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Chapter Thirty-Four - Vacation

Nick was back home in Resembool for a much deserved vacation after his brush with death, or rather his return from death. And Kaori had accompanied him, after much urging from both Winry and Aiya. Kaori had been hesitant when Winry had first invited her to come with them to their home town but of course not even she could stand up to Nick's mother for very long. It simply wasn't possible.

"Kaori," Winry had said, the evening before they were scheduled to depart Central. "You look like you could use a vacation too. Why don't you come with us to Resembool?"

"No I couldn't," Kaori said quickly, shaking her head and holding up her hands as though that would protect her from Winry's powers of persuasion. "I don't want to intrude upon your family time."

"Nonsense," Winry said, never having been one to take no for an answer. "You won't be intruding. The more the merrier."

"Yea," Nick's eleven year old sister Aiya chimed in, taking Kaori by the hand. "Come with us Big Sister. It'll be fun."

Kaori smiled at the little girl but remained hesitant. "I don't know if my parents would like that."

"It's fine," Winry said with a smile. "I already spoke with your mom and she thought that it was a great idea."

It wasn't her mom that she'd been worried about and Kaori opened her mouth to say something along those lines but Winry interrupted her before she could utter so much as a single syllable.

"And she dared your dad to say anything about it."

That comment caused Kaori to erupt into giggles and Nick and Ed both wore matching smirks as though the thought of that amused them both greatly.

"Nick," Kaori said, turning to face him. "Would it bother you if I came with your family?"

"Why would that bother me?" Nick asked with a shrug. "Feel free to come along if you want to."

"Alright then," Winry said with a triumphant look on her face. "That makes it final. You're outnumbered so pack your bags, we leave for Resembool in the morning."

Next thing Kaori knew she was getting off the train in the small village of Resembool, which she had never visited before. She gazed around the open fields, dotted here and there with modest homes.

"Wow," Kaori said, surveying the landscape. "It's beautiful here."

"Yea," Nick said coming to stand beside her. "It's rural, which is a nice way of saying there's nothing going on."

"Nick."

Nick turned to face his dad. "Yea?"

"Aiya, your mother and I are going to go ahead and go home," Ed told his son. "Why don't you show Kaori around Resembool?"

"What's there to show?" Nick asked. He swept his hand around and said, "There it is. That's pretty much all there is to it."

"Nick," Winry said, raising one eyebrow as she gazed at her son.

"Fine," Nick said, grabbing Kaori by the hand. It was obvious that his parents weren't going to stop until he gave Kaori the grand tour so he decided to give up and get it over with. "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour and you can see the sights. What little there are to be seen."

Kaori shrugged and allowed Nick to lead her down the hill, away from the train station.

Winry shook her head as she watched the two teens walk away. "I swear, that boy of yours is impossible."

"Oh," Ed said with a smirk. "So he's reverted to being my son has he?"

"Uh huh," Winry said. "Now come on. We have to get everything set up while Kaori has him occupied."

Ed nodded and he, Aiya and Winry left the train station and made their way back home. They had a lot to do and they had to work fast because there was no way to tell how long Kaori would be able to occupy Nick. However judging by his reaction to the impromptu tour of his home town it wouldn't be an overly long time before he became fed up with it and came home.

Nick led Kaori around Resembool, albeit without much enthusiasm. "I don't know why I'm doing this. There's nothing here to see."

Kaori elbowed him in the ribs. "You really do complain about everything don't you?"

"So I've been told," Nick said, a thoughtful expression on his face. "A lot actually."

Kaori shook her head. "You'd think that would tell you something."

Nick offered her a devilish grin. "You'd think that but you'd be wrong."

Kaori smiled at him but made no further comment.

"I wonder why Aiya didn't want to come with us?" Nick thought aloud, abruptly changing the topic of conversation, as he and Kaori walked. "She usually doesn't miss an opportunity to tag along with me."

Kaori shrugged, fighting hard to maintain a look of innocence. There was actually a very good reason why Aiya hadn't come along with them but Nick wasn't allowed to know about it yet.

"So have you had enough yet?" Nick asked.

"No," Kaori said quickly. They hadn't been gone long enough. "We can't go yet."

"Why not?" Nick wanted to know. "Honestly, what else is there to see?"

"I don't know," Kaori said, her mind racing, searching for a reason why they couldn't go to Nick's house. "But it's such a nice day I just want to be outside."

"Ugh," Nick groaned. "Fine. Come on and I'll show you one more thing."

Kaori was surprised by that comment. "I thought you'd already shown me everything there was to see?"

"Everything within easy walking distance," Nick said with a shrug. "But since you don't wanna go back yet I figured what the hell."

"O-kay," Kaori said, still confused.

"Come on," Nick said.

Kaori shrugged and followed him.

Nick led Kaori over some rough terrain, although it was thankfully on a downhill slope. That would make the return trip more difficult however Kaori was resolutely refusing to think about that part.

The two teens walked in silence for awhile until Nick came to an abrupt halt.

"Is something wrong Nick?" Kaori asked, coming to a stop beside him.

Nick shook his head. "Close your eyes."

Kaori arched a brow, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Just do it," Nick insisted.

Kaori shrugged and closed her eyes.

Nick waved his hand in front of her face a couple of times and then, once he was sure that she wasn't peaking he took her by the hand. Nick led Kaori carefully through a grove of trees and them came to a stop.

"Okay," Nick said. "You can open your eyes now."

Kaori opened her eyes and gasped in delight at the sight that met her gaze. She and Nick were standing on the bank of a river that was flowing so serenely that it barely made a sound. "Nick, it's gorgeous."

Nick, who was gazing at Kaori, nodded his head in agreement. "Yes it is."

Kaori glanced over at her companion and Nick quickly averted his gaze. He stared out across the river, appearing lost in thought.

"Thank you for bringing me here," Kaori said. "The hike was difficult but it was worth it."

"You're welcome," Nick said. "So, now that you've officially seen ALL the sights are you ready to go?"

Kaori nodded. She thought that she'd bought Nick's family enough time to prepare. It was more than likely safe to head to his house now. Plus there was the fact that it would take them at least an hour and a half to walk back.

"Finally," Nick said.

Kaori grinned and shook her head but chose to say nothing. Instead the two teens turned and walked away from the river.

As Nick and Kaori walked toward Nick's house they were greeted by the loud barks of a dog. Kaori gave a small gasp of alarm as a huge shaggy white dog came bounding around the house.

Nick placed a hand on Kaori's shoulder. "Don't worry, he won't hurt you. Keeva."

The dog barked again and bounded over to Nick. Keeva sat down beside Nick and rubbed his head against the boy's hand. Nick patted the dog on the head. "It's been awhile huh Keeva? How are you boy?"

Keeva whined.

Kaori stared at the dog.

Nick glanced over at Kaori and couldn't help laughing at the expression on her face. "What is it Kaori?"

"That dog is HUGE."

"Oh he's just an over grown puppy. Aren't you boy?" Nick said, rubbing the fur on the dog's chest. Keeva whined again and flopped over onto his back, his paws sticking up in the air.

Laughing Nick bent down and rubbed the dog's stomach, which had been the dog's plan all along. Keeva growled in pleasure, his tail wagging furiously.

Kaori smiled at the sight of the enormous white dog lying on his back, with all four feet stuck up in the air. "And I thought I had a big dog. This one makes mine look like a lap dog."

Nick grinned and then got to his feet.

Keeva jumped to his feet and walked over to the spot where Kaori stood. Kaori knew a little about dog behavior and she offered the dog her hand. He sniffed the hand that she offered him and then he sat down and lifted his right paw.

Kaori was confused and she gazed over at Nick.

"Shake," Nick said. "He's saying hi."

Kaori smiled and took the dog's paw into her hand. She shook the dog's paw a few times and then released it.

Keeva barked, stood up and walked off.

After the dog walked away Nick surveyed the yard, a curious look on his face. "I wonder where everyone is? Keeva's usually with Aiya, so since he came to meet us she must not be here."

Kaori shrugged.

"They said they were going home when we left them at the train station," Nick said, walking toward the house.

"Yes they did," Kaori said.

"Hmm," Nick said with a shrug. "Maybe they changed their minds."

The two teens had reached the front door by this time and Nick grabbed the door knob and pulled the door open. He and Kaori entered the house, which was dark. "Weird."

Nick led Kaori down the hall to the family room, flipping on the lights as he went. As soon as the lights came on Ed, Winry and Aiya yelled, "SURPRISE!!"

Nick's eyes widened and he scanned the festively decorated room. His gaze stopped on a banner hung about the room.

HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY NICK

"Damn," Nick muttered. "I completely forgot."

Aiya ran over and threw her arms around Nick. "Were you surprised Big Brother?"

"Oh yea," Nick said, wrapping his arms around his little sister. "Surprised doesn't even begin to cover it."

Kaori couldn't help but laugh at Nick's reaction to the little surprise party. "You forgot your own birthday?"

Nick nodded.

"That's sad," Kaori said.

Nick shook his head but said nothing, although as he stared at the colorful banner he silently wondered whether or not this could really be counted as his seventeenth birthday. After all he had technically died. "I wonder if that means that I've got to start all over again?" the boy thought to himself. He really hoped not because that would seriously suck.

"Nick," Winry said, interrupting her son's thoughts.

"Yes," Nick said, looking over at his mom.

Winry had just finished lighting the candles on a large cake and she motioned for her son to come over. "Come and blow out the candles."

"Yea," Ed said, grinning at his son. "Before they catch the place on fire."

"That's right," Kaori said. "Seeing as there are so many of them."

Nick gave his dad 'the look', completely ignored the remark from Kaori and walked over to the table. "Don't you think I'm a little old for this?"

"No," Winry said.

"Fine," Nick said.

Nick took a deep breath and blew out the candles, extinguishing all seventeen with one breath.

"Good job," Winry said. "That means you'll have good luck this year."

"Yea," Kaori said with a grin. "I always knew you were full of hot air."

"That was harsh," Nick said.

"Okay," Winry said. "Sit down everyone and we'll have cake."

"All right," Ed and Nick both said together.

Kaori stared from father to son. The similarities between the two of them were just creepy.

A/N - little filler chapter so that Nick and Kaori could have a bonding moment. Hope that you enjoyed, please review and tell me what you thought.