Ed's P.O.V.
I walk back into Central Headquarters and, just my luck, the first person I encounter is Mustang. Al shows up behind me and I know the question is coming.
"Where's Jade?" Mustang asks simply.
"She's visiting the Hughes' place." I reply casually, not saying anything about our fight.
"Why didn't you go with her?" He continues to fire questions at me.
"She wanted some alone time." I say, but then I think of how stupid that sounds.
"She wanted to visit Mr. Hughes by herself today." Al covers quickly and I nod gratefully.
"Fine, but I swear, if you hurt her in any way, you'll wish you were dead." Mustang then turns and walks away.
"Damn…" I whisper, his threat still hanging in the air. He has no idea how ironic that is. But technically, I wasn't the one that hurt her. It was Winry.
"Are we going to visit them today? Check to make sure Jade is okay?" Al asks me but I can only shrug.
"I don't know Al. I don't think she'll want to see me." I sigh, desperately trying to think of a way to let her know that what Winry said was a lie. "I guess I'll just wait until she comes back here later today and see if I can talk to her. We'll just have to see."
Jade's P.O.V.
After hours of playing with Elicia and talking to Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, I decide it's time to be heading back. "Thank you for having me over." I say politely.
"It was a pleasure having you sweetie." Gracia smiles kindly at me, holding Elicia who's starting to fall asleep.
"Come back anytime you want." Maes adds, his arm around his wife.
"I will, thanks. Bye Elicia." I say sweetly to the child. She mumbles something and waves at me; I just smile back at her. "Alright, I'll see you later." I wave at the family over my shoulder as I walk away from the door, and it shuts behind me.
I exit the building, looking up at the darkening sky. Shivering slightly, I walk slowly back to the State Alchemist resting building. I'm not exactly excited to see Ed again, but I miss Al. I guess that even though Ed and Winry are…betrothed…I can live past that and stop being a jerk to Ed.
I finally make it back, meeting my uncle in the hallway first. "There you are. I was about to call Maes to find out where you were." He says and a small smile comes to my face.
"Aww, you were that worried about me?"
He smiles a bit too. "Of course I was."
"Well, I'm going to turn in for the night." I yawn a bit, smiling at him again. "Night Roy."
"Roy?" He asks, confused.
"Well, I'd call you Uncle Roy, but I'm not sure if everyone knows about our relationship yet. So, yeah." I shrug, not seeing the big deal.
"I don't mind." He promises me, smiling again. "Goodnight Jade."
I nod to him before walking down a series of hallways and up a flight of stairs. When I reach my room, I see Ed and Al outside, Ed sleeping against the wall. "Al?" I ask, confused as to why they're not in their room.
"Jade! There you are!" He stands up, about to shake Ed awake before I hold out a hand to stop him.
"No, let him sleep." Al nods reluctantly but turns to me again.
"We were worried when you didn't come back for a while."
"Oh, sorry. I was having a bit of fun with Elicia." I smile a bit, quietly opening my door. "You'll have to move him to your room." I tell Al and he just nods.
"Look, Jade? There's something that he needs to tell you." Al says quietly as I sit on my bed.
"I don't want to talk about it, Al." I look down at my hands. "Not tonight."
"I understand that, but in the morning then, will you at least hear him out? He's been bummed since you left." Al sounds genuine, though I doubt he'd lie.
"We'll see, alright?" I flop back on my bed, sighing. "Goodnight, Al."
"Night Jade." He says before going outside to take Ed back to their room.