Hey guys, it's been a while (read at least 2 months). Sorry! I wanted to power through my last weeks of high school, so I put ACCIA to the side........but now that I'm done, I can focus on writing. That, and I was stuck in the middle of this chapter, and didn't know where to go next for the LONGEST time. DX I hope chapter 11 won't be as ornery. Anyways, enjoy ch 10!

DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Trisha Elric, Winry Rockbell, Armstrong © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

Italics - thoughts

Ch 10: The Fallen Interlude

"Hey Mom. It's been a while, hasn't it? Al couldn't come, but……….I want to introduce you to someone."

Ed nudged me forward and I bowed. "Um, hi. I'm Marina, Ed's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you Mrs. Elric."

"It's nice to meet you too." I started in surprise, but activated the Byakugan. A semi-translucent woman appeared in my view, leaning against her headstone. She had brown, shoulder-length hair that was tied in a ponytail, and was holding a basket of fruits and vegetables. "Just Trisha is fine; no formalities please. If you're as close to my son as I think you are……." she teased. "You can see me? Hmmm, that's a first."

"Is it now?" Shukaku, wanna explain anything?

Not really.

Psh, some help you are.

Hey, I'm just a big hunk of chakra. What do you want me to do?

I sighed and glanced at Ed……who wasn't moving. "Ed?" I waved a hand back and forth in front of his face. "Edward?"

"Oh I forgot to tell you, I stopped time. It's something you learn to do after you die."

I raised an eyebrow. "……..No kidding."

"So how did you two meet?"

"It was purely coincidental. I suppose it would help to know that your eldest is a state alchemist—has been for three years—, and I am the niece of the fuhrer. I was on a tour of Central Headquarters, Ed came barreling through the door of the room I was in, and my guardian introduced us." I snickered. "I heard his voice before I saw the shorty. If he hadn't entered the room when he did…….."

"Where did he take you on your first date?"

I blushed. "He took me to a couples-only French restaurant. Chaos ensued, but all in all, I had a nice time."

"Well, if things keep going the way they are now, I'm going to be your mother-in-law soon."

I blushed even more, my face turning a red rivaling that of the tomatoes in Trisha's basket. "……….R-right."

"Well, better you than that girl Winry Rockbell. I never really liked her. She had such a foul mouth! Have you met her yet?"

"Yeah. I'm helping her build Ed's auto-ma––" I stopped and immediately covered my mouth with my hands. That was close.

"Auto-mail? What happened to Ed?" Trisha looked concerned.

Or not. Oops? "Ah………er………." I can't exactly tell Trisha that her sons tried to resurrect her and now have auto-mail slash an empty suit of armor for a body as a result. "Um, it's………better if you don't know." Nice cover! Inner Me wiped her brow in relief.

"Marina was it?" I nodded in confirmation. "I'm going to trust you on this, Marina. All right, I'll let you go now." Trisha hugged me. "It's nice to meet you, future daughter-in-law. Take care of Ed and Al for me, and let them know I say hello. Come back to visit soon!"

"I will!" I waved goodbye and watched Trisha fade into the sunset.

"Hey Marina? How'd you get all the way over there?"

I tackled my boyfriend in response. "Your mom says hi."

Ed looked bemused. "Waitwaitwait, you actually talked with Mom?" I gave him a smooch and nodded. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah. I know, I'm crazy."

"But that's why I love you!"

I raised an eyebrow. "……..You love me 'cause I'm a crazy psycho?"

"No!........Well, that too, but I love you because you're you." I briefly stuck my tongue out at the blond, he returned the kiss, and we lay in the grass watching the rest of the sunset.

After it got dark, a flashing light caught my eye. "What the?" Ed turned his gaze towards said light and smiled. "Ed?" I questioned.

"When Al and I were little, we used to play outside a lot, and when it got dark, Mom would flash a light on and off from the second floor. That was her way of telling us it was time for us to come home."

"And Winry's continuing the tradition."

"Yup. All right, let's go." He stood up, and pulled me up and into a kiss.

When we got back, Winry showed us to our room then left us to our own devices. "Um, there're three of us and only two beds. How's this gonna work?" Ed wanted to know.

"Ed, you and Al can have the beds. I'll sleep on the floor." I put forth.

"What?! Marina, you take one of the beds, and I'll sleep on the floor. I'm just a suit of armor after all."

"Awwww, I don't want you to sleep on the floor Al!"

"How about Marina and Ed share one of the beds and Al can take the other one. You ARE going out, aren't you?"

"M-major, when did you get in here?" I asked, blushing at the mental picture his suggestion created. "And where are you sleeping?"

"Don't worry about me; I'm sleeping on the couch downstairs."

"M'kay then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sometime in the middle of the night~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Marina?"

"Nnnnhhhh?" I was slightly awake and turned to face the alchemist.

"Do you love me?"

I was now 100 percent awake. Where the hell did THAT come from?! "Of course I love you!.............OK, let me put it to you this way: I wouldn't be across the country if I didn't love you. And I wouldn't be half naked in bed with you if I didn't love you."

Ed laughed softly. "You have a point."

"But that brings up questions for me. Do you love me? I mean.......I'm the fuhrer's niece, so.............for all I know, you could be taking advantage of that fact to garner a promotion from my uncle."

"Marina, I could care less about military ranking! The only reason why I became a state alchemist was because I would have access to better research materials in order to find the philosopher's stone........Let me put it to you this way: I wouldn't have asked you to come on this trip with me if I didn't love you. And I wouldn't be half naked in bed with you if I didn't love you. I'll say is as many times as I need to. IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyo––" Ed got interrupted due to a smooch from me.

"Hey, are you guys OK now?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Sorry Al, we didn't mean to wake you up!"

"It's OK. Marina nee-chan, I've been with brother my entire life, and I've never seen him so passionate about anything or anyone until he met you. His love for you is even greater than trying to get our bodies back." The blond kissed me gently. "Brother, I can't say much for Marina nee-chan cause I don't know her as well, but she's putting up with Winry. That's more than enough proof that she loves you." Ed grinned, though the younger Elric brother couldn't see his reaction in the dark. "All right, goodnight you two."

"Night Al!" The state alchemist and I chorused. It only took about a minute for sleep to welcome us back with arms wide open.

Holy Jashin, I didn't think I'd make it to ch 10 of ACCIA, much less past ch 5. O_O a HUGE thank you to those of you who have been reading this story (the few of you that there are), and please, PLEASE review! I don't know what I'm doing wrong, or even what I 'm doing right, so even the tiniest bit of feedback would be nice.

In case you guys haven't noticed, all the chapter titles are names of songs. bonus points to those of you who can name all 10 bands. (I probably should have credited the bands..........but then all the fun would have been taken out of the guessing game)