TN: Remember Alice is Little Red. So when you see Alice, it's Little Red.

A sweet smelling scent wafted into the Elrics' room. Edward's nose twitched as he sniffed the air again. It reminded him greatly of pancakes. There was a certain familiarity to the pancakes that snapped Ed awake. He sat up with a start. He sniffed the air again, to be reminded of the familiar smell. Ed quickly dressed, pulling on pants and a simple shirt. He didn't get to tie his hair in a braid yet, and left it down. He ran down the stairs, determined that he will find what he seeks. The smell was too familiar.

Cinnamon and blueberries. Pancakes. That could only mean one thing.

"Evans!" Ed called as he raced down the steps. He bolted into the kitchen to see a brunette at the stove. Ed stared in hope. The girl before him flinched, and she quickly strung a red cloth around her face. She whirled around to meet with Ed's hopeful golden orbs. When Edward saw the girl before him, his heart sank. Ed wondered why he was so upset, but shook the feeling off.

"Elric?" the girl asked. "You're sure up early."

Ed shook his head as he stared at the wall. "When I smelt cinnamon and blueberry pancakes, it just reminded me of someone is all…" Ed replied and then didn't meet the girl's eyes. "What are you doing up so early, Alice?"

Alice perked up at the mention. She swiftly turned back to her pan and flipped the pancake over. "I'm making breakfast, duh."

Silence fell over the two as Alice continued cooking. Ed didn't notice earlier, but something was up with Alice. She wasn't the same as before. He guessed it was a good thing, instead of her being delusional and bed ridden. But something was different. Something was almost…cheerful about her. It was unlike her to be like that. At first she was uneasy and cautious. Always on alert. Now it looked like she didn't give a care in the world. She was cheerful and easy going. There was still an element of alertness about her, the way her shoulders were tensed up. But for the most part, she seemed…well…like a girl.

Alice eased the pancakes off of the pan and onto two plates. Ed rose an eyebrow. What was another plate doing there? Ed scanned the counter and found another plate with an entire stack of pancakes on them. Ed counted. Four…ten…fifteen…seventeen…twenty. There were twenty pancakes. Ed rose an eyebrow. How long has she been up?

Alice turned and started walking towards the table with two plates in hand. She set one in front of herself and then one in front of Edward. Ed stared at it in surprise and then back up at Alice. Although you couldn't see it, she was smiling.

"What?" she asked. "Never had someone make you breakfast before?" Ed blinked his eyes as he looked down sheepishly and began to eat. He flinched in surprise as he bit into it. Alice rose an eyebrow. "What?" she asked.

Ed looked up at her. "It's just that…" Ed looked down at the pancakes again. "You put cinnamon and blueberries in it, right?"

"Yeah…" she said and then rubbed the back of her head. "I know it's a weird combination, but-"

"Opposites attract, right?" Ed finished for her.

Alice stared at him in surprise. A tint of pink came on her cheeks and she looked away. "How'd you know what I was going to say?" she asked, somewhat annoyed.

Ed chuckled as he ate another bite of the pancakes. "Because a friend of mine used to say the same thing," Ed replied. He stared at Alice whose ears began to burn pink. "You know…"

"I know what?" Alice asked, biting into one of her pancakes.

"You remind me a lot of my friend," Ed started. "You know her, I think."

"According to your outburst earlier when you ran downstairs, I guess her name's Evans huh?" Alice asked.

A tint of pink brushed onto Ed's cheeks. "Y-Yeah," Ed stammered.

"Evans is her last name, right?" she asked again. Ed nodded. "What's her first name?"

"Erika," Ed said quickly. Alice rose an eyebrow. "Her name's Erika. Erika Violet Evans."

"Erika Violet Evans…" Alice said, as if testing it out. "That's Sapphire Spark, right?"

"That's her State Alchemist title," Ed replied. "I got a letter from her saying she's at the Creta border."

Alice nodded. She stared at Ed for a while, and then sighed gently. Her eyes gleamed over in some unreadable emotion and then she put her fork down. "Don't worry," she said.

Ed looked up. "Huh?"

"I said don't worry," she repeated. "The Creta border isn't like the Aeruga border. The Cretans have some heart," she added bitterly. Ed stared at her for the bitterness in her was a shuffling behind him, and Ed recognized the voices booming from across the hall.

"Oh, good! Some of Little Red's old fashioned pancakes! I was dying to eat something!" Ed heard Sebastian call as the rest of the Darrell brothers hobbled in.

"My names' Alice now, guys," Alice reminded as she stood up and started serving pancakes. "Only two per person. I made some for all of us, so don't be asking for seconds. I don't want to be using up the Rockbells' pantries just so you five could stuff your faces."

XoXo... A Couple Hours Later ...XoXo

Alice sat at the table with multiple papers surrounding her. She told Edward that this was the last battles' paperwork and some other papers she needed to catch up on. "The military isn't easy going even if I am just a teen," she would mutter to herself each time she moved onto another piece of paperwork. Ed heard some sighs come from her every now and then, and get a little apprehensive. Alice's fever hadn't gone away completely, and everyone thought she might collapse from all the work she was doing. Alice sat in the kitchen furiously signing and working on reports for the entire Aerugan battles. Ed sat across from her reading the book he's been trying to finish.

Ed stared at Alice for a long time. Something was familiar about her. She was acting as if she were at home. She wasn't acting like she'd never seen the place before, which was true. Right? Ed couldn't help but scan her movements in everything she did. She maneuvered around everything and knew where everything was kept even though this was her first time being here. What also caught Ed's eye was her sapphire blue eyes. He was tempted to ask about them, see if she practiced the Art of the Elements, but Alphonse had warned him not to.

Edward watched as Alice's hand moved swiftly across the paper she was currently working on. There was something in the way her handwriting curved and moved fluently on the paper. Her handwriting was a some sort of combination between print and cursive, and it reminded Ed of someone. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but it was familiar. Ed shook his head. That type of writing was common for girls and was easy to write if you're in a hurry.

Ed rose an eyebrow when he saw a picture of the old man who had been killed in front of him. The document was titled 'Sargent Mark Sandusky.' Ed vaguely remembered that was what Alice had called him when he was killed. Ed reached over and slid the picture from the paper catching Alice's attention. Ed stared at the picture in his hand, knowing that this was the man that had been killed right in front of his eyes. Alice sighed in sympathy. She passed the paper to the eldest Elric and repeated what was on it.

"Sargent Mark Sandusky. Worked in the field of battle for forty years, that man," she said grimly.

Ed rose an eyebrow and looked over the paper that was passed towards him. "Mark Sandusky was his name?" Ed asked. Alice nodded.

"Word around the East has it that old man Sandusky lost his sanity at age forty-five," Alice said, a look of recognition in her eyes. "It was said that the pressures of war had finally eaten away at him and the guilt of killing so many people had made him snap."

"He lost his sanity?" Ed asked, trying to make sense of what she just said. Was the man he was speaking to two days ago insane?

Alice shook her head. "I don't think he was insane. That's just that everyone else thought." Alice gathered stray papers and put them in a neat pile, her eyes wavering with sorrow. "Sandusky was a good soldier, and one hell of a friend. He was always the one to save everyone's butts if they were ever on the verge of bleeding to death. He put others in place of his own health. The only thing insane about him was that he could panic over the silliest of things. Thinking the world will end if we just spilled some salt."

Ed stared at Alice for the words she just said. If he panicked over spilling salt, he was insane. Maybe Alice didn't see the insanity, but overall Sandusky seemed like a good guy. Something tugged at Ed's mind though. "You said that the pressure of killing so many people made him insane. I'm not sure if you know her well, but do you think that will make Evans insane?" Ed asked. He had to ask. Just had to.

Alice stared at him for what he just said. Worry was etched into his voice and something was in his eyes that she couldn't decipher. "You mean Sapphire Spark, right?" she asked, some hesitation in her tone. Ed nodded. Alice shook her head. "Sapphire Spark may hate war, but she wouldn't go insane over it. She won't let the anxiety win," Alice reassured. "Besides, she wouldn't kill anyone to make that type of guilt."

Ed looked up at her. "What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"She won't kill anyone. That's something she'll never do," Alice said. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she clenched her hands into fists. "Talking about...Sapphire Spark..."

"What?" Ed asked, eyeing where Alice was going with this.

Something flustered Alice as she refused to look Edward in the eye. "W-What...What exactly is...your r-relationship with her...?" Alice asked, somewhat embarrassed. Or flustered. Ed couldn't tell which.

An involuntary blush crawled up Ed's entire face as he rubbed the back of his neck. His entire face went pink at just the mention of that question. "W-Why do you ask?" Ed managed to squeak out.

That caught Alice off guard as she shrunk in her seat. A lock of chestnut fell in front of her face as she tried to not stutter. "It's just that...You've seemed really worried about her and stuff like that..." Alice said, trying not to seem like a complete dork. "Judging by your concern, I don't know where you stand with her...I-I mean, you keep on saying she's your friend but you seemed...really concerned about her. So...where do you two stand?"

Ed's face flushed pink as his heart seemed to race. That was a good question. Ed never really thought about it before. Where do they stand? Ed had called her his partner, and she vice versa. They would always save each others' lives even if it meant that they'd be killed protecting either one. They'd willingly sacrifice anything for each other; after all, Erika did in fact sacrifice her entire life in Amestris so that Alphonse would get his body back. And she had said that she did that for Ed.

That's what people who love each other do...

Ed shook his head free of any of those thoughts. She'd always tease him about his height. She'd always karate chop him in the head. Erika would always seem to bicker with Ed for the stupidest reason. On the contrary, Ed wasn't so innocent. He's always teasing her about her rigorous training when he was learning about Wind. He'd always tease her about her fiery personality. He would call her girly just to piss her off. He also would make sure to call her out when she was clumsy. But Erika would return that fire with more fire.

That's what old friends do...

Edward scratched the back of his head as he tried to process his and Erika's relationship. They did kiss that one time, but that was because Katie had pushed Erika, and because she was clumsy, she tripped and it resulted in a kiss because Ed tried to catch her. Then there was the times when she'd tried to be nice to Ed. She even visited his mother's grave just to tell her that her sons were okay. She even made a song for the brothers, and saved them numeral times. She even found them a place to stay, plus a job and food. Not only did she try to be nice to Edward, but she also befriended his friends and family. Not only that, she also made sure his brother got a girlfriend by setting him up with Amy. For all the times she would tease him, she'd make up for it by doing multiple nice things for him that out shown the bad things.

Erika also wasn't the only one who did nice things for the other. Edward did in fact save her a lot. There was that time when the gangs in Ashwell almost kidnapped her. Ed sweat dropped. But that was her plan in the first place. And it also resulted in spraining her arm because she had to save him and his brother. After that, he cheered her up when she got freaked out over the book on the Eyes of the Soul. He also saved her when Sikes first tried to kill her. Not only that, but, even though it was the plan, he saved her from the bandit named Kelvin when he was trying to get with Erika. He even saved her from Scar. He even went out of his way to save her from the other side of the Gate.

Ed furrowed his eyebrows at the realization. All the times he helped Erika was in a life or death situation. He only helped Erika when it was a battling matter, or the possibility of someone getting majorly hurt. He never had done anything just to help her on his own time. But only when she was at a risk of getting hurt. Ed mentally kicked himself. Had he really been this inconsiderate? Erika had done so many things just to help him, not counting the times when they were at a risk of dying or getting hurt. She had actually done generally nice things for him just because she thought it would help. And Ed had only done things when they were at a matter of dying or getting hurt.

Ed felt horrible. Now he couldn't pay her back for all the good she did him. He couldn't even be genuine about it now because it would just to repay the debt. He wished he could repay it without feeling as if it were repaying a debt. It's not like Ed didn't care about Erika; he really did. And it's not like he wanted to get rid of her. He wanted her around. Ed's face was traced with pink. That was how crushes felt like...right? Ed didn't know what to make of his and Erika's relationship. It could be called so many things. But there was one thing they agreed on. And one question that made everything go into one label.

Erika smiled as she held out her hand in a fist. "Partners?"

When Ed caught a glimpse of Alice's hopeful blue eyes he chuckled. She reminded him of someone. Ed shrugged. "I don't know what you could call our relationship," Ed admitted. But then he smirked, making Alice's cheeks turn a small shade of pink. "But one thing's for certain."

"What?" Alice asked, somewhat innocently.

"Me and Evans are partners."

BN: So, I decided to make this a fluff chap. I felt that it needed some relief from war. And don't worry Erika/Ed fans! You'll get your most fated reunion of these characters in due time! I'll try to post frequently! OK, after chapter let's say...16. After chapter 16, I'll display the winner for this time's oneshot contest.

If you dont' remember what the oneshot contest is, it's this: I'll ask a question, and the first person to answer it correctly will get to create a oneshot for me to write. It can take place at ANY time, have ANY topic, and can be about ANY character or characters. It could be about ANYTHING. You get to decide.

So, for the time being, I'll ask the question and I will PM you if you are the winner. If you are the winner, create a oneshot for me to write about ANYTHING on this story. Remember, it can be about ANYONE or ANYTHING. It can even be taken place in the past, or even the future. If it fits well with the story, I'll make it a chapter in the story. If it's jsut a super cool idea, I'll post it separately and I will make sure to give you COMPLETE credit.

By the way, I might or might not post it right after chapter 16. It may appear later, depending if I leave a cliffhanger or what not. Anyway, here is the oneshot contest question.

Q: What are the names of the ENTIRE Evans' family? *This includes nicknames, middle names, and the parents.*

UNTIL NEXT CHAP! =:D