Summary: Alchemical Assessment aren't the only things a State Alchemist has to prove himself in. Edward meets the Military's new psychologist.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that even remotely resembles FullMetal Alchemist, save for volumes 1-3 of the DVD's, volumes 1 and 2 of the manga, three soundtracks, two issues of Newtype, two packs of trading cards, a silver pocket watch, and the Hagaren Song File CD's for Roy Mustang and Edward Elric.

Rating: PG/PG-13 for language

Warnings: One-shot, some strong language, hints of Roy/Ed, a lot of griping, a lot of dialogue, an OC, and I think my Roy's a little off. Also, I don't claim to have any degree in psychology, or any knowledge thereof save for what little I remember from the two psych classes I took a year ago, don't kill me.

Notes: Dedicated to :coughblamedoncough: the lovely Asidian, who writes the best Elricest I've ever read :3

Complex

"This is ridiculous." The blonde grumbled as he followed his commanding officer down one of the many hallways of Eastern Head Quarters. "I passed it every other time, why wouldn't I pass this time?"

"It is required of every Military Official, soldier and employee alike, to take a yearly psychological exam," recited the Colonel, the question clearly something he'd been answering all week and had expected it to come up on this particular day. "You know this as well as the rest of us, FullMetal," he chided with a faint smirk.

"Yearly psychological exams. Yearly Assessments. Gotta jump up and do the Military's every little bidding whenever they damn-well please," Ed griped, scratching the back of his head with his left hand. "It's all a big pain in the ass is what it is, I wonder if it's even worth it sometimes."

"Oh?" Roy turned and raised an eyebrow at the boy, "Are you questioning your abilities to handle your job, FullMetal? After only three years? Certainly you wouldn't be thinking of quitting, would you?"

"Hell no!" Ed retorted, snapping at the Colonel. What was wrong with him? That bastard knew better than that… Which was obvious from that damned knowing smirk on his lips, and Ed forced down the blush on his cheeks and stuffed his hands into his pockets. That damned Colonel always knew exactly what to say to get him all riled up, but he refused to acknowledge the fact that he'd done it again.

"Now, now, FullMetal," the man practically purred, though his expression hadn't changed a bit, "You shouldn't be getting so riled up right before your psychological exam, now should you?"

"Yeah, well, if you were so worried about it, then maybe you shouldn't've come with me," he retorted, trying his very best to ignore the vague hurt that appeared to flash through those dark eyes. It was gone a second later, however, so he didn't have to try very long.

"Well, FullMetal," Roy responded, his voice a practiced neutral tone, "I am your commanding officer, and therefore, it is to me that the results of your examination go straight to, so it only makes sense that I be the one to escort you to your appointment."

The Colonel finally seemed to come to their destination, the door he stopped them at no different from any of the other fifty doors in the hallway. "You'll pass it," the man murmured, reaching out to brush his hand through blonde hair, "You do every year."

"Yeah, yeah." Ed grumbled and then, with a dismissing wave, opened the door and left Roy in the hallway.

"Excuse me, son, this is a private room. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

The blonde turned to raise an eyebrow and saw a young man he'd never met before, probably in his early thirties, his short sandy brown hair slicked back, though however much product he'd used it wasn't able to completely tame the man's hair as a few strands had managed to break free and were sticking up in a rather antenna-like way. There was a pair of small oval-shaped glasses perched low on his nose, from behind which a pair of hazel eyes, nearly the same color as his hair save for a few flecks of green, looked out in vague surprise. The man, wearing an unremarkable brown tweed suit with a soft yellow button-down shirt and olive green sweater-vest, was in the process of standing up from a wing-back chair sitting near the large almost-picture window next to a leather couch similar to the ones in Mustang's office. "Who're you ?" Ed asked.

The man was taken a bit off-guard by the boy's response and fumbled a moment, trying to explain to the boy who he was before he realized that he had no obligation to explain himself to this child. "You must be lost." He replied, his "understanding" smile looking quite strained as he crossed over to the blonde, holding out his arm to lead the boy back through the door. "Does your father work here or something? I'll help you find someone that can show you where you're trying to get; I'd show you myself, but, you see, I have an appointment with one of the State Alchemists."

Ed didn't miss that self-satisfied tone in the man's voice, as if he was clearly to be thought of as a very important person just because he had an appointment with a State Alchemist, and he supposed that meant that this was the man he was supposed to see; though it would have been nice for someone to tell him that the Military had hired a new psychologist. "Yeah, I know. The FullMetal Alchemist, right?" the blonde retorted, pulling away from the man's arm and thoroughly scowling at him.

"Y-yes." The man stuttered, blinking at the blonde, again surprised. "H-how did you know that? Who are you?"

"Edward Elric," he answered wryly, "The FullMetal Alchemist."

"W-what!" the man squeaked, hazel eyes wide and a distinct pink tingeing his cheeks as he seemed to straighten up a bit. "But you're just a kid!"

Golden eyes rolled and Ed crossed the room to the small table sitting beside the chair and picked up a manila folder which he'd seen the man flipping through before he'd been startled and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw his name on the tab. "Did you bother to read my file?" he drawled, opening up the folder and reading from the first page he found there – his profile. "Edward Elric, blonde hair, yellow eyes, born in Rizenbul the sixteenth of January, 1899."

"What!" the man exclaimed again, eyebrows furrowing skeptically as he quickly crossed the room and snatched the file from Ed's hands, reading through the sheet. "This can't be right." He muttered to himself, scratching the back of his head with one hand, "1899, it's 1914, that would make him…"

"Fifteen."

"Right, fif-… Fifteen?" Wide eyes turned to Ed, who merely stood there, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. The doctor looked back down at the file, back up at the boy, and then down to his hip as Ed tugged his pocket watch from his pocket and held it out for the man's inspection. "Oh…" he muttered dejectedly before straightening. "Oh! Uh, Mister Elric! Sir, I apologize, I had no idea. Please, have a seat."

The change in demeanor was so sudden, it almost made the blonde dizzy and he rolled his eyes at the sudden wide smile on the doctor's face as he turned and plopped himself unceremoniously onto the couch, gazing impatiently and expectantly up at the man.

"Please, forgive my rudeness," the doctor apologized, clearing his throat as he took his seat in the wing-back, surreptitiously glancing down at the file in his hand, assumingly making sure there were no other surprises in store for him before setting it down on the table and picking up a pen and legal pad which had also been lying there atop the files for a few other soldiers that had appointments that day. "I hadn't been expecting…someone so young, you understand."

"Again, I ask," Ed retorted, "Did you even read my file?"

"Well, you see, there are so many files to go through, I've only really been skimming them for relevant information that might help me for possible diagnoses and-"

"Yeah, whatever." Ed waved his hand dismissively. He supposed he could understand; no one under the age of eighteen was allowed to enlist in the Military, so the man had obviously been expecting someone older -- especially being a State Alchemist. But the boy's name was rather known almost all over the country (along with his height and age), and he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or offended that this man hadn't heard the stories. "So now that you know who I am, who the hell are you?"

"Ah! Forgive me, Mister Elric! My name is Doctor Gerhard Seiler; it's an honor to finally meet you." Doctor Seiler extended his hand and was greatly relieved when, after a moment and a skeptical look, the blonde took his hand. There was an odd feel to it, the man noted, the boy's hand was awfully hard and he tried to keep the curious expression from his face but, apparently, wasn't able to as the boy quickly withdrew and slouched back on the couch, arms crossed again over his chest and an expression of impatience shaded a bit by a vague curiosity.

"Doctor Seiler, huh?" he murmured. "What happened to Doctor Brauer?"

Seiler cleared his throat a bit uncomfortably at the mention of his predecessor for this particular job, though he'd been getting it a lot since the psychological evaluations had begun. "Doctor Brauer, as I understand it, though I did not know him personally, has decided to retire and move, with his wife, to a small town in the west. I know many of the soldiers were close to him and often came to him with problems, and I can only hope that you will become as comfortable with me. You may feel free to tell me anything, Mister Elric; I am only here to help."

"Yeah, we'll see," Ed muttered, mostly to himself. Truth be told, he had been comfortable with Brauer, if only because the man had learned back in their first meeting everything Ed was willing to tell him and all of their meetings afterward lasted about twenty minutes, tops. This guy, however; he was annoying the boy already, and he could tell that this meeting was probably going to last an hour, at least, and Ed was not looking forward to it. "Hey, do me a favor, will ya? Knock it off with all the 'Mister Elric' business. The last guy to call me that was a sniveling little weasel of a soldier trying to bribe a twelve-year-old me into turning a blind eye on his efforts to swindle an entire town out of everything they had."

"Ah, of course. I'm sorry." Ed was rather amused to see that blush had returned to the man's cheeks. "What shall I call you then?"

"Just call me Ed," the blonde shrugged, "Or Edward; whatever you want."

"Alright then, Edward," Seiler nodded, affecting his most unassuming smile and crossing his legs, resting the notepad on his knee, his pen poised over the paper, ready to jot down notes. "Let's get started then. I'll try not to keep you too long. Why don't you start by telling me a bit about yourself?"

Ed couldn't help it, he rolled his eyes again; it was so much easier when they just asked what they wanted to know. "That's kind've a broad subject there, Doc. Why don't you try being a bit more specific?"

"Alright," the man cleared his throat a bit nervously and tried again, "Well, why don't we start with your family? Why don't you tell me about them? What do your parents think of you working for the Military at such a young age?"

"They don't know."

"E-excuse me?"

The boy sighed, already having learned that the nice doctor hadn't bothered to read his file as thoroughly as he should have, if at all. "I haven't seen my father since I was about a year old and my mother died five years ago. They don't know."

"Oh, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be, it's not your fault," Ed cut him off, knowing before he'd even said anything what the man's reaction would be.

"Well, Edward, if it's not…too painful for you, would you mind telling me a little about them?"

The blonde scowled, though it wasn't entirely directed at the doctor and, lacing his fingers behind his head, he turned his head to look out the window. "Well, which one do you want to know about first?"

"Why don't we start with your mother? It would seem you remember more about her. What was she like?"

Golden eyes gazed unseeingly off into the distance through the window, dredging up memories he'd, until then, kept to himself and his dreams and nightmares. "She was…probably one of the kindest people I've ever met. In fact, the only other person I can think of that would even come close is my little brother."

"What's his name?" asked the doctor, pen moving over the legal pad and an interested expression on his face.

"Alphonse." Ed answered almost distractedly. "He's a year younger than me; everyone says we could've been twins, but he looked more like her than I ever did. He had her eyes, and her smile."

"'Had'?"

The blonde blinked over at the man, just realizing what he'd said and quickly thought to fix it before the man got suspicious. "She died of the plague when I was ten, Al was nine," he explained frowning, "We were just stupid kids and we couldn't stand the thought of having to live without the only person that had cared enough to stick around. I convinced him to help me make a huge mistake, and he hasn't been the same since."

"I see." Seiler murmured thoughtfully, though he didn't really. The tone that the boy had spoken in had rather suggested that he wasn't about to go into much more detail than that about his apparent "mistake." "And what about your father? Do you remember much about him?"

"More than I'd like to admit," he snorted.

"Sounds like there's some resentment there…" the doctor prompted, jotting some more notes down.

"Damn straight there is," The boy grumbled. "Honestly, I don't remember much about him; I really only remember what he looks like 'cause of a few pictures we had in our house. He left just after my little brother was born and never looked back. Never called, never wrote; he just disappeared off the face of the planet. My mom never quite got over it, understandably, so it was easy to hate him for it."

"Do have any i fond /i memories of your father? Is there anything you i like /i him for?"

Ed had to think about that a few moments before he shrugged and answered. "I guess. He did teach us Alchemy." He saw Seiler raise an eyebrow and search a little back through his notes and Ed smirked. "I don't mean directly. I was only a little over a year old when he left, so that would've been a feat even for the father of a genius, right?"

The man looked up from his legal pad and gave a small abashed smile. "Right, I suppose so. So then, what did you mean? How could he have taught you Alchemy if he wasn't there?"

"He left his notes," the blonde shrugged. "His study was full of all of his notes and Alchemical texts; Al and I broke in and read them and learned Alchemy through them."

"I see," Seiler nodded, "And how old were you then?"

"I dunno," Ed rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and thought "Maybe…six or seven?"

The man's eyes widened as he stopped writing and looked up at the blonde. "Six or…s-six or seven?"

"Yeah, we weren't that good," Ed shrugged, seemingly unaware of the man's shock. Though, if you looked close enough, you might have seen the tiniest of smirks on his lips. "Well, we were pretty good together; we transmuted a doll for our neighbor once that was almost perfect. But separately we were pretty bad." The blonde chuckled softly to himself as he remembered all of the attempted transmutations as compared to what he and his brother were capable of now.

"Well, even so, that's an awful lot better than some of the other State Alchemists I've spoken to," Seiler remarked, a bit awestruck as he pushed his glasses back up his nose with a finger. "Though," he added with a small almost knowing smirk, "I suppose it is to be expected of someone who managed to pass the certification exam at such a young age."

"I guess," the blonde shrugged again, "But, don't they say that kids learn things more easily? I mean most of the people I've actually talked to about it say they started when they were teenagers or around there."

"Perhaps," Seiler agreed, jotting some more notes down in his pad, "However, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to your brother. Why don't you tell me about him? I hear he usually goes along with you on your missions, correct?"

Ed stiffened slightly at the mention of Alphonse; that was one thing he hated about these evaluations: They always wanted to know the personal things. "Yeah, and?"

The doctor cleared his throat at that rather cold response, but persisted. "Well, as I understand it, he isn't a State Alchemist, correct? So why does he accompany you? Or why doesn't he take the exam as well?"

"He did take the exam," Ed retorted, scowling at the man. "But he backed out after the written portion."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because I asked him to, alright?" the blonde snapped. "Damnit, what is it with all you psychologists? Always asking about stuff that's none of your damn business?"

Seiler blinked at that, a bit dumfounded before he carefully set his pad and pen down his lap and answered the boy's question. "To be able to make an educated diagnosis, I need to know as much about you as possible," he explained calmly, his tone very similar to one someone might use on a child explaining why they had to wait for Christmas to open their presents. "I need to understand your relationships with other people, and with yourself. Of course you have the right to not tell me, but that would be rather detrimental to your overall diagnosis. If you're worried about telling me something, I must tell you that you don't have to be. Whatever you say in this room stays in this room; if you choose to tell someone what you have told me, then that is up to you, but I cannot discuss with anyone anything you have told me. Is that alright with you, Edward?"

Of course Ed knew all of that, and he dutifully remained silent while the man spoke, but that didn't mean he had to like it. The blonde didn't appreciate people looking into his personal life, whether it was their job or not. "Whatever," he grumbled anyway, crossing arms and legs and again averting his gaze to the window.

The doctor took a deep breath before picking up his notebook and pen, "Alright then. Now," he continued carefully, "About your brother. Why didn't you want him to finish the exam?"

Ed thought long and hard about how he should answer that question before he finally spoke up. "Because I didn't want him to. There's no reason why he should have to be called a 'Dog of the Military' everywhere he goes and kicked out of inns. I'm the older one, and it was my fault that we even had to take this path anyway, so why should he have to suffer?"

"How was it your fault, Edward?" the man asked quietly, almost shivering at the intense look in those golden eyes.

"It was all my idea from the beginning," Ed answered without even realizing what he was saying. "He objected right up to the very end, but I always tried to convince him it would be okay; but he ended up paying in the end. Now it's my responsibility to get back what we lost, and this—" The boy blinked as he finally realized what he was doing and he scowled, turning away from the doctor. "I'd rather not talk about this, alright, Doc?"

Seiler had been absolutely…well mesmerized was really the only word for it; getting that peek of…he wasn't even certain what it had been. Suddenly, the fifteen-year-old boy in front of him had seemed so much older, so much more worn than he had any right to be. And yet encompassing all of that was a determination the likes of which he hadn't seen in men twice or even three times this boy's age.

Despite his desire to explore this part of the young Alchemist, however, the tone in that last question had rather obviously stated that he wasn't going to be discussing this matter any further, and Seiler nodded his acknowledgment, jotting down a few notes about what he had seen and what had been said, linking that information up to the "mistake" the boy had mentioned earlier. "You have no other siblings?" he asked after a long silence, though already knowing the answer to this.

"Nope, Al's it," the blonde shrugged, back to his former nonchalance. "I mean, I guess it's possible," he added a bit thoughtfully, "It has been fourteen years since my Old Man left; he could've shacked up with someone else after all this time, so I could have a half-brother or sister running around somewhere out there." That thought left a rather nauseated feeling in Ed's stomach, however, so whenever those thoughts popped up in his head, he quickly squelched them.

"And what about your mother?" Seiler asked, continuing along the boy's thoughts. "Had she married before she met your father?"

"No," Ed answered immediately, turning a rather dangerous look on the doctor for even implying such a thing about his mother. "She only ever married once, and she had only two kids, me and my brother, and then she died." To think that anyone would even have the nerve.

"Alright, alright," Seiler held up his hands in a placating gesture with a small nervous smile. "I didn't mean any offense."

The blonde just snorted and turned away. The doctor took that as he cue to change the subject again.

Seiler cleared his throat quietly and took a moment to decide where to go from here. "Well, Edward, what about you?"

"What about me?" he asked, raising a confused eyebrow at the man. "What, you want to know if I have any kids?" The boy's tone was mocking enough, but the faint blush on his cheeks contrasted that rather eloquently, and Seiler couldn't help but chuckle quietly at it.

"Not quite. At least I would certainly hope not; you are only fifteen, after all. But is there someone…special in your life? I mean, other than your brother?"

"I know what you mean," the blonde retorted, his cheeks just darkening. There was another short silence before Ed answered; which meant, Seiler noted from earlier, that Ed wasn't going to be telling him much. "Yes," he answered finally, not making any move to elaborate.

The doctor allowed himself a small smile and continued. "What's her name?"

A little oddly, Seiler thought, the question made the boy's face burn even more brightly, and he seemed to shrink in on himself before he spoke up, the mumbled answer so quiet he had to ask Ed to repeat himself.

" His name."

"Ah?" the doctor responded brightly, his own face coloring slightly at the information. "Oh… I see… Well," he cleared his throat, trying to regain control of himself, "What's his name, then?"

"Remember I mentioned about some stuff being none of your business?" Ed practically growled, "This is one of them."

Seiler looked like he was about to choke, and the blonde took some comfort out of the fact that he'd been able to do that, but groaned as the doctor just tugged on his collar and cleared his throat to continue. "Of course, I apologize. I would like to know a bit about your relationship, though; why don't you tell me what you feel comfortable telling me about him?"

Ed didn't really think he felt comfortable discussing anything about his relationship with the man, but there was that whole "doing his job" problem and the boy realized he probably wouldn't get out of there telling Seiler nothing, so he carefully pick and chose what he told the man. "He's older. I met him four years ago, we started seeing each other a few months ago."

"So you were friends first?"

"Hardly," the blonde snorted.

"Well," Seiler responded a bit curiously, "How would you describe your relationship before you…became involved?"

Ed wasted no time in telling the good doctor exactly what he thought of his "someone special" before he'd become someone special. "He was a sadistic manipulative son of a bitch who got way too much enjoyment out of pissing me off. Actually, come to think of it, he hasn't really changed that much." That last was added with an almost rueful smirk, and Doctor Seiler had to wonder at it, his eyebrows furrowing in concern as he scribbled away at his legal pad before he was able to school his expression into something a bit more neutral.

"You say he hasn't changed much since you've…gotten together?" the man questioned. "So, he still tries to…rile you up?"

"Yup."

"What exactly does he do?"

Another silence followed that the blonde used to think through his answer, nearly gritting his teeth as finally spoke. "Cracks about…my height; about the fact that he can so easily piss me off…"

"And what about his 'manipulation,' Edward?" Seiler persisted. "How has he manipulated you?"

"He tells me to do one thing, knowing I'll do something else, and then uses that to his own advantage. Bastard." It didn't help at all that Ed had been rather upset with his "someone special" beforehand, but the boy didn't even realize that he was probably saying things that ought not to be mentioned to the good doctor.

"I see," the man continued, scribbling furiously away at his notepad and flipping the page and scribbling away some more. "And has he ever hurt you, Edward? Physically or emotionally?"

"Well," the blonde shrugged, "Yeah, I guess." Ed didn't quite catch on to why Seiler would want to know that until he ran the last part of their conversation through his head again along with the expression on the doctor's face. Oh shit… "W-wait a second," the boy objected, cheeks flushing faintly as he sat up straight and he stretched out a hand, almost as if he could stop the writing of that pen. "I didn't mean that. I mean, I did, but… It's not like that."

The doctor took note of the almost panicked tone to Ed's voice before looking back up at him and offering him a comforting smile. "It's alright, Edward, no one's judging you. It's actually very common for…young men, such as yourself, in a relationship with an older…person, to…end up in your particular situation."

"That's what I'm trying to tell you though!" the boy objected. "I'm not in that 'particular situation.' It's not like that."

"Now, Edward," Seiler objected, rather condescendingly, "There's no need to be embarrassed, and there's no need to be afraid. He won't find out—"

"I'm not afraid!" Ed snapped, though he didn't honestly want to find out his "special someone's" reaction when he found out what the boy had said and what the doctor had assumed; and he would find out, there was no doubt about that.

"It's alright, Edward," the man murmured calmly, finishing what he was writing and flipping back through the pages before closing the notepad and setting his pen atop it. "I think we're done here."

"Damnit, no we're not!" The boy was on his feet in an instant, glaring dangerously at the other man, though it lost some of its edge because of the distinctly red hue of Ed's cheeks, that wasn't there entirely out of anger.

The doctor frowned disapprovingly at the boy, scratching one last note on his pad before setting it aside on the table beside his chair and rising as well. He crossed the distance between them, suddenly rather smug about what he'd thought he'd discovered, which gave him some bravery; otherwise he would never have so casually settled a hand between Ed's shoulders and calmly led him towards the door. "I am afraid that I do have other soldiers to see, Edward; but I have all I need from you. If you wish to speak further, feel free to make an appointment. It was a pleasure speaking with you."

With that, the blonde suddenly found himself in the hallway, blinking confusedly at the wall across from Doctor Seiler's door before he turned to see Mustang with a vaguely confused eyebrow raised at him, and Seiler gazing at him expectantly. Well, fine! If the two of them wanted to play that way, then let them. But then they couldn't blame him when Roy heard the doctor's "discoveries." With a muttered curse, Ed spun around and stormed down the hallway. Maybe Al would give him a sympathetic ear to gripe to.

Roy watched the blonde's receding back in vague surprise until he registered the sound of Doctor Seiler clearing his throat impatiently beside him and he turned to the other man, gazing at him expectantly for his diagnosis.

Seiler cleared his throat again and began, in a most important tone. "Young Edward has an awful lot of problems, especially for one of his age. There is an awful lot of guilt, especially concerning his brother, and I wouldn't be surprised if it manifested itself in other things; taking the blame upon himself for something he couldn't have changed to begin with. This would, undoubtedly, lead to a very stressful situation for Edward, especially considering his profession, and his rather short temper seems to be an effect of that; and, in that case, there is the risk that he could fall into a depression; and, considering Edward's…passion, it is very likely that it would be serious."

Roy just nodded, indicating that the younger man should continue; this was something he already knew.

"There is also the subject of his parents. I'm not entirely certain, as he refused to answer my questions completely, but there is a great deal of anger and hatred directed towards his father, while he is very defensive of his mother. It sounds almost like a case of the Oedipus Complex."

Mustang nearly choked at that, carefully hiding his snicker behind a feigned cough and a gloved hand. The idea that the blonde would have been attracted to his mother was just so very wrong, he couldn't imagine that the doctor had really listened to what Ed had been saying.

"However," Seiler continued, completely unfazed, or perhaps just unaware, "It's a very strange case, because, when I spoke to him about this person he's seeing, it sounds very much as if he's seeking out someone like his father."

"His father?" Roy interjected finally, his eyebrows lifting in vague surprise. "How do you suppose?"

"Well – and I only say this out of concern for Edward, of course – he has very little good to say about his father, and, when we spoke of him, very little good to say about his boyfriend. Many of the adjectives he used to describe one were what he seemed to have been implying about the other, and I assure you they were all very negative. It's possible that he's unconsciously searching out a father-figure like his own, and attempting to change the past by changing this person."

"I see," Roy frowned, eyebrow twitching just faintly. "And how do you know that you haven't merely caught FullMetal on a bad day? After all, with how disagreeable he is, it is likely that they quarreled."

Seiler blinked a few times, as if the thought had been something he hadn't taken in consideration at all; most likely because he hadn't. "I suppose that is possible," he nodded, pushing his glasses back up his nose with a finger, "However, I would very much like to speak with Edward again, as it would be the only way I could verify one theory or the other."

"Doctor," Roy murmured, sounding a bit impatient, his posture stiff, "is it your professional opinion that Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist, can continue working for the Military in his current mental state?"

"W-well, yes."

"Very well," Roy nodded, "If he wishes to continue his discussions with you, then he will seek you out himself; otherwise, there is no need for you to speak with him again until next year's evaluation." The Colonel's dark eyes promised endless amounts of pain if Seiler contradicted him, so the doctor ventured to do no such thing, merely trying to keep his expression as calm as he very much didn't feel as he back away into his temporary office.

"Also, doctor," the older man added sharply, gazing at the doctor pointedly, "You might want to re-read your patient-doctor confidentiality policy."

With that, Mustang turned abruptly away and started down the hallway in the direction Ed had disappeared in. He had a few questions for the blonde himself; namely what exactly it was the boy had deemed appropriate to tell the new doctor that had led the younger man to believe the Colonel was to be grouped in the same category as the blonde's father.

Seiler blushed deeply, nodding helplessly and stuttering a vague apology before he tripped his way back into his temporary office, shutting the door behind him. He managed to make his way over to the wing-back, plopping himself down in it with a sigh and reread his notes on Edward Elric before slipping them into his file and picking up the next in the pile: Hawkeye, Riza. Well, at least it was a woman this time…

End