If you are sensitive to child abuse and rape, then please do not read this. I do not wish to offend anyone.

Hughes smiled as the kids went to their rooms for the night. He spent some alone time with his beautiful wife, and when she decided to retire, he went to his study to do some extra work. He hadn't realized he stayed up until midnight until he heard the powerful scream of the teenager three rooms down. He was quick to grab his gun and move to the blonde's bedroom.

"Ed, what's going on?" Hughes asked quickly. He had been in such a rush, he only now realized that everything was fine. Alphonse sat next to Edward's bed, trying to console the teen. Edward was sitting up by now, drenched in sweat, his blonde bangs matted to his forehead.

"Nothing, Hughes.." Edward trailed off. "I'm fine, just a bad dream." he said. Just his luck for the four – year old to have been awoken at the scream and commotion. She had overheard Edward speak of his bad dream, and walked closer, holding his hand to comfort him.

"I'll keep the bad dreams away, little big brother!" she smiled. Did the girl look sleepy? You bet. Was she sleepy? Definitely. But she would stay up to keep her little big brother from having nightmares. She would be his dream catcher.

"Thanks, Elysia, but I think I'll be alright," Ed smiled a bit. While he was definitely embarrassed of having a four – year old know about his nightmare, he was flattered that she would come to his rescue like that. "Just go to bed. You'll need your sleep if you want to play tomorrow."

"That's right, Elysia. I'll take you to bed." Alphonse spoke up. He stood from where he was sitting next to Edward and walked the child who looked so much like her Mother to her room. This left Edward and Hughes alone, and the teenager was definitely wary of his presence. Hughes pretended not to notice that Ed was shrinking away from his contact.

"Ed, do you want to talk about it?" Hughes asked as he knelt next to the bed. The teen hadn't been paying attention. He zoned out for a moment.

"Talk about what?" he asked as he forced himself back to reality.

"The nightmare," Hughes spoke. "I know that when Elysia has nightmares, she's less scared if she talks about it."

"I'm not Elysia," Edward spoke quickly. "And I'm not scared. It was just a nightmare. It'll go away." Hughes gave a sigh and nodded, understanding that Ed was embarrassed. He walked out of the room to see Alphonse in the doorway.

"Um...Mr. Hughes?" Alphonse started. Hughes waited for him to continue. "Is it alright if we keep a light on for brother? I think his nightmare may have been caused because he was in the dark. He's scared of the dark.." the younger of the brothers confided in the man.

"I have a nightlight that Elysia used to use when she was younger. She's recently grown out of it, but you can plug it in an outlet in your room," Hughes told, fishing through a closet in the hallway to bring out a pink nightlight. He handed it to the armored teenager. "There you are. You don't need to tell Edward that you told me." Hughes winked, knowing the blonde was already embarrassed enough. Instead of returning to his office, he retired to his bedroom knowing there would probably not be anymore nighttime interruptions.

"Hey, Sheska, you've read psychology books before, right?" Hughes asked. When Edward first told him that Sheska remembered everything she read the man didn't believe him, though after months of working with her, he learned that this ability actually existed. He took plenty of advantage of it.

"Of course I have, why?" the mousy brunette asked, looking up from the piles of work she had to see the Lieutenant Colonel.

"I have a case," Hughes started. He didn't want to mention anything specific on the teenager that he had left with his wife and daughter that morning. "A teenager. A doctor said he's not acting like a normal teenager. Think you could help me out?" he asked.

"Well, what is he acting like? If you had any descriptions, I might know something." she said. This time, she moved away from her paperwork to listen more. If she could help some child, she most certainly would.

"Well, he's been a bit uneasy around adults, and he's a little aggressive. He's also been having nightmares, and is afraid of the dark. Oh, and very protective over siblings." Hughes gave just enough information for her to not figure out it was Ed. Though, knowing her, she may have already figured it out.

"When you say uneasy around adults, is it like a shy uneasy, or is it like..a threatened uneasy?" Sheska asked.

"It's both, but definitely more threatened than shy." Hughes informed. Sheska thought deeply for a moment.

"He may have an Anxiety disorder, which is common in a lot of teenagers. You know, the stress of school and peer pressure," Sheska said. Her eyes then darkened slightly. "Or, he may be having rape trauma syndrome.." she trailed. Hughes immediately stood. "Where are you going?!" Sheska called out.

"Taking a lunch break!" Hughes called back. He couldn't get to Mustang's office fast enough.

"What do you mean 'rape trauma syndrome'?!" Roy shouted as he stood out of his chair at his desk. With this tidbit of information, Hawkeye made her way out of the office. She didn't want to know anything she shouldn't know. And this didn't seem like something she should know.

"I mean, he could possibly have been raped. Think about it, he's almost never here. What if he was out somewhere during some mission and some creep went up and raped him!" Hughes exclaimed. There was a knock on the door of the office.

"Come in." Roy sighed, placing a hand on his head as the door was opened and Sheska walked in.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, you weren't talking about some random teenager, were you?" Hughes and Roy glanced at each other for a moment before turning their gazes back to Sheska. "You were talking about Edward, right?" she asked.

"Yes, Sheska, we were.." Hughes trailed off.

"Well, I thought you should know something about the rape trauma syndrome.." she trailed. "I've spoken to Edward for a long while, and he never seemed to have any of the symptoms of someone who had recently been.."

"Raped.." Mustang forced out. Sheska nodded. "You've read about this before, right?"

"Yes.."

"So.." Mustang started, not exactly sure how to phrase the question. "How long ago do you think he may have been.." no one wanted to have to say it again.

"It must have been a long time ago. Years," Sheska admitted.

"And he never told me?!" Roy growled in anger.

"Please, Colonel. Edward would have never told anyone. I'm sure Alphonse doesn't even know about this," Sheska told. "If he doesn't tell someone, though..it may haunt him forever."

"I can talk to him." Mustang said instantly.

"He needs someone gentle. Someone who fits the criteria of a person who wouldn't repeat his offender's actions. Maybe a woman," Sheska commented. "Someone like Mrs. Hughes." she added.

"That's a great idea! I'll see what I can do." Hughes told. The others nodded and everyone returned to work. Though, none of them stopped thinking about Edward and the anxiety he must have gone through all these years.

If he really was raped, he was probably going through hell in his head.

"No one else will ever want you. You're lucky that I continue to stay with you."

So, that was pretty short, but all of them seem to be. I was going to add more to this, but I was pretty busy this week. I'm going to skip the next Tuesday to give some more time to make it better. I hope that everyone reviews, and I hope this is worthy.

Next Update: May 21st.