Unpredictable

The two children were playing in the corner in what Van Hohenheim assumed was a quiet manner.

Quiet for children, anyway.

Pinako's son, Urey, was rambunctious and enthusiastic as he tried to gain his playmate's undivided attention, but Urey's younger cousin, Trisha Elric, was soft-spoken and gentle as she cradled her ragdoll in her arms.

Hohenheim wouldn't lie – children frightened him. In his four centuries, they were the one thing he could never predict. What he could do, though, was win this hand of poker. Pinako and Stefan, her brother-in-law, had excellent poker faces. His just happened to be better, and he knew he held the winning hand.

Then the unpredictable happened.

Urey was, evidently, at that age where girls weren't quite gross yet, they were just pretty. And what did one do with a pretty girl? Marry them, of course!

Almost-eleven-year-old Urey was attempting to propose to six-year-old Trisha. It wouldn't have been a big deal if Trisha hadn't said no, and if Urey hadn't kept trying to change her mind.

"Stop asking!" Trisha finally yelled.

If Trisha was yelling, she was upset. The adults all looked up from their poker game, falling silent as they glanced to the corner to see if intervention and separation would be required.

"I don' wanna marry you when we grow up." Trisha's eyes flashed and her face twisted in disgust. "You're pretty much a brother."

Stefan paled. It didn't matter that Urey was only eleven. No one was going to force his little Trisha to do anything.

No one could have predicted what came out of Trisha's mouth next, though, as a soft blush colored her cheeks and a shy smile flitted across her lips.

"Besides," her warm hazel eyes flickered up to meet Hohenheim's, "I'm going to marry Mr. Van when I grow up."

Hohenheim paled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stefan's face flash from pale to purple in less than a second.

"Guess even Urey is too young for her tastes!" Pinako cackled around her pipe.

Hohenheim folded his cards that round.

Author Note:

Edited to change Trisha's eyes from brown to hazel - read somewhere online that they were brown and didn't have time to find a good picture from the anime, and when I re-watched an episode the next day . . . lo and behold, they were GREEN. So, I'm pulling a trick from my own hat here. I have green/brown hazel eyes that I can make appear one color or the other depending on my make-up/color of clothing, so we're going to pretend Trisha's eyes are like that too, okay?

:D