A/N: I apologize for my absence, but I had stuff to do and I was debating on releasing this chapter since I had it finished already. Anyway, this is my idea of how the Elrics were after the ending of FMA. We know that Ed and Winry had gotten married and had a son and a daughter. In my mind, I like the idea of Ed having two boys and a girl, kinda like his childhood. It helps that his youngest is his second son. Pardon me for any active voice in this chapter. It's been awhile since I wrote in first POV. Most of this chapter is a flashback from Ed's POV.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Life seemed to be returned to normal for Al and me after the Promise Day. Father was defeated, and Amestris was not destroyed like Xerxes was. The only thing that was bittersweet about the whole thing was the amount of death on both sides. Like Fu, Buccaneer, Greed… Greed was the true hero of the Promise Day. I merely weakened Father, but Greed made it so Father would dissolve and defeat him once and for all. What surprised me was the fact that I grieved over our bastard of a father: Hohenheim. When Al and I got home after recovery, Granny Pinako broke the news to us of his death. He died right in front of Mom's grave with a peaceful smile on his face. Bastard couldn't have waited until we returned home to die, but he did live for a long time and lost a lot of energy in the Promise day. We had a small service for him and buried him next to Mom. He deserved that much.

Two years past before Al and I were leaving once again, pursuing a theory of ours. Al went on ahead of me to the east. Secretly, I think he wanted to visit that Xingese princess, May, and learn Alkahestry since he could still do Alchemy. Me, well, I headed west, not before proposing to Winry. The thought of asking before I left crossed my mind, but I waited until last minute to ask her. Thankfully, she accepted before the train took off.

Before I knew it, I was home, married, and waiting for the birth of our first child. I was pushed out of the room when Winry started screaming. It felt like hours, but it was only two when Pinako came out with a wet bundle that was moving.

"Congratulations, Pipsqueak," Pinako sniffled, looking up at me. "You're a father of a healthy baby boy." She handed me the bundle, before wiping her eyes.

I looked at the baby in my arms, amazed that I created life the way I couldn't have when I could do alchemy. He was so small in my arms, yet he squirmed and snuggled into the warmth of his father. It was one of the amazing things I've seen. I was present when Winry delivered that baby back in Rush Valley, but… this was my son. My child. The child Winry and I created together. He started crying in my arms and I started to panic inwardly, worried that I had done something wrong.

"Oh, poor thing. Sounds like he's hungry," Pinako calmed my inward panicking. "Take him to Winry and get him fed."

I walked into the room that my wife was in, which looked like a war zone with bloody sheets and pots of boiled water. Winry laid on the bed, eyes closed in exhaustion. She stirred when she heard our son's cries for her milk.

"Oh, Ed," Winry sighed, holding her arms to the baby in my arms. I handed her our son, and started to feed him from her breast. "I can't believe he's here."

"Yeah," I sighed, going to her other side. I sat beside her, holding them both the best I could. "I still can't believe that we made him."

"Well, we did," Winry chuckled, watching our son greedily eating his meal. "What should we name him?"

"How about after your father?" I suggested.

"I love my father, but his name wasn't the greatest of names," Winry explained, looking up at me. "What about your dad?"

"No way," I huffed, looking away which caused Winry to chuckle. "We could name him after Hughes. After all, he noticed and wanted us to get together…"

"Maybe for a middle name…" Winry hummed, looking back at our son. "Daniel…"

"Who?" I asked, before realizing what she meant. I saw that it caused a little reaction from the babe in her arms. I smiled and declared, "Daniel it is then."

Daniel proved to be a lot like me in terms of intelligence, and was always the center of attention when Al or Teacher came over. He would sometimes get into trouble. Pretty soon, Winry was pregnant again, and delivering a second time.

"Is Mommy going to be okay?" Daniel asked, his golden eyes that he had gotten from me shone with concern as Winry screamed in pain. Daniel was two at the time.

"She is and so will be your brother," I assured him. Daniel was hoping for a baby brother, like I had with Al, and to be honest I wanted the baby to be a boy. Winry didn't matter what the baby was, but I think she is hoping the baby to be a girl to even it out.

Pinako came out, just like she did two years before, but without the bundle this time. She looked up at me, "The baby is feeding in there."

Daniel rushed into the room with me behind him. I saw Winry smiling at the fussing baby in her arms. The baby burped as Winry gently patted its back. Daniel slowly approached the bed, watching the baby.

"Daniel, meet Wendy, your baby sister." It looks like Winry got her wish, but Wendy sounds too much like Winry… However, I gave Wendy her middle name: Nina in honor of the girl that called me 'Big Brother Edward'.

Daniel, though a little reluctant with having a sister, took care of Wendy, reminding me of Al and I when we were little. One day, Al was visiting, along with May, his new fiancée.

"Hey, Ed." Al's voice had gotten deeper and I was still not used to it. "Have you noticed that Wendy has Mom's smile?"

May was currently holding her and made noises that Wendy giggled at. Daniel was able to diverge his sister's attention to him, when I noticed that Al was right: Wendy had her paternal grandmother's smile and this made me smile. I was able to recreate that smile without alchemy.

Years passed, both Daniel and Wendy grew up to be close and smart. Teacher, even I called her Izumi outloud, adored her grandchildren. She had adopted me and Al practically, she claimed, so they were her grandchildren. Wendy and Daniel didn't mind, calling her Grandmother. Through her and Al, Daniel learned alchemy. Through us three, Wendy and Daniel learned their fighting skills. Daniel seemed to love alchemy and succeeded at the basics, like I did at his age. Wendy struggled with it, but she wasn't interested in the idea. Both of my children seemed to excel in fighting, more Wendy than Daniel. Who knew? It worried Winry every time she found the two of them duking it out in the front yard. She wanted Wendy to continue with the automail business, but Wendy didn't want that as a career, even if she knew almost as much as Winry did when she was Wendy's age.

Both Daniel and Wendy shared a room together, which was fine… for a while. However, when Daniel was ten and Wendy was eight, Winry gave birth to another boy who I named Henry. Winry tacked on James for his middle name, and declared that we wouldn't be having any more children. Through all this, Granny Pinako seemed to be the voice of reason to us and our children, even if she loved her great-grandchildren to death.

All three of our kids had blonde hair, but Henry's proved to turn darker to fit Mom's teal eyes. Wendy's eyes were at first like Winry's, but we noticed some speck of gold in her eyes. Wendy was my little girl, and I treated her like such. Daniel and I had a close relationship, but Wendy and I had a closer relationship. Henry proved to be close with Winry, even he inherited my hate of milk, to which I still hate to this day.

One day, we heard a scream from the bathroom, and we rushed to see that Wendy sticking her head out with tears streaming down her.

"I'm dying!" Wendy cried, "I'm bleeding and it won't stop…"

Winry asked me to watch Daniel and Henry while she talked to Wendy. I didn't want to leave my little girl sad and crying, but I knew I had to. I moved Wendy's things out of her and Daniel's room the next day into Henry's former room. Daniel was twelve, Wendy was ten, and Henry was two.

During the next year, Daniel started to use alchemy in his practice fights with Wendy. We told him not to that, because it wasn't fair to Wendy who perform alchemy well and she might get hurt. He listened to us…for a while. During a visit from both Al and Teacher, we all were talking in the kitchen. Teacher and May were gossiping about May's pregnancies while Winry provided her own experience. Suddenly, Henry ran in, with frantic in his eyes.

"Mommy! Daddy! Daniel used alchemy in a fight with Wendy again!" Henry exclaimed, announcing my worst fear.

We rushed out to the yard to find Wendy on the ground clutching her stomach.

"DANIEL MAES ELRIC!" Winry and I shouted, rushing over to our two eldest. I picked up Wendy while Winry confronted Daniel, walking over to Al.

"Take her to her room," I told Al, passing Wendy with Teacher and Pinako following him to check on her in the house. I turned to face my eldest son with a stern glare. "How many times have we told you not to use alchemy when fighting Wendy?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"You used alchemy when you were my age…" Daniel pointed out.

"Don't talk back to your father!" Winry sternly scolded.

"That was different. Wendy's your sister!" I emphasized the fact.

I told Winry what happened on the Promise Day from my perspective and Al from his. Winry decided to wait until our children were thirteen or older to tell them about the truth behind the Promise Day. We also decided to wait about telling them about my days as a State Alchemist around that time. We told Daniel this already so he decided to use it as an excuse for his behavior at this point.

"Look, Daniel," I sighed, kneeling to look in the eyes. "Do you realize that you could have seriously hurt your sister or worse?"

I saw his face transform as he took in this information. For the first time since he was a toddler, Daniel started crying and fell into my chest. I hugged him closer to me, feeling him shaking. Winry joined our hug, comforting Daniel by petting his hair. After this, Daniel apologized to Wendy and promised to never hurt her with his alchemy and she forgave him. It seemed to be a normal afternoon after that, and a great ending to a great day… I thought wrong.

That night, I woke up to Henry's cries and rushed to see why he was crying. Then, I did. Henry was standing at the front door, and I saw Daniel's retreating figure running away from the house. I tried to run after him, but my automail leg decided to freeze up on me. My cries, Henry's, Winry's, Wendy's, Al's, Teacher's, Sig's and Pinako's cries were ignored as Daniel seemed to run further away. Teacher, Sig, and Al tried to chase him down to no luck. Daniel was thirteen, Wendy was eleven, and Henry was three.

Later, we found a note in Daniel's handwriting.

Dear family,

I know that I'm acting like Grandfather Hohenheim and running away, but I fear that if I stay longer, I'll hurt not only Wendy but you as well. Think of this as a 'See you later' because I'm going to travel to learn from the best about alchemy. Now, Wendy, I promise not to hurt you with my alchemy, and planned to keep that promise. I'll try to send letters and call when I can.

Love,

Daniel

We hadn't seen him since that day, but he kept his promise to write and call when he can. Apparently, he couldn't do powerful alchemy, but he wasn't not ready to come home just yet. Years passed when I saw a letter meant for Wendy from the Amestrian State Military. I found Winry and demanded to tell what the letter was.

"Okay," Winry winced like she was in trouble, "don't get mad, but Wendy signed up to join the military…"

The information was processed and I exploded in anger. "Why wasn't I told this?! Hell, why didn't she consulted this with me?! WENDY NINA ELRIC!"

"Edward, please understand that we must support her, even if we don't like it," Winry babbled as her daughter came into the room.

Wendy had grown into more mature woman, and I didn't like the boys that would linger on her figure with their eyes. Wendy's hair was braided on the two sides of her head, reminding me of a style from the west I remembered.

Wendy's eyes settled on the letter in my hand. "Uh oh…"

"That's right," I snarled slightly, "Why did you sign up for the military without my permission?"

"Because I know how you felt about the military," Wendy replied, fiddling with her hands. "But, dad, this is what I want to do."

"No, you're not joining the military!" I objected, throwing the letter, which was still in the envelope, to her feet. "And that is final!"

Wendy grabbed the letter from the ground, shaking slightly. She faced me with tears in her eyes. "Is it joining the military that you don't want me to do? Or is it leaving like Daniel? Because, dad, I'm nothing like him! But, this is my dream! To protect those who you love and fight for justice. You told me this about the Promise Day. You protected all those people as well as the military did." She paused, sniffling as the tears streamed. "Why can't I? I'm the reason that Daniel left! Just staying around here made me feel useless so I thought if I protected people, I won't be so useless… But thanks to you Dad, I'm back to feeling useless!" She turned and ran away, sobbing.

The room was silent before I felt a familiar smack from Winry's wrench, causing me to turn around to glare at her.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

Winry took a deep breath. "You remember how you felt when you and Al lost your bodies?" Winry asked calmly, glaring at her. "That's how exactly Wendy has felt ever since Daniel left. That it was her fault that he left and hasn't been home. There is nothing here that she could do except wait for his return."

I calmed down, both Wendy's and Winry's words sinking in. "Why hasn't she shared this with me?"

"You have your mini-freak outs when Daniel was mentioned," Winry explained, face softening slightly, "like when your father was brought up… You told Wendy the Promise Day story and she decided to join the military. In fact, she has training with a vet to teach her how to shoot a gun for the past two years. She even has a personal handgun he gave her. She told me this and I allowed it because I've been in her shoes before. The both of us, Ed. I don't like it either, but she told me that she'll die if she stays here, waiting for Daniel to return."

The silence came back before we heard a gunshot outside. I rushed to see Wendy in a form that I had seen a lot of military officials in. There was two distant targets away from her, with one closer to Wendy on the ground. Wendy pulled the trigger and shot the second target, missing the middle by a few centimeters. The next one she hit straight dead on. Thus, my decision was decided.

The next day, Wendy was on the train on her way to a basic training, leaving a distraught family behind…

Golden eyes opened as his wife shook him awake. Her blonde hair messed up, due to just waking up. Her blue eyes twinkled as she asked, "So what did you dream about, Ed?"

He blinked, before shaking his head, "Just the past, Winry. That's all." He pulled her close and kissed her.

A/N: Review and tell me what you think.