Fall 1923

Ben-4

Anne Marie 4

Lucy 2

A cool breeze blew carrying leaves along until they landed on the brown countryside grass just outside the Elric house. The house was lively with noises of playing children. The Mustangs were visiting, and their little girl was happily playing with Ben and Lucy. Riza and Winry were on the back porch watching the kids play in the sandbox and on the new tree swing that Edward had installed. Riza leaned back and placed her hand on abdomen. Anne Marie had a sibling on the way that still had to incubate for 4 more months.

"Thank you Winry for having us here. It's nice to get away from Central," Riza told her good friend.

"Well of course. I get it. It's nice to get away from home for a little bit. We'll come up and visit soon now that Lucy is 2. It's so hard to travel when they're babies," Winry sighed remembering taking Ben on the train as a baby and how horrible he was.

"Oh I remember. We definitely won't be travelling for a while after this one is born," Riza rubbed her protruding abdomen. "But we are grateful to have another one."

"Well it must be nice to have that age gap between them, too. I thought I was going to go crazy having Ben and Lucy two years apart," Winry smiled. She loved that her two children were now quite close but it was rough that first year having a baby and a toddler to take care of along with her shop.

"Roy and I didn't want this much of an age gap. We just had a hard time getting pregnant again."

Winry was surprised. Riza hadn't told her about this issue but she understood that it was very personal. She and Edward had no problem conceiving. "Oh I'm sorry Riza. I didn't know."

"it's okay. Obviously, it finally happened after two years of trying," Riza explained.

Winry was even more astonished. 'Two years!' she thought. "Well I'm glad that it happened. But I'll tell you one thing. After the second one, the baby weight has a hard time coming off. I still haven't lost it all."

Riza smiled at her friend. "Winry, you still look good."

"Yeah that's what Ed tells me. He doesn't care. But it's hard when my clothes don't fit the same way." Winry was a little down thinking about it. But she also knew she wasn't this skinny teenager anymore. Her body had become a vessel for creating life, and in doing so, had gone through multiple changes. Edward reminded her of that.

Ben yelled "Mommy, Lucy smells bad!"

Winry and Riza focused back on the children. Winry sighed and got up. "I'll be back in a little bit." Winry picked up Lucy and knew the toddler needed to be changed.

Winry took her inside and went upstairs. With guests here, she would change Lucy in her room. That's when she heard the men in Edward's office. 'I can't believe they're talking about alchemy when Roy's supposed to be on vacation.' Winry shook her head and changed the baby. Winry then opened the office door with Lucy in her arms. "Are you two working? You're supposed to be taking a break! Roy came here to relax."

"Oh come on Winry! We're on the verge of something great here," Edward whined to her.

"Fine! You boys can stay up here and hypothesize all day but tomorrow you're on diaper duty."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Fine. See Roy? See what you're getting into with another one. It's all about who's turn it is to change the baby."

Roy chuckled. "It's fine. Riza and I won't mind."

Edward looked at him confused. Winry figured Roy was just happy to have another baby after trying so hard.

Winry and Lucy left the men to their books. Riza was inside with Anne Marie and Ben looking at the photos on the wall. Riza saw them and explained "The children were thirsty so they just drank some milk. And now Ben is telling us about these photos."

"Yeah! That's me when I was a baby, and here's Lucy. And these are of Dad when he was little." Ben told them. Ben realized something after looking at the photos. "Mom, why does Dad always look angry in these pictures when he was a kid?"

Winry laughed. "You're father was a very … umm… determined child. And he did not like pictures being taken of him."

Riza smiled. "Edward was still that way when we met him. He didn't smile a whole lot. He always seemed to have a goal in mind. At lease now he smiles in pictures."

Ben showed Anne Marie a picture of Edward holding him and smiling. They then grew bored of the pictures. Ben took Anne Marie's hand and lead her outside. Winry watched the two children run outside to play. She remembered when Edward used to take her hand like that to play outside.

Later that night, Ben and Anne Marie were sleeping together in his bed. Winry sighed as her and Edward saw the two kids sleeping together. The children had insisted on sleeping together, and it seemed to help. Winry took her husband's hand. "They're so cute. Remember we used to have sleepovers like that?"

"Yeah I do."

"And look at how it turned out," Winry said as she elbowed her husband's side. He didn't get it at first but then realized what Winry was inferring.

"No way! That means we would be related to Mustang!" Edward panicked, thinking maybe he needed to keep the kids apart.

Winry laughed. "Edward, it's fine. They're just kids. Let them enjoy their innocence."

Edward sighed. He just couldn't stand the thought of being related to Roy Mustang even if they were good friends now.