I decided to put all of my one-shots into one large story. Enjoy.
Chapter One: Worth It
Pairing: Royai
Characters: Riza Hawkeye, Roy Mustang, Rebecca Catalina, Team Mustang
Rating: T
Summary: Riza knew, no matter what happened with their careers, that the tiny precious life they created was going to be worth it in the end.
Riza couldn't believe what she was staring at.
Laying next to her on the hospital bed, wrapped up in a thin blanket, was a tiny ebony haired baby girl.
Her baby girl.
No, scratch that. Her and Roy's baby girl.
And not a soul in the world knew that the new life was coming. Not even her own Mother.
When the pain in her abdomen had started during the exam doctors were giving her following her injuries due to the Promised Day, they all feared that her appendix had ruptured.
No one could've guessed that the pain she was feeling were contractions.
To say Riza freaked out when she came to post surgery when told that her baby- a daughter- was born healthy, despite barely weighting four pounds, would be an understatement.
"Baby!? What baby?! I couldn't have had a baby! Having a baby requires you to be pregnant!" She had shrieked at them.
That revelation had surprised the surgeon who had performed her surprise Caesarian.
"You mean you didn't know you were pregnant?" He asked in genuine shock.
"Do I look like a woman who was aware she was going to be a Mother!? If I knew I would've stayed home from work today!" She snapped.
Riza sighed, watching her nameless daughter sleep beside her. She thought back to everything that had happened the last few months.
Being attacked by Gluttony...
Pride...
Envy...
Her throat being sliced open...
All those events having happened post conception.
"Oh baby girl, how did you even survive everything that's happened to you?" Riza cooed, stroking her daughter's cheek.
It was nothing short of a miracle that this precious life had survived to term, much less been born breathing.
Her daughter's response was to yawn, opening her eyes for her Mother to see for the first time.
Black.
Riza sighed, a frown on her face. No matter how hard she prayed, she knew it was futile to hope that anyone wouldn't see the obvious resemblance between The Flame Alchemist and his adjacent's newly born daughter.
Speaking of Roy, he was still blind because of what had happened. He'd never be able to even see his daughter because of what Bradley had done.
He had become both blind and a father on the same day.
Rebecca Catalina was panicking.
Her best friend since the Academy had just had a baby. A baby that looked exactly like a certain half-Xingese State Alchemist.
This was definetly gonna be a career ruiner for both of them.
Leaving Riza and her baby alone to recover on the fourth floor, Rebecca ran down the steps to the third floor straight to the Colonel's recovery room, quietly opening the door, a finger to her lips before Breda, Falman, or Fuery had a chance to announce her arrival. Making a come hither motion with her other hand, she made it clear that this was not a conversation to be had within earshot of their former commanding officer.
"Hey Chief, we'll be right back. Want anything from the cafeteria?" Falman asked.
"Yeah. Something Breda won't steal from me." Roy smirked.
The three men all got up and followed Rebecca out the door, Fuery closing it behind them. She made them walk a few more feet before turning to them.
"Something... happened while Riza was in surgery..." she sighed, not knowing how to start.
Breda, Falman, and Fuery all went pale.
"Oh God no. No please. Not Riza. T-tell me she didn't..." Fuery gulped.
"No. No. She's alive. She's currently recovering up on the Fourth Floor." Rebecca mumbled, keeping her voice low.
"Fourth Floor? Huh. That's for Pediatrics and... Ohh my God." Falman began, eyes wide.
"Ohh my God what?" Breda asked, smirking.
"Maternity." Falman sighed.
"Holy shit." Breda groaned.
"Exactly." Rebecca informed them.
"So those pains in her abdomen she was feeling wasn't her appendix rupturing like the doctors thought?" Fuery asked.
"Nope. Contractions." Rebecca huffed, shaking her head.
"What the hell was she thinking? Going on such a dangerous mission when she was fucking pregnant?!" Breda snarled lowly.
"Yeah, Hawkeye isn't that stupid. She can't be. Major General Armstrong always told Mustang 'You and your Team have a combined total of three brain cells, and Lieutenant Hawkeye has two of them at all times.'." Falman sighed.
"I didn't even know Riza was pregnant." Fuery said. He'd always viewed Riza as an older sister, while the other subordinates had viewed her as a younger one.
"Yeah, well... based on how she reacted when the doctors told her that she had a baby, Riza didn't know she was pregnant either." Rebecca groaned.
That surprised the men.
"How does a woman not know something like that?" Falman asked.
"You guys saw her yesterday? Did she look like she was seven plus months pregnant? Besides, the last few months have been stressful for her, stress makes a woman's... cycle... go completely out of whack. And that's assuming that it's on a normal schedule to begin with!" Rebecca snarled.
"What I don't understand is why you're telling us this out in the middle of the hallway instead of privately in Mustang's hospital room." Breda said, arms crossed.
"Because it is very obvious who the father is." Rebecca hissed at them.
"Seriously?" Fuery squeaked, earning a nod from Rebecca.
"All anyone from the Military has to do is take one look at that baby and they'll know who her father is." She sighed.
"Her?" They said in unison.
"A baby girl. Four pounds, one ounce, eighteen and a half inches long. Tiny little thing but according to the doctors, she's thriving despite her size. She's got a head full of black hair, and it wouldn't surprise me if her eyes end up being just as dark." Rebecca nodded, smiling at them.
Breda, Falman, and Fuery all grinned at the irony. Roy Mustang, well known womanizer, now had a daughter.
Roy Mustang knew something was wrong with Riza Hawkeye when, hours after she was taken in for surgery for a suspected ruptured appendix, no one had given him any sort of update on her condition, positive or negative.
And the lack of updates was infuriating him. Especially since his former subordinates hadn't returned to his room, and it had been at least two hours since they left.
"I demand that someone-anyone- tell me something about Lieutenant Hawkeye's condition!" He snarled at whoever was in his hospital room with him.
It was a random nurse who was changing the bandages on his hands that told him.
"Sir, the only Hawkeye in the entire hospital old enough to be in the military is currently up on the fourth floor, recovering from a caesarian section in the maternity ward with her daughter." She told him.
Roy felt his blood turn cold.
Daughter? Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. He felt his mind racing with a thousand thoughts a minute. Were Riza and the baby both okay? Why didn't she tell him she was pregnant? Was it his baby or did something horrible happen to her while she was being held hostage by Bradley? Just because Bradley was a Homonculus and couldn't produce a biological child himself, didn't mean he couldn't have ordered another officer to-
Roy immediately forced those types of thoughts out of his mind, not wanting to think of something like that happening to his childhood friend and possible mother of his daughter.
"C-can... can you take me to see her? She doesn't have any family in the area and I've known her for years." Roy asked the nurse.
"Alright." The nurse sighed. "Let me get you a wheelchair and I'll take you to the elevator."
"Thank you very much ma'am."
Roy let out a huff, frowning.
He was a dad. Even if something bad had happened to Riza, he'd be the closest thing that little girl would ever have to a Father. She was his daughter from the moment she was conceived, whether he had been there or not.
And he was blind. Great. Just great. He would never get to watch his daughter grow and flourish into the wonderful young woman he knew she'd become.
Just like Hughes...
The wheelchair ride to the fourth floor was silent. The nurse said nothing to him and he said nothing to her. Finally after what felt like an hour, they made it to Hawkeye's hospital room. While he couldn't see it, she was sitting up in her bed, a look of pure love in her eyes as she nursed her- their- tiny newborn daughter.
"Hey." He spoke up, finally making his presence known.
"Hello Colonel." She said quietly. The nurse wheeled Roy to her bed, before leaving out the door, not saying a word.
"How are your hands doing?" Riza asked him when the door shut.
"Fine. The stitches itch a little. How's your neck?" He asked.
"Good. The stitches itch a lot." She smirked.
"Is she mine?" Roy asked quietly.
"Of course she is. I've never been with anyone else before." Riza said, giving him a small smile.
Roy sighed with relief. Not just because he was that baby girl's father, but because she was the result of a moment of comfort between two friends over the loss of a friend and comrade, and not the result of her mother being violated.
"Would you like to hold her?" Riza asked.
"No." He mumbled quietly. "I don't want to risk accidentally hurting her because I'm still not used to my injuries."
"I understand."
"So who does she look like?"
"You. Absolutely, without a doubt, you. She has your hair color and her eyes already match yours as well. Only obvious physical trait she shares with me is gender. We'd have a better chance of convincing people I'm not her Mother then we would convincing people you're not her Father." Riza informed him.
"Really? You'd think she'd inherited something from you." Roy mused.
"Nothing as of yet. Maybe when she begins to look less like a generic newborn and more like her own person, I'll see more of myself in her." Riza shrugged, placing their nameless daughter over her shoulder to burp her.
Roy gave a small nod in understanding.
As silently as she could, Riza scooted over to the far edge of her hospital bed, away from Roy. When he opened his mouth to ask what she was doing, she interrupted him.
"Get in bed and lay on your left side." She ordered.
Confused, he did as he was told, taking a few minutes to get himself into a comfortable position in the small bed. Once he was comfortable, Riza placed their newborn daughter in the space between and rolled over to her right side, and placed one of Roy's bandaged hands over their daughter's stomach.
"She's so small." He muttered silently.
"Mhm. Four pounds, one ounce, eighteen and a half inches." Riza informed him.
"I still can't believe I didn't even know I was pregnant." She groaned.
"Well you didn't exactly look pregnant." He reminded her.
"I didn't even miss a period. I mean they were very light and extremely short in comparison, but I still got them." Riza huffed.
"Don't give yourself too much grief. It's not your fault for not knowing. No one is going to blame you. I certainly don't." Roy told her, smiling when their daughter gripped his index finger in her tiny fist.
"Roy, I'm scared. This- she- is going to change everything. All of our plans and goals are up in the air now. Nothing is going to be the same after this." She sighed, her middle finger being grasped in their daughters other fist. A small smile graced her lips as their newborn cooed happily over the small physical contact she shared with both of her parents.
"I know. I'm scared too, Riza." He told her.
"But you know what? Despite everything that's happened and will happen, she's going to be worth it." He told her, placing a small kiss on the crown of their daughters head.
"You think so?" Riza asked quietly.
"I know so." He started matter-oh-factly.
Riza smiled softly, knowing he was right.
"Good. So do I." She agreed, kissing their daughters cheek.
Riza knew, no matter what happened with their careers, that the tiny precious life they created was going to be worth it in the end.