So, as some basic information about the story: this AU is basically inspired by the hundreds of hours of British crime shows I've watched with my Mum plus my love for parental fics.

And also, as a Norwegian who's also an anglophile, I know that there are different rules for different welfare systems globally, so I've made a mixture of them. So if there are any factual inaccuracies, It's just that they're just the Amestrian way of doing things in my story, in the same way that I use elements from how things are done when it comes to police investigations from what I've seen and read of both Norwegian, British and American books, films and television series.

And I also know that it is rather unrealistic with a twenty-five-year-old DCI, but I'm taking inspiration from canon, seeing as how being a Colonel at twenty-six is also highly ridiculous, so that's basically just me drawing parallels between canon and this story.

Also, this is not a modern AU, it takes place in what is locally 1910, and I am operating with the way that canon Amestris doesn't have Christianity. So they're not following the Christian calendar, meaning that though they're far from as militaristic as canon because their democracy is actually a functioning concept, they still have the border skirmishes so that they get outside impulses from time to time, but not enough to be as advanced as most of Europe in all fields. So a bit of modern mixed with a bit of old.

Also, as the characters will seem a bit OOC compared to canon, it's because their background story is different, and so they have been shaped by those events, especially as there is no alchemy and there was never a war in Ishbal. I've also moved them around a bit.

Which brings me to this final piece of information, namely that this disclaimer counts for the entire story: I do not own FMA.

I really hope you'll all enjoy it!

Chapter one

"I know that this is an unusual situation, Ms Hawkeye, but we'd like you to consider it," Ms Wendy Bones said, her hands folded on the desk in front of her. She was wearing a white blouse and a dull pink suit jacket with a matching skirt. And hair was a white blonde that went just below her jaw as she had begun the process turning grey by now.

The smiling woman in her late forties was smiling understandingly. Or so she seemed to try to do so. Maybe she just smiled that way? Maybe it was in fact genuine, but she was misunderstanding the situation.

"You want me to accept to be a foster home for two young boys that just lost their only family?" Riza could only look at her in disbelief, even though she kept her voice steady and her look unreadable, as she always did when trying to gather information.

"Yes. It is a bit unorthodox and I know your husband just left you."

That's one way to say it. Cheated on me with his secretary in our bed is more like it.

"-But the fact that you don't have a partner at the moment would probably work in your favour here."

"I thought that you had to be a steady couple to be able to qualify as a foster home?" Riza asked her, trying to get things clearer. Because Ms Wendy Bones was obviously of the type that brought things up one by one, rendering her efficiency tantamount to torturous for the listener.

"That is the general rule, yes," she said, oblivious to the fact that Riza wanted a quick overview of the situation, rather than the almost patronising presentation that Ms Wendy Bones was currently providing her with. Which made it very frustrating that it would be highly impolite to ask her to just speed things up a bit. "...But we're willing to make an exception. I see from your file that you have been registered as a foster home for nine months now, although you are yet to have any children in your care."

And so polite conversation was the only way to do things. Meaning that she was treating the matter of taking in two boys as an interrogation, which was fairly simple as a police officer. "Yes, my ex-husband was unable to have children, so we decided we wanted to do some good for children who needed it, so we signed up."

"Are you still of that opinion?"

"Yes, of course, but I'm in the middle of moving to East City. It could hardly be considered a steady environment." She was honestly beginning to wonder just which one was actually being the interrogator.

"I am aware, Ms Hawkeye. The boys are actually from the Eastern Area and have just been moved from their third foster home in just two months in search of a better fit for them. As I understand it, you have just been promoted to Detective Sergeant?"

"Yes."

"So the money will be better?" Ms Wendy Bones asked, obviously already knowing the answer, and thereby using it in an attempt at changing Riza's opinion.

"Of course, but that hardly matters. I don't know if I could be considered suitable to be a foster mother with everything I am going through. There are legal matters to take care of, and I don't know if the flat is really big enough, especially with two boys. There is also the matter of me being a police officer, the hours are hardly steady."

"You being a DS might actually do some good considering the boys' history."

"And what exactly may that be?" Riza was getting a bad feeling about this, especially with how Ms Wendy Bones was currently treating a couple of children as little more than objects. Objects that were a liability that needed to be placed somewhere that she didn't have to care about much. Once the job was done, it was done. And so Ms Wendy Bones could live in blissful peace with her life as she had helped yet another family.

"Their mother was recently murdered by their stepfather in front of their eyes."

Riza couldn't help the little gasp that escaped her lips. No wonder Ms Wendy Bones wanted to speak with her.

"You being a member of CID could be a great help to them. You understand what they've been through much better than any of our other available foster parents. You could give them explanations that may help them process their loss and the crimes that were committed against them."

Riza's trained eyes immediately spotted that there was something she wasn't telling her. "Why have they been living in three different homes already?"

"Because the oldest, Edward, he's eleven, keeps having violent nightmares from the incident."

"That is only understandable. There's something more about him, isn't there?" Her impatience was growing. But Ms Wendy Bones knew nothing about it. Because Riza was a professional, and Ms Wendy Bones was a professional turtle.

But Ms Wendy Bones was finally looking awkwardly at her, giving Riza a bit of hope. "Well, when their stepfather attacked their mother, he moved on to try to kill his stepsons as well. Edward shielded his brother, but he lost his right arm in the process."

Riza felt the anger grow inside her. Ms Wendy Bones explained it as if it made the boy less worth. He had sacrificed his right arm to save his little brother. In most cases, that would make him a hero, but this poor excuse for a social worker made him sound defective. "So they figured that because he is traumatised and has lost his right arm, that he's too much work? That he's faulty? And you expect me to think so too?"

Ms Wendy Bones looked even more awkward at that. "If I have offended you, I'm sorry. It has been an issue with the other homes, that is all." She didn't look sorry, though.

Riza stood up and placed her hands on the desk, staring disbelievingly at the woman. "I'll take them." The words were out of her mouth before she had thought them through. But if those boys really were being shunned because the oldest brother had a disability, then that was unforgivable.

Riza sat down on the couch in the flat she was currently sharing with her friend from the Police Academy, Rebecca Catalina. She had opened her home to Riza the moment she had heard what Will had been up to and Riza had been very thankful for it. She would be taking the final parts of her belongings with her tomorrow by train. Inspector Armstrong had already decided to help her carry her load on to the train (which was of course non-negotiable, knowing said DI) and once in East City, her new boss had offered to pick her up to get to know her. She didn't know much about DCI Mustang other than that he had a deep voice and was the youngest detective chief inspector in the history of Amestris.

"You actually said yes to take care of them, just like that?" Rebecca asked, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Yes. They need a home and seeing as how my relationship status isn't an issue, I agreed." She was still slightly irked at the way that the files were stating that Alphonse too had an equal amount of violent nightmares, and that Ms Wendy Bones had decided to obviously make it into Edward being the troublemaker who was the only drawback about the pair of brothers, just so that Riza would hopefully be more inclined to take them in. Just to give her an impression of there being less work involved than what there in reality was.

"Because the oldest boy lost his arm?"

"No, because they need help and people don't seem to want to give it to them because he sacrificed it to save his brother's life."

"So that's their file there?" Rebecca pointed at the folder on the coffee table.

"Yes."

"Can I have a look at the boys?"

Riza bent forwards and removed the paperclips keeping the pictures attached to the sheets of paper. They showed the boy who clearly was Edward, due to the missing arm, looking grumpily up at the camera. Then there was Alphonse who was looking shyly at the photographer, fear evident in his eyes. Fear and grief.

"They're cute. How old are they?" Rebecca asked, a bit interested and obviously unsurprised by Riza's rather rash decision.

"Edward is eleven and Alphonse is ten."

"Judging from that picture, you're going to have trouble with Edward. He really doesn't seem to like this."

"Would you, Rebecca? He's lost his dominant arm and is still having phantom pains."

"I guess you're right."

Riza sighed. She had read that Edward Elric indeed seemed to be a handful. He had grown very wary of men, especially the ones that were trying to be his father. He also seemed to have a lot of rage towards his biological father who had run out on them when he had only been three. He didn't seem to be too keen on a mother either. And he was apparently bad at following simple orders and mostly shut himself in his room unless he was yelling at his foster parents.

Then there was Alphonse Elric. He too had a lot of nightmares and was distrustful towards men, but he expressed his feelings by mostly being quiet and crying in a corner.

She was getting worried that she had bitten off infinitely more than she could chew.

Riza was woken up by the alarm clock at five o'clock the next morning. She didn't really know what to think. She'd be picking Edward and Alphonse up at the Social Services centre in three days and start work in a week. She had thankfully already brought a camp bed with an extra mattress to the new flat so the boys could have the bedroom while she slept on the couch. Originally it had been as a guest bed, but now it would have to be a permanent one and she'd have to buy an extra mattress. They would be a bit cramped, but it was only for a while.

...It could be a long while, though, maybe years.

Riza panicked as she walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. "What have you done, Riza Hawkeye? I thought you prided yourself on thinking things through before acting!" she told her reflection. "Those boys will be hitting puberty in less than two years, and unlike you, they don't get periods and boobs! You don't know what you're doing!"

Riza knew she had acted spontaneously ever since the separation a month ago, but this was almost suicidal. She had agreed to take in a couple of traumatised boys that were only half her age in a much too small flat and she would have to feed them and clean their clothes and…

She felt like screaming at herself. How was she even considered suitable for this? She'd be much better suited for a dog and hardly that, because animals weren't even allowed on the property!

She showered without thinking about what she was doing, ending up washing her armpits first with soap and then shampoo for good measure.

"Wow, girl, you look tense!" Rebecca exclaimed as Riza walked quickly out of the bathroom, only wearing her bra and trousers, having forgotten her socks and sweater in the guest bedroom.

"What the heck have I agreed to?! I'm still an emotional mess from the separation! It's only been just over a month and already I've agreed to take in two boys I know nothing about and raising them! I've only ever read about parenting! And Will was the one who was supposed to take care of 'boys' stuff'! I'm alone! But at the same time, there's no way in hell that I'm abandoning them after hearing their story!"

"Riza, calm down. You know more than most parents do when they have kids the first time."

"But they grow up to know them! I'm far from old enough to be their mother! I'm only eleven years older than the oldest!"

"Riza, you will do great! It will be all right."

The doorbell rang and Inspector Armstrong's voice rang out. "SERGEANT HAWKEYE! I AM HERE TO HELP YOU MOVE YOUR PRECIOUS BELONGINGS! OPEN UP AND I SHALL ASSIST YOU!"

Happy to have something to distract herself from her rising panic, she swung open the door and was handed a gigantic orchid tied up in a pink ribbon.

Riza was in a nervous daze when she walked off the train two days later with her hands filled with the extravagant white orchid, in addition to the large rucksack on her back. Maybe transferring to East City hadn't been a good idea? But then she wouldn't have been able to work as a sergeant because the spots were all filled and she would have been stuck in the city that she wanted to escape with crappy pay.

People eyed the orchid with alarm and Riza felt stupid as she walked to the luggage area to find her many cardboard boxes stacked into a corner. She felt someone tapping her shoulder and turned around to see a man dressed in an immaculate black suit, dark blue tie and a long, black coat. Riza could smell the aftershave from a mile off. And even though it was actually rather pleasant and definitely easy to get used to, it reminded her that she hadn't been able to wash her hair on the train so it was slightly greasy and she was looking dishevelled, her hair was static because of the way she had thrown her rucksack on, and she was holding an orchid that was at least a metre tall and had decorative sparkles stuck into the earth inside the violently pink flower pot.

"You wouldn't happen to be DS Hawkeye, would you?" The man asked her calmly. He had a trolley standing beside him, obviously and thankfully not judging her by her appearance.

"Yes, sir."

"I'm Detective Chief Inspector Roy Mustang, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Also, I am currently in the middle of re-editing the chapters and I'm updating them as I get them done, seeing as how there's a lot of hours that go into doing it when the story is this long. The main purpose of me doing so is to fix some minor mistakes and to become a bit more consistent in my use of British English as I write, seeing as how I have discovered just how much I have mixed up the spelling and sometimes phrases and words in general between British and American, due to the inconsistency between the two that come with English lessons in Norway. Not even the textbooks get it right because they're in hindsight most likely being 'inclusive for all the students'.

;)