March 13th, 1974

Election day dawned chill and raining. A very mucky, muddy day. But everyone tromped into town none-the-less to cast votes. In fact Ed, who made no fuss about planting himself in the city hall with a book that he barely read as he watched the voters come in, was impressed by the turn out. If he had to make an educated guess, he would have said that at least eighty-five percent of the people in Resembool old enough to cast a vote showed up to do so. Those who didn't were usually unable, such as those currently in the hospital. Those, however, Ed knew, had been taken votes so they could cast their votes anyway. He doubted everyone in Resembool had voted, but he could certainly not see any way most of them hadn't. Certainly it seemed everyone had a decently strong opinion one way or another.

Though, thankfully, there hadn't been any more slander –in either direction- published in the paper since Ed's little chat with Ron Causwith. Ed didn't know exactly what the man had said to his wife, or anyone else affiliated with his campaign, but it had been really quiet other than the occasional murmur of old, disproven rumor by the uninformed.

Ed tried to gage how the election was going by the people coming out. A few he already knew which way they were likely voting. The ones who smiled at him had almost certainly voted for Aldon. Those who looked nervous, or annoyed, when they realized Ed was sitting in there, had probably voted for Causwith.

Or they might just not be overly fond of Ed. He couldn't discount that fact. Still, it seemed to him like the race was going to be reasonably close.

Winry brought him lunch when she came down to vote, though by the time the polls finally got ready to close around dinner time, Ed's stomach was ready to eat right through him, and it was getting harder to concentrate.

Aldon, Cassie, and the Causwiths all showed up to cast their own votes near the end. Ed suspected this was more a coincidence of planning than coordinated. Neither couple needed to be down there, lurking, while the voting was going on.

They were nearly the last four through. When it was done, Aldon came over to Ed. "So, scared anyone off?"
"Not as far as I can tell," Ed chuckled. "Though it has been a pretty interesting show."

"So I see," Aldon nodded down at Ed's book, which was still open to page twenty. "Now comes the hard part."

"Yep," Ed closed his book and stood up, feeling joints crack from hours of unaccustomed sitting still. "I was never fond of waiting."

"Dinner will be ready soon," Aldon informed him. "You and Mom are welcome to join us. I know the results won't come out before tomorrow morning's paper but we figured a good dinner would go well as a prelude to every possible outcome."

Ed followed them from the room, stifling his own curiosity only with years of practiced patience. "I couldn't agree more."

Ian stared at the paper in front of him. He had three pages already, but the closing paragraph just didn't want to come to him at the moment. It wasn't like he could put it off until tomorrow either. It wasn't due tomorrow, but the day after. However he knew he would never get it done if he waited. Tomorrow he was supposed to attend a photo shoot and signing with the rest of the cast of Amestris High. Skipping that wasn't an option either, so he continued to wrack his brain. Once he finished the paper, he had to study for midterms.

The problem, he realized, wasn't that he couldn't come up with a good conclusion because of the material. It was that he was distracted by thoughts of his father. The election in Resembool was today, and he couldn't help but feel an intense curiosity regarding how it turned out. It was weird to think of his father possibly as the Mayor of anywhere.

He also wished he could have been there to vote. But that just hadn't been possible with the life he had chosen. Ian considered calling Resembool just to see how things were going but he wasn't sure how that would go over, and he knew he wouldn't get an answer before anyone else did. So he just tried to do homework and hoped he could finish before dinner.

The doorbell rang downstairs and Ian lay down his pencil. He knew Coran and Gale were joining them for dinner tonight, and he wouldn't get any peace if he didn't join the family for dinner; from them, or from his stomach, which had been growling violently for nearly an hour. Only academic desperation had kept him from going downstairs for a snack. He was growing lately, he suspected, because he was even hungrier than usual.

Ian went downstairs, where Coran and Gale were already in the living room chatting with James and Aunt Sara while Uncle Franz put the finishing touches on dinner. Ian was getting used to the idea, very slowly, that Coran and Gale were going to be parents in less than five months, but it still startled him to see Gale every time they came over. Each time she looked different, and to his mind, it was a little disconcerting, given her actress-quality figure. She still looked good, but there was just something so weird about a woman being thrilled to be gaining weight, or her husband to be happy about it. Not that she looked heavy really. Gale worked too hard at the auto-mail shop to go soft.

It was the same uncomfortable feeling in his stomach when he thought about Art and Deanna as parents, even though he'd already met his little niece. Deanna was always so cheerful about the whole thing, she actually seemed to relish it, both the first time and this second one. And for his part, Reichart was even more infatuated than before, if that was possible.

Ian just didn't get it. But he was glad it wasn't something he had to worry about right now! Art, at least, reminded him of Dad. He wondered how Coran would take to fatherhood.

Ian's thoughts returned to his own father. He just really didn't understand Ian's point of view. If a girl was happy with a once-in-a-lifetime date with an actor and didn't have the spark to be worth keeping around to see if it developed, why should he waste time trying to force a relationship? There were hundreds of screaming fans he could have asked out. But really, as many girls as he had gone out with so far, Ian did have standards that had to be met before he was willing to go on an actual date, let alone kiss or cuddle.

Not being a screaming, drooling fan girl was one of those things.

March 14th, 1974

Aldon didn't sleep all night. Well he did, but he didn't remember passing out just waking up at six and last remembering seeing 2:55 on the clock, even though it wasn't when he passed out (last time he dared to look). It was then, lying in the pre-dawn darkness, that Aldon realized just how desperately he wanted to win this. He had always thought it would be interesting, a good experience, and that he could do well in the job, but he had also been okay with the idea of not winning and letting someone else do it.

But no. He really really wanted to win!

Only then did certain doubts resurface that he had kept forcibly submerged. What if he hadn't done enough actual politicking? He had run such a straight-forward campaign, sticking to doing his job on his committees, speaking when called upon to do so, and just making a point of making his talents and the things he was already doing stand out in people's minds. That, and trying not to explode or give himself ulcers worrying about all the slander and mud-slinging he hadn't expected. Not that any of it had outright been Ron Causwith's fault, but Aldon would still peg his wife for the instigator in the majority of what had gone on.

That said, how would it affect his and Cassie's lives in Resembool if Ron did win, and his wife was suddenly the mayor's wife? Aldon wanted to think that Resembool wouldn't pay that any more mind than they did anyone else's title or importance outside of their usefulness, but he couldn't guarantee that.

Finally Aldon gave up trying to sleep and, without waking Cassie, crawled out of bed, pulled on his robe and slippers, and went downstairs to wait for the paper and make a cup of coffee. There was just no way he was getting any more rest before he found out the final result.

The coffee was percolating and the smell filling the kitchen when someone knocked at the door.

Who was that? Aldon couldn't imagine it was the paper delivery. It was still too early, especially on a Sunday. He opened the door.

His father was standing on the porch, smiling. "Mind if I come in and wait with you?" he asked. "I've been up since four."

"Have you been out that long?" Aldon asked, surprised. He stepped out of the way so Ed could come in.

Ed shook his head. "No. But your mother kicked me out of bed when I couldn't stay still anymore. How she can sleep I'll never know. I've barely slept a wink all night, and I'm not even the one running."

"Either way, it's kind of reassuring to know I wasn't the only one," Aldon chuckled. "Cassie's still fast asleep. I think everyone else is too. I haven't heard a peep or a floor creak."

"Coffee smells good." Ed hung up his coat and joined Aldon in the kitchen. "What's for breakfast?"

"Haven't figured that out yet," Aldon admitted. "I was thinking cinnamon rolls if we win."

"I think that should be cinnamon rolls either way." Ed poured them both cups of coffee and the two men sat down across the kitchen table from each other. "They're great consolation food and great celebration food."

Aldon couldn't fault that logic. "I don't think the kids would argue with you," he agreed. "And they do sound good."

Companionable silence fell as they sipped their coffee, and Aldon felt better just having company that understood. They didn't have to talk to know that. Which was funny, given what a talkative pair they were.

When they finished coffee, Aldon started breakfast preparations, and his father stepped in to help. The cinnamon rolls were ready and the oven heating when a thunk against the door announced the arrival of the paper.

"That Stills kid has dead on aim, doesn't it?" Aldon's father commented as he went to the door.

Aldon waited, reminding himself not to hold his breath as he watched Ed pick up the paper, close the door again, and read the headline. "Well?" he finally asked after a very long pause.

He wasn't sure what to think as his father wordlessly handed him the newspaper.

Aldon looked down at the headline.

New Era Issued In For Resembool

Did that mean Causwith had won? Aldon read further.

Despite hard campaigning, the final result of this year's Mayoral election, which saw unprecedented turn out for voting, comes as a surprise only if you haven't been paying attention for the past several months. In what promised to be an interesting race, with no incumbent running, long time resident Aldon Elric faced off against relative newcomer Ron Causwith.

Aldon started skipping lines as he got into what was essentially a recap of the entire election. "Why can't they just come to the point?" he growled.

…so with a solid seventy-two percent of the vote, Resembool's new mayor will be Aldon Elric.

At that point, he stopped reading all together and stared down at those little words in print. That was it…

"Well? Are you going to say anything?"

Aldon looked up at his father's smug grin. Somehow, that made his victory more real. He laughed. "What have I gotten myself into now?"

Author's Note: 2/25/2013 Finis! Yeah, I know, this one pretty much ends on happy notes. Promise plenty of angst and drama coming up in the reasonably near future!

I had planned originally to run the next story immediately after this one, but it isn't finished yet, and I don't want it to feel rushed just to get it done. It's more than half done. I have an outline on the rest, but other major projects (that unfortunately take priority) keep stealing my focus. I want to keep up the quality of the stories, and not let them suffer for the sake of 'getting them done' so Story 59 will post as soon as it's ready to go. I will try and keep an update on my profile page letting folks know when it's ready to go (it's currently eight chapters, I am anticipating another 13 chapter total based on the existing outline). And I have tons of story fodder for after that one's done too.

Thanks for your patience, reading perseverance, feedback, and I hope you keep enjoying!