Hi, hi everyone! Super fun fic time! I really hope you guys like this chapter. I was so happy with the reviews from the last chapter, I love reading your thoughts ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal alchemist.


The four officers stood in the room in a huddle as they tried to think of an answer to the question Roy had asked. He waited for their input silently, not trusting himself to speak because he was still furious over what had happened. It really wasn't their fault; General White was much higher ranked in the Dog Show that was the military. Despite knowing that Roy still wanted to burn their disobeying asses. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was the tentative grip Lieutenant Hawkeye had on his shoulder. Roy glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye. She had the same steely, composed expression that she had been wearing when he had first burst into the office, however now she kept her eyes closed. He noticed that she had been doing that more often. Perhaps it was easier that way for her.

"Sir," said Farman, "could it be that December said something to them?"

Roy nodded. "I don't see any other option right now, but I don't want to jump to conclusions yet."

"If it helps, sir, I believe my performance bought us a little time," Hawkeye said. "General White seemed to accept that there was nothing wrong with my eyes." It was true; the General had seemed to be content with what he had seen. What frightened Roy was the fact that the general could have just decided to bide his time and gather a sufficient amount of evidence against them. They needed to be very careful, White was a persistent man.

"Lieutenant I'd like you to go through what happened, step by step, as you recall it," Roy asked her.

"I heard two people walk into the office," Hawkeye began. Roy noticed a slight hesitance in the way she spoke, and her brow was furrowed. "Neither of them identified themselves as they entered and I did not want to make any assumptions so I pretended to be reading the files. One of the men introduced himself as Sargent Dulsk. When I went to hand the documents to the sergeant he commented that their were a couple papers on the ground, and General White asked me to pick them up due to his bad back."

"A bad back?" Roy growled. "That's the worst excuse I've ever heard."

"By his tone, colonel, it was clear that discretion was not the general's top priority. I believe he was attempting to see if I would hesitate."

"Did you lieutenant?"

She turned towards him, eyes open, and gave Roy what he had long ago dubbed the 'I'm-super-annoyed, -you're-an-idiot-for-asking-that' glare. Of course only he would have recognized it as such, due to her careful discretion. "No, sir. I could not afford to."

Roy chuckled. "Just checking."

"There's another possibility," said Havoc from the doorway. Everyone glanced at the new arrival and Roy signaled for him to close the door. "By the way chief, everything is set up."

Roy nodded his thanks. At least they would still have time for that bit of fun after things had settled down. "What's the other idea you have Havoc?"

The officer took a long drag from his cigarette, his gaze flicking over to Hawkeye briefly. "Maybe he just wanted to get a closer look at the lieutenant's… attributes… while she was bending over. General White seems like the old, perverted type." For a moment there was a shocked silence, then Furey let out something between a gasp and a squeak, and the others looked away from Hawkeye, gracefully pretending not to notice the bright blush that had spread over her face. Roy saw her hand reflexively twitch towards her holster and for the first time that day he was glad that it was empty. Probably the maintenance guys too, who were in charge of fixing the bullet holes the lieutenant fired into the building. For his part, Roy turned to Havoc who looked back at him with a 'don't shoot the messenger' expression.

Trying to diffuse a potentially dangerous situation, Roy smirked. "I'm sure the general was disappointed; these uniforms are the natural enemy of a woman's curves."

"Colonel!" Hawkeye managed to sputter out.

"I've been telling them to switch to miniskirts for years." Bad choice of words. Roy happened to glance over at the other men in time to see their eyes running down Hawkeye from top to bottom. The bastards were trying to picture her in a miniskirt! Roy glared at Havoc, who obviously had been enjoying the picture the most, and then at the other officers and lifted up his ignition-gloved hand. The men took the point rather quickly and stopped looking at his lieutenant. Roy amended his plan mentally: all female officers EXCEPT Hawkeye would wear miniskirts. Roy would rather suffer a skirt-less Hawkeye than one that would be gawked at all day long. "Anyway," he said loudly, "what happened after he asked you to pick up the files?"

Having missed the exchange between the male officers, Hawkeye went on unperturbed. "I made a guess based on how close I knew I was to the desk, how far you usually hit papers from it when you're in a mood, and the direction Dulsk was facing when he spoke."

"You were really able to figure out where the papers where from just that?" Breda asked incredulously.

Hawkeye's smile was a nervous one. "I'm still here aren't I? Though General White tried to confuse me."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked, his eyes narrowing.

"There are no other papers on the floor, correct?"

The others nodded, remembered she couldn't see the movement, and said yes to confirm it. "He said that I was heading in the wrong direction, I suppose he was taking another chance on seeing if I would hesitate."

Roy wipped a hand across his face in shock. "That's what he was referring to with the 'mistake.'" Roy couldn't believe how close they had come to losing it all. It frightened him. "We can not have a situation like this happen in the future," he told them. "If I am not with the lieutenant than one of you is to be with her. Understand?"

"Sir!" The men chorused with a salute.

"Go wait at the range, Hawkeye and I will meet you there shortly. Havoc, you can fill them in on the way."

"Right, chief." Roy watched the men file out of the room with a frown. If they didn't follow through with his orders someone was going to be torched. As the door closed with a muted thud Hawkeye let go of his shoulder. She was shaking.

"Lieutenant," he murmured with concern. Roy didn't need to ask whether she was ok; just looking at the way she was hugging herself he could tell that she had been struggling all that time to remain composed. Hawkeye was one who always behaved while there was company; it was what her father had taught her. Roy recalled one specific time when they were children where Hawkeye, no, Riza at that time, had cried in front of her father; he had refused to let her have dinner and lunch for four days. Of course Roy had slipped her most of his own meals, but the lessons of her father had still taken hold. He was glad that she at least trusted him enough to show her feelings in front of him. It was an important privilege. Roy took in a deep breath as he guided Hawkeye over to the sofa and stood behind her. She didn't resist too much, just a weak shrug when he first wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear. "I should not have left you for so long." She relaxed against him and leant her head against his chest.

"Please colonel, I told you before not to blame yourself." Her soft hands wrapped around his forearms and, instead of trying to pry him off like he though she would do, Hawkeye eased his arms together so that he was holding her closer. Roy smiled and kissed the top of her head, savoring the sweet smell of her hair.

"I will accept that," Roy said, "but I have one condition." Hawkeye stilled, and her grip tightened ever-so slightly.

"…Yes colonel?"


A/N: Oh a short chapter AND a cliffy! Sorry about that, and the fact that nothing uber exiting happened… I promise more Royai for the next chapter. I'm going to have a lot to do this week and I have the SATs next weekend to boot. Just need to bring my math score up a bit and finalize my college choices for next year. Super fun ^_^


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