IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW! XD

HAPPY 15TH TO ME!

...yeah so I'm excited about that...

Any-who, thank you guys soooo much for all of your reviews! (11! Holy Shit!) They all made me very happy! I was actually going to give you this chapter tomorrow but I had a snow day today (yay for snow day!) and I was just like 'screw it, doing this now.' I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

Review Lot's for my birthday present!

"Big Brother…"

Ed cracked his eyes open, but then quickly closed them to hid from the offending light. After letting his eyes readjust to the God-awful artificial yellow light, Ed let one of his open partially so he could see who had woken him.

"Wahzizit…?" Ed muttered groggily.

"It's past diner time," Sammy said quietly.

"Really?" Ed asked before checking his digital clock to confirm that, yes, it was past eight o'clock.

"I thought you might be hungry," she said while holding up a plate of spaghetti with meatballs and sauce on it.

"Oh, thank you. I am pretty hungry."

"When aren't you?" She asked with a smirk.

Ed slowly sat up but then fell back onto his pillow; his head was absolutely killing him.

"Stay down," Sammy urged after Ed mad another sad attempt to sit up. "Just stay here. I'll go borrow the other pillows and we can prop you up."

A minute later, Sammy arrived with an arm full of deflated pillows. After piling up the pillows, Ed laid back onto them, elevated a bit higher.

"Here," Sammy said as she set the hot plate into his hands. "Do you want anything to drink?"

Ed's thoughts quickly wandered to the old liquor cabinet that Kimblee guarded with his life. But no, he'd have to wait until the weekend before he could get anything stronger.

"No, I'm fine Sammy. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Call me if you need anything. And don't you dare move," she admonished in her motherly tone.

"Wouldn't dream of it Sammy. I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"

"Yup. See ya Eddy."

Sammy was the only person under the sum who was allowed to call him 'Eddy'. Period.

Sammy kissed him again on the forehead, fluffed the pillows up, and straightened out his ruffled sheets before she turned to leave.

"You're going to make some guy one hell of a wife one day, you know that?" Ed said as he began to dig into his food with caution; he didn't know if his incredibly soar stomach would accept food.

"First I have to get out of this Hell-hole," Sammy said with a small, sad smile.

Ed looked up at her for a moment, locking her eyes with his.

"I promise you. The second I turn 18, I'm taking all of you guys away from this monster and I'll take care of you," Ed said, his voice brimming with conviction.

Sammy stared at him for a while longer before she spoke again. But when she spoke, it wasn't the firm but extremely motherly Sammy. No, it was the broken and insecure spirit Sammy who had arrived here three years ago.

"Really?" she asked breathlessly as silent tears rolled down her pale cheeks.

"Absolutely," Ed responded in a firm voice.

Years ago, when it had just been him and Terry, the two discussed Ed adopting him once he turned 18. It was something the two used to talk about all the time. But it seemed as the years went by, and the more crushed Terry's spirit became, he believed less and less that Ed would actually save him if he could. Protecting these kids were the only reason why Ed had stayed here so long. Maybe he should tell Winry about this, just so she would stop pleading for him to live with him.

Winry…she was amazing. They had been friends since almost the day Ed moved to this house. And he had had a major crush on her since that exact day; Ed had a suspicion that Winry also had a crush on him as well. But whenever Ed had wanted to just scream out his feelings to her, he stopped himself. If Kimblee knew about her…well that just gave him another weak spot for the man to hit.

Bringing himself out of his thoughts, Ed focused on the crying girl before him. For the first time in many years, Ed saw the real Sammy. Sammy wasn't a mother. She wasn't a super hero that shot out love in every direction. She was a scared little girl whose childhood had been ripped from underneath her.

"Come here," Ed said while holing out his arms as best as he could in his condition.

The little girl instantly sprinted over to him, buried her head into his chest, and sobbed out every last tear that she had held in over the years.

Some time later, Ed was woken up by a gentle knock on his bedroom door. Ed cracked his eyes open before staring at the clock that read half-past ten.

"Yeah. Come in," Ed called out to who ever was at his door.

It was Terry with Kyle hiding just behind him.

"Ed…are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"Well can you help us find Sammy? W-we, we can't find her! Not anywhere!"

Ed gave the two distraught boys a small smile before turning on the small lamp that sat just above his head. Once the light had been turned on, the location of Sammy was revealed.

Sammy was laying down on Ed's left, curled up into a little ball. She had tired herself out from all of her crying and Ed just let the poor girl curl up to him and sleep. The boys grinned at the sight of Sammy looking so defenseless-it was a rare sight after all.

"That solves that problem," Terry said before letting out a tired sigh. "Well I'm going to sleep then."

"Wait!" Kyle said as Terry began walking over to his own mattress.

"What?' He asked.

"If Sammy's sleeping here…th-then, then I'll be all alone."

"Well…" Ed began while sending a glance toward Terry.

"Fine," Terry said after heaving a large sigh. "Kyle, you can sleep with me tonight."

"Really?"

"Sure. Just get in the bed," Terry muttered while wearing a scowl.

He didn't exactly like the idea of having Kyle share a bed with him. He was seven years old for Christ sakes! He shouldn't be afraid of sleeping alone…but then again, who knows what Kimblee would do if he were to drunkenly stumble upon a defenseless little kid?

"Night everyone," Ed muttered as he fell back asleep.

"Hey Ed!"

It was the next morning. After spending ten minutes trying to ease himself out of his bed, he made sure everyone else was up and ready after their little sleepover but then found himself extremely late. Ed bolted out of his house before even eating anything, but then again, he wasn't sure he could eat properly so it wasn't a big loss.

Ed turned around and, to his surprise, saw Winry running behind him.

"W-what are you doing here?" Ed asked.

"I *pant* w-was at Sh-Sheska's," Winry panted once she had reached Ed. Ed stared behind his doubled-over friend and saw another girl running towards them.

"Hey Sheska," Ed said as the other teen had caught up with them.

"H-hi *pant* E-Ed…" Sheska panted as she fixed her lopsided glasses.

Ed waited for the two teens to catch their breaths while he worriedly checked the clock on his cell phone. He didn't care if he was late for homeroom, but maybe these two, Honor Society good-girls might.

"Uh, you guys are gonna be late if you don't start moving," Ed warned the two girls, which quickly got them up and moving again.

"So why were you at Sheska's again?" Ed asked once they started walking.

"Sheska asked me for help on her homework and then I just crashed there."

"Oh…well then why were you guys so late?" Ed asked before turning to Sheska and asking, "Don't you usually get a ride?"

"Yeah but I overslept and we missed it. We tried calling people for rides but they were all at school by then. So we just had to run."

"Why were you late Ed?" Winry asked.

"Overslept," he answered simply.

"Alright…" Winry muttered as she watched Ed's movements.

There's something wrong with him…Winry thought. He's wincing even worse than yesterday…I hope he didn't get beaten…

The three teenagers managed to reach the school and enter their first period classes before the late bell had rung.

Ed sat down, completely out of breath, at his seat for his first period class; U.S. History. It was an easy class for him, all he had to do was sit down and take notes and he would get perfect grades. Almost a minute after the bell had rung the chair next to him was pulled back and was then occupied.

"Are you ever on time?" Ed asked to his companion who was now busy taking out his things.

"Only for this class," he answered with his usual cocky grin. "Besides, I could walk in half way through the class and Grunman wouldn't care in the least."

"Just cuz you're his favorite," Ed muttered as he began working on the question of the day.

"And what's wrong with that? And don't complain; Grunman treats me just the same as he does to you."

"Bullshit," Ed mumbled as he began to chew on his mechanical pencil. "He doesn't treat anyone like the way he treats you. Not even Riza and she's his granddaughter."

"Well I guess I'm just lucky."

"More like you're a suck-up."

The other boy was able to sneak in a hard punch to the arm before the always giddy and bespectacled Mr. Grunman came bouncing into the room. Ed sent a glare towards his friend, but found that he was acting his part of the good student and was busy copying notes that Mr. Grunman had begun to put up.

"You're an ass," Ed whispered as he pulled out his notebook. Ed didn't get a response, but out of the corner of his eye he could see him smirk.

The person sitting next to Ed was none other than Roy Mustang; member of the top five 'hotties' of the school, captain of the basketball team, and-speaking grades wise- perfect student.

Ed wasn't exactly what to call Roy. Were they friends? Ed had no clue. All he was sure about was that Roy too lived in a foster home.

A good one foster home Ed thought with a twinge of jealousy running through him.

Roy had the perfect life. Many loyal friends and followers, a nice home to go home to, and of coarse the fact that he was always happy and content with his life. Ed stared at his dark haired and eyed 'friend' and sighed.

Wonder what it's like not having to constantly worry about other people's lives? Must be relaxing…

History passed without any hitch. After that, he went off to his one of his favorite classes: Study Hall.

Ed sat down at his seat in the corner, pulled a thick book out of his back pack, and began to drown out the noises of the other students. He rarely ever had homework to do in Study Hall since he would usually finish it in class. Sometimes when Ed had forgotten his book or finished it already, he would erase his work and see if he could do it again, just for the Hell of it.

It's so hard being a genius sometimes. Ed thought while wearing a small grin on his face. He was a legitimate genius; he had an IQ of 160.

Ed stared around at his fellow classmates, most of whom were fretting over school work that he could have done years ago, and sighed again.

Maybe it'd just be easier for me to graduate early and then see if I can legally adopt them…I don't know…

The next few periods came and went, all just as boring as usual. Ed had been almost sent down to the office in his fourth period class, but he managed to weasel his way out by saying how very sorry he was.

After his fourth period, Ed raced down to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Hey Ed!" Winry called from their usual lunch table. Ed walked over to her and sat down next to her.

"How was your day so far?" Winry asked before biting into what was supposed to be a piece of pizza.

"…alright I guess," he answered lamely. He never was good at small talk.

"Ed," Winry whispered as she pushed her tray away while looking over her shoulder to make sure their other friends hadn't arrived yet, "we need to talk."

"'Bout what?" Ed asked, even though he knew exactly what she meant.

"About your bruises," Winry growled. "I noticed you wincing whenever you had to bend down or move too fast. And don't think for a minute that no one has seen that goose egg-sized bump on the sided of your head."

"Winr-," Ed began.

"You said that he stopped hitting you," Winry muttered while her eyes took on a mixture of hurt, worry, and anger.

"I never said that," Ed quickly said while checking over his own shoulder.

"Yes you did!"

"I said that he hasn't done it in a while. And don't talk so loud!" Ed growled while looking around to see if anyone had heard. "People can hear you."

"I don't bloody care if people hear!"

"Well I do because it's my business, Win. Not yours."

"But-!"

"Oh, are we having a little lovers spat?"

Ed looked up to see Roy smirking down at the two of them. Ed sent him a glare before Roy sat down next to him.

"We weren't fighting. Just a very heated argument."

"Hmm…heated…" Roy muttered with his usual smirk.

Before Ed could engage in his usual lunch argument with Roy, the others appeared; Jean, Riza, and Sheska bringing up the rear.

"Wazup everyone?" Jean asked as he sat down next to Roy.

Jean was an odd guy with blond hair, blue eyes, and who always smelled like fresh cigarette smoke.

"Jean, why do you keep smoking during school?" Ed asked in an annoyed tone.

"I don't see why you care. It's not like you get in trouble for me smoking."

"We do get in trouble," Everyone said at once.

"Quit hanging around us after you smoke during school," Riza growled as she pushed her long blond hair back. "You make all of us smell like smoke."

"Whatever…" Jean said as he dug into his food.

"It is not just whatever! The principle told my grandfather last time it happened!"

"So what? Your gramps is a cool dude."

"Yes but what if he had called my father?" Riza asked while glaring daggers at Jean.

"Uhh…well…" Jean muttered as he tried to ignore Riza's deadly glare.

"If my father thinks I'm smoking…you're dead meat," Riza growled.

"R-right."

"…Well how about we change subjects," Roy suggested.

"Yes please!" Jean said eagerly.

"It's Friday. How about we get nice and shit-faced?"

"And where would we do this?" Ed asked. He really could use a break this weekend.

"Maes' parents are out of town for the weekend and most of the next week."

"Speaking of Maes…were is that moving Kodak moment?" Jean asked while searching the cafeteria for their dark haired friend.

"Were do you think?" Riza asked. "He's talking to Gracia. Duh."

"So does everyone want to hang out tonight?"

"Is Maes cool with it?" Winry asked.

"He will be."

"I'll go."

"Me too."

"Awesome."

"What time?"

"I don't know…we'll figure that out later."

Ed stared at his tray of undistinguishable food and sighed. He could use a break from his house. Maybe he could even crash at Maes' house so that he wouldn't have to go back to hi own.

That would be nice…

Next chapter: Party time!

So...I wanted to put this up as soon as I finished (which was probably a hour or two after I posted the last chapter...) but I realized that if I want this story to last a while, I can't update the second I finish. So I'll probably update once a week...5-6 days if I really can't wait.

ANNOUNCEMENT!: On my profile I have put up a poll that is kinda important to this story. So go to my profile and check it out.

-FSK