Chapter Nineteen

The 520 Cens Promise

Garfiel's

11:00 am

Winry had spent the morning playing with Yuery and helping him settle into a new strange place. Luckily he had been here before, and knew Garfiel, so he wasn't overly fussy about the whole thing. Elicia seemed somewhat shy at first, but that was to be expected after the summer she had had. Soon enough she warmed up to Winry's boss however. Garfiel while very boisterous most of the time, seemed to understand the children were already overwhelmed and had switched tactics to become very soft spoken. Gracia and Winry were both grateful.

Gracia and Garfiel were both encouraging her to take a break and work in the shop for awhile. She always felt more relaxed while building new automail limbs, and the last few days had been extremely stressful. After what she had learned about her parents deaths… well if not for Yuery she wasn't sure she would have been able to keep the tears away. Even if she had promised herself that she wouldn't cry anymore. Ed had enough on his plate without worrying about her too.

Yuery seemed content to play quietly with Elicia and Gracia assured her that she had the kids well in hand so Winry went ahead through to the workshop. Winry was in the middle of assembling a finger when Garfiel told her she had a call. The near panic in Ed's tone was a little frightening when she answered, but he seemed to relax after she gave him a hard time over it.

"Win, just please… watch yourself and be careful okay?" Ed said over the phone.

"Yeah okay Ed. Youre scaring me a bit here to be honest." Winry said in response.

"Ah, everything is fine. In fact you can go ahead and send Yu and the Hughes back home if they are ready." Ed said, not wanting to be separated from his son in light of the threats that were made. Especially not with the very real risk to Winry. He had tried to warn her and she had promised to be careful but he knew how stubborn she could be.

Winry promised to talk to Gracia, and did after she hung up. Gracia was not surprised it had been such a short visit. As Winry herself had pointed out, Ed did not like separating from the child. Shortly thereafter Winry walked Gracia and the kids to the train station and promised Yuery she would see him again soon.

Mustang-Elric Residence

6:00 pm

Roy let himself into the house, unsure if the boys would be there since he hadn't seen them since Ed borrowed his pocket change the day before, and he hadn't heard from them either. He knew they had to still be in town somewhere, but that didn't narrow things down, though he had overheard that Al (or rather a large man in a suit of armor) had been asking around about a cat earlier this afternoon.

He was relieved when he spotted Ed sprawled across the couch in the living room, still dressed in the outfit he had seen him in last. They couldn't have been here long them, Roy assumed, as he flopped into the armchair across from the tired teen. "Where have you been Edward?"

"Aw, don't tell me you were actually worried about me." Ed said in response, as he waived a piece of paper in his left hand. "We spent most of the night reading, then today we were looking for this girl…well her pet so we could find her."

"I see, may I ask why?"

"Well we left her with Knox last night, but when we went to talk to her this morning, both her and Lan Fan were gone. She's an expert on the healing arts… Ling suggested finding such an expert may be a viable avenue to our problems." Ed said as Roy gestured to be handed the paper as Cobalt climbed into his lap. "Hey LazyCat, don't help him be lazy, he doesn't need it it."

Roy looked at the drawing, a copy that Al had done, as he asked where Al was, Al poked his head in the doorway as if summoned to announce that he was headed back out and to suggest Ed stay and get some sleep. Ed looked like he would protest before nodding with a sigh.

After the front door closed Ed sat up a little, so he was more in a slouch than flat on his back. " I went by Hawkeye's last night to give her back her gun. She told me all about Ishbal, and your plans."

"Did she now, why I wonder." Roy said after stiffening slightly. Ed snorted and tossed him his pocket watch as he explained simply that Ed had asked. He then gestured to the watch and said "Secret for secret Roy. It's equivalent. Keep in mind that Al doesn't know what it says."

With resignation, Roy opened the lid, not sure he wanted to know. This was personal after all. The underside of the lid read "don't forget 3. Oct. 10". Roy knew what it meant. He knew about the boys' first trip home after Ed passed, but he wasn't going to comment on it, instead he closed the lid and handed it back before saying. "You owe me money."

"Wow, really. It's what 500 cens you cheapskate." Ed said as he dug through his pockets coming up with a little over 1530 cens . He stared into his palm for a moment, thinking fast. He had understood what Riza had said about the plan, and Ed wasn't having it. He refused to loose another parent. "You know what? I'm going to just keep ahold of this for now. I'll pay you back when you become president."

"Alright? It's 520. Get it right." Roy said before Ed then launched into a long list of reasons he would then borrow more money to be returned when the next step occurred, and Roy realized what the boy was really doing was giving him a reason to keep moving forward, though a flimsy one in a way.

They fell into silence as Ed laid back down and Roy sat back again, before Ed waived his hand again. "Yuery will be on the morning train with the Hughes."

"Okay." Roy said as he shook himself out of the half sleep he had drifted into.

"I know it would usually be smarter to leave him with Winry, or Granny, with everything happening-" Ed started defensively. "Normally I would leave him there with what they said to us, but if they know so much about Winry and where she lives and works, I think it's safer here at the moment. Which sounds crazy when I say it aloud but I already asked he be brought back so its too late now, and I miss him" Ed added the last part with a challenging scowl on his face as if he expected Roy to argue or tease him.

"I am certainly not going to complain about Yuery's arrival. As far as his safety is concerned…well… have I told you about my mother before?" Roy said with a smile. Ed shook his head still frowning in confusion, though he thought he may have vaguely mentioned her as his network, or part of it anyway. "Needless to say, there are plenty of willing and capable babysitters if it becomes needed." Roy said as Ed thought it over. He nodded a few minutes later, before picking up where he left off.

"Maybe. I'd want to meet them of course." Ed said with a frown, not liking the idea of leaving the baby with someone new, but knew that after everything that happened it was not as likely. "Gracia will be dropping him off here, didn't wanna tempt fate and meet them at the station in case somehow no one noticed him yet."

"Good." Roy said. "Wait, what other issues do you need a healer for?"

"What?"

"Aside from restoring Al what else did you need from this girl?" Roy said growing concerned. If Ed had been hurt it's not like he would tell Roy unless he had to.

"Yuery." Ed said after a moment. "Ling and Lan Fan both said Yuery has…something… attached to him that shouldn't be there, I think it probably has to do with something when his mom died. Ling said to look into it and if nothing else he'll hire me a healer and send them right across, but I hate to put anyone else at risk… and no one in their right mind would cross in the summer."

"When you were in England, did their 'prophesy' say anything about this?" Roy asked, wondering if someone had intentionally done something to the child.

"No. No wait, the old man said something about 'marking as an equal' so maybe…" Ed said with a frown as he tried to remember the exact wording of the thing. "Possibly. There's gotta be a way to fix it though, and I'll find it. I'm not letting those weirdos hurt my son."

"Indeed." Roy said in complete agreement. If the prince was right about the baby having an issue they would find a way to fix it. "I'll be sure to have this girl found, we'll start tomorrow."

"Thank you." Ed said visibly relaxing at this.

They lapsed back into silence as both seemed about to drift off right there in the living room, before with a groan Roy pushed to his feet to announce he was calling his mother to let her know they would be by after dinner. Ed objected mostly because he didn't want to bother leaving the house, but Roy ignored him. He did offer to take them out for dinner instead of bothering to cook so Ed reluctantly forced himself off the couch to get ready.

Madame Christmas Bar

9:00pm

Ed wasn't sure about this. Roy had led him to a seedy looking bar in a run down area, in the middle of the night. This was the kind of situation Roy had spent YEARS, literal years, telling him to avoid. He thought about bringing that up but some random girl was already flinging herself into Roy's arms and suddenly Ed was mad at him for Hawkeye's sake. Not that Roy and Hawkeye were a couple, but they should be as far as Ed was concerned, and as such it felt like a betrayal to her that this strange woman was hugging Roy like that.

"Roy! It's been too long!" Vanessa said as she released the hug only to kiss his cheek. She then noticed the teenager frowning at her from next to him. "And who is this?"

"This is Edward, Ed this is Vanessa. Is Madame in?" Roy said smoothly, apparently not noticing the scowl on the boy's face.

"Yes of course, she's doing some paperwork but said to take you right back when you got here." Vanessa said before glancing once more at the angry teen.

"She's expecting us both." Roy assured as he started forward through the relatively empty bar. Vanessa nodded then fell into step, taking the lead as the reached the bar so that she could unlock a door to the left of it.

They then walked down a narrow, well lit hall to a door labeled 'Office' and passing several doors along the way. Vanessa knocked once before opening the office door and announcing that Roy Mustang and guest had arrived. Roy followed her into the room, followed by Ed who was still uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Being a teenager with no authority figures leaning over his shoulder he had of course, over the course of his career, been to a few bars )which he usually didn't mention in his reports) and had even tried beer twice (he didn't care for it) but having an adult intentionally bring him here was still out of his comfort zone.

The office was well lit, and a lot bigger than Ed had expected. It contained a large desk covered in papers and a couple of couches facing each other with a coffee table in between. As Roy nodded to an older heavy set woman with Roy's hair and eyes, Ed perched on one of the couches and Vanessa perched on the other. Roy sat next to Ed a moment later. The room was silent aside from the scratch of the pen as the woman signed the paperwork in front of her. Finally she looked up before setting down her pen and joining Vanessa on the opposite couch.

"So, is this the boy you keep bringing up?" She said after a moment that she had spent eyeing the boy across from her and deciding he wasn't very impressive looking. Ed rolled his eyes used to this treatment before clapping his hands and making a miniature version of Roy and Hawkeye looking ready to fight someone standing back to back. She snorted but nodded with respect to the boy.

"Ed, this is my mother, Madame Christmas. Madame, this is The Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric." Roy said introducing them.

"Oh, this is Edward Elric?" Vanessa said with an excited smile. "I've heard of him. You. There've been stories coming out of the east for years. I assumed you'd be a lot older…maybe even older than Roy-Boy here."

Ed, who had been about to go off about some slight to his size missed the rest of what she had said at first, before his brain pieced together the rest of what had been said. Before he could say anything Roy changed the subject, bringing it back to Madame Christmas who seemed rather busy. "I wanted to have Edward meet the two of you, in the event we require your services, as he is incredibly careful with whom he allows to interact with the baby. Now that we are here in town, and we are likely to grow busier in the coming weeks with most of the team moving on, it seemed that now would be ideal." Roy said.

"Of course." Madame said as she turned her attention to Edward. She had heard a lot about the boy over the years, and she was one of the few people who knew the truth about where the baby had come from since she had been the one to arrange the paperwork. Edward didn't know that part however, and seemed nervous overall. "It is good to finally put a face to the name Edward."

"Um. Thanks. So this is who you wanted to leave Yu with then?"

"Yes." Roy said with a sigh. Edward had not relaxed about Yuery's care over the last few months despite Roy's attempts and recent events were not going to make that any better. "I trust them completely Ed. They would never do anything to harm the baby."

"So…this is your mother you said?" Ed asked, sounding rather rude in a tone Roy recognized was actually nerves. "What about her?"

"Foster mother. She is my birth father's sister. Vanessa was also raised by her so she's nearly a sister to me." Roy said with a smile, and Ed suddenly liked her a lot more now that she wasn't in Hawkeye's way. Not that Ed planned to play matchmaker. Far too many people had done that to him for him to do it to anyone else… he just made sure to watch out for anyone who was not Hawkeye looking like they wanted to go out with Mustang and then glare at them until they did the right thing and walked away.

"Do you know how to hold a baby?" Ed asked suddenly. "Lots of people who try to hold him don't know how to hold him… I assume you might know since Roy does."

"Yes, I know how to care for babies, I've certainly taken care of enough of them over the years." Madame responded with a laugh. "I like this boy Roy. He reminds me of you. So, when do I get to meet Yuery?"

"He isn't in town right now." Ed said with a frown. "I don't really want to bring him into a bar either, so maybe…"

"Madame can come by tomorrow afternoon to meet Yuery and Alphonse. She knows how to get there without being seen and I've already briefed her on the issues involved yesterday."

"Well, good then. We should probably be going then I guess."

With that they made their way back out of the bar, and back to the car. They were most of the way home before Ed spoke. "I guess it's a valid back up plan for babysitting. I want to see them interact with Yu before I commit though."

"Understandable. I expected nothing less. I simply wanted you to meet them before bringing Yu into it." Roy said sounding tired. It had been a long week and he really shouldn't be out of the hospital yet, let alone running around like he had been.

"Well, I'm going to get to bed so I am well rested to take back over baby care tomorrow. Al should be home soon, he was going to go check on the Hughes plants and make sure no one had messed with their stuff…that's where I stayed last night. I wanted to make sure no one tried to mess with them."

"That was very good of you. I think I shall head to bed myself. I trust Alphonse has his key?" Roy said already moving toward the stairs. Ed nodded but headed back toward the living room rather than upstairs and laid on the couch. He hated sleeping in the bedroom alone.

9:45am

Mustang-Elric Residence

Gracia and Elicia arrived with Yuery exactly at 9:45, just as Edward arrived in the kitchen. Ed was still in his sleep shorts with his hair wild, and bleary-eyed. The moment he saw his son however he perked up and rushed across the room to scoop his son up from Gracia's arms. "Yuery! How's my big boy, huh? Didja miss Daddy?! Daddy missed you." Ed said as he twirled the baby around in a circle and kissed his forehead a couple of times. He then turned his attention to Elicia, who was still standing next to her mom and looking a bit down. Ed shifted the baby onto his right hip careful not to squeeze as he scooped Elicia up on his left. "Elicia! It's the best girl in the whole world! How was your trip sweetheart?" He said as he once again spun in a circle making both children giggle as he kissed them both on the forehead once more.

Gracia smiled as she watched and Roy finished placing platters of eggs and sausage on the table, before wiping his hands and walking over to the others. Silently he snatched Elicia from Edward's arm as Ed twirled again, before settling her on his own hip and playfully saying. "Stop trying to steal my god daughter. She likes me best." And giving her a big hug before placing her at the table. Ed sighed dramatically as he strapped the baby into the highchair, and Elicia giggled.

"You have to share Uncle Roy. Mom said so, and Yu'ey is a baby so he's still alearin t'share." Elicia said with a serious tone. "We have to set 'xamples."

"Very true sweetheart. I apologize." Roy said with equal seriousness.

"Besides, I'm not Elicia's godfather, that's you. I'm her big brother. Lots of difference." Ed said before sticking out his tongue and setting a plate down in front of the preschooler and the baby.

"Now boys. You are both important to us. There's no reason to fight. As Elicia said we need to share and set a good example for the children." Gracia said with amusement. Roy nodded and hugged her before sitting across from her as Ed sat between the two children.

"Was the trip well?" Roy asked as the children began eating, including Edward.

"Yes, both of them behaved well." Gracia said, sipping her coffee. Roy nodded, sipping his own coffee as he watched with amusement as Yuery mimicked his father's abandon in shoveling food into his mouth. "What do you have planned for the day?"

"I haven't had a chance to play with Yuery since my injury. I've barely seen him." Roy said, before smirking. "Besides, I must remind him that I'm actually his favorite, he seems to be under the impression that his father is, when clearly I am."

"Good luck with that old man. I'm Daddy. You're just Yeye." Ed snorted, pausing long enough to respond and take a sip of his own coffee before diving back into his attempt to swallow as many eggs as possible as fast as possible.

"Oh, I'll win him over, just like Elicia." Roy said with confidence. "I simply bribe them with piggyback rides and new toys."

Gracia started laughing again as Ed attempted to swallow his mouthful to respond and Elicia squealed about a piggyback ride, which was when it occurred to Roy, he may not be recovered enough to do so without causing pain. Apparently, the same thought occurred to the other two though because Gracia immediately reminded Elicia that Roy still hurt, and Ed offered to take over that as well. Roy dramatically claimed Ed was trying to steal his job again but wasn't bothered a few minutes later when Ed disappeared out of the kitchen with a baby in one arm and a girl on his back.

Gracia started clearing the table and doing the dishes as she ignored Roy's protest. Roy settled for wiping down the table and counters then sweeping the floor. With two small children and an Edward, sweeping after the meal was necessary. Ed reappeared as Roy put the broom back empty handed. He shrugged and said. "Al's here. Now we both are pointless." He then flopped back into his chair and looked around for his coffee. Roy joined him at the table, placing a new mug in front of him.

Gracia joined them a moment later. "Well of course. It is Alphonse after all." She said and the other two nodded. They were both glad Al had finally gotten over his fear of holding his nephew because since then he had really bonded with the baby. "Edward, Yuery was asking for you often while we were gone."

"Is he still pulling up on tables and stuff?" Ed asked, he didn't want to mis any milestones. Ever. But he knew it was a risk when he sent the baby away or had to travel himself.

"He had not stood on his own, you didn't miss it." Gracia assured him.

"I did!" Roy said with a pout. "I didn't know he had started pulling up yet. Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"We had more important things to talk about. Plus I was gonna just let you see him do it and think he hadn't before." Ed said. "I know you've done that to me before. Never trust Breda to keep his mouth shut about milestones."

Roy frowned but joined Gracia and Ed laughing a moment later. Al called for Ed then because Yuery required a new diaper, and Roy was left with Gracia to finish cleaning up after breakfast. "So, I know Maes asked this before, but have you considered adopting Edward and Alphonse?"

"…I have. We are facing serious issues at the moment that I fear would put them in danger by making such a choice however. " Roy said, paused for a moment to insure neither boy had entered the room, then added. "I don't suppose I have considered the matter of their birth father until he apparently showed up while Ed was out East. I'm not giving him the boys back without a fight though, Edward and Alphonse are my children. That's what matters." Roy said while drying his hands after he finished washing the floor. "For the record, I also consider Elicia mine. Just so you know."

"Not at all surprising. I've met your mother, you take after her, whether you want to admit it or not."

"I'm not sure that I would have ever admitted to myself that I think of those kids as mine if not for that baby. They've spent so much time in my home since his arrival, but I barely spoke to them on personal matters before that. I cared about them. Did everything I could to ease their way. It was different though."

"One more reason to be grateful Edward brought Yuery into our lives then." Gracia said with a shrug. "I've never commented on the matter. He should have behaved more responsibly, we all know this. However, I hope he knows what a wonderful job he's doing with that child. He started earlier than was reasonable, but he's a great father."

Roy was briefly confused by Gracia's delicate wording before he remembered that she was among the vast majority who had been only given the 'Emily' version of events. She thought Ed had had a brief fling leading to early parenthood. She had no idea the risks and heroics involved. Roy couldn't tell her either. The less who knew the better. In fact, as far as Roy was concerned in a way it was for the best that Al believed his brother to be lying about where the child had come from. Roy had no idea which version Winry knew or believed, but including WInry that made it a grand total of four people who knew the truth. Him, Madame Christmas, WInry, and Edward. It was best no one else find out.