A/N: 17 chapters already? Wow. And I have all you lovely people to thank for that, this fic wouldn’t exist without you guys 🙂 I keep saying that this fic is gonna end soon but now I’m almost certain there’s only the “grande finale” left (it will probably be 3 chapters, lol). If someone wants to help me to write figure skating, hit me up. Enjoy and please review because that way you’ll get the grande finale (and MAYBE even the thing you all have been looking forward to, but NO PROMISES) faster :’) BTW, if you haven’t read my companion piece A Letter to Winry yet, I do recommend reading it because it might have a role later in this fic.

Ps. Thanks again for everyone who’s been drawing stuff for this fic, you guys are incredible!

Previous chapters:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 pt 1, pt 2, 16

Next chapter: [x]

Companion pieces (note: these are all post Olympics happenings so reading the main fic first is recommended): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Words: 1300+

Genre: general?

Warnings: mention of a miscarriage

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”Isn’t it my
old student Edward? It’s been a long while.”

Like he had
decided earlier that morning, Ed called to the most maternal person he had in
his life. She was Izumi Curtis, his old “nanny” and teacher. Izumi was very
strict when it came to training and household work, but she was also someone whose
opinion Ed respected, and whose relationship with her husband was probably the
longest and healthiest one he knew. Truth to be told, Ed was sometimes slightly
scared of her because of her random outbursts, but he also knew she was fair
and wouldn’t just shrug off his issue.

“Uh, yeah,
it has…” Ed couldn’t help but rub his neck awkwardly even though Izumi couldn’t
see him. “Sorry about that… I’ve just been busy. So, how’s everything in
Dublith? How are you and Mr. Sig doing?”

“The
business has been, well, busy lately!” Izumi answered, deciding to start from a
safe topic. “Sig and I are having our hands full with our shop. But why do I
have a feeling that that’s not actually why you are calling me?”

“How can
you hear it through the phone?” Ed couldn’t hide his amazement. She was obviously
right, but he wasn’t going to jump to the reason of his call that fast.

“Because
even though we haven’t seen each other in a while, I know you, Ed. You never
call people just to ask how they are doing.”

Ed had to
admit he had never been a phone call person, not even before the Nina incident.
“Ouch. That might be kinda true, though, unfortunately.”

“Yes, I
know it is. Anyway, before we get to the reason of your call, I need to ask: how
did you allow yourself to get hurt like that?! Wasn’t playing at the Olympics
your dream even before I left your home? Didn’t I teach you to always watch
your back?”

Even though
Ed knew about his old teacher’s temper, he was still slightly taken aback by
her questions.

“Hey, it’s
not like I planned that to happen! That guy just got mad and completely blindsided
me! Do you think I’m enjoying not being able to walk not to mention to play?”

“You’re
right,” Izumi sighed, “of course you didn’t. Sorry, it’s been a tough few
months for us, and I got so worried when I saw you getting hurt…”

“What do
you mean with ‘it’s been a tough few months’? Has something happened?”

It was
quiet for a while. “Yes. You could say that.”

Ed felt he
never knew what to say in a situation like this.

“Uh, I’m
sorry. Do you… want to talk about it?”

“I guess
you deserve to know. You know how Sig and I have tried to get pregnant ever
since we got married?”

“Yeah, you
have mentioned it…”

“Well, I
finally did get pregnant about 4-5 months ago…”

“What? How come
you never told us that?” Ed asked, both surprised and confused. Hadn’t Izumi
just said something was wrong?

“Because we
lost the baby, Ed,” she replied with a shaky voice, even though she was trying
her best to keep her cool. “I was about two months pregnant when it happened…
And when the doctor did some tests on me afterwards, she said it would be
dangerous to try again. So, we won’t…”

Ed knew being
a mother had been a lifelong dream of his old teacher, and even though he
couldn’t see her, he thought he could hear the pain in her voice. “Teacher, I’m
so sorry…”

“Don’t be
sorry for things that are out of your control!” she said surprisingly harshly,
and Ed thought she might have smacked him had she been in the same room with
him. Thankfully, she wasn’t. But that didn’t make him any less worried for her.

“How… are
you feeling?” he asked cautiously once he was fairly sure she wouldn’t explode again.

“Been
better, that’s for sure. But we just have to accept this is what was meant to
happen. I have sort of gotten used to the thought by now.”

“Are going
to try adoption?” Ed asked, trying to think of a safer topic to talk about.

“I’m not
sure. I think… the wound is still too open.”

“Believe
me, I understand,” Ed said suddenly, to Izumi’s surprise. She didn’t know about
Nina yet.

“What do
you mean? You haven’t lost a child, have you?”

“No, I
haven’t. But I lost someone who was almost like a little sister to me, in the
worst possible way. That hit me so hard it’s partially the reason why I haven’t
really…”

“Been in
contact with us? You idiot! Keeping all that inside you is the worst thing you
could do to yourself! Haven’t I taught you anything?”

“Y-you h-have,
teacher!”

It was
silent for a while again, before Izumi said: “Well, I’m glad you came out about
it, now.”

A sudden thought
occurred to Ed: “Can I ask you something, teacher?”

“Edward, I
haven’t been your teacher for several years. You can stop calling me that. I’m
Izumi.”

“OK, Izumi,
can I ask you something?”

“I think
you already did.”

“Whatever…
Uh, so, after the… loss, was it difficult for you to communicate with Sig? You guys
are alright, right?”

Izumi
seemed to consider her answer for a moment before saying: “I admit that for a
few weeks I just wanted to hide from him, because I was so ashamed of myself and
felt guilty for the miscarriage, but he dragged me out of my room and said he
wouldn’t allow me to blame myself for it. It opened my eyes to see that he really
loved me no matter what, and eventually we managed to talk things through and
are now better than ever. If there’s something I learned from that experience,
it’s that I am so lucky to have found someone who has seen me on my bad day but
is there to support me no matter what. If you ever find someone like that… don’t
let them go.”

Winry’s
face flashed in front of Ed’s eyes once Izumi said that. Wasn’t that exactly
what she had done? She had seen his worst moments yet hadn’t given up on him. And
if Ed was honest? Even though the leg was a pain and having to watch the others
play was frustrating, he had also had some of his best moments in a long, long
while during the Olympics. And he had Winry to thank for that.

“Oh. Thank
you, Izumi.”

“For what?”
She asked with confusion.

“I think I
finally know what I should do.” He said quietly, smiling at the phone with
relief.

“I know a
lot of things, but I don’t know what you are talking about now,” Izumi noted,
and Ed was sure she was rolling her eyes at him on the other side of the line.

“It’s a
long story… Or maybe not that long… I met this girl a few weeks ago, and… we have
had our fair share of problems, but I finally know what I want to do with this…
situation.”

“You met a
girl? A girl as in a girlfriend? My tiny student really is growing up!”

“I’m not
tiny! And don’t… say… that!”

“So, tell
me all about her! Who is she? Is she an athlete? Is she smart? How did you
meet?”

“Tea…
Izumi, calm down. We met at the figure skating arena, and…”

The call got
surprisingly long, with Ed describing what had happened at the Olympics
(leaving the more private things out, though, because he felt those belonged to
him and Winry only) and Izumi asking questions, but when they were finished, Ed
felt he was finally seeing clearly. Now, all he needed to do was to wait until
Winry was ready to see him again…