Well here's the second chapter, even though you were expecting it an hour from now (Weren't you? Admit it...)

I have good news, starting on a few days from now, my editor, Jirachi of frost, is coming back from Vacation to edit my chapters again!

Don't forget, I'll be busy with the second part of my project, so be nice while waiting, please.

DISCLAIMER: I ONLY OWN THIS STORY, NO MORE, NO LESS.

Chapter 11: Photos from an Unknown Past

"Are we there yet?" Iris asked.

"Almost. We just have to arrive at the station" Alphonse answered. Edward, Iris, Alphonse and Winry were heading towards Rush Valley, a valley known for its harsh weather and automail, due to the fact that it was on their way to Dublith. Iris pulled out an old book in her bag, blowing off the dust as she prepared to open it.

"What is that?" Edward asked as he coughed out the dust that made its way into his lungs.

"An old book that I had in my room back in Magnolia Village. I never opened it as a kid, so I thought since I'm older, I could open it." Iris responded. As she opened the worn book, a photo fell out, face down. Iris picked up the photo and looked at it before stuffing it in her pocket and closing the book with a slap.

"What did it say?" Winry asked.

"Nothing. It's just some stupid stories." Iris answered. The train began stopping as Iris crumbled the picture in her pocket.

"Iris?" Alphonse asked, getting her attention. "What was that photograph?"

"It's junk, alright? Nothing important, nothing worth keeping." Iris snapped as she grabbed her crutches and rose from the booth.

"Let's get this over with…" Edward said as Winry ran ahead of the group.

"RUSH VALLEY!" Winry cheered. "Automail… Automail…AUTOMAIL! I'M SO HAPPY!"

"Has she always been like this?" Iris whispers to the boys.

"Yes" They both answered as Winry ran over to a store window and cheered.

"Look! It's the most recent God's model!" Winry shouted. "I never imagined I would behold such a thing with my very own eyes!"

"Welcome to the holy land of automail! This place is bustling" Alphonse said as the group walked (In Iris' case hopped, since she was on crutches) along the busy streets.

Ed sighed. "Remind me again why we let ourselves get dragged out into this heat to look at a bunch of automail? We should've dropped Winry off at the station and headed straight to Dublith."

"How do you think I feel? The hottest place I've ever been is South City, and I grew up in the North!" Iris yelled. "I might as well be melting…"

"We'll find somewhere to stop and take a-"Alphonse said until he was interrupted.

"Hey kid! Come here a sec!" A stranger called. Edward turned around only to be mobbed by a group of people holding his automail arm.

"I've never seen automail quite like this before!"

"It really is unusual, come and take a look everyone!"

"Hey stop that!" Ed Yelled as people got closer. "Hey! Haven't you heard of personal space?! Quit it!"

Suddenly, Ed's shirt and pants went flying in the air as the group began examining his leg.

"NO, NO DON'T DO THAT! AIEEEEE!"

"Don't be so rude. They just want closer look!" Winry explained.

"A LITTLE HELP HERE WINRY!" Edward yelled.

Iris shivered. If her sister ever got automail, they sure as hell wouldn't come here.

"That's a little too close Winry…" Iris said.

Iris hopped over and picked up Edward's pants before returning it to him.

"I think you need these…" Iris said turning her head away from Ed while he put back on his pants.

"Thanks. At least one of our friends isn't an automail freak" Edward muttered. "This is why I steer clear of automail engineers!"

The group was now crowding Alphonse and Winry, leaving Iris and Edward off to the sidelines.

"Oh no!" Ed sulked as he starting turning blue.

"Something wrong Ed?" Winry asked.

"It's gone…" Edward began sweating nervously.

"Edward you don't mean-"Iris asked.

"I do." At Edward's answer, Iris quickly checked her pockets, which were empty, and began turning blue as well.

"Same here… We're screwed." Iris sulked.

"What did you lose?" Al and Winry asked at the same time.

"Only the thing that grows on a state alchemist" Ed started.

"Not to mention the thing that serves as identification and our source of income" Iris continued.

"Our silver watches" Ed and Iris finished at the same time. "They're… Gone"

Winry, Edward, and Alphonse began panicking while Iris just sulked.

"Sounds like you guys had a run in with Paninya." A stranger from earlier spoke.

"Paninya?" Ed asked.

"A pickpocket around who targets tourists" Another finished.

"Do you know where we can find this Paninya?" Iris asked the two men.

"She took something important!" Ed finished.

"Let's see, now where is she again?" One man thought.

"I know what might jog my memory" The other spoke.

"If we can have just one more look at that automail!"

"For god's sake- Ed!" Iris signaled and Edward transmuted his arm into a large blade, which scared the men straight.

"The automail shop run by an engineer named Dominic!" The two men said in unison.

"Thank you!" Iris sighed. "Where does he live?"

"Deep in the mountains. He can find the highest quality ore out there, so that's where his shop is." One of the men answered.

"He's right. Just follow the mountain path and it will lead right to his shop." The other finished before both men ran away trembling.

"Edward, grab your shirt and we can get going." Iris commanded as she bounced ahead.

"Are you sure we're going the right way? Those engineers could've tricked us" Winry complained. The group had been walking along the path, but were having troubles coping with the intense heat. Iris was having an extremely tough time due to the rough terrain constantly tripping her.

"This is all your fault for dragging us to that stupid automail town in the first place." Edward snapped back.

Winry stopped moving and Iris bumped into Alphonse, causing her to land on the ground once more.

"My fault?! You and Iris were the ones stupid enough to get their watches stolen!" Winry yelled.

"Why are you firing shots at me all of a sudden?!" Iris yelled.

"Well it's true, isn't it?!" Winry shot back.

"Oh really?!" Ed began.

"Uh, guys" Alphonse said.

"WHAT AL?!" Edward and Winry yelled.

"Could that be her?" Al said pointing to a girl running on a bridge. Even if it was from a distance, Iris could see the shine of two silver watches.

"Ed! That's her! Nice work Alphonse!" Iris praised.

"HAHA! I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" Edward laughed manically. Ed began transmuting the mountains into all sorts of shapes to get to Paninya.

"Edward! Wait up-"Iris said before falling face first on the ground.

"Maybe we can go on the other side of the bridge and trap Paninya?" Alphonse suggested as he helped Iris up and handed her crutches back.

"Good idea. We better move quickly" Winry said as she began running.

"Yeah! Let's go-"Iris' crutches hit another rock and Iris, once again, was met with a mouthful of rocks.

"Maybe we should take our time? Winry, can you help Iris?" Alphonse asked.

"Sure" Winry smiled.

"Stupidasrocksbeinlittlebastardswheni'mfreakininjured" Iris muttered as Winry helped her up.

"She should come right around soon" Alphonse said.

"You think so? Your calculations could be-" Iris said but before she could finish, a girl with dark skin and navy blue eyes wearing camouflage pants and a black tang top jumped over the cliff and was landing before them, right on the transmutation circle Al had drawn earlier. "Never mind"

The girl looked over at Alphonse and Iris questionably before Al overlapped his hands and activated his transmutation circle, which caused a blue light to surround the girl. A giant bird cage form around the girl, trapping her.

"Nice work, Al. I have to say, you were right on target!" Iris praised. "Back to the matter at hand"

"Why don't you hand it over?" Ed confronted.

"We would like our watches-" Before Iris got close, Alphonse pulled her back as the girl swung her leg, slicing the cage and making an exit for herself. Iris looked over and saw a large knife protruding from her leg, which was metal, like Edward's except for the design, which was obviously different.

"Come on, you can't be too surprised!" The girl said arrogantly. "You've seen the town, haven't you? Oh and-"The girl lifted up her other leg as something exploded from it, knocking Iris on the ground. "My other legs got a 1.5 inch cannon, what do you think about that?"

"Hey! Come back here!" Edward yelled.

"What the hell?! Get your arrogant ass back over here!" Iris yelled as Alphonse gave her a hand and helped her up.

"No way! Why don't we see if you can catch me?" The girl said as Winry grabbed her arm with an iron grip.

"Well now, how do you like that? That wasn't so hard" Winry said smiling.

"Nice work, Winry! Now don't let her get away!" Edward yelled.

"No way am I letting her go!" Winry reassured, but something told Iris otherwise.

"Oh she won't be getting away if Winry's thinking what I assume she's thinking" Iris said as she bounced towards her.

"What do you mean?" Alphonse asked.

"You'll see." Iris said with a dope face. "Give her a minute"

"Not quite yet, anyway" Winry said with stars in her eyes. Alphonse looked over at Iris as she nodded. "Not until I've had a closer look at that automail!"

Both boys tripped and hit the ground yelling while Iris bounced over and picked Al's head, which fell off when he hit the ground.

"What did I tell you?" Iris said handing the armor his head.

Suddenly, the door to the house they were near opened, revealing a woman with light brown hair and a man with black hair and glasses.

"Oh. Hello there Paninya" The woman said in a calming voice. "Friend of yours?" The woman asked referring to Winry.

"Not really" Paninya admitted.

"God damn automail engineers" Iris muttered.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Winry shrieked with smoke coming out of her nose. Paninya had let her examine her automail, but she was starting to regret it. "I've never seen craftsmanship like this before! It has an advanced suspension and, would you look at this balance?! The design of this is truly a work of art, it's incredible!" Winry continued blabbering on about the automail, which made Paninya a bit uncomfortable.

"Maybe we could, uh…" Edward said, attempting to get the watches back.

"It's no use brother." Alphonse said.

"It's like talking to an automail loving wall…" Iris yawned.

"The work you've done is simply fantastic! You're a wonderful engineer!" Winry said to the engineer with black hair and glasses as he held his hands up.

"Oh no, don't look at me, miss. I wasn't the one who made them" He admitted.

"I am" A new voice spoke. The voice belonged to a man with tanned skin and white clean cut hair. He looked at Edward, which gave Iris the hint to leave the room.

"I'm leaving. You coming, Al?" Iris offered.

"No. I'll stay with brother" Alphonse said.

"Okay. Call me if you need me!" Iris smiled as she bounced out of the room.

Iris bounced over a chair and sat down as she searched her bag and removed the book from earlier. From the cover, it looked like a regular alchemy book, transmutation circle and all, from its tattered dirt colored cover to the scratches on the side. But the contents of the book are what hit close to home. Inside the book, instead of the first few pages of a regular alchemy book, were hand written pages and some photos. Iris reached into her pocket and unrumpled the photo she crushed earlier and examined it. In the photo was two adults, one holding a toddler, and two teenagers next the each of them. The first adult was a young man with chestnut hair, similar to her own, and indigo eyes as he grinned while wearing his military uniform. The other adult was a woman with blond hair and navy eyes, similar to Iris', as she smiled while holding a little girl with short chestnut hair and navy eyes. The teenagers off to the side both had black hair and indigo eyes, one was a boy and one was a girl.

Teresa and Maxwell Iris thought as she her felt heavy.

She opened the book once more only to find more pictures of the two adults from the previous picture. Iris pulled out a small photo, no bigger than her palm, which caught her eye as the tears began flowing down her cheeks. The photo had all her siblings together, even if it was old. The picture depicted a tall boy with black spiky hair and indigo eyes (Maxwell) on his knees holding a little boy, no older than 6 (Myles) in the air, laughing. Next to Maxwell was a girl similar in height and looks except her features were softer. Her long hair flowed down her back and shoulders as she smiled at her brother (Teresa). Two little girls were in front of the trio. One of the girls was covered in mud and grass from the chest down, while the other wore a purple scarf and was stepping away from the puddle. Iris looked at the two girls and sighed. The one in the mud was her when she was 8 while the other girl was Grace when she was 7.

I remember that moment, clear as day. Grace never did like dirt while I was all for it Iris smiled.

"Iris! Where are you?" Alphonse called. Iris began placing all the photos back as Al came around the corner. "Oh. There you are"

"What do you need?" Iris asked.

"I was worried you wondered off. Mr. Dominic finished looking at brother's automail and he's not too happy."

"I'm guessing that's him?" Iris pointed towards Edward, who was moping while Alphonse dragged him.

"Yep. What are you looking at?" Al said as his attention was drawn to the old book in Iris arms.

"Nothing. Hey check this out!" Iris said pulling out the photo of her and her siblings.

"I found this in one of the pages" Iris smiled as she showed the boys. "I thought I had lost it"

Both boys examined the photo.

"We've met Grace, she's the one holding the scarf." Edward said.

"And the one playing in the mud is definitely you!" Alphonse pointed out as Iris blushed.

"Who are those three? We haven't met them." Edward noticed as Iris forced a smile.

"That's because the two with black hair are dead. The boy with them is my little brother." Iris confessed. "The older boy was Maxwell, He died a hero, while Teresa, the girl next to him, died of a sickness she couldn't cure. My little brother, as you know, is somewhere in Dublith."

Both boys looked at each other before giving Iris a sympathetic look.

"We're sorry." Al apologized.

"It's fine. Talking about them isn't a problem" Iris admitted.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are your parents?" Edward asked. Iris' mood automatically changed.

"They don't belong in that picture!" Iris scolded Edward.

"I was just wondering! No need to bite my head off!" Edward shouted back.

"Why don't you go find your cheese, you little mouse!" Iris snapped, which caused Edward to return to his moping state. Iris rose with her crutches, placing the book and photo in her bag. "Let's look for Winry"

Alphonse nodded as he dragged Ed and walked down the hallway with Iris.

"A little mouse… A little mouse… She called me a mouse" Edward moped. Suddenly, Al stopped and froze. Iris looked in his direction and saw woman from before rubbing her belly, which was swollen. Iris' eyes softened at the sight. Alphonse walked up to the woman as Iris was right behind him.

"Excuse me" Al said as the woman looked up at him. "But are you having a baby?"

"Why yes I am." The woman confirmed with a smile as Al set down Edward.

"Congratulations." Iris said smiling.

"Thank you"

"Do you think…? Would it be alright if I touched your tummy?" Alphonse asked, which surprised Iris since he couldn't feel anything.

"Go right ahead" The woman welcomed.

Al placed his hand gently on the woman stomach. If armor could blush, his face would be pink. Edward got up off the floor and looked at the woman's stomach. The woman reached out for Iris' and Edward's hand. Edward let her place his hand on her stomach, but Iris was reluctant.

"Don't worry. I'm fine" The woman responded. Iris hopped closer and gave the woman her hand as she set it on her stomach. Iris thought she could feel a little heartbeat beneath her hand.

"It's like there's a miracle growing in your stomach" Edward said.

"There is." Iris told him.

"We were miracles in mom's tummy once upon a time too" Alphonse said.

Iris felt a click in her head as if a memory has sprung free from its locks.

"Iris, come here" A soothing voice told her. It was fuzzy, but she could see someone picking her up and handing her to a woman with shoulder length blond hair and soft navy eyes. The woman had a swollen stomach but still had enough room to put Iris on her lap.

"Mommy, why is your tummy so big? Did you have too much cake?" Iris heard herself ask. The woman giggled.

"No, it's not that. There's a miracle in your mom's tummy"

"What do you mean? Is this where Grace came from?" Iris' innocent voice rang out.

"Yes. Soon you'll have another sibling and just like Grace, they'll need an older sister"

"So, what's the miracle?"

"The miracle is the life growing in mommy's tummy. Once upon a time, you were in here. So were Teresa and Maxwell." Her mother explained.

"Then where did you and daddy come from?" Iris asked as she was lifting from her mother's lap and into her dad's arms.

"Now that was a job for grandma. My mom and your grandma were in charge of that miracle" Her dad explained.

"How do you know it's growing?" Iris asked.

"You can feel the baby kick if you put your hand on mommy's tummy" Her dad said holding her up to her mom's stomach as she placed her hand on her mom's stomach. Iris felt a little kick which made her jump.

"I felt it! Doesn't it hurt mommy?"

"Nope. The baby won't hurt mommy, it just lets you know that it can hear you" Her mother chuckled.

"Time to go to bed, little duck" Her dad said taking her in his arms as she giggled.

"Quack! Quack! I'm a duck!" Iris giggled. "Quack, quack, quack…"

Iris felt tears going down her face as she remembered her parents, for the first time in her life.

"Are you alright?" The woman asked Iris. Iris nodded, smiling.

"I'm fine, really. I was just… remembering something." Iris said as she retracted her hand "Excuse me for a moment"

Iris bounced out of the room with tears flowing down her eyes. She took out the pictures she had grabbed before as tears began flowing like a river.

"Iris?" Al's voice spoke as he came around the corner. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Iris tried to smile but was only given tears.

"You can tell me what's bothering you. Brother told me what bothered him and it turned out-"

"I'm not Edward!" Iris snapped and immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry. It's that damned book I found. Instead of alchemy notes, there's photographs and hand written pages"

Iris handed Alphonse a trio of photos that contained two adults.

"Those adults in the photos are my parents" Iris admitted. "I don't know whether I should hate them for dying on us and leaving us, or miss them for not being there when we needed them" Iris said as her tears stopped. "Back there, I remembered my mother for the first time in my life. There must be something wrong with me. They left us, I should hate them, but I can't say I do"

"There's nothing wrong with you, Iris" Alphonse said. "You can't say you hate them, because you didn't know them. I'm sure they tried to be there for you, as much as they could, but it was just their time"

"Hey Al?" Iris said looking up at him. "Do you really believe that?"

"I do." Alphonse said. "What did you know about your parents?"

"My father's name was William Kamillia and my mother's name was Lilian Coleman. I still think Coleman is a cooler last name to this day" Iris giggled.

"Well I bet they're keeping an eye on you and keeping you out of trouble" Alphonse said. A shout came from the other room. "We better go see what happened"

"Hey Alphonse?" Iris said with a smile. "Thank you"

"You would've done it for me or brother" Al said as Ed ran into the room, out of breath.

"Something wrong?" Iris asked.

"The bay… The bay! The bay!" Ed kept repeating

"The bay is…?" Iris said rolling her eyes.

"The bay is come…" Ed tried to say but kept stuttering.

"Oh crap" Iris said realizing what he was trying to saying.

"What is it?" Alphonse asked, clueless.

"The baby's coming isn't it?" Iris said as Edward nodded. "God damn it! Go get Winry!"

Edward ran to look for Winry while Iris and Alphonse just froze.

"What do we do?" Alphonse asked.

"No freaking idea" Iris said.

"Pop will be right back with the doctor. Just hold on a little longer for me, Okay?" Mr. Ridel said holding on to his wife's hand.

"There's no 'hanging on' here! It'll come whenever it's ready to!" Mrs. Satella explained.

"Unfortunately, she's right. You can't just tell a baby to wait and expect it to listen. It's like telling Ed he's short. He'll always denies it" Iris explained.

"Is now really a time for short jokes?!" Edward said gritting his teeth.

Suddenly, Mrs. Satella jumped, which alarmed everyone in the room.

"What's the matter, Hun?" Mr. Ridel asked his wife.

Mrs. Satella groaned something but no one could hear it.

"Huh?" Mr. Ridel asked leaning in closer.

"I said it's …" Mrs. Satella said softly once more.

"Huh? Sorry, one more time. I couldn't hear that" Mr. Ridel said.

Iris leaned back sweating. She had helped her sister enough times to know that you don't piss off a woman in pain. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" Iris warned.

"I SAID IT'S COMING!" Mrs. Satella screamed.

I told you, didn't I? Iris thought as she sighed.

Mr. Ridel began panicking and Ed was not helping.

"WHAT DO WE DO?! THE DOCTOR'S NOT HERE!" Edward panicked. Winry suddenly froze while Iris just cowered in the corner.

"We're just going to have to do it!" Winry shouted. Iris wasn't an idiot so she knew what Winry was referring to.

"Have to do what?" Edward asked.

"Deliver it" Winry answered.

"WHAT?!" Everyone in the room yelled.

"So… So you've seen a baby being delivered before?" Mr. Ridel asked.

"No I… No I haven't. But we don't have any other options here" Winry said. "I need everyone's help. We are going to do this!" Winry tied on her apron. "Ed and Al, go and get some boiling water!"

"Sure, Winry" Edward said running out of the room with Al.

"Paninya, go find some towels, and hurry!"

"Uh, roger!" Paninya said doing the same.

"Mr. Ridel, Do you have any rubbing alcohol we can use for disinfectant?" Winry asked.

"I think we have some in the store room" Mr. Ridel told her.

"Iris, you go get the rubbing alcohol" Winry demanded.

"Got it!" Iris said bouncing out of the room.

"Oh and some ice chips! We'll put them by Mrs. Satella's bedside" Winry yelled.

"On it!" Iris yelled from the store room.

Iris grabbed the rubbing alcohol and Ice chips before heading running into the boys and Mr. Ridel.

"Are you sure your friend can handle this?" Mr. Ridel asked.

"Winry comes from a family of doctors. She grew up reading medical text books instead of picture books like most kids her age.

"That's all well and good but it isn't exactly a medical degree!" Mr. Ridel panicked.

It's clear that she vaguely remembers some of it" Edward assured.

"Some of it?" Mr. Ridel panicked.

"Right now we have to have a little faith. I grew up with a doctor and the only thing I've delivered is puppies" Iris said blushing.

"We have no choice but to refer to her knowledge and the sheer force of her nerve" Ed finished.

The group walked down the hallway only to see Winry standing in front of the door. Winry kept muttering something, but it was clear she was doubting herself.

"Winry" Ed called out.

"You can do this" The group said.

"Iris, Paninya. I'm going to need your help" Winry said as she walked into the room.

"You got it!" Paninya obeyed. Paninya followed, but Iris began shaking.

"Whoa, I don't know any of this!" Iris panicked.

"I'm going to need all the help I can get, Iris" Winry assured. Iris bounced into the room leaving Edward and Alphonse outside.

At one point, Mrs. Satella began screaming which caused Iris to cower in the corner.

After some time had passed, the room became silent. Suddenly the door flew open revealing a blood covered Paninya on her knees.

"All…That blood" Paninya panted. "I can't do it anymore"

Winry was also on her knees as Edward ran over and kneeled beside her.

"Hey, what's going on?" Edward asked. Winry just pointed towards Mrs. Satella.

Mr. Ridel was holding a baby boy in his hands.

"It's a baby!" Ed cried.

"Hooray!" Both boys cried out.

"Wait, where's Iris?" Alphonse asked.

"I'm right here" Iris said coming out the other room with a towel.

"Awesome! It's a real life baby! Awesome! Awesome, awesome, awesome!" Edward cried.

"Really? Awesome? That's all you can think of to describe this?" Winry asked.

"How else should I described it? This is the birth of a new life. Alchemists have worked for centuries and we're still not able to do that. A person creating another person." Edward said.

Iris helped wrap the baby in a fluffy towel as Al looked like he would faint from cuteness.

"You've got to be kidding. No you're lumping in Alchemy with the miracle of birth?"

"An occupational hazard" Ed explained "It's just the way I think. Besides, whatever you say, it really is awesome. People are awesome"

"Don't think I'll ever forget this. What about you, Al?" Iris asked.

"Nope. I think I'll always remember this" Al said. If armor could smile, Al would be grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey, Iris" Paninya said as she took Iris' pocket watch out of her pocket "I think this belongs to you"

Iris took it out of Paninya's hand and smiled. Iris took the alchemy book once again and searched for a picture in the book.

"What are you looking for?" Alphonse asked.

"Something-"Before Iris could finish, the book tumbled out of her hands and pictures scattered on the floor. Iris bent down and began picking up photos. Alphonse and Paninya helped pick up the scattered photos.

"Al, can I see that photo in your hand?" Iris asked. Alphonse gave the photo and Iris examined it with a smile. "This is what I was looking for"

The photo had all of her family together. The picture showed her mother in a hospital bed holding a baby with light brown hair. Her father was to the left holding Iris in his arms while Grace was standing on her mother's hospital bed. Teresa and Maxwell were off to the right laughing. Iris folded the photo before putting it in her pocket watch.

"Here's the photos you dropped" Paninya said handing Iris the stack.

"Thanks" Iris smiled before placing them back in the book.

Suddenly the door to the house opened and Mr. Dominic walked in with the doctor.

"Perhaps you should give Edward his pocket watch back." Iris suggested.

"Hey Paninya!" Mr. Ridel called from the other room "Could you get Winry for me?"

"Sure!" Paninya called back.

"Good luck!" Iris said as Paninya ran off. "Thanks Al. You and Ed have helped me more than anything. Despite everything we've faced, the one thing that still scares me is to see my little brother."

"I can't blame you" Alphonse admitted. "You've left things in a bad shape last time you were together so it's only natural that you're scared. I know you can do it Iris. Just have a little faith!"

Iris heard yelling that sounded like Paninya and Edward as she sighed.

"Let's go see Mr. Dominic" Iris said walking into Mrs. Satella room at the same time as Winry, Edward and Paninya (Who had a strange lump on her head for whatever reason). The Mr. Dominic the group had seen before was not the person currently smiling over his new grandson.

"Hello there! I'm your grandad!" Mr. Dominic said mushily "What a cutie!"

"That's sure out of character" Edward muttered, but was still heard by Mr. Dominic, who glared intensely at him.

"Edward! Don't be rude, he's just excited!" Iris scolded.

"Mother and baby look perfectly healthy. It seems like the delivery was handled expertly." The doctor said turning to Winry. "Well done. Sometimes even adults can't take being present at child birth"

"Oh no! We did what we had to, that's all!" Winry blushed.

"We truly in your debt. What you did was amazing. Especially you young lady." Mr. Dominic said turning to Winry. "Thank you"

"Please sir, there's really no need to thank me" Winry said raising her hands. "Oh my goodness now you're going to make me blush!"

"Maybe you could make an acceptation and take on an apprentice?" Edward said to Mr. Dominic.

"Edward!" Iris said as she whacked him the head.

"One has nothing to do with the other. I don't take on apprentices and that's that. But, if that's what your heart's set on, I can recommend you to an accomplished engineer at the base of the mountain" Dominic said blushing.

"Good for you Winry!" Iris cheered as she dropped one of her crutches, but wasn't knocked down. "Guess I don't need these anymore!"

"Looks like you're all healed!" Alphonse chuckled.

"Pardon me, but would it be okay if I came by and watched you work sometimes?" Winry asked.

Winry, don't push it Iris thought.

"I won't stop you from coming once in a while, to see my grandchild. Same goes for the tomboy" Dominic said rubbing the back of his head. This caused a smile to appear on Paninya's face.

"Looks like we'll be leaving soon, right guys?" Iris asked and both boys nodded.

The Next Day

"Move Al! We got to hurry!" Edward said as he ran like a bat out of hell while Iris stood on the train waving to the boys.

The smoke coming from the train and the whistle let everyone know that it was leaving and the boys were late.

"If you guys don't hurry up, I won't see you for three freaking days!" Iris yelled from the train.

"I know! Don't rub it in!" Edward yelled.

Alphonse jumped on as Edward threw his bag to him.

"Now you three be careful!" Winry yelled from behind the boys.

"You too Winry!" Edward yelled as he jumped and reached with hands. Iris grabbed his right hand while Alphonse grabbed his left, ultimately pulling Ed onto the train.

"Thank you" Edward said as he landed on the train. He turned around towards Winry. "And don't forget to call Granny and keep her posted!"

"Oh please! Like you're really one to talk, Ed!" Winry yelled back.

"And make sure to steal that old man's technique so you'll have something even better for me the next time I see you, okay?" Edward yelled.

"Bye Winry! I'll mail you soon!" Iris called. "Dublith, here we come!"

Thank you guys so much for reading these chapters, it really mean't a lot to me!

I hope to see you in my next chapters!

Also, a quick shout out to JadedNightingale2308.

I read some of their stories after they private messaged me and I have to say, they are pretty awesome! Go check them out when you get the chance, until then, I'll see you later!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to watch Sharknado!

Jackie C.A.