The Happy Ending
On a warm summer evening Edward was sitting on the front porch of the house he has called home for a number of years now.
"Ed" Winry called, looking for her husband.
"Out here Winry." Ed replied, in a cheerful voice.
As soon as the front door was open three little kids ran out.
"The kids wanted to say good night." Winry said, with a smile.
"Did they, now?" Ed looked at his kids and smiled. Ed picked up Nina, the youngest, so she could sit in his lap.
"Do we have to go to bed Daddy?" the little girl asked with her lower lip out as far as it would go.
"Yes. If you don't sleep at night you will sleep all day and then we couldn't go on the picnic we've been planning." Ed responded with a very serious look on his face.
The middle kid, Sara, got a nervous look on her face and said in just as nervous a voice, "Let's just say good night and go to bed!"
The oldest, Maes, also pleaded with his little sister to say good night and go to bed.
So finally with a slight frown Nina said. "Good night daddy..."
"Good night, Dad." Maes said with a triumphant smile.
"Good night. Daddy." Sara said, looking quite excited.
After all, the kids had been looking forward to this picnic for a month. There aunt and uncle were coming all the way from Xing, they didn't want to miss it.
After the kids all said good night to their dad, Winry took them in to put them to bed. After about 20 minutes, Winry came back outside.
"What are you still doing out here? It's getting late and as you pointed out we have the picnic tomorrow." Winry said, as she sat on the bench next to him.
"I was just thinking." Ed replied.
"About what?" she asked.
"Well, about how peaceful our life is now and everything we had to go through to get here." he said.
"Yah, we went through a lot, but you and Al went through more than any of us." She said as she started to think of their teen years now, too. "But they weren't all bad. We did have some fun, like when we went to Rush Valley."
"That was only fun for you." He said, obviously remembering all the bad things that happened on that trip.
"Come on, it wasn't all bad." She said remembering how much fun it was for her. Ed was obviously starting to get frustrated.
"And what was so great about it!?" Now Ed was almost yelling.
"Shhh, the kids are sleeping. If you wake them YOU put them back to bed." She new it would be hard to get them back to sleep if they woke up. "And what was so bad about that trip anyway?"
"Oh nothing, I just got my watch stolen and had to chase Paninya all over the city to get it back, and the next time I went there I got stuck with that jerk Ling's bill at a restaurant and he doesn't eat just a little either, he eats a lot, then I got attacked by his flunkies, Lan Fan and old man Fu, and in the process of dealing with them I broke my automail and when you found out, you hit me with your wrench. I don't call that fun." Ed ranted, with a slightly irritated look on his face.
But Winry knew as he thought back on it they were good memories whether he wanted to admit it or not. "But even if that was annoying at the time, your friends with all of them now, so something good did come out of the trips you took to Rush Valley." Winry said with a smile.
"Yah, I guess so." He couldn't argue, after all she was right. "Come on lets go to bed its getting late."
The next day Ed and Winry got the kids up and ready and they went to the train station to pick up Al and May. When the train came it wasn't hard to find Al and May because they were the only ones to get off. The three kids immediately ran to greet them, with there aunt and uncle living in Xing they didn't get to see them very often so they were very excited. Winry also went to greet them.
Ed just stood where he was waiting and watched his family. Al was now 32 and has been marred for 6 years but Ed still hadn't gotten use to the way his little brother had grown up, and now Al and May were expecting their first child.
"Brother what are you doing over there?" Al asked from across the platform.
"Nothing. How've you been, Al?" Ed answered as he walked to where his family was standing.
"I'm doing good how about you Brother?" Al asked with a smile.
"Who cares about him, I'm starving!" May interrupted.
"Of course you are, let's go so we can eat." Winry said, now joining the conversation, too.
"Yah lets hurry and eat so we can go swimming!" Sara said jumping up and down with excitement.
"Hay, don't forget we need to drop off their bags at the house, or did you expect Al to carry them all over Risembool?" Ed said jumping back into the conversation.
"Thanks Brother." Al said, glad someone had noticed the two big bags he was still holding.
"Oh, I forgot." Both Winry and May said in unison.
"And you kids need to wait at least 30 minuets before you go swimming." Winry added as an after thought.
"AW, MOM!" All three kids said in unison.
After they had dropped off the bags at their house they went to the place where Ed and Al's childhood home used to be for the picnic.
"Brother, are you ever going to do anything with this land?" Al asked.
"Actually Winry and I were thinking of building a small house for you and May to stay in when you come and visit. We were hoping after you have the baby you would come and visit more and stay longer, and with the baby we thought you would like to have your own place here." Ed said a little thoughtfully.
"Really, Brother" Al was glad Ed had suggested this. "May and I were thinking something along the same lines. We were thinking we could spend half of the year in Risembool and the other half in Xing." Al finished.
"We would love to have you here more, but do you really want to do that, right when you get use to it here you will have to leave." Ed said thoughtfully.
"We've thought about that but we think the pros out way the cons." Al said.
All there was for Ed to say was "Well if you've made up your mind, we can start on the plans tomorrow." He was looking forward to spending time with his brother.
"Hay, come and eat or we'll eat it all without you." Winry called from where everyone else was sitting.
After lunch Ed and Al told everyone about their conversation. Everyone was very excited for the news. After a while the adults were just sitting, talking and watching the kids playing when inevitably one of the kids brought up swimming and there was nothing to stop the begging now but to go swimming. So they packed up and headed to the lake.
"Uncle Al come swimming with us!" Maes said pulling on Al's arm.
"Ya, you too Daddy!" Sara said.
"I'm about ready for a nap" Ed said, pretending to yawn.
"Come on brother, let's go swimming!" Al said, helping his nieces and nephew to gang up on there father.
"Oh, all right." Ed said, feeling a little bit bullied.
"Last one in is a rotten egg!" Maes yelled as he ran to the lake.
"Ed be sure to watch Nina." Winry said. As she and May were setting up some chars in the shade.
Ed picked up Nina and said "I know Winry this isn't my first time swimming with the kids. Lets go Nina we're not going to be rotten eggs!" Ed started running to the lake.
The next day Ed and Al started on the plans for the house. They were able to finish it before May had the baby, a precious little girl named Trisha after Ed and Al's mother. As the years went on Al and May had four more kids. Al and May wound up spending most of there time in Risembool and only going back to Xing for special events and when May was needed to represent her clan. Maes apprenticed under his mom and became an automail mechanic. Sera became a State Alchemist, with some protest from Ed but he was secretly proud of her. Nina she became a writer and wrote all the stores of Ed and Al's adventures. As for Ed and Winry they lived happily ever after.