Remember me? No? Ah, well, that's to be expected. Sorry for the wait.

--

"Alphonse, a word with you?" Dr.Yao beckoned him over near the door to the room Ed had just been examined in.

"Yes," Al hopped up from a chair in the lobby and followed the doctor. Butterflies warmed up in his stomach. If the doctor was pulling himaside to speak with him, then he must have found out something about Ed's paralysis, right?

"Did- have you found...?"

"Alphonse, I'm sorry, but we've tried everything. His nerves aren't just damaged, they're destroyed. I'd like to keep seeing him, maybe once a month to make sure the rest of his body is fine, but weekly appointments are no longer needed."

Al swallowed the aching lump in his throat, lowering his head for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Alphonse. But we're not going to find anything."

"Thank you...for trying, I guess. But what about alchemy?"

"We tried. Rendanshu has been used to cure some kinds of paralysis in the past, but it's not working on him."

"Rendanshu isn't the same as alchemy," Al retorted angrily.

"It's based on healing. It was meant to be practiced on humans. Your 'alchemy' is not."

"My brother and I accepted long ago that human transmutation is dangerous, but compared to some of the other things we've done, fixing up some nerve cells shouldn't be a big deal at all."

"I already advised you not to try to heal him yourself. Your emotions will-"

"Yes! I care about him! That's why I want to do everything possible to restore his mobility! I don't think he can live like this for much longer. He hates being dependent on others-"

"He's in denial, nothing more. He could be independent if he wanted to."

"You mean a wheelchair," Al sighed. He'd heard this speech a thousand times, and while he often wished that Ed would give in and get one, convincing him that Ed needed one wasn't gonig to get the doctor, or anyone, anywhere.

"Alphonse, you have to accept that your brother cannot be returned to full mobility. It's up to you to make him see that he needs to accept it too and move on with his life. Now," Yao said, turning his gaze to his clipboard, "make an appointment for next month and I'll see you then. In the meantime, you'll just have to keep working on him."

Al opened his mouth to say that Ed needed to hear the doctor's diagnosis for himself, but Yao cut him off.

"Oh! Has he been spending anymore time with Lieutenant Havoc?"

Al glowered at the doctor, not wanting to tell him that Ed had been with Jean and enjoyed himself. Dr. Yao raised an eyebrow, then began to walk away. As Al put his hand over the doorknob to Ed's room, Dr. Yao added, "Get a nurse to help you. We had to sedate him after giving him the news."

Al's eyes widened. He lunged into Ed's room and sure enough, Ed was out cold on the metal tabletop.

After two nurses used a gurney to get Ed into the Elrics' car, Al drove him, almost killing himself and Ed in the process by taking a high-speed left turn on a red light. He was angry enough with Dr. Yao that he barely noticed the screeching brakes and honking horns.

--

"He just completely disregarded the idea of using Western alchemy! And he told Ed, and then sedated him when he got upset like it was some kind of irrational reaction!" Al ranted into the phone.

"That's really weird. He and Havoc seem to get along fine."

"Jean's completely different from my brother," Al groaned, despairing over how much easier it was for anyone to get along with Jean.
"Yeah..."

"And then he kept trying to make it my problem that Ed get a wheelchair! He knows I've already tried to convince him, but he just doesn't want to try anymore, so he tries to make it my problem!"

"Well... What are you going to do?"

Al groaned so loudly that Breda cut in with, "If it's that bad, why don't we go to the coffeeshop and have some donuts and coffee?"

"I can't leave Ed alone. He's more upset than I am, since he told Dr. Yao not to sedate him and Dr. Yao ordered one of the nurses to hold him down while he poked him."

"Sounds like Ed could use some-...hot chocolate and a donut, too," Breda said, avoiding suggesting they give Ed coffee.

"You don't want to come sit with us in a public place while we're both upset. If it's just one of us, that's fine, but..." Al said, only half-joking. The two brothers had an unspoken system of keeping each other in check. Rarely were they both upset at the same time, and then it was generally an unspoken rule that they both stayed hom until the worst of the storm had passed.

"I'll bring Jean. The two of us are happy since I don't live in his dorm anymore, so we'll be a ble to handle you," Breda teased.

"Well...we're not really doing each other any good here..."

"Just say yes. You need a Boston Creme."

--

"Get anything you want, I'll pay," Jean said from across the little table.

"Wha do you think this is? A date?" Ed snarled. A few meters away, Al glanced in Ed's direction.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine," Breda told him, "just worry about yourself for once."

Al shook his head for a moment in hopelessness.

"Alchemy is the only thing that might fix him. But Ed's had... I don't know how to put this... It's not exactly that I think his luck is running out, it's just that I thikn that every time he gets involved with human transmutation, the cances of something horrible happeneing go up. I don't really know how to perform the transmutation and even if I found out... I think that's it for him. If he ever ends up back at the Gate, I think that thing would do something horrible to him just because..."

Breda let Al finish his little tangent, completely lost but sort of understanding Al's worry.

"I don't want to be the one to land him in another bad position," Al said softly.

"You... You really don't have to. It's possible for him to live like this. I know it seems unbearable, but it can be done."

"He won't accept it," Al moaned loudly.

"If he did...?"

"Yes." Al didn't say the whole sentence, deeming it unnecessary. The waiter came, setting down two cups of rich, hot coffee and two donuts.

--

"You know, I'm glad you talked me out of paying for you."

"One, I wasn't aware I had, and two, you're cheap. Donuts are one of the most inexpensive foods you can get in this city."

"Tell me you're joking," Jean sighed, taking a bite of his glazed donut. Ed surveyed his box of boston creme, chocolate-frosted, chocolate-glazed, and plain-glazed donuts, and delicately selected a chocolate-glazed one.

"Only a little," Ed said.

"They're a comfort food, aren't they?"

Ed looked up. "A comfort food? ...They're DONUTS, duhh."

Jean didn't laugh. Breda had told him all about his conversation with Al, and he suspected that Ed was still upset. Well, wait, duhh. Jean mentally smakced himself on the forehead. Of course Ed was upset, what was he thinking? But Ed wasn't acting upset as usual.

"Snafu..." J ean muttered.

"What did you say?" Ed asked suspiciously.

"Snafu."

Ed racked his brain. He'd heard the military men use it before... Jean laughed at the look on Ed's face.

"Situation normal, all fucked up."

"Oh yeah," Ed grinned. Then, remembering the context in which Jean had used it, frowned.

"Are you talking about my love for donuts? 'Cause if you are-"

"Not exactly."

"What, then?"

"I heard about your appointment today."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Don't start feeling sorry for me," he sighed.

"Who said I was? I'm in the same boat you are," Jean snapped.

"Well then you're fucked up, too."

This time Jean laughed and Ed smiled, finishing off his donut. Although the two blonds each thought that the thought never occurred to the other, they were both discreetly thinking that Jean had not recently been held down and sedated against his will. Jean could not remember this ever happening to him, while Ed was wondering why it had happened so many times to him; four to date. They each sat there in silence for a few minutes, thinking their not-so seperate thoughts.

Al and Breda were doing the same, their silence being more complete since their food was long gone.

"I guess Ed and I should get going," Al said finally.

"I don't think you should go home and sit around thinking about all this, Al. You deserve a break."

Al smiled sadly at Breda.

"Reall. Let's do something fun. Movies, zoo, park, what?"

"Hmm..." Al glanced at Ed, and Breda spoke up again.

"We could drop those two off somewhere."

Al started to shake his head, but Breda grabbed his arm and said, "I know just the babysitter!" very enthusiastically.

--

"Are you sure Sheska can handle them?" Al whispered on the doorstep.

"Sure! She loves company."

"That is completely irreleva-"

"I can do it! Don't worry, I'll put them to work in the kitchen! You two go have fun."

Breda dragged a nervous Alphonse out to the car. The two of them were headed to the theater, leaving a sugar-hyped-up Ed and an amused Havoc with a frazzled and tired Sheska who had just gotten home from work.

"Alright, who wants to chop up chicken?"

"I'll do it!" Ed volunteered a little too enthusiastically.

"OK, you have to make sure you trim off all the-"

"I know how," Ed cut her off, taking the knife from her hands.

"Lieutenant, would you please boil a big pot of water? In the cabinet, there- yes, and then put four bullion cubes in it."

Jean wheeled over to the cabinet to retrieve the large pot while Ed sat at the table happily killing the chicken with exaggerated, one-handed chopping motions. Sheska set another board down across from Ed and began slicing onions. Ed's eyes began to water and sting badly and Sheska suddenly said, "That's good enough, Edward! Want to peel some potatoes?"

"Ow, eyes-eyes-eyes," Ed said in a normal, but very accelerated voice, so that the words sounded like one long sound. Pushing up from the table, he frantically hopped to the sink, almost tumbling, but grabbing a hold of the countertop and pulling himself to where he could lean his stomach against the sink and splash water on his face and in his eyes.

"Just calm down, it'll pass," Sheska fussed.

"What, can't even take a little onion juice?" Havoc sneered.

Ed ignored him, s till splashing water everywhere, including the countertop, floor and the front of himself. He turned off the faucet and glared at Havoc just in time to see the man struggling to drop a bullion cube into the pot on top of the stove.

"Can't even reach?" Ed asked snidely. Jean turned around, rolled his eyes, and tossed the cube into the a ir. It then dropped into the pot, splashing not-yet-boiling water onto the stovetop, and a few drops on himself. Ed laughed and Jean swiveled his head to glare at him.

"Do you think you could try not to be completely obnoxious about something for once?"

"Well, I..." Ed's smile faded, it having dawned on him that not only was Jean serious, he was right.

"Yeah." Jean turned to Sheska. "Would you give me a hand, Sweetie?"

Ed snorted quietly at the name Jean used for her.

"Oh, um." Sheska blushed and hurried over to take the bullion cubes from Jean and put them in the pot. Jean then wheeled himself to the table to take the liberty of cutting up the rest of the chicken.

Sheska tried to give Ed a job as the dishwasher, but wtih only one hand, he became extremely frustrated with the task and gave up after a few minutes. Jean and Sheska were chatting comfortably about the weather and silverware, so Ed exiled himself to her living room, where he knocked close to twenty books off the couch in order to make room for himself.

Jean watched the blond boy go, his stare drawing Sheska's attention. She was concerned, Jean could tell, but he advised her to let Ed be.

"Let him sulk, he'll just bite your head off," he murmured.

"Why is he so... I mean, I know his arm and leg are..."

"He's just having a hard time accepting it. When he does, maybe he'll be a little more mature," Jean grumbled.

--

"That movie sucked," Breda said bluntly.

"Well, it was alright," Al said.

"You weren't paying attention because you're so worried about Ed."

"And Sheska!" Al laughed. Breda brushed it off, continuing his first statement.

"You need to unwind. Apparently a bad movie on the big screen wasn't enough to take your mind off Ed."

"Look..." Al put his hand over his forehead, shadowing his eyes. "I won't be able to rest unless I know I've done everything I can do." There was a moment of silence before Heymans sighed loudly and shook his head.

"Alchemy... Alphonse, I can't let you take a risk like that. Ed will be fine-"

"He hates being dependant! He lashes out at me because he doesn't want to have to rely on me and it makes him feel guilty and it's just one more thing tha neither of us needs!"

"Alchemy is not going to fix that, Al! Stop babying him, don't let him depend on you! He'll stand up and figure things out on his own! Do you think if Mustang and I had done every little thing for Jean he would be as independant as he is now? No, when we couldn't stop what we were doing to come help him, he had to figure out how to do it himself. You're around Ed too much, you're too available!"

Al was sobbing, but sitting up straight, making no effort to conceal his grief.

"I can't hurt him. I can't do it."

Breda shook his head and pulled up in front of Sheska's old house.

"Calm down, I don't want Ed to murder me for upsetting you."

"Breda..."

"Do either of you have a job?"

Al shook his head no.

"How are you buying groceries?" Breda frowned, turning closer to Alphonse. Al turned away. "Just fine something, then- a part-time job or something. It won't hurt either of you."

"Damn," Al suddenly swung his head up, tilting his chin up to the roof of the car, "this shouldn't be a hard decision," he said plainly, "I really don't want to try another transmutation. And we can't keep living like this forever. But if he starts blaming me for leaving him alone, or anything like that, he'll get ruthless and we won't be able to live together anymore."

"Ed could never stay away from you for long, Alphonse. Even if he does get angry and frustrated, at least he'll be working toward something, even if he doens't realize it. You guys spend too much time together anyway. You've both got to learn to turn to other people sometimes."

"You and Jean..." Al said softly, his lips pulling up into a gentle smile.

"If you want."

Al sucked up a deep breath and wiped his face on the cuff off his sleeve.

"Let's go rescue Sheska," he laughed wearily.

--

Typing it up, it seems kind of like a filler chapter. But at least it's something! I have a terrible case of writer's block. It's worse on some of my other stories, but still pretty bad on this one. That's my excuse, take it or leave it. Thanks for reading, either way! Reviews are loved.

P.S. I'm posting this un-spellchecked (GASP, I know) because I think I did a pretty good job of typing it up, but please point out any typos you catch. Thanks