Wow… it's been a year, and people still review, so I'm going to do my absolute best to write some more of this story!
It's funny, but it's also awkward, when you get requests to continue a story, and you finally get the inspiration to do it- and then you have to reread the whole thing just to remember what happened.
Oh well, hope you enjoy it!
"Roy," Riza mumbled under her breath. She rolled over to one side, where her husband should have laid.
She sat up quickly in a moment of panic when she sensed that he was gone- until she realised that she'd made him sleep on the couch the previous night. Standing up, she shivered, before pulling on the closest thing to her- Roy's navy blue military-issued jacket. The clock hands pointed to some unreasonable hour, but Riza didn't care.
Feet softly padding on the hardwood floor, she headed into the lounge room to the couch, where she had forced her partner to sleep when he had come home after a few drinks at Havoc's 30th birthday celebration. She wasn't mad- she just couldn't stand the stench of the alcohol that seemed to exude from him.
Squatting down, she shook him on the shoulder lightly, causing him to stir.
"Riza? No… no more pickles…" Roy muttered, still asleep. She grinned, and shook him a little harder.
"Roy," she breathed in his ear.
Then she thanked her quick reflexes as he bolted upright, narrowly missing hitting her in the face.
"What? You want a sandwich?" He asked, blinking his eyes blearily. Riza noted that he was sober now, and probably had a killer headache to go with it.
"No, Roy, but we're going to Edward and Winry's tomorrow afternoon, and we need to pack."
He groaned.
"We already packed, sweetheart, we've got everything ticked off on your checklist. Now, can I sleep in our bed yet?" The raven-haired man slid down the couch a little way, and then stood up.
"We haven't packed for Hayate," she said quietly.
"So?" Roy asked as he headed down the hall, his movements zombie-like.
"We have to pack for Hayate."
"Just take a ball and a bowl, he'll be fine." He was in the bedroom now, so he missed her reaction.
"No! We have to take his things! He'll need his squeaky toy, and his collar and leash, and his water bowl and food bowl, and his bag of doggy-treats, and his blanket in case it gets cold! Roy! Listen to me!" She was standing now, and her eyes began to fill with tears.
There was no response.
Becoming frustrated, she stormed into the bedroom where her charming fuhrer husband was already snoring, with Hayate on the floor next to him. She slid her hand into her dresser, pulling out her trump card.
"Are you even listening to me?" Riza cried, before pulling the quilt that he lay upon out from under him, causing him to roll over.
"Why can't we deal with this in the morning? It won't take five minutes, and the train won't leave until ten." Roy mumbled sleepily. He looked up as he heard a sob.
His wife, his strict, no-nonsense wife, was crying.
And pointing a gun at his face.
"Whoa, okay, love, I'll pack Hayate's stuff, just don't shoot me," Roy said hastily, leaping out of bed and heading into the lounge room again. Satisfied, Riza lay back down on the bed, allowing Hayate to curl up next to her in Roy's spot.
When Roy had finished his task of packing a suitcase just for the family dog, he headed back into the bedroom just to find that the said mutt was now lying in his spot, cuddled up next to his wife. Sighing, he went back out onto the couch, pulled his blanket over him, and wished that no-one in the office found out that the Fuhrer of Amestris was so whipped by his wife that he had to sleep on the couch.
The train pulled into the station at approximately four o'clock in the afternoon, and while Riza rushed off to free Hayate from the confines of the luggage compartment cages, Roy stepped onto the platform with the rest of their luggage. Looking around, he noticed a fairly tall-looking young blonde, and grinned.
"Yo! Alphonse!" He waved.
"Colon- I mean, Fuhrer! Hi! Where's Lieuten- I mean, Major General Hawk-Mustang!" Al stumbled through the greeting, and laughed at his own mix-ups. Roy patted the young man on the back, laughing too. So much had changed in the past two- or was it three, now?- years.
"Alphonse! Oh my goodness, haven't you grown? How have you been, I haven't seen you in ages!" Riza came up to them now, Black Hayate at her side.
"Yeah. I know. I've been in Xing for the past couple of years. And my body apparently still had a lot of growing to do- all of the wonderful Xingese food didn't hurt. But you got my letters, and everything?" Al replied cheerfully, leading the three- well, four- of them from the platform and to a wagon that sat by the side of the road.
"Yeah, I did."
"What letters?" Roy wanted to know.
"Oh, just letters that Al and Ed- or rather, Winry, sent to me, just to keep in touch." She dismissed the subject.
The journey to the Rockbell/Elric household was filled with warm chatter, the three adults enjoying the chance to talk to each other. Roy was particularly interested to hear what Alphonse had to say about Alkhaestry, but Riza sternly told him that that was for another time.
As they pulled up to the country home, Winry came dashing out of the front door, closely followed by Edward.
"Hey, shitty Colonel, Miss Hawkeye," Ed greeted, a huge smile upon his face.
"Hi, Mrs. Mustang! Hi, Fuhrer Mustang!" Winry said, much more politely than her fiancée, who she discreetly whacked over the head with a wrench.
"Afternoon, Miss Rockbell!"
"Hi, Winry!"
The younger woman, now in her second month of pregnancy, had begun to acquire the glow that was rumored to surround pregnant women. Riza still couldn't find the glow around herself, and she was at four months. Roy, however, insisted that it was there.
Said man jumped from the carriage, and held his hand out to his wife to help her down from the carriage.
"Well," Winry said excitedly, "this is so cool, isn't it? We're both having kids! And I'm getting married!" She shifted her weight between each of her feet, bouncing slightly in excitement.
Both girls ignored Roy when he quietly mentioned that marriage should, probably, technically, come before the whole "having kids" thing. But the glint in his wife's eye told him that she had registered what he had said, and that he was in a whole load of trouble.
"Come in, come i- Ed! Don't just lay on the floor like that! Get up and help carry in some bags," Winry toed her fiancée lightly with a booted foot.
"So, Alphonse," Roy smirked as they walked into the house, leaving the short alchemist to bring in the luggage, "With everyone else settling down, getting married, having kids, you know, the whole 'family' deal…" He trailed off, an eyebrow raised in the young man's direction.
"Yeah?" Al didn't even blush.
"Well… haven't you ever considered it? Or are you just going to wait until you've travelled around everywhere?" The Fuhrer asked, as they walked into the lounge room.
Then Roy stopped abruptly.
"Hi, Fuhrer, sir!" a young, Xingese woman greeted from the couch, where she sat, clutching onto a small mound of blankets and cloths.
Riza walked into his back, not paying attention to the fact that he had stopped, stock-still, in the doorway.
"Ow… Oh, hello, Mei!" Riza sidestepped, heading over to the young woman proudly carrying the child wrapped in the material.
"And this must be Fu, who I've heard so much about!" Riza gazed at the small baby boy.
Roy gaped at the sight before him- the child, with Xingese features and rich black hair- Mei and Alphonse had a kid?
He sat in shock for several moments more. In the time that he stood, two more people entered the room- through the window.
"Hey, thanks, little sis!" Ling cried as he took the baby from her arms, and Lan Fan smiled as the baby gurgled.
Roy dropped to the floor, white as a sheet. The baby- Fu- was Ling and Lan Fan's. Thank goodness- he had been worried for a minute that Alphonse, so young and innocent, had beaten him to-
"Anyone seen where Van went?" A voice called through the house, sounding hoarse with age and years of smoking.
Mei jumped up.
"Not again," she cried, and she ran through the door, stepping over Roy.
"Whoa, it's really crowded in here," Winry commented as she entered the room from the kitchen. "Guys! I'm serving dinner early, because I know some of you wouldn't have eaten lunch, but I'm going to serve it outside." With that, she headed out into the back garden, with the newly-conscious Ed to help her set the table. Riza rushed outside to help, along with Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu. Mei, Alphonse and Pinako remained inside, as did Roy, who was still slightly out of it.
"Found him!" Alphonse called several minutes later, before rushing back into the lounge, carrying a one-year-old in his arms. The baby, with a light complexion, golden eyes, and black hair, could only belong to two people.
"Roy, meet my son, Van." Alphonse grinned, lightly waving the little boy's arm in greeting.
Roy passed out on the floor.
"Ah, there he is," Mei ran in, taking the baby from his arms with a light peck on Al's cheek. Then the pair headed outside, and Pinako and Winry went to serve dinner.
"I love how you named him Van," Riza commented quietly to the Xingese girl, who sat between her and Winry. She beamed in response.
"Well, Al wanted to- and I liked the name. It's not like Edward was going to," she said.
"I wouldn't give him the choice," Winry muttered darkly, "I'm the one giving birth, y'know? If I really wanted to call the baby Van- or even Bread And Butter Pudding- I don't think he'd be able to stop me."
Riza chuckled lightly, ignoring the slight chill that ran down her back from the girl's dark tone. Although she could see her point of view.
Roy only came to again when Riza came inside, grabbed him by the ear, and proceeded to haul him out to the table, which was suddenly laden with food. He began to eat, after thanking the chefs, and tried not to think about how unfair it was that he, who was nearly thirty-two, was only just having his first child, whereas nineteen-year-old Alphonse already had one running around.
He snuck a look at his wife, and smiled. Well, it was kind of his own fault. He did take a long time.
But it didn't really matter, after all. At least they were together now.
"I'd like to propose a toast," Ed stood at the end of the table, and Roy tuned in to the ex-alchemist's speech.
"To family," the young man with the golden hair said simply, raising his glass.
"To family," Everyone at the table murmured, toasting the love and the bonds that they had between them, before resuming their dinner.
Riza smiled. They were no blood relation, yet she felt that this family- Ed and Al, and Winry and Mei- were the closest thing she had ever experienced to a real family. And she was content- no, happy- for once, knowing that her child would be brought up in such a loving environment.
Yay! One chapter, 2,000 words, one hour and a half. Hopefully it's not too rushed.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed
xx Ellie