For Her. For Him.

A/N: If you haven't figured it out, the babies are finally here this chapter, but I have a question to ask of my reviewers. All along, there have been hints of a growing relationship between Havoc and Gracia Hughes. Though I'll still probably have him have feelings for her, does he get shot down or not next chapter?

Chapter 41

Delivery

Heymans Breda stood within the city, watching as troops who had been loyal to the fuhrer gradually surrendered one by one. Listening to the radios being turned on in homes all over the city, being broadcast on loudspeakers, Fuery and Sheska were doing one hell of a job acting as public information officers. Without additional bloodshed, the two nerds were actually managing to stop the battle. It surprised Breda, but was nothing compared to the sudden vibrations coming from the ground beneath him.

“Move!” the lieutenant ordered the troops around him. “Something’s breaking through the ground!” It was a wave of blue as the men cleared the street, only to find a teenager with long light brown hair wearing drapery in toga fashion over his shoulder rising through a newly created hole in the streets of Central. The kid, probably about fifteen or sixteen, obvious in his face, though he was relatively tall, looked incredibly familiar, though his chocolate brown eyes and patchy facial hair didn’t seem to match.

It wasn’t until the auburn-haired man saw the figure resting on hands and knees that he realized who this boy was.

“AL!” Breda shouted, running to throw his arms around the boy in his new body. “Holy shit. You’re damn near as tall as that armor of yours!”

“Figures he’d be almost a foot taller than me,” Ed mumbled bitterly from below. “He’s going to be built just like that bastard father of ours.”

“Brother!” Al said, looking at Breda strangely. The older man released him, realizing that in the teen’s eyes there had been no recognition of who he was. Al immediately rushed down to help Ed, joined by Breda. “Now, will you explain to me what’s happened to you? Why do you look like this?”

“He doesn’t remember?” Breda asked.

“None of it,” Ed said with downcast eyes. The blond looked up at his younger brother. “Al, a lot of time has passed. I don’t know why you don’t remember any of it, but I’m seventeen years old now, making you almost sixteen.” Al looked on at his brother in shock as Ed explained the whole complicated situation to him in as short a summary as he could. Breda tried to walk the two to the medics area not far from the hospital, all the while trying to find some more appropriate clothes for the lanky and mostly naked teen.

Unfortunately, at that moment Breda saw a sight he’d hoped he’d never witness in his life: a gurney was being rolled through the streets, a body on it, still bleeding profusely, and Raine Mustang straddling the dark-haired figure, hands glowing and tears streaming down her face. The gurney passed by, the men at back and front doing all they could to get it to the medics and the hospital. Breda saw that the colonel’s face had been badly damaged, and his eye… well, the lieutenant wasn’t sure what was left of it.

“Roy!” Ed shouted, twisting away from the two supporting him, grabbing onto his back in pain. “Roy!”

Al looked at his older brother in confusion. “The father… um… other father?”

Breda closed his eyes, trying to will away the image of his colonel’s injured face as it had passed. “Yes,” he answered for Ed.

The two tried to catch up with the determined blond, who was making Breda regret his comments about going to a gym as he couldn’t even catch up with him this determined and yet still very pregnant.

********

In the hospital, hours later, Ed was leaning against a wall, trying to will away the agonizing pain he struggled not to let show as he waited for word, any word, on Roy. He was unable to get any answers, unable to find out what was going on, and wasn’t allowed to go in. Ed had cried all he had in him, and was left with only dry heaves and sniffles, feeling hugely inadequate as Al stood beside him, arm around his older brother’s shoulders. Somewhere, Breda had managed to find the teen clothes that mostly fit him, though the shirt was a bit tight and the sleeves a little too short.

“Brother, you’re sweating a lot. Are you okay?”

“I pulled some muscles. I’ll be fine.”

“Is there some kind of painkiller they can give you?”

“I don’t know of any that won’t hurt the babies.”

Al moved his left hand over, rubbing Ed’s stomach. “I think I felt something.”

“Good. I made a deal you’d get to before I got your body back.” Ed could feel the pain lessening a bit.

A nurse walked by, Al politely speaking to her, “Ma’am, can you find someone who can help my brother? He’s in pain.”

“You aren’t going to let this drop, are you, Al?”

“You’re hurting, Ed,” the taller brother said, still surprising the shorter one by the lower pitch of his voice.

“If you could find Dr. Knox, I’m sure he could think of something,” Ed said. The nurse averted her eyes. “What? What is it? You mean he isn’t back? We told him to leave when we left for our last mission.”

“Dr. Knox didn’t leave. There was a train accident. There were a number injured, and he didn’t want to leave them. When the fuhrer found out that the doctor had been lying, he was taken away to be executed. Since then, we haven't heard any more.”

Ed felt himself slump down the wall. “Executed?”

“Brother!” Al’s strong arms guided Ed back up the wall.

“One more person…” Ed said. “One more person who sacrificed themselves for me.” The dry heaves came on again. “You, Roy, Hughes, Marta, Wrath, even Lust, and now Dr. Knox…”

“Brother I’m here.”

“But you lost five years. Five years because I tried to do something I knew wasn’t right,” Ed sobbed, the actual tears so long gone. No sooner was Ed doubled over in tears than his backache was back, more painful than before, not helped by his crying.

The doors to the operating room opened, Raine stepping out. Fighting through the pain, Ed stood upright, hands splayed on the wall for support, teeth unclenched only long enough to say three words, “How is he?”

“The bleeding’s stopped, and I’ve done what I could. There’s going to be a lot of scarring on his face, but there was no damage to his brain. He’ll survive. I’m going to have to go back in there, though, they have an ocular automail mechanic coming in.”

“Ocular?”

“He’s lost his left eye.”

Ed clasped his hands over his mouth, trying not to imagine Roy without one of his beautiful onyx eyes. Trying not to picture him permanently scarred, damaged for life just like Ed himself was. How could someone who had always been a ladies’ man, who used each tiny gesture to convey trust or intimidation, be forced to hide that behind scars or a patch.

“Roy…” Ed said, absently, while Raine and Al wrapped their arms around him. “But he’ll be okay?”

“I think so,” Raine said. “He’s going to need a lot of support though.”

Ed nodded. “He has it.” He looked up at the dark-haired woman. “But with the automail, he’ll be able to see, right?”

“No. He’ll have a glass eye that moves like a real one. The only way he could get one that actually worked would be for him to lose as much of his face as the son of a bitch who shot him.”

Ed took a few deep breaths, beginning to feel the pain coming on again. He could feel the sweat gathering on his forehead, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. This time it was worse than before, spreading from his lower back around to his midsection, growing in intensity until he had dropped to the floor on his hands and knees, crying out, his voice echoing in the nearly empty waiting room.

“Brother!”

“Ed,” Raine said, kneeling beside the teen, brushing back his sweaty hair with her fingers, “Ed how long has this been going on?”

“Five hours. The pain has been getting worse.”

“And does it come in intervals?”

“I think every ten minutes now,” Ed struggled to say as he felt the agony dissipate.

“Did you read any pregnancy literature? You’re having contractions, Ed.”

“Wh-what? This was just back pain.”

“You’re collapsed on the floor and clutching your stomach. It doesn’t seem like back pain anymore.” Ed felt himself being lifted by his brother and Raine.

“I can’t be having contractions. Roy’s in there.”

“You are, probably because Roy’s in there,” Raine said, jerking her head to signal to Al that they needed to move him to an examining room. “Stress can do that, Baby.”

“He wanted to see them born. He wanted to be there,” Ed protested.

“And he might get to.”

********

Jean berated Winry for staying in Central when there was imminent danger in the city, but she didn’t seem to care. Nothing he pointed out to the teen seemed to get through. All she knew was at the moment, her best friend needed support because the colonel, his lover, had been shot. That was all that mattered to the young woman. She had stayed behind to be of help, which she had been, designing enhancements to weapons which would disarm but not hurt the still-loyal military personnel. Now, she wanted to be with Ed and was running through the streets of the city with Jean because he was concerned about his friend and commander, using escorting her as an excuse to find out the colonel’s situation for himself.

Reaching the hospital, they went to the waiting room, expecting to find Ed there, sobbing, storming around angrily, but instead saw only a tall young man, with light brown hair that reached down to the middle of his back. He looked to still be a teenager, but his build seemed to suggest martial arts training. The teen leaned against a wall, running a hand through his hair, a worried and confused look in his chocolate-colored eyes.

“Where’s Ed?” Winry asked, not really addressing the sandy-haired teen.

“Being examined,” the young man answered. “He’s started labor.”

“What?!” Winry and Jean yelled in near unison.

The tall teen--he nearly looked Jean in the eyes--looked strangely at the two blonds.

“Winry?” he asked. “Is that you?”

Jean felt lost, particularly when he watched the young woman run across the room, practically leaping into lanky arms, yelling, “Al!”

“Holy shit!” Jean said, looking at the brother he’d only known as a suit of armor. “Al?”

The brown eyes scanned the lieutenant. “Jean Havoc? Why do I remember that name when I see you?”

“I’ve known you for nearly five years, Al,” Jean answered.

“But you’re the first thing I’ve remembered from all of this,” Al said, still embracing Winry. “I thought my memories from when brother said I was in a suit of armor were gone.”

“You’re so tall, Al,” Winry said. “And all that hair. Even stubble on your face. I still pictured you as a ten-year-old.”

No, Al definitely wasn’t a kid anymore. From the looks of him, he’d be stiff competition for any man over the age of fifteen for the interests of any woman he'd want. Where Ed had retained his youthfulness in every place but his eyes, which resembled an old man’s when you looked into them, Al seemed quite the opposite, looking nearly twenty, except for those large brown eyes, which still looked at the world as though through a child’s perspective.

“So, Ed’s in labor?”

“He says the contractions are about ten minutes apart.” Al released Winry. “I stepped out of the room when the doctor was examining him. It was a little embarrassing.”

“Havoc!” a voice called from the radio on the lieutenant’s hip. “Havoc, we’ve broken into the prison. We’ve found a lot of people here that were arrested for loyalty to the colonel or the major. Over.”

Havoc unhooked the bulky radio, holding it to his mouth. “Falman, take them to the medics to have them checked out. Over.”

“There’s one here, being pretty persistant. Wants to know how Ed’s doing.”

“Damn right I want to know how he’s doing. He’s nine months along and has to be stressed!” an agitated voice said in the background of the radio. “I got him this damned far, so yes, I want to know how he is.”

“I think it’s his doctor. Over.”

“Tell Dr. Knox that Ed’s started labor and contractions are ten minutes apart. Over.”

“He’s started? Shit! What about the colonel? This is me asking, not the doctor. Over.”

In the confusion, Jean realized he hadn’t gotten to ask. As he stumbled over his words, looking to the now human Al, he felt the radio being taken out of his hand, and watched as the young man in front of him took over.

“He’s lost his left eye and his face is in pretty bad shape. His arm will take some time to heal, apparently, he was stabbed in the shoulder. Over.”

There was a bit of a pause, apparently so that the other man on the line could adjust to the news, as Jean was now trying to do. “Who is this? Over.”

“It’s Al, Officer Falman,” Al smiled at himself apparently remembering Vato Falman as well, Jean realized. His memories were coming back.

“You sound different. Over.”

“That’s because I’m not in a tin can anymore. Over.”

“Congratulations. I’m going to have someone bring the doctor up. Over and out.”

********

Roy opened his right eye to find his sister standing over to him. He felt like he’d been smacked with a sledge hammer, and even with her alchemy, it seemed it was little help for the agonizing pain in the left side of his skull. He raised a hand up to that side of his face.

“Careful, Pyro. Don’t want to hurt yourself.”

“What… happened?” Roy croaked out in his haze. “Archer…”

“He shot you, Roy.”

“My face…”

“And your eye.”

Roy thickly swallowed. His eye. Gone. But as he turned his head, searching for any sign of his little blond alchemist, he found none. “Ed. Is he okay?”

“We need to get you in the room with him.”

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s in labor, Roy. Started around eight hours ago.”

“Eight hours…” Roy was still foggy from anesthesia, both the kind the doctors had injected and the natural kind Raine had released in his body. Roy tried to sit up, realizing his left arm was in a sling and completely restricted from movement.

“I can get a gurney for you.”

“They didn’t hurt my legs. I’m walking.”

“Roy,” Raine said in her most mother-like tone.

“I’m going. Tell me what room he’s in.”

“Fine, but you’re going to use me for support, got it?”

Roy wrapped his right arm around his sister’s shoulders, finding Winry and Jean Havoc in the waiting room.

“Colonel Mustang!” Winry said as Roy vainly attempted to smile through his suffering. “You shouldn’t be walking.”

“Chief, you look way too pale.”

“He lost a lot of blood, and now he’s being stupid,” Raine said. “We have to get him in there with Ed and Al.”

Havoc opened a nearby door, allowing Ed’s screams to echo through the hall and waiting area.

“Ed!” Roy said, trying to move faster than his exhausted body would allow, forcing Havoc and Winry to catch him as Raine attempted to maintain her grip.

“Stop being a dumbass, Roy,” Raine chided. “We’ll get you to him.”

Roy allowed himself to be led, less than willingly, into the room as Ed had stopped screaming, looking up to the figure at the door.

“Roy,” his lover said, sounding absolutely exhausted. His legs were splayed on a pair of stirrups, Dr. Knox between them, checking the progress.

Roy looked around the room, seeing a rather battered looking Dr. Knox, a nurse and a young man he’d never seen before in the room, the teen actually sitting behind Ed as he strained. He was certain he’d heard Raine say Al was there, but he couldn’t find the armor anywhere. He watched in shock as the new teenager looked up at him, brown eyes searching his face.

“Colonel Mustang,” there was a smile there beneath the mop of long hair.

“Al?” Roy raised his eyebrows in surprise, only finding the motion caused pain on the bandaged portion of his face.

“I’ve got my body back, and my memories are starting to return, too.” Then, with a more somber expression, he added. “Wrath traded himself for it.”

Ed held out his left hand to Roy, obviously wanting the man to come closer. Roy felt himself being guided by the people at his sides into a chair beside his fiancé. The former colonel grabbed Ed’s hand, feeling it grasp tightly, not from pain but just the reassurance that Roy really was there beside him, really was holding on.

Roy couldn’t move much, but raised Ed’s hand, pressing the calloused fingers to his unshaven cheek, then pressing them to his mouth, the closest he could manage to actually kissing his love.

“I thought you were dead. When I saw you on that gurney, I thought you were gone,” Ed said, eyes drained, blond hair matted to his wet forehead.

“All right,” Dr. Knox said, “those of you who aren’t family or medical personnel, out of this room.”

Roy could feel the grip on his hand growing tighter as another scream erupted from Ed. It was so rare to see the teen experience something so excruciating that he couldn’t hold in cries of his own suffering. Roy knew this would hurt him, but he wondered if this was too much, if this was natural.

“Is it supposed to hurt him this much?” Roy asked as with almost superhuman strength Ed tightened his hold on his hand.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Raine answered.

They went through twenty, maybe thirty minutes more of the screaming, the pain, while Ed’s automail hand mangling the metal rail at the other side of the bed. Roy struggled as best he could to stay upright and ignore the loss of blood that still had him dizzy.

“Dr. Mustang,” Dr. Knox said. “He’s fully dilated, but because all of the necessary muscles simply aren’t there to push the baby out, I’m going to need your help.”

Raine nodded, going to Ed’s other side. Another contraction hit, Ed screaming.

“Dr. Mustang, coax the baby,” Dr. Knox ordered. Raine nodded, making her tattooed hands glow as she laid them on Ed’s stomach. “Ed, try to push.”

There was another scream. Roy couldn’t help but look beneath the sheet covering the lower half of Ed’s body, half amazed, half regretting he’d done so. He could see they’d had to elevate Ed’s member with a piece of fabric, and beneath it, there was a head, bloody and covered in some kind of white gunk, making an appearance in the opening that hadn’t been there a few months ago.

“I can see it,” Roy said. “The head, Ed, I can see it.” Ed continued to push, as Raine’s hands moved downward, guiding the baby out. Roy looked back down, despite how grotesque this was, it was also the most remarkable thing he’d ever seen, watching as eyes, nose, mouth appeared, then chin. “The head’s out.”

“Just push a little more, Baby,” Raine said.

“A little more, Brother,” Al told him from behind.

“You all want to shove a damned watermelon out of your ass go ahead. I’m trying.”

Roy, wishing he could see this with both eyes, wishing he wasn’t forced to turn so far away from Ed in order to watch this miracle, watched in awe as the shoulders and the rest of the body slipped out.

The doctor cleaned out the baby’s mouth, holding it upside down giving it a smack on its back to clear its lungs.

Roy smiled as his baby, their baby cried out.

“It’s a boy,” Dr. Knox said. “It’s a little boy.”

“Nicholas,” Roy corrected. “It’s Nicholas.”

Dr. Knox cut the umbilical cord, as Roy’s only hand was still occupied holding Ed's.

“What’s he look like, Roy?”

“Slimy and puffy,” Roy answered, “but beautiful.”

The nurse took Nicholas to the corner, cleaning him off, preparing him to be seen by his parents in a less messy state.

Ed got a few moments reprieve before the contractions set in again, Raine laying her hands on him.

“She’s upside down,” Raine said. “It’s a breech.” She ran a hand down Ed’s soaked face. “I’m going to have to turn her, Baby. Just like I did before.” Ed barely nodded. Hisses of the pain Roy had witnessed on the teen’s face a few weeks before mixed with cries of torture as contractions and the movement of the baby mixed.

With each move Raine made, Roy was certain it did harm to his own hand as Ed squeezed harder, actually forcing some yelps from the injured man.

“She’s in position.”

“About damned time,” Roy said, watching as Al gently rubbed at Ed’s hair and shoulders.

Another contraction, another scream, and another order to push. Again, Roy leaned down to watch, seeing this time a head of matted dark hair, a lot of hair, being pushed out the same way Nicholas had come. Above, Raine was coaxing the other twin out, while Ed screamed, tensed, and pushed, all the while doing what had to be irreparable damage to Roy’s hand, not that the man cared, or noticed.

When Aideen was finally out, Dr. Knox repeated the process as he had with Nicholas. Again, the nurse took the baby to clean her off, Raine retrieving Nicholas from the tiny bed of blankets on the table in the corner.

“Can I take my legs out of these damned stirrups?” Ed asked.

“You still have the placenta to deliver, Ed,” Dr. Knox said. Raine deposited the squirming baby into Ed’s arms. Roy struggled to inch closer, to see their child, seeing in the little boy’s face that of Riza, almost frighteningly so, though the tiny tuft of blond hair could have been inherited from either of the blonds. Nicholas opened his eyes, still puffy, but something told Roy that their shape would more resemble Ed’s than his own. However the color, that was Roy’s, pitch black, so dark that finding a pupil would prove to be difficult.

“If you try feeding him,” Raine said, “it can speed up the delivery of the placenta.”

Ed nodded, pulling open his shirt to reveal his newly developed chest, making Al look away in embarrassed disgust.

“I don’t think I’m needed right here at the moment.” Nervously, Al climbed down from behind Ed doing everything he could to avoid looking at the nursing baby at his brother‘s chest.

“Okay, what do I do now?” Ed asked, looking up to Raine.

“Guide him to the nipple.”

The nurse then walked over to Roy carrying a pink bundle. “Would papa like to hold his little girl?”

Roy nodded, releasing Ed’s hand and taking Aideen into his right arm. She had a lot of hair, far more than the little dab her brother did. It was as black as coal, but her eyes, which struggled to open in the light already had taken their color, just as Nicholas’s had. They were like fire, gold and rusty brown blended together, a mix of both Ed and Riza. Her eyes seemed somewhat less wide than Nicholas’s, but her features, save for her cupid bow lips, they were a blend of Ed and Roy, Ed’s nose, Roy was sure. Roy’s ears. Ed’s chin. Roy’s forehead and brows.

She was perfect. They both were perfect, and they were safe, and they were here, finally here.

As Roy began to cry, Ed looked over at him, concern on his worn face as he continued to nurse Nicholas.

“Tears of joy, Ed. I swear to you, tears of absolute joy.”