Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, and this story is not for profit.

Author's Note: So sorry about the long time between updates guys! Life. It gets in the way, man. Anyways this story would not have been up this quickly without all of your fantastic reviews! So the consensus seemed to be to make the story M, which I'm glad about, since it looks like I won't be messing things up for anybody for doing so. The M stuff is necessary to the story, but I want to go ahead and apologize for it since I'm not very good at writing it. (I literally blush the whole time and it's not even that steamy). Hopefully I will get better! I especially want to thank thegirlwhocriedink whose review a couple of days ago reminded me that I sorely needed to update this story. You can all thank her! This chapter isn't super long, but I promise, there are good things to come!

Safire08: Thank you so much!I hope you are as excited for this chapter update too!

Panic: You literally have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that! I worry so much sometimes that I'm not capturing him correctly, but I'm glad some people think I am! I really appreciate your support!

Anonymous J: True story, man. School saps the energy right out of you. And thank you for thatJ. As always, your reviews are so nice.

ThePunGuest: That is one of the nicest complements I've received! Like I said in a response above, trying to get his character right is the most difficult part for me. I work really hard on it and I'm over the moon that you think I am doing a good job! Thank you so much!

GoreandGumdrops: Thanks! Happy reading!

Thegirlwhocriedink: Thank you so so much! Once again, thank you so much for saying that his characterization is good. That's the best complement I could ever get. It's so difficult for me to do I still worry if I'm doing it right. And Beth is no Mary-Sue for sure haha. Sometimes I wonder if I make her too annoying. Thanks also for the reminder review to update! I try to get these out as fast as I can but sometimes they need to be reminded.

CatLady101: Thank ya!

Spiderfiction: Thank you so much! Enjoy the update!

Six

Beth and fifteen of the other orphaned girls stood in a row as the lady inspected each one of them.

The man in charge of the orphanage had told them all when he called them together to stand that if they were very good, one of them might be taken by "the lady" and get to leave and go live with her. Naturally all the little girls, Beth included, scrubbed their faces and washed their hair until they looked as nice as possible. None of them had had any other dresses to change into other than the dirty one that each of them possessed, but they all prayed it wouldn't matter.

The lady looked at each one of them carefully, the two twin children that she had brought with her trailing silently behind her.

She looked at all the children but she did not care for what she saw.

Until she came to Beth and Katey.

Katey was a precious girl with dark skin and white hair. Ishvalan; a rarity in Drachma. The gap between her teeth made her look positively adorable when she smiled, and against her dark skin and hair her red eyes stood out like stars. Easily the most beautiful girl at the orphanage, the lady smiled when she saw Katey; until she saw Katey's foot.

Injured as a baby, Katey's left foot was twisted the wrong way, making it very difficult for her to even walk.

"What a shame." The lady said, sighing. Katey was forgotten.

Then she came to Beth.

As the lady opened Beth's mouth to look at her perfect teeth, and she ran her hand over the flawless skin of Beth's pale white cheek, the lady started to look pleased again. She went on to unbraid Beth's auburn hair and look and check to make sure she had no injuries.

Finally satisfied, she turned to the man in charge of the orphans.

"This one has potential. She's beautiful, young enough, and she appears to be very healthy."

"Absolutely madame. A wonderful girl. Truly. You won't regret taking her."

"There's only one thing left; we must make sure she can dance. Let's see you repeat after me, girl." The woman twirled around a bit and did a few fancy things with her legs.

They all discovered quickly, Beth could not dance.

Besides from failing to competently follow the lady's dance moves, Beth somehow got her feet tangled together and wound up on the floor.

The lady scowled at the man in charge."Well I have no use for her if she cannot dance. I am looking for young girls that have grace and skill. I am training the next big performers, and this girl has two left feet. "

Beth could almost hear the man who ran the orphanage curse. He was always eager to get rid of another mouth to feed.

The lady turned to leave, and for the first time since she had arrived, Beth spoke.

"You must take me! I can dance. I can work harder than anyone to be a good dancer for you."

Ignoring the angry glance of the man and the frightened looks of the other children, the lady turned back around and smirked down to where Beth's squeaky voice had come from.

"The kind of talent that I am looking for," she said, "is not the kind that can be learned. It is the kind one is either born with, or not."

The lady laughed and made her way towards the door, the two twins she had come with following behind her.

"I will be in town for a few more days," she said over her shoulder to Beth, "if you somehow magically acquire the gift of dance, come and find me."

….

Beth woke up from the dream with a jolt. She rarely, if ever, slept. Ever since she was a child she had found it hard to fall asleep, and later on she had found that the nightmares gave her no wish to do so.

Rubbing her face, she glanced out the window. It had been a while, she thought, since she had had one of these dreams about her childhood.

She glanced over to the side of the bed, where he was sleeping.

Beth had thought he would have left right afterwards. Somehow she had thought that perhaps a homunculus did not tire or sleep. But to her surprise after it had happened, he threw a heavy arm over her casually and went straight to sleep. She lay awake for hours afterwards, thinking about what had happened. She wanted to move his arm off of her, but she was too afraid it would wake him up. It wasn't un-normal for her to lay awake at night; she had difficulty sleeping. I suppose I'm a woman now, she thought to herself. It hadn't been as bad as she had thought it would be, although it was far from pleasant. It had been her first time and he was not exactly a gentle man. Although, halfway through, when he had seen the blood, he had gone a little slower then, and she could have sworn when he buried his head into her neck, and licked some of the sweat that was making her auburn hair stick to her skin, that he had kissed her softly as if apologizing that he had not known until that moment that she had never had another man before.

Around four or five o'clock in the morning, she couldn't wait any longer and had to go use the bathroom. She lifted his arm off of her waist and he thankfully didn't wake. Even when she flushed the toilet and washed her hands he didn't stir. He appeared to be a heavy sleeper. She slid back into the bed but when the bed shifted, his eyes opened and he blinked a few times before he smiled and pulled her back into his arms. He kissed her a few times on the ear and stroked her hair before reaching to pull up the nightgown she had put on when she had got up. She started to sigh, but then, not wanting to hurt his feelings in case he was competent this early in the morning, disguised it with a yawn. She helped situate herself better when he rolled over her. Might as well at this point, she thought.

It was hardly better the second time, but at least it was quicker. He went back to sleep afterwards but this time he wrapped both of his strong arms around her. Tightly.

Beth dozed off for a few minutes this time but all too soon she had to wake up. She had to be at the dance hall before seven, so she took a quick shower and headed out. He never woke the whole time, and she started to go over and wake him but somehow she just couldn't. She knew it was cliché, but he just looked so peaceful when he slept. Not sweet, exactly, but calm. Happy. She surprised herself by leaving him a note on her pillow saying that she had to leave for practice and that she had food in the kitchen if he was hungry. She also asked him to please feed the bird. She was running late and didn't have the time.

The entire day she found herself thinking how weird it was that what had happened last night had happened, and yet the day seemed normal as usual. She knew it was silly, but she had somehow expected for everything to seem different or strange. But it wasn't. She did wonder, as her partner lifted her into the air and she practiced a twirl, if she would ever see Gifre again.

….

She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised to see him sitting on her couch when she came home one day a week later.

"You can't just let yourself in like this." She said, throwing her keys on the table.

"Nice to see you, too."

He was stretched out in his normal position; arms sprawled across the top of the couch and legs in front. Beth noticed with dismay that his feet were on her coffee table with his boots still on and that he had once again helped himself to her food and liquor.

She dropped her bag on the table also and took her coat off.

"I mean it. This is my apartment, and I don't know how you let yourself in, but you can't do that again."

"What was that?" He said.

"I said you can't come in here on your own."

He stuck his pinkie in his ear, and twisted it a few times like he was trying to hear her better. "I'm sorry, once more?"

Abandoning the apple she had considered eating, she dropped it on the counter and made her way over to him.

Bending down, she put her mouth right next to his ear. "STOP BEING A JERK." She shouted so loud that it woke Tim up, who started chirping annoyed.

"Well," he said smiling, "now you've upset Timmy." He reached with one of his tattooed hands to push the hair back from her face to behind her ear. "I really did miss you, kid."

"Thanks." She said. Their faces were so close when she spoke that she saw how he closed his eyes in pleasure when her warm breath drifted over his face.

"Will you forgive me for breaking and entering?" He said, his hands moving up and down her sides now.

"Yes." She said, suddenly out of breath as he reached under her dress and put a hand on her thigh. "I forgive you. Just this once."

He smiled. "Good."

With both of his hands he grabbed her by the dress pulled her on top of him where he was sitting.

Although he seemed like the type to rip clothes off in a moment of passion, he didn't damage her underwear ,although he did pull it down very hastily, leaving her still in her dress but with nothing on underneath.

She shuddered as he put his hands on her hips underneath her dress, sending goose bumps across her bare skin. As he rolled his thumbs over her hipbones shoe couldn't help but close her eyes. His hands were warm where he touched her. Every part of her was hot now as he lifted her hips up and pulled her down on top of him.

There was a brief pause as he undid his pants and then they both gasped as he filled her; he from pleasure and she from a mixture of the incredible sensation of how good it felt and how much it hurt.

She tried to get situated to the way it felt; so large it felt like she was filled up to her belly with nothing but him, but all too soon he pulled her up a little and then brought her back down. As he started moving her rhythmically she found herself gasping so loudly it was embarrassing and making a little sound every time he hit her a little too deep. He made a sound at those moments too, but it was completely different from hers. As he started moving her faster she felt his fingers digging into her thighs so hard that she knew she would have bruises later; all too soon his eyes closed and he gritted his teeth until with a final shudder she felt him release inside her.

They sat panting together for a few minutes after that.

Finally he wiped some sweat off of his head with the back of his hand and smiled. "Why don't you go get your shoes, kid? I'll take you out somewhere to eat."

"I'm not a prostitute." She hissed, causing him to jerk his head back in surprise.

"What the hell? I didn't say that you were. Not that there's anything wrong if you were…God you're touchy."

Taking the opportunity when she saw one, she reached back and slapped him.

He surprised her this time when he sat back and just took it.

"Look, I just thought you might be tired after dancing all day and want to go out somewhere with me instead of having to cook for yourself like you always do." He said, holding his hands up like he was innocent.

"Oh that's it, huh?"

"Yeah that's it, you ungrateful bitch."

They stared at each other scowling for a minute, until it suddenly occurred to her how awkward of a position this was to be having an argument in.

He noticed the same thing she did, suddenly, and laughing he pulled her off of him onto the couch beside him and started to buckle his pants back up.

Blushing, she found her underwear on the floor and put that back on under her skirt. While she composed herself he took a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket. "Do you mind?" He asked, lighting one up with a golden lighter he pulled out of his vest pocket.

"Yes." Beth said. "This flat doesn't belong to me."

"Thanks." He said, completely ignoring her and taking a drag on it anyways. After he exhaled the smoke he glanced over at her and grinned at the seething look she had on her face.

Sighing, she made a move to get up. "I'm going to go take a shower. Please be gone by the time I get out."

….

She came out of the shower to find him lying on her bed, eating a bag of chips and drinking her milk straight out of the carton.

Sighing, she had been too tired from dancing and having sex with him earlier to argue any more. So got into bed beside him and shared the bag of chips with him until they were done. She had started to fall asleep afterwards from the exhaustion and the milk, but the cold dairy drink had had no such effect on him and he had pulled her back over and kissed her until he had coaxed her into doing it a second time that evening.

After they were done, he reached one of his bare arms over her to grab the box of cigarettes he left on the bedside table.

She tried to stop herself from saying it, but in the end she couldn't help but speak what had been on her mind. "I'm surprised you came back." She said.

"Hmm?" He mumbled, looking at the cigarette in his mouth as he lit it with a golden lighter.

"You came back." Maybe he wouldn't know what she was talking about, but many of the women she had known had told her that sometimes once men sleep with a girl they never talk to her again. "Why?"

He snapped the lighter lid shut with a flick of his hand and then closed his eyes in pleasure as he took a long drag from the cigarette and gracefully blew a ton of smoke out of his mouth. Then he looked at her.

"Why not?" He said.