Author's Note: Hooray for chapter eight! Thank you to all of you who have been reading my story. Don't forget to leave a comment if you get the chance or want to. I'll take advice, questions, constructive criticism, or anything like that. Also, if you would like me to read some of your work and review, I would be more than happy to! Also, just as a side note, I am doing a lot of revising to this story. So, if you are a little thrown off right now by how the chapters are displayed, don't freak out, they will all be uniform soon.

C H A P T E R E I G H T

Lazarus

Pumping his legs as fast as he could, Edward found himself exiting the neighborhood and passing the first building that towered ahead; marking the first street of downtown Central. Rounding the corner, Edward once again, hollered ahead at Sam, listening as the people he passed on the street chuckled or gasped, mumbling about how unfortunate it was to be chasing a dog, or muttering insults about how the Sheppard should be better trained. The last remark didn't make him feel as bad considering Sam wasn't his dog.

Soon enough he came to it; Vine and Windsor—one of the busiest intersections in downtown Central. He shouldn't have been worried about Sam getting hit, she was already weaving in and out of cars and was safely on the other side of the street. No, he should've been worried about himself getting hit, but his selflessness took over and instinct drove him out into the street. The first sedan he dodged barely, and the van in the next lane stopped just in time to avoid hitting him.

"S—!"

BAM!

Something had rammed into his side, shattering his ribcage with such force that when he hit the ground he swore he could hear his head crack open on the cement. Blood gathered in his mouth as suddenly people were standing over him, asking him stupid questions like, "Are you okay?" or "Do you need an ambulance?". He couldn't speak; the pain seemed to have vanished; as if his body had done him mercy and had canceled it out. But he knew that wasn't true…he was dying…this was the end. Who would've thought that something so typical like this would happen to someone as untypical as himself?

Strange how fate worked that way…

Before his vision faded completely someone had pushed their way through the crowd and was soon kneeling so close to him it would be ridiculous to not recognize who they were.

Edward Elric.

"Wait a second…" he whispered, "Am I dreaming…?"

Suddenly, everything became very real as his eyes snapped open to the sound of an alarm clock flashing 8:00pm at him so profoundly he had to close his eyes and rub them before reaching over and turning the stupid thing off. He grimaced just as his finger hit the button.

He hurt.

His entire body hurt.

It wasn't that kind of oh, this will feel fine later hurt. It was real pain, and even moving a finger sent pain rocketing up the length of his arms. His only thought was that he could still possibly be dreaming or he really had been hit by a car and someone had brought him back home, or taken him to their house to take care of him. He could only think of a few people who would do that, but he lacked the effort to really sort out where he was so he could call for them to come into the room.

"Sorry about the alarm clock, I forgot to turn it off.."

Edward's brows knit as he slowly rolled over onto his side to face the door. He met a pair of cerulean eyes, belonging to a girl looking to be in her early teens. "Who the hell are you?" he didn't mean to be blunt, but he couldn't help it; he was sincerely confused, and the pain wasn't helping keep his agitation at bay if answers weren't provided.

The girl made a face; scrunching up her nose and narrowing her eyes slightly. "Lexi," she answered flatly. She didn't seem interested in exchanging names or any sort of information. "And I already know who you are, so don't waste your breath by telling me."

Well if he had been blunt, she was having no problem returning the favor. He was glad that she had bothered to tell him what her name was, but what he wasn't so pleased with was the amount of questions he had and how difficult they were possibly going to be to get answered from a brat.

"Alright, and how do you know that? I've never seen you before in my life." He said slowly.

There was a long sigh, "That's because there would've been no reason for you to know me before you were brought back, genius." She paused, "I mean…you do remember what happened, right?" Lexi entered the room hesitantly.

Edward's lips pressed into a tight line. What did he remember exactly…?

"Getting hit by a car."

Lexi chewed on her bottom lip. The action was something Edward took badly, and he slowly—ignoring the shooting pain through his left side—sat up. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just that…a lot has happened, especially to you since that accident." She finally moved to sit down on the edge of the bed, "Like…the transmutation just a few hours ago."

A chill raced down Edward's back as he tried to understand without Lexi telling him outright what happened with the transmutation. "What transmutation…?"

Lexi looked away from Edward, debating whether or not to shed some light on the subject.

Edward's jaw tensed and he looked away briefly. "It wouldn't have happened to be a human transmutation by any chance, was it?" he asked stiffly.

"Sort of," Lexi studied Edward's suddenly dark expression carefully. She decided to take the look as a warning and was careful with her words. "Reverse human transmutation."

Edward cut her a sharp look, every muscle in his body rigid. "There's no such thing."

Reverse human transmutation? Was that even possible? Hell, what did that even consist of? Obviously it was bending the rules of science in a way they never should be bent, and why would someone even want to discover something like that? Sure, he got the whole mourning for a loved one part, but still, there were lines that just weren't meant to be crossed. And human transmutation, no matter how you went about it, was one dark subject that no one should ever tamper with.

"Actually, Mr. Prodigy, there is."

"And you would know?"

"Yes, I would."

"How?"

Lexi stood up and put her hands on her small hips, "Because my dad is the one who came up with it."

Edward shook his head and looked away to close his eyes and focus on staying calm. The questions were beginning to seriously pile up now. How was he alive if he had died? Who is her dad? Why was he in so much pain? Why wasn't he a homunculus? Why didn't he remember anything about the Gate or any 'white light' when he was moribund?

"Oh, by the way, your soreness will be prolonged since you have your entire body to worry about now."

Edward's eyes snapped open, "Come again?"

"Ugh…did being dead damage your hearing?" she reached for his right arm, and unlike Edward was expecting, she yanked on it, causing him to hiss sharply from the pain.

"Will you stop touching me?" he snapped and jerked his arm back to study it. It was real. No automail anywhere on his arm. And his leg? He moved it, and sure enough he could really feel the bed and sheets beneath him. "How is this possible…?" he whispered.

"Honestly? I don't know, but be grateful that my dad's idea actually worked." She grinned.

Edward inhaled slowly and moved his index fingers to massage his temples. "Excellent. So, please explain to me what happened again, and how the hell I am here right now?"

Lexi chewed on her bottom lip, "Well…" she began slowly, "From what I was told, you died three months ago, then you went missing for a while, then a homunculus version of you showed up at my dad's work for some reason and he helped bring the real you back. So, here you are now, resting in bed. Any more questions?"

He cast the teen a dull stare, "Yeah, I do. Here's one; how was your dad able to bring me back, let alone as a new and improved me? There has never been any rumors concerning 'reverse human transmutation'."

"Hah! Let's not get carried away. My dad isn't a superhero, so there is a pretty good chance you're a little messed up. And to tell you the truth—like I have been—I don't know much about my dad's work, although I do know his goal was to help those that were wrongly brought back through a human transmutation." She shrugged.

Edward inhaled slowly; if Lexi couldn't give him exact details there was only one other person that could. "I need to speak with your dad right now."

"Can't."

"And why the fuck not?" he gritted his teeth together; things were beginning to seriously ride on his nerves. Why would anyone be stupid enough to try and bring someone back from the dead? And why had it worked?

Lexi scowled the second Edward's foul language hit her ears, "Because he's been unconscious for the last hour, so relax and sleep like I said you should. You're getting upset over nothing—"

"Over nothing? Hah!" Edward barked out a laugh, "I should be dead right now; buried in the ground or rotting in hell, either one, but definitely not alive. I don't know about you, but that isn't 'nothing'!"

With that Edward pushed aside his pain and stood, but he was quickly intercepted by Lexi. "Oh, no, no, no, where do you think you're going?" she shoved him right back down onto his back, ignoring the sharp cry of pain.

"To take of things myself since you aren't being any help!" Edward spat, his cheeks becoming flushed with anger.

Lexi wasn't fazed by the look and didn't think twice when she said, "I don't care. You've been dead for almost three months. And if that doesn't make sense to you, think about how weak your muscles are right now. You'd trip and fall before you even reached the door."

Edward looked away, jaw clenched.

There was a moment of long silence while Lexi struggled to break it. She understood why he was so freaked—"

"I'm not freaked."

"…Ri—ight, sure you aren't." She rolled her eyes, "Anyways, try to think of this in a positive way. Do you know how lucky you are to be here right now? This isn't something that happens to anyone. How you came to be the one that this happened to, I don't know, but you should be excited to see the faces of people you haven't seen for months."

"What would you have me tell those people?"

"…Uhm…well you could start by saying 'hello,' I guess…"

"That's not what I mean."

Lexi frowned, "Well, I don't have a better answer for you other than that. Sure, people will a little freaked out by the fact that you're back, but you're smart; just come up with some lie." She shrugged.

Edward said nothing in response to Lexi's suggestion. He couldn't believe he was even letting himself take in advice from a control freak.

A lie.

Well no shit he had to come up with one. Things would take an ugly turn if he told people the truth; that yes he had died, and had somehow been mysteriously brought back to life by a random guy. Then, while people would be poking and prodding at him as if he were some vampire or zombie, others would be questioning him about what it is like to die or if there really is a heaven or hell

"Well, I'm going to go check on dad." Lexi's voice came from the doorway. Edward hadn't even noticed that she had moved there. "Please sleep before I consider chaining you to the bed."

Edward shot the girl a dirty look, surely sending an unspoken threat if she tried.

Lexi turned to leave then, but before she left she placed a hand on the door and turned to look at Edward one last time. "Look, I know that this is all really overwhelming, but there isn't anything you can do about it now. So, just accept it and move on…" she offered hesitantly. "Just think of this as a blessing in disguise." She smiled before finally leaving, closing the door behind her.

A blessing in disguise?

Yeah right.

All this is…is cheating death.

Edward hated admitting that people were right, but Lexi definitely had been. His muscles were sore and nausea was his enemy the moment he took three steps toward the door. He tried to ignore that, but his legs gave out on him and instead of catching himself, his face smacked against the floor and he had to drag himself back to the bed, defeated. So, to pass the time, he spent the last forty-five minutes staring at the clock, watching the minutes of his so called second chance at life slip away.

He also spent the time thinking about his last thought before Lexi left to go be with her dad. Cheating death. Yes, this was all this "reverse human transmutation" crap was doing/ It wasn't feasible! When you die, you die. Dead things shouldn't be played with, but apparently not everyone had the same opinion there; someone brought him back through a human transmutation, and his homunculus counterpart was created. Then, someone wanted to help him in a bizarre way of, not leaving him dead, but bringing him back.

"Can't this crap happen to someone else for a change…?" Edward mumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow. Just then he heard a the loud thud of a fist banging against something echo through the house; someone was either at the front door or banging on the walls. Brows knit and he slowly pushed himself up to stare at the closed bedroom door. He heard footsteps pass by his door, and soon enough the sound of the front door opening hit his ears. There were muffled voices, hardly audible, but he could definitely tell that there were more than two people.

Curiosity gripped him as he rolled off the bed and onto all fours. He crawled to the door, and while using the door-handle and dresser near him to stand up and press his ear against the door. He still couldn't distinctly make out any familiar voices, but he was positive that the higher pitched one belonged to Lexi.

He frowned as the voices stopped and multiple footsteps started coming down the hall. Edward dropped his eyes to the light that shone through the crack in door, to see that whoever was in the hallway had stopped right outside his door. There was some whispers that were lost through the density of the door, but someone else was coming into the hallway, and talking much louder.

"Look, I know all three of you military snakes think I'm lying, but I'm not! My dad still isn't home, and no one else is here! I've been alone since my dad left to go get my medicine."

"We have a warrant to search the house, and if there is no one else here then you should have nothing to worry about."

Edward his head away from the door; he knew that voice…

He moved to press his ear back against the door, however, when he felt the door handle turning against his hip he tensed, and when the door was pushed open, he automatically pushed it right back shut from his weight against the door.

"What the...?"

Edward swallowed, he knew that voice too.

Without warning, the door suddenly flung open with such force that he felt his nose shift to the side with a gut wrenching crunch and he was flung back against the wall with a groan.

Edward crumbled to the floor, hardly aware that three familiar faces were staring down at him with wide eyes. "Oh my God…"

"Whoaaa," there was a laugh, "okay, this is freaky."

Edward cracked open his eyes, first catching a familiar pair of dark eyes, though now they were worn from stress and lack of sleep. Both his hands cradled his nose, though his attempt to stop the waterfall of blood was hardly working. His nose was definitely broken, and the blood didn't fail to provide proof that it was as it dripped from his hands and face. Thankfully, his shirt was black, but the blood stained the denim of his pants instantly.

Cody stepped forward, not seeming as stunned as his co-workers. Grasping Edward's left elbow, he hoisted him up, and when he noticed that his superior couldn't stand on his own he took his arm and slung it over his shoulders while wrapping his own arm around Edward's back.

"Fullmetal," Mustang said the name slowly. His eyes were tight with skepticism, unlike Aaron who was gaping at him. "You're…alive."

Edward closed his eyes; he wasn't going to respond to stupid statement like that when he was in pain.

"A-And you have your arm back," Aaron sounded like she had been holding her breath since she came into the room. "Is your leg…?"

Edward groaned, he could feel his face swelling and his pain had returned with vengeance that was making him nauseous again. "Bed." He managed through his hand, eyes opening.

Everyone in the room seemed to understand that he was in pain, and Mustang stepped forward to take Edward's elbow and steer him toward the bed. Once he was seated, the general pursed his lips together. No one seemed sure of what to do. Seeing Edward alive and right under their noses after all this searching was too much of a shock. Not enough for there to be crying and hugging, but to give almost a sense of feeling that nothing had ever been wrong; that this was just another case and they had just rescued Edward from being held captive by some teenager.

Well…in a way, it did truly seem that way, but they had all seen Edward dead with their own eyes. And they all knew very well that for nearly three months they had been looking for a dead Edward Elric.

"Ed," Mustang was the first to speak. "I'm not even sure how—" he glanced toward Aaron, "—you're supposed to be dead." His expression and tone did nothing to hide the General's skepticism.

Edward parted his lips, inhaling a scent that was laden with blood. He felt his stomach churn uncomfortably.

"Here," Aaron's tremulous hand was soon outstretched, holding a handkerchief.

Edward took it, and while using one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose the other held the handkerchief underneath his nostrils. "Lexi," he began, his voice congested, "any questions you have to interrogate me with should go to her."

Mustang exchanged a look with Cody, and in silent understanding he moved to the hallway. Instead of coming right back into the room, he walked further down the hall to find the teenager.

Edward didn't mind the silence that had settled in the room, in fact he relished in it; his head was beginning to pound relentlessly. But his peace didn't last long…

"Cody!" Mustang frowned.

"Boss, she's gone!" Cody's voice came from the other room, and soon he was in the doorway.

Hurriedly brushing past Cody, Mustang walked back toward the entrance. The door that had been shut at the end of the hallway was open now, and the front door was ajar; as if someone had left carrying something and had forgotten to come back and close the door.

"Shit!" Mustang cursed under his breath and went back to the room. "Where the hell did she go?"

"How should we know? We were in the room with you." Cody answered, gesturing toward Edward and Aaron.

Edward swallowed a mouthful of blood, "Is her dad gone too?"

"There wasn't anyone else in the house from what I could see." Cody frowned, "Do you know where they might've gone?"

"No," Edward shook his head.

"Did you talk to the girl at all?"

He nodded, and when no one said anything he made an assumption that he was supposed to respond with more than that. "Well, other than constantly hitting on the fact that I was dead and brought back to life, she mentioned something about a-" he paused and gestured toward a garbage can. After Aaron grabbed it for him and he spat out a mouthful of blood he continued, "—'reverse human transmutation' theory of her dad's. She claimed that was how I was brought back."

"Just like that book you found, Aaron." Mustang noted.

"But how could something like that be possible?" Aaron asked.

Edward shrugged.

Mustang heaved a sigh, "Alright, the longer we sit here the further Lexi and her father get from us, and the more blood Fullmetal loses."

"How are we going to take him to Central Hospital when he is supposed to be dead?"

"We'll just have to take care of his nose ourselves."

"Dr. Mundlin has an office in HQ's basement that is almost always unlocked for people to get first aid crap." Cody suggested.

"Good, we'll take him there."

Mustang and Cody stepped forward again, helping Edward to his feet and out of the room. When they reached the car, Aaron held the door open so Edward could sit in the front passenger seat. Cody and she got in the backseat while Mustang drove them all back to headquarters.

The ride was quiet, save for the occasional hisses or groans of pain from Edward. The reality of things still hadn't sunk into all of them yet; Edward being alive and the car was full with the same four people that had worked so tightly together before his death. It was difficult for anyone to think of this satiation as strange or unusual.

Edward still couldn't help but feel like everyone's eyes were on him though, as if everyone but him believed that he would vanish from the car if they looked away.

When they arrived at Central Headquarters, everyone was relieved to see that there weren't many cars in the back parking lot. Not that they really needed to go inside, they were able to get downstairs to Dr Mundlin's office easily by the stairs on the outside of the cement edifice.

Aaron walked ahead of the three men to unlock the door as well as be on the look-out for anyone in their path. No one was around. In fact, it was eerily quiet, but they all reminded themselves that it was almost ten o'clock on a Saturday night. Everyone was out, except for those on the upper levels of the building that had to be there.

"In here." Aaron opened up the door to the small medical room that served as an examination room as well as Dr. Mundlin's office. Then, leaving the trio she took antiseptic and a towel with her to track back the way they had came and clean up the trail of blood from Edward.

Edward sat on the white examination bed while Mustang and Cody went to work on finding everything they found necessary to stop a bloody nose. There wasn't much. In fact, all they could do to help was give him a clean and much bigger towel and water to help with getting the blood out of his mouth and cleaning it off his face. When Aaron came back she helped more, folding a piece of gauze to where it was small enough to fit underneath Edward's upper up in front of his teeth.

"Well, it's definitely broken." Aaron said while observing Edward's crooked nose. It wasn't too noticeable, but it didn't look right. "But I don't want to be the one who fixes it." She grimaced and looked at Mustang.

The four of them had been in the room for thirty minutes and Edward's nose still had yet to stop bleeding. Cody was spinning around in Dr. Mundlin's chair, seeming bored, but his expression said he was amused by this whole thing, especially when Mustang stood and walked over to Edward.

"I'll fix it then."

Edward's eyes widened, "Don't fuckin' touch me." He pulled the hand that was pinching the bridge of his nose and held it out in front of him to keep Mustang as bay. "I've dealt with enough pain, and I don't need any more because you aren't a doctor."

Mustang snorted, "You wouldn't let a doctor even touch your nose." He rolled up the sleeves to his white button up. "Quit being a child and let me fix it. The longer you wait the worse the correction is going to be."

"Then I'll live with it crooked!"

"Ed—"

"Stay back!"

"It'll only take a second, relax!"

Mustang easily pried both of Edward's hands from his nose, and released them to place both his palms on either side of Edward's swollen nose. In one swift moment and sharp cry of pain, Edward's nose was centered again with a few crunches and cracks of cartilage. Edward jerked back and practically collapsed on the bed, writhing and cursing.

"Well that's one way to get it done…" Aaron muttered, lofting her brows at Mustang before she walked over to the counter, searching through the drawers for something.

Mustang folded his arms across his chest, satisfied with his work. Cody was laughing, drowning out Edward's constant groans of pain. Blood was flowing freely again and pain was a hot fire around his nose again.

Aaron came back with a syringe full of a clear liquid. "Found this; it'll keep him content for at least six hours." she showed Mustang the white rectangular label on the body of the syringe that had been labeled Morphine in Dr. Mundlin's familiar chicken scratch.

"That'll do. We should probably give it to him now while he's crying over his nose." Mustang suggested, well aware of Edward's phobia. If they waited until he was focusing on them then he would put up a fight. Right now was perfect with all of his attention being so absorbed by his nose.

Mustang moved, prying Edward's right hand from his nose. "What the hell do you pricks want now?" Edward complained bitterly. He was in no mood to deal with anyone touching, talking, or looking at him right now. "Just leave me the fuck alone and go work on something else."

"Oh—h, someone is pissy." Cody cooed from the chair.

"Yeah, you would be too if you were in his shoes." Aaron said in Edward's defense before she turned her attention to the blonde. "Ed, we're just helping." She assured him.

"So quit complaining." Mustang said, holding Edward's shoulder and forearm firmly even though Edward was hardly focusing well enough to pull away. It was nice that he wasn't thrashing around like he normally would've, especially when the tip of the syringe broke the skin and sunk into his arm to inject the pain killer intramuscularly.

When Aaron was finished, Mustang released Edward's arm and watched as it automatically went back to pinching his nose. The syringe was tossed into the trash and Aaron looked at the time. "Give him ten minutes and he should be feeling a little better."

"Watch that be the wrong drug." Cody mused with a grin. "Although he'd be loopy either way, so I guess it wouldn't matter."

"That's not funny, he's in a lot of pain." She moved to stand near Edward's head. He seemed to be slowly calming down. "Although he might be feel nauseous from the Morphine, but I've never seen someone throw up from it…"

"Quit talking like I'm not here." Edward muttered, eyes closed.

Aaron frowned and moved to help him sit back up. "Sorry," she placed both her hands on his shoulders. "Do you need something to lean back against?"

"No, I want to freakin' lay down."

"You can't, not with a nosebleed." She looked at Mustang, "Can you help me push the bed against the wall?"

Mustang nodded, and helped adjust the bed so it was along the wall, allowing Edward to rest back against it instead of struggling to keep himself sitting upright. Edward silently appreciated the shift, and within fifteen minutes he was fully slumped back against the wall. Aaron had jumped up to sit on the bed beside him, allowing him to rest against her so he didn't completely fall over onto his side. She could feel the warmth from his flushed face and neck through her shirt. It concerned her at first, but she reminded herself that Morphine was capable of such effects.

"Major," Mustang finally spoke up. "Do you think you could stay here with Fullmetal while Cody and I head out to find Lexi and her father.? We've wasted enough time sitting around, but we can't bring Ed along, let alone leave him here by himself."

Aaron glanced at Edward, who appeared to be asleep. "No problem." She nodded.

"Good." Mustang waved Cody over, "Have your phone on, one of us will be in touch."

And with that the door shut.

Aaron watched the two disappear down the hallway before she settled back against the wall. Both of Edward's bloody hands were resting in his lap now that they were free of tending to his nose; she had come up with a simple idea of rolling the gauze into cylinders and inserting one piece into each nostril. It was working. The gauze underneath his upper lip had been changed out a few times already, but the fresh one seemed to be holding up nicely. She hoped that meant the nosebleed wasn't going to last much longer.

Aaron felt bad for him, she truly did. Things were never easy for Edward, and being dead then coming back to life to be smacked in the face with a door wasn't exactly the ideal way to go about enjoying life. She had surprised herself with how well she was taking everything. Normally she would've freaked and ended up talking fast and asking a million questions in situations like this. But because Edward was involved, and happened to be the person everything was happened to…well…that made this different; made her different.

"You're really quiet…"

Aaron jumped a little, startled by Edward's voice; it was still stuffed, like he had really bad allergies, or was plugging his nose. "I thought you were asleep…"

"Nah."

"You aren't tired?"

Edward lifted his shoulders in a small shrug, "I'm not in pain. Why would I waste my time sleeping?"

"You're right, crazy idea; my bad."

"…What did you give me anyways?"

"Morphine."

She saw his lips tug slightly at the corners, revealing a half-assed smirk.

"What?" she asked.

"You're lucky I wasn't paying attention."

She laughed, "I know."

Silence settled in the room after Aaron's laughter died, but Edward didn't seem to want it to last as he broke the silence once again. "I'm surprised you all reacted the way you did when you saw me back there."

Aaron's brows knit slightly, "What were you expecting?"

Edward struggled to respond to that. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but rather, what he wasn't expecting. "Dunno…but definitely not this." He continued when Aaron said nothing, "Such as…well, none of you seemed freaked out by any of this."

"Oh no, we're freaked." She laughed weakly, "You showing up alive when we all saw you dead with our own eyes is…bizarre. But I think the relief and excitement of seeing you and talking with you has sort of…delayed the shock."

"That's an interesting way of putting things…"

Aaron flashed a small smile.

"Do you believe what happened though?"

"What, the transmutation?" she watched Edward nod before she continued, "Well…it's a long shot, but…nothing is impossible."

Edward made a sound in the back of his throat that sounded like a grunt, "Just fucking difficult."

"Exactly."

"You believe things too easily." Edward remarked, earning a frown from Aaron. "Do you have that book on you?"

She nodded, and moved to pull it out from the inside of her jacket, which she had lay on the edge of the bed beside her. "Here," she passed it over to him.

Taking the book from her, Edward finally opened his eyes to analyze the cryptic text. "Awesome, this'll be fun decoding." He mumbled.

Aaron rolled her eyes, "I know, but it's definitely proof that he has been researching this theory for a long time. The dates are all clear and go back a decade."

Edward closed the book and set it in his lap. He felt too lightheaded to read or think critically right now, but he fully intended on figuring out what secrets lay within the notes.

Aaron took note of his lethargy and reached over to pat his leg once. "Go to sleep, Ed. I'll let you know if something happens." She promised quietly.

He inhaled deeply and shut his eyes, "Yeah, yeah." He waved her off, "I was already going to sleep."

She smiled, "Sure you were."

"I was."

"Then go to sleep."

Edward grumbled something under his breath, and in his best attempt to make it seem like he was doing what he wanted to, and not listening to Aaron, he resumed his previous position and forced himself to relax.

Aaron waited until she heard Edward's breaths even out and slow down that she took the book from his lap and opened it up to look at it. "Six hours and he'll be all over this information..." she mused quietly, a smile gracing her lips.

"…Just like old times."