Roy sat in his office awaiting the arrival of the famed Fullmetal alchemist, Edward Elric. He had met the boy only once before, when he had gone see them at the Rockbell house a few months ago. He sat and looked out the window and sighed. 'How long did it take to get to central', he thought impatiently.

Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye looked up from her desk, where she was reading through a case study for the Colonel. "What's wrong Colonel Mustang?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

Roy sighed again and laced his fingers together, placing them under his chin. He looked at the attractive blond. "The Fullmetal alchemist, Edward Elric is coming to central today and Fuhrer Bradley placed me in charge of the care of him and his younger brother."

"Younger brother? How old is this alchemist?" Riza asked

"Fourteen." Roy stated

"Sir!?" Riza exclaimed. Her shock was evident.

"I know and his younger brother, Alphonse is twelve." Roy said

There was a silence where the two just stared at each other.

"Why are you in charge of Edward and Alphonse?" Riza asked. Roy was hardly a paternal person and neither did he have siblings, surely Hughes was a much better choice?

Roy stood up and sat on the edge of the desk in front of his Lieutenant. He handed her a file about the two alchemists and watched her expression of dread and her face go white.

She looked up in shock at the raven haired man. "Is this true sir? About their human transmutation?" she asked

Colonel Mustang nodded solemnly and she re-read the file. She could hardly believe that someone so young could be so skilled or so stupid. But she also pitied the boys; they had already been through so much, it didn't seem fair.

She handed him back the file and their hands briefly touched, Riza pulled away, her heart racing. Roy looked away and coughed clearly embarrassed.

"Sorry Colonel," The blonde apologised.

"It's fine Lieutenant, the fault is mine." Roy said. he stood up and returned to his desk.

Suddenly the phone on Lieutenant Hawkeye's desk rang. Both Roy and Riza looked at it.

"Colonel Mustang's office, Lieutenant Hawkeye speaking. How can I help you?" Riza said picking up the phone.

Riza listened then put down the phone.

"Who was it?" Roy asked coolly

"Lieutenant Havoc, Sir. He said that there is a blonde kid asking for you." She explained, summarising her short phone call.

He nodded "Than will be Fullmetal," he said.

He left the room and went to the entrance.

By the entrance was a giant suit of armour and a tiny blonde boy in a red coat, they were chatting and laughting, the older boys legs' swinging below the seat.

The suit of armour turned in the direction of the dark haired Colonel.

"Are you Roy Mustang?" the twelve year old asked standing up clumsily.

Roy nodded. "Call me Colonel Mustang, you must be Alphonse." Roy said shaking his hand.

"I'm Edward Elric! The Fullmetal alchemist." Ed said appearing in front of his younger brother.

Roy looked down at the boy. "I told you call me Colonel Mustang!" he said irritated already.

Somewhere in his gut he knew this boy was going to be a pest to him. He decided to ditch him as soon as possible.

Suddenly Maes came down the corridor. He looked from Ed to Roy and smiled triumphantly. He went up and hugged Roy.

"I didn't you and Riza had a son!" he said

Roy stood stunned. This thing . . .

He looked at Ed, who smirked at him, like a cat ready to pounce.

Suddenly Ed hugged Roy's middle. "Dad!" he said enthusiastically.

Roy felt a cold shudder go down his back and Maes was already showing the pictures of his daughter and his wife to the 'family'.

"Ooh I'm going congratulate Riza, I'M SO HAPPY!" Maes said skipping happily away.

Ed pulled away from Roy.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!" Roy demanded

Ed stuck out his tongue at Roy.

"Sorry, Ed can be a handful sometimes." Alphonse apologised. Roy had the impression that he was used to apologising for his brother.

"HEY!" Ed yelled, turning to his brother.

Alphonse patted his Ed head and the blonde growled.

"I'll ask Lieutenant Hawkeye to show you to your quarters." Roy said, wanting to ditch the boys as quickly as possible.

Ten minutes later Riza Hawkeye as escorting the two boys to the onsite quarters.

After a tense silence, Ed asked the question he'd been wondering about, since being introduced to the blond lieutenant who Maes had misinterpreted as his mother.

"Are you married to Colonel Mustang?" he asked

Riza stopped and laughed, shocked. Why would he think that? Was her attraction to the Colonel that obvious?

She turned and looked at the short boy. "Why would you think that?" she asked calmly

"Well . . . the guy with glasses, Maes?" Ed asked. Riza nodded. "He thought that I was yours and Mustang's child." Ed said.

Riza blushed at the thought of having a child with Roy. She turned away beginning to walk again.

"Is it true? Are you with Colonel Mustang?" Ed repeated

She shook her head. "He is my boss and superior and nothing more." She explained

"Oh! I would have thought . . ." Ed tailed off

"Brother, you're asking too many questions." Alphonse warned in a low voice.

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder Al." Ed said, smiling at his younger brother

Riza blushed and was silent for the rest of the journey.

"Have a good stay in central." Riza said.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Hawkeye." Alphonse said

"Thanks." Ed said

"No problem, if you need anything. Feel free to contact either me or Colonel Mustang." Riza said

"Okay, will do." Alphonse said

"Bye, see you around." Ed said as Riza left.

As she walked away she laughed to herself.

Within days, everyone who worked in central believed that Edward was their son. One story went that he'd been raised in the country by foster parents and had been born after the Ishval war was over, there was a theory that they had hidden the pregnancy because Riza wanted to be a soldier. There was another theory that the Colonel and Lieutenant were secretly married and had been hiding a whole separate life for years. The strangest story, by far, was that Ed was created in the lab to be a weapon.

The stories circulated for weeks and Fuhrer Bradley arranged a meeting with Roy, Edward and Riza. Once the truth had been revealed Ed was given a warning. The Fuhrer himself shut down the rumours and no one dared speak of them again, though there were a few people who still suspected that they were actually true.