A/N: I decided to follow RandomCheeses' example and put all of the fics I wrote for the fma_fic_contest into one story on . Seeing as most of these oneshots aren't going to be more than 1000 words (if that) it seemed the sensible thing to do.
She'd never wanted to be a spy. While, as a young boy, her brother had devoured stories of mystery and intrigue, Chris Mustang had preferred romance novels. She'd loved their tall, handsome heroes and tales of star-crossed lovers. Although Chris had always found it irritating how the heroines of these stories never seemed to do anything except sit around being tragically beautiful, waiting for their dashing (or brooding, if the novel was particularly Gothic) lover to rescue them. If she were one of these wealthy, attractive girls, she wouldn't be content to wait around for some hapless young man. She would carve her own way out in the world.
She had done just that. While her brother had gone east, claiming that fame, fortune and fair Xingese maidens awaited him across the desert, Chris had travelled west, to Central. Raised in a dreary mining town, the bright lights of her nation's capital called to her and it was there, among the bars and clubs of Central's raucous underworld that she found her calling. Setting up a modest bar near the red-light district had been easy; winning respect in the cut-throat industry that catered to the self-indulgent had not. But Chris had faced each challenge with steely determination, her head for business soon ensuring that customers were flocking to her (increasingly less modest) establishment. Life had seemed inexorably on the up until... an urgent phone call from Xing... hastily made arrangements... a small, sullen eyed boy on her doorstep; a nephew she'd never even known she had.
Roy had changed everything. Well earned lie-ins after a long night's work were interrupted by a tiny, fidgeting body demanding an early morning cuddle; off-colour jokes around the dinner table were traded in for discussions of the health benefits of vegetables and the joys of obeying one's elders. But the biggest change was in Chris herself. She'd never cared for children, but Roy had stolen his way into her heart. Chris loved him as if he was her own and she would do anything to keep him safe.
How that had led to her running the biggest non-governmental spy network in the whole of Amestris, she was never quite sure. After Roy had returned from Ishval, he'd been a changed man. Gone was the cheerful, naive boy she'd raised, in his place, a haunted, battle-weary soldier. Roy's idealism hadn't changed, however. When he'd first told her he meant to overthrow Bradley, she'd half-feared it was some elaborate suicide plan, but he'd made her see that change was possible.
But for that, he'd need to be constantly well-informed. It'd been a simple matter to build up her network; her girls were unflinchingly loyal and she had contacts everywhere. For Roy's sake, she'd spun her web of gossip-gatherers and informants around the city, its sensitive threads ready to pick up any tremor of danger, any hint of opportunity. Her son was playing a dangerous game, but she'd make sure he was not alone.