This, as the chapter title says, is a filler chapter. One of my readers kept hounding me that I hurry up and come up with a new one and this is the best I could do with finals and shit. *sighs* it's only 975 words (which does not fit my quota AT ALL!) So I'll just add somethings at the bottom...like maybe a continuation of the high school story...

20 minutes, 7 seconds, 2,000 heart beats, 76 eye shutters, and 1 long deep breath.

Roy stood in the meat section of the food market, staring down the raw, bloody meat. For all the time he was standing there, he concluded that this was a bad choice for him to go to the store and it was Ed who should have gone. He thought he could control himself by doing this simple task: picking up two pounds of ground beef for dinner then picking up the cake for Elena's birthday. For anyone else, this would be the most simple of tasks but it didn't take Roy to realize how much blood really leaked from those plastic packages.

He reached out a shaking arm, thinking of saying hell to "the laws" his "master" gave him and ripped into the meat and rolled in the blood, not caring if it would horrify the shoppers.

"Sir?" a voice called out.

Roy napped his head up, his hand dropping to his side. He looked up and saw Riza and Jean walking towards him. They saluted one another when they stood in front of each other. "It's nice to see you here," Riza said, looking at her commanding officer."

"Likewise."

After a few seconds, jean kissed Riza's cheek, saluted Roy again then walked down a different isle.

"So," Riza said after Jean was far out of ear shot. "How's the shopping?"

Roy ranked a hand thought his hair, a clear sign that the shopping was going very wrong. "I don't plan on giving up, if that's what you're implying." he finally picked up the two packages of meat and dropped them into the cart.

Riza's eyes looked into the cart. "Meat, noodles, sauce, onions, and peppers…its Elena's birthday."

"Yeah…I don't know how I can do this any longer. Last week Allen scrapped his knee and the blood was overwhelming, I almost took his leg," he spoke, his voice sounding haunted. "And Ed is expecting again…it's becoming more of a challenge everyday and I don't know if I can take it anymore." he gave the blonde in front of him a pleading look.

She stepped closer to him, lowering her voice. "Give me three to six weeks and I'm sure I can give you something to help. I won't abolish the urges complete but it will drop them to a minimum, shopping for bloody meat won't be a setback anymore."

Relief washed over Roy's face. "Thank you, thank you very much."

"What kind of master would I be if I let you suffer like this?" she asked him but let out a low wicket sounding laugh.

Roy simply shook his head and smiled.

"Well, I must be going, Jean wants to make dinner." she turned on her heel and walked off, leaving Roy to the rest of his shopping.

Roy and Ed carted their children to bed, Roy holding his boys and Ed carrying their little girl.

"Allen and Kyle are getting so big," Roy commented, placing the sleeping boys in their respective beds.

Ed came in after putting Elena in her bed. "Mhm, it's because you take great care of them." he came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his husband's waist. "Soon, they'll start talking about getting jobs with their daddy and helping him." he sighed then pouted and walked back to their room. "Why can't one of them want to stay home with me?"

Roy followed him. "I'm sure the new one will, if not," he took his hand and kissed his knuckles. "I'll stay home with you all the time."

This tugged a giggle out of Ed. "You always can make me smile." he reached up and kissed him, pulling him close.

They climbed into bed together and made love for the rest of the night.

Roy was sitting on the edge of his bed, early in the morning, tying his shoes to get ready for his daily run. When he looked up, he saw his daughter leaning on the door way, dressed in running shoes and her P.E., ready to run with him.

He smiled. "Aren't you afraid to be seen running with your old man?" Roy smiled, finishing his laces.

Elena shook her head, smiling. "You're the coolest dad out of all of my friends. The kids in school are jealous of me."

"They should be, you're a smart and pretty girl. I'm surprised you haven't broken any hearts yet like Ed claims you will." he stood and stretched.

His daughter blushed. "Thank you…where are we running to?"

"From home to the park, and then to the grocer. Ed's complaining about stomach pains."

Her face lit up. "Is he having another baby?"

Roy chuckled. "Possibly." he led her to the front door. "What do you hope for?"

"I want a cute baby sister named Catherine." she wrapped her arms around herself. "She'll be so adorable and I'll teach her all sorts of things and we'll play games together!"

"You've been putting some thought into this, haven't you?" he chuckled. "Well, I'll talk to him when we come back."

"Thank you!" she hugged her dad tightly.

Lolnope, no high school story.