Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.

Notes: Here we go with the next chapter! My favourite paragraph has to be the Santa one. It's the sort of thing that I want to tell little kids, but I don't because it'll mess them up too much. I figure their parents lying to them is worse than someone else doing it, because you're supposed to be able to trust your parents. Needless to say, I was never told Santa Claus was real, and although I don't remember it, I'm pretty sure I'm that annoying little kid who spoiled it for everyone in Kindergarten. Anyway! Read on! Thanks for reading, reviewing, alerts and faves :D

Siblings

Although each little family has its own "Inner Circle", there are still the remains of old Inner Circles to take into account. These remains are sometimes more a part of the family than at other times.

Jean Havoc, Heymans Breda, Vato Falman and Kain Feury were like the brothers Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye never had. They were comradely, played pranks, had bets, and overall were very protective of their 'brother' and 'sister', not to mention their dear little 'nephews'.

Every part the uncle-with-an-addiction, uncle-too-smart-for-his-own-good, uncle-who-knows-everything, and uncle-with-a-soft-spot, these four took every opportunity to help the Elric boys out, when they could, or were allowed – sometimes the boys denied their aid.

Their role in the family was to support their siblings in all areas necessary, and to do any parenting that the Colonel and Lieutenant might have forgotten about.

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The table was full. Six grown men and woman made the place very squashy, and not another chair would have fit around the little card-table, had they tried to put it in. It was a good thing that the children were still comfortable on their parents' laps, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough room.

Jean took one look at the cake with all of its candles on top, and then gave permission for the birthday boy to blow them out. Roy leant forwards and got them all with three breaths.

"You didn't get them in one blow – that means your wish won't come true," little Edward pointed out. Starting school this year had meant that he had picked up on a lot of superstitions that other families either believed, or taught their children for the fun of seeing them squirm. He had adopted this one readily, but had complained that Santa Claus didn't give him presents – he only got them from his mother and father. Edward had been sure he'd missed out on the jackpot when he found out that snippet of information. When he told Uncle Jean, Jean had chuckled and told him that if his parents were giving him presents that meant they loved him more, and maybe Santa Claus only gave presents to the children whose parents didn't love them. Edward had nodded sagely at this, and a few weeks later when the topic was brought up again, he said that little Russell Tringham hadn't liked hearing that, and he'd cried in the boys' toilets for all of lunch time. Their teacher had given Edward a very harsh talking to about other people's feelings, but he still didn't understand why he got in trouble if he was just telling the truth.

"Ahh, I'll just have to try again next year, won't I?" Roy said, leaning back into his chair.

"If- If it's not going to come true anyway, tell us what you wished, Daddy," Alphonse said, squirming around in his father's lap so that he could look at his face.

They all waited patiently, and Jean heard Heymans snigger beside him.

"Daddy wished for a new car," Roy finally told them, his eyes wide enough to say that he was feeling somewhat unsettled.

The various uncles made their sounds of agreement. If using a birthday wish was all it took to get a new car or spruce up their houses, they'd have birthday parties every month.

Roy tried to explain to his sons why he wanted a new car – they claimed theirs was still a bit new, and they didn't want a different one already – helped by his brother Vato's encyclopaedic knowledge of his very model and make of car, and that of a keenly superior model that he could use as a reference for a 'better car'.

As they spoke, Jean picked up the cake and took it away to the kitchen counter to start cutting it up. While he was figuring out how many people there were, and how many slices he'd need to cut, Heymans got up and come to the cupboard, looking for a drink.

"New car, my foot," he muttered to Havoc as he took out a glass. "Did you see the look on his face before he blew the candles out? And the trapped look when the kids started asking?"

Jean looked up. "What do you mean?"

"That was no car wish – that was a sex wish."

Jean recoiled, face screwed up in horror. He dashed a look towards the people at the table, who still seemed to be trying to explain to the boys, and then looked back at Heymans' conspiratorial expression. "That's dirt, Manny. I don't want to think about him and Riza – she's our sister!"

The conspiratorial expression dropped, and Heymans looked at him as though he was stupid. "How do you think they had Ed and Al, dipstick?"

"Shut up. I know, but . . ." Jean set his eyes on the cake and started making the cuts. "I don't want to think about it."

Heymans grabbed the cider out of the fridge and poured some into his glass. "I will bet you fifty dollars that by the end of the day, Ed and Al will end up staying at your house, or at my house, or Vato's, or Kain's. Whatever happens after that we don't need to know." He looked up, an amused smile just waiting on his face.

"Fine," Jean told him, making the last cut. "Just that the kids end up somewhere else. No more."

They shook hands briefly, and then Heymans went back to his seat with his cider, and Jean began taking cake around to everyone. It wasn't until he finally sat back down in his own seat that Riza said "Okay, that's enough boys. No, we don't need a new car, and that's why it's good that Daddy's wish didn't come true."

They thanked Jean for the cake, and then began eating, and the conversation slowly drifted off onto other topics.

A few hours later, just before everyone was getting sick of the company and wanted to be at home, Jean was playing a game of indoor cricket with the boys. This meaning that they held onto a cardboard roll and he threw a pair of socks for the ball, and then when they hit the socks they'd run around squealing and flailing their arms, because they still didn't have the concept of the game down properly. The most annoying thing about it was that socks didn't bounce, so he had to throw it to them on the full. He'd play it with a tennis ball if he thought they'd be able to handle it, but he wasn't sure what their catching skills were like, let alone their ability to judge how a ball would bounce.

The partnership of the Mustang kids was reaching an all time high – four runs – when Riza came in and stopped the game for a moment, to talk to the kids.

"It'll just be a second, Jean, then you can go back to your game" she said, with a quick smile in his direction.

Jean nodded and stood back, tossing the 'ball' in his hands while he waited.

Ed and Al wandered over to their mother, and she crouched down to be at the boys' eye level. "How would you two feel about staying at Uncle Kain's tonight?"

Jean dropped the pair of socks in surprise. No wait, he hadn't lost the bet yet. She was only asking if they wanted to. There was still the chance that-

"Yaay! Uncle Kain's!" Al said, jumping up and down.

Ed looked a bit more hesitant, and Jean bit his lip, hoping that the kid could hold out. The boy looked at his brother still dancing around the room with his little kid shrieks of joy, and said "Okay," as though the word was forced out of him.

Feeling cheated – why, Al? Why? – Jean bent over to pick up the socks, scowling. There was a pause in their little conversation, but then Riza asked "What's the matter, Edward? Don't you like being at Kain's?"

Maybe there was hope after all. She wouldn't force the kid to go to his uncle's, sounding this depressed about it, would she?

"Yeah, it's just . . . all the cats . . ." the boy said, pouting.

Riza put her head to one side. "I thought you liked cats."

Ed sniffed. "I do, but when Al's there he always plays with them, and they play with him, but they won't play with me." He wiped a hand at his nose.

"Ohh," she sighed, hugging him loosely. "That could be because Al's the one who feeds them when you're both over there. Maybe if you feed them they'll like you."

Ed was quiet, as though pondering this idea. Jean kept his eyes on the kid, repeating encouragements over and over in his mind. Come on kid, don't give in now. You're almost there – just say you don't want to, and she'll stop asking-

"Alright," said a slightly happier Ed.

Jean scowled, saying goodbye to that fifty dollars.

"Okay," Riza nodded, "so you and Al will be staying at Uncle Kain's tonight."

"Yeah."

She smiled and stood up. "Alright. Daddy and I will come and say goodbye when we're going, so that you know." With a kind look for her older son, and a sharp word for her younger – "Alphonse, stop jumping on the lounge. You don't want to break any of Uncle Jean's furniture." – she headed back into the next room.

Jean sighed. "So what was the score, then, boys?" he asked, while mentally answering his own question. Breda: 1, Jean: 0.

Some time later, when the boys were losing interest, Jean let them wander off to pester another uncle. He sat down and turned the television on, flicking through channels until he came upon a replay of last night's football. Roy had mentioned missing it the night before – they had gone out for dinner – so Jean went and found him.

"Actually, we're about to head home," Roy told him, looking apologetic. "Let me know what the score is, though."

He and Riza found the boys and said their goodbyes, and Jean thought that now was a better time than ever to go outside and have a smoke.

There was a little commotion of goodbyes from inside the house as Havoc lit his cigarette up, checking the wind first so that wherever he stood wouldn't blow the smoke back into the house – not when the kids were still there, anyway.

He'd just found a good spot around the corner when he heard the front door open and close. Roy and Riza must have just left the house now. That guess was soon confirmed by the sound of their voices as they chatting on the walk to their car.

"For a moment there I thought Ed wasn't going to agree to staying at Kain's. Turns out he just felt left out."

"Ahh, poor kid," Roy's voice said, with a laugh.

"Yeah," Riza's voice agreed. Then the tone of her voice changed completely. "Now let's see what we can do about that birthday wish of yours . . ."

Jean clamped his hands over his ears, knowing full well that that phrase, rather than his nephews, was going to be the way he remembered that his little sister was no longer innocent.