A/N: Hello, my dear, dear readers! I have just returned from play practice and fun was had by all. We would have published this a day or two ago, but the chapter would've taken FOREVER to write, so we're splitting it in two. ^^ I sorta kinda like this chapter. We're back into the RoyXAlice dynamic again, which I'm sure you're all super-excited for. Hell, I was pretty excited myself. I know how you all missed our lovely couple... *sigh* I'm tired. I think I'll play some Zelda: Spirit Tracks... But anyway!
Oh yeah, Lex and I wanted to know if you guys want an extremely lemon-scented scene sometime relatively soon. We would write a lemon...but we figure that inexperienced people should not write such things... XP So if you want some lemon-scented (still rated Teen, of course), just let us know...and stuff...yeah.
Thanks to our ever-so awesome reviewers: Requiem (Well...I think you'll have to share him with all the other Benji fangirls... *cough* including me *cough*. ^^), chocolvr (Chocolvr! *tackleglomprapehug* I angle 3 Benji as well! Though it seems that Requiem wants to take him away from us. ;)), Lady Skorpio (As it turns out, you won't get to see Jean's evil plan this chapter either [if one even exists] XP And nobody knows what happens with Benji and Winry. We'll leave that to your imagination...), luvinkiri (Hi! Hey! Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Lissa and Lex isn't here right now. Thanks for reviewing! And who does homework when there are pretty Bittersweet chapters out for your enjoyment? :D), Evalyd Yamazaki (Thank you! I think you're the only one who really caught the whole thing with Benji joining the military! I worked hard on that part and I'm so glad that someone noticed! *eyes welling with joyful tears* I felt it was necessary for Benji to join up. It makes him a deeper character for it. And also, military men in Fullmetal Alchemist-land are sexy. :P)
*Looks around* Has anyone seen Charlie?
Random Bittersweet Fact #6: Last chapter, Lex and I were concerned about our darling Benji. It seems that when he's trying to win over a girl, he acts more and more like Roy... O.o
Disclaimer: We do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. If we did, then we wouldn't have had to write a fanfiction that has just reached its 20th chapter. Yay! ^^
Alice woke with the sun, her sleep schedule seemingly coming back into regular time. Roy had just woke himself, and she saw him button the left cuff on his uniform before he realized she was awake. With a soft smirk, the man came over and kissed the dark redhead on the cheek before saying, "I'm off for the day. Find some way to entertain yourself; maybe call Charlotte or something. I bet she can keep you busy, somehow, while I'm not here."
She nodded, and he left out the door without another word.
It was about an hour or so later a knock came on Roy Mustang's front door, and Alice froze. Should she answer? After all, this wasn't her house... but, well, she did live here now, if only as a temporary arrangement.
Finally, the small woman opened the door, revealing Charlotte with her two children in tow. The elder Ackerman had a wide grin on her face, saying something the lines of, "Wow, your boyfriend has a nice place, Alice."
Charlotte took a step in without asking for permission, and then said, "You're going to watch the kids for today, Aunty Alice, even though Uncle Roy's at work. Mommy needs a day to herself, right kids?"
The little girl nodded, and Alice took Luke in her arms with a sigh. There was no point in trying to talk Charlotte out of it if she had already made up her mind, no matter if this wasn't even Alice's real place of residence.
"Um, Charlotte, where's Alister and Roya?" Alice asked with a very concerned look on her face.
"Oh, they're in the car with Brent. We're taking them to his parents' house so I may rest for a day. Oh, the woes of being the mother of four children under the age of five!" Charlotte winked and yelled before walking out the door, "Be good, kids! And Alice, no fornicating in front of my children!"
Alice just stared at the closed door before her niece tugged on her skirt, catching her attention. "Aunty Alice, what's a fornicating?"
The woman sighed, "Didn't Uncle Roy tell you that that was a top military secret, Bri?"
"Oh yeah...I forgot. Luke! Let go of Miss Dolly! Don't chew on her head! Aunty Alice!"
For not the first time in her life, Alice was very thankful that she didn't have any little blessings that were called "children". Sure, they were cute and cuddly. But they also were messy and not to mention, an extreme fire hazard. "Mommy said that your house burnt down," her niece continued, "so you're living with Uncle Roy until he starts acting like a meanie. And Daddy said that you should just stay here forever because you'll marry Uncle Roy anyway. Mommy agreed and then she told me to stop ears-dropping. But I wasn't dropping ears, I was just listening to them talk when they thought I was in bed."
Alice sighed quietly, hoisting Luke higher on her hip and saying, "Bri, honey, that is eavesdropping." The boy began wailing loudly at the movement, and Brianna toyed with her doll's hair for a moment before lighting up.
"Oh! Mommy said that you'd make us food! Luke hasn't eaten yet. He's starving. Honestly, I'm a little hungry too, Aunty." The sweet smile on Brianna's face didn't hide the fact that she was still an evil child (as all children were), but with a sigh, once more, Alice turned and entered the kitchen, praying Roy had something edible within that didn't require any cooking or touching of the stove.
It was going to be a long day. Of that much, Alice was very certain. This notion was accented by Luke's continuing cries and Brianna's yelling to shut him up. The pianist didn't dislike kids… but it was days like these that made her consider never reproducing at all.
After a long day at work, Roy Mustang came home, and as he stepped onto his doorstep he allowed himself a small smile. A quiet night, with Alice to keep him company; that sounded promising, if not perfect. With that blissful thought in mind, the man swung open the door to his home, only to feel a small parasite attach itself to his knees.
"Uncle Roy!" Brianna came up only barely below his waist, but had grabbed him with such force and with the element of surprise on her side that he had to take a step back. He shot the girl a nervous smile, all the while wondering, What the hell is Charlotte's child doing here?
And then he saw Alice, Luke on her hip in the position he had been in all day. It took all Roy had in him not to laugh when he saw her, hair frazzled from the obviously stressful day she had had. She mouthed a single word to him, "Sorry," before actually shrugging and saying, "Charlotte. What are you going to do?"
Roy only shook his head and allowed himself a small smile as he hung his military jacket by the door. "So," he began as he sat down on the couch, "when exactly is Charlotte coming back; if ever?"
"Ummm… I'm not really sure…" Alice mused for a moment before sighing. "Charlotte dropped them off this morning."
"Aunty Alice! Aunty Alice! I'm hungry!" Brianna complained, tugging on her aunt's dress.
"Quiet, Bri. I'm talking to Roy," she scolded quietly as she sighed.
Roy smirked. "I'll take care of it. Just sit for a bit, my dear Alice." He took Luke from her arms and set him up on the ground. Luke latched onto the Flame Alchemist's finger as Brianna took his other hand. This parenting thing isn't too hard. If Hughes could see me now! Roy Mustang: The Flame Alchemist, the ultimate father!
However, Roy Mustang, the ultimate father, was also an epic failure at cooking grilled cheese. In fact, the one who did most of the work in the end was Brianna, due to a small mistake and burning the first sandwich he put on the stove.
Roy was lectured endlessly by the small girl about how easy it was to make a grilled cheese sandwich, I can't believe you did it wrong –
Suddenly Roy knew exactly why Alice looked the way she did when he had walked in the door. Kids were ridiculously difficult to please. However, as the food was distributed, the children were silenced and the room fell quiet. Alice let out a visible sigh of relief, biting into the product of Brianna's labors gladly.
"Are they good, Aunty? I worked reeaaaallly hard!" Brianna looked innocently to Roy, and the man had to fight off sending a look of contempt her way.
Alice chuckled at the exchange between the two, and said, "Yes, Bri. They're delicious. You and Roy did wonderfully."
"Uncle Roy didn't even butter the first one! I told him it would burn, but he said that it'd be fine…"
Luke gurgled as he munched on his crusts.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Charlotte came in, said some embarrassing things and left with her children in tow. "You may now fornicate freely! Be safe, kids!" Charlotte winked as she went out the door.
Alice just stared off in the direction from where her sister had just appeared and disappeared. The woman sighed. Why did she get stuck with such an embarrassing sister? She turned to find Roy staring back at her, an over-confident smirk on his face. "Um… Roy? Why are you looking at me like that?"
The man took the plate from her and sat it on the coffee table. He sat closer to her, never breaking his gaze. "Well, now that we have your sister's blessing…" The woman opened her mouth to protest, but Roy's lips collided with hers.
That kiss made Alice nearly forget that the man next to her was the Flame Alchemist. "R-Roy? Wh-What?"
He smirked at her surprised face. "I don't think this is the time or place for you to complain, my Alice." And with that, he swept her up in his arms and took her into his bedroom.
Somewhere, on the other side of Central, Benji Jeck looked up suddenly from his supper. Something, somewhere, was wrong. He just couldn't place what it was… The boy shrugged and turned back to his soup.