Bonus chapter inspired by one of Brenne's reviews that got me wondering what would happen if a certain "friend" of Edward's ran into our lovely doctor...

Takes place a few months after Edward and Alphonse leave Milena's place the first time.


Milena was sitting on her couch reading when there was a fierce pounding noise on the door. She slipped off her glasses and looked over, wondering if she should answer it when whoever was on the other side knocked in such a way.

"Is there anyone here?!" a male voice screamed on the other side. "Hello?!"

Milena swallowed thickly, hoping that whoever it was would just go away if she didn't say or do anything.

Suddenly, the door burst down. Without a second of hesitation, Milena clapped her hands together and moved her arms in a quick circle. The walls and the floor of her house began to move towards the intruder. Milena moved her hands so that he was pinned high up on the wall around his waist.

A bit too late, she recognized the symbol on his white gloves. Fire spouted towards her from the fingers he had just snapped, so she quickly moved her right hand and the floor rose up in front of her to protect her from the flames.

When the fire was gone, she quickly pushed the floor back down and pinned his hands to the walls so that he could not snap his fingers.

"So it's true," the man smirked. "You don't need to touch objects to use alchemy."

"Who are you?" Milena demanded.

"Your friend Edward Elric sent me to you."

Milena's eyes softened a little, but she still remained skeptical. "You know Edward?"

"Yeah. Technically, I'm his boss. I'm Colonel Roy Mustang."

"Milena. What are you doing here?"

"I…I need your help. It's my Lieutenant…"

"How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"She's…she's just in the car. Please, she's really injured, and Fullmetal told me that you're the only one around here who could help her."

Still a bit skeptical but refusing to let a patient go on without help (assuming there was one), Milena clapped her hands and moved her arms in a circle. Then she used her alchemy to release him from the wall. He fell to the ground before moving his hands a little to get the circulation going again.

"Thank you. She's out here."

Making sure that he was in front of her at all times, Milena followed Mustang out to his awaiting vehicle. He opened the door to the backseat, and Milena found a young blonde woman lying on a blanket bleeding heavily.

Now aware of the situation, Milena dropped her skepticism and went into doctor mode.

"Alright, I need you to gently carry her inside and place her on the bed in the room down the hall, second door on the right."

Milena rushed back inside and began preparing all the tools she would need to fix her newest patient.

Meanwhile, Mustang ever so gently lifted the lieutenant out of the car and carried her inside Milena's house.

"What's her name?" Milena asked once he had placed her down on the bed.

"Hawkeye. Uh, Riza."

Milena finished tying her apron around her waist and neck. "Okay. Sir, I'm going to need you to wait outside. And no matter what you hear, do not come in."

She gently pushed Mustang out of the room before turning back to the injured woman. She then quickly went about preparing a Transmutation Circle on the floor. Milena always used Transmutation Circles for patients. It was too risky not to use one. When a human life was at stake, she wanted to be sure that everything was perfect.

Milena quickly finished drawing the circle. She put one hand on Riza and then took a deep breath before putting her other hand on the completed circle.

Blue light engulfed the two women. Milena screamed loudly as the pain hit her full force.

Outside the room, Mustang heard her agonizing screams and rushed to the door. With his hand on the knob, he reluctantly stopped himself, remembering that Milena had told him not to come in no matter what he heard.

The screaming sounded for several tense moments as blue light flashed beneath the doorway.

Finally, the blue light faded, and Milena fell over gasping heavily. Mustering up what strength she had left, she forced herself to stand up and look down at Riza.

The blonde woman coughed a little and slowly opened her eyes.

"Hi, Riza?" Milena said gently. "My name is Milena. I'm a doctor. You were really injured, but I helped stop the bleeding. You're going to be okay."

"The…the colonel…" Hawkeye gasped as she attempted to sit up.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy. The Colonel's right outside. I'm going to bandage you up, and then I'll let him come in, okay?"

Milena put on her glasses and went about cleaning and bandaging the young woman's remaining wounds. She was surprised to find that the lieutenant didn't even flinch when the stinging alcohol came in contact with the opened skin.

Outside the room, Mustang waited anxiously for Milena to come out and tell him what was going on. It had only been several minutes since the screaming had ceased, but it felt like it had been hours.

The door opened and Milena stepped out looking a bit worse for wear. Roy felt his stomach tighten when he took note of the blood on the apron she was wearing. He quickly assumed the worst. After all, Hawkeye had been bleeding very heavily, and there was a strong possibility that whatever Milena had tried to do didn't work.

"You can come in now," she finally said.

Mustang slowly walked into the room and saw Hawkeye on the bed with a small weak smile on her face.

He released a small breath of relief. "Thank goodness you're all right," he said to her.

"Relax, Colonel," she smirked back. "It's going to take a lot more than that to kill me. Who else is going to watch your back?"

Roy let a trace of a smile appear on his lips.

"Um, Colonel Mustang, she needs to rest for a while," Milena said. "So, let's head out and let her sleep."

Mustang reluctantly left Hawkeye's bedside and went out into the living room with Milena.

"I hope I don't sound ungrateful, but when Fullmetal talked about what you did to him, he said that you healed him completely."

"With all due respect, sir, doing this kind of alchemy takes a toll on me. I just performed a lot of it last week on a couple of my patients and then there was the whole duel with you in my living room. I still haven't completely recharged, so I did as much as I could without putting myself at risk. She'll be good as new by tomorrow, I promise."

"I can't thank you enough. You saved her life."

"Of course. You're more than welcome to stay here for tonight. She'll probably be sleeping until tomorrow morning. We have a guest room that you can stay in."

"I have some business to take care of in town, but thank you for the offer."

"I'll make sure she's okay until you return for her."

Mustang nodded once before leaving Milena's home.

As soon as he was gone, the young woman crashed onto her couch, exhausted from the use of too much alchemy. She hadn't felt so weak since she and Edward had battled with the Homunculi. Well, she didn't feel THAT weak, but she certainly needed a nice long rest.

A few hours into the night when the sky had darkened and stars sprinkled the night sky, Milena's head turned at a soft knock on the door.

She quickly went to answer it and there stood Roy Mustang. "You should've knocked like that the first time," she told him.

"I decided to take you up on your offer."

"I know. I've already made up the guest bed."

"How'd you know I'd be coming back?"

"I'm good."

Roy chuckled lightly.

Milena observed him for a moment and took note of how haggard he looked compared to earlier. "Uh, can I get you some coffee? You look like you need it."

"You have anything stronger?"

Milena smiled a little. "Believe it or not, I think I have some tequila hidden away."

"Someone like you has tequila?"

"Hey, doctors have hard days too."

Milena went to the kitchen and pulled out a large bottle of tequila she and her father only pulled out when they lost a patient. However, it seemed like the soldier sitting in her living room could really use some at the moment. One exception wouldn't hurt.

Mustang gratefully took the small glass from her. She sat down in the chair across from him. Then she clinked glasses with him before they both downed the drink in one quick shot.

Mustang quickly began pouring himself another glass.

"Rough day?" Milena asked.

"You could say that."

"What's going on?"

"It's military-classified."

"I understand. I'm sorry whatever's going on is weighing you down so much. Riza getting injured probably isn't helping."

"Knowing that she's going to live is enough."

"Has she always worked for you?"

"I actually studied alchemy under her father, so we've known each other since we were teenagers. I decided to join the military in order to gain his approval so he would teach me flame alchemy. He died before he could, but Lieutenant Hawkeye entrusted me with the secret of flame alchemy some time later. She joined me in the military so that she could always be sure to have my back."

"I see. And falling for her, was that before or after joining the military?"

Mustang's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Huh?!"

Milena laughed a little at his reaction. "It's clear to me that you think of her as more than just a lieutenant. Even more than just a friend."

Mustang cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Hawkeye is a valuable asset to my team. However, romantic attachment is not part of our relationship."

What is it with alchemists denying their feelings for someone? Milena thought.

"Colonel Mustang, if you truly do like her as more than a friend, I swear to you, that information won't leave this house. I have a strict patient confidentiality policy after all."

"I'm sorry to say that Lieutenant Hawkeye is my subordinate and nothing more."

Milena thought about that statement and wondered if he was saying he was sorry because she was wrong, or he was sorry because he wanted to be more than just her superior but he wasn't.

"What about you?" Mustang asked. "Is there anyone special in your life?"

"No. When you spend all your time taking care of patients, there's not a lot of spare time to meet people. But it doesn't matter to me. I'd rather focus on helping people get better than worry about finding someone."

"You live with your father, correct?"

"Yes. He's away right now, but he's expected to come back tomorrow. He's the one who travels from place to place to offer help to the resident doctors. Meanwhile, I stay here and man the fort in case people like you stop by and need someone."

"I'm eternally in your debt for saving my lieutenant. I wasn't sure she was going to make it."

"You can thank Edward. If it wasn't for him helping me to use my alchemy again, Riza probably wouldn't have made it."

"I'd tell Fullmetal that, but then I would never hear the end of it."

"If you don't mind my asking…did Homunculi do that to her?"

"No. I heard you and Fullmetal had quite the fight with them."

"Well, we won the battle, but he's still fighting the war." Milena bit her lip as she sighed. "How's he doing?"

"Fullmetal? He and his brother are searching for the Philosopher's Stone as always. They report back to me when they can."

"I hate to ask this…but do you think you could just give me a call every now and then and just let me know that he's okay?"

"Why don't you get him to call you himself?"

"He's just so young, and he's got enough on his plate as it is. And with him always traveling, it'll be hard for him to contact me. I just need to know that he's alive and that he's okay."

"You saved my lieutenant. It's the least I can do."

"Thank you. It's late, and I know that you're both going to be pretty busy tomorrow. Why don't you get some sleep? You look like you could use it."

Mustang downed one more glass of tequila. "Thanks for the drink."

"Of course."

The colonel got up from the couch and headed to the guest bedroom to get some well-earned sleep.

Milena stayed up for the remainder of the night to check on Riza's wounds and confirm that they were healing as they should.

Sure enough, by the next morning, Riza Hawkeye had a clean bill of health. In fact, she couldn't remember a time she had felt so energized.

When she stepped out of the room after dressing, she found Milena cooking some breakfast in the kitchen.

"Feeling better?" she asked with a bright smile.

"Much, thank you," Hawkeye answered. "Where's the colonel?"

"Right here," Mustang told her as he came out of the guest room.

Hawkeye quickly saluted him. Her eyes narrowed a little when she saw that his own eyes were a bit bloodshot. Clearly, he had been drinking a bit too much the night before.

"At ease," Mustang said.

"I know you don't have much time to eat, but I thought you'd still like at least a little something before you go," Milena said to them. She looked over at Hawkeye. "After all, you haven't eaten in at least a day." She glanced over at Mustang and saw the aftereffects of having too much tequila. "And I think some food would do you good."

"Thank you."

The two soldiers sat down at the table and quickly ate the breakfast Milena had prepared. Then they gathered up their belongings and began to head out to the car.

Mustang handed Milena a slip of paper while Hawkeye put everything into their vehicle. "This should cover everything."

Milena's eyes widened when she saw how much he was paying her. "This is way more than I usually charge my patients! I…I can't accept this!"

"Think of it as payment for the little showdown we had and the both of us staying here for the night. To be honest, I can see how much using alchemy takes out of you. Not to mention that you look exhausted which I can only assume was from you staying up all night to care for my lieutenant. You deserve more than what I'm giving you."

"Wow…um, thank you so much, Colonel Mustang. Be sure to tell Edward I said hi. And…just a piece of advice…you don't always have to say 'I love you' to let someone know how much you care for them."

Milena smiled as a barely noticeable shade of pink appeared on Roy's cheeks, but it disappeared just as soon as it came.

She watched as the two of them drove off to fulfill their duties as soldiers of the military. Milena was extremely relieved to hear that Edward was still doing okay. She could safely say that she missed him a lot even though they hadn't been in each other's company for terribly long. She considered him to be like the younger brother she never got, and she had told him as much.

Another familiar car drove up to the house.

"Hey, Dad!" she called.

"Milena, I need your help!" he said urgently as he hurried out of the vehicle.

Milena sighed. "It never ends." She rushed over to him as he pulled an unconscious man out of the backseat. "What happened to him?"

"I'm not sure. Hopefully, he'll be able to tell us when he wakes up."

"Well, I just used a lot of alchemy yesterday, but I'll do what I can to make sure he's okay and then you can do the rest. What's his name?"

"Levi."