Sorry for the MIA leave. I have moved and my new place as no internet. However, I did work on a few chapters, so hopefully, this is making up for it~!

One week. That's how long it had been since Taylor and McKenzi were ordered to leave the country. Seven days of coming home and staying in an empty house that Taylor used to live in with me. I knew the days were going to add up, mesh together to create one long day. But my mind will know that there is a huge possibility that she wasn't ever going to return to the country. Not as long as her uncle and Tatum were still alive.

Five days. Elric has been back five days. He didn't look too excited to be back where there wasn't snow. He looked like he lost someone he loved. His eyes were stormy and darker. His expression no longer with a set determination. The guy was more broken than after I first met him. Something happened to him. Perhaps it had to do with Miss Lockert. I wasn't going to ask. He looked depressed and ready to kill. The tone of voice he had used with some people who talked to him reminded me of the Promised Day, just after Al sacrificed himself.

"Fullmetal, I want to see you in my office," I said sternly so he knew not to jerk me around like old times.

"Then come to mine," he said without turning his head to look at me.

Alright, maybe stopping him in the hallway wasn't the best, but everyone knew he was a stubborn brat even after he lost his alchemy. I sighed.
"Fine," I said, "I will go to yours. You need to be debriefed about your leave."

"You know what happened."

"The military doesn't. Grumman doesn't. I already debriefed with him, now it's your turn to write the report and give me an oral one."

"Then shove it. I won't tell you shit."

With that he walked away. I smirked a little internally. He told me what he didn't want to say. If it had been some normal mission, some assignment, he would've told me what happened. But him not saying a word meant that he grew too close to McKenzi Lockert. That he developed feelings and the wrong emotions for her while she was his assignment.

I walked back to my office thinking about it. If the cards had been different, Ed and Miss Lockert could have stayed together if the feelings were mutual. As for Taylor and I, it could never be as long as we both were in the military.

Night fall had become the worst time of day for me. Taylor's things still lingered among the house. Her used wine glass still stood at the sink, waiting to be washed and used again from the night before she left. She jacket still hung at my door. My sheets smelled like her. Everything was overwhelming.

I reached for the bottle of scotch, wanting the pain to be numbed away. For these feelings that I should have gone with her to disappear. As I opened the bottle and smelled the alcohol wafting up to my nose, I smiled internally, knowing what was to come next.

One drink in. The pain barely began to subside. Her image running through my head.

Two drinks in. Her voice was running through my head.

Three drinks in and I thought she was back in my house. Back in my arms.

By seven drinks in, the scotch bottle was half gone and the pain of perhaps having lost Taylor forever was a distant dream. I was bathing in the glory that was numbness. The tears that once soaked my face were dried. The thoughts of her were vanishing as the black abyss came to greet me with wide and content arms.

I had no idea of the monster I would create. Nor did I have any idea of how I ended up on the floor in the dining room I never used when I woke up the next morning. My head pounded and throbbed. A hangover. Damn it.

"Roy-Boy, the best cure for a hangover is more alcohol," the voice of Madame Christmas rang in my head.

"I know," I said aloud as I took the last swig of the scotch that was left in the bottle. "I know."

I frowned when I saw through the end of the bottle and there was nothing but a mere drop left. I tossed the bottle away in the trash before deciding it was a good idea to get a shower in and get ready for work, seeing how I am still forced to be there even though Taylor was God knows where.