In Times of Peace

Chapter Five

Recovered

The morning after the storm, Ed was insistent on returning to his normal activities. Winry frowned but otherwise didn't protest as long as he finished his antibiotics. She was very well acquainted with Ed's refusal to allow his body time to heal.

The children were happy to have him up and around again, it had been a bit scary for the boys to have their father in bed all day. Even when he was sick or injured, he tended to get up and join them. Yuery didn't really remember their time in the cabin when Greed and the chimera refused to allow his dad out of bed, though he did remember Greed playing with him during that time.

Ed made his way downstairs to join them for breakfast, while grumbling about the amount of stairs in the house, arriving just as Roy set the last platter down. Winry had walked down with him but he had refused to go so far as to lean on her. Partly because he was prideful, and partly because her doctor wanted her to avoid any heavy lifting at the moment.

They had decided, as they had the first two times, not to tell anyone else until she was further along. This was Winry's third pregnancy, and it would be their fifth child, he had never imagined that he would have a big family when he was younger. Before Yuery, he had refused to allow himself to think about having a family of his own at all.

Now, he couldn't imagine not having his children. Even with all the craziness that had come from being a parent at such a young age. He was twenty-one years old (almost twenty-two) and the second most politically powerful man in his country, as well as a husband and father. A lot had changed for him in the last decade since he tried to bring back his mother so that he and his brother wouldn't be alone anymore.

Everyone sat down at the table to eat breakfast, Ed looked over to Winry, wordlessly asking if she was going to tell everyone now or later. Winry nodded, and he smiled, before she opened her mouth to start talking. "Mei and I have an announcement." Al said before Winry could begin. Ed shrugged and Winry frowned. There would be time later.

"Yes." Mei added. "We have learned that we are expecting our first child."

"Al! Mei! That's great news!" Ed said excitedly.

"Congratulations!" Roy and Riza both said together as they hugged Mei, then Al.

"It's wonderful news!" Winry said happily, already mentally pushing back her own announcement for another week to give the other couple time to adjust.

Al looked over at his brother questioningly but didn't say anything. He knew about the pregnancy, Mei had sensed it as soon as they had gotten to the house, but if his brother and Winry weren't ready to say anything, neither would he. He knew they had waited before and were likely to continue that tradition.

After breakfast, Al did linger behind to ask Ed how long they planned to wait. Ed laughed, "Winry was about to tell everyone when you started talking. This is huge news, and we can wait. Congratulations Brother. Being a Dad is the greatest, scariest, most wonderful job on the planet."

"I can't wait. I've watched you for years now, and Dad, I think I've learned a lot from you." Al said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't wait almost two years to hold them willingly." Ed said to tease his brother.

"That was different, and you know it! I was in a giant suit of armor. I was terrified I would crush him; he was so tiny." Al defended.

"You wouldn't have. You didn't the handful of times you were forced to hold him." Ed said with a frown. "Besides we both know you were partly motivated by being annoyed with me."

Al shook his head and changed the subject. "How's the pain? Really?"

"Not as bad as surgery. Worse than a normal rainstorm." Ed shrugged. "I'll live. I should have realized there was a problem before it got infected, so it's my fault for not being careful."

"Winry said that it was settled in such a way she wasn't surprised you hadn't noticed." Al said. "I still can't believe they let the boys in for the reattachment. I told them not to, but they wouldn't listen to me about it."

"It's fine. They've seen it before." Ed said.

"It's got to be different when it's your dad though."

"Maybe. However, Winry's not going to stop taking them to work with her unless they say they don't want to go anymore than I'll stop taking them into the office with me. Win was helping with reattachments by Yuery's age."

"But- "

"It's done Al. Please. I don't want to argue."

"Fine."

Yuery, William, and Maes were waiting for Ed in the library for their alchemy lesson so Ed excused himself to go work with the boys. Will had no interest in alchemy, but Ed felt it was a good foundation for science in general and he didn't want the boy to feel left out. Maes and Yuery were both training to help them control the power inside them, in theory then helping them avoid magic 'accidents.

Trisha had not shown signs of magic yet, or if she had they had been attributed to Maes, after all, they had no real idea how many accidents Maes had before they realized that it was him, not Yuery. Ed had worried about it for a while before Roy had reminded him that Yuery's accidents had gone on for weeks before they realized it was Yuery, and at the time he had been the only child.

Still, Ed planned at some point to figure out some way to tell if it was Trisha causing accidents as well. Now though, it was time to teach his boys. He settled into a chair near the table and settled in to oversee the latest lessons so he could know what to place as a priority in their training.

Al, meanwhile, wandered off the other direction in search of his father. He rarely got to spend time with his family these days, the school kept him very busy. Roy was in his study filling out paperwork because even on vacation he was delivered the most important documents to take care of as soon as he could. There was a reason the vacation home was located so close to Central. A Fuhrer had to be available whenever possible. Even the times he traveled to Resembool with his family, he was in constant contact with Central Command.

"Hi Dad." Al said as he came in and flopped into the chair across from his father.

"I'm excited for you and Mei. Truly." Roy said without looking up from the page he was reading. Al wasn't offended, he understood how much his father worked. His brother too.

"Thank you, so how long before I get another brother or sister?" Al asked.

Roy actually looked up from the page to stare at him for a moment. He seemed shocked at the question. "We…have not discussed having another child at this time."

"Oh. Well, I was just thinking, Tad could probably use a sibling close to his age." Al said.

"He has the kids; they all live together. He will not feel lonely or deprived." Roy said with a frown.

"I wasn't suggesting he would. I was just wondering. I know how much you and JiMu love him and assumed at some point you'd want another."

"Perhaps one day. Not now though. For now, we are perfectly content with Tad, and You, and Ed. As well as our grandchildren." Roy said.

"Remember when Ed told you that you were Yuery's grandpa, and you said you were too young to be a grandpa?" Al said with a snicker.

"Yes. Which is why I am Yeye. I am too young to be a grandfather. I am too young to have adult children. Then again, your brother is too young to have a seven-year-old, so it's just the way it is, and I wouldn't change it for anything." Roy said. "I love having you boys in my life. You saved me when I was ready to give up."

"You saved us when we were all alone with no hope, so I think were even on that one."

"How are things at the school going?"

"Good, good. The student body has reached healthy numbers, we are fully staffed, and we have the curriculum set to both Amestris and Xing standards. Everything is going smoothly, which is frankly concerning. Nothing ever goes smoothly."

"I understand that feeling. However, things have been running a lot better since Dante was defeated." Roy said with a sad sigh. "I'm hoping for a new era of peace is upon us now."

"I hope so too." Al said with a smile beyond his years. "Don't tell Ed I told you but Winry's pregnant too. He doesn't want anyone to know yet, Mei and I sensed it when we arrived."

"I know. I'm not as sensitive as you or Mei, but I am aware of everything around me. I've known for a few weeks and am just waiting for them to announce it." Roy said with a smile.

Roy and Al continued to chat while Roy filled out reports, before long Roy had finished his work for the week and was ready to have some fun with the kids.