sorry about the time skip and i'm not sure how rank promotions work but this is how i do it. oh and it's huh-why jsyk

and sorry about the superduper updates on this one. i promise to upload something else soon!


SEVERAL MONTHS LATER

"Have you heard anything about the Colonel?" Jean asked Hawkeye in the office.

"I got a picture of him the other day… I think he's happy." She said, holding out the picture that she had.

Jean took it from her and looked at it. It was a picture of Izumi holding Chris in the air, looking up at him. He had a huge smile on his face as well as her. Jean smiled, handing the picture back to her.

"Yeah, he looks like he's in good hands. Are you worried about him?"

"No… They call me every month for me to talk to him. He babbles to me and I talk to him normal but Izumi says that when he hears my voice he gets excited. The same with Edward."

"How are the Elrics?"

"They've been on a mission to try and get their bodies back."

"How does it feel to move up a couple of ranks?"

"It's odd… I feel like I didn't deserve it. I mean, all that happened was that the Colonel was affected by that experiment. But I think they said that it had something to do with going over and beyond the line of duty when Edward and I rescued him from the building."

"Didn't the chief move up a rank or two?"

"They would have but he is too young to be in anything higher than he is already. They said that whenever he gets older and if he stays in the military, anything exemplary that he does will earn him his two ranks."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing. If you move ranks above Edward, you can try to fulfill the Colonel's dream with Edward serving under you until Roy gets back to normal. It's kind of ingenious."

"That will be a long time from now, Havoc… Even if Roy grows with the extra five years, it won't be enough. We'll all be older when he comes back."

Jean smiled sadly, understanding the issue she was in.

"Well, we can do what we can to help him when he gets here. I mean, we're pretty sure he'll return to the military."

"But we can't force him. That would be cruel to his new life. Izumi and I came to an agreement that if he wanted to come back to the military that we would allow him but if he didn't we wouldn't force him to. It's a whole new life that he can live and it's not our jobs or our business to change his mind. He can make his own decisions."

Jean nodded. "I agree. It would be cruel to make him do what he didn't want."

The phone rang and Riza picked up the phone.

"Major Hawkeye's office."

"Hawwi!"

Riza made a face. "Hello?"

"Hawwi! Hawwi!"

"Chris! I'm sorry…"

"Izumi?"

"Major Hawkeye?"

"Yes… How did you get through to this line?"

"I have no idea. Chris grabbed a hold of the phone and started pressing buttons."

"Hawwi!" she heard him yell.

"Izumi, he just dialed into my office from an outside line… He has to verify his information to do that…"

They were silent on the phone for a moment.

"Izumi, he's making words."

"Yeah, I know. If I were anyone outside of this arrangement, I would think that he was a child prodigy. He understands more than we think he does. He understands complicated commands as well as simple ones, even at his age. If he could figure out how to dial into your office from an outside line then…"

"It's all too complicated to think about, I think." Riza said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Tell Sig hello for me and please keep the Colonel from dialing in. If the military hears about it they may take him away."

"Of course. It's good to hear from you, Major. Why not stop by once in a while?"

"I'll try to remember that when my vacation comes up."

Riza hung up and frowned at the phone.

"Hawkeye?"

"The Colonel just rang my phone directly from the Curtis house."

"What? How did he do that?! It's hard enough to even call in sick from my barrack, let alone a baby calling from another town. How could he have done that?"

Riza thought for a moment and looked at the numbers on the rotary.

"He used the pass code to bypass the system."

"Pass code?"

"Everyone in a rank of colonel or higher can bypass the initial switchboard and into the internal one with a pass code. Once they get to the internal switchboard, you can press numbers to go directly where you want to go."

"Whenever I call in I have to talk to the operator."

"That's what I mean. The pass code bypasses the operator and goes directly to the internal switchboard that directs lines to the staff. The operator verifies the outside person with the internal operator and then things go from there but the pass code…"

"So he remembered his own pass code to bypass the operator and come to the internal switchboard?"

"It seems like it…"

"He's remembering then?"

"But that can't be! He's not even a year old yet and he didn't get his pass code until he became a colonel twenty years after he was in the army. How could he have known that? I need to go and speak to Dr. Hamilton."

Riza grabbed her coat and walked out the door swiftly.


Izumi watched Chris play in the yard while she sat on the porch. She was worried about him. He looked like any precocious little boy but there was something deeper within this illusion. He seemed to remember something from his military days, which were not in his childhood years.

"Izumi?" She turned as Sig walked out. "What's wrong?"

"Chris called into Central Command just a moment ago. I thought he was just play with buttons but he started yelling into the phone. When I got over there, I heard someone talking and realized he had called someone for real. It was Major Hawkeye, Sig. He somehow got a hold of her direct line…"

"Well, he was a high ranking official…"

"When he was in his teens, not as a baby."

When Chris saw Sig he got up off of his haunches and waddled his way over to him. He held up his arms and Sig picked him up. Chris played in his beard, tugging on it a little. Izumi watched them together and smiled at the bond.

"You seem worried about him."

"I am… It's as if he's already pulling away from us and he hasn't even grown up yet. I knew this would be hard when we took this on but…"

"Don't worry about it right now. Right now, he's a happy baby that needs us to look after him." Sig looked at Chris and kissed his forehead. "He is still delicate… Are you going to give him the serum they gave you?"

"Yes, I will. He is a man and he deserves to be one as quickly as possible. Although I will wait a little longer to give it to him. We will never have a child so I would like to experience the small trials everyone takes for granted."

She grinned at Chris, who looked at her and pointed at him.

"And you, no more calling Hawkeye. You'll get her in trouble. Besides, I have a lot of things in store for you so don't think you're going to get away with a lot of stuff."

Chris just blinked at her and she smiled.

"But right now you're my cute wittle baby boy! Yes you are!" she cooed, grabbing Chris up into her arms.

He squealed in delight and giggled more when she gave him raspberry kisses on the cheek.


Jean and Riza stood outside of the new lab that Dr. Hamilton had built. It was a little smaller than Dr. Striker's lab but still proved to be just as eerie as the first one.

"You didn't have to come with me, Havoc."

"I wanted to see what all this was about. Last time, things got weird. This time, I want to understand what all is involved."

The guard let the two into the building and they were greeted by Dr. Hamilton himself.

"Welcome, welcome! I'm so glad that you're here! I have great news."

"Oh?"

"Yes, please come with me for a moment."

The two walked after him as Riza looked around in suspicion. She didn't want to have to go through what she had just gone through again. A door opened and Dr. Hamilton sat on a desk, looking at the two of them.

"I have succeeded in an experiment just like what happened to your superior! Isn't that wonderful?"

"How is that wonderful?" Jean asked with a frown.

"Because that means that I've figured it out from one end and now I can experiment to figure out from the other. You see, I had a hard time getting the person down to the age your colonel is now. I wanted to start from where he is because that's where we would be going. I can now wait a year just like you will have to, give him my serum and see how I can perfect it from there. I also have another specimen that I will be experimenting from the age the Colonel is now."

"Is it a sick joke to like playing with people's lives?" Jean said.

Dr. Hamilton's smile faded. "Havoc, is it? I'm not 'playing' with people's lives. I'm continuing the research that Dr. Striker started a long time ago. You were not there to see the uses that he had for this project. It's just that somehow they got into the wrong hands and were used against your superior. I am using that same information to try and get him back for you. The people I am using are prisoners on death's row as well as prisoners of war. These people were going to die or get tortured anyhow, so why not put them to good use?"

Jean didn't seem too happy about that but didn't say anything else.

Riza sighed, rolling her eyes, and put her hands in her coat pockets.

"Dr. Hamilton, I have a question in regards to the way the memories would work when the subject ages."

"Of course."

"Could some of the memories overlap? As in, since the first time he was regressing, he kept his memories for a long time even in a child's form, could those memories overlap onto his childish form now?"

"That very well could be. Because if he didn't forget the first time while in a child's form, then those memories would be the same as his adult form. The whole process is very confusing since most of his memories were intact while he was switching between ages. The memories very well could overlap over each other… Why do you ask?"

"There was an incident that happened and I was curious as to why it could have happened."

"Oh, I see. How is your superior?"

"We have him with a good friend and he is being very well protected."

"I'm glad to hear it. I will try to update you on my experiments so that you know where I stand on helping your superior."

"Thank you, Dr. Hamilton."

"Father dear?"

Dr. Hamilton looked around the officers and frowned.

"Crimson, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in Daddy's other office?"

"I know but I wanted to meet the military people." He said with a scuff of his foot and a point. "Please, Dad?"

Dr. Hamilton motioned for him to come over to him and he jumped into his arms as Dr. Hamilton balanced him on his knee.

"Major Hawkeye, Lieutenant Havoc, this is my son, Crimson."

For some reason, Riza felt very uneasy and her hand twitched, wanting to grab her gun. She shook the feeling away, attributing it to the place she was in, and smiled at the young boy.

"Hello, Crimson."

"Delighted to meet you, ma'am." He said, grabbing her hand and kissing her knuckles.

Riza chuckled a little as Dr. Hamilton made a face. Crimson looked back at his father.

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do with you meet a lady, Dad?"

"Not as showy but you've got the idea." He looked at Riza. "Kids…"

"Yes."

"Are your ranks high?"

Riza and Jean looked at each other and chuckled nervously.

"They're average."

"Ooooh. Father, I want to be where they are!"

"You have to grow up a little in order to do that I'm afraid." He smiled at the two. "He wants to be like Edward Elric, a State Alchemist."

"You know alchemy, little guy?" Jean said with a smirk.

"Uh huh! Wanna see my array?"

"How about not?!" Dr. Hamilton suddenly yelled, standing up and pushing Crimson to the door. "Why don't you go back to the office and wait for me, alright?"

"Of course, Father dear."

He gave a grin over his shoulder and it sent a chill up Riza's spine. It wasn't the grin of a child…

"Why does he call you 'Father dear'?" Jean asked what Riza had been thinking.

"He got that from some radio station and has said it ever since. I'm just getting used to him. You see his mother suddenly decided she didn't want him anymore and threw him back on me. I'm trying to understand him…"

Riza frowned, thinking about that smile.

"No offense, Doctor, but I would make sure I watch your back." She looked at him. "He looks like the type that would do stuff while you slept."

Dr. Hamilton dismissed it. "He's just an intense little boy. No harm done."

Riza wasn't so sure.


that crimson kid is kinda creepy . sorry that there's no ed in this one.

as for the pass code, i would think the higher ups would be able to have one or something. it makes sense to me. and the switchboards i'm talking about is that there is one to take outside calls that routes to another switchboard for inbound calls rather than both of them doing both. *shrug*

and poor little chris, what will mommizumi do to you when you grow up?