Roy had been reading a book while waiting for him. There was a pile of books placed on his bedside table next to his rose with the card placed on top of them. He looked up when Ed was wheeled into the room by an orderly and smiled. Roy looked his usual self. He was clean shaven again, not a hair out of place and completely in control. The only thing that even hinted they had been on a crazy ass adventure was the crutches leaning against the wall to Roy's right.

"Well hello, sleeping beauty," he greeted Ed.

Ed blushed a little at the name and rolled his eyes as the orderly helped him back into the bed.

"You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you," Ed said quietly.

"I would imagine so," Roy nodded. "Though, the crutches took some getting used to."

"They do," Ed agreed. "How is your leg?"

"On the mend," Roy assured him. "I have weekly physio and I'm currently have Maes as my personal warden. He's refusing to let me out of his sight without an armed guard."

"Isn't that Hawkeye's job?" Ed asked curiously.

"Normally," Roy smiled sadly. "But it has come to our attention that while I'm on leave it would be best if I gave her some space."

"Is she okay?" Ed asked, feeling silly for not asking about the team. "Did anyone get hurt?"

"Everyone is fine," Roy replied. "They were a little knocked about, but faring better than we were at the time. However, it would seem that Hawkeye followed your lead with a rather dramatic confession of her own."

Ed looked at Roy searchingly as he held his breath.

"She told you that she loved you?" Ed felt his voice crack a little.

Anxiety rose in Ed. Logically, he knew Roy had decided to see where they went from the card, but what if he had forgotten what he had written in it? What if that was written on a whim and it had passed?

"Riza," Roy hesitated. "She has always been like a sister to me. Similar to how you feel about Winry. Though, it's not every day I get two confessions from my command of love. Loyalty. Yes. But love?"

"Well you'll know the world is coming to an end if Havoc starts to confess his undying love for you," Ed joked nervously.

"Very true," Roy said quietly with a small smile. "Ed. I have to ask. Did you mean what you said?"

Ed was silent for a moment. Just a moment.

"Yes," Ed confirmed quietly.

"I see," Roy said as he picked up his crutches and moved carefully over to the bed. "May I sit?"

Ed nodded and looked down at his hand. Roy's response was confusing him a little. He sat on the edge of the bed and carefully slipped his hand into Ed's.

"There will be many challenges," Roy began. "Blocks and people that will make this hard, but I am willing to see where this goes. I cannot even begin to understand how it would feel to have been in your situation, however when you were shot, I think I came close. I have been feeling rather attached to you during our training together. I cannot lie. I would like to say I would feel as protective of you as I would for anyone else in my command, but that would be a lie."

Ed looked up to look Roy in the eye.

"I like you a lot," Roy said with a smile when he caught Ed's eye. "So even with everything I know that would try to make this seem like a bad idea, I would like to try."

"I would like that," Ed said quietly. "But why? I'm…"

Ed just looked down at himself. He was half a person, he was impulsive and argumentative He was…

"You are Edward Elric," Roy finished for him. "Everyone has their flaws, their demons and parts of themselves that they don't value. Yet despite my flaws, my demons and parts of me that I don't like about myself, I have been lucky enough to attract someone like you to my side."

"We don't really know each yet though," Ed said. "We discovered how little we knew each other during the training."

"Yet," Roy said as he gave Ed's hand a squeeze. "I'm sure you got my card? I would like to get to know you better. If it just turns out to be friendship, I would count myself as lucky. If it turns out to be more? I would consider myself to be a very blessed man. For not every man is lucky enough to find love or to be loved."

Ed felt so overwhelmed. He didn't know what to say.

"What do you think?" Roy asked when he didn't reply. "Do you want to see where this goes?"

"Yes," Ed nodded. "I just never thought this would be what happened after I told you."

"Maybe next time you need to tell me something so important," Roy smirked a little. "Please don't go to such extreme lengths? I'm not sure I could go through all that again."

"I'll try," Ed promised. "Not that I'm so willing to get shot again. That hurt like a bitch and then some."

"You're telling me," Roy laughed. "I brought you some books to read to try and stop you from driving the hospital staff nuts. It was surprisingly hard to find something you hadn't read according to your brother. Whom I had a lovely conversation with before he threatened to physically maim should I hurt you in anyway shape or form."

"Oh fuck," Ed brought a hand up to rub his face. "Please don't tell me my brother gave you that talk."

"He did," Roy sighed. "I would have thought it was perhaps unnecessary, however your brother is nothing but thorough. Though, he needn't have bothered since Maes had given me a very similar talk. There was more talk of blackmail then physical harm though, so between them they have everything covered."

"No," Ed moaned into his hand.

"You can't honestly say you're surprised," Roy was probably smirking at him now. "Can you?"

"No," Ed sighed.

Suddenly, Ed's stomach made itself known. Though as it grumbled, it twitched painfully causing Ed to wince.

"Hungry?" Roy asked gently. "Gracia was kind enough to make you some soup. The doctors have you on a strict diet of fluids, but she is aware of your distain for hospital food."

"That woman is a goddess," Ed smiled as he eyed the small crockpot in a bag on the floor. "Though the fact I can't have a real meal doesn't seem fair. How am I meant to put any weight on if I can't have a real meal?"

"The doctors want to make sure your insides behave first," Roy laughed. "The bullet caused a lot of damage in there."

"The doctors haven't quite gone through the details with me yet," Ed sighed. "But it didn't sound good."

"The bullet nicked your bowls," Roy explained. "It caused so much damage. You had to undergo a few surgeries. You nearly didn't make it to the hospital. You lost so much blood."

"Fun," Ed sighed. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you."

This wasn't his first abdominal injury and it was probably going to be just about as enjoyable as the first.

"Well you do have a knack for really bad decisions and impulsive behaviour," Roy said. "It really doesn't surprise me that you would do that considering I wanted to keep you safe in that moment."

"I just couldn't let you die," Ed admitted.

"So instead I would have to watch you die?" Roy frowned. "That's not fair, Ed. Do you know how much it hurt to watch you bleed out? Then I had to use my alchemy on you. I had to hurt you in order to stop you from dying before help arrived."

"You're going to be a hard man to protect with an attitude like that," Ed sighed. "I am really sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you. I didn't even consciously make the decision to push you out the way."

"Your protection assignment is finished," Roy reminded him. "Maes has assigned others to that job now."

"It was never your job to protect me," Ed counted. "And yet you were willing to…"

Roy wrapped his hand around Ed's again as Ed trailed off.

"I'm just glad you're okay now," Roy sighed. "For a while I was worried you wouldn't wake up. It would be so unlike you to give up and stay in a coma, but it would be very like you to create an incredibly large amount of inconvenient paperwork for me by staying in a coma."

"Anything to keep you busy," Ed snorted.

"Well when you were younger I remember you sleeping through a lot of things," Roy smiled a little. "That and you're stubborn enough that you could sleep through an invasion if you set your mind to it."

"It was different back then," Ed smiled a little as well. "I had to sleep for Al too. You should know that something like this wouldn't keep me down."

"You're not invincible," Roy squeezed Ed's hand. "And I'm not expecting you to be. I'm expecting you to look after yourself so I don't have to worry about something keeping you down. Can you just… try to be more careful?"

"I can try," Ed admitted.

They sat there in silence together for a small time. Funny how they were both so willing to throw themselves into danger for each other and then got mad at the outcome. The only thing to break their silence was Ed's stomach loudly protesting the fact he hadn't eaten anything in so long.

"Did you want some of Gracia's cooking now?" Roy asked quietly.

"Am I allowed?" Ed scrunched up his face at the idea of his stomach being told when he could or couldn't eat.

"Yes," Roy smiled. "I checked with the doctor when I brought it in.

"Thank fuck!" Ed scooted up straighter.

Roy got up onto his crutches and grabbed his wheelie table before bringing it over to the bed. The bag was transferred from the floor to the table.

"So tell," Ed started. "What happened? After… Lambert shot me."

"I shot him with some flames," Roy sat back down on the bed. "I'm sure I hit him, but he bolted from the room. The team that came and got us didn't find him on the base. He got away. They are currently hunting him down and he's been branded as a traitor. We got Bazin though. He's undergoing some interrogation while his country is looking to secure his extraction. Chances are it will be the final straw that broke the camel's back and we'll go to war with them over it."

"Pity you didn't fry the fucker," Ed muttered as he picked up the spoon.

"I know," Roy sighed as he took the lid off of the pot. "But if he ever dares to rear his head again I won't miss."

"What else happened while I was out?" Ed asked as he took in the smell of Gracia's wonderful cooking.

Ed was focusing on trying to get the spoon to his mouth without his hand wobbling all over the place.

"You and I have been promoted," Roy smiled. "I'm a General now and you are a Lieutenant Colonel."

"I'm a what?!" Ed nearly spilled his soup.

"Lieutenant Colonel," Roy repeated.

Ed stared at Roy.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Ed sighed. "I quit."

"You can't quit," Roy reminded him. "You're in a contract."

"I want a transfer then," Ed huffed as he went back to his soup. "Even if this… is just going to be a friendship I don't think I could work for you anymore."

"Maes has been hinting you might be happier in investigation," Roy revealed. "That and I feel you have done more than your fair share of field work. While you might still go into the field, it would be local and rare."

"That and Hughes wouldn't allow me to die of boredom," Ed smiled as he had another spoonful.

"You have eight months left of your contract," Roy said. "You'll be off work for at least three months, if not more. Seriously take full advantage of the leave, Ed. Maybe use that time to look into what you might like to do if you were serious about quitting."

"I'm not sure about having that much time off," Ed made a face. "That Cretan alchemist that was attacking us, she was using some cruel alchemy that wasn't meant for people to ever see. I need to make sure that research is dead and stays that way."

"So you'll travel?" Roy asked, his smiling fading slightly.

"Maybe not straight away," Ed explained. "I need to do some of my own research into it here first. Look into the people threatening you to see if I can't find out anything about her family. The last thing I need is someone else coming here and using that alchemy. She said it could be used to control people. Could you imagine what would happen if someone did that?"

Roy was silent for a moment. Ed paused eating, feeling unsure of himself. He really needed to look into this alchemy and keep it away from everyone, especially the military, but he didn't really want to leave Central so soon if he was going to get to spend more time with Roy.

"But you'll allow yourself to heal properly first, right?" Roy asked as he pushed the soup slightly closer to Ed to encourage him to eat.

"I don't think I'll have much of a choice," Ed looked at Roy.

Between Roy, Hughes and Al, if his little brother stuck around, he would have no choice, but to heal. Hughes might be Roy's keeper, but Al was his and Ed was sure he would get no mercy from his little brother.

"Also," Roy said looking a little amused. "I mentioned how I had some guards? Well I'm not the only one who will be having an armed escort until this whole thing is over."

"What?" Ed shot Roy a flat look. "I'm not the one getting letters."

"No," Roy nodded. "You are the one who has piqued the interest of a missing General who is involved in my letters. I doubt the man is that stupid to consider coming anywhere near you while he's being hunted, but Maes wants all his bases covered."

"I don't want a guard," Ed pouted.

"Join the club," Roy smirked.

"It's not fair," Ed grumbled into his soup.

"Life isn't fair," Roy agreed. "Now finish up before you fall asleep trying to eat that soup."

Roy just watched Ed finish off his soup. Ed found himself feeling incredibly tired now there was something in his stomach. A strange dizziness was overpowering Ed. The painkillers he'd been given when he was ordered back to his room after the test must be finally killing in with the help of a meal. About time. Without a word, Roy removed the table, soup pot and helped Ed lay back down.

"Sleep well," Roy whispered, giving Ed's hand one last squeeze before he took his leave.

Ed just smiled a little. It was funny how everything had been so horribly out of their control, but despite that it had turned out okay. Later, he would have a look and see what books Roy had found for him to read. Happy little thoughts like that followed Ed into his sleep.