"I still can't believe they gave us two weeks. Just two! Do they know how long it takes for women to decide on even the smallest thing? Too long! And they think two weeks is enough time to find a dress, matching heels, and date while also living a militaristic lifestyle?"

Winry, Riza, and Gracia shared amused expressions as Aiden paced and rambled back and forth across the room. As the one's who knew her the longest, Riza and Gracia knew she was being overdramatic. The three had faced shorter deadlines with less to work with. They all remembered the Winter Solstice celebration of 1912. Winry, being the youngest of the women and still a teenager respectively, felt a lot of pressure attending a military event. But seeing Aiden grumble about this or that oddly relaxed and entertained her mind (ironically) from the ball only hours away.

The women were seated in the Hughes' house as they waited for the men to pick them up. Little Elicia had been around early enough for Gracia to allow a small amount of blush on the toddler's cheeks before she was picked up by one of her florist friends for the evening.

As they waited Aiden paused and took the chance to look herself over in the mirror. She wore a simple black dress resting at her knees and shawl to cover her shoulders. Her feet were covered in black flats. The long black hair that she'd grown while on the run and in the hospital had been cut to inches below her shoulders and pulled into a neat bun atop her head. She wore very little makeup aside from lip gloss and eyeshadow. 

Riza had decided upon an almost floor-length red dress, a slit near her left leg that Aiden didn't doubt Riza would use for easy access to the gun strapped to her thigh. Her long blonde hair was pulled up with two red flowery chopsticks. She'd forgone makeup and honestly, it worked for her. Her heels were red with a two-inch boost. Another concealable weapon choice.

Gracia found one of her old dresses that she hadn't worn in a while. Periwinkle with only one strap, it reached her shins. It was hard to find shoes that matched in color, as the old ones had been worn too much and had to be thrown out, but they did it. An almost periwinkle color with a small heel to them. The girls all gushed on how the pink shade complimented Gracia's eyes. There was nothing they could do with her short hair.

Newest to the idea of military functions and balls, Winry needed help. Through a combined effort the three women managed to wrangle the tomboy into a light blue knee-length dress. The color was chosen to match her eyes. From there they tied her hair into a ponytail and went over the most basic makeup they could by just enhancing her natural features. Winry followed Riza's lead and went with a two-inch gain on her black heels.

The bell rung and Winry squeaked. Gracia smiled and answered the door as the other three gathered their coats, or in Aiden's case her shawl, and followed her.

"My! Don't you men look dashing!" Garcia exclaimed.

Out in the hallway were their dates dressed in their finest military attire meant only for events such as this. Aiden grinned and followed Gracia out the door, stepping up to Roy. His hair was slicked back, a hat in the crook of his elbow, and his signature black coat over his military wear. 

"I haven't seen you look this formal in a while," Aiden teased.

Roy smiled and raised a single eyebrow. "And it's been even longer since you last decided to wear a dress this lovely. Gracia's doing?"

Aiden almost felt the need to be offended at the accusation that she couldn't find and put on a decent dress alone. "Nope! Did this all by myself. Gracia did do the eyeshadow, which I will admit to."

Their eyes were drawn to the others and the two watched as Gracia blushed under Maes's praises and Riza smiled at Jean's attempts at flirting. Aiden blinked. What did that happen? A shine of golden hair caught her attention and she watched as Edward awkwardly interacted with Winry, who was just as bashful. Al seemed to be having no problems watching them with an amused expression. Unlike the rest of the enlisted men, Edward wasn't in a uniform. Understandable, given how Aiden learned from Roy that he never gave his measurements to the military for fitting. 

"So how'd you get him in a tux?"

"It was rather easy after Alphonse kept reminding him how he didn't have to wear the uniform."

"Then we're all in agreement? Edward and Winry will couple up eventually?"

"That seems to be the general consensus."

Maes waved them over. "Picture time!"

The group stood in front of the door without delay, men in the back and women in the front. Maes's neighbor was dragged out to take the picture and Aiden felt a little bad for the blond man but he seemed used to it.

"Everybody say hey!" the cameraman cheered.

"Hey!"

Three quick flashes and three photos were taken of the group. Just in case the other two didn't turn out. Maes grabbed the camera and thanked his neighbor who grinned and waved him off and wished them a good night.

From there the group piled into two cars. Roy, Aiden, Riza, and Jean in one; and Maes, Gracia, Edward, Alphonse, and Winry in the second. It was mainly chosen on who lived where. Aiden was still living with Roy, not that either minded. Riza and Jean were only a block apart which was rather convenient because they lived so close to Central Command. The local Resembool teens weren't too far from the Hughes's house but it was a rather far walk, hence the cars.

Apparently, Roy had taught Edward basic etiquette because when they arrived Aiden witnessed the golden-haired teen hold the door open for Winry and help her from the car. Roy and Jean had shared a look and in single fluid movements, the two women were being helped from their car as well. Two doormen that Aiden recognized as some of the newer recruits took the cars away for parking.

They were led through H.Q. to a large room that was usually only used for debriefing large amounts of people. At the moment it had been renovated (probably by the alchemists) to look rather extravagant. She wasn't sure where they got the chandelier but it served its purpose well by lighting up the room in a gentle yellow glow. Military blue cloths stretched from the decoration to the walls, rivers of small lights lining them and providing a bit more light to the room. 

There were tables and chairs spread throughout the room while a refreshment table sat on the near end of the room. Aiden spied various little snacks and the odd assortment of out of country cuisine that she could already see Edward eyeing. To the center of the room was a large space for dancing. At the far end of the room sat the orchestra playing soft music and setting an overall nice mood for the event.

Except there was one thing missing...

"Brigadier General! Lieutenant Colonel! How splendid it is that you have made it!"

Ah, there he was.

Aiden and Roy turned their attention to the large bald man closing in on them. Seeing their chance to escape, the rest of the group scattered out of reach of Major Armstrong's aberrant behavior. Both people felt the need to call their friends cowardly but knew they would do the same in their place had Armstrong's gaze been fixed upon anyone else.

And so began the night of the celebration, six months after Father was defeated and they overthrew the homunculi's plot to end the country and eventually the world. As usual, they were encouraged to mingle and "build relations" with the attendees from across the country. Anyone with a brain knew it was a chance to see who supported who in the upcoming election or who posed a threat. 

Most were higherups from each command station and their dates, if they had one. Aiden's course of action was speaking with the dates that didn't come from the military. Women, and she hated to admit it, were gossipers. It was just a fact. But there was no way in hell Aiden would pass up the chance to hear about how Major Tom had a thing going on with one of the nurses from the hospital when he was clearly engaged to June from accounting. Or how that correlated with a sergeant's life choices.

By the end of the night, Aiden could say she had a good understanding of people's stances within the military. As usual, the end of the night dance began with a slow melody played by a cello. Most of the other dancing songs through the night were piano or violin oriented so Aiden found it a nice change of pace. It was the classic Cello song that everyone knew but couldn't name by Bach.

"May I have this dance milady?"

Time and again Aiden had been asked to dance by many of the male soldiers of the room and once by Riza who needed a break as much as she did. At that point she was able to quiz Riza on when she and Jean had gotten together. According to Riza, Jean had been trying to date other people because he thought Riza had a thing for Roy, and while Aiden admitted she could have seen it, they both agreed it was a terrible way to go around avoiding his feelings.

One of the reasons they'd gotten together was due to how much time the two spent together while Aiden was on the run. Riza had been the one to clue in Jean and the two spent a lot of time relaying messages and keeping Maes up to date with what Maria had been doing in Xing. Which was an oversight on Aiden's part, but it was over and done with. 

After the coup the two spent a lot of time readjusting and getting Jean used to using his legs again. Muscle atrophy was an absolute bitch and Alphonse could relate all too well with Jean's struggles; the kid was all skin and bones when Edward retrieved him from Truth's domain. It was when Jean was pushing himself too hard and doing more harm than good on his legs that Riza sat him down (not that he had a choice) and yelled at him for not leaning on her when he needed help, both literally and figuratively. And then things progressed from there.

After that the song ended and both women were off. Occasionally Aiden would meet up with one of her friends or help Edward scare off a hopeful Private from Winry, though the kid seemed to do well on his own with that heated glare of his. On a few of the more upbeat songs she noticed Alphonse dancing with one or two of the wallflowers that didn't have a date to the party. 

By the end of the night Aiden was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home, pass out on the bed, and possibly die. Eternal rest sounded very inviting at the moment. So when a white-gloved hand offered an escape she took her chance and did not let go. Aiden was whisked onto the dance floor, enveloped in a familiar and comforting scent. A longing sigh escaped her.

"Rough night?" Roy asked.

"Socializing is one thing but at an event? I wanna go home, take a shower, and hibernate."

The dark-haired man chuckled and softly spun her. "These events are, unfortunately, unavoidable."

Her bottom lip stuck out in a petulant pout. "Hang on I could retire."

The words were whispered with utter reverence at the idea. No more paperwork for all the shit she did. No more glances from whoever or mumblings objectifying her high position in the military.

Aiden was no fool. She knew very well what many of the other men and women whispered when she began rising through the ranks. She'd long since learned to ignore the taunts behind her back, some louder than others. Those same people feared General Armstrong too much to even begin a sentence against the woman for fear of her wrath. To be free of that would be a blessing in it's own right.

The idea of retiring somehow hadn't hit her until the moment she joked about it. Why hadn't Aiden thought of it before?

I was too busy trying to save lives, among other things.

It was a marvelous idea!

"What would I do?"

"You love me too much to leave me."

"Humor me."

The two paused as the song ended and Roy adopted a thoughtful expression. Another song began. They stepped.

Aiden... She was caring. Attentive, curious, endearing, gentle, patient, and a whole bunch of other things. He could never narrow her down to a singular adjective; those five barely even scratched the surface! Aiden was so complex and easy to understand it was maddening. But she wasn't asking who she was, she wanted to know who she could be.

"A teacher." The words came from his mouth simply and they were surprised.

Aiden blinked rapidly. "Yeah, I guess so."

And the dance went on.

**********

I am determined to finish this. Now, the "plan" is to update on Sunday's until the 31st, at which point the book will be finished on the 2nd anniversary. The final chapter will include bloopers and unused edits, as well as art commissions I had made for this story and fan art I received!

Until next we meet!