Rainjoyswriting - Doorstep Story.pdf - FMA Fanfiction - Mojaunicorn

Doorstep Story

Things that were Roy's job: never losing his temper, soothing out Ed's temper, loving

and accepting Ed's wearying desperate love, being a rock in the volatile face of Ed's

storm.

The things that were Ed's job tended to be much more practical in this partnership.

Making sure there was food, whatever its actual quality was, every morning and every

evening; making sure the house did not descend into a pit of books and forgotten snacks

and dust pouring down every curtain; being Maes' companion, part-time teacher,

playmate and nurse; and getting the both of them, son and husband, out of the front door

on time every morning of every week, a task that required a schedule of iron .

"Bag, books, shoes - glass of juice, kid, you are not going out that door without a drink,

you got two minutes an' we're upstairs to brush our teeth-"

Roy usually just left him to it, Roy was upstairs shaving or putting his jacket on or

dishevelling his hair perfectly or whatthefuckever, and while Ed was picking Maes' shoes

out of the rack by the front door - he heard a sound he was so particularly attuned to

that every single muscle tightened.

He crouched very still. Then he stood up, eyebrows nipped with confusion, head a little

tilted, and opened the front door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aspects of Ed that Roy had never known - he'd never seen him at work in a lab before,

never seen his organisational skills. He acted like he just threw his alchemy together and

somehow the mix came out perfect but, somewhere along the line, someone had

drummed such discipline into him. And with a five year old to get to school and a

husband to get out of the door before eight, Ed ran this house like a dictator every

morning ("Fuhrer of the bedroom," Roy purred behind his ear, and Ed elbowed him in

the ribs and said, "You have exactly ten minutes to eat breakfast, there is no time for

dicking about."). Roy didn't mind. He got to give the orders when he was out of the house,

once he came through that door he simply prepared himself to obey. It wasn't like he

didn't know that he was completely owned anyway.

He strolled back downstairs again humming softly, mornings under the regime of Ed

always made him feel rather like all was well with the world . . . and almost just walked

into the living room before his heart clunked up into his throat.

Ed was sitting on the sofa with Maes craning up on his knees to get a better look at the

wriggly little blanket-wrapped creature in his arms, dark eyelashes and little scuff of

dark hair. Ed looked up and Roy just made a little gurgling noise like all the air was

draining from his lungs, burst balloons, and Ed's face dipped into a glare.

"Yes, Roy, I popped one out while you were in the bathroom." he said flatly. "Get a

fucking grip."

"Is she my little sister?" Maes said, and he looked surprised as well but rather happier

than Roy . . .

"No, kid, sorry, she's not." Ed said softly, and stroked back Maes' hair with his free hand.

"She belongs to someone else, they must've lost her."

"But we could keep her."

"She really does belong to someone else, she has to go back with them. You go upstairs

and brush your teeth. Roy, you're gonna have to drive him to school this morning."

". . . but," Roy said as Maes brushed past him and glanced back before he thumped off

upstairs. 'But' was a very comforting word for this situation, but he had no idea which

word should go next. "But."

"Well, I'm gonna be kinda busy," Ed said, raising the baby at him a little in a shrug. "I

know we got some of the kid's old nappies packed away somewhere but I'm gonna need

some formula, an'-"

"But," Roy all but whimpered, and Ed took in his face and snorted.

"We aren't keeping her. But someone's gotta look after her 'til you find her parents."

"I-?"

"Someone put her on our doorstep, Roy, she didn't fucking grow there. You run the

country , you can't find out who drops babies off on your own doorstep?"

The baby smacked her lips and got an arm free from her blankets, pushed with a little

gurgle at Ed's arm. "Hey hey hey," he said softly, bump-rocking her in his arm. "Hush

hush. We need to get you changed and fed, don't we . . . ?"

"It was . . . our doorstep . . . ?"

"She," Ed said mildly. "There next to the empty milk bottles. Poor little thing, who

wouldn't want you?" he said, and played with the baby's tiny curled hand. His smile had

a little breath of laughter behind it. "Prettiest little girl . . ."

Roy was still standing like a zombie in the doorway, but then there was another

thudthudthudthud and Maes ran into the backs of his legs. He wriggled around them

quickly to say, "If we got them another baby, then could we keep her?"

"We can't keep her, kid, and you can't just swap babies, and we don't have another baby

to swap with them. Roy, get him to school, his bag's by the door."

"But maybe they don't want a baby."

"Kid," Ed said, in the very beginning of his warning voice, "your dad's gonna take you to

school now. You be good."

Maes said quietly, "Yes." and Roy shook himself out, put a hand on Maes' head and said,

"You get to ride in the car today then, Maes." He gave Ed a quick smile. "I'll try to have

some word for you by the afternoon."

"S'okay. Guess I'm calling off at the lab again today." Ed said, and lifted the baby up,

wriggling in his arms. "Oh dear," he sing-songed, and Roy led Maes out, keeping his hand

to his hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as he'd dropped Maes off he had the squad of soldiers who should have been

watching his home last night called into his office and gave them the coldest, blankest

glare he could muster. The men in front of him wriggled like liquid jelly had been poured

down the necks of their uniforms.

"Four forty-three this morning," Roy said calmly.

"Small woman wearing a headscarf, sir." the Lieutenant who should have been in charge

said, and swallowed for about the thirtieth time since he'd entered the room. "Left a

bundle on your doorstep and proceeded very quickly away."

"And you let her."

"We investigated the bundle, sir, to check for explosive devices."

"And when you found it was very much not an explosive device?"

The Lieutenant swallowed again. "We, we. Had no specific orders relating to the - the

situation and so we. We."

Roy was willing to just keep staring until he got a complete sentence.

"Retreated, sir." the man said in a whisper.

Roy closed his eyes for a moment, let out one, 'Oh, you are in such a very great deal of

trouble that I find it tiring just thinking about it' sigh. "I need that woman tracking

down."

"Wolfe and Dobbs followed her from the scene, sir, before we were aware of the nature

of the, the bundle. We should be able to bring her in."

"You'll be under the command of Colonel Hawkeye for bringing her in. The objective,

and I would like to be very strict about this, is not to scare her. You can report to the

Colonel immediately."

"Sir."

And they fled, very gratefully. Roy waited until the door was closed and the footsteps

had died away before he sank back in his chair and rubbed his face hard.

God, god, god.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She'd been left too long on the doorstep and she was far too young to be anywhere on

her own. Ed bathed her in the sink - too tiny even for the bath - and changed her nappy,

and just as she was beginning an unhappy grizzling cry there was a knock at the door; a

sheepish looking soldier with a tub of baby formula.

She was a hungry little thing, and it had been a long time - well, a little over four years -

since Ed had had a baby gulping down milk in his arms. "Jeez, this was not meant to

happen again, you know?" he said down to her little dark head. "Never thought I'd be

doin' all this twice. Careful," he chided gently, and mopped away excess dribbled milk. "I

mean, when was I ever gonna come near a baby again? Don't think Winry's interested in

havin' any more and - huh, I guess one day the kid'll be old enough to . . . fuck, one of

these days I could be a granddad. Fuck , I never thought of that before. Ah, sorry.

Shouldn't swear in front of other people's kids, bad enough I do it in front of my own . . ."

She broke off drinking to cough, little high hiccups like a kitten. "Oh dear," he murmured

again, and raised her back a little to pet it. "Too much all at once, you'd think you'd grow

out of that but I know I never really did . . ."

Tiny warm little thing, Ed had almost forgotten how amazing babies were. Her little hips,

the knot of her cord still dark over her bellybutton. Her chest was as big as his palm.

Tiny, tiny little ears and long dark eyelashes, her nose delicate as china. He couldn't stop

smiling when he looked at her, but at the same time, tight inside, was the tiniest little

twist. "My little bird, when he was your age he was even smaller, he was just the

littlest . . ."

He swallowed and said roughly, "Lesson number one in coping with the world, little girl.

Never forget that people are ridiculous. Me especially. Hell, I need to blow my nose

now . . ."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello?"

"We found her. She's with Hawkeye now."

"I fucking hope you didn't turn up all guns blazing an' all that crap."

"I doubt Hawkeye would do anything so undignified. She's only a girl, Edward. She can't

be eighteen yet. Her parents barely speak any Amestrian. They run a Cretan restaurant,

she's a waitress there, apparently."

"Huh."

Roy said plaintively, "What do I do with her now?"

"You bring her here, dummy. I need to talk to her."

"Bring her - home?"

"I can't exactly bring the baby to a military base, can I? Pick up the kid on your way back,

school lets out soon. And bring some of that cream we used to use on the kid, she's got a bit

of a rash, haven't you? Poor little girl, too long in one nasty blanket on the doorstep." Again,

and softer, "Poor little girl."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roy climbed into the car and Havoc closed the door behind him. The girl was pressed

against the opposite door, as far across the back seat as she could crawl, as if Roy was

some kind of matted and drooling predator. Very young, and very small - skinnier than

Ed had been at that age, Roy would guess about sixteen, with long dark hair tied back

and very large, very distrustful dark eyes.

"Miss Karnezis," he said. "I would like to assure that you're really not in any trouble."

She twisted her hands on her lap and gave him an unblinking glare of rage and terror

combined.

"If you don't mind, we need to make one small stop on the way. I have to pick my son up

from school."

She glared. Roy had always got along very well with women; this blank, hate-filled, fear-

filled glare he really wasn't sure how to deal with. He glanced to Havoc in the rear view

mirror and gave a slight nod, and Havoc gave him a raised eyebrow back and started up

the engine.

Not one word from the girl as they stopped outside the school and Roy stepped out to

pick up Maes, to buckle him into his booster seat. The girl watched now intently but still

in silence, and Maes watched her warily - he was always, always unsure of strangers -

and whispered to Roy, "Is she going to be my big sister?"

"You're not getting a sister, Maes, I'm sorry." Roy murmured back.

"Can I have a brother?"

"This isn't the time for that discussion, Maes."

"But it is a discussion?"

"No, it's not. Be quiet, now, I need to think."

What Roy thought was this: oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god-

Rainjoyswriting - Doorstep Story.pdf

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