The first day started out like any other, he was in his study, musing through some old alchemy texts. His wife always wondered how he could find any enjoyment out of reading books over and over again, he always explained that there may have been something he missed when reading through beforehand. She always told him that only worked when he hadn't read through the massive text at least ten times. As stubborn as he was, he didn't necessarily disagree with that point.
Sure enough he did get bored of the book, he was never known to be a patient man, and his was definitely wearing thin at the present moment. He was home alone, not a person to share his boredom with, let alone actually provide him with some entertainment. Sure, he was a husband, but his wife was out for the day, said something about needing some produce for supper tonight, he didn't know what they were having tonight, but he did know that if she cooked it he couldn't help but dig in. But not only was he a husband, he was also a father; his two little angels, his pride and joy…were also out with their mother. His home on the hill was truly lonely today.
Sure, it was boring, there was nothing to do in this little sheep farming village, especially where he and his brother decided to build his house. The outskirts were barren of human life for the most part, very few lived out this way, and those that did were either farmers or his family. But the peace was nice, and his children got the joy of an open field as their backyard, to be honest it couldn't get much better than the eastern countryside.
He stared out the window and pondered what could be done today in order to curb his stagnancy, there wasn't a lot in all honesty. He skimmed through chores in the back of his mind 'fix the porch; done, clean the house; done, for the most part that is, his office was a little bit of a mess, but his wife didn't mind because that was his personal space, what else was there?' He couldn't really remember if there was anything else, if there was he probably already finished them.
He was broken from his trance by the muffled creak of his front door, followed by a jumble of footsteps as they cluttered around downstairs. Turns out he wouldn't have to deal with boredom for much longer, and his much less than full stomach would be getting a delicious homecooked meal. He heard the loud giggling of his two-year-old son, and some swift, but heavy footsteps around the living room.
"Ed!" that was her, the love of his life, and mother to his children "Come down, we got a surprise for you!" it took him mere milliseconds to leap from his chair and leave the room. He was expecting a fresh meal, but not so soon, what kind of surprise could she possibly offer him today. He made his way down the stairs, one footstep much heavier then the other and ran into a familiar face, rather two familiar faces
"Al?" he rubbed his eyes with his fists, to make sure he didn't fall asleep while reading his book, and this whole thing was a dream "Al!" he leapt forward and embraced his brother in a tight hug, the bulkier-and taller-of the siblings returned the sentiment
"It's good to see you too brother" they separated, but the older brother placed his hand on the younger's shoulder, eyeing him up and down, examining his appearance carefully
"Someone's been working out" his brother had filled out tremendously, his shoulders were broad, much broader than his own, and he appeared to be…taller "It's exactly like the olden days…" he murmured to himself, saddened by the fact that he was no longer taller than his younger brother. He shrunk away in shame
"Well two years away from home tends to do that" the younger man took his and his company's bags and placed them in the living room, revealing the guest he brought to their home.
"Greetings Edward, I thank you and your wife for allowing me to stay in your wonderful home" she bowed graciously, leaving her head down awaiting a response from her host, who was taken aback slightly, confused by the formality
"It's alright Mei, any friend of Al's is a friend of ours" she raised her head and thanked him, again with the formality "Mei, you really don't need to be so formal, I know you're a princess, but you're freaking me out" She looked towards Al for help
"Is it really okay, in my country one must respect the homeowner with the highest authority" the larger man nodded and her obvious nerves melted away in an instant "I'm sorry for disturbing you Edward, it will not happe-" he cut her off again with a glare, she slowly sidestepped into the living room with Al.
He himself shuffled into the kitchen, nearly as light as a feather and spotted the light of his life putting away the groceries she had gathered for the day's meal. He made his way towards her but was stopped by another presence, that of his son, bumping into his right leg, clearly burning off the energy he had gathered throughout the day
"Hey bud!" he gripped him by the armpits and pulled him up to his chest "and how was your day" the boy's bright blue eyes scanned the room, occasionally stopping on his father face
"Me and Mommy and Lillie went to the market, and when we came home we saw Uncle Al get off the train" he was so enthused about his very busy day, his father was always amazed by his children "Then we came home, and now we're here, and I'm super tired" he was panting heavily as his mind kept trying to form sentences
"That sounds like a great day, bud, why don't you go help Uncle Al and Mei in the living room while I help your mom" he placed him down on the floor and he dashed into the living room to join his Uncle.
"Thomas was very excited to see Al today" his attention was turned to the counter where his wife was preparing some vegetables for dinner, she had a sling wrapped around her back, holding the newest member of their family. He strode towards her and peered over her shoulder
"And how was she when she seen Uncle Al" he eyed the baby, her pale blonde hair was tied up into twin pigtails, eyelids shut hiding beautiful blue eyes, similar to her mother's. Though his son looked a lot like him-save for the eye colour-his daughter seemed to be the spitting image of her mother
"Well, she's been asleep all day so she hasn't seen him yet" she was turned to face him as he gently set himself down on the dining room chair "and don't get your hopes up either, Al may have been excited to see her, but she doesn't know who he is" it was true, Al wasn't present for the birth of his daughter so it was unlikely she'd even understand who he was
"I'm sure she'll figure it out soon enough" he stood up and placed a kiss on her forehead, pulling her into a quick hug, being careful not to squeeze their daughter "and thanks for the surprise, definitely a boost to today" she giggled at his statement, confusing him slightly
"Well, I'm glad that this surprise leaves you in a good mood" she turned back to the counter and pulled out the vegetable peeler "But this isn't the surprise, I was just as shocked as you were to find them at the train station"
"Then what's the surprise?" she turned back to him, perturbed by his constant interruptions of her dinner preparations
"Well you know how we used to have your family picture at Granny's house?" she seemed to be a little more timid
"You mean the one where Hohenheim's crying?" she nodded
"Well, if you remember, we buried that photo with him at his funeral" that much he understood, he wasn't present for his father's funeral on account of being in Central City recovering, but he did know what she was talking about "It just made me think that there are no photos of the Elric family anywhere"
"So…?" his confusion was growing, she was still being very vague, why couldn't she just spit it out
"Well, I booked a photographer to come over after dinner tonight so that we could have one of our family" he was surprised, at least a little bit, he knew she was pretty sentimental, from keeping a piece of his prosthetic to make into their wedding rings, to all the photos she kept of their friends and their adventures "So when dinners over we need to clean up quickly because he should be here any moment" She carefully handed him their daughter "You're dismissed soldier" she joked
"Understood mad 'am" he gave her a mock salute and marched out of the kitchen like a toy soldier, making his way to the living room to join his other family. She nodded and laughed at the antics of her husband
"I can't believe I'm married to that idiot" she began chopping vegetables for dinner, as Mei quietly sidled up beside her and began to help
The meal was good, grand even, he could never say no to his wife's cooking, it was absolutely divine. He was glad that he gave her Gracia's quiche recipe all those years ago, back then it was almost as good as his late mother's, but when his wife cooked it, you could tell it was made with love.
It was early in the evening, they were all in the living room sharing tea and catching up. The guests were entertaining with tails of their travels, and how impressive the Amestrian-Xingese Railway truly was. The parents were fawning over their children, watching them play with their toys on the rug. He heard a knock at the door and hopped from the couch to answer; opening it he found an older man dressed in a brown vest and black slacks, over his shoulder there was a large leather bag
"Good evening sir" he tipped his cap in greeting, lowering the bag to the ground with a thud "You wouldn't happen to know where the Elric household is would you?"
"This would be it" he gave the man his warmest smile and assured him that this was the correct place
"Oh, my apologies I wasn't expecting someone so young to be the owner of such a beautiful home" he stuck his hand out as a formality, Ed took a frim grasp of the man's hand and shook it graciously "Allow me to introduce myself Mr. Elric, my name is Westby Brown, I was approached by a young woman earlier today claiming that she wished to have a family photo" That sounded about right to him "Do you mind if I come in?" Ed stepped aside
"No, not at all, Winry! The photographer is here!" he called out to the living room. He heard a peep from that direction, and her footsteps coming towards them
"Greetings Mr. Brown, I'm so sorry for making you wait, we've had a surprise family visit" she took a hold of his hand with both of hers and shook it furiously
"It's no trouble at all Mrs. Elric, and please no need for the formality, you can call me Westby" his smile was wise, it was a nice sight to see, especially with all the changes that the country was going through "I was just discussing with your husband how lovely your home is"
"Well thank you very much, he and his brother built it shortly before we were married" Ed's face was smug, he knew that she couldn't stand that face. "Please come in, we were planning on doing it in the living room, but while your setting up I can introduce you to the rest of the family" She guided him into the room where he was met with four sets of curious eyes, Ed followed behind shortly after
She crouched down behind her children, whose stunned faces showed the rest of them all they needed to know about how the children viewed the stranger; only amplified by the fact that Lillie's pacifier fell out of her mouth. "You already know these two, but in case you forgot; this little guy is Thomas, and the baby girl is Lillie" the man waved gently to the children, Thomas waved back, but Lillie still stared in awe
"You have two very beautiful children Mrs. Elric, you must be proud" she blushed slightly at that, her mother's pride showing through. She went back to his side and directed him to the pair on the couch, both of whom quickly stood up to introduce themselves "This is Ed's brother Alphonse"
"Pleased to meet you sir" he held out his hand, to which the elderly man reciprocated his greeting
"And this is our close family friend" Winry began but was cut-off by Ed
"And Alphonse's close personal friend!" Al looked at him, face red with embarrassment, Ed knew that he would get his revenge later, but for the moment he would enjoy this, especially since Mei was basically a puddle on the floor
"Right, excuse my immature husband" she glared at him from over her shoulder, he would be getting it tonight "But as I was saying, close family friend, Mei" Mei fell out of her trance and bowed to the older gentlemen
"Greetings Mr. Brown, it's a sincere pleasure to meet you" he wasn't sure what to do as his hand was sticking out in the air, so he instead followed her lead and bowed his head towards her
"Thank you for your patronage, but Westby is fine ma'am, no need for such formalities around an old country folk like me" he placed his bag on the floor and started to unzip the pouches "Now Mrs. Elric, you said you would like it to be done in the living room here, any way you'd like to be arranged?"
"Yes, that's correct, the plan was to have me and Ed next to each other, Ed holding Thomas, and Me holding Lillie, but as you can see things have changed slightly" she motioned towards the two surprise additions to the situation
"Well I notice that Mr. Alphonse Elric is quite tall so we can put him in the back without any trouble" and placed his hand to his chin, clearly a tick to represent thought "Perhaps Ms. Mei could stand behind Mr. Edward but have herself positioned slightly to his right side"
"Well you're the photographer" Ed cruised his way into the conversation "Alright people, lets get this over with" he grabbed his son and placed him under his armpit, holding him like a football. Mr. Brown stared at Winry with confusion, she just waved at him, as if to say 'it happens all the time, don't be too ruffled'
Winry picked up Lillie and her pacifier, placing the latter into the mouth of the former, and positioned herself next to Ed "Ed actually hold him like a child, he's not the ball to yours and Al's favourite game" he obliged and grasped Thomas by the ribcage, holding his back against his chest. Al positioned himself behind the pair, placing a hand on each of their shoulders, and Mei positioned herself on the side next Al
"So why're are we doing this again?" Ed looked to Winry, as Mr. Brown finished setting up the camera
"Because, I want to start a tradition" he cocked his eyebrow up "Don't look at me like that, we may have had hard childhoods" Ed puffed some air out of his mouth, as if it were the understatement of the century "Yeah, Yeah, whatever, that isn't the point. I want our children to have something to look back on whenever they feel like they're in trouble, something to let them know that when times are tough that they still have a loving family to look forward to"
He didn't fully understand how one woman could be so perfect; so beautiful, so smart, so in touch with her emotions, and he would never understand how she was his wife, the mother to his children, the yin to his yang, and the leg in which he stood on, both figuratively and literally
"Besides" she took him out of thought, she was staring deep into his golden eyes "This isn't even the big surprise"
How was this not the big surprise it seemed to be the perfect end to a nearly perfect day "Then what is?"
"I went to the doctor today and it turns out that we're going to be adding a third member to our family" just at that moment, Mr. Brown had finished setting up
"Alright everyone turn this way and smile!" it took Ed a second to realize what he was just told, but the moment he did was perfectly timed. His smile was wide, one of true happiness the exact moment that the camera's flash went off