The weeks slowly passed as Ed studied, and Al helped him out and watched from the sidelines. During the entire time, Roy kept an extremely close eye on them, but Ed was not deterred. He knew eventually he would get a chance to escape—and that Saturday night, three weeks from the night Roy found the two on his porch, his chance came.

"Ed! Al! I'm going to the store to pick up a few things, will you two be okay alone?" Roy grabbed his trench coat from the rack and glanced at the two boys sitting in the living room by the ever-present fire.

Al looked at Ed. "Yeah." Ed's eyes didn't leave the pages of the book he was reading.

"And you won't try anything, correct?"

"Yeah."

Roy sighed, not liking the lack of response Ed started giving him. Rather than their usual banter, Ed had gone silent and cold towards Roy, and he didn't know why. Not that Roy wasn't cold himself… it was just unnatural for Ed. Then again, he'd been reading a lot, and Ed was always quiet and enthralled when he read.

Shaking his head, Roy made a mental note to talk to him about it later, and then he stepped out.

"I'll be back soon. Don't do anything stupid."

He closed the door and started down the street, breathing in the delicate smell of the night. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and though there was a chill in the air, the average jacket could easily keep it out.

Roy let out a contented sigh and walked until he got to the local general store, which was just a few blocks away, and went inside. He only needed six or seven items, so this wasn't going to take very long, thank goodness. He wasn't willing to leave Ed alone for too long yet.

Then again, Al was there, and he really liked Roy. He would somehow convince the older Elric to stay. He had for the past three weeks, anyways. After Roy had researched their names and tried to find their families, he figured out they were orphans, and had no living relatives. He had heard some talk of a 'Winry' and a 'Granny' but anytime Roy pressed the subject, Ed wouldn't respond, and Al would be shut down by a glare. The same with thing with automail. Roy was convinced it was human transmutation, but every time he mentioned that, Ed would insist they were lost in a train accident—the same one that took his mother's life and left him and his brother alone. He wouldn't speak of the father.

Roy grabbed his groceries and left the store, headed for home. He'd barely even realized he was shopping, as he had been too deep in thought. There were probably some items he could have saved a few extra cens on, but he didn't really care. He was exhausted and frustrated. All he really wanted to do was go home and sleep.

Roy heard a soft rumble, and growled to himself.

"Sure, why not? Rain. Rain sounds lovely." He rolled his eyes. "And now you're talking to yourself, Mustang. Genius."

"Mustang-san! Mustang-san!"

Roy jerked at the panicked voice of Alphonse Elric, and he squinted in the darkness to see the young blonde running for him, waving his arms madly to get his attention. Roy sprinted ahead to meet him.

"What's wrong, Alphonse?" he asked.

"Ed ran away! I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen! He said he was going to leave and come back for me when I was ready!"

Roy wanted to slap himself. Edward, you are so stupid! So, so stupid!

"Come on, Alphonse, we'll get you home and then I'll ask my Lieutenant to keep an eye on you while I search for Edward." Roy started for the house at a brisk walk—one that made little Al run to keep up with.

As they made their way, Roy's mind was practically buzzing with enraged thoughts.

You, Edward, are in so much trouble, I'm just about to take your automail leg, too! You are grounded for at least a week—no, two weeks! And no library privileges! And I will make you drink milk every morning for a week!

Before Roy knew it, he was standing on his porch and fumbling with his keys and rain started to fall from the sky.

He threw the door open and stormed into the kitchen, dropping the groceries on the floor. He snatched the phone from the hook and dialed Hawkeye's number. If only she let him use it for un-work-related business, too…

"Hello?" Riza's voice came over the wire.

"Hello, Lieutenant. I need to ask a favor of you."

"Yes, sir."

"Would you come by and keep an eye on…" Roy stopped suddenly. No one at the office, save Hughes, knew about Ed and Al. They had been Roy's little secret, and he didn't want it blown yet. If anyone else in the military found out about Ed's…little problem… and the kids' amazing alchemy. He knew he could trust Riza, but…

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, the matter seems to have handled itself. Sorry for disturbing you." Roy hung up the phone and turned to Al. "You'll stay put for me, right?"

Al nodded. "But why can't you call Hughes-san?" he asked curiously.

"He's with his wife on vacation right now. He won't be home until late tomorrow night." Roy headed for the door, storing his gloves in his pockets. "You wait, and I'll be right back, understand?"

Al nodded again.

Roy opened the door and stepped out into the chilly night. The storm was beginning to pick up, and he couldn't help but think, See, you idiot, this is why you're supposed to stay inside.

Roy stopped. He could stay. He could just tell Al that Ed was able to take care of himself, and he could let Ed go. Did he really want to get wet for the second time that month for these two little brats who'd caused him nothing but trouble?

Well, maybe not nothing but… There was the amazing alchemy, and the opportunity Ed provided. Then there had been the laughs when Al accidently spilled Roy's flour canister, and Ed had declared flour war. There was also that one time Ed was on the chair reading, and Al crawled up onto Roy's lap and snuggled away by the fire, drifting off to sleep. Ed had looked so… jealous then. Like he wanted that, too.

Roy scoffed, but started down the road, searching the allies for the bright red coat Ed had made himself a few days back. But even bright red could be missed on a night like tonight.

"Edward!" he called out, hoping that wouldn't give Ed a chance to run, but rather to return to Roy where he belong—was supposed to be because he was in trouble.

You don't care. Roy shook his head. You don't care. You don't, you don't, you don't!

Roy took off running as the rain came down harder. The quicker he got out of the weather, the better. But his search took him nearly all to the way to the edge of Central before he heard it. A scream. A pained scream just a few blocks away.

"Edward…?" he wondered, curious as to why the boy was screaming. A small bit of worry started to gnaw at his stomach, but he forced it away, once again telling himself he didn't care.

He turned a corner and saw a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from behind a trash can. Roy slowly approached it, hearing a soft gasp and a grunt. Hesitantly, he poked his head around the can, wincing when he saw little Ed, curled up and trying to dry while holding his automail arm and—wait, what?
"How did you get your arm back?" Roy shouted, making Ed jump three feet in the air and slam himself back against the wall to keep away. "Did you crawl on my countertops to reach it? Or did you transmute something in my house?"

Ed stammered for a response, too shocked Roy had found him to answer. "I—none of your business, Mustang!"

"Excuse me?" Roy grabbed Ed by the arm. "It's my house and my rules you've broken! Of course it's my business!"

"Well, it's my arm!" Ed screamed back.

Roy laughed bitterly, giving the arm a slight jerk. "Not for long it isn't! And do you want to know how long I'm going to punish you for this?"

"You can't punish me! You're not my dad!" Ed tried to pull away, but made a face and stopped resisting.

Roy heard a creak, but ignored it and got down close to Ed's face. "I don't have to be your dad to punish you, kid. You're still under my charge and living in my house."

"I don't even want to live in your house! Let me go! Now!" Ed jerked away again, and this time, Roy took notice of the noise.

"Edward, what is that noise? Is that your arm?"

"Shut up, I'm fine!"

SMACK!

The palm of Roy's hand fell neatly against Ed's face, clipping it. Ed let out a little squeal, trying to bite it back, and then he whipped his head in Roy's direction, pure fury written in his eyes. Roy opened his mouth to speak again, but then his hand went warm. Something stick was seeping into his glove, and he switched his hold on Ed's arm to pull away his hand and look at it.

He held in the gasp, eyes widening. His glove was stained red.

"Edward, are you bleeding?" Roy knelt down, starting to pull off Ed's coat.

"No! I'm fine, geeze, leave me alone!" Ed struggled to get away, but Roy held him in place and pulled off the boy's upper clothing.

The flesh around Ed's automail was torn, and the arm was put into the port in a twisted way, sparks spitting through the metal joints. Blood was starting to trail down Edwards chest, and his arm was already pretty much covered.

Roy slowly lifted his eyes to meet Ed's. The anger was gone. His earlier decided punishments forgotten. Having to run through the rain the farthest thing from his mind. And any initiative vanished.

"Edward, I…" He shook his head, mouth agape. What was he supposed to say? Other than… those words. Those cursed words. Making him wound his pride.

Roy looked at the tears starting to form in Ed's eyes. Those were from pain. He'd made the boy cry, and not just any boy. The boy. Edward Elric. The boy who never cried, even when he had a perfectly good reason to.

"I'm sorry."

It was simple, no doubt, but Ed's eyes registered shock for a moment before returning to their hateful glare. Roy tenderly removed the automail limb, and then picked Ed up off of the ground, carrying his precious cargo back towards the house.

"Where are you taking me?" Ed snarled. "After I got my arm back, I fixed your stupid rug!"

Roy didn't respond. He didn't want to tell Ed they were going to Roy's house because… Roy just wanted Ed. He was unsure why, and though he tried to convince himself it was just Ed's potential, he knew that wasn't it. He just felt… love towards this little boy. Or maybe, at least, a glimpse of what love was supposed to feel like.

A\N: Yay! Parental!RoyEd bonding moment! So, I'm kind of worried Roy was getting too soft, too fast… what do you guys think?

EXPLANATIONS!

The scream Roy heard was Ed trying to take off his automail limb and failing miserably. The torn flesh was from the weight the automail added pulling on his muscles and skin. I remember Pinako talking about 'recovery' and at first I thought, 'recovery from the surgery. Makes sense.' And then I started thinking about it on a deeper level (cause I'm weird like that) and I realized, they're always talking about how heavy this automail is, and if your body (especially the body of a little boy) is used to have an ARM of ARM WEIGHT, would the sudden heaviness of the metal put strain on your muscles and skin? I don't know, but that was the logic I came up with. Ed had recovered, but then Roy took away his arm for three weeks (this also explains why he didn't just fix the rug in the first place, thank you GothicRomantic99 for pointing that out!) and now that it's back, it's hurting him because he didn't attach it properly and gave himself so recovery or rest.

Yeah, I'm not sure if Pinako is related to Ed or not. Pinako and Ed's Dad (I hate trying to spell his name) were drinking buddies, but I don't think they were related… I'm not sure. It fit the story this way, and I didn't really know, so I just went with it!

Reviews welcome! :D

Also, not sure if I got this in my first chapter like I normally do... but... I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! AT ALLL! JUST THE PLOT BUNNIES!