Chapter 14

Roy was jerked into the waking world when he felt something creating pressure around his rib cage. It wasn't a crashing pressure by any stretch of the imagination. It was just enough to alert him to something that shouldn't be happening.

His eyes snapped open, almost as if he was expecting something drastic to be happening. Instead, he almost growled in annoyance. It was Edward. Again! The annoying, bite-sized, alchemist curled up against, if not practically on top of, him on the couch. Why couldn't Roy even nap in peace?

Roy was laying across the couch, some of Ed's medical reports still clutched in his hand. He spied the rest in the closed folder on the coffee table. He had a suspicion Hawkeye had taken the liberty of cleaning those up after he had fallen asleep.

It took Roy a moment to realise Ed wasn't the only one of the couch with him. Havoc was rubbing the teenager's back gently. This time thankfully, the smoker wasn't grinning like an idiot enjoying hilarity of the situation. Instead, he looked concerned.

"Havoc?" Roy said, his voice rough from sleep. "Get him off."

The blond looked up at him, obviously unaware Roy had woken up. Roy was offered an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Chief," Havoc said quietly. "I've been trying. It's just every time I do, he seems to tighten his grip on you. I didn't want to wake you."

"Well I'm awake now," Roy couldn't help but sigh. "He's sick and not even conscious from the looks of things. He can't be that hard to deal with. Why was he even allowed to come over here in the first place?"

Havoc didn't answer right away. He seemed more interested in fixing the situation then explaining it. The smoker was trying to pull the kid off him, but Edward didn't like that. The brat wasn't even awake and he was being difficult. The younger blond whimpered quietly and clung to Roy, annoying the older alchemist.

Roy sat up and tried to pry the boy's arms off him. It was only then he noticed Edward was shaking slightly.

"Havoc, stop," Roy commanded.

Havoc paused. His hands were still on the boy. It didn't take long for the smoker to realize what Roy had. Ed was shaking. Roy lifted Ed's face to see it screwed up, grimacing at something. A nightmare?

"Fullmetal?" Roy tried, giving Ed a rather rough shake. "Wake up, brat."

Havoc looked at Roy. The smoker didn't seem all that impressed by his commanders chosen tactics in waking Edward.

"Hey," Havoc said, frowning slightly. "Are you serious? That's how you would like to be woken up if it was you? No offence, sir, but you would make a crap big brother."

Roy frowned. Big brother?

I've had years of practice with Al. It's a big brother skill.

Edward's words floated into his head, filling him of the memory where he had been the one experiencing the nightmare, and Edward was the one being there for him. If the boy had grabbed him, calling him something like 'Colonel shithead', it probably wouldn't have the same calming effect that Edward's tactic had. The gentle, but firm hold around him, the slight rocking movement, the reassuring rubbing of the back or stroking of the hair, and the humming. All of these things had made his fears and his sadness fade away. And yet all he wanted to do was get the kid off him. Roy was naturally a leader, not a big brother, father or anything. He had no experience in these things. He had sisters. Hell he had lots of them. But by the time they came to the 'family' they were too old for this type of thing.

Roy swallowed and looked back up at Havoc, who was still trying to calm the blond down, who was starting to mutter in his sleep. Most of it was impossible to make out. Just a word here or there could be made out. Like; hurts, Al, no, please, stop.

Roy sighed heavily as he moved the blond slightly that was still very much so attached to him. He slipped one arm around the boy and the other came to rest of his head. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this. Seemed sort of silly really. Or even stupid. He would never hear the end of it if Ed ever found about this. Then again, hopefully he would be too embarrassed to even mention it.

It wasn't hard to recall the tune that Edward had hummed to him during his dream. It seemed to float around his mind, almost like it was stuck there. Equivalent exchange, right? At that, Roy started to hum. It was soft and didn't sound quite right, but it almost had an immediate effect on the younger alchemist. Roy even rocked slightly, trying to bring back what he had experienced.

Edward's mutterings stopped. As Roy continued, the shaking stopped and the grip relaxed as well. Soon, the blond was peacefully asleep once. It took some time, but finally he could be rid of the brat and this stupid situation.

"Get him off," He told Havoc, as soon as he thought it was safe to stop.

"That wasn't bad," Havoc said quietly. "But you still need work."

Roy frowned at his subordinate as Edward was taken away. Not bad? It worked, hadn't it? He had the couch to himself once again and Edward was no longer distressed. Win win, right?

He couldn't help, but shake his head as he swung his legs over the edge of the couch. Roy opened the folder and pulled out the last few reports. So far nothing had been related to what had been happening now. He skimmed the last few reports before picking up the report that would hopefully give him some answer. Edward's medical report on the day Alphonse got his body back.

The report itself was long, spanning over the blond's week spent within the hospital during his recovery. It matched up perfectly to what was happening right now. The exhaustion, fever, malnutrition and dehydration. Even the fact that Edward was unusually clingy and disorientated. In the end the hospital had resorted to restraining the boy in order to stop him going to Alphonse's room. Considering the younger boy's memory lose it was probably necessary to stop freaking him out. A stranger wondering into your room and into your bed would be enough to freak out any nine year old.

The report gave Roy hope that things would begin to improve soon. As long as Ed didn't push himself, he should be okay within a week; maybe two as Edward seemed to have discharged himself before he had completely recovered. In the next few days he would even be coherent again. That is if Edward were to recover at the same rate as last time. Hopefully later tonight he could find out exactly what Ed had done to put himself in this situation last time, and get closer to answers.

Funny, either Edward was really in his head, or he was looking forward to his own decent into insanity.