AN: So I wrote this awhile ago and never got around to posting it. But it's here now, I hope you like it.

It was late, very late. Edward should've been home long before dark and yet here it was two hours past sunset and the small boy was still nowhere to be seen.

Hoenheim had gone out to look for the young Elric and still hadn't retuned. Trisha was beyond worried, she wanted to run out and look for her little boy, and she almost did, but she had Alphonse to look after now. She couldn't leave him alone, and she very well couldn't take him outside on a night this cold. He was just three years old and didn't have a warm jacket.

Trisha was rotating between pacing the floor, standing outside looking for any sign of her missing child, or her husband for that matter, and checking on her smallest son to make sure he hadn't disappeared too.

Suddenly there was the rasp of the back door opening, Hoenheim never did fix that. Trisha didn't dare breathe, was that her husband? Did he find Edward?

A small boy with blonde hair and bright golden eyes crept into the room as if he didn't want to wake someone. He looked filthy, his clothes were torn and his face almost completely covered in mud, but to Trisha he was beautiful.

He slowly began to creep up the stairs before he let out his breath which apparently he had been holding. "Shh," he urged in a hushed whisper. "You'll get me in trouble." Who was he talking to? Trisha was the one he'd get I trouble with and Alphonse was lying sound asleep in his bed.

"You're already in trouble young man." Trisha's voice rang out causing the child to freeze where he stood. "Where have you been? You're father and I were worried sick about you."

Edward spun around to face his mother. "Mommy!" He yelled as he ran forward and hugged his mother. His attempts at trying to get out of trouble were cute and all Trisha wanted to do was hug him back but she had to be stern.

"Where have you been?"

"I uhh got lost, but I'm home now mommy!" The the boy smiled as he clenched onto his mother tighter.

"You know the route to the Rockbell's as well as I do, now tell me the truth."

The young boy hesitated a moment before tears began to flow from his golden eyes. "I'm sorry, Mommy! But the kitty was hurt so I had to help it!" he buried his face in his mothers dress, which was now covered in all kinds of dirt, leaves, and was that...blood?

Trisha sighed, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. You can tell me all bout this cat while you're in the tub." She picked up Edward and walked into the bathroom, placed the boy gently on the ground and began filling the bathtub with warm water.

As soon as the tub was full she striped Ed of his shirt and gasped. Clinging to her son was a small, mangy, black kitten with white socks, or at least they should have been white but they were so covered in mud that they were brown. There was blood around it's claws as they dug deeper into Edward skin. He winced as the kitten began to climb up his chest, trying to escape the menace that had taken it's hiding place.

"It's okay, she won't hurt you." The boy assured the terrified cat. He gently pat it's head to calm it. "I told you I found a hurt kitty." He grinned innocently. He was right, the cat was hurt, it's back leg seemed to be broken so the fact that it could climb on her son was...odd.

Trisha smiled sweetly at her son. "Yes you did, but right now I'm more worried about you." She stated as she lifted the cat off of Edward's shoulder and gently placed in on the ground. "Now let's get you in the tub." She stripped the remaining clothes from her son and placed him in the warm water.

He winced as the water touched the few cuts and scrapes she now knew he had, though none were bad enough to need bandages or any cleaning beyond the bath he was about to take. "Can you make sure the kitties okay?" He asked, trying to see around his mother to the kitten now laying asleep on the floor.

"It's fine, Edward, now hold still." Her kind voice was obeyed and she began to scrub the filth from her son, being carful of his injuries. "Now tell me, how did you find this cat?"

Edward thought for a moment as if trying to recall the whole story.

"I was walking back home from Winry's and I heard it going meow" the child then began to meow franticly, apparently mimicking the cats pleas for help. Trisha put a finger of his lips to quiet him.

"Shh, we don't want to wake your brother." It was true, Edward didn't want to wake Alphonse, he just wanted to tell his story, so he continued in a quieter voice.

"I followed the noise and BOOM! There was a kitty. He ran away from me at first but I chased him. I caught him 'cause I was faster." He said, assuming a proud pose.

Trisha laughed, "And then what happened? Just chasing a cat wouldn't keep you out so late."

"He scratched me." He pointed to a small scratch on his arm. "It hurt but I didn't give up. I got him, but..." He trailed off, a sad look coming over his face.

"But?" His mother asked, her voice sounded calm but was laced with worry.

"I didn't know where I was. I couldn't see the road anymore and I was in the big trees and it was dark."

"You were all the way out I the forest!" Trisha gasped at her son, the forest was a good ten miles away from their house. That her four year old son had gotten so lost by simply following a cat scared her.

Edward nodded slowly. "I ran and I tried to find my way back but I fell down a hill." He looked at his mother. "I got booboos, but then I saw Granny's light flashing! I found my way to the road and came back home!" The child nearly leapt from his bath in order to give his mother a hug.

Trisha smiled, Pinako had a lantern out for him? That wasn't a bad idea, maybe she should start doing that. But first she had to find a way to thank Pinako for bringing back her son.

She wiped the last bit of mud from Edward's small body then lifted him from the tub. "Dry off then get to bed." Edward looked at the cat and opened his mouth as if to say something. "I'll take care of him." She rapped a thick towel around him and ruffled his hair. "Now, I want my little adventurer in his pajamas and asleep in half a hour. You think you can handle that?" The young boy nodded before running up stairs to his and Al's shared bedroom. She was sure he'd be asleep before his head even hit his pillow but she'd still go check in a few minutes.

Trisha turned to the cat. It was laying asleep behind their toilet, apparently as tired as her son had just looked, even though HE tried to hide it. This cat used no such tricks, it didn't care if someone thought it was sleepy. She gently lifted the cat before placing the tired, pathetic creature on her lap. "You poor thing, it's no wonder he chased after you, anyone would want to help something as pathetic looking as you." She grabbed a clean rag and put some warm water in the sink before she remembered to drain the bathtub.

She dipped the rag in the water and began to wipe all the mud, dirt, and dried blood off the cat. Over all it seemed all of blood on the cat was her sons, which she was not at all happy about, but as there seemed very little there she let it slide. She then looked at the cats back leg and on deciding it was in fact broken, tightly rapped it in bandages, which earned her a scratch and a few bites from her new feline friend.

She locked the cat in a closet with a warm blanket, some water, and some leftover meat from diner, after all she didn't want it roaming her house. She then cleaned up the bathroom, getting all the mud out of the drain, how did Edward get so muddy? She sighed, she wasn't sure how to punish the child, or even if she should punish him at all, knowing the story behind his disappearance.

Trisha climbed the stairs, checked on Edward who was now laying in his bed, sound asleep, with his hand under his shirt. She didn't know why he slept like that but he did. She quietly crept to his bedside and pulled the blankets over him. "Sleep well my little adventurer, your sidekick is safe and sound." She whispered before kissing his forehead, doing the same to Alphonse, and slipping out of the room.

Why did it feel as if she was forgetting something? Was it something to do with Edward's disappearance? Suddenly she gasped "Hoenheim!"

AN: if anyone wants me to continue this I will. I might even do it if someone doesn't. If I could just find a name for that cat!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! R&R? flames will be used to roast yummy marshmallows and/or Envy.