Edited: April 15, 2018

Chapter 6: አባት (Amharic: abati)

The whole room fell silent save for the soft music coming from the television, and the adults all turned their wide eyes towards Edward. The said child's desperate gaze never wavered from his mother's. It was as if he thought if he relented for even a moment, she would answer his question in affirmative and just die right then and there.

"What…" Riza paused, collecting her thoughts and reminding herself that she was talking to a four-year-old.

Her eyes drifted towards Roy's and they exchanged glances. His dark eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. Edward's question must have surprised him too. He shrugged in a helpless manner, signaling that he didn't know what to do either.

"What made you think so, Edward?" she finally asked, carefully pulling the highly-emotional child to her lap.

Edward clutched the front of her hospital gown and buried his face in her chest. He shook his head and refrained from telling her why he suddenly asked if she was dying.

The blonde sniper decided not to push the subject and just held the child close, choosing to let her motherly instincts kick in and relishing on the feeling of the small body cradled in her arms.

She now knew what a mother felt when holding her troubled child.

Her heart had thudded painfully when she saw the boy's teary eyes as he asked her the question. Why would he even think that she wouldn't be around for long? For some reason, the thought brought a heavy weight to her heart and she quickly vanquished any thoughts of the two children being left alone to fend for themselves.

Roy had never been so confused in his life. One moment, Edward was happily playing with Maes' daughter. Then the next, he was shocking everyone by asking such a loaded question. What's up with this kid, honestly?

Also, he had absolutely no experience handling crying children before, seeing as he was the youngest kid in Christmas' bar. So just imagine his panic when Alphonse suddenly burst into tears in sync with his older brother.

Big, fat tears rolled down the three-year-old's chubby cheeks when he noticed Edward clinging to their Mama for dear life and he squirmed restlessly in Roy's grip, demanding to be released so he could comfort his brother. The older man's arms were unrelenting, so he resorted to flailing his arms around wildly.

"Ow!" Roy grunted more in surprise than pain when the kid's fist slugged his face.

Maes snickered as he opened the refrigerator to retrieve a pitcher of ice cold water. "You're lucky children don't belong to the voting population, my friend."

He set the boy on the bed beside Riza and rubbed his abused nose. "And why is that?" he asked, suspicious.

"Because you're not very popular with them."

He rolled his eyes at his bestfriend, relishing on this chance to banter with him. "Aww, damn you, Maes."

The two women in the room collectively gasped and turned to him sharply. "Language, Roy!"

"I guess you won't be popular with the women too."

The whole room was bathed in reds and yellows by the time the Hughes family left. After they ate their lunch, Roy and Maes delved into their plans on the upcoming start of the election campaigns while Riza entertained Gracia's fawning over the news of her pregnancy. Maes was his political adviser and spokesperson. Roy also learned that the rest of his unit worked closely with them.

Jean Havoc was the Mustangs' Head of Security and Roy's personal bodyguard, personally selected by Roy for his marksmanship and loyalty. That, and they had become good friends when they were assigned a mission together during Roy's mandatory two years of military service.

Heymans Breda was Havoc's second-in-command and the strategist of the team. Roy met the burly man after he won as Governor of the East region. Roy had gone to eat at a local diner with Riza who was, then, five months pregnant with Edward. Breda had been sitting in the next table, eating a burger, and tipped his hat in recognition of the newly-appointed governor, and congratulated Roy on both the win and the baby. Later on, it was he who shouted at them to get down just before the first bullet broke the diner's window and lodged into the back of Roy's seat. Breda was a retired second lieutenant and Roy immediately recruited him to be part of the team.

Vato Falman, according to Maes, was introduced to him by accident. The older man had worked in the agency assigned with the local government's official documents. Roy had been irritable one morning because someone typed the wrong serial number for a particularly important document and it was due to be sent to President Grumman that very same day. Falman was passing by the governor's open office door and offered to help. Maes recalled that Roy was reluctant but accepted the help anyway and invited the grey-haired man into the office. Falman was given the document, took one look at it and promptly listed off numbers and letters that made up the serial number of the document. Roy immediately sent Breda to the archives to check if the numbers matched, still a bit skeptical of the older man's mental prowess. Not long after that, Breda returned with the confirmation that it was indeed correct. And Roy proceeded to further test Falman's ability. Havoc had enjoyed watching Falman scribble furiously as he recounted the Amestrian Book of Law word for word.

Feury was the newest member of the team, having only joined not even a year ago. He was just fresh out of college when Roy personally sought him out and offered him a job as his communications specialist. Apparently, his thesis about Ishval sparked his interest/

The last team member was…

He looked over to the blond-haired woman who stubbornly struggled to climb onto the bed from her wheelchair. She had just finished showering since she was not able to do so when the Hughes family arrived earlier.

He watched as Riza put both hands flat on the mattress and braced herself into a mighty heave. But, her body still weak from the bruises she obtained from the accident, her arms shook violently. She eventually dropped back to her chair with a frustrated huff.

He moved towards her from his spot by the window. "You know you could always ask for my help."

She directed the full force of her glare towards him and he could see that she was more embarrassed than angry that he saw her in that situation. "No, sir. I can manage," she replied tersely, preparing to try once more. "I just needed to-"

A small gasp of surprise escaped her lips when Roy wordlessly hooked his arms under her knees and effortlessly lifted her to the bed while being extra careful not to wake the sleeping children.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'sir'?" he lightly scolded.

"Habits," she muttered. Her amber gaze slid over to the two children. It had been challenging to get Edward to let go of her all afternoon and she had to wait until he fell asleep before she could even think about going somewhere else.

Alphonse had also clung to her with that same desperation that confused both her and Roy.

"These two are such Mama's boys," Roy commented, taking a seat on the space next to her. He motioned for her to turn around.

She eyed him curiously but later complied to his request. "They have always been Mama's boys…even before."

Roy suppressed a shudder as the images of humanoid that supposedly was Trisha Elric in the Elrics' basement amidst the blood and gore that scattered the floor. Instead, he busied himself with undoing the towel that she wrapped around her head. A smirk formed on his lips at the way she jumped when his fingers accidentally brushed against her neck, free of the scar that marred the smooth skin. It struck him that most of the scars from the other world disappeared in this one.

His dark eyes bore on her clothed back.

Is it possible…?

"What are you doing, Roy?"

He came back from his musings and his smirk widened. Riza might not have stuttered or squeaked when she spoke, but he knew she was uncomfortable. And he preferred her uncomfortable than apathetic. "Relax, I'll just help you brush your hair." He fingered the soft strands and marveled at the sight before him though he saw it before. It was the first thing he noticed when he regained consciousness in this world after all. "I know you're not used to it being this long."

In all the years they have known each other, the longest Roy had ever seen Riza grow her hair was after they got transferred to Central. It had reached past her shoulders but she always tied it up in her signature unforgiving bun. The only time he saw her let it loose was when she visited him at the hospital after the Promised Day.

He guessed she did that so he won't get a glimpse of the bandages on her neck.

He let his fingers slide from her scalp to the very tips of her blonde strands against her hip, drawing a sigh from her. "Thank you."

Behind her, Roy chuckled and shook his head. He picked up the comb from the nightstand and started on his task. "So what was that with Edward earlier?"

She absentmindedly scratched the skin she could reach under the cast. "I think he got upset over my injury," she told him. "I saw him eyeing and touching my cast suspiciously before he asked me that question."

"Hmm…" he hummed, deep in thought.

She let the silence drag on for a couple of minutes before breaking it. "What's on your mind?"

The brush glided deliciously against her scalp and he felt her sigh against him. "Don't you find it strange?"

"What is?"

He let his hands fall to his lap when she turned to face him, her features forming a delicate frown. It was quickly replaced with a gentle expression when Edward rolled over in his sleep and snuggled against her side, both mother and son sighing in contentment, albeit the former doing it unconsciously.

"That you actually look like the kids," he answered, his right hand rising to twirl a few strands of her hair. "You know, same colouring and all."

Her eyebrow rose. "And…?"

He dropped his hand once more and his gaze followed. "And I don't, yet people still believe that they're my sons."

"Let me see…" He heard her shift slightly and felt her fingers against his chin, bringing his head back up to peer at his face.

His breath faltered at her sudden and unexpected close proximity. He could now clearly see the gold and red specks of colour in her irises. He was surprised to see a couple of subtle freckles – they had to have appeared when they transferred from the hot climate of East City to the dreary and cold Central – dotting the skin around her nose.

"H-Hey…"

"Well, sir, I'd have to say that I found quite a lot of similarities between you and the boys," Riza finally declared after a few moments of scrutinizing his face. Her fingers slid from his chin to fully cup his jaw and he wondered if she felt his face heating up. "You three share the same set of jaw." Then her forefinger extended slightly to tickle his earlobe that he had to suppress a shudder. "The same monkey ears." Her thumb slid to his nose, letting him smell the coconut vanilla lotion Gracia had brought for her earlier. "The same nose shape." He stopped breathing altogether as her thumb brushed his mouth. "And the way you smirk arrogantly is identical. Seriously, all they have of me is the hair and the eyes. The rest is all you."

Then she dropped her hand and turned towards the suddenly fussy Alphonse. He had been so caught up with her ministrations that he didn't notice the child waking up. He shook his head and breathed in deeply to help calm his erratic heartbeat.

Seriously, what the fuck was that, Hawkeye?

Okay, I know. It was super late. OTL