Ed groans as he roles out of the bed once again to calm the crying baby down. This was the fifth time she had woken. And that meant that Ed had so far gotten a total of two minutes of sleep. His eyes were heavy with sleep and his movements were slow as he slowly dragged his feet while shuffling to the cot. Pulling the baby out and cradling her is his arms he yawns before shushing her.
"Shhhhhshshshsh. It's ok, I'm here I've got you, gotta stop crying now or you'll wake mustang up. We wouldn't want to wake mustang up, colonel grumpy face will be mad if we wake him up," Ed mutters as he shuffles back to the bed he was sleeping in.
"There, what if I just let you sleep here with me, will that make you feel better, "he murmurs snuggling the baby under the covers as she calms down and falls back to sleep.
"Thank you please stay asleep," Ed sighs as he also drifts off to sleep.
About a minute after the light snores of Ed and the child can be heard the door creaks open and mustang slowly peers in.
"Everything ok Alphonse?" He asks quietly.
"Yeah, I think they have both passed out from exhaustion," Al admits from where he sat by the window.
"He really is acting like that child's mother, it's rather fascinating," Mustang says "Well if everything is fine I guess I'll go back to bed... Edward is doing a good job," he yawns. Al nods as mustang closes the door and shuffles away.
"Yes... brother is doing a great job looking after her," he says quietly to himself.

-*morning*-

Edward was tired. With only a few decent hours of sleep thanks to having to get up so often to calm the baby girl down and lull her back to sleep. it meant that when Ed and Al had to go into central headquarters with mustang to meet up with Maes Hughes, Edward was ever so slightly moody.
"Good morning Edward, Alphonse, I trust Roy looked after you two well?" Hughes asks with a grin. He looks ed over and smirks before taking the child from the young boy's arms.
"Sleep well Edward, having a kid is tough isn't it," he taunts
"Shove off Hughes, and give her back, unless you can find her parents I'm her guardian, I'll take care or her," Ed yawns holding up a bottle of milk
"Besides I was just about to feed her, we had to skip breakfast 'cause colonel decided it was better to let us sleep in then to wake us up for food," he huffs with a pout.
"Brother don't be so harsh, I'm the one who let you sleep in, Colonel Mustang wanted to wake you up," Alphonse chuckles.
"Still, could have let me have breakfast before we left. Now I'm hungry and tired," Edward mutters carefully taking the baby back from Hughes and feeding her as they walked towards the alleyway where the brothers had found her.
"So this is it? The basket she was in?" Hughes asks as he crouches next to the basket.
"Yup, she was in there, will that help in any way to find out if she was abandoned or lost?" Ed says with a slight yawn.
"Well I hate to say it but the fact that it is this far into the alleyway does mean it's not looking too good, if it was a case of putting the child down and losing her then you would expect that she would have been in a more... populated area, and the basket not to mention the blanket she was wrapped in when you bought her in... they are both regrettably in terrible shape," Hughes sighs with a look of sympathy towards the two brothers.
"Having said that we will still need to find her parents to find out the true story, but just from observing this evidence I would say we are most likely looking at an abandonment, I'm sure there is a good reason to why but it is still a crime so when we do find her parents it might have to go to court to decide if they go to jail for child endangerment or if we help them to live in a comfortable environment where they can care for the child," he says
"Ok..." Ed nods taking a deep breath "Hughes, how could someone do this? Leave a child like her out here all alone, even if not on purpose to lose a baby by putting them down and forgetting to pick them back up... what kind of parent would care so little about their kids?" Edward mutters snuggling the baby close.
"Honesty Ed, I don't know, but what I do know is that I can safely say that no matter what happens she is on good hands right now," Hughes smiles.
"How Long do you think it will take to find her parents?" Alphonse asks.
"It could be anywhere between a few days to a few years, honestly we may never find them. It all depends on how well they stay hidden," Hughes says with a shrug. "If we haven't found them after a week then we might have to assume that they may be avoiding us, if that's the case then we can almost completely confirm that they left her on purpose," Maes Hughes mutters.
Edward nods biting his lip a little.
"She deserves better than that," he whispers.
"She has better than that now, she has you," Maes says.
"Mustang is expecting us at Central soon, is there anything else you wanted?" Ed asks a smile creeping onto his face as he pretends to ignore what Hughes said.
"No we both know Roy, best not to keep him waiting or he might do something stupid," Hughes laughs.
"That or Riza will start shooting because he isn't working," Ed jokes rolling his eyes.
The Elric brothers wave goodbyes as the turn and start walking back to central.

(Word count 1008)