The Waiting Family

Notes: Even though I like EdWin more (I like both), I felt like writing this story... It is set after the anime series, but excluding the movie. Everything else is explained in the story (or its drabble series sequel thingy), so I won't spoil it for you. :)

A man walked out of the train. He had golden hair, tied up in a small braid. His eyes were of the same color. The man looked serious as he walked out of the station, limping slightly. He looked to the sky, noticing the faint rain and the gray clouds above.

He walked without hesitation through the main street of the small town. His features mostly hidden by dark brown, formal clothes. His hands covered with white gloves. A weird, but positive emotion took over him, although he didn't show any.

"I'm home," was the only thing he muttered, as he didn't stop his march.

A small boy stood in front of a headstone, looking at the scarped name intently, so much that he didn't notice a sad-looking man walk up to him. He didn't notice the surprised stare of the stranger. "Alphonse? Is that you?" the man asked, his voice tired. "No... It can't be, you should be in your twenties..."

The boy looked up at him, curious of the words that the man spoke. This person looked familiar, but his young mind couldn't recall ever seeing him before. "I shouldn't talk to strangers..." he warned.

The man nodded, and then noticed the blue eyes and the pale gold of his hair. "Just one question, child, and I'll leave," he said, and the boy nodded. "Do you know Alphonse Elric?"

Once again, the boy nodded. "He's my father." The answer was quick, and the boy ran off. The man was too intimidating.

A soft, but audible gasp escaped from the man's lips. And he turned to look at the headstone the boy had been looking at. The name, he knew it very well. His own mother. Trisha Elric.

The Rockbell house was known for its automail mechanics, as well as for the young farmer that worked the fields in its huge backyard. People from all over Amestris would go to get their automail repaired or completely redone. The vegetables grown in that land were also known for being nutritious and cheap.

A young man sighed as he stretched on the ground, tired from all the hard work his farm required. But he still liked it. The peaceful life, the family, and nature. His thoughts were interrupted as a young boy came running towards him. "Dad!"

Alphonse Elric sat up, and blinked in confusion as his son reached his arm and pulled at him. "What is it?" he asked the child, his paternal instincts kicking in as he looked around to see if someone had been chasing after his son.

"There was a strange man at the cemetery" the boy explained. "You told me not to talk to strangers."

The father nodded, a slight frown on his face. "Did he hurt you?" The boy shook his head in negation. "Then why are you so scared?"

"I dunno... He looked weird..." That was a strange thing to say, Alphonse thought. In his young six years, his son had seen many people without limbs go into their house, and he always respected them, never thinking of them as weird.

A clapping sound made him look up, and notice a strange man standing on the dirty road. His son tugged at his shirt and looked up at him with frightened eyes. "Is it him?" he asked, and the boy nodded. "Go back inside..."

The young man gave his son a little push towards the house and headed to see who was this mysterious man. But he stopped a few feet away, when the man's features were completely visible. He didn't know what to make of his presence at first, but slowly, he approached his older brother with arms wide open.

Edward Elric gasped for air as his young brother hugged him fiercely. "Al... I can't... breathe..." he muttered, not fighting back, despite his predicament. Alphonse broke the hug and looked at the ground in embarrassment.

"Sorry, brother." He looked up again. "Welcome back!" the young Elric greeted. "I'm sure you need repairs... I'll tell Winry..."

The older brother realized then, as he saw Alphonse's expression when mentioning their childhood friend. "You... and Winry..." He left the question hanging, and he knew the reaction before he saw it. The young man's eyes widened in surprise and... fear?

A faint blush then covered Al's face. "Well, yes... She and I got married a few years ago..." he explained, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. After a few seconds of silence, he looked up at his brother. "I'm sorry..."

Edward snorted. "Please... You're a grown up, you know as well as I do that people are free to do what they want," he said as he walked towards the house, anger visible in his eyes. "Can I come in?" he asked, as he turned around to face his brother.

Alphonse looked down, feeling terribly bad, but he still managed to smile and look up. "Of course, brother. We've been waiting for you." He hurried inside his house. "I'll go get Winry."

A sigh escaped the older man's lips as he realized his rudeness. He had no right to be angry at his brother nor his best friend. He never expected them to wait for him, to hold their lives for the possibility that he might come back one day. That would be selfish. But he still couldn't help feeling hurt about this surprise.

He sat on a couch he never saw before. Probably part of the things married people get when living together? There were more couches in the room, and he doubted they were for mere guests.

A light sound snapped him out of his thoughts, and he noticed the boy from the cemetery looking at him with big, curious eyes. "What's your name, mister?"

"Edward."

"Like my uncle?" The question made him smirk. So they've talked about me...? He nodded. "But you look taller than him..." An irritated growl could be heard from the man, and the boy's eyes went wide. "Mom!" he shrieked as he ran away.

Edward groaned. "Great, now I'll be blamed for scaring the kid..."

"Of course you will!" came a woman's voice from where the boy had ran to. But she stopped as she entered the room and saw him. "Oh... Ed?" She blinked, not knowing if she was seeing things. "Oh, my God! And here I was thinking you were pulling my leg!" she yelled behind her back, laughing.

The older Elric blinked, opened his mouth but his throat was dry. He also noticed he couldn't move his body. The sight of his best friend, Winry Rockbell, standing there chuckling and looking so mature... Say something! he scolded himself. "Winry?"

The woman rolled her eyes and walked up to him. "It's about time!" She smiled as she pulled him up and hugged him. Edward wasn't sure where she got that strength, and he felt awkward for being hugged by his brother's wife. A woman he had loved for so many years. When she broke away from the hug, he smiled nervously. "We've got to prepare a big celebration dinner!" she said enthusiastically.

And with that, she hurried towards the kitchen. The boy, who had been standing behind his mother all the time, was as stunned as Edward.

"Al! Go get the vegetables!" Winry shouted as she took out some salted meat from the pantry. "Maes, go help your father!" she added, and the boy cheered as he ran outside.

"So that is his name...?" Edward asked from afar, fearful of intruding her space. But the distance didn't help to get his question heard, so he walked into the kitchen, and stood away from her. "So, that's his name?" he repeated.

Winry nodded, as she cut the meat in long, thin pieces. "Yes, we named him after Mr. Hughes." She smiled sadly.

"That's a good name," Edward said, sucking at his lips nervously. "How old is he?"

"Six," she answered with a happy sigh. "So where have you been?"

He sighed, and decided to sit down if he would have to tell her. "Well, I was in... some other world... I couldn't use alchemy to get back..."

Having finished with the meat, and putting it in the oven, she decided to sit with him while they waited for Alphonse. She looked concerned when she heard where he'd been. "That's why you didn't come..."

He nodded, a bitter smile on his lips. "I got help from many people, but then there were some who only wanted to use alchemy... I couldn't take the risk of allowing them to come to our world..."

"Must have been hard for you..." she said, looking at her hands.

He nodded. "Yes, very hard."

There was a long silence, only interrupted by Alphonse and Maes's footsteps. "Sorry for the delay!" The young man grinned, as he set down a large bag with vegetables. "There are some interesting things growing out there..."

Edward blinked at his younger brother. "What do you mean?"

The young Rockbell chuckled. "Well, we sort of run a farm. Al, why don't you show your brother?" She smiled warmly. Alphonse nodded, his own smile softening when looking at her.

The affection display made Edward happy and sick, and he noticed his nephew had a similar reaction. "You're both so embarrassing!" Maes protested. For the first time since his arrival, Ed chuckled.

Al shook his head in embarrassment. "Alright, alright! Let's go, brother!" He grinned, as he led his older brother out from the back-door. "We're lucky, there's still some light to see the field. But you should see this at dawn!"

They're so happy... They really enjoy this life... Edward raised an eyebrow as he tried to listen to what his brother was saying. He talked so fast and about so many things that he gave up, and simply nodded his head whenever it was necessary.

Only Winry's call managed to save him from the farm talk. Food was ready, and he was glad, he couldn't take another minute without food.

At dinner he finally saw Granny Pinako. Now slower, older, but her spirit as strong as ever. She only sat there and listened to the happy couple.

They ate and chatted away, and Edward felt out of place for some reason. Winry talked about the things she had done that day, and Alphonse gave a short summary of what he had said to Ed while his wife had been cooking. Winry made sure of that.

Pinako kept looking at him as if he was supposed to say something. And, unfortunately for him, Maes had inherited Alphonse's talkative gene. So they had to listen to what he did that day...

Just after having eaten well, he felt less cranky. It was late for the boy to be awake, so Winry had told her husband to take their son upstairs, to sleep. "See you tomorrow, brother," Alphonse had said, as he carried a half asleep child in his arms.

Pinako quietly said her good-nights as well, and went to her room in the first floor. He figured it wasn't wise to have her climbing up the stairs at that age.

Winry went upstairs to get him a pillow and a blanket. She apologized for not having a bed for him, but he shrugged it off. He waited for her for half an hour, sitting on the couch, in the darkness of the waiting room, as they called it. He had learned that the couches were for Winry's clients.

Light, but hurried footsteps made him look at the stairs, and surely, Winry appeared with a blanket and a pillow. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she said, smiling.

"Don't worry." He stood up. "I should have stayed in a hotel or something..."

She frowned. "Nonsense! This is your home as well" She placed the things on the larger couch and took his flesh hand in hers. "Are you tired?"

Edward didn't know what to make of her actions, so he simply shook his head. "Not really," he said nervously.

"Well, then, let's go talk. We've got a lot of catching up to do." She grinned as she led him back to the kitchen.

He watched her as she put some water to heat, and took out some herbs from the pantry. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

She didn't answer right away, so he wondered if she was angry or sad. I never know what to expect from her... he thought. Finally, she poured some tea for them, and sat down. "Well, I want to know what you think of us," she said bluntly. "Al and me, I mean."

That was a very direct question, and he knew she wouldn't like him to lie. So he took a small sip of his tea, and thought about how he wanted to tell her. "It took me by surprise..." he finally said. She looked down, as if in shame. Everything he tried to say sounded bad in his head, so he refrained from adding more.

"I'm so sorry, Edward." She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears.

He shook his head, avoiding eye contact. It simply pained him to see her cry. "You don't have to apologize. Like I told, Al, people can do what they want." Ed shrugged.

"Idiot," she hissed, suddenly glaring at him. "That's why he was so sad!" She couldn't control herself anymore, her characteristic temperament didn't seem to have died with age. "How dare you say such thing to him! You know as well as I that it doesn't require much to hurt his feelings! You always worried about that, so why were you so rude to him?"

Her voice had raised during that rant. At first, Edward had been worried, but her words had hit a soft spot, and he wasn't about to let it go. "You should know! All these years I've longed to see you again...!" He was furious, his face flushed and his eyes burned. He stopped himself from saying more, especially since his brother had hurried inside the kitchen, worried.

Alphonse fell on his knees, and looked up at his brother, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. Not even Winry, rushing to his side could tear his gaze off his older brother. "I'm sorry for living my life! I'm sorry for moving on! You restored my body, you got stuck in someplace else... How rude of me to live!"

Edward gritted his teeth in anger and to stop himself from crying. "What the hell are you talking about, idiot? Do you really think I'm that selfish? You really think that I'd expect you to stop living because of me? After all we've been through you think like that? I knew I shouldn't have come here!" He stormed off to the waiting room, he grabbed his coat and left the house, slamming the front door behind him.

Winry tried to calm her husband, as he cried in her arms. A small voice interrupted them. "Mom, why were you all yelling? Where did Uncle Ed go?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes, the light from the kitchen was too bright for his sleepy eyes.

The young Elric cried softer now, his face still against his wife's body. "He left," he told his son, in a shaky voice. Maes quickly hugged his father, knowing that whenever he was sad, a hug made him feel better.

Edward was surprised to see Pinako sitting outside of the house. "Granny? You should be sleeping."

The old woman snorted. "Sleeping, huh? With all those screams not even the dead can sleep," she chuckled. "Sit next to me, Edward." She patted the spot on her left.

He slowly obliged. "Sorry about that." He looked at the dark sky.

"You let it out of your system... Though it was painful for them," the wise woman said.

"They've made their life... Together... And I'm... I know I wasn't around... but..."

Pinako sighed. "You know, Edward... Winry and Alphonse took so long to accept their feelings... It took her many years to fall for your brother. She'd cry for you at any time, and your brother would comfort her. He put aside his own pain to cheer her up.

"It wasn't until he was almost nineteen that they accepted their feelings, and acted upon them. But, even then, they would feel guilty, waiting for you... Edward..." She looked up at him. "No one else has suffered your absence as those two. And when Maes was born," she smiled as she remembered it. "They wouldn't stop talking to him, telling him about your doings, and how wonderful they thought you were."

Edward blushed, and felt guilty. "Thanks, now I feel much better." He smirked.

"Well, someone has to make you understand, you stubborn Elric." Pinako grinned. "Besides, you're a man now... Act like one for a change."

He sighed as he got up. "Alright. I'll do that. Let's go back inside, it's getting cold." Ed opened the door and noticed the lights were out. Granny, however, didn't seem to mind. She walked into the darkness as she said good-night, once again. He slowly went to the couch, and smiled when he noticed Winry hadn't taken the pillow and blanket away.

The next day, he woke up and the first thing he saw was a pair of blue eyes staring at him. "Uncle Ed," the small boy said, almost ashamed.

"Hmm?" Ed sat up, and looked at his nephew. "What is it, Maes?"

He was taken aback when the boy hugged him. "Thanks for curing my daddy, and making me exist," he heard the boy said, and then Maes simply grinned and ran off.

Edward smiled and shook his head. "Kids..." He stretched, and yawned, taking his time to get up.

"I know you're my guest, but could you please get off the couch? I've got to repair your automail, remember?" He turned around and noticed his best friend grinning at him.

Almost like a child caught doing something bad, he lowered his head as he followed her. "I'm sorry for last night..."

"It's ok. We all kind of had to be honest with each other, right?" She sighed. They were now in a small room on the first floor, it was very clean, and had a big couch-like chair.

"What's this place?" He blinked.

"Well, this is where I do the small repairs. But the basement is where I do most of the work. It's just that I needed a clean room and close to the waiting room." She bit her lip, sounding almost sad for a moment. "So, have a seat!" She smiled, gesturing the comfortable chair.

"Wow, this is a great progress." He grinned.

Winry was now serious as she approached his automail limbs. "Hold still." But taking off the automail after sixteen years of not doing so was painful. And he let her know it, by screaming at the top of his lungs.

Alphonse was at the field, with a large hose watering the plants. It was late when Edward joined him, each step made him wince. But he didn't want to be another minute without apologizing to his young brother. However, he should have announced his presence before Al turned around, consequently watering him.

"Oops..." was all the young Elric managed to say, as he looked at Ed.

"It's just water," Edward said, shrugging. "Say, why the hose? Wouldn't it be quicker if you transmuted a huge irrigating system?"

His brother raised an eyebrow. "And where's the fun in that?"

Now it was Edward's turn to be skeptical. "You mean to tell me that this is... fun?"

"Yes, it is," Al said, as he changed his position to water other plants. "I spend a few hours a day watering these vegetables, watching them grow, looking after them... And then we get to eat some of them." He grinned.

"And the rest?" The older Elric looked around, doubting his brother's family could eat so much.

"We sell it, sometimes we donate." It looked relaxing, Ed noticed. The way Alphonse moved while doing his work, it seemed therapeutic.

"Look, Al..." Ed sighed, suddenly changing the subject. "I'm sorry..."

"Me too, brother. Let's leave it at that..." Al looked back at the house. Ed followed his gaze and nodded.

After a few moments of silence between the two, Edward put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "I know I wouldn't have made her as happy as you did." A sincere smile on his lips. "And I'm very proud of you."

Al's eyes watered up, and he hugged his brother.

"Easy... Al... Can't... Breathe..." Edward was beginning to wonder if his brother had been trained by Armstrong.

An overly excited Maes woke him up the next day. He had promised the boy he'd go fishing with him, and, as expected, his nephew was very impatient. He was dragged into the kitchen, and was practically ordered to swallow the breakfast Winry prepared for them.

"Have fun!" she cheered after them, when they finally left.

Edward noticed they weren't heading towards the small lake. "Where are we going?"

"To see Granny. I always greet her before fishing with daddy. She brings us good luck," the boy explained.

So that's why he was looking at my mother's grave... he thought, as they reached their destination. Automatically, he walked towards Trisha Elric's headstone. But the boy kept going.

"What are you doing, Uncle Ed? Granny's over here!" Maes exclaimed, pointing at a headstone, next to Winry's parents'.

As he walked up to him, he couldn't help feeling uneasy. Something was not right about this. "But that's my mother..." he said, pointing behind him.

Maes nodded. "That's grandmother Trisha... This is Granny" he said, and pointed.

Edward's eyes widened.

The headstone read: Pinako Rockbell. And, according to the date of her death, she had been there for more than three years.

Updated August 2010: Corrected dialogue format, minor grammar and spelling.