Thanks as always for the reviews! I'm so happy people are enjoying this story!

Camudekyu: thanks so much for the reviews you gave me, they really mean a lot coming from you because I absolutely adore your Ed/Win story. So, you're wondering what did happen at that party? Good. All will be explained in good time, my dear, all in good time 

Nozomi Shio: wow, the best "Ed comes back" story ever? #is ever so flattered# thank you!

Finding the Catch: Balancing Act

Ed was not prepared for the shock he received upon seeing his brother for the first time in… fifteen years, was it? He hadn't realized it, but he had been picturing Alphonse Heiderich when he thought of his brother lying in the hospital.

Roy had declared Edward's arrival at the hospital in East City to be a top secret military event, hoping to delay any rumors that might get back to the president. By Roy's orders, Alphonse was already being cared for in an empty wing of the hospital, so thus far, Ed's presence had gone undetected.

Edward demanded to be the first to see his brother, and insisted that he go in alone, and without further discussion he pushed past the other three, pulling the door closed behind him. Roy paced the long hallway restlessly, uncomfortable with sitting outside the room with Winry and Riza, and troubled greatly by the revelation that Edward did not know how he had been restored to his own world. The two blonde women were having an intense conversation, and he did not wish to intrude.

Riza and Winry had quickly progressed passed stiff pleasantries. It had been several years since they had seen each other; in fact, it was since Riza had requested to be transferred out of Central. She now operated out of East City, and clearly resented Roy's commandeering of the situation that was unfolding on territory that was obviously part of her jurisdiction. Winry was sympathetic to the tensions between the two of them, and tactfully did not ask any questions, although she knew no more than that they were divorced, and that the rumors stated she divorced him because he was cheating on her.

Winry was staring at the closed door to Al's room. "I just want to see him," she said again. "If I can just see him, have some proof that he's alive-"

"He's alive, Winry," Riza interrupted. "The doctors said his body is fine, and that the may wake up any day. Perhaps he just needs to hear his brother's voice," she said soothingly.

"It can't be a coincidence that Ed's back and Al's hurt," she protested. "Al did something, I know he did." She shook her head. "He's probably been planning it for a while, and never said anything because he didn't want anyone to try to stop him." Tears began to squeeze from the corners of her eyes, and she made no effort to brush them away. She glanced at the door once more. "I just want to see him."

Edward leaned back against the door, feeling its solid presence in what was quickly seeming more and more unreal. His brother, not his brother's double, but his brother lay, as if asleep, hooked up to several machines beside his bed. Carefully, hesitantly, he sat down beside the bed, studying every detail of his brother's face, unconsciously comparing it to Alphonse Heiderich's.

His brother was smaller, younger looking than the Alphonse in Germany. His skin was more tanned, like he remembered his mother's looking long ago. Perhaps that was the key difference, he mused. There was a cast to his brother's features that reminded him of his mother in a way that Alphonse Heiderich's never had. He traced a careful finger over his brother's smooth cheek and brushed it through his bronze colored bangs. He had never imagined Alphonse would grow his hair out, but as he moved it absently across the pillow, he decided it suited him. "Al," he whispered. "Wake up. It's me. I'm home."

His heart thundered in his chest, but there was no change in his brother's heavy breathing.

"Oh Al, please, please be all right," he begged. "Please don't have done anything stupid. Your life's more important than mine, what were you thinking?" He shook his brother's shoulder a little roughly, and bronze eyelashes fluttered, revealing dusky grey eyes.

Edward stared. "Al?" he queried, his breaths coming in ragged gasps, but the eyes never focused. "Al!" he said forcefully, waving a hand desperately before his brother's face, but he did not so much as blink. "Oh no," he breathed softly. "Oh no, Al, no," he protested, feeling his stomach clench in a cold knot of dread. Alphonse was fine, he was right there in front of him. He had waited for this moment for over half of his lifetime. He could wait a little longer for Al to wake up. He was going to wake up.

He hadn't realized he had crawled onto the bed with his brother, wrapped his arms around him, buried his face in his brother's soft hair. He didn't even realize he was crying until he saw the wetness spread over his brother's hospital gown.

Nearly an hour later, Winry jumped at the sound of the door opening. She stood up urgently, her eyes questioning her best friend without speaking.

"He opened his eyes," Edward told her, his tone flat.

She clasped her hands together. "That's wonderful," she exclaimed. "I knew he would be all right! I'll never forgive him for scaring us all like that, though!" She felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in the doorway.

She turned to stare into Ed's red rimmed eyes. "He's not there, Win," he said, his voice low, his expression unreadable. "His eyes are open. But he isn't there."