Yuugiamythest: I know I said wordiness for wordiness, but I cant really reply to any of your speculations for fear of spoiling the ending. Let's see… there's a bit of Riza in this chapter and her and Roy will be around quite a bit in the chapters to come. There's five more after this one, and then… all (most?) of your speculations will be answered! Oh and as for the 100+ reviews, hey, I couldn't have done it without you! And with rating the fic M… I did that cause there's some non-graphic sex scenes ( said graphic scenes are not allowed, so I was trying to err on the side of caution since im new to the whole thing) but do you in all your wordiness think that it was an accurate rating? Or could it have been T? I meant the story to include a few sexy details, but that's hard to do if nothing graphic is allowed… bah im babbling now. Sorry.
Spork111: now THERE'S a good sequel idea!
Finding the Catch: Repetition
She awoke in a sweat from what she was sure had been a nightmare, but when she tried to sit up in bed her abdomen screamed in pain. Already? She stumbled into Al's bedroom in the dark, calling, "Ed?" but there was no response. Probably downstairs reading or something, she thought, and groaned, feeling dizzy. The inside of her legs were wet with something sticky, had her water broke while she was sleeping? Was that the way it was supposed to happen?
Slowly she made her way down the steps, realizing that there were no lights on downstairs either, and the couch was empty. She flicked on the light in the kitchen and snatched the piece of paper off the table. Back soon, Love Ed? She snarled. Back from where? "I need you now!" she groaned, sinking to her knees as another wave of pain hit her. "Edward!" she screamed to the empty house. "Where the hell are you?" Okay then, she told herself, you're going to have to do this alone, just like he promised you wouldn't.
She braced herself, and stood up again, thinking hard. A hospital. She couldn't give birth all alone, so she would have to go to a hospital. She had been born in her parent's house in Rizembool, just like Ed and Al had been born in theirs, surrounded by the people who loved them, but she was alone, and her baby would be born in a hospital, surrounded by strangers. Edward, I hate you! Altenburg was small, the town didn't have a hospital, but Dillon did, and didn't General Hawkeye say that's where she was working? She stumbled back into the living room, turning on a lamp and grabbing her purse, fishing for the phone number. It was nearly two am, would anyone even be there to answer the phone? What number was this, anyway, the number to the whole base, to her office, or what? She dialed with shaking fingers, and counted six rings, her heart pounding in her chest. On the seventh ring a voice answered, it was a man, asking for some kind of code. "I need to speak to General Hawkeye," she said hurriedly. "Please, it's very important."
"The General isn't available right now," the voice drawled, "would you like to leave a message?"
"No!" she nearly spat into the phone. "I can't leave her a message, I need to talk to her right now!"
"Do you have the code?" came the patient voice.
"No, I don't have a code!"
"Then the General isn't available right now," the man repeated. "I'm sorry. You can leave a message-"
"Look, buddy," she said sharply, "this isn't military, I don't need a code. This is personal, and it's an emergency!"
"If it is an emergency," said the infuriating voice, "then you need an emergency code."
"Why you-" she flipped the card over in her hand and rattled off the string of numbers and heard a dial tone. She thought she had been hung up on when another man's voice came on the line, sounding bleary, as if he had been sleeping. "This is Lieutenant Hanson, what is the problem?"
"I need to talk to Riza Hawkeye right now!" she screamed into the phone.
"Who is this?"
"This is Winry Rockbell and I'm having a baby right now and you'd better put her on the phone or I'll-"
"Calm down." It was Riza's voice, thank god, she thought, as she leaned into the wall.
"You said to call if I needed anything," she said weakly. "I need to get to a hospital."
"Are you in Altenburg?"
"Yes."
"I have some troops stationed there on routine business, I'll radio them to send a car for you and Edward. Everything is going to be okay."
"Edward isn't here," she snarled, clutching the phone so tightly her knuckles were white. "I'm all alone."
"Not there?" came the response. "Where did he go?"
"Damned if I know."
The phone crackled once, and Winry didn't hear Riza's next sentence. "There will be a car in just a few minutes," she told her. "Hang on, everything is going to be fine."
I'll never forgive you for this, she thought to herself, sitting in the back of a stranger's car, going to a strange hospital in a strange town. Maybe it would be punishment enough, she thought cruelly, when he realized he had become exactly like his father.
Before she knew it the car was pulling up to the hospital in Dillon, and Riza was waiting outside for her, dressing in civilian clothes. "It's okay, Winry," she said comfortingly, helping her from the car. "You're not alone here. I thought you weren't due for another three weeks?"
She gritted her teeth. "I guess the baby couldn't wait," she said, clutching her stomach. The ground spun beneath her and she stared at the blood that was for some reason pooling between her feet.
Hawkeye's face was white and her voice betrayed her panic, even though she said, "It's okay. Everything is going to be fine."