I feel like I'm coming back to my roots with this chapter. Too much kids and old people. BACK TO RANDOM FLUFFYNESS BETWEEN AL AND MEI BECAUSE THEY ARE ADORABLE TOGETHER. EVEN WHEN THEY'RE OLD.

Mei had a hard time accepting the fact that she couldn't quite move like she used to. She probably hadn't been able to move like she used to in far longer than she was comfortable with. Emily's birth was so hard on her body that it took close to a year to recover, and then she was playing Mom to her children so much of the time, and Al was so busy with being a father and Ambassador as well as an alchemist researcher, that it was near impossible for them to fit in time to spar. When Liwu and Nina requested to be taught alchemy and alkahestry, she had realized that she was losing her touch.

She continued to teach them martial arts while they were learning, but once they dropped and they moved to Amestris where the threat of assassination was so diminished, it began to slip even further away. And Emily, genius she may be, had inherited none of her parents' coordination or fighting talent, so there had been even less of a chance to practice her art.

She had very little choice but to accept it when she heard her husband yell out and instead of jumping to her feet and sprinting to him like she might have twenty years earlier, she dropped the pan she had been cooking breakfast in, hurried to the door frame, shouted down the hall, and then jogged down the hall to their room.

There was nothing too alarming to her eyes when she entered the room though.

Well, nothing except her husband at the mirror, brush in hand, staring at his reflection in horror.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer, instead turning his head to the side and combing through his hair with his fingers.

"Al! What is it!"

He turned his eyes to her then, full of horror.

"Mei… I found… I found…"

"What? What is it?"

He couldn't answer and pointed to his hair. Once again she was at a loss and stared at him.

"What?"

"Can't you see it! It's grey!"

Mei blinked.

"I was brushing through my hair and I found it! It's grey!"

She blinked again before biting her lip.

Then she had to cover her mouth with a hand.

Despite her struggle to hold it back, the giggle broke its way past her lips.

The other hand joined it over her mouth.

Then more forced their way past her lips and she gave up the fight, doubling over with laughter.

"Mei!"

Laughter was his only response.

Eventually his horrified expression was replaced by a smile and her chuckled a bit. Then it morphed into a laugh as well. Mei help onto the dresser to keep herself from falling over she was laughing so hard.

With a grin on his face, Al moved closer, picking her up around the waist. Mei squealed slightly when he did so, it had been so long since he'd done that. Then he groaned and dropped her back on her feet.

"I'm don't think I'm doing that again," he said, laughing, which of course made Mei laugh harder. Her laughter petered off… but then she caught sight of Al's face again which started it up again.

"Laughing! Laughing at my pain!" he said, taking mock affront. "You minx!"

"Minx! How dare you call me a minx! I've never been anything but faithful to you! If I'm a minx, why did you marry me?"

"I didn't know your true nature until it was too late."

"My true nature!"

"Your foul, temptress's heart!"

She grinned widely, shoving him away from her. "You sir have overstepped your bounds!"

"Oh have I now?"

"Yes! To compare me to such a foul creature, the nerve of you! And I thought you a true gentleman!"

"I thought you had given up that misconception years ago, Mei, my treacherous darling."

"Treacherous darling?"

"Well how do I know you haven't been tempting other men? While I'm lost with my nose in my books… they say you can never trust a woman."

"Al! How am I supposed to trust you! Ever heard of a mid-life crisis?"

"I think my mid-life crisis involved regressing into a library and playing with circles." Mei laughed again. "But what about you? I would heart-broken if I were to learn that any other man had… say… discovered where you're ticklish?"

"… No, No!" she screamed, backing up quickly as he moved forward. Then she turned tail and ran to the other side of the bed, where he chased her. His was grinning so wide it would have put a banana to shame as he cornered her between the wall and the bed… until she launched herself over the bed to the other side and ran out the door.

Still grinning, Al followed Mei out the door, all around the house. She led him on a path through the kitchen, knocking pans out of their rightful place trying to give him an obstacle to navigate, through the family room, before doubling back through one of the bathroom back into their room.

She tried crawling over the bed again, but this time he caught her ankle as she made her way over the sheets.

"You're not escaping me this time!" he yelled, pulling her closer and climbing on top of her.

"No, Al, AL!" she screamed as his fingers descended towards her stomach.

He made quick work of her, and soon the mighty Princess Mei Chang, 17th daughter of the Emperor Feng Xing by the Chang clan, favor sister of the Emperor Ling Yao, and sixth in line for the Imperial Throne of Xing… was reduced to a shrieking pile of giggles.

She tried to put a fight, she really did try her hardest, but the attempts where nothing to deter the attacking Amestrian.

When she was so out of breath, she couldn't even laugh any more, he relented in his attack and placed his palms on the bed by her head. It took another minute or two for her to regain her breath, and when she did she reached up to touch the patch of hair where he had found the offensive color.

"I don't know, Al, I think you could make it work. It might make you look even more sophisticated."

"It will make me look old," he said, emphasizing the last word with a grimace.

"I didn't realize you were so self-conscious about the way you look, Al."

"You know I like to look nice. And I don't want to go around looking like an old man while you're still beautiful."

"Al," she admonished, blushing. "I'm getting old too."

"But you're getting even better with age, like wine. I'm just going sour." Mei laughed again, before touching his hair again.

"I like it, Al."

He sighed.

"I suppose that does make it better." Then he looked down at the woman trapped beneath him and grinned again.

"Do you know what this reminds me of?"

"What?"

"Do you remember when I came to Xing? And we spent nearly an hour laughing in my room, only we forgot the door was open?"

"And Ling came in and nearly had a conniption?"

"Yes," he confirmed, beaming. "Good thing we don't have to worry about that now, I'm pretty sure someone would have thought I was torturing you." She smiled up at him but then blinked when his voice changed tone. "And there's also no one to interrupt us."

"Al—?"

He cut her off. And kept her from breathing for the next minute or so, but not because she was laughing. She buried her hand in his hair, bringing him closer. When he finally pulled back she smiled.

"Yes, I like the hair."

He bent down to kiss her again, which they did for a few more seconds until Mei broke it.

"What?"

"… you do realize that Nina's coming with her kids from Xing today, yes?"

"… That's today?" he asked, frowning.

"Were you so distracted by your grey hair you forgot about your own daughter coming to visit with your grandchildren?"

He kissed her again, mumbling something about being distracted by something other than grey hair, to which Mei blushed.

"It's one thing for my brother to walk in on us when we're just laughing Al. It'd be something else for our daughter to walk in on us like this."

"It's Emily that hates watching us kiss."

"Al."

"Yes?"

"… Breakfast is burning."

"… what?"

"I was making breakfast when you became distressed about your hair. It's probably burning."

For some reason, that seemed to be the incentive for him to let her go.

There were many hugs and kisses when Nina finally did arrive (the breakfast did end up burning, though not inedibly so). Liwu and his family showed up a few minutes after his sister's arrival. Emily couldn't make a trip out from Ishval to join the mini-family reunion, but Al and Mei were glad to have what part of their family they could get.

"Don't tell me this is Sydney!" Al said when his granddaughter finally came out from behind her father's leg. "Not this grown up little lady!"

She stared at him with her large dark eyes. She had gotten all of her coloring from her father: dark hair, dark eyes, even his face shape. She all in all looked nothing like her name sake, but Al thought she was an adorable little girl. The dark coloring made the red on her pale cheeks stand out, so she looked almost like a doll instead of a real little girl.

"Do you remember Grandpa from when he visited us?" Nina prompted, voice softy. "He brought you that brush you love?"

"I'm your Grandpa," he said, smiling at her. Sydney looked up at her mother, but stayed exactly where she was.

Nina shrugged. "Sorry, Dad. She's not very good around people she doesn't remember. I blame… Zhou…"

She trailed off mostly because Sydney had taken a step forward. Al's eyes lit up and a welcoming smile stretched across his face. Then she continued to trot forward, finally allowing him to swing her up into his arms.

"I don't think she's ever taken to someone that quickly…" Zhou said. "Not someone she's forgotten. And she forgets most everyone she doesn't see at least once a week."

"Well I'm Grandpa. I'm an exception," Al said proudly, smiling at his granddaughter. "Isn't that right Sydney?"

She nodded.

He raised his eyes at his daughter, as if daring her to contradict. She just threw her arms up in the air, shaking her head.

Sydney actually spent most of the night with her grandpa. She had him carry her everywhere. And when she wanted something, she would let him know.

Al, whose opinion was that it was a grandparent's right to spoil their grandchildren and leave their parents to worry about the kids growing up to be responsible hardworking adults, obeyed her every whim. They had quite an exhausting adventure hiding from a ghost that was trying to eat them.

April had her hands full keeping Adam and Anne from slipping away and getting lost. They were familiar with Grandma and Grandpa's house, so they knew the nooks and crannies and where to disappear to. Their newest foster child, Kimberly, was not helping as she was encouraging them to hide.

After announcing with great exasperation and a pointed stare at Liwu that she was not having children for long while, Nina sheepishly had to admit that she was pregnant again, before Zhou Richard was even a year old. Which of course only led to more teasing and Sydney asking how someone got pregnant.

Al told her that people made babies with alchemy.

Mei told Al to shut up.

Nina told her she'd tell her when she was older.

After that conversation, they got to talking about Nina's new job as a nurse in Chengshi, which effectively bored Sydney into falling asleep against her grandpa's shoulder.

The conversation began to drift after that and pretty soon Al was leaning back into the couch with his feet on the table and his head fell backwards, mouth open.

When Nina pointed it out, everyone had to stop and take a moment of silence to look at the sleeping pair. They were so different.

Al was obviously ageing, as well as a man. She was a toddler, proud to be potty trained. His coloring was all gold and rich colors, from his hair to his eyes to his deep red tie and dark brown slacks. She was dark and light, dark hair and eyes, pale skin with little blossoms of color on her cheeks.

Yet they were so peaceful together. Granddaughter and Grandfather combined to reach across time periods. Al born in a time of war and hate, Sydney in peace and prosperity.

"Your father found grey hair this morning," Mei informed her children.

"Really?" Liwu asked. "Dad?"

"He was quite distressed. He thinks it's going to make him look old."

"I can't imagine Dad with grey hair," Nina confessed.

"Neither can I," Liwu agreed.

Mei nodded, before leaning in as if about to share a great secret. "I personally think it's going to make him look even more attractive."

"Mom!"

The image of Sydney falling asleep on Al's shoulder was inspired by something I saw in church today. It was Father's Day, so all the kids are in two visiting their fathers with their grandkids and one of the little boys had fallen asleep on his grandpa's shoulder. It was the most adorable image.

And the fluff just sort of... happened. NO REGRETS.