Wassup readers? It's me again! This chapter was totally different than the first time I wrote it, and I'm actually really glad of the way it turned out. Here's hoping you guys like it too!

awesome sauce- that episode always makes me so sad!

DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympian s- I could see that happening, most definitely. :3

TaIoFoReVeR523- Thank you so much for all your wonderful insights! They really help! And the contest winners will be support characters that appear frequently in the story, if that answers your question.

Synk- I'm glad you thought so; that was my intention when I wrote this.

ShieruFantumhaiv- Fellow Ranger!

Oh yeah, I'm also a Risembool Ranger now; yay!

And now on with the show!

Chapter 23

Ed and Al burst into the house, which had erupted into mass chaos. General Mahan and EJ's brothers were trying to get up the stairs all at the same time while the agonizing sound of EJ's screams rang through the house. The kids were all cowering on the couch, covering their ears.

Ed grabbed the banister of the stairs and swung himself up and over so he landed right on the stairs, thundering up them past the tangle of arms and legs below him. The screams became combined with sobs; it was heartbreaking to hear. Ed steeled his nerves and slammed open the door to EJ's room.

She had her hands clamped down over her ears and was curled up against the wall in a fetal position, screaming hysterically as tears ran in rivers down her cheeks.

She inhaled in deep gulps of air, causing a high keening sound like she was about to scream again to emerge from her throat.

The only thing Ed could think to do right then was to grab EJ by the shoulders and start shaking her.

"EJ! EJ! Come on you gotta wake up or you're gonna make yourself sick! Hey!" Ed was starting to panic when his right hand slipped, just barely brushing her shoulder blade, and her eyes shot open. She suddenly wrapped her arms around Ed's neck, taking in shaky breaths as she calmed down. Footsteps in the hall made him turn around as best he could in EJ's stranglehold.

"Brother, is everything okay?" Alphonse wondered. Ed could hear the fear in his brother's voice. EJ's grip tightened on Ed's jacket. He didn't answer; he was too freaked out by the situation as a whole, but mainly he was surprised that EJ had latched onto him like she had.

Jeremiah knelt down next to the two of them.

"EJ, you gotta let go." He said gently. EJ shook her head and nuzzled herself deeper into Ed's shoulder.

The blonde alchemist could feel the poor girl's heartbeat thudding through her shirt; whatever had happened had obviously terrified her past the point of rational thought.

"It's not fair." She whispered to where only Ed could hear it. Her grip loosened and Jer laid his little sister back down.

"So what was that?" Alphonse asked once the little kids had settled back down, as had EJ. General Mahan was flexing his right arm and rubbing the back of his neck.

Jeremiah had his head in his hands, Jenny rubbing his shoulders. They'd been spending a lot of time together lately, so it didn't really surprise Ed that Jeremiah's fiancée would be here.

"EJ's got this psychological thing called 'night terrors'; when you come right down to it, she has these nightmares that last forever, and are so realistic that she doesn't wake up from them easily. I don't know what you did Ed, but whatever it was it did the trick." Jer looked at Ed with a look of relief and gratitude, and then leaned back in the chair he was in. Within one second, he was asleep.

"I never got a chance to thank you boys." Jenny said. The Elrics looked at her in surprise. "In all the time I've known her, EJ had always been kind of withdrawn. When she did smile or laugh, it was one of those rare times. But since she's met you, she's smiling and laughing so much more now. It makes everyone so happy to see her like that. So thank you both." Jenny gave them both hugs.

"I have to thank you boys too." Mahan said. "EJ hasn't had a terror that bad in a while, but once you boys got here, they stopped for a few days. You guys must give her some sense of peace; it's lowered the stress level a lot around here."

Edward felt a huge wave of guilt come crashing down on him as he remembered DJ's words; they'd been running through his brain for the longest time now: If you take her away, you're destroying this.

"General, how's your arm?" He wondered. Mahan gave him a curious glance.

"Oh I'm fine; I was just checking to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack. I swear one of these days that girl is gonna kill me." Mahan joked, glancing upstairs.

"She may kill us all Gramps; you're not the only one who was having a stroke back there." Daniel didn't look any better than the rest of them.

"Son, you have to wait until you're at least my age before you can start having strokes." Mahan playfully slapped his grandson upside the head.

Edward felt a little twist of jealousy at that. EJ had grown up with her father; Hoenheim had left when he was just a kid. She'd grown up in a loving family with all these people around her; it had been him, Al, Winry, and Granny ever since Mom died.

"You boys should be heading to bed; it's late. We all should be in bed, quite honestly." Mrs. Mahan said, putting a hand on the general's shoulder. Ed and Al nodded their agreement, heading upstairs to their room.

Ed stopped one last time to check in on EJ; she'd fallen asleep with her necklace on. He didn't want her to get strangled in her sleep . . . so, taking it off and setting it on the nightstand, something caught a hold of his wrist as he left; gently but firmly. Ed looked back over his shoulder at the supposedly sleeping girl.

"I have something I think you should hear." She whispered, pulling Ed back on the bed as she sat up.

"What's wrong?"

EJ took a while to answer, and it must've been really hard for her to say; her grip was starting to cut off the circulation.

"I saw her; I saw Nina." She let go and put her face in her hands.

Ed could only look at her, stunned. His brain was working overtime to make logical sense of how EJ could've seen Nina if. . .

"It's just not fair; I don't get it." Her voice brought Ed back around.

Looking at her right now, it was hard to believe she was almost sixteen; she was so small. But she packed a lot of spirit in that tiny body.

"Although, I understand now: why it bothered you so much when I asked about her. I wouldn't want to be reminded of something like that either. It's sort of like losing a little sister, huh?" She raised her head a little; her eyes seemed to glow.

Right then: all of Ed's attention was on EJ. She slipped her fingers in between his and he felt a shock travel up his arm and across his shoulders, traveling down his spine.

"Are you gonna be okay?" EJ asked him. Ed jumped backwards and off the bed. He hadn't realized just how dangerously and embarrassingly close he'd come to doing the unthinkable. Once his heart stopped racing, Edward stuck his hands in his pockets like nothing had happened.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She smiled. "What about you?"

EJ made that face again. "I'll be okay; I'm just thinkin'-"

"Well that's a scary situation." Ed interrupted. EJ whacked him on the arm.

"Shut up Elric." She was trying hard not to laugh. Then she scowled, got up, and started pushing him out the door.

"You have been awake all night; go to bed already!"

"Okay okay! You don't have to be so forceful!" Ed teased.

And then it happened.

Whether she was aware she was doing it or not, EJ leaned over and gave Ed the tiniest but longest kiss on the cheek.

"Good night Ed." She walked away, giving him one last smile over her shoulder. He stood there for the longest time, his fingers resting on the one spot that was warmer than the rest of his face.

~~EJ~~

I can't believe I just did that! I cursed myself, burying my head in the pillow. I hadn't realized what I'd done until I reached my room and realized my lips were buzzing pleasantly.

Still, I felt . . . euphoric. I hadn't felt like that before, even when I was dating Cole. It'd been nice to be around and I'd smiled for days when he'd kissed me on the cheek the first time.

But it was nothing like this; kissing Ed just felt right.

I smashed my face into the pillow and squealed out of sheer ecstasy.

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE D'AWWW! But if you can, congrats! I loved writing this part; I'm messing with my friend's head like that, 'cause you know, I'm ninja like that.

I keep forgetting to give you guys brownies, so if you have reviewed in the last three or four or five chapters, you each get a whole pan of brownies to yourselves! Thank you! And Mr. Review Button thanks you too!

~~Sady Mordan