Ed's train to East City pulled in late that afternoon. He shielded his eyes from the sinking sun as he stepped onto the platform. Things had changed since he'd last been here. Buildings had gone up, businesses had moved, and even the street signs had been changed. But Ed was sure he wouldn't get lost, like he had once when he was thirteen. He pulled a map out of his pocket, figuring how far he'd have to go down 32nd street.

"Need help getting someplace, Mister?"

Ed lowered the map and saw a brown-haired girl in a little burlap dress standing in front of him. "For fifty cenz you can have me as a guide," she added.

Ed smirked. "Is that what the kids in East do these days? Heckle newcomers for spare change?"

She shrugged. "I was just asking."

Ed considered her. She didn't look destitute, but the prouder poor people never did. Still, he figured she wouldn't be hiring herself out for odd jobs if she didn't need the money.

"I haven't been here in years," he told her, "and never to the place I'm headed. You know how to get to Haverden Avenue?"

"Sure do," she said. "Come on, it's this way."

A little excited, she took off at a run, and Ed took quick steps to keep up with her. But as they left the train station, she slowed down, conscientious of losing him. She didn't say much to him as they walked, other than when and where they were turning. He tried to make conversation with her, but he got short answers.

"Do you like hanging around the train station?"

"I guess."

"Do your parents let you do it a lot?"

"My mom doesn't mind."

"You ever go to that soda shop there?"

"Nah."

Not about to give up, Ed asked another question. "Do you get a lot of jobs like this?"

"Not a ton." And to Ed's surprise, she added, "I have to get them before the other kids do."

"So you got competition," he said.

She nodded. "I haven't been doing it as long as the others have. They don't like that I started. Say I'm stealing their jobs."

"Sounds like they give you a hard time."

"Yeah. It doesn't bother me, though."

Ed asked a question that an adult might consider rude, but a child might not mind. "And what do you guys do with the money you make? Give it to your families? Buy candy?"

"I dunno what the others do," she said. "Why are you so nosy?"

Ed shrugged. "I'm just used to asking questions."

"Grown-ups don't ask a lot of questions," she said. "That's what kids do."

"That's not true," said Ed. "Anyone can ask questions. It's only people who don't want to learn anything that don't."

After a moment to consider that, she asked, "So why do you want to learn about me?"

"I dunno. I guess I'm just curious." Ed held out his hand to her. "My name's Ed, by the way. Edward Elric."

The girl stopped walking and gingerly took his hand. "I'm Annaliese."

"Annaliese?" Ed repeated the name for what felt like the thousandth time that day. "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Durden, would it?"

She raised an eyebrow. "It is."

Ed found himself gripping her hand tighter. "You live at 686 Haverden? In number 4B?"

"Yes," she answered, but in a tone that said, you better tell me what's going on.

Ed didn't know what to say. What could he say? This was not how he imagined this meeting going at all. "I. Um," he started, and he found himself looking her directly in the eye for the first time. How had he not noticed their eyes were the same color? "You're just the whole reason I came here," he said.

She looked at him warily, glancing at their still-joined hands. "And what's that?" she asked.

"I'm your father."

She didn't answer right away, but her face clearly said you've got to be kidding me. Ed couldn't help but agree. Running into his daughter completely by accident - it was something out of a goddamn romance novel.

"I didn't know I had a father," she finally said.

"I didn't know about you either."

"How did you find out?"

Ed didn't explain the details. He just said he'd run into her mother - also by accident - and that they'd arranged for Annaliese to stay with him while she recovered from port surgery.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Port surgery? You know - for automail?"

"Isn't that for people who've lost their arms and legs?"

The question stopped Ed cold. "Did nobody tell you? Your mom lost her right leg."

"I haven't heard from Mom since Batty made her go to the hospital."

"Batty?"

"Our landlady. She said she didn't want anyone else getting sick, so she made Mom leave. She keeps telling me Mom's dead, but I keep telling her, they would've told us if she died, so she must be getting better." She turned hopeful eyes toward Ed, the most expressive he'd seen her yet. "Is she better?"

Ed told her, "She's not sick anymore. But her right leg got infected so bad they had to cut it off. So now she's getting automail. It'll take awhile for her to get completely back to normal, but she'll be fine."

Annaliese turned away from Ed, but he could see how powerfully relieved she was. He was glad she didn't have to worry anymore. He knew how it felt, to watch your mother waste away right in front of you, and he was glad she didn't have to go through that. But then he realized he was comparing Nora Durden to his own mother, and felt a little sick.

"You really love her, don't you?" he said quietly.

Annaliese turned back to him, and the look on her face made it clear she thought he'd asked a stupid question. But her expression softened as a thought seemed to occur to her. "You don't love her," she realized.

Ed regretted bringing this subject up. "I don't really know her," he hedged.

"So you were a one-night stand, then."

Ed's jaw dropped. Had he really heard that out of a ten-year-old's mouth? But then, it wasn't that uncommon for a ten-year-old to know about sex. He had been even younger when he'd looked up the subject himself. But to talk about it that casually . . .

Annaliese rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with Ed's reaction. "I always figured that's what you were, you know. It's not a big deal."

"It is to me," Ed said. "I never wanted to leave any of my kids without a father."

After mulling his comment over for a minute, Annaliese asked, "So you have other kids?"

Now that was a subject Ed was more than happy to talk about. "I sure do!" he said. "Four of them. You wanna see pictures?"

He spent the rest of their walk to her apartment getting Annaliese acquainted with her siblings. She resumed the quietness she had earlier, though she seemed interested in what he was saying. "They're excited to meet you," Ed told her. "Even Andar, though he doesn't really understand what's going on. He's so -"

But Ed was distracted by a woman calling to them from a balcony above. "Annaliese!" she said. "Who's that you've got with you?"

Annaliese called back, "It's my dad!"

"Your dad?" The woman sounded taken aback. "He got any news about your mama?"

"Yeah!" said Annaliese. "She's getting better, just like I told you!"

The woman still seemed skeptical. "You bring him up here right now, all right?"

"Okay!"

As Ed watched the woman turn back inside, he asked Annaliese, "I guess that's Batty?"

"Yep," she said, and she led him into the apartment building. It looked like a modest place, better than most military accommodations Ed had seen, though that wasn't saying much.

Batty's residence was at the top of the first flight of stairs. Annaliese didn't knock, just let herself and Ed in. He hardly had time to take in the homey features, the sun setting in the window, or the smell of dinner cooking before he came to face with Batty the landlady.

She was a round middle-aged woman, with hair all piled on top of her head. She greeted Annaliese, but her eyes were on Ed. Sizing him up, as it were. "So you're Annaliese's father, huh? You got a name?"

"It's Ed. Edward Elric."

She took the hand he offered, shaking it firmly. "Elizabeth Elswick. But most everyone calls me Batty. So you have word of Nora?"

Ed nodded and explained about her amputation. "I can give you the number of the place she's staying at."

"Yes, please. It'd be nice to finally get in touch with her after two months. Find out if she plans on coming back."

Ed was surprised. "It's been that long since she was in touch?" He looked at Annaliese. Had she been alone all that time?

Batty gave an affirmative scoff. "Is it any wonder I thought she was dead? And the hospital staff was no help at all. Couldn't even tell me whether they still had her as a patient. And then, no surprise, that bum Peder took off - and where does that leave poor Annaliese?" Batty's eyes flashed toward the girl, seeming to have just remembered she was still in the room. She sighed. "So you're taking her to stay with you?"

"Yes," said Ed. "I live out in the countryside. Risembool."

Batty nodded. "I know the place. Annaliese, why don't you start packing?"

Without a word Annaliese left Batty's apartment. Ed moved as if to follow her, but Batty said, "Wait. Can we talk?"

She offered him tea - or rather, thrust it into his hands while ordering him to sit at the table. Ed decided he rather liked Batty. He'd long been accustomed to her brand of forceful hospitality and frankness. Not to mention that she'd probably gone without two payments on Nora's rent, yet she supported Annaliese. Ed was grateful to her, and he said so.

"Oh, it was nothing. I could never throw a child out on her own. Wouldn't be able to sleep right again."

"Still, it means a lot to me." He tried to compensate her, but she refused.

"You're the one who's a godsend," said Batty. "If you hadn't shown up. . . Well, anyway, I hate to ask this, but - you are sure you're her father? I'd hate for this all to be a mistake."

Ed considered her. It was possible that Nora Durden had lied about Annaliese being his. "She's ten, right?" he asked her.

Batty nodded. "Since November."

The math checked out. "She's mine."

"Well, you do have the same color eyes," said Batty. "Though you don't look old enough to have a ten-year-old."

Ed stopped himself from spitting out some reactionary comment about his height. "I was only sixteen when - when it happened."

Batty said, "Huh. I never took Nora for a cradle robber."

She changed the subject then, and Ed was glad for it.

Becoming an adult hadn't changed much for Ed. He might have taken on new responsibilities, but he was long since used to the weight of them. If anything, becoming an official adult only made him aware of the childhood he had lost. He knew the look of responsibility in a young face, and relished that he'd kept it out of his little ones' eyes. But he could see it in Annaliese.

He was not prepared for how much that hurt.