Alright kitties, here's some more.
Sorry if it's dragging a bit, but I am a sucker for hospital scenes and papa Roy. So here it is!
It was roughly a half an hour into Ed sleeping that the doctor from earlier returned, nodding to him.
"Mr. Elric? A word?"
Roy blinked, surprised. He wondered if he should correct them on what his name was- but that would just mean more paperwork. Besides, he was the kid's legal guardian anyways.
He knew he'd have to talk to the doctors sooner or later, and he cast a quick glance at a sleeping Ed before he was slipping away to follow the doctors, promising himself he'd be quick.
He was taken to a small room where an X-ray film was on the light board. Judging by the collar bone and arrangement of bones, he was looking at an x-ray of Ed's wounded arm.
"We wanted to show you the injuries to his arm before we discussed treatment options."
Roy nodded, unable to take his eyes off the x-ray. The doctor pointed to a small, white solid object on the film. "So this is the bullet. I'm no expert, but it looks like the boy was shot with a round from a 38. And it struck his humerus just below the shoulder, chipping the bone. See this fragment of bone here?" the doctor pointed to a triangular section of bone that'd chipped off from the large bone and was floating in space nearby the bullet.
"Yes."
"This is a partial wedge fracture. He's lucky it's not broken all the way through. If it was, I'd recommend an external fixation with metal rods and pins. Thankfully, it's only in one piece and a relatively small chip. My suggestion would be surgical removal of the bullet, followed by a proper re-alignment of the bone, and immobilizing his upper arm in a brace and sling for several weeks to give the break time to heal. It's not going to be an easy recovery, but it'd be much harder on an older adult than it would be a teenager. Would you be willing to sign off on this?"
"Yes, I would."
"Good. We're hoping to do this while he's still got the painkillers in his system- we don't want anymore anesthesia than necessary. We're going to inject him with a local anesthetic and up his drip before we remove the bullet, re-align the fracture, and then use a local anesthetic to stitch him up and brace."
"Will this be done in an operating room?"
"We were planning on just utilizing a sterile field and removing the bullet in the ER, Mr. Elric."
"So I can stay with him while you do it?"
"If you'd like. Edward will be medicated enough he won't be aware, though. It may be slightly hard to watch."
"I'll stay. I promised him I'd stay." Roy said simply.
The doctor nodded, standing, and Roy followed her out of the room and back to the ER.
Thankfully, Ed hadn't moved or woken since he'd left- Roy knew Ed would've been horribly upset if he'd woken up alone.
A moment after he sat down, Edward shifted and hummed, snuffling and blinking open glassy eyes.
"Dad?"
"How're you doing, Ed?" he was trying to keep the weariness form his voice as he spoke. It'd been one heck fo a day.
"'M fine. What are they gonna do to me? When can I leave?"
"They have to take the bullet out of your arm and re-align the bone. Are you in any pain?"
"No. Just... floppy." Ed's head lolled back and he sighed sadly. "Why can't I just transmute the bullet out?"
"Because you're in no shape to transmute anything right now. You and I both know alchemy takes a clear head, precise thinking, and energy. None of which you have right now."
"Whatever." Ed muttered.
The curtains sequestering them from the rest of the hospital were pulled aside, and the doctor, flanked by an assisting nurse holding several cloths, stepped into the room, smiling warmly.
"How are you doing, Edward?"
"Don't be alarmed, but it appears that fucker shot me." Ed said, unamused.
The doctor raised her eyebrows and stifled a laugh. "Unfortunately, he did, yes. We're going to increase your pain medication so you fall asleep and remove the bullet from your arm, Ed."
Ed sighed. "That stuff makes me wanna hurl." he admitted.
"We'll make sure you don't get sick from it." the doctor was already striding over, quietly adjusting the drip.
Ed sighed, limbs growing heavy and tongue growing thick. He felt warm and tingly all over, like he was floating...
"Edward, can you hear me?"
Ed made no move to respond, simply laying still with his eyes half-closed.
The doctor nodded to the nurse, satisfied. "He's out of it. Let's begin." She pulled up a small metal table on wheels, unfolding the cloth bundles of fabric and revealing a myriad of surgical tools, before she was swabbing Ed's wound and the area around it with an iodine soaked rag.
"You can talk to him, if you like, Mr. Elric. He can't respond, but a familiar voice might do him good." the doctor assured him, setting aside the iodine and moving for the forceps.
Roy held Ed's auto mail hand in his own- Ed's fingers were completely slack, and it was unnerving to see no fire in those golden eyes as they stared absently ahead...
"You're doing alright, Ed." Roy said quietly, not really sure what else to say. He was thankful for the small monitor on Ed's index finger that showed the steady beat of his heart on the monitor to the left. Ed seemed total relaxed, not at all in pain.
Roy had seen carnage on the battlefield before. Bullet wounds, specifically, he'd seen too many of. He'd helped carry his friends and comrades to safety when they'd been shot, seen both crude field extractions and orderly medical tent ones.
Still, watching the doctor dig around Ed's wounded arm with a pair of forceps made his skin crawl, and he could swear he smelled burnt flesh and sand for a moment.
"There." the doctor carefully withdrew he forceps, dropping a small object on the table that made a metallic clang. A moment later her hands were inside Ed's open wound, moving cautiously but expertly around as she felt for the break in the boy's arm.
It only took about two minutes of careful prodding before she removed her bloodies gloves hands from Ed's wound, nodding to the nurse.
"Nadia, please get the portable x-ray. I want to verify it's in place correctly before we brace it."
The nurse nodded, returning a moment later with a small cart on wheels. The woman covered Edward with a heavy led sheet, positioning the small film plate beneath his arm and ling up the machine before nodding to the doctor, who in turn nodded to Roy.
"We'll need to leave the bay for a moment." she informed him, and he followed her outside the curtains. She pressed a button on a remote- there was a loud whirring noise- before there was silence again and they were all ducking back into the bay, the x-ray machine and film being whisked away by the assisting nurse, the doctor following.
Roy sat in the silence, Ed not making a sound- it was unnerving, seeing his fiery alchemist so still and quiet.
It felt like an eternity, but really it was only five minutes later when the doctor returned, this time with a fresh pair of gloves that she carefully pulled on.
"X-ray confirms we're set nice and proper. Now to stitch you up." five carefully placed sutures and a bandage later, the doctor was once again discarding her gloves, pulling out a long, rounded piece of plastic and placing it on Ed's upper arm. It was a pearly white plastic, starting at Ed's shoulder and ending just above his elbow. A smaller piece of plastic, part of the same brace, fit on the inner side of his arm, starting just below his armpit and ending just shy of where his elbow bent. The doctor carefully laced the two pieces together, tying them tight, before she was placing a small loop of fabric around Ed's neck.
It would've looked like the fabric of a medal around the boy's neck, had it not been for the small loop of fabric at the end. The doctor carefully slid Ed's wrist into the loop, so it was holding his arm still in the sling.
She nodded to Roy, who still sat by the boy's side.
"He's been through quite a lot, and he's had a lot of medication." she moved towards the drip, adjusting it carefully. "I'm going to lower the dose slowly over the course of an hour or so. I'd like to keep him overnight at the very least for observation, if you're agreeable to it?"
"Of course."
"It should go without saying he's on light duty for the next 4 to 6 weeks. It's not a complicated break, but it'll take time to heal."
Roy nodded. Still, he only had eyes for the pale and still blond child laying on the cot. Ed's eyes were mostly closed, but he hardly moved- it made icy fingers grab hold of Roy's heart. His Edward shouldn't be so quiet, so still...
"We'll wait for him to come round a bit more and then I'll transfer you to a room for the night." the doctor informed him, pausing and placing a hand on Roy's shoulder, meeting his dark eyes with her own.
"He'll be alright, Dad. He's a strong boy. I know it must be hard seeing him in pain, but he's resilient. I've never seen a child this young with automail before. It must bring back a lot of old memories seeing him like this, but in the grand scheme of things, this will be much less serious than the automail surgery was."
Roy nodded, swallowing. He hadn't been there for Ed's auto mail surgery- He'd told the boy to call him when he was ready for a job as a state alchemist. He frowned- thinking of the time Ed had spent with the Rockbells, sweating, in pain, amidst automail surgery. long nights alone and in pain, too stubborn or guilty to call out to for comfort...
He hadn't been there. He didn't know why he could taste the sour tang of regret in his mouth now, but he definitely could. At the time he'd gone back to his office without a care in the world, knowing Ed would do what he needed to and continuing to selfishly chase his own goals and furthering his own life.
The doctor gave him a wane smile before she was ducking out of curtains that separated their emergency room bay from the next.
Roy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, before he was taking Ed's automail hand in his own.
There was slight movement from the bed- Ed's head moved slightly- his eyes were half open. A low moan escaped the boy.
"Easy, Ed. They just took the bullet out of your arm and braced it. You've got a fracture. They gave you a lot of medicine so you wouldn't feel it- you're gonna be feeling pretty strange for awhile."
A pink tongue darted out of the boy's mouth to moisten chapped lips.
"W-water?" he rasped.
Roy moved to stand and go get him some, but he was stopped by the metal fingers managing to catch hold of his sleeve as he stood, preventing him from leaving.
Roy looked down at the boy, giving him a small smile. "I can't get you water if you don't let me go, Ed."
"Stay. I... want a hug."
Roy froze for a brief moment- it was obviously the drugs talking.
A small, ragged whimper escaped Ed's lips, the tug on his sleeve growing stronger as those cloudy golden eyes started to water.
Drugs talking or not- Ed clearly wanted to be held and comforted. He was just a child.
"Alright. I'll stay, and you'll get your hug. But I can't hug you from the front- your arm is too hurt for me to try that. I'll sit you up and sit behind you, alright?"
"Okay."
Slowly, Roy sat the boy up, nudging him forward on the cot before he was sitting behind the boy, letting Ed sit back and rest against his chest.
He gently placed Ed's automail hand in the boy's own lap, since Ed seemed to be too loopy to move with any coordinated effort at the moment.
His own arm encircled Ed's chest on the side of his automail arm, holding him close, while his other hand moved to pet the stray locks of messy blond hair from the boy's face.
Ed hummed in pleasure, drunkenly swiveling and trying to look behind him, a dumb grin splitting his features.
"Thank you. Nobody has hugged me since mom died."
Roy's hand stilled in Ed's hair for a moment, his heart seizing in his chest. Once again, the regret rose within him like a coiled serpent- why hadn't he been there? Why hadn't he held Ed when he'd needed it before?
"Do you want me to hug you more often, Ed?"
Ed nodded absently, before he was turning, pressing his face into Roy's uniformed chest and letting out a contented sigh.
"Why do I feel so crusty?" Ed mumbled into his uniform.
Roy couldn't help it- he barked a short laugh, continuing to card his fingers through the boy's hair. "That's the medicine. You'll feel better soon, just ride it out."
"I wanna go hoooommmeeee..."
"Trust me, I do too, Ed. But the doctors know best and we're staying here for the night."
"I want my couch." Ed looked up at him petulantly, eyes sad.
"You can sleep on my couch when they send us home, Ed." Us. us. It was strange, but there was that warm feeling in his chest again. Since when had Roy's house become Ed's home?
"'Kay." Ed didn't look pleased by the news, his lower lip sticking out in a childish pout. "But you can't leave. You have to stay and give me hugs."
"I can do that, Ed. Now I need you to close your eyes and get some rest."
"'Kay. Goodnight, Dad." Ed snuffled, wriggling slightly, before his face was buried in Roy's uniformed chest again and he was breathing deeply.
"Goodnight, kiddo. Rest up. You'll feel better when you wake up."