OwlCookies: I swear, I was about to make Roy and Riza kiss in one part of this chapter… BUT I didn't because that's extremely cheesy. I don't want cheesy. I want good quality, good story, good description, and perfectly paced. If it's anything worse than that, please tell me! I'd really like feedback as to how this story is coming along!

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"So let me get this straight." Grumman sat on Mustang's couch, slouching, and looking utterly confused. "You want me to let a fake relationship between you two slide the fraternization crap so Sophie McCoughlin won't feel any trauma about being parentless?"

Mustang nodded. He sat on the couch vertical to the one Grumman sat on, right next to Hawkeye.

Grumman was skeptical. "But if Sophie believes you're her actual parents, what would that achieve with the fact that you're trying to figure out who murdered them?"

Mustang sat up. "She herself was adopted to her parents who died. Her biological parents aren't in record according to the documents I found. If she were to know that, it would be the end of the world for her considering how young she is. Adults that she knows care for her are basically her world. Well, of course besides for fun and games. I think that would be rather logical," he explained.

"Declined," Grumman simply stated, sitting up and now looking serious.

Mustang stood up, leaning toward the Fuhrer with determination. "Well I decline!" he shouted.

Grumman paused for a moment and motioned for the younger soldier to sit back down. "And what is it that you decline?"

"I decline your declination!" Mustang retorted childishly with mock-anger.

"Sir…" Hawkeye sighed threateningly, cocking her head down slightly and closed her eyes in thought.

Grumman chuckled slightly, regaining his slouching position. "If I were to allow that, other soldiers wishing for a relationship would soon get jealous. Everything would be a mess, we would all be screwed, and I would have to do so much work." He paused for a second, still smiling. "But I will allow one thing."

Mustang beamed at that.

"When you are not at work, you must act like family. No more of a relationship than the extremely close friends. If there is anything more, Sophie is gone. As much as I'd really love to see you two together," he winked causing his glasses to flash, "that's the laws and I can't really change anything about that without the consent of the other senior soldiers. Oh, and on that topic, when you are at work, Sophie is to not be a distraction to anyone or she has to be babysat. Is that understood?" The Fuhrer was grinning widely.

"Yes sir!" Mustang and Hawkeye saluted. Mustang more enthusiastic than the latter. But of course, Hawkeye was equally happy.

A few hours later, Grumman had left, and Mustang was out of his PJ's and ready to leave.

"So… does that mean I can still hug you?" Mustang asked, grinning cheekily.

"No." Hawkeye shook her head in annoyance. He was awfully immature, such a nuisance.

Mustang, ignoring her reply, wrapped his arms around her and smirked. "I don't have to obey that order. You're not the boss of me."

Hawkeye jabbed her gun at his head. "Oh but sir, I'm fairly certain my ammunition is," she teased while still trying to sound stern.

He backed away slowly. "C'mon. If you did that in front of Sophie, she might be as gun-happy as you."

"I doubt that," she retorted matter-of-factly.

Mustang rolled his eyes. "So what now? To the Elric's?"

Hawkeye nodded.

The evening sun beat down on the townspeople of Risembool. Midday and a little after lunch. The air was clear and the day was going on about normally. But of course, that was, until he came along.

There was a few strong knocks on the front door. Edward, Ed, Elric was sitting on the kitchen chair, reading the newspaper while Winry put the dishes away. They were both keeping a close eye on their two children, Theo and Nina Elric, who were playing around with their toys.

"Dada!" Theo exclaimed, pointing to the door.

Nina jumped up and down. "Door!" she exclaimed. "Door!"

Ed raised an eyebrow suspiciously, putting down his newspaper and walked to the door, his two children trailing behind him like little ducklings. He opened the door, surprised to see who had knocked.

"Mustang?" Ed gasped. His mouth opened as wide as it could possibly go. "What are you doing here?"

"Uhh…About that…" Mustang scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Maybe I should wait until Hawkeye catches up?"

"Who is it?" Winry peaked her head past Ed and grinned. "Hello Mr. Mustang!"

Mustang gave Ed a smug smirk. "Obviously some people are more polite than others."

Ed rolled his eyes. "It's your fault for showing up without any notice."

Behind Mustang, Ed heard giggling of a little child. As Mustang turned around to the sound, Ed began silently laughing. He found it hard to hold it in considering Winry's strange stare at him and Mustang's annoyance.

"Woah woah woah," Ed laughed. "Don't tell me. Let me guess. You finally did it. You took Hughes advice and got a wife! Never knew you had it in you, general!" He was now cracking up.

"Ed!" Winry scolding, sounding very threatening.

Ed stopped immediately.

Mustang turned around to the blonde man and smirked again.

"Sir. Don't tell me you're teasing Edward again."

Mustang froze. His smirk faded into something different while his eyes trailed around everywhere except to Ed and Winry. Ed wanted to laugh at that, but Winry's glare stopped him.

"You didn't," Ed gasped. He jumped back, pointing at the older man, face turning red in embarrassment. "YOU GOT IN BED WITH HAWKEYE DIDN'T YOU!" he exclaimed.

Mustang's head turned back to Hawkeye who was holding a giggling Sophie in her arms.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mustang retorted vaguely.

"Ed…" Winry threatened.

"Oh uh… why don't you come in?" Ed told Mustang coldly.

The older man smirked as he walked in. "Don't mind if I do."

Hawkeye walked behind him, shaking her head in disapprovement.

Winry smiled at Hawkeye as she walked in holding Sophie who was looking around in awe. "Hello Miss Hawkeye," she greeted.

Quietly, Ed and Mustang conversed. "I'll never understand how women can be so scary," they muttered.

Sophie wriggled out of her mother's grasp and straggled to Theo and Nina. She grinned with curiosity illuminating her eyes.

Theo leaned toward her. She was wearing a plain white shirt, a lavender skirt, and brown shoes. He looked down at himself. He was still in his PJ's just like his sister was.

Nina managed to stand up on her stubby toddler legs. Her eye's shot open wide as she tripped. At the last moment, she had grabbed Sophie and Theo's ears and pulled them down with her. She giggled as she landed on Theo.

"MAMA!" Sophie screamed, tears running down her face. She cried wildly.

Hawkeye frowned and knelt down to pick up the sobbing girl. She stroked her hair, and smile tenderly, while giving her soothing words to calm her down while Winry attended to the fallen Nina.

Sitting on the couch, Ed grinned at Mustang as Mustang watched the scene. He was frowning.

"Damn Mustang," Ed whistled.

Mustang turned his head toward the blonde boy. "Yes, Elric?"

"That was rhetorical… But on that note, how the heck did you even get Hawkeye to get in bed with you?" Ed was stifling a laugh.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mustang sounded confused and innocent, but nothing could hide that gleam in his eye that showed he enjoyed the boy's ignorance.

"…Isn't she your kid?"

"No… She's someone else's."

"I don't get it," Ed admitted.

Mustang smirked. "This logic is just too much for your brain to handle. Hmm, Elric?"

"Just explain it already!" Ed growled in annoyance.

Mustang leaned back on the couch and looked up at the pale white ceiling. He hummed a bit. "Let's see… where do I begin?"

At that moment, Hawkeye had finally managed to calm the little girl and gotten her to play with the other two just as Winry had propped up Nina next to her older brother, Theo. Hawkeye sat next to Mustang with perfect posture unlike the man next to him who was hopelessly slouching.

"Wait," Ed stopped, grinned mischievously. "Does this mean you two don't have the hots for each other?"

Mustang's face turned red with embarrassment as he looked away; Hawkeye only sighed and closed her eyes partially.

Ed drummed his fingers against his automail leg impatiently. "So then, it's a yes?" he teased.

"Yyee…NO," Mustang replied immediately, turning back to Ed, face still red.

"So, about your kid…" Ed started.

"Congratulations," Hawkeye said, changing the subject. "I see you two got married."

"Thank you," Winry said, pretty much beaming happily.

"Yeah," Ed scoffed. "Now what about you two?"

Mustang gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Don't push it, Fullmetal."

Ed's smile fell as he became more serious. "I'm not part of the military anymore," he reminded. "I can't even perform alchemy."

"Habit I suppose." Mustang bit his lip.

"No, but seriously. Who's the kid? You babysitting or something?" Ed asked with a low tone.

"This goes back to two or so days ago," Mustang replied. "There was this case Grumman told me to investigate-" He was cut off.

"Sophie!" Hawkeye scolded.

Sophie froze right where she was. She and Theo had been arguing. Now their little squabble had turned into rough housing. Theo stuck his tongue out at her.

"Theo…" Winry started.

While to two women punished the children for their behavior, Mustang continued to explain his story to Ed.

"Thomas and Annabel McCoughlin were reported missing. I was so supposed to investigate. And well, of course I had to bring the captain along, she's pretty much my personal body guard."He purposely emphasized "body guard." Ed smirked at that. "The first place we looked was at their house. Thank god they were there though, saved a long time of searching. But not only did we find them, Hawkeye found her, Sophie. She was asleep, hidden from view unless you looked hard enough. It would be child abuse to not do anything about it, so Hawkeye took her under her wing. And well, that's it I guess," Mustang explained.

"That doesn't answer my earlier question as to why you're here."

Mustang ran his hand through his already messy hair. "Somehow, Sophie can't remember anything about her original parents. Fuery had the idea that maybe it was some sort of hypnotic alchemy, so we came here to ask you about it."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "Hypnotic alchemy eh?" He put a finger to his lip in thought. "I don't suppose you're asking me to go ahead and research for you?"

Mustang smirked and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a busy man."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Busy my ass you procrastinator."

"Well, do you know anything about hypnotic alchemy?" Mustang asked changing the subject.

"I think I might have read a bit on that…" he trailed off. "But I'll look into it."

Mustang nodded. "Thanks."

"Is that the only reason why you're here?" Ed concluded.

He shook his head. "Hawkeye wanted to congratulate you guys." Mustang grinned.

"What? What about you?"

Mustang whacked his back. "A pat on the back just for you." He gave the younger man his oh so famous smirk.

Ed rolled his eyes, trying so hard to not rub his now-reddening back.

"Edward…" Winry's soft voice startled the former alchemist from his studies.

"Oh, Winry, what's up?" Ed leaned back on the chair he was sitting in and turned to his wife.

Winry bit her lip. "Wasn't Thomas McCoughlin one of our classmates?"

Ed thought for a moment, biting the edge of his pencil. "The blond one, right?"

"Yeah, him." Winry nodded.

"What about it?"

"Well…we knew him so I thought I'd bring it up…" Winry turned around shyly only to head a pencil drop to the ground. She turned back to Ed whose mouth was gaping wide open.

"Ed…?"

Ed, ignoring her, picked up his pencil and began sprawling down notes on a piece of paper. "I know the answer Mustang's looking for," he murmured to her, completely focused on his writing.

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OwlCookies: If you read Somewhere Down in a Hole, you know that I love to put things like that at the end :3