So for this chapter, I decided on story time, that and I teared up. You'll see why. I was really feeling for Ed.
Songs: "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans
"Can't Forget You" by My Darkest Days
"Perfect" by My Darkest Days
"Photograph" by Nickelback
"In My Head" by Jason Derulo
Days went by, still Angel thought about where she'd seen his face before. That handsome man who she bumped into during her trip in the city. It was just passed midnight. The moon was overhead, casting a pale blue-gray shadow onto the floorboards on the floors of the study she holed herself in. Envy was out with Greed, which left her with Lust. Since the image of the man wouldn't cease, it didn't help matters that she was becoming more and more interested in who the Fullmetal Alchemist was. For some reason, Angel thought as she tightened her grip on her knees, it feels like both that guy and Fullmetal Alchemist are connected.
"You alright, Angel?" Lust asked when she finally found her. She walked in, shutting the door behind her just in case Envy and Greed showed up early. They had told her that they were heading to look at Elric again. Lust was a little more than pissed off that her fellow homunculi were going in the first place.
"Haven't you tortured him enough, Envy?" Lust asked sternly as she looked toward the two masterminds. "You already took his wife away from him and now you're teasing him."
"It's always been fun messing with the Fullmetal Pipsqueak," Envy said with a smug smile and a cocky tone that only made Lust even more angry with the two of them.
"Besides, with how well the plan is going, we can use Angel soon," Greed said as he looked toward Lust with a smirk, which only earned a glare from her.
"This is going too far. Don't even think about using Angel," Lust said, irritated. Edward Elric had been through enough. She'd done some spying of her own on him, making sure he was alright. She did it for Angel since she couldn't. Lust wanted revenge on Envy and Greed.
"Oh, come on, Lust, it isn't like we're going to dangle Angel in front of Edward Elric...yet," Greed piped in when the irritated silence was too much for the two men.
Lust suppressed the growl. "You two are insufferable. You're using Angel!"
"Yes, we are. She's perfect."
"She's haunted."
"How?" Both Greed and Envy looked confused. To them, she was perfectly fine.
"You two are clueless. She's haunted with visions of being Andi Elric. She has no idea why. And you haven't once talked to her like she's one of us. Angel is still a homunculous regardless of if she rejected the stones."
With that, Lust walked away from them, pissed off that both of them pretended to care about her. Angel was a good girl. She was a mother as a human. She loved Edward. Whenever Lust had to witness Angel tearing herself apart with the visions, Lust nearly breaks.
Angel shook her head toward Lust, still in the same corner she put herself in days before. "No."
Lust sat next to her, careful not to scare her. "Why not?"
Angel shrugged. "I...I...I can't stop thinking."
"About what?" It wasn't uncommon for Angel to think far more than the rest of them.
"Those visions and that guy. It doesn't help that my mind wants to know more about the famous Fullmetal Alchemist." Angel brought her knees closer to her chest, something she did when something truly bothered her.
Lust tried not to frown more. If only she knew those two were one in the same and she was Andi Elric. "Angel," Lust sighed. She knew she was going to catch shit from Envy and Greed if they found out, but she was going to do it anyway. "What I am about to tell you stays between us. You have to keep it a secret."
Angel nodded in agreement. "I promise."
Lust smiled, knowing she could trust the young homunculous more than the others. "The Fullmetal Alchemist is a famous State Alchemist for this country. He was great at alchemy, a true prodigy." Lust smiled, remembering when she fought with him. "He joined the military at the age of twelve."
"Wow," Angel breathed.
Lust smiled toward Angel in spite of herself. She just sounded like Andi did back when her and Edward were dating during the beginning. "Yeah, it was awe-inspiring. He joined to regain something he and his brother lost."
"Did he get it back?" Angel sounded like a little kid with a bedtime story.
Lust nodded. "That and more." Lust was thinking about the family Edward had gained along the way. The wife he got and the daughter he had before he could get his arm back. Lust smiled to herself. More was definitely a good way to put everything he had gained.
Angel smiled, making Lust flash back when she saw Andi give that smile, thinking about Fullmetal. "Was he happy when it was all over?"
"Yes," Lust said, "he was. He married his girlfriend, and they had a daughter together."
Angel smiled. She wanted to ask what his name was, but figured it would be too much since it was in fact a secret. She was always considering others.
Ed stared at the ceiling as he held his sleeping daughter in the crook of his arm. She was so peacefully asleep that Mick reminded her of Andi as she slept. Her blonde hair, that was a mixture of both his and Andi's fell in front of her golden eyes. Like Andi, Mick held onto his shirt as she slept. After losing her father, the Binding Alchemist to Scar, and always worrying Roy wasn't coming back, Ed couldn't blame her. Besides, Ed didn't exactly hate it when either one of his girls did it either.
"Mick," Ed whispered softly. His daughter's head moved only slightly when he said her name. Ed smiled to her lightly. "Come on, let's lay you down in bed."
Mick moved her head a little more as Ed prepared to carry her, much like he'd do almost every night. Mickaela tightened her grip on Ed's shirt.
"No...Daddy," Mick muttered.
Ed stopped, staring at Mick's face. For an instant, he saw Andi, hearing her voice say, "No...Edward." Edward blinked, letting things go back to normal. He'd been seeing Andi's face a lot since he ran into that girl. That girl, he was almost convinced it was Andi as he remembered her sincere smile. That smile that could be from an angel.
"We can lay here tonight," Ed said as he grabbed the folded blanket next to his recliner and draped it over them.
"Daddy?" Mick's eyes were closed, but he knew she was awake somewhat.
"Yes, Princess?"
"Can you tell me about Mommy?"
Edward tried to ignore the stab of grief that hit him when he heard those words come from her mouth. "Yes, sweetheart, I can." Ed moved some hair from her eyes. "What story did you want to hear?"
"How you," she yawned, "found out about me."
Edward smiled again. "I like that one."
"Me too, Daddy."
"It seems like it wasn't that long ago, when your mom told me she was going to have you. She was so nervous about telling me. I was always gone on business, and Uncle Roy was a Colonel busy with other things." Edward thought about back then, how he couldn't imagine calling Roy anything besides Bastard, and how Andi was always there, regardless of what she was doing. "I had been gone on a mission when she found out herself. She told no one but two people."
"Who?" Mick's voice was sleepy, but she still paid attention. Normally, it was the day her mother and father met that Mick always wanted to hear.
"Aunt Riza and Uncle Maes."
Mick smiled tiredly, her eyes still closed. "Keep going, Daddy."
Edward smiled to his daughter. "She hated the doctor's at the time." Still does, Ed thought for an instant, forgetting for a second that Andi was presumed dead. "She was going to wait until she knew. By the time she was certain, I was back and yet, An-she never told me anything. Still Aunt Riza and Uncle Maes knew, and were the only ones. Your mom was scared to tell me or Uncle Roy." Ed sighed at the memory when he remembered the day he found out. "She held it off for nearly a month. I didn't know a thing. Roy was suspecting something when she was getting sick at work.'
"I remember the day clearly, Mick," Ed said as he looked to his daughter. He was certain she was sleeping, but went further. "She was throwing up in the bathroom with Maes rubbing her back, which was my job. I was walking into their office and I heard them..."
"You're going to have to tell him, Andi. What are you going to say when you are showing?"
"Ate too much," Andi said quickly as she threw up more into the toilet.
"And when you're obvious?"
"Hopefully by then, I've told him."
Maes looked stricken when two thoughts that conflicted as Andi sat back against the wall.
"Don't give me that fatherly look, Maes. Roy doesn't know I'm pregnant either."
Maes sighed, knowing it was true. "I know. I can't help it."
Andi groaned as thought about telling Ed. He was so interested in the two of them as much as he was interested in getting his and Al's body back. She didn't want to complicate things more with telling him she was two and a half months pregnant with his kid. Ed had to focus on getting Alphonse's body back. She already loved him with the automail.
Ed grew closer to the door as he heard Andi say, "I'll tell Roy before Ed. Roy will take it far better."
"You sure about that? Roy can get pretty over-protective. He might want to burn Ed to a crisp."
Andi waved her hand, saying it wasn't anything. "He always wants to do that, regardless of if it's pertaining to me or not."
Maes' expression lighted at the thought Andi placed in his head before shaking it loose. He gave her another look. "You should still tell Ed first."
Andi narrowed her look at Maes, Ed could see it through the crack in the bathroom door. "How do you suggest I do that? Walk up to Ed and say, 'oh yeah, Ed, before you go off on that dangerous mission to get yours and Al's body back, I just want you to know that I am pregnant with your baby. Bye, Ed, love you too!' Yeah, totally going to work, Maes."
Maes chuckles a little. "Well, I think without the sarcasm it would."
"I couldn't believe what I had heard, she was pregnant and I had thought she was fighting some flu, not dealing with morning sickness." Ed sighed, thinking of how mad he was at her for not telling him. "I was pissed off that she didn't tell me as soon as I came back. Instead, I slammed the door open, making her jump." Ed laughed as he thought of what he had yelled. "Mick, just remember, you'll always be the best thing that ever happened to me and your momma. 'What did you say?' I yelled to her and Maes. God, she looked so pale when she saw me. Like I was her father's ghost or something. I was pissed that she was getting comfort from Maes the most.'
"She and I yelled at each other for a second before I stomped off, needing to talk. It was Uncle Roy who talked to me after she told him. He got me to calm down somehow and see the big picture. Pretty amazing that I let him talk to me in the first place. After that, I went to find your mom. She was in tears when I did find her. Your mom was in a office bunker where some take naps. Man, I felt so bad for making her cry." Edward remembered seeing her eyes brimming with tears. Those beautiful, emotion-filled eyes. "I remember everything, Mick. I hugged her tightly and told her I was happy we were having you. I really was glad she was pregnant with you, even if we had the worst case of timing ever." Edward looked down to Mickaela and smiled softly, seeing Andi's sleeping face for an instant. "But, your mom glowed after that, just the morning sickness lasted through most of the pregnancy. Stubborn just like her, or, as she could say, just like me."
Ed looked to his little girl again and picked her up, this time with no protest from the sleeping girl in his arms. He let the blanket slide off him and her as he stood, walking to her bedroom and laying her in bed. He smiled as he pulled the covers over her, noticing how she unconsciously snuggled to the corner with his flamel on it. It was the one thing Andi wanted in the baby's room was a red blanket made from one of Ed's old jackets with his flamel in the corner. The rest of the room was Ed's doing.
Ed kissed his little Mickaela's forehead as he stood. "Love you, Mick," he said, reciting the same lines he did every night since she's been home from the hospital. "Mommy and I both do no matter what."
Ed walked back out to his chair from Mick's room. He folded the blanket and set it by the chair again. As he strightened again, he caught a picture on the mantel and sighed. It was Andi. The smile couldn't be mistaken. It was taken by Maes just after she celebrated her twentieth birthday. Roy and Ed were on each side of her with the rest of the gang behind, or beside, them. Ed smiled, Andi's smile could light up a town, illuminate a room.
Ed's smile faded as he took the framed picture from the mantel and looked closer at Andi. Ed sniffed as he put the picture back, still staring at her. The more he looked, the more he felt the pang of grief. Before Ed could stop himself, he felt a single tear that escaped out.
"I miss you more than you know right now, Andi."
