A/N: The italicized portion below is somewhat of a flashback. I made it this way just so there's a noticeable break between the current story.

I don't own FMA.

Across the rows of cereal boxes, Alphonse shrieked with glee as he sat inside the grocery cart. Daniel was pushing the cart along, and running down the aisle. The older boy had a glint of determination glossing over his green eyes. He deftly took a left, without needing to decrease his speed. He sped by a mother and child, as well as an elderly couple, trying to pick out a jar of preserves.

"Hurry, Daniel!" his little passenger cried. "We have a few more things on our list!"

"Right!" Daniel doubled his speed, making Alphonse lean back a bit. He held on to the front of the cart's railing and kept his golden eyes straight ahead.

In the opposite side of the supermarket, Micha ran through the produce section, with Edward sitting inside her grocery cart. His eyes glinted with hard determination. His sister's small dark eyes mirrored his own. Her lips were lightly pressed together in concentration. With one last kick off, she hopped on the cart's lower basket as she held on to the handle.

Seeing his target, Edward stood up, and prepared himself. He held out his arms, and expertly picked up all the vegetables they needed. A bag of tomatoes, potatoes and carrots. His sister placed her right foot down, and pulled the handle with her right hand, making them pivot to turn right. She pushed off with her right foot again, gaining speed. Edward readied himself, he needed to pick up three more ingredients.

Riza strolled leisurely across the aisles, with a small basket hanging at the crook of her arm. She was choosing between two kinds of tomato sauce. She picked the one on the right and read the label. Suddenly, she sensed someone was closing in quickly. She sharply turned around, ready to pull out her gun, but it was too late. Her "attackers" just flew by her, taking the jar of tomato sauce cleanly from her right hand.

"Thanks, miss Riza!" Alphonse called out. He and Daniel were now nearly at the other end of the aisle. "I needed this!" He held out the jar before sitting back down in the cart.

Hawkeye stood there for a good three seconds before she let out a tired sigh. Those kids.

(((-)))

Roy sat on the corner of his king sized bed, scrolling on his phone. The conversation he had with his best friend was still rolling around his mind. He was checking on the credit accounts he had given his daughter. His dark brows knitted to the center, and his eyes squinted at the screen. Still nothing. No movement. His frustration was growing. His daughter really was stubborn. He smirked, knowing well where she got that trait from. Stubborn and proud. This thought made him smirk. Roy admitted, she was more resourceful than she let out to be. He had access to all of her known accounts. How cunning of her to hide some from me, he thought. She really was his daughter.

A sugary voice called out, "what's so funny, darling?" She sat down next to him, and played with his raven hair.

Roy didn't move, but the smirk slid off his lips. His expression went soft, "ah, just thinking about the kids."

"Oh?" She purred. "What about them?"

His smirk returned, "how stubborn and prideful they are."

She let out a light laugh. It was enough to make Roy's heart stop. "I wonder where they got those traits from," she poked his nose and leaned on his shoulder.

Thank god those three share that trait. Roy thought. He was sure it would set Rachel off if she found out he was thinking of Micha. He leaned his head on hers and they sat there quietly for a few moments.

She spoke up after a few moments of silence, "speaking of the kids, where are they, darling? I haven't seen them since Friday."

Roy shrugged, "field trip."

Rachel hummed, feigning innocence. "Do you know where? I don't remember signing anything." Her tone was light, but Roy knew she knew something was wrong.

Roy was quiet, he tried to look like he was deep in thought. "I can't say I remember," he grinned sheepishly. "I remember signing something but I was caught up in call, so I didn't read where they were headed."

She sat up straight and gave him a pointed look, "you mean you signed something without knowing where our boys were going? Darling, this isn't like you!" Her voice was already rising. Oh gosh.

He held up his hands in front of him, "I'm sorry, love. I guess I just forgot. I've been really busy lately with work."

Her golden eyes didn't falter at his excuse.

"Besides," Roy tried to recover, "Miss Hawkeye is with them. So, there's nothing to worry about."

She huffed. "That really puts me at ease, darling," she replied dryly as she stood and walked slightly away from him. Her back was now facing him.

Roy hated it when she got touchy like this. It was just as tiring to appease her out of her moods. "She's a really capable nanny, love. I'm sure they'll be fine. Besides, they'll be back tonight."

She crossed her arms. "I don't understand why you even insist on keeping them here, darling. Boarding school would be better for them. And then you can get rid of that—that help."

He was stunned. Mustang wasn't sure what was riling him up more, bringing up boarding school again, or merely reducing Hawkeye to "help." Rachel always insisted on boarding school. She even tried to push it on him to send Micha away for it. It was one of the things they always fought about.

Roy stood, feeling indignant. "I want them here," he said firmly.

She looked back at him, and assessed him slowly. "Then why aren't the three of them here if you so want them to be?" The sharpness in her eyes, and the tartness in her voice vaguely reminded him of his eldest son. He stared at her back, as she left him in his room.

He stood there, taking in what she had said. Three of them. So she was also talking about Micha. It was hypocritical of Roy to say that he wanted his children with him, when he so willingly let his daughter leave three months ago. He plopped down on his bed. He felt like an arrow had struck his heart.

Roy stared at his ceiling, "what am I going to do?"

(((-)))

All the shoppers nearing the check out counters were hastily moving aside. From either side of the grocery, there were two figures hastily closing in on check out counter number 7. Micha ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Edward was kneeling inside the cart, cheering on his sister to run faster. Daniel on the other hand, was not taking this contest lightly. He ran with practiced speed, pushing his own grocery cart, with Alphonse inside. The little boy was thinking back just moments ago how they got into this situation.

"Alright!" Jean distributed two lists. One to Micha, and one to Daniel. "These are the things we need to buy for dinner later." Both teenagers took the list, and scanned through them. As if on sync, they looked at each other's lists, and bumped foreheads. They both retracted and rubbed the sore spots on their heads.

Jean laughed, "Edward, you go with Micha. Alphonse, with Daniel."

Alphonse whined, "I want to be with sister!"

"Give me some time with her, too!" Edward burst out. True enough, Alphonse was always outwardly clingy and affectionate with their sister. This usually led to him having Micha to himself far more often. Edward usually didn't mind, but he also missed his sister, and wanted to spend some time with her alone, too.

Micha petted her little brother's sandy colored hair, "don't worry about, Alphonse. We'll still see each other in the store," she gave him an assuring grin. "Let me spend some time with Edward too, alright? We wouldn't want him to sulk," she teased.

Daniel rubbed the back of his head, "why do we need to split up again? Why can't we just go through all the aisles together?"

Jean let out a sigh, "it's already Sunday. The last train leaves for Amestris leaves at eight." He briefly looked at his watch. "We don't have enough time."

All four of them had grim expressions on their face. Oh, right. Today was their last day with Micha. Daniel, on the other hand, planned to leave at the break of dawn so he wouldn't have a hard time driving. Even if, he was still saddened that he had to leave.

Havoc looked at the sad faces before him and sighed. He took in a sharp inhale, and bellowed, "let's not be sad, let's make the last few moments here fun!" He had a wide grin on his face, making his eyes disappear.

He's been spending too much time with Uncle Maes. Edward thought grimly. "Alright, alright. So let me guess," the little boy continued, "first one to finish the grocery list wins?"

"Yes!" Jean confirmed. "Winner gets another chance to visit Micha two weeks from now."

All four of them perked up after hearing the incentive.

"But, what if I win?" Micha asked quietly.

Havoc placed an arm around Micha's shoulders and whispered close, "then you get to choose if you want to visit us in Amestris, or if you want us to come visit you again."

It seemed that either way, they were all going to see each other again in two weeks' time. This excited her. This meant she wouldn't be feeling lonely again soon enough.

Havoc whispered cheekily, "or would you rather your prize be a kiss from Daniel?"

Micha turned red, and gave Jean an uppercut. "SHUT UP!" she was flushed until her neck.

"Run faster!" Alphonse exclaimed. "I don't want to lose!" it was rare for the youngest Mustang sibling to show competitiveness, but the prize of seeing his sister again was too enticing. This time… This time, I won't lose to you, brother!

Edward couldn't contain himself. The check out counter was already close. "Go! FASTER!" He cheered for his sister. He could also see Alphonse and Daniel closing in quickly. "I am not going to lose to you, Al!"

"Likewise, brother!" his littler brother replied. Both of their golden eyes gleamed with determination.

Her onyx eyes met with his emerald pools. Both of them didn't want to lose to each other either. Check out counter 7 was close, and everyone could hear the sound of the wheels screeching on the tiled floor. Edward and Alphonse seemed to panic as it looked like they were going to crash into each other. Both boys closed their golden eyes, bracing themselves for impact.

There was an audible crashing sound of metal against metal.

"I was first!" Micha yelled.

"No way!" Daniel fired back. "My cart is in the line way more than yours is!"

"Are you blind?" Micha bit back.

Edward and Alphonse slowly opened their eyes and saw that the front portions of their carts were now in contact with each other. They both looked at the floor, and it looks like they were equally in front of the check out counter's conveyor. Both of them tried to assess who was first. The two teens continued to bicker with each other.

"Quiet!" Riza yelled at them. Both teenagers instantly stopped and looked towards her direction. "You're disrupting the entire supermarket!" A vein in her forehead was threatening to pop.

"Oh my, it looks like it's a tie," Jean seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. But the smell of cigarette smoke implied that he had stepped out for a smoking break.

Jean's remark finally sunk in. "Then that means we all get to visit!" Edward exclaimed.

Havoc scratched his chin in thought. "Well, I guess it can't be helped." It looked more like he was talking to himself. "Ah, but Micha also won. So, I guess it's up to her if we visit, or if she wants to visit us instead."

All eyes now moved to the dark haired girl. Her cheeks were flushed from all the running. Riza smiled. She's looking livelier everyday.

Micha looked sheepish, she looked down at her shoes, "well, maybe I can visit next time. So it won't trouble you."

A wide grin spread on both Edward and Alphonse's faces. They both cheered and hollered. Soon enough, their sister was coming home.

I'm glad I was able to squeeze writing this chapter in before work starts again. I love grocery shopping, and I always think of fun stuff to write when I do my shopping. I hope you guys find this funny enough! (I'm also typing this up at one in the morning. Forgive any errors, please).

I've been wanting to edit my earlier chapters. I keep rereading this story, and realized that my writing style has changed considerably over the years. There are also a lot of typos and grammatical errors in my earlier chapters. Whatchu guys think, should I edit those again?

I forgot to mention, but in the previous chapter, my favorite part was Roy and Hughes' conversation. It just goes to show that Roy still does care! You can also see it in this chapter. I missed writing Roy into this story. What was your favorite part? Let me know!

Please please leave me a review, and let me know what you think of the story so far!

Happy New Year! Cheers to an awesome 2018!