There are four racial slurs in this story.
Three are directed towards those of Asian descent.
One is directed towards Africans/African Americans.
I apologize if they upset anyone. Racial slurs won't be a regular occurrence in this story.
Also, very brief mention of infanticide/SIDS
"So what do you plan on doing with this house?" Chris asked, as she sipped the tea Riza had served her.
"Sell it. A childhood friend of mine's parents said they would contact me in East City if there were any potential buyers." Riza informed her, sitting down next to Roy.
She knew Christmas was studying her, taking in the kind of girl her adopted son/nephew had married. She hoped that she wasn't a true disappointment for the Madam. Riza knew how much Roy cared about her.
"She's a quiet and simple one. Not like those loud and frilly girls you used to bring home from school." Christmas smirked.
"Chris..." Roy groaned.
"Don't pout at me boy, that's a good thing! She'll keep you level-headed and grounded, since I won't be able to do that for you anymore." The Madam explained, rolling her eyes at Roy.
"Do you care if I smoke?" She turned to asked Riza, reaching into her purse and pulling out an unlit cigarette and a lighter.
"Not inside please." Riza responded.
Christmas gave her a curt nod understanding, before standing up and opening the back door, leaning against it to keep it open, as she smoked on the back porch.
"When can I expect grand babies?" She asked, taking a drag of her cancer stick.
The two of them tensed up, unsure of how to answer. Riza had been nauseous the last few mornings, but as far as whether or not she was indeed pregnant, they didn't know.
It was Roy who finally answered her.
"Hopefully by this time next year."
"Good. The girls want at least niece or nephew to spoil. And I want a grand-baby or three. I'm not getting any younger."
Mental note, ask Roy how old she is on the train to Easy City.
"You got chickens? You're not taking them to East City, are you?" Chris asked.
"No, their new owner should be here by noon." Riza told her.
"Hmm."
"How long exactly do you plan on visiting? Because like I said, we leave here tomorrow." Roy asked.
"I plan on getting on a train back to Central tomorrow morning. But you two better come visit before you have a screaming baby to take care of!" Christmas said sternly.
"Yes ma'am."
The rest of the day went by uneventfully.
Jane's mother, Dorothy, arrived at eleven forty-five am to pick up the hens, and the men with the moving truck arrived at three pm to take their things.
"You gonna miss this place?" Christmas asked Riza, as the younger woman packed her suitcase with what little clothes her secret allowed her to keep.
"Nope. I've looked forward to getting out of this place since the day me and Roy got married."
"I'm sorry the two of you got married the way you did." Christmas told her.
"I'm not. I'm happy and he's never hurt me. Never even made me think that he might hurt me. Most girls aren't that lucky. I almost wasn't that lucky." She shrugged.
"But still..." Chris sighed.
"My Father was going to marry me off at fourteen either way. I am just glad he decided to let me marry Roy and not a man your age." Riza said simply.
"And my boy has never forced you to do anything you didn't want to do?"
"... Does making me go swimming in a pond when I was twelve count?"
Christmas laughed loudly. "No, it doesn't."
"Then no, he's never forced me do anything."
"Good. Because I raised him better then that."
"He wanted me to move to Central to stay with you during his time at the Academy. But I c-couldn't leave my... Father... behind. What a stupid mistake that was." Riza scoffed.
"What do you mean?"
Riza sighed softly. Her and Roy were in an agreement that if anyone else was to see her back, then it would be her decision to make. And she decided that Madam Christmas should know.
"Riza?" Chris said, her gruff voice sounding concerned.
"Everything okay?" Roy asked, leaning against the doorway.
"I'm... not sure." Chris told him.
"I want to tell her, about what my Father did while you were gone. I just, don't know how to do it." Riza explained.
"Do what you did for me and just show her?" Roy suggested.
Riza shrugged. "Might as well."
And so, she turned around and removed her turtleneck sweater, revealing the secrets to Flame Alchemy to Madam Christmas.
"Good Lord." She gasped, shaking her head.
"Look what he did to my wife!" Roy snarled angrily, motioning his arm towards Riza's tattoo.
"Don't talk about her like she's your property." Christmas scolded.
"Better then using me as a piece of paper..." Riza scoffed, crossing her arms over her breasts.
"How long did that take to complete?" Christmas asked her. When her question was met with silence, she turned to her nephew in confusion.
"I told her I never wanted to know the answer to that." He frowned, crossing his arms.
"Did he do it all at once or did he do a little here and a little there?" She asked Riza.
"... All at once..."
"Have I mentioned that I'm glad the bastard is dead and rotting in the lowest depths of hell?"
"I'm going to assume that this is something y'all want me to stay hush hush about?" Christmas said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Yes ma'am." Riza said, putting her shirt back on.
Riza was nervous. She'd never been on a train before.
"Relax." Roy cooed in her ear, kissing her cheek.
It was just the two of them, as Madam Christmas' train had left the station fifteen minutes prior.
"Roy, I've been queasy all morning. What if I end up throwing up on the train?" She groaned.
"Just relax. Calm and steady breaths. There's a snack cart on the train, I'll get you some saltines and some mint tea." Roy reassured her.
"Mint tea?"
She has never even heard of mint tea, much less drank it.
"Chris said it's good for nausea. And the crackers are so you have something in your stomach."
"Eight o'clock train for East City, now boarding!"
"That's us." He reminded her, taking her hand as he lead her to the boarding platform.
Trains, Riza found, were extremely boring. She couldn't look out the window because the fast motion gave her a headache, and the wooden bench seats were very uncomfortable.
But at least the crackers and tea Roy ordered her helped settle her stomach.
"Roy?"
"Hmm?"
"I haven't been this bored since before we got married." She huffed.
"I'm sorry, love. Read a book?" He suggested.
"Tried. Got four sentences in and got motion sickness." Riza pouted.
"I wish we were able to confirm if I was pregnant or not before we left. I hate not knowing."
"I know. Once we get settled in I'll help you find a doctor, assuming you don't start before then." Roy reassured her, wrapping his arm around her waist as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Do you have any idea what our home is going to look like? You haven't said."
"Well, because we're married, they gave me three options. A one bedroom apartment, a two bedroom apartment, or a town home. Since we want a big family, I figured it would just be easier to have a town home." He told her.
"Town home sounds nice. How many bedrooms?"
"I have no idea. They didn't say, and I didn't really ask. I do know that it's furnished. But who knows how many pieces they've given us or what it all looks like."
"Crappy furniture is better than no furniture. Do you know how long we'll be living in East City?"
"My contract says five years. But anything could happen. Could stay less, could live there the rest of our lives. Only time will tell." He yawned.
"No yawning. If I can't sleep, you can't sleep." She laughed, ruffling his hair.
"Hey Chonky! Tell your woman to shut her yap up." A middle aged man reading a newspaper a few benches away snapped at Roy.
Uh oh. Riza cringed, seeing Roy's head lift up off her shoulder and his eyes narrow angrily.
"Excuse me? What did you just say asshole?" Roy snarled.
"Roy, please..." Riza whined softly, wanting him to calm down. They still had another two hours of their train ride left. She didn't want to get into any confrontations.
"Did I stutter, you Gook? Tell her to shut up and keep quiet. She should have been raised properly, if she was, she'd know her place." The man snarled.
Roy abruptly stood up, his fists clenched, and Riza let out a soft whimper of fear, her arms wrapping around her stomach. As much as she wanted to stop Roy from getting into a brawl, her main priority was to ensure the safety of the child she wasn't completely sure she was indeed carrying.
Please don't do anything to get yourself a dishonorable discharge, Roy. Please!
"Is there a problem?" A conductor with wonderful timing entered the car, seeing Roy and the other man glaring at each other.
"This man interrupted a private conversation in order to insult me and my wife." Roy told the conductor through gritted teeth.
"You two lovebirds were bothering everyone else with your yapping!" The man snapped at Roy.
"Is this true?" The conductor asked the other twenty car occupants.
Not a single one of them said a word.
"The only one that is bothering any of us is that man who insulted the couple." A dark skinned man, who was at least twenty years older then the racist told the conductor.
"Mind your own business, you Coon!"
"Boy, I know you didn't just call me that! I was born before you, and if you keep that vulgar vocabulary of yours up, I'll die after you!" The darker man snapped.
The older man actually had Roy take a large step back from the racist man, not wanting to get in the middle if the two got into a fist fight.
"To think I joined the army to protect people like you." Roy scoffed at the middle aged man.
"Oh, so they let Chinks in the military now? When did that start?"
"That's it! You sir, come with me!" The conductor yelled, grabbing the jackass by the collar and dragging him away.
"Let me go!" The man snarled angrily.
Once the man was gone and off the train car, the rest of the occupants let out a sigh of relief.
"I hate men like that." The older gentleman scoffed, shaking his head.
"I'm used to terms like that, growing up in Central, but when he insulted my wife..." Roy sighed.
"I understand completely. I once went to jail for three months for punching a man in the jaw for slapping my wife's rear end." The gentleman laughed.
"I heard you say you're in the military. How long you been in?"
"Just finished the Academy last month. Got orders to be in East City by the end of today."
"East City, good place to start a family. Who are you serving under, you know?"
"Lieutenant General Grumman."
"Albert Grumman?" The man laughed, and Roy tried not to tense up.
So my Commanding Officer is Riza's Grandfather... Oh this should be fun.
"I went to the Academy with him. Served together in Central for nearly thirty five years before he became in charge of Eastern Command and I retired. Do me a favor, tell him Harold Walton said hello." The man, now known as Harold, asked Roy.
"Will do." Roy promised, shaking the man's hand as they both went back to their seats.
"Well that was... interesting..." Riza said softly, as Roy wrapped his arm around her.
"Yep." Roy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"So Grumman is...?" Riza asked, trailing off.
"Seems very likely."
East City seemed lovely. It was much bigger then her old town, though not as small as the way Roy has always described Central. It seemed to consist mostly of close together town homes and mom and pop shops.
During the taxi ride to the military base where their home was, Riza could see several schools. Some where for little kids, others for older ones. Based on the matching outfits the students wore, at least one of them was a private school.
All of the schools were bigger then the tiny school she went to.
Her town's school consisted of three classrooms: one for the kids ages four to nine, a second for those ten to thirteen, and a third for teenagers fourteen to eighteen. After the three classrooms was a cafeteria, a small library, and a room meant solely for offices for the principal and what few faculty members the school had.
I wonder what kind of school our children will go to?
When they finally did get to their new home, Riza was awestruck by its simplicity.
Their home was a simple red brick home, with a small front porch and several windows with white shutters covering the front of the two stories. The railings to the steps and front porch were made from cast iron and there was a small spot next to the porch for flowers.
"I know it's not much-"
"It's perfect." Riza smiled, kissing his cheek. Because it looks nothing like the hell hole I spent sixteen and a half years in.
They each picked up their suitcases as Roy dig into his coat pocket for the key to the front door.
"There should be spare keys in a drawer in the kitchen, if not I'll make sure there's a spare made for you as soon as possible." Roy told her, unlocking the front door.
They didn't have much in their home. A small black couch and coffee table placed in front of a fire place, a small dining room table and two chairs in the corner. A staircase was to the left of the front door, and across the living room from the front door was a doorway to the kitchen. Walking around on the dark hardwood floors, Riza could see two doors, one under the staircase, a closet, and another on the wall adjoined to the kitchen doorway, a half bathroom.
"Do you know when our things we had loaded into the truck will arrive?" Riza asked him, sitting her suitcase down by the couch.
"From what I was told, sometime today." Roy answered.
Nodding, Riza made her way up the stairs, her hand gripping the white wooden banister as she did. The hallway was pretty narrow, not too narrow but not as wide as her parents home had been. There were six doors, two on one side, three on the other side of the hall, and one at the end. One of the three doors was a linen closet, the other two were small bedrooms. The two doors on the opposite side was a bathroom and a third small bedroom.
The door at the far end was the biggest bedroom, and the only one of the four bedrooms that had any furniture. A simple queen sized bed with no linens, two nightstands, and a wardrobe. A door in the far corner revealed another bathroom to Riza.
"This place is bigger then it looks." Riza hollered to Roy.
"Really?" He asked, entering their room.
"Four bedrooms two and a half baths. Assuming there's not another bedroom or bathroom hiding somewhere."
"When do you go to work?" Riza asked him.
"I have to inform Gru- your Grandfather, that I'm here in East City by five pm. But unless I was misinformed, I don't go into work until Monday."
"So I get two entire days with my husband?" Riza smirked at him.
"Yep!"
"Good. Because we need bedding and other things, because as nice as what they gave us is, it's all pretty bland." Riza snorted, crossing her arms.
"Well I am going to inform my job that I'm here. Hopefully our stuff arrives while I'm gone." Roy said.
"Do you want me to tell Grumman who you are?" Roy asked her.
"No. Not now. I want you to wait until you get a better idea of what he's like. There's a reason why my parents didn't keep contact with their families. I wanna know if that was my Father's decision or if there is a different reason for it."
"I understand." Roy said, kissing her forehead.
"I should be back soon. I hope. I love you."
"I love you more."
Their things arrived twenty minutes after Roy left.
"Where would you like these ma'am?" One of the men asked her, as they carried in one of the four trunks.
Being called ma'am had Riza doing a double take.
"Is everything alright?" The other man asked, his voice laced with confusion and concern.
"Y-Yes. I'm just not used to being called ma'am. Just stick the boxes and trunks wherever, it doesn't matter. As for the two bookcases, put them in bedroom on the right please." Riza instructed, sitting on the couch as she watched them unload her and Roy's things.
It took the two men fifteen minutes to bring in the four trunks, six boxes, and two empty bookcases her and Roy had brought with them.
Once they were gone, Riza decided to start unpacking. She started with the dishes, putting the cups in one cabinet and the plates in bowls in another. The cast iron skillets, Dutch oven, and the stock pot went in the lower cabinet next to the stove, the tea kettle being placed in the far corner of the kitchen counter. Riza placed the table cloth on to the small table they were provided, but upon discovering it was too big, folded it up and put it back into the trunk to deal with later. She put two of the place mats, napkins, and the napkin rings on the bare table instead The remaining napkins, place mats, and napkin rings went into one drawer, and the flatware went into another.
After the kitchen items were put away, Riza began to unpack the books, taking them upstairs. The educational books of her Fathers that Roy decided to keep for himself going on one shelf, the books of her Mothers that she kept for herself going on the other.
She was halfway done unpacking when Roy came home.
"Well you've been productive." He said, eyebrows raised.
"Bored is a better description." Riza corrected him.
"How's the nausea?" He asked.
"Better. What's my Grandpa like?"
"Don't know." Roy shrugged. "He was in a meeting with someone. I had to leave a message with his adjacent that I was here."
"I see. I would ask you if you wanted to break in the bed, but I'm so exhausted I'd rather just sleep." Riza sighed.
"That's one way to break it in."
The first thing Riza did when she woke up the next morning was empty the what little contents her stomach contained into the toilet of the master bathroom.
She didn't even think she was being that loud until she felt Roy rubbing his hand up and down her back.
"Pretty obvious by now that I am pregnant." Riza sighed, resting her forehead against the rim of the toilet.
"I know. But I'd still rather have a doctor confirm it before we get too excited." Roy sighed, continuing to rub her back.
"Do I look excited to y-"
At this point only stomach acid was coming up.
"Look on the bright side, she'll be worth it." He cooed.
"S-She?" Riza gasped out between vomiting.
"Yep. She. It's going to be a girl."
"Nope. Boy. I'm calling it now." Riza scoffed, rolling her eyes.
Roy snorted, not believing her.
"You still like the names we picked back when we thought you were pregnant two years ago?"
"I do if you do." She said, earning a nod from Roy.
"But I do mean it, Riza. Regardless of what gender we have, they are going to be worth it." He reassured her.
"I know." Riza mumbled, agreeing with him, a small smile on her face.
And then she threw up again.
Their first week in East City went by with a blur.
Roy went to work the following Monday at eight am, leaving Riza alone for an extended period of time for the first time since the day Roy had come home from the Academy.
Her doctors appointment to confirm if she's pregnant or not isn't until Thursday at noon, so she has plenty of time to kill.
She spends most of Monday morning in bed, a package of crackers and a cup of cold mint tea next to her on the nightstand. The only time she gets up is to go to the toilet and vomit.
This throwing up every eight and a half minutes crap better stop soon, or else me and Roy are going to be one and done. Riza let out a groan, slowly standing up to brush her teeth yet again.
She knew that the baby- if she was pregnant, they were both saying if until a medical professional confirmed it even though they both knew by now that she was without a doubt pregnant- would be worth it. A tiny little life that was created out of love (and lets face it, a lot of lust) with ten tiny fingers and ten itty bitty toes, with jet black hair and enchantingly dark eyes.
Riza knows enough about genetics to know that any and all children they do have will not be a blonde like herself, instead all of them will sport Roy's black hair. Either of their eye colors has a fifty-fifty shot, and she doesn't know enough to determine eye shape.
Everything else is a simple luck of the draw.
Riza is still scared she inherited her Mothers problems. Just because she's pregnant, doesn't mean that they'll have a baby. Anything could happen. Roy, bless him, tells her not to worry. That they will become parents when fate decides its their time, not before. But she just can't help it.
Riza wants this baby. She wants every single baby her and Roy will ever create together. She wants to watch the lanky teenager she's known since she was barely ten years old to hear the words "Dada" and to receive Father's Day presents every summer and to one day teach their offspring Alchemy if they wish to learn it from him.
She wants to give him a son.
Riza knows, she knowsknowsknows, that Roy doesn't care if they have all daughters. That having a son, his own little mini me, isn't all that important to him. And she knows that she's lucky to have married him instead of being unlucky like Cleo August had been.
But after being told by her own Father for nearly sixteen and a half years that she was stupid and worthless and useless all because she had been born a daughter, Riza couldn't help but be petrified over not having a son.
But despite what Berthold Hawkeye told her her entire life, Riza isn't stupid. She knows she's being irrational, and she blames it on the surge of hormones that her and Roy's future first born is causing her.
She's glad she didn't get pregnant on the morning after her and Roy's wedding. She knows, after what her Father did to her not even six months after Roy left, that he would have hurt the baby if she had gotten pregnant and stayed with him. And Riza knows that if the baby had been a tiny precious little girl, Berthold would have killed her.
He would've done it during the night, smothered her with a pillow or used some sick and twisted form of Alchemy to stop her heartbeat while Riza slept in the same exact room, and told her in the morning when she woke him up screaming in hysterics over her cold and lifeless newborn baby, that it was probably that strange phenomenon that causes babies to die for no reason-
Those thoughts have Riza vomiting once more.
Her doctor appointment Thursday afternoon isn't what she's expecting.
Riza figured she find out then and there if she was pregnant, not have blood drawn and a urine sample be taken, only to then get told "We'll call you on Monday during office hours to tell you your tests results. Have a wonderful rest of your day, Mrs. Mustang!" before metaphorically shoving her out of the exam room.
She's back home and bored out of her skull before one o'clock.
Ugggghhhhh!
Riza doesn't know what to do. Normal wives would be cleaning their house, cooking meals, taking care of their little ones, chit chatting with friends, or shopping while their husbands were away at work.
But those aren't really options for her. Their home is clean, it's no where near dinner time nor is she hungry herself, she doesn't have any children to take care of yet, she has no friends here at the moment, and while she knows Roy does get an okay paycheck every week, despite his rank of a fresh out of the Academy Corporal, she knows it's not much and she would definetly rather have food on the table then a new pair of shoes.
So she decides to take a walk around the military base where their home is. Riza knows they'll be living in East City for roughly five years, but has no idea how long they'll be living in their current home. It was a question she never thought to ask Roy.
The base is simple. Lots of houses ranging in sizes, some are bigger than her and Roy's while most are smaller, a few apartment buildings here and there, a decent sized park with benches and a playground for young children, and a wonderfully large pool that she will never be able to enjoy.
Behind the pool, Riza notices a decent sized building with a large glass door and no windows that she can see from where she's at. Curiously, but making sure to stay cautious in case she's not allowed near that building as a civilian and a woman, she walks towards the beige building and knocks on the door.
A portly bald man answers the door a few moments later.
"Yes ma'am?" He asked, no sign of cruelty in his voice over being bothered by her.
"Excuse me, but if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is this building?" Riza asked him.
"Civilian self defense building." He answered.
"The what?"
He snorted, a simple smile on his face. "Civilian self defense building. It allows the families of military personnel to take self defense courses. Martial arts, boxing- even teaches you how to use a gun. Anyone over the age of five is welcome to attend classes."
Interesting.
"But girls and those under the ages of thirteen need permission from their husbands and fathers." He explained to Riza.
Of course they do.
"Thank you for answering, sorry to interrupt whatever it is you were doing." Riza said politely, bowing her head.
"Not a problem ma'am. You have a good afternoon." He told her, turning to walk back into the building as Riza turned to walk away.
"You too Sir." She said over her shoulder.
Chonky- refers to a person of Chinese heritage with white attributes whether being a personality aspect or physical aspect.
Gook- a derogatory term for Asians first used by the U.S. military against South-East Asians.
Coon- a racial slur used pejoratively to refer to a person of African, Australian Aboriginal, or Pacific island heritage.
Chink- is an English language ethnic slur usually referring to a person of Chinese descent.