On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me

Seven Swans a-Swimming

She jumped up when she heard the key in the door, and ran through the empty house, knowing that it was Al at the door but hoping beyond hope that it was a miracle. She had lost so much, and Al had lost so much, and it was Christmas, didn't they deserve just one miracle?

She threw her arms around him as he stood in the doorway stomping the snow from his boots, no less overjoyed to see him alone than she would have been to see him otherwise. She was relieved that he had exchanged the bright red coat for a heavy military trench, because of the weather, she assumed, so Al looked like Al and no one else.

The snow that had dusted his hair and his shoulders was melting in the warm house, and she let him go, shaking the now-water droplets from her hair and laughing as he did the same, reaching behind him to pull the door shut. "Guess what?" he said, grey eyes glowing. "The General's letting me take the rest of my vacation days after all. From now until new year's, I'm all yours!" he said excitedly, and she hugged him again, never mind getting wet.

She looked up at him, hands on her hips. "Did you grow again, Al?" she demanded, and he shrugged, smiling. "I know you were taller than me when you left last, but I think you're even taller than that."

"Well, my body is fourteen," he said, as if it was an ordinary condition, having one's body and mind at two different ages. "Of course I'm still growing." He shrugged out of his heavy coat, draping it over one of the kitchen chairs, and eyed the pie sitting on the counter. "You made pie?" he asked needlessly, and smiled when Winry smacked him lightly on the arm.

"Don't you touch my pie," she said with mock fierce-ness. "That's for tomorrow, don't you spoil Christmas by eating half the desert the night before."

"Why not?" Al complained. "It's not like there's anyone else here, it's just us. We can eat it now if we want. Or," he continued, musing, "We could eat this one tonight, and make another one tomorrow, unless you don't have any more ingredients, but I could-" He stopped when he saw her expression. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I'm sorry, Winry, I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay," she said dully. "I just miss her. It's Mrs. Hughes's recipe, for the pie, you know, but it's Granny's pie dish, and these are Granny's decorations I put up, and… it shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't be just us."

Al wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him. "Why don't we get a place in Central together. You could open up a shop there, and you wouldn't have to be so lonely way out here."

She sighed heavily. "I don't want to talk about this right now, Al, I told you I'd think about it, all right?"

"All right," he said easily. "Come on," he coaxed. "If I can't have the pie, you've got to feed me something, that was a long train ride from Central, I'm starving."

Slowly her expression lifted, and she gave him a wry smile. "You Elrics and your appetites," she said, shaking her head.

six geese a-laying

five golden rings

four calling birds

three french hens

two turtledoves

and a partridge in a pear tree