Prologue

It happened in the afternoon of February third during a blizzard. Fifteen-year old Riza Hawkeye had arrived at the hospital alone, but her boyfriend, Roy Mustang, ended up there before the birth. It was long and painful, and two weeks before her due date. But eventually, a little boy was born.

At first, there was no sound. The doctors hurried the new baby away and it terrified the new teenage parents, who already didn't know the first thing on how to be parents.

When Riza's father found out that she was pregnant, he had given her the ultimatum of having an abortion and staying home, or getting out and having the baby.

Riza chose to have the baby.

When Roy's mother found out about it, she was furious. He was already a foster child with a foster mother who ran a bar. She had been angry, but had allowed Riza to move in with them anyway. Her only condition was that she would not help in any way besides a living space. They would pay their own way for the baby and themselves, and the woman was definitely not helping with taking care of the baby.

Roy and Riza sat in fear, waiting for a doctor to return to them with news on their child.

Eventually, a nurse returned with a swaddled infant.

Young Riza looked down at her child when he was placed in her arms. His eyes were clenched shut, but he had tufts of blonde hair, just like his mother.

"Edward," Riza said, mostly to herself, because it wasn't like the baby would respond. They had decided on the name right after they found out about the gender. "Edward Mustang."

"He looks just like you," Roy said. The two felt a weight lift off their shoulders at being able to see that their child was all right.

"Was there something wrong?" Riza asked the nurse, who still stood in the room. She needed to know what the fuss was about when Edward was first born, and why he hadn't cried right away.

The nurse sighed. "When we got to him, he wasn't breathing on his own like he should have been. His coloring was blue, and we thought he wasn't going to make it. He was rushed off to get his breathing working without panicking you two." The nurse paused. "But he's all right now. Suddenly, his breathing just started up on its own. We didn't even need to resuscitate him. He just did it on his own, but a little later than usual."

"So he's all right now?" Riza asked. "You don't need to keep him for observation or anything?" Her father was a doctor, so she knew it was reasonable for them to do this under the circumstances.

"Well, he will need to be in the nursery for the night," the nurse answered. "He'll be placed in a special care unit to be watched over constantly. We're still a bit concerned about his low birth weight, but we didn't see the harm in him coming to see his new parents." Riza felt like the nurse was slightly blaming her for her baby's low birth weight.

"I'm just glad he's all right," Roy said, his hand palming the boy's head. "We're gonna be all right now."

Riza was half asleep as she gripped her child in her arms, trying to feed him. He wasn't latching well to her chest and only continued to cry. Riza had heard about mothers not being able to produce enough milk for their children, but she didn't hear about the child refusing their mother altogether. She was understandably worried, but all she could do is try to keep feeding him.

It was three in the morning. Madame Christmas - Roy's foster mother - had already popped in several times to tell Riza to keep the kid quiet. Roy was up and down trying to help, but there was only so much he could do in the first place. Riza tried to keep her calm, but the normally collected teenager was nearly in tears at not being able to do anything to keep her son calm and happy.

"Riza," Roy said suddenly. "Go to bed. I'm gonna try."

The blonde continued to keep her child held to her close. "But he's hungry," Riza said. "You can't feed him."

"I'm going to try formula," Roy said. "I bought some earlier this morning." It was expensive, but he had bought it to try and help with keeping Edward calm. "Go to sleep and I'll give it a shot."

Riza relinquished their child into Roy's arms. She laid back on their bed and watched. The small family was sharing the basement of Madame Christmas' house. They had moved down there from Roy's older bedroom for more space. The basement had been converted to be more like an apartment. There was a bathroom, a closet, and the rest of the area was carpeted.

Roy mixed up the formula he had bought into a bottle before attempting to feed the baby. It took a few minutes for Edward to realize he was being fed a bottle and he quickly took to it, sucking down the formula as if he had been starving to death.

With the baby calm and quiet after the formula was finished, Roy put him down in his crib and collapsed onto their bed. Riza had already fallen asleep during the feeding.

"Roy, Riza," Madame Christmas begun. Even though she had said she wouldn't bother to help the two out, she still had Edward in her arms and was bouncing him slightly to keep him calm. She had to admit the kid was cute, but she also couldn't deny the fact that her kid and his girlfriend were not ready to be parents. "I know you think you can do this..."

"We can," Roy said. "We're doing it."

"The kid slept for three hours last night," the woman said. "You two slept even less. I've called someone to come in today about possibly giving him up for adoption. It's not too late, you know."

"But he's our son," Riza argued. "We can't..."

"Riza, you are more than welcome to continue living here even if you do this," Madame Christmas said. She knew that Riza's father would never let her move back in now. "I like having you here; you're a sweet girl and good for my Roy. But you're both two young to take care of a baby like this. The quietest he's been since you brought him home is in my arms right now. And he's not my baby."

Riza stayed silent. Madame Christmas wasn't wrong. She hadn't seen Edward this quiet since they had returned home from the hospital. Maybe he just needed an experienced woman? Maybe she wasn't good enough for her son?

"You two will have babies when you're older," Madame Christmas said. "You'll have lots of them and I'll spoil them. Adoption is an option. I took Roy in when he was a baby and I'm sure someone will take your boy."

"And you called someone in to talk to us about it?" Riza asked. Maybe they should consider it.

"Don't let her talk you in to giving away our son," Roy said. "He's our son."

"He won't even eat from me, Roy," Riza said. "I can't breastfeed. What if it's because he knows I'm not a good mom?"

"You're a great mom, Riza," Roy argued.

"He cried in my arms for two hours last night," Riza stated. "He screamed and cried for food and I couldn't give it to him. I didn't even think about giving him a bottle like you did."

"But you're great," Roy said. "You'll do fine."

"I want to consider it," Riza said. "I want to consider giving Edward up for adoption. Maybe a more experienced mother would be a good idea. I haven't even finished high school yet. Neither of us have. I have to go back to my classes sometime and I don't know what to do with him." Roy had been going to school during the day since Edward was brought home, but Riza had taken out a week to recover.

Roy paused. He didn't want to consider it. But...he wanted Riza to be happy. If she thought it was a good idea, it must be. She was smart. Besides, Madame Christmas had adopted him after his parents died and he ended up okay.

"We'll talk to the person," Roy agreed.