i apologize for lack of updates on my stuff. i keep getting jobs that make it impossible to find time to do anything. hopefully i will get into the groove of things again. but i haven't stopped, so please don't think I have! enjoy!

There was a lot of things that Edward couldn't remember. He couldn't really remember a life without it being in a dungeon or in someone else's clutches. He couldn't remember who he used to be before he was captured. He didn't even have a last name. Hell, his name probably wasn't even Edward. But the one thing that Edward always would remember was when he found out he was carrying life within him. He would always remember when Roy found him and he had a home and for once in his life, he felt like he was loved and all the feelings he'd never felt before. He would never forget losing two of his precious children and suffering in the cold to keep the only surviving one alive. He would always remember his daughter's bright face as she saw him in the morning, loved him like no one else could.

But it was all gone.

Everything he ever loved or wanted in the world was gone as Will stole his daughter away from him. Life really had no meaning anymore. He didn't care what was going on. He felt himself being nicked and prodded and made to drink certain things, but he really didn't care. Everything in his life was a big joke that seemed to always end up with him on the sick end of it. Life was not his friend and it looked like it never would be.

Edward opened his eyes and felt something odd. He looked down and saw that he was covered in a thick comforter. He made a face and looked behind him, where a good lump of pillows was supporting him. He also looked at his arm that was in a sling and made a face and coughed. His throat felt like sandpaper against a rose petal and he put his free hand to his mouth. Pulling it back, he saw speckles of blood. He looked around, wondering what horrors he would run into next. The door opened and Edward turned to it.

"Oh, good, you're awake." Someone said.

The voice sounded familiar. Edward wasn't exactly feeling well so he wasn't sure if his eyes were deceiving him or not. He felt the man sit down beside him and touch his forehead with the back of his hand.

"You've still got a bad fever." Edward didn't really say anything. "Do you remember me, Ed?"

Edward wasn't really sure of anything at the moment. The man held out something that may have been a piece of paper.

"Here…"

Edward took it and brought it really close to his face where the haze lifted enough for him to see a small note.

YOU VERY NICE. I HAPPY. I LIKE MAES. 3

"Do you remember when you wrote that to me when you were at Roy's house?"

Edward looked at the man again and narrowed his eyes a little, just barely making out Maes's black spiky hair. He motioned for a pen and paper. He was given it and wrote slowly on it.

Maes?

"Yeah! It's me!"

Edward smiled a little and wrote some more.

My head is foggy and I can't see right.

"That's probably because it looks like they beat the shit out of you. Your eyes are really swollen. You also have a head cold so your eyes are watering really bad. I won't bother you anymore for right now though, okay? Get some sleep and we'll talk about everything when you're well."

Edward nodded and leaned back on the soft pillows. He hadn't had pillows in years. He would really enjoy this.

After what seemed like forever, Edward finally woke up again with a ravenous appetite. He could see much clearer now and looked around at the green room. There was a window on the side of it and Edward slowly slipped out of bed, going to the window. He smiled at the trees and the sky! Oh how he had missed the sky. I wish Nina were here to see it. She's always wanted to see the sky… His eyes started to water when he realized that his daughter was gone. It had to have been some months since she was taken from him and if Will's threats were solid, then she was probably halfway through the childcare system. Her loss suddenly hit him now that he wasn't fighting for his life –or rather, giving up. He slid to the floor and cried, his heart breaking. The door opened and he heard a gasp.

"Edward? What's wrong, are you alright?"

He felt arms around him and he sobbed in Maes's chest.

"What happened?"

"Nah!" he tried to tell him.

"Nah? Nina? Your daughter?" Edward nodded in his chest. "She's safe, Edward." He looked up at Maes as he smiled down at him. "She's in the living room coloring a picture. I told her not to disturb you since you haven't been able to sleep well. She's been patiently waiting for you."

Edward's eyes widened and he stood up with Maes, pushing away from him to run into the living room. When he got there, he didn't see anyone there but he could hear a small child's voice humming something from around the couch.

"Nah!" Edward yelled.

A little girl peeked around the couch and then smiled big, standing up.

"Daddy!" she yelled, running to him.

He scooped her up in his arms and kissed her cheeks, rubbed her hair, hugged her as hard as she would allow.

"I missed you, Daddy!"

Edward couldn't stop crying as he held her close to him.

Maes watched from the bedroom door and smiled at them.

"You've got a smart little girl, Edward. Did you teach her all on your own?" Edward nodded at him. "If not for her you would have never been found."

Edward looked at him in confusion. Maes motioned for him to follow him and he picked up a paper that looked like it may have been a few days old. The story was on the front page.

LOST CHILD FOUND THEN LOST THEN FOUND!

Some years the city tuned in as the military discovered a mad man by the name of Shou Tucker that had kidnapped a young boy and used him in gruesome experiments involving bioalchemy and many other unorthodox experiments. The boy, named Edward, was found to be with child due to these experiments. Major Roy Mustang of the Amestrian military had taken the boy in but was sadly killed in an attack on Central a few years ago. Edward was also lost and soon we all heard the pleas from another military officer, Maes Hughes, that if any information was found on young Edward to please let him know. After three years, though, Officer Hughes finally got word on Edward but it came from a very unlikely source.

As it turns out, Edward had his children but sadly two of them died. The surviving one, Nina, was being semi-raised by the couple who kidnapped Edward for the second time, Will and Solaris Hohenheim. After an altercation with the couple and Edward, young Nina was smart enough to call the police and tell them the whereabouts of the Hohenheim house, prompting a very important rescue. The police informed Officer Hughes and-

Edward started to turn the page but Maes stopped him. "You don't need to read the rest of it." he said. He pointed to Nina. "If she hadn't called 911 you both could still be in there."

"They were gone but I pickded the lock." Nina said with a grin.

Edward smiled at her and looked at Maes, who looked happy to see him. He reached over and rustled his hair.

"I'm so glad I've finally found you."

Edward laughed a little, so happy to know that this was not a dream and that for once in his miserable life, the kindness was true.

A couple weeks later, Maes decided to take Edward out for some fresh air and food. Maes wasn't the best of cooks but he wanted to treat Edward to something big and delicious. Something that would fill him up to the brim. Edward was a little skeptical of people seeing him again but Maes said he would protect him. To his surprise though, there was a new vibe towards him when people saw him. They recognized Nina from the picture in the paper and then realized Edward was her father and they told him how sorry they were to hear of his trials and the like. Edward was kind of overwhelmed by the niceness of everyone that he finally just stayed behind Maes half the time to try and not be seen.

After lunch, Maes stopped at a store that sold sundry items for a dollar and handed Edward a $10 bill.

"Here, find yourself some snacks. I need to go to the store next door and get some food for the house. Everything is a dollar or less so you should be able to get a few things." Edward nodded in understanding as Maes left him and Nina in the store.

Nina dragged her father over to the candy and they picked out some taffies and a few hard candies. As they went down an aisle that sold some small ten page pamphlets, one about pregnancy caught Edward's eye and he picked it up, flipping through it. It gave a rough breakdown of the symptoms of pregnancy, gestation period, and a few other facts needed for someone who would become a parent. He decided to get one since it was only a dollar and he was having a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't rescued unscathed from Will and Solaris's grasps. He never knew exactly what they were trying to do with him but he always had a feeling in his chest that they were trying to get him pregnant again.

"You buy that?" Nina asked, seeing Edward holding the small pamphlet in his hand.

Edward looked at her as she looked at him in worry. He shrugged a little as Nina leaned against his legs.

"I like babies, so it okay, Daddy."

Edward smiled a little and rubbed her hair as they went through the other aisles.

SOME MONTHS LATER

"Do… you… not like bentos anymore?" Maes asked as he put the rest of the food on the table. "I mean, I got your favorite…"

Edward just held his nose as Maes put the food down and found a piece of paper.

I don't think it's all of the food but just something is really powerful and makes me want to vomit.

"Well I'm not going to let you throw up in it for a smell."

Maybe if you unstack them one by one?

Maes shrugged and did as Edward asked. It was the middle one on the third bento that he pulled off that made Edward gag. Maes looked in it and Edward felt devastated. It was his favorite, pork fried rice. Edward wanted to cry.

"Hey, it's alright. No big deal. You can just have mine. Mine's stir fried udon. Hey." Edward wiped his eyes a little as Maes looked at him in concern. "Are you feeling alright? You've been acting a little strange lately."

Edward sniffled when it dawned on him what it could be. He suddenly ran from the room and went to the bedroom, rummaging around in some drawers for the pamphlet he had bought. After a couple of minutes, he finally found it and began to read and his heart sank. He really did feel sick to his stomach and ran to the toilet, vomiting into it. He started crying and then it turned into sobs and then he full out screamed at the top of his lungs.

Maes was setting up Nina's plate when the sound of a dying eagle caught his ears and Nina looked at him.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know… Let me go check on your father."

Nina used her plastic fork to eat a carrot as Maes went to Edward's room. When he didn't see him, he saw the guest bathroom was closed and he knocked on it.

"Edward? Edward, are you alright?"

After listening for a couple of seconds, Maes opened the door and found Edward leaned against the toilet, sobbing. Maes walked in and saw the pregnancy pamphlet on the counter and knelt next to Edward.

"Edward? Edward, look at me." He looked up at him. "What happened?"

Edward pointed up to the pamphlet and Maes grabbed it, reading the page it was folded over on. Maes tisked and touched Edward's back softly.

"Aw, Edward, you think they got you again?" Edward nodded as he cried. "I'm so sorry, kid."

Maes sat on the bathtub looking at the pamphlet.

"I mean, are you sure? It even says here that you should really get some tests to double check and make sure your symptoms aren't related to a cold. Besides, you weren't exactly in the best of conditions when we found you so it's not unusual for you to catch something…"

Edward shook his head and pointed into the toilet. Maes looked in a little and made a face. Edward also motioned sleeping and pointed to his tears.

"Oh… well, yeah, sleeping a lot and being over emotional is listed… and aversions to smells. Do you want to go and get checked out by a professional? I don't think anyone will beat you up again." Edward shook his head. "Yeah, you might be right. Now that you're not considered an abomination if they find out about this then they may overcrowd you. You're not good with a lot of people." Edward shook his head again. "What about a home visit? I know a good friend who knows a doctor that might not mind coming by."

Edward thought for a moment and gave a small nod. He'd rather be overreacting about it but if someone else could tell him, he'd be grateful.

"I'll go and give her a call. Brush your teeth and come see what you can eat. I know it's not exactly what's on your mind but getting full will help."

Edward nodded a little.

"Yup."

"Are you positive?" Maes asked.

"Positive the sun rising in the east." She said, handing him papers. "The kid has a bun in the oven."

Maes leaned on his friend's desk and rubbed his face in his hands. She leaned on her elbow.

"Is that a problem for you, Maes the Magnificent?" she said with a smirk.

"No… it's just… God, this kid has gone through so much already and just when we all thought things were going to be normal, this happens? I just want him to understand what it means to be normal."

The young woman with shoulder length brown hair and a pretty headband in her hair looked at Maes for a moment and put her hand on his.

"Hey," He looked at her. "He's got you now. Before he was trapped with some crazy dude who was doing other stuff to him while he was pregnant. And who knows, maybe it will be just one this time. The point is, though, is that he's got you to protect him and to love him and understand him. The first time, people didn't understand him and ridiculed him for it even though he didn't have a choice and true, he wasn't given a choice this time either, but you can sure as hell let him know that it will be the last time someone doesn't give him a choice. You, Maes Hughes, are there to protect him and that means he will never experience this ever again."

Maes smiled at her and leaned over to her.

"I could kiss you, Gracia."

"Please do; I've been dying over here." She said with a bat of her green eyes.

Maes got super close to her but pulled back and grinned.

"Later, my sweet puff. Right now I have to go and tell a kid he was fucked with… again."

"Hey, let me see him sometime. You talk so much about him."

"I dunno…"

"Come on, Maes, if I'm going to accept a stepchild then I should get to know him first."

Maes smiled a little. "Stepchild, huh?"

"Duh, he's practically like your son." She made a face at him and put her hands on her hips. "And if he isn't, he should be. You talk about him enough for him to."

Maes smirked. "I'll see what I can do, Gracia."

She gave him a raspberry and he chuckled. He was happy to have found Gracia. She was spirited, happy, and was accepting of his decision to take Edward in whenever he found him. She had helped him try to find Edward by using her skills as a receptionist to look into any files that may have pertained to Edward. She was a good ally and had kept him grounded through the years of stress and waiting to find Edward. If not for her, Maes didn't know what he would have done.

Telling Edward that he really was with child was the hardest thing Maes had ever done. It was right up there with going to a parent's house and telling them that their child was dead. He had never seen someone go so pale so quick. Edward bawled in the covers and Maes rubbed his shoulder softly.

"I'm so sorry, Edward… Believe me, I'm so sorry. I know it's humiliating."

Edward grabbed his notepad.

FREAK! ALL I AM IS A FREAK! he wrote in all caps, underlining 'freak' about eight times before his emotions got a hold of him again.

Maes grabbed the notepad and put it aside.

"You're not a freak, Edward. This is not something that you wanted. What those people did is horrible and I'll make sure that it gets added to their sentence. They will pay for what they've done."

Edward smacked his belly and then smacked it again, repeatedly until he fell back into the bed and sobbed some more.

Maes really couldn't take Edward's agony and felt his own tears come to his eyes. He sat on the edge of the bed for a little while to try and think of something to say.

"I looked high and low for you when you were gone. I promised Roy I'd take care of you and that promise seemed to already be broken. At first… at first it was to have a bit of Roy with me. We were best friends and he loved you like a son… but as the months went by and I couldn't find you, I started thinking of you as my son. I had to have something to keep me going, to find you. After a while, that is what you became to me, my son. When I heard Nina's little voice on the phone when the police station patched her through and she told me her name, I thought I was dreaming. And then… then asked her, 'Nina, what's your daddy's name?' and when she said 'Edward'… Oh… I cried. I cried as hard as you're crying now.

"I had found you. I found my son. But when we got there and I saw the state you were in, I vowed in my heart that day that I would never let someone do that to you again. I would keep you safe. I would fight the ends of the earth to keep you safe. It seems I failed again… they got you before I even knew it and what can I do? It's already begun and I know you won't take it out. I honestly wouldn't want you to but… but they fucked you over again and where was I?"

Edward touched Maes's arm and handed him his notepad.

You were where I needed you most. Maes looked at him, his own tears trailing down his face. When I couldn't be found, you were out there looking. When I needed justice, you gave it to me. Even though the injustice carried over, you're right here… where I need you to be. I don't remember my parents so all I can compare you to is Roy, but if I had to choose another father figure, it'd be you.

Maes didn't even try to keep his tears at bay as he cried.

"Found… me…"

Maes looked up as Edward cried.

"Found… me…" he said.

Maes pulled him to his chest, hugging him close.

"I won't lose you again. I won't ever lose you again.

poor eddy just can't catch a break at all. but maes is there for him and he will try to keep him as safe as he can. you're not alone now ed!