Disclaimer:I own neither Criminal Minds nor Fullmetal Alchemist. Which, by the way, makes me very, very sad.

I don't know why, but I'm not a big fan of this chapter. I was torn with whether or not to actually post it, but here you go, with no guarantee it will stay. I hope you like it. More soon though probably not until after Thursday. Exam week is no fun at all.

Chapter 10

Hotch escorted Edward back into the room where everyone else was waiting. He immediately collapsed into an empty chair with his head in his hands. Reid stepped in front of him, as if to shield his trembling body from the other eyes in the room.

"Come on, Edward. It's been a long day," Ed looked up at him with glassy eyes and nodded. Without another word Morgan, Reid and Edward filed out of the room and back towards the black jeep. No one spoke during the ride.

Edward was tense beside him, Reid could feel it. There was something going on with this kid's body and it did not seem pleasant. He flashed Morgan a worried glance via the rear-view mirror. Morgan's forehead creased considerably as he parked the car outside his apartment building.

Once inside Edward made his way quickly into the shower again with another set of borrowed clothing. When he emerged he was no longer trembling but, his face was emotionless.

"Edward," Morgan said, slowly.

Edward spun towards him, "What?"

"I need to take a look at that arm of yours."

Ed froze and grabbed his left arm; the one that was causing him all the pain.

"That cut looked like it might have been becoming infected," Reid added and pulled a chair out for Ed to sit down at the old mahogany table. Ed sighed with relief and rolled up his sleeve.

Reid unwrapped, the surprisingly clean, bandage. Unbeknownst to him Ed had transmuted it clean after he showered.

"It's healing nicely," Reid smiled and sprayed some antiseptic onto the shallow wound. Ed frowned, he felt similar now as he a little after automail surgery, but not nearly as bad. He sighed as he recalled the pain and fever that accompanied automail surgery.

"How do you feel?" Morgan asked. "You gave us quite a scare when you collapsed earlier."

Ed frowned again, "Sorry about that. I think I'm fine now."

"Just take it easy and be sure to tell us if there's something wrong," Reid smiled. "There is nothing we can do to help you if you don't talk to us."

Edward stared absently at his right hand.

Morgan and Reid exchanged worried glances.

Edward stood up from the table abruptly, "I'm leaving."

"Pardon?" Reid said, automatically.

"I'm not staying here anymore. I'm going to go find out if that bastard is still alive here." Edward slammed his hands down on the table. "And then I'm going home."

"By 'that bastard' I'm guessing you mean your father?" Morgan said calming, stepping in Edward's only path towards the door.

"Yeah."

"Well, you're staying here even if you don't like it," Morgan replied. "It's our job to find your father. You've never even been here before, from what you tell us. You wouldn't be able to find him and you wouldn't have any place to stay. Besides you're in our custody, this isn't simply some friendly housing agreement."

Edward glowered and sat back down heavily.

"We need to talk," Reid said as they all settled around the table.

"'Bout what?" Edward huffed.

"That man, Barry, he called you "Fullmetal"," Morgan said.

"And you responded as if that was not unusual." Reid added. "What is fullmetal?"

"I am," Edward mumbled. "It's not unusual, it's my name."

"Please explain," Morgan prompted.

"It's the name given to me by the military," Ed explained, quietly; unsure of whether he should really be telling these people this stuff.

"Military," Reid repeated.

&&&

Barry leaned back in his chair and smirked at the black haired woman.

Prentiss glared back at him, "Anything you'd like to tell me, Barry?"

"Why must we always talk about me?" he grinned in a way that made shivers run up her spine. "Where's that Edward fellow? We have history. I'd rather to talk to him."

"History?" Prentiss asked, having tried to murder someone hardly seemed like history. But maybe in this man's twisted mind murder was as close to someone as you got.

"You want to know what Fullmetal's weakness is?" Barry sang, bringing Prentiss out of her thoughts, momentarily. She crossed her arms across her chest, Nuts. This guy was absolutely nuts.

"He needs that shiny right arm of his or he's absolutely useless. All he can do is run around and scream!" Barry laughed loudly and grinned proudly up at Prentiss again.

"I think that's enough," Prentiss said and shot a glance towards the mirrored glass.

&&&

"You're a... child soldier?" Reid asked, slowly.

"Uh... I wouldn't really put it that way," Edward said. "But I am the youngest Al— member they've ever accepted at central. The testing was hard but I made it."

Reid didn't understand the pride in Edward's voice, "Central? And you're a part of the military?"

"Yeah."

"Then why can't we find any record of you in any system?" Morgan asked.

Edward shrugged, "Dunno. There were lots of records on me at some point, maybe just not here."

"Maybe you should just go to sleep," Morgan rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Get some rest."

Ed nodded and disappeared into the hallway but winced and sagged against the wall with another jolt of pain. He had no choice. He was going to have to take off his automail and try to figure out what was wrong. It couldn't be that hard, Winry did it all the time. But she had wrenches and screwdrivers and training...

Ed sighed and pushed himself off the wall. He wished more than ever that Al was there. He would be all worried and brotherly. He missed that. He wondered if Al got his body back, if he was alright, if he was happy. If Al was happy he didn't mind being stuck here forever, after all that was equivalent exchange and he was willing to pay any price for his brother's happiness.

Ed sat down heavily on the bed and stared up at the gray ceiling. He tried to ignore the pain as jolts of electricity periodically jumped from his automail limbs into his body. He braced himself; taking off automail, while not nearly as painful as attaching it, was not fun.

TBC... soonish... please review. :)