Epilogue

"Come on, Auntie Win," Eddie cajoled, "Give me a piggyback ride!"

Winry groaned, leaning back against the park bench, utterly exhausted. "Not now, Eddie, I'm tired."

"Oh..." Eddie seemed to think for several moments. "That's 'cause you've got a baby in you, right? That's what Uncle Ed said when I asked him."

Winry grinned. "Uncle Ed's right on the money."

"Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

"I once asked Auntie Liza about having babies, and she said it hurt."

It had been five years since Ed and Winry married. In the third year of their marriage, Roy and Liza had their first child – a small, dark-haired boy, named James in honour of the kind manager of The Songbird.

And now, Winry herself was verging into the ninth month of her first pregnancy.

"Carrying the babies doesn't really hurt – it only hurts when they come out."

Eddie's eyes widened. "But how does the baby come out? Does the doctor cut it out?"

Winry scrambled frantically for some way to explain this to a ten year old. Ed was talking with Liza and Roy, and she caught his eyes, mouthing 'Help me'.

Ed came over to the pair on the bench swiftly, grinning down at his wife and adopted son. "Hey, Eddie, I know for a fact that Uncle Roy has sweets in his pocket."

At the mention of sweets, Eddie's eyes lit up, and he practically bolted across the park towards the couple and their child.

"Ed," Winry chided, "The idea was for you to entertain him, not goad him into bothering Roy."

Ed shrugged, sitting beside Winry and throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Couldn't have him bothering the pregnant lady, could I?"

Winry mock-glared at him. "This," she said, gesturing to her swollen stomach, "Is all your fault, you know."

"Hey don't blame me, blame a world with unreliable contraceptives."

"Yeah, no contraceptives at all!"

"That's what makes them unreliable."

Winry giggled in spite of herself, and snuggled into him. She was just starting to doze when she was startled awake by the feel of Ed's hand on her distended belly.

"Wha...?"

"Shhh," Ed hushed her, bending his head down to the protrusion that was their child. "We're having a moment here."

Ed cocked his head as though listening intently. "What's that you say? Your Mummy's very beautiful? I couldn't agree more."

He looked up at Winry, who was trying not to blush. "I think we've got a very smart baby here."

"If you say so," she snorted.

"Hey, you feel that? The baby kicked!"

Winry grinned. Even though Ed had taken easily to Eddie, she'd been a little nervous about his reaction when she found she was pregnant. A young child was one thing – a newborn baby was quite another.

But she needn't have worried. Ed had been thrilled, and was still thrilled.

"Just can't get over it," he mumbled, still caressing her abdomen. "That's our kid! Our kid is growing inside you!"

"Not to mention, Eddie seems really happy about the prospect of a younger sibling to play with," Winry pointed out. "But I'm still a little nervous."

"What about?" Ed asked. "We did alright with our first kid, we'll do fine with the second."

For some reason, Winry always melted when Ed referred to Eddie as their kid.

"I guess you're right," Winry sighed. "We'll do fine."

oooooooo

Wendy Elric was born three weeks later, a beautiful blonde baby with Winry's eyes. She and Eddie's younger brother, Joseph, was born two years later.

Roy and Liza had a total of five children; James, Clara, Sarah, Chris, and May.

Alphonse married six years after Ed and Winry were betrothed, and had children of his own.

oooooooo

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

Ed stirred, hearing a trio of voices calling for him. He cocked his head, trying to coax his failing hearing into identifying those voices – yes, that was Joseph's set of offspring. He sank into a chair, grimacing at the creaking in his bones, idly fiddling with a picture of he and Alphonse.

"I think we have guests," he called into the depths of the house.

"Already?" Winry called back.

The door opened, and their grandchildren piled into the house. "Grandpa!" And as Winry came in, "Grandma!"

Both adults laughed as they sat down and their grandchildren piled into their laps. Ed could never quite get over how much they looked like he, Al, and Winry. They were their exact replicas.

If he believed in fate, he would have said something about coming full circle.

"You'll never guess what happened on the way here!"

"We probably won't guess, so why don't you tell us?" Winry pointed out.

Ed kissed her on the cheek swiftly, prompting a chorus of "Gross!" from the children.

"Get off," Winry swatted at him. "They've got a story to tell. Go ahead," she told them.

So Winry and Ed sat comfortably in their chairs, with their grandchildren on their laps, telling them about the trouble they had getting to them.

And Winry couldn't help thinking, 'Maybe one day, your father will tell you something about the trouble I had finding Ed again.'

End.

oooooooo

AN: I didn't mention who Al married on purpose, because I can never really see an obvious pairing with him. But he really deserves a family, so I gave him one – we can say he married Noah. And that bit at the end was sort of an extended ending to the OAV.