Chapter thirty-eight

Roy sat down on the toilet lid, still feeling more than a little unnerved.

Actually, he felt sick and like he needed to shower about five more times.

And so he was sitting naked on the lid of a toilet with a towel around his waist. His current location was the bathroom in the house of a local farmer. Riza was off to the Rockbell house, fetching him a new change of clothes.

And the reason?

"I actually helped deliver a calf..." he whispered, still stunned.

They had been walking through the fields to get to a particular farm, when they had suddenly heard an odd sound. Like a cow in pain. They had borrowed a pair of boots each from the Rockbells earlier, and so they had made their way towards the sound, only to having found said cow in labour.

And Roy, as the nerdy boy that he was, had read about how it was done just four days previously while he had been babysitting Ed and Al. The two of them had been gawking at one of the biology books that Grumman had bought them. It had turned out to contain a rather graphic description of how to deliver a calf. It had just been a book on common mammals, but a far more in-depth description of each of them, riddled with terms and phrases that were at Ed and Al's academic level. And so Ed had grinned at Roy, pointed at the particular page, and had then told Roy to read it.

...Curiosity was both a blessing and a curse. It had allowed him to have a general idea that something was off about the calving process, but the majority of the job had thankfully been courtesy of a helpful neighbour. Still, Roy had been assisting said helpful neighbour...

So now the farmer had gone off to buy him a new shirt, singlet and trousers while his wife made him an apple cake with Resembool apples. Roy didn't complain much about that last part, but still... Once they had discovered what was going on, Roy had told Riza to leave to get a farmer, thankfully finding the aforementioned neighbour and returning with him after fifteen minutes. She had gone off to find the owner, per the vague instructions of where to find him, provided by the helpful neighbour. The cow had apparently found a hole in a fence... And once she had started going into labour, she hadn't seemed to think that going back to those that knew how to help her had been a matter of urgency.

...Which meant that there was now a bull calf named Roy in the near vicinity.

The helpful neighbour, Joshua Garfield, had complimented Roy on how the city boy had helped save two animals, as she could otherwise not have been found before it was most likely too late for either her or the calf or both. The way that Roy had been able to describe in detail everything that had been happening during that quarter of an hour had made it easier for Garfield to know what to do immediately. It had still been rather uncomfortable with how the assistance had required Roy to have entirely clean arms... Meaning that he had needed to shed his shirt, which had left him only in his singlet. Garfield had barely taken in his scars and instead focused on the much more pressing matter in that moment. They had thankfully been done before the farmer had returned, meaning that Roy had pulled his shirt back on, earning a concerned frown from Garfield. Roy had just told him that he hadn't really wanted to say much about it, only that it had been caused by an explosion and that he didn't want to have people pitying him.

And it had all happened because it had turned out that the farmer that owned the cow, or Wendy, had been occupied by another cow having gone into labour in another field, this one having twins.

...And so the big question was if Roy had unearthed a bovine conspiracy against himself.

There was a knock at the bathroom door, and the wife, Martha Colby, spoke sweetly through the wood separating them. She was a plump, round-faced woman in her late fifties, her grey hair tied in a loose bun. "Inspector Mustang, would you like something to drink while you wait? I have made some ice cold lemonade for you."

Roy had to say that the offer was good, and that he very much wanted to take her up on it. But if he was to open the door and take it from her, then he was currently without anything to cover up his scarred arms as he reached for it. Telling her to place it outside the door would probably be taken as him taking it reluctantly purely out of politeness. He had found the inhabitants of Resembool to be a very chatty bunch, and giving them the impression of him not liking it, would be counterproductive while he was conducting the interviews.

And so he sighed and walked over to the door. "Thank you very much, Martha," Roy told her. She had said that she preferred it if he called her that. Apparently everyone did. "However, I should warn you that I have some rather distinct burn scars on my arm after an accident a few years back." It was a lie he had used many a time when having needed to expose part of his scars.

"Oh, not to worry, Inspector! We see quite a few scars out here. But I'll just keep my eyes on your face and everything will be all right."

And so Roy unlocked and opened the door, hiding as much of his torso as he could behind it. Martha smiled at him as he reached out for the glass and took it from her, while she kept her word about not looking. "Thank you very much, Martha."

The woman just smiled in a very grandmotherly fashion. "It's my pleasure, Inspector. I expect that your fiancée will be back in about ten minutes. I'll go check on the cake now." And with that she left, and Roy locked the door again.

And so he found himself sipping lemonade slowly from a straw where he sat on a toilet lid after helping with delivering a calf, waiting expectantly for his fiancée to return with his clothes.

His life had changed a lot in this past week.

And in the meantime he went over the information that they had gathered from the rest of the townspeople. Apparently John Van Hohenheim had been a bit of a curiosity. He hadn't spoken of his background at all, but he had been welcomed into the town even so. People hadn't been too sure about him at first. The way that he hadn't been willing to tell people anything but his name and age, had made many think that he had been some sort of criminal. However, once Pinako Rockbell had begun taking to him, people had begun welcoming him as well. Apparently, as one of the oldest residents in the town, she was somewhat of an unofficial community elder. If she had approved of him, then so had the others. At least most of them. These days, however, people seemed to hate him, feeling like he had betrayed every single one of them.

When there came a new knock on the bathroom door ten minutes later, Roy was more than happy to open it for his clothes-bringing angel. He immediately pulled her inside. "Riza, if I had been a religious man, I would have believed you to be a goddess."

Riza giggled at that and put the large paper bag on the floor. "The miracle of birth wasn't your cup of tea, then?" She turned around and quickly shut and locked the door.

Roy shook his head. "Assisting with the process of calving based on nothing but theoretical knowledge isn't. Bringing forth life is one thing, constantly worrying that you're doing something wrong and you're thereby killing a cow, is an entirely different matter. Even with orders from someone who knows what to do, it's terrifying."

Riza giggled again. "Well, Roy, in that case, I think I have something that could distract you from your trauma." She then smiled a bit playfully and reached down into the paper bag, pulling out her own shampoo and soap, making Roy pause. "Martha advised me before I left that after such a warm day, baths were a very nice way to relax. And so she recommended that I'd bring these as that would surely be the case for you too, and that you'd probably probably prefer your own soap and shampoo. Wanting an extra scrub after something like that is more than natural, after all. And the cake won't be done for another forty minutes anyways, seeing as how it needs to cool down a bit too once it comes out of the oven."

Roy chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Hey, Old Fart. That psychological evaluation thing made that lady seem like she wanted to cry for us and then kiss both of you... Guess that means that she thinks you two are suitable," came the very familiar voice over the phone. "So now Al's helping Nan prepare dinner, and Havoc's holding the phone to my ear, obviously pretty relieved to have a conversation with voices and no hand movements."

Roy chuckled, imagining Jean Havoc's look at that exact moment. And he was relieved. The adoption process would usually have taken at least six months, but because it would be far more beneficial for the boys, it would only be two. It had been decided after the adoption agency had discussed it with a judge and had had them review the details of Ed and Al's history. Of course, that was if they passed all the evaluations so that they could double-check their suitability. However, Roy's reputation and income definitely made it a lot easier to be trusted. Adding in the way that Riza and Roy were prioritising the boys, and were the only two people that they had actually taken to after their mother's death, and they became even better candidates. And so, when hearing with the boys without their potential adoptive parents present to make them feel obliged to say anything, things seemed to be going very well.

...Plus, the adoption agency found it very unnerving that the other person that had grounds to try to adopt the boys was the leader of a cult.

So when Riza and the boys permanently moved in with him in little over a week, they would have a couple of people come in and evaluate the four of them at the same time. Riza would be terminating her tenancy after only one month to her landlady's bafflement.

"So how are things your end?" Ed asked.

"I am forever in your debt, Edward Elric," Roy told him solemnly.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

He sighed. "You remember that book you showed me the other day? ...We drove past a field earlier today... And the farmer was busy with another one of his cows having begun calving. We found a neighbour, but it was a two-man job."

He could practically hear Ed's eyes widening. "Seriously?!"

"Yes... So now I'm traumatised and there's a bull calf somewhere named after me."

Ed began laughing loudly. "Roy Mustang the bovine assistant midwife, then... BWAHAHAHA!"

Roy looked at Riza next to him, feeling rather lost. She gave him a smile and a nod, and Roy made her a silent promise to give her a massage later. "Hey, Ed, Riza wants a word with you as well, and I need to use the bathroom."

"Oh, yeah, sure, just make sure to find Roy again and take a picture with him."

Roy snorted. "I'm sure we can stop by the farmer when we pass the farm on the way back home. He'll probably be more than happy to."

"Great! See ya, Old Fart!" And with that, the boy burst into laughter again.

"Remember to call us if you need or just want to, okay, Ed?" Roy asked calmly, a bit of worry finding its way into his voice as well.

The laughter died down. "Yeah... Sure, whatever... And you call us back to keep us updated, right? Nan's worried, you know."

Roy smiled slightly. "Of course, Ed." Roy looked at the watch on the wall. It was half past seven. "I'm saying good night now, but should there be anything at all, you call us, all right? Tell Maes that it's the second phone number."

"...Uh-huh... Night, Old Fart. Put Riza over now, Nan's got the grilled cheese sandwiches and the tomato soup done in about five minutes, I'm on a tight schedule."

Roy smiled to himself. "Say hello to the others for me."

"Yeah. Bye," Ed said, and Roy handed Riza the phone, before walking back down the hallway.

He was met by a slightly concerned-looking Yuriy as he came walking out of the clinic. "Hey, is there something wrong?"

Roy sighed, shaking his head. "No, I'm just worried about what the boys are going to think when we tell them that we went to Resembool."

His statement was received with a nod. "Yeah, I can see why that worries you. But spending your time worrying won't get you anywhere."

Roy nodded back. "Don't I know it... At least when you're not able to do anything about what's worrying you... That's just part of my job." Roy couldn't help but chuckle as the thought struck him. "And I guess that goes double for me as I now have two jobs, the one I'm paid for, and the one I have as... Well, whatever I am for the boys. I'm not going to call myself their parent as of yet, considering their history with fathers..."

Yuriy frowned at that, obviously still a bit angry about how the boys had been treated, before looking at Roy with a bit of hopefulness. "Hey, do you have any other pictures?"

"One. From last night. My friend insisted we'd take one..." Roy pulled out his wallet, finding the photo. It consisted of Roy and Riza on the middle of the couch, Nan and Superintendent Grumman on each side of them, Riza with Al on her lap, and Ed sitting on the back of the couch, his legs over Roy's shoulders... And he had placed a pillow on top of Roy's head and had thereby managed to hide most of Roy's fringe. Ed had decided that smiling for the camera was something that the others could do, so he was just leaning over Roy's head, looking sternly at the camera. He was holding a sheet of paper with an arrow pointing towards the floor, the word "LABRADOODLE" written in large letters above it. Ed had said that it was so as to complete the family. Roy handed it to Yuriy, who began chuckling the moment he saw Ed's sign. "He had me write that. Otherwise he would have refused to join."

There was another round of chuckles. "So when are you planning to get that labradoodle?" Yuriy asked, smiling, but with just a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Roy sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "We'll have to wait until we have solved the case at least and Ed's arm is done healing. Edward has demanded a labradoodle and Al has requested that we get a rescue one, so that's what we'll be going for... But after that there's Ed possibly getting automail, which will take up a lot of time that we shouldn't combine with a rescue dog... And especially if Riza..." He paused suddenly, his stomach clenching slightly with fear.

Yuriy raised an eyebrow at him, his eyes filled with understanding, a little smirk on his lips. "I know that look... You talk about it all professionally, and then comes the realisation that you actually could find yourself with your child steadily growing inside your fiancée's womb. That you might actually have been part of creating a life in your hormone-induced state."

Roy felt a bit awkward about the phrasing. These people were obviously still protective of the Elrics... And he may or may not have done something that would end up with a biological fatherhood as well as an adoptive one. Which again wasn't the best move considering the boys.

And so Roy sighed, looking back at the older man. "Listen... It wasn't planned at all... I came to her in the middle of the night with a bag of fast food because..." He shrugged slightly, trying to do something that didn't make it seem like he was that shaken by a nightmare and that it was just stupid. "Let's just say that that explosion I told you about earlier today was a bit more traumatic than I first let on... And that my parents and my aunt died in it too..." Then he sighed again. "And that it was on my eighth birthday, so it stuck with me quite a lot..."

Yuriy's eyes widened in understanding. "So you had a nightmare, which wasn't exactly helped by the way that you have seen a lot of gruesome things through your job."

Roy nodded once. "I really just wanted to make sure that they were all right... I watched them all die... It's just..." He sighed again. "It's just a long story... But the boys are okay with it."

"And Roy would have been a perverted creep had he brought protection in that situation," came Riza's voice behind him. He didn't even have time to turn around properly before Riza had come up to him and taken his hand in hers.

Yuriy looked at them, before he began chuckling. "I see your point, Riza." He looked over at Roy, holding the picture up. "Do you mind if I show this to Mom before we go back to our house?"

Roy gave him a smile. "Go ahead."

He received a grin at that. "Great, thanks!"

And so Yuriy disappeared, and Riza leant up slightly, giving Roy's left cheek a kiss, before straightening his collar as she walked up in front of him, smiling. "Look at you, big boy, making friends."

Roy put his hands loosely around her waist, giving her a small smile back. "I think we both are."

"Family friends, then."

Roy just hugged her to him, taking in the scent of her hair as he closed his eyes. Riza put her arms around him in turn, and he let his chin rest on her left shoulder.

...Because Roy was getting scared.

Maes smiled as Nan came to join him in the living room after she had tucked the boys in for the night. Maes had said good night to them earlier, but they weren't as comfortable with him tucking them in as they were with Nan. Or at least Ed wasn't. He could understand why; Edward was instinctively not too trusting of people that shared some of Maes's traits. Roy had already warned him about that. Maes was of the foster-parent-type in many ways, especially when he had Gracia. Ed still had a tendency not to trust him because of his manner of being, afraid that Maes would leave him just like the others. Or that he would treat the boys like they weren't anything other than kids. That he wouldn't adapt his behaviour towards them because he didn't see them as real people with their own personalities. That they wouldn't be worth his time once he got tired with being around them. And that they would therefore only become a part of his best friend's life that he had to accept, but didn't actually care for.

And Maes didn't really blame Ed. Both boys were still in the process of opening up to those around them... To learn to trust grownups again. There was a lot of vulnerability involved in trusting strangers. And the fact that they had in most ways reached a point where having someone else leave them would be the final blow. Especially when they were surrounded by the only people that they had grown close to. And Ed was the one that was most hostile towards strangers. As the big brother, that too made sense. He wanted to protect his little brother from being hurt even more.

...And Ed had spent every single day for the past three months being constantly reminded of the betrayal of those looking after him. He had lost his arm, and as if that wasn't bad enough, he had broken his remaining one. He was dependent on those he was afraid of being dependent on. The vulnerability of his current situation would have been terrifying for anyone.

Although Al had still hugged Maes good night. Which was why Ed had constantly been giving him a threatening look that promised Maes a world of pain if he hurt his little brother in any way.

But at least they trusted Nan. She wasn't like any of those people that had broken their hearts. And she had a way of treating them where she never coddled the boys, only doted on them.

And as she joined Maes on the couch, she was practically glowing. Nan had been doing so since yesterday morning. And so he engaged her in a bit of silent conversation in ASL, smirking.

"Someone's excited about their future great-grandchildren..."

She grinned even brighter. "Ed's a lot like my little Roy, you know... They're both such good boys." She raised an eyebrow at him teasingly. "And you know, young man, you're grinning too... Figuring yourself as Uncle Maes, perhaps?"

"Well, of course! That's been in the works for the past seventeen years."

Nan looked like she was near tears once again. "I'm really happy that he met such a good woman... He's been afraid of getting into a serious relationship for the past five years because of the scars..." Her eyes held a lot of sadness at the thought. Sadness that Maes had a lot of himself. "They're one of the few things that make him uncomfortable and shy."

They wouldn't have been discussing this if it hadn't been for the fact that Roy had told them after his grandfather died something that most people would have been uncomfortable with. Something that also showed how much he trusted them. Because he had said that he didn't mind if they spoke together about things that worried them about him. Or that they just discussed him in general. Because they both needed someone to talk about such matters with, and when Nan didn't have her husband, she didn't have someone to talk with. Because Roy had requested that they didn't speak about it with others. They had free reign, but only when they didn't share it with their friends. It was a way to give them something that they needed, but that also made their discussions a private thing. He had told Maes that he could discuss it with Gracia too. Roy couldn't have people know about his weaknesses because of what he did for a living. He had made a fair few enemies over the past five years, after all.

And so Maes sighed. "I know... But with all the staring he has been subjected to, it's understandable enough... When people have looked at his scars, they've been treating him differently... Almost like he's a thing rather than a person. I had to talk him into letting Riza and the boys know about them."

Nan looked at him sadly. Then she leant forwards and hugged him.

He put his arms around the little woman, sighing again. Because, unlike her, he knew where Roy was. And that the scars were bound to make him feel more vulnerable than ever. After all, he was in a place where covering up his arms was a bit odd. It made him seem like a city boy and would serve as a constant reminder about how he didn't want people to see them.

Which meant that Roy's tendency to not be too coherent when sleepy, could be a blessing in disguise. After all, he was living with a couple of surgeons that would add to the small group of people that didn't care one iota about the scars. And it was probably too hot to wear a pyjama shirt.

So, I have decided to start responding to the reviews here at the end of the chapters :)

kryll45632: First of all, thank you so much for reviewing as much as you do, it means a lot and it always makes me smile when I open up my emails. And I am thrilled to see that you're excited about the upcoming parts of the story :D