Sorry guys, I don't even have a decent reason for dropping off the face of the earth. Yeah, I got college classes and I had finals and whatever, but I can't tell you how many times I almost came on just to skip to the end and finish it up in one chapter, for what I thought was better for y'all. But it's christmas break, I have some insomnia, and I re-read all 40 chapters that have already been posted. And I'm ready.

You whelmed yet?

(Age 16)

Elizabeth was released from the hospital soon after, but she might as well have stayed under the care of the nurses for as often as she returned. Several nights in a row she would stay with Havoc, just for dinner, only to find herself being shaken awake in the early hours of the morning to go home and shower before she returned to visit again. She spoke with Jean's mother. She had smiled sweetly at Elizabeth and squeezed her shoulder silently, as if to show the young girl that she understood her pain. That she knew it hurt to see the strong young man confined to the hospital bed, or a wheelchair on his best days.

"Jean?" Elizabeth called quietly as she pushed the empty wheelchair into the room. His mother had just left and it was time for the walk they had become accustomed to taking together. Jean had tried a few more times to convince her to marry Bradly, but once he had finally pushed her to the brink of tears from insisting too much, he relented.

"Yeah, Beth." He responded, sliding himself as close to the edge as he could manage. His upper body strength had improved greatly as well. Out of need, unfortunately. Elizabeth pushed the chair up next to him and gingerly helped his legs off the bed and into the chair, where he took control and moved the rest of his body into it. He grimaced at every touch she laid on his legs. Angry that he couldn't feel it, upset that he knew she blamed herself, devastated that she thought she belonged in the wheelchair in his stead.

Pushing him outside to the garden area, Elizabeth took a seat on the bench she had rolled him up beside. "Beth..." He said warningly, his eyes wandering to the slight rust appearing on her wrist joint of her automail. "You have to be sure to dry it completely every time you get out of the shower, sweetheart." He reminded her. She retracted her hand and quickly replaced it with her live one.

"It's fine." She clipped, "I have to return to Resembool soon anyway. "Winry has a new model for me. It's a bit stronger than before, since I've been fighting more than normal."

Jean grunted, "You need a lighter one. And to stop getting involved in these conflicts." He rubbed her hand gently, "I have something to tell you, actually." He ventured slowly. She didn't respond verbally, only biting her lip and looking up at him with big eyes, expecting the worst. "I'm leaving for home soon."

Her gaze faltered slightly as she blinked in surprise and looked away, "T-To the general store?" She asked hesitantly, hoping not to give away her disappointment in her voice. No, she didn't want him confined to the hospital for the rest of his life, but he lived so far away. She would never be able to visit him for anything but a side trip. Tears blotted her eyes and she refused to look him in the eye again.

Jean broke a little at the small crack of her voice. She didn't even notice it herself. "Beth, come with me. I've spoken to my mother, she doesn't mind. We have an extra room and we could use the help in the shop." Elizabeth cringed at the mention of the other room.

"You don't ever intend to marry me, do you?" She asked softly, looking him in the eye again. She blinked to try and disperse the tears but only succeeded in making them slid down her face.

Havoc swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "No, Beth. Not when it's like this, sweetheart." Elizabeth let slip a small cry and her chest heaved slightly, her body and heart wanting to bad to break down and cry but her mind refusing to show such weakness.

"No." She whimpered, "I can't go with you then. I can't handle that, Jean." she sniffled, trying to calm her breathing before she really did break down and cry.

Pain flashed in his eyes and he tried to explain, "You don't want to be married to a man like me, Beth. We can't do anything but talk, eat, and take walks together. And even then I have to roll myself around. We can't have a family. Beth, you can't tell me you don't want kids. I know you do, and I can't give that to you. Someone else can. Let someone else give you happiness. Please." He begged her, his own eyes watering.

"No." She snapped, "No, fuck that. Who cares if I can have kids with Bradly? Who cares if he can walk down the isle to me? Who fucking cares, Jean. He can't make me happy like you can. He's not you. And I'm not going to help run the store with you." Elizabeth stood defiantly and waved a doctor over. "Not when there's still a war going on." She declared just before the doctor came to collect the chair-bound man.

"Elizabeth." Jean said smiling, as she began to walk away. She turned to look at him as he finished, "I love you." She smirked and shook her head.

"The next time I hear that!" She called from nearly across the garden, "On one knee, mister. One. Knee."

(Age 16)

She boarded the train as she had been instructed by the Colonel. She was to meet up with her brother to get both of their automails repaired. Winry had an apprenticeship in Rush Valley, but Pinako was more than capable of installing the arm and leg Winry had already built for her.

Upon arriving at the train station, Elizabeth felt the pain wash over her. Hughes was dead. Her mother was dead. Her father was gone. Jean was injured beyond hope of healing without a stone. And here she was, staring blankly into the eyes of the boy who had proposed to her with a dainty little silver ring. The silver ring which she had forgotten to chuck into a body of water as Jean had requested.

"Bradly. " Elizabeth smiled sadly, "How are you?" she asked politely, carrying a single luggage bag with her. Just as he'd done before, Bradly stepped forward with a great big smile.

He grabbed the luggage from her and swung it over his shoulder. "Now Beth," He started, not noticing how she winced at the use of the nickname, "Ain't your city-boy treating you right? He better not be making you carry your own goods." He chastised.

Elizabeth laughed bitterly, "I'd carry his things around for him if it meant he'd be walking." She said wistfully, her eyes glazed over in regret.

Bradly almost dropped her bag as he turned around quickly to ask, "What do you mean, Ellie?" Her head was dipped down and she didn't want to meet his eyes. "Ellie, what do you mean?" He repeated, more urgently this time. She took a shaky breath and looked up at him, her eyes nearly dead.

"He saved me. He saved me and now he's paralyzed." She replied shakily, he voice betraying her fears. "I have to meet up with Edward and try and save him now. Something." She added. Bradly hugged her tightly, letting the suitcase rest on the ground. They had only made it a few hundred feet out of the train station and now they were in the middle of the road, hugging.

"Pinako said you'd be here, that's why I was waiting just outside the station." He mentioned to her, just as the silence had become uncomfortable for him. "How was, uh, central?" He asked hesitantly.

Elizabeth smiled softly, trying to focus on all the good memories she had. The sunset, the hair clip, dinners, coffees, games, talks, walks. But the only memories the bubbled up of their own accord were ones of Havoc trying to convince her to marry Bradly. "Good. Wonderful when we weren't being hunted." She admitted. "And Jean told me something. A few times, actually. I wanted to know what you'd say about it." she added slowly, still wondering if it was alright to mention to the man in question.

"Alright, Ellie. Shoot." He said, encouraging her to tell him all.

She took a deep breath. "Jean said he wanted me to marry you." She blurted before she could rationalize anything else. Bradly looked to her as they walked and blinked a few times.

"The man that gave me a shiner for proposing to you in a round-about way in the first place?" She nodded, he continued, "The one that fought for you tooth and nail, even though you were pissed at him and he had a girlfriend?" She nodded again and he smiled softly, a bit of conflict in his eyes, "Let me make this easy for you, Ellie. My offer no longer stands." Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief as they approached Pinako's house. Before they reached the door she stopped and turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Bradly." She said, genuinely appreciative of his retraction. "I know it was hard for you. But thank you." She took the suitcase from the young man and headed into the house that had become her home.

"Granny Pinako?" She called into the seemingly empty house, "Granny?" She turned the corner into the kitchen and found no one. She headed straight for the basement where they kept the automail parts and found her tinkering on a piece of machine. "Hello Granny." Elizabeth chirped out, "Where's Ed?"

Pinako put down the metal parts and turned to face her, "He hasn't come in yet, but there's something you shou-" She was cut off by the slam of a door, followed by a much quieter opening and closing. They went back to the main floor to find Edward fuming, followed closely by a man strikingly similar to the Elric's father.

"Elizabeth?" The two blonde males chimed at once, Edward practically growling at his father when he realized they spoke in unison.

"W-Wait?" Elizabeth trailed off slightly, "Dad? Dad, is that you?" She asked, perplexed that the man before her looked identical to the man in her far off memories. "It is." She breathed, surprised, but definitely not pleasantly.

Once more, there is absolutely no excuse for my lack of upload, but hey, Had I Not Waited, This would have been the last chapter and nothing between chapter 40 and the promised day would have been mentioned.

UPLOADING TOMORROW, I SWEAR.