For Her. For Him.

A/N: First, to my reviewers, who I'm late addressing individually: Anonymous, thanks for giving a MPreg a chance. Glad it was mine, and I wanted Riza's death to be important, not just glossed over. Silver4@Hentai, I appreciate your interest.Kikiko, I'm glad you like it. Kumiko-chan, I thought Ed would do something like this if he could. He can be sweet when he wants to be. Onee-sama, I'm glad you think it is realistic, well as realistic as a man getting pregnant through magical alchemy can be. Trabeck, thank you. Danielle Anderson, thanks for thinking it's interesting. Like I answered to you last chapter, not a mangaverse. I just borrowed Dr. Knox as someone Mustang could trust. TrulyWished, I know it's kind of weird. Wanted to do something different, but hopefully that will make lemons all the better. Anon, thank you. Milky, I wanted to throw characters into the mix as they appear from this point on in the anime, so this is the first appearance of the Curtis's, and I wanted Izumi's reaction, though I don't know if I've made it as dramatic as it could have been.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't profit.

Chapter 6

He's Not a Vessel

Ed could only guess what kind of reaction Izumi would have to his pregnancy. He had always been vaguely aware that she had wanted children and never been able to have them, but he could only guess what was behind that. For some time, she merely stared at him in shock as Sig sat with mouth open and Roy seemed to be preparing himself for another injury.

“Knocked you up?”

“Do you think on a normal day, I would eat chicken and rice topped with pickles?” He looked down at the man who was still on his knees in front of the sofa. “You okay?”

“Never better,” Roy grunted, trying to stand as Ed slid over to make room beside him.

Izumi stood above them, looking down at the two alchemists, demanding answers. Ed managed to fill in most of the details, as Roy was still recovering. Izumi seemed to only stare for a moment, and Ed thought to himself that she looked sad, possibly even jealous.

“So you performed alchemy with no idea what the result would be?” It was obvious the dreadlocked alchemist wanted to hit Ed, to hit something, but merely kept her hands to her sides, arm locked, hands clenched in fists. “You are a damned fool, irresponsible… Ed, you have broken every rule of alchemy and lack every type of common sense. Have you even thought this out? Have you considered this at all? You are sixteen, Ed. There are sixteen-year-old girls who can’t manage to deliver a baby.” She paused. “There are grown women…” Ed tilted his head, seeing her eyes had grown glassy with unshed tears. “I am ashamed to have ever taught you what I know about alchemy.”

“And you are a hypocrite,” Roy said, still rubbing his back. “I noticed that you didn’t have to draw a transmutation circle to rebuild my door. The only other person I know who can do that is Fullmetal, and we assumed it was because he had attempted human transmutation. I have also noticed a coughing fit you had that made you run to the nearest bathroom, coughing up blood. So tell me, what did you sacrifice while you were performing an act against God and alchemy?”

Izumi would not answer, but Sig was out of his seat and across the room in less time than Roy had to react. When that large butcher’s fist made impact, Ed had to wince. It was rare for the larger man to react violently, but it was obvious that the colonel had hit a touchy spot as Sig’s fist made contact with the colonel’s eye.
As Sig withdrew his hand for another strike, Ed pulled Roy down into his arms, cradling the dark head.

“Stop!” Sig halted himself mid-swing and looked down at the blonde. “He’s only trying to defend me, though I don’t know why. I’m more than capable of it.” He tilted Roy’s head upward to look at the eye, which was already growing puffy. “You need ice.” Ed stood up, watching as Roy tried to stop him. “I’m fine now.” He pushed Mustang’s shoulder, shoving him back into the sofa. “You stay here, and Sig, don’t hit him again.” Ed didn’t give any orders to Izumi, seeing that she was almost certainly going to follow him into the kitchen.

Together, they reached the kitchen, with Ed looking in Roy’s icebox, but finding there was no actual ice in it.
“Why are you doing this?”

Ed moved to the sink and ran some water in a metal bowl. “Because I needed to, and I can. You wouldn’t do the same?”

Izumi wrapped her hand around her own stomach. “So this array made you capable of bearing children?”

“Yes.” Ed turned off the water and looked back at his teacher, seeing the look on her face and the hand on her stomach. “Oh.” He looked down at the bowl. “I am so sorry.”

“Have you considered the risk?”

“More than I did when I got this,” he said as he looked at his right automail hand. “I really have thought this out.” He clapped his hands together and chilled the water until it turned into a solid chunk of ice. “I want to do this for her.” Clapping his hands again, he transformed that metal hand into a spike. “For him.” He began to stab at the chunk of ice he had created.

“What is he to you?”

Ed paused to determine how to answer, making him halt his work on the ice. “My commanding officer.”

“I’m sure you have many dogs above you. Would you do the same for them?” Ed didn’t answer, only continued pounding at the ice. “Would you?”

Ed stopped, bringing his hands together again, transforming the right hand back. “Where does he keep his towels?” Ed began looking through drawers, trying to remember where he’d seen Mustang get them before and ignore what Izumi was asking him now.

“Would you do it for any commanding officer?”

Ed put his hands on the countertop and hung his head. “If that commander had seen me at my lowest, having just lost my arm and leg. If that commander had offered me a chance to join the state alchemists and search for the Philosopher’s Stone. If that commander kept an annoyingly watchful eye over me. If he allowed me to argue with him despite the fact that it would be considered insubordination, knowing my temper needed release…” Ed pulled open another drawer and removed a towel, flattening it on the table, scooping out some ice to place on the towel.

“Edward,” Izumi said, approaching him, “I know better than anyone the risks and losses involved in pregnancy.”

As Izumi began to tell Ed of how she transmuted her stillborn baby, he moved to her, putting a hand on her shoulder and another on his own stomach. When she had finished, he looked up into her brown eyes, which were already shedding tears, matching the ones in his own eyes.

“Teacher, I know that Mustang is overly blunt, and it had to feel very intrusive to have him realize what you had done, but that’s just the way he is. I mean, he knows about me and Al, and he’s never said anything. He’s a good man, and you can trust him to know the truth. Just, well, don’t hit him again.”

********

When Fullmetal and his teacher re-entered the room, Roy’s eye had already begun to swell shut, which meant it would look lovely when he went to work tomorrow. That didn’t even take into account the pain at his back that would make sitting at a desk all day excruciating. With his good eye, Roy could see that both the teen and the Curtis woman had been crying, which explained what had taken so long getting the ice.

“Colonel, you were right that I had performed a human transmutation,” Izumi began.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to him,” her husband interrupted as Ed made his way back to the sofa carrying a sopping wet towel and ice.

“Sig, he figured it out, and he has managed to keep Ed’s secret so far.” She proceeded to tell Roy her own tale of desperation. When she had finished, Roy could feel sympathy for her, but he heard something in her voice that made him concerned.

“Mrs. Curtis,” he said, “I understand the sorrow you must have felt, so understand that before I say something which might very well get me injured again.” He couldn’t help his authoritative tone taking over. “You obviously want a child and have suffered a great deal, but do not look to Ed’s array as an answer to your grief. It would be risky for you, and it would mean taking another’s baby from them.”

Izumi looked angry, but didn’t strike, even holding up a hand to halt Sig, an unspoken sign that he had been right, much as he didn’t want to be.

“Besides,” Ed said, trying to ease the tension Roy had created, “you are as close to a mother as I’ve had in a long time. Would it be so wrong to be a surrogate grandmother? Or aunt, if it makes you feel younger?”

Roy looked over at Ed, feeling as though fire was burning through his veins. What right did Fullmetal have to decide who became his children’s extended family? Ed caught the angry look in the colonel’s eyes, but only smiled in response, obviously misinterpreting it.

“Of course, you have to stop hurting their father.” Ed rubbed his abdomen, this time seeming to be aware he was doing so. Seeing him, Roy could not fight off the images of Riza this time and forced himself to stand.

“Colonel?” Ed said, automail grabbing Roy’s sleeve.

“I need ice for my back,” he said, coolly, as he pulled away from Ed’s grip and walked into the kitchen. He found the bowl of ice Ed had made and scooped what he could into another towel. He heard footsteps behind him. “How many times are you planning to follow someone in here?” he asked, not looking back.
Roy lowered the hand that held his ice to his eye and placed the towel on the counter.

“Do you hate Sig and I that much? Or is it something else?”

Roy unbuttoned his uniform coat, then slid his arms out of it, wincing. Once out of it, he placed it on a chair. “I don’t know you, aside from the fact that you both pack a punch.” He began unbuttoning the white shirt underneath.

“You reacted very coldly to Ed’s suggestion that we be a part of those children’s extended family. So, tell me, you military dog, is it us or is it his own part in your children’s lives that is troubling you?” The woman’s voice seemed to say that she knew the answer. Roy made no response, hissing as he removed the shirt and draped it over the chair with his coat. “Colonel, that boy in there is doing something damned incredible for you, something that is nothing short of miraculous.” As Roy stood wearing only his white tank top, he felt the woman touch his arm. “You cannot treat him like a vessel.”

Roy looked at her, brows knitted. “I’m not--”

“You protect him because he is carrying your children, but the moment he tries to lay any kind of claim on them, you turn frigid. He is not just a means to bear your children. He is a living, breathing, feeling human being, and you have to stop this behavior before he realizes its true meaning.”

The Flame Alchemist stared at the woman, a bit dumbstruck, her words sinking in and unfortunately, ringing true.