All these wonderful reviews! Thank you so much! 3 3 And since you were all so nice, here's the rest of what I've written so far! Enjoy!

Eva's POV

I watched with a certain amount of amusement as Armstrong, in his joy, crushed just about every bone in Ed's body. It made me very glad that he hadn't spotted me or felt any connection to me.

"Mis Eva! I have heard about you and the tragic tale of how you lost your family!" the Major boomed as he turned to me. "Your bravery in such times warms my heart!"

Oh god...

As he lunged at me, his arms outstretched, I ran and slid under his arms. I quickly launched myself over the bed so there was a barrier between me and broken ribs.

"Mis Eva?" said Armstrong, his back to me. "You seem to have disappeared at an alarming rate."

"Darn right."

"Mis Eva!"

He twirled around and I was immediately bombarded by a deluge of sparkles and hearts.

"Gah! Ed! SAVE ME!"

However, as Ed was currently unable to do anything of the sort, I dove under the bed, past the arms of Armstrong, and down the hall. Armstrong chased after me.

"This is the ultimate chase-and-hug technique, passed down in the Armstrong family for generations!"

"GAH!! NONONONONONONONO!!! I WANT TO KEEP MY NEWLY HEALED RIBS INTACT!"

"Ohoohoohoo!"

Later, after I had successfully lost Armstrong in the maze of hallways in the hospital, I made my way back to Ed's room. Just as I reached the room, King Bradely strode out. As he passed by me, I felt his penetrating glare on the back of my neck. I shuddered and entered the room.

Ed was sitting on the bed, dazedly holding a melon of some sort.

"Is that some weird Amestrian way of saying get well soon?" I asked, poking it.

"No, just some strange thing the Fuhrer does..."

"He gives me the willies..."

"Because he gave me a cantaloupe?"

I shot Ed a look.

"No, O Vertically Challenged One. He was staring at me."

" WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALLER THAN A FLEA?"

"You. Stop getting sidetracked."

"Maybe he has a thing for younger women."

"... That's just creepy."

"But it's possible." Ed shrugged.

I glared at him for a few seconds. There was something nagging at me about the Fuhrer, something Maggie had told me, but I couldn't remember what it was. With a shrug, I pushed it out of my mind. If it was important I'd remember soon enough.

Ed's POV

My injuries weren't severe, so I was out of the hospital within two or three days. Eva stayed the whole time. Once I told her that she shouldn't stay in a hospital 24/7, it probably wasn't healthy. For my troubles, I got a chair over the head with the announcement that since I was now taking care of her, she had to stay nearby. She added that it wasn't like she had a hotel to stay in anyway. I didn't push the subject; she had a dangerous look in her eye.

Al, Eva, and I walked down the street, heading to a restaurant I particularly liked. Hospital food was the pits and I wanted something that actually had taste and texture. Al and I strode ahead while Eva wandered slowly behind. When we came to the restaurant, Al went in to get a table for us while I waited impatiently for Eva to catch up.

"You got lead in your rear?" I demanded when she was in ear shot.

She shrugged and kept walking at the same pace. I tapped my foot impatiently, really wanting my food. I swear she walked even slower when she saw that. With a hiss of exasperation, I dove forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her toward the building. Through my glove, I felt her flinch slightly at my touch. As soon as I slowed down at the door, she hastily wrenched her arm out of my grip and walked quickly to where Al was waiting. I stared after her, nonplussed.

While I ate, I studied Eva talking to Al. I had noticed she had a rather reserved way of talking to people, as if she was guarding something. I would have said it was how she normally was, except sometimes she would show a completely different side; open and friendly. However, it seemed that as soon as she realized she was being more open, she'd pull back again so quickly you'd wonder if you'd been hallucinating.

Eva lagged behind all afternoon while we were shopping. Every time I tried to pull her into gear, she'd either evade my hand, or flinch. By the fifth time, I was getting pretty sick of it.

"What is wrong with you?" I hissed after she had flinched the third time. "I don't have the plague!"

Her back stiffened and her stare became glacial. Without a word, she pushed past me and Al, who was laden with packages. After a few steps, she broke into a run, rapidly disappearing in the crowd.

"What did you do, Brother?" Al demanded angrily.

"ME?!? Why do you always asume it's because of something I did?"

"Because it usually is! You should watch your tongue!"

"SHE WAS THE ONE WHO WAS ACTING LIKE I WAS A LEPER!"

"WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE? GO AFTER HER AND APOLOGISE FOR WHATEVER IT IS YOU SAID!"

"WERE YOU LISTENING TO ME? IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

I sighed angrily, then ran in the direction Eva had disappeared in.

I found her sitting on a bench in one of the many squares. Her head was bowed to her knees, her hands clasped behind her neck.

"Eva." I said, alerting her to the fact that I was there.

"Sorry I keep flinching," she said, not looking up. Her voice was thick and muffled. "It's habit."

I shrugged and flopped down next to her, nonchalantly crossing my right leg over the left. We sat that way for a good number of minutes, me watching the people go by and Eva staying in the same position.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I finally asked, bored out of my skull and wanting to get going. My bottom was going numb from the benches intricate (aka painfully pointy) design.

" I don't talk about it," Eva finally replied.

I pursed my lips. I was starting to notice that I was often exasperated when Eva was around.

"Fine. Can we go then?"

"You go ahead. I'll be back at the hotel in a while."

"Nope. Al will kill me and feed me to a motley collection of cats he's found if I don't come back with you. Just tell me and get it off your chest. I swear I won't tell anyone and it'll probably make you feel better."

Eva finally raised her head. Her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks had tear tracks.

"Hey, I thought you didn't cry anymore," I said, uncomfortable with the misery radiating off of her.

" Yeah, well I haven't thought about this in a while."

She took a shuddery breath.

"I have a sister."

"Yeah, Maggie."

Her eyes flickered in my direction.

"No, another sister. Her name's Trinity. She's six years older than me. She isn't my blood sister, Mom and Dad adopted her because they thought they couldn't have children. We were very close, best friends. About 5 years ago, she and my parents decided to enroll her in this specialty theater school because it was her greatest dream to be an actress. We had this big going away party for her. I was broken hearted because she was leaving, but she promised that she'd come back and visit as much as possible."

Eva looked down.

"Three months went by. At first she'd call me every night to see how I was doing and see what had happened that day. Then the calls became less frequent, once or twice a week until they stopped completely. She didn't come home until the holiday break."

"She was growing up," I said with a slight shrug.

Eva blinked a few times.

"Of course she was. It's to be expected. But when she came home, I got the biggest shock of my life. She wasn't Trinity anymore. Her personality had completely changed. Before she left, she was sweet and caring, always putting aside whatever she was doing if Maggie or I needed her. Always curious about what I was doing. When she came back she was selfish, sullen, projecting her problems on everyone else in the family. I can't even count all the actions of completely insensitivity she showed. One discussion we had, I remember quite vividly. I had just gotten over pneumonia. I was telling her about going in for x-rays. The entire time I was talking, she had this blank look on her face. I paused to see if she had any comment. Do you know what she said? She said, 'That's great. Did I tell you about what my friend Tony did at class the other day?'"

Eva's voice was shaking angrily.

"That was the worst bought of pneumonia I'd ever had. Mom and Dad were afraid I was going to die at one point. And what does she day? What does my sister, my best friend of ten years say? SHE SAYS THE DAMN THING'S GREAT! SHE DIDN'T CARE THAT I HAD ALMOST DIED! SHE JUST WANTED ME TO KNOW THAT HER DEAR, PRECIOUS FRIEND HAD BELCHED INSTEAD OF DELIVERING THE FIRST LINE!"

Eva's fists clenched and unclenched. She was quiet for a few minutes, until she could talk without yelling again. Her voice was forcedly calm when she began again.

"It was then that I realized that Trinity had died, replaced by someone else, no something else. The person I loved dearly was no longer there and I decided that I didn't want to be burned by her unfeeling nature any longer. I permanently cut ties with her. I didn't even talk to her at Dad's funeral. Waltzing in, in her low-cut, froofy, bright colored dress. Like it wasn't her father's funeral."

Tears were coursing down the tracts on her cheeks again.

"But despite cutting ties with her, that experience has affected every friendship I've had since. Every time somebody did something remotely like what she had done to me, I'd pull back, feeling like I'd been slapped. My feelings surfaced in my actions, resulting in subconscious flinching every time somebody touched me. It's something I haven't been able to break myself of, nor not being able to trust people fully."

Eva stared ahead, a tired, deeply unhappy look on her face.

"So I'm sorry if I flinch or if I seem cold to you and Al. I'm just not ready to be burned again."

I watched her quietly. Her story seemed almost petty at first glance, a child over reacting about a sibling maturing and leaving them behind. But at closer inspection, you could see how traumatizing such a thing could be. A sense of trust was a delicate thing to begin with and hers had been completely shattered by someone from her own family. I didn't blame her in the least for the way she now felt.

I hesitantly inched closer to Eva and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She stiffened momentarily then relaxed against me. Her tears escalated as her pent up anger and sorrow unleashed themselves. I mutely wiped her cheeks and rocked back and forth slightly.

"You can trust me," was all I said once the tears abated. I let go and pulled her up to her feet.

"Come on."

Eva scrubbed her eyes and nodded with a weak smile.

"Yeah, Al's probably worried."

We walked back to the hotel. It wasn't until we were almost to the door that I realized something. Eva had slipped her hand into my right hand.

It may be a bit until the next update, cause I don't know what to write next. suggestions would be appreciated!