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Leaving the Nest

2

First Day

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Elysia glanced down at the paper in her hand before looking up at the number on the door. It looked the same, but... She looked both ways down the wide hallway. It wasn't exactly a cheerful place to have an office...

She felt a slight shiver and rubbed at her arms. The air outside was pleasantly warm, and even the temperature inside the building wasn't too bad, but on the basement level of Central Headquarters, Elysia felt uncomfortably chilly. Of course, wearing shorts and a tank top didn't really help either, but it was summer! She was supposed to be wearing stuff like this!

With a shrug, she knocked on the door and waited. No response. Again she knocked and when there was no response, she opened the door and looked inside.

The office was large, more like a small laboratory than an office, and dimly lit by the emergency lights on the ceiling. At one end of the room were tables with glass containers, papers, stacks of books and other various items. Near that was a large open space, but she was too far away and it was too dimly lit to see why it was so open. Buckets of paint dotted the room and, through the gloom, she could see circles drawn on the walls, and even on the ceiling.

Taking her eyes from the ceiling, Elysia glanced over to the side of the room nearest her. There was a large couch, a desk with stuff all over it, a fridge and a stove, and filing cabinets and bookshelves lining the wall near the desk.

She stepped inside and saw that on the wall behind the door were two other doors. One was open and she could see the faint outlines of bathroom fixings. The other door was closed and she could only assume it was a closet. Rubbing her arms to take a little of the chill off, Elysia started toward the empty area to see if there was a reason nothing was there.

Suddenly, the lights came on and she heard a tired, "Who the fuck are you, and why the hell are you here?"

She squeaked and turned around quickly to see a short man with long, blond hair standing with his hand on a light switch. He was naked except for a pair of boxers, and she noted the automail and his excellent physical condition. The man yawned and blinked tiredly.

"Well?" he asked irritably.

"Ed...?" she asked, then rubbed at her arms again.

He rubbed at his nose and looked her up and down with what she could only take as a leer. "Cold?" he asked, one corner of his lips quirking up into a smile.

"Yeah, kinda..."

"I have some blankets I wouldn't mind sharing. You know, shared body heat does wonders; warms ya right up."

She scowled. Now she knew he was leering at her. "I don't think my dad would approve. By the way, he wanted me to invite you over for dinner sometime."

Ed frowned. "Your dad...?"

"Yeah, you know, Maes Hughes." Elysia was very much amused by the transformation that took place on his face. His frown deepened and he gave her a considering look before his eyes widened.

"Elysia?" he choked out. She folded her arms under her breasts and nodded. "Ah..." he said, then turned and rested his head on the wall. She could hear him muttering quietly to himself. Something about wondering when she'd gotten breasts and legs, then walked toward a pile of clothes on the floor, snatched up a shirt, and pulled it on.

"Okay..." he said, though it seemed more to himself than to her. "Okay..." He glanced back at the clock on the wall with tired-looking eyes, then looked at her. "Okay... yeah... I remember him saying you'd be coming today..."

"So why are you so surprised?" she asked.

"Because it's fucking five o'fuckingclock in the mother fucking morning," he growled, then scratched at his head through the messy blond hair. "Sorry..." he muttered, then said, "Why the hell are you here so early?" He paused, then asked, "Do you consider 'hell' to be a cussword?"

She smiled. "My mom does, but I don't." Elysia waved a hand. "I don't care if you swear. It doesn't bother me." Truthfully, it was a little strange. Her parents didn't swear, and none of her friends swore much. She had a few friends who swore a little at school, but they usually swore around her less because she was 'the good girl', and it just didn't seem right to swear around her. It all made her want to roll her eyes in frustration. Why did everyone think they had to shelter her? Even though she wasn't used to it, Elysia thought she preferred Ed's rough language to being sheltered.

Ed gave her a searching look, then said, "Just don't tell your dad. I don't want him bitching at me for corrupting you, or some shit."

Elysia laughed and shook her head. "He likes you. I don't think it will be a problem."

"Fine, just don't tell him," Ed grunted. "So answer my question. Why the hell are you here this early?"

"Oh... um, well, my dad always comes in at this time and so I came with him." Elysia smiled, trying to make up for having woken him, but she was afraid that she'd already made a bad impression.

Ed stared at her in disbelief, then said, "I had no idea he was that insane. Okay, look... I don't usually wake up until eight or nine in the morning, sometimes later. You don't need to show up until then."

"But he gives me a ride..." she said, trying to explain. "It's not like I want to wake up this early."

He let out an exhausted sigh, then flipped off the light. "Fine, just don't wake me up when you come in. Hell, if you want you can come here and get a few more hours of sleep."

She saw him flop down on the large couch, then asked hesitantly, "Where should I sit, or lay down, or whatever...?"

"Fuck, woman, I don't care!" he snapped irritably. "Just pick a spot. The floor, the chair at the desk, the couch, whatever."

Elysia frowned. She wasn't used to being yelled at. Her parents never yelled at her... Glancing around, Elysia asked, "You have more than one couch?"

There was a groan, then she saw his head rise above the top of the couch. "No. I have one couch, one blanket, and one pillow," he said slowly as if speaking to a child or an idiot. "If you want to share, there's room for two. Now, either stay or leave, but shut the hell up so that I can sleep." And with that, his head disappeared. The couch squeaked a little as he shifted, then the room was quiet.

She sighed and moved over to the office chair. It was rather large and comfortable, but the room was still chilly and she pulled her knees to her chest in an effort to get warm. There was no way she was going to share the couch with some man that she barely knew. Elysia had some memories of Ed and his brother Al from when she was little, but this guy was nothing like the person she remembered.

Trying not to feel too sorry for herself, Elysia tried to get more sleep, but it was almost impossible in her current position. With a sigh, she shifted and tried to get more comfortable.

Ed tried to get back to sleep, but he was only too aware of Elysia sitting in his office chair. She wasn't quiet either. The girl would shift, then give a heavy sigh or two, then shift again. There might be silence for a couple of minutes before she moved around again.

But it wasn't just her movements keeping him awake. The problem was the fact that she was a woman and he hadn't even recognized her! If he'd passed her on the street, Ed wasn't sure he would have known who she was. His memories had her filed away as a cute little girl, but now...

Now, she was very nearly a woman! And what the hell was she wearing?! Technically there was nothing exactly 'indecent' about what she was wearing. This time of year, it was common to see girls wearing shorts and tank tops—many of which were much more revealing than what Elysia was wearing, but still her shorts only made it half way to her knees, and her tank top was much too tight and he couldn't quite get the image of how the fabric pulled over her very fine-looking tits.

He shifted, uncomfortable at the erection he was getting thinking about her. This was Hughes's daughter. He felt like a complete dickwad thinking about her like that, but it wasn't his fault she swooped into his room while he was asleep and woken him up like a wet dream!

Ed thought about the last few minutes and felt a tad guilty at how he'd acted, but damn! It was early! Why the hell would Hughes go into work at this ridiculous hour? Of course, not everyone was like him and stayed up until they passed out, but still... it was far too early...

Elysia gave another heavy sigh. Ed rolled his eyes, then growled, "I can't sleep with you making all that damned noise."

"What noise?" the girl asked.

"All that moving and sighing. It's keeping me awake."

"You're not the only one who's tired," she snapped back, the first sign of annoyance from her that he'd seen. "And it's not like this is the most comfortable place in the world, you know."

Ed yawned widely. This was going nowhere... Getting up, he said, "Fine. I'm going to shower. Take the couch."

"No thanks," she said stubbornly—almost pouting.

"Whatever," he grunted, then stumbled to the bathroom and shut the door. He turned on the light and squinted at the brightness. Grumbling to himself, he turned on the water and used the toilet while waiting for the water to warm up.

When Ed moved under the warm spray of water, he closed his eyes and yawned again. He almost felt as though he could lie down in the bathtub and go back to sleep, but instead he washed his hair and body at a slow methodical pace. He usually showered quickly. It was something that he did only because he had to, not because it was something that he enjoyed. Normally he worked out before taking a shower, but he felt too tired and grouchy to work out. He hated it when he had to wake up early...

Elysia waited until she heard the shower running, then slid out of the chair and turned the lights on. The idea of getting another hour or two of sleep was nice, but she refused to sleep on what was, essentially, Ed's bed.

Now that the lights were on, she examined the room more closely. The desk was littered with books and papers. The place was messier than she'd thought... Moving over to the open area she'd noticed earlier, she saw that the floor there was made of cement. A large circle and other figures had been drawn in chalk on the cement.

So this is alchemy? she thought. Elysia didn't know much about alchemy. She'd once had a science class that had touched briefly on the subject, but she hadn't paid much attention. She'd been too busy passing notes to her friends and watching some of the cuter guys in the class.

Elysia heard the door open from behind her and turned to see Ed walk out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist. She was torn between looking away and staring at him. Despite the automail and his height, Ed had a really hot body. It was lean and well muscled, but not over-muscled. She shifted self-conscientiously, trying not to think of her own body, which she saw as a little flabby and very inadequate even though she'd been told otherwise.

He opened another door that she saw lead to a closet. There was a set of drawers below the clothes that hung there, but she didn't get a good look because it was then that Ed pulled off his towel. Elysia flushed deeply and turned away quickly.

Oh my gosh... she thought in embarrassment. I saw his butt! She hadn't gotten a good look, but she'd seen it and that was enough. She'd never seen a guy's butt before—ever!

"You think you could warn me when you're going to get naked?" she asked, trying to cover up her embarrassment with irritation.

"I didn't know you were looking," he said, as if he didn't care at all about the situation he'd put her in. Elysia exhaled sharply through her nose. "Start some coffee, would you?" he asked. Elysia turned and saw that he was mostly dressed now in faded jeans and a striped teeshirt.

"You can't make your own coffee?" she asked.

He didn't reply right away. Instead, he pulled on a pair of boots and inspected himself before walking over to his desk and rummaging around for a moment. Finally he headed over to her and handed her a paper.

"As you should already know, these are your job duties," he said simply.

She frowned as she looked at the official duties list for her position. Finally she said, "It doesn't say that I have to make you coffee."

Narrowing his eyes, Ed said, "I believe it says 'other duties as assigned' on there."

Elysia rolled her eyes and muttered, "What a copout." It wasn't that she really minded making the coffee, it was just that he was being so rude about it all.

Taking the paper, Ed wrote 'MAKE COFFEE' in large, capital letters and handed the paper back. She gave an exasperated sigh and headed over to the coffee machine. This was the worst job ever. She'd been here less than an hour and she already hated the job and her new boss. Why couldn't her father have just stayed out of her business and let her get a normal summer job?

Ed stuck his head into Mustang's office; and, when he saw that the man was inside, he let himself in and plopped down on the couch. Mustang was on the phone and didn't look very pleased.

"Yes, I understand that Kaela," he said into the phone. "Yes... right. No, I can't taker her for the weekend." A pause. "I have plans."

Ed smirked and held up three fingers with a questioning look. Mustang nodded and rolled his eyes before saying, "That's really none of your business... yes, I really do have plans. No, I'm not trying to—" He stopped, then said in exasperation, "No, don't put her on the phone..."

Mustang sighed and muttered something under his breath that Ed couldn't hear before saying sweetly, "Hello Jena. Yes, you're mom told me... Of course I want to see you, sweetie..."

Ed poked a finger in his mouth and made a gagging noise at the ridiculous tone Mustang was using, to which Mustang gave him a sharp look that clearly said that he was going to kill Ed when he got off the phone.

"Is that what she said...? No, that's not true at all..." Mustang gave a defeated sigh. "I really want to have you come over this weekend." Ed hoped for Mustang's daughter's sake that she couldn't hear the lie in what he said. "Okay put your mom back on the phone."

Mustang had been married four times. He'd been thirty-three the first time. Everyone had been shocked at first that Roy Mustang, of all people, was getting married, but then the truth had come out. Mustang had knocked her up and, being the old fashioned type he was, he'd married her as his 'duty'. They'd had a son, and within six months they were divorced.

Apparently, being married once had broken some sort of stigma or barrier for Mustang because within the year he was married again. The marriage had lasted two months and was the only one of the man's marriages that hadn't produced any children.

His third marriage had been to the woman he was now on the phone with. It had been another 'marriage of duty', though this time it had been because she had insisted on it, not because he'd wanted to 'do the right thing by her'. It was his longest marriage, lasting almost two years. That was more because the woman didn't want to let go, no matter how much Mustang tried to get away.

Mustang's last marriage had produced another son—the only one of his children conceived in wedlock. It had seemed like the man was actually happy with her, and Ed had been surprised when he'd learned they were divorcing. Ed had learned through the gossip that it was because she had cheated on him and had decided to leave him for her lover. Ed had a suspicion Mustang had been really torn up over it, but since it wasn't like him to wear his emotions on his sleeve, Ed really never knew for sure.

"Alright, fine. Drop her off at six," Mustang said, then hung up. "What a bitch," he said, staring down at the phone, then he looked up at Ed and said, "Never get married."

"I don't plan on it," Ed said, feeling perversely amused at Mustang's pain. "Having the little girl over for the weekend, huh?" he asked.

"I guess so," Mustang said. "I wish her mother wouldn't tell her that I don't want to see her. It makes me look bad."

"Do you want to see her?" Ed asked curiously.

Mustang gave him an irritated look, then said, "What do you want? I just saw you yesterday."

Ed gave an exaggerated sigh and said, "It seems that Alphonse mailed me back some very important documents, but I haven't received them yet... You wouldn't happen to know what might have happened to them... would you?"

"Important documents, huh?" Mustang said mildly. "Hmm... I did see that you got a package from him a couple of days ago."

"And, what? You thought you'd just take a look inside to be sure it wasn't a bomb or something?" Ed asked wryly. Mustang nodded, then Ed heard the sound of a drawer—probably the deep, bottom drawer in Mustang's desk that he always kept locked—open before the man set the thick envelope on his desk.

"I just wanted to make sure everything was in pristine condition," Mustang said with a grin.

Ed stood up and walked over to the desk. "I can't believe you're spying on me after all this time," he said seriously as he flipped open the thick padded envelope and slid out the magazines. He eyed the covers, noting that all five where there, then flipped through each of them to be sure nothing was missing.

"I especially liked issue eighty-four," Roy said, not bothering to acknowledge Ed's displeasure. "I read it from cover to cover quite a few times."

"You're quite the pervert then, aren't you?" Ed asked evenly as he slipped the magazines back in the envelope.

There was a moment of silence before Mustang said, "Why don't you trust me?"

Ed tucked the envelope under his arm and looked at Mustang. "That should be my line," Ed muttered. "How old am I? I'm almost thirty, Mustang. Thirty! I'm not a kid anymore, alright? You don't need to keep me under a microscope all the time."

"It's my job to keep an eye on you," Mustang said calmly, then his eyes shifted to look past Ed and he smiled. "Hellooo there..." he said, then made a waving motion with his hand. "Come on in." Ed turned and saw Elysia standing in the doorway looking a little unsure, but with the invitation, she stepped inside.

"It's not often this office is visited by such a beautiful woman," Mustang continued.

She flushed darkly, but gave him a shy smile, then looked at Ed. "You said to come get you if you weren't back in fifteen minutes..."

"Right," Ed said. "Thanks." She stood there looking like she wasn't sure what to do now, so Ed said, "You can leave now."

"So soon?" he heard Mustang say in disappointment. With his back to the man, Ed couldn't see him, but by the fact that Elysia blushed even harder, he had a feeling Mustang had winked at her or something close to it.

"Goodbye, Elysia," Ed said in a tone that clearly said 'go away'. She took the hint and left quickly. Ed walked to the door and shut it, then turned back toward Mustang.

"She's a real doll. You're lucky."

"You can have her," Ed said in disgust, then stopped himself. "Strike that. You may not have her. She doesn't deserve that kind of punishment."

Mustang sat back in his chair. "What's the problem?"

Ed shook his head in frustration. "It's obvious she's never had a job before... completely worthless as my assistant, and she's kind of a spoiled brat. I don't think she really understands that I'm her fucking boss and that she needs to do what I tell her to do."

Mustang pressed his lips together tightly, but it didn't stop the smile that was forming on his face. Finally, he said, "How... tragic... to be in charge of someone like that." Ed narrowed his eyes and glared, and at that Mustang couldn't help it and began laughing.

"You're such an asshole," Ed muttered.

"It seems there is justice in the world after all," Mustang chortled. "But you can't deny that she's a looker."

"I'm serious," Ed said stubbornly. "I need to get rid of her." And no, he couldn't deny that. In fact... that was part of the problem. Not that he'd admit it. He didn't want to be compared with Mustang, getting distracted by every pretty girl that passed his line of sight. But she was cute, and even though she was stubborn and spoiled she had a sweetness to her that was very attractive.

Not that I'm attracted to her, Ed thought at that. He wasn't. She was cute, but she was seventeen and Hughes's daughter. Definitely not for him. Plus they probably didn't have anything at all in common.

There were two major reasons Ed had never gotten into a serious relationship. First was incompatibility. He didn't have many 'main stream' interests, and either women found him boring, or he found them boring. Second was his height. It was a major turn off for women, and he knew it. Oh they said it didn't bother them, but he'd been rejected by his fair share of women who had tried to be 'nice' about the fact that 'it was a factor' but not the 'main factor'. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Ed had finally decided to try accepting the fact that he would probably never get married, and just try moving on with his life. Date casually, maybe get laid occasionally, and enjoy lots of 'solo' sex. He told himself that it gave him more time to devote to his research. A wife and children would just get in the way; or, so he made a point to tell everyone. The truth was that he really did want a wife and kids. He wanted something like what Al had... He hated being alone and unwanted, but he supposed that it was just his lot in life. He'd never had a 'normal' life, and he probably never would. It was something he just needed to get used to.

Mustang wiped at his eyes and said between laughs, "Fire her then. You didn't have a problem doing that to the ones before her."

"This isn't the same. She's Hughes's daughter. I'm doing this as a favor for him." Ed liked Hughes a lot, and besides the fact that he'd be going back on something that he'd said he'd do, he didn't want to have to tell Hughes that his daughter sucked at her job and that Ed needed someone who hadn't been spoiled rotten by their parents and knew how to work.

"You have a problem, then, don't you?" Mustang asked, still sounding amused. "Good luck."

"Gee, thanks," Ed growled. "Some help you are."

"Come now," Mustang said. It's only been half a day. You should give her a chance. You probably just got off to a bad start."

"You have no idea..." Ed muttered, but he had to admit that Mustang probably had a point. They did get off to a bad start. He reluctantly decided to withhold further judgment until she'd been there for at least a few days.

Elysia stepped back into Ed's 'office' and headed back to his desk, where she's already been trying to get all the junk in some sort of order. Her job might say 'assistant' on it, but half the stuff on her duties list was that of a housekeeper.

With a frown she began putting the rest of the papers and books in neat stacks. She had absolutely no idea where any of this was supposed to go and every time she'd tried to ask, Ed had simply said that it was her job to organize it all and that she should already know what to do. That was not helpful at all...

She'd been able to figure out some of it—like the magazines...

At first, Elysia had been appalled at finding porno magazines lying around. Who kept this kind of garbage at work?! But then, she realized that Ed actually did live down here. But still! If men were going to look at those types of magazines, they should at least put them where no one would see them!

And then she'd found that three of the large filing cabinets near Ed's desk were filled with these magazines. They magazines were filed by subscription and by issue number. It was completely bizarre. But she'd filed them away, careful not to look inside any of them. The other filing cabinets were filled with travel magazines. She'd looked through a few of those, but there was writing all over the pages, and she finally decided she wasn't interested in looking through magazines that someone had written stuff in.

The books were harder to figure out. She had a feeling they were organized in some way, but couldn't figure it out. And the papers... she had no idea what to do with those... The laboratory glassware looked like it needed to be cleaned, but she had no idea if it needed to be done in a specific way. And all of that was just the tip of her duty list.

She looked at the clock, then at the door. Where was he? What was the point of having her come get him if he wasn't going to come back? Elysia looked down at the papers in pure frustration. She could be working at the mall with her friends or something...

And then the door opened and Ed rushed into the room and over to one of the liquid-filled glass... thingies... that sat on the counter. He had a thick envelope tucked under one arm, which he shifted slightly while picking up a clipboard and making notes.

Elysia watched him and wondered dully why her dad couldn't have gotten her a job working under General Mustang. At least he was nice to her, and he was rather handsome despite his age. His bold flirting was flattering even though he was a little too old for him. Her father definitely would not approve of her dating someone who was old enough to be her dad. The thought made her smile and she decided if the general ever asked her out, she might go once just for that fact alone.

Ed finally set the clipboard aside, and walked toward her. "Here," he said in a slightly more pleasant voice than what she'd heard him use all day. He held out the envelope toward her. "File these. And stay away from Mustang," he added.

"Why? He's a lot nicer than you," she pointed out as she opened the envelope.

Ed's lips pulled down into a small frown, and she thought he was going to say something, but he simply shrugged and began searching through the papers on his desk. "Because he's a big fucking pervert," he finally said.

Elysia pulled the magazines out of the envelope and made a face at them. "And what does that make you?" she asked. "A little pervert?" Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say because he stopped what he was doing and slowly turned toward her. His eyes were narrowed into thin slits.

"What did you say?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"Uh..." she stammered, not really sure what to say in the face of such obvious anger. How could he think of General Mustang as a pervert and not himself when he had all these magazines? He stood up straight and stalked over to her until they were almost touching. He was at the same height as her which put their eyes directly on the same level. It was really uncomfortable.

"Are you saying that I'm short?" he asked irritably.

Elysia blinked. "Short?" she asked in surprise. Was that what was bothering him? His eyes narrowed even more and she decided to try salvaging this situation. "No!" she blurted. "Not at all." When he didn't move, she added quickly, "For a guy maybe, but if you were a girl, you'd be at the perfect height." A low growling sound came from him and she backed up a step. Alright… so that hadn't helped...

"Get the fuck out of my office," he said in a low, angry tone.

"I didn't mean... I mean... We're the same height and..." Elysia jumped when he snarled at her and pointed toward the door. "Uh... okay..." she said quickly, then scrambled out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Elysia wandered around Central Headquarters for a while. At first, she'd started straight toward her father's office, but halfway there she'd decided not to see him. She didn't want to rely on him. She didn't want him to take care of her problems for her. He would, and she knew he would, but... she wanted to be independent, and she didn't want her father to think she couldn't handle her first job.

Most of all, she didn't want to chance having to hear his lecture on how she shouldn't worry about working and should be preparing herself to be a good wife. None of her other friend's parents told their kids that. Instead they were pushing them to go to college, to be independent, and to prepare themselves for life on their own.

That's what Elysia wanted to be—independent.

So she wandered around, trying to come up with ideas. Part of her just wanted to flat out quit. This wasn't the type of job she'd wanted in the first place! She'd wanted to get a job with her friends so that they could earn some money, hang out, and talk about boys. But part of her didn't want to quit either. She'd show her father, she'd show Ed, she'd show everyone.

"Elysia?" She stopped and turned when she heard her name. A blond woman smiled and walked toward her. "I thought it was you. I'm Colonel Riza Hawkeye," the woman said and held out her hand.

"Hi..." Elysia said slowly, taking the hand and shaking it. "It's nice to meet you Colonel Hawkeye."

"Just call me Riza. I know you don't really know me, but I know your father."

Oh great... Elysia thought, and said sarcastically, "Let me guess... He's shown you lots of pictures of me..."

Riza grinned and nodded. "Ever since you were born. My office is right over here if you have time to visit for a few minutes."

Elysia nodded. She didn't have anything else to do at the moment. When they were settled, Riza said, "I hear you're working for Edward Elric for the summer."

"Don't remind me," Elysia said, rolling her eyes.

"It's not going very well?"

Elysia gave a heavy sigh. "He's such a jerk! I don't remember him being like this at all. He gave me some vague list of stuff that I'm supposed to do, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get it all done. And then he gets all upset because he thought I was calling him short."

Riza gave a chuckle and nodded. "That sounds like Edward."

That didn't give Elysia any comfort. "I met General Mustang today and he seemed pretty nice," she added in an undertone.

Riza raised an eyebrow, then said, "General Mustang is overly friendly with ninety-nine point nine percent of the female population."

"He seems like he'd be better to work under than Ed," Elysia muttered.

Riza cleared her throat and shook her head. "He's a good man in many ways, but when it comes to women... Let's just say that you're much better off working under Edward even though he's... less than civilized sometimes."

Elysia nodded unhappily, then asked, "So I got to work with Ed because no one else wanted to?"

At that Riza laughed lightly and said, "Yes and no. Over the last six months, Edward has gone through several assistants. Before that, a woman named Sheska worked for him. She was very good. She worked under your father several years ago, but it was Ed who'd gotten her that job in the first place."

"What happened to Sheska?" Elysia asked, wondering if maybe she'd killed herself from having to work under such a jerk all those years.

"She's head of South Central's Library Branch now."

"Impressive," Elysia said, and meant it.

Riza nodded. "I hear she likes it very much." She paused, gave Elysia a thoughtful look, then said, "I'm sure she'd be happy to talk to you if you wanted to give her a visit."

"I wouldn't want to intrude..." Elysia said uncomfortably. She didn't know how she felt about barging in on someone she'd never met before.

With a smile, Riza said, "Would you like me to call her for you? I would be happy to do it."

"Would it be a lot of trouble?" Elysia asked, shifting in her chair.

"Not at all," Riza said.

Elysia sat there and listened to the brief phone call. Riza introduced herself on the phone and quickly explained about Elysia. As Riza hung up, she said, "Sheska says that she'd be happy to talk with you right now if you have time. I can have one of my subordinates give you a ride. Just head down to the front and wait, alright?"

"That's really nice of you. Thank you very much," Elysia said politely. She couldn't believe how well that had worked out. As she started toward the door, Riza called her name.

"Did you really call Edward short?"

Elysia blushed lightly. "Well... kinda... not on purpose..."

Riza gave a smile and her eyes twinkled with laughter. "Be sure to come visit me again, alright?"

"I will," Elysia said with a smile of her own. She liked Riza—or what she'd seen of her so far. She seemed like a no-nonsense type of woman. Someone who was strong and independent. Someone that Elysia could look up to.

"ELYSIA!" Elysia found herself being hugged tightly by a mousy, brown-haired woman. "It's been so long! You were only a little girl the last time I saw you!" The woman finally let go of her and stepped back. "I'm Sheska, but you know that don't you. Oh you're just as cute as your pictures!" Elysia's face began to burn and she wondered how many people in Central knew her because of her father's stupid pictures.

"Thank you for seeing me," Elysia said politely as she eased into a chair.

"Not at all!" Sheska exclaimed. Her voice had a high pitched quality to it that made her sound loud even when she wasn't talking loudly. "I'm so happy to see you! Colonel Hawkeye said you're working for Ed now?"

"Yeah..."

"Isn't he just great?" Sheska said with a smile.

"Eh..." Elysia wasn't really sure how to answer that. "Maybe to you?" she finally said.

Sheska laughed. "He does get grouchy sometimes, doesn't he?"

"Well, I guess. I mean, this is only the first day I've worked for him, and I hadn't seen him since I as little before today. I hear he's gone through a lot of assistants since you left."

For the first time, Sheska frowned. "Yes... I'd heard that. I can't imagine why. It's such an easy job."

"Maybe because he's rude and he won't give any details on what his assistants are supposed to do?" Elysia suggested.

"Oh well, that's silly," Sheska said. "I typed all the information his future assistants would need and put it all together in a booklet."

Elysia stared at her for a moment, then pulled out the paper Ed had given her earlier. "This?" she asked in disbelief.

Sheska took a look at it then shook her head. "On no, not that." She rummaged around for a few minutes, then held up a homemade book of about fifty pages. "It's all here."

Elysia stared at it for a moment in dumfounded silence, then glanced at Sheska. "Uh... did you give Ed a copy of that?"

More silence.

"Now that you mention it..." Sheska said thoughtfully. "I think this is the only copy..."

Elysia thought about that for a moment, then said, "Does Ed know that no one has gotten a copy of that since you left?" If he didn't, then that would explain why he seemed to think that Elysia should know exactly what should be done, and it would also explain why he'd gone through so many assistants. They'd all seem like incompetent idiots.

"Ooops?" Sheska said sheepishly, then thrust the book toward Elysia. "But it's yours now," she said. "My number is in there too if you have any questions, but it's pretty thorough. Where to put everything, how stuff is organized... I even documented my observations on his behavior patters. For example, he gets really grouchy in the mornings, especially if he has to get up early. And then he's like that all day. Better just to let him sleep unless he tells you specifically to wake him up. But that's just an example. It's all in there."

Elysia took the book and flipped through it, then said, "So you're saying that Ed was acting like a jerk today because I woke him up early?"

"Uh... well... That's not to say he can't be difficult sometimes..." Sheska said hesitantly. "But if you know how to deal with him, he's really not so bad, and he's actually a pretty nice guy for the most part."

"Uh huh..." Elysia muttered, then shut the book. "Okay, I'll take it," she said with determination. She'd read through it tonight and try her luck tomorrow. With the help of this manual, she should be able to do a much better job than anyone else working under Ed since Sheska left.

"It really is a good job," Sheska said. "There's often times that you don't have anything to do and you can just sit there and read and read and read. It's great." She gave a small, happy sigh. "I still miss it, but..." Sheska gave a small shrug as if to say that life goes on.

Ed sat back and looked at the clock. It was almost seven o'clock. He shook his head and looked over his array, then stood and washed his chalky hands off in the sink. He hadn't even noticed the time passing, but that was how it has always been with him. Whenever he got involved in something, he lost track of everything else around him.

There were still a couple of reports he needed to write today, but he'd do that after dinner, then he'd go back to the array. Ed opened his fridge, grimaced, then checked the cupboard and decided on canned soup. Nothing fantastic, but he didn't want to go out and he hadn't bothered shopping in a while.

As he heated the soup in the small pan, Ed wondered what had happened to Elysia. She hadn't come back, and once he'd gotten involved with his work, he'd completely forgotten about her. Maybe she wouldn't come back at all. He supposed that would probably be for the best. She didn't know what she was doing, and he didn't think she liked having to take orders from anyone. He had a feeling that Hughes and his wife had let her get away with a lot over the years.

Ed smiled a little. He supposed he could understand not liking to take orders. Then he sighed. He did feel a little guilty for how he'd reacted earlier, and a little embarrassed as well. It wasn't as if she'd been trying to insult him—or at least, he didn't think so.

Pouring the soup into a bowl, Ed decided that he'd call and apologize tomorrow. Maybe he'd tell her not to bother coming back too. This wasn't the job for her, and he really needed someone who knew what they were doing. Hughes would understand, Ed was sure of it.

Too bad, Ed thought regretfully. She was pretty too...

Then he shook his head at himself and started eating. Who was he kidding? She was merely eye candy. Even if she'd worked out as his assistant, it's not like she would have been anything more than that. He was twenty-nine and she was seventeen. He was devoted to alchemy and he doubted she was devoted to anything in her life right now. They'd probably bore each other to death.

But she definitely was pretty...

He wondered idly if she cooked as well as her mother did. She'd probably make someone a good wife... Not him, but someone... Feeling ridiculous and a little depressed at that line of thought, Ed finished the last of his soup, tossed the bowl into the sink, and headed over to his desk to type of those reports.

So many thank yous to aino_hikaru for fan art for this story. The link can be found on my profile. (I just put the link up so if it's not there that's probably because ff.n takes a while to update stuff).

Comments are always loved and appreciated.