Chapter 36: Going South - Part 2

"Everything okay boss?" Greed looked back at his ox of a bodyguard. They had just been watching that fight between the runt and the other major, but they'd picked up sticks and ran without getting a real word it. It hadn't been the plan...well none of this had been the plan, but the plan he'd been forming had been kicked to a backburner so quickly, that they'd only been able to leave a short message inside the suit of armor.

'A living suit of armor,' Greed considered, grinning widely in glee. He'd heard rumors of the battles between the terrorist Scar, and a pair of brothers, one of whom happened to be a supposedly living suit of armor. That somehow, one of the brothers had their soul placed inside a body of steel, 'A body of steel, one that would last forever.'

"Everything is fine now," Greed admitted, calming himself. True, he'd met proof that his chance at immortality, true immortality, was nearly in his grasp...but not now, not after the presence he had felt. Though, as he looked over at Roa, he knew the man was not going to take "trust me" for an answer, and continued, "I merely thought it best to move when that woman appeared, no need to put ourselves in the line of fire," he looked at Roa, then added, "Certainly you've heard what Izumi Curtis can do to those that get in her way."

"I have," Roa admitted, "She has a reputation," a massive eyebrow raised high onto his forehead, "But one woman frightening you, when we were no part of the ruckus," he snorted like the bull he was, and then growled out, "Seems something else was bothering you."

'Always perceptive, huh Roa,' Greed couldn't help but smirk. The Bull Chimera was one of his finest possessions. A veteran of the Ishvalan conflict who'd been wounded in the fighting and then experimented on by Central Command, he'd become one of Greed's most recent lieutenants. Smarter than he looked, and as strong as he looked. Greed rubbed his chin, and sighed, 'Can't give him everything, but maybe just enough...'

"Thought I saw some more assholes from Central Command around," he admitted, and at that Roa nodded, "They were in disguise," perhaps an even better disguise than Greed knew, he wasn't sure which of his siblings had been watching them, "So get our boys on guard," he pointed down the alley way, "We shouldn't get too much heat, but better safe than sorry."

"Yes Greed," Roa said, and Greed smirked again.

"Oh, cheer up," Greed continued, holding his head high, as they headed towards the Devil's Nest. Roa grunted, as several of their guys raised their hands up as they entered. In particular, one particularly large man with even sharper teeth and a large nose waved his hand at them, "Yo Ulchi!"

"Yo boss!" The croc pulled his grin so far back that it nearly bisected his head. There was a flurry of activity around the bar. The girls at the back of the hall, dressed in low cut dresses and shining jewelry, waved their hands wildly. Greed smirked to himself, already looking forward to putting his feet off, and getting to lounge on the main couch, and enjoy some of that Aerugo wine that had gotten smuggled up across the border. However, he needed some more stuff first, so he watched as his best underlings walked to the forefront. The three, a diminutive bald man with a long nose and tail, a average looking man with another large nose and a sword at his side, and a young woman with pursed lips and short blonde hair, were, like Roa, human chimera. Bido, the small gecko, Dolcetto, the swordsman dog, and Martel, the snake girl.

"Hey Boss," Martel slinked forward, placing a hand on Greed's shoulder, and leaning forward on him, "Have fun out there?" Greed smirked at her shit eating smirk, and he saw her's grow when an cry of exasperation from the other girls at the back of the bar carried through the air. Greed allowed himself to laugh.

"Well yeah, got my eyes set on someone really interesting," when Martel raised an eyebrow, Greed continued, "You remember, the story of living suit of armor?"

"He's in town?" Martel more observed than asked, and Greed nodded.

"Yeah," he continued, "With his brother. They know Izumi Curtis," at that, Martel frowned. Izumi Curtis and her husband Sig were famos for being strong in a town full of strong people. These boys, the Elric Brothers...if they were somehow related to the Curtis's, then that could make things...difficult. Luckily, "I left the armor kid a message, and told him to meet us in a couple of days down a couple of streets over," he then smirked, and added, "Alone."

"Ah," Martel said, before her eyes turned to their smallest friend, "So you want Bido to spy on them while all that's happening?"

"Exactly."

"No worries boss," Bido adds, waving his hand, almost giddy to be mentioned, "I'll head on and start spying on them," he began to turn to make his way out to the rest of the town, when he stopped, and turned, "Um..." and then he blinked, remembering the previous conversation, "Oh, right, the Curtis's."

"Knew you would figure it out," Greed smiled, as Bido scurried out of the room, soon to take his path along the walls and alleys of the town to begin gathering information on their soon to be new guest. He then looked at Martel, "You take Dolcetto and Roa to meet our armor guy when he shows up," Martel nodded, the seriousness of the mission clearly causing her to adopt a more serious tone.

"Really think you'll need all three of us boss?" Dolcetto asked, playing with sheathing and unsheathing his sword idly as he sat.

"If he was anything like his brother, you all will need to be ready for a real fight," Greed thought back to the fight in the alley, to the constant slinging of alchemy back and forth at one another, and the speed of the blows and the cleverness of the minds. Part of Greed was just excited at the thought of going toe to toe with the blonde kid. He'd managed to think on his feet so quickly, that there might be something worthwhile there.

But then, in the back of his mind, he remembered why he had left so quickly. As Izumi Curtis had begun to take over the scene, he'd felt someone he hadn't felt in a long time. Or...more accurately, one of a group of someone's he hadn't felt in a long time. One of the gifts dear old dad had given his homonculi was the ability to feel the presence of those like them. Perhaps it was something to do with the density of so many souls being forced into one body, but a homonculi could tell who around them was another homonculi.

But he hadn't been able to tell which Homonculi it was. Part of him guessed Envy, the little freak's shape shifting likely being more than enough to disguise himself from the rest of the world. But the rest of him wondered why, if it was Envy, nothing had happened yet. He was going on too little information, and he'd exposed himself dangerously. Best to settle down, and let his people handle everything outside Devil's Nest for the time being. He'd eventually have to deal with that other homonculi, but when that happened, it would be on his own terms.

"Aw, come on!" he shouted, pointing at the bartender, who proceeded to pop open a keg, causing the whole of the Devil's Next to Cheer, "Booze for everyone!" Best to get everyone in the mood, because something told Greed, a fight was coming soon.

They would have to be ready for it.

"Oh, thank you for letting me know Ms. Marriott," Yor smiled to herself as she finished the conversation on the phone, "It was so kind of you and the Blackwells to let Anya sleep over," she frowned to herself over all the change that had been happening this past week or so, "Anya lost her best friend to a move a bit ago, so this might be good for her to have some time with someone her age."

"I certainly think that's a possibility," came the matronly voice on the other side, "Lady Becky has a very high opinion of your daughter, so I think it's wonderful to have them spend some time together. With school off tomorrow, I think it will be a good idea to let them have fun. I'll bring Anya by sometime in the afternoon, so they may play in the morning as well."

"Of course," Yor smiled to herself, "Just give us a call when you are on your way."

"Certainly," the woman agreed, "I hope you have a pleasant evening Mrs. Forger."

"You as well," Yor then hung up the phone, and turned toward the kitchen from the front hallway phone. With Anya gone, perhaps it would be best for her try one of those new recipes. Last night's dinner...had gone miserably, but that is what practice is for. Lloyd was going to be home soon, and since Anya wasn't going to be he-

'AH!' she thought to herself, 'I let Anya stay over at the Blackwell's without even consulting LLoyd!' she began to twist and turn around the room, a slight panic in her, 'I'm not her real mother, I'm fake Mom! What will Lloyd say when he finds out I allowed his daughter to spend the night at a stranger's house!?'

And, right on cue, the front door opened. Yor nearly flipped backward, but managed to give a small jump, locking her eyes on her husband. Lloyd just kept walking, and Yor felt something ache. Poor Lloyd had been coming home like this for the past week. Eyes ringed with bags, a gait half as long as it should be, a slouched back, and a head of hair that resembled a bird's nest that somehow had a bowler hat land in it after a random gust of wind. Lloyd had shown moments of exhaustion before, the collapse after Anya earned her way into school came to mind, but nothing like this really.

"Good evening Yor," he said flatly, walking right past her, "Is Anya home?"

"A friend at school asked her to come over," Yor said. Lloyd nodded dumbly, before continuing on. Yor stared at his back for a moment, and then made to follow, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"No thank you," Lloyd said, making his way down the back hall to his room. Yor watched as he jerikly reached for the knob, turned his hand left, pushed against the door, stopped when it wouldn't open, blinked, and then turned it right, leading the door to opening up. He stared dumbly for a second, before pushing his way into his room.

'He...he really seems worn down,' she thought. She then looked back, at the kitchen, 'Maybe...something special for dinner would work best?' as she hurried into the kitchen, she smiled to herself, wondering what she could make that would taste good, 'Let's see, maybe...oh, I know, I made salisbury steak that...no that was Gracia,' she then thought, opening up the small ice box, 'Maybe a special stew...no, last time I tried that, Lloyd almost had to go to an actual hospital,' she could feel beads of sweat begin to pour down the front of her head, 'Maybe some roast chick-no, no,' memories of smoke and flames filled her mind, 'I nearly set the house of fire.'

...

"Why can't I ever cook anything well?" she groaned as she held her head up with a left hand. And she couldn't call Gracia to help like she could before, 'I'm such a terrible house wife,' she then looked over at the cupboard, and at a small kettle beneath it. She blinked and smiled.

"Of course, when someone is tired, they'd want some tea to get to sleep better," she set to work immediately. She pulled out a handful of tea bags, and set about working on a cup for Lloyd. She put the bag inside the kettle, poured in some water from the sink, and set it on the stove. She then stuck her head back inside the cupboard, and pulled out her "Special" box.

Now, this wasn't like the box in her bedroom. It didn't hold any poisons, she wouldn't be so foolish as to leave those in the kitchen. But...well, sometimes, in her line of work, she got strains or pulls or aches that made daily life slightly more onerous. The Shopkeeper had suggested that she try natural foods to handle these problems, but none of them seemed to really work for her. Tea, for example, even with warm milk, could never help induce sleep in her. So, she had found a way to help relieve these problems was to have supplements that directly addressed any sort of issue she was having.

"Let's see," she began pulling out a few bottles while the tea was heating up, "Phenobarbital," she smiled. It was an old sleeping aid, and the best one she'd ever found for her. All the other ones at the pharmacies she'd been to never seemed to work, but when she'd been gone to her poison supplier, he'd offered it to her as a way to knock out guards. She'd never really needed to do that, but she'd found it was perfect for when she needed to get some sleep. She of course needed to up the dosage, just one pill was never enough for her, but it always did work. She then thought for a moment, while the tea began to steam out the spout, "Lloyd weighs more than I do, so he'll probably need three pills rather than just two like I do," she poured out the tea into the cup, placed the pills into it, and smiled as they dissolved into the tea, "There, this should help him relax."

She was soon slipped down the hall, the teacup sitting in the little saucer, steam pouring up into her face. She smiled to herself as she walked right up to Lloyd's door, and then placed a hand on it. She took in a deep breath, and pushed the slightly ajar door open.

Lloyd was sitting on his bed, having taken his jacket off, and staring at it while it rested in his hands. Not a single one of his muscles moved as she slowly pushed the door open. He just sat there, staring. Yor took a step inside the room-

CREEAAAKKK

-and she winced. She hadn't remembered that there was a loose floorboard.

'I've never heard a loose floorboard before,' she wondered. She blinked, trying to remember every time she'd been in here, 'I certainly didn't hear it when I came in last week, but I was so worried about Lloy-wait, Lloyd!' she snapped her head back up to Lloyd.

Lloyd was still sitting there, not even having moved an inch.

"Lloyd?"

"Uh," Lloyd finally moved, his head moving from it's position of staring at the jacket in his hands. Yor let out a sigh of relief, the thought that he may have been dead and just stuck in rigor mortis slowly pushed from her mind. He blinked at her for a few seconds, and then finally, after he seemed to catch up to the world, he said, "Oh, Yor, how are you doing?"

"...I'm well," Yor said, looking into Lloyd's vacant eyes, "I am very well," Lloyd nodded at that, his head moving up and down a few inches, "I thought you seemed tired," she then held out the little saucer with the cup of tea on it, "It's a special recipe of mine that I use to help get some sleep."

"Oh," Lloyd's smile was uneven and his eyes were still sunken, "Why thank you Yor," Yor reached out the small cup, and he took it up by the saucer, before staring at it for a moment. He then turned to his side and placed the saucer on the cabinet next to his bed, and said, "I will have some in a little bit. I should probably take get my work clothes off," he then smiled at her, "Though will you be able to handle Anya on your own tonight? I know she can be a bit of a hand-"

"Lloyd," she cut off the man on the bed, "Anya is at a friend's house this evening. I told you a few minutes ago."

"Oh," Lloyd's smiled twisted, but he corrected his mouth, and gave her a nod, "Sorry, slipped my mind," and then he went quiet again. He looked at her, and she looked at him. And they would remain there, Yor standing a foot or two from Lloyd, who was sitting where he had been when she'd come in. That went on for what was probably two minutes, before Lloyd finally asked, "Is...is there anything you need?"

"Um..."

'It's not my place to ask,' she thought to herself. She scanned his body, and noticed the drooping stance he had taken, 'He is an adult, you can't just force him to tell you what is bothering him,' she looked directly into his almost dilated eyes, 'Even if he does look like he's been run over by a truck,' he raised up a hand, which was quivering, 'You aren't even really married. You aren't really close enough to ask him what is wrong. If he wanted your help, he'd ask for i-'

"What's wrong," her mouth moved before her brain could hold her back.

"Oh," Lloyd blinked, "Nothing's wron-"

"Lloyd," Yor bent her knees so her eyes were directly on level with Lloyd's "Please don't lie to me," she said calmly, whatever rational hold on her behavior tossed to the side. Lloyd took in a gulp, and Yor raised her hand up to Lloyd's head. She blinked, and said, "You don't seem to have a fever, so I don't think you are sick," she then looked at him, "And those bruises seemed to heal up a couple of days ago," she then moved her head to look Lloyd directly in the eye, "Is something going on at work? You seem to be in a very bad way right now?"

"Yor," Lloyd's eyes shifted to try and get away from her, but Yor moved her head to maintain eye contact, "Yor, I'm fine, reall-," Yor could feel her frown grow, and finally, in defeat, and said, "I...it's not really about work," he paused, and then stopped. Yor nodded at that, and reached over, deliberately, and placed her hand on Lloyd's shoulder. Lloyd flinched when her fingers reached him, but he calmed down after looking into Yor's eyes again, and then continued, "It is about work, and it isn't. But," he added, for a second, his eyes darted away, but Yor could tell he forced them back to her, "But because of patient confidentiality, I can't tell you all the details."

"Oh," Yor nodded. She supposed she'd never worked as a doctor, but she was sort of like one. Doctors kept people alive, she made people dead, so they were similar in a certain manner. Considering how important it was that confidential details did not come out from any of her missions, it would be wrong to expect any different from Lloyd and his work, "Just, give me an outline," she said, nodding, and then adding, "Event, but no names, what you feel comfortable sharing."

"...," Lloyd took a sharp breath in from his nostrils, before closing his eyes, and then saying, "I...remember the night I helped Maes?"

"Yes," Yor nodded, "You came home the next day with all those bruises. But you saved General-" Lloyd seemed to wince at that, but Yor continued, "You saved Maes's life, and helped protect the country from that awful spy Twilight."

"Yes," Lloyd said a bit too quickly, before shaking his head, "But...that night, I made a great error that night."

"Great error?" Yor blinked. True, she didn't know the details, but from everything she had heard, Lloyd had acted heroically to save Maes Hughes from being stabbed to death. Maes wasn't just an important member of the military, but a close friend of their family. What could possibly be the problem?

"I," Lloyd sighed, "You know, I take a lot of calls at times, and have to go off to see patients late at night at points."

"Yes," Yor remembered only about two weeks ago when Lloyd had been forced to run out while she had heard a shriek on the other end of the phone, "You told me that it was to help at the office."

"It wasn't just to help at the office, it was to meet a specific patient at the office," Lloyd brought his hands up to his head, and began to rub it, "I was assigned a case for a man with mental scars from the Ishvalan campaign."

Yor could only nod. She knew that Ishval had been a disaster, Shopkeeper had told her that enough for her to remember it. Not only for the people of that ruined land, but for the thousands of men that had been sent in by the military to put down the revolts. More than a few of her targets had been men who'd served from there, but had gone mad from grief or pain and begun to work for terrorist organizations throughout Eastern Amestris. She remembered one former captain of the artillery who'd begun to bomb railroads for the Blue Group, and how'd she taken him down. That had only been a few months before she'd met Lloyd.

'Hell, I would have been assigned to get the Blue Group's leader had Edward Elric not brought him in,' she thought, 'He also saved me from killing that Father Cornello...honestly surprising how much Edward Elric deals with problems before I have to,' she remembered a small smile on the face of the Shopkeeper the one time they'd ever discussed the boy, 'A blessing of a boy indeed.'

"He...he wasn't an important man, but he was a good one," Lloyd continued, rubbing the back of his head, "He served as a private during the war, and he lost his leg in the fighting," Yor nodded. The loss of a limb was certainly enough on it's own to cause undeniable mental anguish. Add that to the experience of war, and it was no wonder he might end up going to a doctor like Lloyd for treatment, "I met him a couple of times even before I moved here. We'd been talking together for several months."

"So you did get a chance to know him?" Yor asked.

"...Not as much as I should have," Lloyd said, and then it clicked. Yor didn't say anything, but instead, allowing Lloyd to continue, "He...when I was...helping Maes Hughes," Yor watched as Lloyd's fingers began to twitch, "He tried to reach out to my office," Lloyd looked down, "I had it so they wouldn't reach out here since I wasn't going to be in...but that," he stopped and brought his hands together, trying to steady the trembling of his hands, "I...he called me, and I wasn't there to help him."

'And he died,' Yor filled in the blank.

"I...I promised that," Yor could see droplets of tears begin to gather at the bottom of Lloyd's eyes, "He then said, "I promised that I'd help people. And he needed me," Yor watched as Lloyd Forger's body began to shake, "I wasn't there to help him, and now he's dead. It's my fault he's dead," he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out after that, beyond a dry wheeze.

"Lloyd," Yor said. She felt her stomach flip up into her chest. She hadn't expected to see Lloyd, who always seemed to put together, to have a breakdown like this. She wasn't prepared at all for anything remotely like this. She'd been expecting...she didn't know what she'd been expecting, but nothing like this. She didn't have any experience trying to help someone going through a breakdown that didn't involve ones she caused because she was there to kill them.

"All I've done is hurt people," Lloyd seemed to be letting everything out now, "Everything I've been working on...I've completely fail-"

"LLOYD!" Yor reached out and grabbed both of his hands. Lloyd stopped, and stared at her, his eyes watering from the tears he was barely containing, "Please, you have to calm down, you aren't a failure."

"But I-"

"Lloyd," Yor went with the calmest and smoothest voice she could muster, "Lloyd, you are not a failure," she slowly raised her right along his arm, until it reached his shoulder, "You are one of...no, the hardest working man I've ever met," he blinked at her, "You work an incredibly difficult job, with extremely difficult goals, and do so without abandon. Not only that, but you have gone out of your way to help Maes Hughes, who would have died if you hadn't gone and helped him," she could feel her mouth turn upward into a smile, "And you are a wonderful father, you spend so much time with your daughter despite such a busy schedule, you set her up for success in a great school," her hand snaked up his neck until it was on his cheek, "And you are so kind to me. Our marriage is so strange, but you are always considerate of how it effects me, and I can't thank you enough for that."

"But...I..."

"Lloyd," she got closer to his face, her left hand making the same motion up along his arm, "You can't just let yourself stew in these thoughts. It will only hurt you," she then added a final, "Please."

"I," Lloyd finally stopped trying to hold himself back, choking out something, "Ughch," before finally letting himself cry. His tears flowed down his face, those under his left eye dripping along her fingers. He did his best to keep his mouth shut though he could not stop his whole body from shaking, while she slowly glided her left hand along his shoulder.

'He has such defined shoulders,' she thought idly as she felt the muscles beneath his undershirt, 'Certainly most men who sit in an office don't develop muscles like these. Especially ones with naturally thin frames.'

While she she focused on his body, she could feel him slowly loosen up. He was no longer jerking with barely held in sobs, the tension in his arms and chests seeming to unwind as the seconds ticked on. Yor finally felt the tears stop flowing onto her hand, and she watched as her husband looked into her eyes, his face red from the emotion but better now from having done it. It seemed as if that had been enough to allow some great weight to fall off his shoulders. He did not move away from her, like perhaps he normally would, rather, he opened his mouth again.

"Yor, thank you," His eyes eyes were eased, "With...what happened, I haven't had anyone to talk to. Certainly...no one who was as kind as you have been," His eyes were thankful, "Being able to...to allow myself to be open is something someone like me is usually no-"

His eyes looked inviting.

"Yor?"

Lloyd's face was coming closer, his cheeks suddenly becoming redder as she got closer.

"Yor?"

Her left hand slowly began to slink up like the right hand, while her right hand gently yet firmly slipped to the side of Lloyd's head, holding him where he had been.

"YOR?"

"Shh," Yor whispered as her face was mere inches away from Lloyd's. He opened his mouth to speak again, but she cut him off "It's okay," she could feel his breath mix with hers, "It will all be oka-"

RRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGG

"AH!" Yor jumped back. Lloyd fell backward onto his bed, as Yor could only stare at him. For a second, she was as frozen as Lloyd had been when she'd come into the room, her muscles snapping into a rigid lock. Lloyd managed to recover, and sit back up. His face was almost completely red, his eyes blinking rapidly at her. And, if Yor could have seen her face, she imagined she would look basically the same as him.

RING

"I...," Yor stammered, her face so full of heat that she thought she could melt the whole ice box, all the while the phone kept ringing, "I should probably go get that."

"Yes," Lloyd coughed, nodding quickly, "Yes, that would be the responsible thing to do."

"Yes," Yor nodded, and then turned on her heel, twisting out the door. As she headed towards the phone in the front hall, she changed from a walk into a march. Her hands curled into fists, her teeth began to grind together.

RING

She reached out, grabbed the phone, and could feel the metal receiver bend slightly from her grip. She pulled it up to her ear, and asked, "WHAT?"

"Oh," a sultry voice tittered on the other side. An icy dagger cut into the back of Yor's neck, the memory of her last visit to the Garden flashing before her eyes, as the voice purred, "Am I interrupting something my dear?"

"NoMissSolaris," she said quickly. She gulped, took in a breath, and then said again, "No Miss Solaris," she then began to bow deeply up and down, again and again, "I am so sorry for being so curt with you, I didn't realize you would be calling me right now, you have my deepest apologies," she heard the woman continue to chuckle, and only then did Yor realize that there was no way Solaris could see her bow, since they were speaking over the phone.

"It's fine my dear," Solaris continued, and Yor let out a deep breath of worry, "I am calling you rather late tonight, I'd imagine you are with your family right now? Do you need me to call back or-"

"It's fine, I can take the call," Yor shot out. The shopkeeper had been so worried that his woman could kill them all. She could not risk anything happening like that, "Please, um," she couldn't go mentioning Scar's name, certainly if Lloyd came out, "Is your problem back?"

"Oh, clever girl," the voice continued to laugh, "No, no, our previous problem isn't back yet," the voice then paused, and somehow Yor thought that the woman was now leaning over her, "No, no, I have a new problem."

"A new problem?" Yor was about to begin to speak up about proper procedure, but then slammed that bit of propriety back down, "How can I help you Lady Solaris?" she placed a hand on the wall, "We pride ourselves on proper care and support for all our customers. I'd be honored to meet with you as soon as you want," she paused, then added, "I can even be on a train to East City tomorrow morn-"

"Dublith."

"...pardon?"

"Dublith," Solaris continued, "My current task will have to be in Dublith," Yor could hear rustling on the other side of the phone, "I just met up with another problem that's far older and far more pressing than that thing you helped me with previously," Yor slowly began to consider what was being said, "I will have a ticket for you to come to South City three mornings from now, it is an express that will get you here as soon as possible. I need to check a few parameters to make sure I have what I exactly need. But you will board that train at eight on that morning on the dot," Yor could almost imagine Solaris's smile twisting wider and wider.

"Is that clear?"

"Yes mam!"

"Good," Solaris began laughing quite haughtily, "Now, get back to whatever you were doing my dear," Yor could almost imagine the older woman waving at her, "Goodbye."

"Goodbye to you too."

The phone went silent. Yor continued to stare at it for a moment, and then calmly set it down. She let out a sigh of relief, before looking at herself in the mirror, mostly to tell herself she had managed to not mess that up...only to see that her face was completely red. Some of her hairs had fallen forward over her face, and she looked...she looked...

'God, did Lloyd see me like thi-,' she then stopped, and thought back to where she had been not a few minutes earlier, 'Oh god, I was leaning in to kiss hi-'

...

"Lloyd!" Yor began to run back to her husband's room, her belly full of panic now, "Lloyd, I'm so sorry!" she nearly banged into the wall as she made her way over, "I didn't mean to nearly ki-"

As she entered the room, she found Lloyd again unmoving. But instead of before, he was laying down, his back against the mattress, his arms laying spread eagle along his side. At first, she worried she might have caused him to have a heart attack, but she could see his chest moving up and down slowly. At the corner of her eye, she saw the tea cup she had brought in now laying empty, and blinked.

"Oh, you must have had a drink of my tea," she said, nodding to herself, before sighing, "I'll...I'll apologize tomorrow," she paused, and looked him over, "Though, perhaps you don't want to sleep in your work clothes," she took in a deep breath, as she felt her cheeks heat up once more, "I'll take them off for you so the don't get wrin-"

She then saw that along Lloyd's neck the top of his shirt was already undone. At first, she thought it might have been from Lloyd himself, but it was clear that it had not merely unbuttoned, but rather that the button had been torn away. Yor knew instinctually that Lloyd would never go out with a torn shirt, and certainly she hadn't noticed it before...

'Oh no,' Yor could finally feel something in her left hand. Something small...and thin...and round.

She pulled her hand up to her face, and opened the fist. There, sitting in the middle of her palm, was little button. And what do you know, it just so happened to match the buttons from the rest of Lloyd's shirt.

Yor turned on her heel, walked out of Lloyd's room, and calmly closed the door.

"WHAT WAS I ABOUT TO DO TO HIM!?"