The next morning, Aileana woke up and rolled over onto her side, accidentally hitting something with her head. Startled, she moved back a few inches. Lying next to her, sleeping peacefully, was Roy. His hair was messy and his face looked bright, not covered in the constant frown lines he had. As the sun poured in through a crack in the curtains, something was reflecting the sun into her eyes. Looking closely at him, she noticed that he wasn’t wearing the chain that held his ring, but he was now wearing the ring on his left hand. She smiled lightly and kissed his forehead, causing him to stir lightly. He didn’t wake up, but buried his face deeper into the sheets.
Chuckling softly, she got up, showered, and dressed in a light sundress. Closing the bedroom door softly behind her, she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to make a cup of tea.
“Well look who decided to show her face!” Ed smirked as he leaned back in his chair.
Sticking her tongue out at him, she walked over to the stove and began to make herself a cup of tea. As she was pouring the hot water into her mug, her knees buckled and she quickly grabbed the counter for support.
“Ana, are you alright?” Winry asked as she rounded the corner, running to help support her.
“Yea, I just need to sit down,”
Winry led her to an empty seat at the table and sat her down gently, getting her a few things to eat and her tea.
“Ana, since you’re awake,” Al began softly, “could you tell us about your research with the stone?”
“Guys! She nearly collapsed just now and you’re going to pester her with this?” winry snapped, shocked.
“No,” Aileana shook her head, “now’s the perfect time since Roy’s asleep,” she then looked at the boys sternly, “I will be telling you things that you are forbidden to tell anyone else, especially my husband, do you understand?”
“So you guys worked things out?” Ed smiled.
“For the moment, yes,” she took a sip of tea, “as you know, I worked a bit with your father. Roy knows him and I worked with each other before we moved here, but that was before I became interested in the stone,”
“What are you talking about?”
“I started research on the stone with your father while I was pregnant with my second child,” she sighed softly.
“Wait, what?” Ed asked, shocked, “Does Roy know? And if you were pregnant where’s the baby? Is it Rosie?”
“I already told you Rosie’s story. I found out I was pregnant shortly after Roy had left, after the accident. I didn’t know what to do with myself. At the time Hohenheim was staying with me, doing some of his own research, and he took me under his wing as well as helped me. I know you’re not his biggest fan, but I assure you Edward that your father is a brilliant and kind man,”
He leaned back in his chair again and sneered.
“Four months after that I lost the baby. That’s why I don’t have any other children. Hohenheim stayed longer than what was agreed to continue to help me through that and we furthered our research. We worked with the red water you’ve already experienced and I found out what you most likely already know: you need live human beings to create a real stone. Though I was slightly distraught from losing both my children, I could never take the life of another human being to bring them back,”
“But that’s all you know?” Al insisted, “Father didn’t tell you anything else?”
“Nothing that applied to that,” she smiled, “but he would often tell me of his two spunky sons and his beautiful wife. He also told me to stay strong and to keep moving. A year after that I found Rosie,”
“But the Colonel doesn’t know about the second baby? I mean, I know he had left and you were mad, but you didn’t try to contact him about it?”
“I took a train all the way to Central to try to tell him, but it was around the time of the massacre so it was tough and he wasn’t around. After I heard what happened in Ishbal I decided it was better for him not to know and even after all these years it’s still better for him not to know, so I would appreciate it if we kept it that way,”
“Don’t worry,” Ed whispered, “we won’t tell. But what happened to them? The baby I mean?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “something just went wrong and I lost him four months in. He was so little, smaller than a baby doll,” she said, tearing up slightly.
“He? It was a boy?” Al asked, fascinated.
“Yes,” she smiled, “Roy always wanted a son and after years of waiting he finally got him. It’s a shame that he wasn’t here to at least experience him for a little while,”
“What’d you name him? I mean, if you did,”
“Of course I named him, he was my son. His name was Nicholas; Roy always liked that name,”
“I remember seeing his grave when we went to see Melony. It made me sad to see that he had died before he was born,”
“Mommy!” Rosie yelled with glee as she jumped into Aileana’s lap, making her laugh.
“Easy baby, mommy’s still a bit weak,” she smiled, wincing slightly under her weight.
“Are you still sick?” she frowned in worry, “Mr. Roy said he was going to take care of you,”
“Oh he did baby,” she rubbed her back, “he stayed with me all night to make sure I was ok,”
“That’s good,” she smiled, hugging her and then pulled away, “I won you lots of prizes last night!”
“Really? Well I’ll just have to see them in a bit won’t I?”
“You don’t have to. You should feel better first,” she climbed off her lap, “Mommy, is Mr. Roy going to be my daddy?”
Aileana blushed slightly, leaning down to get to Rosie’s eye level, “Well, Mr. Roy and I are married, but if you don’t want to call him daddy you don’t have to,”
“But-” Winry tried to say.
“She knows I’m not her birth mother,” Aileana said silently, “she overheard Hughes and I talking about it apparently. She told me the other day,”
“But mommy will always be my mommy and she’s happy when Mr. Roy is around,” Rosie smiled.
“We’ll talk to Mr. Roy when he wakes up,” she smiled, running her hands over her arms.
“Talk to Mr. Roy about what?” Roy asked as he turned the corner.
He was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, a towel on top of his head, and was bare foot. Rosie smiled at him and ran over to hug his legs. He laughed lightly and placed a hand on top of her head.
“I wanted to know if you were going to be my daddy,”
This time it was Roy’s turn to blush. He squatted in front of her and held her hands lightly in his own.
“I know mommy’s not my real mommy, but she’s still my mommy. She smiles more since you came to visit and you make us both happy. Isn’t that what a daddy does?”
“Well, yes, that’s what a daddy does, but I’ll be busy a lot and may not be able to visit all the time. Would that be alright with you?”
“You can write too. I love getting letters in the mail,”
“Then I guess I’ll send you letters then,” he smiled, then hugged her tightly.
“I’m going to go play now ok daddy?” she smiled, then ran down the hall to her play room.
The room was silent for a while, then Aileana opened her arms towards Roy, who ran into them and hugged her tightly, burying his face in her shoulder. He pulled away and wiped a few tears from his eyes.
“Speak a word of this to anyone,” he glared at Ed and Al, “and I’ll burn you to a crisp,”
“No problem Colonel,” Ed smiled widely, “we won’t tell anyone that you’re a cry baby,”
Out of nowhere, a giant wooden fist came flying up and punched Ed square in the jaw. As he stood up, cupping his jaw, he noticed a laughing Aileana with her hands pressed firmly against the table and the wooden fist sinking back into the table.
“I thought you said no alchemy in the house,” Ed whined, sitting back in his chair.
“Well, I felt that this was an exception,” she laced her fingers with Roy’s, “no one teases my husband but me,”
“Excuse me,” Armstrong said, walking through the front door, “I just got off the phone with Central, we’re needed back sir,”
Roy sighed and looked over to Aileana, who smiled and squeezed his hand.
“I’ll be fine sweetie. Just remember all we’ve talked about and we’ll decide something soon,”
“Ok,” he smiled and kissed her cheek, then walked up the stairs to begin packing.
“This sucks,” Winry frowned, “you two just reconnected and now we have to leave,”
“Well, it’s not exactly that way,” Aileana smiled softly.
“What do you mean?”
“Roy and I were talking last night about the idea of Rosie and I staying with him in Central for a bit and renting out this house,”
“That would be awesome!” Winry jumped with glee, “You’ll be able to spend some more time with each other!”
“That’s the plan. Though, it’s going to be interesting to tell everyone that he’s been married all this time. The only people who knew were Hughes and the Führer,”
“When do we have to leave?” Ed asked Armstrong.
“By tomorrow,” Armstrong sat down at the table, “is Rosie aware that she will be leaving?”
“I’m sure she won’t mind. She’s gotten very attached to Roy since he’s been here,”
“Well then I guess we’ll be heading out tomorrow then,” Aileana stood up, walking down the hall to tell Rosie the news.
Just as Ed had said, Rosie did not mind leaving Risebal at all, in fact she was excited to leave since they’d be staying with Roy. It only took them a few hours to pack up the essentials for the next day since they could always come back. Rosie went to bed early that night, completely exhausted from running around the house all day. Winry slept in the same room as Ed again, allowing Aileana and Roy to have another night together before the long train ride to Central.
Ok, the next part is the very last. What will happen once the group gets back to the East? What will be people's reactions to Mustang's secret?
Also, I'm currently listening to voice memos I made while playing Ib. It's a lot of playing then pausing to write then playing again (repeat). If you've ever done that before you know this takes time especially when you're also trying to play a game. I'll also be changing some things in the story line (if you've ever played Ib you know there's at least 5 endings you can have and they happened because of choices you make in the game) stuff will happen that creates one ending but that ending is not the one that I'm chosing for the story.
But right now that's in the near future, be sure to check back the 18th to see the next chapter of PON and the 17th to see the next chapter of SWBL!