In celebration of Mother's Day! Make sure you thank your mommies for bringing you into the world!! I, meanwhile, will thank my mommy for putting up with me! Lol

Hope you like it!! Please review!

My Babies

It was with immense relief that Alphonse Elric stepped off the train into the late afternoon sunshine of Dublith Station. He turned around immediately in order to make certain that his year-older brother, Edward was following after him. Said boy stumbled somewhat unsteadily out of the train, throwing a hand up with a grunt of displeasure to block the glare from the sun beating down on him. For a moment, neither brother said anything as they walked along, passing benches and shops along the train tracks, until Edward paused. His arms wrapped themselves around his middle, and he gave a bone rattling cough that was harsh and dry and that lasted for a solid two minutes. Alphonse watched this all in concern, eyeing his brother's flushed face and shaky legs.

"Brother, are you sure you're alright?" he asked for probably the thirtieth time that day. For a moment, Edward said nothing, fighting the wave of dizziness and nausea and forcing himself to stand up straight. He smiled hollowly.

"Yeah, Al, I'm fine. Don't worry about it, okay?"

But, of course Al worried about it the whole way to their alchemy teacher, Izumi Curtis's residence, because he knew that Edward was sick and needed rest immediately. And, of course, Edward would stubbornly refuse to rest or even to admit his illness until it struck him down where he stood. Without a word to one another, they stepped out of the sun into the wooden floored rooms of Izumi's home.

"Teacher?" Alphonse called. "Are you home?"

Immediately, the well-built, middle aged woman stepped into the room, looking much as they remembered her with her black hair and sharp eyes. She crossed her arms.

"You're late," she said, tone slightly irked. Alphonse panicked slightly at her tone, knowing how quickly the woman's temper could escalate, and he fought for words to answer her.

"Uh, well, see, the thing is—!!" he stuttered for a few moments, but Izumi ignored him, her dark eyes alighting on Edward. She stared at him hard for a long moment, studying him wordlessly.

"Edward," she called to him, and he forced himself to look up, though doing so made his eyes hurt badly.

"Is everything alright?" she continued. Trying to ignore the pounding in his head, Edward forced another smile onto his face.

"Yes, Teacher," he answered, voice weak and raspy. Izumi squinted at him suspiciously.

"Are you sure?" she asked, and from her tone, she had probably guessed at the truth. Edward wished that the aches in his legs would go away, but he kept the smile on his face.

"Yes, Teacher."

She, of course, wasn't buying it, but she knew how Edward worked, and so she turned back to Alphonse sharply.

"So, explain to me why it is that you're both so late!" she snapped at the younger Elric, who panicked again and started to search for the answer that Edward dimly heard, too focused was he on staying upright. The minutes seemed to drag by like hours, and then his vision started to tunnel. That wasn't a good sign, and he knew that better than anyone.

Suddenly, he was sitting on the floor, thoroughly unaware at first at how he'd gotten there, until his mind registered the weakness in his knees and the heavy feeling spreading throughout his frame. Izumi and Alphonse's attention immediately focused on him, each dropping to one knee beside him.

"Edward?" Izumi called, placing a hand on his shoulder. Her voice was like a dim buzzing to his spinning, lightheaded perception. "What's wrong?"

He tried to smile ruefully at her, but failed miserably.

"You know, Teacher…I'm really not feeling so good."

Instantly, her expression turned businesslike, and one of her cool, pale hands was on his forehead. Her dark eyes widened slightly in shock.

"My God, Edward…you're burning up!"

"I am?" he asked in bewilderment, putting his hand to his own forehead when she removed hers. Of course, he couldn't feel any difference, but the look on the woman's face told him that she wasn't kidding.

"Yes, you are!"

She pulled his right arm over her shoulders and helped him slowly get to his feet, leaning most of his weight onto her.

"Come on," she continued. "Let's get you to a bed."

"No, wait," he protested vainly, following her movements dizzily and without control. "I'm not sick! Really! I'll be fine, Teacher!! Really, I'm okay!!"

"The hell you are!" she answered, tone irritated. "Protest all you want to, Edward, but I'm still putting you into bed!"

"But, I—!"

"Shut it!! You're going to get into bed and you're going to deal with it!!"

At that, Edward shut his mouth, knowing better than to push his luck at this point.

The next seconds after reaching the bedroom passed fuzzily for Edward, but somehow or another he found himself lying on his back in only his boxers and his black tank top. A lightweight cotton blanket had been placed over him, and Izumi was commanding Alphonse to fetch a thermometer, a bowl of water and a washcloth. When the seven foot suit of armor had left the room, Izumi looked down at Edward.

"Edward, does anything hurt?"

He thought that was a strange question, but he nodded feebly.

"My back does…and my eyes hurt really bad whenever I move them. And my head hurts…"

He put a shaky hand to his forehead.

"Are you sure I have a fever?" he asked her. "Because I'm really cold."

He didn't see her nod knowingly, everything adding up. Alphonse returned at that moment with all the items Izumi had requested in hand, and she promptly took the thermometer from it and held it out above Edward's lips.

"Open up," she said.

"Why?"

"So you can put this under your tongue so that I can take your temperature, you dope!"

"Teacher," he protested, starting to rise out of the bed. "Really, I'm not that sick, so, I—"

"Lay back down this instant and open your mouth!!" she snapped sharply, and with a teeny "Yes, ma'am!" he was flat on his back with the thermometer under his tongue. She pointed a finger at him warningly.

"You keep that there until I come back, you hear me?" she ordered, and he nodded frantically, in fear of his life. That settled, she left the room, pulling Alphonse out along with her.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Edward wasn't terribly sure how many minutes had exactly passed until Izumi returned, but when she did, she reached for the thermometer, and he let it go without any delay. He watched with slightly bated breath as she studied the object closely, reading the number silently for a long, long moment. Finally, she closed her eyes in a slightly triumphant way and started to shake the item, knocking the red liquid back down to the zero mark.

"Congratulations, Edward," she told him as she did so. "You officially have the flu."

"What??" he cried in disbelief.

"You heard me. You have all the symptoms, and your temperature is 104 degrees."

Edward groaned.

"I can't be sick!" he begged her. "I don't have time!! There's a lead on the Philosopher's Stone I have to follow, and I can't afford any delays!!"

"I'm sorry, Edward, but you're not going to be getting out of that bed until you're fully recovered."

Edward moaned again, covering his face with his left hand.

"This can't be happening to me," he said, unwilling to accept that any of this was happening. "I don't have time for this!!"

"Edward, this is probably your body's way of telling you that you need to slow down. You've no doubt been pushing yourself too hard, and your body's worn out."

Izumi brushed his hand aside and placed the now damp cloth on his forehead, trying to combat the raging fever.

"Look, there's nothing you can do now, so just rest for awhile, alright?"

Already, the fatigue was getting the better of him, and Edward's eyelids began to droop severely.

"I can't afford this," he muttered. Izumi pushed some his blond hair back.

"Yes, yes," she answered lightly, knowing that it didn't matter now. Two seconds later, he slipped into a fever-laced slumber.

Izumi sighed.

"Idiot…" she muttered. "Quit pushing yourself so hard."

She watched him for a few moments as he slept and pushed back a few more strands of his loose blonde hair before walking out of the room to carry out the rest of her duties.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Evening found Sig Curtis standing in the hallway by the guest bedroom door. He didn't say a word as he watched his wife's back while she sat at the bedside of the young, unconscious alchemist. He studied her movements, watching as she reached out ever so gently to smooth out the boy's golden blonde hair, and then reach down to adjust the blanket lying over his body.

"Izumi," Sig called, and his wife didn't turn around, letting him know that she had been aware of his presence the entire time.

"It's funny, isn't it?" she said quietly, eyes focused once again on the flushed features of her young patient. "These boys lost their mother. I'll never have children again. And somehow, through all the twists and turns the world takes, through all the ebb and flow of life…some where in the grand scheme of things, we found each other when we needed each other the most."

She turned to look at her husband, the gentle, maternal expression she rarely showed to anyone on her face.

"It's kind of funny, isn't it?" she said, though her husband knew the question was rhetorical. "Coincidences can play out in the strangest ways. Irony in motion, you know?"

Sig came forward to stand beside her, and he placed one of his large hands on her slender shoulder.

"I don't think it's irony, Izumi, or a coincidence."

He looked down from his great height at the sleeping youth.

"Maybe it's part of that principle you hold to…" he said.

"Equivalent exchange, you mean?"

"Maybe."

Izumi looked back over at Edward, who furrowed his brow slightly in his sleep and shifted a bit in bed.

"I'm not sure I follow you, honey."

"Think about it…just as you were sliding into a deep depression of never being able to have children of your own, these boys show up, no mother, wanting to learn alchemy from you. That's a pretty rare coincidence if you ask me."

Izumi sighed and picked up the washcloth off of Edward's forehead, placing it back into the bowl on the table beside her and soaking it a moment before she pulled it out and twisted it in her hands, ridding it of all the excess water. She placed it back on the youth's forehead and then sat back contemplatively, digesting Sig's words.

"I don't know if you're right, honey…but whether out of coincidence or some fate of an equivalent trade…these boys are my babies just as if I'd given birth to them myself."

"I know."

"I don't want anything bad to happen to them, Sig."

"I know."

She sighed again, eyes staring ahead, seeing nothing.

"I just want them to be happy."

Sig squeezed her shoulder silently, and neither Curtis saw the shadow of a seven foot figure watching them quietly from the hallway.

"They're my babies, Sig. The only ones I'll ever have."

For a moment, Sig said nothing, but he turned and patted her shoulder gently.

"They'll always be yours, Izumi."

He walked out, never noticing the red pinpoints of light peering from around the doorframe of the other guest room.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Edward fever raged on for the next five days, sometimes dropping to a promisingly low temperature, only to spike up dangerously an hour later. Accompanying this rollercoaster of temperature was a rib-bruising cough and a runny nose. All the while, Edward had barely any strength to move and slept through his illness for the most part, though Alphonse read books or the newspaper aloud to him during the periods when his fever was down and he was awake. When his fever rose, however, Izumi took over, watching over him like a hawk and attending to his needs, doing whatever she could to make him more comfortable until the fever dipped down once more.

It was during one of these rages that Izumi had an epiphany of sorts. She was sitting once again in the bedside chair, leaning forward somewhat in order to better reach him as she gently wiped down his face and neck with the soaked rag, trying to quell this latest feverish relapse. Edward's brow was wrinkled in distress, and his head lolled back and forth a few times while he moaned softly and whimpered a few times. His hands clutched the blankets in a death grip as he thrashed slightly in his delirium, the realms of sleep and waking mixing together in a wildly revolving kaleidoscope of fever-laced surrealism. Izumi turned to rewet the washcloth in the bowl beside her, when Edward started to cry out for Alphonse much as he had in his previous fits. Immediately she turned her attention to trying to calm him, shushing him and stroking his hair gently. Her efforts had almost little to no effect this time, so caught up was he in whatever visions he was seeing. She continued to try, but had to stop in shock when the tears started to run down the sides of his face.

"Al!" he cried. "No…no! Oh, God, please…please give him back! Please…"

My God, Izumi thought. He's reliving that day again.

Edward's thrashing worsened, and he started twisting his wrists as if to wrest his arms from some unseen manacles.

"Please, God, no!" he begged. "Al! Al! Al, come back! Please…don't take him…please…"

Izumi could only watch helplessly, stroking his hair, unable to do anything until the hallucination passed.

"No…no…oh, God…"

Izumi could barely take it.

"Shhhh…" she said, and then under her breath, she added, "you poor, poor baby."

Edward eyes opened suddenly, and he stared at Izumi, his eyes unfocused and not really seeing her through the haze of his fever. He squinted at her confusedly a moment, mouth moving silently as he tried to form the words he wanted to say. After a few moments, he found his voice.

"Mom?" he rasped. "Is that you?"

Izumi's eyes widened in surprise, and she didn't say anything for a second as she searched for the right way to handle the situation.

"Mom, I'm sorry," he continued, reaching out for her pathetically. "I'm so sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen like this…I'm sorry…"

He started to cry again, and the sight of him looking so helpless and weak just broke Izumi's heart in two.

"Please don't be angry," he begged. "I'm sorry…"

At that, Izumi no longer hesitated, moving to sit on the edge of the bed and gathering the boy's limp form to her. He leaned against her heavily, still crying and begging for forgiveness, and she just put her arms tightly around his sweat-soaked, fever-racked body, stroking his hair and rocking back and forth slowly and gently.

"It's okay, baby," she said softly into his ear. "Everything is alright."

"Mom," he pleaded. "I didn't mean it...I didn't mean for this to happen…"

"I know, baby, I know," she assured him. She knew that it was probably not ethical to deceive him, but she just couldn't bear to watch him suffer so. "It's okay. Everything is alright. Go to sleep, baby. It's okay."

In a few minutes, Edward's words slurred into an inaudible murmur until they died out all together and he slipped back into darkness.

Even though she knew he was asleep, for some reason, Izumi couldn't find it within herself to let him go. And so, she just continued to sit there and hold him, ignoring the fever and ignoring the fact that the sleeping boy clutching her waist weakly didn't share her blood. It didn't matter to her. He and his brother might have come into this world by another woman, but they were her babies, too. They'd come to her like angels when she felt that there was nothing left to live for. Perhaps Sig had been right. Perhaps the three of them had been meant to find one another. Perhaps this was a part of the equivalent exchange each had made in trying to bring someone back.

Or maybe, just maybe, there was a force higher than the Truth at work, here. Izumi didn't know how much she really believed it, but perhaps the boys' mother had guided the three together, making it possible for them to save one another.

And yet, Izumi thought, had she really saved them? Looking down at Edward's mechanical limbs, she could only wonder what she had really saved them from. She hadn't kept them from making the same mistake she had…so could she really say she'd done them any good?

Edward tightened his hold suddenly, burying his face into her shoulder and whimpering in his sleep, and Izumi responded in like kind, adjusting her grip to hold him more securely and rubbing his back until he relaxed against her. It didn't matter, she decided. What happened had happened. She couldn't change that, and she couldn't do them any good by focusing on any mistakes that she might have made. She could spend hours agonizing over where she'd gone wrong, what she had or had not said, or what she might have done differently, but it would be pointless. What had gone on those many years ago had been beyond her control, and there was no use in crying over the proverbial spilled milk. All she could do now was move forward and be there for the boys for as long as her agony-racked body could support her. She didn't know how much time was left for her, but it didn't matter.

She looked down at the sweat streaked blonde head and smiled, leaning her head against it and closing her eyes. It didn't matter how short her time was, but she would do everything within her power to provide for her babies. That's when she turned to look out the door to the figure of Alphonse Elric lurking in the hallway. She smiled at him and held a hand out for him, and he came forward shyly, getting on his knees on the floor and taking her hand in his. He read the love of a mother for him in her eyes and leaned over her hand gratefully, wanting to cry but unable to do it.

And so the three of them sat for the rest of the night, a mother and two sons, all brought together for some reason that none of them knew, but one that none of them questioned.