Hee hee. We roasted Peeps over the oven and then made them into s'mores… That was fun… and tasty! I want to finish part one… Ergh! My brain's a little dead today… After all, I did just post chapter 18 this morning. And speaking of which, has this been a heavy posting session or what? I'm hoping that all this posting will get me off the hook for a bit and let me take a break? No? I was afraid you'd say that…

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 Nineteen – Ed's a poet! (And he didn't even know it!)

Robyn stared up at the white ceiling of the hospital. The whole place smelled funny, like hospitals always did. And her room was especially clean, since no one wanted to take any chances with her safety. Annoying as hell, really.

"Here," a kind voice said above her, and Robyn looked over to the side to see Al putting a plate of cinnamon chip cookies on the table next to her bed. "Brother found the recipe in the kitchen last night," he explained as Robyn tried to push herself into a sitting position. "I worked really hard to make them exactly like your recipe said. Brother even helped a little."

"Oh really?" Robyn asked with a wide grin. "I didn't know Ed had a talent for baking. What did he do?"

"Well, he mostly just ate them once they were done cooking," Al explained to Robyn and then added, "But he also tasted the batter for me to see if it was any good." He didn't add 'since I couldn't,' but Robyn could practically feel it hanging off at the end of the sentence. She then looked over Al thoughtfully.

"Since when do they let people in armor into hospitals?" Robyn said slowly. "Aren't they afraid you might blow the place up or something?"

"Well," Al said slowly, nervously scratching the back of his head. "They wouldn't let me in at first, but when Brother said we were coming to visit you, they just let us go."

"They want to let a dying girl have her fun," Robyn said with a slight snort.

"Look who's finally up," She heard from the doorway. Robyn looked over to see Ed standing there with a small Styrofoam bowl in his hand. "I already told you Robyn; you're not going to die," he said determinedly. "I think I've just about figured out this disease."

"And a good morning to you too, Sunshine," Robyn said with a small laugh. She stretched to try and see what was in the Styrofoam bowl as Ed walked over and stood next to her bed. "What's that? Chicken soup?" She asked, peering curiously over his shoulder. "Closest thing they have to stew, huh?"

"For you information, I got this for you," Ed said stubbornly, putting the soup on the table next to Al's cookies. "You need to make sure you get lots of nutrients while you're in here."

"Then why didn't you get me a glass of milk?" Robyn asked with a smile.

"Why the hell would you want that crap?!?!"

"Um…I'm going to go," Al said slowly, inching towards the door.

"Because it has plenty of nutrients in it for a strong body and mind," Robyn told Ed, thinking that she was probably just quoting some old commercial she had seen.

"And you're starting to sound exactly like Armstrong!" Ed yelled back. Robyn opened her mouth to shout back a rebuttal, but then cocked her head to one side.

"I…I didn't show you any episodes with Armstrong yet," she said slowly. Ed felt his whole body stiffen as he realized what he just said. "You got your memory back, didn't you?" Robyn asked with a hint of a sad smile dancing across her lips.

"Yeah," Ed breathed, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking up at the ceiling. "And a hell of a lot of good it did me now. If I could have just remembered a little bit earlier then I would have remembered that bastard and-"

"What on earth are you talking about Ed?" Robyn asked, looking at him curiously. Ed jerked himself out of his thoughts and looked back at her.

"Nothing," he said quickly. Robyn's eyes narrowed for a second or two, but then she looked thoughtfully at Ed. He could tell that she was trying to figure something out. She looked kind of cute like that, with her eyebrows bunched together, and her eyes-

No! Ed shook his head from side to side, trying to clear out any thoughts of how Robyn looked. He knew he couldn't get attached to her any more than he already was, especially now that he and Al would be leaving soon, but sometimes he just couldn't help it. Bt he knew he could do it. He just had to treat her like he would treat any other girl. But he'd already tried that a few times, and he knew that it was hard. Even harder than the state alchemy test. Because she wasn't like other girls.

And she was at the same time. Ed had known ever since Winry had gotten…well, curvier, that girls' bodies were different than boys' bodies. And Robyn had the same hormones that other girls had that made her hips wider, her chest bigger… Ed pulled out of his thoughts as he realized that he was blushing. So maybe she didn't have quite as much as Winry, but she did have something. She was a girl, after all. Maybe it would be a little more noticeable if she stopped wearing boys' clothing all the time.

"So now can you tell me why you got long hair?" Robyn asked, and Ed silently rejoiced for something to distract himself with.

"I could," was the stubborn reply. The two of them sat in silence for a while before Robyn realized that just because he could tell her didn't mean he was going to.

"Please tell me!" Robyn pleaded, and Ed let out an exasperated sigh. After a minute or so he looked back up at Robyn.

"Fine," he said slowly, and then paused for a moment to consider his words. "Our mom always used to say that she didn't want us to run into any trees because our hair wouldn't let us see where we were going. So she used to always cut our hair when it got to long, and…" he paused, sighed, and looked back up at the ceiling. "I haven't really been able to find as good of a barber since. Okay?"

The two of them were silent for a moment, and then Robyn's face broke into a wide grin. "Awwww!" she cooed, and Ed's cheeks turned bright red.

"Shut up!" he yelled, not enjoying the embarrassment.

"But that's so cute, Ed!" Robyn protested.

"And that's why I didn't want to tell you!"

Robyn smiled again, only this time more gently than before. She put up both her hands and assured him, "Okay, okay, I'll st-" She cut off her sentence as a sudden pain hit her, making her fall backwards on the bed and writhe in agony.

Ed looked at her worriedly. He had seen this happen once before, but Robyn had been unconscious and the attack hadn't been nearly as bad. The doctors had said that it was her body reacting to an attack from the virus. Beads of sweat started sliding down the side of Robyn's face, and Ed slowly sat down on the bed next to her.

"Robyn? Robyn, come on, you'll be all right. Don't worry, it'll all be over soon. Just hang on," he said, and then he reached out and started stroking her hair and tucking it behind her ears. He could remember his mom doing that whenever he or Al had nightmares back when they were younger.

Robyn tossed her head back and forth a few times, letting a few moans escape from her lips. With Ed still trying to comfort her, she suddenly let out a scream that made all the hairs on Ed's back tingle down to the very roots. Ed desperately wanted to cover his ears as the scream continued, but he kept stroking her hair and trying to offer whatever little comfort he had. Then the attack subsided, and Robyn fell backwards into the pillows, her limbs involuntarily twitching.

Ed slowly reached over and grabbed the soup he had put on her bedside table earlier. Still looking worriedly at Robyn, he put the spoon in the soup and held it over Robyn's trembling lips.

"See? It's better now," he said slowly, looking at her closed eyelids. Her body stopped twitching at the sound of his voice, but her face still bore a pained expression. "Here, this will make you feel even better," Ed assured her and then slid the spoon in her mouth. He watched as she painstakingly swallowed it, but it went all the way down. Ed was about to start feeling slightly relieved when a nurse popped her head in the door.

"Is she all right?" the nurse asked. Ed felt anger rise to his cheeks as he thought about how she probably wanted to check in quickly so she could go back to eating off half her boyfriend's face in the hall.

"She's fine now," Ed said irritably. "She just had another attack."

"I'll go get her some medicine then," the nurse said before disappearing into the hallway again. Ed rolled his eyes and turned back to Robyn. She had stopped any moving she had been doing before, and her face actually looked a little peaceful now, but a single tear had slid down her cheek. Ed quickly grabbed the soup again and put another spoonful in her mouth.

"Robyn, please don't cry," he said desperately as she swallowed the first spoonful, and then he put another spoonful in her mouth. He then reached over with his free hand and wiped away the tear on her warm cheek. "See? It's good, huh? Mmm." Robyn swallowed the soup and then slowly moved her arms in an attempt to sit up, but Ed quickly pushed her back down.

"No Robyn," he said sternly, and then assured her, "It's okay. The doctors said before that your body would probably be in too much pain to move immediately after an attack." More soup slid thickly down Robyn's throat. "Just relax, okay?" he said softly as he kept slowly feeding the chicken soup to Robyn until it was all gone.

The plastic spoon scraped slowly across the bottom of the Styrofoam cup. "All gone," Ed whispered softly. Robyn seemed to relax and snuggle slightly deeper into the pillow, and Ed found himself smiling. "I'm proud of you Robyn," he told her, and a faint smile ran across Robyn's lips before disappearing as quickly as it came. "Do you think you can move yet?" he asked, and his question was quickly replied to with Robyn reaching up and wrapping her arms around him, her head snuggling into his chest. Ed looked down at her in surprise.

"Ed… The pain was so bad…" Robyn whispered as hot tears were pressed between her cheek and his shirt. Ed quickly wrapped both his arms around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. He always hated it whenever girls cried.

"All I wanted was for death to come quickly so I would stop hurting…" Robyn continued, and Ed held her tighter. He knew exactly how that kind of pain felt. It definitely wasn't fun. "Please Ed… Please don't let me die just because it hurts too much… Please…"

"I would never let you do that," Ed whispered into her hair. He considered kissing the top of her head for a minute or two, but then he quickly got rid of the idea and let himself be satisfied with just a hug.

"I wonder where Al went off to?" he murmured softly.

T-H-I-S--I-S--A--D-I-V-I-D-I-N-G--L-I-N-E

Ed and Al walked silently out of the hospital. When they had walked in that morning it had been bright, and Robyn was unconscious, now it was dark, and she was lying up in her bed wide-awake. It still amazed Ed sometimes how much could happen in one day.

"Brother, do you have homework to do?" Al asked, and Ed turned to look at his brother in amazement.

"What?" he asked, thinking that he must have heard wrong. School? There was no way he could go to school after all this.

"You should go to school tomorrow," Al said simply as they started walking down the sidewalk that would eventually lead them back to the Elliott's house

"Why?" Ed asked sourly. "I'm just going to go back to being a state alchemist soon anyway."

"Which is why you should take advantage of this opportunity while you still have the chance," Al lectured.

"Great, Robyn starts sounding like Armstong, and you start sounding like a Honda commercial," Ed muttered under his breath, softly enough so Al didn't hear. "The whole world has decided to turn into Alice in Wonderland."

"-Some of the skills they teach you at school could come in handy back home," Al continued. "And-"

"Okay, okay! I get it!" Ed yelled cutting his brother off. "I'll go to school tomorrow!"

"So do you have any homework you still have to do?" Al repeated, and Ed reached into his back pocket with a grumble.

"I have to write a poem in the same style as 'The Red Wheelbarrow' for English," Ed said with a sigh as he unfolded the paper and read over it quickly.

"Brother! Do you always keep your homework in your pocket?!" Al asked with a gasp.

"What? It's very convenient," Ed said, looking up at Al innocently. Al sighed and shook his head.

"So what's the style of this wheelbarrow poem?" Al asked. Ed glanced over the papers again.

"You start with 'So much depends upon' and then describe a simple object in two-line stanzas," Ed explained, not looking up from the papers.

"Well, that should be easy," Al said slowly. He was right, Ed thought as multiple ideas started swirling through his head.

So much depends upon… a small blood rune, a stone that might not even exist, a small screw in his shoulder, a clap of the hands or a snap of the fingers… He stopped thinking as one last idea danced into his head.

"What about 'So much depends upon…'" Al started, but Ed quickly cut him off.

"I already got a good idea, Al," he said quickly. "You got a pen? I want to write it down before I forget it."

"Um…I got chalk," Al said, reaching down into the pouch around his leg and pulling out an unused piece of white chalk.

"Great," Ed said sarcastically. "Then have you got any black paper to write on?"

"No."

"Then let's hurry home," Ed said with a sigh. "I'll probably end up forgetting it anyway."

"Wait, I have an idea, Brother!" Al called, Ed turned back to look at him and Al explained, "You could write it on my arm for now. The chalk will erase off later." Ed sighed, looking slightly nervous at the idea. "What? You don't want me to read your poetry, Brother?" Al asked innocently, and Ed rolled his eyes.

"No," he said stubbornly, walking back up to his brother. "Give me your arm." Al held his arm down by Ed's height and held the piece of chalk out with his other hand. Ed looked up nervously at Al, and then slowly started scratching out the poem.

So much depends

Upon

A red line on a

Screen

Beeping out a

Pattern

And the technology keeping her

Alive.

Al slowly read over the last line of the poem as Ed carefully scratched it out, and then looked back up at his brother, who seemed to have a slight hint of a blush staining his cheeks.

"Aw, Brother, that's soo sweet!" Al cooed, and Ed looked up at him angrily.

"How come everything I say nowadays is considered cute?!" he demanded angrily.

"I didn't say cute, I said sweet," Al replied, but Ed was already storming down the sidewalk.

"They're the same thing!" he called over his shoulder. "Forget it! I'll write about how so much depends on whether I have enough money in my pocket for a Hershey's bar!" Al sighed and followed after him.

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Ha! I finished another chapter! Pbbt! And yes, that really was an assignment for my English class. (Although we had to turn in for different poems DX) And I really did turn in Ed's poem. My teacher wrote "Interesting topic" next to it. XD Probably thinks I have issues with my family at home or something, 'Cuz my other poems were about writing and stuff like that. And another FMA poem, but it sounded like some kid colored on his brother, or something like that. (So much depends upon a few inky words… Sigh. I have no life.) ANYwho, "The Red Wheelbarrow" was written by William Carlos Willams. Me no own. See you next chap! a