Hello! I have finally gotten around to typing this chapter! Man I can't wait until the plot kicks in... Anyway, I forgot the disclaimer on Chappy 1 so here it is.

I no own.

...

That was anticlimatic.

Also, Big thanks to all my reviewers! You guys are awesome.

PPS, Italics switch from Amestrian to English alot, depending upon who's point of view we're following.

In Between the Lines

Chapter 2

Hello! Meet the Elrics...

The thin nurse lead Anna down the hall to the main lobby, where she assumed Hughes was waiting. She spotted him immediately, his aura of gushing happiness impossible to mistake. He must of spotted her too, as he strutted up to her and shoved a picture of Elysia into her face. Anna tried desperately to brace herself for the coming storm.

"Isn't Elysia the cutest thing you've ever seen? Here, you can have these copies, I've got a million of them!" He shoved an album (which was full to the bursting,) into her arms. "I bet you can't wait to meet her! My wife would love to meet you too!" Another album. "Photos of them together!" A folder.

"Mr. Hughes-" The nurse tried to intervene.

"Isn't she adorable?" Photo to the face.

"Lieutenant Colone-" She tried again.

"Gracia will love you!" Gush...

"LIEUTENANT COLONEL HUGHES! SHE DOESN'T SPEAK AMESTRIAN." The nurse shouted. Anna shot her a grateful look, somewhat understanding what was said.

"Oh. Right." Hughes stopped gushing long enough to motion for her to follow him. He lead her outside where a small car was waiting to escort them to the Hughes' apartment.

"She really is cute." Anna half whispered. Hughes must of heard, as he gave her a confused look over his shoulder. "E-li-si-ah!" she said slowly, miming a heart with her hands. Hughes just smiled hugely.

The language barrier sure was annoying, but at least it made it easier to ignore Hughes. As much as she loved him, Anna was sure if she could understand him she would have gone insane by now. Thankfully he had fallen silent about halfway to his home.

The ride over to Hughes' apartment was rather boring, although it allowed her to take a good look at Central for the first time. It was rather bland, many of the white buildings the exact same. Anna was also surprised at how many people were on the street, or lack thereof. From what she had seen, there were at least 500,000 people in Central. Anna had expected the streets to be full of people wandering about the streets. She had been to Chicago, (shudder,) and knew how crowded it got. Hell, She'd been to Omaha, which had 300,000 people in it and was still more crowded.

"We're here." Hughes said as he pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building. Being the gracious man he was, Hughes pulled open the door of the car.

Anna stepped out cautiously, still clutching her toiletries. She still found it rather odd that the only thing that had been transported with her was that bag. She made a mental note to go through what had been shoved in there by her other family members later. Maybe some modern technology had been packed inside.

Hughes had led her up to the third floor of the apartment building, occasionally gushing about Elysia along the way. He stopped however when he realized that Anna was simply ignoring him.

"Here we are," He said motioning to the door at the end of the hall. "Gracia! Elysia! Papa's here!" As soon as he opened the door, an easily recognizable pigtailed girl tripped into the room.

"Papa! You're early!" Elysia stated, pointing an accusing finger at her father. "You said you have lotsa work to do!" Hughes chuckled wholeheartedly.

"And I'm afraid Papa's going to have to go back to work soon." He bent over suddenly and squished Elysia into a bear hug that strangely reminded Anna of her brother after not seeing her or Maria in a while. "Papa's going to miss his little darling!" His attention was quickly brought inside as Gracia made her appearance.

"Maes, why don't you introduce us?" She said, peeking a glance in Anna's direction.

"Oh, Right. Gracia, Elysia, this is Anna McKraken." He motioned to each of them in turn.

"Hi! I'm Elysia! That's Mama! And you've met Papa!" Elysia explained slowly, like she was talking to a kindergartener. Even though she wasn't even old enough for that.

"Umm, Hi?" Anna questioned as Elysia pulled her inside. She turned to Hughes, finding a rather amused expression on his face. Anna's temperament demanded that she send a glare his way. She was pleased to see his expression change to bemusement. He seemed to recover, and turned to Gracia again.

"Well, I've got to head back to work. See you for dinner, Sweethearts."

Hughes practically skipped down the hall to Colonel Mustang's temporary office. He just couldn't believe his luck. The one person he knew of that could speak that strange girl's-Anna was it?- language was in Central and needed a place to stay. All he could say was "Hooray for knowing a lot!*" If he hadn't known the FullMetal Alchemist was in town they might of had to wait a few months before anyone could teach her Amestrian.

Hughes burst into Roy's office in his usual manner, and feigned surprise at finding the Elric brothers there. He then proceeded to go on about his family and begin to explain exactly why they were staying at his apartment.

"-And the girl there needs to learn Amestrian too!" He finished. The blonde shrimp (Haha! Can't reach me now!) was confused until Hughes started again. "A girl showed up in Central a few days ago, and she doesn't speak Amestrian."

"What does a brat that doesn't know Amestrian have to do with me?" Ed snorted. His comment earned him a sharp jab in the ribs by a rather hard piece of brother, followed by a sharp reprimand by the dark haired Colonel still sitting at his desk.

"...Anyway, 'that brat's' name is Anna McKraken. We believe the language she speaks is Henlish," Hughes began re-explaining, "You two are the only people we know of that speak Henlish." Ed's face contorted as it dawned on him that he was going to have a tag-a-long on their journey for a while.

Hughes returned to his apartment for the second time that day, this time with a rather odd pair. The suit of armor towered over his small gold-and-red companion.

The door opened, and little Elysia found herself squished into her father's side. Hughes was gently rubbing his beard against her round cheek, little squeals issuing from her mouth.

"Ow! Papa, your beard hurts!" Elysia cried, only causing Hughes to rub harder.

Only after her father introduced Ed and Al did she finally notice them, bright eyes wide. Elysia (unbeknownst to her,) had managed to both win over the Elric brothers hearts and piss off the elder within five minutes.

"AL! LET ME GO, AL! LET ME- Ack!" The smaller (I love making fun of you.) Elric had been cut off in the middle of his angry plead by a large hardcover book hitting him hard in the forehead. He looked dazed for a minute, before looking around for a certain blonde mechanic and a wrench.

"SHUT UP, MARIA!(1) LEMME SLEEP!" came a voice from the back of the apartment, its annoyance rivaling Ed's own. The source of the voice came stumbling into the room, wearing pajamas that were obviously too large for her. Anger flared in gray eyes, the effect completely thrown off by a dark gold bedhead.

"Maria?" The group questioned, while Ed added, "Is that Henlish?" Hughes recovered quickly from the surprise, while Ed was rather apprehensive of the girl. I hope she's not another Winry...

"Well. Ed, Al, this is Anna McKraken. Anna, Ed, Al." He motioned to the brothers for her. Ed was trying to hold in his laughter as it dawned on the girl that she had thrown a book at him. The furious look in her eyes had changed to one of guilt and embarrassment.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I thought you were my sister! I'm sorry..." Anna was blushing furiously, hands waving apologetically in front of her. She seemed to realize she still didn't have the book she had thrown, and looked around cautiously. Apparently sometime during her flustering, Al had picked it up, as he now held it out to her.

"Are you looking for this?" Anna nodded, acknowledging that he could speak her language. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone..." He read the name printed on the spine. Ed visibly perked up at this, and Anna was sure if he was a dog, his tail would be going a mile a minute.

"Stone? Like the Philosopher's Stone?"

Oh dear. Poor Anna. She should know better than to chick Harry Potter books at Ed and Al. Especially Ed.

I'M SOOOOO SORRY FOR NOT PUTTING THIS UP EARLIER! It's just that school started, Art club's back in full swing, and I have little free time. Gomen, gomen.

LOL It's an HP in FMA type-thing going on now. YYEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH.

*: NOOO ITS NOT HUGHES.

Anyway, 1) Maria is Anna's younger sister.

Also, as stated previously, REVIEW OR ARMSTRONG WILL HUG YOOOUUUU.