Chapter 4: The Rose and the Coin

"Oh, god! What do we do?! What do we do?!" Winry freaked out as she paced around the hallway.

"Can I at least know what's going on first?" Al asked.

"Colonel Mustang's in labour!" cried Winry.

"Winry, don't stress yourself. It was bound to happen sometimes! I'm going to go find Gran," Al said calmly before running off to find Pinako, leaving Winry and Ed alone again.

"Winry! Can you stop reminding me?! Last time, it was Mrs. Hughes, now it's Colonel Mustang! What are we birth magnets, or something?!" Ed sighed as he began to pace. There was silence in the room for a moment before Winry spoke up and gave a suggestion.

"First off, since we aren't in Central, we need to somehow contact the Führer and tell him the news. Next, we need to reach some kind of doctor that can help Riza. That's all we can do for now, since we're all the way in Resembool," Winry spoke with little confidence after much thinking.

"We can't! That Colonel bastard's out on some kind of Military Duty! There's no way to contact him unless he conveniently called us! Which isn't going to happen! Ever!" Ed cried.

"Well, why didn't you say so?! We could've saved some time by calling a doctor instead if you just told me!" Winry shot back.

"Don't give me that crap right now! We have a baby and a mother to save!" Ed hissed as he grabbed the phone from Winry and was about to dial a number before he was interrupted by a voice on the other end of the phone.

"I'm still…here you know! You might…want to hang up first," Riza moaned from the other end. Winry quickly took the phone away from Ed and told Riza that they were going to call a doctor and hung up. Ed took the phone back and was about to press a number when he got interrupted again.

"Who are you going to call that will help us?" Winry asked miserably. Ed stopped, mid-dial, and stared nervously at the numbers before a light bulb came off in his head.

"I know exactly who to call!" Ed said excitedly as he spun the dial around a few times and waited for it to ring.

"Wait! Who are you-" Winry asked before getting shushed by Ed.

"Shh! I'm calling Sciezka!" Ed whispered back as he placed his index finger to his mouth to indicate silence.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"Hello. Sciezka speaking!" said a voice once the phone was picked up.

"Hey! Sciezka? Winry wants to talk to you," Ed told her as he passed the phone to Winry. She glared as she put the phone to her ear and mouthed, "Why me?"

"Edward? Hey, long time no see! I didn't-" Sciezka began before she was interrupted by Winry.

"Hey, Sciezka. Sorry, this isn't Edward anymore. It's me, Winry," Winry told her apologetically.

"Oops! Ha, ha, never mind!" Sciezka mumbled as she laughed at herself nervously. Winry stared as Edward made a motion of having a round stomach to remind her of Riza's predicament.

"Yeah, it's good and all to se you too, Scieka, but we need your help!"

"We…?"

"Yes! Edward, Colonel Mustang and I!"

"Oh! Right! Okay! What do you guys need help with?"

"Well, you see…I just called Colonel Mustang a moment ago and she was going into labour! Can you go find that idiotic husband of hers and get a doctor?"

"Oh , no! Of course! I'll go right away! Thanks for telling me!"

Winry hung up the phone a few minutes later and glared at Ed.

"Why did you make me be the one to talk to Sciezka?!" Winry asked angrily as she glared harder at him, making Ed a little nervous under the pressure.

"Don't you know it's uncomfortable for me to talk about that kind of stuff?! It's all been taken care of anyways, so does it really matter?!" Ed mumbled as he crossed his arms. Winry's face softened as she shrugged and breathed a small sigh of relief as she stopped worrying, before giving Ed a small smile and walking away, but not before hearing a certain, squeaky, noise from Ed.

'Did…that 'squeak' just come from Ed's ARM?'

"Gran?" Al called out as he walked into a work room and found Pinako working on an auto-mail arm.

"Yes, Alphonse?" Pinako asked as she continued to work and didn't even glance up to see who called her out.

"I think our little plan will be in effect soon," Al replied as he sat down in an empty chair beside Pinako and smiled slyly. Pinako finally acknowledged him by putting down her wrench and turning to look at Alphonse.

"It might be better to not-"

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

"WINRY! PLEASE! I SAID I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T-OW!"

"WHY CAN'T YOU CONSIDER THE HARD WORK AND EFFORT I PUT INTO THAT ARM?!"

Alphonse sighs as he looks apologetically at Pinako, who nods at him silently, and stands up.

"Sorry, Gran. I'll be right back. I need to see what Winry and Ed are up too," Alphonse says as he leaves the room. Pinako sighs as she turned her attention back to the auto-mail limb she was working on.

'This is a very special auto-mail request after all…,' Pinako thought as she picked up her wrench and got back to work.

In the midst of the military building in Central, Riza grimaced in pain as she lay on the ground on her back, breathing in and out, as instructed by Winry. It was definitely painful and she could feel something coming that seemed like a head. The head of a newborn baby. Her newborn baby. The door opened and she saw two people come in. Riza's eyes were too blurry with tears of pain to see as she struggled to push the baby out of her.

"Oh my goodness! Mrs. Mustang!!" cried the voice of a familiar voice Riza heard ever so often.

"Sciez…ka…?" Riza managed to whisper weakly as she heard the another person tell the young woman to get a lot of hot water. Riza managed to understand that Winry had somehow gotten through to Sciezka and told her to get a doctor and that the doctor was finally here. She smiled weakly to herself relaxed by closing her eyes when the doctor told her too. The door banged open again and surprised Riza, as she opened her eyes and saw Roy rushing in, followed by Sciezka, who had a big bucket of what Riza comprehended to be hot water. Roy gasped silently , and cursed himself for having not been by Riza's side as he came up and took Riza's hand to comfort her while the doctor set up for the birth and told Sciezka to get towels after she put down the bucket.

"Riza! I'm sorry for not being here on time! Doctor! Please tell me my wife's going to be alright," Roy asked hurriedly as Fuery, Havoc, Breda and Falman rushed in all at once but all stumbled at the door in shock when they saw the scene before them.

"She seems to be under a lot of stress right now, so I can't be too sure about her or the baby's condition," The doctor replied emotionlessly as the four men stared blankly at Riza before backing up and leaving the room quietly, nodding to each other in agreement of the decision to wait outside in the hallway, where they bumped into Sciezka, bringing back some towels.

"Sorry, sorry. Please excuse me! Must get these towels to Mrs. Mustang," Sciezka mumbled as a greeting as she passed the men and disappeared into the forbidden room.

"I can't believe it…! Riza Mustang? Giving birth?" Havoc mumbled as he took a puff out of his cigarette. His three companions looked at his quizzically as they sat down in some chairs provided for guests. The room was silent for a moment before Fuery broke it by uttering, "That…was really disturbing wasn't it?"

"There…was a lot of blood," Breda whispered in reply.

"No wonder women complain about men not being sensitive to their feelings. If this is what they go through, I don't blame them," Falman spoke before the hallway went silent away.

The companions sat in silence for a few hours but one would always get up and leave for a few minutes before returning from either the washroom, or from the cafeteria, and bearing food.

It was a little before eight in the morning when the shrill cry of a baby rang through the closed doors of the office, waking up Fuery.

"That was an agonizing sleep," Furey mumbled as he yawned and stretched, stood up, and shook the men sleeping beside him.

"Wake up! The child's here!" Fuery barked. The other three bolted upright in their chairs, Havoc in his armchair, at the mention of the word 'child' and stretched as Havoc asked for the time. Fuery checked his watch before telling him that it had been at least fourteen and a half hours since they stumbled upon Riza giving birth. They all stared at the white office doors.

It was completely silent.

The four co-workers rushed together worriedly towards the door but stopped when they finally heard a sound from the other side of the door. It was the baby, crying again, but stop a few seconds later. The four could clearly the newborn's cries, and gulped as Fuery nervously turned the doorknob. He opened the door slowly and they entered, single file, into the room, and saw a pained, tired, Riza, propped up on the floor against the couch, carrying a little baby with a long cord coming out of it, wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket. Sciezka and Roy both breathed a sigh of relief and shivered as the men who just entered cheered and they congratulated their leader on getting his first child. The doctor was cleaning up and Sciezka decided to help her to get her mind off all the blood she saw. The doctor took the baby away from the mother, unwrapped the newborn, and told Riza she was going to give the baby a bath and left with Sciezka to direct her to the bathroom.

"So…what the heck was that cord?" Havoc asked curiously.

"Who cares about that?! Can't you see the Colonel's in pain?!" Breda shouted irritably as he hit Havoc on the head with his hand.

"I'd like to know whether it's a boy or a girl," Fuery said as he ignored them and turned his attention to Roy, who was telling Riza to sleep for a bit.

"It's a girl," Roy replied quietly before turning to look at Fuery and Falman and also ignored Havoc and Breda, who were still arguing.

"Sir, maybe you should rest as well, seeing as you've been up all night," Falman said In a concerned tone of voice.

"That would be nice, but you guys need rest too. Plus, the baby needs a name," Roy said as he sat down beside the sleeping Riza, and lovingly stroked her hair. Everyone, including Havoc and Breda, came over and sat down around him in a semi-circle.

"It's alright. We've kind of already slept for thirteen or so hours during Riza\s labour," Breda told Roy, which received a light punch in the arm from Havoc.

"Hey! Watch it-" Breda shouted before being interrupted by Havoc.

"So all that's left is a name, huh?" Havoc said as he crossed his arms, blocking out Breda's protests.

"What about Abigail? It means 'Father's Joy'," suggested Fuery.

"No! How about Brenda?!" Breda said excitedly, forgetting his earlier trauma.

"I am not giving my daughter the same name as your daughter's. Period," Roy told him firmly.

"Picking a name can prove to be quite a challenge, huh?" Falman remarked.

"Sure is. Now I'm freaking out about my first child's name," Havoc mumbled crossly as he crossed his arms.

"If you ever get a child!" laughed Breda.

"What about…Roza?"

Everyone turned to the person who spoke. They were surprised to see that Riza was awake and had been listening in on their conversation. Roy turned red and quickly stopped stroking Riza's hair.

"What does Roza mean?" Falman asked.

"it means…Rose," Riza replied quietly as she slowly closed her eyes.

"Then Roza it is," Roy replied as he looked at her and smiled to himself.

"Well, I'm glad that's done! Can I leave now, Sir?" Havoc asked as he scratched his head nervously.

"Yes. Can you help me carry Riza on the couch first? I don't want her sleeping on the floor," Roy stated as he stood up and stretched.

"I'll do that for you, Sir," Falman volunteered, just as Sciezka came in.

"Sir? The doctor took your baby to the military hospital, for her to rest," Sciezka told him, as he nodded.

"Thank you, Falman, Sciezka. You're all dismissed, and can have the day off. If you don't mind, can you stop by at the doctor's and check up on Roza for me, a little later? I'm going to lock up and rest on the other couch here," Roy yawned as Falman gently placed Riza on the couch.

"I can do that for you, Sir, since I know where she is," Sciezka said.

"Thank you, Sciezka. You're all dismissed now," Roy told them.

The five people lined up and saluted him. He saluted back and they quietly left the room. Sciezka stopped and said, "I like her name. Roza. It's cute," and stepped out after reciveving Roy's thanks. After everyone left, he fished around in Riza's uniform, took out a key, and locked up the office.

"I could use a nice nap now," Roy slurred sleepily as he laid down on another couch and fell asleep peacefully.

Alphonse sighed again as he left Pinako back in the work room and went to find Ed and Winry, which wasn't too hard to do.

'It was always pretty hard to stop them when they fight. If only Ed told her sooner about his broken auto-mail,' Al sighed thought as he hid himself and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"ARE YOU INSANE?! WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS TRYING TO MURDER ME WITH THAT WRENCH?!" Ed shouted as he glared menacingly at Winry.

"IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE ALWAYS DESTROYING MY PRECIOUS WORK! IT'S LIKE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW HARD I WORK ON THEM!" Winry cried as she hardened her grip on her wrench. Alphonse sighed and decided to interrupt at that moment.

"If you will excuse me, I need to be somewhere," Alphonse spoke up as he appeared and stepped in between his brother and Winry.

"Oh! Sorry Al," Winry apologized.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Ed asked. Alphonse ignored him and walked out the door.

'I hope they stop fighting now,' Alphonse thought as he walked down the pathway. He really didn't have any idea where his legs were taking him.

"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" He heard Ed shout. He stopped to eavesdrop again on their argument.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT HE WALKED OUT! SO STOP YELLING AT ME!" Al heard Winry shoot back.

"WELL, IT'S NOT MY FAULT I WORRY!" Ed cried.

"HE'LL BE FINE, SINCE HE'S A LOT SMARTER THAN YOU!" Winry replied.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Ed asked angrily. Al laughed quietly to himself and continued to walk down the road.

"How typical to of them," Al snickered as he continued to walk unconsciously to his destination. He stopped a while later and found himself standing in front of his mother's grave.

"What the…?" Al thought to himself. He looked around shyly and noticed that there was only a girl around his age, standing at another grave, not too far away.

'Oh, great! I hope I didn't embarrass myself in front of her,' Al thought glumly. He turned around and stared sadly at his mother's grave quietly.

"If it's flowers you're looking for, I have an extra bouquet,"

Al turned around to see the origins of the voice and his eyes widened at the sight of the girl standing right behind him with a bouquet.

"Oh! Uh…hi!" Al greeted timidly. She smiled at him and handed over the bouquet she held.

"Oh! Sorry if I scared you, but I saw that you didn't have a bouquet with you. You can have my extra. My brother accidentally bought one too many," The girl said with a giggle. Al warily took the flowers and placed them on the grave. The two stood in silence for a while for respect before walking off in awkward silence, before the mysterious girl spoke.

"So, what's your name?" she asked.

"It's Alphonse, but you may call me Al. What about you?" Al replied with a smile.

"I'm Lira. I know you don't expect to be talking to someone named after an old type of coin, but it's nice to meet you!" She smiled back as she stuck out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too!" Al said as he took her hand and shook it. They let go and both continued to walk in complete silence.

"Are you new here to Resembool?" She asked again after a while.

"No. Actually…I've lived here since I was born. Which was 16 years ago," Al replied bashfully.

"Really? So you're fifteen? Me too! Well, almost, anyway! I moved here three years ago with my family when I was twelve. My parents thought the country-side air would be better than the city, and in some ways, it really is. My birthday's coming up soon…," Lira said timidly.

"Really? Happy early Birthday! How about I walk you home then?" Al offered.

"Oh! No, it's alright! I actually live close to here," She said politely.

"Oh! Where you on your way home from somewhere then?" Al asked.

"No…I…was visiting my mother…," Lira told him as her face darkened with sadness.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I-" Al apologized.

"It's alright. You don't need to apologize, since we're both in the same boat, having lost someone close…," Lira said sadly as she forced a small smile.

"I know what you mean…both of my parents are gone…," Al told her sadly. Lira's eyes widened as she placed her hand to her mouth in shock, and saying, "Oh, no! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to pry!"

"It's alright…! Hopefully, they're together in that place you call 'heaven'," Alphonse said sadly.

"Uh, speaking of 'places', this is my place. I'd better go. It was nice to meet you Al! Please stop by sometime, since you know where I live! Bye now!" Lira said cheerfully before she ran up the pathway to a light-beige house, and went inside.

"Bye!" Al shouted after her, although he doubted she heard. He continued to walk home, but not without some blush on his face.

'Lira sure is cute…,' Al thought to himself as he dreamily continued to walk back to Winry's place.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

January 20th. 2010

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything belonging to the original Full Metal Alchemist except this [purely] fan-made plot and my OCs, Lira and Roza

SURPRISE! Sorry for the ultra-long update time, guys!

But here it is! Chapter 4 in the flesh! I'm sorry I took so long to update. Winter Vacation's over, and we're back at school, facing Final Exams and homework all at the same time! Not to mention extra curricular activities! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me?

Finally! The Mustang family's baby is here! Roy and Riza are parents! What do you think of the name Roza? I swear it is the BEST combo of Roy and Riza's name ever! : )

Putting that aside…the surprise for Al is finally here! Lira! My OC! Do you guys think it's too perfect, or random? Especially when she has the same name as a type of coin in European Countries.?

Now that's kind of weird! : /

I hope their meeting isn't too…uh…how do you say it…? Unoriginal! Corny! Uninspired! Anticipated! Rushed! Intended! Planned! Cliché! Unimaginative! Boring! Dull! Lacking! Unexciting! Maybe even tacky?! : (

(Thanks to my thesaurus for these synonyms! : P)

What am I saying?! This story is seriously unoriginal! : O

OMG. This story's becoming too love-y dove-y, and all of those similar words above!!! Eek! : (

If you can, help me with some ideas for future chapters? : )

Please don't worry readers! I'll add some fighting and action soon! Within the next chapter or two!

I live for action! Okay, maybe I fibbed…

BUT: I need some time to think of a plot. A good one that won't make you fall asleep like the last few may have.

So please stay with me, and watch me progress! : )

I hope you'll forgive me if this chapter seems rushed, or anything. I'll try my best to make the next few chapters exciting! Even if it takes me forever!

Okay. Sorry for blabbing a lot. : (

See you soon! In Chapter 5!

-J. U. T. H. L

P.S: Sorry for the lack of a special extra. : (

I [sadly] don't have time for it. Sorry!

EDIT: February 23rd. 2010