MUST...FINISH...WRITING! MOVING! TODAY! AHHH!

Yeah, I forgot to mention to some of you guys, I'm moving! Yeah, just a city over, but I'm happy to get the hell out of Glacé Bay, it sucks ass here. Sydney is where it's at! Or something like that. it's where I grew up so I'm really happy to say the Me, Dave and Raeven are getting a brand spankin' new apartment! Two floors at that.

Chapter 22 - Him
Aria sat there in complete amazement, she felt as though she was listening to some tall tale, or maybe a story form a children's book; if she hadn't seen it for herself, she probably wouldn't have believed it. She allowed her thoughts to catch up with her and she spoke. "...Wow..." Was all she could muster.

"Yeah." Winry followed up, she too wasn't aware of what happened to the two of them, all she really concerned herself with was the fact that they were back. "That's crazy." She too was at a loss for words.

"Things were rather difficult..." Hohenheim began, the kitchen turned it's attention to the older man. "But, from my understanding, with all you boys have been through, it's no wonder you did so well. I'm proud of you." He smiled.

"Mm-hm." Al nodded and smiled in return.

"Yeah, yeah." Ed brushed him off, though he had the slight glimpse of a smile on his face. "We should get going into town soon. There's no telling if that psycho is going to take off or not." Ed tried every instance to not speak with his father. Ed knew it was because of him that Al was back, but then again, it was because of him that his mother died. It was a difficult decision to make; should he forgive him and move on, or should he make his father remember what he did for the rest of his life.

"Umm? Pinako..." Aria spoke.

"Yes dear?" She gave the young girl a sweet smile.

"How far down to the river do you own?" Aria figured that since this was a rather nice house, it would have a bit of land around it.

"Right down to the bank, why?" She bit onto her pipe that was present between her fingers.

"I was wondering, that bare patch a ways down...do you plan to do anything with it?" She questioned, flipping a strand of red hair between her fingers. Pinako shook her head. "Would you mind if I made a garden there? Autumn's about a month away, so I want to get some harvest vegetables growing."

Pinako was shocked. "Really?" She smiled wide. "You go right ahead. I was never good at gardening myself, but if you can do that bare patch some justice, then be my guest."

"Thanks!" Aria rose form her seat. "I'll go into town and get some seeds and such...would it be OK if I went in with you guys?"

"Sure." Hohenheim spoke to her. "I'll go call a cab."

Downtown was rather busy, people were getting ready for the Fall season so it was rather crowded. Ed looked at the cab drive off into the busy streets. "I'm going to go check the police station to see if anyone's spotted him. Meet back here by the end of the day, six sounds good." Ed said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed off without another word. Ed always loved taking the initiative in these kinds of situations, so it was no wonder he was spouting off orders. And it wasn't like anyone was going to protest.

"Alright, I'll head down to the dock to see if he tried to board any of the ships." Hohenheim stated and looked at Al and Aria. "I guess I'll see you two later." He waved and left in the opposite direction the Ed went in.

Al looked over at Aria. "We should check some of the shops here, see if any of the shop keepers have seen him."

Aria quickly took his hand and tugged him off in the direction of the flower shop. "First I want to go to the flower shop before everythings gone, then we'll go look around." She held his hand tightly in her own. She paused. "That's ok with ou thoug..." She smiled.

Al nodded and blushed but he couldn't help but smile, it was almost like they were on a date in the city, once again. Aria continued to hold his hand and gently tug him along, so they wouldn't get seperated of course. He remembered the first time they went into town together, this was just like that time. It made him happy to feel as though Aria wasn't so inwardly troubled. So long as he behaved himself, no harm would come to her, so he had to be careful to what he said and did around her.

Her husband had no idea where she was, but that wasn't stopping him from knowing people who know her. Once that thought crossed his mind he gave her a slight tug to stop her from walking. "Aria..." She came in close.

"Is something wrong." She seemed a little hurt, was Al upset?

"I was thinking..." He spoke quietly. "What if your husband knows people in this town...couldn't they tell him you were here?"

Aria's smile faded. "I never even thought about that." She though about it for a moment. "Well, if they don't recognize me, then that would work right?"

Al nodded. "How would we do that though?"

"Like this." Aria tugged him in between two buildings and in behind some boxed, out of plain sight. When she stopped she held him in front of her. "Watch." She touched her right temple, beneath the bangs that shielded half her face most of the time, and with a slight glow, the red dye in her hair ran out and dropped to the ground in the form of a small blood red stone. "There." She took her pony tail out and allowed her now chestnut brown hair to flow freely. "I never take my hair down, and it's always red, so people shouldn't know it's me unless they know my face."

Al was still dumbfounded. "But...but how did you do that?" He pointed at her hair.

"Oh, I guess I never showed you." She lifted her bangs up and revealed a small tattoo on her temple, about an inch across, of a transmutation circle. "This was the easiest way to dye my hair without going through the trouble of actually dying it."

Al smiled. "A tattoo. Did it hurt?" He examined it closer.

"A little...my other one hurt more. But we should get going, you have work to do." She began to walk out of the alley way.

"Yeah...wait...you have another tattoo?" He questioned; Aria turned her head and nodded.

She smiled. "I'll show you someday."

"Alright...wait! Where is it?" Aria began a quick walk. "Hey come on!" Al chased after her.

"I said I'll show you someday!" She teased as she evaded Alphonse chasing her.

"I want to know now! That's not fair!" He ran after her though the crowd of people.

The older looking man leaned over the counter, his black hair was slicked back and tied in a short pony tail that stuck out from the back of his head. "You haven't paid into your loan within the last six months, I don't know what kind of business you're running..." He straightened out his black swede jacket, speaking with a pompous arrogant tone in his voice, he looked down on the little shop keep lady. "But if it's not the kind of business that pulls in any money, then I don't want to be associated with you." He turned and began to walk out of the store. "Pay fifty percent of what you missed by next month or I'll foreclose on this little hovel you have going here. I have enough of my own troubles to deal with than to put up with your foolishness. Good day."

He opened the door and quickly shut it again, it's bells cried out as the frame of the door slammed shut. Normally the sound of the bells ringing was a wonderful thing to hear, but the bell now all the bell tolled was a bad omen. The little flower shop lady sobbed as she sat on her little stool behind the counter. She was on older woman, around sixty-five, and recently he husband had been ill and their money had been tight. His doctor bills weren't that expensive, but the last few shipments of stock for her shop had been damaged, so she lost out on quite a bit of sales.

"Oh no..." She wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked out the window. She smiled at the passing blond boy. Alphonse was always really kind, he had run errands for her when he was younger. Phylis, the little old lady, hadn't seen Alphonse in years, she was surprised to see him so grown up, he looked so handsome. It really warmed her heart to see that all was well and he was OK; knowing that he was involved with the military made her worry about him and his brother.

Just then she noticed the young girl beside him, she was about half a foot shorter than Al and a very pretty face, and very vibrant dark green eyes. At first Phylis was going to go to the door to say 'hi', but it seemed that the two young teenagers were actually coming into the store.

"Hey Mrs. Mullins" Al greeted her as he entered the store.

"My, my, my, look at you." She rounded the corner of the couter and took his face in her hands. "You've grown so much." She smiled and shook his hands in hers. "So..." She smiled. "Are you still taller than your brother?"

Al laughed. "Uh...yeah...but he doesn't like me saying so."

Phylis snickered. "You're such a good boy, to what do I owe this lovely visit?" She folded her hands in front of her floral print dress.

"Actually, Aria here wanted to get some stuff for a garden." He took a step back and motioned Aria to step in front.

"Mmm, well I don't have that much money, so I'm going to need something that produces season round. Do you have eggplant, sweet potato on peppers?"(1) Aria smiled sweetly at the older lady.

Before Phylis could get a word in, Al placed a hand on Aria's shoulder. "You do know that I get a military salary just like Ed right? I don't mind buying you a few seeds."

"Really?" Aria seemed a little shy to ask, she knew how tight money could get at times.

"Yeah. And besides, it's not like it won't pay off in the end. We'll be able to eat, and or, sell the veggies you grow, so it's equivalent trade." He smiled at her.

"You're right, let's get bunch then." Aria loved gardening, if she could do it all day and not collapse from exhaustion, witch has happened on occasion, she would do so. Coming from a long line of farmers, it was in her blood to be a natural when it came to having a green thumb.

Phylis nodded and smiled. "You just tell me what you need, and I'll point you in the right direction."

Aria unfolded a little piece of paper that she had in her hand. "Ok...I should start with the root vegetables."

After a seed shopping spree, Aria and Al stepped out of the flower shop carrying a big bag filled with little packages of seeds. Some were flower seeds, some were herb seeds but most were vegetable seeds of all shapes and sizes. "That sure is a lot of seeds."

"Yup. I can't wait to get this garden going, it's going to be fun. And don't worry, I can take care of it myself." She smiled proudly.

"Are you sure? I mean, that's a lot of seeds." Al raised an eyebrow, she couldn't be thinking of doing all the work herself.

"Well..." She thought about it. "You can help me harvest the--" She looked straight ahead and almost all the color ran right out of her face.

"What's wron-AH!" Al attempted a sentence but was stopped short when Aria pulled him in back in the shop.

"That's him!" She ducked down on the floor beneath the window next to the door.

"Hmm? What's going on you two?" Phylis looked over the counter in confusion, what could have her so spooked.

"He's here." She said, a blatant tone of fear in her voice.

"Who's he?" Al questioned.

"The guy with the black hair and the swede jacket...do you see him?" Aria looked up at Al; he was looking out the window.

"You mean Mr. Crowley, he's the one who gave me the loan for the store...he said he'll close me down if I don't pay him next month." Phylis looked at the handsome sum of money that Al gave her and smiled. With that money, she was sure to pay off what she needed. "Do you know him?"

"I see him now." Al pointed directly at him. "Right there."

Aria pulled his hand down. "Don't point...that's him...that's my husband..."

(1)I'm going by "Harvest Moon" standards, but what's planted in her garden isn't much of any importance. Basically, it's just filler so they're not talking about nothing and Aria's not planting phantom food.

There you go, I was going to make this one a little longer, but I have to be packing!
We're going today and I don't know when we're getting the net hooked up at the new place, so let's hope we don't have a ridiculously long wait like we did last time we moved.

Anyhow, I'll update as soon as I can.
Remember, leave a little review.
VVVV