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The Gift
19
Separation
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December 19th – Tuesday
"All aboard!"
Ed looked over to where the conductor was standing by the train. People were beginning to line up to show their boarding passes.
"Well, I guess it's time," Al said and Ed glanced up at him.
"Yeah...well, be careful, okay?"
"You worry too much, brother," Al said with a shake of his head.
Ed scowled. "I worry too much?" To this Al only shrugged his shoulders. The blond shook his head. "They said that storm that's coming is going to be really big. I just don't want anything to happen to you, that's all."
"Don't be silly, brother. What's the worse that could happen to me? Even if I somehow got stuck out in the snow and had to walk to Rizembool, I would be fine. I can't feel the cold and I don't need to eat or sleep."
"Yeah, I know..." Ed muttered. Truthfully, it wasn't the storm that bothered him. This was the first Christmas he'd be without Al and now that the time had finally come to say goodbye, Ed found that he really didn't want to. Part of him just wanted to hurry and buy a ticket and go with him.
Maybe he wouldn't feel this way if he actually saw Roy every once in a while, but he rarely did anymore. Besides the fact that the man was almost always gone and when he did see him, the colonel seemed to be preoccupied. His mind always seemed to be on something else. When Ed had asked about it, the man had simply said that he had a project he was working on and he was trying to get it finished before Christmas, but unfortunately it wasn't going as well as he'd hoped it would. Of course, when Ed asked what kind of project it was, Roy would get a guarded look and say that he couldn't say right now.
This did little to boost Ed's confidence, and, in fact, made him even more nervous about asking about the phone number.
"Brother..."
Ed blinked. "Huh?"
Al shook his head. "Really, I don't know if I should leave you or not. You're always spacing out and stuff."
"Not always!" Ed said defensively, though he knew he had been doing that a lot. He supposed he should have told Al what was bothering him, but he couldn't. His brother was often overprotective of him and would probably get mad at Roy or something and Ed really didn't want that.
Suddenly a voice behind them said, "Good, I made it in time."
They turned around to see Roy walking briskly toward them.
"Why are you here?" Al asked and Ed looked up at his brother with a thought that Al didn't seem too happy to see the colonel. Of course...Al was really perceptive... Ed frowned at the thought that perhaps his brother had noticed Roy not being around and connected it with the way he'd been acting. He hoped not. He wanted Roy and his brother to get along.
"Well, I wanted to see you off, and be here with Ed when you left. Or would you rather have left your brother here by himself?"
Al shook his head and Ed heard a muttered, "Whatever..."
Sighing, Ed glanced at the dwindling line. Al followed his gaze and said, "Well, I'd better go. See you in a week or so."
Ed nodded. They gave each other a brief hug and Al glanced at the colonel before heading off toward the conductor. Ed thought that if iron could glare, Al would be glaring.
"It will be okay," Roy said and stepped forward to lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah..." he murmured while watching his brother board the train.
They stood there until the train began moving. Ed waved when he saw Al's window and his brother waved back, and then the train completely left the station.
Suddenly, Ed felt unexplainably lonely and he fought the urge to run after the train.
"Okay, no sad faces." Ed glanced at the colonel who was giving him a small smile. "How about we get lunch then move a few of your things over to my place."
Ed's lips quirked up into a small smile and he nodded.
He was being stupid. He wasn't alone. He had Roy. Ed was sure that now that Al was gone, Roy would spend more time with him. He would... Right?
Next postdates are: 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th
Wow! We're getting close to the end! I can't believe it…
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