DISCLAIMER: I don't own FMA. I only own my own OCs. And this fic. And my cat. Though I'll share her with Al.

Seventeen

"Delilah, right?" Izumi asked as Sig led the way into the house.

"Um, yes," the girl replied. She hesitated. "I-it is nice to meet you..."

"Just call me Izumi. May I ask why you're with Edward and Alphonse?"

"Oh...well, they agreed to teach me about alchemy."

Izumi's eyes glinted. "Oh, really? Tell me, Ed, Al," she said, turning to the boys. "How do you expect to have an apprentice when you two are still apprentices yourselves?"

The boys trembled at her tone. "W-we were just helping her," Al explained.

"Y-yeah, what Al said."

Izumi smacked them both upside the head. "Arrogant boys." She turned to Mason. "You mind getting lunch started? I want to catch up with these guys. I'll help out later."

"Sure thing, boss." Mason disappeared into the kitchen.

Izumi led them into the small dining room and gestured to the chairs. "Tell us what you're up to."

And so, Ed and Al launched into a quick explanation that they were searching for the Philosopher's Stone, including how they had met Dr. Marcoh and how Delilah had tagged along to help them in Central.

"You didn't want to go home and study alchemy from him?" Izumi asked. "He sounds like a more competent teacher than these two knuckleheads."

Delilah felt a pang in her stomach. "He is missing."

A pregnant pause filled the room.

"Marcoh, you said?" Sig asked.

"Y-yes. But he also goes by Mauro. Have you heard anything about him?" she asked, her voice straining slightly.

Izumi shook her head. "It's possible I've heard of him, but not for years. I'm sorry, Delilah."

The girl's hopes plummeted. "That is okay." Delilah stared at her lap for a moment, nearly overcome with worry. She missed the doctor so much that it hurt. She wanted to know if he was safe, if he was even alive. What if he was dead, or hurt? What if she never saw him again?

"Well...do you know anything about the Philosopher's Stone?" Ed asked.

"I've never had any interest in the Stone," Izumi replied. "Why do you want to do research into something that's just a legend?"

Ed fidgeted. "Uh, well, just out of intellectual curiosity…!"

While Izumi thought for a moment, Sig spoke up. "On our last trip to Central, we met an alchemist who knew a lot about the Stone."

"Oh yeah, that guy!" Izumi exclaimed. "I think he called himself 'Hohenheim.'"

Alphonse leaned forward so fast that Delilah was startled out of her reverie. "What was he like?! Was he tall with blond hair, glasses and a beard?"

Izumi nodded. "I couldn't tell how old he was, but he was pretty good looking." When Sig fumed, she playfully slapped him. "Oh, come on! You're much better looking than he was!"

Alphonse leaned back into his chair. "So he's alive..."

Delilah tipped her head. "Do you know him?"

"He's…our father."

The man in the picture, Delilah realized, remembering the photo of Ed, Al, and their parents that she had seen in the Rockbell house. She had never seen the man's face, but she supposed that she shouldn't be surprised that the man was blonde.

Izumi seemed optimistic. "The father who left you guys all those years ago? That's perfect. He might still be in Cent— "

"That guy—" Edward started. His whole body was tight. "That guy is the last person I want to ask for help."

There was silence before Alphonse spoke up. "Um…did our dad say anything about the Stone?"

Izumi thought for a moment. "He said that his lifelong dream was about to come true. He seemed pretty happy about it."

()()()()()

Lunch preparation was a family event, so to speak. Izumi helped Mason in the kitchen, and she asked Delilah to come help them, even though the girl nervously confessed to being a terrible cook. Sig, Alphonse and Edward took the time to put out the plates and drinks. When the food was done, the table became crowded. The meal was a free-for-all parade of meat, and since Delilah was sitting between Mason and Ed, she was unable to even move until they had collected their food, lest she receive an elbow to her face.

"So, Delilah," Izumi began once everyone had started to eat, "where are you from?"

Delilah was nervous at being addressed, especially by the intimidating woman. "A small town a few hours away from Resembool."

Izumi cut into her steak. "And how do your parents feel about you gallivanting off with these boys?"

Delilah paused. "I only remember my mother a tiny bit. My parents abandoned me when I was young. I was sick."

"What sort of people would abandon their child?" Izumi asked in disgust. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, dear."

"I-it is all right, really," Delilah replied.

Mason, who seemed unnerved by the gloomy aura, switched the topic by asking Ed and Al what they'd been up to lately, and the conversation became much more pleasant and boisterous.

Mason chomped on his food. "There are some really bad people out there, huh?"

Ed nodded, slurping up his noodles. He was finishing up his story about Yoki and the Youswell coal mines, a story that Delilah had already heard from Alphonse. "You can say that again. I was so mad that I reported that creep to the Colonel at East HQ."

"That was dumb of you," Izumi noted. "If you'd kept the deeds, you'd have some financial security when you're old."

"But Edward is already a State Alchemist," Delilah pointed quietly, having already finished her lunch. "He should have enough money to last for a while, at least."

"State Alchemist money is filthy," Izumi spat, and Delilah tried to make herself look smaller.

"Besides," Sig put in, "you don't want to do anything too risky. You're just kids, after all."

Al sighed. "I want to live a peaceful life, but my brother, on the other hand..."

"What, are you saying it's all my fault?!"

"Well, isn't it?"

"Sounds like you guys get in a lot of danger on your travels," Mason noted.

"Oh, no, it's not always like that," said Alphonse.

"Yeah, in Rush Valley, we got to see a baby being born!" Ed exclaimed.

"That's right, Teacher! We helped deliver a baby. Well, more like Winry and Delilah helped," Al amended.

Delilah brightened at the memory, but she blushed at the praise. "I did what I could."

Ed laughed. "C'mon, Del, if you and Winry hadn't taken charge, who knows what would've happened."

Delilah couldn't help but smile, remembering how important she had felt.

"But anyway," Alphonse went on, "everyone pulled together, and the mother put her life on the line. Humans are born with the blessings of everyone around them."

"That's right," said Izumi. "That's how you all were born, too. Be proud of your own lives."

Ed grinned, then turned to her. "Come to think of it, why don't you have any kids yet, Teacher?"

Izumi—

"Hey, Ed!" Mason shouted, jerking to his feet. "Uh… I bet you guys' alchemy skills have gotten a lot better since the last time I saw you, right? Maybe you can show me how much you've improved."

Ed brightened and stood as well. "Sure, whenever you like! We did research every day, even when we returned to Resembool!"

"And we've been training our bodies, just like you told us to, Teacher," Al added. "We've even been able to do large-scale transmutations!"

"Hey, why don't we go outside and show them what we can do?" Ed suggested. "You too, Del," he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her out of her chair.

"B-but—"

Al put a hand on her shoulder and helped to lead her outside. "Don't be shy, your alchemy's great. And this is good practice, remember?"

Delilah nodded hesitantly. When they were outside, Al suggested that she draw a circle, and while she drew it the Curtises came outside and watched her. She felt rather small under all the stares and she worried that her lines were too shaky, but when she transmuted a small dog out of the dirt, she was mostly satisfied.

"Aw, it looks like Den!" Al picked up the figurine and noted one of the front legs, which was bulkier than the rest though not very defined.

"Not bad," Izumi put in. "It could use a little more work, though."

After handing the dog back to a pleased but shy Delilah, Alphonse went next and used the girl's circle, although he added a few runes. He transmuted a rather plain-looking horse that was big enough to sit on, and Izumi praised him. Ed wasted no time in taking his turn, and he clapped his hands before pressing them to the ground, transmuting a large, "ornate" horse that stood, rearing its hooves.

Al took one look at the horse. "You need to work on your detail, Brother."

"What?! Do you have a problem with my horse?"

Smiling at their bickering, Delilah put her figurine down beside the stone horses and began to edit her earlier circle so that it would encompass all of them; she wanted to put them back into the ground, since they weren't going to be used. Before she could do much, something Izumi said caused her to stop and look up.

"You can work alchemy without a transmutation circle?"

Her tone caused Delilah to edge behind Al's arm.

"Huh?" Ed turned towards his teacher. "Yes, I can…."

Izumi raised a hand to her chin and was silent for a moment. "Ed."

"Yes…?"

"Don't lie to me. You've seen that thing, haven't you?"

Ed shifted nervously. "W-what…do you mean…?"

Izumi glared at him. "You saw it, didn't you?"

He tensed. "…Yes, I did."

"I should have expected that from a genius who became a State Alchemist at your age," she spat.

"I'm no genius. I just saw that thing, that's all," Ed said shakily. "Teacher…do you mean you've…?"

"Mrs. Curtis!"

A trio of kids ran into the yard, breaking the tense atmosphere, but before Delilah got the chance to hear what they wanted, she felt a sudden pain in her abdomen, and she let out an involuntary squeak.

Alphonse noticed the noise and turned away from the commotion of the kids. "Is something wrong?"

Delilah shook her head and gently laid her hand over her stomach. "I just…think I need to go to the bathroom. I will be right back."

"It shouldn't be too hard to find," Alphonse called as she disappeared into the house. Thankfully, his words were truthful, and she found the bathroom with ease. However, the pain returned as she sat down, and she gritted her teeth at the sharp discomfort. She doubled over to try to alleviate the pain, but that didn't help much, either.

She couldn't think about much else but the pain and how horrible it was. All she could imagine was that she had eaten too much lunch—the Curtises had insisted that she eat a lot of meat, too. She went about her business in the bathroom, but the cramps didn't lesson for another five minutes, and even then she felt rather awful.

"Oh, there you are," Mason said as she came into the living room. He was sitting on the couch, drinking from a mug. "I thought you'd gone with Izumi and Ed and Al to go bury Chiko for Menny."

The entire sentence confused Delilah, and her stomach wasn't helping her. "What?"

Sig walked into the room, holding his own cup. "Menny lives in the neighborhood. She wanted Izumi to bring her cat back to life. They're out burying it."

"Oh." For a moment, Delilah forgot about her discomfort.

"Where were you, then?" Mason asked.

"Um, I am not feeling very well," she admitted. She suddenly felt a little nervous at being alone with the men, even though Ed and Al trusted them.

"Do you want me to get you something?" Sig offered. She shook her head shyly.

"Here, have a seat," Mason offered, moving over to the other end of the couch.

"U-um…" Delilah stared at them; she didn't want to impose in the slightest, but her abdomen complained again, so she sat. "I-I think I ate too much…."

Mason gave her a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, that happens sometimes. But hey, how about I tell you a story about Ed and Al to pass the time? Especially since they're not here, heh."

There was no reason to disagree, so Delilah nodded.

Mason launched into the story of when Ed and Al had first started their alchemy training with Izumi. Izumi had sent them to live on an island for a whole month—a fact that Delilah had known—but Mason told the story as if he were there. And in fact, when Delilah asked, he laughed and said that he had been there to make sure they didn't get themselves killed…although he did give them some bruises.

During the story, Sig had disappeared into the kitchen and come back with a mug of tea for Delilah. She sipped politely while listening to the story, and she found herself smiling at the descriptions of Ed and Al flailing through the woods. Not that she would've done anything different, though. She doubted that she would've survived a day.

"So, d'you have any stories?" Mason asked when he was finished. Ed, Al, and Izumi still hadn't returned, even though the sky outside was starting to turn orange with the sunset.

Delilah tried to think of something interesting. "Um… I have met the Fuhrer, once."

"The big guy himself?" Sig asked.

She nodded. "We were taking a tour of Central Headquarters. He seems like a nice man."

"I've heard that, too," Mason agreed.

"He can't be nice all the time though, not when he runs this country," Sig pointed out. "All this war changes people."

"Well… He seemed nice," Delilah repeated. Before anything else could be said, the sound of the front door opening in the next room interrupted them, and Izumi called for her husband. Sig responded immediately and went into the other room, closing the door behind him.

Mason turned to Delilah. "Well…we should probably leave them alone."

Delilah looked at the door before standing; for a moment, she had forgotten about her own body, but at her movement her abdomen started cramping again, and she grimaced. "I am going to go lay down."

She left the living room and went to the room where Mason had kindly put their things for them. There were two beds; as he left her, Mason explained that it had once been where Ed and Al had slept when they had been apprentices. Delilah took her book out of her bag and settled down on the closest bed and began to read, although her worry for the boys and her cramps kept her from concentrating well.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but she had come to a section on the muscles in the chest when the door opened and Al came in.

"…Teacher expelled us. We have to go."

Processing this took Delilah a moment. "What?"

"We told her about…what we did. We're going back to Central."

"Oh." She sat there for a second more before realizing the situation. She closed her book and picked up her briefcase while Al collected Ed's suitcase, and together they left the house, passing Izumi, who sat in the kitchen with her arms folded, glaring at Ed and Al.

Honestly, Delilah didn't feel that bad about leaving.

Sig led them out of the house and to the station, and as he lumbered ahead of them, he spoke.

"While she was pregnant with her first child, Izumi became deathly ill. She fought hard and the doctors did their best, but the child didn't make it to term. After that she was left with a body that could never give birth again.

"She said 'I'm sorry' the whole night long. And it wasn't even her fault. I think that's when she started thinking about human transmutation. She lost part of her insides. But I'm the fool for not realizing what she was up to sooner."

Delilah stopped short, startled by the information.

Losing her child? Human transmutation? Her insides? Never having the chance to have a baby?

Delilah thought of the LeCourts and how happy they had been to have their child. How positively elated they were to have brought life into the world. And the Curtises would never have that pleasure. They only had the memory and consequences of something gone wrong.

What if that happened to me?

Tears leaked out of her eyes, but she wiped them away with the back of her hand and hurried after the trio ahead of her.

"Come on by if you're ever in the area," Sig told them when they came to the station.

The brothers looked at each other in confusion. "But we've been expelled," Ed pointed out.

"Are you really that dumb?" Sig snapped. "Don't you get it? Now that you no longer have an apprentice-master relationship, it means you can speak to one another as peers. So do you still think there's any need to stay away?"

Ed suddenly swore. "Al! What did we come to Dublith for, anyway? Let's go!" Before waiting for an answer, he started running back toward the house.

"Thanks, Mr. Curtis!" Al called, running after his brother.

"Don't let her kill you!" Sig yelled.

"We'll try our best!"

Delilah stood with Sig and watched as the brothers disappeared from sight. Once again, tears started to form in her eyes, but this time she didn't try to stop them.

"…You all right?"

She sniffed at looked up at Sig. "It is…not fair."

He sighed. "No, it isn't." He put his meaty hand on her shoulder. "Let's go back."

She nodded, wiping in vain at her tears. For some reason, she couldn't stop crying. "I-I do not…feel very well," she admitted slowly. All she wanted to do was sleep.

"Izumi'll make something nice for you," Sig said, and she didn't doubt him.

a/n: Sorry for the lateness. And I kinda had block when I wrote this... I really wanted to get it up this weekend since it was a long one, but it still took a while. This chapter was really heavy on all the stuff from the manga chapter and that kinda bogged me down; hopefully the next chapter won't be so restricted. In fact, I'm planning for some neat stuff to happen, or at least exciting stuff.

I really wanted to point out that Delilah is nervous about Izumi, for reasons being that Izumi is Izumi. I made it a bit subtle, though. But by the end of the chapter her feelings change because of what she learns about the woman. Next chapter we'll have some womanly bonding time~

Please leave a review on your way out! *huggu*