If you are sensitive to child abuse and rape, then please do not read this. I do not wish to offend anyone.
"Hey, Sheska, can I ask you something?" Hughes asked as he went through paperwork until the remainder of the day was over and he could ask Gracia to talk to Edward. He hadn't stopped thinking of the conclusion they came to, and couldn't help but think of the trust he would lose in Edward if he was wrong. He had to be right. For Ed's sake.
"Yes, what is it?" she asked, looking up from the papers that she was working on to make eye contact with Hughes. She hadn't stopped thinking about it either, and was positive that Hughes and Mustang hadn't either. They all couldn't think about how this could have happened, when it could have happened, or why it could have happened.
"How did you come to the conclusion of Ed having rape trauma syndrome?" Hughes asked. "I mean...isn't it a wild shot in the dark?"
"I know what you're thinking.." Sheska sighed. "I'm worried about being wrong too, and there's a huge chance we could be. I mean, I just read it in a book once. That's what I remember. He could just have an Anxiety disorder, which is more common."
"So, what do you think we should do?" Hughes asked. "If we're wrong, he'll lose his entire trust in us. And if we lose his trust.." he didn't even want to think of that.
"I know, I know," Sheska sighed. "Maybe the library would have books about it." she suggested.
"Books about how to confront a teenager about a sexual assault that could have happened at any time by any person around him?" Hughes asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't think that the library could have a book about such a thing, and if it did, what would others think when they saw him checking it out?
"I might have some books at home about it. You can stop by the library and look to see what selection they may have, and I'll see if I have any at my house," Sheksa spoke to the man. It was odd for everyone to be talked about this. "Sir? Do you really think Edward was.." she trailed off.
"Well, I'm not sure..It's possible, and he's been displaying signs..It's a pretty quick assumption, and I'm not taking it very lightly. Edward could be hurt, or could have been hurt. I just don't know how or who this could have happened with." Hughes sighed in frustration.
"Is there anyone they lived with in the dorms, or before that?" Sheska asked. Hughes thought back throughout all of the years. The boys were always traveling, someone could have done something to Ed then, or even when they were around Central, they were in dorms and hotels. There was nothing that Hughes could manage to keep rock solid. Unless he thought back very far.
"He usually stays with me or in the dorms, and Ed never really leaves the dorm since he's always researching or eating in the cafeteria, there's no way he would have known anyone well enough for someone to do something like this." Hughes sighed.
"Well, Edward doesn't have to know someone well enough for them to do it." Sheska pointed out. Hughes nodded in agreement. Now if he could only find a way to shed some light to this without mentioning any knowledge to Edward. If he was wrong, he could destroy the trust that Ed held with him. And he couldn't risk it.
"That's true," Hughes sighed. "This is getting frustrating." Sheska placed a soft comforting hand on Hughes' shoulder. Normally she wouldn't dare get this close to him, but it was obvious he needed the comfort.
"We don't even know if there's anything like that going on. Just look into the Anxiety disorder, maybe take him to the doctor to get checked out. I'll look into the Rape Trauma Syndrome by myself, or even with the Colonel." Sheska promised.
"Alright, if you think you got that covered.." Hughes shrugged. Sheska nodded before the two went on for their research, ignoring most of the work they needed to get done for their actual day jobs. Edward was more important.
The phone rang in the Hughes house in the middle of the afternoon. Gracia had been baking cookies with Elysia since Edward was still in bed. He had a rough night, and didn't get much sleep. By the time the phone rang, Edward had just woken, and had walked into the bathroom.
"Elysia, why don't you go see if Alphonse is in his room? Make sure to knock first, though, okay?" Gracia suggested. Elysia gave a quick nod, always wanting to play with her big brothers. She ran off happily, though did not ignore her Mother's warning of knocking the door. She walked over to the phone and picked it up off the hook. "Hello?"
"Gracia, it's me," Maes' voice was heard on the other side of the line. Before Gracia got to speak again, Hughes spoke. "I need you to look out for Ed. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, I need you to write down what he did."
"Is something the matter with Edward?" Gracia asked, speaking in a hushed tone as not for any little ears to overhear her. If there was something wrong with the teenager that she thought as a son, she would do anything to help.
"I'll have to give you the details when I get home. I'll tell you everything tonight, I promise. I won't be able to make it home for lunch, though, I'm sorry." Hughes gave her the gist of an explanation.
"It's alright," Gracia smiled. She knew that her husband tried to make it home for lunch any time he could, though if something was wrong with Edward there was no doubt that he was researching into it. "What do you mean by out of the ordinary, though?" she asked.
"If he shies away from anyone, or if he does something that a normal teenager wouldn't do." Maes told his wife.
"Maes, he's not a normal teenager, how would I know what's normal and what's not normal for him?" Gracia pressed. She had seen Edward grow from an eleven–year old boy to a sixteen–year old teenager, and she never saw anything different in any behavioral patterns.
"You'll know, I know you will. I love you." Maes said on the other line.
"I love you too." Gracia said softly, and their conversation was brought to an end as Maes hung up on the other line. Gracia sighed. He said that she would just know, and that was something she intended to live up to.
When Edward came out of the bathroom, or at least when Gracia had noticed, she saw that Edward wasn't wearing all of his layered clothing, though was just wearing his black wife beater and the leather pants that he usually wore. The teen had apparently abandoned his platform boots in his bedroom, where Alphonse had no doubt have put them away neatly in the closet of the guest room they were staying in.
Edward's hair was a bit damp, most likely having taken a shower, and it was in a ponytail instead of its usually braid. He was being dragged around by Elysia, though didn't show any remorse about it. He loved playing with the little girl he shared a birthday with, and Alphonse did as well.
"Little big brother, let's make cookies with Mommy!" Elysia exclaimed in the pure happiness that only a four–year old could display genuinely. She dragged him by the hand to the kitchen where Gracia stood near the phone, having put it on the hook when she was finished with her conversation.
"Good morning, Edward. Did you want to help with the cookies?" Gracia asked with a smile. Ed seemed a bit uncomfortable, though no one couldn't be whenever they were presented with hospitality in a way that they hadn't been presented before.
"Sure, if I don't get in your way or anything.." he trailed off. The blonde reached a hand back to twirl his hair that was held up in a ponytail nervously. Gracia did make a mental note on how Edward was around adults, though usually he was fine around her. Even this, this was usual. This was nothing out of the ordinary.
"It's no trouble at all, Ed. Besides, I'm sure Elysia would love to have you help with the cookies," Gracia smiled, and Elysia gave a quick nod, shouting a 'yep!'. Gracia scolded her gently on shouting before they moved to make cookies. Elysia did quickly grow bored of this, and moved on to play with Alphonse, though Edward stayed to make cookies. "Edward, may I ask you a question?" Gracia asked quietly.
"Uh, sure..?" Edward said, though it sounded more as if it were a question than anything else. He waited patiently for the question that was on the tip of Gracia's lips. Why would Maes be worried? What could have possibly happened that he would want her to look for signs of something? Though, she never asked that. Instead, she asked of something else. Something she knew would be of some sort of use to her husband.
"Could you tell me about where you've been to?" Gracia asked. "The places you've been on your travels?" this was something that was subtle, yet informative. Gracia Hughes was a smart woman, and she knew some of the things that her husband would need if he was investigating Edward. After all, no one really had any records on the places that the Elric brothers had been to before.
"Oh, well, there's not much to tell. I mean, sometimes we camp out if we're traveling by foot and don't get to our destination by dark, but mostly we travel by train, so we tend to stay in inns." Ed admitted.
"What about before that? When you first came to Central, didn't you live with someone?" Gracia asked the teenager. She might as well get the information while the subject is still out in the open and not suspicious. She never knew if Hughes might need to information later on.
"Oh, yeah, I lived with..Shou Tucker..You know, the Sewing Life Alchemist.." Edward trailed.
"You will never be able to escape me."
Still kind of short, and I've been focusing a lot on this. I might even put 'Just a Dream'-an Ao No Exorcist fanfiction I've been working on for quite some time-on hiatus to get some more of this done. Anyway, I apologize to everyone that did not like the extra week I gave myself, but I didn't even finish this chapter until the seventeenth, so it was a good thing I did. Please review, and let me know what you think. There may be spelling errors, so please do let me know if you find any, and grammar errors as well ^_^ Thank you, and have a great day!
Next Update: May 28th. (Not giving myself an extra week, though the chapter my be pretty short again).