Chapter 5: Roy's Own Thoughts

Princess Sango

Riza sighed as she woke up the next morning and stretched. Hayate was still curled up on the side of the bed on the floor, but looked up at her when she moved. Then yesterday's events went through her mind and she stood up and started to go to the kitchen. Hayate stretched and let himself out the backdoor through the dog flap.

Riza made some coffee, and by the time Hayate came back inside, she was sitting on her bed, a mug in hand and the report in the other. She was scanning with her sharp eyes because she didn't want to miss anything, any tiny detail that could give away Rachel or her identity. Soon she ended up coming up to one of the town's she saw a doctor in, which was Ed's hometown.

Carefully she flipped through each page, scared about what might come up. Then she saw something marked in highlighter, and small writing in the margin. The highlighted name was Riza Hawkeye, and she sighed, if it was highlighted, then Ed must have read it. She'd have to take special leave again just to talk to Ed.

Riza marked the page before moving on, finding the other highlighted names that were her names, but didn't ignore the other names eight, just in case Ed skipped a few. So by the time Riza had finished the report, it was two hours later, and almost noon. She sighed as she carefully undid the small metal prongs and began to gently remove the papers with her names on it, and then placed it back in place before sealing it up again.

Now she stared at the documents with her name on it curiously. Looking at one, she saw her name in the yellow highlighter, as if it was waiting for her. Picking it up, she looked over it, and the document seemed to go to minimum detail. The day she had gotten checked up on, the comments, the name and how far along, along with the gender of the baby. Riza placed them in a drawer by her bed stand, not wanting to uncover her past. It was bad enough, to her, that she needed to sneak around and erase her tracks.

Riza shook her head, banishing the thoughts. Turning to Hayate she asked him, "Do you want to go for a walk?" Hayate's ears perked up and he walked to the nightstand and picked up the leash that was where some books were stacked and handed it to her. Riza smiled, "Okay, just let me get dressed and we'll go."

Meanwhile…

Rachel had just woken up, and she noticed she was on the pull out bed. Since Rachel had outgrown her crib, Rachel had moved to the living room since it was a one-bedroom apartment. She was always pretty quiet, except for today when she was full of energy. Today it was Roy's day off, and on days like these, they decide to play and spend time together. Getting up, she first went to the bathroom and then she ran into Roy's room and jumped on him.

Roy grunted and opened his eyes, "Rachel, it's too early…"

"Daddy! It's your day off and you said you'd play with me!" Rachel whined, "Get up!" She bounced a little, "Come on daddy!"

Roy sighed, "Just give me some more shut eye! I'm tired, and this just seems to be the same time as I get up for work!"

Rachel sighed, "Okay daddy…" She got out of the bed and started trekking back to the couch to go play with a toy or something. Then someone knocked on the door and Rachel headed towards the door, "Who is it?"

Rachel put her ear up to the door and heard the answer. Smiling, she opened the door and there was Maes and Elysia. "Hi guys!"

Maes smiled, putting down his daughter and picking up Rachel, "You're getting so big! Where's you're daddy Rachel?"

Rachel pointed to Roy's doorway, "He's in his room, but he's being lazy!"

"Ah, I see, well why don't you and Elysia play while I go wake up your dad?"

Rachel nodded and squirmed out of Maes grasp to go to Elysia and pull her into the living room. Maes smiled triumphantly before making his way to Roy's room. Getting inside, Maes kicked away the scattered and most likely dirty clothes, before sitting on the edge of the bed and giving Roy a good shake, "Wake up!"

"Now Rachel…what did I just tell you?" Roy answered still in a deep sleep.

"Yes, daddy, now if I sounded like a girl that would make sense," Maes answered, rolling his eyes.

Roy opened his eyes then, "Oh it's you."

"Thanks, I feel welcome now."

"What brings you here?" Roy asked his as he stretched out and yawned.

"Well, I decided that Elicia and I needed to have more bonding time so I decided to come out here," Maes answered, "And I saw Ed awhile back too. What was he doing in Central?"

"I had him run a report for me personally. I'm trying to find out who Rachel's real mother is. Other than the people who know me in my office, everyone thinks Rachel's mom is someone I had an affair with who decided to leave her to me," Roy shrugged, "I'm curious."

Maes sighed, "Why don't you just let it go? Obviously the woman didn't want you to know, or else she would've let you know. Roy, maybe she's dead by now, you never know."

Roy smirked, "You never know is exactly. I think she's still out there, and close for that matter."

Maes's eyebrow quirked up, "What are you getting at?"

Roy sighed, "I think it was Riza, she was gone for eight and a half months leave. I just need to know though, why would she do it? Why would she keep me in the dark?"

"Besides all that, what else would make you think that? You know that relationships within the military are illegal. You guys didn't have sexual relations did you?"

"Yes, we did. That and since she's come home, even when Rachel was with a babysitter, she'd avoid me and everything. Only every now and then does she ever really let me be seen with her," Roy reasoned swinging his feet over the bed, "And she's always criticizing me."

"Well, Riza's been taking care of you all this time Roy. Also, now that you have someone else, no matter who it is, she wants you to own up to your status with her," Maes reasoned.

Roy sighed, "I still have a feeling that Riza is the one."

"Why don't you just ask her?" Maes asked him, now just thinking about warning Riza.

"I've told her how I've felt about a child, I've told her how much I love her, and I've told her so much more also. She's never confessed," Roy answered, now getting up and pulling out the clothes for today, "I think she's just stubborn. Ed said that the report was pretty interesting, but I can't read it today because I left it at the office."

Maes nodded feeling relieved, but also added talking to Ed on his list. "I'll go check on the girls for now. Then we'll do what we want." Roy nodded and watched as Maes walked out and shut the door behind him.

Roy sighed, he'd come out, he's admitted the truth to Maes. It just seemed too much of a coincidence to Roy. The fact that Riza came back the day after Rachel had shown up was coincidental. Yet then she was more withdrawn and careful with what she said, and behind her own stern voice, her eyes seemed to tell him there was more meaning to them. He saw some things that kept him from saying anything, that kept him from trying to pry. Sighing he threw on his red shirt and walked out to meet them, prepared for a tiring day.

TBC…