A few months when it was spring and it had warmed up, Winry and Edward had just gotten home from her grandmother's house. They ate dinner over there to keep her company and so she wouldn't have to walk to their house because it was getting more difficult to move around. They unlocked the door and heard the phone ringing. Winry ran to answer it and discovered it was Gracia calling her.

"Winry, I have a favor to ask of you. I have a surgery coming up soon on the 18th. I have a friend that can take care of me afterwards but I think having Elysia might be too much for her, too. Would you be able to watch Elysia for 2 weeks after my surgery?" Gracia asked.

"Of course we can," Winry said without even hesitating. She loved Elysia and would do anything to help them out.

"Don't you need to ask Edward?" Gracia asked.

"Oh right," Winry said. She put her hand on the receiver and asked Edward, who readily agreed. He had fond memories of Elysia's father, Maes, and was happy to help the family.

Edward and Winry were going to Roy and Riza's wedding on the 16th in Central so they could take Elysia back to Risembool the day after the wedding.

A few weeks later the day after Roy and Riza's wedding, Edward and Winry went to Gracia's house to pick up Elysia. She was now six and had her schoolwork that she would be missing. Elysia met them just outside the door and hugged Winry tight. Winry hugged her back and asked "Are you excited to come to our house?"

Elysia was jumping up and down. "Yes! I'm ready to go!" She grabbed Winry's hand and was pulling her away from her house.

Edward grinned. "Hold on Elysia, we gotta get your stuff, and you need to say goodbye to your mom." They went inside the house.

Elysia ran to get her suitcase. Gracia greeted the newlyweds. "Thank you so much for doing this. I'm sorry if it's too much trouble."

Winry tried to comfort Gracia. "It's no trouble at all. I think we're going to have a great time." Elysia came downstairs with her suitcase. Winry turned to Elysia. "Did you pack your swimsuit? If the weather cooperates, we can go swimming in the river." Elysia ran upstairs to get her swimsuit.

Edward made the conversation more serious. "So what is the surgery for?"

"It's my gallbladder. It's giving me some trouble lately. The doctor think it's best to remove it before it gets more serious. But don't worry about me." Gracia reassured them.

Elysia threw her swimsuit in her suitcase. "I'm ready to go!" She grabbed Winry and started pulling her towards the door.

"Hold on Elysia, say goodbye to your mom," Winry reminded her. Elysia and Gracia hugged goodbye, and they left for the train station.

The party of three were on the train going down the tracks. Elysia was excited to be on the train and looking out the window. Winry sat next to her and Edward was across from the girls. Once Elysia became bored looking out the window, Winry pulled a few items out of her bag. "Elysia, do you like to color?" Elysia agreed and they colored together. Edward watched their interactions. Winry was so caring and knew how to entertain the little girl. After coloring and reading a few children's books, Elysia fell asleep on Winry. She looked up at Edward and Edward smiled back at her. "Winry, you wore her out already."

"Yeah I guess so," Winry answered and caressed the girl's face with her hand. "She's so sweet, and such a good kid." Edward nodded. They were both thinking of Maes Hughes and wishing he could have seen her like this. They talked about him and the memories they each had of him. They chuckled a little bit at when Hughes had met them at the hospital and insinuated that there was more to their relationship then being a customer and mechanic. The train arrived later in Risembool and they showed Elysia their home and new guest bed they had just gotten though it had been intended for Alphonse to use at some point.

The next day, Winry and Elysia spent time together in the kitchen. They made cookies to go with their dinner they were having at Granny's. They walked in to Granny making a pot roast with carrots and potatoes. Granny saw Elysia and they made introductions. Granny then looked up at Ed and Winry and said "It's about time we hear a child's footsteps in this house."

Edward and Winry turned pink. Winry spoke up annoyed "Granny, I've told you before that we just aren't ready for that yet."

Granny spoke back "Winry, no one is ever ready for it. No matter how much you prepare." Winry rolled her eyes and started setting the table with Elysia's help. Edward brought the heavy pot over and they ate dinner together.

Edward, Winry, and Elysia spent a day together at the river swimming. Elysia wasn't very good at swimming so Winry was teaching her how to float. Edward couldn't really swim with his leg but he liked being in the water to cool off.

Sometimes, Winry would have to go to work. Most of time she could take Elysia with her to show her what she was doing but there was one day she couldn't. She had to help her grandmother with a surgery so Edward had agreed to watch Elysia and take off a day of writing and research.

Edward had played with Winry as a kid so he kind of knew how to play with girls but Winry had been more of a tomboy than Elysia.

Elysia had coaxed Edward into doing a tea party with real tea. He made the tea and sat down at the table with Elysia. She had put her doll on the table. "Edward, you forgot a cup for Sally!" Elysia almost panicked that her doll didn't have her own tea. Edward wasn't sure how this game was played so he poured the doll a cup of tea. He set it in front of the doll. "Sally needs milk and sugar too." Edward obliged. He couldn't say no to her.

Elysia had informed Edward that he needed to put his pinky up as that was good table manners. Edward groaned. This game was not very fun. He saw that she got a little sad seeing his not enjoying the tea party so Edward smiled really big. "This is very good tea, right?" He tried to show that he was enjoying this. Elysia agreed and they continued until Edward realized he needed to do something.

"Elysia, after this, I need to check on the garden. Wanna come help?" Elysia readily agreed but she required a hat first. Edward went upstairs with Elysia following and found Winry's sun hat. "Here, Winry won't mind you borrowing this today?" Elysia smiled brightly as Edward put the hat on her.

They went out to the side of the house and had a garden that Edward built. The plants were small but were growing. "Where are the vegetables at?" Elysia asked. "Well the plants are still growing. I planted the seeds a while ago after I finally finished building this. It's not much but I plan on expanding it in the fall." So he told her which plants would grow which vegetables. They watered the plants and Edward showed her which bugs were bad. Edward picked the bad bugs off but Elysia wasn't going to touch the bugs.

When they finished gardening, they went inside to cool off. They drank some lemonade and Elysia came up with the next idea. "Let's play beauty shop!"

"Huh? How do we play that?" Edward asked, not looking forward to this.

"You have to style my hair, and make it really pretty," Elysia stated.

"Oh okay," Edward said. He figured he had long hair so he could pull this off. They went upstairs to Winry's vanity because Elysia insisted. He took Elysia's hair out of her pigtails and started braiding it. "Elysia, your hair is really thick. I might have to do two braids instead." Elysia agreed to it. Edward braided one side and then the other. Elysia looked in the mirror and loved it.

"Now it's your turn Edward." Elysia said.

"Wait, what?!" Edward exclaimed. He wasn't sure if he trusted her with his golden locks.

Elysia had him sit in front of the vanity. She brushed his hair rather hard and then started thinking about what she would do with his hair. Then she started braiding his hair just like hers so that he had two braids each side though some stray hairs were hanging out that were missed during the braiding. She then added two ribbons to each end of the braids.

Just then Winry had come in the front door. "Edward! Elysia! Where are you?" she asked in a happy mood.

"We're up here!" Elysia yelled. She couldn't wait to show Winry.

Edward's eyes went wide. He was never going to live this down with his wife. She walked in and saw quite a scene.

"Look Winry! I did Edward's hair! Isn't he beautiful?" Elysia asked. Edward's face was red and his eyes were downcast.

"You did a great job. Ed looks lovely. Did he do your hair, too?" Winry asked trying not to laugh at her husband.

"Yep! We had so much fun today." Elysia told Winry all that they did. As soon as Elysia walked out of the room to get her doll, Winry bust out laughing. Edward took off the ribbons but he kept the two braids so Elysia wouldn't be too disappointed.

That night after Elysia was in bed, Edward and Winry talked downstairs until it time for them to go to bed too. Winry settled into bed next to Edward and reached over for her book but her arm was interrupted. Edward had grabbed her arm and started nuzzling her neck kissing her shoulder. She knew what he wanted. "Edward stop, we can't do that! Not while Elysia's here."

Edward pulled back. "What?! That's two weeks! No sex for two weeks?!" He was astounded. He didn't want to wait that long.

"Shhhh! You'll wake her up being so loud. I don't want her hearing us or what if she walked in on us?!" Winry gave him the glare.

But Edward wasn't giving up. "I can lock the door and as soon as we're done, I'll unlock it."

"But what if she hears us?"

"Then we just have to quiet then." Edward started nuzzling her neck again adding some kisses on her shoulder. "Please sweetheart," he pleaded with her. He pulled her waist closer.

Winry was losing the battle. She was starting to want him too. And he had called her sweetheart, which she loved hearing him call her that. "Oh alright, go lock the door."

Edward leapt from the bed and locked the door. He got back in bed and they made love quietly. It was kind of a thrill to have to be quiet so they enjoyed it.

On another night about a week later, Edward woke up sweaty. He had an awful dream involving Nina, a little girl who had been lost. Edward was breathing hard trying to recover but a flash of light and a huge thunderclap startled him. It was so close that he felt the house shake. Then he felt his leg start to ache. "Fucking storm," he cursed.

Then another flash of light and Edward saw their door open. He saw a figure and then another flash of light revealed who it was. "Elysia?" he asked.

Elysia started crying and ran to Edward's side of the bed. "Edward! I'm scared!" she cried into his chest.

"Oh okay. You wanna sleep with us tonight?" Elysia nodded into him. He patted her back and then he turned to his wife, who was still sleeping. "Winry, wake up, we have a guest coming into our bed." Edward said.

Winry woke up very groggy. "What's going on?"

Edward pick up Elysia and set her in between them. Winry's eyes focused. "Elysia?" Then a flash of light and another thunder shook the house. Elysia cried into Winry's arms. Winry comforted Elysia. "It's going to be okay, the storm will be gone in a little bit. Okay?" Then Winry noticed something else. She saw her husband's face wincing as he rubbed his leg that had the automail on it. "Ed, is it hurting?"

"Yeah but I'll be fine." Edward said through his teeth. He clearly was not fine and in excruciating pain.

Winry looked down at Elysia. "Elysia, I have to get something for Edward. He doesn't feel good." Elysia held on tighter to Winry.

"No! Don't go!" Elysia cried out.

"Elysia, I'll be right back. In the mean time, can you give Ed a hug to help him feel better?" Elysia nodded. She moved to Edward and he patted her back.

"It's okay Elysia. It's just light from the lightning and the thunder is just sound so it can't hurt us," Edward said hoping that rationalizing it would make Elysia's fear go away.

Winry returned shortly with a warm towel and some pain medicine with a glass of water. Edward didn't like pills but he also wasn't in the mood to put up a fight. He took them while Winry placed the warm towel on his leg. Winry left again and got some children's books. She turned on the lamp because none of them were sleeping anyways, and read a few books to Elysia to help get her mind off of the storm until it calmed down outside. Eventually Edward felt better and Elysia went to sleep. They slept together in bed with Elysia snuggled up between Edward and Winry.

A few days after the storm, Elysia was taken home to her mother by the Elrics. Gracia was told all about the fun they had together while in the countryside, and Gracia told them about how well her surgery went and she was much better now.

Edward and Winry returned home, and the house seemed so empty now. They decided to do a picnic one afternoon to cheer up since Elysia's absence had made them a little sad.

After eating their sandwiches and fruit, Edward was playing fetch with Eva, their dog, while sitting on the blanket next to Winry.

"You know Ed, I really miss Elysia."

"Yeah, me too. It was fun having her around."

"Well that made me think that maybe we do need another member of family here." Winry said looking forward at their dog running after the ball.

"Do you want me to tell Al to come visit?" Edward asked. That was their only family wasn't here.

Winry sighed. She turned to face him and he looked over at her. "No, that's not what I meant. I mean that I'm ready to start our own family."

Winry could see the realization hit him. His eyes widened. "Are you serious, Winry?" Winry nodded.

Edward stood up. "Well what are we waiting for? We gotta get started! Come on Eva, we're going home." He pulled Winry up from the ground.

"What? Now? We're starting now?!" Winry exclaimed.

"Why wait?" Edward picked up their basket and started dragging Winry until she laughed and caught up with him.

They ran to the house and clothes came off. They didn't even make it upstairs. The couch was good enough. Even though making love was more about showing how much they loved each other, this felt different to them. They were trying to achieve what nature had intended this act for, which was reproduction. Creating life, which Edward couldn't wait to do.