Friends are the ones who play by the rules. Best friends are the ones who break the rules and call you to tell you their latest adventure.

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In the four days since she'd been back, Aiden hadn't seen Roy or Riza because the three were too preoccupied with their work to get any word out. Well, Aiden was anyway. Riza had said something to Roy who then passed the information along to her when she 'accidentally' bumped into him in the hall. Her folders had fallen from her arms and when she went to leave he handed her another, claiming she missed one. She thanked him and continued on her way to her office, passing the folders to Jack and keeping the last for herself. 

The paperwork in the folder was ordinary enough but a second look at the order of names and the first letter to each told her exactly what Roy wanted her to know. Selim Bradley was a homunculus. Aiden nodded to herself, mentally calculating where she was in the timeline. Then she grimaced. Edward had been impaled by a steel beam and had it pulled out on the same day without an anesthetic. She shuddered and grimaced at the thought. She knew he'd be okay in the end but the thought that her boy was wounded so mortally by Kimblee... It disturbed her.

"Hey boss, you're gonna wanna see this."

Aiden's head snapped up at Jed's words, hearing the apprehension in his voice. He silently held out one of the folders she'd given to Jack and she flipped it open. "Edward was classified as missing?"

Sheska nodded, "Yes, it seems that way. It looks like Mr. Kimblee was the one to file the report as well."

Aiden glared at the signature at the bottom of the page and almost wished it would burn into ashes. Though now that she thought about it... it'd only be right to tell the commanding officer that one of his men had gone missing. She snapped the folder closed and grabbed the other sitting on her desk before heading out. There wasn't any reason for the team to question where she was going, they already knew.

Roy's office was more silent than usual; something she was coming to terms with now that his team was scattered to the four winds. On a normal day, she'd walk in to find laughter and jeers and the occasional threat from Riza that set the men straight. However, with their friends gone the silence was almost deafening, only being interrupted by the scratches of a pen against paper.

He glanced up from his papers, "Oh hey, did you need something?"

Aiden nodded and strolled forward. "We must have mixed up a folder somewhere, this is yours." She held out the object and he nodded in thanks. "There is another matter I'm here for, unfortunately." The second folder was placed in front of him. "The Fullmetal Alchemist was reported missing two days ago by Solf J. Kimblee. As his commanding officer, you should be informed."

A look of surprise and concern flitted across Roy's face before he settled on neutrality. Everyone knew that the Fullmetal Alchemist and his commanding officer, the Flame Alchemist, didn't get along. Though from what she had heard of and seen, it was more like the two had a mutual respect for one another even when they were fighting. When the boys had still been deciphering Doctor Marco's notes and Ed had been knocked out on one of the chairs, Aiden had taken to talking to Al to make sure he wasn't lonely. They spoke about many things, including his brother's relationship with the Colonel.

"I don't really think he hates him," Alphonse had said. "Otherwise he would've gained a new C.O., like Hughes." He leaned forward and began whispering. "Don't let him know it, but I think Ed sees him as a father figure."

Aiden's eyes had grown wide. "You really think so?" she whispered back.

"The Colonel's always done what he can to help us, even if he acts like he doesn't care. Though he does it in his own tough-it-out way. Brother's always complained about how our own dad left us but I barely remember him, so I can't make the connection that he can. I think most of the time Ed pushes his anger for our dad onto the Colonel and he doesn't act any other way because he doesn't know how to act around a father figure."

She nodded thoughtfully.  "That makes a lot of sense, actually. And hey, I know for a fact the Colonel cares about you two."

"How's that?"

"Well first off he knows about Edward's allergy to peanut butter so he made sure that the cooks in the East didn't give him any. He also knows that Edward was born the third of February, his favorite animal is a sheep, and his favorite color is actually purple as opposed to the obvious red he wears, though that's a close second."

"How'd..." Alphonse trailed off.

"He overheard the two of you discussing it. The reason Edward likes purple is because your mother wore a lot of purple dresses." The woman glanced over to where the teen in question lay still, sympathy shining in her eyes.

They steered the conversation away from the topic and instead began a conversation on who got into more trouble as children. Little did the two know that Edward had been awake for a few minutes and had been listening in on them. They didn't see how he sighed deeply or how he drifted off into a much more peaceful sleep.

"Right, well, that's all I've got. Sorry Roy," she said, biting her lip. "He's a strong kid but..."

"But Kimblee was the one who filed the report," he finished.

"Yeah." Without a word more she turned and exited the office.

She wasn't in her office five minutes before Sheska burst in. "Urgent orders from the police!" she gasped. "They need you over at the bank!"

Like a play being acted out for the thousandth time, the soldiers shot to their feet and began readying themselves. Aiden paused for a moment and turned to her second in command. "You sure you're up for this? I mean, you are missing out on lunch date for this."

Jack sighed dejectedly. "Yeah. But I can do it tomorrow. The MPs don't call us in for nothing so it's best I go."

Aiden nodded. "So what was so important about this lunch date anyway? You've been talking about it for weeks."

"I'm going to ask Scarlett to marry me."

She promptly dropped the last folder she'd been putting away and stared at Jack in shock, her actions were mirrored by the rest of the office. A grin stretched onto her face. "Jack that's amazing!"

Jack did actually have terrible luck with women, at least until he met Scarlett. It'd been almost a year ago when they'd been sitting in a cafe when a waitress slipped, Jack catching her and proclaiming, 'Looks like you fell for me.' He'd earned a slap and the next day he appeared with flowers and an apology. From there the two hit it off, Aiden wasn't quite sure how. But she and the rest of the team loved it when she visited so Scarlett had their absolute approval, not that she needed it but it was always good to have friends get along.

Jed clapped him on the back and laughed. "Good on you!" he said. A resounding chorus of congratulations followed.

Jack blushed mildly. "Thanks, guys. I was going to ask her today but I guess I'll have to ask her tomorrow."

"Can we see the ring?"

Jack reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a red velvet box. He snapped it open and at the center sat a diamond ring. Aiden squealed and Sheska gaped at the ring. 

Aiden calmed herself and smiled at her second in command. "She'll love it."

"You think so?"

"I do."

"Hey, that's his line," Jed joked, earning laughs from the team.

"Alright guys, no more dilly-dallying. We got a job to do."

They cleared out of the room, Sheska being left behind to keep the office occupied. She would've come along but Sheska kept saying that she wasn't meant for fieldwork and they just left it at that. 

The mission had been sent in by the MPs who rarely called them in on a live case, as they were more of a murder or missing person type of team. Whatever they needed them for it was urgent. When they arrived Aiden noticed they were at the bank. Then she sighed and exited the car before dropping under the police tape, making her way to the military police. She stopped short facing a tall woman that had nearly a foot on her. "Why were we called in?"

"Some of our best men are out sick and you're one of the best I hear," the woman shrugged.

"The best at..." Aiden prompted slowly.

"Infiltration."

Her eyebrows shot into the sky and she nodded. "Right. Well, give us the lay of the land, miss..."

"Brown. And right now we have a hostage situation inside Central City bank. We think there are three of them, so we need you and your men to smoke them out."

They were provided with schematics for the bank and an explanation behind the current situation. Three men had been trying to rob the bank when someone sounded the alarm and from there it turned into a hostage situation, neither party knowing quite what to do. Aiden almost rolled her eyes but refrained from doing so in front of Brown. She knew the MPs weren't as good as the rest of the military at their job, but she didn't know they were incompetent.

The plan was to get in via air ducts. They were all reinforced so they could crawl through and due to the padding inside, any sounds were muffled. It would take the effort of kicking one of the walls to alert anyone. A part of her wanted to curse whoever designed the obvious breach in security but she left it alone for the sake of time. The two policemen with her were to wait until she and her men were engaged with the thieves to release the hostages and get the other policemen inside.

"Before we begin," Aiden said to Brown, "do you want the men dead or alive? This is an important distinction in my line of work."

Oh yeah, the military had messed up rules. Some protocols called for the... extermination of hostile parties if the head of the group decided so. Of course, this only happened with officers high enough up in command but that fact that she was working with the head of the military police changed things, so she had to be sure.

"Alive, but use force if you have to."

When they began climbing through the ducts it was surprisingly roomy; another thing she'd have to bring up with the moron who designed the bank. Aiden led the way left and right over again until they reached the end. She held her breath for a moment for a chance to hear anyone coming near and thankfully it was all clear.

She removed the vent covering and crawled onto the floor of a hallway, eyes flitting here and there for some sign of movement as her team joined her. In a quick burst of speed she leaped across the hallway and peered around the corner. A desk blocked her view so she inched upward until she could see the men. Two were conversing in a corner while the third was watching the hostages. To her right was a row of desks that could shelter her men all the way to the two robbers conversing.

When she looked to the right Aiden almost had a heart attack seeing a frightened woman huddled under a desk. She immediately put a finger to her lips and the woman nodded slowly. A quick glance back at the men told her they hadn't noticed her. She disappeared behind the corner and looked back at her men, motioning with her hands who was where. They were to take care of the two off to the side while she did what she could with the one near the hostages. Without a sound she crept around the corner and kept low to the ground as she crawled behind the desks. One of the hostages noticed her and quickly looked away.

"Hey, everything alright over there?" one of the two men who had been talking called. Aiden stilled and held her breath.

"Yeah, we're all good," the one she was going after responded.

She was still for a moment more and then continued her slow pace.

"What the -"

The sound of a gun being smashed into a man's face cut off any of the exclamations he was about to say. Aiden leapt up and charged her man, out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack and Jed fighting the other two men. The hostages ran and began to exit the building in a frenzy. The man in front of her startled and backed up a few steps, fumbling for his gun but she was too quick, socking him and kicking in a knee, sending him to the ground.

She pulled out her gun, "Freeze." The guy raised his hands in surrender. Two thumps sounded and the other men were on the floor, a black eye beginning to form under Jed's eye. Aiden almost felt like she ended up fighting a newbie.

"Is that the last of them?" Jedediah asked, taking a breather.

Aiden nodded to the men on the ground. "Yeah, all three. No civilians were injured, I'd call this a win for today."

Blam!

Years of built-in instinct sent Aiden hurtling to the ground and firing at the one man they hadn't seen. He dropped dead and she stood up, wildly looking around.  "Everyone good?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm good."

"All in one piece."

"Ah shit." Aiden whipped around at the words and felt a cold dread creep up her spine as she watched Jack pull a hand away from his stomach. "This just ruined my whole day."

Aiden and Jed ran for Jack as he collapsed. "Shit Jack!" she cried out. "Hang in there buddy. The others are calling for an ambulance." Out of the corner of her eye she noticed policemen cuff and drag three of the men away, the fourth still laying on the floor. She pressed her hands on the wound and Jack groaned.

"I didn't think getting gutshot hurt this much," he joked, coughing. 

A tint of red appeared the corner of his lips and Aiden's eyes widened. There was too much blood flow from the wound. The bullet must've hit an artery for him to already be coughing up blood. From there... who knew where the bullet curved off to. Jack's eyes started to close and her hands started to quiver as panic began to seep into her.

"Jack! C'mon Jack," she said, taking a single hand away to lightly slap him in the face. "You gotta stay awake buddy."

He grinned at her, "Aw boss, we both... know how this ends."

"And we both know that you can survive this!" she shot back. "The ambulance is ten minutes away!"

"Not... not while we're so f-far away from the... hospital. Ten minutes? I'll bleed out... in three."

Tears pricked at her eyes and she cast a look at Jedediah who looked helpless to do anything. "If you die on me I'll kill you, you got that?" she growled. "And then your girlfriend will kill me. You have to marry her! Do you hear me?" There was silence. "Jack!" 

"S-see you around bo..."

Jack went silent and Aiden watched as his eyes clouded over and became lifeless. "Damn it," she whispered harshly. Tears fell freely from her eyes and her hands gripped the blood-stained uniform tightly. "God damn it!" she screamed to the heavens, hoping Truth could hear her loud and clear.

Then her jaw snapped shut as she whipped around to stare at the men lining the wall, handcuffed and waiting. She got to her feet and marched over, her fury turning her dark green eyes pitch black. One of the men, the leader, the one she was after, saw her coming and went to say something but she cut off his words with a swift punch to the face. One of the MPs stood between them and Jedediah quickly grabbed her to prevent her from advancing any further.

"You son of a bitch!" she shouted.

"Wilson!" Brown snapped, grabbing the Lieutenant Colonel's arm. "Go outside, take a breather!"

Aiden promptly spun on her heel and stomped out of the bank, anger rolling off her in waves. But as soon as she got outside she slumped down on the steps, glaring holes into the cement.

Hours later she was filing the report on Jack's death and gathering the things from his desk. Scarlett was to stop by at some point and Aiden wasn't sure what she was going to say to the woman. Jack was going to propose to her and, given how much they loved one another, she would've said yes. They were perfect for each other, even if they had their little spats over this or that; they were the couple she could only remember in fairytales and Hallmark movies.

As she pulled open the top drawer she noticed the little black box that sat alone atop paperclips, stick figures and other doodles, and a notecard. She pulled out the items and set them on the desk next to the box for his belongings. Quickly rifling through the doodle pages, she dismissed them as regular drawing and not military paperwork that hadn't been turned in and placed them in a folder in the box, the paperclips following right after. Aiden was about to throw the notecard into the box when a few words caught her eye. 

Scarlett, we've known each other for a while -

Realization hit her like a truck and she stopped reading the card. Jack had been trying to come up with the right words to say to Scarlett, though judging by the scribbles and slashes through words he was having a difficult time expressing his feeling to his significant other. She understood how that felt.

A light knock sounded at the door and a blonde haired woman walked into the room, eyes locked on the ground. The woman glanced up long enough to give a weak smile and let Aiden see the red rimmed eyes before she was looking at the floor once more. Aiden grabbed the velvet box and notecard and hid them behind the box, out of the woman's view, before getting up and leading her to the couch.

"Hey, Scarlett," she said softly.

"I... I'm here for his things," Scarlett whispered.

Aiden grabbed the ring and box and transferring it to the table in front of Scarlett, choosing to keep the ring in her hand. "This is all there was." Scarlett nodded mutely. "But, I think you need to see this." She held out the ring and watched as Scarlett's eyes filled with tears. She carefully lifted the velvet box from Aiden's hand and opened the lid, choking as tears rushed back to her eyes. "He was going to ask you today at the picnic," Aiden said. "But he wanted to see this mission through because he figured it would be an in and out thing. We've done hostage situations before so it should've been easy... but we were misinformed. There was one more man we didn't know about and because of that..." She glanced up from the table. "Because of that, I got Jack killed."

Without saying a word, Scarlett stood up from the couch, grabbed the box, and left the room. 

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Sorry guys but he was always going to die. And sorry once more for the belated update, my plans and events for this book constantly change so I'm always rewriting stuff.