A quick buggy ride back to the house brought the crew of four back home and soon everyone was seated around the unlit fireplace.
"Well Alphonse, Mei, this is our 3rd oldest child Ellen, and her fiancé, Troy Monroe. Troy runs the dojo with Ellen in East City, and they plan on getting married in the fall." Explained Winry.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Ellen, I'm not sure if you remember me or not." Greeted Al "After all, the last time we saw you, you were only 3 years old."
"It's been that long? Jeeze, no wonder I don't remember you. That aside, It's a pleasure to see you again, Uncle Al. I assume this is my aunt?"
"Well we got the marriage certificate signed YEARS ago, but I never had an actual wedding, which is why I still call us engaged."Mei explained.
"I KNEW IT!" exclaimed Ed, jumping up to his feet, "I knew that the imp couldn't stand going that long without a shred of proof saying they were married!"
"YOU'RE NOT SO BIG ON THE TALL SCALE EITHER, SHORTACK!" Screamed Mei.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLIN SHORTSTACK, YA MINUTERE SIZED HAG!"
"Now, now, guys can't we all just get along?" questioned Alphonse, playing referee again.
The two hotheaded shorties, *HEY!*, sat down in their chairs huffing and blowing their steam off.
"On another note, I've decided that we're leaving the day after the kids get out of school." Winry said.
"So Soon?" questioned Matt looking to his mother.
"Yes, after all, we need to help the town get ready for the festival, and the wedding." She said in explanation, "But it's been a big day and I'm sure everyone's tired. So Troy, you know where the basement room is, Ellen no you can't be in the same room with Troy, you're unmarried, and therefore it's improper. Alphonse, Mei, I'll show you to your room. Now everyone go to bed."
.
.
The next morning proved to be a bit more hectic than usual due to the madness, plus all the packing in anticipation of the summer long trip.
"BREAKFAST!" called Winry. Immediately she heard scrambling footsteps from both downstairs, upstairs, and on her very floor.
Somehow though, Little Charlotte had beaten all of them before they had taken 1 step.
"Good Morning, Mama." Smiled the 7 year old.
"Morning Charlie, I see you've beaten everyone once again. So what'll it be?" she questioned her youngest.
"2 pancakes with sausage?"
"Conecuh or patties?"
"Conecuh's the best!" she answered.
"Morning, Mom," chorused James and Matt, "What's for breakfast?"
Winry looked to her two sons. Matt dressed neatly in his freshly ironed kakis and green button down, while James was in wrinkled, dark wash jeans and a wrinkled, grease stained dark blue button down that had the top buttons open to show off his skintight black muscle shirt.
"James, change the shirt, it's wrinkled and stained, and while you're at it run a brush through that chicken scratched mop."
Rolling his eyes and storming back up the stairs, he and Penelope accidentally clashed, sending the 15 year old tumbling down the remaining steps. Only to be caught in the arms of her father before she impacted on the floor.
"Thanks Dad." The teenager said softly, pulling herself from him, and then reaching down to grab her school back. She lightly dusted off the skirt of her Lilac school dress and straightened any invisible wrinkles out, before heading over to the kitchen for a short breakfast.
"Morning Ma." She said with an unusual cheerfulness in her voice.
"Morning, Pen, is there something I should know about?" questioned Winry.
"No, just happy we're going on a vacation. Are we meeting Eli and Caroline there or are they coming here before as well?" Penelope questioned, while grabbing a plate of scrambled eggs.
"Well I know Eli Is Coming up here because he's stationed in South City currently, and we're meeting Caroline in Central when we stop there." Ed answered for his wife also reaching for scrambled eggs.
"Eli and Caroline?" questioned Alphonse as he and Mei walked in.
"Elijah is our oldest child and Caroline is right behind him. They are the children in the last total family photo. Remember? It's hanging write behind you on the wall." Explained Winry, pointing to the wall.
Turning to the photo he examined it briefly before chuckling.
"I remember that day. It took forever for you too to get them settled and then Mei and I were late, because we had just come in from Xing the previous day and we were dog tiered. And you too were agitated because the Elijah refused to be still. I'm amazed we all even remembered to smile."
"Yeah that was a very hectic day." Smiled Ed, thinking back, "Jeeze that was back before you guys left for that uber long time. Speaking of which, just thought I'd through this out there and ask if you guys ever had kids… I mean you couldn't have gone THAT long without-"
"Ed! How could you ask something of that?" questioned Winry while throwing her frying pan at him.
"Easy Winry! Jeeze it's just a question!" he exclaimed barely missing the pan.
"Yeah, Winry it's cool, really, I mean I expected to get questioned about it sometime and to answer your question, yes we do have kids and we'll be meeting them in Rizembool with Ling and Ranfan and they're children. We have 2 boys and 2 girls."
"I knew it!"
"Alphonse I want pictures of my nieces and nephews pronto!" said Winry, waving a spatula at his face in a threatening way.
Quickly he threw his worn leather wallet on the bar's surface.
"They're in the pocket." He said quickly.
Winry quickly grabbed out the pictures of them eagerly wanting to see her nieces and nephews immediately.
She laid them all out on the counter and cried,
"Names and ages now, please!"
He pointed to a picture with a teenage girl with waist long bronze hair similar to his own tied half back. Her eyes pools of a dark brown/goldish color with a small slanted look to them. The girl stood tall in the picture in a plum colored dress that came to her knees which showed her ivory skinned calf's off.
"This is my oldest, her name is Adrianna Rose Elric and she's 14."
He skipped to the next picture, this time it showed a young boy with hair black as night and eyes to match with more of roundness to them as his mothers. He was on the smaller scale for someone that looked to be entering puberty. He wore a simple white t shirt and jeans.
"My second child, Anthony Mitchell Elric and he's 11"
Moving on to the other picture of a boy again his face held childhood innocence and still rounded with baby fat. His eyes full of honey gold and his head a mass of bronze. Also small for his age, he was in an outfit similar to his brother's.
"My third child, Rei Li Elric, he'll be 8 next week."
Then finally he pointed to the final picture of a young girl, her hair a mass of curly chestnut curl and her eyes two iris's of ebony her happy face filled with innocence and her body rounded with baby fat. Her happy brilliant smile glowing on the page as she stood with a cute lilac dress on.
"And my baby girl, Carson Mallory Elric and she just turned 4."
"My gosh Alphonse they're all such beautiful kids!" exclaimed Winry, "I bet they're all little angels."
"I laugh at the thought of that." Said Mei as she came in.
"Surely they can't be as bad as mine." Said Winry.
"Hey, yours are standing right here!" called Penelope.
"Hush up you might not be trouble but your brother definitely is."
"Which one, I have three."
"Don't be a smartass." Called Ed.
"She being a smartass is your problem, Ed, she gets it from you." Countered Winry.
" Yeah well, if she's anything like me then it'll get her in trouble later in life so I'm trying to warn her."
"Honey, just because words come out of your mouth doesn't mean that your children take in every word you say." Smiled Winry, "Isn't that right, James?" she questioned her son who had walked in, with a fresh red button down on. His hair somewhat still messy but still looked good.
"Huh?"
"See?"
"See what Winry?" he asked.
"Why did I marry you?"
"Because I'm hot?"
"My mistake."
After seeing her parents get into this weird awkward gaze she then decided to announce that she and the other kids needed to get to school.
"Well hurry home when you're done with school, you all need to start packing, we're leaving tomorrow." Said Winry to her children as they walked out.
"Kay, mom." They called with a wave as they left.
~.~ (OUTSIDE) ~.~
"Okay, guys grab your bikes and let's go." Said Penelope, "And because we're kinda running late, Charlie just ride in my basket." She said. Usually when they didn't run late they would walk to school and if they did bike their way there, usually Charlie would take her little bike along and try and keep up with her siblings. Usually that just slowed them all down, because the older three kids had to watch out for the small 7 year old.
Racing through the housing district and back to the main road was a rush for the little 7 year old as her platinum hair swept back with the wind into Pen's face. But soon enough they stopped at the lower school. Penelope stopped and lifted her sister out of the basket and watched her tread across the school grounds. Then left for across the street where her brothers had already headed for to join their friends.
As she entered the school yard she headed straight for the bike rack where a curly red headed teenage girl waited and beside her a girl with waist long coffee colored locks with twin gypsy braids tossed in the midst of the long locks.
"Hey, Frannie, Julianna." She said with a small smile as she came to meet them at the rack. She quickly locked up her bike and grabbed her messenger bag from her luggage rack.
"Hey, Pen, ready to rock the last day of 9th year?" questioned the red head.
"I don't know about rocking it, Frannie, but I am ready to be done with the day. I'm going on vacation." She said happily.
"Wait a second, dollface, since when does your family ever go on vacation. I've know you since diapers and I've never know yall to go on a vacation." The read head know as Frannie questioned.
"Look my uncle and aunt that have been traveling in Xing for the past 14 some odd years came to the shop yesterday announcing they were having an official wedding during the Star Festival in Rizembool. Which so happens to be my parents birth home. So as of tomorrow we are ALL traveling to Rizembool and spending the majority of the summer there. And when I say all I mean the ENTIRE family."
"Whoa Baby, that's one too many Elrics in one place, is there even a place in Rizembool that can hold All of you guys? I mean doesn't Eli have a kid and Caroline have one on the way?" questioned the brunette classified as Julianna.
"Well we've all stayed in our house before but not with my extended family. Uncle Al has 4 kids so, we'll all be crowded out. And also, Eli has 2 kids, and Caroline already has one and one more coming out soon. She's like about 7-8 months pregnant so she could spew this new one out during vacation." She said, while heading toward the doors of the school.
"Isn't it not good to travel while you're pregnant though?" questioned Frannie.
"Yeah but it's also not wise to be working with automail while pregnant but both her and my mother do anyways. It's not advised but they're both stubborn and hard headed."
"Your mom Pregnant AGAIN?" asked Julianna.
"Maybe, maybe not, I saw a pregnancy test box in the trash the other day. I'm leaning to her being pregnant again because I think I heard her throwing up this morning. Then again I could be wrong." She said with a slight smirk as they neared their first classroom.
"Jeeze isn't it bad to be pregnant when you're like over 35 though?" Frannie interrogated.
"Yes but you've met my mother and you've seen her stubbornness. Where do you think I get it from?"
"True that."
They entered their first class just as the bell rang, quickly slipping into their seats on the front room.
"Hello everyone, how's your last day of your 9th year going?" asked the Geometry teacher Mr. Quatt.
A chorus of mumbles consisting of "good", "been better" and "screw off", was heard.
"Yeah well it's about to get worse because guess what? State Testing Day. Number 4 pencils only, if I see you cheat you get a zero. Any questions? No good. Done."
~.~
"How do you think you did?" questioned Frannie as they exited the school building that afternoon.
"Geometry? Passed it at least, definitely not an A though. Biology? Aced it." Answered Penelope.
"I'm pretty sure I failed both of them." Said Frannie with a shake of her head.
"Both have been aced. They were too easy." Julianna confidently spoke out.
"Can it, braniac, no one likes a show off." Penelope snapped, walking to unlock her bike from the rack.
"What's got your panties in a bunch?" questioned Frannie boldly.
"Nothing it's just, Mr. Quatt has it out for me. I swear he purposely made that test to torture all non mathematical geniuses. And I'm ready to be rid of him. I just wanna get outta this town. I cannot wait until tomorrow." She said.
"Oh. Well, can you give me a ride home?" questioned Frannie.
"Yeah, your dad not picking you up?" answered Penelope.
"He's outta town so I'm staying with my mom this weekend." She answered. Frannie's parents had divorced when she was ten, and now she and her younger sister Greta stayed with a different parent each weekend in separate homes on opposite sides of town.
"Oh, alright, just let me get Charlie to the shop and I'll take you on to your mom's." she said, bringing out her bike from the racks she sat on the seat and Frannie took the messenger bag in her arms and sat on the luggage rack with her feet on the pegs of the back wheel. Julianna grabbed her bike as well and peddled behind Penelope.
Penelope scanned the school yard quickly and spotted her two brothers waiting at the school gate, already on their bikes awaiting her. They all met up and quickly sped across the dirt road to the lower school where 7 year old Charlie waited with 8 year old Greta.
"Heya Penelope!" squeaked Greta as she saw her older sister's best friend. Greta's sparkling emerald eyes shown brighter as she saw her sister though. She and Charlie ran to the crowd of older kids, Charlie jumping up on the basket of Penelope's bike while Greta Jumped into Julianna's.
"Let's get going guys." Said Penelope as they all peddled off to the shop.
~.~
DING DING DING.
"Mom!, Charlie's here, is it alright if I take Frannie and Greta home?" questioned Penelope as she entered the shop.
"Go for it, just as long as you get packed when you get home and don't lollygag around on getting to the house either." Answered Winry wiping off some grease on her coveralls as she approached her children.
"Hi, Aunt Winry." Said Frannie with a smile as she walked in with Greta in her arms.
"Good Afternoon Frannie, you as well Julianna." She said.
"Thank you for letting Penelope take me home, Dad's outta town and mom hates for us to be late getting home."
"It's no trouble Frannie, just try and be quick on that bike I wouldn't want you getting in trouble. But if your mom tries anything call me or come to the house." Winry said with a small smile, waving them off to leave.
They saddled up back on the bike and were off heading to the eastern district of Rush Valley.
~.~
"And here we are." Penelope huffed as she parked her bike at the top of the hill were Frannie and Greta's mother's cottage resided.
"Thanks a lot for the ride again Pen." Frannie said with a smile.
"Anytime, Frannie. All you have to do is ask." She said with a smile before coasting down the hill and away back to the Southern Housing District.
~.~
She gave a sigh of relief as her old house came into view, she instantly slacked in her peddling and soon coasted to the rack in front of her house. Quickly she parked it and hurried inside.
"Ma, I'm Home!" she called.
"Mom's still at the shop." She heard her father call.
"Oh, well I'm home, dad."
"Where'd you go?"
"Dropped Frannie and Greta off at their mom's."
"Oh, Okay, have you packed yet?" He questioned coming into the front room from the kitchen.
"No sir. I was fixing to start though." She said quickly.
"Need any help?" he questioned, looking for a small way to spend time with his daughter.
"I think I can handle it." She said with a smile.
"Oh okay then." He said a bit disappointedly.
She began walking to the staircase when he called out to her,
"If you want you can help me with dinner though. Whenever you're done packing that is."
"Alright dad." She called as she headed on up to the attic door. Swiftly as she reached the top of the staircase she pulled it down and began the journey up the stairs/ladder and headed for her corner.
Upon entry she almost tripped over some of Charlie's dolls, but swiftly caught herself and settled on watching her steps before moving through the clutter. She neared her corner and opened her Wardrobe, grabbed the worn leather suitcase and began to pack.
I am so uber sorry that I have taken so long on updating. All throughout the school year no matter how hard I tried I couldn't find the words that I wanted to write. I tried so long that I gave up until school got out so maybe that once I had all the school junk on my mind gone I could write again. And it was only recently that I received the words because my internet was out and I had nothing to do. And here we are, chapter three has been born. . Thank you Ren for your betaing. And I hope you guys enjoyed this. Cookies to all 6 of you reviewers.
Awesomenaruto: Thanks for reading and reviewing and I promise you'll get the Ed and Mustang interactions soon. Enough. None here currently but I'm getting there give me another chapter or so and you'll have some.
RenofAmestris: Yeah well. Sorry. Can't help ya there. And yeah I like Spanish it's pretty rocking if I do say so myself.
MinatoHaiiiiii: Um thanks? I guess that's good right? Thanks for the review.
InuNaruPokeAlchemist: Glad ya like it Thanks for the review
Meandmyfriend: I'll try ta update sooner now that I can write again. thanks for the review.
Iheartfullmetal: I'm tryin sugah, don't you worry about that. I like writing this story so I really wanna finish it. Thanks for the review.
To all my reviewers I love you and thank you for your kind words. I hope more people read and review this time though.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FMA ONLY THE OCS
REVIEW AND READ DAMIT!
NOS VEMOS!
:D
