The Way to a Man's Heart Isn't by Crushing His Ego Chapter 2: Research

"Roy? Hey, Roy, you here?" Hughes called as he walked into the library. It was a huge room, even bigger then the Fuhrer's office. It was stacked high with bookshelves full of books of every color and size. There were tables set up everywhere for people to sit down to read and do research; and if that wasn't enough there were also little rooms that held books with information on, more or less, the same thing in the back of the library.

"Shhh! Don't shout, this is a library. People are trying to read," one of the men working behind the desk hissed angrily at Hughes.

"Uh…" Hughes looked around. "But no one's even here."

"Shh!"

"Oh... sorry," Hughes said quietly and walked away, but not before he showed a photo of his wife to the man who had been harassing him.

"Roy, you here?" he whispered as he tip toed through the large library. "Where is he? He better not have stood me up."

"Hughes," a quite voice was heard behind him, along with a tap on the shoulder.

"AHH!" Hughes squealed with fright and jumped, just about climbing up the bookshelf. "Oh, Roy, it's just you!" he said with a smile as he looked down and saw Roy staring up at him with his usual somewhat annoyed expression. Why does he always get that look when I'm around? he wondered, but quickly shook it off.

"Shhh!!!!!" they heard the librarian hiss again.

"Sorry!" Hughes shouted. He wanted to be sure the librarian heard him all the way on the other end of the room. The man replied Hughes' smile with a rather annoyed despising glare.

"Did you find anything yet?" Roy asked, not caring about the librarian.

"Nope, I just got here. I was looking for you."

"I see," he replied, "So where would we find out about this Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"Here probably, they keep the records of all the books as well as military personnel in the Central library."

"Good," Roy replied. He was hoping this would be quick, just grab a few books, read a few paragraphs, and break a few laws, no biggy type of deal.

"Right," Hughes said as he led Roy toward the back of the library to where the records were held. They were just about to enter one of the small rooms in the back when they were stopped by one of the workers.

"I'm sorry, but you can't go back there," said a dark skinned woman wearing a white shirt, green vest, and black pants, as they approached the area that was said to be off limits.

"It's ok, I'm Major Hughes. I'm with the Investigations Department. I just need to check on a few last minute things."

"What are you looking for? Do you have clearance?" she asked as she put some books on a nearby table.

"Sure," Hughes replied with a smile. Roy stood quietly behind him. He really didn't want to get involved if he didn't have to.

"From who?" she asked.

"Him," Hughes replied and pushed Roy into the open, "This is Lieutenant Colonel, Roy Mustang. I'm checking on a few things for him."

"Hey," Roy grumbled as he gave Hughes a quick glare.

"What? You said you wanted to help," Hughes replied with a smirk.

Roy had an annoyed look on his face, but he had no choice but to play along. "Yes, I am Mustang, and I need a few files."

"That's all well and good, sir. But do you have clearance to look at these files?"

Do I have clearance… Roy grumbled to himself. He was about to come up with one of his witty comebacks until Hughes nudged him in the back.

"Easy Roy, you want to find out, don't you?" Hughes whispered quietly in his ear.

Roy's eyebrow twitched as it did when he was annoyed. He held in his annoyance and anger, and answered in a calm voice. "Yes, I have clearance. I'm the Lieutenant Colonel. I know I need it to get back here. If I didn't have it I would have never came."

"I see, may I ask who it's from?" she asked.

"No, you may not. I gave you an answer. You asked if I had clearance, and I answered you. Come on, Hughes," he replied as he walked passed the woman. Hughes was right behind him with his usual smile.

"Sorry about Roy. He gets uptight when he's behind on work," Hughes said to the woman. "Here, this will make those feelings of hate and rage toward Roy just melt away,"he said as he handed the woman a photo. "Don't worry, I have more," he said as he pulled out a whole collection from his pocket.

"Umm... thanks…" she replied with an unsure smile as she took the picture.

"No problem," he replied. He was just about to say something else when Roy's booming voice cut him off.

"HUGHES! DON'T START!"

"Shhhhhhhh!!!!" the hissing was heard all across the library.

"Sorry, gotta go," Hughes said to the woman and walked back to the small area that held the records. It was a very small room; two of the walls were covered in shelves, filled with brown folders and files. The third wall had no files, but a window that you could see the city out of. The floor wasn't tile, but surprisingly, a dark green carpet.

About an hour later….

Hughes had his nose in all sorts of files while Roy was leaning back in his chair. His arms were folded over his chest and drool was hanging out of his mouth.

I knew it was too good to be true. The Major thought with a sigh as he looked from the sleeping Roy and back to the files. I know it's in here somewhere. He rustled through the shelves when he finally found a brown folder that looked promising.

"Bingo…" he said with a pleased smile as he pulled out a list of new transfers as well as a full report on each one. "Let's see…. Arnold, Connor, Fleche, Foms, ah here we go, Hawkeye," he said and pulled out the full report on the man known as Hawkeye. It wasn't two seconds that he had been reading when his eyes widened and a huge surprised smile appeared on his face. Hawkeye, Elizabeth…. Elizabeth huh… it's a woman. Won't Roy be happy. "So what do we have here," He skimmed through her file, hoping to find something interesting. "She's not an alchemist? Yay! I'm not the only one!" Then he thought to himself. Wait a minute… Lieutenant Havoc isn't an alchemist either as I recall… Yay! I'm not the only one! After he was done with his 'happy moment', Hughes got back to reading Riza's file. "She uses guns? And is very good at it, and was sent here so her incredible skills could be of more use. Hmmm...I see…" he mumbled little things to himself, making mental notes. "She's single. Maybe I just found Roy a wife. So... woman... guns... single… she sounds scary… Should I tell Roy? Or should I let him find out on his own...? I think letting him find out on his own would be more fun."

Hughes spent another twenty minutes going over Riza's file. She sounded very interesting, and despite the whole 'good with guns' thing he was really looking forward to meeting her. "Ok, I've whittled it all down. The bad thing would have to be…if she and Roy get together, and she comes home from work early, and finds Roy with another woman. She'd shoot him." He thought about this a bit. He wasn't sure if he should take it up with the Fuhrer or not. I'm sure he can be a good boy, and if not, he deserved it. Besides, I'd get in trouble if I talked to the Fuhrer about it because military personnel can't have a relationship with other military personnel. But what if he gets shot…? he deserved it.