I was requested TheUnknownUser to write a parental Riza/Ed fic for American Mother's Day, and so I hope you'll enjoy it and thank you so much for all your kind words!

And I hope that all of you readers will enjoy this one-shot too!

And I do not own FMA.

Riza was driving home from a girls' night out with Rebecca. She hadn't been drinking herself, being the designated driver as well as being on duty tomorrow, but Rebecca seemed to have drunk enough for the both of them anyways with her upcoming week off.

Meaning that her friend had drunk herself silly and laughed her head off when Riza had to remind her for the third time as they stood in the parking lot that that's not our car, now would you please just keep moving?

And so Riza had driven her over to Rebecca's parents so that they could help keep an eye on her. It meant that they had driven to the old house just outside the city, so the roads and number of people were fairly nonexistent at the present hour.

And so Riza could go home and get some much needed sleep before the next morning's long workday. She was going to have to shepherd the Colonel through the entire day… He was always prone to procrastination at the beginning of the week. Adding in the fact that East City was in the middle of the worst rainstorm it had faced in the last thirty years, and her boss was positively gloomy.

The headlights fell upon a familiar red coat hanging on a branch next to the road. There was no mistaking the symbol on the back of the bright red fabric. Riza slammed her foot down on the brakes, not failing to notice how slippery with water the road had become. Her heart was beating faster, worry building up in her chest as the car pulled up to a halt. She got out, snatching the flashlight out of the dashboard as she went before jogging over to the tree.

Seeing the torn fabric did nothing to help calm down her nerves. "EDWARD!" she shouted, the wind blocking out most of the sound.

"Yeah!" came a nearly inaudible answer from somewhere in front of her.

She immediately walked over to the edge of the road pointed her flashlight downwards, lighting up the three metre deep trench that ran alongside it. After just a few seconds, the beam fell upon a familiar face, even if it was scraped up and bleeding and the blonde hair was loose and filled with dirt. The boy was immediately shielding his eyes from the bright light with his flesh arm, revealing even more cuts and bruises. "ED! Are you all right?!" Riza asked, already working on finding a way to get down to him safely.

"My automail leg's busted, some drunken idiot drove right into me!" Ed was clearly in a bad mood. "Been lying here for half an hour at least, can't even assess the damage because of the damned darkness!"

"Right, Edward, do you have any other injuries that you want to tell me about?" Riza asked, seeing that the steep trench was covered with jagged stones and slippery mud, making it difficult for her to get down to him, not to speak of getting back up.

"A few cuts and bruises, nothing major … Can patch it up myself with a first aid kit."

"Okay, Edward, are you able to use your alchemy safely if I throw you the flashlight to give you an opportunity to see just what materials you are dealing with?"

"Yeah, should be easy enough."

Sometimes it's a hell of a lot easier to work with alchemists…

Riza breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of getting past that particular obstacle. "Okay, then I'm throwing it to you now."

And so she did, watching as the beam lit up the raindrops in front of it as it fell through the air, making her lose sight of the small blonde.

"Got it! Thanks, Lieutenant!"

Four seconds later, there was the bright blue lightning of a transmutation being performed and soon enough, Edward was sitting on an earth pillar in front of her and handing her the flashlight from where he was sitting. His features now lit up by the streetlight on the other side of the road, the boy looked even worse than earlier and she could see why Edward had been unable to climb up on his own. The car seemed to have driven straight into the automail and the outer covering was torn off, exposing shredded wires as well as the dent in his knee.

One thing was sure, that driver should be going to prison. Had it been anybody else, they'd probably have been dead from blood loss.

And if Riza hadn't been there, chances were that Edward would have frozen to death before morning. He was shivering violently and only wearing his tank top and his now shredded leather trousers. Even his right boot had been lost in the process.

Riza leaned forwards and hooked her right arm under Ed's shoulders, helping him to his feet. He hopped awkwardly next to her over to the car and Riza opened the passenger door for him before helping him inside. "Okay, Edward, here," she said, taking off her coat and started to tuck it in around him, the boy looking at her wide-eyed.

"That's not necessary, Lieutenant!" Ed said, moving to get loose just as Riza kept pushing it even tighter around him, making it look like a cocoon of sorts. His argument was made completely irrelevant as his teeth were chattering loudly and his body trembled.

"Edward, you're freezing and soaked, I'm going to grab your coat and then we'll get you back to your hotel."

Ed looked slightly distressed at that, but didn't say anything, meaning that Riza would have to ask him in the car. She went over to the tree and grabbed the soggy piece of clothing and put it on the floor of the backseat. Then she went inside the car and started it up. "What were you doing out here anyway, Edward?"

"Just needed a walk…"

"With the way the weather makes your stumps ache?" Riza asked, her tone friendly, but suspicious. "That doesn't sound like something Alphonse would let you do."

At the mention of his brother's name, Ed pouted and turned his face away, making the meaning clear as day.

"Were you two having an argument?" Riza inquired.

"S'nothing," Edward mumbled.

Riza sighed. "Then here's what we're going to do. We'll go back to my flat and tell Alphonse that you're safe and will be sleeping on the couch. Then you'll get a free pass for tonight and then you'll talk to your brother tomorrow."

Ed turned towards her sharply, his eyes wide. "That's not necessary! I'll find somewhere else to stay tonight or something! There are more hotels in town!"

"Edward, you can't even use your left leg, you're soaked to the skin and freezing and I won't trust your assessment of your injuries until I see for myself."

Ed looked at her, mouth opening and closing like a dying fish, his mind obviously working through the pros and cons of agreeing to her terms.

And of course it did work in her favour that Ed was slightly afraid of opposing her.

"Fine," he mumbled after about a minute.

"Good. My flat's about fifteen minutes from here and I've got a unisex sweatsuit you can borrow because you're going to need something warm if you want to keep yourself from getting a cold, even if you dry your own clothes with alchemy."

"Hm," was all she was offered in return.

And so Ed kept answering in the same fashion for the rest of the trip.

Once inside the flat, Riza immediately brought Ed into the bathroom to get him cleaned up and patched up. "Right, Ed, here's the towel, shower turns on by twisting the right knob, downwards left is hot water, cold is up. You call me back inside when you're back in your boxers and then we'll patch you up."

Ed was blushing, but Riza honestly didn't care. Their team was family and even if Ed had only been a part of their family for a few months, they looked out for him just as much as anybody else.

And so losing even more sleep didn't matter when she had a stubborn kid to take care of.

She found the dark green sweatsuit, a pair of black woollen socks and prepared the couch with a pillow and a duvet. Then she picked up the phone and rang the Elrics's hotel, and was soon speaking to a very helpful receptionist who would deliver the message to Alphonse that Riza had found his brother and that he'd be staying with her for the night. Mentioning the accident would just worry the boy needlessly. He'd find out tomorrow anyway.

"Okay, done!" came a young voice reluctantly from the bathroom a few minutes later. Riza went inside to find Ed sitting on the lid of the toilet in only his boxers, all cleaned up, but with his scrapes and cuts now bleeding and even more obvious than before. "The towel got some blood on it, but I fixed it with alchemy." Riza was pretty pleased that she was one of the few people that Ed didn't meet with his blatant refusal of help.

Sometimes it was very practical to be a scary lady with a gun.

Or five.

Riza smiled at him and then fetched the first aid kit from under the sink. Ed kept completely silent as she began with the antiseptic. "So, Ed, what was it you two were fighting about?"

"It was nothing. Just something stupid and I needed some fresh air."

"It was more than that if it made you go out into this weather."

Ed hmf-ed and went silent again. Two minutes later, he spoke up. "Al wanted us to look for Hohenheim while we're out travelling."

That explains it.

"I see. I'm afraid I can't help you with that. Your relationship to your father is your own business, just as it's Al's. But remember that Al has a right to want to know him just as you have a right not to… I think you two are going to have to compromise."

Ed took a sharp breath of air as if he was about to protest loudly, but then he stopped himself and grunted instead.

Once he was all patched up, she helped him into the sweatsuit and then found her hairbrush and began gently disentangling the blonde locks, the boy once again sounding like he wanted to protest and then he just let her do it, knowing he would lose anyway.

A round with the hairdryer and then she was helping Ed hop over to the couch. He was obviously half-asleep already and he practically collapsed onto the couch, just accepting her help as she tucked him in. "Thanks, Lieu…fffffff," Ed said sleepily and then he was out like a light and sleeping soundly.

Riza smiled fondly as she tucked in his toes and then went over and gently pushed his fringe out of his face. Right now, he looked so innocent and unburdened and it made her both happy and sad at the same time. It was a very different face than the one they got to see in the office.

Right now, Ed was simply a sleepy child. "You're very welcome, Edward," she whispered.

She didn't know exactly what it was that made her do it, but she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before whispering softly. "Sweet dreams, kiddo."

Then she left the sleeping boy and turned off the light, a warm feeling spreading through her chest.