I do not own Full Metal Alchemist.

The 4 children mentioned throughout these chapters are from Her Knight In Shining Armor. They take place during childhood. For those of you who haven't read the story here's the family tree:

Father: Edward Elric

Mother: Winry Elric

Children: (Set of twins) Edward Jr. (Eddy), Al (little Al)

Father: Alphonse Elric

Mother: Lorna Elric

Children: Elizabeth Elric, Hope Elric

(Elizabeth is a year older than Hope and her cousins.)

author's note: This will be a Christian story. I know it's late but my nephew inspired this particular chapter when I saw what he'd made for Christmas. And so this is in honor of my nephew. You know who you are, and I love you.

A Child's Faith

The Elric sisters were hard at work putting icing on the cake that they had made the day before with their father, Alphonse. Lorna, had placed it out on a serving tray for them, leaving her daughters alone to their work just as they'd asked her to.

"Hope, quit licking the icing or we won't have enough!" Elizabeth scolded her younger sister. Then, hearing the door open, she glanced up quickly. Sighing with a breath of relief she rolled her eyes. "It's about time you two got here. Mom's starting to wonder."

Eddy frowned deeply at his older cousin. She was only seven and yet she could be so bossy. "Well we had to get mom to give us the candles. We had to promise we wouldn't light them!"

"Yeah." Al agreed, following his brother to the table. Laying down the wax, he pulled out a piece of paper and set to work drawing a transmutation circle.

Carefully the boys placed the candles in the middle of it. The two brothers grinned at each other in much the same way their father and uncle had done so many years earlier. Placing their tiny hands on the circle produced a flash of light. The end result was exactly what they wanted.

"Perfect!" Elizabeth hadn't been sure if the twins could pull it off or not, but they'd done exactly as she'd wanted. The figure lay beside the pile of wicks which would go unused.

After the families had finished Christmas dinner, the four adults waited patiently to see what the children had done.

"Keep your eyes closed!" Little Al told them in a happy tone, while opening the door to the dining room for Elizabeth.

Proudly she sat the cake on the table before their parents. "Ok, you can open them now."

Edward looked proudly at his boys' handy work atop the white icinged cake. There, nestled in a manger, was a baby Jesus. In candied letters, which the boys had made from the fudge they'd asked their mother Winry for earlier, were the words Happy Birthday.

Hope, with smiling face explained, "Well everyone else gets a birthday cake. We thought Jesus should get one too."

Nodding, her father smiled, his silver eyes beaming with delight. "You're right. You children have done a wonderful job."

And so, from then on, each and year, the Elric family remembered the true meaning of Christmas in the same way. In honor of his birth, just as with all other children, and even adults, they celebrated with a cake which read, happy birthday.