Okay, onto chap 15! I really am trying to make up for my long break, really I am! It's just that what with real life butting in at every chance it gets, it's a little hard to set aside time for poor Robby and Edo. But I'm doing better now! MUCH more inspiration has come along, and I'm trying to move it along to the end of part one… :) ANYwho…
As you all know, AdventureAddict does not in any way own any part of Fullmetal Alchemist.
On wit' da show!
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Chapter Fifteen – Sunshine
Eight years ago…Robyn sat silently in the snow covering her backyard and sighed. She was bored. It was a plain and simple fact. After all, you can only be amused with making snowmen and snow angels by yourself for only so long. But she didn't want to go back inside; the air outside was just so…clean and fresh.
"Hey Sunshine, you want to come in and have some hot chocolate?" Robyn looked up at her mother. Normally she would have smiled at the nickname that was a secret code between her and her mother, but today she was too bored to smile at anything.
"Nah," she sighed, rolling a handful of snow into a ball. Her mother walked over and sat down in the snow behind her, wrapping her arms tightly around Robyn's middle.
"What's the matter, Sunshine?" her mother cooed. Robyn sighed again as she threw her fresh snowball against the ground, and then leaned back against her mother.
"I'm bored!" she groaned, and her mother smiled.
"Did you build a snowman?" she asked.
"Yep."
"How about snow angels?"
'Did 'em."
"Eating snow?" her mother asked mischievously.
"It's just frozen water," Robyn sighed.
"Well, how about a snowball fight?"
"I don't have anyone to fight with."
"Well, now you do," Robyn's mother said, pushing her daughter up. Robyn smiled broadly at her mother, and then ran off to a corner of the yard to make some ammunition. She had a decent sized pile of snowballs when she felt a snowball hit the center of her back. She quickly turned around with a snowball in each hand, and whirled one at her mother.
"So this is what you're doing out here," Robyn heard a voice say. She looked up and saw her dad and Luke standing side by side in winter coats.
"Can we join?" Luke asked, and Robyn answered by throwing a snowball straight at his chest. The four of them spent most of the day outside, not only having snowball fights, but also adding to Robyn's collection of snowmen and snow angels.
Robyn stared at the snow falling outside from her spot on the bed as she remembered that winter day that seemed so long ago. A tear slowly slid down her cheek as she thought about what happened last night. What her mother say if she was alive now and had been the one to see her stumbling into the house instead of Ed? What would she say? Robyn moaned and held both her palms to her forehead. What did Ed say? She could vaguely remember him bringing her inside, but definitely not any details of how he had reacted.
'He was probably furious at first, and then he probably felt guilty for not keeping better track of me,' Robyn thought with a smile.
"Anime otaku," she muttered under her breath. She then sighed and leaned back against the cool pillows behind her. If nobody talked in a normal voice for at least a few hours, then she would be fine.
"Mornin' Sunshine," she heard from the door. She looked up at Ed, who was holding a glass of ice water in one hand. Her eyes widened at the old nickname and she tried desperately to remember something from last night.
"I didn't tell you about that, did I?" she asked softly.
"Mommy, why do you always call me Sunshine?" Robyn asked as she picked at her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"It's my way of saying 'I love you,'" her mother said simply as she spread jelly on a piece of bread for her sandwich.
"How does that say you love me?" Robyn asked curiously as she thoughtfully took a bite out of her sandwich. Her mother smiled and sat down in the seat next to her, setting her freshly made sandwich on the table.
"You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine," her mother sang with a smile. "You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my Sunshine away." Robyn smiled as her mother wrapped her in a hug.
Ed cocked his head, and then flashed a concerned look as he watched her hold a hand to her head, and quickly made sure he was whispering so he wouldn't add to her headache. "Tell me what?" he asked as Robyn creased her eyebrows in concentration. "I just said 'Mornin' Sunshine,' that's all." Robyn looked back up at him thoughtfully for a moment, and then shrugged.
"If this is what the sun feels like in the morning, then I'm surprised we have sun at all," she said with a bitter laugh as Ed walked over and put the glass on the nightstand next to her.
"Humor," Ed said with a slight smile. "That's good. Shows you're getting better."
Robyn narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you so happy?" she asked, and Ed held the glass of water out towards her as he sat down in the chair next to her bed.
"I just got something off my chest, that's all," he said with a careless shrug. Robyn gratefully took the glass of water and tried to push herself into a sitting position. Ed held out a hand to help, and Robyn looked at him with a confused expression.
"What is with you today?" she said, looking him over as if she expected something else to have changed with his mood. "Aliens kidnapped the real Ed, didn't they?"
"No, I'm pretty sure that I'm the real Ed," he said slowly, "Can't a guy be happy without everyone wondering what happened to get him in such a mood?"
"Sure," Robyn said, taking a sip of the water. "Just as long as that guy's not you." She put the water back on the nightstand and leaned back against her pillows with a sigh. "So Sunshine, what plans have you got for Saturday morning?" Ed smiled at the new nickname. It was definitely better than being called pipsqueak.
"Nothing," Ed answered simply. "I'm just going to stay here and help you feel better."
Robyn sat up straighter and looked at him. "Nothing?" she asked in astonishment. "You're not even going to study Alchemy with Al?"
"Nope," Ed answered with a shake of his head. "I needed a break anyway."
"Does Al know about this?" Robyn asked, and Ed smiled slightly.
"Yeah," he answered slowly, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes. "But I told him you were recovering from the flu, not a night out getting drunk." Robyn blushed and sank down under the covers a little.
"It felt good at the time," she said meekly. Ed opened his eyes and looked back over at her.
"Doesn't feel so good now, does it?" he asked with a slight smile, and Robyn stuck her tongue out in reply. "Drink some more water," Ed told her absently.
"Don't you still have Anger Management classes?" Robyn asked, and Ed blushed and looked away. "Go," Robyn told him sternly, but Ed pretended to ignore her.
"Now Robyn, you're starting to ruin my good mood," Ed said with a sigh as he looked back at her. Robyn held his gaze steadily and he asked softly, "When's your dad supposed to get back?"
"I told you about that last night?" Robyn moaned and leaned back into the pillows. "A long time. I think he said that he wouldn't be back until the day after Thanksgiving." Ed almost whistled, but he quickly stopped himself after remembering Robyn's headache.
A whole month. She would be living in his house for a whole month. When he wasn't busy studying with Al (or warding off any comments about height) how would he be able to stand it? And she would be there for Thanksgiving too, so he would have to eat a nice family dinner with her.
"Go to your Anger Management," Robyn mumbled from the bed with closed eyes. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."
"Robert and Sherry are out anyway, so I don't have a ride," Ed said smugly, crossing his arms across his chest. Robyn rolled her eyes with a sigh and reached into her back pocket. She pulled out a ring of keys and tossed it to Ed.
"The gold one opens the lock on my bike," she told him. "It's tied up in my driveway. It's a boy's bike anyway, so you should be fine." She opened one eye and looked at him with a smile. "Red. Ten-speed. You'll like it." Ed rolled his eyes and walked out the door. Robyn sighed and leaned deeper into the pillows.
After what seemed like only a few minutes, Ed came back in the room with Al by his side as he pulled a hoodie over his head.
"Al's going to care of you while I'm gone," Ed said softly. "And, um…I don't know if it actually works, but in the movies people always take showers to feel better," he told her, and Robyn smiled and nodded. He then turned to Al, holding Robyn's keys in one hand. "She's got a really bad headache, so try not to move around too much, okay?"
"Okay," Al agreed as he glanced over at Robyn. Robyn smiled at him weakly from her spot on the bed. "Be careful, Brother," he said to Ed, who nodded.
"Thanks a bunch, Robyn," Ed said sourly as he walked out the door, and Robyn laughed. "The next time you think about how I'm never in a good mood, remember today!" he called as he walked out the front door.
"What's he mean by that?" Al asked as he cocked his head.
"Well, for some strange reason the cosmos have not yet defined, Ed was in a good mood today," Robyn said with a smile. "But he probably won't be after an hour of Anger Management."
"Oh," Al said as he sat down in the chair next to Robyn. "Are you sure he didn't just have another pixie stick from Halloween? You'd be surprised what a little sugar can do." Robyn laughed and snuggled under the covers to go back to sleep.
"Maybe you're right, Al. Maybe he just had a little too much sugar in his system,"
Robyn mumbled softly as her eyes closed.
Robyn could hear Ed's and Al's voices talking about alchemy when she woke up again. She smiled as she opened her eyes and looked at the scene before her. The two of them were kneeling in front of a transmutation circle and whispering to make sure they wouldn't wake up Robyn or hurt her head.
"I think I'll take a shower now," Robyn said as she got out of the bed as both the boys looked up at her. She was about to walk out the door when she looked back at Ed. "Sunshine, before I forget, how were your Anger Management classes?" she asked, and Ed rolled his eyes.
"We learned about how anger isn't a solution," he said with a sigh. He then looked straight up at Robyn brightly. "And I think she's right." He added. Robyn and Al both gasped and looked at Ed intently. "Anger isn't a solution, it's the solution!" he added evilly. Robyn and Al both let out the breath they had been holding, and then Robyn suddenly gasped again.
"Like forty-two!" she exclaimed, as if it was the answer to everything. Ed and Al both looked at her curiously, but she quickly left to take her shower. Al then turned to his brother.
"Did she just call you 'Sunshine?'" he asked, and Ed nervously scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah," he muttered. "She just started calling me that today since I was so happy," he explained.
Robyn rushed into the room a few minutes later, her wet hair swinging in her face.
"It's snowing again!" she said gleefully. "Come on, let's go play outside!" Ed and Al both looked at each other, and Ed shrugged carelessly.
First Robyn and Ed had to get on their winter coats; with Al making sure they zipped them up and didn't have any unexpected rips somewhere on the coat. Then the three of them went outside, where big flakes falling from the sky greeted them cheerily. Robyn immediately stuck her tongue out and started racing around in circles. After she had managed to catch a snowflake on her tongue, she ran back up Ed, who had both his hands stuck in his pockets.
"Tag!" Robyn cried out, poking him in the center of the chest and then running across the yard.
"That's not fair!" Ed called back, not moving from his position. He heard Robyn blow a raspberry at him from the other side of the yard. Ed looked over at Al standing next to him put a hand squarely on his chest plate. "Tag," he said simply before running across the yard to join Robyn.
"Brother! Robyn! Come on you guys!" Al called out before giving up and chasing after them. The snow kept falling thickly around them, and soon one of Al's smooth metal feet slipped on the wet snow on the ground, sending Al tumbling into the other two.
"Tag," Al said simply.
"Which one?" Robyn said with a laugh. "We're both on top of you."
Al laughed with her. "You, since you're the one who started it," he said as Ed pushed himself off his brother. He then held out his left hand to Robyn and helped her down off Al, who then pushed himself up and brushed the snow off.
"Okay, I'm it," Robyn said with an evil smile that sent the two brothers scuttling across the yard. But the whole time she kept thinking about how warm and soft Ed's hand had felt.
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DONE! Once again, short, I know, but this time it's only because the next part is going to be Thanksgiving, and I figured that would be too big of a time leap, so I'm going to stop it there. But I finally got to do a scene with Robyn as a kid! Hee. That made me happy. I figured she's sixteen now, so eight years ago would make her…eight. So it's before Sept 11, and she's a little older than I originally planned, but still old enough to have fun in the snow. (I was originally thinking about a scene where she was five and going to school for the first time. Maybe later. We have enough flashbacks for this chappie.) Many thanks to Misery's-Toll and nightbug08 who helped me think of the violence joke. And I'm sorry, but I just couldn't resist the 42 joke. XD (for all you hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy fans) Phew, long author's note!