Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

Unexpected love

It's the morning after the Christmas party and Roy Mustang lay sleeping spread on top of his bed, still wearing the clothes from the previous night. After everyone had left Roy finished of his glass of brandy and went of to find another bar to drown his sorrows in. He had ended up at his regular drinking place that was only a few blocks away from his apartment

Mustang flinched in his sleep, he was having a nightmare about the war. He saw all of the faces that had died because of him, all the children that would never live to know what it's like to grow up, get a job and love. Mustang screamed he couldn't stand the site, so he turned and ran, he ran until he was no longer in the desert but now in the camp. He saw Riza sitting next to Hughes talking, he moved to go to them when the scene changed and now he was walking down the corridor of Central command. He walked into his office and sees Havoc, Breada and Fullmetal standing and laughing about something.

"Ha ha ha, you should have seen his face, he looked like he was going to cry." Laughed Ed.

"I wish I had been there, that would have been a sight The infamous Flame Alchemist Colonel Roy Mustang, womaniser of Central, losing a date to Havoc of all people."Breada whizzed, trying to catch his breath.

Roy couldn't believe this, were they laughing at him? Did they really think so low of him? Roy didn't want to listen so he turned to leave and walked into Hughes.

"So Roy, I hear you finally got what was coming to you." Maes said to Roy. Roy sighed 'not Hughes too'.

"You going to laugh at me too? Asked Roy, Maes moved closer to Roy and slapped him on the back.

"Of course not, what kind of friend do you think I am?" Maes retorted. "Though I might hope that it would make you listen to me advice for once."

"And what advice would that be?" Roy asked dreading the answer.

"That you should get yourself a wife." Hughes said a grin on his face.

"Shut up Hughes." Roy woke up, 'it was just a dream' Roy thought putting his hand to his head. "Ow my head is pounding, what time did I get in last night?" Roy slowly sat himself up trying to not make his headache worse. He walked over to his bath room to have a shower, he put his dirty clothes in the hamper and enjoyed the warm spray down his back. Lucky enough it was a Sunday and he didn't have to go to work till the next day, so he decided to have a lazy day.

Down at the other end of town it was a different story for Jean Havoc, who was getting ready to go to lunch with his new girlfriend Sarah. After the party they had gone to a café near by for coffee, then Havoc had escorted her home. She had enjoyed herself so much with Jean that she had decided that they should go to lunch the next day at a lovely café she knows. So that's were Jean was heading, to go and meet Sarah and have a Sunday lunch with her, then maybe go for a walk through the park and eat ice-cream, like everyone else he had seen over the years. His luck had finally changed and he was going to enjoy it, before he was burned tomorrow at the office.

Monday morning and everyone was in the office doing their usual jobs of writing reports or going through cases that needed doing. It was ten o'clock when Roy finally decided to walk into the office, he looked around the room at his men working at their desks, Havoc with a huge grin on his face. Mustang turn and went into his office where he found Hawkeye putting some forms on his desk.

"Good morning Colonel, it's nice of you to join us." Riza said when she saw him enter. Roy didn't answer, he just went over to his desk and sat slumping with his head in his hands. He shouldn't have drank yesterday to drown his sorrows but there wasn't anything else he could think of to do.

"General Hakuro came in looking for you this morning, he said to ask you to see him when you get in." Roy sighed, when Hakuro wanted something it was never good. "I'll go and see him now, was there anything else Lieutenant?" Roy asked lifting himself up to go see what the General wanted. "Yes, a request has been made for Edward to get himself a uniform." Riza said reading the form in her hand.

"It seems that when he turns eighteen he is expected to wear one." Riza put the form on Roy's desk so that he could read it himself.

"OK, I want you to ring him and ask him to come and see me later." Roy said heading to the door, Riza saluted him. "Yes Sir" and she went to go ring Ed as Roy went to go General Hakuro.

Roy knocked on the General's door and waited for a response. "Come in." Came the response and Roy walked in and saluted. "You wanted to see me Sir." He said "Ah Colonel Mustang, I'm glad that you could finally grace me with your presence, I've been waiting for you for an hour. You do know that your supposed to start work at nine?" Hakuro said looking very angry at the Colonel, but Roy didn't falter. He walked up to the desk and once again saluted.

"I apologise Sir, I promise it won't happen again." Roy said to the pissed off General.

"Make sure it doesn't." said Hakuro before reaching into his draw and pulling out a file.

"I have a mission that I wish to discuss with you." Roy sat in the chair in front of the General's desk and listened to the details of the mission.

Ed waited in the outer office for the Colonel to come back from his talk with Hakuro. He looked around the room seeing everyone hard at work, when he looked at Havoc he noticed the smile on his face and a picture next to him on his desk.

"So I take it that everything went all right then Havoc?" Ed asked the man, Jean looked up at him and grinned.

"Yeah Sarah is great, we went to lunch yesterday then after went for a walk through the park and talked about her job and family, it was great. She even didn't mind when I went on about work, she just sat and listened. She so sweet." Havoc gusted, Ed couldn't help but smile, it was nice to see the man happy for once, he deserved it with everything that he'd done for so many people, he'd even helped him when he first started working there and he knocked into a General and insulted them instead of saluting. Havoc had informed the man that it was Ed's first day and didn't know, so the man waved it of and told Ed to watch his language. Ed smiled at the memory after that day he always saw Havoc as an older brother and he hoped that Jean's happiness would last.

Ed was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Mustang walking back into the office mumbling something under his breath. 'Stupid Hakuro getting on my case about being late, it's not like I've ever been late before, today was the first time. He's just threatened because I'm a Colonel at such a young age and thinks that I might one day out rank him.' Roy thought as he walked into his office, unaware that Ed was following him. He sat down at his desk and was surprised to see Ed sitting down on the couch.

"Oh hello Fullmetal I didn't expected to see you this early." Roy said putting the file he was carrying on the desk.

"Well you did want to see me Colonel." Ed retorted crossing his legs and making himself comfortable. Riza who was sorting the files on Roy's desk, turned and headed towards the door to leave.

"Wait Lieutenant I want you to stay and listen to what I have to say, since it also concerns you." Riza stopped, 'is this something to do with what happened at the party?' Riza thought as she went and stood in front of the desk saluting.

"Yes Sir." Roy looked at the file that Hakuro had given him. "As you have probably heard, there have been an up rising in the east." Roy said handing Ed the file.

"Up until now Eastern Command have been able to control the situation, but recently there have been reports that the enemy have some how managed to get their hands on some weapons, millatery weapons." Roy looked at Riza who looked as if she had something to say.

"Which as you can imagine has cause the situation to become much more difficult for them to handle, So General Grumman has asked us if we can send in two experienced soldiers to help with the situation and hopefully catch who ever is involved." Roy continued.

"Are there any questions?"

Riza looked at Ed before looking back at Roy. "Yes Sir, if you don't mind me asking but why I'm I going with Edward?" she asked confusion showing on her face.

"I'm sending you with Fullmetal because this mission requires stealth, which is one of your strong points." Roy said making Riza looking even more confused.

"Then why are you sending Ed? I thought you said that it would be too dangerous to send him on an mission like this, since he always manages to get into a fight and getting injured." This comment made Ed glare at the Colonel, but didn't daring to say anything for fear on a bullet. All because Ed is now dating Riza doesn't mean that he can get away with things at work.

"I'm sending Fullmetal because he is a every good field agent, though he does normally end up in the hospital, he does usually manage to catch the people he is after. Also I felt that he could benefit from your experience and maybe improve his stealth by watching you and following your example."

Riza nodded, that did sound reasonable. "But what about Al, I can't just leave him here alone, what if something was to happen whilst I'm not here." Ed said panic in his voice.

Roy thought about this for a moment.

"I'll send Havoc or someone to check in on him whilst your on this mission." Roy replied, but Ed didn't seem satisfied with this answer. "But how do I know that that will happen?" Ed questioned, Roy sighed and looked at him.

"Your going to have to leave him eventually Fullmetal, how else is he supposed to learn to help himself?" Roy said annoyed. "Besides you were the one that was complaining that I wasn't giving you harder missions and wanted to be treated like an adult." This made Ed stand and walk towards the desk, 'I don't care if I get shot, no one tells me how to look after my little brother' he thought as he slammed his hands on the desk making the lamp fall of. Seeing the danger (and not wanting to have to shoot her boyfriend) Riza made a suggestion.

"How about you send Alphonse to Resembool to visit Winry, the Colonel could ask Major Armstrong to escort him there." Ed thought about this then nodded.

"OK, but I want someone to contact me to confirm that he's arrived safe." Roy agreed knowing that if he didn't then Ed would probably refuse to go, and this matter needing to be resolved and soon. "OK I will contact General Grumman when I hear that Al has arrived safely in Resembool, your train leaves tomorrow morning. Good luck." Ed gave the file that Roy had given him to Riza to look at and walked towards the door.

"Oh before you go, you need to go down to the requisitions office and give them this form." Ed took the form and looked at it. "A uniform?" Ed asked.

Roy smirked. "Yes, whilst your down there make sure to get yourself measured." Ed turn around without a word and left to hand in the form, grumbling the whole way about having to wear a uniform.

When Ed got home he was in a pissed of mood, when he had handed in the form and the tailor got him measured up he had had many comment made about his height.

"Are you sure that you are going to be eighteen soon?" The man had said. "You look more like your fifteen." There had been a woman in the room with them writing down the measurements, who was giggling at the comment. It had taken Ed all of his will power not to hit the man and gag the woman.

"Stupid bastards calling me short, it's not my fault that everyone else is so freakishly tall." Ed complained as he walked into his apartment. Al was sat in the living room reading a book when he heard Ed throwing his boots off. "Hello Brother, you were a lot longer then I expected." Al said putting a bookmark in his book to save his spot and putting it down on the coffee table. Ed was still grumbling to himself.

"So what did the Colonel want?" Al asked watching his brother hang up his coat and walking towards the couch.

"The Colonel wanted to talk to me about some mission he wants me to do with Lieutenant Hawkeye." Ed answered sitting down next Al.

Al grinned "you mean that the Colonel wants you and Lieutenant Hawkeye to go on a mission together?" He questioned grin getting wider.

"Yes Al the Colonel is sending us on a mission together. What's the grin for?" Ed asked getting annoyed, Al quickly changed the subject. "So where are you two being sent to then?"

"We're being sent to East City, apparently they have been having some problems." Ed answered.

"So Al how do you feel about going to visit Winry, maybe you could finally tell her how you feel about her." Al blushed, he did have feelings for her but was too afraid to acted on them, with fear of being rejected.

"I don't know if I can, what if she doesn't like me the same way." Ed frowned. You won't know unless you try Al. Look at me, I was also afraid of telling Riza but I did and now we are going out. You can't let fear rule your life." Ed told Al who seemed to be getting redder.

"OK Brother, but I might just wait a bit longer maybe by her a present like you did for Riza." Ed smiled he knew that Al won't say anything but at least he had tried.

"So when are we going to Resembool? Will it be after you get back from the mission." Ed looked at Al. "No Al I thought that you could go there whilst I'm on the mission and I could meet you there afterwards." Ed explained hoping that he would understand why.

"OK Brother, so when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning, our train leaves at 8. Major Armstrong will be coming round to escort you there." Now it was Al frowning. "And why do I need an escort? You know that I can travel down there on my own, I've done it plenty of times." He said annoyed at Ed.

"Because I'm worried that something might go wrong, you have only been restored for a year. Your still recovering." Ed said trying to convince Al.

"Please Al. It's not because I don't trust you or that I think your a kid, I just want you to be safe." Al smiled and nodded.

"OK I'll go with Armstrong." He gave Ed a big hug before heading into the kitchen to make them both some lunch. The rest of the day was spent with them getting ready for there trips and Ed going through the mission again looking forward to spending some time alone with Riza.

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