After Edward had calmed down, Gibbs had taken him to the hospital, telling him he wanted to check for any possible damage from the accident. This was a lie; Gibbs wanted to see if there was anything wrong with Edward, mentally; he's just finding everything hard to grasp.

Gibbs sits in the waiting room, toying with the small boat in his hand. [What if it's all true? What if he's from another world?] He looks at the boat, then pulls out the piece of paper with the transmutation circle on it. He stares at it for a long while, just thinking, before he's interrupted by Edward walking into the room, holding his metal arm in his left hand. He's tailed by the doctor, who looks at Edward, then Gibbs. "Everything's normal. He's perfectly healthy."

Edward snorts. "I could have told you that, you know." He holds his arm up to his socket, and just before Gibbs can say 'You didn't tell me that was removeable', he shoves it in-and lets out a muffled cry at the sudden jolt of pain.

"It hurts when you do that?"

"No, I yelled because a snake bit me." Edward flexes his arm, then makes a fist. "Let's get the hell out of here, I hate doctors."

"I see. Thanks, doc." Gibbs follows Edward out, watching as he puts on the automail-concealing black shirt. "Mind if I ask why you conceal your arm?"

"A lot of people treat you different if they think something's wrong with you. I don't need that."

"Ah." They're not far from the exit now. "Well, you're not from this world. How did you get here?"

Edward frowns and looks around as they get outside. These fancy cars still hit him with a little awe. "Another alchemist.. was studying portals with alchemy. He activated one to test it, and.. I fell in."

The corner of Gibbs' mouth pulls into a smile. "Graceful."

"Hey! I did it to save him from falling in!"

"You said he wanted to test it."

"He said portals could kill people! Tear them apart!"

Gibbs looks over at Edward. "You survived."

"How do we know I wasn't just lucky?"

"Maybe you were." He gets into the car, Ed sliding in next to him.

"I just.. I want to get home. To Alphonse, Winry.. even Mustang," he groans.

"Remind me who Mustang is." He heads, not back toward NCIS, but out to eat. He's seen this kid eat.

"Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. He's a ibastard/i. He only cares about himself, about getting promoted all the time and going on dates and trying to skip out on paperwork." He snorts, and Gibbs just smiles.

"He's an alchemist too, huh?"

"Yeah, the Flame Alchemist," Edward repeats. "He has special gloves.. he snaps his fingers and can cause a controlled explosion or blaze." He wrinkles his nose. "He's a showoff too." As if Ed's not.

Gibbs continues driving, something running through his mind. "You said you fell into a portal to get here.. can you re-create it to return home?"

Ed leans against the passenger-side door, thinking back to his memory of the transmutation circle in the basement. The lighting was dim, and the light of the transmutation distorted the image. "I'm.. not sure.. I didn't see the transmutation circle before I fell into it." He puts his forehead into his right hand. "Somehow, I have to get home.."

"Do you think anyone will come looking for you?"

"I don't know.. There was so much that could go wrong, for all they know, I'm dead.. Alphonse can't risk it, what if the alchemy did something to his blood seal?"

[Well, that's a new term.] "What's a blood seal?"

Edward looks up at Gibbs, who is still driving, but glances at Edward when he gets a response of silence. "Ah, sorry. Is that one of those 'do-not-ask' questions?"

"..." Ed leans his head against the window. "..It's because of the accident. The accident.. was Al and I trying to bring our mother back from the dead."

The car accelerates slightly as Gibbs leans on the gas pedal, before catching himself and relaxing. "Alchemy?"

"Yeah. It never works. We didn't listen to the warnings. Our mother came back.. but as a.. as a monster. It wasn't her." He shakes his head, trying to shake the image from his mind. "I lost my leg in the transmutation. Alphonse.. he was gone completely. I.. there was a suit of armor nearby.. I made a blood seal on the inside; I went back into the gate after him-and I was able to put his soul inside the armor, at the cost of losing my arm." He's trembling, but silent after that.

Gibbs gives the kid a few minutes of silence, before pulling into the driveway of his own home, rather than a public place. He turns the car off and leans back. "What will you do, then?"

Edward stares out the window, silent, for several minutes before he answers. "..Try to go back. I'll try to remake the circle. No matter what the risk is.. I have to try to go back."

[If only we could help. We know nothing of this..] Gibbs puts his hand on Edward's shoulder. "C'mon, let's go inside. I'll make dinner."

Edward looks up at Gibbs, and manages a smile. "Yeah." As they head in, Ed takes a deep breath and looks at Gibbs. There's.. something about him, that feels..strange. Like he's drawn to this strange man. This Agent Gibbs seems to comfort him, just from being around him. It's almost.. like having a father.

"Remind me why we're back in this area again?" Tony pokes around the area they found Edward.

"To see if we can find any clues to our suspect, or something that will help Edward return home."

"Right.. the secret to the bridging of universes is here, right under the dead leaves."

"Just keep looking. We may find spent bullets or blood or even something else from Ed's home, like notes that-"

She's cut off by a sudden blast of strange sound; it sounds like alchemy-but louder, more warped. A strange swirl of darkness appears above them; Tony directly beneath it. His eyes widen as something drops from it like a stone-landing on top of him, and causing a cracking sound. He cries out in pain, the portal disappearing above them.

"Tony! Tony, Are you all right?" Ziva rushes over, finding an unconscious man on top of Tony. She moves him off and checks Tony, who seems to be favoring his right side.

"I.. I think he.. cracked my ribs.." Tony groans. "Why does it always seem this sort of thing happens to me?"

"Because, Tony. You are an idiot." Ziva smiles and calls up an ambulance for Tony.. and the other man in the strange blue uniform.

"I don't do anything to deserve getting hurt though, do I?" He huffs a little, the talking.. and breathing.. both painful. "Plague, explosion, shot, this.. come on, gimme a break.."

Ziva smiles. "Just relax and stop talking until you're healed."

Tony grins. "You do care."

"Ohhh, don't flatter yourself. Gibbs would not like it if I punched you while your ribs were broken."

"Ouch.."

It's getting pretty late. Edward and Gibbs are in the basement, Gibbs working on his boat, Edward trying to recreate the circle from memory. Ed has gone through quite a few sheets of paper-front and back-and still hasn't managed to remember all of the symbols and the writing. He's going to keep trying, even if it kills him.

Gibbs does some more planing on the ridges of the boat, pausing to look over at Edward. "Edward, go get some sleep."

Edward looks up, then over at Gibbs. "I'm still working on this."

"You've been working on it for four hours straight. Go to bed, you'll think better in the morning."

A yawn escapes Ed's lips as he's about to protest, and he groans and stands up, stretching stiff muscles. He heads up the stairs, picking the couch as his bed.

Satisfied, Gibbs picks up his cell phone and dials up Abby's number.

"Hello Gibbs! You're calling pretty late.."

"Is there anything new on the case?"

"Tony and Ziva went back to the crime scene to look for more clues.. but they were interrupted."

"By who?"

"We're not sure yet. He arrived, we think, just like Edward.. he fell from a strange void in the sky, and landed right on Tony."

Gibbs' eyes widen. "Is he awake?" He runs over and heads for the stairs.

"Not yet. Ducky said he didn't suffer anything from the fall, but he's still unconscious, just like he came in, for some reason.."

"On my way."

The unconscious man has been placed into an interrogation room, positioned so he's asleep with his head in his arms on the table. After hearing what a weapon alchemy could be, and not knowing who this is; they're not going to take any chances.

"Do we know anything about him?" Gibbs asks McGee, who's standing outside the room with him.

"His gloves have what looks like a transmutation symbol on them, so he must be an alchemist. He also had a pocket watch just like Edward. I sent one of his gloves to Abby to examine it."

Gibbs nods. He takes a sip of his coffee-this could be a long night-and heads into the room with the man. Having freed his hands by leaving the coffee outside the room, he stands across from the man, slowly lifts his hands, then brings them down-hard and fast-to either side of the man's head, making a very loud and sudden sound.

In response, after a moment the man softly groans. He mumbles something about Hawkeye and paperwork before slowly lifting his head, blinking away sleep and stretching a stiff body.

"Good, you're awake." Gibbs sits across from the man, crossing his hands on the table. "Can I have your name?"

The man sits up fully, looking at Gibbs for a few moments before looking around. "Only after you tell me where we are."

"Fair enough. We're at NCIS, a criminal investigation facility. Don't worry, you're not in any trouble. I just want information."

[NCIS? The hell?] He narrows his eyes before speaking. "Roy Mustang."

Gibbs can't help but grin. [Now we're getting somewhere.] "And why are you here?"

"I'm looking for a friend." Roy crosses his arms.

"Ahh.. could you describe him, please?"

With a snort, Roy grins. "He's too short for his big temper, blonde hair and eyes, red overcoat, eats too much and always has his nose in books."

"Hm." Gibbs stands, heading for the door. "One more question. Where are you from?"

"Central Command." He looks up at Gibbs, who nods a little.

"Thank you. I'll be back." He leaves then, and not long after, has sent Ziva to fetch Edward. He checks the clock.. 1am. Eh. He takes another sip of coffee. He was right.. this is going to be a long night.

Edward arrives with Ziva, heading down the stairs toward the interrogation rooms. He's now fully awake, but a little cranky. "You still haven't told me why the hell you woke me up and brought me here."

"I know."

"Then tell me!"

"You will see in only a minute."

Edward grumbles, but waits until they enter the room. He sees Gibbs standing at the window, but then looks through it-and gasps. "Wh-what-HIM? WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?" he yells, feeling insulted. He runs forward and into the interrogation room before anyone can grab him. "MUSTANG!"

Roy looks up, and a suprised, yet amused, expression appears on his face. "Fullmetal, you are alive."

"OF COURSE I'M ALIVE!" Ed growls indignantly. "Why you? Why not someone who gives a damn?"

"Oh, you know. It was supposed to be someone else but I was knocked in first." A lie, which Gibbs catches a mile away.. but Edward is oblivious to.

Ed groans, putting a hand to his face. "We're screwed. We'll never get back now, because you had to fuck up. Grrrrhnnnnnn!" He releases a yell of frustration.

"We'll get back somehow. Now, tell me.. where are we?"

Ed groans exasperatedly and sits down in the other chair, staring at Roy with annoyance clear as day on his face. "America."

Roy quirks an eyebrow. "Care to clarify?"

"Well, long story short, we're in another.. world, or dimension, I don't know which."

Roy stares at Edward, then looks at the door. "Uh-huh. How different is it?"

"It's.. kind of like.. going into the future. Technology is better here. There's alchemy, but nobody knows about it. There's no automail either. The military is more advanced, more branched out.. they have military for the skies, the oceans.." He shrugs. "Other than that, the world is smiliar."

"Hm." Roy stands and looks around once more. "Get us out of here, Fullmetal."

"Uh, yeah." Ed heads over and opens the door, with Gibbs meeting them both at the door.

"Welcome to NCIS, Colonel Mustang," Gibbs says, holding out his hand for the other man. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs. Let me know if there's anything you need."

Mustang shakes Gibbs' hand. "You could tell me more about your military," he replies, an interested look on his face.

Gibbs grins. "Yeah, sure."

Edward snorts. "What about home?"

"I guess we have to wait for someone else to fall through the portal," Roy says disinterestedly.

Edward growls and turns, giving Roy a shove as he heads to get out of the hallway. "Asshole."

"Wake up, McElric," Tony says to McGee, who had been practicing drawing the transmutation circle perfectly, rather than typing up a report that had been waiting for him.

McGee drops the paper, looking up at Tony. "Uh, ah, I.."

"We get it. You like alchemy. Boss wouldn't be happy to hear you're skipping out on your work though." He had just finished cleaning his gun while reading some articles on the internet that may help them with one of their cases.

"All right, all ri.. Edward?" He spots Edward storming through the bullpen, headed for the elevator. "Where are you going?"

"To find a library in this world and try to find some damn answers!" Well his mood is sour.

"Oh, well, I'd better come with you, make sure you don't get lost.."

Ed glares daggers at McGee, who falters, but is much too curious-and overprotective-to obey that look. "I told you, I'm going with you."

"Fine. I need someone to show me where the library is, anyway." Soon, both are in the elevator. The doors close, leaving behind Tony, who feels a little insulted that McGee just brushed him off like that-and Ziva, who looks.. mostly, bored.

"Where is Gibbs?"

"Huh? Y'know.. I'm not sure.." Tony looks around, then heads towards interrogation to check. However, before he can get there, Gibbs and Mustang are heading toward the bullpen, talking almost like old buddies.

Ziva sits up straight, and Roy grins. "I like how well-disciplined your subordiates are. Mine won't take me seriously. Hell, Hawkeye threatens to shoot me if I don't do my paperwork. There's no respect at all."

Gibbs grins and chuckles. "Over time, you'll develop your own thing. Just be good to your agen-ah, your subordinates."

"So, Boss, who..is this?" Tony is now standing near them.

"Colonel Roy Mustang," Roy replies, holding out his gloved hand. "I came to pick Edward up."

"Oh! You did?" He notes Mustang's gloves and 'hmm's curiously. "Say, you wouldn't have.. automail, like Edward, would you?"

Roy laughs. "No. These are my special alchemy gloves. From what I hear from your boss, alchemy isn't really known to this world. Would you like to see my special technique?"

Ziva looks up. "What, can you make ponies appear?" she asks disinterestedly.

Mustang snorts. "I can burn you to a crisp with a snap of my fingers."

Ziva sits up all of a sudden, her face brightening. "Really? Can you show me how?" Typical Ziva, always interested in new ways to bring down her opponents.

Roy chuckles. [She sort of reminds me of Hawkeye.] "Well, Agent Gibbs, what do you say?"

Gibbs glances at Ziva. "You may demonstrate to Agent David, but do not teach her."

"But Gibbs! You have learned alchemy yourself! It is not fair that I cannot learn it too!"

"I learned how to make figurines. Learning this would teach you how to make instant bombs. This is not a knowledge that should be in our world."

Ziva groans. "Understood, Gibbs.."