"Speaking"

Thoughts

Al wasn't oblivious to the fact that things had been a bit less awkward since Ed and Rayna had gone to get the fire wood the night before, and their nervous behavior was completely gone.

They still watched each other completely oblivious to the world around them when they did so; but now they would just stare into one another's eyes until Ed smirked knowingly, and Rayna blushed and looked away.

They get more and more like the people in these books every time I leave them alone for more than two minutes. Al thought. His research was going well.

Twice.

They had kissed each other twice, though both were pretty sure that the second time around qualified more as a heavy make-out session. With all of that and a bit more communication they had managed to piece together that they were both equally attracted to each other.

And why wouldn't Ed find himself attracted to her? Rayna was intelligent, independent, beautiful, a fellow alchemist. She was also tricky at times, brave and bold, caring; not to mention one of the few females that didn't pity he and Al for the situation that they were in when she learned their secret. Really the only con he could come up with was the fact that she was his boss's daughter.

Should I actually ask her out on a real date then? He wondered.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Rayna's thoughts were currently on medicine.

She'd heard the story that the city that they were headed to had been hit by a mysterious not yet fatal illness. As a result the whole place was put under quarantine as more and more citizens entered the hospital sick. As a result they had been unable to take the rain all the way, and had been forced to travel on foot.

I bet my services will be very much welcome. She thought.

So far no one had died, but she would still treat it as though she were racing against the clock.

"Why exactly do you two need to get into a city under military quarantine?" Rayna asked.

Ed had slowed his walking pace a bit so that he was walking in between her and Al. "It's a bit suspicious that nearly everyone in such a prosperous city suddenly came down with an unheard of disease." The blonde stated his reasoning.

"What brother means to say is that something isn't right, so we're going to investigate." Al deepened the explanation.

"Well, I plan to save these poor people." She told them a fiercely determined look in her eyes.

"You are the best doctor known on this side of the country." Ed nodded, his investigating into the source would probably aid her search for a cure. This will be a test of my own detective skills once again.

It was almost like a ghost town, they barely ran into anyone while they made their way to the large military post in the center of the city.

Upon arriving to the post; Rayna immediate put on her protective gear and got started with setting up a lab in the on base infirmary, She'd decided that the sick soldiers being kept there would make good test subjects.

"I won't be leaving this room until I've got a solution." she announced.

"We should probably make sure that she eats something at some point." Al said as he and his brother left the base to go and start doing some investigating of their own.

"I checked her bag to make sure that she was still good on snacks." Ed told him. "If she starts to run out then I have a bag with extras that I got in the last town."

"SO you've made extra preparations just in case." Al chuckled.

Ed nodded. "Everyone has to give p something to the 'truth', but I can't figure out what she gave up." The blonde sighed. If he knew then he could maybe fix her too.

"Why don't you just ask her?" Al suggested. "But you won't have any information to bargain with if we don't get to work."

Ed nodded in agreement.

So far she had come up with all of the displayed symptoms of the infected, comparing them to the notes that she had, she came up with Malaria being the logical ailment.

Rayna's gut was against her first conclusion though, if it were really malaria; then the entire city would've died before they had even arrived.

"What the hell are you?" She grumbled munching on cookies.

"Is there any way we can be of any help to you doctor Mustang?" One of the few soldiers tat had arrived to assist with the quarantine asked.

"yes, bring me patient zero." She told them finishing her cookie, "and everyone that has yet to become infected…it's time for me to get my hands dirty."

The three remaining soldiers were confused, but did as she told them. Not only was her traveling companion of a higher rank than they were, but they wanted the epidemic to end before they became victims.

Rayna was positive after a week of studying the soldiers and the first know patient. She was positive that no one else was at risk as all of those who were sick had somehow ingested the disease.

"Do any of them have any idea where they may have eaten it?" Ed questioned.

The young doctor nodded. "Given how quickly it seemed to have spread t the population, and the fact that the general was the first one to show any symptoms….I'm going to guess that someone tampered with the food at the charity event he hosted two weeks ago."

"We should figure out who ate what and look into the catering for the event." Al stated.

"The general was making great headway in cutting back on crime, so chances are that this is all the result of a botched assassination and cover up." Ed added. "So if we find whoever is responsible, Rayna will be able to figure out what they used and put together a treatment."

Ed stood from his seat fully ready to get to work interrogating some chefs.

"Be careful. If I'm right things could get dangerous from here." She told him.

Ed left the uninfected soldiers on guard duty to protect Rayna.

"Where to first?" Al questioned.

"To see the general's secretary." Ed answered, "she'll have all of the information in regards to the event planning."

"Hopefully they didn't use more than one caterer." Al spoke.

"Even then I don't think that this will be that easy." Ed muttered. He hopped that it wouldn't take too much longer, they still had to do some research before leaving, and he wanted to try and spend some time with Rayna.

"I don't think that it's anything that we can't handle." Al kept positive about the situation.

AN:And another one done :) Some action is coming next chapter….well the next few chapters to be honest, so there's that to look forward to. My fingers are going to be seriously cramped with all of the typing I'm going to be doing for the next few days to get more chapters for all of my stories done.

I own nothing but Rayna and the plot.

R&R