Chapter twenty-four

Alphonse was helping Riza put the groceries into the fridge while she was starting to make dinner. His ears were straining for a sign of Brother arriving. He kept glancing towards the front door every time he went back to the grocery bag, but he kept his eyes on the door for too long, not looking at what he was doing, and next second, he'd dropped the bag of potatoes to catch the box of macaroni he'd been about to drop, while also tripping himself as he tried to catch the potatoes because his feet crashed into the grocery bag behind him. Next second, he was sitting on the floor, macaroni in his hand and with what he suspected was a jam jar pressing into the underside of his left thigh and Al knew it would leave a bruise.

"Are you okay, Al?" Riza asked, looking at him with surprise as she held out her right hand to help him get back to his feet.

Al grabbed it and got back up, blushing slightly. "Forgot the bag behind me."

Riza smiled at him with understanding and straightened his shirt for him. "You don't need to worry about your brother, Alphonse. DCI Mustang is only talking to him, he's not angry."

"But they're taking a lot of time…" Al said, not letting go of his worry just yet.

"He's just talking to Ed so that Ed can unload a bit."

Al's eyes widened in understanding at the look Riza was giving him and sighed. "Because Brother is too stubborn to do it when I'm there because he thinks it makes him weak," he sighed. "He's been doing that for years, but especially now after …" Al looked down, not wanting to finish that sentence.

Riza pulled him into a hug, stroking his back gently. Al put his arms around her waist and let himself sink into the embrace. It felt really good to be able to get hugs like these again after everything that had happened. After all the families that didn't work, it felt so good to finally have an adult to rely on. Two in fact, but especially Riza as they were living with her. She was looking after them and she was there to tuck them in at night.

And she stayed with them when they needed it. She was patient and kind and Al thought that she might already have started to love them.

And Al thought he might be starting to love her too. Not that anyone could ever replace Mom, but Riza was really somewhere between a mother and a big sister.

And Al really hoped that they would get to stay with her.

He felt tears start to build up in his eyes again and soon they were making wet marks on Riza's shirt and Al was sobbing into the fabric.

Because Al was scared. He was scared and he so wanted for this hug to just magically make everything better.

But he had learnt the hard way that grownups weren't those all-powerful, invincible beings that he had thought them to be. Because Mom was gone. Mom was gone and she couldn't protect them. She wasn't going to come back. Never ever.

And Alphonse still felt chills going down his spine when thinking about her grave. He wanted to visit it, but he couldn't do it.

…Because every time he thought about it, he remembered the funeral. He remembered watching the coffin be lowered into the ground and the panic as he started wondering what she'd look like in there. Had they sewn her back together again? Had they just kept her in pieces?

Did she look like that pile of chopped up body parts in their hallway?

That same night, Al had dreamt that the funeral had gone very differently. That those broken remains of Mom had dug themselves out of the ground and were oozing blood while Mom's eyes had been wide open, staring at him upside down, her neck nearly cut clean off, tilting her head back at an unnatural angle.

…And yet she had been coughing blood. She had been coughing and wheezing and she had stretched her hand out to him before it fell off, her fingers all gone and there was just so much blood.

"Why, Alphonse? Why did you let him do this to me? Why didn't you do like your brother? You didn't even try to protect me!"

The thought made him sob loudly and he clenched his fists around Riza's suit jacket.

It was amazing just how many worries and thoughts that could spill out of Edward Elric once you first got him started. The boy had kept going for forty minutes, then his stomach rumbled.

…And so the magic of the moment was lost.

"We should get back … It's dinner time and they're prob'ly getting worried…" Ed mumbled awkwardly. He didn't move to get out of the embrace, so he was obviously conflicted.

"They'll understand if you want to stay, Edward," Roy said reassuringly.

"Don't push it, Old Fart."

Roy felt a vein twitch at his temple. "You can't call me that! I'm twenty-five!"

"You're a Mustang, though … That makes you pretty old." Ed smirked at him.

Roy groaned. "Stop it, Ed." He couldn't let himself fall for his taunts. If Roy said the wrong thing, he could risk ruining what trust the boy had in him. He groaned. "Come on, kid, like you said: dinner," Roy replied, trying to act like the adult he was as they moved out of the hug at the same time.

"Yeah, I think Riza bought some apples, maybe she'll give you one."

Oh, god … What have I got myself into?

Roy sighed again and helped Ed out of the car before he led him up to the flat, but just before Roy was going to grab the door handle, Edward spoke up quietly. "Wait…" The boy looked nervously down the hallway to check that none of the the other three doors were open. After seeming satisfied that nobody were listening in on them, he looked down and stared at his feet.

"Edward? Is something wrong?" Roy asked, concerned, yet also knowing that the boy was obviously bracing himself to say something that he found embarrassing. Roy kneeled down, knowing that Edward had a thing about how he wasn't "short" and all evidence to the contrary usually made him guarded and angry.

Ed just kept staring at his feet as he shook his head almost unnoticeably.

Roy just waited patiently for about a few seconds before the kid spoke again. "I never said "thank you", did I?"

Roy was surprised. And confused. "For what?"

"At the hospital… After Barry… I don't really remember much, what with blood loss and … stuff."

Roy guessed the aforementioned "stuff" included shock, grief, pain and had something to do with the fact that Ed had needed a selection of shots as the meat cleaver had been used in the chopping frenzy that Barry had gone through as he attacked just about every piece of meat in the shop as he had "discovered that meat just wasn't enough anymore" before he had used the meat cleaver to murder Trisha Elric and cut off Ed's arm. The kid did not take kindly to discovering just how many blood samples and shots that were involved. Especially as the doctor had been so blunt about the reasons behind it that Edward spent a fair few days in fear that they could have missed some sort of specific bacteria that was slowly poisoning him unnoticed. Adding in the fact that he had also just lost his mother and a man he had trusted to take care of him had loudly proclaimed just how much he'd enjoy chopping him up, and Roy could see perfectly well how the boy didn't really remember much from those days. "Of course you don't, Edward, I'd be surprised if you did."

The boy looked up at Roy a bit awkwardly. "Anyways, I just thought I'd say thanks… You saved my life… You saved Al… So yeah, that's it."

"Of course, Edward. You don't have to thank me."

"Yeah, well, I just wanted to say it even so. You saved my little brother's life. So thanks." Ed then checked the hallway again to reaffirm that they were alone before he quickly stepped forwards and Roy suddenly had a pair of soft child lips gently touching his right cheek for half a second before Ed stepped back, looking down and trying to hide his face behind his fringe. "And don't you dare mention that to anyone. Now open that door, Old Fart."

Roy sighed, chuckled and then ruffled his hair as he got back to his feet. "Yes, sir."

And so Roy watched as Ed went over to Hawkeye and Alphonse and wished all three of them goodbye before he gently closed the door and put his hands in his pockets as he strolled out to his car, thinking through the day's events.

He couldn't help but be reminded of himself when he looked at the Elrics.

He sighed deeply as he unlocked the car door, his mind buzzing with thoughts and memories and he knew exactly where he needed to go. And so he put the car into gear and headed for his Nan's.