Fullmetal Alchemist - "Alone Together"
Title: Alone Together
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing: Russel & Fletcher, genfic
Rating: G
Summary: Written for family_15, prompt #3 (Children). Russel and Fletcher wake up one morning alone.



"Brother? Where'd Daddy go?"

As if Russel knew the answer. He'd woken up an hour earlier, only to find their father gone, despite the fact that it was a Sunday and he never worked on Sundays. Now Fletcher was awake, still in his pajamas, clutching the too-large, unfinished green hat their mother had made. She'd been making it for herself, but been unable to finish it before her sickness had claimed her. Now Fletcher carried it everywhere he went.

"Sit down, I'll make breakfast," said Russel.

"But where's Daddy?"

Russel pulled the stepstool over to the rangetop. Since their mother's death, it had fallen to him to cook for the family.

Fletcher climbed into his seat at the kitchen table and watched his brother nervously.

"I guess he went out," Russel finally said as he set to scrambling some eggs. Then he smiled; "Hey, it's almost your birthday! I bet he's getting something for you."

Fletcher brightened. "Oh, okay! And he went early so he could get back b'fore we woke up, but he got stuck in a line or something."

Russel nodded. "Yup, exactly. He'll be back soon. I better make some food for him, too."


That explanation made perfect sense. So why, oh why wasn't he home when lunchtime rolled around?

Fletcher sat reading in the living room -- he was four, but already reading Russel's schoolbooks -- while Russel paced in the kitchen.

One-thirty.

The boys had been awake for five hours and still no Dad.

The thought briefly occurred to the older boy that nine-year-olds shouldn't pace, but he dismissed it.

Maybe he got called into work. Some kind of emergency. Russel went over to the phone, then paused. He didn't know the number for his father's job. Hell, now that he thought of it, he didn't even know what his father did for a living, except that it had something to do with alchemy.

He resumed pacing. Mom would've known. They were always talking about his work. Well, more like fighting. It had been during the climax of one of those arguments that Nash had angrily declared that Russel and Fletcher were not to have anything to do with alchemy.

Russel paused when sounds of sniffling came from the other room. He went to investigate.

"Brother, where is he?" Tears were trickling down Fletcher's cheeks.

"Hey, don't cry!" Russel sat next to Fletcher and pulled him into a hug. "Dad'll be home soon. D'you want him to come in and see you crying?"

Fletcher shook his head.

"Okay, then." Russel let go, then ruffled his brother's hair, evoking a weak smile.

But he wasn't home by nightfall, either.


"I'm not going to bed."

Fletcher sat on the rickety, narrow steps leading up to their room, clung to his mother's hat, and refused to budge.

"Fletcher, it's eight o'clock. Your bedtime was half an hour ago."

"I can't. Not 'till Daddy comes home to tuck me in."

Russel sighed and attempted to hide his own worry. "But he'll get mad if he gets home and you're up."

"I don't care!"

Beneath Fletcher's pouty exterior was a very definite layer of fear. Understandable -- first their mother, now their father? Russel took a deep breath, determined to stay calm. "I'll read you your bedtime story."

"I don't want a bedtime story. I want Daddy!"

"So do I."

Fletcher glanced up at Russel, wide-eyed.

"I want Dad to come home too, Fletcher, but getting scared won't help."

"I'm not scared," Fletcher mumbled.

"So let's just go to bed. I bet he'll be back in the morning." He made an attempt at a grin, but it didn't quite work.

Fletcher didn't move for several moments. Then, finally, he stood up, eyes trained on the floor.

Russel took the smaller boy's hand. "You can sleep in my bed tonight, okay?"

"'Kay."

That was for Russel's comfort equally as much as Fletcher's, but he wasn't about to admit that. Russel was the older brother, and if something really had happened to their father -- which of course it hadn't, he would be back tomorrow with an explanation, Russel knew he would -- then it was up to him now to take care of Fletcher. He couldn't admit he was scared.

They slept clinging to one another, but that wasn't enough to keep the bad dreams away.