Title: Dad

Summary: A little family of three lived in Resembool happily together, Ed, Al and their biological father Roy. With mom gone Roy is struggling to be both parents but he'll manage, now if only he could shake this sickness...

Pairing: Parental!RoyxEd+Al, biological family

Rating: T

Authors Note: This is a rewrite of a story I wrote a long time ago and I felt needed quite the updating. Not sure if anyone will like this better but i feel better that I've rewritten it. This one also doesn't have the happy squeaky ending I gave the last one. I also appreciate any mentions of bad grammar or spelling as long as they're done politely, thanks!

On the top of a hill in the grassy place known as Resembool there sat a two story house all on it's own. It looked out over hills of green farm land, barely any other houses in sight.

Roy had been born and raised in this beautiful place, at school there really weren't that many people his own age to pick from so the first girl he fell in love with they had tried to get married. They hadn't quite gotten to the marriage part though when she'd already found herself pregnant.

Instead of having a wedding they put the money away for the baby, whom they lovely named Edward. And about 15 months later little brother Alphonse joined their lives as well.

Maybe it was selfish of her but Roy never was able to be angry when his girlfriend left him with two small boys to care for on his own.

The first night after she'd left Roy remembered not being able to sleep a wink, he had just stared at the ceiling. That was until he heard one of the boys crying and peeled himself out of his warm covers. Somehow it had ended up him with both Ed and Al snuggled into Ed's twin sized bed warmly, it wasn't great sleep but it was comforting.

The boys had cried on and off for days after that, wanting their mom and only Roy to console them gently. It weighed hard on his mind to hear them like this, he wanted nothing more than to bring his girlfriend back so that they could be loved by their mother. They deserved so much more love than he could offer.

~.~

When Ed was a bit passed turning four both of the boys had stopped crawling into bed with him missing their mother, it seems they had finally started to settle with the idea.

He remembered the day Ed had come up to him with one of his books and held it open. "Daddy what's this?" Roy couldn't help but to smile fondly, he scooped Ed up and went to sit down, laying the book on a table in front of them. "Those are Alchemy Arrays Ed. I know you may not believe this but your old man is very good at alchemy."

When Ed's eyes sparkled it made Roy's heart flutter, for that moment he was the epitome of cool in his sons eyes. "I want to learn Alchemy too!"

The father ran a hand through Ed's blond hair, silently considering if he needed a hair cut soon, before saying. "Mnn maybe when you're older Ed, you wouldn't quite understand this stuff yet. When you're older though."

~.~

By the time Ed was age 6, Al 5, Roy had become quite the expert at being . When he was home he split time between cleaning and playing with the boys and even had time to make cookies on the off chance.

One early evening Ed and Al had come running in, mud covering their pants as usual which made Roy roll his eyes. Couldn't kids stay clean for five minutes? "Hey boys, what're you up to?" He turned and leaned over a bit to give them his full attention.

Both of them thrust out their hands, showing Roy some wooden lumpy horses they had created. "I followed the instructions in your books and we made these!" Ed had on a determined look, wayyyyy too determined for a 6 year old and it worried Roy sometimes. He used to have that look too so he knew very well what kind of trouble could come with it.

"With alchemy?" Roy took both of the boys and looked them over. Two sets of eyes followed him eagerly awaiting criticism or praise. "I'm so impressed boys! For a first time these are great!" Setting the toys aside he reached and ruffled both heads of his sons affectionately.

Grins spread over their expressions and Al said, "We're going to practice more!" and ran out the front door. Roy called, "Stay in the basics book boys!" he warned gently, once he was alone Roy let out a soft sigh. "Alchemy huh?...They're definitely my boys."

~.~

Of course there were plenty of hard times, most of them he tried to hide from the boys, they didn't need to feel the stress of an adult as such young ages. Roy worked through all of it, the money problems would slowly go away but it caused him to work a bit more at nights when the boys were older and started sleeping through the nights properly. They didn't even notice he was gone most of the time.

They were in those difficult child years where they started to question things and tried to argue against drinking their milk. Roy had to scold them more, ground them, and even with hold cookies if necessary.

~.~

It was shortly after Alphonse had turned ten that Roy really started to notice...he was getting very sick. Not just a common cold either although it came with all of the normal symptoms. Spastic coughs, chest and stomach pains, body aches.

He knew it wasn't healthy to ignore such warning signs but what could he do, there was no way he'd be able to afford multiple medical bills or a constant medicine, or even surgery if it came down to that. Not to mention if it was a permanent defect it would take away from his work and he had to provide.

Roy was stubborn for a full year before things got worse, since he'd done nothing to help himself he had started to get dizzy spells. His oldest seemed to be catching on but not saying anything yet.

At least not until the day he came home from school and found his father passed out on the floor.

He had rushed in and dropped to his knees in panic, "Dad, dad hey!" Shaking Roy's arm quickly to stir him.

"Mn...hey Ed..." Roy's voice sounded dry. "I'm fine, I just got kind of tired and decided to take a nap." But his lie only got him a glare in return, and then those gold eyes started to fill with tears. "Idiot don't joke! I was s-seriously...w-worried!"

Looking to the side Roy assumed Al had gone over to Winry's since he was absent from his brothers side. "Oh Ed, don't cry." Sitting up he lifted his sleeve to wipe away some of the salty tears. "I'm ok I promise."

~.~

His oldest son was no fool, neither was Al of course but the younger was so sweet he was much more trusting of Roy's lies that he was ok.

Ed had stopped going over to Winry's as much to play and seemed to stay home just to stare at his father, that's how it felt to Roy at least. Those bright eyes were trained on him most of the time, watching for any signs of sickness. They caught it once in awhile and the older had no way of hiding it.

"Dad...I think we should have you see a Doctor." He suggested in a surprisingly gentle and non-demanding tone.

"Doctors cost a lot of money Edward." Was his excuse. The soon to be teenager shook his head, "I don't care! You're sick, like really sick. A-and I keep reading up medical diagnosis in your med books and they all keep saying you're going to die so I'm scared!" His cheeks were starting to burn with embarrassment.

Since he was starting into that puberty stage Ed liked to argue, be stubborn and pout a lot. Worry wasn't part of his usual attitude so it caught the father's attention quickly.

"You're that worried? Then...I guess I have no choice. If it'll put your mind at rest I'll see a Doctor."

"Thank you Dad...and I'll know if you don't go. So don't lie about it." He returned to his usual bratty frown.

~.~

It was as Roy had feared, he was sick with some shit he didn't care to pay much attention to a name. It was made worse by the stress of being a single parent and some depression he'd felt since his girlfriend had deserted their little family.

Essentially it slowly degraded your stamina and some of your senses, caused fevers and aches. It was a slow and eventually very painful sickness. With no cure.

On his way home from the clinic Roy's mind was rattled with the decision, did he tell the boys or keep it from them a bit longer?

But as he returned home he seemed set on telling them, he'd kept it from them long enough and what if one day he just dropped dead? That would be far worse than them being able to see that end in the future.

Sitting them down there was a lot of tears and a few hugs as Roy explained it all.

"I promise I'm going to stay around as long as I possibly can...I love you both so much..."