Prompt: "I'm pregnant." Ed/Winry

Ed knew he was a smart man. He had become a State Alchemist at the age of twelve and beat Truth to get Al's body back. He could recite all of the elements from memory and was still at the top of alchemical knowledge despite being unable to perform alchemy anymore.

Yet he was struck dumb at the words that had come out of Winry's mouth.

"I'm pregnant."

Ed could practically feel his hair standing on end. Here he was, barely twenty-one years old, less than a year into his marriage, and he was going to be a father?

His mouth went dry and his palms began to sweat. Did he have what it took to be a father? His own had left before he had even started his schooling. And while he no longer harbored the anger towards Hohenheim, he still couldn't picture the old man as his dad. There was General Bastard, but Ed would trade a limb before admitting that he saw his former superior as any sort of father figure. Not that he was a good role model in any case. Becoming a human weapon for the government and assisting with the slaughter of a race left a rather dark mark on a reputation.

So no, he didn't have the greatest models to draw on.

Winry watched as her husband did nothing. She certainly didn't expect for him to immediately jump for joy at her news, they were still so young after all, but she expected something from Ed. Something more than what she got anyway. A question. A laugh. A smile. She would have settled for a denial. Anything.

"Ed? Edward, talk to me. What's going on in that alchemical brain of yours?"

Ed said nothing to answer Winry. His eyes were focused on something beyond what she could see. A sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead and his hands were clenched tightly at his sides. Winry could see his knees were beginning to quake. She recognized the stance.

"Ed come here. You need to sit down. Before you collapse."

She grabbed him by the elbow and half steered, half dragged her shell-shocked husband down to the nearest chair. He dropped with a hard thud into it. Winry sat down in the chair across from him at the table but kept a firm grip on his hand. Her thumb rubbed the top of his knuckles on his right hand. She waited patiently for him to return to her. She had waited years for him to recognize his own feelings for her, she could wait a few minutes for him to return to himself.

Ed could see it now. A little boy or girl with his eyes and Winry's temperament, perhaps inheriting her love for automail, or his passion for alchemy. Hopefully the kid would avoid his temper, but that was a fifty-fifty shot.

He could see the kid playing in the yard with Den, being underfoot as Winry worked on automail, the heartbroken look on the kid's face as he left to further his research. And it was the last one that got him where it hurt. Because he knew that kid. He was that kid a long time ago. And he never wanted to be the cause of that despair for anyone else.

"A baby, huh?" His voice croaked out. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes. Couldn't bear to let her see how much he was terrified.

"Ed?" Winry squeezed his hand. She was willing to wait for him to regain his head, but that wasn't to mean that she wasn't going to give him a little nudge to get him started.

Ed did nothing. Figures, he always did need a wrench to the face rather than subtly.

"Edward Elric, look me in the eyes. Right now." She kept her voice calm and level. She wasn't mad and did not want to give the impression she was.

Slowly his golden eyes moved from looking at where their hands were intertwined to look at Winry's blue eyes. He noticed her hair was pulled back, meaning she had been spending time in her workshop again. The smudge of grease across her cheek confirmed it. But her big blue eyes were what drew him in again.

"You are not your father. You're not Hohenheim, or General Mustang. You won't make the same mistakes they did, I promise you. You'll make your own and that will be fine. You've always come back to me haven't you?"

Winry smiled, gave his hand a pat and left him to stew over everything she just gave him. He would come to his senses sooner or later.

Ed remained seated. Winry was right. Then again, most often Winry was right about these types of things. It got annoying at times. But still, she was right.

He wasn't Hohenheim. He wasn't Mustang. He was Ed. Winry believed in him and was right, again. He wouldn't turn out to be like them. He came back, he always came back. If anything, this gave him a stronger reason to come back home.

For the first time since the news was broken a smile spread across Ed's face. He was going to be a father. With Winry, the love of his life.

Suddenly he stood and strode out of their kitchen. He needed to find his wife. To thank her. To express his joy and nerves at this new chapter in their lives. To remind her he was an idiot and needed a wrench to the face sometimes.

When he finally found he again, she was in her workshop tinkering with a customer's automail. Ed wasn't surprised. Winry had a tendency to dive headlong into her work when something was troubling her. And having a husband that completely froze at the news of pregnancy was certainly troubling.

Winry was biting her lip as she was attempting to get the gunk out of a joint. Ed couldn't help but think of how attractive he found it.

"Hey Win?"

Winry hummed in response, but didn't tear her eyes away from the appendage in her hands. She was in her own world now. Edward gave a small snort and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Ed, I'm working," she complained.

"I know. I just wanted to tell you that you were right. Again. I'm not Hohenheim and I won't leave you and the kid. I promise."

Winry turned her head from her work to look at Ed's face, her blue eyes sparkling with wisdom and a hint of something else.

"I know that already. You just needed to see it yourself. Now get out of here, Mr. Carson's leg need maintenance. How he managed to get his knee joint so jammed I'll never know. He's almost as bad as you, and he doesn't go any further than his mailbox on the weekends."

Ed smiled. There was the woman he married.

"I'll start dinner."

Winry hummed again and turned back to her work.

Ed was at ease as he left his pregnant wife to work. Sure, he was still nervous, but that was to be expected. If a new parent wasn't nervous the first time around (and possibly the times after) then that parent wasn't fit to be a parent in the first place.

But Ed was happy. While his hadn't been something he expected it was something that he was going to take at full stride. He could do this, whatever this became. After all, he had taken down that Father guy on the Promised Day and got Al back into his own body again. How challenging could changing a few diapers be in comparison to that?

Bonus:

"Ow, ow, ow. Sweetheart you're pulling Daddy's hair. Stop tha- Ow!"

Ed was currently a jungle gym for his youngest. And his oldest. Actually, he was a jungle gym for all of his children. Had it not been raining outside, he would have kicked their little butts outside to entertain themselves for a few hours. He had a list of things to do before Al and Mei returned from Xing.

His youngest, instead of letting go of his ponytail, used it as leverage to climb higher onto his shoulders. And as he tried to counterbalance the weight on his neck, he found his arms and legs were pinned by his other children. There was a short tumble and everyone landed in a heap on the floor.

Ed heard laughter and looked to see Winry standing in the doorway.

"I bet you find this hilarious," Ed muttered.

"It certainly is amusing," she concurred.

"Promise me no more- Ow!"

"Can't do that."

Ed struggled to free himself from his spawns grip to look Winry in the face. She had that sparkle in her eyes that told him she knew something he didn't.

"Win?"

"You best break out the crib from the attic, we'll be needing it soon." And with a wink and a smile she escaped into her workshop.

Ed blinked stupidly for a moment and opened his mouth to call after his wife when one of his kids took the time to jab their elbow, or knee, into his stomach, knocking the wind from him.

This is the last one, I swear, Ed promised himself.

That was what he said last time.

A/N: Forgive me if anyone is terribly OOC. I've never written these characters before, but I think I did alright for myself.