‘It’s impossible’ Marta thought as she ran her finger gently over her stomach. ‘Homunculi aren’t supposed to reproduce. That’s what Greed said.’

But then again, Greed had been drunk and wanted Marta to sleep with him. And she believed him and gave him what he wanted. But a week or so later, she started to feel sick to her stomach all the time, especially in the mornings.

The snake-chimera had dismissed it as a sickness caught sometime before by staying out at night. However, a few days later she realized she had missed for the month, and given her recent actions, she knew what was wrong.

“Damn you Greed” she hissed as she vomited again onto the dirt. The members of the Devil’s Nest were spying on Kimblee, making sure to stay hidden so they wouldn’t have to worry about him using his alchemy on them. And Marta had hidden in an alleyway, trying to grasp the situation she was in, and how to tell the others.

'No matter how stupid they could be at times, they would notice all the weird stuff happening to you', she thought to herself. However, she didn’t have that much time to think about it.

On the top of the building that Marta was hiding in the alley next to, Kimblee was doing what he did best.

“Please” the old man in the chokehold gasped, “Don’t do this”.

The Crimson Alchemist smirked evilly- as though he could smirk any other way- and shook his head. He placed the shaking old man at the edge of the roof and clapped his hands. He stomped on the poor man’s….manly area….and threw his palms onto the body.

Kimblee let go and started to walk away. Before he did, he turned to his latest bomb and said, “I’ve had a blast. Haven’t you?”

If the man wasn’t about to explode, he would have groaned at that horrible pun. He did however shake, although that was probably because of the alchemy Kimblee had just performed.

A moment later, he detonated, causing the edge of the roof to explode along with him.

“AH SHIT!” Marta cursed as she stretched to avoid the debris.

A piece of stone nearly hit her in the stomach, but she maneuvered out of the way and it merely grazed her side. She ran onto a plank to get to the next alleyway. But as luck would have it, as soon as she reached the other side of the plank- which was set up like a see-saw, just so you know- a piece of the no longer existing roof edge fell on the other side. Marta was thrown back, causing her to thump her head on the wall. She was out cold quickly.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dorochet sniffed around, looking for Marta.

It had been two hours since the explosion and she had never returned to the Devil’s Nest.

So now Greed was walking around with Dorochet and the new-comer Nell, a chimera who was part salamander.

She had pale skin that was always covered in a sweat-like liquid and her eyes were yellow/orange and watery. Her hair was red and cut very short so it framed her face perfectly. Nell was the ‘nurse’ of sorts for the others.

“Damn it Marta” Greed hissed, “If you just ran off, when I find you….God! You are in for a world of hurt!”.

He didn’t mean any of it of course. The Homunculus cared deeply for Marta; he may have even loved her, although he would never admit that to others, or even to himself.

“Hey, Greed! Nell!” Dorochet yelled from the alley, “I found her!”.

Marta groaned and smacks Dorochet in the cheek, causing him to whimper and causing her to grab her side. Blood trickled from the wound as she clutched it. As Greed and Nell reached them, Dorochet backed away from the injured snake-chimera like a dog that was just scolded for peeing on the kitchen floor.

Greed ran over to Marta, with Nell close behind him.

“What the hell happened?” he asked her as he helped her stand up, letting her lean on him for support. Normally, she would’ve told him to let her go so she could walk, but given her injury was still bleeding, she let him hold her. She tried to explain, as best she could.

“Kimblee exploded the roof edge or somethin’” Marta told Greed, coming out more in mumbles as she was falling asleep.

The Homunculus growled under his breath, baring his shark-like teeth for a moment. He hissed under his breath, commenting that Kimblee was a….the next two words cannot be said, but I can tell you that they begin with an M and an F….bastard. But the more important matter at the time was healing Marta. Thankfully, the Devil’s Nest wasn’t all that far from their current position. The four of them arrived ten minutes later.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It had used to be just an empty space, a little nook to go to whenever they wanted to be alone and all the other rooms were full.

But since Nell, a former doctor of the military, joined with Greed and her fellow chimeras, it had become the medical center. At that moment, Marta was lying on a stolen hospital gurney with her tank top pulled up to the edge of her ribcage, revealing the cut from the explosion and her stomach.

“Mind if I go to the bathroom?” she asked Nell who was gently tying a length of gauze around Marta’s upper stomach. Nausea was beginning to sweep over her again, and she didn’t want Nell to see her; the girl would probably know something was up if she did.

Nell smiled at the snake-chimera as she finished tying the gauze and said, “Go ahead, Marta”.

Marta sighed and gave the younger girl a small smile before she got off of the table. She walked out of the room, not even noticing that she passed the father of her unborn baby on the way there, and into the bathroom.

Inside she couldn’t stop herself; she fell to her knees on the floor and vomited into the toilet. At least her breakfast and lunch had just been expelled from her, as well as some unknown substances.

When she left the room, she bumped, literary, into Law who had apparently been waiting. As they collided she looked up to see that he was wearing a highly confused face.

“What…” he began, “Are…are you okay, Marta?”

She was silent for a moment before giving him a short nod and saying, “Yeah, just a cold.”

He seemed to buy this, after all she was part snake and snakes are sensitive to cold, and let her pass.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“So” Nell said when Marta got back into the room. “When you plan on telling Greed?”

Marta felt herself tense up, a reflex she sometimes had when someone surprised her. But she soon let her muscles relax as she turned to the younger chimera.

“On telling him what?” she questioned, playing a state of ignorance.

Nell was not buying a word of it however and retorted, “Do you really think I’d go through ten years of medical training and not be able to see the symptoms of pregnancy?”

Marta was ready to answer, but realized that none of the remarks in her head would make any sense. So she asked Nell something.

“How did you know…” she began, only to be cut off by the salamander-girl. “About you and Greed? Well let’s just say that you guys ain’t exactly quiet. Almost enough to make a girl take a vow of chastity….almost”.

A laugh escaped from Marta’s lips, so quiet that it would’ve been hard to believe if Nell said that she had heard it.

But the air in the room was soon filled with tension as Marta sat down on the medical table.

“I don’t know” she whispered, “what I’m going to do”.

She felt tears fall from her face, and mentally scolded herself for it as they cascaded down her cheeks. The thought disappeared when Nell sat down beside her and placed a hand upon her shoulders.

“It’s okay” she told Marta gently, “He’ll find out about the baby when you’re ready to tell him”.

At that instance the two woman heard Dorochet yell the words, “BABY?! WHAT BABY?”

All thoughts of sadness in Marta were replaced by anger instantly. She stretched her arms to pull open the door; Dorochet, Law, and Bido fell in, looking very embarrassed. Both women glared at their fellow chimeras but Marta looked completely pissed, while Nell only looked annoyed.

A moment of awkward silence followed the entrance before Nell said, “Okay, we got some stuff to tell you. Well, more Marta than me”.

The three men stood up, Dorochet and Law dusting themselves off. Bido starting walking around looking at the floor.

“Where’s the baby? Is it invisible? Am I gonna step on it?” he questioned Marta, who face palmed in annoyance at his stupidity. She opened her mouth to explain, but Nell interrupted her.

“No, Bido, the baby is not invisible and you are not gonna step on it” she told him, “Unless you step on Marta’s stomach, anyway”.

She smirked as she added the last line, and laughed when she saw the dumbfounded looks on Dorochet and Law’s faces. Bido blinked and said, “What you talking ‘bout, Nell?”

That was the moment that cued a face palm for Nell. She sighed and walked towards Bido, who squeaked like she was holding a very pointy stick to his throat. She grabbed him by the tail and picked him up, to have him be at eye level with her.

“Okay, I’m only gonna say this once, Bido, so listen carefully” she told him, sounding very threatening. Suddenly her face softened and she looked very innocent, so Bido smiled softly at her. Unfortunately, at that moment, she lifted him up so his ear was at her mouth and yelled, “MARTA’S PREGNANT YOU MORONIC TWIT!”.

Bido was so shocked, either from the news or the level of the scream, that he slid from Nell’s grip and onto the floor. The five of them stayed silent for a moment, none of them seeming to know what they would say next. Lucky for Nell and the boys, they wouldn’t have to, because just then Greed poked his head in the room.

“Hey” he said, looking a little disturbed at the scene he was watching, “Are you guys having a party or something?” He smirked, showing off his sharp teeth. “Mind if I join?”

At that moment, Nell grabbed Bido by the tail and walked out the door, giving Marta a look as she exited. Law, obviously knowing what she meant, followed suit. And of course, Dorochet stayed looking eager to see Greed’s sure to be hilarious reaction.

“DOROCHET! HEEL!”

His eager face turned to one of fear as he walked backwards out of the room, complaining the whole time. Now it was just Greed and Marta in the room.

“You wanna sit down, or something” Greed said to her, motioning to the couch. Marta gave a short nod before sitting down. Her boss followed her lead and sat next to her.

They sat there in silence, both a little anxious, as the last time they were there alone it ended up resulting in something involving Greed’s bed, both of them naked, and Bido being the fetal position for a week mumbling, “So much moaning”.

But, Marta knew why Nell had made the others leave- so she could tell Greed about the little problem she was having.

She decided to just hint at the news by asking him, “So…you remember that night we had like three weeks ago?”

He smiled at the memory, like he had just won the lottery. But his happy face faltered when the snake-chimera said, “Sorry, but we won’t be able to do that again anytime soon”.

Greed suddenly looked like a child who had been denied his favorite candy, then gave Marta a sarcastically hurt expression.

“Is this the part where you tell me that you think I’m ugly or something?” he asked her, smirking a little.

She shook her head and said, “No. This is the part where I tell you that I’m pregnant”.

Greed nodded for a moment, before the news actually set into his brain. And when it did, he wore a face that Marta thought she’d never see on him. Still with the expression on his face he jumped off the couch and started questioning her, yelling, “How? Where? When?”.

She rolled her eyes and began to answer him.

“I’m pretty sure you know how. As for where and when….your room about three weeks ago” she said, smirking a little at the first comment. Greed scratched his head a little and asked, “You mean the night that got Bido into that mumbling thing?”.

Marta nodded a little bit, but something was still bothering her. “Greed,” she began, “That night you told me that Homunculi can’t have children, so how did…”.

She didn’t even have to finish. Greed rubbed the back of his head, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed as he explained to her. “Yeah, well the truth is that we can’t, usually. But like once a year we can do the thing that results in the baby thing” he told her, darting his eyes away every few moments.

Marta nodded and closed her eyes, sighing as she fell back into the couch.

“How am I going to do this?” she asked Greed who shrugged in response. But what he did next really shocked her. The Homunculus placed one hand on her cheek and the other on her breasts, although Marta didn’t seem to notice this, being too shocked from the hand on the cheek gesture. He then gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, saying “Hey, don’t worry. You’ve been through worse than this before”.

He then stood up and walked away, leaving Marta alone and smirking to himself about touching her chest. She sat on the couch, stunned by the kiss. It was their first kiss not seemingly driven by alcohol, and she had to admit she liked. Suddenly she realized that Greed had grabbed her breasts before he left.

“DAMN YOU GREED!” she yelled to him in the hall.

He just smirked; he knew how to charm the snake.