A/N: sakurapixi: I'm not really sure on why it was deleted. My guess is either there were too many grammar mistakes or to many author notes.

Mistressofheaven: Hmm... I never thought of her asking for Hughes help. Maybe because he would have done it right, and then the soldiers wouldn't have had the pleaser of meeting the dancing hobo. Windows? Hmm… well… there were the three that Havoc broke while in the office, and now this one with Roy. So four so far, don't worry, they'll will be more. Poor Havoc, he's going to end up with a million years bad luck!

The Way to a Man's Heart Isn't By Crushing His Ego Chapter 16: A Savoir Disguised as a Woman of the Military

"Now look what you got us into," Roy snapped quietly as they stood in front of the Fuhrer's desk yet again. The soldiers stood in the same positions they were in earlier. Roy and Riza up in front, the Fuhrer at his desk, Havoc and Hughes standing in a line behind them, the Brigadier General across form them. Everything looked exactly the same, except one man was missing.

Riza didn't answer Roy. Her eyes were dead locked on the Fuhrer's big black chair. She wasn't about to speak and show disrespect to the Fuhrer, not after all this.

The back of the Fuhrer's chair was facing them. He was looking out one of the large windows behind him, thinking about what to do. It was dark outside. The street lights in the large area in front of Central lit up just about everything around them. They had been in the room along time, but nothing was decided.

"We've found him, sir," a familiar was voice heard from behind them. The Fuhrer turned with a smile. It was Warrant Officer Falman and Sergeant Major Fury.

"We found him, Fuhrer sir," Fury, the man that looked like a mini version of Hughes, said as he took the saluting position. Falman standing next to him, behind them stood Armstrong.

"Very good, thank you," the Fuhrer replied as his put his elbows on his desk, then rested his chin on his hands. "You are free to go home."

"Thank you, sir!" they both replied with a smile and left. The sound of a dog barking was heard as they walked down the hallway.

"Oh-no," Falman whined. "Fury, not another one."

"Sorry," Fury replied as he rubbed the back of his head, a little white puppy, a tea-cup sized poodle popped out of his shirt collar. It was so small no one noticed it. "I just found him out in the rain."

"It's not even raining," Falman replied with an annoyed expression.

Hughes just shook his head back and forth with a smile as they listened to Fury and Falman's conversation. "Fury…" Hughes sighed, "He obsesses too much."

There was an awkward silence as everyone in the room stared at Hughes.

"Major Hughes," Havoc whispered.

"Yeah?"

"You obsess over your wife," Havoc reminded Hughes that he was just as bad, if not worse then Fury when it came to obsessing over things.

Another awkward silence was heard as Hughes thought about this for a moment. "Yes and!-" Hughes smiled as his hand headed for his pocket.

"Well now that that's out of the way," the Fuhrer cut Hughes off before he could pull out the picture. Armstrong was busy looking around for the crickets that were heard chirping during the awkward silence as well as wondering how a stray tumbleweed managed to blow through the room, without any wind.

"GET BACK IN LINE!" Gran snapped when he saw the soldiers begging to congregate instead of paying attention to King Bradley.

"Uh!" Havoc snapped in the saluting position.

"Sorry!" Hughes snapped almost as fast as Havoc, though he didn't take the age old position. He stood up straight, his arms locked down at his sides. His head was slightly tilted upward. This made his glasses flash as the light reflected off the glass lenses. He did this so they couldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. Oh how Hughes wanted to show the Fuhrer his photo of Gracia. He didn't get to talk to the Fuhrer much, not off of business terms anyway.

"At ease," the Fuhrer instructed his men. They relaxed slightly, arms either at their sides or folded over their chests.

"Permission to speak, Fuhrer Bradley, sir?" Riza asked after things in the room calmed down.

The Fuhrer nodded at Riza, telling her to go ahead.

"I just wanted to apologize for my actions, sir. They clearly were out of line, and I should have stopped myself when things got out of hand. I apologize for my unacceptable behavior," she said as she gave a small nod, like a gesture of apology. Her face remained calm and cool, but on the inside she was kicking and cursing herself. Why did I let the Lieutenant Colonel get me so out of line? I should have been able to suppress my rage. I'm a solider after all. I won't let this happen again. She thought to herself as she stood upright once again. "May I say one more thing, sir?" she asked her face still serious.

"Of course, Second Lieutenant," the Fuhrer replied with a smile. The Brigadier General just sneered at Riza. She's trying to suck up to him. He thought as he watched her.

Riza really wasn't sucking up, she was just apologizing. She knew that what she had done was wrong and was totally out of line and character. She had never done anything like this before, pulling pranks and getting in fights with a superior officer, it just wasn't her.

She felt as if she was losing her grip on her former self and this new woman was coming to surface. A woman who wouldn't listen or take anything from anyone. She was able to snap at her commanding officer harshly without giving it a second thought. Hot tears began forming in her eyes when she thought about how out of line she was. I won't lose myself or my profession to this man. Not over something as stupid as a few fights. She sneered at herself as she refused to let the tears fall and maintained her serious 'solider' face. I won't allow myself to fight with him anymore, from here on out I'm going to treat him as my commanding officer, and show him the respect he deserves, even if he is a jerk. She thought as she glanced over at Roy for a moment.

His body remained in position, but his dark eyes watched her. It almost appeared that he felt sorry for her, like he was begging to regret getting the two of them in trouble, but of course, He would never admit to that. He didn't want Riza to think he'd gone soft or that he'd let her win their little fight.

"You were going to say something, Second Lieutenant?" the Fuhrer asked after a few minutes of silence. He knew Riza was thinking things over. He wanted to give her some time to do so, but they really didn't that time for that.

"Yes," she replied as she pushed all the feelings of herself aside and began thinking of her fellow officers. "Sir, no disrespect intended, but I think you should allow Lieutenant Havoc, as well as both of the Majors, Hughes and Armstrong, to go without punishment."

"And why is that, Second Lieutenant Hawkeye?" the Fuhrer asked, curious to see what Riza's reasoning was. He had never seen anything like this, a soldier apologizing and then demanding things of him.

"Lieutenant Havoc and both the Majors, didn't do anything wrong, sir. The First Lieutenant was trying to replace the window, while the Majors were fixing the room and cleaning the debris. It was the Lieutenant Colonel and myself who were out of line and disobeying orders. So please, allow then to go without punishment. If you would still feel someone needs to be punished, then I will take their punishment upon myself," she replied. She felt it was very wrong to make Havoc, Hughes, and Armstrong pay for things they never were apart of, and what made it even worse was that it was her mistake they were going to pay for.

The Fuhrer thought about this for a moment. He knew Riza would never lie to him, not about something like this. The fact that she would take punishment for another solider really showed her admiration. He had great respect for this woman.

You have got to be kidding me. The General sneered from the other end of the room. Riza was really pushing his buttons. There's no way Bradley could believe that. This woman is not fit to be a solider. She should have tried to defend herself, not apologize, and on top of that she said she'd take the other soldiers punishment. She is weak. She would never make it on the battle field. She'd see one of her fellow officers down, and instead of doing what she needed to do she'd help them. If it was my decision, I'd discharge her right now, and put her in the Stockade as punishment. Gran grumbled to himself. He'd never seen Riza on the field so he didn't know how gifted she really was. His eyes watched Bradley. The Fuhrer was thinking hard, trying to think of what to do with his dogs.

"I have come to a decision," the Fuhrer said after a few minutes of silence. "After hearing Lieutenant Hawkeye's statement, I have decided not to punish any of you."

All the lower soldiers stared in disbelief.

"WHAT?" Gran snapped. "Fuhrer, these men clearly broke several laws. YOU CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO GO UNFAZED!" the general roared.

"They will carry out the orders I gave them earlier. The First Lieutenant and the Majors will clean up the office. Lieutenant Hawkeye and the Lieutenant Colonel will go to the outskirts of town and take care of those thugs," the Fuhrer instructed.

"Fuhrer," Roy said, disbelief plastered on his ever so perfect face, "Why this ruling?" he asked. He wanted to know why they got away, almost scott free.

"I have listened to Hawkeye's statement and thought it over. I believe you are all sorry for what you have done. You will carry out the orders as I have instructed. Lieutenant Hawkeye, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang. You will both leave first thing in the morning. Lieutenant Havoc, Majors, Hughes and Armstrong, you three will finish with the office. Then we shall never speak of this matter again, understood?"

They all nodded, too stunned to speak. They thought they'd get it for sure.

"You may go now," the Fuhrer said after the stood and stared for a few minutes. They could have left once he finished, he guessed they were just too stunned to react. The Fuhrer smiled, he loved seeing blown away faces on his soldiers.

"Thank you, sir!" they all said and saluted, then left.

As they were walking out, Hughes had his arm draped around Riza, telling her how happy he was they weren't going to get punished, Havoc and Armstrong behind them. They congratulated Riza, as well as thanked her for taking the punishment for them if they were going to get punished.

Roy walked behind them, hands shoved in his pockets. He didn't say anything. He just had his normal cool expression on his face.

"Lieutenant Colonel," the Fuhrer said before Roy left. The dog glanced back at his master. "That woman just saved your job you know," he smirked, "Be sure and thank her when you see her again."

Roy's expression didn't change. He just nodded and left.