Title: Untitled

Author: Esmuerla (Emera D'Anae and Sull89)

Chapter Title: An Addition to the Family

Chapter Written By: Sull

Summary: It's Christmas in Amestris and even the military is delighting in the holiday. During the annual Christmas party, four people will face love, responsibility, joy, worry, and pain all in one night. Things escalate when the Fuhrer makes an announcement that scatters his troops and sends Roy, Riza, Ed, and Winry South.

Pairings: Ed/Winry, Roy/Riza, slight Maes/Gracia, mentions of Havoc/Sheska

Genre: Romance, Angst, Action (in later chapters)

Notes: Guys, I'm going to echo Em's request from the last chapter; if you read it, please, please review it. We don't expect uber long, in-depth (although they are nice) reviews from every single person who reads, but we'd like to hear from you all the same. Something small is more than fine, they're all appreciated.

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Looking up from the box cradled gently in his hands, Al greeted his friends enthusiastically, "Look Brother, there's only one left!" Holding the box out slightly, the younger Elric let Ed and Winry see inside it, to the small black and white kitten curled up in one corner.

"Good job, Al." As he watched the kitten breathe deep in sleep, Ed couldn't help but feel a little pang of regret; it was so small, the poor thing needed someone to care for it. He closed his eyes for a moment though and banished the feeling; no matter how the both of them might want one, they just couldn't keep an animal. Smiling at his brother in congratulations at a mission well done, Ed asked, "Who took them?"

Al laughed quietly, remembering how excited they had been when he offered them the kittens, "I found some little girls playing outside the gate and they each took one, so there's only this one left." Now, in a phrase that brought Ed's twinge of guilt back, Alphonse echoed his earlier thought aloud, "It's so small…"

Reaching his hand into the box, Ed ran a gentle hand down the kitten's back, softly waking it from its slumber as he spoke, "He is, isn't he?" The kitten mewed and arched its back, encouraging Ed to keep petting him, a request which the alchemist willingly complied with.

"I would take him," Winry paused to smile lopsidedly at Al in an apology, "but I already have Den." The young woman joined Ed now in petting the small cat, but, before they buried themselves gently in fur, her fingers ran lightly across his to bring soft flesh against soft flesh.

Al, failing to notice the sudden exchange of tenderness between his brother and Winry, went on in trying to find the kitten a home, "Do you think Riza-san might take him?" Looking toward the table where the woman in question and her superior officer were deep in conversation, he started to think out loud, "She took Hayate, so maybe if they'd get along…"

The smile that spread to cover Ed's face when Winry's fingers brushed his was still firmly in place as he said, "She might." Shrugging slightly as he scratched behind one of the kitten's ears, Ed offered up, "It wouldn't hurt to ask."

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Riza looked up, jarred from her thoughts, as Roy resumed his seat opposite her. His usual smirk hovered across his lips, taunting her silently as he spoke, "Miss me?" Leaning back in his chair ever so slightly, the alchemist ran another appraising eye over his companion, realizing once again how gorgeous she really was.

With a smile that accentuated the dimple above her right cheek, Riza passed over Roy's question to ask one of her own, "Have a good conversation with Hughes?" A quiet laugh followed this; Riza's un-voiced reply to Roy's earlier words.

The alchemist nodded sullenly, pouting in his own way, "Seems he doesn't know much about the mystery speech either." A gusty sigh escaped him now, exasperation at Maes' sudden lack of information expressing itself wordlessly as Roy continued to sulk.

"Really?" Riza gently speared a final, stray bite of chicken on her fork, raising it to her lips and eating it slowly, savoring the succulent juices as they ran down her throat. Watching Roy continue to fidget, Riza couldn't help but shoot him an amused shake of her head before she said, "He always seems to have his nose in everything."

Catching Riza's silent laughter at his actions, Roy immediately straightened his back and held his chin up, bringing his pouting, at least for the moment, to a halt, "I know." Now though, a sly smirk grew to light up his eyes as well, his thoughts evidently taking him somewhere he was quite fond of, "He said all he knew was that there would be some changes in the military."

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Riza was quick to pop her superior's train of though before he let it run off with him like it was apt to do, "You're thinking about your miniskirts again, aren't you?"

Leaning back slightly in his chair now, all question of what the Fuhrer was planning were momentarily driven from Roy's mind as he crossed his arms and shot Riza a very cheeky grin, "Maybe." Raising an eyebrow at her slightly, Roy then winked, indicating that his 'maybe' was, in actuality, most definitely a 'yes.'

It seemed the only response Riza could give was another shake of her head, "It's always the same with you." A laugh followed, the light sound echoing slightly in the recesses of Roy's mind, but before that mind could come up with a suitable comeback, Riza's attention was drawn away from him.

"Um… excuse me, Riza-san." Rubbing the back of his neck with slight self-consciousness as he walked up to the lieutenant, Al waited until Ed and Winry were standing firmly at his back before continuing, "I have a question."

Looking away from Roy at the sound of Al's voice, Riza's eyes flashed to take in each of the three people standing before her now. A smile overtook her at seeing that Ed and Winry were standing closer together than usual, but she knew that a comment on it would make them move apart. Not missing a beat, Riza turned to face the youngest of them, "What is it, Al?"

"Well… I found these kitten earlier and I gave them all away except for one…" at first his voice was quiet, a bit nervous, but Riza's encouraging smile helped Al to end his inquiry much stronger, " I thought, since you took Hayate, maybe if he gets along with the kitten, you'd consider taking it too."

"Oh, Al…" A soft sigh escaped Riza as she shook her head apologetically at the boy, in much the same way Winry had, "I don't know if Hayate would get along with a kitten." Thinking about her dog, Riza knew he'd be devastated if she brought another pet into their home, "He's never been around one."

Al shifted, placing careful hands under the kitten and removing him from his cardboard cage. Cradling the animal to his chest, he sighed, "Alright. I just don't know who else to ask." A small smile lit his eyes now as the kitten started to rub the side of its face against him, probably itching an incessant annoyance, "Do you know of anyone who would like a kitten, Riza-san?"

Casting a sly look out of the corner of her eye, Riza called the attention back to her first companion, "You could always ask the Colonel." Laughing at the startled look that shot across Roy's face, Riza turned her gaze back on Al, "If not, try Sheska."

"I asked Sheska," now Al's shoulders slumped, the first sign of possible defeat he's shown all night, "she said she would…" A hint of sadness worked its way through his words, "If only she didn't have so many books laying around for the cat to chew on." Looking up, Al shot Roy a momentarily curious look, hope in his eyes.

Roy caught that look and jumped quickly to deter Al, "Don't look at me." Not wanting to just dump the poor kid like that though, Roy thought quickly and managed to come up with another suggestion, "Have you asked Hughes yet?" Rolling his eyes half-heartedly, Roy nonetheless thought Maes really would take the cat, "He's obsessed with cute things, maybe he'd take it for his daughter."

"What about my daughter?" Making his way back to the table, arm in arm with Gracia, just in time to hear Roy's last words, Maes was quick to jump to the conclusion he always reached when it came to his child, "You want to see pictures of Elysia! Let me get them!"

Maes' hand never reached his wallet though, as Roy smacked his friend's hand away before it got anywhere near a pocket, "I think we've all seen the pictures multiple times, Hughes."

Trying to change the subject before Maes could react, Al let out a sheepish little laugh. "Actually," he held the tiny kitten, which was now in the process of washing itself and completely engrossed in its task, out toward Gracia so she could see, "I was wondering if you would like a kitten for Elysia."

Taking the kitten from Al and thereby startling it into looking at her, Gracia smiled when it mewed softly and ran its head against her wrist, still apparently chasing that elusive itch. "It's adorable, isn't it?" directing her question towards Maes, Gracia tried to get his attention, "I think it's a wonderful idea."

Maes wanted to get back at Roy for not letting him get out the pictures of Elysia somehow, but the conversation was too far gone for him to really do anything about it. Pouting slightly all the same, he turned away from the other man with, "Be that way." Pointedly ignoring Roy now, Maes turned, looking at the kitten in his wife's arms, "It's so cute! Elysia would love that, don't you think, honey?"

With a nod, Gracia smiled at Al, "Then it's settled. We'll take…" pausing momentarily, Gracia lifted the cat's tail just long enough to assure herself of its gender, ignoring the indignant sounds that escaped it, "him." She chuckled slightly at how fickle the little animal seemed to be, as he had already forgotten her invasion and now curled up in her arms, purring, as though preparing to sleep. Looking to the group as a whole, willing to let anyone help, she then asked "Hm… What do you think we should name him?"

Quick to jump on the question, Maes gently took the cat from his previous human, disrupting him from the nap he had just started. A laugh escaped the man when he looked into the kitten's face; it was shooting him the most annoyed look a feline could. Suddenly, a devious thought overtook him and Maes grinned, "You know, he kinda looks like Roy." He winked at Gracia now, still grinning, "Maybe we should name the cat after him."

A full-fledged laugh shot from Maes now, Roy's incensed cry of, "What! That cat looks nothing like me!" doing wonders to amuse him.