Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.


Chapter twenty-two

Roy walked hand-in-hand with Ed into East HQ. They walked into the office that Hughes was located at, and was surprised to find that the rest of his old team were there as well. Hawkeye took his and Ed's coats as they stared at the familiar faces. Havoc grinned and waved at him, as did Breda and Fuery, while Falman saluted. "What are all you doing here?" Roy asked, a slight smile on his face.

"Well, apparently they needed to set up a team quickly, and as we were being moved between departments until they know where to place us, they figured that it was a good idea to put us here to assist the team from Central. Hughes may also have requested that he'd work with officers that he knew," Breda explained. "So how's family life?"

"Daddy's adopting us and will be getting a letter tomorrow with his certificate! And I'll get a letter with my new name on it!" Ed said excitedly. Roy was happy to see that Ed was getting quite comfortable around the team.

Even Falman looked confused.

"You're changing your name?" Havoc asked.

"Yes! I'll be an Elric-Mustang from tomorrow on!" Ed grinned.

Roy had a feeling that it didn't help his team's confusion. He would have thought that Hughes would have kept the office updated, but then he figured that it was just Maes trying to be funny by not giving them a heads up. And only Roy and Ed knew about the name change, their focus had mostly been on Nina yesterday.

Falman saluted again. "Congratulations, sir!"

Roy honestly wasn't sure which one he was referring to, but Ed saluted him back, looking extremely sweet, if not slightly unsure. Roy chuckled and lifted him up on his arm. Ed leaned on his arm and grabbed it with both of his, hugging it to him.

"Okay, Havoc, you win. He's actually become a family man," Breda said, handing Havoc a few bills. Havoc smiled broadly, and Roy had a feeling that they would disappear into a few packs of cigarettes.

"You were betting on me?" Roy said.

"Sorry, Boss. Thought Havoc was pulling our leg."

"So you didn't believe that I can be a family man?" Roy was mildly insulted. He knew that yes, he'd mostly been having girlfriends and no steady relationships for years, but he did want to settle down eventually. That would of course come later, though, right now his sole focus would be on Ed and Al. He had simply got children before the steady girlfriend.

Okay, so he could see their confusion. He had been a womaniser just a month ago, and now he was an adoptive father taking care of none other than Edward and Alphonse Elric.

"It's not that, it's just … It took a short while for you, sir," Fuery said.

"Yes, I guess it did." Roy looked down at Ed who was still hugging his arm and kissed the top of his head. "But it's fine. More than fine."

Breda smirked, Havoc looked unsure, Falman was Falman and Fuery looked like he too had fallen under Ed's spell.

"Hey, Boss, does this mean that you'll finally stop stealing my girlfriends?" Havoc said, hope evident.

"Daddy?" Ed said, confused, scrutinising him with those golden orbs.

Roy felt himself losing a bit of his cool. Usually, he would have joked, but now he had a five-year-old son.

Ed could obviously find some guilt in his face, because he frowned. "It's not nice to steal! You should apologise to Jean!"

Roy cursed inwardly. He'd rather not apologise in front of everyone, but if he didn't, then he wouldn't be setting a good example for his son.

Roy looked at Havoc who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the situation and sighed. "Sorry, Havoc, I won't steal anymore of your girlfriends."

Havoc grinned, and it seemed that the rest of the team caught on as to how many apologies they could demand from him, just because of Ed's presence. Breda and Havoc were laughing when they were done, and walked forwards to shake Ed's hand. "I think you should become an honorary member of our team, Chief. You're practically a human lie detector," Breda said.

Ed shook his hand and looked up at Roy. "Daddy? Am I on your team now?"

"I guess you are, but no missions for you yet though," Roy said fake-strictly.

"What's my rank, then?"

Roy honestly didn't know. He didn't want to give him a low fake rank in case Ed got disappointed. He sighed fondly as he looked into those golden eyes that shone of love. "You're the honorary Führer."

Ed's eyes widened and he laughed and hugged Roy closely. "Yay, Daddy! I'm your honorary boss!"

The others looked stricken. The fact that Roy had named his five-year-old son the team's honorary Führer just showed how soft Roy was becoming. Well ... he couldn't take it back now, so he just hugged Ed back.

"Where's Al?" Ed asked after a minute.

"He's in the inner office with Nina, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes and Alexander," Falman said.

"Thank you," Ed said sweetly. Falman smiled ever so slightly.

Roy carried Ed with him into the inner office, and Ed was immediately greeted with barks and shouts of "Brother!" and "Big Brother!".

Roy still couldn't put Ed down on the floor due to Alexander's uncanny love of jumping on him. Ed was simply too small for it to be safe. And so Al compromised by taking Ed and Nina both into his arms and held them, leaving the kids to talk while Roy went over to Maes and stood leaning against the wall beside him, arms crossed.

"Hi, Roy, I got Hawkeye's message. Heard Ed had quite the nightmare." He looked sadly over at Ed as he laughed along with Nina while Al ran around the room, jumping here and there, earning excited squeals from his two passengers. "Was it about Tucker?" he asked with a low voice.

"Among other things. Mostly he was trying to convince Tucker, the Pentons and that thing we met in Dublith about how I'm not a monster. It ended up with the Pentons calling him a liar that needed to be punished, so they stuck another needle into his back. I managed to wake him up after that."

"Five-year-olds shouldn't be dreaming like that."

"Don't I know it. He was screaming his head off, calling for me. I hate feeling so helpless. It took me five minutes before I managed to wake him. The way he was screaming, I haven't heard anything like it. Not since Ishbal."

"You had a nightmare yourself, didn't you. It's in your eyes, Roy."

"I really can't hide it from you, can I?"

"It's a look I've learnt to recognise. You see it a lot around Central. We weren't the only ones to fight in Ishbal after all."

"Do you see it on Ed's face?" Roy had been wondering if it would be a good idea to bring in a psychologist and if Maes thought that Ed seemed as bothered by this as the Ishbalan veterans, then he would like to know.

"No. He doesn't feel like he deserves it after all."

"Oh, I see."

"So tell me, what was your nightmare about?"

Roy knew that there was no way that Maes would let it lie. The man was in investigations after all.

"I was back in Ishbal. The smells were all there. There was blood and bodies all over, and I was watching it with Ed and Al. Then the bodies started rising, their faces burnt, many had missing body parts. And suddenly they were attacking me, dragging Ed and Al away from me. They said I didn't deserve them after what I did. They were taking my kids and the way Ed was screaming for me …"

"I know how that is. Had the same dream after Elicia was born. But it's okay, Roy. Nobody's taking your kids away from you. You're their legal parent from tomorrow on. They're your boys, so you just make sure to make as much as you can out of your time with them. They'll help you heal while you help them heal. They need you just as much as you need them, and they're both great boys. Just focus on how lucky you are to have them."

"I already am."

They just watched the kids playing together, smiling. "How is Nina doing? Did you tell her everything yesterday?"

"I think she should be allowed to grow up a bit before that. I did tell her what Tucker did to her mother. She was pretty broken up about it. That dog saved her a lot of tears. I think she'll be all right, though. I don't think she really understands it, she hardly remembers her mother after all. She's probably not going to be as affected by this as Ed was by what happened to him. Mostly she just misses her dad."

"That's good at least. I'm just glad that Ed picked up on what Tucker was up to before anything happened. I would never have thought that Tucker could be so twisted. To use his own daughter just to pass his assessment."

"Well, the Pentons were willing to destroy their son just to make him fit their requirements."

Roy felt his fists clench and spoke through gritted teeth. "He's not their son."

"Nor am I saying that he is. I'm just explaining their perspective. I can see how Ed saw Tucker for what he truly was is all I'm saying."

"He's taking my name." Roy said it without thinking. He was honestly still worried about that. He was eternally marking himself by doing it. It was probably going to put him in more danger. "Should I really have let him?"

"He's taking your name? When did he decide that?"

"He told me yesterday that he had been thinking about it for a few days. Tomorrow the official letter will come, stating that he is now "Edward Elric-Mustang" with a hyphen. He made me call the Führer yesterday."

"But Roy! That's great! He'll be in danger whether or not he carries that name or not. It really doesn't matter if he had kept his old name, plenty of people already know that you're his father by now."

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'll protect him if it's the last thing I do … I'm worried that people will look upon him differently for it. Mustang is an uncommon name so most people will immediately connect him with me. I've done some truly horrible things, Maes, I don't want people to think that Ed condones them and look down upon him for it. What if they start to fear him? What if, by agreeing to call the Führer, I have doomed my son to forever live in my shadow?"

"Roy, it's his choice, and besides, his name still begins with Edward Elric, more people will recognise him for that. You should just remember that Ed chose it because he's proud to call you his father. He wants to show that he has a great dad. Because you are, Roy, otherwise Ed wouldn't have grown so close to you after what happened to him. And Al also calls you his Dad. So just show them that their trust in you is worth it. Make their childhood as great as you possibly can … Otherwise I'll sic Elicia's cuteness on you!" he said, pulling one of his dreaded pictures of his daughter out of his pocket and shoved it into his nose.