Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Chapter fifteen

They reached the military dorms and they got out of the car. Al volunteered to carry their luggage and so they were soon inside the relatively small apartment. Roy had figured that it was actually better not to pull rank to get one of the larger ones in order to have a smaller and less conspicuous place to guard. That left them with a couch and a chair as the living room area as well as a desk and another chair, a small kitchen with the essentials and a small table with two chairs, a small bathroom and a relatively small bedroom with two beds. All in all, it did the trick although it would be a bit cramped.

Fuery was there within minutes, searching with one of his many gadgets to make sure that the area was microphone and camera free. It was a good thing he did. They found a camera in the kitchen and in the bedroom and a total of four microphones as well.

Roy took the suitcases and carried them into the bedroom. Ed was hovering in the doorway as Al was having an in depth conversation with Fuery on how shelters for stray cats should be. He placed the suitcases on the floor and opened his own to retrieve the bed sheets he had brought for them. He had brought a deep red one for Ed and a brown one for himself. "Right, which bed do you want?" Roy asked.

"Doesn't matter, you can just choose." Ed didn't really seem to be too interested in what was going on.

Roy turned around, studying his face. He seemed a bit nervous.

Roy stood up, walked over to the bedroom door and closed it so that they couldn't be overheard. Ed looked up at him surprised. "Alright, no one can hear you, what's wrong?"

"How can you be sure? We've been constantly listened to for the last few days at least! How can we know that those bastards haven't found some way to listen in on us right now? That they're not just sitting somewhere, laughing at us?" Ed was clearly stressed. "They know about Al and they know about us trying to bring Mom back! What if they tell someone? What if Al ends up as some kind of lab animal and I can't stop it because I'm facing a firing squad? How can you take this so calmly? I probably shouldn't even be here, but running for my life in order to protect my brother!"

"Edward, it will be okay. Whatever evidence they have obtained has been so illegally and won't be admissible in a courtroom. The only thing they can do is spread rumours, but they will just be like the other stupid ones that are running around. You'll be fine, I swear."

"I really hope you're right. It's just so creepy, you know. Everything we said yesterday, these bastards know about now. It was supposed to be private. I don't want people to know that I'm so weak." Ed whispered the last part.

Roy just pulled him in for a hug. "You're not weak, Ed. You're human. And you're finally allowed to be a bit more of the child you are."

"But I'm not a kid."

"Ed, you're fourteen, that makes you a kid."

"Shut up."

"Nope."

Ed growled and then returned the hug.

Roy was of course scared by the fact that these people knew everything that had been going on in his home, especially with the way Ed and Al had become a point of weakness for him in an even bigger way now. He just hugged the boy tighter, hoping he could keep him safe.

"I'm not ready for people to know about this. I don't want them to."

"That's okay, Ed." Roy did, however, kind of hope that it wouldn't always be like that. That there would be a time were it was okay for Ed and Al to be his boys. But Roy guessed that it would always be a bit odd. It would always be odd when it was a father/son relationship that had begun with a twelve-year-old child joining the military and Roy not really being old enough to be his father. But Roy would take what he could get. He was still just happy that he was getting this much. He had actually earned Edward Elric's trust. The kid trusted him to be a parental figure for him even after their biological father left them the way he did. Roy was actually just honoured that he was able to hug Ed this way.

"Roy, there's just one thing that I still can't get over. Those guys weren't just trying to take me, they tried to hurt me. They wanted to hurt me." Ed pulled out of the hug and looked up at Roy.

Roy was confused. And of course angry. Ed had had plenty of people hurting him before, so why would he be upset about it now? "What do you mean, Ed?"

"The way the guy spoke when he dug his knee into my back, "hurts, doesn't it?", he was enjoying it on a personal level. Like there was something he wanted revenge for. I haven't run across these jerks before, have I?"

Roy hadn't known about what the attacker had said, and it made him angry as hell. "Not that I know of."

"Can I join you at the office today? I'd like to look through my earlier cases to see what I've missed."

"Ed, you shouldn't be working. You're injured and should be getting plenty of rest."

"So you'd be completely fine about leaving me here on my own with only Al for protection?" Ed smirked, knowing that he was pushing Roy's buttons.

"Of course not, but I was thinking that I should be doing my work from here."

"But you wanna catch these shadow jerks as quickly as possible, right? Because, if so, you'd get much more work done from the office where you have all the reports and case files you need. Besides, if I came with you, there'd be a lot more soldiers about which means better protection."

"And I thought I was supposed to be the manipulative one…" Roy sighed.

"Come on, you know what the answer is…" Ed teased, smirking.

"Fine. But I'm not letting you out of my sight, is that understood? Right now you're under my protection as the leader of this case. Especially since you're not officially on my team and have no claims to look at the case files." Roy was worried about the boy, especially since he wanted to get more involved with the case. He had seen enough pictures to know that he wanted to be like his shadow now that these bastards had their eye on the kid. He never wanted to see Ed in that condition.

"Deal."

Roy sighed and ruffled his hair as Ed grinned up at him.

"Well, I'm taking the bed to the right. After I'm done, I suppose we should head for the office."

And so Roy put on the bed sheets while he kept talking to Ed. "But don't worry, Ed, we'll figure this out. You're not getting taken by them."

"Of course I won't! They just used dirty tricks, sneaking up on me like that while I slept," Ed mumbled.

Roy turned around, looking at him. "Don't tell me you're ashamed, Ed?"

In answer, Ed's unbruised cheek reddened.

"You're ashamed that a group of highly trained kidnappers managed to get one over on you because you were asleep as well as having an injured back, broken nose and a concussion? Come on, Ed, you're smarter than that."

Ed just looked away and Roy put down the duvet he was currently working on with a sigh. He took a couple of steps over to the embarrassed teen and put his left hand on his right cheek, turning his face towards him. "Ed, remember, they got one over on me too. They weren't the average low-lifes you usually have to deal with. I've been working on this case for over a week and these guys are professionals. They've been in Central for the past five years without ever getting caught and now they've branched out to East City as well. I don't doubt that you could have beaten them to a pulp if you had been awake and unhurt, but you weren't. It's nothing to be ashamed about."

Ed looked up at him, his head leaning slightly into Roy's hand. "When did you begin with all this psychology crap? It's annoying." There was a teasing smile tugging at the kid's lips, however.

"Good question. I'm just working with my gut."

"Then your gut is weird."

"Thanks, kid." Roy rolled his eyes.

Ed moved forwards and hugged him. "Anytime."

Roy was slightly worried. The kid definitely knew how to push his buttons already, especially since Roy had immediately put his arms around him too.

Then they both began laughing.

Ed was sitting on Roy's desk, swinging his legs back and forth as Havoc and Breda carried an extra desk inside the inner office. Ed hadn't expected Roy to be so literal about wanting to keep an eye on him all the time, but obviously he was. He also hadn't allowed Ed to help carry the desk, so here he was, watching the slight entertainment it brought to watch the two men struggle. It wasn't that Ed disliked them, not at all. It was just that Havoc had opened the door on their hug with a "are you done soon, Boss?" only to have his eyes widen and then drop his cigarette, setting fire to the bedroom rug so that they now had a small apartment smelling like burnt carpet without being able to open any windows to let the smell out because of the imminent danger of attacks.

Al was back in the apartment with Falman and Fuery to make sure that nobody was breaking in while they were away, which left the rest of the team to deal with the ongoing case.

The desk was placed next to Roy's and with Hawkeye having carried a chair inside, Ed got off the desk carefully and was led by Roy over to the chair. Ed knew he was still dizzy, but it was still odd for him to be taken care of by Roy this way. Hawkeye dumped a lot of folders on top of the desk while Roy gave him a pen and some paper and so Ed was good to go.

He picked up the first folder, containing information from Central on the Black Shadows and their activities there.

All right. Let's find out what these bastards want with me.