~*~MAES~*~
It's been about three weeks since we found Roy and the rest of his soldiers. Havoc was discharged and that enabled Fuery to be put in his care until Hawkeye is at a better weight to handle things on her own. Breda is still in the hospital suffering from trauma and Havoc visits often. Roy is slowly but surely getting better and more strength to him and the doctors say that he will be able to get out by the end of the week.
"Did you hear that? You'll be out of this place by the end of the week."
Roy looks at me and the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips but nothing more. He doesn't show much emotion anymore and it is hard to talk with him. He understands everything but he seems to drift away into his own world after a while. He also doesn't like to be touched. He only allows the doctors to do it because he knows they are helping him but other than that, he doesn't want anyone touching him.
"Ed and Al are living it up in your apartment since they've been waiting for you to get there." Roy turns his head. "Ed and Al are there, waiting to take care of you."
Roy's eyebrows furrow a little and he looks at me in question.
"What? Is there something wrong?"
He looks away but I can tell something is bothering him.
"Roy, what is it?"
He doesn't look at me again and I pull the chair up closer to him, looking at him.
"Roy, tell me what's wrong. You act like I've done something."
Roy looks at me and points slowly at me.
"You." He says softly. He points to himself. "Me…"
I narrow my eyes, trying to translate what little words he has given me when it dawns on me.
"You want to know why I'm not caring for you?"
He nods and I run my fingers through my hair, taking off my glasses.
"I figured that you needed people who were not going to smother you to death. Ed and Al will take good care of you and if you need me you can just call, right?"
He still doesn't look pleased but he nods and the doctor comes in to do some tests. I put my glasses back on and reach out to pat Roy on the shoulder. Roy flinches away and I remember that he doesn't like to be touched.
"Sorry…"
He nods, knowing that it's hard for me not to touch him. That's my problem, or so Gracia says, is that I'm too buddy-buddy with everyone. I like to touch and pick and get into people's business. Roy doesn't need that now…
I leave and go check on Hawkeye, who I see is coming back from walking around the hospital.
"Hey, Hawkeye, how's it coming?"
"Good. They say I should be able to go home next week if I drop more pounds."
"That's wonderful."
"How's the Colonel?"
"He will be discharged by the end of the week. Have you seen him?"
"Admittedly not. Mostly because I haven't been able to but also because I'm sort of afraid to. I've heard lots of rumors and I don't want to see them."
"He'd like it if you'd see him. You are his closest subordinate."
"True… I might see him after this check up then."
I nod and leave the hospital.
~*~RIZA~*~
The doctor checks my pulse and sees how much I weigh.
"Well, Ms. Hawkeye, you've dropped another ten pounds since this morning. If you get this much off every day then you can leave this week. Your determination is very good."
"Thank you. Hard training is nothing new to me so I don't have any qualms about doing all of this."
The doctor nods and I look at the charts.
"Doctor, how is Colonel Mustang?"
He looks at me and smiles.
"Ms. Hawkeye, you should know doctor/patient confidentiality rules."
"I meant is he alright?"
He looks away and sighs.
"He's as well as anyone in his condition could be."
He leaves the room and I sigh, wanting to see him but not at the same time. Hughes is right though… I get up and head over to his room.
I open the door and find that the Colonel is in the middle of eating. Not much, but he's poking at things at least. When he hears the door open he looks up and stares at me. I look at him for a moment and enter the room fully, going toward him. I might have lost a lot of fat since I was captured, but I am not the same size I was when I was captured.
"Colonel."
He nods and looks at me while I sit next to him. We sit there in silence as I try to figure out what to say to him. What could I say to him? There isn't that much that I could bring up and most of the news I have came from Hughes so that means that he already told the Colonel about it.
The Colonel pushes his tray away and puts his hand on his stomach, moving around uncomfortably.
"Are you in pain?" I ask.
He shakes his head and turns onto his side, settling into the pillows. He stares at me for a moment, just looking at me and then looks away like he is ashamed. I look at myself and sigh.
"It was not your fault, Colonel. This could have happened to any of us in different ways. It was his fault for doing it and we put the blame solely on him. You were doing your duty and we followed."
He doesn't seem convinced so I go to put my hand on his when he wrenches it away.
"Don't touch me." He growls.
I blink and he gives me an apologetic stare. I nod, understanding his territory and just pat the bed next to him.
"We will find him, Colonel, and when we do, we will kill that son of a bitch. I'll kill him myself for what he's done to you and to Fuery."
A small ghost of a smile hinted his lips and I smiled back, happy to see he was still there.
"Stay strong, Colonel. We'll fight this together."
He nods slowly and I can see he is very tired. His eyes shut and I get up to leave.
"Hawkeye…" I hear softly behind me.
I turn as he waves sleepily goodbye.