A/N: Sorry this is late but I don't care. I was super busy doing nothing important all week long. So there. Nobody complained anyway so obviously nobody cares. I love cats! I own one so don't go accusing me of anything! But for those of you who don't….Ha! Anywho, here's what you came for. (BTW episode 2 was a flashback episode, for those of you didn't already figure that out. This one doesn't directly follow it.) Enjoy!


Ana and Naomi were walking down a hallway in Central Command when Jaroue approached them.

"Hey! Ana!" he called. "Colonel Rackem wants to see you."

Ana was not in the mood to deal with her superior officer at the moment. She had a terrible night's sleep. Not to mention that her leg and shoulder were still sore from getting shot in Rixwell Point.

"Does she now?!" Ana said, annoyed.

Jaroue and Naomi both sighed at Ana's ridiculous behavior.

"Yes. She does," said Jaroue.

"Just go," sighed Naomi.

Ana pouted. "Fine," she said as she stomped away.


"Iron Rose."

"Colonel."

Ana sent a glare at Rackem. The Colonel simply returned it with a bored expression.

"Do you have a report compiled yet?"

Ana face turned as red as her hair. This was not what she had been expecting. "Sort of…."

"Sort of?" Rackem asked condescendingly.

"Yeah. Anyway, maybe I could-"

"Do you and Jack have a place to stay?"

"Huh? No," said Ana, confused at the sudden change in topic.

"I know a couple who would be willing to host you. Their names are Bernard and Lori Alter."

"Who-? What-? Why?" Ana was completely lost.

"Why are they allowing you to stay with them? Or why did I bother to find someone?"

"Ugh. Never mind."

Rackem just shook her head. "Good. Smart and McCall will take both of you to their house. It's a small distance from the city. But it should be a good place for you two to practice your alchemy."

"Okay." Ana turned and walked to the door. She opened it to find Jack and Naomi standing there.

"Um…W-We...were-" Jack stuttered.

Rackem came up behind Ana, who had frozen at the door. "You know, eavesdropping is not a trustworthy quality," she said. A cruel smile broke across her face as Jack's face turned red.

Suddenly they heard shouting coming from down the hall. The group of four turned to see Savon running, clutching a fuzzy ball in his arms.

"Look! I found a-" Savon tripped over his own feet, sending the fuzzy ball flying. The ball grew legs, a tail, and a head with whiskers.

"CAT!" Rackem screeched.

A second later, the cat's claws dug into the colonel's uniform.

"AHH!" she screamed. "Get-achoo-IT-achoo-OFF! ACHOO! JAROUE!"

Jaroue grabbed the cat and pulled it off her. He held it as far away from himself as he could. Ana started cracking up. Savon's jaw was practically on the floor. Jaroue walked over to the window and dropped the fuzzy creature.

"Your face is really red," Savon said, amazed. "I never thought a head could swell up that much…."

"Get out!" Rackem rasped.


"Here we are," said Felix Smart.

'Here' also known as the house of Bernard and Lori Alter was in the middle of nowhere. Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but only a little bit. The Alter's house sat on a 5 acre property. The house itself was huge. Four floors tall, wrap around porch, fancy french doors, a third floor balcony, a tower, a widow's walk on the roof, and it was all painted the most hideous shade of yellow Ana had ever seen.

"So why are we here?" asked Jack.

"We're staying here until further notice," Ana replied. Because Rackem doesn't think we can take care of ourselves, Ana thought.

Jack started to panic. "Wait….what? You were serious about all that? No….no…. I- We-"

"Calm down little man," said Sara McCall. "Nobody's dying. Don't worry about it. Just breathe."

Jack took a deep breath but he was still nervous. "Let's just get this over with."

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Smart. He forcefully patted Jack on the back.


"Yes, yes. That's exactly what we told Amelia, isn't it Bernard?" said Lori, cheerfully.

They were all sitting in the Alter's kitchen. Ana had taken an immediate liking to Bernard. He was in his early forties and quite tall. He had close cropped platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Lori could not have been more different. She was in her late twenties and only about 5 feet tall. Not that Ana minded being the same height. Lori also had dark, curly, brunette hair that reached to the middle of her back. But she looked exhausted. She had bags under her chocolate eyes. Ana wondered what could possibly be keeping the woman up all night.

"To the letter. Lori and I never managed to have any children our own but we always wanted a big family. And you two are alchemists we can teach you a few of our secrets as well," Bernard said. He winked conspiratorially at Ana.

"You're both alchemists?" Ana said, surprised.

"Of course, sweetheart. We wouldn't have asked to house you otherwise," Lori said with a small, tinkling laugh.

McCall gave a short chuckle. "With the amount of trouble in the West, the colonel thought it best for you two to stay with other alchemists in case of an emergency."

Ana rolled her eyes. "Isn't that what Naomi's for?"

Smart cracked up. And the rest of the table was laughing too. However the laughter was brought to a close when Jack's stomach gave a loud growl. Lori turned a questioning look at Jack, but spying the kitchen clock she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, Bernard, look at the time. It's way past dinner. And I completely forgot to bring out the food we prepared."

"No. Please, I'm fine-" Jack started to say but was interrupted by Ana's even louder stomach.

Lori laughed a little more and left to prepare dinner. Ana's face turned a light pink. Smart and McCall stood up.

Smart said, "If you're going to be having dinner, we'll leave you guys to get settled. We've still got work to do back at Central HQ."

The two soldiers leave the room, chatting amiably with Bernard as he lead them out.


Back in the kitchen Lori let out a large sigh in frustration. "Well that's annoying," she said, looking down at the oven.

Ana and Jack turn to look at her in confusion.

"What's wrong?" asked Ana.

"The oven won't heat up. It's the third time this week," she said. Under her breath she muttered, "Bernard needs to call that repairman."

"Um….If all we need to do is warm up food I know a way we could do it…." Jack said shyly.

"What?" exclaimed Ana and Lori in unison.


Twenty minutes later…..

"Jack. You're a genius." The amazement was clear in Ana's voice.

"This is almost better that cooking in an oven," exclaimed Bernard excitedly. "It saves gas. And it doesn't heat the house up ten extra degrees! Amazing!" He threw his arms up in the air to emphasize his point. "Where did you come up with this?"

Jack glanced over at the stove. Over two slow lit burns sat a cookie sheet covered in tin foil.* To be honest, Jack had never tried it over a stove before, only ever over an open fire with a dutch oven. He looked back a Bernard when he answered.

"Well the original idea wasn't mine," he said, "I just helped 'cause I was the only one who could use fire alchemy. The regular fires always burnt the food, so they'd have me control and keep the fires down while they heated up their food."

"Still! It's a great idea," Ana said. She noticed the resentment in Jack's voice as he talked but did not say anything. If wanted to tell her about it, he would.

Jack looked down at his lap. "Yeah. I guess."

"Thank you for sharing it with us, Jack," said Lori. "If it wasn't for you, we'd all be going to bed hungry."

"Speaking of beds," Bernard cut in, "we should show you kids your rooms. And, no, your rooms are not next to each other. They aren't even on the same floor. And we have incredibly creaky stairs."

"Wait. Ana, you need to drink your milk," Lori commanded.

After a long pause Ana glared at Lori and said, "No."

"What did you just say young lady?" Lori said crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"I won't drink it," Ana said with a flip of her ponytail.

"Really? This is a hill you're willing to die on?"

"I won't drink it. I hate milk. It's disgusting."

Bernard sighed, "Now Ana, you have to drink milk in order to-"

Jack swiped the glass off the table and chugged it down. "There," he said, "now her milk's gone."

Ana smiled triumphantly. Lori, on the other hand, gave a half-hearted sigh.

"Oh well. It's for the best," she said. "Bernard, why don't you show them upstairs? I'll clean up the kitchen and bring up their luggage when I'm done."

"Beat you to it, sweetheart," he replied. "There was surprisingly little for two teenagers. But I'll show them up."

Bernard guided Ana and Jack into the main hallway. They went up a staircase just as a phone began to ring. Ana looked up at the numerous certificates and awards on the wall. Almost all of them belonged to Lori. Ana guessed that the woman must be some type of alchemical genius. She wondered once again what type of alchemy she studied. She turned her attention back to Bernard as they reached the second floor.

"That's Lori's and my bedroom, and that's the bathroom," he said, pointing at two different doors, "and this is where Ana will be staying. Jack, you're another flight up."

Ana opened up the door. As she looked around, she exclaimed, "This is so cool!"

"Well why don't you check it out while I show Jack up stairs," Bernard chuckled.

"Sure. G'night," Ana said as she shut the door in their faces.


"This room is so amazing!" said Ana to herself. She flopped backward onto the bed with a sigh. "I wish Liam could see it." She walked over to the window and peeked through the curtains. "Wow. This view is amazing. I haven't seen this many stars since leaving Resembol."

Ana was just about to turn away from the window when she saw the lights flicker on outside. It was Lori. And it looked to Ana that she was in a hurry to get somewhere. But where could Lori possibly be going at 11 p.m.? Ana thought. But she pushed it to the back of her mind as Lori got into the car and drove off into the night.


"I knew I shouldn't have left them alone with it. The idiots," Lori mutters as she pulled up to the fourth laboratory. "If they killed it, they're in for a world of hurt."

Lori unlocked the main doors to the lab. She quickly walked down the halls, her heels making sharp clicks on the stone floors. She opened up the concealed door that led to her more private experiments.

"Ruby!" she shouted.

A younger woman came rushing up to her. Ruby exclaimed, "Dr. Alter! Thank goodness you're here. These imbeciles were messing around with-"

"Never mind that. Is it damaged?"

"Project Ian? No, he's fine."

Lori sighed, "'It', Ruby. How many times do I have to tell you? Project Ian is an 'it' not a 'he'. You can't form attachments in this line of work."

"Right. Sorry."

"Good. Now where are the bastards who messed with my project?!"

"Uh….two doors down. On the left," Ruby said quietly. She did not want to be the subject of Dr. Alter's wrath. Ruby had heard stories about Dr. Alter's previous lab assistants. One had abandoned his post after losing his mind. And Ruby suspected that others had been used in Dr. Alter's experiments.

"Thanks, sweetheart. You should go now. I'll see you in the morning. I have a few things to take care of so I'll lock up on my way out. Okay?"

"Err….sure," said Ruby. "Goodnight."

"Night," muttered Lori. "Now to give those bastards the hell they came looking for."