Title: Forgotten Birthday
Author: S J Smith
Rating: Teen
Summary: Sometimes important dates get forgotten in real life.
Disclaimer: These are Hiromu Arakawa's characters, not mine. Drat it.
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To tell the truth, I'd almost forgotten my birthday. Three kids under five, a thriving business with customers strung out from Rezembool to Rush Valley to points beyond, and a spouse who's sometimes needier than he likes to let on will make you forget a lot of things! And Ed has the same distractions I do, well, maybe not the thriving business, but he consults with the military, and other alchemists, after all, and puts a lot of time into his research on top of those things.
But if I can't remember my own birthday, I can't blame Ed for forgetting it, can I? It's not like I didn't have other things on my mind: get the kids up, dressed and fed, make sure those who had them brushed their teeth, combed their hair, then Ed took over to keep them busy with teaching games that'll make their teacher love them as much as ours loved us, but hopefully, we've taught them to be politer than we were when they tell her class is boring or sleep through it. And my appointments still needed to be seen, and automail needed to be adjusted, and lunch was quick and not quite swallowed whole before we had to go into town as a group – nothing wears out kids so they sleep like exercise, so we always made sure ours got a lot of it – to get our mail and some fresh fruit from the Culbertsons's farm.
Then it was back home again, and supper needed to be cooked – Ed's turn tonight, so I played tag in the yard with the kids – and then some time in front of the radio, listening to Gold Star Theater for the serial on Detective Murdock. He's Simon's favorite, and Ed's too, but Ed's not quite as vocal about it as Simon.
After that, it was time to get the kids bathed. Simon argued he'd had a bath yesterday, and Becca needed her hair washed, and Allie – Alexandra – just smelled funny, and that took a good hour to finish up. Teeth brushed again, and a story read, the kids were actually good enough to go to sleep without begging to stay up or have another drink of water.
I still had some work to do on an arm for a customer in Rush Valley. While I pulled wiring, Ed sat up, listening to the radio and reading a book Al had sent him that he'd translated from the Xingese. Ed was good about piping up when he found something that interested him, or he thought would interest me. The radio announcer came on between serials with the date and the time, and I realized what today actually was. Ed didn't seem to notice, just kept reading, making notes. I felt kind of dumb. It was my birthday, and I'd forgotten. And really, as old as I am, I ought to think it was just another day. But I was a little disappointed - I'd forgotten, the kids forgot, and Ed forgot, too. Al usually sent a gift a couple of weeks in advance, but the last package was Ed's book and a long, gossipy letter about the court of Xing, and how Ling was wanting to push against the established unwritten codes of how court was to be handled.
Ed stretched and yawned, getting off the sofa. He ambled over to me, giving me a kiss on my temple and nuzzling my neck. "I'm going on up," he said. "Don't stay up too late."
"Okay. I won't be much longer." I didn't plan on it, really; the wiring was nearly done. I'd have to do some soldering, but I wasn't going to get out a soldering gun tonight. This wasn't a rush job, I didn't need to pull an all-nighter to get it finished, and now that I'd realized what today was, some of the joy was sucked out of making this new arm. So I finished up what I could, and covered up the arm with a piece of chamois to keep the dust out, and headed on up to bed.
A quick shower - I kept my bathrobe in the bathroom - and I was clean enough for bed. The kids were still all asleep when I checked on them, a good thing. Some nights, it's awful around here, trying to get them settled down. Exercise really helps. Tomorrow, we're going to start working on preparing the garden for planting. That'll keep everyone busy, and by the time we've cleaned up after supper and had our baths, I know all anyone will want to do is go to sleep.
The floor in front of our bedroom was warmed by little puddle of light, seeping out from under the door. I caught a whiff of something in the air, sulfur and honey, as I opened the door, and stopped before I could actually enter the room.
Ed smiled at me from the bed, hair loose, chest bare, blankets rumpled up over his hips. A string of lit candles made him glow like the sun. My mouth went dry. He was my husband of going on six years, he wasn't supposed to make me feel like a girl with her first crush! I shook my head to clear it and pushed the door closed with a soft 'click'. When I turned back around, Ed was still smiling, though the strain of keeping that grin in place was starting to show a little around the edges. "Happy birthday," he said.
"You remembered?"
He looked mad, and hurt, and he reminded me of the boy he'd once been instead of a golden god dropped into my bed. "Of course I remembered!" Even aggravated, he remembered to keep his voice low, even though the kids were used to us yelling at each other. Al liked to say it was the best way we knew how to communicate. I'd told him we had other, better ways, and made him blush, something that didn't happen too often. I realized Ed was still talking and turned my attention back to him hurriedly. "...earlier, but I thought you'd like the surprise better." He peered at me, worried. "Winry?"
I climbed into the bed with him. Ed smelled clean, with just a whiff of the high grade oil he uses on his leg lingering, and even better, his own scent, musky, a little spicy. He turned to face me, flesh leg curled up under him, his elbow leaning on the headboard. "You like the surprise, right?"
"You, naked in our bed? With candles."
"Nng!" When he glared like that, it went right through me, straight down to my stomach and between my legs. I still say that glare's why we have Allie. Al didn't want to hear that, either. "No, Winry." Ed pointed at the rumpled quilt between us, to a miniature crescent wrench, wrapped with some paper around it.
I picked it up, tugging at the string and opening the paper. It crackled as I unrolled it, reading a travel itinerary. "Rush Valley, Dublith, South City..." I looked at Ed, who was grinning again, that manic grin that ought to scare me.
"I know it's not a cake with candles." Ed kind of laughed at that, and I did, too, because the scent of beeswax warmed our room, "Or jewelry. But I thought, before the kids get too much older, we should take them around. Show them Amestris. I figured we'd start with the South, and then work our way West." His eyes sparkled in the candlelight. "What do you think?"
My first thought was for my customers, then saw the dates on the itinerary. Plenty of time out, so I could get work done, juggle my appointments, maybe even see one or two in Rush Valley, since Ed had scheduled four days there. And six in Dublith, to visit the Curtises, maybe go out to that island he and Al talked about sometimes. Not quite a week in South City, but I know Ed, if he liked it, if we liked it, we'd stay longer. Then a round trip ticket back to Rezembool.
I looked up at his hopeful expression. "I thought you forgot."
Ed reached over to loop my hair behind my ear, his finger lingering on my earrings. "Hnn! As if I could." He leaned in for a kiss, sweet and hot enough to make sparks ignite in my stomach. Resting his forehead against mine, his hand sliding to my neck and moving down into my robe, he murmured with a wicked grin, "That's not all I have for you."
"Mommy!" Alexandra's cry rang out through the hall. Ed groaned. I couldn't help a chuckle.
"I'll go," I said, batting at Ed's hand on my breast. "You're naked." I narrowed my eyes. "I hope you're naked."
He grinned toothily in return.
"Stay here." I gave him a quick kiss as I slid out of the bed. "And keep my present warm." Ed cut his protest short when I gave him a wicked grin of my own before leaving our bedroom. "I'll be back to enjoy it soon."
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