So, I got this idea a few days ago and I just had to write it, and I would like to make it clear that this is manga/Brotherhood-compliant and that there will only be canon pairings, though with a few hints of Royai (canonical-style, like in the manga when Roy was going to incinerate Barry just on principle for hitting on Hawkeye, without even hearing what was up with him.) And, as I was introduced to the manga first, 'Ishbal' feels more natural than 'Ishval'. Also, I didn't have enough space to write it in the summary, but this will probably contain some canon-typical violence.

This disclaimer counts for the entire story: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

And so I hope you'll all enjoy this little idea of mine, and please leave some words of encouragement because I could use some positive reviews to cheer me up after my grandfather had a stroke a little over a week ago, so there are a lot of things that are changing quite drastically and I'm pretty worried about it all, even though he's relatively fine.


Chapter one

Roy was still horrified by the thought of the scene that had met him at the Elric house. At the thought of all the blood.

And he had to admit that he was impressed by the kid for what he had done to save his little brother. It took a lot of guts, which explained the fire that had still been burning in the boy's eyes, even with half of his limbs now gone.

And Roy was sure that the boy would come. He'd spent too many months playing chess with Lieutenant General Grumman not to know what that kid would be doing next.

Still, the mental pictures were disturbing, and especially after Pinako Rockbell's words about the thing that she had buried.

And so he placed his right foot on to the first step of the train, when he suddenly heard a woman call out from behind him. "Roy! Roy Mustang! That is you!"

He turned around and was met by a pretty and slightly familiar-looking redhead in her mid-twenties with her hair flowing about her shoulders and with a wide smile on her lips. She was wearing a knee-length light yellow dress and a white apron which clearly showed that she had some great thighs.

...And in her arms was a red-headed baby.

A red-headed baby with black eyes.

His stomach jerked violently as he recognised the mother, considering how he had some memories of a semi-drunken night of passion before he had entered the war in Ishbal.

...He could vaguely remember some rhetorics about the woman in front of him having said something about how she would 'give you something good to remember, no matter what happens tomorrow,' as a response to him expressing his fears about how he had been about to become a murderer.

And that...

...That would fit well with what he would guess the baby in the deep green jumpsuit's age to be.

But that was ridiculous.

Had to be ridiculous.

And all he could do right now was to try desperately to remember the name of the woman before him.

The redhead just looked at Roy fondly, and Hawkeye was standing there next to him, frozen to the spot. "It's Ava Vickers, I don't blame you if you can't remember, considering what came the next day, don't worry..." she told him kindly.

"...You... You're serious?" Roy asked weakly, knowing that there was no way to deny what was going on.

No way to deny what she was hinting at.

She gave him a gentle smile. "This is Dean, he's seven months and four days."

Roy was lost for words. Completely lost for words.

"Sir, I think we'll be taking the next train instead," came the Lieutenant's voice.

Roy swallowed hard with a nod. The boy was just staring at him with a sceptic and apprehensive pout, obviously not entirely certain about the trustworthiness of a man who wasn't smiling at him like most people usually did.

Ava was still giving Roy that gentle smile of her own. "It's his nap time in ten minutes, being in my arms as I walk is an excellent way to get him to sleep, strangers or not, so we can talk in full then... I'll make us some tea."

Roy just nodded again. "Sounds good... I-I'll ask for directions from the stationmaster in the meantime, I should call HQ and tell them that we'll be coming back later than planned, so we'll be catching up to you once we've done that."

She nodded at him in turn and Roy was panicking and he went over to the phone. Then he just stood there, breathing heavily, with his hands against the wall in front of him. "This... This can't be happening right now... This isn't... Just no... Just... Just no."

"I think I'll be the one to make the call, sir."

"Yeah, yeah, you do that, Lieutenant... Thank you..."


Roy had no idea where the next fifteen minutes had gone.

Only that he was knocking on Ava Vickers's front door in a state of numb terror. Judging from her look, she had no doubts about it having been anyone else.

And with how the boy's eyes were exactly like Roy's own, he had to admit that they were a bit too conspicuous.

He found himself with Ava looking up at him with a gentle smile on her lips just like before. "Before we begin, Roy, I would just like to make it clear that I have no intentions of forcing you into anything. I don't exactly hold you accountable for any of it, I'm just as much at fault as you are, if not even more, considering how I was the one who approached you..." She blushed slightly as she spoke.

Roy thought back, and just shook his head, feeling vaguely patronised, though severely relieved. "I don't exactly remember to have opposed it much, though... And I'm still to be held at least somewhat accountable, considering how I was definitely still coherent enough to remember it..."

There was a lot of awkward tension in the air, so it was a very good moment for his assistant to extend her right hand to their host. "I'm Second Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Mustang's assistant."

Roy was still in a numb daze as he sat down at the kitchen table and had a plate of cookies set before him. He barely registered the chit-chat that went on between the two women as Ava prepared the tea.

All Roy knew was numbness.

But then a thought struck him as Ava sat down before him. "Why haven't you been in contact before now? You wouldn't have done so if I hadn't been here now, for that part."

She sighed sadly and softly at that, before looking straight at the Lieutenant's eyes as if for confirmation and then focused back on Roy. "Because you were a nice man who was only a day away from getting sent out to slaughter when I was going to university in East City when we met... It was about a month after I realised that I was pregnant that I started hearing about soldiers who were freezing and breaking down in the middle of the battlefield... So I figured that if that had happened to you, then you would have benefitted far more from me not springing a baby on you to boot as soon as you got back... So I quit my education about a fortnight after that and moved back here to the family farm to stay with my brother and kept an ear out for you through one of my friends at the reception desk at Eastern Command... I decided that the fresh air and the nice neighbours wouldn't be so bad for the baby, which it hasn't."

She suddenly reached out and grabbed Roy's hand, squeezing it gently, but not in a suggestive way. Just in a sort of semi-apologetic and understanding way. "I was planning to tell you once he'd reached about two and was done with a lot more of the midnight wailing in case you'd been in need of therapy and just getting back on your feet after having needed to potentially kick some bad habits... My friend was transferred out to Southern Command Centre soon after you were transferred to East HQ, and so I haven't been able to hear how you've been doing besides having become the 'Hero of Ishbal'... I just didn't want you to feel pressured into anything if you were dealing with more than enough already, if you get what I mean? ...I didn't really know if you were of the kind who'd be having the after-effects of shell-shock and yet decide that the 'honourable thing to do' would be to marry me..."

Roy felt his stomach jerk at the thought, desperately trying to find out from her expression if that was what she really wanted now that she knew that he wasn't a traumatised wreck. "...So when you saw me now and saw that I was doing okay...?" he asked tentatively.

She squeezed his hand again and then let go with a slight giggle. "Roy, you're a handsome and nice fella, but I've got no intention of marrying anyone whom I don't know and haven't even been on a single date with... You don't need to worry, you don't have any obligations to me at all, and if we were to do something like that, then there would be a lot of work involved... I don't want to just move away from here, and especially when I don't even have a job really. You'd be providing for all three of us and I don't really want to have any sort of relationship that is built on necessity and a false sense of duty to a son whom I have kept secret from you for over a year now... You're not obliged to do anything. All I sought you out for was to let you know that Dean existed because you have a right to be there as he grows up, but you have a right to want to stay out of his life for that part too."

Roy just sat there, feeling like his world was truly crashing down around him. "And you're sure that he's mine? Completely sure?"

She smiled gently and nodded again. "Yes, I'm sure. I was in the middle of exam week, my friend dragged me out to a bar because I needed to relax... You can call her if you'd like."

Roy just stared at her, looking into her eyes.

Then horrified realisation hit him as he remembered parts of that night. The excitement in her features, the trepidation, and Roy's own reluctance because of one single fact that had been obvious from her behaviour and physical evidence. "...I claimed your virginity, didn't I?"

"Yeah... My friend said that it had been about time too, what with me being twenty-one and not having had anything other than one mild and unreciprocated crush and that had been all up to that point..."

Roy ran his hands through his hair in the frustrated and desperate horror of everything that was happening right now. It explained why she was standing out in his mind so much. He'd grown up in a hostess bar, he was more than able to tell how people were when it came to behavioural patterns in that sort of setting. His unofficial big sisters had been the ones to give him 'the talk'.

...Because her eyes had told him then that she had thought he'd been a very nice person and that she had, despite their slightly inebriated state, appreciated the way that he had let her run the show.

And she wasn't one for having immediately jumped at the next man that she had been able to find, because she had found his fears and thoughts to be something that had been serious... She had taken it all so seriously and the next morning she had shaken his shoulder, wished him good luck and had told him that it would be okay, before 'I've gotta dash, my exam's in two hours and I need a change of clothes, thanks for the distraction, I needed it', or something similar. They had basically both bonded and parted over their need for a single night's distraction. Which was why Roy had never thought to seek her out again because she had never seemed to want anything else. But now he wasn't so sure.

"You don't need to apologise, Roy, really... It was fun, and you weren't a bad way to lose it..." she said gently.

"Am I remembering wrong, or didn't you tell me that you were going to become a gynaecologist?"

She blushed as her eyes widened in obvious horror. "Oh god, I did say that... I thought it was a part of a semi-nightmare and that I was remembering incorrectly because I was tipsy... That was my idea of a chat-up line, no wonder I remember you being such a nice guy, because you actually let me get away with it..." she said, obviously mortified.

Roy snorted slightly, feeling just a bit more at ease about his memories. "So you really weren't aiming for something more?"

"No, definitely not... I was going to become a doctor, but as in a vascular surgeon... But I swear, farming's nice and a lot more fitting with a toddler in tow, so you really don't need to worry. I'd rather have this, anyway, school was getting the better of me because I just couldn't get myself to kick that constant need to please my teachers or otherwise feel like I was letting them down. I was running myself into the ground, really, so you were the saviour for the nerdy, little girl... It was why my friend, Peggy, that is, insisted on dragging me to that bar in the middle of the week like that because I was unknowingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown..." She snickered slightly, looking up at him. "In many ways you were thereby a godsend through accidental impregnation, so I'd say that you did me a huge favour... My life is far happier out here and we get by fine... Stayed away from dating after I met you, just in case I'd misread something and you'd be expecting me to be ready to greet you with open arms. And then because I didn't know what you wanted for the baby and I figured that you really shouldn't have to fight some boyfriend over it. Not when it would have been because you hadn't been told about the existence of your own son, so, yes, I am very certain that you're the father, Roy Mustang."

Roy just nodded once more, panic rising even further. She was a very pretty and nice woman, but he didn't really want to get into a relationship with her, also because of Lieutenant Hawkeye sitting next to him.

But mostly because of how he appeared to have messed up his plans completely through a single night before he'd even made those plans. He would only be adding further insult to injury by starting a relationship with a woman whom he wasn't really interested in being with out of anything but practical reasons.

"And I would just like to make it clear that I'd rather just be friends, really," Ava said, obviously thinking about the same thing as him. "No offence, but I feel like that's just... We'd be better as friends than sweethearts, I think."

Roy just nodded, relief flooding him at the way that her look told him that she wasn't lying about it. "Could I have a word in private with my assistant?"

"Yes, of course, you could just use the living room. Bill's out in the fields, so there are no worries there, and you saw it from the hallway."

"Thank you," Roy said, standing up and walking into the living room, before closing the door. "Hawkeye, you're the one with the sharpest eyes here, is there any chance that she's lying about anything that she just told us?"

There was a soft sigh and a slight shake of her head from the woman before him. "No, sir."

He just stared at her desperately. "What the hell am I supposed to do from this point on?! Having a a baby doesn't fit in with any of my plans, but I can't just... I can't just have a kid who grows up without a father either because I chose him away! I can't teach my kid that he's nothing but an inconvenience! I can't just doom my own son to abandonment issues! And if I'm gonna follow through with the rest of my plans, then there will undoubtedly be people who saw me that night and who would love to tell the press that the Führer ran out on his own son!" He gripped his fringe in his right hand, conflicted beyond words.

"I'm not going to shoot you for something that happened long before you made your goals, sir."

Roy just looked at her in desperation. "Please tell me what you honestly think that I should do."

There was a faint hint of pain in her features as she obviously thought back to her own father and mother. In a way they had both grown up without their fathers, Roy's own parents having died so early.

"I think you should get to know him... We just saw the results of fathers running out on their young kids and leaving them with very small amounts of family members," she told him gently, obviously referring to the Elrics.

Roy knew that it had been coming. She still had a very kind heart beneath the sniper.

And so Roy just nodded weakly. "I think so too..."

She seemed to have an idea strike her at that. "Also, I think that we've just met a very kind ten-year-old suit of armour who would love some distraction by helping out here when his brother is getting his automail. And when the Elrics come, then you can also have your son visiting alone with a pair of kids that Dean will already know babysitting him while you're at work. Edward will use at least two years getting done with rehabilitation if you ask me, which means that Dean will be about two and a half by that time. And while he is still so young, I'm sure that you can make some deal about bringing additional research material while Alphonse helps out at the farm or similar."

"I can't believe that this is happening right now..." Roy said weakly.

"But it is, sir, so I think you ought to go speak with Ava and meet your son before we go back to the Rockbell house."

Roy just nodded again. "Yes, I think you're right, thank you, Lieutenant."

"There's no need, Roy."

The familiar name from a few years ago made things a bit better because he knew that he had someone to lean on and help him out in this mess. And so a small smile grazed his lips. "You really are one hell of an assistant."

"Yes, sir."

The smile grew with a light chuckle, before his stomach clenched violently at the thought of the little child with the black eyes.

This wasn't really happening. It couldn't be.

Just no.

And yet it was.

It really was.

"Let's go back to the kitchen then," he said, wondering just what the hell was about to happen to his life. What was happening to his life. But this was strictly speaking very much his own fault. He remembered how all the State Alchemists that had been ordered to participate in the Ishbalan extermination campaign had first been sent out to Eastern Command because they had been the ones with the most knowledge of the Ishbalan area due to their proximity to it, as well as how things would be done when out on the battlefield. And so it had been the extensive information in East City as they had all been given more information of which regions they would be stationed in. And then had come the night before they would get shipped out at eight o'clock the following morning. Roy remembered meeting a few who had drunk themselves stupid in hopes of being hungover during their first kill. Just so as to have something that would feel like it had justified it slightly. Or to have something that would make them feel shitty before it happened so as to dull the guilt with how bad they had felt in general.

Roy had been amongst the group that had done two things: he had gone to the local bar that had had a good reputation for a better place to hook up without the risk of catching things because of how it had been a bit more high class and expensive than the rest of those places. And the second part had been to then bring the night's partner to the four-star hotel five minutes away from the bar on foot. Basically, a night of fun, before entering hell.

Funny how the womaniser had gone with the scared and stressed nerd in between all the other far more experienced ladies that he remembered had been interested in him.

The pretty and stressed nerd with the great thighs and a wish for no commitments. Just a break from the hell that one had trapped oneself in.

He was running his mind through it all. A part of him had been trying halfway repress it because he had found it an ill-fitting thing that he had done by the following afternoon. He remember feeling like it had in many ways poked fun at the way that he had thought that that had been a good approach to it. He had felt guilty about it. About staring at the burning building, knowing that he had just incinerated a family by having snapped his fingers, and it had been such an easy thing... And he had felt so disgusted by himself as he had stood there in the ruins. Had felt so selfish. He had had a night of fun to prepare himself for incinerating terrified families.

He had felt sick, and he still felt his stomach churn at the thought of it.

"It's so damned ironic, don't you think so, Lieutenant? I treated it so selfishly through what I'd done, and now there's a woman who is thanking me for having claimed the last of her innocence... And I have landed her with a baby that will have to learn that his father is a mass murderer... And those actions have resulted in me now being unable to in good conscience fulfil my plans in full about giving something back to those whose lives I took... And all because I have created another life. And which then has probably resulted in even more lives being lost because Ava had been about to become a vascular surgeon... No justice, just... Just an innocent kid and helping the mental well-being of an equally innocent woman whose name I'd even forgotten... And who's been keeping Dean secret because she had been afraid that I'd turn into an emotional and probably alcoholic wreck... I've really messed up this time..."

He chuckled darkly and headed for the door and reached out for the handle, when Hawkeye spoke up, making him pause.

"Maybe it isn't such a bad thing, sir, in the big picture... Because I think that the country will benefit greatly from having a Führer who will lead it in a way so that he'll leave it in a state that is suddenly based on it being a country that his child will be proud to see that his father has created..." She said softly. "In that way, Dean can become a sort of walking and talking symbol and inspiration for the rest of your plans... Especially as he came into being from the same events that made you decide to become Führer in the first place."

Roy froze at her words. "Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Thank you," he told her quietly, his voice becoming just a bit shaky with all the thoughts that were swimming inside his mind at the present time and the feelings that they were bringing him.

"Of course, sir... So I suggest that you do not procrastinate so that you can get things done quickly to earn yourself some leave time... It should serve to give you the weekends off if you plan it out right."

Roy knew that the military offered special arrangements for parents after Ishbal, considering how many of the soldiers there had been who had reacted badly afterwards. There had been an upsurge of divorces left right and centre, and the military was rather unpopular and alienating its soldiers even more wouldn't be a good idea. And especially when it concerned those that had kids who could, with their parents' encouragement, join up themselves. If they were to be alienated by the military, then people had friends and family and it was already severely damaging their recruitment numbers. And with Roy being one of the most powerful human weapons available to the military and who had still scored so well on the psychological evaluations that had followed the end of the extermination campaign, then the Führer would most likely be more than willing to give Roy a lot of additional leave time so that he wouldn't be inclined to resign to spend more time with his son.

And so he just nodded and then shook his head in disbelief, still holding his hand on the door handle. "I can't believe that this is really happening... There's a baby with my eyes... I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing with one..."

Then a thought struck him.

"...Hughes and Gracia are currently working on having one themselves, though, and he's been reading up on it to an unbelievable amount of detail... How short a time do you think he'll need to shove wedding pictures in people's faces for him to get a fortnight's leave time?"

"He'll be in East City by tomorrow evening with the military express train, sir."

A small smile came across Roy's lips. "Sounds just about right... So if we take the train that leaves at half past seven tomorrow morning, then it should fit perfectly as it gives me time to take a shower and change before going back to the train station to pick him up." He took a deep breath to steel himself, before ruffling his fringe to make it more acceptable-looking.

And so he walked back inside the kitchen to find Ava with a mild and gentle smile on her face like before. "I'd like to be a part of his life... I'll be making some arrangements that should probably give me the opportunity to come visiting during the weekends by taking the night train on Fridays and then taking the night train back to East City on Sundays, so two days a week, if that's all right by you."

"Of course, he's your son too. We could come visiting you in turn from time to time if you'd like us to."

Roy shook his head at that. "I'm still living in the military dorms and those are soldiers only, so me coming out here is better when I can have some time off instead of being in the office all day and then meeting you at your hotel... But I'll start looking at two-room flats as soon as possible."

"Well, in that case there's a spare bedroom here for when you're visiting."

"There's no need to go to such trouble, I don't wish to impose on you too much either..." Roy said, still not entirely sure about any of this. "I mean, you're inviting a stranger to come live with you two days a week. I don't want to cause any trouble or be a nuisance."

Ava shook her head, still smiling gently at him. She seemed to be a woman who was very happy with her life these days. "Like I said, Roy, I would like to be friends, and I don't really have many of those, so I could use the company. Bill's up at dawn and I spend most of my time indoors with Dean, it can get rather lonely... And as he grows up, you'll probably be having him visiting you on his own, and that means that it would be nice for him to know what it's like to live in the same house as you."

Roy couldn't fault her logic. "Then I'm saying thank you... Though I'll need you to come with me to East City to actually prove my claims of the reasoning for me asking for arrangements concerning working hours, also because I'll need to have it in my personal information files... I'll need to arrange for a meeting first, though, so it'll be about a week from now, if that fits? There's proper documentation and cross-checking information and all that that needs to be done."

"Oh, of course, that's no problem, you just phone me when you know the date and time. Like I said, I don't really do much these days."

Roy nodded again, sighing with everything that was going on. He had fathered a child. There was a baby who was half him. "I'm going to ask a friend of mine for some advice, he's read just about every book there is on parenting and he's more than willing to share if I ask him to. He and his wife are hard at work at getting a child of their own, they got married three months ago, and he's military too, so he knows just about everything there is to know about combining fatherhood and military careers. I expect that you'll get to meet him when you two come to East City, he's stationed at Central Command, but I don't doubt that he'll be getting himself some leave time for this."

Ava giggled slightly. "So he's that type? Sounds like he'll be fun to meet."

"Just don't ask about wedding pictures, you'll find yourself stuck for five hours minimum."

Ava just giggled again, and Roy pulled out his notebook and a pen. "So, I suppose I should do this properly, considering how I don't even know the birthday of the mother of my child, nor if you've got a middle name," he told her, feeling his stomach clench even harder at the words 'my child.'

His life had truly been turned on its head through this.

And there was a little boy whom he had fathered.

The girls at the bar were going to have a field day, and his aunt?

...She was a great-aunt as of now.

He'd have to phone and tell her about Dean.

Ava just smiled understandingly once more. "No middle name, Vickers with a 'ck', born 5 December, 1887, same place as we're at right now. I'll bring the birth certificates when we come to East City."

Roy just nodded and wrote things down, including when she added the phone number. "And Dean, any middle names there?"

"No, just Dean Vickers."

Roy nodded once, not knowing at all what to say or do besides that, because there would most likely be a 'Mustang' at the end of it sometime soon. After all, Roy would like to have some way to show that his kid was his when he was doing this, no matter how much weight that followed that name. But it also showed his son that Roy wanted him as his son. For some reason, the thought of the kid's additional surname made it sink in far more than anything else, and so he just started adding things up based on her information from the train station. "Right... So Dean Vickers, born 11 February, 1910, then?"

"Yes. He too was born here, he was delivered by Pinako Rockbell at a quarter past one p.m. to be exact."

Roy paused again. "Of course he was..." he mumbled quietly to himself, cursing inwardly.

"What's wrong?"

"The Elrics were the reason we're here in the first place... We'd been given the wrong information about the ages of the two talented young alchemists, the documents having added an additional twenty years to both their ages... We're in need of new recruits after Ishbal, and Edward is obviously skilled enough to get himself a licence from what I saw when he transmuted the living room table easy as anything with a very high level of precision. Judging from his look, he's more than interested in joining up, undoubtedly once he gets himself some automail, and Pinako Rockbell doesn't really think too highly of me as a result... I was planning on making a deal where I provide the Elrics with some alchemy books in exchange for Alphonse getting some time to distract himself by helping you guys out here and keep you company during Edward's rehabilitation, considering how Edward will end up under my command as his recruiter. And so Dean could have a pair of babysitters when he's older and is visiting me in East City and I'm at work because he'll already know the pair of them."

"Well, that's a good plan at least..." Ava said after a few seconds of silence, and some the cheerfulness had obviously died due to his words. Roy could understand perfectly well why. Dean was her son and Roy wasn't exactly seeming too much like good father material when recruiting an eleven-year-old to become a soldier like Roy had been so scared of being the night that she had met him. He couldn't exactly blame her for not feeling safe with Roy raising Dean after all.

"And, of course, as Lieutenant Colonel Mustang is fully aware of what being on the front lines as a State Alchemist is like, he would advise strongly against it once the time comes that Ed might receive orders to be sent out on the battlefield," Hawkeye suddenly added.

Roy immediately caught her drift. "There's the psychological evaluation to consider, and a child who has seen his mother die and who has lost two limbs is at far too great a risk of freezing out on the battlefield, so as his commanding officer and as one of the State Alchemists who has used their alchemy for warfare, I'm certain that the Führer wouldn't take my opinions for granted." For some reason, being faced with the fact that he was suddenly a father himself, he couldn't actually think of anything worse than for his kid to follow in his footsteps in such a way. Which once again meant a grumpy Pinako Rockbell once he showed her how his opinions had changed, concerning his warnings about Edward being ordered to go out on the battlefield.

"Then I suppose that you'll be taking a trip over to the Rockbells later," Ava said kindly again, sounding almost amused.

Roy was beginning to realise that she was acting in a slightly motherly fashion towards him.

Which was odd for him when he was almost three years her senior.

"Yes, I suppose so... Though you can see why I'm a bit worried about Ms Rockbell's thoughts about me? I'm already looking bad enough as it is, and even with her learning of my name, her having been there while you were giving birth without the father anywhere to offer any support..." Roy said slowly.

"I told her that the father had died in Ishbal, which I figured would have made your potential return a lot more of a joyous occasion."

Roy just paused and nodded. "So you're taking full responsibility for not having told me about him?"

"Yes, of course..." She kept smiling, before looking over at the clock on the wall above the fridge in the corner of the room. The walls around them were painted a pale yellow, the two windowsills were white with a small fake flower in a fittingly small vase each. The curtains were a deeper yellow, the kitchen worktop was white with a slate of unpainted wood on top, the cupboards were white, and the room was very homely in general. She turned her gaze back to Roy as she spoke next. "Dean's going to feed again in an hour, there are a couple of bottles in the fridge if you'd like to do it."

Roy froze at the prospect. Of sitting there with a baby in his arms, trying to comfort it, make it like him, hoping for it to want to eat when he was the one feeding him.

But then again, Roy was the kid's father, it would be better to start bonding as soon as possible.

Right?

And especially when he wouldn't be able to be around constantly. He should use the opportunity that he was being presented with.

The boy was his, after all, he didn't want to make it feel like his father was pushing him away for being inconvenient. It would actually be pretty hypocritical, considering what his aunt had done for him all those years ago.

"Yeah, I'll give it a go, though I'll need some guidance."

"Of course!" Ava said cheerfully, and Roy looked up to see that there were tears in her eyes. They betrayed both happiness, sadness, worry, guilt and anxiousness, as well as fear.

"Ava, if you don't feel comfortable about having someone like me around your son and raising him, then that's perfectly fine."

"Don't be silly, Roy... I'm just a bit overwhelmed, though less so than you... I didn't really know what sort of person you'd be, and so I've been worried for a while, but that's all..." She reached across the table again and took both of Roy's hands in hers, looking at him sternly, but softly even so, her greyish green eyes locked directly on his black ones. "...But I can tell that you're still a nice guy, Roy... I just want you to promise me that Dean will always come first when you're with him, because that's how you'll be raising him right... You did what you had to do, but if you wanna be Dean's father, then please just..." She squeezed his hands even more as the first few tears began running down her cheeks. "Please don't be his father, but his 'Dada'... Please just be as soft as you are on the inside when you're with him..."

Roy found himself shaken to the core by her plea, but he knew full well that if he really was doing this, then he would want the kid to feel cared for and loved, rather than an inconvenience.

And the prospect of beginning to love the little child was daunting. To be his 'Dada' was terrifying. Bone-chilling. Horrifying...

"I will," Roy told her solemnly, squeezing her hands back for emphasis. He had joined up to save and protect people, and now he had a child of his own and he wasn't going to neglect them. "Thank you for your trust, despite how things may seem, it means a lot."

Ava chuckled shakily and let go of his hands, before standing up. "Then I'll be blowing my nose and then get the guest bedroom in order, there are two single beds, so I hope that'll work for you two for the night."

"Yes, thank you, Ava," the Lieutenant said kindly, a gentle smile on her lips as she spoke. "And thank you for letting me stay here too."

"Well, Roy seems pretty lost without you, Riza, I can't have him wandering around on his own, and anti-fraternisation laws are anti-fraternisation laws," Ava said with a small shrug.

Roy just looked between the two women. "That was what you were talking about when making tea?"

"Of course, I needed to find out a bit more about my son's father, and who better to give me some of the information than his assistant? Now how about you call that friend of yours from the phone on the table by the front door while I make your beds?"

And so Roy soon found himself standing with the phone to his ear as the woman at Central put him through to Hughes's office after the code that Roy had given her had been verified.

"Hey, Roy, is there something wrong?" Hughes asked, sounding worried, no doubt due to his sudden call being from an outside line.

"No, at lea-," Roy began, but his 'no' had been enough for the worry to dissipate and he found himself with his friend acting on his instincts when hearing that people were okay.

And when they could use something to cheer them up for that part.

"I was going to call you later today, you know! Gracia told me this amazing joke at breakfast, you see, and I think you'll absolutely love it! Of course, everything that Gracia does is lovely, she made me cocoa for breakfast today, and you have to try some next time I see you! Let me tell you, it's the greatest cocoa I've ever tasted! She's such an incredible woman, you really do need to settle down and find yourself a wife someday soon, but back to Gracia's joke-," Hughes said in the way of a verbal steam train.

"I have a son, Hughes," Roy said in in something that was hardly more than a whisper, barely able to get himself to say those damning words... Though it went unnoticed by his friend's recollection of his wife's joke, of course. It was most likely because Hughes was looking through his notebook after having written it down and was holding the phone too far away from his ear to hear him speaking in such a low voice.

"'-And then the duck went to the mill and met the squirrel that lived on the roof and it sa-'," his friend recounted cheerfully.

"Hughes!" Roy said a bit louder, but it was misinterpreted for Roy's usual impatience and lack of overwhelming adoration for Gracia Hughes.

"'-And then the squirrel told it tha-'," Hughes continued just as enthusiastically as before.

"Would you shut up about your wife for once, Hughes?!" Roy asked sharply.

Hughes stopped mid-explanation. "What's up with you, Roy?" He sounded both hurt, confused and worried.

Roy took a deep breath to steady his voice as he spoke through gritted teeth. "I just found out that I fathered a child seven months ago."

"...Did I just hear you right?" came his best friend's reply after a few seconds of silence, his previous hurt completely gone, replaced by something akin to apprehension.

"The day before I was shipped out to Ishbal, I was doing like some of the other soldiers by going with a certain type of distraction tactic... Now I'm at a farm in Resembool and will be feeding my son with a bottle in an hour."

Another pause.

Roy just kept speaking. "I don't have time or patience to focus on your wife being the same as yesterday, when I didn't discover Dean before just over an hour ago."

"...What do you want me to do?" Hughes replied, sounding much more solemn than before, showing just how nice and sympathetic the man could actually be when he wasn't bombarding people with his adoration for his spouse.

"I need you to gush over your wife to whatever people necessary for you to be on the military express train that leaves from Central this afternoon so that you'll be in East City by tomorrow evening to give me some guidance."

"I've got fifty wedding photos and a joke to share with my superiors, in other words."

Roy let out a sigh of relief and gratitude. "Thanks, Hughes."

"Of course, Roy..." Hughes said, sounding taken aback and just a bit worried about what was going on, even if there was a faint hint of excitement to his voice. "...And the mother?"

"Just wants to be friends, which works well in my opinion, the plan is for me to come out here during the weekends."

"I see... I'll do what I can, but I want you to do something for me in return."

"And what is that?"

"Bring me pictures."