Sorry for lack of updates. I had a friend over for like a week and I can't type on stuff when i have company so.. yeah.. anyhow this should tickle your fancies and jolly your hollies.


~*~EDWARD~*~

Al and I walk into Central Headquarters and head for Mustang's office to get the key to his apartment out of his drawer. I really don't want to stay in his apartment when he's not there but it's a roof over our heads and now we don't have to feel like we're mooching off of Hughes and his family. We've lived pretty nomadically ever since we left Resembool so it makes no difference to us. Just as we are about to leave the office, Hughes walks in and looks up at us.

"Hey, Ed, what are you doing here?"

"We visited Hawkeye the other day and she told us to get the Colonel's spare key and stay at his place."

Hughes' green eyes look at me sadly.

"You don't want to stay with us anymore?"

"It's not that we don't appreciate your company, Mr. Hughes!" Al says, getting overly flustered as usual when he thinks he's hurt someone's feelings. "Honest, we loved staying with you."

"Hawkeye just said that whenever the Colonel's released, he's going to go back home and since we'll have to take care of him anyway, she said it would be best if we did it in his own home." I say with a casual shrug. "I honestly don't want to go there."

"I see… Well, I talked with the Fuhrer about moving Fuery and he said that it would be permitted, but he's not going to take him out of the facility until there is someone to care for him. From what the hospital staff said last I called, they said that Havoc will be released within the next few days and after he fills out paperwork, we'll see if he'll take care of Fuery until Hawkeye is available."

"Good. He'll be better off with them."

"I also was able to get the clearance you needed to access those documents on Sergeant Fuery but they won't be coming in until he is transferred. It's been ordered that all documentation will be transferred to my office once the papers are signed for his release. Oh, and I have something for you."

He motions for us to follow him and takes us to his office where Sheska is furiously copying down some documents. She pulls her head up and pushes her glasses up.

"Oh, good morning Mr. Elric and Mr. Elric…"

"Hey, Sheska."

"Morning, Ms. Sheska." Al says, giving her a bow.

"Sheska, can you please find the key to storage so that I can get the materials that the boys need."

"Yes sir." She says with a salute.

She walks to another room in the office and Hughes turns back to me.

"You said that if you could study Tucker's research then you might be able to help Fuery out, right? Well, I got his personal documents that he was using for assessments and chimera development. It should help you, right?"

"It's no guarantee but having some insight into his crazy mind and what his bio-alchemy can do will definitely be helpful." I say, fingering the key in my pocket.

"Have you gone to see Roy yet?"

"A couple of times… He looked at me the other day."

"He always does that."

"No, he really looked at me. In the eyes without any glazed expression. He was in there and he was watching me."

Hughes looks at me for a long moment and then puts his hand on his hip.

"You mean to tell me that he's been conscious now for almost two days and not a person called me?"

"I… I thought the hospital would have called you?" I say with a nervous laugh.

"Maybe he hasn't really woken up enough for them to notice, Lieutenant Colonel…" Al says with a nervous laugh as well.

We can both tell that Hughes is really pissed for not knowing about the awakening of his friend but Al is right; I only got eye contact but they may not be looking for that and they may be taking his staring for the same staring as before.

"I'll just go visit him today and see if what you boys say is true. It may have just been a hole in his consciousness or something… Either way, all the information is in here and Sheska will give you everything that you need and if you need access to any other sources, just tell me and I'll see if I have clearance for it."

I nod and Sheska comes back with a cart full of books.

"These aren't all the books but Central will only let you look at a cartful of books at a time. Every book has been documented by Sheska and so she knows which ones have been pulled from Tucker's personal library. You have access to all of them but you have to switch them out like a library if you want more than a cartful."

"Is this really allowed, Lieutenant Colonel?" I ask, looking at some of the books that we had looked at when we were looking in Tucker's actual library.

"Like I said, as long as you do it right. I'll call you a cab around and they will take you to Roy's place."

"Thank you, Mr. Hughes!" Al says with a bow of appreciation.

"No problem, Alphonse. I have to get back to work so I'll see you both later."

I wave and Al pushes the cart toward the street.


The cab drops us off in front of the Colonel's apartment and I look up at Al. I've never been to his apartment so I don't know what to expect. If it's anything like his office, then he probably has trash everywhere and papers spread out all over the place. The guy is pretty messy; I never understood how he got all those women he claims he got.

I pull out the key and put it into the lock, turning it and opening the door. The musky smell of a sitting house hits my nose first and I reach for a light. Ironically, it turns on and I look around the living room area of his apartment. To my surprise, everything looks pretty organized and in its place.

"His house is much cleaner than his office, huh, Brother?" Al says, looking down at me.

I nod and walk more inside, dragging my suitcase with me. The kitchen isn't stocked, much to my anger, but I guess when you have as many assignments as the Colonel, you don't keep much in the house. Kind of like this last assignment, how would he know the length of an assignment given to him? I look around a little more and find a bathroom behind the living room under the stairs and then I start to ascend the stairs. I stop though and decide against it.

"Brother?" he asks, setting the book down on the coffee table. "You don't want to go upstairs and find your room?"

"Nah, I don't want to sleep in that stupid Colonel's bed. I might catch something… I'll just sleep on the couch or something."

"Well, you know Brother, he worked a lot of late nights. I'm sure when he got home he didn't have any strength to climb the stairs and most likely slept on the couch too."

I frown at Al but as I think about it, he is right. I sigh and start to ascend the stairs again, looking at the two doors at the end of the stairwell. I pick the one in front of me and find that it is a bedroom. I turn the lamp on that is on the stand next to the door and am surprised again to find this room pretty clean. Then again, if what Al says is true, then he probably wouldn't even step foot in here very often. I throw my suitcase on top of the dresser that is next to the opening to the bathroom and begin to snoop about.

I find all of the Colonel's shirts in the closet hanging up along with his pants and am again surprised at his organizational skills. Maybe he has been right all along and he's just messy at the office because when he gets close to the end he gets more work to do. There is a telephone on the nightstand next to the Colonel's bed and I nod, happy that it is there and in reach.

I go back downstairs and meet Al on the way up.

"Why don't you take a nap, Brother? We have all of these books to carefully look through and we need to be at our best."

I look at the cart of books longingly, wanting to get this over quickly, but Al's right. I'm tired and I guarantee that we will have to visit everyone in the hospital again (per Al) tonight so I might as well get some shut eye.


~*~HAVOC~*~

I haven't had a cigarette in ages and I don't know whether to be happy or sad about it. It kept me busy and made me look cool to the ladies… not that I ever got any but it made me feel good. But ever since we all got captured by Tucker, I haven't been able to smoke and even though I look down at the carton of cigarettes that I had Hughes bring over, I don't know what I want. The fact that I went so cold turkey with them made me not crave them as much but I still have a small inkling. I sigh and look over at Breda, who is still staring at the wall in silence. That bastard screwed up his mind badly…

"Ya know, Heymans, you know that things are bad when your pastime is now a controversial subject for your brain." I say out loud, like the doctors told me to do.

They say that by talking to Breda out loud as if I were conducting a full conversation, it might make him feel better about talking. So far, he hasn't stopped staring at that damned wall. I decide to indulge in my craving and light up a cigarette right in the middle to the hospital. I cough, not used to the smoke yet, and then blow out.

"I saw the Colonel yesterday." I say nonchalantly and hold my head back.

"Colonel?" I hear softly and snap my head up quickly.

"Breda?"

"Mustang…" he says, seeming to be looking elsewhere.

"Yes! Yes, Colonel Mustang!"

"Dog… Dog… Fuery… Colonel…" he says suddenly, his eyes going wide and I can tell he is about to have some sort of attack.

I get up out of my wheelchair and grab him quickly, putting the cigarette out quickly and rocking with Breda.

"Shh, shh… It's alright… Calm down… Don't get too excited, alright?"

"Fuery…"

"He's fine. He's safe and he's fine, I promise you."

"Dog…" he whispered into my ear with the most primal fear I'd ever been able to experience.

"Don't worry… He won't be for long. The Chief and Al are going to fix him and we'll get him back."

The door opens and a nurse walks in with a clipboard.

"We saw his vitals spiking, is he alright?"

"He had a flashback…"

"Were you smoking in here, Mr. Havoc?" the nurse says, putting her hands on her hips.

"Just a little. I was just getting back into an old habit…"

"A bad old habit. It's time for Mr. Breda's bath and so we will need you to please leave the room."

"Sure thing." I look at Breda and rub his shoulders for comfort. "Ms. Chemis is going to give you a bath now, Heymans. Don't get too kinky with her, ya hear?"

As I suspect, Breda makes no movement and I sigh, walking out of the room. I finally got out of that wheelchair and was able to walk around. After some paperwork for me to sign, I'll probably be out of here by tomorrow and back to work soon… the first of the group to get back to normal. Of course, I will never be the normal guy I was before. The doctor said that my vitals were fine as long as I always had something to eat within my grasp. It has to be something that will kind of stay with me like breads… I am about to pass the Colonel's room when the doctor runs out in what looks like a frenzy and I stop to look at him. He is breathing heavily and looks like he has just lost his mind.

"Hey, doc, you okay? Colonel wake up and set your ass on fire?" I say with a chuckle.

The doctor looks at me and then his eyes go wide and he lurches toward me. I roll back, instinctively trying to reach for a gun that isn't at my side and he grabs my arm.

"It… it has a heartbeat… It's alive!"

"Well of course he's alive-"

"Not him… Th-th-the thing in him! It's alive and moving!"

"Okay, calm down Doctor… Just show me what you mean."

The doctor literally drags me into the Colonel's room.

Despite the confusing situation, I get a good look at the Colonel and am happy to see him looking at me with a flicker of recognition and awareness of his surroundings. I smile at him and almost jump for joy when a small twitch of his lips indicate a smile back.

"There." The doctor says, pointing to the Colonel's stomach. "In there…"

"Huh?" I say, looking at his bulging stomach.

I had been warned about it but I try not to look too shocked at the small dome. The Colonel seems insecure and I see his hands fumble to try and cover it up with the sheets. The doctor grabs them and makes his stomach be visible to me.

"No! Listen…" he says, taking his stethoscope from his neck and putting them in my hands. "Put it on his stomach and listen."

I look at the Colonel as he stares at me but I do as the doctor says and I put the end of the stethoscope on Mustang's stomach. I hear the gurgling sounds of the stomach when I hear something else. I focus on the sound and shiver when I hear it.

Thump, thump; thump, thump