Stuck in St. George with no internet connection again. Sunday we were at my Aunt's house and I didn't want to be totally rude and pull out my computer and by the time I actually had an excuse to do so, I only got to use it for like an hour and when we got back to the house we were staying at where there was internet, it was already late and I only had limited battery on the car ride down.

CHAPTER 15 GUYS. 10 LEFT. THIS IS SERIOUSLY HAPPENING. TOO FAST! AHHHHHH!

After Nina's wedding, planning Liwu's seemed like a piece of cake. The most complicated part of it all was communicating with her step-father and mother in Xing, and even that wasn't terribly complicated. They had only met each other twice before now, but Al and Mei found that her parents were more than willing to help out in every way they could with the wedding.

Because of the unique circumstance, they decided to hold the wedding in Xing. Even though they both had a lot of friends in Amestris, Xing was really what brought them together. And April had never had the chance to visit the palace, but had always wanted to see it. And Quyi threatened to kill Liwu if he didn't have it where he could go.

So that was a bit of a factor.

They managed to set up a plan for most of their friends in Amestris to be able to attend. They didn't even have to manage most of the planning since it was happening at the palace. April left a month earlier to watch over the planning.

Already the date had come quickly, but after that point the date came impossibly fast. It seemed like mere days from Nina's wedding that Al was giving his son his final advice and then watching him lead his soon to be wife down an aisle where Ling married them.

There was a lump in his throat as he went to congratulate the two after they drank, kissed and were proclaimed husband and wife. He hugged April first while Mei pulled her son into her own arms. He heard her talking to him about her little boy being all grown up and so handsome there with his bride, which just about turned Liwu as red as his robes. Al smirked before pulling away from his new daughter-in-law.

"We're so happy to have you in our family, April," he told her as she grinned widely. "I want you to know that you will always be welcome with us."

"Thank you… Dad." He grinned at her and pulled her into another hug before going and embracing his son.

"Congratulations, Liwu."

"Thanks, Dad," he said hugging him back. "You're not going to give a super sappy speech at the reception like you did at Nina's will you?"

"Of course I'm going to. Nina was my little girl, but you're the child that made me a father. A sappy speech is the least punishment that I can inflict on you for leaving me."

"Gee, thanks Dad, I love you too."

"I love you." They hugged tightly again. Emily took her chance to go and hug Liwu and April after them. After she had finished with her hugs and congratulations, Al threw his arm around his youngest daughter (and now his only unmarried child) and smirked at the two of them. "Now, you're the guest of honor so we very well can't skip the reception."

"Okay, we'll be along in a bit," Liwu responded, grabbing a hold of April's arm.

"No disappearing you too. Sneaking away from the reception entirely does not count, it is just rude."

"Okay, Mom, we'll be there, I promise."

"Don't worry, I'll keep him in line," April said, smiling.

"And if they don't I will," Nina said, having finally fought her way up to meet them. Zhou was trailing behind her. "Don't think I forgot, Liwu, you're not escaping this reception if it's the last thing I do."

"Nina, wouldn't it be better if we just let them be…?"

"Of course not, Zhou, don't be ridiculous. You're guarding the front entrance, Emily you've got West Wing side exit, and I'll be guarding the secret passageway we discovered together."

Liwu mutter a curse under his breath and April just laughed.

"Alphonse actually prepared an entire speech for the occasion. He was fully prepared to read it too, but, well… I decided I wanted to spare my son the embarrassment."

There were some chuckles from the crowd, some halted as Al translated her statement into Amestrian with slight chagrin.

"Most of you in attendance know the meaning of Liwu's name. But for our Amestrian friends and family in attendance, it translates literally to 'gift'... He really was the best gift we were could have asked for. I will never deny that the circumstances surrounding our son's arrival in our home was anything but a tragedy. We never got to know his birth mother, Jia, but we've been told that she was a wonderful woman."

Mei looked eyes with Tso, who had been invited. Mei had offered to have her sit at the head table, but she had rejected the offer, already feeling uncomfortable enough in the palace, let alone sitting with the Emperor himself. Liwu had earlier gone and personally introduced his cousins to his Uncle Ed and grinned at the wonder filled look in their eyes. They had also gotten the chance to meet the entire Imperial family.

Fu and Vien (who was growing up to be a frighteningly beautiful Xingese lady) had addressed them in a way only a little less formal that in they were visiting dignitaries, but Ling and Quyi had both been quite warm and enthusiastic in their conversations. Even Jun-li when they managed to peal him off the roof for a few minutes explained to them what most of his weapons were used for.

Tso had thanked him with tears in her eyes for giving her children the opportunity, that it was an experience that they would remember the rest of their lives. Liwu had just told her that that was what family did, which brought the tears trailing down her checks as she pulled him into a hug as well.

Xie Wang had not been invited to the wedding. In fact he was told quite explicitly that if he tried to show up, he would be banished from the palace for life.

"And despite the tragedy of the situation that brought him into our arms… I can never thank fate enough for bringing him to us. Without him, our lives would have been empty."

Liwu was smiling.

"He's grown up so much since we took that little happy baby into our home. There have been struggles, as everyone will have with their children at some point or another, but they have only served to make our relationships stronger.

"Liwu, April, I know without a doubt that you two will fight."

April laughed before leaning her head against Liwu's shoulder.

"But take it from someone who's been married for over 25 years and known Liwu for 24. If you do your best to work through it, your relationship will grow and strengthen. It will become the most cherished thing you will have. My relationship with your father is something that I would not trade for the world."

"I know you two can have it too. Chris and Victoria must have been inspired when they though to introduced you two." Chris, who was in attendance, grinned and threw his arm over his wife's shoulders while she held their son to her chest.

"I'm so happy that you two are happy together. Congratulations, and I wish you the best."

There was clapping and Mei caught eyes with Liwu who smiled and thanked her. She smiled back and took her seat before April's step father stood.

"I am also not the one that everyone was the expecting to speak. I've only known April for four years now, when I first met her mother. She was… less than warm. And I don't blame her. Her father was a wonderful man and both she and my wife loved him very much. I don't think I would have responded very well in the same situation.

"But she gave me a chance. And I will never be able to thank her enough for that. All of my current happiness is owed to that chance and April's willingness to give it to me. She is one of the most gracious people I've ever met. She never complained when her mother and I moved her to Xing, just set to work on learning the language and asking questions about how to act and the customs…

"Liwu, neither you nor I have known April for very long. Nowhere near as long the wonderful woman sitting at my side. But we have both been able to recognize the fact that she is special. So incredibly special… and neither of us want to let her go. Except in this case it's my job to give her to you.

"I'd warn you about how you need to keep her safe and protect her, but I have the feeling that you already know. So there's nothing left for me to do except wish you the best of luck."

He smiled and sat down as April tried to wipe away the tears from her eyes without ruining her makeup.

After the speeches though, Liwu and April got up to thank people for coming. As if connected by a string, Nina stood up and ordered her husband, little sister, as well as a few others to cover the only exited.

"Nina, are you really sure you should be stressing like this in your condition—" Zhou said as he stood up, before he was quickly silenced by a swift glare from his wife. It was too late, though, because there was a sudden silence at the head table.

"What?"

Nina's glare in her husband's direction intensified and he shrank a little in his seat before muttering something about going to cover the front exit.

"What condition?"

Nina sighed before smiling. "Well… I'm pregnant."

There was a pause. "What?"

"I'm pregnant. We didn't want to say anything until I was further along, we're pretty sure it's only been two months."

"Sweetheart… that's wonderful," Mei said standing up and throwing her arms around her daughter. "I'm so happy for you, you're going to be a wonderful mother."

Al was just staring, jaw slightly slack. "You're pregnant?"

"Dad, you cannot get mad at Zhou for this, I swear if you even try—"

"I'm going to be a Grandpa?"

"… yeah, you're going to be a Grandpa." The smile started small before it grew to almost cross his entire face.

"Mei, we're going to be Grandparents!" he said excitedly, as if she hadn't been a part of the conversation to this point.

"We are," she responded, humoring him.

"We're going to be Grandparents!" he repeated, still grinning before getting up and hugging Nina tightly. He reached out a hand to rub her stomach, but stopped.

"You can go ahead, Dad, but there's not a bump… I've been waiting for one, but there's nothing yet."

"I…" he paused before reaching out, not with his hand, but with a different sense he had learned a lot time ago.

The qi was hard to detect, still small enough that it was easily lost in Nina's strong source of life. But it was there and it was distinctly different from Nina's. A little knot of life tucked in her middle, developing, growing.

"That's my grandson…"

"Or granddaughter."

Al grinned one more time before hugging his daughter. "Oh sweetheart, that's wonderful."

"I'm going to be an aunt!" Emily said excitedly.

Nina turned to grin at her little sister… before the smile dropped from her face.

"Emily, what are you doing here?"

"Huh?"

"You're supposed to be guarding the West Wing side exit! Emily!"

"Sorry!"

By the time Nina raced across the room to check and make sure the exit was still closed, it was too late. Liwu and his bride had managed to do what even Al and Mei had not been able to.

It was up to Al and Zhou to make sure that she didn't try to hunt them down and drag them back to the reception. After all, he had won fair and square. Well, perhaps not completely as Emily confessed to her parents in the upmost confidence that Liwu had bribed her to look the other way while they slipped out her door when Nina was distracted, but they decided that the information would only make Nina more upset which would not be good for the baby.

Of course their disappearance just meant that it was Al and Mei who had to pick up where they had left off on thanking everyone for coming. They thumb wrestled over who would deal with the politics and who got to deal with the family, and Al won. So while his wife went off and played politician, he got to go around and talk to the people he actually cared about.

Chris and Victoria were greeted warmly, and Al even got the chance to hold their son during the conversation, but they confessed that they had to head back to Amestris as soon as possible. Roy wasn't doing well, and Chris wanted to be close by if anything were to happen. Al gave him his regard to pass along. He had been meaning to visit the ex-Fuhrer, but hadn't quite gotten around to it yet, something that he confessed when he finally finished speaking to everyone and got to sit down with Ed.

"None of this would have been possible without him," Al said, finishing his thought as he gestured at the room around him. "We probably never would have gotten our bodies back, we wouldn't have met Ling or Mei, we never would have gotten involved in stopping the Promised Day at all. Without him none of this would have happened. It would be a completely different world."

"I know," Ed said nodding. Al gave him an eye. His older brother was looking just as old as Al was. Older in fact. Whereas Al was starting to notice wrinkles around his eyes and mouth that hadn't been there before, and his hair wasn't looking quite as gold as it used to, Ed's hair was already grey streaked. There were full blown wrinkles in between his eyes so it looked like he was always scowling now.

He could still explode at the drop of the hat if anyone made a short comment. Some things never changed.

"… So much."

"What's that Ed?"

"Everything that's happened. It's been so long since we were kids. Getting beat up by Teacher?" Al grinned before the smile faded. Izumi Curtis had passed away about a decade ago. Her body hadn't been able to compensate for the missing organs any longer and quit on her. Sig had been heartbroken, but still attended Nina's wedding. He hadn't been able to make it to Liwu's, and Al hated himself for admitting it, but he was convinced that the large man was probably coming up on his own time. He had never wanted to live without Izumi.

"The nights we spent in the basement reading about human transmutation?"

"Yeah…"

"I can't remember what it was like."

"What?"

"I can't remember. What it was like before… in the armor. I've had my body back for so long that I can't remember what it was like. I see pictures from back then, and I see how tall I was and I can hardly believe it. I wasn't that tall was I? I remember everything about it, about not feeling and not dreaming or smelling or tasting… but I can't remember what it was like exactly. It seems almost like it didn't happen to me."

"It means we've moved on."

"We've moved on… you could say that again."

"We've moved on."

Al rolled his eyes. "You just think you're so clever, don't you Ed?"

"I've always been cleverer than you, Al."

"And I've always been wiser, Brother."

I would just like to point out that we are 11 reviews away from 100 and I have every intention of continuing to honor my agreement of giving out a prize to whoever gets a hundred mark review... you know. Just pointing it out...

Favorite line from the whole chapter: "Xie Wang had not been invited to the wedding. In fact he was told quite explicitly that if he tried to show up, he would be banished from the palace for life."