Sorry I took so long with this chapter, thanks for being patient (if you were XD).

I know most of you are really awesome about leaving reviews, and thank you very much, but I just have to say that the reviews will be really important to me on this chapter, because I don't know where to go with this story anymore, and I actually did consider ending the story with this chapter. I just don't think it's quite done, although it could be, but I don't know where to go from here, so suggestions, preferences, anything at all... Thanks.

-E.Mahiru

--

"Brother, wake up," Al said fearfully, shaking Ed's shoulder. Ed nuzzled his face more firmly against Roy's shoulder.

"Ed!" Al whacked him on the back. Ed cried out and craned his neck around to glare murderously at Al.

"The colonel could be heading into a coma and you're sleeping on him. How could you be so irresponsible?"

"He'll be fine... How do you... Where's Jean?"

"In the bathroom. I think he has a hangover. He's worried about the colonel too."

Ed looked at Roy's face, but all he could see were his throat and chin. The blond propped himself up on his arms and studied the brunette. Roy was kind of pale, but other than that he just looked asleep.

"We need to take him to the hospital."

"...If you think we need to." Ed got off the couch and Al went to go get Jean. While Ed maneauvered Roy into a sitting position, Al pleaded with Jean to drive the car. The lieutenant, who was too sick to drive, finally told Al to call Breda.

Roy woke up in the hospital. Two nurses were standing over him when he opened his eyes, and one immediately sat down on the edge of his little bed and put her hand over his.

"I'm sure this is all very disorienting for you, but please stay calm and answer these questions first." She patted his hand. "What is your name?"

"Roy...um..."

"Try hard for me, now," the nurse cooed. Roy began to feel irritated by her sympathetic, overly motherly, sugary tone.

"Damn..." Roy concentrated on his name. In his mind, he could hear someone calling for him. Someone small and childish.

'Roy! Ro-yy!'

"OK, do you know what year it is, Sweetie?"

Roy answered distractedly, his mind focused on that high voice calling his name in his mind. Who the hell was that? One of his subordinates?

'Oh yeah. I have subordinates. I'm a colonel.'

"My name's Mustang!" Roy yelped, glad to have eased the burden of not remembering his own name.

"Oh! Wonderful, good for you."

Over the next hour, it became obvious that all Roy was suffering from was a bit of temporary memory loss, and the nurses left him alone to continue regaining his memory on his own.

By this time, Breda and Al were sitting embarrassedly on either side of a quietly crying Edward in the waiting room. Breda had driven as fast as he possibly could, gotten Mustang admitted to the ER, and then proceeded to tear a strip off Ed for putting the colonel into a coma. When Breda decided to give someone a tongue-lashing, they usually ended up crying, although he slightly wished now that he hadn't told Ed, in detail, all the things that can happen to a person that gets hit in the back of the head. Ed was now absolutely certain that Roy would be at least bedridden for the next 3 months, if not paralyzed for the rest of his life, and was whimpering in terror and guilt while he huddled in his uncomfortable waiting-room chair. Alphonse couldn't console him, and the younger Elric was getting angry vibes from the 2nd lieutenant anytime he tried to comfort Ed. Obviously, Breda though FullMetal needed to be dressed down a bit for pulling such a stunt.

One of the nurses from Roy's room came and asked if they were family, and Breda grudgingly admitted that Ed was Roy's son and he and Al were just friends. The nurse took Ed to the colonel's room, explaining on the way that he should be very understanding if Roy didn't remember him at first, and he should try not to shock Roy in any way.

Roy stared at the blond teenager that tiptoed into his room shortly after the two nurses left. The kid stared back for a few moments, then opened his mouth and mewed, "Roy?"

Roy immediately recognized it as the voice in his head and his face lit up.

"You're...you're Ed!" Roy suddenly felt very silly for saying it out loud. Ed nodded and shuffled forward to make sure Roy was really supporting himself as he sat up in bed and that he wasn't paralyzed. Roy was mumbling to himself, reminding himself of his and Ed's history. He suddenly remembered that he was fighting with Ed...and Ed's father and just died. Hohenheim, that's right...Ed was upset over that and Havoc wanted to get him drunk, but... Roy's smile dropped, his head rose up and his eyebrows narrowed.

"You hit me. You knocked me out and I lost most of my memory because of that."

Ed's eyes widened and he bolted forward, sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Roy, I'm sorry!"

"Stop! Stay there!" Roy's shoulders drew up tight and he leaned away from Ed. Ed froze, fresh tears crawling down his face.

"Get out, Ed. Out!" Roy's breathing was loud and heavy as he waited for Ed to move.

"NO-..." Ed took a minuscule step forward and Roy yelled louder.

"Out! Get out of here, Ed! Now! ...OUT!"

Ed cried and ran out of the room. He ran straight into Breda and smushed himself against the chubby redhead.

"He gets mad and you come running out here to me even knowing that you deserve it and that he has every right to be as angry as he can be at you?"

Ed tried to keep himself close to Breda as the older man pushed him off and headed for Mustang's room.

"He yelled at me and ordered me out."

"Good."

Ed gasped softly and ran to Al, who said nothing, but hugged Ed and rubbed his back. He kind of thought Ed should've seen Roy's reaction coming, but he knew his brother really just needed some comfort to avoid having a total meltdown. When Breda returned to the waiting room, his face was grim.

"He's really... He's upset, Ed." The way the lieutenant said it made it clear that there was more to it. Mustang had told Breda straight out that he was afraid of Ed and thought the boy was unstable. But Breda couldn't bring himself to tell Ed that. First of all, it was a matter of pride. He couldn't tell a wise-ass little kid that his commanding officer was afraid of him, it was just too painful to say. Second, Breda didn't know how Ed would react to such information. He didn't think Ed would exploit it, but then again. He would probably cry a lot more, too, knowing that his surrogate/adoptive father was so scared of him that he didn't want to be in the same room with him. Now Breda understood Ed's distress at being ordered out of Roy's room. "Ordered" wasn't even the right word for what Roy had done, he was sure. The man wasn't being firm, he was scared of Ed. Breda didn't know how he would've dealt with being knocked out by his own kid...but Mustang freaking out and getting scared was not how he imagined dealing with Ed. He had half a mind to take the boy out away from his brother and beat him himself, but thus far he thought that would probably be out of line.

"I can't get him to stop. He won't eat and he's not drinking enough." Alphonse was leaning on the railing of the stairs heading down into the living room where Jean was sitting on the couch sipping some fruit juice Roy had bought for Al.

"Stop what? Stop crying?"

"Yeah. He's just curled up crying on his bed and won't talk to me anymore."

Jean just sighed loudly. "Do you want me to go up there?"

"It won't do any good," Al said factually.

"Well what are we going to do? We have to calm him down and make him drink something. We have to be able to keep him alive without the Boss here."

"If he'd never gotten attached to Roy in the first place..."

"Don't think that, Alphonse. Your brother's the kind of kid who needs someone to keep him in line. He needs a father and if he found one in the colonel, then good for him."

Al bristled, then went limp, flopping on the couch across from Jean. He knew it was useless to argue. He was the only one who thought that Ed adopting Roy as his father was a bad thing. Everyone else was so sure that Ed needed it, that it had been good for Ed, that Ed was happier now. Even after this! Al was suddenly filled with a fiery, billowing anger at Roy.

"Jean, could you please take me back to the hospital? I want to talk to Colonel Mustang again."

--

"Alphonse..." Roy was confused as to why the younger Elric wanted to speak to him alone.

"Mustang-...Roy. You've got most of your memories back, right?"

"I believe so."

"Good. Now listen. Everyone but me thinks that Ed replacing our father wtih you was a good thing. I'm the only one who doesn't. Sometimes, I don't mind. I know that it was good for Brother to have someone to take care of him besides me. But ever since our father came back and found us, I've been less and less convinced that it is a good thing. And then you go and do this. You knew that Ed did stuff like this. Not exactly like this, but he crosses the line a lot, and you knew that, and I thought you were trying to teach him not to do that as much. To obey the rules- at least the reasonable ones. And you also knew how attached he was to you."

"He couldn't be too attached! He knocked me unconscious!"

"That had nothing to do with being attached! He lashes out! He rejects authority and you knew that and if you want him to ever learn not to do that, you cannot abandon him now."

"He never will learn! I've tried and I thought he was getting better but now he goes and does this and how can you possibly expect me to keep trying with him at this point? We've been fighting non-stop almost since you got your body back and he's not cooperating or yielding, or getting any better and I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with him!"

"A real father would never have given up on him. You've proved my point," Al said calmly and got up to leave.

'I'm yours...' Roy could remember Ed saying that. 'I'm yours... He was mine,' Roy thought, 'I fed him from a baby bottle, took care of him when he got sick, held him when he cried... I even called him "little one" once or twice.'

"But-Alphonse, wait! How am I supposed to handle him after this?"

"Just stop running away from him. You have to face him," Al said as he walked out the door. Roy lay down on his bed, thinking. He realized that he missed Ed's warm, solid little body against his own.

"I don't want him to have an empty stomach when Roy comes back!" Al yelled at Jean.

"Just give up! If he won't eat, he won't eat and you're making a mess!"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here! I'm not hungry! I don't want anything! Leave me alone!"

"You're just hurting yourself! You need to eat!"

"I don't have to eat if I don't want to!"

"Alphonse! Let him be!" Jean grabbed Al by the scruff of his neck and picked him clear up off the floor.

"Eeah!"

"Jean, don't hurt my brother!"

"I won't, Ed. You know this doesn't hurt as bad as it looks."

Ed flushed a little and quieted down. He remembered being scared more than in pain when Jean picked him up like that. Jean carried Al out of the room using one arm, setting him down in the kitchen.

"Alphonse, I know you're doing your best to take care of your brother, but there was no way in hell you were going to convince him to eat and all you were doing was making a mess and getting him riled up. It's better if he's hungry and calm when Mustang gets back than hungry and angry."

Al pouted, so Jean picked him up and cuddled him until Al sighed and relaxed, giving in and putting his arms around Jean's neck.

"I want to say something else," Jean warned Al.

"What?"

"When Mustang and Ed see each other, all hell's gonna break loose. Don't go in there. Just leave it to them. Don't argue with me, just trust me. You can't make them be reasonable with each other. You have to trust them to either make up, or come to some other decision. You've just gotta stay out of it."

Al tensed up and tried to push away from Jean, but the older blond kept him pinned to his body. Al pushed harder, but he was no match for Jean's arm.

"Jean!"

"Shh." Jean sat on the couch, then fell over on his side, keeping Al close. Al pulled his leg out from under Jean and squirmed, still trying to push away.

"C'mon, kiddo," Jean said absentmindedly as he gathered Al's head to his chest. Al grunted and squirmed some more, then finally gave up and settled against Jean. Moments later, there was a knock on the door. Jean climbed over Al and opened the door for Hawkeye and Mustang.

"Thank you for taking me home, Lieutenant. Would you like to come in?"

"No, Sir. I have some housecleaning to do."

Jean rolled his eyes and Al pursed his lips in confusion. Hawkeye's dorm was spotless. Roy nodded at her and the two shared a secret glance before she departed for her dorm.

"How's Ed?" Roy sighed nervously as he took off his coat.

"Al got him a little riled up... I donno, really."

Roy swallowed and fidgeted for a moment.

"Go for it, Boss. Just go and do what you can. He looks up to you."

Roy nodded unhappily and started up the stairs. Al sat up quickly and watched him ascend to the 2nd floor. Jean flopped down on the couch again and held Al tightly.

--

He had talked to Hawkeye about Ed in the car, and learned that she was disgusted with FullMetal, as were most of his other subordinates. She had advised him to punish Ed. He could tell by her tense movements and facial expression that she was almost at the point of doing it herself. He'd argued against it, of course. He just couldn't imagine taking a belt to Ed, or anything like that, and besides, wouldn't that just make Ed lash out more strongly?

Roy turned the knob, then held still. He heard Ed sit up on his bed. Slowly, the colonel opened the door to face his beloved terrorizer. Ed gasped.

"R-Roy!"

"Ed." Roy just stood and stared, his mind blank.

"Roy?" Ed murmured after several seconds. Roy didn't really react and Ed crawled to the end of the bed. Roy noticed the tiny blond was wearing his firetruck pajamas and he wanted to cuddle the boy.

"Roy?" Ed cried, his eyes burning with nervous, anxious tears. When he didn't get a response, he slid off the bed, one foot padding toward Roy and the other clunking along. Roy took a quick step toward Ed to meet him, but then halted abruptly, causing Ed to stop, too. Ed squealed softly in frustration. Roy wanted to hold Ed in his arms and cuddle him, but something was stopping him. Some voice in his head warning him back from the out-of-control kid who'd lost his mother, his arm and leg, and his brother, then immediately afterward had automail surgery, and immediately after that, signed up to be a human weapon for the military. How could he not be a little phsycho, Roy realized. And the barrier in his mind broke as he remembered once again how much Ed needed someone to help him, to take care of him and to give him guidance. He lunged forward and grabbed Ed, pulling him against his body. Ed cried out, but whether from fear or relief, Roy couldn't tell. Ed was burying his hands in Roy's shirt and smushing his face into Roy's front and his legs were shaking. Roy felt how weak Ed's legs were, and picked him up, one hand under his knees and the other around his upper back. Ed was sobbing now, and clinging to Roy so hard the rest of his body was beginning to shake. Roy sat down on the edge of Ed's bed and just held him, squeezing the little body and reveling at how good it felt to hold his little one again. Ed was still crying hard into Roy and the older man began trying to soothe the younger one by rubbing his back and rocking him.

"Ed, Ed shh." Roy put his finger under Ed's chin and tickled him, pulling his face gently up and bumping the tip of Ed's nose with his own. Ed inhaled quickly and whimpered at Roy. Roy rubbed his thumbs behind Ed's ears and Ed closed his eyes, squirming gently. Roy smiled at the little blond creature, wriggling at the attention he was being given.

"I don't know how you can go from being so cute and lovable to violently attacking me."

Ed buried his head in Roy's front again, hiding his face. Roy started to shift to where he could put Ed down on the bed and Ed cried at him.

"Don't make me go away!" He had a death-grip on Roy's shirt and was pressing himself against Roy as tightly as possible.

"Shh, I'm not going to. Your brother talked me out of it."

Ed's head jerked up. "Al?"

"Uh-huh." Roy nodded. New tears burned Ed's eyes and ran down his face.

"Alphonse..."

"He seems to think I can still do you some good."

"I love you," Ed sobbed, "I love both of you."