WARNING: If you are bothered by mentions of alcohol, I'm sorry.

Now on with the story!

Mustang stared at the papers in front of him. He couldn't concentrate. Why had he done that?! Had he really told Alphonse that?

"Sir," Hawkeye's voice cut in through his thoughts. "Try to concentrate on your work."

"Yes, Lieutenant." Mustang said frowning. He was really hoping that his first Lieutenant wouldn't decide to pull out her gun. She would often do so if Roy got distracted while working.

Roy smirked as he watched his Lieutenant exit the inner office. She would be able to handle the Elrics. He, on the other hand, couldn't, so why did he offer to let those two boys stay with him at his house? Roy picked up a glass of some sort of alcohol, he wasn't really sure what kind it was. He understood that he was guilty, and would do anything to at least ease the weight of his guilt slightly. But take in the Elrics? He wasn't going to be able to do this. Not only did he know he couldn't do it, he had proven that he couldn't do it when in the hospital. He scrunched up his face as he remembered the terrifying moment in the hospital when Edward had started coughing...

Edward was laying in the hospital bed completely silent. He was really freaking everyone out with how quiet he was being. Roy frowned. He didn't enjoy the thought of being left alone with Edward, especially because Edward's condition almost seemed to be mocking him.

Alphonse had gone to fetch his brother some water, and Maes had to leave because he still had work and a family that he needed to tend to. That considered, Roy also had work. He just also had a guilty conscience.

A wet, throaty cough came from the small figure lying in the bed.

"Fullmetal?" Mustang asked.

'Oh, yeah. You idiot. He's deaf. And it's your fault.'

Roy reached out for the boy. He was about to touch the boy's shoulder when he saw it. The bright red, crimson, liquid. Blood.

"Fullmetal!"

Another cough, followed by the sound of splattering blood. It was coming more heavily now.

"Edward, stop! Breath!"

Roy panicked.

'What do I do?'

What could he do? Roy didn't really know what he was supposed to do in this situation. He should get a nurse or a doctor or really anyone other than himself. But he couldn't just leave Edward here alone coughing up blood. He would just have to.

"I'm sorry, Fullmetal. I'll be right back!" Mustang shouted at the unhearing boy.

Roy rushed into the halls catching Edward's doctor right away.

"Doctor! Doctor! The kid in that room," Mustang pointed towards Edward's room "he's coughing up blood! I think he might be dying!"

The doctor's face showed that he was distressed by Roy's exclamation. He moved to the door Mustang had indicated and rushed in.

"Mr. Elric, calm down. Oh, yeah. Of course. I keep forgetting about the... Sorry."

The doctor turned to the cabinet and pulled out fresh tissues. He put one under Edward's mouth to catch the blood. Edward jumped away from the doctor, grimacing in pain.

"We've seen this before. Sometimes when a lung is punctured it can cause a small amount of bleeding in the lung. It might come to be a serious thing, but at the moment it is not as serious as it seems to be. He could have a surgery to remove the blood but it could quite possibly cause more bleeding. I recommend letting this pass."

A heavy bout of coughing caught both the doctor and Mustang's attention.

"I can give him something that will make him cough up more, but that is entirely up to you as his commanding officer. You are the closest thing he has to a guardian right now." The doctor said as he moved to grab a small cup in the cabinet -if only Alphonse knew about that earlier. He began filling it at a small faucet.

"I- I can't make that choice." Mustang replied.

"That's fine." The doctor said as he rubbed Edward's back and offered him the water. Edward took it and downed it as fast as he could.

'You were right about needing someone else. You couldn't even think to get the kid a cup of water?'

The Colonel's face once again graced a frown thinking back on those memories reminded him about Edward's abrupt silence at the hospital. He was seemingly getting better. He had decided to talk with them after the surgery for a while before he suddenly clammed up. Roy was annoyed. He had hoped that maybe the kid was no longer going to act so odd and would finally be back to his old hot-headed, cocky attitude. But no. Edward had started acting all guarded again.

Edward did finally give Mustang some sort of report. He wrote all that he had said he remembered from the accident.

Mustang turned to look at the paper on the other side of the desk. It was about one third of the way filled out with vague writings. None of it mattered much anymore the man was dead. There wasn't anyone they could take in. No one to arrest. But the damage had been done. The military would have to figure out what to with the new information.

Roy returned his gaze to the cursed paper work on his desk. A gentle rattle and clicking sound that could easily be identified as a door knob, was heard. Mustang frowned when he looked up to see his best friend.

"Well, Roy, I was hoping to get a more welcome reaction." Maes joked, deciding to -maybe for the first time- reject the idea of bombarding Roy with new pictures of Elicia.

"Yeah, well, maybe, when I'm not swamped in paper work and I don't have a guilty conscience."

"Roy, you're going to work yourself to death. Just relax. I brought you something." Maes pulled a bottle of whisky from behind his back. "Thought you might need it."

"Okay, you're forgiven, but how the hell did you get that past Hawkeye? I always have to sneak my stash in when she isn't around."

"Well, I saw her leave the office then I ran for it."

"Lock the door and bring that over. I have a couple glasses in my desk."

"I thought you said you had work to do?" Hughes mocked.

"Don't be smart with me. Just bring it over here and sit down."

"Is that an order, Colonel?" Maes prodded the cranky man. He crossed the room to his friend. He was right in front of Roy when he smelled the all familiar sent off alcohol.

"Were you drinking before I got here?" Hughes asked, concerned for his friend.

"A little." Roy answered.

Hughes wrinkled his nose.

"Smells like more than 'a little'."

"I'm not drunk, if that's what you think. Just come over here. I would rather not be scolded."

'My brain is already doing a fine job of that.'

"I wasn't going to scold you, Roy. Hawkeye will so you don't need me to. I just don't want you to get sick."

Maes pulled a chair right up to the desk and sat down. He took the two glasses that Mustang handed to him and filled them up. Roy took one of the glasses and downed it in a few seconds.

"Thanks, Maes, you really are a great friend."

"I know." Maes smirked, taking a sip of his own drink.

"You aren't supposed to say 'I know'. You are supposed to be humble." Mustang scolded, having his glass refilled only to be once again emptied, far too quickly.

There was a knock at the door and then Hawkeye let herself in.

"Oops, guess I forgot to lock the door." Hughes mumbled.

"Sir, you are supposed to be working." Hawkeye frowned.

"Lieutenant! I- umm- I- It was his idea!" Mustang felt ridiculous pointing to his friend like some child pointing at another kid who had done something wrong, but he was genuinely terrified of Hawkeye. Rightly so.

"Roy! How could you out me like that?!"

"I value my life."

"I think he's drunk-ish." Hughes said.

"Probably." Roy confirmed. "I haven't had anything to eat today."

"I'm going to walk out of here and, act like I didn't see anything, because I know what this is about, and I can let it slide just this once. Don't make it a habit. And I still need those papers, Sir. I won't forget." Hawkeye backed out of the room, leaving behind two very surprised men.

Hughes had no intention of getting drunk, but that seemed to be exactly what Roy planned to do.

"I hate paperwork, Hughes." Mustang slurred out for what may have been the tenth time.

"I know, Roy. You've told me several times." Maes smirked.

Roy tried to write on the next piece of paper, but as it turned out, he was not a very talented drunk writer. His signature came out as barely legible.

"Roy, maybe you should take this home with you, because I'm not completely sure that the higher ups will be pleased with your hand writing." Maes warned before his friend could ruin anymore of his paper work.

"I don't- I don't see anything wrong with it?" The Colonel said in a confused voice, almost as a question.

'This is like talking with a child.' Maes realised.

Mustang muttered something that Hughes hadn't caught.

"What?" Maes inquired.

"I can't take- take it with me. I nee- I need to empty out my- my guest room, and that will- will take up my whole ev- evening." Mustang barley got the words coming out of his mouth to form a sentence.

"Why do you need to clear out your guest room?"

"I invited Fullmetal- Fullmetal and his brother to spend some time with me- umm- with me at my- at my house before they return to- to- to Risembool for Fullmetal's- for his automail."

"Roy, are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, you already told me that you had a guilty conscience. Are you sure having Ed living in your home is the right choice?"

"My- my guilty conscience is the whole- the whole reason I'm doing this. I- I owe Fullmetal this. It's my- it's my faul-"

"Roy, stop saying this is your fault. It's not. Were you the one to crash that train?!" Hughes demanded.

"I- I- No, but I-"

"But, nothing, Roy! You didn't plant the explosives. You didn't cause that train to flip! It wasn't your fault! Stop blaming yourself for something you couldn't control!"

Roy smacked his head against the desk.

"This- this will help." Mustang didn't really sound sure of what he was saying.

"I'm not saying don't do this. I'm asking you to think about yourself. I don't know if this is the right way to relieve your guilt. Just think about it."

Roy lifted his head. "I have thought- thought this through. You said- you said you weren't going to scold me. If you scold me too much I might- I might change my mind, and I can't change my mind. You said you wouldn't scold me."

"This isn't the sam-" Maes started, stopping short when he noticed his friend's facial expression.

Mustang's face sobered in seconds as he caught sight of something written on some of his paper work. He looked like he wasn't sure if whatever was written there was really what was written.

"Maes, what- what does this say?" Mustang handed the Lieutenant Colonel the document, hoping that his best friend would tell him something, anything, but what he thought he saw on that paper.

"Roy, this is a discharge form."

A/N: Sorry for the delay.

Please review and tell me what you think! It always means the world to me!

Also thank you for the reviews on last chapter. I've felt down for a while so they made me feel way better.

Thanks for reading!

-UNAU/IME