feel the pit of his stomach ache, "What are you saying...?"

"I'm saying that his immune system may not be strong enough that he may not overcome the illness, I'm not saying he couldn't but...if he can't..."

"You mean...he could die!?" Ed yelled enraged, everyone else dead silent.

"Well his body is definitely fighting the infection-"

"Well can't you do something! Isn't there some kind of medicine you could give him!?"

"Unfortunately no, this is a fairly new virus...all we can do is wait and hope for the best"

"What the hell kind of doctor are you?" Edward balled up his fists, his brows furrowed as if he was about to explode, "So what are we supposed to do! Just wait for him to die?!-"

"Edward!" Pinako yelled out to quiet Ed down. He looked over to Winry, her face completely blank, she blinked and walked past them all upstairs to Sam's room, not a word coming from her.

"I'll be back tomorrow" Dr. Smith said quietly, "Keep his temperature down, make sure he has plenty of fluids, and let me know if anything changes."

"We will doctor, thank you" Pinako politely walked him to the door, everyone still silent.

Alphonse slowly walked towards his tense brother, placing one hand on his shoulder, "Brother..." Ed quickly shrugged his shoulder to get his hand off of him, he didn't want to be pitied right now.

"You should go be with your wife and son, Ed" the older woman said solemnly. Ed nodded and proceeded up the staircase. He stood outside his son's door, he could hear Winry quietly sobbing from inside. He slowly opened the door and walked over to where Winry was standing next to Sam's crib. He was laying down heavily breathing, his eyes closed. Edward didn't know what to say, nothing he could say would make this better. So he put his arms around his wife, she returned the embrace and rested her head against his chest, softly crying. All Ed could do was let her cry, trying to hold back tears of his own.

The next day nothing had changed. Sam's temperature was still high, and he hadn't opened his eyes at all. Edward and Winry didn't leave his side however, watching over him making sure he didn't get worse. Dr. Smith came over later that day to check up on him, not that it mattered.

"Well it looks like he's not out of the hole yet" Dr. Smith sighed looking over Sam again.

"We've been doing all the things you've told us to doctor" Winry said standing beside the doctor, Al, Mei, and Pinako were also in the room listening.

"Well then we've done all we can, all we can do now is hope for the best" He put his equipment back into his bag. Edward standing beside the crib stewing in grief. Just wait? Is that all they can do?

"Oh one more thing" Dr Smith said remembering, "I'm going to need to take some blood samples from all of you"

Everyone perked up,

"What for?" Ed asked.

"Well this sickness is contagious, I just need to test if any of you happen to carry the virus"

Edward and Winry both felt their hearts drop, they couldn't imagine what they would do if they found out their son got sick because of them.

"But none of us are sick" Alphonse spoke up questioningly.

"That is true, but even if you are not affected by it the virus could still be in your body" the doctor pulled the first syringe from his bag, "If any of you do have it, it could also help up find a remedy for it."

"I'll go first" Winry held out her arm willingly. Dr. Smith carefully inserted the needle and took a small amount of blood from her arm, then carefully bandaged the area to make the bleeding stop. Everyone else lined up to get their blood drawn as well. As soon as he was done Dr. Smith said his goodbyes, wishing them the best and left. Afterwords everyone in the room was quiet again. Ed and Winry stood next to each other looking down at their weakened child, the rest of the group stood behind, just watching unable to do anything to help.

"Mei" Edward said softly addressing the young Xingese princess, "Do you think...Alkahestry can help this?"

Mei was taken aback slightly at his comment, she bowed her head sadly, "I'm sorry Edward...but Alkahestry can only heal mild ailments, and even if I could try...I don't know what exactly is wrong with Sammy...or where the problem is...I could end up causing more damage" Mei tensed up trying not to cry, "I...I'm really sorry" Alphonse put his arm around his love gently resting his head against hers, reassuring her that it was alright. Edward didn't speak, he had no way of expressing how he felt through words, he went up to the wall, leaning against it, his anger building up inside of him ready to burst. Without even thinking he took his right first and punched it against the wall with all his force, causing everyone to jump. Pain quickly rushed to his hand, forgetting that he no longer had automail and could feel the impact.

Winry could only start crying again, her grandmother comforting her, while Mei stood there feeling absolute guilt, not knowing what any of them were going through. She noticed Alphonse wasn't beside her anymore, so she quietly exited the room wondering where he went. Mei walked through the house until she found him outside, hands in his pocket, looking distraught.

"What are you doing out here?" Mei carefully asked approaching him.

"I just needed to get out of there." Alphonse put his hand to his face, "It's like that time all over again..."

"What time?" Mei put her hand on his shoulder gently.

"...when my mother died" Mei lifted her hand off of him. He had told her about his mother and how she died of an illness that she couldn't fight off. She was bed-ridden for a long time, barely awake and too weak to move. She tried to fight it off and recover, but sadly it wasn't enough, and she died peacefully. He told her about how broken it made him and his brother, and how they would do anything to see her again...even performed the ultimate sin of alchemy.

"It's kind of pathetic..." Al said thoughtfully, "Here I am grieving, and my emotions cannot even compare to how my brother and Winry are feeling..." He wiped his eyes a little with his thumb and index finger, "I just don't like being so...useless-" he stopped when he felt Mei's warm body press up against him, her arms wrapping around his neck, her petite body requiring her to stand on her tip toes to reach his face, where she softly kissed his cheek. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist holding her close, not wanting to let go.

Alphonse bent his head down, whispering into Mei's ear, "I love you."

"I love you too Alphonse..." Mei replied still buried in his chest. The couple stood there for a long time, not moving an inch.

Winry soaked the cold wash cloth again in the small bowl of water on the table, gently wringing some water out, then laid it flat on her son's hot and sweaty forehead. She felt Ed's hand touch her shoulder, but she didn't take her eyes off of Sam.

"You should take a break..."

"I'm not leaving him" Winry quickly retorted, her eyes glued to her son.

"Come on...you haven't slept in over 24 hours" Edward tried to talk to her, "I'll keep an eye on him...I promise I won't leave him alone"

She turned towards her husband, her eyes were bloodshot from a mixture of tears and lack of sleep, it wasn't until Ed pointed it out that Winry realized how exhausted she was.

"Please Winry..." Edward pleaded, "I'll wake you if anything changes...you need to rest"

Winry didn't say a word. She moved past Ed brushing against his shoulder, she looked back once more and left the room, hopefully to get the sleep she deserves. Edward took his position next to the crib, watching Sam struggle with every breath, his face covered in beads of sweat. His hand was still throbbing from thrusting against the wall earlier but his pain was probably nothing compared to what Sam was going through. He reached his arm down into the crib, putting one hand on his son's head, feeling hotter than before.

"You can't die..."Edward whispered to the toddler, "You're an Elric...we've defied the odds before...always overcome every struggle...you can't let this beat you..." Edward choked up for a moment, using his free hand to wipe tears from his eyes, regaining his composure, "I don't know if this matters or not...I'm not exactly a big believer in any kind of God...but if one does exist...then just this once..." He couldn't even finish, he couldn't stop the tears this time, they ran down his face and fell to the floor. He stood there for hours like this, hoping...begging for a miracle...