Riza thought that her return to the military after having her son Dennie was going well, except for one thing: Chris Mustang didn't actually watch him. She knew she should be grateful to her mother-in-law for volunteering to babysit, but she wished she would be more attentive. She remembered the first day she'd returned from work, expecting to see Dennie waiting for her, but instead she'd seen Chris reading in the corner.
"Where's Dennie?" Riza asked.
"I don't know, maybe in his room?" Chris answered.
Riza went upstairs, and sure enough, he was in his room enacting a battle between his tin soldiers, a toaster from his play kitchen and a stuffed ferret. He ran to hug Riza as soon as he saw her. She figured no harm done, but later asked Roy if he could talk to Chris about paying more attention to Dennie, but it didn't help. It turned out they had different philosophies. Chris believed that children need freedom to discover who they truly are, and Riza didn't like it when Dennie got a single bruise.
"She raised me, and I turned out fine," insisted Roy. After being married to him for more than three years, Riza had some serious doubts about this, but she tried not to worry until she started finding small burns around the house.
"I think she's smoking," Riza told Roy.
"My mother?" he asked.
"I don't mean Black Hayate," replied Riza.
"Considering she's generous enough to take care of Dennie, I don't think we can complain if she takes an occasional puff," Roy said, "In fact, if I have to listen to him sing Hope of Amestris one more time, I might start again myself."
Riza was annoyed, but knew that Roy was right.
Then there were their differing opinions about military toys. Riza didn't want to encourage Dennie to join the military at all, she hoped he would do something different, but everyone else had other ideas. They'd received so many gifts: tin soldiers from the Armstrongs, toy military vehicles from Roy's unit, even a costume uniform from Grumman. Riza kept these tucked away so Dennie wouldn't play with them, but Chris insisted on letting him play with the 'fun' toys. He loved the stuff and wouldn't play with anything else. Riza even suspected that Chris had bought him a few more toys to add to his collection.
One day, Riza came home to find Dennie in the backyard. He had chalked a transmutation circle on the patio, and was standing in front of his tin soldiers, adorably waving his hands like an alchemist, pretending to take an opposing set out. Riza was horrified, and picked him up, saying it was time to make dinner.
"It's harmless, he doesn't know what any of it means," Chris said, "He just wants to be like his father."
That was what Riza was worried about, but she didn't say anything. In fact, she kept her mouth shut until she arrived home to find Dennie had a burn on his precious little hand.
"How did Dennie get burned?" Riza asked Chris.
"I don't know," Chris said, "Maybe the stove?"
Finally, Riza's anger got the best of her.
"Do you know if he touched the stove, or do you just think he did?" she snapped.
"I have no idea," replied Chris, "The stove is the only thing I can think of that could do something like that."
Riza fumed. She took Dennie to the kitchen, and asked him if he'd touched anything, but he didn't seem to understand what she was asking. She pointed to the stove several times and told him not to touch it. Alex Armstrong had been teaching her Alkahestry, so she moved into a nook where Chris couldn't see her and tried to heal Dennie's burn. It didn't heal completely, but it was a lot better. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't like doing Alkahestry in front of Chris or Roy, even though they knew Alex was teaching her, as she inked a transmutation circle on her hand every morning. She was considering getting it tattooed, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to be forever branded an Alchemist. Dennie seemed excited about what she'd done, he kept pulling on her hand and looking at it.
The next few days were busy, and Riza forgot about Dennie's burn until one day she came home to find him playing Alchemist in the backyard again. Chris was out there with him, for once, and Riza decided to sit down and rest until Dennie noticed her. She watched him swing his hands until she saw something that shocked her: a tiny spark coming out of his fingertips. She blinked, sure that she had imagined it, but there was another, and then another.
"Did you see that?" she exclaimed to Chris.
"Yeah," she said, "He's been doing it for about two weeks, I didn't think it was a big deal."
Riza raised her eyebrows. She heard the front door open and Roy entered.
"You have to see this," she said, dragging him into the backyard.
"Oh, that's adorable," Roy said, with a smile, "He's pretending to be an Alchemist."
"Just watch," Riza insisted sternly. Roy looked stunned as he realized what was happening, but then broke into a grin.
"You're not going to need gloves, are you?" he said, picking up Dennie and kissing both cheeks affectionately. Riza did not like where this was going.
"I thought we agreed there weren't going to be any more Flame Alchemists," she said to Roy later.
"I have to admit that I did not envision this specific scenario when I agreed to that," he responded. Riza gave her head an annoyed shake.
"I do have to instruct him," Roy went on, "Otherwise he won't be able to control it and he might burn down the house. And there's a lot of bad characters teaching Alchemy out there, I'd rather do it myself than risk him falling in with them."
Riza had another idea, which involved never letting Dennie have access to writing implements he could use to draw a circle for the rest of his life, but Roy just glared at her when she suggested it.
"Just don't look so pleased," she said. Roy shrugged and tried to wipe the giant grin off of his face.
After that, every so often, Roy would take Dennie to the backyard to practise Alchemy. Riza supposed it was working, as she didn't find any more burns around the house or on Dennie, but it worried her a bit.
"I don't know how he's doing half of this stuff," Roy would sometimes complain.
"I don't want to know about it," she snapped back, trying to quell her nervousness about having a toddler capable of starting fires running around the house.
Once she peeked out, and saw Dennie with ten-inch flames coming from each finger. Another time, she looked out to see an alarmed Roy waving his hands trying to extinguish a vortex of flames taller than the house. Eventually, he grabbed Dennie from behind, and forced his hands into a certain position, and it vanished instantly.
"How did you do that?" Riza heard Roy ask, alarmed.
"Fire," pontificated Dennie, "I make fire. Flame spin!" Roy looked exasperated and Riza couldn't help but laugh as she walked away.
"How's your little turnip?" Alex Armstrong asked Riza at lunch a few days later.
"Okay," she said, "He's eating a lot and he's grown two inches, but unfortunately he's started sparking a bit."
Alex laughed.
"Good one!" he said.