A/N: So I was planning on posting this quickly after the first chapter, but I only just now finished. It's super short which I apologize about. I've found that I struggle to write longer pieces. I have ideas for long stories, but I never write them. If you find any mistakes, feel free to comment and I will fix them. If you have any questions or are curious about something, just message me and I'll answer. It's 5 AM here so Now it's time to sleep. Constructive criticism is welcome!

Something always went wrong on Hughes' day off.

Always.

Last month the heater had gone out halfway through his first nap in years, resulting in a three hour battle against the stupid thing in the freezing basement. The time before that, his precious daughter had fallen ill with the seasonal flu, and she was not feeling up to do much other than sleep and curl up in her parent's lap. Several other instances tied in with his vacation time included blizzards, broken shower heads, and Sheska calling to ask for advice on a case he had not assigned her yet.

With his incredible track record, you would think he would be expecting a phone call at two in the morning with horrible news, but the shrill ringing of the bedside phone still scared the ever loving shit out of him.

Maes shot up into a sitting position and only flailed for a second or two before his mind finally caught up with his body and he answered the phone.

"Hello?-"

"Hughes," Thankfully, Maes had come to recognize Roy Mustang's voice no matter his state of wakefulness, and one glance at the clock on his bed stand told him that Roy's news must be pretty damn important if the man was awake at two AM.

"Roy, what is it?" Hughes felt his wife shift besides him, and he grimaced. He didn't want to wake her. She needed her sleep. She had been talking about the errands she was going to have to wake up for, and their roles would be switched, with her waking up before him for once. "One second, I'm going to move to the kitchen." He didn't wait for his friend's response, merely set the phone down, careful not to accidentally hang up. He slid out from under the warmth of the quilt and padded out of the room and down the main stairs, glancing at Elysia's room as he went. He almost didn't bother with turning on the kitchen light, but he didn't know what Roy needed, so he figured he ought to.

"Okay, what's up?" He could hear a a noisy din in the background on Roy's side, and he thought he heard Riza speaking nearby as well. The phone crackled and shifted hands before Roy' voice finally came through.

"Maes?"

"I'm here. Didn't want to wake the whole house."

"You heard about the Triades right?"

This was not exactly a topic Maes wanted to discuss at two in the morning, but Roy sounded exhausted, and now he could hear Breda's voice as well.

"My division was assigned the case. Mark said the General office was too overwhelmed, so the search got dumped on Investigations. Maria called me this morning, but it's my day off, so I didn't go in. Sounded like a normal hunt, Armstong can handle that."

There was a faint rustling on the other end, and Maes waited patiently while Roy seemed to be talking to someone else.

Finally, "We arrested three of their men this morning on one of their drug boats, the four that escaped are still causing problems. We're stationed at the hospital right now. At first there were no apparent injuries, but Edward collapsed on the walk to the dorms." Maes felt his stomach churn rapidly at the news. It was the same feeling he had gotten when he witnessed Roy get shot in Ishval.

"Is he okay?"

"They took him back into surgery. I think he was in the ICU for a little bit, but they couldn't wait any longer I guess. No one will tell us a damn thing. The marathon on the West Bank knocked out a ton of people. It's a freakin' mad house here. Beds in the hall, shortage of nurses, it's a damn mess-"

Maes had completely forgotten about the marathon. It tended to fill up the hospitals with heatstroke and other heat related injuries. It always reminded him of a circus, and he was grateful that the local MP had to deal with that mess, and not the military. Roy sounded very close to strangling someone, and Maes certainly couldn't blame him.

"Wait, why did Ed collapse? What's the surgery for?"

"He had a massive internal hemorrhage and he didn't even know it. I don't know much more than that, it's only been two hours. I need to barrow some men. The ladies at Central Command wouldn't patch me through to the night shift. We've got tight security on the inside, but I need to send out Hawkeye, Falman, and I'm not wiling to leave that East wing open."

"What hospital?"

"St. Jane's."

"Maria and Brosh are my closest on call. I'll wake them up. Captain Whu's men are in that sector too. They can cover the external exits."

"Will you-?

"I'll get dressed. I can assist the man hunt."

"Thanks Maes."

"Sure thing. You call the second you get any information about Edward. I'll be on Corporal Lin's line."

"Got it."

He kissed his day off goodbye.

"They managed to clear out that waiting room, Sir." Second Lieutenant Breda's face was shining with perspiration, and he panted slightly from the run up from the third floor. His salute wasn't as pristine as Roy usually demanded, but he let it slide as he hung up the rotor phone on the wall. Three women rushed past him and down the hall towards the North wing, and Riza slipped closer to him to let them pass.

"Good. Tell Fuery and Falman to meet me there."

As Breda dashed off, Roy ran a hand over his face, allowing himself a moment to reflect now that he was alone. Well, mostly alone.

No news was good news right?

Though he wasn't entirely sure that applied at hospitals.

Riza shifted next to him, and he nodded once. There was too much work to do to be standing around. The nurses knew where to find them, and they had a decent place to set up base for their security. Once they arrived to their makeshift HQ, Mustang wasn't surprised to see Fuery already installing the anti-tapping devices onto the room's phone.

"Hawkeye, take Falman back to Central Command and pick up extra armor and ammo from the armory. Sergeant Will should let you pass, I already filled out the form." Riza went over to Fuery and set down the case containing Roy's extra gloves with a look to the Sergeant who nodded back. Colonel babysitting duty had switched.

"Breda, go find Havoc and tell him to find out what the hell is happening with Edward, then relieve him of watch."

One glace at the clock told him it was two-thirty, and Roy immediately decided that he would not be doing anything else until he had made himself a cup or four of awful hospital coffee.

It wasn't until four-forty that he finally received information on Edward's condition. He'd been on the phone with Captain Whu when Ed's physician tracked him down. The man was short, maybe even shorter than Edward himself, and packed with muscle. He had ginger hair tied back at the base of his skull and wore glasses that looked seconds away from falling off his nose. The man introduced himself as Doctor Roshsmith, and was quick with introductions.

"Colonel Mustang it was? I'm sorry I can't talk long, I just got called in to assist a different surgery, but I will explain all I can in the time allowed."

There was something disarming about the way the doctor spoke, professionally but still caring enough that even though Roy knew he was being brushed off, it didn't totally feel like it.

"Edward suffered from a pulmonary hemorrhage caused by blunt trauma to the chest wall. Basically, blood filled his lungs in such a way that it did not drown him, but did limit oxygen to his brain until he collapsed as your subordinate said. We did an invasive surgery to implant a chest tube and pump to drain the blood out so he can breath again. Unfortunately while he had him stationed in the ICU, the bleed worsened and we had to take him back into surgery to mend the wound. Normally this wouldn't have taken so long, but he is having a negative reaction to the anesthesia and Oxycodone. We're switching painkillers now, but there will be a period were the dosage is very low to nonexistent while we flush it before we can administer anything else to help with the pain." Roy hated the way the everything the doctor said sounded, especially the last bit. He obviously didn't want Edward in pain, but Roy would bet his year's salary that Ed also had some nasty PTSD, and being under watch in the hospital without painkillers was going to make the next few hours extremely difficult.

Also, Edward tended to become combative while in the hospital, and if he didn't have some sort of sedative painkiller to keep him down, Roy worried that the kid would accidentally yank out his own chest tube.

"We're administering half a pint of O negative through IV as we speak, and the nurses should have him set up in the ICU again in a few minutes. We actually managed to score him a room, so your security team may have an easier time. I've ordered not to let any nurses in the room that are not cleared by me first." Roy felt sightly better that Ed's doctor was cooperating with them. He had dealt with plenty physicians who would do anything to keep control on their hospital, even if that meant disregarding the military's demands.

The PA system came on and requested Roshsmith in OR room three.

"I've really got to go. Edward should be awake when you see him. Don't rile him up. We've got him on heart strengtheners but it's still beating pretty weak and I'll remove visiting rights if there are any problems. It was nice to meet you Colonel." The man spoke so fast that when he stuck out his hand Roy found himself instinctively shaking it, and just like that the Doctor was jogging down the hall and shouting for someone to hold the elevator doors.

He figured he'd better call Hughes.

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