This is my first FMA Brotherhood fanfiction (or the first one I've published anyway).

It takes place post-brotherhood, probably about 6 years after the train station.

Trigger Warnings are listed at the bottom (because I don't want to spoil the story).

This is a very sad story, but it is meant to be part of a larger, happier story. This just happened to be the first bit I wrote out and actually liked. If there are good reviews, I will likely write/upload more parts of the story.

If you have any suggestions about how to make it better, feel free to let me know! And if you see any grammatical errors, let me know about that as well.

Enjoy!

Edward woke up from the summer sun shining through the window in his room. The sun was rising earlier and earlier as the summer progressed and the weather turned warmer. Soon school would let out for the kids, and the street would be full of playing children. Edward realized that it must still be very early in the morning, but he felt vibrant and awake. He glanced over at his sleeping wife. His pregnant sleeping wife, he reminded himself. His stomach turned over inside him. He couldn't believe that after all he had been through, all they had been through together; they could be lucky enough to be living a normal life.

Edward got out of the bed, stretched, and walked over to the window. He looked out, enjoying the view of Central out his window. When a condo had opened up next to Gracia and Elicia, it was impossible to resist, especially since Colonel Roy Mustang and First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had recently been transferred back to Central. Being near their friends was amazing; especially since Gracia insisted on having the young couple over for quiche at least once a week.

Even Winry was overjoyed at their new home. With the help of some friends from Rush Valley (which was conveniently very close to Central), she had started her very own automail shop. It was just a small shop, but it was already very popular. Winry had even taken on an apprentice, since her own skills had developed enough to merit attention. It was just as well; because once she had the baby she would need someone to run the shop for her. Granny would of course be happy to come and help out with the shop once the baby was born, but Winry felt better knowing someone she had trained herself was there. Anyway, Granny's years were starting show and she wouldn't be able to work as much as she once could.

Edward quietly opened a drawer in the bedroom, careful not to wake Winry, and grabbed a plain white shirt for himself. Shrugging it on, he headed out to the kitchen. First, he checked the calendar they had tacked up on the wall. Winry and Ed had agreed to wait until Winry was at least twelve weeks pregnant to tell their family and friends. So far, only Alphonse (and by extension probably May) knew about the baby. Edward had insisted on telling him. Alphonse was both his brother and his best friend, after all. Plus, who was Al likely to tell (besides May) when he was still in Xing?

"Eleven weeks…" Muttered Edward. He could hardly wait to see the look on Gracia's face. She would be so excited for them. Elicia, now 12, would probably squeal and insist that she be their number one babysitter. Armstrong would be overjoyed at the news. Colonel Mustang… well he probably wouldn't care that much to be honest, but Riza would definitely be happy for them. "One more week." Edward said, smiling.

Edward busied himself making breakfast, and when he had finished for himself, he decided to make some for Winry as well. Edward glanced at the clock. It was nearly 6:30am now, still a bit early, but Winry usually woke by 7:00am or 7:30am anyways.

Suddenly, Edward heard a scream. Winry's scream, coming from their bedroom. Edward dropped the spatula he was using to cook eggs, and heart pounding, raced into the bedroom. Winry was sitting up, sobbing and screaming, a terrified look on her face. Edward scoured the room, searching for the danger, but there was nothing there. Edward approached Winry, and took her face in his hands.

"Winry! What's going on?!" Edward asked. Winry stopped screaming, tears pouring down her face. Then she lifted up the blankets, throwing them to the other side of the bed. The bed was drenched with blood, and worse, the blood only seemed to be spreading. But where was it coming from?

Edward stumbled back a few steps. "Winry! What the hell is going on?" Edward asked urgently, looking for a cut or a wound, some source for the bleeding. Winry's only reply was to cover her face and sob more. Edward wracked his brain… and then it hit him. "Oh, Winry." Edward said sadly.

He walked over to the bed, and picked him his sobbing wife, cradling her on his lap. He didn't care that his white shirt and blue boxers were also getting covered in blood. Only one more week, and they would have been in the safe zone. Only one more week and they would have started to tell everyone. Edward couldn't help but allow a few tears to trickle down his face as well.

"E-E-Ed… I'm so s-so so-r-r-ry," Winry sobbed, burying her face in his neck.

"Winry, this isn't your fault. It's okay. You're going to be okay. We're going to be okay." Edward said, but she was inconsolable. Edward stayed with her, rubbing her back, kissing the top of her head, telling her everything was going to be all right, but Winry continued to sob. Edward finally removed her from his lap, and laid her down, covering her with the blankets again. "I'm going to go call a doctor, okay?" Edward said. Winry didn't respond, except to cry louder.

Edward hurried from the room and picked up the phone… and then cursed himself. The last time Lieutenant Hawkeye had been over with her dog, Black Hayete had chewed through the phone line and Ed still hadn't got it fixed. He was an idiot.

"Think, Elric, think…" Ed whispered to himself. Finally he decided he had to go down the hall and use Gracia's phone. Edward went to the bedroom and told Winry he would be right back, and then raced out the door and down the hall. He knocked on the door. Gracia answered.

"Edward! What is going on?!" Gracia said in alarm. Edward wondered how she knew something was going on, and then he realized that his clothes were covered in his wife's blood.

"I… I need to use your phone." Edward stuttered. He realized he needed to give a better explanation but all he could do was repeat it again, "I… I… I need to use your phone. Please." He couldn't stop staring at all the blood on him. How could this much blood come from her?

"Are you hurt?" Gracia asked.

"Not me…" Edward said. "Winry."

"Edward, I need you to be more specific please." Gracia said, guiding him inside her home.

"She's… she's having…" Edward could hardly choke out the word. "She's having a miscarriage, Mrs. Hughes." Edward finally said.

"Oh… oh my." Gracia said. "I didn't know you guys were expecting."

"We didn't want to tell anyone yet in case of…" Well, in case of exactly this, Edward thought.

"It's okay. I can call the doctor, so you can head back to Winry." Gracia said, walking to the phone and picking up the receiver. Edward didn't move. "Edward?"

"I don't know what to do. She won't stop crying and bleeding and crying." Edward said, distraught.

"Okay, how about this. You call the doctor, I'll head over to your place and see what I can do." Gracia said. Edward nodded vaguely.

Gracia went to Elicia's room and told her where she was going, and then headed out. Edward quickly called the doctor, told him what had happened and requested that he come see Winry. The doctor said there was probably not much he could do, but agreed to come see her as soon as possible. Edward headed back to his own condo.

Gracia was in the bedroom, gloves on her hands, scrubbing a bloodstain in the mattress. Soiled sheets were piled in the corner of the room along with Winry's blood soaked pajamas. Gracia stopped scrubbing when she saw Edward approach.

"Winry's in the shower. I got as much of the stain out as I could, but I think we should still flip the mattress. Can you help me, Edward?" Gracia said, taking off the gloves and setting her sponge aside. Edward helped her flip the mattress and then redress the bed in clean sheets. "You should change into clean clothes before Winry is finished. Just add the bloody one's to the pile, I'll wash them."

"Thank-you, Mrs. Hughes." Edward said. "Really, thank-you."

Gracia smiled. "I'll be in the kitchen making tea. You should go check on Winry once you're finished changing. There are some clean clothes for her on the night stand."

Edward hurriedly stripped off the bloody clothes, and searched his drawers for some dark coloured clothes, just in case there was more blood. He pulled on black tank top and some comfortable black pants. He grabbed the clean clothes from the nightstand, and then taking a deep breath, opened the door to their en suite.

"Winry?" Edward said, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. "It's me, Ed." He said. No answer. Edward put the clothes down and moved aside the shower curtain. Winry was sitting in the tub, her knees pulled up to her chest, chin resting on them. Water flowed past her, tinged pink from blood. Even though it was impossible to tell because of the water pouring from the shower, Ed knew that she was crying.

Edward took off his shirt and pants, leaving his boxers on, and climbed into shower with her. He helped Winry stand up, and then washed her hair and her body. He helped her climb out of the tub and dried her off. Finally, he dressed her in the clean clothes as well as something to absorb any additional blood and braided her hair off so that it was off her face. Once she was comfortable in bed, Edward changed his boxers and retrieved his clothes from the bathroom.

"How is she?" Gracia asked, when Edward entered the kitchen. The mess Edward had left from cooking breakfast that morning was gone.

"I think she's okay. Traumatized." Edward said. He took the tea that Gracia offered him.

"I've never really told anyone this, but Maes and I suffered a miscarriage before we conceived Elicia." Gracia said. Edward's eyes widened, shocked. "It's an awful thing that a lot of women experience, but often don't talk about. But we should talk about it, so we can get rid of the stigma that a miscarriage is the woman's fault. It's not. It happens much more often than people realized and we need to talk about it."

Edward only nodded, unsure of what to say. He never knew that it was something that commonly happened. He wondered about his own mother, if she had ever had a miscarriage before he was conceived. He wondered how many other women he knew had gone through what Winry was now going through.

"Well, I need to bring Elicia to school, but I'll be back right away. If you need anything, need to use the phone, don't hesitate to use the key I gave you." Gracia said, heading toward the door.

"Thank-you, Mrs. Hughes. So much." Edward said.

"It's nothing, Edward. I'll come and check in on you around lunch time, sound okay?"

"Yes, thank-you." Edward shut the door as she left, sighing and resting his head against the cool wood. He would have to call in sick to work, and make sure to call the shop and let Winry's apprentice know she wouldn't be in for a few days. He waited until Gracia and Elicia had left, and then let himself into their condo, made the calls quickly, and returned home.

Edward went to the bedroom where Winry lay awake in the bed. "I… I need to go to work." She said slowly. Always the workaholic.

Ed shook his head, climbing into bed with her. "Not today." He cuddled close to her, wrapping his hand around her middle. Together they cried silently, waiting for the doctor to arrive.

Trigger warnings: Miscarriage is a major theme.

I wrote this because I had a friend who had a miscarriage and she was distraught, thought it was all her fault. But then it turned out that many other women we knew also had miscarriages, just no one ever talked about it. Knowing that other women had experienced the same thing, and that it wasn't just her really helped my friend recover from the experience. 10-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriages and we need to make more of an effort as a society to make sure women know that it's not their fault.

Hope you enjoyed! Please favourite and review if you did. 3

-Sarah