Disclaimer: Legendarily Quiet does not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

"What was that all about?" Ed asked curiously as Roy entered the room. "I've never seen you chase after someone with such determination!"

"Oh, it was nothing," Roy said half-heartedly as Ed snickered at him. "Seeing as she's going to be your permanent nurse from now on, I thought it would be wise to tell her that your temper is nothing to take offence at. She looked quite put-out when she left, after all."

Edward frowned. His anger had been completely justified! Who did that woman think she was anyway, to come in here and start treating him like he was some sort of kid? Plus, the vibes he got from her just made him plain uncomfortable.

"I don't like her," Ed said stubbornly as Roy situated him back in his wheelchair. "I want to switch nurses; anyone is better than her!"

Roy paused in his work and regarded Ed with a serious expression. Ed tried not to squirm under his gaze. "Did she do anything to you?" he asked suddenly.

Thoughts of the nurse being all touchy with him came unbidden to his mind, and against his wishes, Ed felt his face begin to heat. "W-what do you mean?" he spluttered.

Roy's eyes widened and then seemed to darken within a second. His whole face seemed to cloud over with a suppressed rage and Ed struggled to mollify the situation before Roy drew to incorrect conclusions.

"She didn't do anything, if that's what you're wondering!" he said quickly.

Roy's eyes snapped to him, and Ed would've cringed if he had been able to. "Explain," Roy said sternly.

What was Ed supposed to say now? That he didn't like Cassandra simply because she had been overly familiar and a bit condescending to him during their first brief encounter?

"It was nothing!" Ed said, exasperated now. "Besides, what's the big deal anyway? Why do you care so much?"

Ed expected Roy to snap back with a fiery retort – if his expression was anything to go by – but instead he just closed his eyes and took a deep breath, visibly calming himself down. Ed didn't understand why the colonel was making a mountain out of a mole hill, but he couldn't deny the lovely warmth spreading through him when he realized that Roy was getting angry and protective on his behalf.

"We'll talk about this later, Edward," Roy said tiredly, all traces of anger now gone. He got up from his crouching position and took hold of the handles on the wheel chair. "Let's go see if Dr. Westwood has that passive range of motion instruction booklet ready for us."

Edward ducked his head and let the colonel wheel him out of the room without comment.

In the empty examination room, Cassandra took deep, shuddering breaths. Roy Mustang had scared her – threatened her, even – but this was what she had wanted all along, wasn't it? For the colonel to be so protective of Edward, it was obvious how much he cared about him. This was just as she had originally planned it to be, for the two of them to come together and become a sort of family.

But then . . . why was she so scared and uneasy?

Cassandra's hands trembled and she set down the blood sample she was holding before she dropped it. She collapsed on a chair placed by the wall and put her head in her hands. Before everything happened, she had been untouchable, in a way. If something had happened to Edward, she would only have had to answer to her own guilty conscience. Even while staying with Maes Hughes, she knew that she could take Anna and run if things ever went really downhill. And even though she knew that Alphonse loved his brother to the ends of the earth, she didn't believe that the sweet boy would be capable of coming after her if something were to happen to Edward.

Quite frankly, Edward hadn't had any sort of protector or guardian angel that she could fear, and that knowledge had allowed her to do whatever she wanted.

But now . . . Edward had a fiery demon from hell looking out for him, and if she made one wrong move, she would be incinerated without a second thought. Mustang was a powerful man in the military, and had many resources available to him. If Cassandra were to ever spark his ire, she would be done for.

Her shoulders shook as the tears she had finally managed to halt came raining down again.

"Just what have I done?"

"Thank-you!" Roy smiled at the receptionist as he wheeled Edward out of the waiting room. He walked down the empty hospital hallways, Edward quiet in his wheelchair. Neither of them said another word until they were both bundled into the car and Roy had turned the key in the ignition.

"Look," Roy said, preparing himself as he pulled out of their parking space. "The health and wellbeing of my subordinates is very important to me." Hopefully, Edward would be able to understand if he phrased it like this. "Everyone under me plays a crucial role in supporting me on my journey to the top. To repay their hard work, it's only fair that I watch out for them in return."

Equivalent exchange. If Ed didn't understand that, then there was no hope for the boy.

"So I guess it's like equivalent exchange. I do all your dirty work, and you make sure I live to tell the tale, huh?"

Well, not exactly bingo, but it was close enough for now.

"Not to mention all the help I give you on your own personal goal," Roy said, looking over his shoulder to sneak a glance at the little alchemist. "It's give and take, Edward."

"Like I don't already know that! The whole world revolves on equivalent exchange!"

Eh . . .

"Exactly. So do you understand why I need to know if that nurse did anything to you?"

Edward sighed. "That nurse did a lot of things, Roy, but none of them were illegal."

Roy resisted the urge to pound the steering wheel. "Edward," he said firmly, "did that nurse do or say anything that made you feel uncomfortable?" He thought for a moment. "Besides the needle," he added.

Roy eyed Ed in the rear-view mirror. The boy certainly looked uncomfortable now, and Roy was sure that he would've been fidgeting had he been able to.

"Well, she was very . . . familiar with me, and, well – I don't know what it is, but the whole thing was just . . . uncomfortable, you know? I felt like I just wanted to get away from her."

"Hmm."

Was Ed's uneasiness around the woman a subconscious reaction, induced by the memory of his kidnapping? Roy didn't doubt for a second that somewhere deep in his mind, Ed knew all the events that had happened to him. Maybe the drug was just keeping him from accessing those memories.

All the more reason to find a cure as soon as possible.

"Thank you for telling me your feelings Ed," Roy said. The boy in question was looking stubbornly out the window, so the opportunity for eye contact was lost. Roy settled for looking at his profile. "Although it is not possible to switch nurses, I will keep an eye on her, so don't worry."

Ed's eyes flickered forward, and Roy caught them just in time. "I'll protect yo– "

"KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD, DAMN IT!"

Roy swore, and the tires on the car went screeching.

"Look, I'm sorry."

". . . almost got us killed the bastard . . ."

"C'mon! There was plenty of space between us and that other car!"

". . . driving on the wrong side of the road . . . such a stupid way to go . . . I'm too young to die . . ."

"Even if we had been hit, I would've taken most of the impact!"

". . . doesn't even care . . . can't leave Al by himself . . . shouldn't have a license . . . Hawkeye's a much better driver . . ."

Roy sighed and stopped trying to make out what Ed was muttering to himself. The boy wasn't even listening to anything else around him, and Roy doubted that he would be able to get his attention. Instead, he settled for fetching the wheelchair from the trunk, unfolding it, and placing Edward in it. Roy hadn't forgotten about getting oil for Ed's automail, and so he wheeled the still muttering teen into Central's most recommended automail shop.

Edward let his dark monologue fade and come to an end as he regarded the sight around him. Inside the automail shop, metal limbs seem to cover every available surface, advertising this special feature or that. Add-ons and automail 'accessories' covered a whole wall on the left side, and from his position he could see at least ten different oil brands. Wrenches, screwdrivers, and a whole bunch of other tools he didn't know the name of where displayed here and there.

In short, Winry would have a field day if she ever visited this shop, and his wallet would end up a whole lot lighter. Ed shuddered just thinking about it.

"Hello!" A burly man came out from the back room, and his eyes immediately zoomed to Ed in the wheelchair. "Automail broke down?" he asked after a moment, regarding his full sleeves.

Ed fought the urge to snort. As if. Nothing could compare to Winry's automail; it was the epitome of perfection and just kept getting better and better all the time. It could take a sound beating and still function, and even if it did break, there was no way he'd replace it with a shiny piece of crap from this shop.

Unfortunately, Roy answered for him before he could tell the shopkeeper what was on his mind. "We're just here for some oil," he said. "Do you have any recommendations? I'm severely lacking in knowledge pertaining to this field."

"Come on right this way sir," muscle man said. "I'll give you a run-down of what we have here."

Edward tuned out the conversation as Roy pushed him after muscle man, and only hoped in the back of his mind that he wouldn't ask to see his automail. The last thing he needed was for Roy to strip him in public.

After the whole ordeal was over (muscle man had asked to see his automail, and the combined efforts of both him and Roy had barely managed to hold him off) Roy and Edward returned home with the most expensive bottle of automail oil the shop had to offer.

Edward hadn't wanted to get it – most oil was basically the same, and a cheaper brand would've worked just as well – but Roy had insisted that they get "the best oil available."

Severely lacking in knowledge pertaining to this field, damn right.

"Do you want to oil your automail now?" Roy asked once they had settled in at the house.

"Nah, it's fine."

Roy gave him an odd look. "Well, when do you usually do maintenance?"

". . . well, I guess now is as good a time as any."

"That's what I thought."

After the oiling had been done and dealt with, Roy situated Ed on the bedroom bed. "I want to go through the exercises now," he said.

"Why?" Ed looked up at Roy curiously. "Aren't you getting tired of doing all this maintenance on me?"

Roy shrugged his shoulders, already turning around to dig for the instruction booklet. "I could never get tired of taking care of you," he said in an offhand manner.

What the hell? Ed blinked once, twice, three times, but blinking his eyes didn't seem to have any effect on his ears, nor did it change what he had heard. "Care to say that again?" he asked, making sure that Mustang could hear the challenge in his tone. How could the man even say something like that? Ed's heart was already starting to speed up to an uncomfortably fast level, and Ed tried to subtlety take deep breaths to calm himself.

He did not want to be overwhelmed by his emotions again. And by such a simple phrase, too!

Roy turned around and straightened up, flipping the booklet in his hands open to the first page. "I could never get tired of taking care of you," he said without looking up, his voice casual.

Ed's heart leaped, and Ed was sure it was just about ready to burst out of his chest and have a field day. "Don't say things like that," he gasped. His head was suddenly spinning, but the only thing he could do was shut his eyes tight and will it all to go away.

Edward didn't know why this was happening. He'd thought that once he decided to tolerate Roy and not fight him every step of the way, his emotions would calm down and his body would stop trying to kill him. It clearly wasn't working anymore though.

Just what did he have to do to make it all stop?!

Ed cracked open his eyes again. Roy had looked up from the booklet, alarm and worry etched clearly in his face. "Ed?" Roy tossed the booklet aside and came up right beside him. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Ed's heart rate sped up even more, and he gave up trying to take deep breaths, opting instead for short, gasping ones. Roy was just making it all worse. His concern, his worry, his – his care, was surely going to be the death of him.

"It hurts, Roy . . ." he moaned, and let his eyes close. Fuck it all, he just wanted it to end.

"What hurts Ed?!"

Edward could feel Roy's hands on his face, flitting about this way and that. An angry buzz started to build up within him, consuming him in waves of pain. Unbidden, tears began to pool in his eyes, and as he opened them to look up into Roy's fear filled face, a sharp slice of agony seemed to rip through him, causing him to cry out.

"Roy!"

Roy's hands were gone from his face in an instant, and Ed felt strong arms wrap around him, lifting him off the bed. He let his gasps turn into sobs as Roy rushed out of the house and into the car, fingers fumbling as he struggled to buckle him in. He heard the screech of tires as Roy pulled away from the curb, and the honks of other drivers as Roy weaved all over the street.

In the midst of his pain, Ed realized that Roy was going crazy with fear and worry because of him, and he wanted to scream his joy at that fact out to the heavens. At the same time though, he wished he had the voice to tell the man to stop, because it seemed that the more Roy cared, the more pain he felt.

Edward wanted to succumb into the depths of unconsciousness, but a voice was calling out to him through the haze of pain, and he struggled to listen.

"It's going to be okay Edward," Roy was saying. "I won't let anything happen to you. Stay with me; it's going to be okay."

Ed's heart gave a painful thud in his chest, and Ed gasped from the shock of it as well as from the pain. It was too much. In that instant, he knew that he had to stop things now, or else he really was going to die.

"Please Roy," he sobbed. "You need to stop this."

Roy's voice replied, quick as a flash and bordering on hysterical. "I'm trying," he said, "but I just don't know what's wrong or what to do– "

Edward cut him off with a scream before Roy could say anything to put him in even more pain. He caught his breath on the seat, gasping and crying as tears continually rolled down his face. "You're hurting me," he finally managed to choke out.

Roy nearly swerved off the road at the revelation. He was the one hurting Edward? How?

The boy had nearly given him a heart attack when he had started crying. Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, crying from pain? Where was the iron will he had shown during his automail surgery? If this pain was enough to make Edward Elric cry, then something was seriously wrong here.

And to know that he was the one causing Ed to feel this way was just unbelievable. Roy turned to his charge, not bothering to hide the outright panic he was sure must be showing on his face. "How am I hurting you Edward?!"

When he made eye contact, Ed screwed his eyes shut, and blood spurted from his nose. The blond's head slumped forward so quickly and suddenly that Roy knew he had passed out from the pain. The blood continued to drip from his nose at a steady pace, coating his chin and landing to get soaked up by the fabric covering his thighs.

Roy steeled himself and wrenched his gaze back to the road before stomping his foot on the acceleration all the way. Though his mind was a flurry of worries, questions, and how not to get them killed before he made it to the hospital, one thought was at the forefront of his mind.

Cassandra Bell was going to pay for this, no matter what.

Legendarily Quiet: I hope that you're all pleased with this chapter. I felt that things were going a little slow, so I gave the story a nice kick in the butt to speed things up. IMPORTANT: I probably should've mentioned this a lot sooner, but don't take any of the medical things in this story as fact. I did a little bit of research, but the life of a paralyzed person is much more complicated than what I'm making it out to be here, and really, the focus of this story is not about Ed being paralyzed, but about a parental relationship between Roy and Ed. I know basically nothing about the subject of paralysis, and the only reason I did it to Ed in the first place was so that I could have that bath scene. It was a sheer coincidence (and bonus) that I have also been able to use it to help with the parental part of the story. That is all.

Lest: Remind them why you chose today to update . . .

L.Q: Right! Today is my 16th birthday, and I worked very hard to get this chapter out to you on this very special day. I'm also going to get my learner's permit today so I can start learning how to drive, and I'll be visiting the aquarium for the first time!

Lest: WOOHOO!

L.Q: Yup! So please be a dear and leave a review. It'll make for a great birthday present . . . plus I do really want to hear about what you think of this chapter.