Sequel to chapter 47 where Ed and Roy are married and she doesn't have alchemy.

!-

It was no surprise that after the whole kidnapping debacle Ed's secret got out to the public. Students, co-workers, associates; all of them now knew that Edaline had been the FullMetal Alchemist. Mustang and his team were able to spin the automail arm into a selling point for Winry's automail and armor services, convincing most people that Ed hadn't even had an automail arm in the first place, just an armored forearm. It was widely accepted simply because the majority of the public had never even seen Ed in person for longer than a few minutes at a time and none of them had ever been in close enough proximity to inspect it. So aside from a few witnesses at an arm wrestling match in Rush Valley, everyone was fairly confident that they'd gotten away with concealing the whole 'human transmutation' thing.

What they hadn't considered was the public's opinion on Edward turning into Edaline. Both Ed and Mustang had thought that hiding gender at a young age would be an obvious conclusion, so when Ed was interrogated by her own students she didn't have any of Mustang's pre-recorded answers at the ready.

"FullMetal?"

Ed sighed for the twelfth time that hour, being addressed by a military name when she was no longer in the military was getting on her nerves. She turned from her writings on the board to face her students, "What Jason?"

"What does the General think about you not being able to have kids?"

Ed froze. That was most definitely NOT public knowledge.

Jason looked smug, "I mean, when you transitioned from boy to girl, they can't give you the ability to have babies. So why do it? Why go through the trouble when you can never be a real woman? Does he care that you can never give him children?

Ed cut him off, "Jason, we are talking about alchemy, not babies. Health class should have covered that for you in highschool."

"I can't imagine what it would be like to be with something like you."

The silence hung for a moment as she considered her options. She wasn't trans but one of her students was and to deny it might shift his attention to them. She was strong enough to deal with this, they weren't.

"I'm just saying, no one could really lov-"

"Out."

"You'll never be a mother. How does that feel?"

"Get the FUCK out of my classroom Jason. If i ever hear you talking like this again, i'll have you expelled for hate speech."

Jason grabbed his bag, flipping her off as he left the room. "I don't want to be taught by you anyway. People like you are disgusting."

Ed realised too late her hand was shaking and turned back toward the chalkboard. The chalk raised as if to continue writing and she stared at it without seeing. What if he was right? He wasn't of course… but what if he was? What if Mustang was having second thoughts? He'd wanted children. And the way he was with Elisia…

Ed took a slow breath and felt a prickle behind her eyes. Shit. "Class dismissed."

She heard the shuffling as people gathered their things and left the room. What the fuck Ed? Get a hold of yourself!

"Miss?"

Ed took a second to put on a professional mask before turning, "Yes Adrien?"

"I know it doesn't mean much if i tell you to ignore him, so instead i'll just say that you should only value the opinions of those who matter to you. Talk to your family about it."

Ed smiled wryly, "You want to see Jason get cremated?"

"I mean, it wouldn't affect my life much if that happened, the guy's a dick. But I've heard your brother and General Mustang are very supportive and I think you should talk to them."

Edaline wasn't sure she was currently capable of contributing more to the conversation so she just said, "Thank you Adrien." and started blindly organising papers as the room cleared out. Should she tell Mustang? He wasn't very good at handling things that hurt her. Or rather, he was too good at handling things that hurt her. And it definitely had hurt her. Was he secretly upset she couldn't have kids? Was he slowly growing to resent her for what she couldn't do? And even if not, what would he say if she told him she'd been affected by something as stupid as some dumb kid's opinion? An opinion that by all accounts, was not popular and was voiced by the only piece of human trash she had in class. A descriptor she had been specifically told she wasn't allowed to use in the student/teacher feedback form.

Stupid kids.

Well, it was only 11.30AM, she could at least go see if Mustang was available. He usually had meetings all day but sometimes he had a moment to see her.

!-

Roy had been sitting at his desk prepping for an introductory meeting with his two new superiors when Havoc poked his head in,

"Sir? Chief wants to know if you've got time to see her."

Roy's head popped up in alarm and Havoc nodded his agreement but didn't say anything. Ed never asked for his availability. If Havoc said he wasn't in a meeting then she just barged right in; hesitancy meant something was very wrong.

He stood so fast he knocked his chair over and marched out the door of his office. Ed was standing next to Riza's empty desk staring at the floor and she looked up as he approached her.

He lightly grabbed her chin and started looking her over, tilting her head side to side. No obvious injuries, that was good, he hoped. Ed swatted him away, "I'm fine Roy."

"No you're not. Havoc, delay my next meeting when they get here."

"Yes sir!" Havoc saluted him as he dragged Ed by the arm into his office and over to his desk. Sweeping the papers to the side he lifted her hips and sat her on the desk so they were closer to eye level.

"What happened?"

Ed wasn't meeting his eyes, "It's fine Roy, Now that i'm here i'm not sure why i was making such a big deal out of it."

"Edaline, out with it. It bothered you enough that you're here instead of teaching the rest of your-" he glanced at his watch before looking back up and finally catching her eyes, "Advanced Alchemical Theory class."

Ed huffed, "Some stupid kid said that i wasn't a real woman since i couldn't have kids and that there's no way anyone would want me if i couldn't be a mother."

Roy felt his anger spiking, if one comment from a kid had gotten into her brain this easily then these thoughts must have already been floating around in her head. He remained calm, it was the best way to keep her talking. "Anything else?"

"No. I mean, he said a few other things but name-calling is easier to brush off."

Roy took his time looking her over, that seemed like the last of it so he could let the minor insults slide if she said it didn't bother her.

What DID bother her though was that she couldn't be a mother, that she didn't consider herself a 'real woman' unless she could give birth.

"Ed listen to me carefully. Being a 'real woman' isn't defined by your ability to have children, it's what you are in your heart, and children can be got in many ways. When you see two gay men with their son, are they not both fathers? When you saw Rose in Reole with those children, was she not being a mother to them? What defines mother is how you act. Not that you shoved something out of your body. If that were the case then you'd be mother to all the little automail bolts that fell out of your shoulder that i have in my drawer."

Ed's face, which had been slowly softening as he spoke, turned to surprise, "You kept those?!"

"Of course i did! I can't abandon your children!"

She rolled her eyes, "Mustang i swear to god-"

Roy kissed her. To this day it was the fastest and most effective way to shut Ed up. It quickly turned heated and was interrupted just as quickly by Havoc's knock. His next meeting was here. Mustang pulled away.

"I love you. If you're ready for kids we can look into adoption. That or the supermarket, there's usually a few wandering around there."

"We're not stealing other people's children Mustang."

"It'd probably be less paperwork."

He saw her roll her eyes again as she lightly pushed him out of the way and jumped off the desk. "I'm free tomorrow evening if you need help with dinner."

"Dinner?"

She winked at him and waved as she headed for the door, "You'll see, and thank you by the way."

The door opened and he was forced into saluting his new bosses as they entered. Ed grinned at his salute but directed her comment to the two highly decorated men, "Hey losers. See you later."

Whyte looked aghast and Jackson looked amused. "Was that the FullMetal Alchemist? Back from the dead? I've never met her before."

Mustang held his salute until Whyte waved it away, "I'm not sure i believed the rumours about her attitude until just now."

Roy's mind was reeling. The only reason Ed would act like that around someone is if she trusted them, which meant that she'd already done an unofficial background check on his new bosses and approved of them. Genius little sneak!

He smiled as he heard her harassing the rest of his staff through the door, "She is quite something. She's also invited you over for dinner tomorrow if you'd like to join us."

Leave it to Ed to have doubts about her own existence and at the same time do background checks on his superior officers to plot the advancement of his career.

Roy is not concerned about Ed not telling him who it was. He will find out and deal with it.