Chapter thirteen

Ed was woken at six o'clock the next morning. His arm was hurting a lot and it had kept him awake for most of the night.

Then Ed realised that it was Riza who was gently stroking his hair to wake him, and he immediately sat bolt upright and glared at her, sending a wave of pain up his arm, making him yelp. "Don't do that!" Ed could see that Al was already getting out of bed.

Riza looked at him apologetically. "You boys need to wake up now. I spoke with my grandfather and I'm taking you two with me to work. That way I can make sure that you get the help you need while also doing my job. I'll be doing desk work for the next few weeks. There's also a couch in the office that you two can use."

"So what you're saying is that I'm gonna have all of your colleagues know that you're helping me eat and dress and everything?!" Ed felt his cheeks redden at the thought of being followed to the bathroom with a bunch of policemen watching. "Not happening."

"I'm sorry, Edward, but that's the way it has to be. I have to go to work, and I don't want you boys to be left on your own all day. I've already used up all my extra days this year and I can't risk using the ones I have available for staying home with a sick child." There was some desperation in her eyes that Ed hadn't seen before. They were filled with the pleading of a trapped woman trying to keep herself from sinking, and Ed had a feeling that the extra days had been used to deal with what had happened with her ex-husband. She looked scared and stressed in a way that Ed recognised in himself.

"Fine," he said, standing up to get out of bed. "Need to pee again," Ed added.

Riza first held out what Ed recognised as painkillers and a glass of water and Ed swallowed the pill and drank the water before they headed for the bathroom.

Ed was annoyed at this whole business, but Riza really didn't seem to care about his nether regions and was effective and as respectful as possible, so that was a good thing at least. It was still mortifying though.

When she was done pulling on his pyjama bottoms and boxers again, Ed decided that he wanted to initiate some kind of code for their time at the police station. "If I need to go to the toilet, I say that I'm thirsty and then you say you'll take me to the cafeteria because they have better water or something, okay?"

"Sounds like a very good idea, Edward. I suggest that we eat our breakfast before getting washed up, that way the painkillers will be working somewhat before you have to start moving your arm."

"Sure."

And so Ed was spoon fed cereal while feeling stupid because Al had to keep wiping his chin. Ed wasn't some baby after all! But he didn't say anything because he'd only hurt Al's feelings. His little brother was trying all he could to help after all.

Ed understood why Riza said that she didn't want to force Al to help Ed, because his brother was only ten. He should be having fun outside and play football or read or something, not be stuck inside taking care of Ed. It wasn't fair with all the work that Al was doing for him already, he really shouldn't have to clean Ed just because he was squeamish.

It didn't help much though as Riza stripped him naked and ordered him to stand in the bathtub as she gave him a sponge bath. Ed was completely exposed where he stood and she was thorough and efficient, making sure that he was properly cleaned up. She even scrubbed between his toes and behind his ears.

Afterwards, Ed had to lean his head over the edge of the bathtub so that she could clean his hair. He was thankfully covered in a towel by now, though, and she was actually pretty good at washing his hair. It was actually a bit comfortable as she massaged the shampoo into his hair and she gently washed it out with perfectly hot water. Ed guessed that he could get used to that part.

Ed was adamant that now that they'd be going out in public, Ed would be wearing the new clothes he'd picked out for himself. He didn't see why it was so problematic with Ed wearing leather trousers with a big belt, a tank top and a red coat, complete with a pair of leather boots that were cool as hell. It was just red and black after all. Still, both Riza and Al didn't seem to see how cool they were.

When Mustang arrived to pick them up, Ed was back to working on his gobstopper. It was a pretty big one so it was going to last for a while. Ed was still curious as to why Mustang would give it to him. He knew the man had bought Al some snacks too, so he wasn't showing any favouritism.

It still didn't answer the question as to why he would do that in the first place. He had no reason to be kind to them. After all, they owed him for saving their lives. They were probably the ones who should be nice to him. He could see why he'd be polite to them, after all he was Riza's boss, but there was a difference between politeness and buying Ed a large gobstopper because he had broken his arm.

No, Mustang scared Ed a bit because he seemed like a nice guy. And the only reason he should be a nice guy to them, was if he was after Riza. It was just like with Barry. He did favours for Mom and after a while he asked her out on a date and then there were more dates after that. And Barry was always kind to Ed and Al and seemed to care about them.

"Let's see how many pieces I can turn you into!"

No, Ed wasn't going to trust Mustang just yet.

And so they arrived at the station and Ed and Al were showed to an office where there were two other people working. One of them was a redhead and a bit fat while the other was fit and blonde and he had a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. The smoker smiled and gave a two-fingered salute to Mustang as they walked inside. "Morning, Boss, Riza." He looked at Ed and Al. "I guess you're Edward and Alphonse, then? Nice to meetcha."

"Who are you?" Ed asked.

"Sorry, I'm DC Jean Havoc and that's DC Heymans Breda." He pointed his thumb over at the redhead.

"So it's Havoc, then," Ed concluded.

"Sounds okay to me, Chief."

Ed liked that the two DCs didn't seem to act any differently around him even with his arms the way they were.

Maybe Mustang or Riza had already warned them about him. The thought made some of the old anger flare again. Ed hated that word. "Warn". That people had to receive a warning against him like he was some kind of hazard that had to be treated differently. That there was danger involved in talking to him. That they couldn't just act normally around him because he was different.

He remembered the second couple they had been living with. Mrs. Albertson had always tried to stop him from massaging his stump when it hurt, believing the phantom pains to be a kind of mental illness. Just something that he was imagining. They had been living the Albertsons for five weeks. Ed taught himself to not let them see him when he was in pain, which was why he mostly just shut himself in his room. It didn't help that the famous East City weather was as it always was, because it just made it worse when it was raining. Then came a really bad storm and Ed couldn't stop himself from crying out in his sleep. The Albertsons had seemed worried at first, but when Ed told them what it was, Mrs. Albertson just got angry with him and took away his books. When Ed didn't stop crying because of the pain, they ended up sending them away "because Edward clearly has too special needs for us to handle."

And so Ed just spotted the couch in the corner of the room and sat down on it, waiting for Al to join him, not speaking to anybody else.