Family
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Ling caught a glimpse of Ed and Winry together early Wednesday morning. He was on his way to his father's law firm for an interview, dreading the inevitable spectacle of humiliation his old man was planning to put him through, when he saw them walking up the staircase from her floor. She was heading out to her early morning classes, and he was still in his work clothes from the day before; he looked like he had slept in them. A wry smile crept across his mouth as he watched Ed go to his door. If Ling wasn't in a hurry to get downtown, he'd have followed that sly shit inside his place and make him spill every little detail.
Instead, he gave the guy a slight wave, and ran out of the building, chasing Winry down.
"Hey!" he panted, hoping he wouldn't work up a sweat while wearing that damn suit, and finally caught up to her.
She eyed his get up curiously, and smiled. "Hey Ling, what's the occasion?"
"Going to hell to visit Dad," he answered quickly, "but enough about me, what's up with you and Ed staying in the same place?"
Her cheeks flushed, and she cast her eyes downward as she stopped by her truck. "Ed had… a really bad day at work yesterday."
"Uh huh," Ling chided, elbowing her side, but Winry was having none of it.
"I'm serious," she said, and he noticed the misting in her eyes as she glared at him. "Look, I can't talk about it. I promised I wouldn't, but don't act like a jackass and crack jokes, okay? Just keep this to yourself."
His wide grin quickly faded. "Winry, I'm sorry. I didn't realize."
She let out a shaky breath and nodded her head. "It's okay. I'm sorry, too."
Ling hugged her side, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" he asked.
Winry sniffed, and pulled away slightly before saying. "Can you and Lan Fan be free for a funeral?"
Ling's stomach dropped; just how bad of a day did Ed have? "Of course we can. You just let us know when."
"Okay," she whispered, and Ling gave a squeeze before letting her go.
He watched her pull out of the parking lot and drive away, before heading towards his car. It had been a long time since everyone in the building needed to pull together during dark times, but he' be damned if he and everyone else wouldn't be there for Ed.
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He left his father's building approximately two hours after arriving, now a newly employed man.
The interaction between him and his old man was, quite honestly, nothing like he thought it would be. He wasn't cold, he wasn't cruel, and he treated him with a curious respect. At first, he found it infuriating, and when the initial interview ended, he had to walk back into the office and confront him about it.
"Father," he said, the door to his domain still swinging behind him. "We need to redo this."
The man raised a wiry eyebrow at him, the deep wrinkles in his forehead doubled. "What for?"
Ling shook his head, his jaw tight. "Interview me the same way you would any other person."
His father's beetle-like eyes shrank in scrutiny. "What do you think just occurred here, son?"
"That's just it," he said, waving his hand high for further impact. "I don't want you to give me this job as your son. I want to earn it!"
The aged man leaned back in his chair; his expression never changing from the flat, emotionless mask that Ling only ever knew his father to wear. "Ling, are you implying that I would hire any man, because he comes from my blood?"
Ling stared at his father. "I don't want special treatment."
"When have I ever given you special treatment?" he demanded, his voice rattling off the glass of the office's windows. "When have I ever catered to you? Given you more than you deserved, because you are my son?"
Ling was brought back to nights as a boy; dreaming of his father coming back to him and his mother, and giving them a life outside of the shitty hotel room in which they were forced to live after he made it big and decided he didn't want them anymore. "Never."
"Then why would I do it now?" he asked. "I hired you for your talent, ambition, and prowess. Blood means nothing to me. "
Ling said nothing in response, and his father nodded his head in resolution. "Our meeting is over. Ms. Douglas will reimburse your parking at the front desk."
He reached his car at an unusual speed, feeling a mixture of disdain and gratitude. Ling would never have the father he wanted, but at least he could go home, knowing that he was considered a worthy man to him.
He started the car and turned on the radio, cutting into the local disk jockey's talking about the latest news story.
"—only four years old. "
"And you know, I'm gonna be honest, Psiren. I think it was the dad who did it."
Ling sucked in a deep breath and turned the volume up high.
"Authorities are in pursuit of finding young Nina's killer, with the prime suspect being her father, Shou Tucker."
Falling back into the driver's seat, Ling let out a breath in disbelief. A little girl was murdered, in his city? What the hell was wrong with people? He had heard of cases like this before, but never this close to home, never within the same vicinity that he could drive or ride a subway.
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It was later that night that he realized the little girl he heard about on the radio was connected to Ed. It was all over the news, on every station, and everyone in the building was talking about it until Ed spoke up.
He couldn't talk to them about specific details, but clarified the varied stories that everyone had been spreading with information that was given from authorities. He sank deeply into the cushions of Ling's couch, as thought he were hoping to disappear with every heart-wrenching detail he gave. Winry was beside him the whole time, holding his hand tightly in support. Ling could tell it was needed by the way he grasped hers back.
"The funeral is this Saturday," he told them, his eyes fixated on the carpet beneath his feet.
"We'll be there," Lan Fan replied, and Ling nodded in agreement.
"You don't have to," Ed explained. "I don't want you guys to spend the day mourning over someone you didn't even know."
Paninya, who had been rather withdrawn throughout the event, sat down beside Winry and wrapped her arm around the both of them. "It matters to you, friend, so it matters to us."
Lan Fan followed the gesture, to Ling's surprise, and with a roll of his eyes, Ed waved his free hand towards Ling. "Come on in."
"Oh, Edward!" he gasped, and flung himself into his friend's lap, causing the entire group to break out in a fit of much needed laughter.
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Ling made sure to call Alphonse immediately after everyone departed, asking Mei for his number instead of Ed. He told him the entire story, filing the younger Elric in on every detail he could, and asked if there would be anyway he could fly in before Saturday.
"I'll call my dad and ask him to pay for the plane tickets," he told him. "I'll be there as soon as I can be."
The surprise of his arrival that Friday night was exactly what Edward needed.
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The funeral was cold and wet, despite the fact that not a single drop of rain had fallen that day. Ling fiddled with the tie of the same suit he had worn that Wednesday morning, feeling a strange since of deja vu as he watched the little girl he heard about over the radio be placed into the ground. He couldn't get the image of her tiny body out of his mind; how she looked as though she were sleeping inside that coffin, with an urn that contained the ashes of her beloved pet nestled in between her tiny arms.
Edward looked like a ghost of the man he had come to know; his eyes gazed emptily at the sight of the grave. He had a single arm wrapped around Winry's shoulders, and Winry, who was still by Edward's side, giving him every ounce of support that she could, clung to his waist as the dirt began to rise over the Nina's resting place.
They stayed there with him, silently looking at the mound of earth, now harboring a young girl and her dog.
"Let's go," Ed muttered, as he wiped the pad his thumb across the skin of his cheeks. "I'm ready to get out of here."
Lan Fan held Ling's hand tightly as they made their way towards their car, her cheek resting slightly against his shoulder.
"Look at them," she whispered, and nodded towards Edward and Winry, still holding on another as they walked. "They seem so at ease with one another now."
Ling watched as Ed lightly touched Winry's face, no doubt wiping a stray tear. "As sad as today may be, perhaps they can find some kind of happiness in each other."
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Author's Note: I'll start letting things get light-hearted again soon. Maybe.