Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful manga "FullMetal Alchemist".
It was a very nice party. All of Winry's friends had put it together for her. There was her, Granny Pinako, her mommy, and Eddie, and Auntie Trisha, and all her playmates from school.
Winry smiled as each guest arrived, one by one, bearing presents and good will. She loved turning two. Two, apparently, was a magic number, because she hadn't had any presents or party or cake when she turned one. Not that she could remember turning one very well.
Flouncing the skirts of her dress, Winry smiled. She loved her new dress. It was very fancy and pretty, not like any of the other dresses she always wore. Those dresses were worn, frayed, and stained. This dress was new, silky, lacey, and long. It was a very nice blue color that matched her eyes.
"Winwy!" Eddie called, racing over, his eyes lit up. "Winwy! Happy birfday!"
"Tanks, Eddie," Winry acknowledged, smiling. Eddie had just turned one a while ago. She forgot just how long ago it was, though, as she wasn't very apt at counting months or days. But anyway, he was only one, so she was older. Plus, she could talk better than him. It made her feel smug.
Soon, all of Winry's other friends skipped over, dressed up fancily just like she and Eddie were. It was a fun party.
All of the adult parents stood in a boring bundle and talked to each other, but Winry and her friends chose to rush around, playing Tag and Hide-and-Seek.
Winry noticed with smug satisfaction the pile of presents on the couch. She smiled, but wondered if any of them were any good. She hadn't been expecting a party, so she hadn't told anyone what she wanted. What Winry would really like was a shiny silver wrench, one like the kind Granny Pinako always had. She loved those wrenches, and thought they were beautiful and strong and hard and shiny. She'd always loved watching Granny work with the smooth metal parts of her automails, and thought maybe she would be getting some of her own.
"Winry! Kids! Come over here, and we'll cut the cake!" Winry's mommy called out, and the children rushed over happily, tripping over feet and slipping on the wood floors. Winry and Eddie were first in line, grinning ear-to-ear, side by side. Eddie eagerly held his hands out, waiting anxiously for his portion of the cake. Winry's mom laughed.
"No, Eddie, birthday girl gets first serve," she smiled, handing a large corner of the cake to her daughter. Winry smiled and peeped her tongue through her lips at Eddie. Eddie scowled, taking a second, smaller slice of cake from his Auntie Sara.
Winry and Eddie took their cakes over to the long table, which had been set up that morning with enough chairs for every child. The adults remained standing and talking.
"Happy birfday Winwy!" all of her friends shouted. "Happy birfday!" Then they began to eat their cake.
Even for Winry, who was a really big eater, her slice of cake was simply too much. Even though it was chocolate, with delicious chocolaty icing, and that was her very favorite, she ended up with a good-sized chunk still uneaten on her plate. She stared at the cake with squinty eyes for some time, pondering finishing the tasty treat, but decided against it seeing as her stomach was rather queasy.
The rest of her friends finished their cake and slipped out of their chairs. As the adults noticed that there was now nothing occupying their children, they hurriedly created a new distraction.
"Time for Winry to open her presents!" they chanted. "Let's see what all of you guys brought her!"
All of the kids surrounded Winry as she skipped to the pile of colorfully-wrapped gifts, eager to see just what these packages contained. Maybe she would get a wrench, and maybe something else shiny, and maybe a little mechanical toy that Granny Pinako would help her take apart and put back together…
The first present Winry was handed was rather large, a rectangular box encased in candy-striped paper. She took a moment to find the opening in the paper, then slipped her fingers under it and tore the wrappings away. When she got to the box, she cheerfully lifted the lid.
Inside was a mechanical dog! One that moved around, walking on its four mechanical legs, and barked robotically. Winry couldn't wait for Granny Pinako to help her take it apart and see how it worked.
Winry unwrapped the rest of her presents; they were all fun, and wonderful, and amazing, and things she hadn't even known she wanted until she set eyes on them. A little golden watch, a stuffed cat, a clockwork figurine, a doll, a giant fuzzy soft bear, and many other gifts of the same variety. Winry was amazed and gratified.
But then her friends pulled her up by her arms and the ribbons on her dress, begging her to come and play. So she did.
The children were playing charades. Eddie was acting out an animal while the rest of the kids pointed and laughed and shouted out guesses, and Eddie was having a hard time not bopping them all on the head and shouting "You poopie-heads, I'm a dog!"
That was when Auntie Trisha screamed. Well, it wasn't exactly a scream, more like a very loud gasp. All of the children stopped playing and turned in shock to look, and the mothers gathered around her, muttering and chattering and worrying.
"Someone call the doctor!" Winry's mother shouted. "Trisha's gone into labor!"
And, suddenly, everyone had left Winry's side in favor of Auntie Trisha's.
"Just hold on, Trisha, it's going to be just fine, the doctor's coming…" Winry's mom told her. They had laid Auntie Trisha on the couch, and the variety of worried mothers and excited children were gathered around them.
"Sara," Trisha gasped, holding her hand. "Call Von, call Von…"
"Yes, yes…" Sara nodded, turning to one of the mothers. "Please go, get Von Hohenheim…"
The woman nodded, took her child by the hand, and turned to rush out the door.
"Trisha, Trisha, you gonna have a baby? You gonna have another baby?" Winry's friends all asked at once, raising a clamor. Mothers took their children into their arms.
"Yeah, yeah, my mommy's gonna have a baby, I'm gonna be a big brudder!" Eddie nodded excitedly.
Trisha turned to look at Eddie with a strained smile.
"That's right, Eddie, you're going to be a big brother now. You'll have…" she broke of, grimacing at a contraction, "lot's of responsibilities…"
"Ssh, ssh, quiet, don't talk," Sara quieted her. "The doctor is almost here. Mothers, please take your children home."
Winry watched as all of her friends were swiftly bundled up, picked up, and carried swiftly out the front door. All of her friends had gone. Her party had ended, just like that… and it was all that stupid baby's fault.
If Auntie Trisha's baby hadn't decided to be born right then, than her party would still be happening and Winry would be having lots of fun. Not like now, not that all of her party guests had left.
"AAAUGH!" Trisha cried, squeezing Sara's hand, beads of sweat forming on her brow.
"Trisha!" Sara said hurriedly. "Trisha, you have to get up, we're going to move you to the bed…"
Sara and Granny Pinako helped Trisha to her feet and led her, stumbling, across the floor. The three of them didn't make it ten feet, though, when Von Hohenheim burst through the front door. With one look at the situation, he strode forward and lifted Trisha into his arms, carrying her the rest of the way into the other room, laying her on the bed. The doctor emerged a few moments later, and Pinako guided him through to Trisha.
Winry stood quivering in the living room, gazing around with dejection at the pile of torn wrapping paper, the presents, the leftover cake. No one was caring that it was her second birthday. No one cared anymore that she had turned two. All they cared about was that stupid baby. This was the worst party ever.
Winry stalked over to the front door and walked outside, pausing on the way to pick up the stuffed cat from her pile of presents. Sitting huffily on the front steps, she stroked the kitty's fur. The cat was a soft yellow with white stripes, its eyes, made of glass, glowing golden with black pupils. The cat's nose was soft and pink, and Winry rubbed it as she vented her anger.
"I was having the most good party, you know. Then that stupid baby happened, an' all my friends left, an' everyone's paying attention to Auntie Trisha an' they forgot all 'bout me." She stared at the calm, slightly tired looking face of the kitty. "You're my only good friend, you know. What will I name you?" She stared some more, thinking, holding her cat up to eye-level. "How 'bout Alphonse? You look like an Alphonse. I can call you Al."
She heard the frenzied voices of her mommy and Granny Pinako and Van and the doctor inside the house and pouted some more. Not even Eddie was here to talk to. Eddie was paying attention to the stupid baby.
Winry got mad. That baby. That stupid baby was all to blame. It was probably happy, now that it had drawn everyone away from Winry. It probably thought Winry was stupid, thought Winry was an idiot. Winry did not like the idea of that baby smugly being fussed over and given treats. That baby had probably chosen this day to be born on purpose.
"Winwy!" someone called from behind her, and Winry turned to see Eddie rushing towards her, the broadest grin on his face. "Winwy! My mommy's baby is bein' borned now. I'm gonna be a big brudder!"
Winry scowled at him and turned back to Alphonse. The kitty stared up at her in sympathy, silently agreeing that the baby was trouble.
"Winwy, aren't you happy? The baby is bein' borned! It's good, very good…" Eddie trailed off, staring at Winry's turned back. "Winwy?"
Winry shrugged. "It's good, I guess. The baby's being born. It's good."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm gonna be a big brudder!" Eddie swelled with pride as he spoke those words. "A big brudder!"
Winry ignored him, continuing to silently communicate with Alphonse. They both agreed that Eddie was stupid, and the baby was even worse. After all, the baby took away all of Winry's fun. The baby was to blame.
Winry stayed with Alphonse, staring out at the wide-open countryside, stretching out for miles and miles. The grass was very green, and Winry thought the color was really pretty. She stared out at the grass for several hours, as only she could without becoming bored, just staring and fuming silently and thinking.
Then Sara rushed out, grinning ear-to-ear.
"Winry! Eddie! Trisha's had her baby. It's a little boy!"
Eddie shouted with excitement and rushed towards the room where his mother and new baby brother was, while Sara took her daughter's hand and pulled her reluctantly to the room as well.
Inside, the doctor was wiping his hands on a damp towel and smiling softly while Von held his wife while she held her newest son, Granny Pinako looking on. Eddie rushed up to his parents, peering down at the tiny face of his little brother.
"Liddle brudder, liddle brudder! It's me! It's Eddie!" he spoke, trying to coax his brother into saying something. Winry hung back, annoyed at all the attention the baby was retaining. That baby.
"Have you thought of a name yet?" Pinako asked Trisha. Trisha shook her head.
"I don't know, but it will come to me when it does. It has to be perfect. Like my little Edward here."
"Yeah! Yeah, my name is perfect, so my liddle brudder's has to be, too," Eddie agreed.
"Well, why don't we rattle off a few suggestions?" Sara offered. "I'm sure eventually we'll come to something."
"That's a fine idea," Pinako agreed. "Hmm… how about… Roy? Henry? Daniel?"
Trisha smiled and shook her head, gazing down at the face of the baby. Winry frowned.
As the rest of the people began offering more stupid suggestions for the stupid baby's stupid name, Winry was chatting with Alphonse.
"Humph, all my party guests went away, an' now everyone else is still talking 'bout the baby. What's so special 'bout that baby? I was a baby once, an' I don't 'member anyone getting all google-eyed over me. Well, at least I have you, right, Alphonse?"
Trisha looked up. "Winry! What was that name you just said?" she asked, seeming surprised. Winry looked up at her, nervous.
"Um… um… Alphonse?" she answered, quivering, wondering why she was in trouble.
Trisha looked back down at her child. "Alphonse! Alphonse! That's it, his name is Alphonse. It's perfect. Edward and Alphonse… Ed and Al."
Sara, Van, and Pinako complimented Trisha on the name, and Eddie turned to grin at Winry.
"Good job, Winwy! Alphonse! It's a very good name."
Winry scowled again. So the baby had stolen her party, stolen her guests, stolen her attention, and now it had stolen her kitty's name.
"Winry," Trisha spoke up, and Winry looked at her in turn. She was still cradling the stupid baby. "Thank you so much for giving Alphonse his name. Why don't you have a turn holding him?"
Winry stared at the little white bundle that was the baby, her eyes growing wide. Hold the stupid baby? How could she? She was so angry at it! It had made her birthday the worst day of her entire life!
"That's a splendid idea!" Sara exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "Winry, come here, we'll get you all settled."
Eddie rushed forward, took Winry's hand, and dragged her over to an armchair by the bed in which Trisha was laying. Sara lifted her up and sat her down, placing soft pillows on either side of her and one on her lap. Then, after first accepting consent from Trisha, she lifted the little Alphonse from his mother's arms and brought him over to the sitting Winry.
Winry didn't know what to do. If she told Trisha she didn't want to hold the bad baby, Trisha and her mommy might get mad at her, and Eddie would be angry. But Winry didn't want to hold the baby. What on Earth was she supposed to do? Pretend to drop it so it would be taken away?
"Get your hands ready, Winry, so you can hold him properly. See how Auntie Trisha was holding him? You must hold him like that."
Winry cautiously positioned her arms, and her mother carefully placed the bundled-up Alphonse into the cradle they had formed. Sara made absolutely sure that Alphonse was in no danger of falling or being dropped, then withdrew.
Having no idea where to look, Winry gazed about at the faces of the doctor, and Auntie Trisha, and Von Hohenheim and Granny Pinako and her mommy. Her gaze settled last upon the eager, smiling face of Eddie, before she finally turned her eyes upon the stupid baby.
She couldn't pull her eyes away.
Alphonse was perfect. Alphonse was beautiful. Alphonse was everything.
Winry could barely remember Eddie's birth. He had come into the world screaming and crying, clawing at the air with his little pink hands, his face red and scrunched up in his tantrum. Alphonse was different. He was, indeed, pink, as all babies were… but he wasn't screaming or crying, he wasn't wriggling or squirming. He was being perfect, calm, cool, and seemed just a little bit drowsy. He already had a soft coating of yellow hair, pale as the sun, soft as a cat's fur. His eyes were open, gazing at her with calm, penetrating curiosity. They were golden, with small black pupils. His nose was soft, pink, and small, twitching slightly, wondering.
Alphonse stared up at Winry with his golden eyes, his cheeks rosy and plump. Winry stared down at him in return, and was surprised to find all of her anger at the baby melting away. Alphonse wasn't mean or stupid or bad. He was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen.
Winry removed one of her arms from under where Alphonse's feet were, wrapped in the cloth, and lifted Alphonse the Cat from beside her. She held the little kitty in front of Alphonse's face.
"Hello Al. This is Al too. He's a kitty. He looks like you, see?"
Alphonse turned his gaze to the cat, and let out a burble, grinning that little baby grin that one usually doesn't see until several weeks after birth. Al stuck out his tongue wetly, blowing a raspberry, giggling at the kitty. Winry smiled at him, tucking Alphonse the Cat into Al's blanket.
"Here you go, he's yours now. You can have him. It's your first present. Please keep it for always."
Then, Sara came to lift Alphonse back out of Winry's arms and return him to his awaiting mother. Eddie clambered up beside Trisha in the bed, looking at the face of his little brother, smiling, laughing. Winry remained seated in the armchair, surrounded by the soft little pillows. She watched as the doctor packed up and left, and as Sara and Granny Pinako hovered over Auntie Trisha and Von and Eddie, fussing over Alphonse.
And she didn't mind anymore. She forgot all about the presents that waited for her in a big pile outside the room. She forgot all about the remaining birthday cake, sitting dejectedly on the kitchen table. She forgot all about her friends, her party guests, that were by now probably at home, being fed dinner.
Because she had just received the best birthday present ever.
Thanks so much for reading. This WILL be continued… it's a series of oneshots, one depicting each year of Winry's life since Alphonse's birth. Unfortunately, it might take me whiles at a time to update, so bare with me. Thanks.
Please review.