A/N: Shout-out again to my loverly reviwers, RoseGranger, justareader10, and Kasani! I'm glad you're enjoying the story! A thank you as well to all those who Followed and/or Favorited this fic, and I hope you continue to stay tuned. Also, if you have the time, drop me a review! I love getting feedback. :)

As for this chappie, it's a bit more like a filler... not much happens, but I'm really trying to get this thing going and directing it in a Beauty and the Beast sort of direction, here. I wrote it in a rush, so it's probably not the best. Any comments or suggestions would be wonderfully appreciated!

What do you all think of Anita so far? As an OC, and as a character in general? What about Christian? First impressions on Gunther? I'm not sure how big a part he's gonna play in all this... I had briefly toyed with the idea of having Roy in his stead, but Roy's a little busy in Central at the moment...

Anyway. Thanks all, and enjoy!

~Penelope

Chapter 3

You know what's really fun?

Playing with human emotions. There is nothing like it, the sensation of metaphorically reaching through that flesh and bone shell into the abstract core of their beings and tugging random strings to make them sing with agony. It's amazing really, how quickly their emotions can be pushed up and down, up and down, like a pump, flying high one minute, plunging low the next. It's pathetic, really.

And what human is more emotional than an innocent little child?

That little squirt Christian, he couldn't stop crying after that day I so gracefully unveiled my true self. That is, until an adorable little black cat showed up outside his apartment while Mother Dear was at work. Then, voila, suddenly he sweeps it into his suite and he's all smiles again. No matter that that little black kitty happened to be yours truly in disguise.

And you know what I pulled during the nights that the kid was especially pitiful? I used my oh-so-wonderful skills to create the ghostly image of an ethereal woman all in white, just like in that little tune he hung on. And I soon learned the song well enough to even sing a little to him. It had a dual purpose: it got him to fall asleep faster, which also meant he'd quit crying and shut up, and I got the giddy euphoria of seeing a stupid human child be so trusting as to not question the appearance of a strange woman in his room and not even tell his mother about it.

So I ended up sticking around longer than expected.

Can you blame me? This pathetic excuse for a family was screwed up; how could I resist sticking around? The others wouldn't miss me; they could handle the plan just fine. Besides, nobody really missed me anyway. It was just one of the joys of being me. I could slip away whenever I wished, and nobody ever complained… usually.

I had to admit the littler pipsqueak hid me as well as a four-year-old can hide a cat in a single room suite. I was nice when he wanted me to stay hidden, kept signs of my presence to a minimum. Couldn't have his mother finding me and getting suspicious; she actually seemed sharper than a lot of humans. I couldn't risk her finding the appearance of a black cat so soon after my last interference coincidental.

Especially now. The Elrics had left*, so technically, I wasn't even supposed to be here.

Come to think of it, I couldn't stick around for much longer… It'd been weeks since I knocked off that nosy Hughes guy back in Central. Father'd be ticked if he had a new assignment for me and ended up having to send somebody here to get me. And Father ticked off was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

So it was just my insane fortune that not long after the whole landlord deal, a young guy with dark hair dressed up in a monkey suit showed up at the suite door in the morning. Unaware of my cat-self effectively hidden under Christian's trundle, Anita had dragged herself out of bed, not exactly looking her best with her matted ringlets and rumpled nightgown. She must've really not cared about what she looked like – the Fuhrer himself could be behind that door, and she was gonna answer it anyway.

The guy pretended not to notice, and strode into the apartment like he owned it.

"It's been a while, Anita," he said, making himself comfortable at her table.

"Miss Falk." Anita didn't look too thrilled, rubbing her temples like she had a headache. "It was a nice break, Gunther; I wasn't complaining."

"Aw, why so cold?" the guy called Gunther – I had to force myself not to snicker – faked a pout, propping his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his steepled fingers. "We were so close."

"'Were' being the key word," she deadpanned.

"I heard that my girl was in trouble; is it so bad that I came to her rescue?"

Anita snorted, shaking her head as Christian came over to her, clinging to her side like always. "What do you want? I have better things to do today that rehash things out with ancient history."

Gunther eyed Christian. "Ancient history? Sure."

Ahhh, this was the father. That made sense. No wonder he wasn't around. Er, hadn't been around. Creep. Reminded me of Greed.

"I have a proposition for you, Miss Falk." Gunther switched into business mode, acting like he was giving some kind of pitch. "You and the kid are really my responsibility, and I feel like I've neglected you enough. You're obviously in dire financial straits, and this proposition would greatly benefit you."

Anita spoke my thoughts even as I thought them. "Just spit it out."

"I think you should marry me."

Anita actually choked on her breath, sputtering and staring at the guy with wide eyes. "…Are you serious?"

"If I was married, the military would raise my salary, and there'd be plenty to take care of the three of us."

"So you want to marry me so you can get a bonus to your paycheck."

Gunther ignored her like he hadn't heard her. "And in Central, nobody knows of your… past dealings. And your military heritage would be appreciated as well."

Youch. This guy was going at her with both barrels loaded.

She frowned, absently stroking her kid's hair. "You think you can blackmail me into marrying you? I know you, Gunther; all you really want is the bonus and having a trophy wife to support your public image."

"I'm trying to help you, Anita. Pressure's rising in Central, but it's still the strongest city in the country. You can't hide here forever."

"It's been working fine!" she spat back

"You ungrateful…" Gunther shot to his feet, slamming his hands down on the table hard enough to make Christian jump before he sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. His dark eyes shifted down toward the kid clinging to his mother's side, and they narrowed. "If I can't have you, the kid is still half mine. I'll take you to court if I need to."

"You really want your buddies in blue to find out about your shady personal life?" Anita raised an eyebrow.

"The pros outweigh the cons," he admitted with a professional tug at his lapels.

"Right, 'cause you'll look like the chivalrous gentleman willing to own his mistakes and make things right, while I'll still be the soiled dove and he'll still be the child who never should have happened." She hugged the kid closer.

All right, you know what? This drama was starting to get old. I had to keep from sighing. Boredom threatened to drive me into doing something stupid. Thankfully, Gunther was making his way toward the door. Good. Bye-bye, creepy guy.

…Sometimes, I wonder if I should not call humans names that throw irony back at me. Oh well.

"A kid needs a dad, Anita. I'm not so stupid that I don't know that. The court would be in my favor, and I'm on good terms with people in high places. Or, you could do this the easy way and just accept like I'm fairly sure you will." Arrogant smart mouth. "Either way, I'll see you in Central Saturday. There's a train leaving that morning at 0-nine-hundred, and that gives you two days to make your decision. I trust you'll make the right one." With a curt nod, he just left. Just like that.

Jerk.

"Mommy, who was that?" Christian squeaked up to his mother.

Anita sighed heavily, scowling at the door. "Nobody important."

Stifling a yawn, I crawled out from under the trundle and did a few cat stretches. Casually digging my claws into the floorboards, I didn't pay the humans any attention until I heard the kid gasp.

"Mommy…" he started.

"Christian… why is there a cat in our apartment?"

Oops. Silly me. Well, that was stupid… Or was it? Maybe I didn't care anymore. Maybe I wanted her to see me. And she still thought I was just a cat, so that was just fine.

"I found him, Mommy," said Christian, coming over and leaning down to pick me up. Oh, seriously, this kid… You don't understand how much self-control it took to not claw his stupid moe eyes out. "He's my friend; can we keep him?"

Friend? Ha, the kid had no idea who he was talking about. Neither did the lady, who stared at me for the longest time before sighing again and rubbing her temples like before.

"You know what? Fine. I don't care. As long as you take care of him, and he doesn't get in the way."

Oh, but getting in the way was one of my specialties! I couldn't just ignore the impulse when it arose. And I got the distinct feeling that arise it would, and soon. Call it a hunch, but soon, we'd be heading to Central, and that's where all the exciting stuff happened.

Really. That was how the plot worked so far. Somebody just said 'Central' and things got serious.

It was a win-win. I got a free ride back to the capitol to report, and then got some more entertainment to enjoy. It was like a soap opera, and I was the audience. All I needed was some popcorn and a good seat…

*This is roughly after Ed and Al meet Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu in Rush Valley. Some details may be a little screwed, but it's been a little hard to get a handle on the exact timeline... It never clarified what Envy was doing at that time, right? I watched the whole show, but it's already started to bleed together like ink on wet paper, so... if you have any help to offer, feel free. I could use it. XP