I Can
Title: I Can
Verse: Further Interruptions
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing: Roy/Ed, Alex/Sheska
Summary: “You did remember to pat them down for chalk before we came, didn’t you?” Roy asked.
Author's Note: Another new chapter. Mistakes are mine. Awesomeness supplied by my beta, kzellr who constantly asks me questions and makes me think harder about this series and the characters and what will happen next :P
“Now?”
Ed sighed as he sat in the Armstrong manor and tried to hold his temper in. You’d think after all these years he’d be better at it. Still.
“Father? Now?”
Nine. The answer was nine, so far.
Nine times his son and daughter could ask the same question after Ed had said he wasn’t answering it again. Because he had. Five times already.
“Ed?”
He looked up and gratefully took the cup of tea his husband handed him.
“You look like you could use it,” Roy said with a smile.
“If they ask to see the baby one more time -”
Roy laughed. “They’ve been waiting for this day since Sheska and Alex announced the pregnancy.”
“Yeah, well, you weren’t home with them to have to answer the questions. You’re lucky they survived the six months since we were told.”
Roy leaned over and pressed his lips to Ed’s and Ed let him get away with it. He knew what Roy meant with it anyway. It was a thank you and an apology all in one. Though, to be honest, there was nothing Roy needed to apologize for. It had just been hard. The twins had always been inquisitive and curious. They asked questions about everything. It was no surprise that, with Sheska and Alex expecting a baby, that they’d wanted to know how they came into the world. It wasn’t Roy’s fault that he was out of the country on a diplomatic meeting when they asked.
Ed knew that he and Roy had been lucky that Winry had been willing to carry a child for them. They’d been even luckier that Alphonse had learned how to make it happen when he’d studied alkahestry in Xing. Ed loved the twins more than anything. No amount of pain or trouble would ever make him wish his life was different. Ed’s easy relationship with Winry had gone sour after the twins had been born though.
She’d agreed to very strict terms about what would happen after she delivered so that there would be no confusion about who was raising the children and who was responsible for them. Even though she’d signed away her rights as a mother, there’d been a period of time when Ed couldn’t be anywhere near her because she wanted to become more than just an Aunt and birth mother. She wanted to be called Mom.
While Ed understood, even back then, why she’d reacted the way she did, it didn’t change the fact that Roy and Ed had two beautiful children who had two doting parents. Winry had a place in the twins’ lives but they weren’t willing to share their children back and forth with her in Resembool. She had signed the papers to give up any right to custody, but had shown up a full year later asking to change everything.
It had turned nasty between them. Ed had tried to handle Winry on his own, but in the end Roy had to step in. It was a few months before they let her close to the twins after that, and even then it had been with Alphonse with her to keep her in line.
The budding relationship that Alphonse and Winry had started had turned sour then too. Alphonse had felt pulled in two by the fighting but he had stood beside his brother one hundred percent.
So, the twins still didn’t know who their mother was, but they had learned how they’d come to be the Führer’s children, of the lengths Ed and Roy had gone to for their family. They didn’t know about Winry though.
Winry still let it crop up between them from time to time but mostly she let it go.
Now Ed wanted to strangle his children because they were convinced they were experts in childbirth and were determined to get in to see Sheska right away to make sure she was okay.
“Dad, can we go see the baby now?” Tishy asked.
Ed rolled his eyes as Tishy sat beside Roy on the couch.
“What did your Father already tell you?”
At least his husband was smart enough to ask that most of the time when Tishy questioned him. He was such a sucker for her.
“Father said we have to wait until Uncle Alex came out for us.”
“And why are you asking me now then?”
“It’s been forever!” Maes said as he stood in front of Roy.
“Labor takes a long time. If we went in now, we’d just be in the way. We need to let your Uncle Alphonse handle this. Don’t you think he would come to get you if he needed your help?” Roy asked.
The twins nodded but Ed knew it was only a matter of time. They walked away to go stand in front of one of the impressive cases of books that lined the study wall. Sheska hadn’t wanted her child to be born in a hospital and, with Alphonse already an expert in alkahestry, she’d asked him to deliver the child in their home.
Roy leaned back in his seat next to Ed and draped his arm over Ed’s shoulders. Ed leaned into him and let out a deep breath.
“You remember what it felt like?” Roy asked.
Sap.
“I couldn’t stop worrying if we had the right clothes.”
Roy laughed. “We had an outfit for two boys and two girls. And as soon as you saw the twins, you refused all the outfits and said they weren’t right. Luckily, Madame showed up with the perfect outfits.”
“How did she know that we were having a boy and a girl?” Ed asked. “We only knew they were twins.”
“Alphonse knew,” Roy reminded him. Since he’d done the tests to ensure the baby’s health, he’d learned not only that they were twins, but their sex as well.
“And Madame found some way to bribe him to tell her the truth,” Roy continued. “So, when she showed up, she was ready with the right type of outfits. Even though the ones we picked out were precious.”
“They were. I know. I just … it’s like nothing was right once I saw them.”
Roy smiled and Ed shook his head. “I was a mess and you loved it.”
“You were a mess and so was I,” Roy said. “We were brand new dads and I loved that. Every panicked, terrified moment of it.”
“Armstrong will too.”
“Sheska is going to have her hands full,” Roy agreed. “Especially once Auntie Olivier gets here.”
“I want to be there when you call her that.”
“I’d like to keep my position in office a while longer, thank you. If I call her that, she’s likely to depose me. I wouldn’t be the first Führer she’s done in.”
“If I recall correctly, you did the first one. She just helped out.”
“You say potato…”
“I say shut the hell up?”
“Something like that,” Roy laughed. And Ed watched him with a soft smile on his face because somehow this was the man he’d get to grow old with. Who’d get gray hairs raising kids with him.
Speaking of which, “Why are they so quiet?”
“You did remember to pat them down for chalk before we came, didn’t you?” Roy asked.
Ed’s eyes widened because he’d forgotten all about it.
“Tishy!” Roy yelled because they both realized that the wall they were facing was the room Sheska was in.
“We didn’t do anything!” Maes called out before they could see what their hellions were doing. He stood between Tishy and their parents though and before Ed could see, a small flash of alchemy told him that something had happened, even if there was no evidence of what his children had done.
“Give me the chalk,” Ed demanded.
Tishy did but she looked up at Roy as if that would save her. This time, though, Roy looked as pissed as Ed felt.
“What did you do, Trisha?” his husband demanded.
Her eyes widened and her lower lip fell into a pout but this wasn’t the practiced one. She knew she was in real trouble. Ed realized Roy must have seen something that Ed hadn’t.
“I just wanted to see the baby and if Aunt Sheska was alright,” she whispered.
“So you bore a hole in the wall to look?” Roy demanded.
Tishy looked at her little brother and Maes took a step closer to her, their pinkies curled together. “We were only looking,” she said again.
“And what if Alphonse had been distracted while he was trying to do his own alchemy in there?” Roy asked. “What if Sheska was really in danger and you pulled Alphonse’s attention away when he needed to be focused on her?”
“We didn’t mean any harm…”
“You do not play with alchemy. It is not a game. You have no idea what can happen. You have … “ Roy faltered because they had never told their children the truth of it all. They were still too young but they were too arrogant and filled with a child’s determination to do what shouldn’t be done.
“Come here,” Ed called the children away from Roy to give his husband time to calm himself. Roy didn’t lose his cool like that often. He was usually the one that laughed at their antics, not chastised them.
The twins followed him back to the couch and sat without being told. A part of him wanted to wrap them in his arms because they only held each other’s pinkies like that when they were really upset, but he knew that Roy’s anger was warranted. Their children were far too gifted and too smart to be allowed to let loose with it.
“We have told you both that you cannot perform alchemy without permission. Why did you disobey now?”
“We just wanted to see the baby,” Maes answered.
“Was there an emergency that kept you from waiting?” Ed asked.
They shook their heads.
“Exactly. If there was an emergency, who would Uncle Alphonse ask for help?”
“Daddy,” Tishy said.
Because as much as Ed could theorize and draw the arrays, he couldn’t perform alchemy. As much as it still irked sometimes, it was the price he paid to have his brother back and Ed had never balked at that.
“Who are the top two alchemists in the world?”
“Uncle Al and Dad,” Maes answered.
“Do you think, if those two couldn’t handle it, that you could?”
Tears fell down Tishy’s cheeks and Maes scrubbed at his face with the hand that wasn’t holding Tishy’s pinky.
“One day, you two are going to be amazing alchemists and people will come from all over to get your help. But that won’t happen if you don’t take it seriously now. You cannot use alchemy like this.”
“Did you do alchemy when you were our age?”
Ed felt a hand on his shoulder and he knew that Roy was back with him and would support whatever he said.
“Yes,” he said softly. “And you know that I lost my alchemy. Nothing is for free.”
“Equivalent exchange,” the twins said in unison.
“Yeah. But sometimes the trades we make aren’t always equivalent. Sometimes we lose more than we gain. And sometimes, you don’t have a choice. Someday, when you’re older, I’ll explain it all. But I want you to understand. I did something horrible when I was little and I didn’t pay the price for it. My little brother did. In the end, I had to give up alchemy to fix it.”
“What?” Maes asked.
“And your Dad was blinded to pay for someone else’s alchemy. He was healed, but at the time we didn’t think it could be. Even though you are both strong and you have a good sense of it, you can’t play with it. Don’t you ever hide it from us again.”
The twins nodded solemnly and, as Ed stood up, Roy offered him a hand up.
“Father?” Maes asked.
“Yes?”
“Were … your arm and leg a price for alchemy too?”
He looked up at Roy and let out a deep breath. Roy pulled him close and Ed really just wanted to go home and follow his husband into the living room with the big comfy couch and a roaring fire and let himself fall asleep in his arms.
“Yes, Maes,” Roy answered for him. “Your father lost his arm and leg because of alchemy. We know that you aren’t being malicious or trying to cause trouble, but that doesn’t make it safe. You know your Father and I love you both, very much. We need to know that you’re safe. So please, no more unsupervised alchemy.”
Maes was off the couch first, reaching up for Ed. Ed pulled the seven-year-old into his arms at the same time Roy grabbed Tishy. Ed let his head rest against his husband’s chest even as he watched the twins hook pinkies again.
“Sorry Daddy,” Tishy said at the same time as Maes mumbled, “Sorry Father.”
He pressed a kiss to his son’s head before he leaned over and pressed one to Tishy’s. A few minutes of closeness was all they needed to find peace again, which was good because then the twins were squirming to get down and Maes told Tishy about a book on biology they should read because babies were biology, right?
Ed leaned into his husband as they sat on the couch together. “Those two are exhausting,” he said quietly to Roy.
Roy chuckled softly. “Definitely their Father’s children.”
“And their Dad’s,” Ed added.
“Wouldn’t trade them for the world,” Roy said as he tilted Ed’s head up.
Ed let out a sigh as he looked into his husband’s eyes. “Guess not. Let’s just hope Sheska’s baby comes out with less Armstrong. I’m not sure the world can handle another.”
“If I remember right, that’s what I said about Elrics.”
Ed laughed, remembering one of their many conversations about which one of them should be the biological father of their children. Contrary to Roy’s teasing, Roy had reminded Ed that he and Alphonse were the last two Xerxians left. They had a chance to continue their bloodline and keep it alive.
“You ever think about it?”
“What?”
“A little Mustang running around?”
“Are you serious, Fullmetal?”
“What? I’m just asking.”
“Like Maes and Tishy aren’t enough to handle. And, in case you forgot, we happen to be running a country.”
He was saved from having to answer when the door sprang open and Alex Louis Armstrong came rushing into the room with a tiny bundle in his arms.
“Führer Mustang, Edward Mustang-Elric, would you be the first to meet Mira Alysia Armstrong.”
Ed stood up but let his husband take the girl first. “She is beautiful, Alex,” Roy said quietly.
“How is Sheska?” Ed asked as he looked down at the little girl in Roy’s arms. She had a shock of blond hair and pale skin. Her eyes were closed in sleep but her lips were pouted. She looked very much like an Armstrong. She was, indeed, beautiful.
“Alphonse stayed with her so I could bring Mira out to meet you. She was amazing. I have never witnessed such a beautiful act before. I don’t think I could ever love her enough for giving me this sweet gift.”
Ed smiled at Alex before he looked down to find his own children, waiting patiently for once.
“You want to see the baby?” he asked. They nodded furiously and Ed smiled. “Get up on the couch,” he said as Roy sat down. The children sat on one side of him and Alex knelt down with a gentle hand on Tishy’s back as Roy put Mira’s head in Tishy’s arms. Mira’s legs rested on Maes’ lap and both children stared at the baby with wonder.
“She’s so tiny,” Tishy whispered.
“She’s precious,” Maes added.
They both looked up at Roy and Ed stopped them before they could ask. “No, you cannot have one!”
Alex laughed heartily and the twins pouted but their eyes turned back to the baby. When Ed looked at his husband though, he realized that was where the problem was.
Damn, had they opened a can of worms here today.
Roy gave him that soft smile and he stood, leaving Alex with the three children as he swept Ed into his arms. Ed was hardly surprised at the press of lips against his own and he let out a deep sigh. “Gold,” his husband whispered.
“We are not talking about this here,” Ed whispered back, even if he had been the one to mention it earlier.
There were a hundred reasons why this couldn’t happen now. A thousand. But looking into his husband’s eyes, he knew that if he asked, Ed would find a way to make it happen for them again.
“Alex?” Alphonse came into the room and Ed smiled at his brother. He looked exhausted but in a well worked sort of way. “Sheska wanted to see you and Mira.”
“Maes, Tishy, would you like to visit Aunt Sheska?” Alex asked.
“Can we?” Maes asked as Tishy said “Please?”
Alex took his sleeping daughter from them and the twins followed along.
“Mom is doing well?” Roy asked.
“She is. It was a long labor, but not problematic,” Al answered. “She’s all cleaned up and wanted to see you.”
“Good thing. I think the twins want to move in.”
“They seem rather enamored of little Mira,” Roy said with a fond smile.
“Just the twins?” Ed asked.
Roy rolled his eyes but he walked past Alphonse to go check on the others.
Ed let out a deep breath and looked at Al. “You did good, Little Brother.”
“Uh hu. What was that all about?”
“What?”
“Ed. I learned how to speak Mustang-Elric a long time ago. Fess up.”
“Nothing. Just. Babies.”
“Baby. There was only one baby.”
“Yeah … well … maybe there was mention of more.”
“Brother?”
“Let me go see Sheska, alright?”
Alphonse shook his head as he draped an arm over Ed’s shoulder. “You are a glutton for punishment, Brother. Because if you think your kids are hellions, can you imagine a little Mustang running around the house? With Tishy and Maes to spoil them?”
Ed thought about it, about exploding alchemy and terrifying moments, of sleepless nights and mornings cuddled in bed with his husband and kids. He thought about the look in Roy’s eyes as he’d looked down at Mira, and the warmth of his kiss when he held him and called him by the only pet name Ed wouldn’t kick his ass for.
“Yeah, actually, I can.”