June 18th, 1996

To Bonnie, it seemed her unborn children were determined to be the constant source of surprises. As if there being three of them had not been the cause of enough chaos for months, they decided that instead of waiting for her scheduled induction, they wanted to come a day early, and they just had to start in the middle of the night.

Thank goodness her parents and Ian's were all at the house, because when her water broke at one in the morning, she didn't think Ian was in any mental shape to drive. Leaving the grandfathers to keep an eye on Joanna and Zachary, her mother and Cassie had driven them over to the hospital. Her bag had already been packed for the next day, and her mother-in-law had kept the mood in the car light as they made their way across town along the empty streets in the middle of the night.

Cassie had also called ahead, and Bonnie was reassured on arrival when there was not only a nurse waiting with a chair to wheel her up to the maternity ward, but a smiling—and only slightly sleepy looking—Ethan Elric was there with the regular physician and nurses on duty. Which was not a surprise, even though she knew Ren was supposed to be handling her delivery. Ethan often had night-duty for deliveries in particular, and so she had known if things ran very early, or late, she might see both of them. Given her only hope of getting through this without surgery relied heavily on alkahestry along with several other facts, Bonnie was more than relieved to see him already present.

They had her up in a room in just a few minutes and an examination done just a few after that. No one was taking any unnecessary risks.

"So, what do you think?" Ian asked from his protective position he had taken up beside her; dressed, but rumpled, and a bit wide-eyed. Bonnie wondered what his fans would think if they could see this side of him. Even though they had been through this twice already, it was not the same.

For one thing, however tired and ready to give birth Bonnie had been the last two times, what she felt now made her feel like the first two had been nothing. Well, maybe almost nothing.

Ethan's expression was serious, but calm, when he straightened up. "Right now, everything is looking good. Baby One is in a good position for delivery, Two and Three are fine, and no one is in distress. Your blood pressure is a little high, but not outside safe zones, and not higher than it's been for the past month. If it's still your preference, I think we can try for vaginal delivery as discussed, and see how it goes."

Bonnie knew it was still likely something would go awry, but if there was a chance of getting through without surgery, she would do her best. "Yes. I'm up for it."

Ian smiled with a calm that was add odds with the anxiety behind his eyes. His hand resting on her shoulder tightened. He nodded in silent agreement. They had already agreed it was her decision.

Bonnie managed a slight smile before the next contraction hit, and all of her focus shifted down as she breathed through the discomfort. All right you three, let's do this.

Seventeen hours and a couple of pots of coffee all to himself later, Ian understood why they had been warned that most deliveries with multiples—particularly more than two—were delivered through surgery. He had no idea how Bonnie was handling it as well as she was, but he was reminded once again just how strong his wife was, and how inadequate he would ever have been in the same place. At least he knew what to do, and with Ethan there—and then Ren when they traded out mid-morning—he was able to fight back his worst fears and focus on the moment.

One contraction at a time, one minute at a time. All he had to do was support Bonnie, cheer her on, and do anything he could to be helpful. Seventeen hours, and no sleep since the morning before that, and they were finally near to having the first one out. While he had been assured things would move faster once they got there, he wasn't sure how long Bonnie could hold up. Not that she said anything, but he knew how exhausted she was, and how focused. She hadn't complained once, aside from the occasional grunt, grimace, or gasp.

Watching the alkahestry trained physicians at work was a whole different experience. While they had checked in with both of their first deliveries, major assistance had been unnecessary. On this one, both Ren and Ethan had provided regular support in the way of giving Bonnie a little extra energy, and in helping ease the birthing pains as they got more intense. There was more checking and shifting of the positions of the babies to make sure they could move properly into the birth canal. Much more frequent checks on the well-being of the babies, and Bonnie, regarding the stress being put on them. Anything that seemed slightly off was corrected.

And yet Bonnie was still working just as hard as any other delivery, and Ian could imagine—though he didn't want to—how much worse this could be going if they hadn't had that help available.

"We're almost there." Ren's pronouncement startled him. "One more push, Bonnie. The first one's almost out."

Ian had thought he'd done well with the first two times, but now he understood how his father—who had honestly loved being a parent—had been so squeamish about deliveries. Of course, his mother, and Bonnie's mother, were both taking it with far more apparent calm than he was. They had been in-and-out all day, but always one of them there as a calming presence. Bonnie wanted them there, and no one was arguing.

The first cries, small but audible, made him look up from Bonnie's face. Ren was holding the first baby… the tiniest baby Ian had ever seen, even though they had been assured the triplets were estimated to be measuring large for there being three of them. "Nicely done. The first is a boy."

Not at all a surprise there, though they hadn't been able to get a good visual with the crowding to be sure of the gender of any of them before-hand. They were Elrics though, and Ian would not be at all surprised to find three more boys on their hands. "You're amazing," he whispered in Bonnie's ear, kissing her cheek. "You've got this."

"Celebrating early?" Bonnie asked wryly, chest heaving from the exertion. "Tell me that when they're all out."

"All right, I will."

An hour and five minutes after the first delivery, it was done. The first boy, solidly four-and-a-half pounds, followed by a girl who weighed in at four, and then another boy who came in between.

"You just gave birth to thirteen pounds of babies." Ian's heart was pounding so hard just from the adrenaline and worry he felt like he'd run half-a-marathon himself, though he knew it was nothing next to what Bonnie felt. After all, she had done all the real work. His role of emotional support seemed far more inadequate than it ever had before.

"That you're going to get to help bathe," Ren startled him as she smiled, and held up his newest daughter. "Unless you don't think you can handle the role."

Ian took the tiny girl in his gloved hands. Compared to Joanna and Zachary at birth, all three looked incredibly tiny. But they were all the right warm red a baby should be, and wiggling and making noises in the strange world of 'outside Mom.' "I can handle it." He took her over to the station where Rebecca and his mother were already bathing his new sons. They hadn't let the regular nurses do it.

I knew they were coming, and it still feels insane to see them and know they're all ours! Fortunately, he had plenty of baby bathing experience, and he had no trouble gently wiping his new daughter clean, while Ren and other members of the medical team took care of Bonnie.

Umbilical cords clamped, babies washed and swaddled for necessary warmth, vitals taken, incredibly gentle alchemy once-over performed; Ian was relieved when all three babies were finally permitted to be in the hands of their parents, even though he knew they would have to go spend some time down in the nursery, possibly for the next week or two, depending on if there were any complications and how quickly they grew. Though if they were doing well, they might be able to stay in the room with Bonnie.

By the time the babies were ready, the after-birth was over, and Bonnie wanted her newborns. Ian helped nestle all three babies in around Bonnie, so she could hold and see all of them at once.

Her eyes were wide, and glistening with tears. "Look at you," she whispered softly. "I hope you're all more cooperative now that you don't have to share a womb."

Ian couldn't help a short laugh. Thankfully Bonnie didn't look annoyed. "If they aren't, at least now you can hand them off to me."

"Which I will be more than happy to do," Bonnie admitted. "Our house is never going to be quiet again."

"Not for a couple of decades," Ian agreed, leaning down and kissing her cheek again. "But it wasn't going to be anyway. Give them a few years, and you could have them modeling a line of designer kids clothes for you."

Bonnie gave him an amused look. "Are you already suggesting exploiting our children?"

"I'm suggesting saving us money as well as them helping pay for their own career goals. Besides, that would only be if they wanted to," Ian promised. He had been mostly joking. "Though I do suggest we teach Joanna and Zach to help out more as fast as possible." His daughter was at the age where she could actually help with basic chores. Zach was eager to help, but was often as much a hindrance as anything else. "At least they won't fight over who gets to play with their new sibling."

"No, but the first night they're kept up by three crying infants, they're going to complain." Bonnie gave a knowing smile. "My brother and I were not incredibly thrilled with June for the first few months."

"I don't really remember," Ian admitted. Being the second youngest, he had almost no memories of Ted as an infant, though he had a few of Callista. "Though I remember plenty of arguments with my brothers later."

"You still argue with your brothers."

"Only out of love."

"Well, you can be sure we're going to hear a whole lot of love for the next few years."

Bonnie was grateful when everything was done for the moment, and quiet descended. The babies were tucked up in the portable hospital cribs under a warming light, but in her room.

She had eventually been permitted to get up and shower—Ian had helped—while the bedding was changed and everything cleaned up from the delivery. After, a light meal had been waiting for her, which she devoured without shame, before the first feeding session, which had been supervised by the lactation specialist on staff. Bonnie had been reading up for months on how to feed more than one infant at a time, but there was simply no way to feed three. So, they had practiced holds for two, and once the first two had fed, she fed the third. Her mother had written down who ate when, so Bonnie could remember for the next feeding, and rotate them to make sure everyone was getting enough. If she couldn't make enough milk for three, they would supplement with formula, but they were so tiny now, and they weren't eating much yet.

Only then had they finally been left alone. Well, mostly alone. No one was ever really alone in a maternity ward. At least they had their own room. Cassie had called home to fill in her father and Aldon about the delivery, and driven back to the house to get a few things and reassure Joanna and Zachary that everything was fine, and that, yes, she had seen their new little brothers and sister. Bonnie's mother stepped out to fetch her another snack from the cafeteria, and Ian—bless him—had finally passed out in the reclining chair in the corner of her room.

Not that Bonnie blamed him at all. He hadn't even been to bed yet either when her water had broken not long after midnight. His work hours lately bordered on insane, even for him, and he had been right there with her, and helped take care of their newborn children. He deserved sleep.

So did she, and she would soon, but it was her first moments alone with her new children, and in the quiet, she could simply stand, and marvel at them, as they slept, swaddled up and warm, each one in a different colored cloth, even though Bonnie was certain she would have no trouble telling them apart, not even the boys.

Leith—formerly Baby One—was notably the biggest for now. The soft down on his head was nearly invisible, but now that it was dry, she thought it was the same blonde as Ian, because it looked like Joanna's at birth.

Beside him Samantha—no longer Baby Two—had a startling thick fluff of hair for a tiny baby. It was more clearly near her own reddish-brown. She might be the smallest, but she had shouted the loudest, and sucked as hard as the others once she got hold. It had taken all of them some effort to latch on. But then, they were younger than her others had been, and they would need a little time to catch up developmentally.

Donovan, her youngest son now, had a light down of hair that looked more of a light brown that was not odd on either side. Of course, all of those colors might change, and she didn't know how their eyes would turn out, but they had slightly different shapes, and noses, and their cries were not identical either. No, Bonnie was sure their personalities would keep it clear enough.

How am I ever going to manage all five of you?

"Dinner two has arrived," her mother spoke up softly as she came in the door with a tray that held a heartier meal than the one Bonnie had eaten a couple of hours before.

"You're a life saver," Bonnie assured her mother as she moved back to the edge of the bed and sat gingerly. Everything still hurt, though she knew it would have been far worse without the help Ren and Ethan had given.

Her mother put the tray on the bedside table and rolled it into position. It was almost odd that she could reach the table now while sitting. It had been months since it was even possible. Not that Bonnie didn't feel the weight of her deflated belly still. In the mirror in the shower, she had gotten a decent look at herself, and even after delivering three babies and all the material that went with them, she looked like she could have been solidly pregnant with one, though it sagged more. There would be no getting back into pre-maternity wear in the near future, not that she had expected it. At least it was already a little easier to move.

"Well, it's not home cooking," Rebecca chuckled quietly. "But they said you could eat anything, so I tried to get your favorites, and I told them if it was bland, I'd complain to the manager."

"Mom!" Bonnie shook her head, but dug in to the food so she would have something to feed the triplets when they woke up hungry again in a couple of hours. It could have been cardboard, and she would have eaten it at this point. "This is fine, though I'll be happy when we can all go home in a few days. Then you can make us all your best recipes." Not that she hadn't been already. All of the parents had taken their turns in the kitchen, even her father. "Though I'm looking forward to being able to do things for myself again."

"I'm sure it's a relief," her mother agreed. "Though I'm enjoying the chance to take care of all of you for a bit." She smiled. "You hardly need me anymore, though I'm grateful for that too." Her glance went to Ian, still soundly out in the corner. "He would do anything for you."

Bonnie looked over at him too. "I'll always need you, Mom, but you're right. He's amazing, and not just the last few months. He goes all-out for us all the time." If anyone had told her years ago, that the outrageous flirt that she first remembered in her wardrobe trailer and makeup chair would be the most devoted husband and father she'd ever met, she would have called them crazy. If anyone had told her she would willingly marry a man who was so very much regularly in the spotlight, she would have had them institutionalized. Yet here they were. Boy, do I hope there's no press when they release us. There shouldn't be, but good news always did seem to find a way of leaking out. Bonnie would just be perfectly happy to avoid cameras for the next several months. It was still a bit of a miracle that the magazines hadn't gotten any shots of her during her pregnancy. Ian had insisted on pictures, but only for the private family albums, and he had taken those himself, and had his sister develop them. Their privacy, especially hers, mattered to him. Not that we will be able to go anywhere as a family without being conspicuous anymore.

"Hopefully he'll find more time to rest," her mother continued the conversation. "It takes an incredible level of exhaustion to fall asleep in one of those chairs. I don't think I've seen him take a moment for himself since we got here."

That was probably true. Bonnie knew Ian had sat with them in the evenings, but even during conversations his mind was clearly on a lot. Not that she could say hers wasn't. There was far too much on her mind of late, and almost all of it had to do with their family, and all the work she needed to catch up on somehow as well when she went back. "I'm sure I can trick him into a few naps," she replied with a grin. "There's nothing that puts him out faster than one of the kids falling asleep on him, and now there's plenty of babies around who will need naps."

Rebecca grinned. "Then let's hope they're all good nappers."

Oh, Bonnie desperately hoped that was the case. If they didn't turn out to be good sleepers, neither she nor Ian would be getting enough sleep for a very long time. Though, she thought as she looked over at the sleeping babies beside her bed, it would still be worth it.

June 19th, 1996

Tore tried not to be impatient as he waited for Felix Tringham to arrive for their latest meeting. He knew, because the Marble and Sifter Alchemists were back from their inspection tour of the South-Western mines, that their report was in on the results of those inspections and, less well known, whether or not they had found evidence of theft or misappropriation of the elements that had been found in the explosive additive that had almost caused a major disaster. Not being the person to whom that information came directly was inconvenient, but the Genesis Alchemist was now the head of the State Alchemist Department, and those reports went to him first now. That was as it should be, but it was still annoying.

Of course, Tore could have just wandered down there and gotten the information himself, but Sensation had pointed out that he needed to be accessible in his office some of the time. So, he had set aside a time block this afternoon to sit down long enough to eat lunch and go through the stack of reports that had come in from Brass in charge of several departments, and a folder of information from the Senior Speaker of the Assembly that was mostly a summary of the topics under discussion that might come up for a vote in the near future, in case he wanted to express any opinions on the matter.

Today's briefing from the Assembly actually held, for once, little of interest. Or at least, of immediate military importance. There were negotiations underway for decisions on a major roadway project that would widen some of the major roads between Central and the four cardinal cities to accommodate increased vehicular traffic. While the trains were still highly used, the larger number of personal vehicles in the country made for quite a bit of congestion on some roads.

There was also a report the Assembly had received that had been put together about the progress on the already approved upgrades to the rail system, and railway security. This included new procedures for background checking security employee candidates before full hire and putting them on the job. Tore definitely hoped those proved more useful. Even the state military police couldn't handle every security need in Amestris.

A knock on the door pulled Tore out of the paperwork. "Come in."

"I see it's not donut day," Felix Tringham commented with a wry chuckle as the tall, lanky General entered the room. "Though from the smell your office has been hoarding all the good coffee."

"If you're just coming up here to swipe pastries than you're working for the wrong man," Tore retorted, closing the folder and adding it to the read pile. "The ghost of my father-in-law has not appeared to tell me how sacrilegious it is not to provide fried sugar to my underlings."

"A shame." Tringham came to stand in front of him, and saluted properly. "I have the report you've been waiting for, Sir."

"And?" Tore asked, gesturing for Tringham to sit.

The other alchemist sat down and slid a folder of documents across the desk. "It's just what you were looking for," he said, filling him in even as Tore flipped open the folder and looked at the report data. "Sifter and Marble identified the exact mine the elements came out of. They even showed up on the initial manifests of what came out of the mine. They're supposed to be collected and taken to a safe repository on military property outside West City where they're inaccessible to the public. It doesn't require much storage space, because neither element is very common, and rarely shows up in any of the mines."

"Except that some didn't make it there?" Tore hazarded.

Tringham nodded. "The quantities are in the report, but there's some that left for the facility, but never arrived. No report of a theft or any inconsistencies between. The leaving manifest listed it. The manifest handed over on intake did not include it."

"So, someone involved in the transport must have taken it, or given it to someone who wanted it." Which nailed down a time frame, a trail, and a specific list of the soldiers who would have been involved in the transportation. "How often has this happened?"

"According to the records they looked through, only six times in the past four years, but they were the most substantial yields of those elements, as well as others that we restrict highly for safety reasons."

"What are we doing about it?"

"It's already been done." Now Tringham looked smug. "They tracked the truck's route, discovered where it stopped by asking around, and managed to track the package delivery point to an old backroom of a shop in Wellesley. It had been recently cleared out, but the renters left enough residue behind that they were able to alchemically identify the place as the lab where the explosive additive was manufactured."

Tore was going to look forward to reading through this report in detail. "Any idea who was there?"

"They got a couple of first names—almost certainly pseudonyms—of a couple of folks that came and went regularly, but more importantly, they tracked down the name of the rental company who owned the building, and were able to confirm that the rental agreement was… not above board. Which is to say there wasn't any official paperwork. The office manager said his boss—the company owner—had told him not to worry about it. It was on loan as a favor until the supposed business could make enough to start paying."

"Well, that's fishy."

"Apparently, it's not all that uncommon with this guy. Anyway, they found out that the owner of the rental company is Duluth Lange."

Tore had the feeling he ought to know the name, but it wasn't coming to him immediately. "Where do we know him?"

"He's a fairly high-level businessman. But in this case, what matters is he's the brother-in-law of Brigadier General Dattin in West City."

Dattin hadn't been on any of Tore, Franz, and Anastas' immediate concern lists, though she had been a minor officer under one of them several years ago. "Any chance Lange knows our State Alchemists came by?"

Tringham shook his head. "They didn't go in uniform. They went in saying that one of the guys owed them money, and they'd shown up to collect. Since they had at least one name, it shouldn't have seemed too off. It might get reported up that someone was asking around or it might not."

That was why he'd sent in alchemists he could trust not to do anything stupid. Though they both might deserve commendations for this. "I don't suppose we've got a confirmation tracing any of this to Dattin directly?"

"Not yet. I wanted to meet with you first. I presume you'd like me to give this over to Heimler in Investigations?"

"As soon as possible. If they moved, they must have assumed we would eventually track them down once we had analyzed the explosive. They may have started packing as soon as the mission failed. Though that means they've got somewhere else to go, or can get one on short notice. We should see what other properties Lange manages that might be… suspect." It would be such a great break if they were using more than one bolt hole managed by the same person. Not that Tore expected to get that lucky. "We should probably expect that most of their people are spread out in smaller locations and harder to find. We may be looking for a dozen or more locations, and who knows how many small alchemy labs, depending on how many alchemists they may have." So far, it didn't seem to be many or there would be more evidence of them in the attacks so far besides the one confirmed. Or, it was possible they were holding them back, or most of them were only lab alchemists, and not combat trained. Still too many unknown variables.

Tore was still highly suspicious that whoever had made that particular concoction had been a State Alchemist. There was just something about the way it had been made, and the choices made in mixing. Whether that was the same alchemist Ted had fought in Drachma, he couldn't be sure, but it was highly probable. In any case, that one Ted had sworn had to have been at least through the training program, even if they hadn't made State Alchemist.

"I'll take care of it."

"Was there anything else you wanted to discuss with me today, Genesis?"

Tringham shook his head. "Everything else is pretty much status quo for the State Alchemist's office. It's all included in the written report. Though, actually, I was wondering how long and how often you want me sending Firestorm and Proteus out on more of those investigations?"

At this point, Tore was still using them as decoys, but mostly because he wanted the enemy keeping their eyes on the teams that Tore would obviously prefer. Not that he wasn't using them for important missions, but he had them doing legitimate work, intermixed with the re-investigations of the old sites of missions-gone-wrong for other State Alchemists. There had been enough evidence of tampering that nearly all of those reports had been updated and corrected, and officer's records adjusted as appropriate.

"For now, mostly just what you need them on. If you can only send one, match someone else with Proteus. Firestorm has been tasked with assisting in helping train more of our State Alchemists in how to fight fire, when the fire fights back. So, I'd like him in Central as much as possible for the moment." At least one of their enemy alchemists had some level of flame alchemy, which meant more of them needed practice against it. Though learning how to deal with fire better on the whole—and ways of putting it out with whatever their specialty was—could only be a benefit.

"I'll see to it." Tringham knew the plan, of course. At that, he stood. "On all counts. Oh, on a different note, you going to be able to drag yourself free for cards tomorrow night?"

For a moment, Tore had almost forgotten about Jean Stevens' invitation for tomorrow evening, even though he was sure Charisa probably remembered. It was pretty much a generals' hangout night, and a fairly select crew. Aside from Stevens and himself, he knew that James Heimler had been invited, and also Cal, though Tore had to wonder if Stevens just had a sadistic streak and didn't mind losing. Not that he wasn't glad his friend had been included in the invitation. He didn't get to see anyone enough these days if he didn't see them at Headquarters. "I'll be there, as long as there isn't a major military emergency," he promised, before grinning. "But then that's true of most of us. If anything hits the fan, we'll be here instead."

"There is that," Tringham agreed with a chuckle. "Though depending on the night, we could always play here."

Tore snorted. "I'll bet it wouldn't be the first time."