September 2nd, 1990

The sound of shattering glass sent Alyse running from her office, down the stairs. "Calvin?" she called out, worry clutching at her chest. "Are you all right?"
As soon as she hit the bottom of the stairs she could see him, and her terror eased slightly, but only just.

Cal sat on the couch, his head buried in both hands, shaking.

"Honey? What's the matter?" Alyse crossed the floor, taking in the broken glass on the kitchen floor, and the phone hanging off the hook on the wall between the two rooms.

"Sit down, 'Lyse."

Without question, she complied, but the dread returned. "Calvin… tell me."

"Charlie's left."

"No." The word came unbidden, but even as the denial left her lips she knew it was only that. "Why would he leave? Where did he go?"

"He… left Shelby a note," Cal's expression twisted through a complex series of conflicting emotions, none of them positive. "He said… he couldn't take being a burden anymore…being useless…screwing up everything. So, he left."

Alyse sat down next to him, her throat so tight it felt like she couldn't breathe. "Did he leave any idea of where he went?"

Cal shook his head. "All he said was he'd send money when he found a job. No word about where he'd be. I—I can't believe he just up and left his wife, his children… everything. He's not even done with his auto-mail rehabilitation."

Yet that was what he had just done. Despite counseling. Despite physical therapy to regain the use of his limb with his new one. Despite what appeared to be an improving family situation and relationship with Shelby. Somewhere, they had missed something. Alyse knew it. A sign, a concern. Somewhere in all of this, some need of his had not been addressed, and he had felt useless, he had felt like this was the best thing he could do for his family? What could have twisted everything up so badly that was how he saw things? Her heart was breaking inside. "What do we do about it?" she asked Cal softly, the sting of hot tears on her cheeks.

Cal's face was still ashen. "I don't know there's anything we can do. It's terrible, but not illegal. Not that having the police hunt him down as a missing person would help the situation. Dragging him back against his will? He'd never forgive us."

There was so much to this she just didn't have answers for, and fears she could hardly stand to put into words. "What if he hurts himself?"

Under her hand, she felt every muscle in her husband's body tighten. "I don't think it's at that point," Cal replied after a moment. "Not if he said he was finding work. I don't know where he's gone, but if what he needs is to feel like he's contributing, then maybe he'll find that. Maybe he needs a break, or maybe he doesn't feel like he can deal with things and not break down in front of his kids. I just don't know. I feel like somehow we should have seen it coming."

She knew that tone, and as much as she felt the same on some levels, Alyse reached around Cal and hugged him. "No one is a mind reader. If he felt this way, he never said it in words. What's done… is done. Either he'll contact someone eventually, or he'll send money as he promised, or he'll come to his senses and come home. If he left this morning, he could be anywhere in a dozen towns in Amestris by now, if he even left the city."

Cal turned towards her, returning her hug with a fierce embrace. "That doesn't mean I won't see if we can track him down and at least find out where he is," he replied firmly.

"Damn it. I just want him to be okay, but right now I'm also mad enough to punch him in the face."

"You're not the only one," Alyse admitted. "I can't just sit here worrying. I'm going to do some damage control. I take it Shelby called from home?"

Cal nodded. "She'd just found the note before she called me. She needs you."

"Well, I'm heading right over." She let go of Cal only when his own grip on her eased. "Shelby needs us. Even if Charlie comes to his senses and comes home tomorrow, there's dinner to make, babies to get to sleep, and support to be given."

Cal didn't smile, but the look in his face was deep with love and admiration. "You know you're amazing."

"Thank you." She responded with a brief kiss. "Do you want to come?"

Cal shook his head. "Maybe later. I need to get a start on figuring out where he went or it will drive me crazy."

"I understand. Will you be all right for dinner?"

"There's leftovers. I'll be fine. You go take care of Shelby."

That was all she needed. Not that Cal was okay, but he was perfectly capable of handling himself for a few hours. Besides, by the time she got back, they might have more information, or Charlie might even have come to his senses and come home.

Until then, she was needed.

Cal had been honest with Alyse; at least in that he would go crazy if he didn't start getting some information and trying to locate his son, and that he would be fine with leftovers. As soon as she left, he made himself move into action. First, he cleaned up the broken glass of water all over the kitchen floor. Then he picked up the phone and started making calls. It was possible, however slim, that Charlie might have told someone something before simply picking up and leaving.

But the few of Charlie's friends Cal had current numbers for hadn't heard a thing. Most of them said they hadn't talked to Charlie lately, but that they would call if they heard from him. Other calls confirmed he had not gone in for his physical therapy appointment earlier today, and he wasn't at the auto-mail shop.

Finally, because he had no other choices, Cal took to the streets. He drove around town, checking in various stores where Charlie and Shelby did their shopping, and glancing in the windows of Charlie's favorite restaurants, wandering through shops, just hoping maybe he'd find his son lurking somewhere in town.

As the sun set, and night settled in, Cal's frenetic energy began to fail him… and he began to feel that he really wasn't going to find his son anywhere in town. He tried the bus station, and the train. No one had any record of a transaction with someone of that name, but all that told him was that Charlie would probably have paid in cash.
Cal made one last circle around town, this time stopping to glance into every bar he could find, praying that the worst would be finding his son drunk somewhere, where he could talk to him, and find out what was wrong. Even there, he had no luck, and none of the bartenders Cal knew had seen him; and they would have recognized him.
Finally, he had to give up and go home.

The house was still empty when he arrived, except for the cat, who rubbed up against him until he fed her. Cal had no appetite, but he made himself heat up leftover pork loin and vegetables and eat a reasonable dinner out of habit, and because Alyse would notice if he skipped a meal. He hardly tasted it. Afterwards, he washed his dishes, left them in the rack to dry, and found himself twitchy, but with nothing else productive to do. Circling the city endlessly would gain him nothing, nor would calling people he'd already called, and he couldn't bring himself to call Shelby's parents. If Shelby hadn't called them herself, he didn't want to talk to her father, who had never liked Charlie in the first place.

Which left Cal in the uncomfortable position of being alone, with too much to think about and nothing to keep him from thinking it. Determined to keep his mind from the dark well of recrimination and guilt he could sense coming, Cal cleaned up the rest of the house—which was unfortunately fairly clean—including the cat box, then took himself upstairs and showered, shaved, and cleaned the bedroom.

He had resorted to re-sorting and folding socks when he finally heard the door downstairs.

"Calvin?"

"Up here."

He heard feet on the stairs, and then Alyse came into the bedroom. "What are you doing?"

"Trying not to think," Cal admitted as he finished the last sock, and started putting them all back into the drawer in neat rows. "I'm beginning to wonder if I ever understood my son at all."

He regretted his words at Alyse's crestfallen expression. She came over to the bed and sat down beside him. "Cal—"

"Look, forget it. I'll be fine." The last thing he wanted was to let himself go down that road. "How's Shelby?"

"Miserable," Alyse replied, leaning against his shoulder. Instinctively, Cal put his arm around her, taking as much comfort from her as she did from him. "She thought things were getting better between them, and then he just left. There weren't any fights, he was always home and where he said he would be… half the time she was furious with him, and the other half furious with herself and convinced she'd done something. Not that she said anything in front of the little ones. Once she got them in bed though…. Oh, Cal, it's breaking my heart." She turned, wrapping her arms around him, and he pulled her in for a full hug. "There are so many questions and unknowns, and she's half-convinced he's just going to disappear and she'll never hear from him again, no matter what the letter says, and she'll be stuck working part time, with three kids, trying to find a way to get through school so she can get a real job that would actually support them all… We spent most of our time sitting, and I just let her talk. She's a lot like me… planning everything out and coming up with alternatives is her way of convincing herself everything isn't falling apart and she's got some control."

"That does sound like you," Cal admitted. "Did it work?"

"Temporarily, maybe. We moved past initial panic and despondence into short-term solutions and what to tell Abigail, since the other two are too young to really understand anything."

Cal cringed. "What are you going to tell her?"

"The truth of what he said in the letter, in a simpler way, that he is finding work and that means he's not going to be home for a bit."

"A bit?"

"Hopefully we can find him and convince him that he doesn't have to do this before it takes too long, or at least resolve whatever is going on here," Alyse replied, and Cal could see that she wasn't that far from breaking down herself, after holding it together for Shelby all evening. "I know we can help them, and Mom and Dad would never kick her out of the house, even if she couldn't afford the rent, but right now she feels like she's failing at everything, and it's tearing her up…and it's tearing me up. I want to cry, and scream, and I'm so worried about Charlie, but I want to smack him too…. But I just want to know he's okay…and find out what he's thinking. I know he's a grown man, but right now I want my baby."

Cal hugged her tighter, and Alyse cried on his shoulder, and Cal cried, his own tears falling on his arms around her back, and they held each other until there was no moisture left to wring out, and only emotional exhaustion. It was then that Cal realized they had one more call they needed to make that could not wait until morning. "Do you want to tell Gloria, or should I?"

September 3rd, 1990

It was unlike Gloria to be late, even—or perhaps especially—to an early morning breakfast date. Concerned, Alexei left the little café, taking their pastries and coffees to go, and walked the block to Gloria's apartment, wondering if he should have just stopped by on the way in the first place. Given his fiancée was almost never late anywhere, and was not prone to sleeping in, it hadn't occurred to him that it might be necessary.

He was entirely unprepared for the site that met him when she finally opened the door. It was very clear that if she had slept at all, it had not been well, because Gloria's face was a dry-tear stained mess, and her hair still rumpled and uncombed, which had turned her normal ordered curls into a frizzy nest. She was mostly dressed for the day, but still in her slippers.

Upon seeing him, her eyes widened, and her mouth opened a moment as she remembered, he presumed, that they were meeting earlier than usual this morning. Or that they had been. "Alexei! I am so sorry. I completely forgot."

Which, in itself, told him that something of epic proportions must have happened to make her forget. "No harm done," he assured her, holding up the bag of pastry and the two-cup holder containing both coffees. "I brought breakfast. But are you okay? You look upset." An understatement, really.

Gloria stepped aside so he could enter the apartment. "You could say that," she replied. "I didn't sleep well last night. My parents called with…disturbing news."

Disturbing and parents did not belong in the same sentence. Alexei winced, setting everything down on the table, and turning to look at her. "What was it?"

Gloria looked for a moment like she might start crying, but her voice was steady as she said quietly, "yesterday, my brother… left."

It took Alexei a moment to parse what that meant. When the realization hit, he was stunned. "Left his family?"

"And town, apparently." Gloria nodded. "He left a note saying he was going to find work and he'd send money back, but nothing about coming home, or when anyone might see him, or where he was going. No one has any idea where he's gone, and they've looked all over Central, called all his friends. They hoped maybe he'd have said something to me. Not that he ever tells me anything anyway." The words came faster, and the tone grew increasingly more frustrated and hurt. "So I spent all night worrying about Charlie, and about Shelby, and their kids… and then getting angry, and then being hurt that he didn't tell his sister he was feeling any of the things the letter said he was feeling and I don't know where he is, or if he's okay, or if he'll be here in October or…"

There went the tears. Alexei gathered her in his arms, torn between concern for her brother, and for her, and her entire family, and a little of that same anger, though it was more at the situation in general. He did not want to judge too harshly before he knew facts. Charlie had been through a lot, and maybe in his own mind, this had made sense and there was something that hadn't been said or had been lost in translation.

But right now, his beloved was hurting, and that at least, he could do a little something about. He held her as renewed tears poured out, hugging her and just letting her know with his presence that someone who loved her was here for her. Her family might be in Central, but she was not in any way alone.

Gloria clutched him tightly, though in the end, she did not cry for very long. After a couple of minutes, he heard a deep breath, and she steadied, and straightened up. "Thank you," she replied sincerely, even though she didn't smile. "I needed that."

"I thought you might. Breakfast?"

"Yes please."

The coffee was still hot, the pastries still warm, and they sat in companionable silence over breakfast, while Gloria gathered herself. By the time they had eaten and caffeinated, she was much more her usual composed self. "Will you be all right today?" he asked after she had gone and finished getting dressed.

Gloria nodded. "Work is just what I need right now. It'll keep me from thinking too much while there's nothing I can do. Besides, I'm getting a new story assigned at work today, and I have no intention of being late and them deciding to hand someone else my scoop."

"Can I ask what the story is?" Alexei queried.

Gloria smiled at him. "Absolutely not. The last thing I need is another publication stealing my story. I'll tell you about it later."

Which was pretty much what he expected. He kissed her one more time before they headed out the door. "That's what I figured. You can't blame me for trying."

"No. I'd have asked the same thing."

Cal Fischer had worked hungover more days in his life than he would care to admit. Unfortunately, he had developed better judgment over the years, and this morning he felt horrible without any overindulgence to have made it worth it. Instead, he had slept badly. Even after Alyse had fallen asleep, he had lain there, awake, until nearly morning, and then slept fitfully until he had needed to be up for work.

His only motivation for arriving at work on time had been to set in motion the only actions left that he could take.

In the privacy of Cal's office, he watched Tore's face turned from shocked and disbelieving, to sympathetic and focused, as he told his friend what had happened.

"I've got someone I can put on this," Tore told him when he was done. "Better you don't know who it is, just for plausible deniability if they ask why you were diverting military personnel. But we'll find him and keep tabs on him."

"Thanks, Shock." Cal didn't want them to drag Charlie in. What he had done was stupid, and unfair, but it wasn't illegal. He just wanted to make sure his son hadn't done anything even more rash than what they knew about. What kind of frame of mind must he have been in to decide that the best decision was to leave without giving his wife and children even any warning? "Keep me updated."

Tore nodded. "I will. I just wish there was more I could do."

"If there is, I'll tell you," Cal promised. "Right now, I'm still adjusting to the fact there's not much else I can do. Not for my son, not until I find him." He would do everything he could for Shelby and his grandkids. None of them deserved to be treated this way. This morning, Alyse had taken all of her work with her over to the other house so she could watch the children while Shelby had class, and went to her job later. "I feel like somewhere, I failed as a parent."

"Charlie's not a boy," Tore pointed out. "He hasn't been for a while. Bad decisions or no, you taught him the best you could. This isn't about quality of parenting, Cal. If it were, Gloria wouldn't be the brilliant woman she is. You have a daughter who does everything right, even inserting herself into a Drachman resistance movement in escaping and turning it into the scoop that will make her career. She's got just as much of you in her as Charlie does. Charlie's just… well he's like you…and he's like me, and I'm not even related to him. We've all made rash, stupid decisions when we weren't thinking clearly. If Charisa hadn't had more sense than me, we might've been in the same place Charlie and Shelby are now. Instead, I ran away and almost got myself killed, and that was before I was an adult. It wasn't Fullmetal's fault, or Winry's. They were great to me. That doesn't mean I didn't make even more mistakes after that one. I'd never take it back, because Dare was worth every moment, but I was a mess for a long time after the war. The fact that only a very small number of people still active duty remember me back then is probably the only reason my subordinates can take me seriously."

Cal listened and didn't argue, mostly because he was too tired, and because what Tore said still made a lot of sense. He remembered the hot-headed boy he'd made friends with when they worked together on the Drachman front, all those years ago. The one too old for his age, yet too young to be ready for what he'd seen. He hadn't been any more ready for war than Charlie had been. Tore had just been luckier. Even then, he'd had a poorly considered relationship that had ended in a broken engagement, and eventually unplanned single fatherhood. Yet, in the long run, he'd turned out just fine, and so had his son. "I know. That doesn't make it easier right now, though."

"I get that. Look, I'll go get that in the works now. If there's anything Charisa or I can do outside of work, just let me know." Tore stood, and left him alone.

Cal looked at the pile of reports on his desk with a mingled feeling of dread and resignation. Still, he picked up the first page and a pen. Retirement was coming. Just a little longer, as soon as this Drachman situation hit at the very least a truce, hopefully a long-term resolution, he could leave with a clean conscience.

September 6th, 1990

The day was almost too perfect, Alphonse thought, as he walked down the country lane with Winry, who had engaged his help in carrying a freshly prepared afternoon meal to Urey and Raina's house because no one with a newborn in the house should have to cook their own meals. Not that Al disagreed in the slightest. Raina had delivered the night before last, a full week early, and they had come home this morning.

The sun was shining, birds were chirping from every bush, and the leaves were just turning the first blushes of red and gold. It was just the cure for a worried mind which was, he presumed, why Winry had asked him to help, instead of Edward. Elicia had taken dinner over the evening before for Urey, Yurian, and Brynne, and had buried herself this morning in a craft project.

Alphonse did not like being at loose ends, but that was very much how he had felt since Alyse called to tell them about Charlie. He hated seeing his daughter and her family hurting, and was worried about his grandson. In the couple of days since the news, nothing new had been found. In the short-term, Alyse was doing her best to help Shelby keep things in the house and their schedule as normal as possible so the little ones wouldn't be worried. Long term, well, that would depend on Charlie.

"He'll come home, Al."

"I hope so, Winry." Alphonse didn't even think to ask how Winry had known what was on his mind. After so many years, it was to be expected. "He's been through a lot, and not everyone reacts the same way to difficult experiences." Not everyone was as resilient as him, or Edward, and even they had struggled through a lot of things in their lives, not always well.

"Sometimes people need time to clear their heads, and getting away helps them do that, and see how much they really miss what they had. In my experience, the people who love you will come back if they can." Winry walked beside him, her arms holding one box. Alphonse had the other two. She watched the road carefully. "You and Ed did. Sometimes they need help finding their way home again, even when they want to, like Tore. Whether they've told us or not, I would bet a year's profits that Cal or Tore has someone tracking down Charlie. After all, they learned everything from you two." At that, she did glance sideways briefly at Alphonse, smiling encouragingly. "I'm worried too, but the best thing to do when you're worried is keep busy."

"Which is why we're walking all the way there instead of using the car?" Alphonse asked lightly.

"The fresh air and exercise don't hurt either." Winry confirmed. "Besides, who isn't cheered by a newborn baby?"

"Unenthusiastic older siblings?" Alphonse quipped.

Winry just shook her head, and they continued walking in companionable silence until they reached the house. Urey met them at the door, which was good, because with his hands full, Alphonse could not have opened it.

Urey looked tired, but happy, as one might expect from a father of newly-three. Alphonse was glad to see he did not look particularly panicked. Everything had gone just fine. "Thank you, Granny," he grinned at Winry as he took the box she held and let them into the house. "Between you and Mom we'll be spoiled rotten, and that's before Raina's folks get here."

"Always happy to help," Winry assured him.

They reached the kitchen and Al put the other two boxes down on the table. Between all three, there was a vegetable-noodle casserole, a basket of fresh bread, a pan of oven-roasted chicken, and an apple pie. It all smelled delicious. Alphonse would have been jealous, except they had smaller amounts of all of them still at home for them to eat for dinner.

Outside the kitchen window, Alphonse could see Yurian keeping an eye on his little sister as they played on the swing. That explained the quiet in the house.

"How's Raina?" Winry asked as they unpacked the food. "Is she up?"

Urey nodded. "She's great. It's been a pretty restful morning actually. Ewan's been a pretty good eater so far, and a champion napper."

"And other things."

Alphonse turned and saw Raina standing in the kitchen doorway in loose, comfortable blue sweats, holding her baby boy.

Raina smiled at them as she held Ewan out to his father. "Diaper time."

Urey almost literally dropped the food as he set it down and reached for the baby. "I've got it." He kissed her cheek and vanished from the room.

Raina turned to them, looking tired but content. "This smells amazing. Thank you both so much."

"I'm just the pack mule," Alphonse chuckled. "Winry made it all."

"Well thank you for being a pack mule then," Raina stepped up to the table and looked at everything. "Standing in the kitchen for any length of time is not my idea of a good time right now."

"I'd say not," Winry smiled sympathetically. "Do you want us to go, or would it be better if we stayed and served up lunch?"

"Please stay a little while," Raina insisted. "You walked all the way over, and I'm sure Yurian and Brynne would love having someone around for a bit besides us."

"You mean someone with energy?" Alphonse suggested knowingly.

"Exactly."

"Well, on top of pack mule duties, I do have a lot of experience being a jungle gym." Urey had great kids, and they could be a nice distraction for each other for a bit. "You handle lunch, and I'll go demonstrate my prowess, shall I?"

"Thank you, Alphonse." Raina looked relieved, and Alphonse left her and Winry to the quiet of the kitchen.

As he opened the back door, his arrival was met with squeals of excitement and shouts from his great-grand-niece and –nephew, of "Can you push us higher on the swing?"

"Of course I can," Alphonse promised, feeling his mood lift a little, even as he found himself missing his own great-grandchildren. "I'm an expert."