The Rumour

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor ever will, Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters within.

Chapter 3: The Gift

When Master Sergeant Kain Fuery entered the office he was frowning. Breda and Hawkeye were the only other people there and they both stared.

"Are you alright, Kain?" Breda asked, somewhat startled by the sight.

Fuery looked at them and his eyes became undecided as he looked at Hawkeye. He looked almost unhappy and his frown deepened.

"Fuery?" Hawkeye queried. "What's bothering you?"

Fuery sat down at his desk and looked at her. "I heard a rumour." He muttered as his eyes dropped to his desk. Breda and Hawkeye exchanged glances. Fuery looked upset and they came around to his desk.

"There are always rumours around here, you know that, Kain." Hawkeye said carefully, trying to put him at ease.

"But this one is about…you." He said quietly as he looked up at her. Hawkeye frowned slightly and then smiled reassuringly at him.

"Don't worry about it, Kain. These things never last long."

"Hawkeye…" Fuery's voice became strained. "They said you're pregnant."

Breda and Fuery stood up in concern as Hawkeye paled alarmingly and Fuery began stammering.

"I…I'm sorry, but I had to tell you. I heard someone saying it and they were …they were saying everyone knew and that it had to be true and…" Fuery came to a sudden stop as Hawkeye lifted her hand. She took a few deep breaths and she looked Fuery.

"Thank you for telling me, Kain." She said in a very controlled voice. "I can see this wasn't easy for you."

"Hawkeye, I'm sorry…" Fuery repeated sincerely and his eyes were glassy.

She shook her head. "Better I hear it from you than have some complete stranger come up to…congratulate me." She shuddered.

"How do these things even get started?" Breda asked.

"Who knows?" Hawkeye replied with a sigh. "And there's really no way to find out. Sometimes I feel the Military runs on rumour and gossip."

The office door slammed open and an irate Edward Elric stomped in. Alphonse was trailing behind him and the three could swear that Al was grinning at his brother. They were hard pressed not to grin either as they noticed the extremely large and unwieldy pink rabbit, labeled 'Lucy', that Edward was carrying.

"This is what I get for doing the bastard's shopping for him." He said forcefully as he walked to the Colonel's desk. With a malicious grin, he placed the stuffed rabbit in Mustang's chair and pushed it closer to the desk.

"Edward. Explain this." Hawkeye demanded.

"It's what the bastard wanted me to get for Elysia, Hawkeye. We ran all over the city to find this damned thing yesterday and by the time we did manage to find it, I had to lug it to the dorms because the offices were locked." He glared at his brother. "And today I had to carry it all the way here, looking like a complete idiot again, because someone didn't want to help me hide it, again."

"I'm sorry Brother." Al giggled. "But it really would lose its shape if you stuffed that into me. And you know how the Lieutenant-Colonel would react then."

"I don't care how he reacts, Al! It's every one out there thinking it belongs to me that bothers me. I did say it was for the bastard, but I bet no-one believes me." Ed grumbled as he placed a file in front of the rabbit.

"You walked through East City last night carrying that and saying it was for the Colonel?" Breda asked in slow careful tones.

"I just said that, Breda." Edward replied as he stared at the rabbit before going to the cupboard in the corner and pulling out the Colonel's spare hat and placing it on the rabbit's head.

"You didn't say it was for Elysia?" Breda continued.

"Of course not." Ed rolled his eyes. "Who else would he be buying toys for?" He asked rhetorically as he tilted the hat to an angle. He smirked as he took a step back and admired his handiwork. He didn't see the resigned look that Hawkeye and Breda exchanged. The damage was done. It couldn't be undone and the culprit was blissfully unaware of what he had done.

"Come on, Al. Back to the library." Ed said happily and he turned to the others. "Tell the bastard he owes me one."

Mustang's reaction to finding a large pink rabbit sitting at his desk and wearing his cap made Hawkeye grateful Edward was not still here. As it was she had to shoot at him to stop him from incinerating it. It took several threats before he calmed down enough to have it moved to the couch and he glared at it.

It didn't help when Havoc remarked facetiously that if the Colonel could bring his girlfriends into the office, then he should be allowed to smoke.

Mustang immediately left the office to hunt Edward down. It took him ten minutes to find the blond in the library.

"You left it at my desk, Fullmetal." He hissed at him, mindful of the fact they were in the library.

"Where else was I supposed to put it, bastard?" Edward asked reasonably.

"Do you know what my staff said, Edward?" He asked in a dreadfully quiet voice.

Edward shrugged. "What? That she does more work than you do?" He replied carelessly and smirked up at him.

Mustang gritted his teeth and only just managed to refrain from snapping his fingers. "Havoc has already named it 'my piece on the side' and Hawkeye nearly emptied a full clip in my wall."

"How is that my fault? All I did was what you told me to do. You owe me big time."

"I owe you nothing, Edward. Get it out of my office." He walked away.

"You do it. She's your Lucy, bastard." Ed called loudly after him.

Several people overheard the Fullmetal Alchemist's retort and it took thirty minutes for everyone to know that the Colonel was cheating on his pregnant First Lieutenant.

Author's Note: It mutated and twisted again…lol

And thank you for commenting and enjoying. It's always wonderful to know you're enjoying this.

silken :)