I'm officially finished writing this. Twenty-seven total chapters.
Chapter Seventeen
Ed stared at herself in the mirror. Mostly at her stomach. Was it growing? Was she just crazy?
"Sister..." Al trailed off. "Are you having second thoughts?"
"No," Ed answered hastily. "I'm not having second thoughts. Just...My stomach feels bloated is all. Like I ate twelve donuts."
"Well, you did that this morning, but you threw it up pretty quickly," Al mentioned.
"Yeah, I can't wait to get this thing out of me," Ed said. "Then I can eat normally again. And be a normal person."
"I just don't want you to regret your decision," Al said. "Do what you want, I want you to be happy. Just be sure of it."
"The clinic gave me plenty of time to decide it," Ed responded. "Making me make an appointment a week after I find out for a consult just to make me wait a week to have the actually procedure. Fuckheads."
"Maybe they just want you to be sure too," Al suggested.
"If Mustang becomes Furher, I'm making him abolish that law," Ed said. There was a knock on the door. "Come in."
Hawkeye opened the door. "Are you ready to go, Ed?" she asked. Ed nodded.
"I'll see you later, okay, Al?"
"I'll be fine, sister," Al said. "Havoc said he's coming by today."
"Okay," Ed said. "I don't know how long I'll be, but I'll call you when it's over."
"Sure thing, sister."
Ed turned and left the room with Hawkeye.
"Are you having second thoughts?" the Lieutenant asked.
Ed shook her head. "I don't want to be a mother."
"You don't have to be," Hawkeye said, wrapping an arm around Ed's shoulders.
"How are you feeling?" Alphonse asked when his sister walked into the room.
"No pregnant," Ed responded. "So, how are you? Havoc came by, right?"
"Yeah," Al answered. "He didn't even smoke when he was here."
"That's because I threatened him if he did," Ed said, sitting down beside the hospital bed. "I talked to the doctor on the way in. He said that tomorrow morning he's gonna remove your NG tube and see how you do."
"Really?" Al asked. "That's great!"
"Yeah." Ed smiled. "And I found us a hotel to stay at for a little while until I can find us an apartment. When you're ready to travel we'll go to Resembool. Jeez, I haven't even told Winry the news yet."
"Are you just afraid that you'll have to give her back her earrings?" Al asked jokingly.
"Shut up!" Ed exclaimed, though reached her hands to touch the metal that still pierced her ears.
"When is your surgery?" Al asked.
"Next week," Ed answered. "I told the doctor about my abortion and he said he wanted to wait until I was completely recovered from that before going through with my surgery. He said something about a risk of infection."
"All right." Al was just glad they were finally moving on with their lives.
"But I'm gonna have someone stay with you while I'm in the hospital," Ed said. Alphonse would be home by then and Ed didn't want him to have to struggle in moving around.
"No, sister, I'm going to be with you," Al said. "I'm staying in the hospital with you until you're better."
"But you need to get better too," Ed responded. "You don't have the endurance to sleep in a hospital chair until I'm out."
"I'm staying," Al stated firmly. "There's nothing you can do about it."
Ed groaned. "Fine, but you gotta keep up with your health. You need to eat and shower."
"All right, all right."
"I don't see why you need to argue about this with me," Ed said. "I'm not having surgery for another week."
"You're the one trying to make sure I have a constant babysitter," Al said.
"It's so you won't get lonely," Ed defended. "Can we not harp on this right now? I said you could stay in the hospital with me and you can."
"All right, sister," Al said. "Can we talk about our plans to travel?"
"To Resembool?" Ed asked.
"No," Al said. "For after we return to Winry. I know you, you're not going to want to stay in one place for too long. You get stir crazy for someone who was raised in the countryside."
"You got a point." Ed sighed. "All right, let's talk."
I wanted to make it longer, but I didn't have anything else to add to this. The next part I wanted to write is something I wanted to be at the beginning of a chapter, so it'll be in the next chapter. See you soon!
