Stand by You

XXVII

As I sat miserably in my wheelchair and slinged arm, the door to my room opened and Edward came in. "Eve!" He yelled, seeing the state I was in, running up to me. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not," I sighed. "I can't move."

"Why not?"

"My collarbone is cracked and I just had my stitches replaced. They already know that I ran from the hospital once and now in my current position, I'm not allowed to leave Command Center. If I'm seen stepping one foot outside of Central Command while not being in my wheelchair they'll keep me bedridden. This sucks Ed! I can't do anything, and therefore you can't do anything because I'm supposed to keep you out of places where I can't keep you safe--"

"Hold up-enough about me. What about you?"

"Huh? What about me?"

"Have you noticed anything...off since you've arrived here? Anyone following you? Erie feelings at all?"

"Not that I recall. What makes you ask that?"

"No reason-really!" Edward got nervous and shook his hands in front of me.

I eyed him suspiciously before laughing. "Whatever you say," I shrugged still laughing, although cringing as I remembered my injury. I pulled Edward's coat and he leaned down as I pecked him on the cheek.

Edward blushed as he cleared his throat. "We need to go somewhere anyways," he grasped my wheelchair and began to wheel me.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Where are you taking me?"

"Someone who I know that has the answer to my question," Edward vaguely replied.

*~*~*~*~*~

I chuckled as we stood outside of Lieutenant Hawkeye's apartment, Black Hayate tackling Edward while barking when he came out of his doggy door. The door opened to reveal Lieutenant Hawkeye in a plain button-up top while wearing a pink halter jacket over her shoulders, dark pants, and house slippers, looking at her dog with disapproval. "Bad Hayate," she scolded, causing her dog to whimper.

I grabbed the back of Edward's coat and helped him up from my position in the wheelchair. Lieutenant Hawkeye apologized, "I'm sorry about that."

"It's no problem," Edward assured. "It happens to me a lot. I heard you've been assigned to the Führer."

"What?!" I yelled.

"Yeah," Lieutenant Hawkeye nodded. "And it's just me-the rest of the Colonel's team are separated to the furthest points of the military's power."

Hawkeye let us in to her apartment and treated us to coffee, which I gratefully drank. I had almost forgotten the little thing she gave me a few days ago. "Oh, yeah, here's your gun by the way," I handed her back the handgun, which was covered in grime and blood.

She examined it, "Looks like you had a pretty hard time of it." She got up from the table and rummaged through her cabinets to look for cleaning supplies for her gun.

"It may not look like it, but I didn't shoot anyone," I said.

"I'm glad Eve had the gun because I don't think I could've shot anyone with it if I had it," Edward admitted, making Lieutenant Hawkeye and I to pause at what we were doing to see what he had to say. "I'm hopeless," Edward continued, gazing at his reflection in the coffee liquid. "I got no resolve, so I'm always putting everyone else out."

"Did something happen?" Lieutenant Hawkeye asked.

"It turns out Scar is the one who killed Winry's parents," Edward spat it out, Lieutenant Hawkeye tensing up upon hearing this. "At that moment, she was going to shoot him, but I knew it was wrong. Suddenly, the gun looked like something scary. Before I knew it...Eve was in front of Winry and between Scar because I was too shocked and scared to do anything. I think she hated Scar enough to want to kill him."