Ed woke up slowly. Each and every nerve in her body announcing their existence as she brought herself into consciousness. Everything ached. All her muscles, her bones, her fingernails. Not to mention her head, which for some reason was resting on some kind of … rock? Whatever it was it wasn't comfortable in her current state. Which was what exactly? Because what the hell had happened? She'd gone dancing, had a glass of water then

Nothing.

A blank evening.

Panic started to slice its way through her pain. Wasn't this her apartment? It looked like her apartment. Why couldn't she remember how she'd got home? What. The fuck. Had. Happened?

An arm tightened around her waist and suddenly she was very aware that there was someone in her bed with her. Someone she didn't know was in her bed and touching her.

"For the love of god Ed please stop thinking so loud. It's only been an hour."

Mustang?! Relief swept through her so fast she almost sobbed. She choked it back.

"Ed?"

Apparently not well enough.

"ED?!"

Suddenly his face was over hers, tilting her head this way and that, checking her visual responses. He looked worried. Why the hell would he be worried?

"What-"

Mustang's face immediately relaxed, "You're back."

"I'm back?'

He seemed to sigh in relief as he fell back down next to her. Still on his side while her head rested on what she now understood to be his bicep. Damn.

"I thought you were having another episode."

What was he even talking about? Episode? Ed opened her mouth but couldn't form any questions. Everything still hurt and it was a struggle to keep her thoughts in line.

Mustang took the silent prompt. "Someone drugged you at my Aunt's bar."

Well, that answered just about everything real quick. She hadn't been aware that the bar had belonged to his aunt, or that he even had an aunt, but if he'd been there and seen her in trouble he probably would have felt obligated to step in, even if it was just to keep everything standing.

Shit. Seen her. As in, not him. That was going to take a few apologies.

But wait. Why was he in her bed? Holy God that thought process needed painkillers. She tried to sit up.

"Stay. Down."

It was a simple, undeniable command. She couldn't stop her body's reaction to it, especially when she realised that his palm held her down, flat on her stomach. The shiver rolled through her.

"Good girl."

Holy fuck. She did not just make that noise. Had he heard her? Please once in her life if fate could not throw her under the bus.

"I'll get them for you." Fuuuck. She could hear the laughter in his voice.

He sat up and Ed finally realised they were both in light clothing. Well, he was in boxer-briefs topless and she was in t-shirt and shorts.

"Don't worry, you did that yourself."

Sometimes her inability to conceal her thoughts was embarrassing. This time though, it saved her prolonged stress and awkward questions. She watched as he threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. And kept watching as he walked out the door. Daaammnn. Holy hot damn. She grabbed his pillow and pulled it over her face. This wasn't the time to start that, unless

"You enjoy sniffing my pillow?"

God dammit. "Shut up." She pushed it aside and winced at the light coming from the doorway. He reached back and flicked off the light. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Not your fault i'm all messed up."

Actually, was it? She looked him over, he looked only mildly guilty, which probably meant he'd gone through all her belongings while she was sleeping. Or maybe it had something to do with that giant hickey on his neck. Oh no. Had she interrupted a date? She'd been at his aunt's bar and something had happened and they'd called him away from some beautiful woman to come deal with her. How the hell was she supposed to make that up to him?

"I have a feeling i should be apologising to you."

She watched him look her over, tilting his head slightly. His eyes darting around her expression to figure out what she meant.

"I mean I'm sorry they called you away from your date." She glanced at his neck to indicate the hickey. "I'm sorry you had to deal with whatever happened to me."

A very slow smile spread across his face, an evil smile. If she'd been standing she would have taken a step back. He approached slowly, still smiling. The water and pills combined in one hand as he pointed to other marks she'd missed.

"It's not just that one, look here." he pointed to his arm that she'd been sleeping on, "and here", the side of his ribs, "and here", a faint bite mark on his chest, "and here", he turned and showed her the light scratches on his shoulders.

She looked away, feeling like her heart might collapse. Time to focus on sitting up. He didn't have to rub it in.

Concern filled his voice and he made the last two steps to the bedside table, "Slowly Ed." He put the glass and bottle of pills down as she struggled. "Let me help."

"I can do it, it's the blankets, they're wrapped around my ankles." Or something. Stupid sheets, stupid muscles. Stupid automail that she couldn't even feel enough to know what it was caught in.

"I tied them together actually."

Ed's stomach dropped and she stopped what she was doing to stare at him as he sat next to her and hauled her up.

"You don't need them to sit up, and last night you wouldn't stop-"

He cut himself off.

Stop what? Ed simultaneously needed, and didn't want to know the answer. Stop. What?

Her breath started coming in fast. The hickey on Mustang's arm, right where she'd been sleeping. Scratches on his shoulders and her fingernails buzzing. The bite mark on his chest, right at her height.

Her eyes were wide as she stared down at her hands, unseeing. There was no way. She didn't. She wouldn't have.

Mustang's hands slid along the sides of her face, the tips of his fingers in her hair. "Deep breath Edaline. It's ok. I'm not mad."

Oh god. Oh god oh god.

He tilted her head up to look at him. "It's ok."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know why-"

He pulled her forward into the front of his shoulder, one hand grabbing the glass of water from the table while the other started rubbing a soothing pattern into her back.

"I was visiting my Aunt's bar to relax and almost at the same moment that I spotted you, someone dropped something in your water. We caught the guy easily but it was a bit of a hassle to juggle you and the pervert to the station together. I got the report filled out but we'll have to go back today so you can put your notes into it. Maybe take a look at the guy to see if you've seen him before."

He stopped rubbing her back as she pulled away slightly, his voice had changed at the end of the story and she wanted to look at his face to see what it meant.

The water glass was pushed into her hands instead. "Here, you're probably dehydrated."

The tender moment passed as she took the glass and he turned to get the pills from the bottle. He was impossible to read if he didn't want anyone to know what he was thinking and it was obvious he was hiding something. Maybe something more she'd done. Ed sighed, trouble was attracted to her, probably an after effect of her visit to the gate, and people she knew were always sucked in.

"Thank you for doing all that. And I'm sorry again for attacking you."

He'd been staring off into the distance but turned, looking her over intently as he replied, "It's ok, I ended up grabbing your ass a few times while i carried you back here."

"You carried me all the way back here?! From your Aunt's bar?!"

Mustang's expression lit up and Ed immediately realised her mistake. That was the wrong part of the sentence to get mad at.

The smirk on his face was so self satisfied she wanted to slap it off.

She could even hear the grin in his voice, "You can try slapping me if you want. But you should know a few things. First, your ankles are still tied up." he ran a hand along her leg for emphasis and Ed shivered. "Second, I like when you suck and scratch and bite." He leaned forward and snapped his teeth at her for emphasis. "And finally," Mustang pulled the drawer of her bedside table open, lifting out a set of metal cuffs. "I brought these with me."

Ed's heart stopped, her mouth went dry. Goosebumps rose on her arms and she couldn't look away from his hand as his voice dropped into a low rumble. "You are in so much trouble."