Here Comes the Sun:

"Mr. Elric…Mr. Elric I need you to open your eyes."

Who was talking to him? Why was he lying on the floor?

There was another voice, but this one sounded terrifying. "Where is my wrench? "

Oh right, the birth of his third child had just turned into the exorcist. Blinking hard he could make out the smelling salt being held over his nose.

"Now Winry I need you to calm down and breathe for me, can you do that?"

"I'll calm down, when someone wakes that idiot up!"

He immediately sat up as he heard her voice dip and a wounded cry sliced the air. Struggling to his feet he felt clammy and emasculated but there were more important things at stake here. "Winry." He breathed out as he fumbled to her side, reaching for her hand.

Her eyes were shut hard, her hands trembling as she braced herself against the hospital bed rails. Grimacing, she fell back against the inclined bed looking scared. Her head turned in his direction, tears budding in her eyes as her eyebrows knit together in a grimace of pain.

Nurses were hurrying around as the doctor called off a list of things. The disarray around him couldn't distract him from the paling woman that had been in labor for about eleven hours. She must be tired, hell he was exhausted and all he had done was worry and faint.

"Ed-Ed I don't think I can do this-" Her lower lip trembled like Sara's when she confessed to being scared of the dark.

He hadn't made it to the birth of his first two children and this time he had been adamant on being with her all the way through. Boy did he have a lot of apologizing to do. He knew giving birth wasn't easy, but after seeing it firsthand he was convinced that his wife was some kind of crazy person for letting him get her pregnant three times.

There was panic on her face that made his stomach clench in fear. If she had done this two times before, why wasn't this easier the third time around?

Her voice came out weak, "Ed?"

Snapping back his attention to his pained wife he brushed the sweat off her brow and squeezed her hand. "Come on Win." He encouraged her, his hand turning white under the pressure of her returning grip.

Something was wrong, it was written all over their faces. How could something go wrong? It was troubling to see all of that dark red liquid covering the sheets and towels strewn around at the base of the bed. He had seen blood before, but knowing it came from his wife made his stomach roll like the sea.

Her eyes began to close as the tension in her grip released. The panic which had started off as a fluttering feeling in his stomach began to pulse through his veins as he gripped onto her hand harder.

The doctor barked orders, the nurses in a flurry around them. "What's happening?" He protested loudly, his fear lost in the midst of chaos.

"Come on Winry." Edward begged as he clutched her pale hand.

Someone asked him if he wanted to hold his son, but he couldn't even begin to think about that. He couldn't fathom raising their family alone.

His vision blurred as he began to plead with his wife, her closed eyes pushing him into uncharted territory. "Winry." He begged and pleaded her name over and over again. She had to make it through this, she had to pull through.

It wasn't until a doctor forcibly pried his hands away from his wife's did he realize what had happened. The tears cascaded down his face, his reluctance to show emotion so meaningless in the face of almost losing the most precious person in his world. They pushed her into surgery and he fell against the wall, his body crumpling at the thought of losing her. 'I don't believe in equivalent exchange' he chanted in his head. A life couldn't be substituted for another.

He knew his brother and Mei were waiting outside with his two children but he didn't have the guts to face them. Instead he stayed outside the nursery watching as his son was bathed and swaddled. He pressed his hand against the glass not trusting himself to hold such a small and fragile being in his useless hands. Of all the life lessons and all the knowledge in the world he still didn't know how to fix this.

His attention hadn't gone unnoticed and while he drowned in guilt a nurse had recognized him and opened the door. Following her into the nursery he didn't have time to argue before the tiny infant was placed in his arms.

Like the sun peaking its way through blackened clouds he felt relief unwind his nerves at the sight of beautiful blue eyes. Holding him close he pushed away his fears and let himself fall in love with his baby boy just as he had with his other two children.

At long last news finally came and he was racing through those hallways as if his life depended on it. Slamming through the door to her room he ignored the indignant protests and moved in a straight line to his wife's side. Her beautiful blue eyes swam with tears and he knew she had been as scared to leave them as he had been to watch her go. "Don't ever scare me like that again." He whispered through kiss after kiss.

xXxXx

Al put his arms around Mei as the doctor told them the news, his smile widening in relief. There had been complications but they had stopped the bleeding and now both mom and baby were doing just fine. His brother gave him a look of gratitude as he finally emerged practically diving for his two kids. Engulfing them in his arms Al found himself grinning at his brothers antics. After all those years of worrying, one thing was blatantly clear, his brother loved his family more than anything in the world. And that, above all else, was what made him a great father.