Chapter 9- Not again.

Dani had arrived at HQ a few hours ago. A doctor had informed Dani that Edward had bruises, cuts, and internal bleeding. Dani listened in tears as she heard the news of her beloved Edward. She couldn't believe this was happening. One minute they were fine, they were together, and they were happy. The next minute Edward's laying in a hospital bed, bandages all around him, and Dani feeling helpless.

"Ms. Mitchells." said a doctor.

"Elric." She said, correcting the doctor.

"I beg your pardon?" he said.

"My last name's Elric." Dani said.

The doctor nodded and continued to tell Dani of how long Edward was to stay in the care of the infirmary. Dani walked towards Edward's room. Every step she had to tell herself that he was going to be okay. Dani stepped into the dim lit room and began to cry.

Edward looked worse than she had thought.

Dani sighed and pulled a chair right next to Edward's hospital bed. She hung her coat up on a hook near the bathroom and sat in the chair and waited. She took Edward's hand in hers, listening to his heartbeat on the monitor. Pretty soon the steady beat put her to sleep.

Dani was awoken by a light nudge on her shoulder.

"Alphonse." Dani said.

"Hey Dani, how's he doing? I came as soon as I heard." Al said.

"He's, well, he's not really doing too good right now, Al." Dani said, sighing.

Al hugged her.

"It'll be okay, Dani. He'll heal up as quick as ever and you both will be back out on missions." Al said.

"You seem to be taking this really well." Dani said.

"I'm being strong for Nii-san." Al said.

Dani nodded and looked over at the sleeping blond.

"Dani you should go and get you something to eat. You looked exhausted and hungry." Al said to her.

"Actually I am a little hungry. And I slept a little earlier. Just promise you'll have someone come and get me if you hear anything or if he wakes up." Dani said.

"I promise."

Dani got up and glanced at her Edward before exiting the door and making her way down to the food court. She really didn't meet anyone's eye. Her eyes were focused on the floor, her mind focused on something else. 'If I didn't drag Edward along on the mission, he wouldn't be in the hospital. If I didn't convince him to get back into the military, we wouldn't be here. If I didn't bring him back...' If she didn't bring him back she would be worse than she was now. As usual, Dani began to blame herself for all of this. Her feet finally took her to the food court. She got a few items and sat down in a corner of the cafeteria, near a window.

It was a cloudy day. The clouds were threatening to spill rain water on them at any second, andjust as she thought about it, there were little wet splatters across the outside of the window. She looked up and saw Alphonse walking towards her on the other side of the cafeteria.

"Alphonse, what's wrong? What happened to Edward?" Dani said, somewhat frantically.

"It's okay, Dani, Riza's watching over him. She wanted to give me a little time to talk to you." Al said.

"Talk to me? About what?" Dani said.

"Just small, friend talk Dani. I've missed you. I really didn't get to see my brother since you've brought him back. It's just weird, you know? I mean, I was there when the train de-railed. And to be here and see him well again and almost new. Somehow it doesn't seem fair. I'm not saying Nii-san doesn't deserve to be back. I'm just saying it's going to take some time to get used to. It was hard enough to grieve his death, and now to see Edward back. I'm just scared I'll have to go through that all over again." Alphonse said.

'Wow.' Dani thought. All this time she really didn't realize how selfish she had seemed. Edward had been her life. But he had been Al's life too.

"Alphonse, I'm sorry." Dani said.

"For what?" Al said, looking at her.

"For being so damned selfish. I struggled with Edward's death. And I realize everyone deals with death in a different way, but I don't think I stopped long enough to know exactly how you were feeling when Edward died. Funny how tragedy can brake you apart and yet it can bring you together. I don't mean in a haha sense, but, nevermind you get what I'm trying to say." Dani said.

"Yeah." Al responded.

Dani was feeling all in all a little better about the whole situation. Yes, Edward was still injured, but Dani had some strange feeling of hope and faith that Edward would make it out alive this time.

"Let's go relieve Riza of her duties. I'm sure she has a Roy to go and tend to." Dani said.

"God forbid Roy would spend one night without Riza in his bed." Alphonse said.

Dani chuckled a little.

A/N: Just leaving ya'll another little note. Dunno if I liked the ending to this one. I'm trying so hard not to put southern words in here, because that's not the way that they talk in FMA. Again, constructive criticism is nice, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. REVIEW!

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