It seemed the universe was paying them back for their months of suffering. The house Roy found abandoned had been stockpiled with canned goods and clothes that roughly fit them. From the clothing alone Roy could figure out that a man had lived here with his kids. A girl and boy. The boy's clothes roughly fit Ed, still a size too large. The man's clothes fit Roy to a T.

One of the things that showed how much Ed has been through is that he didn't complain about having to wear kid's clothes. Brightly colored shirts with cute animals made for someone who was probably six years old rather than twelve. Actually, Ed didn't complain about anything anymore. Neither did Roy though. They had both been at the lowest so now everything seemed like an improvement.

The first few days at the cabin Roy spent awaiting for the return of the previous owner. After those initial days though his fear shifted from the previous owner to their kidnappers. They had been free for a total of two weeks, one at the cabin, and one getting from the factory to the cabin. He made sure to cover their tracks in the snow. Doubling back several times in order to confuse anyone pursuing. Using a fallen branch to erase the footprints in other areas. Still, that didn't give him any feelings of safety.

A couple of times he almost told Ed to get ready to leave again. He didn't want to stay somewhere so close to such horrible memories. But he and Ed were far too weak to be moving, they were lucky to have what they found. So each time he thought of leaving he stopped himself and went back to trying to heal and recover.

Ed was asleep for the most part. Whether it was on Roy's back while traveling, or be it in the single bed in the cabin. Roy spent his nights on the couch with blankets and pillows found in a closet. Who knew how old they were but what mattered was they were warm. The cabin overall was warm, almost comfortable. That was good for Ed as he was still having a hard time adjusting to the sudden freedom. He'd wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares. He didn't scream or anything, which was probably the worst part. If he screamed, or sobbed, given some sign to Roy that he was suffering, it'd make his job so much easier. When they were in the cell though if Ed made a sound from his nightmares it meant an extra harsh session, so he learned not to make any sound.

In order to be there for Ed, Roy would stay up late into the night in order to still be awake when Ed woke up. When Ed did wake up he'd sit there with him and do his best to comfort. Roy never needed to comfort anyone before this ordeal, never had a reason too. Thus, he wasn't the best at it; making the situation awkward more than anything. That was around three months ago, now he was much better at knowing what Ed needed and when. Whether it be a reminder of everything he saw being a dream, a shoulder to cry on, or a hug from someone who cared. Roy didn't tell Ed at first, but he found a box of candies in one of the closets. He kept them on hand and when Ed's nightmares got really bad he'd give him some. The chocolate worked to calm Ed down the most, next to hugging. The reminder of home was enough, or the reminder that someone cared.

The dependence Ed had on Roy was becoming concerning too. This once proud young man was just a fragile child now. Ed didn't leave the cabin unless Roy was, and when Roy did leave, the child would press to his side like glue. Ed would jump at the slightest of sounds. Rather than reacting violently to anything, Ed would hide further behind Roy. There was no fight left in him. If Roy was acting as a superior officer, he'd have given Ed a good kick in the right direction by now. He'd have slapped him into sense, get him back into fighting gear. Even if getting him back into fighting gear meant breaking him like glass.

Roy wasn't that man anymore though, at least he didn't think he was. He didn't know how someone would tell if they'd changed, how to measure it. By their actions, by their words, or by how they felt? He found that he didn't want to shove Ed anymore, quite the opposite in fact. When he had first met such a broken child he had yelled at him while he was in a wheelchair. He had shouted for him to get back in the game, to keep moving. He had told him to join the military.

Now he moved at Ed's pace. If the boy wanted to hide behind him because something scared him, okay then. If he wanted to cry after a nightmare, okay then. If he wanted to spend an entire day silent because he was traumatized, okay. Roy kept his eye on Ed, making sure he had what he needed and wasn't in direct distress. His biggest concern, aside from the nightmares, was Ed's new self-destructive tendencies. The boy didn't eat unless Roy made him, sometimes requiring direct motivation in order to even consume the next bite, let alone a whole meal. The next issue was his tendency to scratch at his automail joints. When Roy was changing the bandages of Ed's chest he saw deep, angry, red marks on the kid's shoulder.

"Have you been scratching again?" Roy queried. He made sure to put no confrontation behind his words, if he did Ed would never talk to him.

"A little…" Ed admitted, his voice small and guilty.

"It's okay, I'm not mad. You need to stop scratching at them though, Ed. They are a part of you no matter how you may hate them. They need to be taken care of, you need to be taken care of. You can't go hurting yourself like this, the pain is supposed to be over."

"They itch," as though to prove a point one of Ed's hands reached up to scratch again. Roy grabbed it and pulled it away from the shoulder quickly.

"They itch?" Could they be festering with fever or something of the sort? Maybe they were in trouble after all. Roy thought they could recover here before trying to go anywhere, but maybe there was more urgency than that.

Ed nodded in confirmation. "They itch and scratching helps it."

"Are the ports infected or something? Can you even tell if they are?"

"They aren't. They just itch." It must be something psychological then, at least Roy hoped so. Ed had enough going on in his head as it was but he didn't want to have to leave the cabin just yet because of something like a port infection. Could his ports even get infected? Roy wasn't sure.

"Well next time they itch. Rather than scratching at the port, scratch at your ear instead and pretend it's going away." Ed raised an eyebrow at him, a silent judgement. "Trust me. Just do it."

"I trust you," Ed whispered. Then Ed was hugging Roy on his arm. This was another new thing to Ed that Roy couldn't bring himself to mind. He liked being hugged and hugging a lot more. Something about the friendly contact grounded them both from getting lost in the past.

The last thing that concerned Roy was the distinctive lack of mentioning Ed's brother. He was waiting for the boy to speak about the younger brother. Maybe even just in passing, but there was nothing. Roy knew he had to ask, this wasn't part of something he could ignore. So it was with great trepidation that on the dawn of their 8th day over a can of vegetables, Roy asked. "Are you looking forward to seeing your brother again?"

Ed glanced up from his can, his eyes like those of a deer caught in the light. "I…" Ed bit his lip and Roy could tell right off that he was close to the point of breaking, already. "I…"

"Are you not ready?" Roy kept his tone as neutral as he could without being insulting. It was a fine line he had learned to walk with Edward. Too indifferent and he thought you didn't care, clamming up right away. Too caring and he thought you were too oppressive and would be too scared to answer. Only twice had Roy ever actually set Ed off, and that was well at the beginning of their adjustment to these new versions of themselves.

"I never thought about it," Ed admitted. "I forgot about Al… I forgot about my brother." The tears were there. Roy got up in an instant and was at Ed's side in a moment, hugging the boy to his chest.

"You had a lot to go through," Roy explained. "It's understandable you would need more times before you got your thoughts together."

"How could I forget my little brother?" Ed whispered, horrified in himself. One hand loosely clung to the material of Roy's shirt, the other coming up to scratch behind his ear before settling limply in his lap. Roy managed to calm the boy down eventually, even convinced him to take a nap despite having just woken up. While Ed was asleep Roy had a bit more freedom around the house. Except for the occasional check on Ed, he had the time to do as he wished. Something he felt he sorely needed some days.

Taking care of Edward was hard work, especially when he himself wasn't at his full strength. It required a lot of patience. He had that kind of patience though, and that kind of determination. He felt guilty about what happened to Ed, it was his fault after all. If Edward had never joined the military, then he would never have been put in that position. It was Roy's fault that Edward joined, and so he'd take responsibility for it.

Roy used this period of free time to explore the basement to the cabin, something he previously had left untouched. It was a cluttered room with boxes and crates galore. In one corner were an assortment of farming tools, ranging from watering cans to scythes. Roy whistled softly in appreciation, this place had everything. Some of the boxes had labels of 'spring' and the other seasons listed on them. Opening the boxes, he found some seeds in separate packets, labeled as well as to what type of vegetable they were.

This house was meant to survive in for a long period of time. Maybe even forever, odd. Roy still wasn't sure as to what region he was even in. It could be Xing. He didn't know much about the political situation in Xing, was it bad enough to need houses like these that were dependable of living on their own?

He heard a thud from above that meant Ed was awake. Closing the box flaps he left the basement. The weather had been warming up recently. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to make use of the seeds and farm tools. After all, their supplies wouldn't last forever.

When he got to the top he closed the door to the basement. Ed was sitting up in bed, blinking. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned. Roy smiled at the sight, Ed was such a kid these days. It was cute.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Roy greeted, even though it was probably in the afternoon by this point. They woke up late in the mornings without any form of alarm. They didn't mind since there wasn't really anything to do except sleep. Despite the amount of supplies in the household there was a lack of books or other things to do.

"Mornin'" Ed replied. Climbing down from the bed Ed went over to Roy and hugged him around the waist. Roy hugged him back, knowing the boy needed to know that someone was there.

"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked. He knew Ed didn't, the boy would be sobbing if he had.

"Nope."

"Well that's a first!" Roy congratulated. "It must mean you're recovering. Do you feel any better?"

"When you're here," Ed mumbled, his head buried in Roy's stomach. Roy smiled softly, ruffling Ed's hair. "Sorry," Ed mumbled.

"No need to apologize," Roy replied. "I'm here until you don't need me anymore."