A/N: I am sooo sorry for the wait! Damn, I was going to update before I went home but ended up with the birthday hangover from hell (thirteen shots in less than 3 hours is NOT a good plan. Is it only my friends who seem to think you need to be paralytic on your birthday? ) which had me rather ill for 2 days, then I was so busy at home but now I'm back!

Is it odd I got made a Fullmetal alchemist birthday card that was sent to me at uni? Anyway...

Thank you so much to Cheiko Yumi Usama, RoyXRiza, 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, MoonStarDutchess, mushra brisingir, winglessfair25, Red's 21st, cherryblossompopstar411 and CO Raven for the reviews! Hope all who are reading enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 10

Havoc was about thirty seconds away from losing his temper completely. He normally couldn't care less what his fellow officers did around the office; often preferring it if their action led him into distraction as well. But if Mustang was going to continue to tap his pen on the desk for the rest of the afternoon he was going to have shoot both himself and his commanding officer just to make that damn noise stop! It was beyond irritating.

Tap. Havoc closed him eyes, carefully attempting to control his anger. This had been going on for almost an hour now. It had to get boring soon; the chief hardly had the longest of attention spans.

Tap. Oh God, why the hell did Hawkeye have to be out of the room for so long? She would have stopped him doing from doing this the moment it started.

Tap. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Chief!" He called, a little too loudly than was necessary. Mustang looked up from the work that he was tapping his pen on to meet Havoc's gaze.

"What is it Havoc?" He asked, obviously not particularly happy to have been interrupted from his day dream. Havoc couldn't help but grin to himself. And I wonder what you might have been thinking of eh Mustang? Or more accurately who...however, his grin vanished when the pen again hit the papers on Mustang's desk.

"Do you think you could possibly stop doing that?" Mustang looked slightly taken aback at this statement. He put the pen down and looked questioningly at Havoc.

"Doing what Lieutenant?" He asked. Noticing the pen had been removed from his grasp, Havoc decided that he had accomplished his mission anyway so simply shrugged and went back to his work. Mustang stared at his subordinate for a minute before shaking his head slightly and picking up the pen once more. Sometimes, he wondered what the hell he had done to land himself with such odd subordinates. Apart from Riza of course. Riza...his thoughts began to wander again and just as they started to do so, the pen descended upon the papers once more with a resounding tap. That was when Havoc lost it. He screamed in frustration, banging his fists on his desk as he did so, disrupting a mound of previously neatly stacked files and causing all the other occupants of the room to stare at him in confusion.

"Second Lieutenant, what is going on?" A cold voice asked from the doorway. Mustang couldn't help but smile widely as Riza entered the office. However, Riza was more concerned about the state of her surroundings rather than her superior's reaction. Havoc was still hysterical.

"What's going on? Why don't you ask HIM?" Havoc yelled pointing a finger accusingly at Mustang, who looked back bewilderedly. Riza cocked an eyebrow at her superior.

"Sir?" She asked questioningly

"Don't look at me I don't know what's going on!" He stated, holding his hands up in surrender. Riza sighed, seeing she wasn't going to get anywhere at this rate.

"Well second Lieutenant, I suggest you clean up this mess and get back to work. Sir, pleased refrain from doing whatever it is that is distracting him while I'm gone."

Mustang looked up at this last statement.

"Gone?" He asked worriedly, "Where are you going Hawkeye?" She sighed and turned to face him.

"I have a meeting with the fuehrer, Sir." Her eyes locked on to his and he understood exactly what this meeting was about. He instantly tensed, concern flooding through his veins. Hawkeye seemed to notice, as she quickly walked over to stand in front of his desk.

"Don't worry Sir. I will be fine." She stated quietly for only him to hear. He looked at her for a moment longer, wishing he could do something further. She smiled a rare smile to reassure him. He couldn't help but smile back at her, amazed at how this simple gesture affected him, managing to make him feel slightly better about the situation. But it was over as quickly as it had started and Mustang watched as his Lieutenant strode towards the door. He was overcome with the urge to say something, anything to her, but he couldn't think of the right words. Never the less he simply couldn't let her leave without saying something.

"Lieutenant!" He called just as she reached the doorway. She turned to stare back at him. Mustang gulped, realising that he had no idea what he should say. So he simply said the first thing that came into his head.

"Hurry back." He stated quietly, looking her dead in the eye. Despite the obscure nature of his words, the meaning behind them seemed to reach Riza. Her eyes softened under his gaze and giving him a small nod in return, left the office. Mustang sighed and leant back in his chair. He had nothing to do now but wait.

Riza was nervous. Not that anyone could tell by looking at her, her face set in her usual cool expression. But she couldn't help but feel nervous; even though she was sure there was nothing to worry about. She began to run through the events of the past few days in her mind, attempting to think of an event that could result in the Fuhrer believing there was anything more than a professional relationship between her and Roy. Apart from the incident when she passed out, she couldn't think of anything. Well nothing that he could have seen.

"Lieutenant?" She was brought out of her thoughts by the Fuhrer's secretary.

"The Fuhrer's ready to see you now." The woman stated with a smile, motioning towards the door. Riza thanked her and stood up, pushing her nervousness to the back of her mind. Everything is going to be fine. She told herself as she entered the Fuhrer's office. As soon as she walked through the door, she saluted perfectly at the figure that currently stood by the window.

"At ease Lieutenant Hawkeye. Please, take a seat." The Fuhrer smiled, gesturing towards the chair in front of his desk. Riza lowered her arm and walked steadily towards the chair. The Fuhrer crossed the room and sat behind his desk. He folded his hands together and rested his chin upon them, his good eye staring intently at Hawkeye. She gazed back without flinching.

"It has come to my attention Lieutenant that there have been certain questions raised concerning the relationship between you and Colonel Mustang. Are you aware of the laws concerning fraternisation Lieutenant?" Riza was taken aback for a moment.

"Not the precise wording of the laws themselves Sir but I was under the impression that any relationship within the chain of command was forbidden." The Fuhrer nodded at her statement.

"That's the ruling for the most part Lieutenant. So I will ask you this once." His face turned grim as his eye bore down on Riza.

"Is there any truth in these accusations Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"No Sir." She replied instantly "The relationship between me and Colonel Mustang is of a purely professional nature." The Fuhrer's faced remained unchanging.

"Are you sure of that?" Riza blinked. The Fuhrer was asking her again? What is going on? She thought to herself. Yet without even a waver in her voice that expressed her thoughts she replied.

"Yes Sir". The Fuhrer sighed.

"Well then Lieutenant, there is something I would like you to explain."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sir, are you at least going to pretend to search for this file?" Maria Ross asked Hughes, who was currently sitting at his desk completely absorbed in his photographs. She sighed when she received no response. This was definitely going to be a long day. She looked back over at her superior officer, who thankfully only had two more photographs to look at. At least then she would get a response when she spoke to him. Carefully putting a photo of Elicia in a white dress holding a daisy on the large pile of photographs already on his desk, Hughes turned to the last photograph, grinning as he did so. However his grin soon vanished. Without warning he sprang up from his desk and began to rapidly begin searching the floor for something.

"Sir! With all due respect what the hell are you doing?" Maria yelled, completely caught off guard by his actions.

"I've lost the photo!" He yelled in response, still crawling along the floor. Maria sighed exasperatedly.

"Sir, you have hundreds, probably thousand's of photographs of your daughter, does one really..."

"This wasn't a photo of Elicia!" He screamed back at her. Maria looked confused at the statement for a moment. However her face turned pale as she realised what photo he was talking about.

"That's impossible" she stated, panic creeping into her voice "you showed it to me as soon as you had it developed! And we cleared up all of the photographs as soon as the Fuhr..." she trailed off as Hughes' eyes widened in horror. Maria gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as the two officers's realised what had happened.

"Oh god no" Hughes whispered. "Please no."

Oh god no. Please no. Riza's thoughts flew in every direction as she stared at the photograph before her. She was staring at photograph of her and Roy, arms wrapped around each other, kissing passionately. She couldn't speak. There was no way out of this situation now. She attempted to collect her thoughts together but to no avail.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye." The Fuhrer's voice cut through her thoughts. She stared back up at him as he gazed down on her. She closed her eyes tightly for a few seconds before she began her explanation. There was only one thing she could do now.

"Mustang here" Riza had been gone for nearly half an hour now. While he wasn't exactly worried about her, he would have felt better if she had returned by now. The phone was a welcome distraction.

"Colonel Mustang? There has been an incident down town that requires your attention. Severe damage to property occurred and while no civilians have been injured, many of them are complaining about..."

"Excuse me." Mustang cut the voice off before it could go into any further detail "But what has this got to do with me?"

"Well as the Fullmetal alchemist is under your command I was informed that the incident should be brought to your attention directly." Mustang groaned and raised a hand to his temple. As the officer continued to describe the situation to him, Mustang couldn't help but wonder if someone had grudge against him somewhere. Either that or the world was definitely out to get him today.



"Damn it Roy!" Hughes yelled, slamming the receiver down again. Maria was hovering nervously behind him.

"Still no answer?" She asked timidly. Hughes shook his head. As soon as the two had realised the picture was nowhere to be found, they had been trying to get into contact with Mustang and Hawkeye. However, Roy's phone had been constantly engaged.

"What do we do now Sir?" Ross asked. Hughes stood up, grabbing the rest of his photographs as he did so.

"We need to go find them." Hughes stated, marching out of the room, Ross following closely at his heels.

"Why did that bean sprout have to come back from Risenbool today? On top of that why the hell did he have to blow up an entire building on his first day back in central! God I'm going to be dealing with this for the next three months!" Roy continued to mumble under his breath as he walked down the corridor towards his office. The owner of the warehouse that Fullmetal had destroyed had demanded to see the alchemist's commanding officer, marching himself straight to central headquarters. It had taken Mustang nearly fifteen minutes to assure the man that he would be compensated fully for the damaged caused by the young alchemist. The paper work for this is going to be hell! Mustang thought to himself.

"Roy!" A shout from behind him brought him back to the present. He turned to see a frantic looking Hughes racing towards him with Ross in close pursuit. He stopped waiting for the two to catch up to him.

"Roy!" Hughes panted, bending down towards the ground, hands on his knees as he attempted to catch his breath. Hughes stared back up at his friend's bemused expression.

"There's...a bit of...a problem." He managed to get out between breaths.

"A problem with what Hughes?" Roy asked, completely confused. Ross decided it was a better idea if she spoke, as she was less exhausted than Hughes.

"Sir, we seemed to have...ummm...misplaced a certain photograph." She stated, not quite sure if it was the right time or place to inform Roy of their theories of the photographs whereabouts. Roy just continued to look at the two officers' as if they were insane.

"What on earth are you talking about Lieutenant? What photo..." he suddenly stopped, the blood draining from his face as he remembered the events that took place early that day.

"Oh shit" he stated before turning around and setting off at a run towards his offices. Ross ran after him, Hughes following at a slightly slower pace, panting as he did so. Mustang reached the door to his offices within a few seconds, pushing them open violently as he did so.

"Now really Colonel Mustang, there is no need to open the doors so aggressively. I don't want to have to pay for repairs just because one of my officers's decided to make an entrance." Mustang found his body snapping into a salute automatically as he came face to face with the Fuhrer. But his mind was hardly focused on that. It was more concerned by his first Lieutenant who was currently pulling her few belongings from the draws of her desk. He stared around the room. His fellow subordinates were looking helplessly at the scene, Fuery almost in tears. He turned his attention back to the Fuhrer, who was still looking at Mustang. Before he could utter a word, the Fuhrer raised his hand for silence.

"There is no need to say anything Mustang. Lieutenant Hawkeye has already explained the situation to me." With this he looked Hawkeye, who had finished placing all of her belongings into a bag and was now standing straight, her head bowed low, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

"So it was obvious the decision that had to be made. You obviously do not need subordinates like her working around you. But considering that up until now Lieutenant Hawkeye's record has been exceptional, I have decided to transfer her immediately to southern headquarters." Mustang heard a gasp from behind him as his own eyes widened in shock. No! I can't lose her, not now. There has to be a way to stop this, a way that allows her to stay.

"But Sir!" Mustang found himself saying but was almost instantly interrupted by the Fuhrer.

"Colonel Mustang!" He stated, anger radiating through his voice, causing almost all of the occupants in the room to flinch.

"My decision is final. Be thankful that considering the nature of your relationship that only your lieutenant is affected. There are laws concerning fraternisation, as you are well aware of, and no one is exempt from these laws." The Fuhrer turned his attention back to Hawkeye who had remained in the same position throughout these exchanges.

"Now Lieutenant I suggest you return home. I'm sure you have a lot of packing to do." Hawkeye picked up her belongings along with her small black bag.

"Yes Sir" she uttered her voice flat and controlled. She kept her head bent as she walked towards the door. Roy couldn't move. He couldn't let her leave this way! However, a small push from behind caused him to stumble slightly into the room, allowing Hawkeye enough space to leave. She made no eye contact with anyone as she left the room. The Fuhrer followed her out, stopping only to look at Mustang for a moment before leaving the room. Silence hung in the air after their departure. No one knew what to say. The officers watched as Mustang walked across the room and slid himself into the chair on the other side of his desk. Hughes followed him. As soon as he entered the office Mustang's eyes flew up to him, anger blazing in their depths.

"Why did you push me? I could have stopped her from leaving, I could have..."

"Could have what Roy?" Hughes interrupted, raising his voice to match his friends

"The Fuhrer would have made her leave whether you stood in her way or not. The only difference would have been that you would have gotten into to trouble as well." Hughes sighed, sitting in the chair opposite Mustang.

"I'm sorry Roy. This is all my fault. I'm sure that the Fuhrer found the copy of the photograph of the two of you together, that's the reason why all of this has happened." Hughes gazed at his friend. 

Roy stared back at Hughes, anger written all over his features. However, it began to die as a frown replaced it.

"Why wasn't I reprimanded?" he asked quietly. Hughes frowned at the sudden change in topic.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I'm the superior officer. If the Fuhrer did, as you say find that photograph, wouldn't it make sense that I would be the one who would be made an example of?" Mustang wondered aloud. Hughes sighed as he realised what had happened.

"It's Hawkeye Roy." He began quietly, causing Roy to look at him questioningly. Seeing his friend's gaze he continued.

"If the truth came out about the nature of your relationship then your reputation would be tarnished. It would be even more difficult for you to reach your goal. Hawkeye would lay her own life on the line just to allow you to achieve your goals; she is hardly going to care about her reputation." Mustang raised his hands to his face in desperation as he realised what she had done.

"She lied so that only she would take the blame. All to protect me. Why! Why the hell would she do that?" He yelled in anguish at Hughes. Hughes sighed and stood, putting an arm on Roy's shoulder in comfort.

"Do you really have to ask me that?" He replied quietly. Roy placed his head in his hands once more. Hughes sighed and squeezed his friend's shoulder.

"I'll be back soon." He stated, as he left the room. Roy barely even heard him. He was too consumed in his own thoughts and guilt at what had happened. He had lost the most important person in his life. What was he meant to do now? No. He corrected himself. No I haven't lost her. Not yet at least. With that he launched himself out of his chair and strode across the office, grabbing his coat as he did so.

"I'm taking the rest of the day off." He stated to no one in particular, not caring if they even heard him. I'm not letting you go Riza he thought to himself as he left headquarters. I can't let you go.

A/N: Not many more chapters left of this story! But I actually have ideas for a sequel, anyone interested? Let me know. The next chapter should be up soon, at least I hope so. As ever, please review with your thoughts, I love to hear from you!