Worlds Collide

A/N: Of Apples and Honey, a little of the guilt is here in this chapter. Thank you. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, I appreciate your kind comments, thanks. Yeah, Nicholas will manage okay. He's resilient. And it was definitely about time that Wrath and Russell hooked up, wasn't it? nette, glad you're still reading and enjoying. Jaugi, I think I'm blushing. Thank you so much. The best, really?

LEMON WARNING!

Chapter 39

Relationships

Two Weeks Later

Nicholas looked at his Aunt Winry, large eyes looking a bit like a puppy’s. “Please.”

“No. I’ll give you the very best I can, but not built in weapons. You’re an alchemist. That’s enough of one if you need it. Look at your dad. He doesn’t have any.”

“But Aunt Winry, aren’t you going to make mine better than his?” He was trying, blaming his actions on wanting to have a cool accessory to his new automail, but honestly knowing he was behaving this way because he was afraid.

“And it will be better than his. But no hidden knives.” He looked up at her again. “Use those puppy-dog eyes on me again, and I swear I’ll crack you over the head with a wrench.”

“You’re no fun.” Nicholas jutted out his bottom lip just a bit, watching his aunt smile. If only she knew this was just an act, that Nicholas wanted the weapon because he was afraid, that the attack had left him jumpy. And though he hid it well from most of his family, Aideen was aware, just like she always was.

Winry began looking at the stump on Nicholas’s left—he didn’t try to pretend it was anything else. “Well, let’s see what we have here.” She began unwrapping the bandages, then pulling off the gauze. He was grateful to have someone with her kind of professionalism, knowing she had seen far worse and wouldn’t wince or flinch seeing the healing arm. She pulled off the final piece of gauze from the bottom. “Well, this is much better than I expected. Your second favorite aunt did a very good job.”

Nicholas smiled up at her. “Don’t let Auntie hear you say that.”

“It’ll be our little secret.” She grinned as she pulled a tray of automail nodes over to them, running her hand over the slowly healing tissue at the bottom of the thing that had been his arm. “Are you absolutely certain you want to try this?”

He nodded, taking the first node, wrapping his fingers around it, focusing on the components of the node, the gold and copper wiring, the steel casing. He then drew a series of tiny alchemic symbols on it, activating them all as he placed it against the lost arm, his aunt guiding his hand as he did. He closed his eyes, focusing only on attaching the node to his body, incorporating it into his arm.

He hissed in pain, knowing that this was nothing compared to what his father had experienced going about this in the traditional route, but as he was purposely melding his nerves to the piece of steel and wire, it burned like he couldn’t believe.

“Nicholas are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he answered, through gritted teeth. “How many more?”

“Twenty three.”

“Well, shit,” he said, then covering his mouth with his right hand. “Don’t tell my fathers I said that.”

Winry rubbed his head. “Of course not. Besides, you inherited your dad’s mouth, so if he says a word about it, I’ll take care of him.”

Through the pain in his arm, he smiled.

“I have bad news, though,” she said. “I have to test the node now that it’s in place. And there’s no way it isn’t going to hurt.”

Nicholas winced. “Go ahead.”

“So much like him,” his aunt muttered as she lifted an instrument that looked like a dental pick and raised it toward the node. Nicholas screamed out in pain, and almost instantly, his fathers rushed through the doors.

“What’s wrong?” his papa asked, eyes looking at Winry anxiously—it was really nice to see them both all the time now.

“Testing the nodes,” Winry said. Nicholas, through teary eyes, saw his dad nodding sympathetically and watched as he walked over to cradle Nicholas’s head. “But his alchemy worked, so the test is probably the worst pain he’ll feel until we actually install the arm.”

“Yeah, all twenty-three times of it,” Nicholas said, less than enthusiastically.

“Twenty-three? Why so many?”

“To make it feel as close to the genuine article. Since this is still new,” She patted Nicholas’s now-tender left arm. “and we have the technology, we can add more. He’ll have more feeling in it than even you do now.”

“He won’t… have the reaction that I did, will he?”

When he saw the smile on Winry’s face, Nicholas somehow felt as though he was being left out of something. “No, he won’t. It won’t be a totally new sensation for him like it was for you.”

There was a definite sigh of relief from both parents, and Nicholas was certain he was being left in the dark. But knowing his fathers, it probably involved something that would be embarrassing to hear.

“Okay,” his aunt said. “I need both of you out of here. I won’t have two nervous fathers looking over my shoulder. Out.”

********

Russell sat on Wrath’s desk, back to the braided-haired man, nursing a bruise on his arm he’d gotten for disturbing the former homunculus earlier. It wasn’t that he was being abused; Wrath was also sporting one on his side. The older alchemist wanted to get the muscular man in his bed, and if it didn’t happen soon, the tension between them was surely going to cause one or the other of them to murder. And unfortunately, all Russell could think to do was goad Wrath, which he knew was not exactly a wise thing.

“I think I’ve figured it out,” Russell said.

“What?” Wrath said, looking up from his drawings of various transmutation circles, each of which would allow a person to incorporate a different kind of material into the body. He’d dedicated himself to it to figure out every symbol for each component of automail for the sake of his student, but he’d done that, and Russell was tired of waiting.

“Why you keep staying at this desk all this time.” Wrath only looked up, waiting for Russell to continue. “You’ve never had sex.”

“I’m not a virgin,” Wrath said, the tone in his voice cold.

Russell swung his body around so that his legs were now on either side of Wrath’s chair. Russell was grateful for the slickness of the desk that had allowed the move, because it certainly was proving effective in distracting Wrath.

“I didn’t say you were.”

“You said I’d never had sex.” Wrath leaned back in his chair, arms across his chest, legs not trying to hide the bulge that had started in his pants. Then again, Russell considered, if he was a good ten or eleven inches limp, he probably wouldn’t be ashamed either.

“I’m not saying you haven’t ‘made love’ or ‘consummated a relationship,’” Russell said, inching forward on the desk. “I’m saying you haven’t had sex.” He slid down onto the taller man’s lap, firmly attaching himself to Wrath’s neck, drawing that alabaster skin into his mouth and enjoying the sweet, salty taste that was his would-be lover. “Raw, animalistic, sex. I’m not talking about sweet nothings, declarations of love.”

“But…” Russell felt Wrath gulp beneath his lips. “Animal?”

“Yes, Wrath.” Damn, that had been the wrong word to say to the younger man and would need a quick recovery. “Animalistic, something that every human has deep inside. Some of us just show it a little more closely to the surface.” When Wrath seemed to respond for a moment, it made Russell smile against the flesh he was attacking.

Then Wrath started thinking again, almost to the point where Russell could hear it, and he hated when Wrath thought in moments like this. “You said it isn’t making love. What about love?”

“I’m not exactly there yet.” And with those five words, Russell found himself on the floor.

“And you want to have sex?”

Russell reached up, grabbing Wrath’s shirt and kicking the rolling chair out from beneath him to pull the dark-haired man to the floor. “I have feelings for you,” He crawled on top of the former sin. “and I think you can tell that there’s definite lust here.” He ground his hips over Wrath’s thigh.

“What are you, an oversexed teenager?”

“Hardly. I want you, nothing more, nothing less. And you don’t seem to be complaining.” He unbuttoned Wrath’s pants, cursing the man for wearing a button fly. With them finally opened, he thrust his hand beneath those pants and wrapped his fingers around the surprising length. “Now, do you really want to wait until we’re both sure we love one another, or do you want to actually do what our bodies are telling us?”

Wrath’s hips bucked into Russell’s hand. “I want… oh, damn.”

Russell unzipped his own fly, pulling out his own cock, and held it against Wrath’s, trying to ignore the sheer difference in size and only revel in the sensation of their sexes against one another. He moved to his pocket to grab the tube of lube he’d been carrying since their encounter almost two weeks ago. He looked down at Wrath, smiling as he saw the violet eyes almost invisible as they rolled to the back of his head. Considering that his go ahead, Russell ran a line of the lube down Wrath’s length and slowly spread it over them both.

“Have you ever done this?” Russell asked as he began moving his hands and hips in time. Wrath’s hands attempted to fist the floorboards beneath them as he shook his head, braids coming loose from the leather band around them. “You’ve definitely missed out.” Russell stretched his body to lay against Wrath’s and kiss the taller man’s neck as he continued to grind within his own hand, moaning as he felt Wrath’s member poke against his hips.

It wouldn’t take long; he could feel how hard Wrath already was, and was more than aware of how close he was himself. He only hoped Wrath had his stamina, because he certainly didn’t consider himself close to being done yet, even as he cried out and heard Wrath following shortly afterward.

********

Ed felt Roy’s hand around his automail one, fingers laced together. Roy lifted the automail to his lips and kissed the back of the hand, and Ed tried desperately not to cry. He was physically and emotionally exhausted, and there was something about having Roy there, so affectionate with his metal limbs made him want to crack at the moment. He’d gotten lucky, finding someone accepting of his abnormalities, but would Nicholas be so lucky? Would that arm become a hindrance, force him away from others as Ed had always felt his had?

Would there be someone else in the world who wasn’t a mechanic who would find automail as something other than a handicap?

Lost in thought, he didn’t notice as Roy shifted, looking at him, cupping his face in his hands. “Ed?”

“Hmm?”

“Look at me.”

Gold eyes glanced up to meet onyx, and he wondered if his husband could tell just how tired he was.

“Nicholas will be fine. He’s resilient.” Ed found himself being pulled into Roy’s arms. “Like someone else I know. Besides, Nicholas is lucky to have you and I since we both have our own bits of automail.”

“It makes it a little easier,” Ed said, against Roy’s tee shirt. “Since we’re examples for him.”

“You think that’s it?” Roy pulled back, looking Ed in the eyes. “We aren’t just examples for him. The whole attitude of automail has changed.” Roy held either side of Ed’s face, making Ed feel less like a thirty-year-old man and more like a kid again. “Mostly because of you. You’ve shown how strong it makes you, that it isn’t a weakness. If it was, you would have been more tempted by Wrath’s offer to give your arm and leg back.”

Roy quickly kissed him, then held him again.

There was the noise of a muffled yell again from the room where Winry was once again testing Nicholas’s automail nodes. She had suggested the parents soundproof the room, but Ed wanted to know immediately if something went wrong. Now, as he heard his son, probably biting down on something, crying out in pain, his grip on Roy’s back tightened, and tears at his eyes began to sting. He had been strong through so much, but to have the flashbacks of his own experience knowing exactly what his son was going through seemed certain to make it impossible to just bounce back.

Ed had been counting the screams and was on twenty-two now. Two more. Two more and it would be over until the arm was attached.

“Brother, we’re back,” Al said as he walked through the main door.

There was another scream, and once again, Ed felt certain he was going to break Roy’s ribs. They had gotten past Roy’s anger, thankfully, and since then, Roy had done nothing but try to ease Ed’s grief over the entire situation. Roy had been surprised to find out Ed had been aware all along of his rage over what had happened
A little sandy-haired girl with hazel eyes came running into the room. “Uncle Ed, Uncle Roy, is Nicholas done yet?”

The final scream came, and Ed tried to rub his eyes with the heels of his hand as he pulled away from his husband’s arms. He was about to say something about apologizing for what a baby he was being when he looked over and saw that there were tears pooled at the bottom of both eyes. For just a moment, Ed smiled inwardly that he was looking into both eyes outside of the privacy of their home and that he was no more weak than Roy.

“He’s just finishing now, Sasha” Roy said, blinking a bit too much to rid his eyes of the tears.

Aideen walked into the waiting area of the shop, hesitantly. She was wearing jeans and a black tee-shirt, short hair swinging around her face. Ed still didn’t quite understand why she’d done that to herself, knowing it stemmed mostly from being at the salon when the attack had begun. Ed only wished that had been the only thing that was different after that day, but there was no doubting that his little girl was changed by the whole experience.

She took her seat at Ed’s side, hands folded in her lap, looking at the door anxiously. When Winry finally opened it and helped a weak-looking Nicholas, with the arm with the newly attached nodes re-bandaged, leave the room, all three members of the family stood up and went to him, offering a hand, arm, whatever he needed.

Once again, little Sasha, the bravest of Al’s three children, spoke up. “How do you feel?”

Nicholas smiled at the nine-year-old. “Like a lab rat who didn’t know better than to keep hitting the button that shocked him.” He looked up at Winry. “My automail had better be better than Dad’s after all that.”

She smiled and kissed his head. “It will. I promise.”

********

“You… you’re ready to go again?” Wrath asked. “So fast?”

Russell only grinned as Wrath crawled on his back toward the bed. Russell really loved that the former homunculus lived in a studio apartment and there were no doors or rooms to seperate the bed from them. He slowly began unfastening his shirt, crawling between Wrath’s splayed legs, eying the slowly hardening member. “Are you telling me you don’t want this?” He ground their hips together as he leaned forward, somehow capturing Wrath’s mouth, enjoying the feel of those thin lips as they gasped in shock.

“Who said you get to take control?” Wrath asked after Russell had thoroughly examined every inch of his mouth with his tongue.

“I did. Besides, you’ve never done it like this.” He rested most of his weight on his head pressing into Wrath’s shoulder as he pulled his pants down over his hips, feet kicking off his shoes. As he now stood before Wrath naked, he enjoyed the feeling of that amethyst gaze running over his body. He wasn’t perfectly toned, and certainly wasn’t the perfect and powerful physical specimen that Wrath was, but he knew there was nothing to complain about on his body.

“On the bed,” Russell ordered, ripping the cotton shirt over Wrath’s head as he did.

Without second thought, the larger man obeyed, pushing off his pants, giving Russell yet another view of that wonderful body, the black curls above the monster the blond alchemist swore he would manage one day, the fine dusting of black hair over the sculpted chest and abdomen, the hairless arms and legs that showed every subtle twitch of muscle beneath the mismatched skin.

“Turn over.”

“You think I’m going to be bottom?” Russell saw there wasn’t much fight in the younger man’s body and promptly flipped him himself, rubbing just a bit of the lube on his fingers, smearing it around before tracing it between Wrath’s cheeks.

“Why not? You go by Ulysses ‘Wrath’ Curtis. UWC, sounds an awful lot like uke when you put them together.”

He earned himself a glare from the man beneath him. "I don't think it's pronounced that way, moron."

Russell only smirked. “Well then, you’re going to be bottom because I feel like it.” He bit on Wrath’s shoulder. “But you’re also going to be bottom because we both want this now and I don’t have time to stretch myself for your delicious-looking monster. I’d probably have to use more than just fingers for that.” Wrath again looked over his shoulder, this time questioningly as Russell slowly pressed a finger into him. The look of surprise and shudder of his body seemed to say that Wrath hadn’t bottomed for quite a while. “I mean toys, Wrath.”

“Toys?” Wrath practically squeaked.

Russell smiled thinking of how naïve the younger man was in the more kinky aspects of sex. “Toys,” he repeated as he moved one hand to wrap around Wrath’s member. “To stretch myself for you, I’d probably need a plug in for a good amount of time. Do you know what that is?” More braids loosened themselves as Wrath shook his head. “That’s a toy that you put here.” For emphasis, Russell moved his finger inside of Wrath. “Some people leave it in all day, and it teases the prostate and keeps a body ready to be entered by keeping it stretched.” Russell moved a second finger inside Wrath slowly, hearing a grunt from below. “Then there are rings that you put right here.” He squeezed Wrath’s member at the base. “Or here.” He moved around Wrath’s balls. “It keeps you from coming. And then there are dildos, they are shaped like a penis, and they can go any number of places to simulate the real thing.”

Wrath was moaning as Russell moved his fingers to touch over the spongy gland inside of the taller man, making his body buck against his fingers.

“That turns you on, doesn’t it? The idea of me having to use some of those things just to get myself ready for this.” He stroked down the long, hardening flesh. “I don’t mind pain, but I like to be able to stand upright the day after sex.”

It suddenly crossed Russell’s mind that if Wrath had no idea about toys, then Edward must have taken him with no more preparation than a few fingers. He knew the other blond was an inch or two taller than his counterpart, but his body was considerably smaller, more fragile. The idea that he had managed to do it was almost enough to make Russell forego his idea of topping Wrath just to prove he was the better man. Then Wrath bucked again, begging Russell.

“Please,” Wrath said, pushing back.

“It has been a long time for you, hasn’t it?”

“Years.”

“Since you were bottom?”

“Since anything.”

“That’s about to change,” Russell said, pulling his fingers from the other man, moving his mouth down between the cheeks, deciding to torment him just a bit more before actually moving forward. He stuck his tongue out into the prepared entrance, hearing Wrath gasp. Oh, he wasn’t a virgin, but he’d never had an experienced seme before.

That was more than enough torment for both of them. Wrath was ready and waiting and Russell wanted to bury himself to the hilt in his younger lover. Russell lowered the former homunculus’s body down and lined himself up before pressing the head of his member into Wrath.

“You are so tight, so unbelievable.” Russell figured out earlier that words alone seemed to be enough to excite the muscular man, and he would use that to his advantage. “You know it should be illegal to feel this good.”

He pressed forward, slow enough not to cause serious injury, but still hurting the man below him.

“Russell,” Wrath said, his voice so full of wanton desire that Russell could have died at that moment if he could only hear his name said like that from those lips.

The older man withdrew until all but his tip before pressing inside once again, repeating the process until he’d gotten the angle exactly right and was putting pressure against Wrath’s prostate, watching as the tall, fair-skinned back arched beneath him. Russell was not able to kiss Wrath on the mouth like this, so he satisfied himself for moving his mouth over every inch of skin, his left hand helping to support his weight, his right hand slickly moving in time with each of his thrusts.

“Oh, God, Russell. Harder!”

The blond began slamming into him faster and harder, Wrath meeting each thrust with force enough, Russell began to question that he might find bruises on his hips in the shape of Wrath’s ass.

“Oh, shit!” Russell yelled, almost at a squeak as Wrath moved back once again, and his balls were smashed between their bodies.

“Oh, Russ—Russell!” He felt Wrath’s balls draw up, felt the muscles throughout the larger man’s body tensing up, felt the walls surrounding his own member tightening. “I’m going to—”

“Then do it. Come for me.”

As Russell pounded harder still into him, Wrath lowered his head onto the bed, fists tearing at the sheets as his orgasm finally ripped through his body. He screamed something, though it was little more than a howl, and as the tight heat around him grew even more vice-like Russell found he was coming shortly after, screaming out the sin’s name before collapsing on top of him, still firmly buried inside.

********

Frank had gotten permission to bring his lover home to a small cottage he’d purchased as a surprise for the younger man, and before their first night there, Frank had lost complete control of his own home. At the moment, three sisters were there, dutifully doting over their baby brother. One was in Frank’s kitchen cooking dinner, another was dealing with the paperwork from the hospital, and finally, Anna was in their bedroom, doing Kain’s physical therapy.

He loved the Fuery family, but damn it, he had this under control. Anna stepped out of the bedroom, but as Frank tried to go in with Kain, she stopped him.

“He’s a bit tired after his physical therapy,” she said, her hand on Frank’s shoulder.

“I’m not going to jump him the minute I go in there,” Frank said, hands on his hips. “I just want to see him. You are all wonderful, but for you three mother hens, I haven’t gotten to see my boyfriend hardly at all this week.”

“Actually, we want to talk to you,” Diana, the oldest of the siblings said, pulling him into the kitchen where Tabitha was standing at the stove, cooking. Diana pushed him down on one of the kitchen chairs.

“I’ll have you know that, as a spy, I’ve been interrogated before.” And that was exactly what this seemed to be.

“We want to know how long you intend to keep this up,” Anna said.

“What?”

“Frank, you are the first of our brother’s boyfriends we’ve all approved of, but he obviously wants to be with you. Do you realize that if you two were married, the military would be obligated to seek other options before separating you?” Diana said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“We know you aren’t taking advantage of Kain,” Tabitha said, wooden spoon in her hand.

“I should say not,” Frank said.

“We just wondered if the two of you are going to take a step further. We nearly lost our little brother,” Anna said, tears in her eyes. “He’s very happy with you, and we want him to stay that way.”

Frank reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a tiny red box. “Does this make you feel better?” All three sisters looked at the velvet box, Tabitha finally opening it. “I really wanted him to be the first one to know, but I also want to go in and see him, so if this will get you all off my back,” He smiled at them, trying to lighten the dark mood that could have been induced by those words. “I suppose showing you isn’t such a bad idea.”

“They’re beautiful,” Anna said. “How long have you had them?”

“Six months. I carry them with me every moment Kain’s home or I’m with him. I didn’t want to be the reason he was pulled from the East as long as he had a title and people under his command. I wasn’t spoiling his career.” Then, for good measure, he threw in a bit of a guilt trip. “Since Roy doesn’t have any intention of making him return, I was going to ask him if we got a moment alone.”

The three sisters looked at the floor sheepishly, Diana grabbing the box and putting it into Frank’s hand, then pulling him to his feet. “Well, don’t let us stop you.”

Frank nodded as he was practically shoved to his bedroom, finding Kain, looking somewhat tired, but happy to see him.

“I’m so glad to see you.” Kain was smiling. “I didn’t think my sisters would let you.”

“Yeah, well, I set them straight. Besides, if they keep hovering over you, I’ll never get you up and walking again.” Frank sat beside Kain, running his hand down the younger man’s side. “Among other things.”

“I’m feeling up to some activities, you know.”

“Yes, but your sisters are in the next room.” Frank closed his eyes, thumb rubbing over the red velvet. “Kain, I was so afraid I’d lose you, and all this time apart hasn’t been easy. You’re going to be home for a while, and I’d like to make sure that’s permanent, or at least, if we’re shipped out, we do it together.”

“The only way that would happen is with special treatment from the fuhrer. They only let things like that happen if the couple is married or they have a child. We haven't found the right child yet, so we will just have to deal with the problem.”

“I think you just mentioned our other solution,” Frank said, placing the red box on Kain’s chest.

“You mean, you want to…” Kain opened the box and smiled when he saw the two rings. “You and I?”

“We’ve been together for almost four years, Kain. That should be more than enough to say that I do. I love you Kain. I don’t need marriage to prove it, but if it keeps us together, I’ll be happy.”

“I love you, too,” Kain said, pulling out the smaller ring from the box, and sliding it onto Frank’s finger.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” Frank asked, pulling out the remaining ring to put on Kain’s finger.

“Yes.”

With that, the engaged couple was now attacked by three sisters, all squealing.

********

Dante heard a whispered hello on the other end of the line.

“Mr. Tucker, I am sorely disappointed in the way things turned out. Not all of the chimeras obeyed my voice.”

“Of course not,” Tucker said. “It is difficult enough to teach them to obey commands when the person they are to obey is present. You weren’t.”

“Please excuse me that I am not capable to tear myself away at any given moment, but it isn’t exactly simple.”

“And what about the blast that destroyed three of them?”

“That is my concern. Not yours.”

“I just don’t want to be blamed for what happened there. You promised to tell me how to have my daughter back, and I don’t want anything to change that.”

********

Two months later

Roy watched as Nicholas sat and flexed his fingers as the automail was now fully activated.

“How’s it feel?” Ed asked.

“Different and heavy.”

“That’s because you have to rely on this part of your arm,” Winry said, rubbing over the space between Nicholas’s shoulder and the metal elbow. “You’ll need to build up the strength there.”

“Now that I have my arm,” he asked, “can I show the reporters exactly what I think of them for printing pictures of me with just the stump?”

“You are not giving reporters the finger, young man,” Roy said.

“Please?”

“No.”

Nicholas looked over at Ed, who only shrugged, deferring this to Roy. In turn, the older parent elbowed the younger. “No, Nicholas, he’s right.”

Nicholas sighed, and pouted the entire ride to Havoc’s fortieth birthday party. Though it was Havoc’s day and Ed and some of the men had managed a few embarrassing moments, Nicholas and his new arm managed to steal most of the attention, a good portion of it coming from Elysia Hughes.

Roy had been watching Nicholas talking with Elysia and her boyfriend when Wrath caught up to him.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course." They stepped out in the next room, Roy wondering what exactly the former sin could want. Usually when he wanted a man-to-man talk, he went to Ed or Frank, even the Tringhams.

"You know that Russell and I have been together for the last few weeks."

"Yes. It was about time."

"Well, right now, it's mostly talking and, well," Wrath's voice dipped down just a bit. "sex."

Roy chuckled, but not hard enough to make Wrath uncomfortable. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"But what if I want something else? Is that possible with the way we started?"

"It was for Riza and I."

"Really?" Wrath asked, looking down at Roy, eyes wide. "Was it the twins that changed things?"

"Things had changed before she informed me I was going to be a father." Roy smiled at that memory, Riza coming into his library office, looking furious at him, yelling at him about ruining her career, and not making any sense until she told him she was pregnant. Roy had never considered being a father before that moment, but all he could do was wrap his arms around her and kiss her. She had melted a bit at that, and seemed to forget her anger as Roy began making plans, trying to feel her stomach, repeating how much he loved her and wanted this family with her.

"So, Russell and I could end up more than this?"

"If that's what you want."

"I don't know, but I'm enjoying what we've got right now."

"You may just need to trust to let this go where it will."

Roy patted Wrath on his shoulder, going back to the main room.

"Roy," Wrath said, making Roy turn toward him. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"And, Roy," Wrath said, looking as though he felt very awkward, "I'm sorry that I couldn't tell that Archer wasn't dead after I'd fought him. Maybe if I had..."

"What's done is done. You hardly knew what sleep was and how it was differenet from death. I don't blame you for my eye. That goes solely to the bastard Frank Archer I knew."

Wrath nodded, an understanding and sympathetic smile on his face. Roy patted the larger man's arm and walked back inside. When he re-entered, Roy caught Nicholas talking to the eighteen-year-old daughter of Roy's old friend.

“Does it hurt?”

“A little, but it will fade. I can’t wait to start really using it.” Nicholas flexed the limb in the sling around his neck.

“It’s kind of a battle scar to be proud of, you know that?”

“That’s what I think. I mean, I got this fighting off a chimera. That gives me a story to break the ice for the rest of my life.”

Elysia smiled at him. “Can I get you anything?”

“A drink of punch?” He asked with a pleasant smile, then noticeably watched her leave as she walked away.

“Nicholas,” Roy said, disapprovingly.

“Yeah?”

“Were you just watching Elysia Hughes?”

“Well, she’s hot.”

“Nicholas!”

“She is.”

“You shouldn’t ogle women like objects.” Roy looked down at his son. "Imagine if it was your sister."

"Oh, gross! Are you trying to turn me completely gay?"

"I just mean imagine if it was someone else doing it to your sister."

"Well, say what you mean from now on. Geez, Papa." Nicholas shuddered.

"Whatever gets you to stop," Roy said. "Remember people aren't objects."

"And your father would know everything about that," a woman's voice said. Roy turned to find Gracia wrapping her arm around his. "I believe that there was a time he was going to make every woman in the country wear mini-skirts."

"That would have been a good law," Nicholas said.

"Like father, like son," Gracia said.

"So why'd you change your mind?"

"He became a father to a little girl."

"Aideen ruins everything," Nicholas said with a smile on his face.

"Maybe so, but I would prefer if you didn't stare at my daughter like that," Gracia said.

"Yes, Mrs. Havoc."