January 15th, 1991

Charlie stared at the two townhome doors for several long seconds, well after the taxi had pulled away. It was mid-afternoon, and he wasn't sure whether or not he should expect anyone to be home in either house. Somehow, it felt wrong to enter his parents' home without either of them knowing he had returned. Even if he had wanted to, he had left the key when he skipped town, and it was still in the house with Shelby.

Which meant his only real option was to knock on his aunt and uncle's door and see who was home to face him slinking back—for how long he still wasn't sure—with his tail between his legs.

Charlie turned away from his childhood home and walked up the stairs to the door on the right instead. Steadying himself, he rang the doorbell before he could panic and run away.

After several seconds he heard footsteps coming towards the door, then the lock unbolting, and the door opened revealing Minxia's startled face. "Charlie?"

"Hey, cuz'…" Charlie couldn't even smile, but he managed sheepish. "I ah—no one's home next door."

To his relief, Minxia did not slam the door in his face, frown, or otherwise kick him to the curb. She just nodded. "Yeah. Your Mom is at the hospital. I don't have a car, but you're welcome to come in and wait for someone to take you over. At least, I assume that's why you're here."

Charlie nodded. He had no idea if seeing his father would do any good, but he had come all this way. He stepped forward and Minxia let him in, closing the door behind them both. "Is he still unconscious?"

"He is," Minxia confirmed as they crossed the living room. He set his bag down by the door and removed his shoes. Aunt Ren never let anyone walk across her clean floors with shoes on. "Mom is over there, too. Dad's teaching today. Everyone else is over at Headquarters. Uncle Mao, Aunt Jiu, and Thrakos are all here too, you might have heard."

"I figured Thrakos was here if you were," Charlie admitted, following her into the kitchen where she returned to cutting up a snack of what looked like fruit and crackers and cheese. "I'm actually surprised that you're not over there with them." She didn't strike him as the type to sit out of anything important.

Minxia smiled. "Normally I am, but Damien had a fever last night and he's still under the weather today, so I stayed here. If he's not better tomorrow, we'll swap and Thrakos will stay and I'll go so at least one of us is there to speak for Creta."

Charlie couldn't remember the last time he had seen Damien Argyros, but he was sure the boy had been an infant. "Isn't Damien's birthday soon?" he remembered suddenly.

Minxia smiled, clearly surprised but pleased. "Yes. He's turning four on the twentieth. We've been planning a little birthday party, just him and the cousins." At that, she paused, and Charlie got a feeling she had stopped on the verge of inviting him, and he knew why. The only cousins Damien had in Amestris were Charlie's kids, which meant Shelby would be there.

"That sounds great," he replied, trying desperately to avoid making this more awkward than it was already. "I'm sure he'll have a great time."

"Why don't you sit down while I take this upstairs?" Minxia suggested. "I'm sure you've had quite a trip."

"Sure." He watched her head upstairs before he went back out into the living room and sat down on the couch. Charlie couldn't imagine what she was really thinking, but whatever it was, his cousin wasn't going to abandon the rules of civility or shout at him, at least not with her little boy in the house.

Charlie had no illusions about getting similar reactions from the rest of his family. So, he sat waiting, trying to be patient, his leg twitching from time to time, until Minxia rejoined him. "Do you want something to drink?" she offered. "We've got tea, milk, apple juice, and coffee."

"Coffee would be great." He hadn't slept much, or well, on the train. Without the money for a sleeping car, he'd had to sleep on the hard, regular seats. He was going to be up for several more hours, and talk to a lot of people, before he got to sleep anytime tonight.

Minxia brought coffee out to the table on a tray, with cream and sugar available so he could choose to add what he wanted. Then she sat down across from him with a cup of tea. "You're who called for Dad on the phone a couple of weeks ago."

So, she had figured that out. "I wanted to check on my parents. I'd been following the news." Charlie had no idea what else to say. He didn't want to start babbling at his cousin, who was watching him intently, but without any apparent hostility. He just wished he could get a real read on her. He picked up his coffee and sipped it slowly.

Minxia did not seem to be in a hurry to interrogate him. It wasn't until she had refilled both of their cups that she voiced her curiosity. "Can I ask what you've been up to since you left?"

That, at least, was a fairly safe topic. "Working," he replied. "I found a mechanic's shop that didn't mind hiring someone who works as slow as I do right now. Old guy, needed help keeping up with jobs. About all I can do these days, but it pays decent enough." He wondered if Shelby had told anyone that he had been sending home most of that paycheck for months. "Room was included to make up for the low pay."

"Is your hand better?"

"It works." Charlie shrugged. "It's still sore at the end of the day, but it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it used to." It could also probably use a detailed cleaning and an adjustment, but he didn't want to tell her that.

So, it continued, small talk that was all polite catching up. Minxia did not ask him how long he was staying, if he was going to leave again, or anything having to do with Shelby.

Thankfully, Uncle Will came home from his office before anyone else got home, and rescued him expediently by offering to drive him straight over to the hospital to see his mother.
"She's only left the hospital a few times," Will told him as they went over. "They've given her permission to be there at any hour. Mostly because she flat out refused to leave and they didn't want to drag her screaming out of the building."

"That sounds like Mom."

"She doesn't know you're here, does she?"

Charlie shook his head. "No. I didn't tell anyone I was coming."

"Then this is going to be interesting."

It was an enigmatic comment that did not fill Charlie with confidence as they finished the drive over to the military hospital, and walked inside. Uncle Will did not bother to ask for any information in the lobby but took Charlie straight to the elevator and up several floors, through a set of doors, and down the hall to a room with a closed door.

A nurse met them halfway down the hall. "Welcome back, Mr. Elric. May I ask who you are?" she looked at Charlie.

"Charlie Fischer; General Fischer's son," Charlie replied, trying not to let his stomach knot up any worse.

The woman stared at him hard for several seconds, then nodded, taking him at his word, possibly because Will was there. "You can go in. The doctors have finished their afternoon examination."

"Thank you, Priscilla." Will nodded and as she walked away, he opened the door to the room.

For just a moment, Charlie panicked as his mother looked up from the bed he couldn't really see past the door, recognized Will, and then almost fell out of her chair as her eyes fell on him. "Charlie?"

Uncle Will stepped out of the way, leaving a clear path between them, and practically shoved Charlie between the shoulder blades, so he stumbled a little and moved into the room.
"Hi, Mom."

"Charlie!" His mother threw the chair aside, and flew across the room, throwing her arms around him in a fierce hug that knocked the air temporarily from his lungs. "I thought I'd never see you again." Tears flowed freely from already streaked and red-rimmed eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her, clutching his mother to him as he felt a lump inside him rise in his throat. "I'm sorry, Mom. I'm here. I'm okay. I promise."

It seemed to last forever before she finally looked up at him, relieved, and a little puzzled. "I almost didn't recognize you."

"Really? I haven't been gone that long." A few months…

"It's the facial hair."

Charlie almost reached for his face. He hadn't given much thought to how little he had shaved lately. He had trimmed it up just before leaving for Central though so he wouldn't look like a vagabond. "Is it bad?"

His mother looked at him, considering. "No, just new. It makes you look more mature."

Anything that made people look at him less like a kid was not a bad thing. Charlie wished he could say his mother was looking well, but the truth was she wasn't. She looked exhausted, and he couldn't imagine she had been sleeping well in a hospital room chair. His eyes strayed away from her to the bed, where his father looked very much like the corpse he was not yet supposed to be.

His expression must have belied his thoughts, because his mother's expression became sympathetic. "He's more alive than he looks."

Charlie stifled a skeptical noise. "I hope so. I heard the news and Uncle Will filled me in some," he cautiously did not say when. "I was just hoping he'd have woken up by now."

"We all do." His mother released her hold on him. "I keep talking, hoping he can hear me. They say people in comas can, sometimes. Not that he's been cooperative about giving any signs," she added with a hint of exasperation.

"Sounds like Dad." Charlie let go of her. "Can I talk to him?"

"Of course, you can."

She said it so easily, as if he hadn't just abandoned everyone for months. "Well I wasn't sure you'd even let me in the room," he admitted awkwardly.

Now her exasperation was clearly aimed at him. "Charles Fischer, you are my son, and no matter how much you worry, terrify, or infuriate me, I will always love you and I will never turn you away. Later, you and I are going to have a very long talk about all of this, but I am not going to keep you away from your father, and I am not going to scream at you in a hospital."

Charlie noticed she did not say anything about not screaming at him in her house. "Thanks, Mom." He turned to ask Will if he could step out only to find that his uncle had already vanished on silent feet, the door closed behind him. For a moment, he considered asking if his mother would let him have this moment in private, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her to leave. Instead, he walked to the bed, and took the chair his mother had vacated.

Up close, he could at least see the slow rise and fall of his father's chest, and the hint of color that gave life to a too-still form. Charlie realized he had never seen his father so quiet and still; not even when he passed out for an afternoon nap on the couch. None of his father's presence, his charisma, his solidness, remained.

Tentatively, Charlie reached out and took his father's hand. "Hey, Dad," he started slowly, aware of his mother behind him, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder. "It's me, Charlie. I heard you were hurt so… I came home to see you. Gloria covered it spectacularly, you should know. Word on the street is you're some kind of superhero for surviving, like the ones in the comic books. The rest of your team is kicking ass up in Drachma. You should be proud of them. I… I'm sorry I was gone so long. I didn't mean to make you worry. I just wanted to make things better for everyone, and I screwed it up, again. I wish you were awake. I could really use your advice right now. I love you, Dad." When he ran out of ideas of what to say, he just stopped and sat there, holding his father's hand which felt a little too cool and limp, warming it with his own heat. Charlie had no idea how long he sat there either. His mother didn't say anything, she just stood there. He could feel her hand, her presence. He wondered if she would even let him out of her sight now that he was back where she could see him. Somehow, he didn't think so.


Alyse had left the hospital maybe once every three or four days since Cal had arrived back in Central, and never for long. Still, she hadn't expected Charlie to appear in Cal's hospital room with no prior warning whatsoever. Whatever happened, she needed time with her son, too. Thousands of things she had wanted to say to him had swarmed around her mind for months and now he was back. For how long, she didn't know, but she couldn't let him run away again, not without a chance to talk things through.

Will promised to stay with Cal until she got back, so eventually Alyse and Charlie left the hospital, picked up Aerugean take-out on the way home, and went back to the house.

She watched the nervous look in Charlie's eyes as he walked back into his own childhood home, and her heart ached. It wasn't just the goatee that made Charlie look older, it was the eyes. However, she thought of her son, there was nothing of a boy left there. They were the eyes of a man who had seen combat, had seen his life flash before them, had made mistakes and watched his life fall apart, unable to fix it.

They were his father's eyes. Cal had worn those expressions many times in his life, though she remembered them most in the early years of knowing him.

Miss Whiskers ran out to meet them, meowing pitifully. Alyse knew that Ren and Will had been coming over to feed the cat on the days she wasn't home, but obviously that was not enough attention.

The cat looked at Charlie for a moment, then trotted up to him and shoved her head against his legs, purring.

Charlie crouched down, and started petting her fur with the vigorous way he always had, which she loved. "Hey, girl! Nice to see you haven't forgotten me." The cat purred harder in response. "At least someone doesn't hate me."

"I don't think anybody hates you," Alyse replied as she set the food down on the dining table. "Angry with you, probably. Concerned and worried, absolutely, but not hate."

"Not even Shelby?" There was a hard note of disbelief in her son's tone.

"I will not try to speak for Shelby." If there was one person she should not speak for, it was her son's wife. For the moment, at least, they were still married, even if they hadn't spoken in months. "I told you before, I love you, and your father loves you. We've missed you, and all we ever wanted was to help you, in whatever way you need. Even… if that meant giving you space to work things out on your own." She turned, waiting to see his reactions.

Charlie looked up from the cat with a resigned expression. "I know, Mom. I know you were all trying to help. I just… I felt worthless. I felt like I was ruining everyone else's lives and being a drain. I've messed up so many times, and there are so many things I regret. I still don't know how to make it better." He stopped again.

"Come eat. I'd like to hear about what you've been up to."

Over dinner, she listened and just let him talk about the job he had found, helping out an old man who ran a car mechanic shop. This Eli sounded like a very nice old man, and Alyse found herself wishing she could thank him for being such a good friend and employer to her son. Charlie never said which town it was, and she didn't pry. "Did Shelby get the money?" he finally asked when he got back around to hearing about Cal's injuries and coming home.

Alyse nodded. "Every cheque, from what I can tell. It's been very helpful and appreciated, I know that." It had supplemented his medical leave pay, which had still been arriving as well, making it easier for Shelby to pay for her next semester of school, as well as keeping up with everything it cost to have multiple little ones in the house.

"But you won't' tell me she doesn't hate me."

"Because I honestly don't know where you stand, and I love you both, and your children, and it's not my place to step into your relationship without both of you asking me to," Alyse replied. She had stayed out of plenty of friends' marital drama over the years, but it had never been so hard to do so here. "I can tell you that leaving did not make her life easier. Taking care of you was not a chore to her, or something to be endured. She loved you, and she thought things between you were getting better. She stuck with you despite everything that happened at Briggs and was willing to work things out. She put her career on hold to support you getting started in yours, and to raise those adorable babies. I don't think she regretted that choice until you decided for both of you that things would be better if you left. You didn't give her any say in the matter, and while I know your motivations might have been good, the result was still a lot of pain and heartache." For someone trying not to get involved, I'm sure saying a lot. "As for now, I honestly can't say what kind of a reaction you're going to get, but I would not expect a warm welcome. She's stopped talking about you recently." She paused again for a moment. "Will did tell you about her condition, didn't he?"

"You mean that she's pregnant? Yeah, he told me." Charlie drained his cola. "I swear, I had no idea."

"Shelby told me as much." Otherwise, she might have been even angrier. "Would it have changed anything?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Charlie admitted. "I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it, and it just feels like I messed her life up even more."

Alyse understood that sentiment. "Charlie, can I ask you a very personal question that has been frustrating me for a very long time?"

"Sure, Mom. It can't make anything worse than it already is." Still, he looked nervous.

"Why don't you two ever seem to try not to get pregnant?"

His eyes went wide. Clearly that was not the question he had been expecting, and his face went a little red. "I have a mild latex allergy. We did use condoms…at first, but it was uncomfortable, so we stopped. There was a lot of irritation and it kept getting worse. It wasn't until I talked to a doctor about it later, I found out why though."

One small mystery solved. Alyse wished that was an area of technology that would move forward faster. "There's an alchemical solution to that, too, you know."

"Believe me, I'm considering it." Charlie's face was still red. "Though if Shelby doesn't want me, it may be a moot point."

"You still love her."

"I do. I never stopped. All these months, and I don't even know why I ever looked at another woman, ever, anymore. It all seems so stupid, so foolish, so immature…"

"On that I'm sure no one will argue," Alyse cut him off. Going too far down the road of self-loathing would not do him any good. "However, it is the past. You can't undo mistakes, but you can make different decisions moving forward."

"I just wish I knew what to do."

"Well, from where I sit, you've already started." Alyse smiled at her son as he looked at her puzzled, and lost. "You're here, and while I won't try to tell you what to do, I will tell you that I think the best way to move forward, would be to stay here, and work things out. If your hand is healed enough to do car work, you could probably go back to work here. Technically, you're still only on medical leave for auto-mail rehabilitation."

"What if Shelby won't take me back?"

"Then at least you will be around to be here for your children, if you want to." Alyse did not ask how he felt about that. "You still have friends here, and family. From what you were saying earlier, you didn't have that in your new place."

Charlie sighed. "You're right. That…that's one of the reasons I came back. I realized I couldn't move on there. I couldn't see a future that wasn't one depressing day after another, exactly the same. If I screwed up one life, how could I try and end up screwing up another one? Or anyone else's? No one deserves what I did to Shelby…. especially Shelby."

"Then tell her that."

"What… right now?"

"Why not?" Alyse gestured towards the phone. "It's not all that late, though the kids are probably in bed. They usually are by now. There's nothing to be gained by waiting." And everything, possibly, to be lost. If he waited, and Shelby found out he had come back to town and not tried to reach out, it would almost certainly end things.

For a moment, she thought she had pushed too far as Charlie visibly tensed, and seemed to think through what she had just said. Finally, he stood very slowly. "Okay. Can I have a few minutes of privacy?"

Alyse tried not to look too eager as she bounded out of her chair. "Of course. I'll be upstairs."


For the first night in almost a week, all three children were down and asleep at the same time, and relatively on time. Shelby, not one to question a miracle, had taken a relaxing shower, whipped up a snack, and pulled out her books to study while she still had a little energy left.

Naturally, she had just flipped open the textbook when the phone rang on the other side of the living room. For a moment, Shelby considered ignoring it, but it might be her mother, or Alyse, or someone else with news about her father-in-law. The fact that they were calling at this hour at all worried her.

That worry was all that convinced her to heft herself off the couch and cross the room to the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Shels… it's Charlie."

The last voice she had expected startled her so much she dropped the receiver, which swung and slammed into the wall. Charlie? After all these months he chose now to call her? For a brief moment, she considered just hanging up. She felt flush, and uncomfortable as the stress tightened her back.

She could just hear his voice still on the other end of the line, shouting her name, sounding worried. Finally, she managed to get it back in her hand. "I'm here."

"Oh, thank goodness," he gasped. "Did you fall? Are you all right?"

The pure terror and worry in his voice were so sincere, and so very Charlie. "I'm fine," Shelby replied. "You just startled the crap out of me. Where the hell are you and why did it take you so long to call me?" The last came out a little more frantic than she had intended.

"I just got back into Central," Charlie replied, sounding sheepish. "I'm so…so sorry, Shels. I just… I was too afraid to pick up the phone. I was a coward, and I was just trying to make things right, and all I did was mess it all up even more. I screwed up, and I know I might not be able to fix it, but I hurt you, and you didn't deserve that."

The words poured through the phone. Stunned, Shelby tried to just take it all in. Of course, he was sorry. He was always sorry, and he meant it. At least now, he'd called. "You said you're in Central?"

"Yeah I… I didn't tell anyone I was coming, I just got into town and I went and saw Dad."

There it was, the reason he had come anywhere near; his father. A moment later Shelby felt like a jerk for thinking less of Charlie for not calling her first. If her parents had been in the hospital, one of them possibly dying, she would have done the same thing. "How was he?"

"Still in a coma. But I didn't call you to talk about my Dad."
"I know that."

"I also didn't want to show up at the house without calling first. I thought… maybe I should ask permission."

That was better, definitely, than him showing up unannounced and getting Abigail and Cameron and Summer all excited and hopeful when he might not be back again. "I appreciate that you didn't, and honestly no, you shouldn't. Abigail looked for you every single day for the whole first month you were gone, Charlie. She asked about you all the time, and what was I supposed to tell her? You're her hero, and you left. But… we should talk, in person." She needed to see him, to do this face to face, and not when she was tired and standing in the living room in her pajamas.
"What about tomorrow?" Charlie asked.

"Tomorrow is terrible," Shelby admitted. "I have two classes in the morning, and a long work shift mid-afternoon and early evening. Cameron has a play-date over lunch, and on my way to work I have a doctor's appointment."

On the other end of the phone, she could hear a small intake of air that sounded like either surprise or sympathy at the crazy schedule. "Then how about dinner?" he asked. "We can meet out somewhere; your choice, my treat."

One thing she could always say about Charlie, he was determined. "I don't have a sitter lined up for tomorrow night, and Mom and Dad have a school sports dinner thing after I get back."

"My Mom can watch them."

"Don't you think it's a little presumptuous to be volunteering your mother?"

"She just stuck her head in the room and started wildly gesticulating at me that she would watch them… so, no, not really."

Which told her he was probably at his parents' house, since she could not imagine Charlie calling from the hospital. "All right. Dinner at Lea Pourelle, seven o'clock. Get us a quiet corner table. I'll meet you as soon as I can get away without sending anyone into a crying mess."

"Seven at Lea Pourelle. Got it. I'll be there," Charlie promised. "I'll let you get back to your evening. I'm sorry there was no way to make this less…abrupt."

She supposed there really wasn't. Anytime he would have called would have shocked her at this point. "We'll talk tomorrow. Good night, Charlie." Shelby hung up the phone and managed to stay upright long enough to get back to the couch, where she sank into it, her thoughts all running a frazzled mile-a-minute, and nowhere on the studying she had planned for the evening.

For months she had run scenarios in her head of what it might be like if or when Charlie returned. It was natural to wonder, to try to prepare herself emotionally for dozens of scenarios. In many, she'd been frustrated, tired, and just ended things. Shelby had stood firm, or realized she was just over it all.

Now she was no longer certain of how she felt, all over again. All she could do was take it slow, and do her best to make decisions based on what was right for her children; for their children. They were Charlie's too. Not that she had any idea how he felt about that now.

Tomorrow she supposed she would find out.