Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is not owned by me, but by Hiromi Arakawa. I only own my OC!

Chapter 5: Familial Bonds

A/N

So I've been trying to write back to all who've reviewed – bc their reviews mean so much to me, and I did tell one reviewer who asked that I'd sadly still followthrough with Maes. If anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about, I'll leave it at that – but yes, that's still happening. 🙁

But sadly – bc I love Maes as a character, I read ahead of the manga a little bit to see how long it'd be – and it's literally in the next two chapters. My heart almost BROKE. So... expect a smiling chapter today (it's Monday/Tuesday/Thursday when I'm writing, but I probably won't finish until Thurs/Fri) and probably the feels come next week.

Well – that's all I have for you today. Elicia's turning 3!

Hope you all enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review if you're so kind! I appreciate any feedback.

Love, alinalee

The duo had decidedly left the hospital, leaving one behind. The girl had insisted, declaring that she had paperwork to do and more patients to see.

She just hoped she wouldn't be late this time.

So, while she was hard busy at work, two others were walking alongside the streets of Central, bags full of overstuffed toys in hand.

"Um... Mr. Hughes?" Winry asks politely, her eyes wandering over to the soldier she was walking beside.

"Yes?" he acknowledges, smiling.

"Why are you buying all this stuff?"

By now, Maes Hughes is not smiling – no, it's a full-on grin. "I'm so glad you asked! It's my daughter's birthday, she just turned three!"

Winry smiled at his response, continuing to walk alongside Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes with the gifts as she left herself to her own thoughts. He's so proud...so insatiably loving of his daughter.

"Welcome home, papa!" A young girl exclaims, as she runs down the steps to greet her father, a beam on her face.

"Oh my, what a cute guest we have," the mother, Gracia, comments as she sees her daughter run off to greet her father – and her husband, as she looks at the blonde guest with a smile, her lips turned upward.

"Elicia, I missed you so much!" Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes gushed, hugging – no, squeezing his youngest daughter with love and affection.

"Remember the Elric brothers I told you about?" Maes talks to his wife, with Elicia and Winry beside him.

"Uh-huh."

"This is Winry, an old friend of theirs from childhood. Mel had told me she was looking for a place to stay for the night, so I brought her here."

"This is my wife Gracia, and my daughter Elicia. You already met my eldest, Melissa." he introduces to Winry, who nods.

"Thank you for letting me stay," she replies, looking at the family with a smile.

"It's our pleasure, dear, now come in and make yourself at home." Gracia says, opening the door to the Hughes's home so the blonde could enter.

"Where's sissy?" Elicia asked, looking up at her father with doe eyes before Winry could walk in.

"Big sissy had to finish up some last-minute work at the hospital again, thanks to Uncle Roy." Maes responds, smiling fondly. "But she said she'd be home within the hour."

Winry smiled at the conversation. Such a tight sisterly relationship, she thought as she walked into the Hughes's residence, her luggage behind her.

Elicia follows close behind Winry with a bounce in her step. Just before the staircase, Winry places her luggage down to crouch down on the younger girl's level. "How old are you, Elicia?" she asks, smiling brightly.

Elicia's eyes widen. "Tw..." she holds up two fingers, then pauses, instead holding up three fingers triumphantly.

"Three!" she finishes, as Winry gushes at the young girl.

Meanwhile, the husband and wife smile fondly at their daughter and their guest, both thinking the same thing.

"Elicia!" a large crowd surrounded the family room table, full of young kids, teenagers, and adults all bearing a smile full of love. "Happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday, sis," Melissa comments quietly, a small but endearing sile on her face as she sits down at one of the chairs, her blue cloak sitting beside her. She had changed, realizing that wearing her doctor's coat for her sister's birthday wasn't very... nice of her.

Everyone gave out shouts of endearments, yays and whohoos filling the room as the young girl stood at the end of the large table, a cake in front of her.

Elicia smiles largely as everyone begins singing, though beaming when she notices her elder sister stands up and approaches her.

The two meet eye contact as the elder one smiles gently, her lips speaking with love. "Happy birthday, dear sister," she sings as she stands beside Elicia, who now is fully enveloping her surroundings. "Happy birthday, to you."

The party continues on, families and kids bubbling in excitement once Elicia had finished opening all of her presents.

The poor girl almost buried herself in the large teddy bear Melissa thought would've died of loss of breath if that was a real human being, but, nonetheless, it was still a great day.

"Papa, papa!" Elicia wails, running up to her father with a frown. "The mouse you gave me isn't working!"

"Hm," Maes pondered, frowning as he placed his hand on his temple in concentration. "Maybe it's defective?"

"That'd be terrible," Melissa commented, her eyes looking at her younger sister closely. "Winry, can you do anything?"

"I should," she replied, turning to Elicia. "Hey, Elicia, can I see that mouse for a second?" The girl hands over the mouse to the mechanic, who pulls out a screwdriver and begins to meddle. "Yup. The gears are out of alignment..." she said out loud, finishing up.

"There. Here you go!" Winry smiled, placing the mouse on the floor.

As it began to move, Elicia gushed. "Wow!" The mouse continued around the floor, Elicia following it like a hawk. "Woah! Cool!"

"Hm... not too shabby," Maes comments, smiling.

"Great job, Win!" Melissa hugs the blonde, giving her a look of thanks.

What topped off the cake, however, was Elicia as she turned to face the automail mechanic. "You're a toy doctor!"

Winry laughed. "Not really, but you're close," she looks at Elicia, ruffling her hair as the girl moves to sit on Melissa's lap, content with the mechanical mouse.

"So... you're Ed's mechanic, right?" Hughes asks Winry, starting up polite conversation.

"Yeah, we were both born in Resembool and our houses were close together."

"Childhood friends, then," Melissa noted with a small smile, Winry nodding at the words.

"We've always been together since we were little, so he's like a brother to me." the mechanic continued, briefly looking at a content Elicia playing with her mouse.

"Knowing Ed, he must have caused you a lot of trouble, huh?" Maes jokes, cracking a large smile.

Winry laughs along, replying. "Not really trouble, but he does make me worry a lot." Melissa's laughter slowly turned into a frown as she let the blonde continue, understanding the clue beneath her words. "He'll come back once in a while and his arm will be completely trashed."

"Oh, Winry..." Melissa whispers, a solemn look on her face.

"I came out here today to fix his arm – I didn't expect to find him hospitalized with severe injuries. And Al seems to have a lot on his mind too...

"It was just two weeks ago... that I made brand-new automail for Ed, and when I saw it today, it was in really bad shape. Not only that but his whole body was covered in wounds. It makes me wonder what kind of lives they live...

"But they never tell me anything about it. They didn't even tell me when they decided to leave town to get their original bodies back. Maybe if we were a real family..." At this Melissa's heart broke. "They might have told me about their journey and about what caused his wounds."

Silence erupted in the room, Melissa looking at Winry with a small frown. "Win..." The only answer the alchemist received was a sniffle, her mind sinking deep with empathy as she thought of her new friend.

But Maes broke the silence. "It's not that they didn't want to tell you so much as they didn't think that they needed to tell you." he pushed up his glasses. "They must have assumed you would understand without them having to explain everything, Winry."

Maes smiled, as he took off his glasses, cleaning them. "That's just the way it is. Men express themselves through their actions, not their words."

You aren't even my daughter.

Who are you again? Why are you here? Oh, that's right, because you're useless. You weren't supposed to be born, you insignificant brat.

I guess the only thing you're good for is alchemy... something a bitch like you should never have learned... but I guess I can finally prove to use alchemy as a weapon after all. Thanks, you stupid excuse for a daughter.

What did you say? You're sorry? Try saying sorry when you shouldn't even exist! Now, try the transmutation again. You and I both know what's going to happen if you make me impatient. Now, don't you, Melissa?

Human transmutation's the one thing you haven't done yet, you brat. Here, why don't you start... and transmute your mother, while you're at it... You're still not over her sad, little death in her car accident almost 6 years ago, are you? Pathetic.

"There are some things that I need to be told to understand," Maes continued, knocking his daughter out of a daydream as she blinked her eyes wide, frantically darting them across the room before finally landing on her sister, still enjoying her mechanical little mouse.

"They would rather shoulder their pain themselves... than cause their loved ones to worry. That's why they won't say anything about it. When they decide to tell them your troubles..." he looks at Winry, a smile on his face. "That's when you need to be there for them. Isn't that enough?"

"Hey, Dad," Melissa approached her father as the two watched as Winry walked outside the Hughes' residence with Elicia and Gracia behind her.

"Hm?" he acknowledged, looking down at her with a small smile.

"That boy I healed in the hospital today... Ed. Winry's been worrying about him... and I can tell you have too, Dad," she started, thinking at her trail of thought.

"And?" Maes asked, fully paying attention to his daughter now.

"Winry had mentioned all of his wounds... Ed being hospitalized... Dad, can I... can I go with them?"

Pause. The whole room was silent as if the words the alchemist had spoken were muffled, thrown away, and never spoken at all.

"I... I know, but... if I go with them, I can hopefully cease their injuries, gain more alchemical experience... and, maybe, grow as a person? Maybe..." she thought, deeply contemplating. "maybe I could regain the courage to play again..."

At this, Maes looked truly sad, bringing his daughter to a tight hug. "If you think you can help them, you can go. Just as long as you come home."

Small tears escaped Melissa's eyes as she looked at her father, hugging the man tighter. "Thanks, dad..."

"And, as long as I can still hear you play one last time. It's been so long..." he thought aloud, looking at his daughter with a bright smile. "I know it takes time, but... you're really good at it, kiddo."

"I... yeah," she started, sniffling. "thanks, Dad."

Omake:

"Elicia!" some young boys cried, running up to the birthday girl with small, innocent smiles on their faces.

"Let's play!" one said.

"Nuh-oh! Elicia's gonna play with me!"

"No, with me!" another squealing, shouting at the other boys as they argued.

"Hey, Dad," Melissa commented wryly. "Little sis Elicia's a lot more popular at 3 than I've been my whole life."

"Hm?" Maes turned around, seeing the boys argue over his daughter. "Watch it, you little punks. Don't even think about putting your hands on my daughter!" his glasses glinted in fury as he cocked his military gun, scaring everyone around him.

"Dad..." Melissa replied, warily. "You're being a little too overprotective of poor Elicia, now..."

"What? You can never be too protective!" he retorts, shoving the gun once more in the boys' faces as they ran off in terror. "And besides, Elicia is safe now anyways!"

"Glad he doesn't do that to me..," the alchemist muttered with a small condescending frown.