A/N; I present to you a fun chapter filled with… wait for it…. Boring relationship banter! Enjoy. We also have Latona making a guest appearance.

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Chapter Three - Long Way Home

Edward rolled on his side, eyes closed against the afternoon sun. The bed was hard. And extremely uncomfortable. With a disgruntled snort, and another roll, the blonde lay on his stomach. His head was hidden beneath the pillow, which currently resembled a large concrete slab. There was muffled laughter in the background, and Edward lifted the pillow slightly.

"Go home," He commanded, watching Roy with narrowed eyes.

"Don't be cranky at me. You're the one who won't sleep normally," Roy raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Oh, and what is normal to you, oh Lord of the Normal?" Ed was still glaring at Roy, who smiled further. Both men had had about five hours sleep, although Roy had been in his own, comfortable bed, where-as Edward was stuck in an impossibly hard hospital one.

"Normal people tend to keep their heads on their pillows. I know it's hard for you to understand, Edward," The dark-haired man jumped out of the way as a plastic cup was hurled in his direction. Then silence ascended on them, making the room feel so much smaller. Edward watched the ceiling tiles with disinterest, and Roy played with his new possession - a cup.

"There's a needle in my arm," Was the next calm observation from the blonde.

"Your point being?" Roy was baffled by the statement. There was a needle in his arm. And? Was that of any grave importance? It was really just a drip line, but it doubled as a kind of needle too.

"The point is that it's in my arm," Edward repeated as though it were the most obvious thing in the whole world. Now, Ed wasn't a fan of exhibiting his weaknesses around, as I doubt anyone else is. Sure, most people knew he detested milk - it wasn't as though someone would torture him with it. What he did fear, was needles. Anything pointed sticking into him did not please Edward one little bit, "I want it out."

"The needle is probably there for a reason. You can't just want it out whenever you feel like it," The cup was idle in gloved hands. Golden eyes watched the dark-haired man, pleading wearily with him. There was only so much fight in somebody, and Ed had given up on that. He was exhausted. And he could feel every movement of the IV in his arm as though his sense was increased tenfold. It happened to everyone with their fears. Some people could feel spiders crawling all over them at the mention of the arachnids, and it was no different from Edward's phobia.

"I can't just make them pull it out."

"Yes you can."

"No, I can't."

"I'll do it myself if you don't."

"No you won't."

"Yes I will," It was a definite declaration. Roy heaved a defeated sigh and left the room, throwing the cup haphazardly behind his shoulder as he went, causing it to hit to floor with a slight crinkle.

---

"Don't smoke here," Riza said, exasperated. Havoc stubbed his cigarette out despondently.

"You should go get some rest, Boss," Jean instructed carefully, watching the female out of the corner of his eye.

"As should you. But this is a crime scene, I can't just leave," Riza noted calmly.

"I'm pretty sure you can," Jean smiled tiredly, fiddling with a somewhat loosened nail. Both blondes were seated on a wooden bench just outside the warehouse, currently on a mini-break. The timber of the seat was weather beaten, and now a depressing grey.

"You're pretty sure about everything," Riza observed, turning to face him, "But you're never normally right."

"And how do you know this, Miss Perfect?" The nickname was hardly meant to offend. It more or less served as the only biting comment he could think up, and even then it didn't really do its job.

"This is coming from Mister Always-Loses-His-Bets? I'm not so ignorant I don't notice these things," There was a playful smile on Hawkeye's lips, and her eyebrow was raised in preparation for the next comment.

"Trigger-happy bitch," Jean muttered under his breath.

"Pardon?" A hand had trailed to her holster, which currently contained a loaded pistol. One Jean knew all too well.

"Nothing," The man waved it off and stood, stretching out his tired muscles, "I'm leaving, are you coming?" The offer was out of sheer politeness, and since the pair both lived in the military dorms it wouldn't hurt to have some company on the walk home. Jean doubted Riza would accept though. She was always the in control, never missing Lieutenant. And Jean himself was the smoking, sleeping, annoying one.

"Sure."

---

The nurses shuffled into the room, one by one. There were four in total. Most of them looked like the average women you'd expect to be in a hospital. One, on the other hand, was swimming upstream, flaunting as much chest as she could in the fairly large nurse outfits. And hoping one of the cute men looked her way. Roy flirted politely with her, until Edward coughed. His cough was more a loud, obviously fake one, which involved an evil glare at both Roy and the flirty redhead. Lucy merely gave an offended look and stood back.

"Mister Elric, we should inform you that the drip line needs to stay in. It'll help keep you calm, and… calmer?" One of the ladies informed, aware that the needle was doing quite the opposite to the disturbed blonde.

"Take it out, or I'll seriously hurt him," There was no use threatening the nurses. They'd call in military backup (This was the military hospital, after all) and then just flee without taking the stupid pointy thing out of his arm. Threatening his 'lover', if you could call Roy that, was much more rewarding, considering the Colonel played along happily.

"He will," Mustang Chimed in, sitting by the bed and waiting for the response from the nurse. This merely caused one to edge closer to the 'Help' button, as the women inspected Roy and his current predicament.

"Uh, Mister Mustang… Do you need assistance there?" The same woman who'd spoken before piped up once more.

"Not really. He's too little to do any real damage, but I think you should take the IV out, just to be sure," Edward was fuming. And would've hit Roy. Sadly, the drip still hung in his arm, and Ed didn't want to move it, for fear of it hurting anymore than it currently did. It was only his paranoia that made it hurt in the first place.

"Uhm, alright. Lucy, be a dear and get the drip out for us," Funny. They nominated the little redhead girl, who was too preoccupied with sizing up Edward than actually doing her job. Nonetheless she approached the blonde with a broad smile, and leant over to remove the metal needle. Edward was civil enough to keep quiet about her being a stupid whore, and looked away from the drip slipping slowly from his skin. It was a bad thing to focus on, and the door was awful interesting that day.

He paled visibly, and only briefly felt a hand snake out to squeeze his in a comforting manner, before Lucy proclaimed her work done, with a slutty bend-and-snap flourish. There was a wad of cotton covering the pinhole now, held down by some bandaids. Edward shot her an evil, yet thankful glance; though only God knew how he combined the two in such a manner.

The ladies then shuffled from the room respectively. One asked if they required any food or drink, and got a muted headshake, and another appeared unwilling to leave the 'Emergency' button. It was a damn shame she didn't get to press it, as some drama would spice up her lunchtime conversation with the other matrons. The awkward silence let itself in once more after the ladies had gone, settling on the two men, before Edward clambered from his bed, much to the distaste of the elder. The blonde grabbed some clothes to replace the hospital gown with, and walked to the small bathroom, turning to Roy.

"Go discharge me while I change," He commanded, moving to shut the door.

"Do it yourself," Mustang replied with a frown, leaning against one of the walls.

"I'm only eighteen."

"So..?"

"Well, you have to be twenty-one to discharge yourself without the doctor telling you to. Thus, they signed you up as my legal guardian," Edward was upset at the decision to make Roy legally his father figure.

"What if I want to keep you in here longer?" Teased Roy, who would use his patriarchal role to its full extent.

"I'll tell the police about how much of a paedophile you are, Daddy. So go sign the forms," The door was shut loudly, and Roy just stood there looking bewildered before exiting the room and going down to the nurse station, much to the pleasure of Lucy who desperately tried winning him over again.

Needless to say, it failed.

---

Alphonse almost collapsed into the welcoming arms of the couch, sighing loudly and closing his eyes in thought. The day had been long for all of them, and Al had been up half the previous night with worry. It wasn't a good combination, and his attention span finally died out, causing him to be sent home early. Of course, Al didn't complain. Merely offered to stay longer before being willingly shoved from the scene, by almost equally exhausted co-workers. Winry entered the room, and sat down beside him, with a more graceful manner. She, on the other hand, had had quite a good nights' sleep, although her mind was partially on what her to-be husband could potentially find at work. Both spent some time within the warmth of the empty room, before Winry turned to Al.

"Was he there?" She ventured quietly. Her love had yet to break into distressed tears, so Winry assumed Edward was alive and well, but that quiet, forlorn look wasn't giving off the air of peace she'd expected. Maybe they hadn't found anything? Maybe something really bad had happened? Winry shook her head at the depressing thoughts, and put the silence down to fatigue.

"He's fine," Alphonse responded, with an exhausted smile, "At least… I hope so. I spent most of the day tracking down who did this, or trying to, at least. Whoever it was was good. I couldn't find anything."

"I'm sure you did your best," Winry assured calmly, wrapping her arms around the others' waist and resting her head on his shoulder lovingly. Alphonse returned the gesture, winding his arms around his fiancée's neck and pressing his lips softly against her forehead, breath blowing Winry's blonde fringe around slightly.

"I guess," Doubt still plagued Al's words when he replied, and Winry decided it best to say nothing.

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Latona lowered herself onto a dull, musty bed in some dirty downtown apartment. Outside you could just hear the sounds of night - drunken bickering, screeching tires and random yelling. The woman sighed at the dirty lodgings, but accepted them none-the-less. She lay fully down on the uncomfortable and hard mattress, eyes drifting shut as her mind wandered off. It made a beeline to where our two blondes were just entering the military dorms, and a smirk wrote itself on Latona's painted lips as she prepared for her night.

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Havoc held the door open in an overly gentlemanly gesture, smiling at the raised eyebrow he got in response. Riza entered, took a few steps, and turned back to her blonde counterpart until he caught up. Both walked along the many winding halls, before the female faltered.

'Good evening, Lieutenant,' Spoke the softly seductive voice in her mind, barely above a whisper. Riza shook her head to rid the stupid thought. It was just her tired mind playing tricks on her, as it had a habit of.

'I am no mere figment of your imagination, my Dear,' Latona responded indignantly. Havoc had stopped and was sparing Riza a worried look, head tilted in muted inquiry. It was better not to ask, the male decided.

'Rather, you are my slave,' The voice kept going, talking in that low, sultry way Latona had mastered long ago. Havoc was now asking Riza if she was okay, to which he received no reply, the rich chocolate eyes glazed and fearful. Hawkeye's mind raced. Was she going insane? So soon? She was a slave to her mind? Or was it something more sinister…?

'Oh, it is much worse than that, Riza,' And it was indeed more ominous than originally expected. Mental voices were never a good thing, but now it was even worse. Latona was merely exercising her hold on the blonde gunman. There was a moment of mental static, before a sudden blinding light flashed and exploded, causing Hawkeye to fall to the floor, holding her head in anguish. It didn't hurt physically, or not as much as it should, it was more a psychological jarring - like turning your head too fast. Jean was beside her in a matter of moments, holding onto her shoulders and desperately seeking an answer to whatever was bothering his blonde companion. A shuddering cry came from her, hands covering her face. Tears began to roll down over the mountains of her fingers, sinking into the valleys between each digit.

The sounds of the world faded back in around her, and now Jean became clearer, asking her frantically if she could hear him and if she needed anything. Riza shakily looked up from between her hands, eyes puffy and bloodshot from crying. She nodded softly, and offered Jean a small, sad smile. Havoc, understandably, looked unimpressed with the response, and asked again as he helped her to her feet.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jean had an arm around Riza's waist, supporting her. He had no idea what had happened, and decided he couldn't have his blonde superior falling to her knees randomly.

"Yes. And you don't need to hold me," Hawkeye replied as firmly as she could manage. Jean had no intentions of letting go, and Riza didn't pursuer the matter further.

If anything she probably leant on him more.

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A/N; Bend-and-snap - If you don't get it, you should go see Legally Blonde 2. I love that movie, and had to include a quote somewhere.

Well, I thought this chapter was okay. I love some bits, hate others. The Riza scenes went well, as did the ones with Edo. You can tell I don't write about Al often, though. I screw them up badly.