Whoooooo! managed to get the chapter up! It's super late, but it's summer! Whooo! Girls Camp for most of the week and didn't start this till later cause I went to extra church to hear a missionary farewell and homecoming in the same meeting. Pretty cool.

For any and all of my readers in New Zealand, if a Mormon missionary named Elder Wilson knocks on your door DO NOT CLOSE IT IN HIS FACE. In fact, you can even tell him that you know someone online who knows him. Same goes for anyone in Georgia who meets a Sister McFarlane. Or in Milwaukee/Australia who meets a Sister Brown. I know that last one sounds weird, but she's in Wisconsin until her visa clears.

If I find out you guys slammed the door in the faces of any of these guys, I will... do something awful. Just don't slam the door in the faces of any of these three Mormon missionaries. Please. Well. Any of them, really. I'll be sad and disappointed in you.

"…Al!"

Al looked up from the scroll he was looking over. Mei had just found it hidden in the back of some cubby hole in the Imperial library when she was looking for something on the origins of alkahestry. In a few words, a smaller piece of an ancient record on the activities of public figures. When he said it was as old as his father, he wasn't exaggerating. This particular piece was documenting his father's activities in Xing.

Al felt uncomfortable at how close he was to having Xingese half siblings twelve times removed. Apparently the Emperors were very fond of offering the Western Sage their daughters as wives.

Perhaps it would be better not to mention it to Ed.

"What is it?"

"Come here!"

So he set the scroll aside and made his way up from his chair, stretching the kinks out of his back as he went, and from the library to the front door where he had heard his wife's voice come from. It wasn't a terribly long trip, but he still saw her peaking her head down the hallway when he turned the corner, trying to find him.

"Who is it?" he asked, automatically assuming that there was someone there that wanted to see him. He had no clue who it could be. There was no one visiting as far as he knew. Perhaps someone needed him somewhere? He couldn't think of anything someone would need from him that someone else couldn't do. Well, at least not something they would need him for last minute.

"Come see for yourself."

It was an Amestrian standing in the doorway, which was a bit of a surprise. It had been so long since Al had seen any Amestrian besides in the mirror that he seemed odd looking. He certainly didn't recognize the man. Typical blond and blue eyes. Fairly tall, but not very broad.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ambassador Elric, my name is Jesse Wilson, and I'm a reporter for the Central Times."

"… oh. Hi."

"May I come in? The Princess was reluctant to allow me to do so until you had arrived."

"Why are you here?" The man blinked as if it was obvious.

"I'm here to interview you, Ambassador."

"… Why?"

The man looked at him as if he was stupid. Al certainly felt like it when he didn't answer for a few good seconds, and upon answering, answered slowly as if he was talking to a child.

"It's not fair for the Xingese to hog you. You are Amestrian and you grew up in our country. You're a public figure there. Just because you married a Xingese Princess doesn't mean your country's stopped caring about you and your relationship with her. In fact, with your recent public exposure, curiosity about you and your brother has sky rocketed. He has been… rather unreceptive to such curiosity. We were hoping that you would be more accepting of our questions."

He glanced at Mei cautiously. She looked slightly worried, but shrugged.

"Come in, I guess."

They led Jesse into their parlor, and he chose to sit down in one of the more Amestrian styled chairs in the room, while Al and Mei chose to sit on the couch together. She slipped her hand into his and smiled at him.

Jesse pulled out a notepad and a pencil and stared expectantly at them. "So, Ambassador, you were born in the small town of Resembool, correct?"

"Yes. August 17 1900."

"And your mother raised you until her death, at which point your sister in law's grandmother became your legal guardian."

"Yes. Winry's parents were close friends with my mother."

"And what about your father?"

"My father?"

"There are no records whatsoever of Trisha Elric ever marrying. But you and the Fullmetal Alchemist are full brothers, correct?"

"Ex-Fullmetal Alchemist," Al corrected quickly. Ed hated being called that. "And yes we are. Our parents never got their marriage officiated with the State, but they did perform a tradition Resembool wedding. Sheep and all."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Sheep?"

Al snorted softly. "Sheep. A traditional Resembool wedding is always done in the spring and involves the couple sheering a sheep together and then their first child's blanket will be made of the wool. I think Mom only did it to embarrass Dad. I don't even think she made Ed the blanket. I did not follow said tradition for obvious reasons. I didn't think it would be quite appropriate to have an Ambassador and a Princess sheering a sheep in the middle of the Xingese palace… It might have not sent the right image. Though it definitely would have shown willingness from the Xingese to mingle with Amestrian traditions. Though that's a bit of a weird one even for most Amestrians."

"I see… And what do you know about him? He must have left early on since all records say you were raised by your mother alone."

Al looked down at his hand entwined with Mei's, that tightened around his. "My father left us when I was only two or so years old. He was a powerful alchemist and managed to discover the corruption in the government earlier than everyone else. He tried to go out and solve the problem, but had to leave us behind so that no harm would come to us. I didn't see him again until I was 14 and he died shortly after the coup."

"And how did this impact you in your later life?" The reporter didn't even look up from his notepad, scribbling furiously.

"Well, I'm determined to never leave my family like that if I can avoid it."

"And if he ever did, I'd have words to say to him, you can count on that," Mei inserted in an angry tone. Al laughed and squeezed her hand back. This time Jesse did look up, glancing up quickly at their intertwined hands, and then looking up again quickly as if he had missed something. He then stared so intently at them that Al felt almost uncomfortable and looked away.

"… I see… So you used to be quite well known for wearing a large suit of armor, back before you brother quit being the Fullmetal Alchemist. Why was that exactly?"

"The armor was both protection and part of my alchemy training," Al answered, easily slipping into oft repeated lies. "Our teacher was quite extreme..."

"And I have just a few more questions for you, Ambassador. You're recent marriage to Princess Chang, it is still Chang right?"

"When I'm in Xing, yes, my name is still Mei Chang," Mei answered for her husband. "According to the laws of Xing, Al's name is now Alphonse Chang, rather than me taking his name. If we ever move to Amestris, however, we plan on both going by his name."

"Very well, your recent marriage to Princess Chang has caused quite a stir in the way we view the Xingese and interracial marriages. You're both very important figures in your countries. How has your marriage been going so far and would you suggest it to anyone else? Would you be supportive of, for example, a relationship between an Amestrian and an Ishvalan?"

"Our marriage has been great so far. Neither Mei nor I come from a background were giving up is acceptable, so so far we've managed to work through most of our problems. I find it really works to just try and think her weird customs are cute instead of annoying. It usually works."

"And I just remind myself that it's the weird ways that I found adorable when we were falling in love. It helps that Al's a complete gentleman and when he's being an idiot, he really is just being an idiot and can't help it."

Al grinned sheepishly. "I don't know if I would suggest it to someone else as everyone should try to have an interracial relationship, but it's worked for us. As for Amestrian and Ishvalan relations… I knew a man who had an Ishvalan grandfather and he was one of the best soldier's I've known, and I've known quite a few. I don't think it makes much of any difference. If you really love each other and you're willing to work through the cultural differences, I don't see why there's any problem with it."

"What about the children? How are you two planning on raising your children when they'll be so obviously caught between cultures?"

Al and Mei shared a glance. It was a topic they had discussed before, but not in great length. It was a serious issue.

"We're going to do our best to give them the best both cultures have to offer, I think. In the end it will really come down to them. We'll give them the options and they can choose what they'd like to do with the unique opportunity they'll be given," he answered eventually.

Jesse scribbled a few more notes on his pad and then snapped it closed and tied it up quickly. "Thank you very much Ambassador Elric. I won't be taking away your time any longer."

Al stood and shook the man's hand. It felt good to be shaking hands with someone again. It wasn't the biggest custom among the Xingese, though it was starting to make its way into common practice.

"Of course. Thank you for coming."

"Any time, Ambassador. I'm sure I'd be able to come up with more questions."

Al smiled. "Are you sure, I could have sworn you'd ask everything!"

The reported laughed. "A good reporter is never out of questions. He just stops so the interviewee doesn't want to rip his head off." There was some more laughing and the man left with some more "thank you"s and farewells.

Three weeks later, after the article was published, more reporters showed up at their door.

And more after them.

Some wanted to speak to Al about his adventures with Ed, some wanted to know about what it was like for an Amestrian living in Xing, being married to a Xingese woman, a few wanted to interview him about alchemy. Xingese reporters also came, usually to talk more to Mei than Al, but they asked him a fair amount of questions as well. More than anything, the reporters all wanted to know about Mei and Al and their lives together, and how they had gotten together, how they had fallen in love, how their relationship had progressed…

Al was quite ready to just throw them all out the door.

But he answered the questions and did his best to smile when they wanted pictures. Mei was much more patient with it, she had become used to it and only expressed her frustrations when they were all gone and she would rant to him as they got into bed.

Then they crossed a line.

He had been dozing off on the couch when Mei came home from a trip to get some groceries with a newspaper in her hand.

"I'm pregnant."

Al thought his heart stopped. "What?"

"I'm pregnant." He sat bolt upright and started choking.

"You- You are?"

"According to that I am." She threw the newspaper down on small table in front of their couch. "I really must thank them for telling me such. So kind of them."

He was frowning now as he picked up the slightly crinkled newspaper. Sure enough, the large title read in Xingese characters that the Chang Princess had a secret she wasn't telling and after the first few paragraphs it said she was pregnant.

"I'm not pregnant," she said, crossing her arms and glaring at the paper. "If I was, I wouldn't care if they announced it. But I do have a very big problem with them telling such an obvious lie!"

"Well, it's not obvious," Al said, trying to pacify her at the same time he was trying to swallow his disappointment. "We have been married for over half a year. It's pretty normal for Xingese women to get pregnant pretty fast, right?"

"Yes," she grumbled. "And some people might assume that the reason we haven't announced that I am is because we're keeping it a secret. But they shouldn't be allowed to say something like that without us confirming it first!"

"We'll just have to correct the mistake," he said, skimming the rest of the article quickly. They had most of the rest of their information correct, it was just the fact that the article was straight out lying that was wrong with it.

Mei's arms were still crossed and she didn't look happy. In fact, she looked more annoyed. "Stop trying to make me feel better about this."

He smiled and got up to wrap her in his arms. Despite the fact that she was trying to remain mad, she still melted into his embrace.

"You know, I wouldn't mind it if you were pregnant. In fact, I would actually be quite ecstatic."

"I know Al. And I wouldn't hide something like that from you. I certainly wouldn't tell a newspaper article before you."

"So who would you tell before me?" he asked slyly. She pulled away from his embrace slightly and wrinkled her nose at him.

"Xiao Mei."

He grinned. "Fair enough. What did you pick up while you were out other than the article? I was thinking noodles with that one sauce from the East we both liked for lunch."

Just reminding ya'll.

AlMei week.

July 7-13. PARTICIPATE.