Hey everyone so it's birthing time for the second time :D hope you enjoy it

Utsukushiki Zankoku Na Sekai

Hospitals weren't exactly Roy's favourite place. After twenty years in the military he had seen so many people go into hospitals and not come out again that just being near them was enough to send a sliver of dread into his stomach that made him want to turn in the opposite direction and walk away as fast as possible. Having to go into one for himself is like hell and he tried not to let the worry and the sickness that came with the thought of them take over as Tallison pulled up on the road out in front of Central General Hospital about half an hour after he had started having contractions. I have to be here... I have to be here for the baby...

"I called ahead when I got off the phone with Ed so they should be expecting us," Talliston told the both of them as he opened the passenger side car door and helped Roy out.

"Thank fuck," Roy muttered as he tried to steady his breathing through another painful contraction.

"You okay babe?" Ed asked placing a hand on the base of his spine and helping him.

"Do I fucking look okay?" Roy hissed and instantly felt guilty. "Sorry," he said, his face softening as fast as it had hardened.

"It's fine," Ed said, "in your defence it was a stupid question."

"I don't hate you I swear," Roy said trying to laugh but it hurt too much.

"You say that now," Ed just about managed to chuckle. "You might change your mind when it actually comes to the pushing."

"Ah yes... I'd sort of forgotten about that part..."

"Hopefully, considering how far along you are, we can get you something stronger than just gas and air," Talliston said as he lead Ed and Roy to the front desk. "Good afternoon," he said, smiling at the receptionist, "I called a few minutes ago, my name is Talliston and I'm here with Roy Elric-Mustang who is currently in labour."

The receptionist looked from Tallison to Roy and Ed behind him, two people who she obviously recognised (although in Roy's current state he most definitely didn't look like the poster that she had of him on her bedroom wall). Her jaw dropped slightly and for a second she forgot herself and just continued to stare. That was until Roy groaned through another contraction and she snapped back to life.

"Right," she said turning to the papers in front of her. "Everything is all sorted and there is an empty delivery ward just down the hall." She handed Talliston a form and a pen. "If you could just sign this stating that you're doing this off your own back and Central Hospital isn't responsible for what happens in there."

"The hell do you mean by 'what happens'?" Roy demanded, eyes widening.

"Was that really the right thing to say?" Talliston asked before scribbling his signature on the form and handing it back to her.

The receptionist's face turned scarlet as she realised just how that had sounded. "If you do need anything there's a phone in there so just give reception a call."

"Thanks," Ed said giving her a small smile and beginning to lead Roy away.

The room that had been reserved for them wasn't a bit like the room at Talliston's Ed had given birth in all those years ago. Admittedly this place looked as if there was more there but it all looked a bit too complicated. Talliston gave them some privacy while Roy got changed into a hospital gown and then came back to perform a quick examination. Ed could feel Roy's hand shaking slightly in his so he gave it a comforting squeeze, hoping that he was helping just by being there as he had no idea what else there was he could do.

"Right," Talliston said pulling back from between Roy's legs, "you're about five centimetres dilated so you've still got quite a way to go on that front."

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Roy muttered darkly and Ed had to fight the compulsion to laugh. Roy very rarely swore in front of other people (in contrast with Ed's use of it as punctuation) and now it seemed to be spewing forth quite freely.

"However," Talliston said, "considering the blood you said you found when you first went into labour and the position your baby is lying in we're going to have to speed things along."

"Position?" Roy asked.

"Yeah what do you mean by that Doc?" Ed asked.

"Basically, inn layman's terms, currently your baby is lying like this," Talliston explained holding his arm up horizontally, "ideally we want it to be lying like this," he continued holding his arm up vertically, "otherwise it's not going to come out."

"God it's awkward already!" Roy groaned.

"So how do we fix that?" Ed asked.

"If you were at full term I'd say we can try and turn it," Talliston said.

"How in the hell do you do that?" Roy asked.

"By massaging the uterus slowly to turn the foetus until it's in the right position," Talliston replied. "It will..."

Roy gagged. "Please stop talking."

"But as he's not full term?" Ed asked. "There's gotta be a different plan there right."

"I'll just need to make a phone call but it's highly likely that if nothing changes within the next few minutes we're going to have to deliver through an emergency caesarian because this baby is determined to come out."

"Oh..." Roy said, all the colour draining from his face. "Right..."

"Just let me talk to reception for a moment and then when I'm done we'll come back and talk."

"Sure sure," Ed said. He waited until Talliston had left before turning to Roy. "You okay?"

"I... I don't know," Roy replied. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do in this situation and I'm actually terrified."

"What can I do to help?" Ed asked.

Roy reached out and took his hand. "Please don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ed reassured him.

"This all feels like it's moving too fast," Roy said, squeezing his eyes shut and squeezing Ed's hand at the same time.

"It kind of is," Ed said.

"Maybe these were the problems my age might present," Roy sighed.

"Nonsense, you've got the uterus of a sixteen year old," Ed teased before pressing a kiss to Roy's forehead.

"When you say it like that it sounds unnerving," Roy just about managed to chuckle.

"Because it is out of context," Ed replied.

"Good point," Roy replied. His smile swiftly turned into a grimace and he squeezed Ed's hand tightly as he breathed through another contraction. "Oh fuck, these are horrible!"

"You can scream if you want to," Ed said.

"I don't know if it will help," Roy replied. "I think I just want it out... I want this to be over and then I can stop worrying."

"Okay," Ed said stroking the back of Roy's hand with his thumb. "Well when the Doc gets back we can tell him that you want to go ahead with the caesarian."

"Thank you," Roy said. "I mean I don't think I have that much choice but the sooner we get this over with the better."

"Okay."

Roy chuckled and shook his head. "This isn't exactly how I imagined this moment."

"How so?"

"I didn't imagine desperately wanting it out because it was so fucking painful."

"Unfortunately that's just how it goes," Ed said. "When I was in your position, obviously it wasn't quite the same 'cause I was at full term, but I was screaming bloody murder and more than anything I just wanted it to be over so I could go to sleep."

"I am really tired," Roy admitted.

Before Ed could say anything else the door opened and Talliston returned. "Everything alright in here?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ed replied.

"Can we proceed with the caesarian?" Roy asked.

"Of course," Tallsion replied. "If you want to lie back down then we'll take you in to theatre. I've had a word with a few people and we can just go in now."

"Oh thank god," Roy said and lay back down on the hospital bed, trying to get himself as comfortable as possible.

"Just to warn you, I have said that you'll be there, but they might not let you in," Talliston told Ed.

"They can try and fucking stop me," Ed replied.

"I thought that would be your answer, good to know."

"I'm not leaving," Ed said. "I'm staying with Roy and we're seeing this through to the end together."

"Then let's go," Talliston said.

He pushed the door open and two orderlies came in. One of them had huge muscles that would have even put Alex Armstrong or Sig to shame and Ed had a sneaking suspicion he was there because someone had mentioned that Edward Elric was in the hospital and they probably remembered him from when he was younger. There didn't seem to be any trouble as Ed followed Talliston, Roy and the orderlies down to the operating theatre. There was a bit of a stir when the anaesthetist eyed Ed as he entered as well but Ed was firm that he was staying and eventually he realised it made more sense to back off.

Ed watched as a screen was put up just underneath Roy's breasts so that neither of them could see what was happening and Ed was firmly told to stay on the side of the screen where Roy's head was. Not that he particularly wanted to see his newest son or daughter being, for want of a better phrase, sliced out of his husband so he wasn't overly bothered but there was no question that he wasn't going to be sitting beside Roy's head the entire time.

"How are you feeling?" Ed asked, his voice low and quiet in Roy's ear.

"Well... I think the local anaesthetist is probably working now as I can't really feel anything going on down there," he replied.

"Oh the urge to make so many dirty jokes," Ed laughed.

"All at someone else's expense, of course?"

"Of course otherwise I'm just insulting myself," Ed replied.

"Just to let you know," Talliston said, sticking his head round the side of the screen so that he could see them, "as the anaesthetic seems to be working now we're going to start."

"That's good," Roy said, letting his head fall back again. "I can't believe that this is actually happening," he said to Ed.

"I know right," Ed chuckled. "We've got things mostly ready though."

"Only because I told you we needed to," Roy said. "If you had your way we would have only just started sorting out the nursery."

"See I do listen to you occasionally," Ed said, kissing Roy's cheek. Roy didn't respond for a second and when Ed turned to look at his face his eyes had slipped closed. Fear suddenly gripped his heart and he gave Roy's hand a small shake. "Roy?"

Roy took a deep breath. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I'm just really tired now."

"I know," Ed replied, "but you've got to stay awake just a little bit longer, okay?"

"Do I have to?" Roy asked with a small smile.

"Yes," Ed replied, "otherwise I'm going to worry."

"Fine," Roy said and opened his eyes again. "I'm sorry," he added after a pause.

"What are you sorry for?" Ed asked.

"That you had to do this on your own last time," Roy said reaching out to stroke the back of his hand down Ed's cheek.

"Oh don't worry about that," Ed said. "It's all in the past now and I wasn't exactly alone; I had Cass and I had the Doc. I know that you would have been around if I had actually told you that any of ir was happening but I'm a stubborn bastard, as you well know."

"This is very true..."

"So stop apologising and don't worry," Ed said. "I'm here for you during this and then, when it's all over, we're going to go back home to our eldest and everything will be perfect."

"God love you Edward Elric because I certainly do," Roy said, smiling up at him. Before Ed had the chance to say anything in response to that a loud crying suddenly filled the room and both of them stopped short. Roy covered his mouth with his hand as tears welled up in his eyes. "Oh my god!"

"Holy shit!" Ed murmured, grinning.

"Congratulations," Talliston said sticking his head around the side of the screen and smiling at them both, "you have a daughter."

"A daughter..." Ed said. It almost didn't feel real... they had a daughter.

"Because of her gestation age we're just going to give her an examination while we close you up but she's got a healthy pair of lungs on her," Talliston said.

"We can hear," Roy chuckled. He let his eyes slip closed and gave Ed's hand a hard squeeze. "We have a daughter."

"Yeah we do," Ed said leaning forward and pressing kiss to Roy's forehead. "I can't wait to see her."

"Me too."

"I hope she's alright..."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Ed reassured him. "You heard that screaming, she'll be absolutely fine."

"She definitely has your lung capacity," Roy teased.

"Yeah... see I want to be offended but I can't fault you on that one," Ed laughed. "Hopefully the Doc will be done soon so we can see her."

"Hopefully."

It took a few minutes for the other doctor to be done with Roy and for the two of them to be moved to a private room. They still hadn't heard any word about how the baby was and what was happening to her and Ed was just about antsy enough to go and find someone who would tell them when the door of the room opened and Talliston came in holding a small wriggling bundle. He smiled as he closed the door behind himself.

"Sorry for the wait," he said. "I wanted to be absolutely thorough."

"Not a problem," Roy said. "How is she?"

"See for yourself," Talliston said. He made his way over to the bed Roy was lying in and placed the baby in his arms. Almost as soon as Roy was holding her she stopped wriggling and looked up at him with huge golden eyes that were flecked with the tiniest spots of black. "She's absolutely fine."

"She's beautiful," Roy whispered, smiling down at her.

"And she's doing okay?" Ed asked looking up from his daughter (oh my god, I have a daughter) to Talliston.

"She is absolutely fine," he replied. "Perfectly healthy and already quite the character."

Ed snorted. "I can imagine."

"Because of her prematurity there is a chance that she will be a little bit smaller than other's her age but that's all."

"Oh just like her dad then," Roy chuckled.

"Oi you," Ed said giving him a gentle poke in the cheek, "five foot eight isn't short, you're just freakishly tall."

"If you say so," Roy teased.

Talliston laughed. "I'll leave the two of you to if for now," he said. "I'll have to come back and run a few tests again later just to make sure that everything is still going smoothly but I'll let you all get acquainted for now."

"Thanks Doc," Ed said.

"Yes, thank you for everything," Roy said.

"It's not a problem," Talliston said holding up his hand. "You're good friends and of course I'd want to help you when you need me." He smiled once more and left the room, closing the door behind himself before either of them could say anything else.

Once they were alone Roy turned to Ed. "She's absolutely perfect, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Ed agreed. "If she looks anything like you when she gets older she's going to be incredibly popular with the boys."

"I think if she looks anything like either of us she's going to be popular with the boys," Roy chuckled.

"Good point," Ed agreed. "So she's going to need a name," he continued after a pause, "you still happy with what we were talking about?"

"Yes, definitely," Roy said.

"Okay," Ed grinned and leaned down to run his finger over the baby's cheek. "Hi Trisha, welcome to the world." He leaned down and pressed a long, slow kiss to Roy's lips. "You're amazing, you know that right?"

"So are you." Roy said. He smiled at Ed before letting out a long, slow exhale. "I'm really tired now."

"I'll take her if you want to get some rest," Ed offered.

"Probably a good idea," Roy said. He passed Trisha over to Ed and lay down making himself comfortable.

As he held her tiny hands reached up to him, wanting something to hold onto, and Ed knew that he was going to have his hands full keeping her away from his hair.

'Utsukushiki Zankoku Na Sekai' (This Beautiful Cruel World) by Yoko Hikasa (Shingeki No Kyojin – Attack On Titan – Ending One)