The weekend was upon them. Now that it was Saturday, Edward would be able to relax from work and clear his mind of all the things flooded it in the weekday. Of course, that was easier said than done. With the news of Hughes murder painted in his head, he knew that the painting had already been hung up and admired by many of his brain cells. But no matter how much his conscience wanted the picture torn up at once the brain cells were going to go against it. They themselves thought the exciting news of a death would be a marvellous addition to the museum of Edward Elric's life and memories.

Already, half of the day had gone and even by lunch Edward was prepared to step out into the fresh air. He couldn't bear to leave the house while there was a murderer on the loose. That and Roy Mustang was out of prison. He couldn't tell, which he'd rather face, the murderer or the rapist? But on the outside he put a brave face on. He wasn't going to let any of his fear while he was around Bryony and Pesha. To do that would make THEM worry and suspicious of his fears and even though he was probably better off being open with them he knew that for know, they were better off with the knowledge they had, which was the knowledge that all was well and that their father and husband was a brave man who would protect them from all the dangers in the world. It was a big responsibility that he had put himself up to when he married Bryony and he knew that he would fulfil it to the best of his ability but now even HE was starting to get doubts about his job subscription of life.

"Anyone's help would be appreciated." Edward thought with a fake smile as he sat at the dinner table for lunch.

The phone rang. Edward inside was frightened of who it could be but he knew that the plan for know was to put a brave face on everything.

'I'll get it!' Pesha cheered as he bounced out of his seat to pick the phone.

'No Pesha!' He burst out. He didn't mean to be so insistent if anything but he didn't want Pesha picking up the phone to strangers if there were any on the other line. Bryony looked at him warily with shock but she too tucked it away. 'I mean, finish your lunch. I'll get it.' Edward put on a calmer face to reassure Pesha of know danger.

'Ok.' Pesha didn't seem too fazed by the sudden outbreak of his father but instead picked his nose absent-mindedly as he sat back down at the table.

As Edward walked to the stairway to get the phone, Bryony pulled Pesha's finger from his nose with a little telling off to follow.

'Hello?' Edward spoke into the receiver.

"Hey Ed." The voice spoke with a slow sombreness in his voice that was almost unrecognisable.

'Alex? Is that you?'

"Yeah."

'Are you ok? You don't sound like yourself.'

"No I'm fine. But last night, me and Al… we had a fight?"

'What? What happened?'

"I lost my temper. It was over something so stupid and yet by the end of it I ended up slapping Alphonse to floor! The back of his head was bleeding a little as well!"

'Is he ok?' Edward was surprised by the news. It didn't seem possible that such a good couple like Alphonse and Alex could suddenly fall out with each other practically over night. 'Has this affected the domestic partnership at all?'

"He's fine and we're not calling it off. But I'm going to get some anger management classes and I don't want Alphonse around while I'm still as temperamental as I am."

'So you're asking me if Alphonse could live here for a while.'

"If you don't mind that is." Alex put in. Alex wasn't the sort to insist things or intrude where he wasn't welcome.

'Of course he's welcome! He's my brother! You can send him over today if you want.'

"Yeah that sounds fine…Hey Ed?"

'Yeah?'

"Thanks."

'Don't worry about it. We've got an extra bedroom for him so there's plenty of room.'

"Cool. I'll tell Alphonse and he can come over sometime this afternoon."

'Fine. Bye then.'

"See you."

Edward put the phone back down on its holder advanced from the stairway back into the kitchen.

'Who was that honey?' Bryony asked.

'That was Alex. He's getting anger management classes.' Edward answered simply as he sat back down at the table.

'He IS? Well what does Alphonse think to it?'

'As far as I hear pretty damn pleased because yesterday Alex got worked up over some stupid thing and he took it out on Alphonse!'

'Geez! Is he ok?'

'He's ok but he did get slapped down to the floor and his head was bleeding!' Bryony sucked air in hard at the news.

'So what's Alphonse going to do then?'

'Well they've decided that Alphonse is going to live somewhere else until Alex is calmer.'

'So… where's he staying?'

'That's kind of what I need to tell you. I sort of said that he could stay here.'

'HERE? But the place is a tip!'

He knew that she wasn't lying. In all truth the house was never neat and tidy and he couldn't remember the last time it ever was. The only reason why it was such a tip was because both Edward and Bryony had jobs and since they're both out of the house there was no one here to tidy it up for them. When they did get home though it was usually late and they were both so tired that they couldn't even pick up a feather duster to DO the tidying with. In reality the only tidy room in the house was Pesha's and that's only because either Edward or Bryony told him to.

'-Sigh- when's he coming?'

'Erm…This afternoon?'

'WHAT?!' Pesha was startled by Bryony's sudden outbreak of "shock and horror" but Edward could see why. 'You said that Alphonse could come over this AFTERNOON?'

'Well what else could I say? Sorry Alex he'll have to live on the street my house is a tip? Of course not! He's my brother and I can't just turn him down like that!'

'I understand but couldn't you have given me a few days notice?'

'I know but it was sort of a spur of the moment thing. Sorry.'

'No it's ok but it means we're going to have to REALLY get down and tidy!' Bryony was urging everyone on by starting to tidy the pots off the table. Once all the pots were in the dishwasher, she called them all into the living room for assignments.

'Ok! Edward, I want you to tidy and put away everything from the upstairs bathroom to the downstairs kitchen. Pesha, I want you to tidy your room up and then come down and I'll set you up polishing all the wood surfaces.'

'What about the piles of clothes?'

'Leave them and I'll do it.'

Edward breathed a sigh of relief. He hated doing the washing and the last time he did he ended up dyeing all the white things pink. This of course was years ago when Edward was living with his mum.

Edward began upstairs in the bathroom. What he hadn't bargained on was on how much of a tip it was. Piles of clothes littered the floor and the bath tub was a grubby mess. The sink wasn't much comparison either and Edward could feel his heart sink as he began to think on how much work would have to be done to get it cleaned. The window ledge was full of spots of hand wash where he'd happily drowned unsuspecting tiny flies there. There were still some orange stains with a black fly in the middle from this morning's little execution.

Sighing, he picked up pile after pile of clothes and each time he did he put them into the wash bin ready for Bryony to wash. Taking out the bathroom cleaner, he sprayed it into the bathtub until every dirty surface was covered with white cloudy spray. As Edward washed it away with an old, hairy sponge, the smell of bleach stung the back of his throat making him cough as he went along. The sink too got the same type of treatment and once again the bleach stung his throat and made his eyes water. Unfortunately, the next to clean was the toilet. The toilet itself was brown and mouldy from the waterline down and was not a pretty sight to behold, as far as toilets go anyway. Again Edward had to wrestle with the cleaner and again the essence of bleach was too much to bear.

Dust was cleaned away from the back of the sink and the bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel were sorted into whether they were empty or full or could be used again. It seemed to surprise Edward how much bottles they DIDN'T throw away but with the kind of lifestyle of grubbiness that both Edward and Bryony there was only them to blame. Hairy sponges as well thrown away since all in the household and so detested them were avoided to let them go mouldy. The tile grout had also been left to rot but now wasn't the time to be doing that when his brother would be here in a few hours. With a regrettable sigh, he sprayed the tiles with more cleaner for them to retain their white shininess and left it at that.

Edward breathed a sigh of relief as he sprayed the bathroom with air freshener for the bleach smell and left for his next target, the bedroom.

-Pesha's room-

Toys cluttered the floor as they had done since yesterday's adventure and for Pesha to have to put them away seemed too much like hard work.

"I really don't want to do this." The thought of having to do this already wore him out. "But if PVA Elric can do it then why can't I?" Pesha resounded the made up super hero in his head as if it was a magic spell, a spell to pump up his energy and get him back into action. Something that reminded him that anything could be done, a hero to look up to. Of course, the hero was only a fanciful person made up from the letters of his own name but it gave Pesha inspiration as many things did at his age. The imagination, as you can see here, of a six year old was far from limitless.

Taking out the boxes from under his bed, he chucked many toys into the boxes, mostly not bothering to sort them out so that they'd fit in better.

'PVA! Faster than the speed of light!' He cried as the toys came crashing into the boxes making a racket all the same.

This though brought his father to his attention causing all missions of cleaning to come to a stand still.

'What are you doing?' Edward asked as he poked his head around the door.

'I'm tidying up like mummy asked!' Pesha giggled as he continued throwing toys into the box.

'What? Like that? You're joking right?' Edward tittered as he sat down at the side of his son.

'I want to get it all done quickly ready for Uncle Al.'

'I know but if you do it properly now then it will be easier to get them out later.' Edward explained with gentle encouragement.

'I guess.' Pesha couldn't escape from a small feeling of guilt in his eyes. He had disobeyed his father and it made him feel a little shameful and also embarrassed now of the little catcall that he had displayed minutes before.

'Now put all the things away properly in their box sets and pile them up properly.'

'You're acting all weird, mangled and screwed up again.' Pesha giggled.

'I am? Who calls me that anyway?' Edward asked trying to fight back a little reserved telling off for Pesha.

'Mummy does Uncle Alphonse and sometimes Uncle Alex but not as much.'

'Really? Pesha, carry on tidying up like I said and I'll come back soon.'

'Ok.' Pesha carried on throwing his things to the box completely oblivious of what his father had asked of him.

-Edward and Bryony's room-

Alphonse would be here soon. She had to hurry up and get the clothes from here and down stairs into the washer before Alphonse arrived. She frantically started folding them up into her white washing basket.

'Bryony?' Her husband's head was poking around the door.

'Yeah?' She said still in her frantic rush.

Edward came walking into the room.

'Apparently I'm weird, mangled and screwed up.' Edward said carrying a humoured expression on his face.

'Yes. That's true.' Bryony smiled as she put the washing basket down on the floor.

'Well? Why am I weird?' Edward asked with his arms crossed.

'You can be a little pedantic sometimes.' Bryony smiled. No guilt was in her voice.

'Ok. Why am I mangled?'

'That's because you have auto-mail.'

'Fair enough. So why am I screwed up?'

'Well how do you think we got Pesha here?' Bryony smiled as she put her arms around Edward's waist.

'Oh!' Edward grinned as he put his arms around her waist. Edward lowered his head to kiss her and they pulled each other into a sweet embrace. Bryony's mouth opened to grant Edward's tongue entrance and their tongues massaged each other's. Their bodies seemed to melt in their loving embrace and they let themselves collapse onto the bed. Edward was dominating Bryony as they giggled in their delicious kiss.

'Mummy? Daddy?' Pesha poked his head around the door only for his young eyes to fall onto the forms of what looked like his parents eating each other. 'EEEEEWWWWW!!! PDA!!!' Pesha cried in disgust.

Edward and Bryony's lips parted and still they were breathless from their delicious treat.

'PVA.' Edward began still breathless. 'Why don't you stop it with your PDA and go and clean up your VMR, or mummy will PMS and I will SYS.' Edward finished. The kiss had taken his breath away.

(Author's note: Sorry if you don't understand these initials. PVA: Pesha Victor-Alex. He's a superhero created by Pesha from his own name. PDA: Public Displays of Affection. This comes from the manga My Dead Girlfriend. It's also used a lot in the Georgia Nicholson books. VMR: Very messy room. PMS: I think we all know what I mean, right ladies? SYS: Smack You Silly. A little thing that I came up with on the spot for Ed to respond to Pesha's use of initials. Thanks again for reading.)

'Come on.' Bryony smiled. 'Let's finish this tidying up.'

'-Sigh- Ok.' Edward smiled. He gave Bryony another kiss on the lips before getting up off of the bed.

Picking up her washing basket, she left the room as she looked back at Edward with satisfied smile.

-Later-

Finally, the rooms up stairs were tidy, the washing was hung up on the washing line and Pesha had tidied his room. Now was time for more jobs. Once again Bryony had the two boys lined up ready for work.

'Ok. Edward, you continue tidying up down stairs, Pesha you can polish up the wood surfaces and I'll clean the windows on the inside.'

'Can we have some music on while we work?' Pesha asked.

'I don't see why not.' Bryony smiled. 'But don't let it distract you.'

'Ok.' Pesha grinned. Pesha ran into the kitchen ready to switch on the CD player or rather ready for his dad to do it for him.

'Ok.' Edward said as he was browsing through the CD holder. 'What do you want on?'

'Gwen Stefani!' Pesha cried with glee.

'Err…Why?'

'Chris Rock likes it! Ain't no hollow back girl! Ain't no hollow back girl!' Pesha sang with joy.

'M-Maybe not.' Edward dismissed as he began flicking through some more CDs.

(Author's note: I was watching Chris Rock's Kill the messenger at the time. I just love that thing about Gray's anatomy about the dude who got fired for saying faggot…Sorry. Now I'M being pedantic! Let's carry on.)

Edward browsed further into the CD cover. 'Ok. How about…Tokio hotel?' Edward asked as he showed the CD to Pesha.

'Yeah!' Edward inserted the CD into the CD player and let the CD go onto track 1.

'Ok. Let's clean up.' Edward smiled as he adjusted the volume.

Edward handed Pesha some wood polish and a cloth from the cupboard under the sink. 'Just polish all the wood surfaces in the living room. Ok?'

'Yep.'

In the living room, Bryony was spraying window cleaner on the windows and wiping away the blue liquid away with a kitchen towel to leave a sparkling surface as the light refracted off the window. Edward let his body rock to the beat as he straightened up the sofa. Pesha too copied his dad only he was spraying carelessly momentous lots of wood polish onto one spot on the fireplace unit. He sprayed so much the white foam created a small mountain on the wood.

'You're spraying an awful lo-.' Edward was stopped by the site of the white foam mountain standing majestically on the unit and being fed more material by Pesha's canister. 'PESHA! You don't need to spray so much!' Edward shouted angrily at his son who immediately stopped on the sound of the booming voice. His body longed to shrink away from his father's angered tone.

'I-I'm sorry.' Pesha said in a timid voice and his eyes grew wet signalling the time for the floodgates of tears to open.

'It's ok.' Edward quickly apologised. 'Just take some of the polish off the unit and use it on the other wood surfaces ok?'

'O-ok dad.' Pesha sniffled.

'But hurry up though or it'll leave a mark on the unit.' Edward warned.

Pesha began his chore once again only with more vigour in order to escape from his father's disappointment. Pesha never wanted to make his dad angry but somehow he always managed to get up his dad's back. No matter how much Pesha tried to make it up to him there was always something deserving of a telling off. But at least his father wasn't strict. He was more easy-going if anything. Like he only told off Pesha to keep him in his place and put him on the right track. Even if Pesha found these telling offs unfair he knew they were all for good reason. It was an understanding that not many kids had in their heads but Pesha understood it perfectly, that his parents did things because they loved him. At least that was something worth cherishing if there was nothing else.

Finally, all was polished, all the windows were cleaned and the rooms were cleaned and hovered. But still there was a mark to show for their labours.

'Aw.' Edward groaned. 'It left a mark.' Edward stared disappointed at the bleached mark from the polish. The lighter brown mark showed clearly on the dark wooden surface. What was worse was how big the mark was. The mark itself was larger than the base of a coffee mug meaning not even that could be kept over the spot to cover it up without the prying eyes of Alphonse to spot it and comment. There was no point covering it up when they would soon be found out anyway.

The doorbell rang persistently and it wouldn't stop ringing.

'Oh god! That's Al!' Bryony said with a surprise.

'At least we got most of the house cleaned up.' Edward sighed with relief.

'I-I'm sorry about the mark on the unit daddy.' Pesha apologised.

'It's ok.' Edward smiled. 'Let's just get through this now and we'll try and sort this out later.'

Edward and Bryony ran to open the door for Alphonse who was still persistently ringing the bell.

'Alphonse!' Edward greeted with fake enthusiasm. Really though he was exhausted from the days tidying.

'Finally!' Alphonse complained. 'You sure are bad at answering doors.'

'Sorry Al but we ARE welcoming you into our home on such short notice.' Bryony said with a tone of annoyance on her face. She too was exhausted by the chores and she wasn't about to suffer the complaints of Alphonse.

'Come in. Please.' Edward invited him in quickly. As Alphonse walked past him carrying his bag of clothes he could see the bandage from last night's abuse. A little bit of the bandage was still stained with blood at the back of his head.

"Poor Al. He must have hit his head hard. No wonder he's so testy."

Standing in awe in the hall, instead of piles of clothes littering the floor as Al had seen it before there was the rare sight of a clean, hovered floor with nothing littering its soft surface.

'Wow! I can actually see the floor! You really made an effort with this didn't you? You didn't have to do that.'

'It's ok Al. We were just making you feel welcome that's all.' Edward smiled with satisfaction. At least Alphonse saw fit to praise their hard work even if it was a small compliment compared to the work that he, Bryony and Pesha had to go through.

Alphonse set his bag down on the floor and looked around the room from top to bottom. He was still surprised at how clean the place was after so many years of untidiness and neglect. But something caught Alphonse's keen eyes. The bleach mark was there vibrant and as clear as day.

'You missed a spot.' Alphonse pointed at the mark and Pesha's face went red with guilt.

'We won't be able to get it out Ok Al?' Edward said. 'Pesha sprayed too much polish on the unit and it left a mark Ok? Just leave it.' Edward didn't like how Alphonse would sometimes nitpick at the smallest thing and be oblivious to whose feelings he was hurting.

Speaking of how the accident happened made Pesha feel all the more worse about it. Knowing that it was his fault wasn't something he liked and he couldn't very well suffer in silence. He'd ruined the welcome for Uncle Al and he felt like his whole day had been ruined.

'I-I'm sorry!' Pesha burst into tears and ran upstairs crying loudly.

'Pesha!' Edward called but Pesha slammed his door with a loud bang to show that he was oblivious to anything more than silence. 'Alphonse! Pesha felt really bad about doing that! Now just sit down, I'll take your bag upstairs and Bryony will make you a cup of tea or something and for goodness sake stop nitpicking! We know your going through a rough time with Alex and your obviously not used to this house being tidy so just watch the telly and leave well enough alone!' Edward shouted back with a telling off that silenced even Alphonse. He could do nothing more than do as he was told. Alphonse gave himself in to the order.

Edward shouldered the bag and took it upstairs ready to sort out the poor crying wreck that was his son.

"I hope this blows over soon." Edward sighed. He chucked the bag carelessly into the guest room and went into Pesha's room ready to give out lots of reassurance and comfort for Pesha's trouble.

Author's note: What are we thinking so far? Do you think Alphonse has the right reaction here? By the way, I love my new microsoft word version! It is so pretty! Lol. What do we think of PVA? lol, kids and their active imaginations. I must have been hyper when i came up with that. Thanks for reading.