Mel blinked looking over at D and rubbed the back of her head. "Huh...you were talking?" She blushed a little and shifted. "Sorry...I can't help it...I missed him" She sighed before she flopped down on the bed looking over at her. "He's acting strange though...I didn't remember him acting this way" She sighed laying back and closed her eyes. "Weird...I hope we can make it up to them...crashing here without a warning, Uh...I miss the girls...They'd be able to help out...well...Mana would...I mean the others have useful skills...just not really for everyday stuff" Mel stretched a little before she laid on her side and closed her eyes before she fell asleep.

She laughed softly and shook her head laying down. "Mel.. he's a boy.. all boys act weird.." She smirked and waved her hand before giving a soft yawn. She rolled onto her side and curled up. "I'm telling you.. it's dimension lag... Your head will be crowded again in no time..." She snuggled her face into the pillow and dozed off.

~Morning~

Edward sighed softly sitting up having fallen asleep after questioning himself and coming up empty handed. He grumbled lightly as he checked the time. eight in the morning. "Wow, I overslept.. Al must think I died or something.." He chuckled softly and brushed his fingers through his hair before tying it back, not bothering with a braid right now. He opened the door slowly, looking around to check that the coast was clear. His heart skipping a beat as he heard a bit of noise but he didn't hear the girls, it was probably Alphonse doing something. though it was a bit of an odd noise for Alphonse to be making. He shook his head and side stepped out of the room, pulling the door shut gently behind him. Hearing the soft click he released the handle and stepped lightly down the hall, hoping to not make too much noise as he made his way down the short hallway to see what his brother was up to that was causing that odd rumbling sound.

Al hadn't noticed his brother come out of his room. He had his back facing him as he was rather interested on what was on his lap. Al wasn't quite sure how but when he had woken up this morning there was a cat laying on his chest. He had an exciting morning so far and maybe he'll find more cats later! "Such a cute little kitty...pretty colors" He smiled rubbing the cat's chin. "I wonder how you got in here, you don't have a collar or anything..Maybe I can keep you"

The stripped feline purred nuzzling Al's hand as she sniffed the air. The girls were in here but seeing as it was only eight in the morning they were out cold.

As Mel was regaining consciousness and groaned and nuzzled the pillow as the light peeked in through the window. "Hnn..." She pressed her head into the pillow trying to hide her eyes from the light. "Mmm..." Her eyes opened slowly before she rolled over pulling the blankets over her head. Lazy ass girl...Wake up! It's eight! You aren't going to sleep in! I know you can hear me! Wake up! "Ah!" Mel twitched before she flopped forward hanging off of the bed. She rubbed her forehead. "Ow...Ugh...that was rude..." Mel laid there for a moment before it sunk in. "Oh!" She pulled herself out of bed. "Uh..." She sat up and rubbed her head. "Nice to see the girls are back..."

He cocked an eyebrow as he got closer. "Kitty? Al.. you know we can't keep a cat..." Edward glanced down at the feline and looked around. "Though It is curious as to how you got in here." He frowned softly and picked up the feline by the scruff of the neck. "Like you could tell me.. but that doesn't matter.. you can't stay here with us, we can't keep a pet.." He looked back at Al. "You know we can't.. and looking after two girls is bound to be hard enough..."

D grumbled, face first into the pillow and flailed her hand around slightly tapping Mel on the face. she paused for a moment and sat up. "You're not my alarm clock.... or right...." She sat up raising an eyebrow at her as she opened her mouth to say something, tilted her head and giggled. "Glad to see they caught up to you.." She looked at the closed door, hearing murmurs coming from the other side. "The guys mys be up, I wonder what they're talking about..."

She got up and straightened out her night shirt before opening the door a crack, listening to Ed go on about how they couldn't keep a pet then to go onto compare Mel and herself to pets. Her eyebrow twitched as she opened the door fully and made her way as quickly and quietly down the hall as she could muster for a non ninja. "Excuse me... what did you just call me- Lilly?" She blinked a bit, a little confused. "How did you get in here...?" Her eyes went wide for a moment as she scooped up the cat from Edwards grasp and put her hand over their friend's mouth. "A rhetorical question of course... heh, what am I doing talking to a cat anyway...? Oh well I better go show you to Mel.. in Al's room.. come on Lil's... we were worried about where you had gotten to..." She rushed off just as fast as she came in if not faster, slamming the door shut behind her before the small feline could nip at her fingers. "Sorry about that...."

Al frowned almost teary eyed at his brother. "But brother! She's just a tiny little kitten! She could be hurt in the outside world!"He cling to the small cat before Edward grabbed it from him. "Hey! B-Brother! be nice!"

Lilly purred nuzzling Al before she was rudely taken away. She looked over at Edward as her eyes narrowed hissing at him before she swiped at his arm.

"I'm very glad the girls finally caught up to me but Kayko didn't have to be so rude..." She sat up brushing herself off before she stretched cracking her back. "Nnn...okie that's much better" She watched D walk over to the door as she placed her hands on her hips before she proceeded to get dressed.

Lilly glanced over at D before her tail started to sway. She purred and nuzzled against her when she took her from Edward. "I-" She snorted getting her mouth covered. She pawed at D's hand a bit before she was moved out of the room. "Didn't even give me a chance to say anything..."

"Lilly~" Mel grinned picking her up and nuzzling the cub. "I missed you...When did you get here? How'd you get in?"

Lilly purred rubbing her head against her neck. "The blonde doesn't lock his window..." Her tail swayed.

"Well I'm glad you were able to find us" She laughed a bit before she finished getting dressed. "But..Edward's not going to let us keep you...I wish we could convince him to let us"

She whined softly and shook her head. "We can't have you talking in front of them... we have no way to explain it... they'll think you're a talking chimera or something... and that won't go over well with them..." She rubbed her forehead and sat down on the bed. "I'm glad you have the girls back.." her nose wrinkled slightly. "Why am I always the 'normal' one...?" she glanced over at Lilly and raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing with Al anyway?"

Edward blinked opening his mouth to defend himself but soon the intruder was out of his grasp and carried away into his brother's room. "What the.. HEY! We're not keeping it! We don't have time for pets!"

"She's not a pet you idiot!" She yelled to the door scowling softly her arms crossed.

"Oh yeah? Then what is she?"

She paused and glanced at Lilly and then to Mel and smiled softly as she murmured. "My ticket into fitting in anyway...."

"I felt kind of drawn to him...like he was either a cat person or he was allergic...but since he didn't die I'm going to with cat person"

"Cuddling with someone to find out whether they're allergic or not isn't the best way to find out" Mel rubbed Lilly's ear before she looked over at the door and frowned. "He couldn't keep her out even if he wanted..." She bit her lip opening Al's door and inching out. "She's not just a pet Edward..." She frowned nuzzling the cat. "She's one of my best friends" Mel set Lilly down shifting a little. "I promise you won't even know she's here! She's more like an outside cat anyway even finds her own food and everything!"

Al kneeled down and patted his lap as Lilly trotted over and crawled onto it purring. He smiled contently as he petted her before he looked up at his brother. "We should be getting ready to by clothes, the girls can't stay in one outfit the entire time they're here..."

She sighed and got back into her clothes as Mel exited the room, wrinkling her nose at the thought of wearing them longer then she had to, new clothes would be a good thing, she'd probably change into a new outfit as soon as it was paid for. She sighed and pulled her hair back into a ponytail and stepped out of the room. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned softly rubbing her eyes. "Okay.. before you blow a gasket, she's always with us. if you kick her out she'll find a way back in... anyway, she's not going to bother anyone.. most she'd probably do is distract Al for cuddles.. like now.." She giggled and shook her head. "She's very intelligent for a cat, very well trained and well behaved." She sat down beside Al, scratching under Lilly's chin.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm so sure... Cat's do what they want, you can't train them like a dog. they'd much rather nap then get trained." he looked at Al and scratched his head. "I guess.." He grumbled, not really looking forward to shopping, mentally kicking himself for agreeing to do so, hoping Mustang hadn't rubbed off on him, the last thing he needed was to get caught spying on Mel changing. He sighed and pulled his hair tie out, doing a quick braid and tying it back together. "Do you guys want to go shopping first of have breakfast?"

Al smiled hugging the small feline since she was able to stay. This was the first pet he'd be able to have! "I'm happy she get's to stay I've never had a pet before...mom never let have one...even when Edward begged her"

Lilly nuzzled Al purring loudly before he moved out of his arms and hopped up on the windowsill laying down as her tail swayed. She may not have been an actual house cat but she still enjoyed the same things.

"Yeah...you couldn't really get rid of her even if you tried..." Mel placed her hands on her hips before she yawned. "It's so early..." She mumbled and rubbed her eyes before she ran her fingers through her hair. "Food or clothes? It's way to early to eat..." She waved her hand. "Can we go shopping first? I wouldn't mind clothes that fit the time period...maybe a sundress...or I could just go buy boy clothes" She looked over at D. "Do you mind if we shop first? You know I can't eat early in the morning..."

"Early in the morning...? But it's a little past eight" He stood up but nodded. "We can do shopping first...I'm sure you two would love to get out of the same clothes and put fresh ones on"

She giggled softly. "Early for us Al.. we tend to wake up around noon and stay up until four in the morning.." She looked to Mel and shook her head. "No worries, I think it's a bit early for me too.. my stomach would kill me if I tried to eat something at this hour..." She looked to Lilly and giggled. "Are you going to stay here all day missus or are you going to come with us?" She cooed softly, raising an eyebrow at her in a slight warning to not speak. This basically meant she could choose to ignore them or hop off the windowsill and ride on one of their shoulders. though even if she chose to 'stay home' she bet the small tiger cat would be tailing them anyway.

Edward sighed having been defeated, and by a silly little cat at that. He shook his head and grabbed his coat flinging it over his shoulder, he looked to the others and rested a hand on his him. "We better get going... Al and I still have research to do this afternoon.. and Mustang said something about a mission.... I guess we'll have to see what the hell he wants too..."

She snickered and shook her head. "You guess...? Isn't he your commanding officer? Aren't you inclined to go to him when summoned?" She taunted and covered one eye pushing her chest out to try and make herself look taller. "I'm your boss Elric, you better do what I say or else." She mocked and smirked lowering her hand and raising an eyebrow as Edward burst into a fit of laughter leaning against the door for support.

"That was ridiculous... yet completely accurate..."

Lilly's tail swayed as she opened an eye looking over at the four before she yawned and rolled over onto her sighed huffing slightly. She'd most likely wait until they leave before she tailed them.

Al looked over at Lilly before he placed his hands in his pockets and waited for the others. He raised his eyebrow looking over at D chuckling slightly trying not to laugh to hard at her Roy imitation. "He does act like that...though he does always seem to add certain things in to get under Ed's skin" As funny as it was he was afraid someday his brother would leap over Roy's desk and strangle him. "Well if you'll follow us we can head off towards the store. We'll try somewhere that has a whole verity of clothes"

Mel glanced at Lilly and smiled already knowing what she'd be doing. She was happy since everything was 'normal.' She had the girls to talk to and Lilly was with them. Mel sighed contently before she placed her hands behind her back. "A verity sounds good...I don't want to be stuck with girl clothes...Though one sundress won't hurt in case we go somewhere nice in the future"

"I can't really think of anything nice that's coming up other then nice restaurants we might go too..." He paused for a minute before he made a fist and gently hit his other hand. "Oh! I believe there's the military ball that comes up in a few months"

Ed scratched his cheek scowling slightly at his brother. Why'd you have to go and bring that up? It's bad enough I can't look at her without blushing, now I'm going to have to try and ask her to the ball without stammering like a complete idiot...

"Dancing...?" She murmured and smirked looking to Mel. "Mel has two left feet without the aid of automail when it comes to dancing.." She teased linking arms with Mel as she stuck her tongue out slightly, showing she was being playful, but that didn't make it any less true. Mel hated dancing.. at least in public. D on the other hand had been dancing since she was five until about twelve when she hurt herself. She still liked dancing but she stopped taking lessons and competing after that.

He blinked looking at D then to Mel. "Oh.. you don't like to dance..?" He murmured glancing to the door again, shifting his weight slightly. he was starting to get fidgety. He needed to start doing something before he did something stupid, and by stupid he was fighting his urges. Nothing perverted of course, but he did have a very strong urge to hold her hand, among other things that floated in the back of his mind that probably shouldn't see the light of day given the situation currently.

"I...can sort of dance..." Mel looked at the floor and poked it with her foot. "I can't...fast dance...I guess slow dancing is easy...spinning in a circle slowly" She rubbed her head. "D and I slow danced all the time when we went to each others prom" She huffed a bit. "I used to dance when I was little..." She shivered a bit remember all of her dance outfits. "I was a little girl when I danced in public with a group...I took a few years of tap but I mostly did ballet...ugh..." She shivered again. "But proms and things don't bother me as long as I have friends to dance with"

Al looked over at his brother and shifted looking away. "Ah well uh..anyway..." He coughed. "Why don't we find you two some clothes" If we just keep moving Edward won't try and hurt me. He tugged on his collar a bit. "Then after we finish shopping we can find something to eat, I'm sure you girls will be hungry again"

She scratched her cheek and smiled softly. "Yeah, we'll be ready to eat after shopping. She glanced at Mel and raised an eyebrow, rolling her eyes and nudging her slightly. "I'm sure that's all behind you now.. don't let it haunt you.." she wiggled her fingers and smirked. "Dancing wasn't that bad... I at least got to go to amusement parks because of where we were competing... yes ballet sucked, but it was mandatory for everyone who competed in the dance company... I hated tap though, despised with with a passion..." she giggled and shook her head tugging Mel out the door. "Come on~ the sooner we get changed the sooner I'll feel more human."

He frowned softly at his brother and sighed, his shoulder drooping slightly as he shuffled out the door. He didn't have the nerve to ask her. The great Fullmetal Alchemist was afraid of getting shot down. Some fearless dog of the military he turned out to be. he looked over his shoulder, his anger at his brother lost to his own thoughts. "You commin' Al? You don't honestly expect me to have to handle the both of them on my own do you?" He made his way down the hall, following the girls and making his way outside, looking around for a moment. "Now where was that shop...?"

"I liked soccer much better...or horse back riding even though I got thrown off...twice" She coughed. "Anyway" She stood up straight and grinned. "I try not to let the past haunt me" Mel placed her hands in her pockets walking out the door and looked around yawning a bit. It would take her a bit to wake up fully. Eating would help with that. Once they got outside Mel rubbed her eyes and grumbled. "Uh...bright...I think from now on I'm going to carry a bag with me at all times full of random stuff I'd want to take with my when we randomly get sucked into another dimension...like sunglasses"

I have a bunch of extra pairs...though...I can't really give them to you...

Al gulped after the look his got from his brother. "Of course brother I don't want to be rude" He nodded a bit before he quickly followed after his brother. Once he got outside he lifted his arm and pointed. "Just a few blocks down that way, this shouldn't take long at all"

"I'm glad for that! If I don't eat I'll die!" Mel frowned and placed a hand of her stomach. "But even though my stomach's growling I couldn't eat now...I'm not used to getting up early and eating...not in school anymore...thank god" She rolled her eyes. Mel then hung her head. "I'm so old..."

She rolled her eyes and laughed softly walking down the street humming to herself. She didn't mind dresses, it was just hard for her to find clothes she liked. She wrinkled her nose at the past memories of shopping with her mom. She never liked anything in the stores and what she did like never really... fit right. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Ugh.. shopping.." She mumbled, more to herself then anyone else. She didn't hate it, but with her luck she'd find nothing she liked or it wouldn't be in her size. Damn my bustiness!

He raised an eyebrow at Mel's comment, remembering the last time they were here and D had a habit of almost dying, along with Mel's outburst that nearly killed her best friend which caused the awkward situation. He winced slightly another twinge in his chest as he looked away. It had been years since she had been here last, she could have moved on, but asking seemed hopeless, if she had, then what was all that research for? All of that time and hours staying up way past any normal human should be up, all for nothing. He couldn't risk everything coming crashing down on him. His head swam with possibilities, but he shook his head quickly to scramble them, he didn't want to think about it right now.

Al looked over at D walking up beside her and blinked. "Do you not want to go? You seemed excited before" He frowned. "I wouldn't have suggested we go now...is it to early for you? Maybe we should eat first?" He didn't know what to say since she seemed excited before hand.

Mel stretched a bit placing her hands behind her back staring up at the sky. She grinned a bit. "At least it's a nice day...better then all the raining yesterday when we got here" Her cheeks darkened a little. "Though the rain wasn't so bad" She coughed before she poked her fingers together.

You just liked the fact that you got to wear his coat...

Oh hush! I think it was romantic

Does he still think your a creepy fangirl?

Mel twitched slightly before facepalming. "That wasn't needed..." She mumbled to herself before tripping. ".....who put this sidewalk here...!? But I completely meant to do that!"

She scratched her cheek."It's not that.." She smiled softly and shook her head. "It's just hard for me to find clothes I like... and that fit me properly.." She blinked tilting her head. "But you guys have tailors here too don't ya?" She smiled sheepishly. "They aren't all that common where we are.. so we don't really alter our clothes to fit us...

He yelped softly catching her arm slightly. "Are you alright..?" He watched her for a moment and blushed deeply before looking away, clearing his throat. "Try to.. uh.. be more careful next time..." He mumbled.

She scowled softly looking over at Ed and Mel and smacked her forehead mumbling to Al. "Your brother's one smooth operator.." She commented sarcastically before shaking her head. "God, I wish they'd get a room already.. all this sexual frustration is getting annoying.." She smirked raising an eyebrow at Al before shaking her head laughing softly. "Never mind.."

His antenna wiggled slightly as he turned his head slowly to look back at D, eyebrow twitching. If D didn't watch her volume he'd transmute her mouth shut, or at the very least try to.

Al nodded. "We have plenty of tailors around here" He smiled. "I'm sure we could find something that fits you though" He raised his eyebrow. "Really no tailors in your world? That's a bit odd you would think as long as people still wear clothes people we need tailors but if we find something you like and if it doesn't fit you we cold bring it to a tailor" Al then paused. "Though Alchemy could probably fix it just as well..."

Mel blushed slightly rubbing her cheek. "Ah thanks...guess I wasn't watching where I was going..." She coughed. "Guess things like my klutziness hasn't changed at all..."

Al rubbed the back of his head and sweatdropped. "Well...I just think he's nervous" Al looked over at her. "I mean after all that's happened once you left Ed realized he must have liked her...and years later you two appear again...Ed probably thinks she's moved on..."

....That was a close one...next time we'll have to get you to land on him

"......" Mel whined quietly to herself. Keeping the girls a secret will be harder then she thought if they were going to be out to get her. "T-Thanks Ed" Mel looked over at D and frowned. "You know how D's always joking..." She stood up and brushed off glancing over at Edward before staring at the ground.

She let out an exasperated huff, crossing her arms, feeling much like the boy who cried homunculus. She gave the shrimp an opening, both of them and neither of them took it. She tapped her foot slightly raising an eyebrow. "If you're done making eyes at each other.. can we continue..?"

"R-right..." He murmured releasing Mel's arm, clearing his throat he turned away from her and continued down the street, his shoulders drooped slightly but hardly noticeable unless you stared at him for hours on end as a hobby.

She rolled her eyes and continued after them with a soft yawn. being up this early was something she was only use to while working, and she wasn't working, so her body was sluggish, demanding more rest. she ignored the pitiful whines and continued to follow the alchemist, watching his braid sway back and forth, keeping her mind off things she could say, figuring she had pushed the small boys buttons enough... for this hour.

Al coughed a bit as he stood to the side not really wanting to get involved. He wasn't quite sure what D was trying to do. It seemed like she was just trying to embarrass his brother. "Um...t-the store is just around the corner" He sighed before he pointed over his shoulder. "W-Why don't we keep moving..."

Mel blinked after Edward helped her to her feet. She looked over at D before blushing slightly and staring at the ground. D had an awkward way of helping. Mel placed her hands behind her back as they continued walking staring at Edward quietly. She reached out and grabbed his coat tugging on it gently. "Are you okay?" Mel glanced over to Al and D waving them on a bit. She didn't want him to be embarrassed anymore.

Al nodded a bit before he took D's hand and tugged her around the corner as he continued on his way to the store giving his brother some time.

D yelped and whined blinking a bit as she was dragged of. "H-hey.. but.. what about... h-hey wait? -whines as she sulks and moves along with Al, her shoulders slumped slightly. "Aw, you're no fun Al.. how can I continue to harass your brother if you drag me away?"

"I.. I'm fine.." He forced a smile looking over her shoulder, avoiding eye contact.

She sighed and shuffled her feet watching him and tilts her head. "Where's the store? Maybe I can start now... I always take forever to do shopping.. cause it's eeeevil~."

"I'm pretty sure my brother doesn't enjoy you harassing him" Al cleared his throat. "As funny as it is...He's going through a lot, so if you could wait a little while before teasing him. Between you and Roy I'm not quite sure how long Edward will keep his cool"

Mel frowned tightening her fist on his jacket and placed her free hand on her hip. "I'm not letting go until you tell me what's wrong...you've been acting weird ever since we came back...did something happen after I left to make you act funny?" She eyed him a little raising her eyebrow. "I worry...you weren't this strange before" She bit her lip and chuckled a little.

"We can start shopping if you'd like" Al lifted his hand and pointed. "The store is right there...and I'm not sure how long those two will be"

She rolled her eyes. "Like he's going to say anything without the harassing.. he's just like someone else I know.. they won't say what they really want until they're about to explode.." She sighed and turned into the store, looking around. "Yeah.. this could take a while.." She looked over her shoulder and scratched her cheek. "You wanna sit down?"

He shook his head laughing softly, "It's nothing, I can fix it later. It's nothing to worry about... It's just, things..." He shook his head. "I don't know what to say... It's.. I don't know.. having you here.. It's thrown me off a bit.." He murmured, to his feet.

Al watched her for a moment and blinked before he raised his eyebrow. He then shook his head and then nodded. "I'm sure they have places to sit in the store take as much time as you need" He walked up the bit of steps to the door and opened it looking back down at her. "Hope they don't take too long we still need to see what Roy wants as well"

She stood there quietly for a moment after she let go of his sleeve. "Oh...well I'm sorry I threw you off...I wasn't expecting to....drop in or I would have called?" She shrugged a bit smiling before she tugged at a lock of her hair and twirled it in her fingers.