... I have absolutely no excuse whatsoever for not posting last week. BUT! I am trying to post a SECOND chapter later today to make up for it! Because I love you guys! Certainly not cause I spent half an hour last week when I should have been writing this story coming up with a schedule of all the big events occurring in this story and the date that they will air and don't want to get off it already. Nope. I love you!

I actually do, though. Seriously. Ya'll are awesome

"We could name him after you father."

"Van? Or Hohenheim?"

"I was thinking Van. Hohenheim would just get him teased in Amestris or Xing. Van would be unordinary, but it wouldn't be a curse either. Of course, we could always just name him after you."

"Now that would be a curse."

"I happen to like your name a lot, Al. Though it would get confusing to have two Als."

"I've always found Juniors annoying to tell the truth. I was very glad Ed and Winry decided to give Benjamin 'Edward' as a middle name instead of a first. Ben's so much like Ed that if they had the same name no one would be able to tell them apart."

"So you don't want to name him after your brother."

Al stopped tapping his pencil against a pad of paper and stared at her. "You wouldn't object to him being named Edward with every fiber of your being?"

"Well, I do think that naming him Edward would condemn him to being a midget sized rice boy for the rest of his life, but he is your brother…" Al rolled his eye and pushed her shoulder playfully. They were sitting on the couch together discussing possible names for the baby. Normally Mei would relax against one arm of the couch and put her feet in his lap, but today her head was taking the spot for itself. Her own pad of paper was propped up against her five month bump, but the pencil lay abandoned on the coffee table that Al's feet were resting on. She had already told him twice to get his feet off the table, but…

Al had been gently stroking her hair, which was no confined to its braids like normal. He had his pad of paper balanced on the arms of the couch next to him and was consulting the list of names they had already complied thoughtfully.

"We could use Edward for a middle name. Or Ling."

"Van Ling? No, that doesn't sound very good. Can you imagine calling him that when you need to be stern?"

"No, not really."

"Van Edward isn't much better. It sounds like some rustic old last name." Al snorted, but had to agree with his wife.

"We don't have to name him after someone we know. There are plenty of good names. Jie, Michael, Victor, Henry, John, Mien, Jayden-"

"Jayden? Not that one it's sounds like he's going to grow up and just play games his whole life."

"Where do you get that impression?"

"Just give me more names."

"Uh, Steven, Adam, Zhuo."

"You like the name Zhuo?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?"

"I used to know a boy who would steal all the other girl's dolls. I sent one of the servants after him."

"… so no to Zhuo?" She nodded sharply, which was odd considering her head was still in his lap.

"Maybe we should try to think of our of our more normal-named relatives or friends to name him after?"

"Like who, Al?"

"Uh…"

"Exactly. We don't exactly make friends with exactly normal people."

"Well at least some of them have to have a normal name. Um… oh! What about Doctor Marcoh?"

"Doctor Marcoh?"

"His name is Tim, right? That's not a bad name." Mei looked thoughtful and rubbed her bulge. Then she lifted her head up slightly so that she could see it. "What do you think? Is Tim a good name for you?"

As expected, there was no real response.

"She's not responding because she's a girl. Timothy Van Elric is alright a name for a boy, but for a girl…"

"Very well, what you name a girl?"

"I've always loved your mother's name."

"Xia?" He nodded at her.

"It's beautiful. And without her, I wouldn't have you." Mei smiled at Al and reach up to flick his nose lightly with a finger.

"What about a middle name? That's one Xingese name, so do you want the middle name to be Amestrian?"

"Timothy Van isn't Xingese."

"Maybe he can go by Chang. And Van is Xerxian anyways so it's not like your culture will have full claim on him."

"Why don't you pick the middle name then?"

Mei paused and thought about it for a while. Al waited patiently, gently massaging Mei's shoulders and neck. Not the easiest of tasks because of their position, but he knew that she appreciated it.

"And Ed and Winry already have dibs on Trisha?"

"Well, it's Sara's middle name, so sort of? I don't think they would have much of a fuss if we used it for her, but…"

"Pinako?"

"Pinako?"

"Yeah, she practically raised you didn't she? Without her, I would have you, right?"

Al smiled back at her. "That's a lot of pressure on her. To be named after two women that without she wouldn't exist?"

"She's our child, I think she'll be able to handle it." Al paused and thought about it for a while.

"Xia Pinako. I like it. I hope she will too."

"That is the trick isn't it?" Mei asked, once again rubbing her bump. Then she paused before adding: "Al… we haven't really talked about it. What we're going to do."

"What do you mean?"

"About us. About his situation. Are we going to raise him here in Xing? Are we going to talk in Amestrian at home? Is he going to be educated at a school here? I'm sure that if we asked, Ling would let him be tutored with Fu when it comes to that time. Do we want that? Should we educate him with other children? Would it be easier to teach him Xingese customs in Amestris or the other way around? I don't want to do anything that might put him at any sort of disadvantage."

"We do already have the house here so it would make sense to stay here. It's a good home to raise a child in."

"… but?"

"I don't know… I've always imagined raising my children in Amestris, maybe it's just hard for me to adjust to the thought to raising them here."

"Al, if you think we should raise them in Amestris, we can. You know I think Resembool is charming, I wouldn't mind living there."

"Are you sure Mei? Xing is your home."

"And Amestris is yours. And just because I'm saying we can raise them in Amestris doesn't mean I'm saying that we're going to raise them to be pure Amestrians. There's no way we could do that with our children. Especially not with your job."

"Do you think my job would allow me to live in Resembool? Here I'm living really close to the Palace, I can stop by there any time I need and that's half the job."

"You still have to commute to Central ever few months, Al. It would be a shorter trip for you to go there from Resembool. And Ed's managed to make it work." Al snorted softly.

"Ed's job is more just like heading up to Central whenever Fuhrer Mustang feels he needs someone to annoy him."

Mei giggled. Then she lifted herself so she was propped up on one arm instead of lying with her head in his lap.

"I do want to have the baby here though. In the Chang providence."

"In the Chang Providence? But there are trained doctors and alkahestrists here—"

"And my family is there. My grandma would never forgive me if she wasn't there for my first child's birth, and asking her to come up here is far too much. There are midwives there just as trained as in the palace and you've studied almost everything there is to know about pregnancy related alkahestry. I'll be fine."

He pursed his lips, but eventually nodded. "Alright." She smiled and pecked him on the cheek. Al smiled back at her and laid his hands on the bump.

"She should be kicking soon, right?" Mei nodded and put her own hand on top of his.

"I've been able to feel him moving around every once in a while." Al grinned and waited a few moments, but when he didn't feel anything, he leaned back with a pout on his face.

"She won't budge for her daddy though." Mei rolled her eyes at him before standing up. It was already starting to get slightly difficult to do so.

"I'm going to get something to eat."

"We just ate an hour or so—"

"I'm hungry." Al paused when he saw the very pointed glare his wife was giving him and he immediately shut his mouth. "And I'm having one of those cookies."

"... Okay."

She nodded sharply and made her way to the kitchen from the living room. He rested his head against the back of the couch and put his feet up on the table (despite the fact that Mei would yell at him when she came back in the room), able to hear her pushing around in the kitchen.

Then he heard something crash and he sat up straight. "Mei?"

Then he heard the sounds of sobbing. Al shot to his feet and hurried to the kitchen to find his wife on her knees, and a large puddle of something white near her feet. "Mei?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Mei… there's no use crying over spilled milk…" She continued to sob however and Al moved to comfort her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "In fact, if Ed was here, he'd probably be throwing a party or something!"

This was however the wrong thing to say apparently, because she lifted her face out of her hands and glared at him so fiercely he wanted to shrink back.

"Are you comparing me to your brother?"

"What? No! I was just saying that he wouldn't be crying-"

"So you are!"

"No! I'm not… you're much prettier than Ed!"

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"How is calling you prettier than my brother an insult?"

"Al!"

He flinched and refused to admit later that he whimpered "Don't hurt me."

He however did not feel any blow or harm. Looking up, he saw Mei smiling, albeit looking a bit confused. "Of course I wouldn't hurt you, Al. I love you. Though that doesn't tend to stop Winry very often."

Al's confirmatory noise sounded more like a strangled sob.

Who caught the Yu-Gi-Oh GX reference?

I really did not like that show. Only watched it for the references to the original.

Special thanks to white mexican girl, almeil159, j9162 for giving me names! Pinako as a middle name from white mexican girl, naming after Dr. Marcoh from alameil159 (seriously, I loved that suggestion, don't you?), and though I didn't actually use any of j9162's names, her suggestion's were very useful in coming up with suggestions for them to propose!