I was in the library next to Edward. We were sitting, again, with a circle of books around us. I suddenly jumped as I heard the clock strike.
Edward looked up, "Man, is it that late already?"
"I guess so," I smiled at how soaked in reading Ed and I had been.
"Al!" Ed called for his brother and looked around the library while I started to put all of the books back where they belonged. "Where is he?" Ed asked himself, turning back to me.
I finished clearing up the books and shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he-" I was cut off when I heard Alexander barking loudly from outside.
"Let's hope your dog didn't think he was a hydrant," Ed said as he walked toward the door. I followed him, giggling at his small, yet very possible, joke. Ed opened the door to my very large house. Outside, sat Nina, Al, and Alexander. They were sitting in the snow.
"Brother, come look!" exclaimed Al.
"Sissy, we made snow angels!" Nina told me. It took Ed one second before he leapt into the snow with them. I smiled at them playing together.
Ed stopped laughing, "Aren't you coming Maya?" he asked, confused as to why I was still standing on the porch. Nina had stopped laughing as well. She looked at me with what seemed to be pity, which was something I didn't like. My smile disappeared; I was going to tell Ed, but someone else beat me to it.
"She can't Ed," said a man's voice. We all looked over to see Major Maes Hughes standing before us, as tall and proud as ever, wearing his deep blue military uniform.
"Hello Major," said Ed, happy to see him, but still confused about me.
"Major Hughes!" I shouted, running off the porch to hug my old friend. He knelt down and hugged me back gently. He must have been reminded of my back.
"How you doin', Maya?" he said after he let me go, probably referring to my spine.
"Great, I'm getting better, one day at a time," I assured him. Hughes had always been, well, not a father to me, more like a silly uncle.
"That's good; we all want you to get back to your old rebel-self," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I laughed, remembering all the dangerous things I used to do.
"She used to sneak off at night and worry her parents half to death," he told Ed and Al. Nina already knew this, of course. I remembered how she used to get mad at me for making our mom and dad worry so much. I tried not to remember the one night that changed all of that.
Ed laughed, "Is that so?" he asked playfully, "I never saw you as the rebellious type."
I blushed, "Oh, I can be pretty reckless," I said, also smiling. The tension of the subject of why I couldn't play in the snow had passed, along with the subject itself. I was thankful for this.
"Well Major, why are you here?" I asked, turning back to Hughes.
"Well, I couldn't let Ed study through his birthday, could I?" he laughed.
"That's right; that's today!" remembered Al.
I spun right back around and looked at Edward, "Why didn't you tell me your birthday was coming up?" Ed had told me many things about him, but never – and I just realized this now – when his birthday was.
"I guess I just never thought about it," he said. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"Well, we would like to throw a birthday dinner for you, my beautiful wife and I," said the Major. Nina looked discouraged that Ed and Al were going away for the day, and I was kind of down too.
"Don't be sad; you're all coming," said Hughes. Nina brightened up immediately. I did too.
"We couldn't throw a birthday party for Ed and not invite his friends," the major spoke as if the very idea of it was insane.
|| Ed's Birthday Party ||
I stood, holding Nina's hand, next to Ed and Al. I wore my favorite jean skirt with a simple green t-shirt with my hair up in a messy bun. Major Hughes came out with his wife, whom you've met before, but haven't seen since before she was pregnant. She was very far along, I could tell. Ed and Al didn't have any trouble pointing it out, either.
"Your stomach's a melon!" Ed yelled. Nina and I began to giggle.
"Yep, any day now," said Mrs. Hughes. "Do you want to feel it?"
Ed and Al were totally disgusted at the idea, but Nina and I were definitely excited to feel the baby. We each placed a hand on Mrs. Hughes' stomach. For a second, nothing happened, but then I felt a small bump against my hand.
Nina exclaimed happily, "I felt it! It moved!"
I smiled at Mrs. Hughes. I couldn't wait for the baby to be born.
We all sat down at the dinner table, and while we talked with Mrs. Hughes about her baby and what it was like to be pregnant, Ed spoke to Major Hughes about me.
|| Edward ||
I looked up from my dinner plate. Maya was sitting diagonal from me, in a conversation with Mrs. Hughes. I took my chance now. "Hey Hughes, there are a lot of things I still don't know about Maya. Care to clear them up for me?" I asked him quietly.
Hughes stopped eating his dinner and said, "What would you like to know?"
I thought about it for a moment. "First of all, what happened to her mother?"
Hughes leaned toward me and spoke quietly. "Two years ago, she left. She didn't like that they were poor, and she went to go live wither parents. Go figure, very soon after that, Maya's dad got all the money from the chimera he made, and he became a state alchemist."
I was confused. "That's what Maya told me, but it just doesn't seem like something a mother would do," I said.
The major glanced at Maya with pity in his eyes, "Yeah, well not every mother is as wonderful as yours was. Even now, Nina tries to write letters to their mother, but she never replies. Maya gave up a long time ago," he said.
I could hardly believe it. What mother would leave her children alone, without her? How could Maya's mother have left her in her condition? I wondered how long of a time had already passed between the time that Maya got an auto mail spine and when her mother left. This formed my next question.
"Major," he looked back at me, "what exactly happened to her back?"
The major sat quiet for a moment. After heaving a sigh, he spoke again. "Do you remember what I said about Maya being reckless back before her mother left?"
I nodded, remembering the events of earlier that day perfectly. I remembered seeing Maya's smile disappear the moment I'd asked her to play in the snow.
"There was one time that she snuck out that ended very badly," he said.
I began to listen intently.
"Maya was going to meet her friends at a local park, but when she never made it and didn't answer her phone at home, her friends got worried." Hughes paused for a moment, gathering his words. "Fortunately, her friends did the smart thing and went to her house to see if she was there. When her parents discovered that she wasn't in her room, they called the police." The major's fist tightened as he explained what happened after that. "Throughout the night they searched. I remember when Maya's mother called us, so worried that she was crying. I went with the police, and at around four in the morning, we found her."
I didn't want to know what happened next, but at the same time, I did. "You act like it's a bad thing that you found her," I said.
Hughes continued, again. "She was laying on the sidewalk, far from the park and even farther from her home, soaked in blood with her back sliced open and part of her vertebrae removed from her back, nearly dead."
Major Hughes shuttered. When I imagined Maya's body, lifeless, blood soaked, and mangled, I shuddered too. I put down my silverware. Suddenly, I didn't feel like eating anymore. I couldn't. I felt sick to my stomach.
"So, we got her to the hospital as fast as we could. The doctor had an engineer help him with placing the auto mail. She had to get four units of blood as well. The surgery lasted thirteen hours, and, as you're probably aware, Maya could hardly take the pain of the auto mail being attached to her nerves."
I was shocked. "They didn't give her any anesthetic?"
Hughes shook his head, solemnly. "She had to remain awake in order for her nerves to stay active. The most they could do was numb her so she couldn't feel them cutting her skin. We could hear her screaming from down the hall." He began to shake his head with sorrow. "Then, finally, it was over. She was in recovery, and after a week and a half, she passed physical therapy and came home. She's been healing ever since, but she's still not able to do many things that she wants to do, like playing in the snow, for example. I honestly think it was because of how crappy a job that engineer did. She needs something better, an upgrade."
I listened as the major finished his story. When I looked over at Maya, she was smiling and laughing, and her face was flushed. I tried not to imagine her pale, weak, and screaming in agony as the auto mail was attached to her nerves. The image haunted me. "Major?" I asked.
"Three days," he stated, without hesitation.
"What-" I started.
"It was three days after that, that Maya's mother left," he said gravely.
I stared at him in surprise, both because he'd answered the exact question that I was going to ask, and because I knew that something wasn't right. Even if Maya's mother wasn't perfect, it was obvious that she was really worried about Maya to begin with. She wouldn't have left three days after her daughter went through a major surgery and almost died. No, that just didn't add up. I was going to find out the truth.
|| Amaya ||
I could feel Ed looking at me. Why? What was he trying to figure out? Or worse, what did he already know? My thoughts were cut off as I heard Mrs. Hughes speak to her husband.
"I think we've got our number one babysitter right here," she said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sure we do," Major Hughes agreed. He smiled gently, with pity. I swallowed nervously. He was thinking about the accident.
I blushed, "Oh, you both know what plans I have; I can't stay here that much longer."
"You're just desperate for an adventure, aren't you?" asked the major, swirling his glass of tea around in his hands.
"You bet!" I laughed, hiding the sick feeling in my stomach.
Mrs. Hughes got up, "Anybody want more birthday tea?"
No one refused to that, and Mrs. Hughes came back with the jug of tea…
"Gracia!" Major Hughes exclaimed as Mrs. Hughes tumbled to the floor.
"Honey, it's here," she choked out.
At first, the major looked confused, "The tea?"
Mrs. Hughes' expression hardened, "The baby!" she growled.
Hughes freaked out. "What? But the doctor said next week!"
This didn't help Mrs. Hughes, "Well the baby says now, and I think she gets to choose!" she growled again.
Major Hughes continued to freak out as he started running around the house, grabbing all of Mrs. Hughes' stuff.
"Major; the snow! She can't go out in that!" I said, gesturing to the blizzard outside.
The major decided to bring the doctor there himself. Ed and I led Mrs. Hughes to the couch. She lay down, and I put a blanket over her. I knew somewhat of what to do.
"Ed, go get a tub of hot water," I ordered.
Ed ran out of the room and came back a moment later with a steaming tub of water and a washrag. Nina took it and tried to calm Mrs. Hughes down.
It wasn't working too well. "I can't do this! I'm dying!" she strained.
Ed and Al started freaking out. I didn't know how much longer Mrs. Hughes could take before she had to get that baby out. I waited a few minutes, but Mrs. Hughes' contractions were getting worse.
"Sissy? The water's very cold," said Nina.
"Ed, can you heat up the water please?" I asked.
He walked toward the bin and heated it up using alchemy…without a transmutation circle.
I stared at the bin, and my eyes moved from it to Edward. "How in the hel-" I stopped yourself from cursing for my sister's sake.
"I don't know! I just used my head!" Ed said, staring at his hands.
"Well, never mind that now!" I shouted over Mrs. Hughes' moans of pain.
You forgot about the cursing rule, "Damn it, she has to get this baby out now!" I said. Ed and Al, of course, freaked out again. "Would you both just shut up and do what I say?" I screamed.
They stopped and stood still, realizing how dumb they must look.
"Al, switch places with Nina and keep trying to calm her down! Ed, go get some more towels, we're going to need them! Nina, go watch for Major Hughes and the doctor!"
They all did as I told them. Ed came back with the towels, "You might want to stand somewhere else," I warned him, referring to the fact that Ed was in full view of Mrs. Hughes giving birth. He immediately went to stand on the opposite end of the couch. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hughes was still screaming her head off. "Gracia! You've got to calm down and work with me here!" I ordered her.
She stopped whining and listened to my soft commands. "Just push," I said gently but forcefully, lifting the blanket to make sure the baby came out okay.
Mrs. Hughes screamed as she pushed the baby out. I began to see the head and told her to push more. It seemed to take forever, and I grew worried about the fact that you may have to cut the cord yourself, which wasn't a good idea when you don't have the proper tools for it.
"It's okay, you're doing great," I said, "one more big push okay?"
Mrs. Hughes nodded furiously and let out one big scream as she was able to push the baby all the way out. I held it in the towels that Ed had brought and wiped off all the blood. I was relieved when the baby started crying. Just then, Major Hughes came in with the doctor, who took over from there. I went to stand by Edward; a towel in my hands to wipe them off.
"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked me, a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Who do you think helped with Nina?" I replied, smiling at Mrs. Hughes as she held her beautiful baby girl in her arms.
"Thank you so much Maya, I really couldn't have done it without you, all of you," she said, looking at Ed, Al and Nina.
Major Hughes drove us back to our house, still thanking me for delivering his and Gracia's baby.
"You're welcome Major." I smiled. "It was nothing; I'm just glad that she's healthy," I said as I followed Al and Ed back to inside the house. I waved goodbye to the major as he drove away and turned inside the front hall. "Well…that was exciting, wasn't it?" I asked them playfully.
"Oh yeah, definitely the best birthday I've ever had," said Edward with a lot sarcasm in his voice.
I laughed and walked up the stairs to get to the bedrooms. My father didn't appear anywhere, which didn't bother me that much. I actually felt relieved that he wasn't creeping around the house alone, waiting for me to get home.
After tucking Nina in, I walked out of her room and saw Ed standing outside his bedroom door, just like the first night he was here. He didn't look happy.
"Why didn't you tell me about your back?" he asked.
"Why didn't you tell me about your birthday?" I asked, half joking.
"Maya, I'm serious," he said.
I sighed, "I know, but I didn't know if I could trust you. I'd just met you after all," I said.
"Well, you know me now, about as much as Al does so no more secrets. Kay?" he said, walking up to me. He was really close, just like that first day. And just like that day, I blushed.
"Okay," I said. Ed turned to go back to his room, but I called to him again. "Ed?" Edward turned back around to face me. I ran to him and threw my arms around him. "Thank you," I whispered in his ear, "for everything."
At first, he hesitated, but then he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me there. I got used to feeling his arms around me and began to nuzzle my head into his shoulder, but I caught myself and let go.
"Good night," I blushed as I spoke.
"Night Maya," Ed turned back to go to his room, and I thought I saw him blush as well, before he opened the door and walked in.