Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal alchemist.

FOURTEEN

Turns out that he was too preoccupied about the engagement than anything else. At work, it seemed that his subordinates quit hiding from him. Havoc even found his self curious about the baby. Not that he was a masochist or anything but who knew that Mustang would talk for hours on end about his kid no less. He was like Hughes in many of those aspects no matter how much he told them he was not Hughes nor was he like the doting daddy.

"So you are almost there, ready for the sucker to come out sir?" Breda didn't miss the glare sent his way and quickly hid the look of fear that was on his face.

"Of course I can't wait until the baby's out! Do you know how much of a hassle it is to actually get up once I take a nap on the couch? I'm tired of people seeing me and thinking I'm just fat! I'm not damn it!"

"We hear you sir. Just because you don't like it though doesn't mean people are going to quit. They don't know and probably never saw a male that was pregnant before. Bear with it and before you know it, you'll be your pre-pregnancy weight and complaining about something else."

Roy groaned before glancing at his hand for what seemed to be the fortieth time that day. He couldn't help it and let himself grin. It was a rather cheesy speech that Ed had given him as well but to think that he would surprise him enough to catch him off guard was an astonishment all on its own. He really loved him though and hearing that Ed really did think about marriage to the point of when to ask him warmed his heart. He never would have been this happy had he never met Edward.

"Hey boss?"

"Yes Havoc what do you want?"

He knew the man was up to something. Particularly because of the fact that he hasn't been around the office for a while. According to the other man though, he took some leave and met a nice girl that Mustang definitely wouldn't be able to steal. He added that it's not likely that he would anyways being six months pregnant and all but girls seemed to dig Mustang no matter how he looked and Havoc had always been confused about it. Oddly enough, it was Hawkeye that seemed like she was upset about the conversation for a minute before wiping all emotion from her face. Odd, he thought. Hawkeye never did show any interest in their conversations in the past, especially when it was the subject they were on.

"Hey, you want this milk sir? In exchange I wanna rub your stomach. I have a hot date tonight and need all the luck I could get."

"Need more than that if you really think that the brigadier general's unborn baby is gonna give you the luck."

"Breda take that back! Do you not know that babies are chick magnets!"

Roy groaned as he heard the two bicker back and forth. Snatching the container of milk from Havoc, he gulped it down while waiting for the fight to abate. It was a fat chance of happening and even though he hated that he had front row seats to the pointless argument, he had what he wanted and he could finally get the paperwork finished. All too soon he had the small pile of papers signed and dated putting them on the opposite end where they would go up the higher chain of command. Spying the request form, he noticed that Ed filled out his request form for him but left out the date so that when they needed Roy to be on bed rest, all it needed to be was submitted. Sometimes he felt he didn't deserve the blonde.

"Hey boss, can we feel your stomach?"

"Fine but don't get her going. I'm sick and tired of waking up to a jab to the bladder-"

"TMI SIR!" both shouted.

Sighing, he stripped his jacket off and allowed them to trace their fingers over the smooth surface above the white cotton shirt. He wouldn't go as far as to allow them to feel him up but it didn't take much for the baby to react to the touch. According to the good doctor, the baby was developing still and in this gestational age, was able to touch and feel. Havoc jumped for joy when he felt the tiny flutter to which Breda kept caressing the side hoping he would feel something as well. When he felt the kick, he was overly excited as well.

"Sir the baby is surely energetic. Do you know what it is?"

Roy glared at them for a moment before shaking his head.

"I believe that it's a girl though honestly. Acts like one and always begging for attention. Doubt a son would go that far-"

"Hmm, so you didn't try to gain attention before chief? I kind of remember a drunken man hugging all over and begging to be ravished."

"No you have it wrong Havoc, he was begging for Edward to forgive him and touched too much alcohol. He was putty in that Elric boy's hand though."

To Roy's dismay they continued.

"Yup and Ed knew that he had a hard time because of the investigation into Bradley's murder. But that didn't mean he forgave him for the irritating way the Brigadier General dealt with him."

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!"

All three spun around at the sound of somebody clearing their throat. Seeing it was the president, they quickly saluted him and greeted him like they hadn't just had an argument. President Hakuro looked more amused than anything else however and quickly put them at ease. Roy sighed with relief before falling back into his chair. Seriously, whose idea was it that people would hold babies for nine months in their stomach? He wasn't even that big yet and he felt like he was constantly holding a twelve pound bowling ball in his shirt without the support of his hands.

"I see everything is going good right Brigadier General? No more picking on poor defenseless woman perhaps?"

"No sir, unless you count my unborn baby and she has been a constant thorn in my side literally."

President Hakuro frowned at that and shook his head.

"Babies do that. You see why the females carry the kids. If the males did it, they'd be reduced to blubbering bitching and setting fires to their own offices."

"Wait a minute that's before I knew-"

President Hakuro held up his hand.

"You still have a baby inside your belly. Be a man and take it. Besides I hear what you told the Sensitivity counselor. If somebody called you fat you'd set their pants on fire."

Roy groaned.

"Sir I said I'd RESPECTFULLY do it. Not in any way would I really do it though. The stupid lady has to watch her own mouth." The President frowned at that but didn't say anything.

If anyone knew how to deal with pregnant people it was the president his self since he had a daughter that recently turned six months and two before that. And yes, he really did cower and hide throughout the whole damn thing. Seeing how Roy wasn't totally run over by hormones typical of a normal pregnant female, he only hoped that lasted. That or he didn't see the worse yet. As for carting him off to a lab for the miraculous thing, he decided against that as well. The doctors were taking adequate notes and if the baby didn't even survive, it would be a waste of time. Still, they had two males in the entire history they knew that this had happened to. In one the baby died before he was even eight months pregnant, the other was a wait and see.

"Nice, I want you to report to Miss Nancy about making up the required training and no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You hear?"

"I hear sir," Mustang reluctantly agreed.

The president smiled wanly.

"Good, and be careful. I don't need your little baby going down in tragedy the same way the other did. If you need to be put on bed rest, make the request now okay?"

"I know sir. The baby is fine though. If anything the little critter will cause me to lose sleep and take away all the fun until the birth."

This was pretty interesting.

"Okay, just make sure that gets done and Mustang?"

Roy watched the President's eyes softened at that and wondered what it was that he thought about. He always thought of him as a typical jackass because he always did side with King Bradley but when he became President, he did everything by book and never went off path. He was amazed that he transformed into a jealous general into that of someone even Ed could come to tolerate.

"Thank about the baby first okay? Research behind, don't go over limits and don't become one of those who would needlessly sacrifice themselves if the other doesn't even survive."

"I promise with all my heart but I still don't get what you mean."

"In time, just promise okay."

"I already did."

Hakuro just nodded.

"Take care."

Now that the words replayed in Roy's mind, he could only say, "Huh."

"I thought you weren't going to bother showing up?"

Nancy looked rather smug as though she had won a big prize when Roy showed up. Oh how he hated this woman. If that wasn't bad enough, he had odd stomach pains that started an hour ago. Stupid ass lady always demanding stuff, he thought heatedly.

"Yeah, that was what you wanted I bet."

Her smile dropped much to his satisfaction. He hoisted his self down into a chair regretting it once he felt a small kick and another small burst of pain. What it was, he hadn't known but he calmly tried to ignore it for the time being. Once he got back to his office, he was going to make a call to his doctor. Maybe if he could hold this off now, he'd be doing that instead but the president said right away.

"I want to make this clear. You're in my class because you say mean things. Sure people look up to you and they want to be you but that was until they found out the great Mustang was fat-"

"Pregnant you mean," Roy interrupted trying to act bored.

"Right, because every male gets pregnant right?"

"DO I HAVE TO SHOW YOU THE FUCKING PROOF!" He tried to settle his self down.

There was no use getting mad he told his self. He was aching all over now. His stomach was the least of his problems. Nancy just continued talking but as far as he could tell it was blah blah blah because he couldn't understand the words. He could feel blood pumping in his ears and knew it was bad. Ugh, I should have called the doctor, he thought painfully. He covered his mouth as a cough came on and upon withdrawing it, saw the specs of blood. His eyes grew wide.

"Hm, we'll have to continue this another time." He didn't care that he interrupted this bitch. He felt his heart race at the point of panicking after he spotted the red liquid on his fingers.

"Really you are quite-"She suddenly seemed to understand to his only gratification and raced to the phone.

He was lucky he was able to be conscious for this long but as he felt his vision begin to ebb away, he could have sworn that she had made sure that an ambulance was dispatched.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED!"

Roy nodded.

There was no I would've or I know doc. He knew that he should have and that was why Richards was pissed. Supposedly he should have known that this was serious stuff. He didn't care about that anymore though because what happened was past and he wanted to know about the health of his unborn baby. The tingling in his fingertips seemed to decrease and his mind was less fuzzy but he still felt a little light headed.

"Your baby did this to you, don't you realize this?"

Roy shrugged.

His baby also caused him shortness of breath for about one minute last week. He didn't pass out then. What was going on? He was twenty four weeks damn it and he wanted to know if his baby was alright. The doctor went over all the intervention and then sighed as though it really was a big waste of time. Roy didn't think so but supposedly it didn't matter as the doctor wasn't talking to him. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's happening to my baby?"

The doctor finally looked at him and he was surprised to find that he was frowning and nothing else. There was glare, any grinding of the teeth, nothing but that and the sadness behind his eyes.

"For now your baby is in excellent condition. We labeled the fetus as a threatened abortion. For this could lead to miscarriage or it could in turn lead to the baby killing you. We tried to avoid this subject for so long and you were doing so well…" he trailed off and Roy started to really wonder.

"You mean this is what happened before?"

"Not exactly," Richards paused seemingly staring off into the window like it was a distant memory. "The baby in question then was doing more harm than good. The patient asked what could be done to delay that. I told him take some female hormones in the form of a shot. In less than a month, the baby was stillborn. I've avoided asking that with you because the same could-"

"No question then, no. I want her to survive and that won't help any if you do the same treatment. I understand that you used it thinking that because it was a male body maybe it carried the inadequate hormones but what was the listed cause…" Roy couldn't bring his self to mention the word. Stillbirth was something he didn't want; not now.

"It was a hormone overload. It ended up too much for the fetus to handle plus it was only a pound in a half. I wanted you to gain weight so if that ever happened where you had to deliver early, that the baby would have a better chance. It doesn't seem to be working."

Roy nodded.

"What if I just carried her longer. Do the same thing-"

"You'd be on bed rest from this point on," Richards snapped glaring at him.

Mustang just continued on as though he hadn't.

"Eat and drink as much as I can will the baby at least make it to thirty five weeks gestation?"

"I highly doubt it. We'd be pulling a miracle. If you really want to risk yourself I think if you could reach the thirty three weeks gestation, then it would be enough. The baby would be about three weeks premature but bigger and enough to live with minimal things wrong with it. If you want to do that, you need to be put on bed rest from this point on upon release. No work, no being up and about except bathroom and showering. Oh and no more sex life."

Roy sighed.

Like he had one at the moment anyways. He really did want to wait until he was later in his pregnancy to get out of work. His coworkers would think he did it on purpose. But he knew that if he were to get the baby to survive, then he had to. He nodded. The doctor noted something into his chart before leering at him.

"I have to warn you though that there's a risk that you could end up in labor early and not having the time to do a C-section would be terrible. Once the baby is too far down, you minus well tell yourself that you have been a human incubator because you'll be dead."

Roy nodded in understanding.

"Another thing what does your boyfriend think?"

"My fiancé isn't going to know anything. I've decided not to tell him."

Richards looked at him in angered astonishment.

"If you're going to needlessly risk yourself for a baby that very well may still die then why not tell him? He's your finance as you say and should be informed that there may be an impending stillbirth or a low weight baby that wouldn't survive. But most of all dumbass, it could very well come to you or the baby. How do you think he'd handle that?"

Roy took a moment to answer. He gazed down at the ring and remembered Ed. Ed wanted to marry him for a long time. He was still going to marry him. But if he lost the baby, how truly happy would he be knowing that Roy didn't even try to keep it. He didn't even fight for the baby yet and he may have complained about it multiple times and told Ed that he wished that the baby would stop kicking him so hard but in reality he loved it. He didn't even know what it was and yet he fell in love with it the moment he realized he may have been. Then when he first saw the sign of the baby within his belly in the form of a bump, he knew he would do anything. Not only because it was something that he and Ed had miraculously created but because he knew that a small part of his heart had already been stolen by the unborn child. The one that wasn't already occupied by Ed. And yes there was still a little part of his self that he also held even for Maes. He knew that the decision would be hard but he wasn't gonna lose her damn it, he couldn't.

"He will be able to in time. If I had to die, he would handle it knowing I wanted to be there and he'd have our child. He'd have her to remind him of what I couldn't have."

Whatever Richards wanted to say was interrupted when Ed ran in, exhausted from rushing into here but otherwise happy that he heard the news that both fiancé and baby were both okay. Roy just smiled a sad small one because in the end, what Ed didn't know might truly kill his heart later on. And not once did he feel as much sorrow for anything as he did now.