Housework

Another update, faster but still small. There will not be smut for some time, I've had a small plot change and have to put it off. If you need smut, might I recommend Skydark, writes amazing stuff, especially the sex ed teacher series. I hope "original" in quotations is a good thing, Lisa, and thanks to everyone else who reviewed! Later.

Libraries and rituals

Roy bowed back by reflex. It was odd, but not as strange as talking to a piece of metal had been. “I believe you know my name. Roy Mustang, pleased to meet you. Can you answer some questions, Alphonse?”

“You can call me Al. I can try, but what I tell you is at Tammy's discretion.” The armor looked to the blond behind it and received a nod. She was standing with her arms around it's waist, peeking around at Roy.

“What is her name? Where is she from? Where is her family and who trained her in alchemy?” Roy barely knew where to begin, there were so many questions to ask. “What happened to her arm? Why doesn't she talk? How old are you two?”

“Tammy will do as a name, she's from Ressembool, her family is dead like mine, and she was trained by the same person as me, Izumi Curtis. There was an accident and she lost her arm, and I'm 14, she's 15.” Al carefully skirted why Ed didn't talk, it was up to Ed to tell.

Roy could barely keep up with the quick answers. This was the most information he had and half of it was incomplete. “How long have you been like this? How did you end up sold as slaves?” 'I'll have an officer sent to look into a missing 15 year old from Ressembool, get more background on the Elric family and check up on Izumi Curtis. Thought she was dead.'

“It's been four years. We'd been wandering for a year when we were captured.” There was a soft clang when Tammy kicked the back of the armor's leg. “No, I'm not going to be quiet, we should tell him, then maybe he'll understand.” Clang. “Be quiet. I'm telling.” A few more kicks were heard, but Al kept talking anyways. “We were in a little town, Sylvado, the military had just moved in, to keep the peace.” Bitterness and disgust rang from the words. “We were getting ready to leave and we heard a woman screaming. She was being held down by three men in military uniforms and was crying, so we wanted to help her. We tried to make them stop hurting her, and she got away when they came to deal with us, but there were more than three. We fought but here were just too many. My partner was beaten pretty badly and I was chained. We thought her ribs were broken along with her arm, we couldn't escape like that. They laughed about just killing us, but decided to make a profit, since we'd wrecked their fun. While they were discussing where to get the best price, she cut my seal out and hid it so we wouldn't be separated. They finally sold us to a farm and a little over a year later we were sold to the Lotus. When she came back from the last time, she was bleeding badly and we knew we couldn't stay any longer, so we snuck out with the load to the auction. We were hoping to be sold to the mines and escape from there, but you found us instead.”

Roy stared at this deluge of information, then moved his stare to Tammy. Even if Al obviously wasn't aware of all the details, such as what happened in a whorehouse or what was happening to the woman in Sylvado, she obviously was. His head and chest hurt to think of what she had endured to keep her friend as innocent as he still was. She refused to meet his eyes, looking at the floor. He took a step forward, then stopped. After what she'd been through, she would certainly not welcome a man's touch, in any form. He swallowed, showing pity was not the way to go. “Well. Thank you for answering my questions. I've prepared a room for you Al, it's the one beside Tammy's and there are some of my old clothes there for you. We'll get you some of your own in a few days. I think we've had a busy day today, it's time for bed.” He motioned them down the hall, towards their rooms.

The two walked down the hall, still clinging to each other. When they reached Tammy's room, the little blond shot a look over her shoulder at Roy, then tried to tug the armor into her room. The armor glanced at Roy as well, and received a nod before following the pulling on his arm. 'What the hell was he going to do?' Roy spent a long night thinking in his favorite chair.

*Ed's Room*

Ed tossed off his dress and threw it over a chair. He grabbed Al again, ignoring the chilled metal pressed against him. “Al! This is great! How does it feel? Move alright?”

Al hugged him back carefully. “It's different, lighter, more flexible. I bet I can do more delicate things with this one too, but it's probably not as strong. It's nice though, good to be able to move around on my own again.”

“I'm sorry Al, I know it was a pain to have to rely on me to take you places. I should have tried harder to get you a new body.” Ed still clung to his brother, but his shoulders slumped a bit from guilt. It was all his fault after all.

“No, that's not what I meant! It was for the best and you did the best you could. Please don't blame yourself, I hate that. It's ok, we're ok now. It's all going to be alright now, isn't it?” Hope and reassurance filled the echoing voice.

“Yeah, it is.” For the first time in years, it sounded sincere. “Let's go to bed.” They crawled onto the bed, Ed curled in the blankets and Al curled around him on top.

“I love you brother.” An old ritual, one for reassurance and comfort. They used it almost nightly.

“Thank you Al.” Ed drifted into sleep, clutching the metal arm around him.

Roy drifted off to sleep around 2 am, slouched in his chair. The smell of breakfast, a good breakfast, woke him in the morning. He sat up to hear quiet talking in the kitchen, mostly Al giving instructions. He stood to join the two and there was silence. He must have made some kind of noise. Tammy appeared in the doorway, holding a tray with pancakes, fruit, and coffee. Roy sat back down and waved at a coffee table close to his chair. Tammy smiled a little and set the tray on the table, backing away quickly.

“Thank you. Why don't you and Al bring your trays in here with me?” He motioned to the couch, careful not to wave his hand too near her. He pulled the coffee table with his tray in front of his chair and began to eat, leaving the choice to her.

A voice from the door answered him. “I don't need to eat, but thank you.” He looked up to see Al standing in the doorway, holding a heaping tray. The armor stepped over to the couch, settling himself and the tray on one end, leaving room for the girl to sit next to him, which she promptly did. She sat, watching Roy eat. There was the sound of a throat clearing and the older man's attention moved from his breakfast to the cause.

Al was watching him too, and motioned with his head towards the girl beside him. Roy frowned. 'What did he want?' “It's not nice to make someone watch you eat, you know.” There was a horrified look on the blond's face. Al might not know the punishment for talking back, but she certainly did. Her hands clapped over Al's mouth, not that it did any good. “You should let her eat too.”

'Let her eat? What was that supposed to... Oh.' “You're not waiting for permission to eat, are you?” Nod. “And the other times I had to tell you to eat?” Blush , nod. “You don't need my permission, you can eat whenever you want to. You don't belong to me, you're my ward. I'll never deny you food. Promise.” He smiled at her. “If you want or need something, you just have to ask. I'm not unreasonable and my rules are simple. Behave yourself and do as you are told. Don't be too messy and don't wreck things. That's all. Oh, and don't lie. Pretty fair, huh?” He smiled again, those sounded like fair rules to him, even if the look on Tammy's face didn't quite agree. Well, too bad, some rules were necessary.

He stood, “I'm going to get ready for work. Be ready to go in half an hour.” He strode down the hallway, leaving his tray for the two to clean up. When he came back, Tammy was wearing a blue dress and her new boots and Al was dressed in an old shirt and pants set. He considered them for a moment, fairly presentable, then ushered them out to the car.

They arrived late and Roy shooed them into the office and dashed to his desk before his scary lieutenant saw him. The young pair sat on the couch, whispering and pushing at each other until he told them to behave. They would stop for a bit, them start again. “Alright, enough.” Silence and two pairs of eyes turned to regard him solemnly. “Go find Master Sergeant Fuery and tell him to take you to the library on my orders. He will remain there with you until lunch, then return you here. You may each bring two books. Go.” The two scrambled to their feet and raced for the door, shoving it open with a slam. “And don't run or slam doors!” Sigh. So this is what kids are like.

Master Sergeant Cain Fuery looked up to see a tiny blond in a blue dress, Tammy?, and a suit of metal bearing down on him. He hopped to his feet, fully prepared to run for Falman for protection when they skidded to a halt in front of his desk. The girl pointed at him and waved her hand around, her eyes bright. He stared at her for a moment, was this really the same girl as before? His gaze transferred to the auto-mail suit, staring in wonder. How was this possible?

“Umm, Excuse me? Are you Master Sergeant Fuery?”

“Err, yes, I am. Who are you?”

“Oh, I'm Alphonse Elric, you can call me Al. The Colonel said you would take us to the library and stay with us until lunch. Then we should come back.” The girl shoved at him, waving two fingers. “Oh, and we can each bring back two books. Can you take us now please? If you're not too busy.”

Fuery blinked. “Of, of course. I'll just inform the lieutenant and we'll be off.” He walked over and informed Hawkeye of his new assignment, then motioned for his new temporary charges to follow him. He lead the way to the library and watched them settle in as if they had always come here. Al requested some paper and when it was brought, proceeded to fill it with notes. Tammy didn't write as many notes, but read avidly for the three hours until lunch without taking a break. Fuery sat at a close by table and read reports, checking on them frequently. When he claimed them again, they dallied over which books to take, discussing it with rapid hand motions. Finally, four books were chosen and Fuery signed them out.

They returned to gunfire in the office and yelling about daydreaming and laziness. Fuery waved to Havoc that they were back and waited outside until he came to get them. Because Fuery was calm, the two children remained mostly so, fidgeting and poking at each other. Once the furor had died down, the three entered the office. Roy was thrilled to see them; after all, Hawkeye wouldn't threaten him in front of children would she? Yes, yes she would. Two bullet holes later, he had changed his thought processes and paperwork looked like a wonderful idea.

He did three sheets, then decided Tammy looked hungry and should be fed. Another day of ignoring gossip at lunch, even more animated than the day before because now Roy had two illegitimate children, one so shy (or ugly, depending on who you listened to) that he hid in a suit of armor. Tammy got pissed off and threw some peas, which she wasn't eating anyways, at the next table and got herself a lecture on proper behavior from Hawkeye. There was no more throwing food. Roy got a glare when he didn't interfere and felt it was best to give a lecture as well, except his was more along the lines of don't get caught.

As a reward for his wonderful parenting skills, Roy got extra paperwork that afternoon and had to leave his door open to ensure no slacking. Tammy and Al were sprawled out on the couch and floor respectively, reading their books. Al was taking more notes, he was almost compulsive about it, even making notes of the ones Tammy read. She batted at him, but settled for getting one of his in return. Roy watched them, but every time he stopped working, his lieutenant was in to encourage him to continue.

The second the clock reached 5, Roy was out of his chair and dragging the two home, bored out of his mind. They stopped at the library and Roy flirted with the librarian to get two passes, then off to the security clearance office where he did the same with a secretary to get entrance passes. They also stopped at a locksmith to get two keys made. On the steps to the house, he presented each of his wards with two passes and a key, encouraging them to try them out. Supper was uneventful, quickly made by Al.

While Roy was pleased he would have decent meals from now on, he tried to subtly encourage Tammy to help cook. When that didn't work, he finally told her to help. She just shook her head and pointed at Al, who immediately denied needing help. Roy put his hands on his hips. “Now, I know she doesn't want to help, but you shouldn't spoil her like that Al. She needs to learn how and you should teach her. What will happen when you aren't together anymore? Are you going to go with her when she gets married? What if you get married? Is she supposed to starve?” Slight exaggerations, but he felt it got the point across.

“Umm, well, I don't think Tammy wants to get married, and I won't be any time soon, not like this. It's ok, I like to cook, and she can set the table and help with dishes and things.” Al turned back to the stove. He still felt bad lying, no, fibbing, they weren't lying really, to the Colonel, but that was what Ed wanted, so that's the way it was. “We work together, I'm just a better cook, that's all.”

Roy sighed, then realized he had done a lot of that since meeting these two. He decided this was a battle best left unfought, at least for today and went to sit in the living room and listen to his phonograph. The sound of dishes clinking indicated the table being set and he could just make out the sound of food being ladled into bowls. He waited for the now familiar blond form to wave him in for dinner and followed willingly when she did.

“Did you have a good time at the library today?”

“Oh yes! We would very much like to go back, sir. The books there are wonderful.” Al sat beside his brother, watching the other two eat. He was pleased that someone other than his brother enjoyed his cooking; Ed would eat anything really and it was nice to have someone with some taste to feed.

“Well, now that you have passes, you can go anytime we're at the office. You can bring home two books each every night if you like, or my own library is reasonably well stocked. You are welcome to read anything there.” That should keep them busy for awhile. He was going to have to find a way to store the huge amount of notes Al seemed to enjoy making though, maybe the last spare room would do.

“Oh, thank you sir! We'll go tomorrow. Would you like us to come back to your office for lunch?” Al's excitement shone through, even while he tried to cover it with politeness.

“Yes please. I would like you to tell me where you are and if you will be late, please ask the librarian to call the office.” Roy thought it might be a good idea to know where these two were; their energy seemed to feed off of one another and may need to be restrained. Unfortunately, he had the feeling it would be up to him to rein them in.

“Ok. Can we be excused please? I want to read some more of that book we got before bed.” Ed was still inhaling food, but he'd be done soon, he was always faster if there was research to do after.

“Of course. And it's may we.” There, Roy had now done his bit of good parenting for the day. He felt quite proud of himself. He watched Al get up and begin clearing the plates and putting the extra food in the fridge, grabbing it from the blond before she could claim it.

“Stop, you've had enough. We should leave leftovers for a snack later.” She grabbed a few last rolls and a sausage, then stopped, allowing him to finish clearing the table. She finished then joined Al at the sink, washing while he dried and put dishes away. Roy watched them, noting the perfect speed that they worked at to complement each other. He had sent out an low ranking officer to Ressembool for information, but didn't expect to hear back from him for a few more days.