Winry shut the bedroom door behind her and tip toed to her bed, snuggling herself deep into the covers and nestling her nose into the crook of Edward's neck. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly, it had been a long, but exciting day nonetheless, but he was exhausted, mentally and physically. Traveling home from the East, finding out he was a father, then meeting Lily and learning all about her in one day was a lot to pack into twenty four hours. He tilted his head so he could smell her hair, it felt good to be home and it felt even better to be laying in bed with her again, he had missed it so much.

"Ed?"

"Mm?"

"What are you thinking about?" She asked quietly.

He was silent for a few seconds then let out a sigh, "It feels great to be home," he paused and rubbed her back softly, "But you know Al and I are gonna have to go to Central for a while, I don't know how long, but we have to report to Mustang in about a week or two."

She didn't react right away, she knew that's what was on his mind, she knew he wasn't going to be staying home for long. She really just wanted to know how much time she had with him before he had to leave her again.

"I won't be gone as long as I was in Xing, Winry."

"I know," she whispered, "I'm just so tired of waiting."

He pulled her closer to him so he could kiss her neck, "I know you are, but it's something we have to do. We won't leave until after Lily's birthday so that gives us a good two weeks together and then when we leave, Al and I will be back before you know it."

"Alright." she wondered if Ed and Al would ever be able to stay home for more than a few years at a time, she knew deep down that they weren't the type to stay settled for long.

"Now," he began, his voice thick with want for her. He rolled over on top of her and kissed her lovingly, "Let's just forget about everything for right now and let me show you how much I really missed you, since you think it's so easy for me to leave you."

Winry chuckled and wrapped her arms around him, "Go right ahead."

Ed awoke in the dead of night with a start, what was that sound? He turned to Winry who was still soundly sleeping and then looked to the door of the bedroom, it was Lily. Winry started stirring after the baby let out another loud cry and Ed leaned in and kissed her softly when she went to get out of bed, "Go back to sleep," he whispered, "I can take care of her."

She squinted her eyes to try and see his face in the dark, "You sure?"

"Yes," he reassured, "You've been up in the middle of the night with her for the past year, it's my turn now." Winry didn't argue with him and laid back down, pulling the covers over her bare shoulders.

"Alright, thanks Ed."

He quietly entered the baby's room and found her crying in her crib, he lowered the rail and bent down to scoop her up in his arms. "What's the matter, Lily?" he cooed, "Bad dream?" he went over to the wooden rocking chair and began to rock her back to sleep, "I know how you feel," he sympathized, looking down at the sweet baby who was a perfect mixture of him and Winry. She looked up at her Daddy in awe, and snuggled into him. Ed felt his heart swell in his chest, what an amazing feeling to be holding your own child! He thought he would never be able to experience this.

Just then, the most horendous smell made itself known to his senses and threatened his stomach to reaquaint him with his last meal. "What the hell is that smell?" he questioned, looking down at the baby who was finally starting to drift back to sleep. He got up from the rocker and placed Lily on the changing table, who was unhappy about being removed from her daddy's warm arms. Ed slowly opened one side of the diaper and peeked inside to see just what he was up against. The smell instantly intensified and he nearly choked on it, he swore he could taste it in his mouth.

He quickly wrapped the one side of the cloth diaper back in it's place and picked her back up, he knew he couldn't leave her like this, but there's no way in hell he could change that disaster himeself! He panicked for a second, pacing around the room, he didn't want to go in and wake Winry up after he assured her he had everything under control and she really did need a good night's sleep.

He stopped in his tracks and suddenly bolted to the hallway, Lily in his arms, Al could help him! He would know what to do! He was always the more nurturing and kid friendly of the two of them. He rushed down the stairs to the patient room his brother and May were staying in, opening the door slowly, he readjusted his baby girl in his arms and braved the dark room, hoping he wouldn't have to see the unsightly image of his little brother and the bean girl snuggling in bed together. To his pleasant surprise, they were each in their own cot and sleeping soundly, Ed rushed over to his brother and kneeled down by his bedside, poking his shoulder a few times causing him to roll over in his sleep. Ed huffed and looked to Lily, who was waiting patiently on her daddy's knee "We need to wake up Uncle Al!" he whispered to the little girl and she grinned happily at Ed and reached for his face. He kissed Lily's chubby hand and went back to his mission: awakening the most impossible person to wake in the middle of the night. Ever since Al got his body back and was able to sleep, sleep became the most precious thing to the younger Elric.

"Al," he poked his brother once again, "Alphonse!" he said with a little more volume than he meant to and he heard May starting to stir from behind him. One more try, he thought to himself, "Al, wake up I need your help!" he shook Al's shoulder roughly and felt a huge wave of relief when his brother finally awoke.

"Brother, what's wrong with you?" Al questioned drowsily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"This." Ed held Lily's rear end near Al's face and almost died of laughter when his brother began coughing.

"That's not even right, Ed!" he cleared his throat and smiled at Lily, "Did you make a mess? Huh?" he asked the baby. "What's the matter? Can't change a diaper?" he poked Ed back in amusement.

"Can to! I changed three yesterday! Just no...messy ones." he said defeatedly, "I need your help, I don't want to wake Winry up, she's really tired and I promised her I could take care of Lily tonight." he pleaded.

Al sighed and kicked the covers off, "Alright, I'm getting up."

Ed and Lily went back up to her bedroom with Al following them, Ed put Lily back on the changing table and took her pajama bottoms back off, exposing the problem at hand. "Well, go ahead." Al encouraged from behind Ed.

Ed whipped around and waved his hands in defeat, "No way! We're in this together!"

"I'm here for moral support, Ed." he was holding back a laugh, "You can do this!"

Betrayed by his brother, Ed focused his attention back on Lily, who was waiting patiently and staring up at him. He undid the diaper and was once again slapped in the face by the fowl smell. He had no idea what the hell he was doing.

"Al, a wipe!" he demanded, grabbing the wet cloth from his brother and wiping away as much of the problem as possible, "Another!" he reached for another one and before Alphonse could even begin to reach for one more, Ed was already holding his hand open for a third wipe.

Five wipes down, Ed reached for one more himself and went over the area one last time, "You're so wasteful!" Al remarked, still looking over Ed's shoulder, "You didn't even need those last two!"

"Bull!" Ed snapped, whipping his head around, "You can never be too clean, especially under these circumstances!"

"Oh, Brother..." Al rolled his eyes and reached for Lily when Ed was finished putting a clean diaper on her, "You ready to go back to sleep?" he asked her, cradling her in his arms and rocking her softly. He gave the little girl a kiss and handed the baby back to Ed and began to head back downstairs.

"Hey, Al! Don't tell Winry!" Ed whispered, cupping his free hand around his mouth to be sure his brother could hear him.

Al laughed to himself, "Whatever you say, Ed." and headed downstairs to finish sleeping.

Edward snuck back into Winry's room and carefully shut the door, an hour later, Lily was finally cleaned up and back to sleep. He felt accomplished and proud of himself for what he had just done. Settling himself under the covers, he snaked his arm around her waist and hugged her close, she felt so good next to him, like her body was made to lay next to his and his to hers. Winry stirred a little and yawned, readjusting herself in Ed's arms.

"Thanks, Ed." she brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed it softly.

"No problem." he kissed the back of her neck and nuzzled his nose into her hair, reaquainting himself with her wonderful scent again.

"And Ed," she began, looking over her shoulder.

"Mn-what?"

"You better thank your brother in the morning."

Busted.

A/N: Haha, and the pride of Edward Elric is shot down yet again! Thanks for reading everyone! Be sure to check out my new story, Life As They Know It. It's an AU EdWin.