So, this is a short one, but the next one is most likely going to be pretty long, so please enjoy and please keep reviewing!

Part ten: Mentoring

Ed was finally allowed to use his wheelchair without having Dad or Al pushing it. Yes, it stung a little and his back was protesting the movement slightly, but freedom of movement was great. And the new automail was better. It made using a normal wheelchair easier, because his arm was a bit more flexible and therefore made his moving about a lot more fluent.

...Of course, Dad had insisted on lifting him into the wheelchair after they got out of Dad's new car. There was a separate parking lot outside the train station reserved for the military. It had to do with how those that had their own cars were easily sent to different cities, and having their cars available for when they returned was very practical. That way they wouldn't need to send officers with military cars just to pick them up.

Ed liked the new car. Ling and his bodyguards, Fu and Lan Fan, were going on foot so as to not seem too suspicious.

"There you are!" Ling suddenly said cheerfully to their right, making Ed's heart jump in his throat because that idiot Prince had not been there half a second ago!

"There's another lesson for you to learn, Ling," Dad said calmly. "If you don't want to have your presence known too much, then you need to stop giving everyone heart attacks every time you meet them. Gasps and yelps from those around you won't help your invisibility. Blending in with the crowds means not disturbing them."

Ed was slightly annoyed by their new guests. He had been looking forwards to them having Dad for themselves, and now there was this trio of Xingese freeloaders. This trio that had already guessed that Al didn't have a body because of their freaky thing concerning "I can read some flow that you can't so he doesn't have that flow of chi and why is that?"

...However, Dad had told them that that was none of their business and that he would not immediately trust a stranger who is already an illegal immigrant that threatened to kill his family.

...And if they kept asking things like that, then they would be staying in a tent in the garden instead.

Basically, Dad was awesome and Ling was an annoying kid with a freakishly adult face because apparently he was fifteen too. Fu and Lan Fan were okay once they stopped being all stabby and do-not-insult-the-Prince-y, even if they were in obvious need of knowing what normal people were like. He was surprised by Lan Fan's shyness, considering that whole stabby-when-you-insult-the-Young-Lord-thing of hers.

And all of this gave Ed a strong feeling that Ling seriously needed some guidance or he will indeed get himself arrested or killed.

...Basically, he needed Dad to achieve his goal and save his clan.

...And to feed him because this idiot Prince didn't seem to actually have any money, only a bottomless stomach.

Which was probably why he put his hands together and bowed at Dad. "Yes, Coach."

Ed sighed and rolled his eyes, earning a threatening glare from Lan Fan under her mask, from where she had seated herself on top of the garbage bin in the driveway.

"We're letting you eat our food and stay in our house while giving your employer guidance so that he doesn't get himself killed, so just stop with that stabby-face," Ed told her sternly, before looking up at Dad. "Could we just get inside, Dad? I wanna check the house out."

Dad sighed and nodded, walking towards the front door and unlocking it. Al was already taking their suitcases and Ed had his hands full with manoeuvring the wheelchair. The new house was pretty cool. What was essentially the ground floor, was actually the first floor because the house was built on the bottom of a hill. That meant that the three main bedrooms and the largest bathroom, the one with the bath, were located on the second floor, the first floor contained the living room, kitchen, another bathroom, this one with only a shower as well as the toilet and sink, and the ground floor, or basically the basement, contained the library and the guest bedroom, while there was a door leading out into the fairly big garden where the hill came to an end and was therefore flattened out. The stairs weren't too steep either, because the ceiling wasn't that high, but Ed didn't really mind that part. After all, not having steep stairs made it easier to transmute them so that he could use the Fracturer and a normal wheelchair without much difficulty.

And so the three of them went inside the house, their guests, or tag-alongs, trailing behind them, Ling suddenly opening a door to his left, smiling. "This is a really nice room, I'll take this one."

"No, you won't," Dad said calmly. "That one belongs to Ed... Actually, you three are staying in the guest bedroom two floors down. Seeing as how you should learn not to be a prince in this country so as to stay invisible, I think it would do you well to use the smallest bedroom. You're guests, that means the guest bedroom. Winry's coming here in a few days, so she'll be taking Al's room as she's family. Besides, we don't want to draw attention to your stay here. You're far leas conspicuous in the basement. Now you three go downstairs and take a shower, you haven't had one since Rush Valley. I'll bring you some clean clothes. For all three of you."

Ed noticed their three Xingese guests pause in horror. "There's no need for you to go to such trouble, General," Fu said, obviously trying to find a way out of this horrible concept called "casual Amestrian clothing."

"You need to learn to blend in with the crowd. Wearing Amestrian attire will make it seem like you've spent a long time here and thereby remove suspicion of you three being illegal immigrants." He took out his notebook and his pen, looking at them with a raised eyebrow. "I want all three of you to write down your measurements, we'll be transmuting your clothes for you. And don't worry, we know how to make casual clothes that don't compromise your movements should you need to be ninjas. So Lan Fan will go first because waiting is worse than just getting it over with quickly." He looked to the young girl. "Please excuse me, Miss, I can understand perfectly why you're probably not too comfortable about something like this. I expect that you're not in the mood for wearing a dress?"

Ed had a feeling that she was bright red underneath her mask. Which was why Dad walked over to her before putting his hand on her shoulder, his look softening as he sighed. "You should know that you're not a ninja in this house, so just let yourself be a teenager. I'll burn the note once I've read through it. I know it seems creepy, but believe me, I'm an officer and I just figured that you'd rather have someone who is entirely practical about it, than a couple of teenage boys."

She paused for a few seconds, grabbed the pen, wrote it down quickly, and Dad immediately ripped the page out after looking at it for half a second. Three seconds later, Dad had snapped the fingers of his now gloved left hand after throwing the note in the air. "There, I'll have your clothes ready in about five minutes." Then he handed the notebook to Fu and Ling.

"You do anything untoward to my granddaughter..." Fu said threateningly.

"...Then my assistant will shoot me and my sons punch me with good reason. I'm only trying to help you."

There was an awkward air in the entire hallway, before Ling grinned and bowed again. "Thank you for your generosity, Coach."

Roy had to say that for Ed being fifteen, there were far, far, far too many sponge baths.

And yet here they were again, Ed giving the new bath a go with his broken leg elevated while Roy scrubbed him under the left armpit.

...While still smiling because there was no way to keep entirely professional about it when Ed was sitting there, shaking with silent giggles.

...Because Ed was ticklish.

There were a total of three people besides Ed who knew this. Roy, Al, and Pinako because someone had needed to help Ed out after the explosion last year. Roy hadn't been able to do it himself because of his halfway mutilated left palm that had been slashed open repeatedly plus his broken right collarbone and impaled shoulder. And so it had been very logical for the seasoned surgeon who knew Ed well to perform the task until Roy's left hand was healed.

...Roy himself had needed help too, meaning that he hadn't been entirely comfortable with having a suspicious and fairly grumpy Pinako Rockbell do it, and had therefore been assisted by Hawkeye. Anyone else from the team would have made things far too awkward in the office and criminal organisations that may or may not pay the nurses to drug them made it a bit hard to trust them.

And Roy and Hawkeye had never spoken about it since.

Roy looked down at Ed's face, chuckling silently at the giggling child in front of him. Having to give sponge baths to Ed might be something he'd rather not have to do, but he still enjoyed watching the childish glee in Ed's eyes at the present time.

The thing was, Ed was strictly speaking able to do this himself, what with his automail arm in order. But the cuts still stung and Roy wasn't really interested in making Ed's pain worse by not helping him out.

"I'm glad you like the house," Roy told him, smiling at the wheezing laughter that moving on to Ed's chest brought. The wounds were healed enough by now that Ed's shoulder and chest didn't need to be covered by the bandages wrapped around him. It was enough with the large wound dressings that they had transmuted to cover the cuts in the best possible way. Roy would wrap a few bandages around his shoulder when they were done just in case because Ed used it so much when moving around in the wheelchair.

"Yeah, the house is great..." Then he looked at Roy, frowning. "And you're not gonna go all "you're staying behind here later today because we shouldn't drag you into this business while you're in a wheelchair", you hear me?"

Roy sighed, looking at the determination in his son's eyes. "Ed, it's dangerous and we don't know what we're getting into."

Ed shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest, trapping Roy's hand. The last part was most likely so as to stop Roy from tickling him to get Ed in a better mood. "Dad, I'm the one they want and need to keep alive. I'm the one who's the most safe."

Roy's eyes fell upon the green-ish, faintly purple bruising that still remained around Ed's throat, and his stomach clenched. He sighed heavily, reaching out with his free left hand and gently brushed his fingers over the bruises, hoping that Ed would understand what he meant. "Ed, I don't want you around them."

"Well, I don't want you around them either! And they only kept you alive because they wanted to use you against me to make me behave! If they come and decide that killing you is better, then I'd rather be right there to stop it before it can happen! Because if Al and the team's there too, then that..." Ed looked down, before leaning his cheek on Roy's hand. "Dad, we both know full well that if they take you hostage, then I'm gonna give myself up... So at least let me be there to do so before they can hurt you. If they wanna grab me, then I'm in a damn wheelchair and I don't have a chance anyways... So don't... Don't make me live with the guilt of getting someone I care about killed, because I don't want any more of that."

Roy wanted to yell at him. To tell him to stop being so stupid.

...But he knew that Ed was also right. If he was with them so that they could protect him, then that was better. But he felt like hitting something at the thought of his son planning on giving himself up without a second's doubt so as to save them. Roy knew, however, that Ed wouldn't change his mind. He knew that it would be pointless to stop him.

...Because Ed was too much like himself. And telling Ed off would make Roy into a hypocrite. It would only serve to make defiance a part of the equation, and that could be even worse. He needed Ed to listen to him should everything go to hell. And so Roy leant over the edge of the bath and pulled Ed into an awkward hug. "...I just don't want to lose you, Son."

"Right back at you, Dad..." Ed snuggled into the crook of his neck. "Right back at you."

Roy hugged him tighter as realisation hit him.

...Ed also wanted to come so that he could keep his promise to Roy. Because this was potentially exactly the sort of situation where Roy was likely to lose his control.

He closed his eyes and kissed Ed's cheek, his stomach clenching.

...Because they really had no idea yet as to what the rest of the team had dug up.