Ed had never realized how different Winry became when she was around children. Of course, she wasn't as obsessive as some residents of Resembool that he could name, but Winry really was different.
"Your red hair is so beautiful," she told Joli as she pulled one silky curl straight and watched it spring back into shape. "Of course, all of you is beautiful! You're going to be a little tease when you're bigger."
"Fanks," said Joli with a humble smile that showed off her perfect little white teeth. Winry picked up the three-year-old and placed the child on her hip, in a movement which she was surprisingly adept at.
Maternal instinct? Ed couldn't imagine a man being able to do that right.
"You hungry, Joli?" Winry asked.
"No, she's—" Meta began.
"Yeah!" Joli said loudly.
"She already ate?" Winry queried Meta. The only thing that anyone had gotten Meta to say was her name, and information about Joli. Other than that, Meta sat in a chair at the table and watched everyone suspiciously. It was somewhat comical to see Eli and Meta sitting in chairs next to each other, both staring around at everyone. With the hair, the eyes, Meta's vaguely boyish shape and Eli's small size, they looked like twins. Meta's glasses and her long hair gave it away.
"Yeah," said Meta, "We ate at the diner a few minutes ago. If she'll eat you can feed her, though. She likes pretty much anything. Except don't give her anything with milk. She's got a mild allergy."
Winry laughed. "I don't make a lot of food with milk in it anyway." She jerked a thumb at Ed, who was sitting in a chair and had been instructed that he was not, under any circumstances, allowed to get up, or else. "He won't drink it."
"Yup. Hate the stuff," he put in.
Meta looked at Ed. He was pouting ever so slightly, but in her opinion Ed was getting a pretty big concession, if he'd been injured barely more than a week ago. "Oh. Well, then… that's good, I guess." She fell silent.
"So, which diner did you eat at?" Winry asked as the conversation lulled and she began to set up a pan to reheat the dinner she'd made earlier. Al hadn't eaten yet either, so she'd have been doing this anyway.
When Meta and Eli didn't answer immediately, Al did. "They ate at Lucy's. June came up to me as we were leaving and asked me about them. Apparently she was concerned about Meta's age, and wanted to know why Joli and Meta were alone."
"You didn't tell her we're taking them in?" Winry asked, passing him a dismayed look.
"Yeah… should I not have done that?" He frowned.
"No! Well, I mean… why June Ryder of all people? It'll be all over town in ten minutes, Al. Couldn't you have told someone a little less… chatty?"
Al chuckled. "Sorry, Winry. I didn't think about that. Hey, look on the bright side, though: Eli, Meta, and Joli won't have to worry about finding friends if everyone knows they're here."
Winry smiled as well. "Good point." She calmly redirected Joli's hand as she reached for the pan to take some food. "And you know what else just occurred to me? They'll have to go to school, too. Meta, you're in the fourth grade, right? And Eli, sixth? Or fifth?"
"Fifth, because my birthday's late in the year."
"You guys probably won't like Resembool Primary School, if you're used to the public schools in Central," she told them.
"Why?" Ed asked. "Our education at that school was exemplary, Winry."
"Oh, I know," she responded. "But I think schools are set up different in Central and the north. They're more populated, too."
"That's okay, Meta and I hated our school in Central, anyway."
Winry frowned. She found it hard to imagine not liking school—she'd always enjoyed her school days, and learning, even though most of what she remembered had been after she and Ed and Al had lost their respective parents—it had been the sad part of her life, where she wasn't nearly over it, but she still had to function as if she was. Despite that, she had enjoyed her time at school, and the fact that Eli and Meta hadn't was a disappointing tribute to the North Amestrian school system.
She brought the baby to the table, then went back to get a plate and serve her food. Joli started eating immediately and with gusto, while behind Winry, Al helped himself. Her job was finished, for now, so she sat down in the empty chair across from Eli and beside Ed.
"The kid hasn't looked at me once without glaring," Ed said to her under his breath.
"Who? Eli?" She hadn't noticed that at all. Eli had been terrified of Ed ever since that moment when Ed had whispered in Eli's ear and made him drop the gun.
"No, the girl," he corrected.
"You're scared of a nine-year-old?"
"The only nine-year-old girl I've ever really had experience with was you," he retorted.
"I'm a bad example," she said with a smile in her voice. "Most nine-year-old girls are fairly non-sadistic."
"Well, that explains the death glare," he said sarcastically.
"Maybe if you would stop pouting, she would…"
"Maybe if I would stop existing, she would be appeased," he spoke over her.
"I'm going to send you back upstairs and you can just be there for the next month. No more of this letting you out, if you're going to be such a brat about it."
Ed gave her a sideways smirk. "I didn't realize you had a fetish for imprisonment."
"Bondage is sexy," she deadpanned.
He snickered. "I'll keep that in mind."
"What's funny, Brother?" Al asked, in the chair on his right.
"Can't tell you," he said, trying to suppress his laughter. "There are children present."
Winry punched his arm. "You're so stupid, Ed."
"Great, now I'm even more curious," Al complained.
"I'll tell you later if you still want to know," Winry said. "It's stupid, though. He's overreacting. It's not that funny."
"I'll survive," Al dismissed the conversation.
"So where are the kids going to sleep?" Pinako asked as she walked into the room, wiping her greasy hands on a stained shop rag.
"I haven't thought that far ahead yet," Winry admitted. There really didn't seem to be enough space!
Winry's house and Ed and Al's old house had the same basic layout because they were based on the same original design. It had four bedrooms.
In the Elrics', one had been for Hohenheim and Trisha, one had been the boys' room, one had been Hohenheim's study, and the fourth had been a guest room.
In the Rockbell house, one had been Pinako's room, one had been Winry's, one had been Winry's parents', and the last one had been turned into the patient room. Since Winry's parents had died, that room had remained empty, and now it was the room which Ed and Al shared whenever they came home. Currently Winry had insisted that Ed stay in the patient room, which was more sterile—she was concerned about the risk of infection—so Al had a room to himself at the moment.
"Al, are you willing to share your room?" Pinako asked.
"Yeah, of course. If Ed wasn't injured I'd be sharing it anyway."
"And you, Winry?"
She'd never shared a room with someone before, so she actually thought a minute before answering affirmatively.
"And Meta, Eli, does Joli sleep through the night?" She was old enough that this really wouldn't have been an issue had it been one of Pinako's children, but other parents raised their kids differently so it was worth asking.
"No," Meta answered. "I mean, not because she gets hungry or anything, like a real little baby. But Jo-jo has nightmares sometimes, and she needs to be with me or Eli at night. She and I used to share a room in our old house."
"All right," said Pinako, "Winry, take Meta and show her where your room is. She and the baby can share with you because you're a girl and your room is bigger than the others, and Eli can share with Al. Ed, you'll probably have to stay in the patient room for longer than we expected, at least until we get things better settled." She frowned; how would this work out long-term?
"Hey!" Ed snapped his fingers and looked at Al. "Remember that conversation about our house? I was thinking that if we could get the right materials we could just…"
"…Right!" Al interrupted. "But we could just do that here! That's a good idea, Ed!"
Ed turned to Pinako. "How do you feel about putting an addition on your house?"
"Well, I've wanted to remodel for awhile but we don't have enough money to afford the materials and labor and everything…"
Ed clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Great, then I think we can kill two birds with one stone."
Well, I brought up at least three domestic problems in this chapter, not counting the one I also solved (aka, housing the Erlich kids): 1, Meta and Eli's schooling; 2, Meta glaring at Ed; 3, Joli's nightmares; (oh, I thought of more than three) the sexual tension between Ed and Winry. Unfortunately, not all of these will get satisfactorily solved by the time new issues come up and new plot points of interest come up: Once the new government is fully in control of Central, (which is what's happening in Central while our heroes are in Resembool) what kind of role will Ed have as a State Alchemist? I'm toying with some ideas, such as one of the houses of the newly bicameral Parliament to be full of military officers, but if anyone else has any suggestions give them to me and I might work them in if they're good.
Please review! I don't own FMA.
"You can't tell anyone I said this, but Meta is scared of you."
"Scared of me?" Ed repeated. "How come?"
Eli pressed his lips together nervously. "She's gonna be mad at me if she finds out I told you this…"
"I won't tell anyone," Ed assured him. "Why is your sister so scared of me?"
"Well, Meta is certain that you're still angry about… well, everything, and she thinks you're planning to kill us in our sleep… or something…" He faltered under Ed's irritated gaze. "Sorry. It's not me, it's her…"
Ed had to be silent for a moment just so he wouldn't scream. "I would never go so low to attack a bunch of little kids in their beds."
