Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ When the Cherry Blossoms Bloom ❯ Her Precious Two ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: I never claimed to own this, so guess what. I do not!

 

Summary: When faced with Love's difficulty, can three people locked in its hold push aside their fear for the sake of it? Sequel to Feel Me, Shame Me, Heal Me.

 

 

When the Cherry Blossoms Bloom

Episode 10— Her Precious Two

 

They walked in silence along the rose quartz pathway, Edward was more nervous now than when he and his brother started this journey home. He really had no idea what was in store for him in the next layer of his fear.

 

So far, what had frightened him most had been Winry in love with Mustang. To Edward it was disgusting, but somehow in a twisted, bizarre way it made sense. Winry and Mustang made sense together. The two of them had been apart for almost five years now, at least according to the twins' ages it had been that long. Mustang was an idiot for not going back. Edward's reasons for not going back were different, but it was still true that he never went back unless he needed maintenance, and he should have thought of Winry more. It now seemed pretty heartless of him; he wondered how she really felt that he and Alphonse only returned time and time again out of necessity. He couldn't change the past, but he could learn from it and move forward with knowledge he had acquired in these two past previous heart layers.

 

“Brother? Do you think Winry ever tried to contact the General about his children?” Alphonse asked, taking a side glance at Edward.

 

“I can't imagine her keeping it a secret on purpose, Al. Winry wouldn't purposely ever do something like that.” Edward let out a long, tired sigh. “There is also a chance that he knows about them and still did nothing. I wonder what Winry tells the kids about their father. Do you think they hate him for not being there, you know kinda like how I hated our dad?”

 

Alphonse stared ahead at the emerald doors that were off in the distance. “I don't know if it would be an advantage for Winry's kids to never have known about their father or not. You at least knew Dad so felt some hurt and anger towards him. I never knew him, so I couldn't hate him. I only remembered him from pictures I had seen. So when he came back I was very happy that I got to know him for a little while. That was enough for me. I think Winry's kids not knowing about the General might be an okay situation. I just hope nothing explodes when and if he finds out about them, because I honestly don't think he knows they even exist.”

 

As they came towards the emerald doors, they saw a figure standing outside. It was a woman; she had long dark blonde hair. Edward wasn't sure if he knew her or not, she seemed vaguely familiar.

 

“Who's that, Brother?” Alphonse whispered to Edward as they walked up and stood before the woman. “It seems like I know her, but from where?”

 

Edward's eyes narrowed in thought as the woman stood there and smiled. He noticed that her blue eyes seemed to light up with happiness. Those eyes, they seemed familiar too. “Who are you?” He was expecting someone that he knew, like possibly Nina or Scar…he shuddered, that would have just been disturbing if it was Scar here leading him through his heart's fear.

 

The woman continued to smile, “It's been a long time Edward and Alphonse Elric, so I am not surprised that you don't remember me.” Her grin grew, “After all you both were so little the last time it was you saw me and my husband. If I recall correctly, you both tried to make my daughter a doll and ended up scaring her to death.”

 

Alphonse choked on thin air and rubbed his eyes, “Wait… now I… you're—”

 

“Winry's mom, Sara Rockbell,” Edward answered in barely above a whisper. “All three of us used to visit your grave often.” He stared at the pink ground. Why would she appear to them as a guide? This didn't really make sense to him. He was so uncomfortable now, the guides all know and see everything that he does, possibly more… His cheeks heated. “I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! You know that…that thing in the room and…Please don't kill me or throw wrenches at my head!”

 

Sara laughed, “Calm down, you're only human. I won't hold it against you.” She winked and gestured towards the doors.

 

“Why are you Edward's guide, Mrs. Rockbell?” Alphonse asked, staring in confusion at her.

 

“Call me Sara, and it was decided that I was the best choice to help you boys through this.” She replied as the emerald doors slowly opened. Gesturing to go ahead, she waved her hand about and the three of them stepped into this layer of his heart's fear. The doors closed behind them and disappeared.

 

They stood in complete darkness, the only light that could be seen was the one illuminating from their bodies.

 

Edward let out an uneasy breath, “but why would you even want to be our guide? Wouldn't you have to face these truths and memories all over again? Face those that had—” He didn't want to finish his thought, he was sure the woman knew who it was that killed her, and that the creep had managed to worm his way into Winry's heart and pants. “How do you feel about Mustang?”

 

“I had a feeling that question was going to come up.” Sara said with a slight smile. “Now don't think that I'm happy that I am dead, unable to spend my life with my daughter. But if someone had to have killed me, at least it was a good person like Roy Mustang. My husband and I knew him for a little while before he got the order to execute us. He didn't even try to hide it and we didn't run. We could have, but we didn't. I remember the morning he came to us, saying that he got direct orders to execute us. The young man was so torn up over it. We spent a bit of the morning talking it over, he told us to leave, to run. But that would be cowardly.”

 

“But you would still be alive.” Alphonse interjected; his heart squeezing at the idea that Winry's parents knew what was coming and didn't even try to stop it.

 

“You two weren't there.” Sara replied, “You have no idea what it was like, a horror unlike any you have ever seen. Running away was not an option. We both knew Roy didn't want to do it, and we could see it in his eyes. But according to the military, orders are orders and in a time of war not following direct ones will be classified as act of treason. We would have lost either way. We would still be dead but then also Roy would have been too if he refused them.”

 

“So he only thought about himself.” Edward growled.

 

“You can't look at it that way.” Sara sighed it was most likely an impossible task to get Edward to understand. “It's wasn't easy for anyone. Maybe if we would have done what was asked of us, there wouldn't have been a reason for the military to take us out? But then if we did that, then what kind of doctors would we have been? We couldn't live with ourselves if we couldn't at least try and save every living person that needed medical attention. There are no sides, only patients. That's what a doctor sees.”

 

“But what about Winry?! You just…you'd rather…” Edward's heart pounded with anger.

 

“We thought about Winry all the time. If we ran away, it would bring trouble to our family. We were protecting her.”

 

“By leaving her?!” Edward shouted and immediately cupped his mouth. Instantly realizing… that's exactly what he had done! Many times, he thought it would protect her too.

 

Sara reached over and squeezed Edward's shoulder. “There wouldn't have been a place we could have gone where the Military wouldn't have been able to find us. It would have put Winry in danger. So in a way we were giving up our lives to make sure that she remained safe and we were at peace with that notion.”

 

“So you don't blame Mustang for…” Alphonse asked, then looked to his brother who grunted.

 

“No I don't and neither does my husband. It was not really Roy's fault, if he had a choice he wouldn't have done it. We were all for a short time friends.” Sara smiled lightly. “If we all would have lived, I have no doubt in my mind we would have been friends to this day, and perhaps maybe you wouldn't hate him either.”

 

“But that's not what happened.” Edward said staring downwards. “Instead, you and Mr. Rockbell were killed and that changed everything. Now Winry has been, well I'm sure you know.”

 

Lightly laughing, Sara nodded. “I do know. I know everything. I may not be with my daughter physically, but I do watch over her every now and then. In some ways I am surprised and some ways I'm not.”

 

“What happened? How did Winry and the Colonel… I mean General even start liking each other?” Alphonse asked, he had no idea how the two even got to be close like that.

 

“Trust me, you don't want to know.” Sara's smile fell. “As a mother, I wanted to smack him half the time.” She said slightly angered. “Terrible behavior, but maybe that was the only way to get passed their anger and pain and they slowly became friends and then something more. I'm not saying I approved of the way it happened, but I am glad that the end result was that they got to know each other.”

 

“I wish I could get inside Winry's head. To maybe understand how she even fell for that bastard.” Edward sighed and let his head fall back.

 

“We just have to trust her judgment.” Sara replied, “You need to be there for her when she needs you, to be a friend when she needs it most and not let your personal feelings get in the way.”

 

Edward smirked, “That's not exactly easy you know. I still feel that Mustang is not good enough for her, and I'm a little glad that they haven't spoken in years. But it does seem to hurt Winry that he never came back and that I can't ignore either. She loves the bastard, but I'm going to do everything I can to be the friend she needs and hopefully she will be able to accept me as something more.”

 

The darkness around them started lighten up, and soon the three of them found themselves in the Rockbell kitchen. On the table in the middle of the room was a plate of dinner and Winry was walking towards it, she had her back to them. When the cup she was holding somehow jumped out of her hand and dropped to hit the floor, Winry groaned and threw her head back in frustration. She stared down at the cup on the floor with irritation. She shifted her feet apart and started to squat down, her left hand pressing against her back. She only got down so far and stretched her fingers for it… just a little bit more…'ugh' she groaned, her finger tips barely coming in contact with the air around the cup. She grunted and her nose squished up, and standing upright she stomped her foot. “Oh forget it! I'll just get another one.” And she turned around heading to the cupboard for a new cup.

 

“WHOA!!” Both Edward and Alphonse shouted at the same time and jumped back in shock at the sight of a very pregnant Winry, it looked like she had an exceedingly large watermelon strapped to her middle beneath her dress. Were women supposed to get that big?

 

“Remember, boys… She's carrying twins.” Sara said as if reading their minds while glancing at them out of the corner of her eye. She then returned her gaze to her daughter and couldn't help but feel a tiny regret that she was missing this part of her daughter's life. She smiled softly with a hint of sadness. “She looks beautiful.” She walked forward as Winry sat down with her new cup at the kitchen table, to a plate of beef, carrots, potatoes and bread rolls. There was also a giant piece of chocolate cake to the left of her plate and a pitcher of lemonade placed above her plate.

 

“I agree.” Alphonse said with a smile.

 

“Hey, I didn't say she wasn't. Just that was a little unexpected. She's fricken huge!” Edward said with his jaw dropped open. “Much bigger than Gracia when she was pregnant.”

 

Alphonse smacked Edward upside the head who yelped.

 

“What'd you do that for?” Edward rubbed the back of his head while glaring at his brother.

 

“Don't let her hear you say that, Brother. I certainly wouldn't stand in her way if she flattened you with her wrench.” Alphonse rolled his eyes. “You really are insensitive.”

 

Edward's face heated, it was true that one shouldn't comment on a woman's weight, especially a pregnant one. Their hormones run amok and not only that, it was rude conversation.

 

Winry tried to pull her chair in closer to the table but found that the size of her stomach kind of prevented it. Winry sighed deeply that she couldn't get as close to her food as she would have liked. “When are you two going to come out, huh?” She giggled down at her oversized belly. “You make it really difficult to just eat dinner at the table.”

 

“She knows she's having two?” Alphonse looked at Sara.

 

“At this point, yes,” Sara approached Winry's side, wanting to touch her. She lifted her hand to stroke her hair, but her fingers moved right through her.

 

“How did the doctor know? It's not like they can see inside and take a picture of her insides to be sure.” Edward crossed his arms over his chest shaking his head back and forth.

 

Sara continued to watch her daughter closely and then back at Edward, “Her doctor can feel the babies while giving Winry her examinations. It is actually pretty easy to feel them.”

 

Winry finished off her meal as well as the chocolate cake and leaned back in the chair. She smiled down at her belly. “There, are we happy now?” Who was she kidding she'd be hungry again in an hour. She glanced out the window and could see the first evening star twinkling out there.

 

She drummed her fingers on the table. Not even a phone call or a letter. She had talked to Riza about two months ago and she told her that Roy had returned to work requesting to be demoted to that of an enlisted man. What was the purpose of that? Winry asked Riza to tell Roy to call or write and he hadn't done either. It felt like he was avoiding her, did he somehow know about her condition and not want anything to do with her?

 

“Waiting is hard, but he'll keep his promise, I know it.” She spoke to her unborn babies, one moved and she giggled at the feeling. “What a pleasant surprise it will be for him and we'll be such a happy little family.” So why did she feel tears swelling in her eyes? Winry sighed and dropped her head, resting her forehead on the table. Maybe he wasn't ready for all of this? But how would he have known? She hadn't told anyone that would have been in contact with Roy that she was even pregnant.

 

She pushed back from the chair and struggled and wiggled around in getting to her feet. Winry took her plate over to the sink and scrubbed it clean. She then headed out into the living room.

 

“Winry?” A man's voice said from upstairs, before poking his head around the corner.

 

Winry walked to the stairs and looked up, seeing Corey Roberts from down the road. He'd been handy and helpful the past couple of weeks that Winry had been home from Rush Valley for. He had seen her at the train station and offered to give her a lift home. It turned out he had been working in his family's construction business. “Yeah?” She asked.

 

Edward pointed, “is that paste eating Corey?” He snickered.

 

Alphonse laughed, “Yeah it is! I guess he's grown out of that phase. He was like six or something when the rumors floated around school. Being a year younger than you, Brother, he wasn't in my class, he was in yours and Winry's.”

 

“Come look, it's finished.” He said with praise, running a hand through his red hair.

 

Winry smiled and started up the stairs and into the room next to hers. Corey stood by the open door and gestured with an open palm to the room. It was painted in a light purple color with stars and moons that had smiley faces. There were two hand made cribs against both walls. A small built into the wall dresser that was next to the closet. There was also a white painted rocking chair in the corner of the room. “Oh, it's very nice, Corey. You really didn't have to do any of this.”

 

Corey grinned, “I know. But it's not everyday that someone you've gone to school with is going to have little ones of her own. I think you're the first one out of our whole classroom.” He gestured to her, seeing Winry's face heat. “Too bad Edward's not here to see this.”

 

She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, “Uh…yeah.”

 

“I had a feeling that you two would somehow get together.” Corey wiped his hands with a rag. “Where is he anyway, why isn't he here with you?”

 

Winry hadn't the heart to tell him that he had been wrong in his assumption. Besides, what would people think if she said Corey was wrong and Edward wasn't the one that helped get her in this condition? Knowing how Corey was, the gossip would fly. “I don't really know where he is. Probably doing something for the military, he is a State Alchemist after all.” She might not know where Edward was, but she knew he was still alive and kicking. She could feel it, right down in her heart. “You know how Edward was, always coming and going.” She smiled.

 

“Hey! Paste Eater thinks I'm the one responsible for Winry's mess?! Why didn't she set him straight!?” Edward growled.

 

Sara laughed, “Think about it Edward, it's a small town, gossip would fly faster than in a big city. Winry doesn't want people to know that she had been with someone they don't know. You three were always together, so how would that look?”

 

Edward sighed, “I guess you have a point. Winry wouldn't have really been with someone she didn't love, but it's still not something you want people to know about.”

 

Feeling a little guilty, Sara cleared her throat uncomfortably, maybe the young man should know about what happened in the early stages of Roy and Winry's so-called relationship.

 

“So what are you going to name the little ones?” Corey asked sitting in the rocking chair.

 

Placing her hands on her belly, Winry continued to smile. “I think that if the babies are girls they would be Anna Marguerite Rockbell and Clara Elizabeth Rockbell, and if they're boys Brian Roy Rockbell and Anthony Calvin Rockbell.” Her head tilted slightly and she rubbed her palms over her stomach affectionately.

 

“Good names,” Corey replied while thinking it over. “Not one of them named after the father I see.” He shrugged, “Oh well, maybe if he was here he'd get a say, right?”

 

Edward stuck out his tongue distastefully, “She did name one of those brats after the father, man, get it straight Paste Eater! Can't you see that my name isn't even mentioned?”

 

“You wouldn't have noticed either though, Brother. Since you're so dense and all.” Alphonse snickered.

 

“What?! Why you…” Edward snarled at his brother, how dare he call him dense. He wasn't, right?

 

Winry laughed uncomfortably… little did Corey know, he was closer to the truth than he thought.

 

“Well I better get going,” He stood and walked towards the doorway, “You know how Pam gets when I run late for our dates.” Corey grinned. “See ya, Winry.” He left the room.

 

“He's dating Pam Smart!” Edward's surprised tone filled the air, “She was the richest girl in the whole school, not to mention I remember her being pretty cute too.”

 

Alphonse shrugged, “Guess Pam likes the boys who eat paste.”

 

Sara laughed, “Oh you two.” It was amusing watching them as they talked about their past friends, classmates and everything. It made Sara wish she had actually been part of Winry's life.

 

Hearing his footsteps move down the stairs, the door opened, “Winry,” His voice shouted up the stairs. “There's a woman and a little girl here to see you.”

 

Leaving the room to walk downstairs, Winry stopped about midway down to see Gracia and Elysia standing there. She felt really nervous now wondering what was going through Gracia's mind right about now as she started heading towards them. “What brings you all the way out here, Gracia?” Her voice trembled slightly and she patted Elysia on the top of the head who grinned, “Hi, Elysia.”

 

Gracia smiled, “We just needed to get away from the city for a little bit. We're on vacation.” There was kindness shining in her eyes as she took a real look at Winry and her condition. “I can tell that there have been some big changes here.”

 

Winry felt her cheeks heat, “Yeah,” She gestured to her enormous belly, “As you can plainly see.” Her tone held merriment.

 

Elysia poked Winry's stomach with her index finger. “Are you growing a baby?” She giggled, also making Winry laugh.

 

“You're such a smart girl, Elysia. Yes I am I'm growing two of them.” Winry grinned, seeing Elysia's eyes widen in awe.

 

“Oooh, Mama, Winry having two.” Elysia giggled, looking back at her mother.

 

“Yes, I can tell.” Gracia said also laughing.

 

Winry invited the two of them to relax and she got out toy trains for Elysia to play with, along with some dolls and wooden horses. She sat on the sofa next to Gracia.

 

“So where's your grandmother?” Gracia asked.

 

“She's staying the weekend on the other side of town for an Automail attachment. Those do take a couple hours to install and she wants to make sure her client doesn't have any complications. So she'll be back Monday morning.” Winry glanced over at Elysia who was in rolling a toy train along the wooden floor making little train noises.

 

“So you're here by yourself?” Gracia leaned back in the sofa cushion getting comfortable. There was some concern since Winry lived in a rural area and her nearest neighbor was fifteen minutes away by walking. When Gracia had been pregnant she lived in the city, she had close neighbors. Plus her husband, also Edward and Alphonse had been there.

 

Winry smiled so lightly, “Well I'm not completely alone. I have Den.” She pointed to the dog sleeping in his bed in the corner of the room beneath a windowsill. “I also have friends who stop by throughout the day.”

 

“Well that's nice of them, so there are no worries that you might have to face this by yourself then?” Gracia said taking a quick glance at her daughter, who put a doll on the top of the toy train. Looking back at Winry, she noticed the forced smile, the far off sad look in her eyes. She was a mother herself and could tell when something was wrong and she knew Winry was far from happy. “Winry, what's the matter?”

 

“Oh!” Bright blue eyes collided with Gracia's, “Nothing, why do you ask?”

 

Reaching over, Gracia covered Winry's hand tenderly with her own. “You don't have to hide anything from me, Winry. You can talk to me.”

 

Swallowing a difficult breath of air, Winry glanced down at the hand on hers. “You haven't by chance talked or heard from Roy, have you? He hasn't talked to me in months, I try to get in contact with him, but he never responds. I guess I'm just a little worried,” `alot worried!'

 

Elysia looked up at the two adults. “Daddy's friend is up in the snow. That's where he said he was going.” She pushed the train along the floor again while wooing like a train.

 

“What?” Confusion swam about Winry's face as she stared hard at the couch cushion.

 

Gracia sighed, “He didn't tell you he was taking an assignment up north?”

 

Winry felt her heart squeeze painfully, “He hasn't said anything at all to me. Why didn't anybody tell me!?” her outburst startled Den who yelped.

 

“Winry, I'm sorry. I thought you knew.” Gracia continued to look at Winry, seeing her trying to keep her emotions in check.

 

Taking a few deep, settling breaths, Winry looked away from Gracia. “Maybe he needs more time to himself, I can understand that.” Down deep in her heart she knew she was making excuses for him, that he probably wasn't going to come back here. `He lied to me.' She squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Winry felt he didn't have to lie, he didn't have to make promises that he knew he wasn't going to keep. Only if he would have just told her the truth, she would have understood and wouldn't have put any pressure on him to come back. They were never together in a regular sense it was never an emotional attachment… at least not for him and this behavior of his proved it. Her heart ached, felt like it was drawing out the very life force within, making it hard to breathe and her head pound with regret and anguish. It was a good thing she never told him how she felt. “If this is what it feels like to love someone, I never want to feel this way ever again!” She cried out. `Never again…'

 

Edward gasped, “No Winry, don't think that. It's not right. That's not what love feels like. You don't need to worry over that bastard, he's not worth it!” He said, his voice thick with emotion. “Damn-it I wish you could hear me.”

 

Sara stared sadly at her daughter, wanting to ease her suffering, to tell her that just because one love doesn't work doesn't mean you have to cut yourself off from feeling it again. “I'm sorry, Winry. I truly am.” She softly replied.

 

Gracia wished she knew what to say, her situation was different. Maes was dead and he was never coming back. She had felt like she never wanted to love another ever again, but then she focused on her daughter and that made her open her heart again to new possibilities. Winry's situation was different, Roy Mustang was still alive he was just being stubborn. He didn't even know about this, maybe if he did he would come back. “Why don't you write to him and tell him about what changes you've had?”

 

Winry shook her head, trying to keep her tears from falling, “I want to tell him to his face. This is not just something you can say over the phone or in a letter. It's much too important for that.”

 

She wouldn't tell Winry what to do, but any possible way to tell Roy would be okay, especially since it's clear he has no intention of returning here. “It could be a reason for him to come back, you know?”

 

Sharply lifting her head, Winry's face scrunched up in distaste. “I wouldn't want him to come back just because I have his children. I want him to come back because he wants to. I certainly don't need him. I can do just fine on my own.” She looked away. “I'll get through this without anything from him.” Her tone was slightly bitter. If he didn't want to be here, she was not going to force him. She could never hate Roy Mustang, it had been a rough road to let go of her anger and Winry didn't want to go back down that road. She might not hate him, but it would be a long awhile before she would be able to forgive his lies and broken promises. Maybe it was better this way, better for the both of them. Perhaps if they did run into each other, she would tell him about the children because he did have a right to know.

 

Winry shifted uncomfortably, there was a pain in her lower back and she reached behind herself and started to rub the aching area.

 

“Winry, are you all right?” Gracia placed her hand on Winry's arm in concern.

 

“Yeah, just a little back pain it seems.” Winry grunted and shifted again. “Oh there it is again.”

 

Gracia stood up, “Winry, where's your phone? I think we should call your doctor.”

 

“Why?” Winry also stood and just as she did, she felt wetness seeping down her legs and her eyes enlarged. “Call the doctor!” She pointed to the kitchen and Gracia raced to the phone. “His number is on the board there!”

 

“She's having the babies!” Both Edward and Alphonse shouted at the same time.

 

****

 

Gracia had a tight hold of Winry's hand, or maybe it was the other way around and Winry screamed.

 

Blonde hair was plastered to her head and Winry groaned as another contraction passed. She was breathing hard, her tears were mixed with sweat. “I…I can't do this.” She panted, leaning her head back.

 

“Yes you can.” Gracia said, leaning closer to her, “You build Automail and you attach it. This should be nothing.” She smiled affectionately. “Try to stay calm, the doctor is on his way.”

 

“What if…what if the babies don't like me?” She squealed, feeling another tremor start up. “What if I'm a bad mother!?”

 

Smiling and petting Winry's damp hair back, “You'll be a fine mother, your warm, caring. They love you already. You can do this, you can. I know it.” Gracia's kind expression did not leave her face as Winry's hand tightened to almost bone crushing proportions and the young girl's scream filled the air. Gracia bent down and took a look to see the first child's progress.

 

“You'll be the best mother ever!” Edward said, wanting to do something for her. Knowing the last time he was even in this similar situation all he could do is run around freaked out.

 

There was a knock at the door and Elysia ran from the kitchen as fast as her little feet could carry her and opened the door. “Are you the doctor?” She asked the tall brunette man holding a medical bag.

 

“I am,” Dr. Brighton said.

 

“Hurry, hurry,” Elysia said moving aside to let the man inside, “the babies are coming already.”

 

There was a fond smile on Dr. Brighton's face as he stepped inside the home, “I can hear that.” He saw the women on the sofa and went right to them…

 

Several hours later, Winry smiled as Gracia and the doctor placed the babies in her arms.

 

“They are so small.” Winry said in amazement, “Sure didn't feel like it.” She laughed cuddling both her newborns to her. She kissed the tops of both her new daughter and her new son's heads. She affectionately looked down at the exhausted face of her little boy and the fussy face of her little girl. “I love you.” She whispered to them.

 

“They are so beautiful.” Sara said even though this was the second time she had seen her grandchildren's birth. It never got old.

 

Edward looked away from them, he just couldn't take it. His stomach jumped uncomfortably. Those babies, they were a product of Winry and Mustang, that asshole. It's not that he didn't like babies, it was the fact that they were Mustang's. He doesn't deserve any of this! He doesn't deserve Winry's heart, he doesn't deserve to have created life with her like this. Edward hated him so much and he glared at the children, `You little brats…why couldn't you have been mine?”

 

Alphonse noticed the look on his brother's face. “Edward, stop glaring at the babies, it's not their fault.”

 

“I'm not glaring at the babies, I'm glaring at the fact that they belong to Mustang.” Edward explained and he dropped his gaze from them.

 

Elysia jumped up and down and moved closer to the new babies. “What are their names?” She asked excitedly, as she with both hands reached out and petted the blonde fuzz on the little girl's head and the dark fuzz on the little boy's.

 

Winry couldn't remember a time when she had been this happy. “Welcome to the world, Anna Marguerite Rockbell and Brian Roy Rockbell.”

 

Gracia's smile was so proud, “See, I knew you could do it.”

 

Sara tried to stroke the babies' heads like Elysia was doing, but her fingers passed right through them. She so badly wanted to hold her grandchildren, wanted to hear them cry and laugh, wanted to experience all this with Winry and knowing she would never be able to, felt for the first time in her life that she had made a mistake, that maybe she should have run away. But what kind of a life would that have been, it would have changed everything and Winry probably wouldn't even have children, she might not have even known Edward and Alphonse like she did now. That is no life for her daughter, so Sara's decision to stay and take what she knew had been coming was a way to give her daughter the life she deserved, even if it was without her.

 

“The babies are beautiful.” Alphonse said, putting his arm around his brother who was still unable to look at them. “Remember, Brother that they are Winry's children too.”

 

“I know.” Edward closed his eyes tightly. This was the worst nightmare ever.

 

=======

Well that's it for this episode/chapter. Sorry about the delay in the update, been kinda busy. I'm kinda getting ready for a family gathering in Florida which will happen in about 2 weeks. I'm leaving May 13 and will be gone for about 2 weeks. So what did you all think of this chapter. Did you really expect me to use Winry's mom as the guide. It'll be interesting since there's really no character development for Sara for me to give her a personality, also kinda tough too. Especially that whole thing about Roy executing her and her hubby. I hope what I wrote wasn't too unbelievable.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Ryoko Blue