Rating: T

Pairing: Royai/Roy Mustang x Riza Hawkeye

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Word Count: 1876

Title: Ice Skaters' Legacy

Description: Royai One Shot

A modern au/ice skating au where Roy and Riza are retired figure skaters with a pair of adorable and mischievous twin girls.

A/N: Previously titled Ice, Ice Baby. Comments are always appreciated. Enjoy!

Riza

I'm walking down the hall to the girls' room, carrying a freshly folded basket of laundry, when I hear hushed voices coming from the living room.

"She's coming! Quick, put it up!"

"You put it up! You got it out!"

"Why can't you—Just hit pause!"

"I can't find the remote! You had it!"

"No, I–"

"Girls?" I stop in the doorway and do a Mom Sweep of the room—the fastest way to figure out what they're up to. Given the secrecy, I'm not feeling confident it's anything good.

"Mom," Maesie blurts, standing up straight. "We…we were just…"

She looks over at her sister, and I raise my eyebrows.

"You were what?"

Matilda, the younger of the two, by twelve minutes, looks from her sister to the floor. She won't meet my eyes.

"Well…" I sigh dramatically and set the laundry down. "If you won't come clean, I'll have to find out for myself."

"Mom, no! We weren't doing anything bad. It was just–"

"Just what?"

I watch silently as they try to hold a complete conversation through looks. Maesie is clearly in charge of whatever scheme is going on here. That's her role as the leader and protector. Matilda is the follower, always looking up to her sister. They may be twins, but if you didn't know, you'd think Maesie was at least a year older.

Matilda wasn't as healthy when she was born as Maesie was. She was too small and needed a lot of extra attention. To balance things out between them, we gave Maesie the job of watching over her, and she takes the job very seriously. But that doesn't stop her from pulling them into situations that get them both into trouble.

"Girls?" I cross my arms and look between them.

"It's your old ice skating videos," Matilda breaks first, squeaking out her confession. "We were just watching them."

"Oh." I frown. "Well, that's okay. Why are you sneaking around?"

"Because…" Maesie bites her lip. "Well, Daddy said we weren't supposed to watch them."

"What? Why would he do that?" My brow furrows, and I look toward the front of the house where Roy's study is.

"He said they were special," Matilda speaks up again, coming to stand beside me. "And we shouldn't mess them up."

"That man." I shake my head. "Okay. Let me put one on for you, and I'll go talk to Daddy, okay?"

"Okay!" The both perk up and quickly run over to the sofa where they curl up together.

I set up the video and hand the remote to Maesie before I turn and walk down the hall.

"Roy?" I knock before pausing in his doorway and waiting for him to turn.

"What is it?" He doesn't look up from his computer, and I frown.

"I just found the girls watching one of our competition videos."

"What?" His head whips around to look at me. "How did they get into them? I told them they weren't allowed–"

"And why exactly did you tell them that?" I cut him off. "They're our daughters. They're interested in our lives. Why shouldn't they watch them?"

"Because…" He stands, looking flustered. "I don't want them to get any ideas," he finishes softly. "They're my babies."

"So? They're mine too."

"I know, but… I don't want them to become skaters. Or athletes. Or do anything that will hurt them. Imagining them falling on the ice over and over—possibly breaking bones or tearing tendons –"

"They can watch the videos," I interrupt him softly, moving to rest my hands on his face. "I know you love them and want to keep them safe, but we can't smother them."

"I don't think it's the same for you," he tells me, his hands landing on my waist. "When…when Mattie fell yesterday and skinned her knee? I…" He shuts his eyes and I see a muscle twitch in his jaw. "I felt helpless. It's just a scrape! And I felt this weight in my gut."

"I hate seeing them hurt," I remind him. "Just like you do. And you weren't helpless. You got her cleaned up and bandaged, and you gave her a popsicle. That is exactly the opposite of helpless."

"I know, but…"

"You're a great dad, Roy," I murmur, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "If you weren't worried about them, I would be concerned."

"I guess you make a good point," he sighs.

"Of course, I do. Now, would you like to come to the living room and watch us skate with our girls?"

"Sure. I need a break anyway."

I lead the way back down the hall, and Roy sits down in his favorite chair before quickly tugging me into his lap. I don't fight it. We sit like this sometimes, though, usually after the girls are asleep. I like to be close to him.

Giggling from the couch catches my attention.

"Shh!" I hear Maesie hiss and jab her sister with her elbow.

"But they're being mushy," Matilda hisses back.

"Girls," Roy murmurs low, his eyes on the screen, where the skating version of him is holding me above his head.

"Sorry," Mattie mumbles.

"Hey, I have a question," Maesie announces, blatantly ignoring her father's warning. "Why did you two stop skating?"

I blink and feel all the air go out of the room. We never prepared for this question, and the truth is…

"It was just, uh, time," Roy answers awkwardly. "We felt like doing something different."

"But Mom still skates every weekend," our observant daughter continues. "If she still likes it, why aren't you doing it anymore?"

"Well, we…" He looks up at me, and I feel his hand on my thigh clamp down. "We just…"

His eyes are panicking. I mean, I am too. How do we tell our five-year-old daughters we gave up skating because I got pregnant when their father literally fucked me on the ice? And I had the ice burns on my back to prove it.

"We found out we were going to have you," Roy speaks up again. "You were growing in Mom's belly, and…it wasn't safe for her to skate anymore."

I glance at him and feel my body release some tension. That was a good answer. Safe. Child appropriate.

"Oh," Maesie frowns. "Okay. But what about after? We've been born a long time. You could go back, right?"

"Um, well…" I swallow. "We don't want to go back," I explain, easing into Roy's arms he has around me.

"It's not because you have another baby in your belly, is it?" Matilda sits up straighter and stares at me.

"No," I laugh softly. "I don't have…"

I pause and feel my heart skip a beat. I mean, I don't think I… I shouldn't be…

"Riza?" Roy's voice snaps me out of it, and I take a quick breath.

"No," I tell them what I hope is the truth. "It's not that. I…We just love this life with you girls, and skating isn't as important to us now."

"Will you teach me to skate?" Maesie jumps off the couch, and I feel Roy tense around me.

"Of course, dear." I smile softly.

"Me, too!" Mattie joins her sister.

"You, too."

"Can we go right now?"

"Whoa, girls." Roy waves a hand for them to settle. "It's already getting dark, and your mother has dinner in the oven."

"Oh. Right."

My heart breaks at their disappointed faces.

"What if we get up early tomorrow and go?" Roy suggests gently, and suddenly their beaming smiles are back.

"Yes! Daddy, thank you!"

"Okay, so do you want to finish this? Or help me out with your laundry?" I point to the basket I abandoned.

"Finish this," Matilda answers at once.

"No," Maesie whispers at her. "We're supposed to help with the laundry."

"What? But she asked–"

"You can watch this, girls. I wasn't trying to give you extra chores," I inform them as I stand. "I just thought some help would be nice."

"I can help you," Roy stands with me and grabs up the basket before I can. "I need to talk to you anyway."

A shiver runs down my spine, and I already know where this conversation is heading. As soon as we reach the girls' room, Roy shuts the door.

"Roy, don't freak out–"

"You hesitated," he cuts me off.

"I know," I sigh. "I didn't mean to. I just…"

"Just what? Just might be pregnant?" he prompts impatiently.

I sigh and sit down on Mattie's bed.

"I don't think I am," I declare with finality. "But…it is a possibility."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"Um, clearly I only just realized it." I glare at him. "If I'd known or even suspected before now, I would have told you."

"Yeah. You're right. Sorry." He exhales slowly and sits down next to me.

"I'll take a test tomorrow morning, and we can worry about it then."

"While we're teaching the girls how to skate," he adds, grimacing.

I roll my eyes at him.

"I don't know why you're surprised. They are our daughters."

"If they fall down tomorrow…"

"They will, Roy," I tell him softly. "They'll fall down a lot. On and off the ice. It's not in our power to keep them from falling, even as much as we want to."

"But…I can't stand it. I can't bear to see them hurt."

"I know, but that's part of life. We can't stop them from feeling pain, but we can help them deal with it. Protect them when we can and teach them to get up when we can't. That's all we can do."

"You're the best Mom, Riza." He turns to me, pulling my forehead against his. "And the best damn wife. How did I end up with you?"

"Well," I breathe, "I think it helped that I fell in love with you the minute you stepped onto the ice with me."

"No shit?"

"What? I couldn't exactly tell you that when we were competing. We had other things to focus on."

"You were all I was focused on," he mutters, his voice dropping an octave.

"Well, that would explain how we ended up with those two wild things in our living room."

"Mmm," he hums, lowering his lips to my jaw. "And the one possibly on the way."

"Roy," I hiss, as he moves his mouth to my neck. "Laundry."

"Right." He sits back and releases me slowly. "We can finish this later."

"Good." I give him a small smile. "I look forward to it. For now, though." I turn to the basket. "You can put away all of Matilda's clothes while I put up Maesie's."

"We should really start having them do this themselves," he mumbles, picking up a small pile of little girl panties and heading to the white dresser with Princess Anna painted on the front.

I don't answer him, even though I agree. Instead, I grab some of Maesie's clothes and cross to the other dresser where Queen Elsa is smiling at me. For now, they're our little girls, and I'm in no rush for them to grow up. Even if that means extra work for me.