Zoofic - Life at the Dexter Center 2 Conclusion
Again very Unbeta'd and still anax's fault. I wrote 5000 words of zoofic and blta isn't even half way finished! *slaps own hands*
Marta began to back out of the doorway slowly but Ed made an inquisitive sound and shrugged Ling off, getting to his feet. Ling looked very put out, complained at Ed's back and then climbed up on the couch to sulk. Ed ambled over to Marta, looked at her, looked her up and down and looked at her hands closely. It dawned on Marta slowly what he was looking for.
“You still want that magazine?” she chuckled. “Ok I admit defeat. Leslie, Adam it's fine to come in,” she called behind her before heading for her desk. Ed trotted beside her eagerly, watched her open the drawer and raised his hand.
“Nicely,” she told him and he lowered his hand and waited for her to offer it. Then he took it slowly from her, but darted away to the chair right after, getting it in and opening the magazine. Ling sighed expansively from the couch. Leslie came in and gave Marta a look and Adam looked over Ed on the chair and shook his head grinning.
“What were they doing?” Leslie prompted, moving to lean on the desk.
“Well,” Marta said with her own smile, “Ed was definitely letting Ling check him out.”
“They were on the floor, Ling was all over Ed's back,” Adam said. “Ed didn't seem to mind.”
“What are we going to do about it?” Leslie asked. “I thought the plan was to find an Alphonse.”
“That was the plan, however, if Ed is receptive...” Marta spread her hands. “The real possibility of getting him and Alphonse might not a be one we can't achieve easily. Ed is starting to show mating behavoir, frankly it thrills me; any type of wild behavior he displays should be encourage. Alright so he's letting Ling court him, but what choice does he have really? I think in my personal opinion we should just leave them alone and let them work it out. My ideal would be Edward in the wild with an Alphonse mate raising kittens. That we all know is not likely to happen. Besides, Ling likes him, he likes Ling.”
“I guess you're right,” Leslie said letting her gaze wonder over to Ed who was nosing the color picture in the magazine. “Sometimes I think he thinks he's human.”
Marta nodded and went around the desk to sit down. She opened up the ledger.
“Think I'll call it a night,” Leslie said. “I'll be over first thing to take care of Colonel in the morning then I have class all afternoon.”
“Ditto,” Adam said, “to all but coming over to take care of Colonel. I don't think he likes me,” the boy grinned.
“Oh he is just shy with everyone,” Leslie said, going to get her purse. “Don't take it personally.”
“He really is the most bashful Mustang I've ever encountered,” Marta said. “But he was in a zoo for years before coming here, it can be understandable.”
She got up again to show Adam and Leslie to the door, then went about locking up for a the night. She worked on the ledgers, Ed devoured the magazine and Ling got up and wandered in and out a few times.
“Ok boys, time for bed,” she told them. She made a hand wave to Ed and he got up to follow her, this made Ling trail behind. She opened the door to Ed's enclosure and he went without resistance, she gave him a fond stroke on his head. She put her hand on Ling's chest when he started to follow and pulled the door shut. Ling huffed and Marta looked at him a long moment, then turned and looked through the glass in the door. Ed had already shed his red pelt and boots and swung himself up into his hammock as she watched. She looked at the Ling again and he affectionately nuzzled her ear with his nose and she sighed and opened the door.
“You better behave, I hear any loud noises out of Ed I'm coming in with a broom,” she told him as she let him move past her into the enclosure. Ed turned in his hammock, then sat up and watched Ling move about his enclosure. He gave Marta several baffled looks. But there was no hissing, posturing, leaping from the hammock to chase Ling out. Instead he just watched and when Ling came over to the hammock to investigate he touched the top of Ling's head curiously. Ling took this as an invitation and neatly vaulted up into the hammock almost upsetting it. There was a bit of squabbling then, but things settled down. After a few moments Ling's slippers hit the floor. Marta pulled the door closed, turned the lights out and left quietly.
***
Marta sat up in bed, knees pulled up hugging a pillow. She couldn't help but think about what Leslie had said earlier when they were taking the kittens statistics.
He must remind you so much of Ed when he was small.
She remembered the stinking dog crate and the creature huddled in the back of it. It was growling, a raspy desperate sound, high pitched because it was young. The three of them; she, Anthony, and Mark, had carefully carried the crate out to the waiting van. They'd secured it all the while listening to the low, hostile rumble from inside. She'd sat beside it as they'd driven it to a veternary clinic that had volunteered its time to look at the rescued kitten. She had watched as the vet donned heavy gloved. Listened to the frightened creatures screaming as it was dragged out of the crate.
He'd been impossibly thin, achingly pale. His large golden eyes looked sunken in his small face and he bared his teeth and flailed and kicked and snapped. It took the doctor and two veternary assistants to hold him down. They stripped him of the ragged, filthy clothes the man who had kept him let him wallow in; he was covered in fading bruises and thin white marks that looked like scars. She remembered being thankful when they'd finally sedated him, and he lay panting, eyes have open on a exam table. She was beckoned over then, she had her record book. This was her field of expertise after all. But she'd never seen a truly abused animal. All her subjects were healthy, zoo exhibits. Even the few she's come across that were in less that ideal conditions weren't as bad off as this scrawny kitten panting feebly on the exam table.
“He's going to need constant attention,” the vet said. “He's in poor shape, I know that Elrics usually come in pairs, you found him all alone?”
“Yes,” Marta said, clearing her throat, trying to put on her clinical mask. “The man admitted to their being an Alphonse, but it died.”
“That's rough,” the vet said. “I don't know what kind of chance this guy is going to have without him.”
“Yes, they are very dependant on their support structure,” Marta heard herself say. “But I'm hoping we can save him; put right the wrongs we've done to him.”
“We?” the vet asked.
“Humans,” Marta said.
Edward was treated, washed. An IV was put in his arm and he was wrapped in many blankets and transferred to a thick pad on the floor of the vet's recovery room. Marta watched the process, then when he was just this tiny bundle of white fabric, she slowly sank down to sit beside him. All she could really see of his was his nose and his eyes, which were closed. His mane, which should be bright and glossy hung dully on his forehead. Anthony came in then, laid a duffle on the floor near her.
“Here's your stuff Marta, me and Mark are going to head out, you sure you want to stay?” he asked.
“Yes,” Marta said, pulling the duffle over, unzipping it and fishing into the interior. She pulled out her small but trusty hand held video camera. “I want to take some footage and...this one just calls to me Tony,” she said with a small smile.
“Ok, good luck and call me,” Anthony said. “I hope the little guy is going to make it. I wish we'd found him soon enough to save his Alphonse.”
“Me too,” Marta said quietly. “Thanks again.”
Soon the vet staff left as well and the doctor left his number, and it was just Marta and a small Edward in the recovery room alone.
***
It was slow going and it was rough and heartbreaking. At first the Edward refused to eat, no matter how appetizing they tried to make the food. They kept him hydrated with an IV in his arm that they eventually had to put a cast over to keep him from picking at it. He was fearful, distrusting and hostile. Marta got use to the bite marks on her hands and arms, that is when Edward bothered to bite. Mostly he just lay, a sullen lump in blankets. Sometimes at night his breathing was so slow and faint as to be frightening. But Marta filmed and talked and explained everything they were doing in the fight to save him.
Marta spend the nights with him, although she had to leave him sometimes during the day. As she was often reminded, both by herself and others, she had a life that needed attending. But everything she did during those days was distracted and rushed, all in the need to get back to Edward. The feeling that Edward needed her. He'd watch her sometimes and he'd look at her when she spoke. He'd watch the camera. She wanted desperately to find the spark to bring him back to life.
There were initial fears his spine had been injured from being forced to huddle in a crate day in and day out and that might be the reason for his inactivity. But he was again sedated, x-rayed, examined and while he was small for an Elric his age, the general concensus was he would recover his mobility if he wanted too.
Marta always thought the turning point was the one faithful night she'd set aside the camera, laid face to face with him and just spoke to him, words only for him. She remembered being tired and Edward being unresponsive. She pulled her sleeping bag right up against his pad, put her pillow there and laid down, her head cushioned on her arm and faced him.
“I'm sorry,” she'd whispered. “I'm sorry you have to endure this, that this was done to you. I want to make it better for you, I want to make it right. I want you to be happy, and healthy. I want you to live, I want it so badly that I'm willing to put my all into it, if only you'll live again Edward. I know you must be lonely, I know you miss your brother. I'm not a good brother subsitute, but I want to try. I'm talking with the proper authorities, I'm trying to get a license. I want to take you home with me, raise you and show the world what wonderful, beautiful creatures you are; how you should be cherished and protected, not coveted and horded.
He kept watching her steadily as she spoke, his eyebrows raised a little.
“I can't be your parent really, or your brother, but I can be your friend,” Marta raised her hand very slowly, reached over carefully and laid it on his little head. “I promise to take care of you and not let anything else bad happen to you.” She rubbed his head slowly, back and forth and he continued to watch her with his golden eyes. “I wish I knew you understood me.”
Edward began to purr.
***
Marta smiled, nudged Edward's lips agains with the baby spoon loaded with baby food. He opened them and sucked the spoon clean. She offered him another and he accepted it.
“This is good progress,” the vet said. “If he puts on some weight we can move him from the clinic.”
“About that,” Marta said, feeding Edward more baby carrots and peas. “I'm thinking of setting up a research facility and a sancturary if I can get the funding. I'd really like to have Edward with me.”
“I have no problems with that, personally I think you are to thank for his progress at all,” the vet said. “You've really been here for him.”
“It's not all selfless,” Marta said nodding toward the filming camera set up on a tripod behind her. Edward leaned into the next bite and she smiled at him.
“You tell youself that, but that's not how I see it,” the vet said, leaning back on a table and folding his arms.
“Well, I've gotten kind of attached to him,” Marta admitted and opened a jar of applesauce and Edward chirruped.
***
Edward gained three pounds, his color improved a great deal and he would stand. Marta dressed him in donated children's clothes and brougth him a few toys. Edward didn't wander far from his matt, but he would make a little sound when Marta entered the room that he woudn't make for the others.
The day she was granted her licenses was a celebration. It was also the day she made plans to take Edward from the clinic to her own small home. She spent time making her home safer, buying child proof gates, making Edward a wonderful nest and strewing the room with toys her friends had bought for him. When the actual transportation was brought up her stomach rolled.
They couldn't put Edward in a crate, and she couldn't let him loose in the car. He was also still very distrustful of humans, despite his warm responses to her so a ride in a humans lap would probably be just as stressful. In the end she borrowed a child's car seat from a friend and spent time with the seat and Edward in the clinic. It only took a couple of days to convience him to sit in it, and another day to convience him not to fight the straps.
So he sat, in the back seat of her car. Dressed in new clothes donated by the clinic staff, a blanket on his legs, half a pop tart in his mouth and a stuffed dog toy in his arms. He was curious, looking about and making soft sounds of query to her. She slid into the car and started it up and he made a loud startled sound and dropped his poptart. She hasitly fished in the box she had on the front seat with her. Poptarts were a treat, she didn't give them often because of the sugar content, but Edward loved them and would respond favorably to a poptart as reward. She unwrapped another one to his unhappy cries and offered it over to the seat to him. He quieted for a moment, eyed it and then snatched it and stuffed it in his mouth.
The drive was actually very pleasant. Once Edward had finished his treat he made happy, curious noises, she watched his little head turn back and forth at the scenery in the rearview mirror. Her house at the time was small and modest with a fenced back yard. They pulled into the driveway and her friend Sharon came out to greet them. When Sharon peered into the back window Edward made a small distressed sound and looked toward Marta uncertainly.
“It's ok,” she soothed him. “We're home.”
It was such satisfaction to say that to him and he bit the ear of his stuffed dog and watched her get out of the car. Watched her open the back door and sat still while she freed him from the straps of the car seat. He was lifted, held to her chest where her scent could envelope him and he began to purr as he was carried up the walk and itno the house, looking over Marta's shoulder at Sharon curiously.
“He's adorable,” Sharon said, following Marta in and shutting the door. “I had no idea he was so cute.”
“He is pretty,” Marta said, setting Edward on his feet.
“He's so small,” Sharon said. Edward eyed Sharon and then turned to lean against Marta's leg and hug it.
“We think he's about six, but because of the condition of how he was kept he's been stunted,” she stroked Ed's head gently. “It's ok, that's Sharon, she's a friend.”
It took a bit for Edward to warm up enough to start to investigate his surroundings. But soon he accepted Sharon's presence and slowly prowled the big living room that has been transformed for his pleasure. There was a pile of pillows near a window that stretched almost to the floor. It created a lovely warm spot and he stopped to investigate it. There were colorful, bright toys. There were children's books that he stared at in fascination, something in his instincts telling him he'd like them very much. But mostly there was Marta and Marta's scent and he opted to get in her lap after his explorations. She sat on the couch, holding him and petting him and he purred. This was all very new and exciting, but familiar was comfort and he preferred that.
After a while Sharon left and Marta went to make Edward his dinner. He stood at the child gate entrance to the kitchen, rattling it and complaining. He'd encountered his first barrier of places he was not allowed to go. Marta spoke to him soothingly as she moved about the kitchen. But he could see her, so it wasn't as stressful as it could have been. Afterwards he got to eat, so he decided Marta could be in the kitchen, (as long as he could watch her), if she brought him things to eat. Marta filmed him that night in his new surroundings, and he listened to her soothing tones as she spoke for the camera. He was content with a few toys and apple slices and was use to the camera.
Their life became quite content and settled. Marta would work at her desk, he would devour his books, nap in the sun and play. He began to grow and by the time he was eight he was almost to the proper size he should be. He was bright, happy, intellgent, inquisitive and a tv star. Then he and Marta moved into a new house, much bigger than the old one and he got a big room, more toys and a hammock.
Edward was happy.
***
Of course many things happened after that, Marta reflected. Edward made many television appearances, and continued to amaze her with is intelligence and his...his kindness. The fact he endured all those hateful things from his earliest memories and then found it in himself to trust again. Marta had many other cases as well, sick and injured Elrics. A Breda of all things she nursed back to health and was happy to have released into the wilds. Then came the Mustang, old and weak. She took him in as well, cared for him, gave him the distance and space he wanted and watched him recover. Finally her forlorn Alphonse, she'd been outraged at the call she'd received. His Edward had died of pneumonia and they were just going to put him down. No, bring him here, let me try and save him and then on the heels of that, within a week, deliverance for Alphonse. The finding and confinscating of a single Elric kitten, in need of a parent.
She'd saved many, she'd lost many, and through it all Edward was at her side. His smile, his warmth, his gently humor. He had shown her what her life's work should truly be. From the moment he purred under her hand, a thin and sick kitten on a thick pad on a vet's recovery room floor. Edward has shaped her life.
She got up slowly, walked silently throught the dark sancturary and edged up to the picture window into Edward's enclosure. First glance told her the hammock was abandoned, she moved over a bit further and realized all the pillows had been pulled to one corner of the room. Her eyes picked out Edward's pelts, (Edward had learned alchemy through video, she'd shown his endless footage of adult Elrics transmuting and one day he'd done it on his own. It thrilled her beyond belief when she had to buy the material for his pelt and left it in little piles all over his enclosure), and what looked like Ling's pelts. (How did Ling's get pelts?) She swallowed, steeled herself and looked into the corner. She could make out the two forms in the darkness, the larger form, Ling, over Edward's smaller form. Their sounds carried to her and unbidden she felt her cheeks redden.
She pulled back then, realizing she was going to have to get a curtain for Edward's picture window. Edward had found a mate and was doing what was only natural for he and his mate to do. He would need his privacy. She wondered back to bed, feeling both happy and sad. Happy because Edward had a mate, sure it was Ling, but she had nothing against Ling. She actually admitted she rather admired his cheerful good nature and his easy way of making friends. Edward obviously liked him, enough to mate with him, so who was she to complain? Sad because Edward had a mate and he might not turn to her as much as he use too. But that was a selfish thought.
In the end whatever Edward decided was best for him was good for her. She went back to bed and realized belatedly she'd have to chase them both down for baths in the morning.
PART ONE
Marta began to back out of the doorway slowly but Ed made an inquisitive sound and shrugged Ling off, getting to his feet. Ling looked very put out, complained at Ed's back and then climbed up on the couch to sulk. Ed ambled over to Marta, looked at her, looked her up and down and looked at her hands closely. It dawned on Marta slowly what he was looking for.
“You still want that magazine?” she chuckled. “Ok I admit defeat. Leslie, Adam it's fine to come in,” she called behind her before heading for her desk. Ed trotted beside her eagerly, watched her open the drawer and raised his hand.
“Nicely,” she told him and he lowered his hand and waited for her to offer it. Then he took it slowly from her, but darted away to the chair right after, getting it in and opening the magazine. Ling sighed expansively from the couch. Leslie came in and gave Marta a look and Adam looked over Ed on the chair and shook his head grinning.
“What were they doing?” Leslie prompted, moving to lean on the desk.
“Well,” Marta said with her own smile, “Ed was definitely letting Ling check him out.”
“They were on the floor, Ling was all over Ed's back,” Adam said. “Ed didn't seem to mind.”
“What are we going to do about it?” Leslie asked. “I thought the plan was to find an Alphonse.”
“That was the plan, however, if Ed is receptive...” Marta spread her hands. “The real possibility of getting him and Alphonse might not a be one we can't achieve easily. Ed is starting to show mating behavoir, frankly it thrills me; any type of wild behavior he displays should be encourage. Alright so he's letting Ling court him, but what choice does he have really? I think in my personal opinion we should just leave them alone and let them work it out. My ideal would be Edward in the wild with an Alphonse mate raising kittens. That we all know is not likely to happen. Besides, Ling likes him, he likes Ling.”
“I guess you're right,” Leslie said letting her gaze wonder over to Ed who was nosing the color picture in the magazine. “Sometimes I think he thinks he's human.”
Marta nodded and went around the desk to sit down. She opened up the ledger.
“Think I'll call it a night,” Leslie said. “I'll be over first thing to take care of Colonel in the morning then I have class all afternoon.”
“Ditto,” Adam said, “to all but coming over to take care of Colonel. I don't think he likes me,” the boy grinned.
“Oh he is just shy with everyone,” Leslie said, going to get her purse. “Don't take it personally.”
“He really is the most bashful Mustang I've ever encountered,” Marta said. “But he was in a zoo for years before coming here, it can be understandable.”
She got up again to show Adam and Leslie to the door, then went about locking up for a the night. She worked on the ledgers, Ed devoured the magazine and Ling got up and wandered in and out a few times.
“Ok boys, time for bed,” she told them. She made a hand wave to Ed and he got up to follow her, this made Ling trail behind. She opened the door to Ed's enclosure and he went without resistance, she gave him a fond stroke on his head. She put her hand on Ling's chest when he started to follow and pulled the door shut. Ling huffed and Marta looked at him a long moment, then turned and looked through the glass in the door. Ed had already shed his red pelt and boots and swung himself up into his hammock as she watched. She looked at the Ling again and he affectionately nuzzled her ear with his nose and she sighed and opened the door.
“You better behave, I hear any loud noises out of Ed I'm coming in with a broom,” she told him as she let him move past her into the enclosure. Ed turned in his hammock, then sat up and watched Ling move about his enclosure. He gave Marta several baffled looks. But there was no hissing, posturing, leaping from the hammock to chase Ling out. Instead he just watched and when Ling came over to the hammock to investigate he touched the top of Ling's head curiously. Ling took this as an invitation and neatly vaulted up into the hammock almost upsetting it. There was a bit of squabbling then, but things settled down. After a few moments Ling's slippers hit the floor. Marta pulled the door closed, turned the lights out and left quietly.
***
Marta sat up in bed, knees pulled up hugging a pillow. She couldn't help but think about what Leslie had said earlier when they were taking the kittens statistics.
He must remind you so much of Ed when he was small.
She remembered the stinking dog crate and the creature huddled in the back of it. It was growling, a raspy desperate sound, high pitched because it was young. The three of them; she, Anthony, and Mark, had carefully carried the crate out to the waiting van. They'd secured it all the while listening to the low, hostile rumble from inside. She'd sat beside it as they'd driven it to a veternary clinic that had volunteered its time to look at the rescued kitten. She had watched as the vet donned heavy gloved. Listened to the frightened creatures screaming as it was dragged out of the crate.
He'd been impossibly thin, achingly pale. His large golden eyes looked sunken in his small face and he bared his teeth and flailed and kicked and snapped. It took the doctor and two veternary assistants to hold him down. They stripped him of the ragged, filthy clothes the man who had kept him let him wallow in; he was covered in fading bruises and thin white marks that looked like scars. She remembered being thankful when they'd finally sedated him, and he lay panting, eyes have open on a exam table. She was beckoned over then, she had her record book. This was her field of expertise after all. But she'd never seen a truly abused animal. All her subjects were healthy, zoo exhibits. Even the few she's come across that were in less that ideal conditions weren't as bad off as this scrawny kitten panting feebly on the exam table.
“He's going to need constant attention,” the vet said. “He's in poor shape, I know that Elrics usually come in pairs, you found him all alone?”
“Yes,” Marta said, clearing her throat, trying to put on her clinical mask. “The man admitted to their being an Alphonse, but it died.”
“That's rough,” the vet said. “I don't know what kind of chance this guy is going to have without him.”
“Yes, they are very dependant on their support structure,” Marta heard herself say. “But I'm hoping we can save him; put right the wrongs we've done to him.”
“We?” the vet asked.
“Humans,” Marta said.
Edward was treated, washed. An IV was put in his arm and he was wrapped in many blankets and transferred to a thick pad on the floor of the vet's recovery room. Marta watched the process, then when he was just this tiny bundle of white fabric, she slowly sank down to sit beside him. All she could really see of his was his nose and his eyes, which were closed. His mane, which should be bright and glossy hung dully on his forehead. Anthony came in then, laid a duffle on the floor near her.
“Here's your stuff Marta, me and Mark are going to head out, you sure you want to stay?” he asked.
“Yes,” Marta said, pulling the duffle over, unzipping it and fishing into the interior. She pulled out her small but trusty hand held video camera. “I want to take some footage and...this one just calls to me Tony,” she said with a small smile.
“Ok, good luck and call me,” Anthony said. “I hope the little guy is going to make it. I wish we'd found him soon enough to save his Alphonse.”
“Me too,” Marta said quietly. “Thanks again.”
Soon the vet staff left as well and the doctor left his number, and it was just Marta and a small Edward in the recovery room alone.
***
It was slow going and it was rough and heartbreaking. At first the Edward refused to eat, no matter how appetizing they tried to make the food. They kept him hydrated with an IV in his arm that they eventually had to put a cast over to keep him from picking at it. He was fearful, distrusting and hostile. Marta got use to the bite marks on her hands and arms, that is when Edward bothered to bite. Mostly he just lay, a sullen lump in blankets. Sometimes at night his breathing was so slow and faint as to be frightening. But Marta filmed and talked and explained everything they were doing in the fight to save him.
Marta spend the nights with him, although she had to leave him sometimes during the day. As she was often reminded, both by herself and others, she had a life that needed attending. But everything she did during those days was distracted and rushed, all in the need to get back to Edward. The feeling that Edward needed her. He'd watch her sometimes and he'd look at her when she spoke. He'd watch the camera. She wanted desperately to find the spark to bring him back to life.
There were initial fears his spine had been injured from being forced to huddle in a crate day in and day out and that might be the reason for his inactivity. But he was again sedated, x-rayed, examined and while he was small for an Elric his age, the general concensus was he would recover his mobility if he wanted too.
Marta always thought the turning point was the one faithful night she'd set aside the camera, laid face to face with him and just spoke to him, words only for him. She remembered being tired and Edward being unresponsive. She pulled her sleeping bag right up against his pad, put her pillow there and laid down, her head cushioned on her arm and faced him.
“I'm sorry,” she'd whispered. “I'm sorry you have to endure this, that this was done to you. I want to make it better for you, I want to make it right. I want you to be happy, and healthy. I want you to live, I want it so badly that I'm willing to put my all into it, if only you'll live again Edward. I know you must be lonely, I know you miss your brother. I'm not a good brother subsitute, but I want to try. I'm talking with the proper authorities, I'm trying to get a license. I want to take you home with me, raise you and show the world what wonderful, beautiful creatures you are; how you should be cherished and protected, not coveted and horded.
He kept watching her steadily as she spoke, his eyebrows raised a little.
“I can't be your parent really, or your brother, but I can be your friend,” Marta raised her hand very slowly, reached over carefully and laid it on his little head. “I promise to take care of you and not let anything else bad happen to you.” She rubbed his head slowly, back and forth and he continued to watch her with his golden eyes. “I wish I knew you understood me.”
Edward began to purr.
***
Marta smiled, nudged Edward's lips agains with the baby spoon loaded with baby food. He opened them and sucked the spoon clean. She offered him another and he accepted it.
“This is good progress,” the vet said. “If he puts on some weight we can move him from the clinic.”
“About that,” Marta said, feeding Edward more baby carrots and peas. “I'm thinking of setting up a research facility and a sancturary if I can get the funding. I'd really like to have Edward with me.”
“I have no problems with that, personally I think you are to thank for his progress at all,” the vet said. “You've really been here for him.”
“It's not all selfless,” Marta said nodding toward the filming camera set up on a tripod behind her. Edward leaned into the next bite and she smiled at him.
“You tell youself that, but that's not how I see it,” the vet said, leaning back on a table and folding his arms.
“Well, I've gotten kind of attached to him,” Marta admitted and opened a jar of applesauce and Edward chirruped.
***
Edward gained three pounds, his color improved a great deal and he would stand. Marta dressed him in donated children's clothes and brougth him a few toys. Edward didn't wander far from his matt, but he would make a little sound when Marta entered the room that he woudn't make for the others.
The day she was granted her licenses was a celebration. It was also the day she made plans to take Edward from the clinic to her own small home. She spent time making her home safer, buying child proof gates, making Edward a wonderful nest and strewing the room with toys her friends had bought for him. When the actual transportation was brought up her stomach rolled.
They couldn't put Edward in a crate, and she couldn't let him loose in the car. He was also still very distrustful of humans, despite his warm responses to her so a ride in a humans lap would probably be just as stressful. In the end she borrowed a child's car seat from a friend and spent time with the seat and Edward in the clinic. It only took a couple of days to convience him to sit in it, and another day to convience him not to fight the straps.
So he sat, in the back seat of her car. Dressed in new clothes donated by the clinic staff, a blanket on his legs, half a pop tart in his mouth and a stuffed dog toy in his arms. He was curious, looking about and making soft sounds of query to her. She slid into the car and started it up and he made a loud startled sound and dropped his poptart. She hasitly fished in the box she had on the front seat with her. Poptarts were a treat, she didn't give them often because of the sugar content, but Edward loved them and would respond favorably to a poptart as reward. She unwrapped another one to his unhappy cries and offered it over to the seat to him. He quieted for a moment, eyed it and then snatched it and stuffed it in his mouth.
The drive was actually very pleasant. Once Edward had finished his treat he made happy, curious noises, she watched his little head turn back and forth at the scenery in the rearview mirror. Her house at the time was small and modest with a fenced back yard. They pulled into the driveway and her friend Sharon came out to greet them. When Sharon peered into the back window Edward made a small distressed sound and looked toward Marta uncertainly.
“It's ok,” she soothed him. “We're home.”
It was such satisfaction to say that to him and he bit the ear of his stuffed dog and watched her get out of the car. Watched her open the back door and sat still while she freed him from the straps of the car seat. He was lifted, held to her chest where her scent could envelope him and he began to purr as he was carried up the walk and itno the house, looking over Marta's shoulder at Sharon curiously.
“He's adorable,” Sharon said, following Marta in and shutting the door. “I had no idea he was so cute.”
“He is pretty,” Marta said, setting Edward on his feet.
“He's so small,” Sharon said. Edward eyed Sharon and then turned to lean against Marta's leg and hug it.
“We think he's about six, but because of the condition of how he was kept he's been stunted,” she stroked Ed's head gently. “It's ok, that's Sharon, she's a friend.”
It took a bit for Edward to warm up enough to start to investigate his surroundings. But soon he accepted Sharon's presence and slowly prowled the big living room that has been transformed for his pleasure. There was a pile of pillows near a window that stretched almost to the floor. It created a lovely warm spot and he stopped to investigate it. There were colorful, bright toys. There were children's books that he stared at in fascination, something in his instincts telling him he'd like them very much. But mostly there was Marta and Marta's scent and he opted to get in her lap after his explorations. She sat on the couch, holding him and petting him and he purred. This was all very new and exciting, but familiar was comfort and he preferred that.
After a while Sharon left and Marta went to make Edward his dinner. He stood at the child gate entrance to the kitchen, rattling it and complaining. He'd encountered his first barrier of places he was not allowed to go. Marta spoke to him soothingly as she moved about the kitchen. But he could see her, so it wasn't as stressful as it could have been. Afterwards he got to eat, so he decided Marta could be in the kitchen, (as long as he could watch her), if she brought him things to eat. Marta filmed him that night in his new surroundings, and he listened to her soothing tones as she spoke for the camera. He was content with a few toys and apple slices and was use to the camera.
Their life became quite content and settled. Marta would work at her desk, he would devour his books, nap in the sun and play. He began to grow and by the time he was eight he was almost to the proper size he should be. He was bright, happy, intellgent, inquisitive and a tv star. Then he and Marta moved into a new house, much bigger than the old one and he got a big room, more toys and a hammock.
Edward was happy.
***
Of course many things happened after that, Marta reflected. Edward made many television appearances, and continued to amaze her with is intelligence and his...his kindness. The fact he endured all those hateful things from his earliest memories and then found it in himself to trust again. Marta had many other cases as well, sick and injured Elrics. A Breda of all things she nursed back to health and was happy to have released into the wilds. Then came the Mustang, old and weak. She took him in as well, cared for him, gave him the distance and space he wanted and watched him recover. Finally her forlorn Alphonse, she'd been outraged at the call she'd received. His Edward had died of pneumonia and they were just going to put him down. No, bring him here, let me try and save him and then on the heels of that, within a week, deliverance for Alphonse. The finding and confinscating of a single Elric kitten, in need of a parent.
She'd saved many, she'd lost many, and through it all Edward was at her side. His smile, his warmth, his gently humor. He had shown her what her life's work should truly be. From the moment he purred under her hand, a thin and sick kitten on a thick pad on a vet's recovery room floor. Edward has shaped her life.
She got up slowly, walked silently throught the dark sancturary and edged up to the picture window into Edward's enclosure. First glance told her the hammock was abandoned, she moved over a bit further and realized all the pillows had been pulled to one corner of the room. Her eyes picked out Edward's pelts, (Edward had learned alchemy through video, she'd shown his endless footage of adult Elrics transmuting and one day he'd done it on his own. It thrilled her beyond belief when she had to buy the material for his pelt and left it in little piles all over his enclosure), and what looked like Ling's pelts. (How did Ling's get pelts?) She swallowed, steeled herself and looked into the corner. She could make out the two forms in the darkness, the larger form, Ling, over Edward's smaller form. Their sounds carried to her and unbidden she felt her cheeks redden.
She pulled back then, realizing she was going to have to get a curtain for Edward's picture window. Edward had found a mate and was doing what was only natural for he and his mate to do. He would need his privacy. She wondered back to bed, feeling both happy and sad. Happy because Edward had a mate, sure it was Ling, but she had nothing against Ling. She actually admitted she rather admired his cheerful good nature and his easy way of making friends. Edward obviously liked him, enough to mate with him, so who was she to complain? Sad because Edward had a mate and he might not turn to her as much as he use too. But that was a selfish thought.
In the end whatever Edward decided was best for him was good for her. She went back to bed and realized belatedly she'd have to chase them both down for baths in the morning.
PART ONE