Hey, All. I got inspired to do this fic after reading a whole bunch of Fullmetal Alchemist sickfics, but I had a really hard time to keep it going. I eventually did manage to finish it, but it was a lot sloppier than it could have been. Also, Roy and Ed are way out of character, so please keep that in mind while reading it! That said, on with the story.

Enjoy!

The heavy darkness of the night crashed down on him, startling him as he was pulled from the gentle embrace of sleep. Pushing himself up on one elbow, and rubbing his eyes with his spare hand, he glanced at the alarm clock on his side table. Two AM, it read.

He slumped back down a bit, not knowing what had woken him, but wanting to go back to sleep anyway. He snapped his eyes open fully once again, however, when the sound which had woken him repeated itself.

A quiet sound of wood being knocked against, with what sounded like metal, slowly getting louder as the person outside his apartment knocked on the door louder each time, although it was still rather quiet, even considering it was coming through two rooms before it reached his ears.

Roy groaned quietly as he sat up in bed, taking a moment to reorient himself, and blink his eyes into focus more, before sliding his legs off the bed, onto the cold floor, and shuffling out to see who was knocking at his door in the middle of the night.

As a colonel, it had been some time since he had been roused from his bed for a sudden emergency needing the attention of soldiers. He flicked the switch of a lamp in his living room, turning a low light on, and yawned loudly, before crossing the last few steps to his entrance area, and reaching for the door handle.

The light from the living room behind him gave only a gentle backdrop of light, and the person in the hallway outside his door was still in mostly shadows, but Roy could easily recognize who it was, and snapped into focus. He couldn't have been more shocked if it had been the Furher himself knocking at his door at two in the morning.

Shifting from foot to foot in the low light of the moon, which shone into the apartment building's hallway from a window a couple feet up, was Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Fullmetal, what are you doing here?" Roy murmured quietly, almost to himself. He opened the door further, and gestured with his hand to get inside.

Edward walked in hesitantly, stopping in the small entrance and glancing back at Roy, who closed the door. The Flame Alchemist shivered slightly as the chilly air from the outside hall came in. He was shocked to see that Edward was only in his pajamas, no jacket over his short sleeved shirt. His hairs was loose and tangled around his head, not done up in its usual braid either.

As Roy walked past Edward to turn on the brighter living room lights, he still tried to comprehend how Edward, as oblivious as he could be, could have decided that it was okay to walk the two blocks between his dorm and Roy's apartment, in the middle of the night, in October. Not to mention the fact that he had walked over to Roy's apartment, again, something he would never do of his own volition, and, again, in the middle of the night.

He must be freezing, he thought, turning back around to look at Edward, who was still standing in the small entrance. The full light of the living room, however, enabled Roy to see his subordinate more clearly. And, at the sight of the boy's flushed cheeks, and the light layer of sweat on his face, even though he should have been chilled to the bone, everything seemed to click into place.

To check his theory, Roy's hand shot out, landing gently but firmly on Edward's forehead. The blond whimpered slightly at the touch, but leaned into it. Roy drew his hand away after a second, shocked at the heat he felt there. The boy's fever was way too high for his liking.

"Ed, you're sick," he said dumbly, subconsciously switching from the formal title to the boys nickname. "You should be at home, in bed. And where's Alphonse, anyway?" He highly doubted that the more practical younger brother would have allowed Edward to go out in the middle of the night while he was sick.

"He's checking a possible lead in another town," Ed said, his voice quiet and scratchy. Roy himself winced at how it sounded as it came out. "He won't be back for another few days, at least, and I don't have any idea how to reach him, or where he might be." By the end of his sentence, Ed was almost talking in a whimper.

"Uhh..." Roy hesitated for a few moments. He was unsure of how to deal with Edward on a normal day, and he had absolutely no idea what to do with him when he was acting unlike himself. The only experience Roy had with children was with the Elric brothers, and Ed could hardly be called a child, even if he did act immaturely a lot.

"Ed, come sit down," was all he could manage to think of. He reached out and grabbed Edward's arm, pulling him forward gently. Edward stumbled forward a bit, before his feet caught up with the rest of him, and he trudged slowly to the couch in the living room, Roy's hand on his arm the entire time.

The colonel pushed Edward's shoulders down until the boy bent his knees and sat down on the couch, immediately sinking into the cushions, laying his head back, and closing his eyes.

"Fullmetal, why are you here? You should be in bed, at home." Roy repeated, crouching down to be closer to the boy's height. "If you needed help, you could have called the office tomorrow, and someone would have come over. You most likely made yourself worse by walking over in the cold. And more importantly, why didn't you put a coat on?" He snapped his mouth shut when he realized he was ranting, and he was starting to raise his voice slightly in frustration.

Edward opened his eyes wearily, then closed them again, shrugging his shoulders as a small tremor passed through his form. He was still sweating, but now he was shivering too.

Seeing that that was all the answer he was going to get, Roy stood up and walked into the bathroom, rummaging around in there for a few minutes, before coming out with a plastic cup full of water in one hand, and a couple pills in the other.

He poked Edward's shoulder with a finger of the hand holding the pills, and when Edward opened his eyes, he held them out. "These will help lower your fever," he said.

The blond held out a hand and accepted the pills, shoving them into his mouth, and reaching for the glass of water to wash them down with. Roy watched to make sure they were swallowed, then took the cup back, placing it on the coffee table in the middle of the room as Edward closed his eyes once again.

The apartment consisted of three rooms. The kitchen and living area was one big room, kitchen on the left, and living room on the right. The couch was positioned as a divider, with a coffee table in the middle, and a recliner chair kitty-corner to it. The other half of the apartment was split into a bedroom and a bathroom, both of which had doors leading off from the main area. There was a closet over in the wall against the entrance.

Roy then went over to the closet, pulling an extra blanket and pillow from the top shelf. He walked back over to the couch and plopped the pillow down on one end, putting the folded blanket on the coffee table next to the cup, which was still half full of water.

Roy leaned down and tapped Edward on the shoulder, causing the blond to open one eye.

"Ed, lay down, go to sleep. You need it." Roy decided to put aside his questions for now, in favor of getting both Edward and himself to sleep.

Edward glanced over at the pillow Roy had placed there, then started to slowly lay down, lifting his feet up on the couch as he did. Roy knelt down next to the couch, unlaced the boots, and pulled them off Edward's feet.

The young alchemist closed his eyes with a sigh as his head sank into the pillow, but his peace was interrupted a money later by another shiver coursing through his form.

Roy stood back up once again, grabbed the blanket from off the coffee table, shook it out, and draped it over Edward, tucking it in around the boy. Edward let out a quiet hum of appreciation.

Straightening up, Roy bent one hand down to touch Edward's forehead again. It was still extremely warm, and he just hoped that the medicine would do it's work.

"Goodnight, Ed," he whispered.

"Night. And thanks," Ed responded, the last part almost indiscernible.

Roy smiled, before heading off to his own room, and climbing into bed. He didn't know what had driven Edward to seek him out in the middle of the night when he was sick, and he knew that he had no experience with kids, especially this one. He did, however, have quite a bit of experience with sick people.

He had always been the one to take care of Riza when she had been sick, while Roy was apprenticing under her father. She would never take care of herself properly, and her father hardly ever noticed that she was even sick. Also, many people had been sick throughout his military career, especially during the war.

Quickly passing by the thought of that time in his life, Roy focused back in the matter at hand.

He was aware that Edward had not once insulted him, or been his usual rude self. It wasn't too surprising, considering the kid was sick, but it was a nice change. Roy smiled at the thought, knowing that Ed being sick would give him a lot of teasing material, but knowing full well that he would never use it. He wasn't *that* cruel.

Roy drifted off to sleep, sure that he would be able to handle everything Ed threw his way. He didn't know how much that would soon be tested.