Roy and Edward both went back to bed soon after taking the painkillers. Neither of them had seemed very interested in the soup that Gracia had made for them, but Maes wasn't too put out by that. They were both in unspeakable pain, after all... especially poor little Edward. Maes supposed that having one's bones and insides re-shaped is not encouragement for a healthy appetite, so he just put the soup back in the container that Gracia had provided and put it in Roy's icebox for later. Then he turned off the lights, exited though the front door, locked it, and drove home.

Maes hadn't really gotten a chance to spend much time with his family for the past several days, what with his searching that alchemy lab and making sure that Roy didn't kill himself—or Ed, for that matter. All he wanted to do was go home, give his daughter a kiss—for he had certainly missed the chance to tuck her in... it was already over an hour past her bedtime—and crawl into bed with his wife. He was exhausted both physically and emotionally by the events of the past few days.

As exhausted as he was, though, the hope in him was beginning to shine more brightly. Edward was getting better. Already he was showing signs of healing and Maes' heart leapt to see it. True, Ed's cure was going to be a long, agonizing process... but it was working! He even looked different. He was, of course, nowhere near human... but at least he was a little less dog, both in body and mind. The barely-restrained joy that had graced Roy's face when Ed had spoken his name had been a beautiful thing and—while it wasn't really Roy's name, it did prove that something within this chimera-creature had backed off a little and allowed Edward to take a step forward.

Maes had to admit that his faith in Roy's ability to change Ed back had been waning, but now it soared to new heights. Roy could do this. He could really make this right again. The finish line was in sight now and, though it was still far off in the distance and partially obscured by the shadow of uncertainty, it was getting closer and clearer by the hour. How could Maes have ever doubted Roy? He was one of the greatest alchemists alive, even if he did tend to get a little carried away, swept up in passion for his chosen art form... But he knew what he was doing...

No matter how much he told himself that Roy had everything in control though, Maes could not shake this deep feeling of reservation. Seeing Roy transmute Ed had been terrifying. Rarely had Maes seen Roy do any alchemy more intense than a few perfectly aimed jets of fire and that display of godlike power in the basement had been more than a little disturbing. Roy had looked like a demon in that electric light, something unspeakable and strange... just thinking about it sent shivers down Maes' spine.

The lieutenant colonel shook his head as he climbed out of his car and started across his front lawn. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maes didn't really understand alchemy and it even frightened him a little... He would most certainly keep a watchful eye on both Roy and Ed until this was all over... but for the time being, perhaps he should just keep his reservations to himself.

Maes slid the key into the lock and opened the door as quietly as he could in case Gracia had gone to bed already. When he stepped inside he noted that all the lights were off and sighed. Damn. He'd been hoping that Gracia was still awake...

Glumly, he hung up his coat and put his keys on the table next to the door before heading back toward the bedroom. In the hallway he nearly tripped on one of Elysia's toys in the darkness but managed to catch himself before he could fall over. He cursed under his breath and gently pushed the thing back into the half-open doorway of Elysia's bedroom with the toe of his boot. He poked his head into the room and smiled fondly. She was fast asleep. Not wanting to wake her, Maes blew her a kiss from the doorway and headed toward his own bedroom.

Gracia was curled up under the blankets, her dim shape rising and falling with breath. Maes sighed again and kicked his shoes off. Well, maybe he'd make a point to spend the morning with her and Elysia tomorrow and not worry about work, Roy, or Ed for a little while. He undressed quietly, thinking that maybe tomorrow he could take his wife and daughter to the park for a while if it wasn't too cold. Either way, he planned to make up for his recent absences at home.

Maes lifted a corner of the blanket and slid into bed, pressing himself against Gracia's back gently so as not to wake her. He draped one arm across her shoulders and buried his face in her hair, inhaling her soft, natural scent.

"You know," a voice said suddenly, "My husband is away right now, but I don't think he'd be too crazy about the idea of a strange man sharing a bed with his wife."

Maes frowned and pulled away a little as Gracia rolled over to face him. She smiled up at him lazily, her hair tousled by sleep and her eyelids adorably heavy. Even half awake with hair in disarray, Gracia was the most beautiful woman in the world.

"...Yeah, I know that I haven't been around a lot lately and I'm sorry," Maes told her unhappily, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from her face, "But I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Gracia chuckled and pushed herself up onto her elbows, "I'm just teasing you, darling. Don't be so sensitive. I understand that you have a lot on your plate right now, don't feel bad about it." She craned her neck up and gave him a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. Maes' heart swelled at the loving contact and he pulled her into his arms again contentedly.

"You're so good to me, Gracia," he mumbled, cuddling up against her. He felt her smile in silent reply and return the embrace. The two of them fell quiet then, eyes closed as they waited for sleep to overtake them.

"So, how are our boys doing?" Gracia asked suddenly, keeping her tone light even though Maes could hear the soft undercurrent of worry in her voice. Maes wasn't really allowed to disclose much about Ed and the state that he was in since his current chimeraism was not open to the public... but he had told her that the kid wasn't doing too great and that Roy had exhausted himself to the point of collapse earlier in the day.

"A little better," he said winding his arms around her even more tightly. "Roy finally woke up with a bad headache, but he seems okay. Both of them went back to bed before I left. Neither of them had much of a mind for food, though..."

"That's all right," she yawned, "Perhaps tomorrow they'll want it, the poor dears."

"I'm sure they will. We both know how much Roy loves your cooking..." Maes smiled warmly, appreciating her concern. She loved those two almost as much as Maes himself did and couldn't help but worry for them. That fact alone made him love her even more.

"...And still no sign of Alphonse?"

"No. None."

Gracia went quiet for a moment then, "Don't take this the wrong way, because I do love Roy with all my heart... but do you really think that he's the best candidate to be taking care of Edward until Alphonse gets back? They don't seem to get along very well and if Ed is injured and needs someone to care for him..."

"They're fine," Maes assured her quickly, "They don't really argue much. Ed was feeling a bit better today so they bickered a little... but, considering what bad shape Ed has been in, Roy and I are both taking that as a good sign..."

"...How bad off is Ed really?" she asked quietly after a brief, unsettled pause.

"It's bad, sweetheart," Maes replied honestly, his throat constricting a little, "But he's improving."

"Could he die?"

"It's... it's still a possibility."

Gracia seemed as if about to ask more, but then she held her peace. She knew that Maes wasn't supposed to divulge much information, but she also knew that if she pressed him he would bust wide open and tell her everything. Not wanting to put him in that position, Gracia didn't ask anything else and Maes silently thanked her for that.

"He's in good hands though, really," Maes tried to console her, "I think that Roy is the best person in the world to be looking after him right now, as weird as that sounds." He stopped for a moment, then chuckled, "Roy's actually getting downright affectionate with the kid... it's kind of funny to see."

Gracia raised her head a little and smirked, "Roy? Affectionate? Are we talking about the same person?"

Maes laughed at his wife's playful incredulity. "Yeah. It looks to me like Ed has awakened a paternal streak in Roy that no one knew existed... He really worries about that kid. They even sleep in the same bed."

"That's..." Gracia began with a startled smile, searching for an adequate word, "...incredibly cute."

"That's what I said! Then Roy got mad at me for saying it."

Gracia giggled, pressing her face against Maes' shoulder, "Now that sounds more like Roy..."

Maes grinned and closed his eyes again as Gracia snuggled a little closer. Hearing her laugh was like a balm that soothed his worry. "Roy'll be able to take care of Ed, though. They've had a shaky start, but things are beginning to look up."

"If Roy is taking care of Edward, then who will take care of Roy?" Gracia teased, "He doesn't seem capable of caring for two people at once."

"True..." Maes joked back sleepily, "I suppose that I'll have to take care of him."

"And then who will take care of you?"

"I don't need anyone to take care of me."

"Oh, lies," she accused playfully, "But don't fret, I'll take care of you."

"But then who will take care of you?"

"I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself."

Maes laughed again quietly. That was certainly true. Gracia was thoughtful and sweet... but she was also steady as a rock and tough as nails when she wanted to be. She probably was the one person in his life who really didn't need anyone to take care of her.

Comforted a little by that thought Maes finally let himself drift off to sleep, savoring the feel of his wife's breath against his neck.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roy's brow furrowed and he opened his eyes to the grating, scratching noises that were emanating from the roof above him.

"...Wha' that?" Edward asked groggily, raising his head a little at the noise. Only then did Roy realize that he had wrapped himself around the boy in his sleep, winding his arms around him and holding his warm, furry body close to his chest. Roy let go immediately and pushed himself away a little.

"It's just the damn squirrels messing around on the roof," Roy said, rolling away from him to face the window. Outside, the sun was just about to start rising, casting the twilit sky in a dull blue-grey, almost greenish hue.

"Skuh-werls?"

Roy smirked quietly to himself, "Yes, 'skuh-werls.' They're loud, I know. Just try to ignore it and go back to sleep."

Ed mumbled something that Roy couldn't quite understand and settled himself back down onto the bed, shifting so that his back was pressed firmly against Roy's. Once again Roy was struck by Edward's unconscious aura of taboo and he bit back a shudder, skin crawling.

It didn't take long for Edward to drift back to sleep but Roy found himself unable to follow suit. He did attempt to find sleep again for awhile, doing his best to ignore the squirrels' racket as the sky outside warmed from shades of grey to shades of pink and orange, but after an hour or so he conceded that it was a lost cause and quietly slipped out of bed so as not to wake the slumbering boy.

He wandered into the kitchen and went about making himself a pot of coffee since Maes wasn't around to tell him not to. He was a little queasy and still had a headache, but those mild discomforts were nowhere near as bad as they had been last night. He should probably eat something. He felt a little shaky and both his lingering headache and nausea could be attributed to the fact that he hadn't eaten at all yesterday... or the day before, for that matter.

Roy sighed harshly to himself, irrationally annoyed with his body's need for nourishment. Roy was not a huge fan of food; if he could have lived entirely off of good coffee and top-shelf scotch, he would have. Perhaps it came from living alone most of his life, this disinclination toward food. He saw dining as a social activity and often grabbed lunch with Maes while at work, but more often than not that would be his only meal in a day. Roy didn't mind—and often even enjoyed—dining out with other people, but he hated cooking for himself at home. He was a terrible cook for starters, and so typically sustained himself on dry wheat toast with his coffee in the mornings and either a simple pasta dish or nothing at all in the evenings. It wasn't that Roy disliked eating per se, he was just apathetic about it; it was like a chore that he'd rather not do.

Roy glanced over at his icebox thoughtfully. Maes had put the soup that Gracia had made in there last night so that Roy and Ed could have it today. Roy had to admit that he did have a fondness for Gracia' cooking in spite of his general disinterest in food. Still, as appealing at Gracia's excellent cooking was, Roy's stomach rebelled at the thought of eating and he decided to just stick to coffee for now. He should probably force himself to eat later, but at the moment he really didn't have that much willpower.

The telephone sitting on the end table next to the couch rang cheerfully and Roy had the abrupt urge to smash it as the shrill noise intensified his headache. Roy grimaced, then slumped over to the loud machine and lifted the receiver hurriedly so that the ringing didn't wake Edward.

"Mustang," Roy said curtly into the phone, hoping that it wasn't HQ demanding a progress report on Edward's case. Roy would send in a written report eventually... he just hadn't gotten around to writing it yet.

"Colonel!" a familiar voice on the other end of the line squeaked, "I called the office a-and they said that you found Brother but they couldn't give me much information but they said he was hurt and they told me to call you at home and—"

"Alphonse!" Roy barked in reply, talking over him, "Where the hell have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you! Why didn't you call in sooner?"

"I was still looking for him until last night and then I couldn't find a phone until this morning! Is he okay? Is he even still alive? Please, sir, no one at the office would tell me anything..."

Alphonse's voice was high and rapid, sounding as if it was bordering on hysterical. Roy's chest tightened. The colonel had known that he would most likely be the one to have to tell Al what had happened to his brother, but suddenly he just didn't know what to say. Roy hesitated, composing his thoughts into something that he could articulate to Al. Al, however, misread Roy's hesitation.

"Oh..." Al moaned sickly, his voice barely above a whisper, "Oh... he's dead, isn't he?"

"No, he's alive," Roy assured quickly, seating himself on the couch and rubbing his face with one hand, "He's just..." he hesitated again, searching for a better way to say it. But then he just shook his head and told it like it was, "He's a chimera, Alphonse."

The other end of the phone line went dead silent and for several beats. Roy didn't say anything and just let the boy absorb his terrible words for a moment. Then, finally, "...H-how bad... I mean, how severe is...?"

"Severe," he answered bluntly, but not without regret, "He's mostly dog."

There was another long, heartbreaking pause from Alphonse. "I..." he began after a moment, but then broke off as a sharp, abrupt sob interrupted whatever he was about to say. The line went silent again, no doubt because Al was fighting to keep his composure on the other end. Roy could just imagine him hunched in a telephone booth outside of some rustic town... just a frightened child, grieving and alone in the early hours of morning.

"...I'm so sorry, Alphonse," Roy said finally, his own throat tightening. "I'm doing everything in my power to help him and he's already showing signs of improvement..."

"Re... really? You can f-fix him?" The desperation in Al's voice was heart wrenching.

"I can try."

"Tucker said that it was i-impossible to split chimeras... like... like with Nina..."

"It is impossible," Roy agreed quietly, "I'm not really splitting them in the way that you're thinking..."

When Roy had first set himself to studying Tucker's notes, splitting Edward from the dog had been his immediate goal. Once he started reading about chimera reversal, though, it soon became clear that this was not a feasible plan. Tucker was right: a chimera could not be split without killing both halves of the beast and, potentially, the alchemist as well. It would take entirely too much energy to pull the chimera apart into two separate beings and so, unfortunately, Edward's dog half would have to be sacrificed to the transmutation. Edward's human body would simply absorb it, breaking it down and converting it into energy that would act as an agent to keep Ed's body from disintegrating completely as his muscles were torn and his bones broken and re-shaped. Basically, the dog was simply acting as a glue that would hold Ed's twisted body together during the transmutations. It was gruesome to think about, but it was the only way that Roy knew to make Ed whole again.

"...I'll explain more when you get here," Roy finished lamely, not wanting to get into the gritty details over the phone, "Where are you?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Al sniffed, still struggling to get a grip on his emotions, "Probably six or seven days southeast of Central."

"Get back here as soon as you can, then. I'd like your help on the transmutations... if you're comfortable with that. It's not pleasant."

"No, I want to help. Whatever it takes, I'll do it."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it."

Yet another silence reigned as Roy tried to think of something else to say. Roy knew how to deal with Edward—well, Edward in his human form, anyway—but Alphonse was a different story. Al was much gentler with a softer heart that was easily broken and Roy had never been good at comforting people. He felt that he should probably say something heartening to the boy, but had no idea what and so just sat there dumbly until Al finally spoke.

"...How is he otherwise...?" he asked tentatively, "Lieutenant Breda said that he was hurt."

"He's doing decently. Better than he was a couple days ago. He has some cuts and scrapes and he... he's pretty emaciated. But the ve—doctor says that he'll be fine."

"Is he there? Can I talk to him?"

"He's asleep right now. And... and I really don't think you'd be able to understand him over the phone. His words aren't very coherent most of the time. He's improving, but it's still hard to understand him, sometimes. He doesn't really speak in complete sentences yet."

"...Oh."

Roy clenched his jaw wordlessly.

"I guess... I guess I should get going, then," Alphonse rasped, "It'll take me all day to get to the nearest functioning train-station..."

"Then I'll see you when you get here."

"Okay." He paused, then, "...Colonel?"

"Yes?"

"Can I call again tomorrow?"

"...Of course, Al."

And with that gently granted request, they said their goodbyes.

Roy sat back on the couch, leaning his head against the plush backrest and staring up at the ceiling. That had been harder than he'd expected it to be. Not that he'd expected it to be easy... He exhaled a long breath and rubbed at his temples, wishing in vain that none of this had ever happened. He wished that Ed and Al could be together right now—both of them whole and well—roaming the country as they always did...

He felt the hot sting of tears forming in his eyes and quickly stifled them, a little startled by his own sudden emotion. Maybe he was just tired. Yeah. That's it. He was just tired...

"Ed?"

Roy jumped a little, then furtively wiped his eyes before turning to look at Ed over the back of the couch. His shoulders were hunched and stiff and his long face was exhausted-looking, but he didn't look too bad this morning.

"Hey, kid..." Roy greeted but then his throat constricted again without warning and he had to clench his jaw hard to keep the tears at bay.

"...Is okay?" Ed asked, watching Roy with sudden concern, no doubt because he had caught a flash the barely-concealable grief that had slammed into his caretaker.

"Yes. Fine," Roy said quickly, clearing his throat and getting to his feet. He offered Ed a soft smile and the kid returned it, his concern already forgotten. "Are you hungry?"

Ed hesitated for a moment as if not sure how to answer the question. He was probably ravenous from not eating much yesterday and from the energy-drain of the transmutation... but, like Roy, he was probably still a little queasy as well, meaning that he was hungry, but didn't find the thought of actually eating very appealing.

Roy smirked down at him, "Yeah... I know how you feel."

Edward tilted his head to the side, tail waving slowly.

"Tell you what," Roy continued diplomatically as he moved into the kitchen, "I'll eat if you eat, okay? We both have to do it anyway, so we might as well suffer together, right?"

"...Right?" Ed echoed, clearly having trouble following Roy's train of thought. Roy sighed at that and went about warming up the soup anyway. They both needed to eat, even if they didn't want to. He put the soup in a pot and set it on the stove, then poured himself a cup of coffee and seated himself at the table. Unsurprisingly, Ed curled up on the floor next to his feet. He yawned hugely and rested his chin on his paws, eyes closed.

"Go back to bed if you're tired, Edward," Roy told him after a moment, "It's probably good for you."

"Loud skuh-werls," Ed muttered irritably, briefly opening one eye to give Roy an exasperated look.

Roy laughed, sympathizing completely.