Hello again my dear readers! I can't believe I managed to write this entire chapter in just one sitting o.O Usually it takes me at least 2 or more months to finish my chapters but not this one! Anyways, I'm pretty sure that this story will end either by the end of my school year or sometime in the summer. It really depends on the fact that I tend to procrastinate...a lot... I think that it most likely will end sometime in the summer because, well, my class may be taking a trip in the beginning of June, my birthday is in June, homework -_-, and I have final exams very soon. Otherwise, if I work up enough time and patience, I will get it done by the end of my school year, which is June 22nd maybe...

Oh and by the way, I found a band by the name of Sons of Sylvia (irony xD). I only found them recently so if anybody out there who knows this band and thinks that I named the town Sylvia after the band Sons of Sylvia, you're wrong. It's by fluke that these two have the same name. One of their songs though 'Love Left to Lose' is really good and one of my friends who reads this story believes that it suits Katrina's and Ed's relationship. Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

Whatever, I'll stop my babbling. Enjoy the chapter, and sorry but I did get a bit lazy at a few parts ^^;

Christmas Eve, the holiday of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and in turn also brings together families - whether these people be religious, atheist or whatever. There still are people who don't celebrate this holiday and, I don't mean to judge, but I can't understand why. My family has celebrated this holiday forever and we've never really been people to believe in God. My father is probably one of the biggest atheists out there but he still enjoys spending time with his family.

I shake those thoughts from my head, replacing them with the day's events. Christmas Eve, the day has finally come and - even with out my family here to spend it with me - I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. I'm surrounded with friends and decorating a gift I never thought I'd receive, especially from Nicoule and Melina. This morning was spent sledding up at the ski hill of Sylvia, like many Christmas Breaks in the past. It's almost tradition for Melina, Nicoule and I to do this and Edward and Alphonse seemed to enjoy it quite a bit too. Afterwards, we came back down to my house to exchange the gifts we got for each other and that's when we found this gift in my living room. It was a Pine tree, otherwise known as a Christmas tree during this time of the year. I don't know how those two were able to pull it off but I don't care. It was blank the first time we saw it but now Alphonse and I stood in front of it, decorating it with lights and assorted ornaments. Nicoule and Teal stood in the kitchen baking ginger bread men and other flavors of cookies. Meanwhile, Zach, Melina and Edward discussed things at the kitchen table, waiting patiently for Al and I to finish decorating so we can open our presents. That was the deal we made and I can tell that Zach is starting to get at least a little impatient.

I smile down at the shimmering red orb in my hands, running my thumb over it's rounded sides before placing it's hook onto one of the many branches. My sister and I usually got stuck with decorating the tree in the past, but after she moved out it has usually been me. My mom and dad were working most of time, trying to survive the days at their seperate jobs and leaving me to decorate the house. On weekends, when my mom would have the days off, she'd help me decorate, giggling with me about gossip going around the town. Now, I believe, that this Christmas might be the best Christmas I ever had. I got the most unexpected early Christmas gifts which were meeting Edward and Alphonse Elric in person and I wouldn't change that event for the world.

"Ya done yet!" Zach cries, hitting his head against the kitchen table. "The gifts are calling to me, I swear! I hear them saying 'open me, you know you want to'!"

I let out a breath as I pick up the final decorative piece; the star for the top of the tree. "We're practically finished. We just need to put the star on the top of the tree."

"I wanna do it!" Teal exclaims, setting down the icing quickly and racing into the living room. Everyone follows after her and watches as she reaches for the star, "Can I?"

"No, this is Katrina's gift and thus she gets to do it," Melina tells her younger sibling and Teal pouts.

I look towards the top of the Pine, "I may be tall, but I'm not that tall. The only way I'd be able to get this thing onto the top of the tree is if I had a serious growth spourt in the next few seconds."

Ed takes a few steps towards me before leaning down and saying, "Get onto my shoulders."

"Eh!" I exclaim, clutching the star tighter as I feel my face grow warm. "W-Why?"

"So you can reach, what do you think?" He rolls his eyes and giving me an exasperated look.

"Oh...I knew that."

"Sure you did. Just hurry up."

I puff a cheek out in annoyance but crawl onto his shoulders for him to lift me up. Gripping my legs in his hands, he stands and I wobble a little before I'm able to gain my balance. With cheeks reddening even darker, I try to ignore the butterflies in my stomach and place the star onto the Pine tree's tip. You can't tell me that this situation isn't awkward because it is. Well, at least I find it is. Think about it; a girl who is falling in love with a guy and he offers to lift her up on his shoulders so she can reach something. Not to mention that the boys head is right between the girls legs at a very weird spot. Yeah, I'd say that's a bit awkward.

"There!" I cheer, hopping down off of Ed's shoulders. "Last but not least..." I trail off and grab the cord connecting to the Christmas lights. Plugging them into the wall, they turn on, the different colors reflecting off the ornament's surfaces.

"Does this mean we can open gifts now?" Zach asks eagerly and Nicoule smirks at him, nodding. "YES! Finally!" He cries happily, sitting down on the floor by the pile of gifts.

"Thanks for the lift," I state, grinning at the elder Elric and then join everyone else at the circle.

The blonde sighs quietly, scratching the back of his neck and taking a seat besides his brother. Wrapping paper of all kinds flies everywhere as Zach rips open his presents with as much speed as a lawn mower chopping grass. He glares at Nicoule who begins laughing at the gift she had gotten for him. It looks like a simple spray bottle of bug repelent but instead of the usualy label it had 'Girl-Away' written on it. Right now, the boy is almost being stalked by one of the girls in his class and she's quite obsessed with him. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

Gifts are exchanged pretty quickly and most of them are mainly the usual, but still nice to receive. The things I got are things I pretty much expected. I got a thing of different flavors of candy canes from Zach, a one-shot written by Teal, at least three mangas from Mel, a heart locket from Al, and a joke gift from Nicoule. What she got me made me blush quite a bit but I laughed it off never-the-less. It had been a teddy bear with a box of condoms in it's arms. When I opened it, I looked at her, my reaction a bit confused but she only winked and said, "For later," and made a head motion towards Ed. Thank God Ed didn't see the head motion.

"Is that it?" Nicoule asks, playing with her Axel plushie she received from Mel.

Mel gives a bit of a look at Ed, elbowing him in his flesh arm. He glares back at her only for her to hiss something at him under her breath. The blonde sighs and looks at me, pulling out a semi-large wrapped gift and handing it towards me.

"Here," He says, looking away to try and cover up the tint of pink on his cheeks.

I gently take it and look over the green and red wrapping paper. It was done neatly, each fold done to near perfection. It's the exact same wrapping style as Nicoule, meaning Ed didn't do the wrapping himself probably because he can't. Everyone's eyes stay on me and I could tell that each of their gazes - the way they watch me - isn't one of anxiousness. They all know what Ed got me and they're patiently waiting for my reaction. After I unwrap the ribbon, I start to tear off the paper when I catch a glimpse of midnight blue. My eyes widen slightly as I begin to tear faster, stripping off the paper as fast as I possibly can. The object emerges and I hold the jewelry box in my lap, running my fingers along each curve and corner.

"I...I can't believe you got this for me..." I mumble. I slowly open the top, enchanted by the tune that surrounded us. Closing my eyes, I bask in the soft music and a smile graces my pink lips. As I close the lid once more, I move my green gaze back towards Ed, muttering a soft, "Thank you...Thank you so much. I'll treasure it for the rest of my life."

He smiles back, replying with, "You better."

"On that note, it's time for me and Zach to go," Teal sighs, standing up.

Zach moans in displeasure and gets up as well, holding his presents in his arms, "Yaaay..."

"Be careful on your way home, there's a lot of ice and it seems to be snowing pretty hard," Mel states in an almost motherly way.

Teal giggles and nods. The two were only allowed to stay until just after we finished exachanging gifts and then get back to their families. Mel and Nicoule were allowed to stay a bit longer so the older kids could do a bit more. Sure, those two aren't too much younger than us but they're still younger and we will always consider ourselves as the big kids.

We bid the two good-bye and they leave, walking home through the snow and clutching bags full of their new things. After that we sit in the kitchen and talk about things going on at school and a bit of the brothers' research. Though Nicoule supposedly doesn't know that Ed and Al are actually the Elric brothers, it seems like she does know who they are. Maybe she did figure it out and hasn't told us yet, which is the most likely case. She's a very observant girl and can figure things out pretty quickly - when she wants to, anyways.

In the midst of our conversations, I wouldn't be able to stop sending glances over in Ed's direction. Sometimes my gaze would just drift over that way when other times it would feel like he's the one watching me. However, every time I would look he would be staring at the person talking. It feels like I'm going insane with how much attraction I have towards him at the moment and it takes almost all of my will power not to burst out the whole truth when he says only one word to me. Nicoule says that I should take a risk and just confess to him that I love him, that I need him to understand that and how I don't want him to leave. How I'm driven to near insanity at a simple touch, how all I can hear when I'm around him is my heart pounding, how I'm totally, stupidly in love with him.

If I told him all this, he would probably never talk to me again.

The joy.

I sigh, propping my head in my hand and munching on one of the cookies Nicoule and Teal had baked. My love life has always been cursed and I should've never gotten my hopes up that he might like me back. Nicoule said that the risk would get this weight off of my shoulders but it feels like the weight just might get heavier if I do tell him. I'm really scared to, I don't want him to be creeped out when ever he's around me because he knows this random girl fell in love with him.

I glare at the table top, chomping down onto a ginger bread man's head and thinking how I hate emotions and love and the whole cliche love story. It's not like it's my fault that I had to fall in love with him, it's really his fault for being so...so...so damn hot and amazing. Shit, I really need to ban those thoughts from my head.

"I really feel sorry for that cookie," Nicoule says while everyone stares at me.

"Wha-?" I blink back at them, confused.

"You've been eating that thing like you're a fucking t-rex. Geez, man, what's pissing you off?" She responds, sliding the plate of cookies away from me.

I go back to staring down at the table top, toying with the hem of my shirt and mentally lecturing myself for letting my thoughts show through my emotions. I must've been too deep in thought to realize I had been angrily chomping down on cookie after cookie. Sighing, I open my mouth only for the phone ringing to interupt my soon-to-be-excuse.

I get up and answer it calmly only to have Nicoule's mother anxiously asking for her daughter. I hand the phone over to the girl and a long conversation ensues, the four of us only able to hear half of the conversation. I caught something about a blizzard - looking out the window I could understand why -, something about staying over at my house until morning, and then picking her up early so that her family could celebrate Christmas Day together. Right after she hung up, the same phone call happened with Melina.

Over the time the five of us were talking, the snow had gotten harder and became a near-blizzard. Nicoule and Melina's parents are unable to drive through this and they sure as hell won't let either one of them walk home in this. So the two have to spend the night and then get picked up the next morning when the snow storm has at least either ceased or calmed a bit. This also means I have to find places for them to sleep and pijamas for them to wear.

Obviously, my sister's room is off limits to them as much as it is off limits to me. The only places any of us are able to sleep are my parents room, my room or the living room. Nicoule and Melina steal my parents room from me and leave me stuck with the couch in the living room. After we decide this, I give them some of my pj's for them to wear and all of us get changed into our night wear.

Now the house is quiet and dark except for the colorful Christmas lights on the tree. I know I should turn them off and head to bed but I know I won't be able to sleep with so many thoughts plagueing my mind. Besides, the lights are actually comforting me a little and even helping to ease my thoughts. There are still plenty haunting me, though and I know they will continue to pester me. I wonder how all these events that have happened would have happened if Edward and Alphonse hadn't appeared in this world. I wouldn't have fallen in love with Ed, firstly, but I also never would've had a Christmas in comparison to the one I had today. I don't know if I would have met Izumi either if they had appeared or not. I don't know if I ever would have experienced the things I have experienced. I might not have even found someone to love if Ed had never appeared. Maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn't have, I really don't know.

I turn my gaze to the midnight blue jewelry box on the coffee table beside me. With a shift of my position, I'm turned to face it and I run my right hand across the top of it. As much as I want to open it and listen to it's tune, I keep it shut knowing that Nicoule would not be pleased if I accidentally woke her. With my left hand I fiddle with the locket clasped around my neck, the gift I got from Al, and plan to find or take pictures for the inside. If those brothers go back to their original world, these things will haunt me continuisly about them and I will never be able to get them out of my mind.

Pulling my knees to my chest, I bury my face against them and let out a long breath, "I don't know what to do...Tell or not to tell, what tis be the answer?" I wryly smirk at my horrible joke and turn to look out the window. The falling snow shielded any and all objects outside but I find myself hypnotized by it. "God, if you really do exist, help a girl out and give her a sign. I'm so confused."

"I wouldn't go asking God for help. Never once did he help me."

Whipping my head toward the direction of the voice, the first thing I really spot is the lights on the tree reflecting off of metal. It takes a moment for me to realize that it's a metal arm, which is connected to Ed, obviously. His hair is somehow still up in a pony tail - a messy one at that -, and he's wearing a black t-shirt and plaid pj bottoms. I sort of made this rule that he wasn't allowed to sleep in his boxers, especially since I tend to get really random visitors at all times of the day. Well, also because I didn't know what that would do to my mind. Nicoule has made it perverted enough, thanks.

I tried, I really, really tried to stare at his face but that shirt is pure torture. It's form fitting, making it seem like a second skin. I'm pretty sure that Ed had gotten that shirt from Zach and since Zach isn't as fit as him that shirt would obviously seem big on Zach but really nice on Ed. Every inch of his well-built upper body is defined by that shirt and no matter how much will power I have, I cannot look away.

"Can I sit down or are you just going to continue staring?"

My eyes go back up to his face once he says that and I see a smirk has taken place on his lips. Jerking my head the other way to hide the cherry red blush on my cheeks, I nod and he comes to sit beside me. I try to look anywhere but him because I know if I just look back at him I won't stop staring like an absolute moron. God, I hate hormones, they're such a pain in the ass.

"So why were you asking God for help?"

"Huh?"

Another smirk finds Ed's lips as he looks at me, "I heard you asking God for help with something you're confused about. What's that?"

I blush lightly, arms still curled around my legs and eyes staring at my knees. "Uh...welllll...it's really nothing I can't handle. It's just...girl stuff, you know?"

"No, actually, because I'm not a girl," He says. "Explain it to me."

"I doubt you'd be able to help me," I mutter, tightening my arms around my legs.

"I can try. So enlighten me, why are you so confused?"

I gulp, excuses floating through my head and I try to choose the best one so I can get out of this situation. My palms are sweaty and my heart is beating so hard I'm sure it's going to come right out of my chest. At least a billion butterflies have been released in my stomach and whatever excuses I do try to say, their words immediately die in my throat.

Sighing inwardly, I release my legs and sit up straight. "Well..it's this thing happening with one of my friends at school. See, she likes this guy but she thinks that he's way out of her league and that he doesn't like her back. She came to me for advice but I suck at whatever corrisponds with relationships and love. So...yeah...It'd be kind of nice to have a male's opinion, I guess."

"I'm not really the best guy to talk to about this stuff. You'd have better luck with Al-"

No I wouldn't, I think sourly, remembering his advice.

"-but I think that this friend of yours should just be brave and tell this guy."

I feel this uncertainty in my gut suddenly from the way he said that sentence. The way he chose to say it made it sound like it was directed at me and not advice for me to give to a 'friend'. I keep my gaze to the coffee table, my hands working to try and distract myself from my nervousness.

"But what if this guy rejects her? What if he doesn't talk to her ever again after that? What if she's so heart broken that she never leaves her house again?"

Nervous rambling, I hate nervous rambling. Unfortunately, I tend to do it a lot and it annoys me to no end.

Edward's flesh hand grabs my right, stopping it as it reaches for another book. He chuckles softly, "Nervous?"

His breath brushes against my ear as he says that and a shiver runs up my spine. The butterflies are no longer just flapping calmly away, their flying as if they're in the middle of a fucking storm. My mind was in such a nervous rut that I subconciously began to neatly sort the notes and books scattered about the coffee table. I started cleaning and that had been a dead give away that I'm nervous to Ed. He knows, he knows, he fucking knows!

I tear my wrist from his grasp, clutching it with my other hand while I attempt to keep my heart at a normal pace and my face it's usual color. "I'm not nervous. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure," He says disbelievingly and moving away from me again.

Okay, he knows and decides to be a fucking tease about it? Really!

"So...what do you think she should do about the situation?" I ask quietly, trying to keep up the act. I can at least hope that he doesn't know when it seems so obvious that he does.

"She should be brave. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But I'm pretty sure that he'll feel the same, she just has to take a risk," He replies.

'But I'm pretty sure he'll feel the same...'? Is he just being hypothetical or serious?

That sentence stricks hope within me but I don't want it to get too high because I know that it might only end in pain. Too many times I've gotten my hopes up only for them to crash down. I don't need that disppointment again. Why should I take a risk if I'm only going to end in disppointment again? 'When the time comes, you might find the courage you never even knew you had'? Nicoule, I don't know what you were talking about. You know as good as anybody that I'm a coward. Whatever 'courage' you think I have I probably don't. I hate it, watching someone like her being able to do such gutsy things but I'm too chicken to even consider it. I want to be braver, I want to be able to face things head on and be able to tell Ed the truth but..

He speaks again and his sentence makes my heart stop and for every inch of my body to freeze. I almost could be mistaken for a statue if it isn't for the unsure and shaken breaths breaking from my lips. My suspicions are correct; he knows. Since when and how, I'm not sure but all that matters is what I decide to do about it.

"So...when are you going to tell me?"

There you go! I hoped you liked it and I'll try really really hard to get the next chapter out! Again, sorry for any lazyness during parts and sorry if it was noticable :/

Heh heh, I love cliffhangers xD They're so mean!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any other thing that I may have mentioned, all that I own are my OC's and plot.