Here it is, another chapter for you to enjoy. I really hope I'm not boring you guys with this stuff...I mean, I like writing it, but that doesn't mean everyone will like reading it. Drop me a line and tell me what you think I could be doing something better, or even better, leave me a review. :) I'm quite open, and I'll more than likely take your opinion to heart.

But yes, I'm progressing, and I'm loving it. Finally, I'm getting out of the rut I was in earlier this last month. So to put all the Al fans at ease (This means you ShadowCloud (: ) Al is going to be getting just what he needs in this chapter. And a cute little bit with Aria too. :) So yea! All is going to be ok!

Chapter 29 – Healing Process
"Appendicitis...hmm." She laid her clipboard down on the side counter. "You're a little young for it to be that, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check."

Aria watched her fiddle with something in a drawer, it seemed as though she was looking for something. "Um, what is appendicitis?"

The doctor looked over her shoulder. "It's a condition where the appendix gets infected and becomes inflamed. It's just an accessory organ that has no real purpose anymore. It's speculated that it once helped humans digest uncooked meat a long time ago, but there's no real proof of it."

The young girl nodded. "I was right then, it was an infection." She smiled at Al laying on the examination table, he gave her a weak smile in return.

"Do your parents know your're here?" The older woman inquired.

Al shook his head. "No."

She looked concerned. "You should inform them where you're at."

Aria nodded. "Sure, I'll call as soon as we're sure what he has...if that's ok." She was always a little timid around doctors, merely out of respect though.

"That'll be just fine." The doctor snapped a pair of rubber gloves on and turned around. "Ok, let's see. Where is it sore at?" Al pointed the to general area where the cramp was. "Right area for it." She lifted the bottom of his shirt up slightly and pressed her fingers against the spot that he had indicated.

"AH!" He winced in pain.

"I'm sorry Al, but I have to check to see if it's swollen." She furrowed her brow as she felt around the sore area.

"If it hurts this much, don't you think it just might be swollen? Ah..." He managed to get out in one breath.

The doctor shook her head. "It might be a cyst and not appendicitis, so we have to be sure." She removed her hand "I can't tell. I need to get you to take your pants down. Just to your knees."

Al sat bolted upright. "What?!"

Aria stood up and pointed both fingers toward the door. "Ok! I should leave for this one."

He looked frantic. "Aria, no, wait, don't leave me here."

"Sorry." She quickly slipped out the door and spoke from the other side. "It's for the good of your health Al."

Al slowly looked back at the Doctor waiting patiently. "Can't you just look down my throat, or something?"

She shook her head. "I doubt your intestines that way."

He sighed. "Couldn't you at least try?" She shook her head. "Damn..." Defeated, he reluctantly reached for his belt buckle.

Aria lowered her head, she felt bad abandoning him like that, but it was for the best. She looked from side to side for a place to sit. Seeing no chairs in sight, she leaned against the wall and waited. Passing by, she recognized a familiar figure. "Mrs. Mullins?" She questioned.

The old lady turned to see Aria standing there. "Ooh, Aria was it?" She remembered her name, Aria was touched. "It's good to see you again in such a short time. I take it you didn't get caught by that leech Felix did you." She smiled.

Aria nodded. "Almost, but Hohenheim got rid of him real quick." She gave her a look of concern. "What are you doing here, you're not sick are you?"

Phyllis shook her head. "No dear, I'm here to visit Mr. Mullins, he's not been in the best of health recently." She sighed. "He took a turn for the worse, so I decided to spend the night here with him, just incase..." She sighed.

Aria lowered her gaze. "I hope he's feeling better soon."

Phyllis smiled. "You're a sweet girl, thank you." She examined her face. "Don't feel bad for me, we both have lived long lives, there's nothing to be sad about. I'm in my sixties and he's eighty-eight, that's quite old."

She was shocked slightly. "I guess so." Still, she did feel a little bad.

"And what are you here for? You seem to be doing ok."

The red haired girl looked up. "Oh, I'm here with Al, they think it's his appendix."

Phyllis placed a slightly shaky hand on her shoulder. "Oh, bless his heart. I pray he feels better soon."

She nodded. "Me too."

Phyllis took a step back. "I need to be going, I forgot his prescription at home. I hope next time we see each other, it'll be in higher spirits."

Aria nodded. "Yeah, bye." She waved as Phyllis walked off. It was nice to see someone like her at a times like that, she imagined it was the same for her. A smiling face will always brighten a day that seems gloomy.

She waited for another minute outside the room for Al. The time seemed to pass very slowly, being so late in the evening, it was no wonder a few seconds felt like an hour. Aria yawned and rubbed her eyes. Doing nothing made her tired.

Just then, the door opened and the doctor come out, clipboard in hand. She looked at Aria standing next to the door. "Don't worry, she didn't run away." Pointing a finger in her direction while looking back at Al.

"Ok." He said weakly from inside the room.

Aria was curious as to what the doctor might have been checking for if she had to do such a thing to poor Al. She watched Al leave the room and stand next to her. "So..." She gave a slight awkward pause. "How are you feeling?" As if she didn't know.

"Nauseous...tired..." he narrowed his eyes and stared off in another direction. "...and violated...but on a good note." He turned his attention back to her. "My prostate is apparently really healthy...whatever that is."

Aria shrugged. "That's good I guess."

Al held his stomach. "Apparently I've got lots of organs I've never even knew existed. This is the first time I've even heard the word appendix...well, at least first time I've heard it used to name a body organ."

That was right, the back of most big text books had an appendix to guide you to certain key words and subjects you might want to look up. She then had a good idea, not one to make any progress in making Al feel better, but one to feed her curiosity of what was wrong with him. "Do you have a book I could read about appendicitis in?" She asked the Doctor politely.

The doctor nodded. "Yes." She rounded the corner in the hall to where the nurses were. They had their own private section to do their work. The doctor, later to be know as Dr. Heston, looked in one of the bookshelves that was next to the filing cabinet. She searched through some of the titles and pulled out a big one, not substantially big, but still relatively big. "Anything and everything you would need to know about any organ is in here, you'll have to go searching for it, but 'Appendix' is in there. That'll give you something to do while he's in the operating room."

All the color washed from Al's face. "Operating room?!" He stammered out. "B-but...I thought you said it was just inflamed? I was thinking at best, some pills."

She shook her head. "No, it's got to come out. If you'll just wait, I'll come get you when they're ready for you. Excues me." With that said, she headed off down the hall.

He could feel that nervousness creep up on him. Turing he saw Aria looking for something. "There." She said. "You can come sit down with me over here."

He paused. "Actually, I'm going to go find a bathroom, I'll be right back." With that, he headed off in the direction of the facilities.

Aria was concerned. He seemed to be under a great deal of stress, but lucky for him, it would all be over soon, or so she hoped it would be. Walking over and sitting down on the long padded bench she opened the book and flipped right to the back to look up the condition, appendicitis. Quickly finding 'appendix' she flipped to the according page.

Quite a few minutes passed when she saw Al coming around the corner and right over to the bench. He sat down next to her. "You know, I'm thinking of just going home and toughing it out there. At least I'd be able to lay down."

Aria looked up from what she was reading. "Umm...I don't think that's such a good idea..." She glanced back at the book. "From my understanding, Appendicitis doesn't go away. It just stays there, get's worse. Then, the appendix itself bursts...it's swollen remember." She traced her finger in the book to find a certain part she had read earlier on. "If that happens, the stuff on the inside of it causes Sepsis." She flipped to a part in the book that her little finger was book marking. "And Sepsis, is blood poisoning. Which results in high blood pressure, high fever, sever dehydration, shock, and eventually, in your particular case...death..."

Al was shocked. "...and you read all that in such a short about of time?"

She shrugged. "What can I say, I hit a rhythm."

He sighed. "So it looks like I'm staying then." He lowered his head.

Aria laid the book down beside her. "You can rest your head down on my lap if you like." She blushed a little.

Al nodded and slowly tilted off to the side. Resting his head on her legs, he closed his eyes and started to doze off. "Thanks again." He said quietly, facing away from her.

"Shh. It's no trouble." She ran her fingers through his hair. He was really warm, and his head lay heavy on her lap. She had also read that getting the appendix removed in time would stop any adverse effects he might be having. She was hoping the Doctor would hurry with the operating room so he could just get this all over with.

A half hour passed when Aria felt a hand shake her shoulder slightly. She lifted her head up and saw that Dr. Heston standing above her. "Huh?" She rubbed her eyes, apparently she too had dozed off.

"We're ready for him." She said with a slight smile.

"Huum...Oh, sorry." Still a little groggy and confused to where she was, she caught on that they were in the hospital still. "Al?" She shook him a little.

"Wha?" He said, still half asleep. It was the first amount of good sleep he had all that night.

"I'm sorry to wake you, but we have to get you in the operating room as soon as possible." Dr. Heston extended a hand to help him up. She and Aria both helped him to his feet. "It'll all be over soon, and trust me, you'll feel a lot better." Turning to Aria she smiled. "You should go make that phone call now. This will be about two hours."

Aria nodded and stood up. "You're right. Thank you." Still a little shaky from the lack of food and sleep, Al took the Doctor's arm as she led him down the hall. Aria was relieved that he was finally getting just what he needed.

Aria went back to the reception desk at the front of the hospital to look for a phone. She went to the desk and looked at the secretary sitting there, doing work. "Excuse me, could I use your phone?"

The lady looked up at her and nodded. "Sure." She picked up the entire phone and laid it in front of her.

A loud ringing resonated throughout the entire Rockbell house. Winry, being right next to the phone in her room, rolled over and clumsily reached for the phone. After a few tries, and knocking her alarm clock down in the process, she grabbed hold of the receiver. "Hello, Rockbell Automail, Winry speaking, how can I help you." She said in a very sleepy tone.

"Winry." Aria's voice rang through the phone. "It's me, Aria."

She opened her eyes a little and stared off into the darkness. "Oh good, you got the phone." With that said, she reached over and hung up the phone. Satisfied all was well, she turned over and laid right back down.

Ed rolled over and snuggled his arm around her. "Who was that?" He said with a tired tone in his voice.

"Someone calling for Aria." She replied, an with that, snuggled in close and went right back to sleep.

"Wait Winry, don't hang...up...damn..." Aria looked blankly into the phone, apparently Winry was a little confused that it was her calling the house. She laid the receiver back down and gave a sigh. "I guess I'll try again in the morning." With that said, she thanked the secretary and headed back off to the waiting room to await Al's return.

There you have it, tell me what you think. And remember, if you are bored, tell me!

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