The Rest of the Story

A/N: This one takes place about 4 1/2 years after the end of Worlds Collide.

Propositions

Nicholas heard the knocking at the door as he was just rallying from his sleep. Victor had his arm around the blond’s waist, head resting on his shoulder. Carefully, Nicholas slid out from under Victor’s grip and went to throw on a pair of pajama pants, as he and Victor had the tendency to sleep sans clothing unless it was very cold.

It was eleven, so not ridiculously early, but both men had done a late shift at headquarters and finished it up with hours in the bed not sleeping.

When he opened the door, he found Nina Fuery standing in front of him, a pleased grin on her face, whether at finding him in shirtless or not, he didn’t know. “Hi, Nina,” Nicholas said. “What can I do for you?”

“Damn it, Nicholas!” Victor yelled from their bedroom. “My ass hurts! I told you to take it easier last night.”

“Victor, darling,” Nicholas said, “we have company.”

“We do? Crap!”

“I’m sorry about him. He sometimes suffers from bouts of stupidity.”

Nina laughed, and Nicholas had to admit she had become a very attractive young woman. Physically she was somewhere around nineteen now, even if she’d only been in the world for going on nine years now. She wore her brown hair down and loose, her features were soft, but her eyes always held the slightest bit of mischief in them, and the large violet orbs were so unique just on their own.

“It’s okay,” she said, “I find momentary lapses very adorable.”

At that, Nicholas found his spine stiffening like a cat preparing for battle. Did she just call his lover adorable?

“Possessiveness can be too,” she said, patting his cheek, “if it’s not overdone.”

She made her way into the apartment, as Nicholas shut the door, very confused. She sat almost primly on the sofa, crossing her jean-clad legs and looking around appraisingly. “You have a nice place here,” she said.

“You’ve been here before,” Nicholas said, suspicious. He took the leather reclining chair opposite her, but kept his posture one of readiness. Something was off, and he felt that Nina wanted something.

“Yes, but you have a few new paintings, and now that I’m looking for a place of my own, I’m more appreciative of how hard it is to get a nice apartment in Central.”

Victor came out of the bedroom in a pair of cotton pants and a tanktop, his curly hair a mess that made it all the more obvious what they’d been doing the night before.

“Hi, Nina,” Victor said, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa opposite the nineteen-year-old.

“So what do you want?” Nicholas asked, drumming his automail fingers against the arm of the chair.

“I have a proposition for you.”

Both men exchanged looks with raised eyebrows before returning their gaze to the chestnut-haired woman.

“Nicholas, you are bi, right?” He nodded. “And Victor, aside from Nicholas, you’ve never looked at another man.” The engineer nodded. “So, that leaves you both with an option you enjoy but won’t pursue because you are with one another.”

The blond’s drumming on the chair grew louder and more irritated. “What is the point, Nina?” He liked the woman, had been fond of her as she was growing up, but the potentials for where this might be going seemed bad.

“The point is that I’d like to date you.”

“Um, Nina,” Victor said, his dark brows meeting together in confusion, “you do realize we’re together, don’t you?”

“Naturally,” Nina said. “That’s the perk of it. I want to date both of you.” She smiled a grin reminiscent of Frank. “That’s my proposition.”

********

Fletcher sighed as Aideen played with his hair, his head resting on her lap. The first few years of their marriage, Aideen’s obsession with trying to make things right had strained their relationship, but after a good talking-to from Ed, the woman seemed to have snapped herself out of it.

He raised his hand to run a few strands of her black, silken hair between his fingers. She’d started letting it grown long, and when they were home together, she left it down. For the same reason, he supposed, he always kept his at the length of about two inches because she enjoyed playing with it. She joked it was like modeling clay, the way it held a shape so easily, despite the fact that he only ever put a light gel in it to give it the definition it had lacked when he’d been younger.

“Fletcher,” she said, dragging her knuckles slowly down his cheek, “I wanted to ask you a question.”

He looked up at her face, moving the hand from her hair to hold her hand. “Ask away.”

“What do you think about another baby?”

Fletcher sat straight in the seat, pulling himself off of her lap and staring at her, then her stomach. “You’re not— Are you?”

She smiled, taking his hand again, lacing their fingers together. “No,” she said. “What I did with Oliver was unfair to you.” She laid her head down on his shoulder. “But then, I felt like I was ready for another child, and I knew you would argue if I asked. I stopped taking my pill in hopes I’d get pregnant then, knowing you’d accept the baby no matter what.”

Fletcher kissed her head of dark hair. “And you were right,” he said.

“Am I ever not?” she joked.

He rolled his eyes, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. “So you really want another baby?”

“I do.” She laughed defeatedly. “I know it’s silly, since you’re the one who’s here with them more than I am.”

“You’re a doctor, Aideen, that’s expected.”

“Yes, but still…” She sighed. “I don’t know. I think it might be hormones. Nikki’s in school and doing so well, Oliver is reading and doing alchemy, and I just miss having that little baby in my arms.”

“Believe it or not,” Fletcher said, rubbing his hand over hers, “I understand. Partly because Oliver’s too damned old for his age.”

“Blame my genes for that one,” Aideen said. “Thankfully, though, until he gets older, we won’t have to worry about irresponsible alchemy. He’s much more mature with it than his sister was when she was four.” Both parents had found it strange the first time the little blond boy had managed alchemy without a circle at the age of three, far younger than anyone previously in their family. It also proved the theory that inheriting circleless alchemy meant that the person carrying the child had to be capable of it, because Sasha Elric-Havoc couldn’t manage the same alchemy her father had.

“So…” Fletcher said. “Another baby?”

“Mmmhmm.”

********

“How about this,” Nikki said to her grandpa as she tried valiantly to drag him into the ice cream shop, “you buy me a small ice cream cone instead of a large, and I won’t bug you for anything else tonight?”

“Ha!” a smaller voice asked from his granddad’s arms. “You always ask for stuff.”

“Nikki,” Roy said. “Are you trying to bargain with me? Because I’m still the fuhrer, and I deal with big countries trying to make deals with me. What makes you think you’ll do better than they will?”

“Well, because I’m your only granddaughter, because I’m adorable, because I’ve got granddad’s eyes, because I love you…”

“Because you’re a big softie,” her granddad finished for her.

“Ice cream?” the gray-haired man asked.

“Chocolate with chocolate chips,” Nikki said, nodding her head.

“Ten, nine, eight…”

“What are you doing?” her grandpa said, looking back at the longer-haired man holding Oliver.

“Counting down until you cave.”

Nikki tried to hold in her grin.

********

“Date both of us?” Victor asked, looking up at Nicholas. “And you won’t try to split us up or play us against one another.”

“Well, I won’t try to split you up, though pitting you against one another… I can’t guarantee that if it’s something I really want, but I’d never do it to break you up. I’m asking this because I like the idea of dating you… as a unit, I guess you could say,” Nina answered.

Nicholas looked over at Victor, who shrugged.

“One date,” Nicholas said. “We’ll give it a try for one date.”

Nina smiled as she launched herself to kiss Victor, then Nicholas on their cheeks.

********

“You know,” Fletcher said, “another baby sounds like it could be a good thing.”

“Really?” Aideen asked, looking up at him, those gold and bronze eyes scanning over the older man’s face.

“Yes. And it’s not as though I exactly mind practicing.” He moved his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

“Figures I’d go and marry an old pervert like my dad did.”

Fletcher just smiled as he pushed her onto the couch and kissed her soundly.

********

“Two, one.”

“Oh, fine. A small cone,” Roy said.

“That was fun,” Oliver said. “Can I do the countdown next time?”