remember when an officer dies doing good they usually get posthumously promoted about two ranks

Edward wasn't sure how long it had been since he was stuck in the basement of Solaris and Will, but it was long enough for Nina to grow before his eyes. She had just been a tiny baby, needing him almost constantly, then she was scooting around the floor, then crawling and walking. A year… Edward thought, remembering Roy talking about her growing and how fast it would be. Edward didn't believe him when he had told him about it, but being stuck in the basement and sometimes not seeing his little girl for weeks on end, he understood what Roy meant now.

The door opened and Edward looked up. He tried not to lift his head up too quickly, for he had become nauseous due to lack of food and the weird things Solaris and Will injected into his stomach. He wasn't sure what they were doing… It was Will this time and he had Nina with him, helping her down the stairs as she took them one step at a time. Nina saw Edward through the spindles first and her blue eyes widened in delight.

"Dah!" she cried out, pointing to him.

"That's right. That's your Daddy." Will said sweetly to her, although it made Edward even more nauseous to hear him talk to her like that.

He knew Will was nothing like what he appeared. Once they got to the bottom step, Nina wobbled her way over to Edward and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. He hugged her with his only free arm and kissed her cheek. He touched her tiny curls and smiled lovingly at her. He missed her and wanted her to stay with him but he knew that Will and Solaris wouldn't allow it. One day they will abandon me from Nina's memory and she will never remember I exist… he thought solemnly. He looked up at Will, knowing that he wasn't just being kind and letting Nina visit him.

He wanted something. They always wanted something.

"Do you feel anything different today?" he asked Edward with a pensive expression.

Edward shook his head no but touched his stomach. Will jutted out his chin.

"You feel sick?" Edward nodded. "That's a good sign…"

Edward frowned and motioned for a piece of paper. Will obliged him and Edward shakily wrote on it.

Those shots and me not eating is what's making me sick. What exactly are you trying to do?

Will took the note as Nina still clung to her father's neck.

"It's no concern of yours on what we are trying to do. You just do what we say and let us do what we want to you or Nina-"

Edward grabbed a hold of his daughter to brace her for impact as he lurched to Will. He knew he would scare her, but he would never let these people use his daughter so easily. Edward would gnaw off his own hand to escape to make sure his daughter was safe and away from these two wackos. With the chain attached to him, he could do nothing but threaten, but at least they knew he wasn't screwing around.

Will smiled. "I thought that might get your attention. That being said, don't try to understand what's going on. Let us do that. If you want Nina to be safe and sound, then I suggest you take whatever the hell we want to put in you and not complain."

"Dah?" Nina said, touching his cheeks with her tiny hands.

Edward looked at her as she looked at him questioningly, her eyes asking why he was so tense and alert. Edward sat back and kissed her forehead, giving her an Eskimo kiss. She giggled and Edward glared daggers back at Will, motioning for him to return the paper. He did and he moved Nina so he could write what he needed to.

You won't get any results if you don't let me at least eat. Even my first captor fed me during his experiments.

Will took it and made a face. "I'll bring it up to Solaris. Don't get your hopes up."

Edward rolled his eyes as Will headed out. Nina started to follow him when he stopped her.

"No, no, no; you stay here with Daddy."

Edward looked at him as he smiled cruelly.

"Oh, did we forget to mention that we aren't going to take care of your brat anymore? If you thought so, I'm sorry you did. We weren't going to abandon her completely, but now that she can walk and do most things for herself, she's a nuisance to our work. She's yours, so you can take care of her."

Will trudged up the stairs as Nina tried to crawl up them as well. Edward really couldn't say anything but he didn't want her to get hurt. He made a noise that startled her and Edward shook his head 'no'. Nina looked up the stairs and then at her father as he motioned to her. She stood back up and waddled to him as he pulled her close to his chest. This was going to prove very difficult. He couldn't speak and neither could Nina. She could barely walk… She could say some gibberish, but nothing much else, and Edward could barely squeak. Between the two of them, nothing could get accomplished.

A couple hours later, the door opened and Nina perked up. Edward was asleep against the wall and she crawled off of him to meet whoever it was coming down the stairs. She leaned over to two small steps and saw Solaris's feet.

"Ri, Ri!" she said, only able to say the last of Solaris's name.

"Hello, tiny person." Solaris said softly.

Nina held her hands up for Solaris to take her but she whisked past the little girl and set a tray on the table. She walked over to Edward and grabbed his cheeks in one hand, making him wake up as he stared at her.

"Will told me you told him you were nauseous."

Edward opened his mouth and pointed to it. Solaris frowned.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Edward pointed to his stomach and then back at his open mouth and then pointed down, a determined expression on his face. Solaris was not amused and so she smacked Edward hard. Edward was sure she tried to put as much oomph into it as possible. It was a twinkling blow to his sight.

"You don't have to authority to demand things, Little Boy." She snarled. Edward just glared at her. "We decided that we will feed you a little more than we were, now that you mention it. We will also be bringing Nina's food as well. It's high time you do your own parenting."

Edward wanted to throttle this woman. She was talking like he had decided on his own to be a part of whatever weird experiment they were trying to do. This bitch is surely mistaken. he thought. He didn't cuss often in his head but Will and Solaris got into some pretty extreme arguments, where accusations and very not nice words were thrown at each other. It worried him for Nina's sake more than anything. Even so, if he could have taken Nina and lived on the streets with her, it would have been better than being here where they were both trapped by crazy people… again. I have a bad habit of getting myself kidnapped… he mused for a second.

"Anyway, she gets underfoot too much and we have a lot of things we are trying to accomplish."

Edward motioned for paper and Solaris got him some.

Can I ask for something for Nina?

She read it. "Like what?"

I can't talk. Is there a way to help Nina?

"What use is it if she talks?"

Isn't it annoying to have someone like me, who can't talk? But having two people who can't talk? Wouldn't that be even more annoying?

"The less either of you talk, the less likely we will be discovered."

Maybe so, but what trouble can I cause? I'm stuck here, can't talk, and pretty much at your mercy. If I can teach Nina to talk, then maybe you won't have to waste time with notes and stuff. I'm just trying to make it easier for you.

Solaris stared at him as he watched her patiently. It was a long shot, by far, but if Nina was going to be stuck with him in this odd situation, then if nothing else, she was going to come out halfway normal.

"Even if I wanted to, how would you be able to do anything for her? As you said, you can't talk."

But I can draw what words mean, I can spell, and I can use a radio for sounding out words. Despite what you people think, I'm not an idiot. Just… held back.

Solaris crossed her arms and stared at the two of them for a moment. She then walked over, pulling out a key from her quite large bosom, and unlocked the shackle on his wrist. He watched in surprise as it clanged to the floor and then looked back at her in confusion.

"You may be able to speak, but the child could be quite useful in our endeavors. You're right; having both of you unable to talk would only cause difficulty in the long run. It's annoying enough with you." Edward smirked a little. "The only reason I'm doing this is out of convenience for us, not you. With that being said, I have conditions."

Edward nodded quickly, willing to do anything to keep the shackle off and be able to make Nina better than him. Solaris crouched down in front of him.

"One: you and Nina are not to leave the confines of the floor. You stay here, don't even pass the landing. Two: we are still going to experiment on you. You must cooperate fully and without a fight. If you try to cause problems we will go after Nina." Edward frowned but nodded. "Three: if I find you trying to teach her how to escape, I will put you in shackles again –two this time- and then I will throw Nina in an orphanage, where you will never find her again... or worse, depending on the mood. Last but not least, four: you will give yourself to us as a guinea pig of science. Not just with what we are trying to do now, but anything further. If this is a success, we will need someone to be our trial. We won't touch Nina in any way, but only if you agree fully."

Edward didn't want to agree to half of the stipulations, but if it would help keep Nina away from them, he would endure it. He nodded and she smirked.

"There's a good boy… I'll bring a radio down here and see if I can find some picture books or something useful."

She turned and grabbed the tray off of the table she had had from before as Edward stood up, stretching his arms and body.

"This is your food. When you are done, set it on the landing."

He took the tray from her and sat down, looking at the food on the plate. He smiled big and also found a little plate that had food edible and easy for Nina.

"Ah…" he called as best he could, which sounded more like a burp than a name.

Nina looked over at him and pointed to the food. She came over and they ate together for the very first time. He was surprised at how easy everything went, but he knew that Will would not be pleased and he would have to hear their yelling and screaming through the vent again. Maybe I can convince them to give me a mattress with a blanket… he thought as Nina held up a cut up carrot for him to eat. He opened his mouth and let her stick it in before he acted like he got her fingers. She giggled and he smiled.

The yelling started at little later than Edward thought it would. He had heard them whispering a lot and then their voices started getting higher. Well, Will's did. Will was usually the one who was yelling. Solaris seemed to always keep her cool, although she could be devilish herself at times. Will was yelling about Solaris being an idiot for what she had done and Edward really wished they would bring some blankets since it was really cold in the basement. Nina was shivering and he held her close to try and keep her warm, but he was shivering too.

He was starting to get used to the screaming and yelling through the vent that led to the basement since when he was shackled he didn't have anywhere else to move to; although he could tell that Nina wasn't that used to it. She was silent for the most part, but when Will would start up again, she would jump. Edward held her close and nuzzled her hair to show that she was safe. He wondered how she never heard it up there… A thought suddenly occurred to him and he turned his head in the dark. I wonder if Maes has been looking for me. he thought. Then he shook his head. No… there's no reason to look for me. Roy took me in because he was nice and Maes liked me because Roy did… since Roy's dead, he probably forgot all about me. He looked down at Nina, seeing she couldn't keep her little eyes open any longer and fell asleep. At least for Nina's sake, I hope he is…

~*~SOLARIS AND WILL'S ROOM~*~

"Sometimes I wonder how smart you really are. Do you really think that just because he's mute doesn't mean he won't try to escape?"

"There's no reason to have the child be as stupid as her father."

"You obviously aren't seeing that he's not stupid."

"He's stupid enough to not try anything. He has a lot of potential… It's a side experiment."

Will lifted an eyebrow at Solaris and then crossed his arms.

"How so?"

"We haven't gotten anything from the notes, being as they are in code. The one thing we did get is that he is not exactly from Amestris. He has abilities that he doesn't even understand. He will comply as long as we threaten the tiny child and if we keep our end of the bargain to help the child, he will give us a measure of trust. If we feed him and make him more comfortable, he will be more apt to follow our direction as well. As they say, 'you get more flies with honey than with vinegar'."

"It might be true about his lineage, but he doesn't know that and who's to say he knows how to read alchemy?"

"We won't know until we make him. Tucker's notes indicated that he was not as 'handicapped' as we are perceiving." She slid her eyes to Will. "He's toying with us."

"How is that? The kid can't speak and is as naïve as his own kid."

Solaris smirked. "Now who's obviously not seeing his true nature?"

Will crossed his arms. "Well then, if you're so damned confident about it, I'll leave everything to you. Hell if I'm going to get blamed for him escaping."

"He won't escape. He loves the tiny human too much to cause a problem. I told you the stipulations I laid out for him and anything to keep his daughter out of our grasps is enough to make him do what we ask. Anything we ask. You seem to be forgetting the broad range of that word."

Will rolled his eyes and sat on the bed.

"Whatever then. You seem to know what you're doing."

"Of course I do."

"-an 'In Memoriam' plaque dedicated to Major Roy Mustang for the bravery he exhibited in the line of duty."

"Officer Hughes, whatever became of the child Major Mustang took into custody? The one that had been missing for ten years and was found where that mad man was doing grotesque experiments on him?"

"Yeah, the little freak boy." Someone said more serious than that statement should have been said.

"Did he birth those impossible children?"

"Have you heard from him?"

There was a buzz of overlapping voices on the radio when they seemed to quiet down a bit.

"Unfortunately, I don't know the whereabouts of Edward, nor how he is fairing. I'm sure he would have birthed the children by now, considering he was quite far along when Major Mustang had him. It was a solemn day when Major Mustang was killed and unfortunately, Edward had been there when I pulled his body from the building and was quite broken by the experience. He took off and I haven't been able to locate him since."

"Is he of top priority?"

"He's just a freaky kid."

"Edward is only a child that had no say in the matters that were given to him. He didn't ask to be taken and experimented on and he didn't ask to be implanted with children. We, as a society, should be ashamed of the way we have treated him. He should have been taken into an orphanage or something and shown kindness. All we did was show him hostility."

"So you're actually looking for the child?"

"Yes. I am. I have permission from the higher ups to pursue-"

"Turn that shit off, Solaris."

She went over and turned off the radio.

"Should I call in someone to rectify that issue?"

"He'll never find us and even if he did, they'd never find Edward."

Solaris sighed, bored, and unplugged the radio.

"I'll be taking this then. It's not like you like it."

Will made a noise as she walked out.

what's this? is edward really playing them? well, he is smarter than people give him credit for... he's still mute though but he might not be as naive as they believe he is

and it looks like maes is still looking for edward after all this time. and some of you doubted him.