1. I do not own any of these characters at all in any way, they belong to 'The Cow.' I do own Andrea, Little Maes and Micah, Lindley and Hanna.
2. THIS IS IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE!
Chapter twelve- Preparations
Seven months passed and when September came, all the children started school; Andrea went into the second level, Elysia in the fourth and the Hughes boys entered into the pre-kindergarten level. Riza dropped her daughter off at the entrance of the school and they waved at each other, Andrea's eyes bright and excited about a new year. Her mother drove to work and sat in the turned off vehicle for a few moments before going in. She noticed how the elbow joint on her automail arm was beginning to resist her bending it and she made a mental note to have Winry take a look at it later. She went to her office and saluted back at the people who saluted her, asking her secretary to send in the first few rounds of work. The morning was filled with phone calls from the president's secretary in regards to the security detail she had assigned to protect him during the celebration of the signing of the country's constitution. If she wasn't on the phone, she was signing paperwork and taking reports for her staff; the one staff member she had yet to see that day was Colonel Mulgrew, the person who took care of expense reports in the Investigations departments. The colonel came in around lunchtime, and gave the report; she dismissed the soldier and went back to her work. Around one o'clock she paused and told her secretary to stop all calls and reports until after she had taken her lunch break; Colonel Mulgrew came back and ate lunch with her in her office. Riza's secretary sighed and shook her head; she knew a military officer had broken her boss's heart many years ago and she didn't want her to have deal with that kind of pain again.
"Excuse me, Colonel Mulgrew? May I have a word with you?" The kind-hearted woman Roy knew as First Lieutenant Lassa.
"Yes? What is it?" He responded, pausing in front of her desk as he walked by.
"I know this really isn't any of my business, but I want you to know that the lieutenant general is very happy with you. She's an efficient commanding officer, but since you began working here six months ago, she's been a different person; she's normally very stoic here at work, but lately she's been more open and talkative. It's just a wonderful change from the closed up person she was three years ago when I met her; I can remember the only personal thing she told me was that she had lost someone she loved. I don't want her to return to the person she was; all of us that work closely with her like the change. Thank you." She told him, hoping her superior wouldn't catch her talking with the colonel.
"Well, I'm glad I could help more than one person then." He said, walking away to return to the investigations department and his duties.
Later that afternoon, after she had left work and gone home to care for the children after they got out of school, Riza sat in the sitting room waiting for the sound of Ed's car. At the sound of crunching pebbles under tires she stood and opened the door, Elysia and Andrea rushing past here to go get their snack before they did their homework. Edward handed Lindley to her and ushered the twins out of the car and into the house. He thanked her and left to go back to work; Riza waved and cradled the eighteen-month-old baby in her arm. She returned inside to help Hanna prepare and handout the snacks to the kids; they all sat down at the table on the back porch and did homework, the twin boys coloring a picture to give to their teacher tomorrow. The rest of the afternoon went well and around five o'clock Roy got home; all the children raced to the door to greet him and show him what they had made in class. He smiled and closed the door behind him, picking up Andrea as she told him about her new best friend she met on the playground that day.
"And she likes to swing, just like me! And we went down the slide, but she was scared so I had to go with her…" She said, clinging onto Roy's shoulders as Little Maes and Micah tried to pull her down.
"Alright everyone; you can each tell me one thing that happened after I go see Miss Riza." He said, setting the little girl down and going to the porch. Riza was sitting in the rocking chair, feeding Lindley her bottle; as Roy walked out onto the deck to sit next to her he could hear her softly talking to the baby.
"…and I would name him Alexander, after my father. I don't know if he would like that name, but I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement; don't you think? Yes; Roy would compromise with me on a name…" She sweetly whispered to the warm bundle in her arms. Roy didn't want to scare them so he walked around the side of the chair and sat down in the chair next to her, softly calling out her name.
"Riza…" He said, resting his hand on her forearm. She looked up and smiled, continuing to rock Lindley as she fell asleep. "What were you talking about with the little genius?"
"Nothing really; just talking to her like I always have. She knows all my little secrets; I'd be in trouble if she could repeat anything I've told her." She responded, standing up and sitting in the freestanding wooden swing on the porch. Roy went and sat next to her, wrapping his arms around her and the baby, burying his face in her hair; Andrea stood on the counter in the kitchen and looked out the window at her mother and Roy.
"They do love each other; I think it's time to get them a marriage." She said to Elysia and the boys, jumping down off the counter. "Let's get it ready for them."
Twenty minutes later Micah came outside and tapped Roy on the shoulder, waking him up from the light sleep he had fallen into while holding Riza.
"Mr. Roy?" He said in a not-so-whispering voice.
"Yes Micah?" He responded, opening his eyes.
"Can you come help me get something? I'm not tall enough to reach it." He said. Roy smiled and nodded his head, carefully removing his arms from around Riza and Lindley. He stood and went inside, following the boy to the pink foster children's room; he got the box of play clothes Micah had been asking for and handed it to him. He dove into the box and dug around, pulling out a bow tie, gloves, and a bridal veil. He also pulled out a little basket and some ribbon covered headpieces; Roy smiled at the boy's good imagination and went into his own room to sleep a little more before the children were supposed to leave. A few minutes later boy the boys came rushing in, carrying many different things in their hands; they dropped them on one of the chairs in Roy's room and began to jump on the bed to wake him. He bolted upright and scolded them because they knew they shouldn't be jumping on the bed.
"It's time to get dressed Mr. Roy. You have to be ready soon." Little Maes said. He and Micah went and opened Roy's closet doors, pulling out one of his nice shirts and a pair of his nice black slacks.
"Dressed for what guys?" He said sleepily, laying back down. The boys looked at each other and sighed; they thought getting adults dressed would be easier than getting themselves dressed.
A/N: OMG! You won't believe what I've figured out... put up a sex scene and everyone reviews! I got reviews from people I didn't even know read my story! So thank you to all eleven reviewers of my last chapter! And BTW, get ready for a really cute chapter! the last chapter of this story is really funny!