Author's note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is AU.

Family Quirks

He might be able to pull this off after all. He'd had his nieces and nephew for a week now, and Roy thought he was doing pretty well. He had managed to get the three children settled in his apartment as well as enrolled in school, and there had been no major disasters yet. Roy still had to find a piano teacher for Wilhelmina, and he'd yet to get more than three sentences at a time from Kurt, but it had only been a week.

It had been a crash course in parenting so far, and Roy was immensely grateful to Gracia and Hawkeye. If it hadn't been for them, he might have gone insane. Both of the women had been a source of calm and sanity while he tried to adjust to parenting. His only regret was he couldn't simply have Riza move in as well. That would definitely be a help to him. But that would have to wait until he was Fuhrur and they could have a family of their own most likely.

But it was definitely an interesting experience. He kept learning new things. Take Roisin for example. At five years old his niece already a pretty good grasp on what she wanted. She wasn't demanding exactly, but she made it clear when things weren't they way she wanted. Roisin wanted "real stories" as she put it at bedtime which was why he was now borrowing Riza's collection of novels from her childhood. They were currently halfway through Meet the Austins. And you never put marmalade on her toast when there was strawberry jam available. If anything, Roisin reminded him of Elysia. She had the same sunny disposition as well as the ability to wrap him around her little finger.

Wilhelmina was a bit more of a puzzle. Of course, most of his experience with girls her age had been with his sisters and Riza. If she was like any of them, she was like Riza in her silence and her timid behavior. Mina was bright. He couldn't deny that, and she especially excelled in her math classes if he was understanding her teacher's comments on her homework. Despite this, she acted almost embarrassed about her skills. He blamed his brother and made a mental note to introduce Mina to Winry Rockbell. Between Gracia, Riza, and Winry it shouldn't be too hard for Mina to discover it was perfectly fine for her to have her own opinions on things and speak her mind. Roy had also found that Mina had a weakness for singing classical music in the shower and historical novels. He hadn't had a chance to hear her practice piano yet, but if her vocal skills were any indication, Roy had a concert pianist on his hands.

Kurt was something of a mystery. Roy knew the boy had a passing interest in history and got decent grades, but that was about it. For the most part, he was silent, sullen, and disapproving. When he did talk, it was either to express disapproval or to answer direct questions with the smallest amount of information possible. As far as Roy could tell, Kurt seemed to be a little copy of his father. Adolf hadn't been a bad man, just a narrow-minded one, and Roy was unsure how to broaden his horizons without seeming to be insulting the boy's father. Apparently, Adolf had not had the best opinion of Roy either, and Kurt seemed to have taken that to heart as well. It hadn't become a problem yet, but Roy had his concerns.

The chief of these was that Kurt clearly disliked Hawkeye, and Mina seemed to have her own reservations about his chief subordinate as well. In Mina's case, he was willing to bet that it was mostly that she barely knew Riza and that she was still having some problems with the idea that of an independent, working woman outside of a school setting. It was clear that Adolf had expected his daughters to grow up to be good little wives, and Mina was struggling to find her own ideas about what she wanted from her future. Thankfully, Roisin had immediately taken to Hawkeye. If anything happened to him or he was needed for a long term mission, it would be Riza he would entrust the children to, and he couldn't afford to have problems with that. Roy wasn't expecting any problems of that sort, but given his goals, it could happen.

Still, he wasn't doing badly for a first time parent, and hopefully, the next six months would go well. Maybe it would just take time for Kurt to come to accept things. After all, they had just lost their parents, and Roy knew how hard that could be. Just look at the Elric brothers. He could only do his best and hope things worked out.

"Sir," Hawkeye's clear, calm voice cut through his mind's meanderings. "Your paperwork is not getting done."

He sighed and picked up his pen. "Yes, Lieutenant."

Theme: Quirks