Small Tribe Life
Disclaimer: I do not own FMAB
Sorry it's late in the evening, been busy and just finished it. But hey, it's the holidays, so I'm surprised I even managed to get it done. Gonna start on the next chapter ASAP.
Also, a little bit of info. This took me a while to figure out so I'm going to try to clear it up for you.
Roy and Riza's Kids:
James Nathan Mustang - Feb. 16 - 3 yrs older than Joseph - by this time he is 7 almost 8
Andrea Shay Mustang - Nov. 9 - 5 mos older than Joseph - by this time she is just over 5
Ed and Winry's Kids:
Joseph Van Elric - Mar. 22 - 4 yrs 3 mos old by this time
Alexia Trisha Elric - Mar. 10 - 2 years younger than Joseph
Allen Urey Elric - Apr. 14 - 3 years younger than Joseph
Marie Sarah Elric - July 2. - 4 years younger than Joseph
Belle Riza Elric - June 17 - 5 - not born yet - years younger than Joseph
Anthony Roy Elric - June 17 - 5 - not born yet - years younger than Joseph
Al and May's Kids:
Kaio Ethan Elric - Apr. 29 - 4 yrs 2 mos old by this time
Nita Koa Elric - Mar. 19 - 2 years younger than Kaio
Joshua Nakua Elric - May 19 - 3 years younger than Kaio
Anne Ronia Elric - July 10 - 4 years younger than Kaio
Hope this helped clear things up.
Enjoy!
2 years later
"Dad, can't you take the day off?" Joseph asks his father over the noise of his three other siblings. The youngest only being two weeks old, his little sister, Marie, was making a fuss, while his little brother of just barely one, and his younger sister of barely two were playing.
"Sorry son, I gotta work, and you gotta help your mom with you little siblings. But over the weekend, when I have off, I will spend some time with just you, sound good?" Ed asks as he kneels down to his oldest child. Joseph was only four years and three months old, but he knew a few things, and one of those things was that when his father made a commitment, he kept it. Joseph let out a sigh before nodding in understanding and then hugged his father. Ed made sure to give all of his children hugs, kisses, and then kissed Winry before leaving.
"Mom, why does dad work so much?" Joseph asks as he walks over to his mother, his little stuffed dog in his arms.
"Well, it's so he can make sure we are all safe and well taken care of. It's why I work hard too." Winry replies to her son.
"Yeah, but you don't always work every day, only a few times a week." Joseph replies.
"Yes, but when I do work, it's for a long time, sometimes days, and that's why grandma Izumi comes to watch you, or granny Pinako." Winry replies. Joseph shrugs in agreement and waits for his four cousins to come over.
Ed parks in the lot and then goes into the large building where he meets up with his brother and team mates and oddly enough Roy.
"Morning Elric. Rough night?" Roy asks.
"Slightly." Ed says with a slight smile on his face. Roy returns the smile before he walks off to his office.
"Well, you have a two week old, both you and Al, so go figure." Makuto chuckles.
"It wasn't the newborn keeping me up, it was her older brother Allen. He's hyper and doesn't want to go to bed when he should." Ed sighs agitated.
"Ah." The team replies before they enter the office and get to work.
"Sir, I don't know how you do it, you or your brother." Marks says.
"Do what?" Ed asks.
"Manage to stay sane with four kids. I mean, it just seems crazy. Most people I know can barely handle one, maybe even two, but you guys have four each." Marks says.
"I'm not going to lie to you and say it's not hard, or that after the first two you know what to expect by this point. It's a continual learning process. But I've become a practical pro at a few things that have come my way. It's just their personalities that continue to baffle me. Joseph is mannered, Alexia is social, Allen is hyper, and Marie was just born. Keeping up with the other three is crazy enough, and with Joseph starting school next year, that'll be a whole new ball of wax." Ed says half exhausted.
"I can only imagine." Kran says.
"No offense, but not many people can." Al says.
"Understandable, I was just saying that I can imagine that school does add a whole new dimension to the household dynamic because then one of the parents has to go pick up the child from school or they have to walk home." Kran says.
"Yup." Ed and Al reply. The day passes slowly and calmly. Thus far, Roy's ideas were going into effect at a fairly dependable pace, the idea of the vote was incredibly appealing to the general masses and now he was about to enact something new that would give each sector of Amestris a representative. There is a few more processes to it, but how Ed saw it, those processes were necessary to make sure anyone who would run for the representative position would be an acceptable candidate.
The silence in the room was broken by the loud shrill of the phone.
"Colonel Elric speaking." Ed says into the phone.
"Fullmetal, did you happen to forget about the meeting in five minutes?" Roy asks.
"Shit! Yes, I did, I will be there in less than five minutes Fuhrer sir." Ed says as he throws the phone onto the rack and takes off.
"Al's in charge." Ed spits before he zips out the door. Al smiles as his brother rushes out.
"He forgot the meeting." Al laughs as they continue with the filing of all the case files. There were the complete and incompletes and the first time they had been filed wrong, alphabetically, but they were supposed to be separated by whether they were complete or not. Then, on top of that, there were the new files to add to it as well.
"Marks, don't forget about the one file Ed asked you to send to special cases." Al reminds.
"I will get right on that." Marks says.
2 hours later
There was a recess in the meeting, which would undoubtedly take up the rest of the day. Ed managed to meet up with the others in his group.
"Marks, you got that file to the special cases division correct?" Ed asks before taking a bite of food.
"Yes sir. It has been delivered and is going to be looked at over the next few days." Marks replies.
"Good. How are the files going?" Ed asks his brother.
"Slowly but surely." Al responds.
"Well at least we're making progress. I still can't believe I completely spaced the meeting today." Ed says with a sigh of annoyance before he glances at the clock and then rises from his seat.
"Well, back to the meeting. Keep up the work." Ed says as his soldiers salute. He walks back to the room with the other high ranking officers from Colonel to General and naturally at the head of the large table was Fuhrer Mustang.
"I trust you all had a refreshing recess from our meeting, there will be another in about three hours or so, but back to business. So, where were we again?" Roy asks.
"I believe we were discussing some of your ideas about the representatives of the sections and what should be the main premise that they follow. What rules, regulations, and so on that should be initiated." Ed says.
"And also what would be the consequences to those who don't uphold to those regulations." Major General Armstrong says.
"Oh, yes, of course. Thank you two for reminding me. Alright, I believe we agreed on that they have to report to me at least twice a month on the activities of the section and send me in some suggestions that the people have that are valid. I do not want any of the hyped up religious groups ideas. They need to be open minded to the ideas of different opinions and views. We do not want another Liore incident." Roy says, earning nods from the other officers.
"They should also send in immediate message to you if such problems start to take root." Ed says.
"Yes, that way a preventative action can start." Another Colonel replies.
The meeting went on like that for a few hour before yet another recess was called. Ed stands and stretches before he walks out of the room and to the stairs to get some fresh air.
"Afternoon Fullmetal." Roy chuckles as he stands next to the young man.
"Afternoon Fuhrer." Ed replied with a smile.
"I will say, I never thought that any of the events of now would've panned out as such." Roy say quietly.
"Same." Ed replies, knowing what his commanding officer means.
"I will also say that some things were a little obvious." Roy smirks as Ed rolls his eyes at the comment.
"Doesn't your daughter start school next year?" Ed asks, changing the subject.
"Yes. And I know it'll be just as hard as when James started three years ago. Hard to believe the boy is almost eight and in second grade." Roy says.
"Has he learns any alchemy yet?" Ed asks.
"No, Riza and I were almost thinking about not letting him learn, but that would be hypocritical. I wanted to teach him next summer." Roy says.
"Planning on teaching him flame alchemy?" Ed asks.
"Still debating that." Roy admits.
"I plan on teaching my son alchemy and alkahestry next summer. I know Al plans on doing the same." Ed says.
"Perhaps we could arrange for all the boys to learn together." Roy says.
"That could work as long as you don't mind your boy learning how Al and I did?" Ed asks.
"Leaving him on an island for thirty days. Most alchemists go through a similar training technique to learn the meaning of alchemy before they can actually learn the art of it." Roy smiles.
"Ok then. I can go on the assumption that you haven't taught him any alchemy." Ed says.
"You would be correct." Roy says.
"Same for me." Ed says.
"It's always a good idea to start with a blank slate. Anyway, the meeting starts again in a few, we should head back." Roy says.
"Yes sir." Ed replies as he turns on his heel and starts for the meeting room again.
4 hours later
The meeting and the work day were finally over and as most of them left Roy thanks them and wishes them well.
"Ed, have fun living the small tribe life." Roy chuckles.
"What the hell do you mean?" Ed asks.
"You and Winry have four children, I consider that a small tribe." Roy chuckles. Ed rolls his eyes but smiles at Roy before he departs. He arrives home a few moments later and as he walks into his house he can already hear the chaos that is going on. Marie cries loudly for her mother to tend to her, Allen runs through the house from his sister Alexia, while Joseph tries to calm down his baby sister. Winry is trying to wrangle the middle two to calm down when Ed walks into the home.
"Help." Winry says. Ed nods and then starts after the two middle children while Winry goes to feed the baby.
"Daddy!" Allen and Alexia squeal as they hang in their father's arms. Joseph flops down on the floor now that his baby sister is being handled.
"You two know better than to run in the house when it's just your mom. Especially when your baby sister is crying." Ed scolds before sending the middle two to the corner for five minutes.
"I was trying to them to calm down papa, honest, but then Marie started to cry and mom was trying to get them so I was trying to make Marie calm and well…" Joseph explains.
"I know son. But when babies are hungry, nothing can calm them down except for food." Ed says as Winry burps little Marie.
"Ok, you two can come out of the corner now. But you had better behave." Ed says as the two children walk over to the table and start playing with blocks on the floor.
"I need to start dinner." Winry says as she sets Marie in her carrier.
"I'll go get changed and then help you." Ed says.
"Thanks." Winry smiles as she heads to the kitchen.
"Watch your sister." Ed says.
"Yes papa." Joseph says with a salute, one he's seen so many times as a baby and toddler. Ed smiles before he goes and changes into his khaki shorts and tank top, not caring about what's on one of his feet. Quickly, he tends to the metal limb with oil and polish before he joins Winry in the kitchen.
"You know, eventually you'll have to tell them why you have a metal leg." Winry says as she cuts vegetables.
"I know that Winry. I just want to wait until he's a little older, like five." Ed says.
"Well, since you do plan to teach him and his cousin." Winry replies.
"Teach me what?" Joseph asks from the doorway. Ed and Winry look each other before they look at their son.
"Joseph, son, there's something that I haven't told you about and well, it's kind of important, and it's what I want to teach you. You know how there's one room in the house that I don't let you into?" Ed asks.
"Yeah." Joseph replies.
"Well, it's because there are a lot of book in there that you shouldn't read yet, about two subjects, and both of these are related to my career. I'm not just a military Colonel, I'm also a certified state alchemist." Ed says to his four year old. Joseph tilts his head at his father.
"What's that?" Joseph asks.
"Come outside and I'll show you." Ed says as he walks over to his son. Joseph nods and follows his father out into the warm summer air.
"Stay on the porch." Ed says and Joseph nods as Ed walks out to the middle of the yard, claps his hands together and presses them to the ground, lights dancing out. Joseph's eyes grow wide as he watches a small shape form from the ground into a little dog. Ed plucks the small dog from its spot, flattens the ground again and walks over to his son who stares in awe.
"Alchemy is the ability to transmute something into something else without taking more than you are given. I want to teach you and your cousin Kaio this next summer after school is out." Ed says.
"Ok. I want to learn. I want to learn how you do it papa." Joseph says.
"Son, for your sake, I don't want you to transmute the way I do. It costs me my leg." Ed says as his sons eyes grow wider.
"Oh. Ok. I still want to learn." Joseph says.
"Good, but next year." Ed says as they walk back into the house. Dinner was almost done once they got back into the house. The wonderful aromas wafts thru the air as they help the other kids get into their seats for dinner and then eat. Ed loos around the table and can't help but smile as the happy eating children and the wonderful woman who is his wife sit at the table. I may live a small tribe life, with the possibility of expanding a little more, but I'm not complaining, it's the good life, even with the little bumps in the road, Ed thinks as he eats the delicious meal that Winry prepared. She looks up at him and quirks a delicate brow at him.
"What's with the look?" She asks.
"Just happy to be home and getting some delicious food from my wonderful wife." Ed says as he takes another bite. Winry smiles at the praise and continues to eat without further question of Ed's smile.
Again, i hope you liked it and that the top part helps with the time line of things. It seriously took me a while of rereading the story and timing things out to figure this out. Anyway, please R&R and see you next week. Have a safe New Years!