Heavy uneven panting and slight whimpering drew my attention to the bathroom door as I passed on my way to do laundry. It wasn't very often that I heard these noises and it was even rarer that I'd be able to stop them.
"Ed?" I called knocking lightly.
I could hear him gulp down a gasp as he shakily replied, "I-I'm okay, Winry"
I knew he was lying. "Come on, open up"
It was several more moments before I heard the lock unlatch and slight stumbling. When I opened the door, I found Ed on the floor holding his knees to his chest. Her skin was pale and clammy and I wouldn't be surprised if the reason he had chosen the bathroom as his hiding place was because he was nauseous and had thrown up his stomach contents.
"Is it bad?" I asked. I knew his automail was a pain sometimes. The fact that he hadn't been able to get his leg back had always been a burden. Unfortunately, it seemed he'd never be able to get away from automail.
"I'm fine" he stuttered, breathing deeply through his nose.
I'd offer painkillers, but they were completely out of question to anyone who had automail. The anesthetic messed with the nerves and would make moving the limb impossible and sometimes even malfunction. And unfortunately, automail had a tendency to be extremely painful at times, some would say even more so than giving birth.
"Don't lie to me" I replied, wetting a washcloth and putting it on the back of his neck.
"R-right, I'll be fine" he grunted. I could feel the shiver wracking his body with the contact of the cool cloth. He winced at the movement and clutched at his left hip, massaging it.
"Do you want to go lay down? You could sleep it off." I suggested, feeling his forehead for a fever. There was one, but only a small one.
"No, I don't want the kids to see me this way" Typical Ed, willing to stay uncomfortable in order to look strong to the toddlers. That type of thinking was extremely proud and brash. The worst part was, he hadn't even made sure the kids were home before holeing himself away in the room.
"The kids are with Granny today, remember? They left almost an hour ago"
He let out a shaky breath before trying to stand, "I wish I'd remembered that"
"Yeah" I replied, more out of lack of something better to say. I took his elbow and helped him into the bedroom. He groaned and gasped the entire way. Finally I pulled back the sheets and helped him lay down before pulling them back up to his chin.
"I'll go get-"
"Stay with me" Ed interrupted, grabbing my hand and stopping me in my progress to get him a glass of water.
"But Ed, you're dehydrated" he really was, I could tell by the fact his lips were extremely chapped and he seemed slightly out of it. This probably came when he had thrown up.
"Please"
It wasn't until I nodded that his eyes slipped closed and his hand loosened around my wrist. He slept all through the afternoon, the grimace and beads of sweat on his face present the entire time. I stayed, replacing the cloth every once in awhile as it lost its cool. The fever went down around lunch time and I woke him to eat some soup. By the time the kids got home, Ed was in bed for the night.
"Where's daddy?" My daughter asked, looking around slightly with the tip of her index finger in her mouth
"Daddy's really tired, he went to bed early" I said. It wasn't a complete lie, he was tired and he had gone to bed, it just wasn't the whole truth.
"Oh...is he gonna ta be okay?"
I smiled at her, "Yeah, daddy's gonna be okay"
A/N
Thank you so much for reading. I hoped you liked it! Constructive critsism allowed and appreciated.
