November 2ndth, 1956
It was surprising how quickly someone could settle back into life when life was going the way he wanted. The last couple of weeks back in Central had been great by Edward's standards; downright fantastic compared to the last couple of years! Doctor Gray had taken a look at Edward's updated medical files and been amazed, but agreed that his heart looked great and he was in overall excellent health. Doctor Irons had talked to him and looked at some of Mei and Bao's notes, and also been highly approving of Ed's psychological stability and how much he had dealt with his problems. Breda had been happy to declare Ed fully fit to go back to work when he wanted. Al had promised him a few combat classes right off too.
Not that Ed had leapt immediately back into work. He had taken a couple of weeks to let the heady excitement die down and let him and Winry settle back into life. Bounce and Daia were happy to see them, though he suspected neither female dog had missed Pir's antics too much! They put up with his rowdy puppy antics, but both clearly would have preferred to nap uninterrupted.
Of course there was plenty of time spent with family as well. They were over at Al and Elicia's, or Sara and Franz's pretty much every night. Then, as soon as they had the house in order, Ed and Winry invited every family member – who was currently in Central – over for dinner. Trisha, even at only two, seemed just as excited by her grandfather's new found energy and willingness to pull little alchemy tricks for her enjoyment.
"Are you sure they didn't transmute your brain?" Sara joked as she watched Ed playing with Trisha on the floor in front of the fireplace.
"If they did I'm not complaining," Ed shrugged, tickling his granddaughter.
"Stop it!" Trisha giggled, rolling over laughing.
"Only if I get a hug," Ed grinned and was rewarded by a full-on toddler tackle.
Sara smiled. "I guess I can't either. Maybe the change is just more pronounced because we didn't see you for months, but I feel like we've gone back in time or something since you got back."
"It does feel kind of like that," Ed agreed, even as he shook his head. "But reverse it. I'm finally moving forward again instead of looking back."
"I know, I know," Sara chuckled, "the world only flows in one direction and that includes our lives. Getting back in touch with who we are isn't moving backwards."
"Nice to know you listen to me sometimes," Ed teased as he set Trisha back on the floor. It felt good to banter again, to feel like he was an active part of things once more.
Sara reached out her arms as Trisha got up and ran back to her mother, giggling. "I always listened, Dad," she pointed out. "I just didn't always agree with what you said."
This was true. Ed sighed and sat up. "And if I'd listened to you more, maybe I'd have remembered my own advice," he smiled self-depreciatingly. "You've accomplished more on your own, in some ways, than I ever will."
"What do you mean?" Sara asked, her brow furrowing slightly as she settled Trisha on her lap.
"You've made Colonel entirely on your own ingenuity," Ed pointed out with a shrug. "Sure I passed the State exam at twelve, but Mustang handed me General. I didn't earn it until much later. I have to admit, knowing now that Fuhrer Bradley was a homunculus, and that they knew who Al and I were, I'm not entirely convinced they didn't pass me just so they could keep track of me and Alphonse by keeping us under the control of the military."
"I never thought of that," Sara admitted.
"Neither had I," Al admitted, joining the conversation as he sat down in the easy chair. "But it does kind of make sense doesn't it?"
Ed nodded. "Sure I was good enough, or no scheme would have made that look plausible. Still, there were other people there who deserved it as much as, or more than, I did. But that's my point," he smiled at Sara. "You've worked hard for everything you've got and you've done it on your own, not because of someone else's name or agenda."
"That's my wife the Colonel," Franz chuckled proudly as he set a cup of tea down on the coffee table next to Sara. He kissed her cheek and Sara blushed slightly at the praise.
"All I did was my duty," Sara objected. "I do my job the best I can. Though if that's better than someone else that's not my fault right?" she added with just a hint of a satisfied smirk.
"Lucky for the military," Al laughed, sipping from his cup of tea.
"Speaking of doing their part," Sara grinned and lifted Trisha off her lap, handing her up toward Franz. "Someone needs her diaper changed."
Franz laughed but took his daughter. "And I do my duty," he teased as he went to do just that.
"Definitely a Colonel," Ed smirked at his daughter. "You've learned how to delegate unpleasant duties to other officers I see."
"Hey, we had a deal," Sara chuckled, "I carried her and gave birth, he can change a few diapers."
"Sounds like the standard agreement," Al nodded.
Ed shook his head in amusement. "I'm still not entirely sure how fair that one is."
"Oh really?" Winry asked, coming out of the kitchen with a hot, baked pasta dish in her mitted hands. "You don't think three days of pain and agony isn't an equivalent exchange for sometimes helping out with child care?"
"Hey I suffered right there with you," Ed teased, standing up and coming around the couch. "And nine years of diapers and helping out was all part of the job. I won't claim you didn't work harder." He kissed her cheek. "I'm just saying women are so much stronger than men; so obviously we're not as capable of handling the parenting workload. Here, let me get that for you," he took the mitts and the dish and set it on the table.
"Very smooth, Edward," Winry smirked at him.
"Hey a stray dog can learn tricks." Ed shrugged.
"At least you finally learned to follow basic commands," Elicia teased him as she came in from the kitchen with salad. Gracia followed with hot cheese-covered bread and Alyse with dessert, which looked like cheese and fruit pastries.
"But how do we know you'll continue to behave?" Sara asked as they gathered around the table to eat. It was said half in jest, but Ed could understand why Sara would be cautious. Franz joined them, tucking Trisha into her booster seat.
"I have for over three years," Ed pointed out, not offended, as he filled his plate. At this point he didn't even really mind discussing it in front of the whole family. They deserved to know after as much as they had put up with from him. "And it's kind of hard to forget a lesson when you still have reminders."
"Like what?" Sara asked curiously. "Watching you the last few days, it's like nothing ever happened. All that's left is a lot of memories."
"Not everything can be fixed by alchemy," Ed sighed. "Not even with everything the Xing are capable of. They don't mess with the mind if they can help it. It's too complex, and once the body decides it wants something, convincing it otherwise is pretty difficult."
"So psychological damage still has to be dealt with the old fashioned way," Al commented as he took a bite of bread.
Ed took a bit bite of bread. "Yep," he commented around the bite, and swallowed. "More importantly, there are still a lot of painkillers that no sane doctor would ever use on me. It's just too risky." Mei had made it clear that anything with the same base components was likely to have an immediate response. They had already proven the addiction; his body would always be sensitive in that respect.
"And alcohol?"
"Is this dinner or an interrogation?" Winry looked over at her daughter.
Ed laid a hand on hers on the table. "It's all right, Winry. It's a fair question." They had been kind enough not to swamp him with questions as soon as they had returned home. He was thankful for that. He shrugged and smiled. "That's something else I get to deal with on my own for the rest of my life. If you want to ask Bao Xian about it, he's an expert on psychological addiction and physical, and the differences. Even Irons complimented his notes and the results."
"Now that's something," Al chuckled. "Almost makes me wish I could take a look." Psychology was one of his interests after all.
"You can just ask me questions like usual," Ed retorted before he smiled at Sara. "The real answer to that is I'm about as recovered as it's possible to be, and as long as I'm careful I can keep it from being a problem ever again. Which means I have to get your mother's approval," he added with a chuckle. That was the best safety check he could come up with.
Sara looked mildly impressed. "Now you've really convinced me they did something to your brain."
"They fixed it," Winry chuckled, squeezing Ed's hand before going back to her own meal. "Fortunately, because we still haven't managed to make an auto-mail head."
"And I really don't want to know what would be involved in attaching that," Elicia chuckled even as she grimaced.
"And I'm rather fond of the existing one," Winry agreed with a nod.
"Thank goodness," Ed laughed with some relief as everyone at the table chuckled. He really did not want to consider what Winry might be capable of if she didn't like his head! He was just glad that was something left to the imagination, and he would never have to find out. If nothing else, he could rest assured that Winry loved him the way he was.
November 14th, 1956
The night before Edward planned to start back at HQ, Roy and Riza invited them over for dinner. It had been a long time since Ed had been over to their place and he looked forward to it. Aside from the good food – which Ed always looked forward to – he hadn't really had a chance to talk to Roy much in a long time. If he had talked to Roy a few years ago, Ed was pretty sure a lot of the pain he had caused himself could have been avoided. Roy was another friend he had hurt, and it was frankly a miracle that Roy still liked him.
After dinner, while the girls talked in the living room, Ed and Roy escaped to Roy's private study.
"No reason we should have to listen to them discussing such exciting things as interior decorating," Roy commented as he sat in his leather desk chair, sipping sparkling water.
"Or the catalog of our faults," Ed agreed with a smirk as he looked around the room. It hadn't changed much, other than a distinct lack of piles of paperwork. In fact, it was probably the cleanest Ed had ever seen it.
"That would be their favorite subject," Roy chuckled.
On the wall, Ed noticed something he never really had, given it had usually been behind everything else. There was a board on which were pegged dozens of photographs. His own glass of water in hand, Ed crossed the room. "I've never seen most of these," he commented curiously as he bent in for a better look.
"I keep the good memories on there," Roy commented. "At least, some of them. Riza has albums full of photos."
"Winry keeps ours," Ed smiled. A large number of Roy's were older photos, and surprisingly few were of Roy. There was one of Maes and Gracia Hughes' wedding, a couple of shots of soldiers in Ishbal – Roy included this time – sitting around a fire, drinking and smoking. As miserable as the surroundings looked, Ed understood the camaraderie. There were several shots of Roy and Hughes, and the almost obligatory shots of Elicia when she was little. The photos ranged from forever back – including one picture of Riza when she couldn't have been more than sixteen – to much more recent; lots of his son Maes' achievements; awards in school, graduating from High School, the day he passed the State Alchemy Exam. There were plenty of shots of him and Elena and their two children, little Roy and Dorothéa.
One picture caught Ed's eye that amused him. It was of Havoc, Breda, and Roy, and all three of them were obviously drunk. Havoc and Breda were grinning like idiots and Roy looked completely passed out on the table. "This is one of the happy memories?" he chuckled, pointing at the photo.
"We were celebrating," Roy commented glibly.
"What were you celebrating?" Ed asked curiously. He couldn't quite pick when the photo was taken, but it had to be pretty old given how young the three of them looked.
"New filing cabinets." He said it so straight-laced for a moment Ed thought he had to be kidding.
"You're joking."
Roy shrugged. "I don't really remember. It was just a rough day at the office and we all wanted to go out and blow off some steam. Hughes took that one."
Hughes; the man was a reoccurring theme, as Ed had already noticed, but the mention brought something to mind. "This is going to sound a little strange," Ed commented, feeling foolish already even bringing it up, "But I've got a message for you, from Hughes."
"You're right, though that's more than a little strange," Roy snorted, looking puzzled. "Care to explain?"
Ed turned away from the board and looked back at Roy. "I haven't told anyone about them here other than Winry and Al, but when the alchemist in Xing was treating me, I kept having this really odd dreams that didn't seem like normal dreams." He sipped from his glass and leaned against the table. "When I asked Bao about them, he said that I wasn't the first one to report having dreams like them."
"And just what kinds of dreams would these be?" Roy smirked, obviously expecting something humorous, possibly lewd, or potentially disturbing.
"Well, for lack of a better word, they were like visitations," Ed looked him in the eye, "Conversations with the dead."
Roy's eye went wide as he realized Ed wasn't even remotely joking. "And what did he have to say about them?"
"That some alchemical doctors have theorized that being that closely tied into the world by that much alchemical energy might temporarily allow a patient to be close enough to the gate, or those beyond it, to actually talk to people who have died," Ed explained softly. "I know it sounds crazy, Roy. I was pretty sure I was hallucinating at first, but they did know things I didn't, and said things I didn't necessarily expect. It didn't feel like a regular dream either."
"You don't really think you spoke with the dead, Ed," Roy snorted, but he looked like he couldn't really dismiss the statement either; his curiosity as an alchemist was piqued. "Who did you talk to?"
"Hughes first," Ed said. "Then Havoc the next time. After that it was Pinako, Winry's grandmother; my old alchemy teacher Izumi; even my old man, and that was kind of weird I'll tell you," he smirked at the last before he felt his chest tighten slightly, the way it always did when he thought of the last conversation. "The very last one who talked to me was… my mother."
"I find that unsurprising," Roy smirked slightly again. "Psychologically, during times of stress it would make sense that the person a mind would conjure would be someone who would make you feel safe. The others," he shrugged, "who knows. But why do you think they were more than really realistic dreams?"
Roy hadn't experienced them, he couldn't have known. Ed shrugged. "I can't know for sure, but really you'd just have to see for yourself. However silly though, I promised Hughes I'd pass on a message, and even if I dreamed it, I'm not about to break a promise."
"All right," Roy chuckled. "What's this message from beyond the grave?"
Ed shrugged. "Well I don't really know what he meant, but he said, I'm glad you finally took my advice. It took you long enough to look behind you."
Roy went momentarily pale, his one good eye as wide as it could get. Then he downed his water as if it were something a good deal stiffer. "You don't know what he meant?" he asked softly after a moment, voice surprisingly harsh.
Ed shook his head. "No, but from your expression I'm guessing you do. Care to clue me in?"
A sad smile came to Roy's face, and he chuckled. "The only piece of advice Maes ever gave me that fits – repeatedly to irritation – was that I should find a wife and settle down." It made sense, but Ed had never heard that before. "He was the only other person who had any idea why I hadn't either. Think about it, Ed. The answer should be obvious."
Ed hated it when Roy did that, but he did stop and think. "He was talking about Riza," he realized. Knowing what the advice was helped, but even Ed had never questioned Riza's devotion to Roy as anything other than a fellow officer back when he was a kid. He hadn't given a damn about Roy's personal life. However, he knew perfectly well who always had the Colonel's back. He had only really figured out the implications of their relationship later in Europe, and mostly from talking to Alphonse, who had – unsurprisingly – been much more aware of that kind of thing.
Roy nodded, still looking bemused. "Yes, he meant Riza. He always thought I was stupid for waiting. So… he told you that."
"Do you believe me now?" Ed asked.
Roy shrugged, but there was an interesting look in his eye. "The ability to speak with the dead, granted briefly by being brought closer to the Gate and what's beyond by exposure to large amounts of alchemic energy."
Ed smirked. "It's an interesting theory isn't it?" Roy believed him at least as much as Ed believed it himself. If such a thing were possible, that wouldn't be an impossible way to do it. It was an explanation that made more sense than the theories Ed would have heard in Europe.
"A very interesting theory indeed."
November 19th, 1956
"Gee, Dad, every time I see you lately you're eating," Sara chuckled, rolling her eyes as Edward stepped out of the kitchen with a plate of pie.
"So stop showing up around dinner then," Ed smirked around a mouthful of dessert. Mmmm…blackberry! "Besides, why are you surprised anyway? You've been in half my classes this week. I'd say I've earned it." Al hadn't overloaded him his first week back, but Ed had been covering two combat classes a day all week and it felt so good! Besides, he'd spent three years anal retentively watching what he ate to make sure nothing worsened his heart condition. He could afford to indulge a little now.
"Okay so maybe I'm just jealous," Sara smirked.
Ed almost laughed. "What for? It's not like you need to worry about it." His daughter had always been lean and still was though, in his opinion, it was a good thing she'd put on a little weight when she had Trisha. At least now she didn't look as underfed as Ed had often found himself over the years. She looked really good.
"Yeah, well that's not as easy as it was when I was eighteen," Sara chuckled, turning and watching Franz and Trisha out in the back yard with the dogs. It was chilly, and they were in coats, but it was one of the best ways to tire the kid out before bed. She definitely had Sara's energy!
Ed couldn't help a mildly wicked smirk as he leaned against the wall. "That's life. Give it a couple of months and you can get away with legitimately complaining about growing up." In just a couple of months, his little girl would be thirty!
"And you about getting old?" Sara quipped in reply.
"Nah, I've still got a couple of years for that," Ed shook his head. He wouldn't be sixty for another couple of birthdays. "Roy can gripe for both of us." Not that the Flame Alchemist acted like he was in his seventies. He didn't really look it either. Retirement had been good for him, for all that he didn't particularly act retired.
"Riza assures me he does it well," Winry commented as she joined them, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
Ed swallowed a large bite of pie and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the phone ringing beside him. He picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hi, Dad," Aldon's voice came across the line.
Ed grinned. "Hey! Haven't heard from you in a couple of weeks. Just enjoying having us out of your hair?"
Aldon chuckled, but he didn't sound overly amused. "Actually, Dad, you remember that little chat we had while you were here?"
"Which one?" Ed asked, aware that Winry and Sara were both watching him with interest. "We did a lot of talking."
Aldon paused. "The one about being done with kids or not."
"Well yeah I—" Ed paused and contemplated the implications of that statement. No! "Are you telling me what I think you're telling me?" he asked in disbelief. Urey was only eight months old!
If it was possible to sound embarrassed without making any noise, Aldon did it then, though there was ironic amusement in his tone when he finally replied. "Yeah. We just found out. I figured I might as well let you know sooner."
"Well I appreciate that," Ed smirked, trying hard not to sigh. "You'd better treat that girl like a queen after this for putting up with you."
"Funny, that's what she said," Aldon chuckled. He sounded a little stressed out, though not too much so. "I need to go. It's time to start getting the boys ready for bed. Talk to you soon."
"Right. Congratulations," Ed replied. "Take care." When he hung up, he had Sara and Winry's undivided attention.
"So what did Aldon have to say?" Winry asked, having clearly guessed who he was talking to. It probably hadn't been that difficult to tell.
Ed looked between them and couldn't help chuckling. "They're expecting… again." Four kids? And Coran would barely be seven when this one came. It had taken Ed and Winry almost eleven years to have three!
"You're kidding!" Sara gasped slightly and shook her head. "I'm amazed Cassie hasn't killed him by now…or at least gotten him fixed," she added with a little smirk.
"There will be no talk of such things in regards to your brother," Winry replied with a surprisingly prim tone, at least for her. Then she groaned, spoiling the effect. "That's entirely between them."
"Hey, how about a little happiness here?" Ed ribbed them, though he scowled. "They're good parents. I'm sure they can handle four kids." He smiled then. "It's the lack of sleep I'd worry about." They had the space, the patience, the love, and the means since the house was paid for. Ed just hoped they could both handle the added work and chaos of another baby so quickly. His mother had had him and Al almost that close together, but she'd only had the two of them.
"Maybe we should consider visiting them again in a few months," Winry suggested immediately, smiling. "It sounds like they might need some extra hands."
Now that was a good idea. "I'll bring it up with Aldon the next time we talk," Ed said. It would be next summer, so he could surely take a little time off then. As much as he knew Aldon liked proving himself capable and independent, especially after he and Cassie had gotten a little help from Ed and Winry getting life started and settled at first, Ed suspected his son would be grateful for it. Aldon had sounded tired on the phone. Not unhappy, but perhaps as unprepared for the news as the rest of the family. That right now, was what concerned Ed the most.
"So how did your parents take it?" Cassie asked as Aldon joined her upstairs. Coran and Reichart were already in their pajamas and in their room, and Cassie was changing Urey in the nursery.
"Pretty well," Aldon smiled half-heartedly. "Here, let me get him. You should take it easy."
"Normally I'd argue with you," Cassie smiled back, kissing his cheek as she willingly let him step in. "But I'm exhausted."
"So rest," Aldon kissed her back as he tucked his youngest son into his pajamas. "I'll get Urey down and read Coran and Art their bedtime story."
"I'll go make some tea."
Aldon watched Cassie leave the room, feeling both grateful for how well she handled life's surprises, and guilty at the same time for putting her through it all again so soon. Under his hand, Urey giggled and grabbed at him, drawing Aldon's attention back to his youngest. "All right. Let's get you to sleep," he smiled, scooping the baby up into his arms.
Fortunately it only took about fifteen minutes of walking to get Urey to conk out on his shoulder. Once the baby was in his crib, Aldon read the older boys a story, made sure they had both gone to the bathroom and gotten drinks of water, and tucked them in. So it was nearly half an hour before he got back downstairs.
As much as Cassie insisted she was tough enough to handle things, Aldon still worried. Sure they lived in a warmer climate, but even after three children, his wife was still a slim, lightly built woman; a little more delicate than most of the women he knew. It would never have occurred to him to worry about his mother or Sara, even with the things they had been through.
When he came into the living room he found Cassie resting on the couch. She wasn't asleep, but she smiled drowsily up at him. "That didn't take long."
Aldon shrugged. "They're good kids." He waited a moment, then sighed. He had felt an odd mix of excitement and guilt ever since Cassie came back from work that afternoon with the news that they would have another child in July. He loved his kids, and they really didn't have too much trouble handling three, but four? There had been longer spacing with the other three. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Cassie chuckled even as she rolled her eyes, though her expression softened almost immediately. "Are you?"
Aldon smiled, sitting down on the edge of the couch carefully so Cassie wouldn't have to move to make room. "Still a little stunned," he admitted. "I know we'd talked about the possibility of another one later, I just figured later would be…."
"Later?" Cassie nodded. "Usually we've had longer before we had to worry about it again," she pointed out. It was true. After Coran and Reichart they'd had months without having to worry about fertility. Apparently this time it hadn't been quite as long a period before they needed to be careful.
"I still feel like this is my fault," Aldon admitted what had been bothering him for the last few hours. It wasn't the first time they'd accidentally ended up in this situation, and while he certainly loved and wanted all three of their boys, he wanted very much not to be reminded that when it came to his wife he still wasn't always the best at self-control or common sense.
"I seem to recall dragging you to bed at least as often as you dragged me, Don," Cassie chuckled softly, though she blushed even as she said it. "So, you said your folks took it well?"
Aldon nodded, resting his hand gently on her shoulder. "Yeah. Dad sounded surprised, but I was expecting that; happy too from his tone. I'm sure they think I'm horribly irresponsible though."
"Stop beating yourself up over this okay?" Cassie shifted from her side onto her back, so she could rest her hand on his. "We have a good home, jobs we enjoy, and I like to think that the fact we have three healthy, well-behaved boys means we're pretty good parents."
Always the voice of reason; well most of the time. Aldon leaned over and kissed her gently. "No one seems to dispute that," he agreed, "Not even your parents." Even after seven years – and three days - of marriage Aldon still felt like her parents were judging him when they talked or visited. Oh they were nice people, and he liked them well enough, but they made him uneasy. He was fairly certain they would never entirely forgive him for getting Cassie pregnant the first time just because of the timing. At least his Dad only teased him about it occasionally.
"I'll handle telling Mom and Dad," Cassie assured him. "If they say anything I'll tell them I boldly seduced you and forced you into bed okay?"
"Now you're being silly." Which was probably the idea, because Aldon couldn't help chuckling.
"Fine, I'll tell them we wanted to give them a grand-daughter and we just couldn't wait to try again," Cassie countered.
"With our luck so far, are you sure we stand any better chance at a girl this time?" Aldon asked, slightly amused. He'd love a daughter, but so far the odds didn't look great in his opinion.
Cassie shrugged slightly. "With three boys, I figure we're due."
"Not for another few months," Aldon did laugh this time, weak as the joke was. He knew everything would be all right, and their family would have another welcome addition come summer. Still, Urey was just starting to sleep through the night and fortunately mostly weaned; but three boys, working at the village hospital, and being pregnant again? Aldon couldn't help but worry that it would be too hard on his wife. He would do everything he could to make things as easy for her as possible; he just hoped it was enough.