Hello to all of my beloved readers! Thank you for the new record of 27 reviews last chapter!

But, I'll keep this short since I know everyone's dieing to read this after last chapters evil cliff hanger. *evil grin*

So, enjoy Ed and Al finally being together again!^^

"Brother…?" Al whispered as he looked into Ed's eyes.

Ed wanted to say that, yes it was him along with many other things that he was never quite sure he could put into words. He opened his mouth to speak but found him unable to even stutter a respond for his mouth and throat had bone dry within the very second. After a small wheeze of air (a failed attempt at speech) Ed surrendered to his throat and nodded slowly.

He did not expect what had happened next.

"Oh Brother!"

Al threw his arms around Ed's neck, practically strangling him in the process, and pulled Ed into a neck-snapping hug. Ed could tell by Al's quivering shoulders that he was very close to breaking down. He glanced into the doorway, expecting to see the bear-like man, but found that he had left. This Ed was very grateful for because he knew that if he didn't want to share this moment with his closest friends, he wouldn't want to share it with a man who looked as if he was about to eat him any moment now.

Ed tried to think of something to do to comfort his poor little brother, who appeared to be moments away from a compete mental break down. As Ed opened his mouth to speak, even though he wasn't sure what he would say, Al spoke up in a quivering, soft voice.

"Is…is it really you Edward?"

"Y-yeah," Ed muttered in an unnaturally weak voice.

"H-how did you…when d-did you…I mean…" Al stuttered while he attempted to keep his composure.

"It's a long story…"

"And, and your arm," Al moaned in anguish into Ed's shaking shoulder. "W-what happened to your arm?"

"…that's something we should also discuss later," Ed muttered after a moment, realizing it was best to not mention that he was also missing most of his left leg too.

"Okay…" Al mumbled with a small nod before he finally let go of Ed.

The two stared at each other. Ed was pleased to see that Al was not taller than him but he was also annoyed that they were the same height. Al's hair was a shade darker than his own, his eyes as well. Another thing that pleased Ed was that Al appeared to be in perfect health; not much more than a few scratches here and there that happened when you're a teenaged boy. It appeared that Al had been lucky in escaping the accident relatively unscathed.

"Should we…do you want to come inside?"

"Yeah, sure."

Al opened up the door and went inside, Ed followed quickly behind. The house appeared to be rather well furnished and gave off a very comfy atmosphere. Al let Ed stare around for a moment before he grabbed onto his left wrist and began pulling him through a tour of the house.

"This is the living room," Al said happily while he continued to tug Ed throughout the house.

Ed would have stopped Al from leading him around like a dog on a lease until he realized that Al's tight grip probably had nothing to do with making sure that Ed didn't get lost…so Ed continued with Al and let him talk and talk to his hearts content.

"And this is our kitchen and I usually sit here by this big window except for when it starts to get cold out. During the last winter it dropped to almost 40 degrees!"

At this Ed could not but let out a snort. Clearly, this kid did not realize what the weather could be just a few states up. Al turned around and gave him a puzzling look.

"What?"

"Well it's just that…40 degrees isn't very cold now is it?"

"It is when you've been used to 80 degree weather for four years," Al said defensively.

"I guess…"

"Let's go look at the up stairs now! But-we have to be quiet," Al added in a whisper, as if it had been Ed who was just shouting excitedly moments ago, "Because Izumi's not feeling well today."

"Izumi?"

"Yeah, she's my foster mom."

"Oh…so that big guy at the front door was-,"

"Her husband: Sig. I know he looks super scary, but really he's a nice guy. Same with Izumi."

"That's good," Ed mumbled as he stared at the carpeting. As much as he was glad to hear that his brother lived in a good home, he had hopped, very slimly, that Al might be living with a family member that he did not know of.

"Yup!" Al exclaimed, oblivious to Ed's thinking. "I think we could go and say hi!"

With that, Al gave Ed's arm a particularly hard tug as Al started up the steps. Ed tried to keep up with Al but found that all of his energy was put towards not falling on his face as he repeatedly tripped over the annoying carpeted stairs.

"Um A-al?"

"Yes?"

"Um…I don't think this is the kind thing we can just stopped and say 'hi' about," Ed said as he tried to pull out of Al's grip.

"What'cha mean?"

"I mean that showing your foster parents your long lost brother they didn't know about, when he just popped up on your doorstep, and then leaving isn't the kind of thing most guardians would like."

"'Didn't know about'? Of course they know about you."

"Huh?"

"They know about you because I told them about you," Al said quietly while his eyes softened. "Why wouldn't I tell them about you?"

"You mean that you remembered me?"

"Yes of course-wait. Did you not remember me?"

"Well I-."

"Alphonse?" asked a female voice from another room down the hall.

"Yeah?" Al asked, sounding slightly apprehensive.

"Can you come in here for a moment?"

"Um, yeah! You stay here until I-."

"Oh, and bring your little friend with you," she added, causing Ed to twitch when the word 'little' was thrown his way.

Al gave Ed a small look before he motioned for Ed to follow Ed further down the hallway. Finally, they stopped at the last door of the hall; Al reached up and gave a tentative knock.

"Yes, come in Alphonse."

Al opened the door before he slowly stuck his head into the doorway.

"W-what is it Izumi?"

"I said come in. Not to just stand in the doorway."

"Right."

Ed stepped slowly behind Al into the large room. Ed noticed immediately that the large, bear-like man was there; his face just as emotionless as it was before. He then noticed a woman who was lying in a large bed. She did indeed look as if she was recovering from some illness, with her skin nearly void of color except for the slight flush of her cheeks. The women had long, dark hair that was put into several small braids and kind, but undeniably sharp dark eyes.

"So this is Edward, Alphonse?"

"How did you…" Ed began but trailed off when she began to laugh quietly.

"How could I not know?" Izumi said with a small smirk. "Alphonse here showed me a picture of you and even if I didn't know what you looked like, from what Sig told me about before, well, I'm sure I could have put two and two together Edward."

"Alright…" Ed said, feeling confused. "But then who the heck are you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm just a house wife," Izumi said with a not-so-convincing smile.

"Okay…but who are you?"

"Alphonse I thought you said your brother was intelligent," Izumi said while she gave Ed an odd look. "Obviously we're Alphonse' guardians."

"Well I know that!" Ed huffed in outrage as he felt heat rise into his checks. "What I want to know is what your names are-since you already know mine!"

"I'm Izumi Curtis. And this big, handsome guy is my husband-Sig Curtis."

Sig did not give them any inclination that he had just been introduced. Instead, he turned to his wife, bent down, and whispered something into her ear that caused Izumi to smile softly again.

"Oh yes I'm alright sweetie. I'll take my medicine in a few more minutes and then I'll call him later."

Sig gave her a small nod before standing straight up again. Ed and Al waited for one of them (well, more like Izumi) to talk but when neither of them did, the brothers began to back up towards the door.

"Where do you two think you're going?"

"Um…"

"Well."

"I wasn't finished talking to you two," Izumi snapped. "So Edward, did you travel across the country all by yourself?"

"Uh, no," Ed muttered awkwardly. "I came with some of my friends. We're staying at a local motel."

"Hmm…would you like to stay here for a while?"

"What?" Ed asked while Al made a noise of excitement that Ed felt should only come out of a girl's mouth.

"Stay here. With your brother so we can get to know you better. I have to say, four years is a lot of time to catch up. So what do you say?"

Ed never answered. He couldn't because as he opened his mouth to gratefully accept, Al gripped onto his arm again and pulled him out of the room and down the hall while yelling, "Thanks Izumi! We'll try to not be too much of a bother!"

"Uh Al?"

"What is it brother?"

The two sat on a pile of comforters and pillows on Al's bedroom floor. They had a spare bedroom for Ed to sleep in but for now, Al seemed to not want Ed out of his sight. They had just ordered a pizza and picked out a wide selection of movies to watch for the remainder of the day; Al said that they would talk tomorrow.

"Could I go and call my friends? Just to tell them that I'm gonna be staying here tonight."

"Oh…sure. Um, I'll go and bring up some sodas, okay?" Al said as he got up from his spot on the floor. "What kind do you like? We have everything: Coke, Cherry Coke, Pepsi, Rootbeer, Dr. Pepper, Sprite…"

"Cherry Coke's (1) fine Al."

"Okay!"

Ed pulled out his cell phone from his pocket, went to his phonebook, and let it stop on Winry's number. What would he say to her? Ed clicked onto the call button.

Ring…Ring…

"Hello?"

"Hey Win."

"So um…how's everything going?"

Ed suppressed a smile while listened to the forced causal tone in her voice. He could imagine them all staring at their phones for the passed hour, just waiting for him to call or text one of them. Due to the small 'shh' noises going off on the other line, Ed could only assume that he was on speaker phone.

"Fine. We're both fine."

"That's good."

"But, his foster Mom invited me to stay for a while, so I'm staying over for tonight."

"Oh, okay! That's great! Um…is his Foster Mom nice?"

"She's alright. A little tough looking but I can tell she's nice. Her husband's just this big bear that doesn't say anything though…"

"Well, I'll let you to get to catching up alright?"

"Yeah. Maybe I can introduce you to him tomorrow."

"But you two must have so much catching up to do-."

"Winry, it's alright. I'm sure he's dieing to see my friends. But I got to go. We're watching a bunch of movies and I think the pizza guy just got here."

"Okay. Have fun."

"Bye."

"Bye."

(1) I love me some Cherry Coke! :P

Sorry it's a tad bit short but I wanted to leave it here. Next chapter, anticipate some brotherly love and possibly an ass-kicking from Izumi.

Thanks for reading and I hope you get a chance to send me a review!

-FSK