The Return to Work
The Return to Work
Central Headquarters
Office of Colonel Edward Elric
9:00am
Edward admitted to himself, and surprisingly his Dad, that he was nervous about this. He had never been left in charge of a group in a formal non-combat setting before, and he was sure he was going to mess the whole thing up. His dad assured him that it would be fine, and everyone had a first day. Further, he had been given Jean Havoc as his adjutant. While it was true that Riza Hawkeye had been Roy's adjutant since his first office promotion, Jean Havoc had been his second aide and on the rare occasion that Riza had been out of the office over the years, Jean had handled the job as well as her, if a little less professionally.
This eased Ed's concern slightly, but in the end he was still ten years younger than the record breaking twenty-six Roy Mustang had been at the time he had become a Colonel, and Roy… Dad… had run an office for nearly two years before that. Ed felt like he was playing dress up and any moment now someone was going to come rushing in to say the whole thing was a terrible mistake. That, of course, no one in their right mind would give this kind of power to a teenager. Then he remembered that technically, he had been a legal adult for the last four years. Technically, he had been raising a child for the last two years. Technically, he saved the world less than six months ago. Technically, his best friend, who was almost a year younger than him was the leader of an entire country. Obviously, they would in fact give this kind of power to a teenager, given the right circumstances. Unfortunately, Ed met them.
He walked into the office, far calmer than he actually felt, wearing a stiffly starched and pressed uniform that screamed new. His boots were perfectly polished, his medals perfectly aligned, his hair perfectly pinned, and his nerved completely frayed. His men were all standing at attention when he entered the room, Jean Havoc( with his cane), Heymans Breda, Sheska Harris, Maria Ross, and Denny Broch. Edward saluted them in return and allowed them to sit, before finding his own desk. It was already stacked high with files for him to review and sign.
Edward sighed heavily and wondered if it was too late to change his mind. At least his staff were all friendly faces. He pulled the first folder off of his stack and got to work, much to Havoc's relief. He had not been looking forward to trying to order other people around, but then he kept reminding himself that Mustang didn't. In the office at least, during day to day tasks of paperwork, Dad-Mustang- left Hawkeye to keep everyone in line. Ed would simply do the same. When a job came up he would give orders, of course, but for this part at least, he would leave it mostly to Havoc.
Havoc didn't need Edward to tell him that either, he was already running things. He seemed to be nearly as efficient as Hawkeye with it too. Ed decided that tomorrow he would be sure to bring Havoc something as a thank you, like a muffin from the café on the other side of the square. He'd do it this afternoon, but the stack was high, and Yuery was being traded at noon. He was currently with Winry, but she had a meeting at one to look at a store space. Mustang-Dad- couldn't take Yuery because he had a meeting with Fuhrer Grumman, and Al was still too weak to ask him to keep an eye on an energetic toddler. It never occurred to Ed to ask either Rose or Mei to watch the boy for the afternoon.
11:00am
The morning had been very quiet as Ed read through the files and signed off on various requests. So far, he had approved only three projects to continue, placing fifteen in the 'look into in person' pile. He was unwilling to allow anything even remotely sketchy sounding to continue before looking into it. He stood and stretched briefly, his arm still stiff after months of therapy, though better than it was.
"Harris, Breda. I need the two of you to take a team and look into these for me. Make sure the paperwork matches what you're seeing. If anything looks off, just flag the file." Ed said as he handed over the stack of files. "You have until Friday."
Sheska and Breda nodded, saluted, and left the office. He then turned to Havoc. "I need to go grab something to eat before Yuery gets here, if anyone calls I stepped out for a minute."
"Yes, sir." Havoc said. "I trust you emptied your inbox then sir?"
"You're not my mother Havoc." Ed snorted.
"I'm not. She would point a gun at you. Did you finish your paperwork, or do I have to go get her?" Havoc responded.
"Hey! Dad just barely started dating Hawkeye. She's not my stepmother yet." Ed said. :I finished my inbox, mother."
Ed walked out of the office ignoring Havoc's sputtering. He decided to detour to his father's office, to see if Dad was ready for lunch as well. He was going to invite him to lunch and mention the labs, that way it was work related and Hawkeye would (probably) allow it.
He walked in and was greeted by Falman and Fuery enthusiastically. Hawkeye nodded to him but the way she held her shoulders he knew there was no chance of Dad leaving the office, but he could probably sell a lunch meeting in office. "Hawkeye, could you order food up for me and the General? I have a couple of files that are of immediate concern."
"Of course, Sir." Hawkeye said before gesturing for Fuery to take care of it. She then knocked on Mustang's door to announce Ed's arrival. "Sir, Colonel Elric here to see you. He took the liberty of ordering your lunch."
"Show him in." Mustang called back, and Ed walked into the office. It was slightly bigger than his old office, but most of the furniture was the same. Except for the couch, which resided in Edward's office instead. Mustang was busy reading a file of his own, and Ed could tell from the frown he was actually reading it for a change.
Wordlessly, Ed set the file in question down on the corner of his desk and waited. He decided at least for today he should behave like an officer and wait to be invited to sit. After a few minutes, Mustang looked up and realized he was still standing. "Unless someone else is in here, you can just sit. There's no reason to stand."
"I'm trying to follow protocol as much as possible…but I'm not cutting my hair." Ed said in reply as he sat in the chair across from Mustang.
"You don't have to. As a Colonel you have to wear the uniform, but as an Alchemist you can wear your hair however you wish. It was one of the first things I looked up in Academy." Mustang said as he closed the file he had just signed and reached for the one Ed brought in.
"Oh, did you go through a ponytail stage? Are there pictures?" Ed asked, with humor in his voice.
"I had considered it. However, Kimblee was in my dorm. I already had enough trouble with my heritage I didn't need to draw more attention to myself." Mustang said, making sure to keep his tone light. "I may have dared a couple of others to grow their hair out however. I myself considered a mustache… Hughes kindly pointed out that it was unlikely that I could get a date if I attempted it."
Edward burst into surprised laughter at the mental image of Mustang with facial hair as Hawkeye walked into the room with their sandwiches. "He was correct, Sir. It is unlikely anyone would have taken you seriously. I remember your attempt when we were younger."
"Oh Truth. Tell me there are pictures somewhere!" Ed giggled.
"They met an unexpected and unlikely end." Mustang said dryly.
"I have copies." Hawkeye replied at the same time. Mustang's expression screamed betrayal. Ed nearly slid out of his chair with laughter, tears on his cheeks. Hawkeye allowed herself a small smirk.
Ed pulled himself back into his seat and pulled the lunch bag to him as she left the room. He periodically let out another fir of giggles but had mostly calmed down, while Mustang pointedly ignored him to read the file he had brought over.
Normally, Ed would have suggested that anyone reading it should eat beforehand unless they wanted to skip lunch, but he knew his dad well enough to know that the man could internalize some really nasty things(like learning the entire country was about to die) and carry on as if someone had announced that they were planting daisies instead of violets. He was disturbed, but could set that feeling aside.
"How did this slip through the initial sweep?" Mustang asked as he turned a page, only to freeze at the photo attached to the upper left hand corner.
"Yeah, that's what I wanted to know." Ed said around his sandwich. "They were supposed to have started immediately after Promised Day. You signed the order. Or rather someone signed your name. This was signed while you were still blind…and the next order in the file was signed while you were in Xing, so it isn't someone in your office signing off on this shit, which made it an unknown enemy, which in turn made Ed nervous.
"Someone's trying to tarnish the new administration, myself included. That is a serious issue. I will have it looked into. Meanwhile, about this chimera experiments…if you haven't already, shut it down." Mustang said.
"Yeah, I need to take care of that this afternoon. That's part of why I'm here." Ed said setting down his sandwich as Mustang picked his own up. "Win is dropping Yu in about twenty minutes. I need someone to watch him. There's no way in hell I'm taking a baby anywhere near that lab."
"Hmm….I have a meeting this afternoon, and it can't be pushed back. Call Rose, ask her if she would pick him up around two. I'll be out of the meeting by three and can go straight home from there, so she won't have him for too long."
"…I forgot about Rose." Ed said a bit sheepishly. She did live with them after all.
"I see, well she a rather new addition to our home, I suppose I can see how that could happen in this situation."
"Funny. I didn't forget about William, I was just thinking it was good I didn't have both of them to find a sitter for today."
"…If you start bringing William into the office, it's only going to fuel the rumors." Mustang said. "Plus, you said yourself this is temporary. How will you feel when she gets on her feet and leaves with the boy once you're attached?"
"Technically, she filed that I'm William's father. I can get as attached as I want, because legally he's my son. No child of mine, whether they are my child or not, is ever going to feel abandoned by me." Edward said.
"I see." Mustang said. "Is William going to be a permanent fixture in your life then?"
"Of course." Ed said. "Rose and Winry and I talked about it. Even after she gets her own place, Will is welcome over anytime and I don't see any reason to change how the world views him. I know I was upset at first, but I've had time to think about it and I think it might be better for him this way. His paperwork is legal, that makes him every bit as much mine as Yuery."
"Well, then, I suppose we should encourage him to call me Yeye."
"Already working on it." Ed said. "About this case. I'm taking a full team in, I want all these men arrested. Immediately. Before they can decide to flee and go into hiding somewhere."
"I agree. Even under the old administration this was technically illegal, though we know now they didn't enforce those laws. Human chimera research is strictly forbidden. From what I'm seeing here…"
"It gets worse. Trust This is just what they released; I can't imagine what we're going to see when we get in there."
"Are you going to be able to handle this?"
"Just have the boys ready for cuddles when I get home…I'm going to need both of them, and Al…and possibly Winry…and I might need to sleep in yours tonight."
"I could send someone else."
"I don't want anyone else touching this."
"Okay. We'll be waiting for you when you get home." Mustang said, wanting nothing more than to hug his son to him and run him far away from all of this. Unfortunately, Ed was right. He was the best person to look into this, it's why Mustang had lab clean up assigned to him. That didn't mean he wasn't concerned about what this would do to his son.
It was a constant internal battle between the father in him and the general in him, having to choose what was best for his child, or best for the country. Usually, he managed to find a place somewhere in the middle, but not with this one. This was going to wreck his child, and sadly no one aside from possibly his other son, was qualified to handle it. At least not anyone who would handle the situation with compassion but logic.
In an attempt to get his mind off what was coming, Mustang brought them back to William. "I hope you know what you are doing with this William situation. Alphonse currently believes you are telling the truth, but this could derail that progress."
"Al and I are finally on the same page. I even explained to him the William situation. He understands and still believes me. Rose is also happy with the whole thing, she was pleased to learn I was willing to be the baby's Dad. Daniel and Hannah are actually a bigger problem. We need to find a good home for them, long term. Rose is caring for them for now, but she is feeling overwhelmed and has for a while. She had fully expected their mother to return for them long before now. I think I'm going to get into contact with Ishvalan relations and see what they can do to find their family."
"Technically. I am Ishvalan relations now. That's what this afternoon's meeting is about as well. I'm meeting with Colonel Miles and Elder Sham, as well as Scar to discuss moving forward with rebuilding. I can ask them while they are here to see if they can find their birth mother."
"Excellent. Thank you." Ed said as he finished his sandwich. "Well, I need to get going if I'm calling Rose, and I need to get a team ordered together so we can take care of this quickly. I'll see you at home."
"Be careful." Mustang said in return.
"Oh, before I go. Rose gave me a list for you, of the names of officers' she remembered involved in the abuse of power out in Liore."
"Thank you. I will see to them immediately."
Edward left finally to return to his office and prepare for the raid. He wasn't stupid. They were going to have some well made ones like Darius and Heinkel. There were going to be some bad ones, like Greed's gang. Then there were the ones that haunted you, and never let you sleep. After Nina… well this shouldn't be as bad as Nina. He didn't know any of these victims, and there was no way that he could have known what was going on in lab three.
General Mustang's Office
2:00pm
Rose had picked up Yuery as requested, and was waiting in Mustang's outer office. She had originally intended to head back home with the children, but she had not thought about how difficult seeing all those soldiers would be on the children, or herself. She had turned to return to Ed's office to ask him to walk her down, but he and his team had already been gone.
She then learned Mustang's office was just a little further down the hall, and there hadn't been any uniforms in the corridor so she had gone to ask him instead. She didn't trust Mustang as much as Ed, but she did trust him. At least enough to believe he would not hurt her or the children. He had been in a meeting however, but Hawkeye had offered to allow her to wait in the front room.
Rose had reluctantly agreed, when Yuery had seen the other soldiers and ran off toward the youngest looking one with glasses yelling "Kay!" She assumed this was a variation of the man's name. Hannah and Daniel soon drifted further into the room as well, drawn by the dog sitting neatly next to Hawkeye's desk. She gave them permission to pet the dog, and they were now sitting on the floor playing with him.
Rose shifted William in her arms, and looked around for a place to sit. The outer office wasn't really equipped with visitors in mind, so she resigned herself to standing. William, however, was unhappy with that idea. "You can set him down to crawl around if you like." Hawkeye suggested. "The room has been completely baby proofed. Any and all offices occupied by General Mustang are completely safe for a young child, at his insistence. He loves Yuery very much and wants it to always be an inviting area for him. In fact if you look over behind that desk over there, there is actually a basket of toys."
"Thank you, ma'am." Rose nearly whispered before stooping to release her son. He had recently begun crawling, and was still rather shaky, but he liked chasing his 'cousins' and 'brother' around. Rose had been rather relieved when Winry and Edward, along with Alphonse had come to her the other day to ask her if she wanted to allow Ed to fulfill the roll of the child's father.
William deserved a father like Yuery's. Ed was completely devoted to the boy, anyone could see that. Winry loved the boy too, and didn't seem to mind that he had a mother aside from herself, so Rose was glad to hear she was willing to be part of William's life as well. Their only provision was she couldn't decide years down the line to just take the boy and separate him from his brother.
Edward had very strong feelings about brothers. He was very clear that if she wanted to let the boys bond, it had to be a forever thing. That wasn't to say she would be stuck living with them forever, or that she wasn't allowed to move on herself, but that she always allowed the boys to see each other. She was fine with this arrangement.
Her son would always have a family this way, no matter what may or may not happen to her. She had spent months worried about what would become of her son should anything happen to her, but now that was no longer a concern. Rose did worry about these things often. She had seen more than enough death to know how fragile life was.
Something in her expression must have shown her pensive mood, because Hawkeye came over to her to ask her quietly if she was alright. She nodded silently as she watched the boys wander around the room, William following behind Yuery. Before she could think of anything to say to assure the older woman, the inner office opened, and Mustang stepped out with three Ishbalans.
Mustang spotted Yuery first, as usual, and completely forgetting his guests knelt down to call the boy to him. Yuery changed directions and rushed over to his grandfather to be scooped up. William arrived moments later, which Mustang clearly anticipated as he had still been kneeling. He scooped up the second boy before standing to look around for the other two children in the room.
The two men and elder woman who had been in the meeting with Mustang crowded around the General to see the boys. Rose smiled slightly when Mustang responded. "Yes, these are my grandsons. Yuery just turned two and William is nine months. Somewhere around here…let's see, ahah there they are! Are Hannah and Daniel. I was just talking to you about them."
Hannah shyly led her brother over to the group when Mustang mentioned her and her brother. He smiled down at them, but he was out of hands to pick anyone up, or even rub heads like he did at home. The elderly woman looked over the two children, before murmuring to the man next to her who was wearing sunglasses inside.
The final man, who had a rather large scar on his forehead, stood slightly apart from the others. Hannah walked over to greet him directly. He smiled down at the girl, even as the other two were assuring them all that they would find the children's birth family, if at all possible. Rose was relieved for this as well.
Eventually, Mustang managed to escort them all out of the door and down toward the parking garage where Hawkeye would then driving them home had not been part of the plan, but taking over with them usually.