Chapter 10 - All That you Do

Just trees for miles, trees as far as the eye could see. Ed sighed. He knew that this was going to lead to one of those cliche, boring-as-all-hell, father son talks. Even though he had forgiven his father for abandoning them for all those years, he still wasn't looking forward to chatting with him. At least, not if it was for what he thought it was.

After his father and Pinako came back from their trip to see Den's old owners, Hohenheim had seen himself and Winry come out of the shower together. Of course his father knew what they were doing, there was no point in lying about it. And now, to top it all off, he knew she was pregnant, this talk of his couldn't be anything good.

"So why are we here again?" He asked as if he didn't know. Hohenheim hadn't given him a reason as to why they were taking a drive, so he was confused to say the least. Ed turned nonchalantly toward his father. "Huh?"

Hohenheim sighed. "Why do you think Edward?"

Ed thought for a moment. "You're going to give me the 'birds and the bees talk' followed up by a strict lecture about how I screwed up? If so, you're a little late, I've already been informed, I now know it has nothing to do with birds or bees, and you can't change the past."

His father sounded a little relieved. "Let's just hope it's all been covered, if not, we're going to have to chalk Winry's pregnancy up to immaculate conception." His dad had made a joke, that was something that didn't happen too often.

Ed blushed. "Ha-ha." He said with a slightly sarcastic tone. "So...why are we here?."

Hohenheime turned off the car and removed the keys from the ignition. "Why would I take you to the middle of a big open feild in the car?" Indeed, they were in the middle of a field.

Ed thought again. This thinking thing was getting annoying. "...uh...You're going to kill me and dump the body."

Slightly bemused, Hohenheime opened his door and began to step out. He smiled slightly. "Get out of the car Ed."

Ed's jaw dropped. "Uh. I was right?" He said in a joking tone and proceeded to exit the vehical. "Oh well." He approached his father who was now standing in front of the car. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Make it quick and painless then." He opened his eyes once more to see his father holding out the car key's to him. "I said quick and painless; key's might take a while." The older man took Edward's hand and placed the keys in the palm of his hand.

"Get in the driver's side." He said as he rounded the car and sat in the passenger side seat.

Ed looked at the keys, then to the car, and then to his father sitting in the front seat. "..." Ed walked over and got in the car, this time, behind the wheel. Turning to his father. "What part of this seems like a good idea to you?" His father shrugged and proceeded to bless himself in traditional religious fashion. "I thought you were Atheist."

He quickly buckeled his seat belt. "I am, but I can't rule everything out. Now put the keys in the ignition and start the car."

His father's confidence in him was rewarding to say the very least. Ed placed the keys in the little slot and tried to turn it. "It's not working."

He looked at his son, a rather confused look on his face. "You don't even know how to start the car?" Ed shook his head. Hoehenheim sighed. "Put your foot on the clutch, and then turn the key...you really don't know anything about cars?"

"Wasn't one of my priorities...and just turned sixteen less than a year ago, I just haven't gotten around to getting my license." Ed looked at th three pedals. "Which one is..."

"Far left." He quickly sat back "Push it down all the way."

Ed looked at the floor and reached for the pedal. Fail. He groaned. Reaching beneath the seat, he pulled on a lever and tugged the seat forward. To his surprise, he could see over the wheel and reach the pedals. A small victory. Ed pushed the pedal all the way down, turned the key and the car started up. He then removed his foot from the pedal and the car made a loud groaning noise and then stopped dead. "Um."

"You took your foot off the clutch?" He face-palmed.

Ed nodded. "Was I not suppose to?"

Hohenehime sighed. "No."

"I'm new to this...so how about; you tell me everything I need to know about getting this car moving, and then I'll see what I remember." A good idea, espically to someone who spent more than half of their life learning from books from scratch.

"They've been gone almost all day." Aria ate another spoonfull of her ice-cream. "I wonder where they're at." Ed and Hohenheim left before noon, and it was now pushing five o'clock.

"No sure." Al said as he sat on the front porch enjoying his snack alongside Aria. He looked up and could see a small cloud of dust in the air. "Is that the car?"

Aira squinted. "Looks it."

After a few minutes, the car carefully pulled up the driveway and stopped right in front of the house. Al did a double take and saw that he wasn't halucinating, that it was Ed, driving the car. "What the..."

The young girl peered over the railing. "What's wrong?" She saw Ed get out of the driver side. "Oh my God! You drove the car home?"

Ed smiled as he held up the keys. "Yup."

Hohenehime got out of the car, shakily, and headed up the stairs. Aria looked over to him. "What's wrong with you?"

He shook his head. "I need a drink." He said as he entered the house.

Al sweat-dropped, his brother's driving couldn't possibly be that bad. Or could it? "How did it go."

Ed smirked. "I'm new to this, but I'm getting better. We almost went right into a ditch...only a couple times though."

"Five." Hohenehime spoke sternly from inside the house.

"Hehe." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sure I'll improve."

Al smiled. "Miracle's do happen."

"Here he is." Winry's neighbour, Morgan, from down the road, brought out her new born baby. Pinako thought it would be a good idea to familiarize herself with a newborn as soon as possible. She had taken care of Rose's baby before, but he was a few months old, very close to a newborn baby, but not quite.

Winry looked at the little baby in awe. "He's so tiny." She reached her hand out and touched his soft little head and then his tiny fingers. "How old did you say he was?"

The lady smiled at her. "He's only a week old. So Winry, when are you due?"

Winry thought for a moment. "Somewhere aroung the beginning of April." It was late August, so she just counted the days from there. "I have my first prenatal exam tomorrow, so I'll find out then when the date is for sure. I'm still kind of scare though."

"You may be young, but I'm sure you'll do just fine." The young woman cradled the baby in her arms. "Would you like to hold him Winry?"

She paused momentairly and then smiled. "Sure." Being ever so carful, she took the little bundle in her arms. He was heavy for something so small, but Winry figured she just wasn't use to holding a person who was so tiny. "Hi there little guy." She rubbed his cheek. "Can you hear me?" Winry gave him a little 'boop' in the nose. "Hehe, he's so sweet."

"After all the pain of labor, it was all worth it once I got to hold him.Giving life is an amazing thing Winry, you have to make sure to take good care of yourself. You don't smoke, do you?" She asked with concern.

"Of course not, and I don't drink either." Winry smiled. She did drink those couple of times with Edward, she never really did anything to her body that would cause her any harm. And now she would have to make a point not to do those sorts of things anymore; not that she was old enough anyway.

"That's good. Any amount of alcohol could potentially harm an unborn baby. You have to make sure to be extra careful." She came over and caressed her baby's small head and gave him a kiss. "Equalivilant trade is what Ed would call it, right? Well, if you put in lots of effort to take good care of your body, then you'll have a really healthy baby to show for it." She smiled. "I should put him back in his crib, he needs his sleep."

Winry smiled. "Can I put him in there?"

Morgan smiled. "Alright. Make sure to support his head and lay him down gently."

Winry, with a very careful hand placed at the base of the baby's neck, laid the little one down in the crib and tugged up the thin blanket to cover only half of his bitty body. "What if I do something wrong?"

She laid a hand on Winry's shoulder. "You can come over and visit any day you want. I'll be sure to share as much as I know about babies. You'll do just fine."

Still, Winry was worried. "What about labor? I heard it's really painful. What can I do to prepare for it."

Morgan shook her head. "There isn't one thing, or even a million things, I could say that would prepare you for that much pain."

Winry's face went pale. "Really then?" She looked down at the baby. "I'm sure it's worth it."

Morgan nodded. "It is."

Pinako walked in the living room to Winry and Edward sitting on the coach, up against the arms on either side, their feet touching in the middle. She looked over into the kitchen to see Hohenheime pouring himself another drink. "So." She began. "How was everybody elses day?"

"Stressful." The three of them replied.

OK, so it wasn't the greatest, but I'm going to do a little time skip to hurry Winry's pregnancy along a little. Maybe a chapter a month. Maybe. Possibly less.

I'll do what feels right and what's not as boring as hell.

Anyway, tell me what you think, as usual.
Thanks.