Chapter twenty-one

Riza watched as the boys came inside the office with a trolley loaded with cake. Ed was grinning triumphantly while Al looked nervous. Riza knew immediately that something was up and that she wasn't going to like it. Ed started to speak before Riza could even ask what was up.

"Hey, Hughes! We've got some evidence for you!" he announced proudly once the door shut behind them.

Riza froze, panic blooming in her chest. If Ed had gone and got something on Yoki Yandell, then that could be really bad.

"What the hell did you do?!" Mustang demanded angrily, although he had turned pale.

Ed looked taken aback at the reaction. "We found a way to help you," he said a bit fearfully.

Hughes had just frozen in place. Riza felt terror clawing at her chest. Mustang, however, strode forwards and grabbed Ed's shoulders. "What have you done?! Tell me!"

"Y-Yoki bribed us to give him information on the case," Ed said in a slightly strangled voice. He sounded disappointed. "I-I said we'd do it. He hinted towards stealing files and documents, and I figured that once he asks us to do that, you can get him…"

Riza felt her terror rise and she walked over to them. Mustang seemed to have frozen where he stood.

"I-I just wanted to help," Ed said in a low voice.

Mustang let go of Ed's shoulders and whipped around, only to slam his fist on the nearest desk and swipe the contents on the floor, breaking a coffee mug in the process. "DAMN IT!"

Edward stood frozen in place, staring in horror at what was going on. Riza really didn't know what to do or what to say.

"Edward," Mustang hissed, trying to keep his temper in check where he stood with his fists shaking at his sides. "For all we know, you have just made a deal with a serial killer and your actions have now put you right on the list of potential victims!"

Riza knew that Mustang was right. With only two victims, they couldn't say for certain if the murders were only limited to the church or not and Ed certainly had seemed greedy with what he had done. The many cakes could point towards gluttony for that matter.

Ed looked like he wanted to run away. He was really disappointed, it was clear, but he was also scared. "I-I only tried to help! I wanted to pay you back!" He looked at Riza, trying to get some clue as to what to do. "I didn't want to cause you more trouble!" He looked like a trapped animal, obviously afraid of making them angry with him. "I swear!" Alphonse stood behind him, trembling.

Riza walked over to them and pulled them into a hug. Ed had actually tried to do something for them, only to have it backfire. "Edward, I'm not angry with you for trying to help us, but you can't do that. This is our job. We're paid to do it, you are still a child."

"I wanted to help you! To do something for you for once! I didn't want to make it even more difficult for you!" He sounded scared.

"I know, I know."

She held the two of them for a few minutes, feeling trapped. What was she supposed to do now? It had been hard enough to spend her time trying to balance work and the boys, but now they were potential targets. She wasn't going to be able to just sit behind a desk while Mustang was out investigating, but then she would have to bring the boys with her, and that would certainly not work. No, she couldn't start acting irrationally. She was still doing useful work even from behind a desk.

"You said you had evidence –" Hughes began heavily. "Was there something more than just what you can tell us?"

Riza froze. Ed broke out of the hug. "He gave us a wallet." Al broke out of the hug too and walked over to Hughes, handing him a brown wallet. Hughes took an evidence bag out of his pocket and Al dropped it inside.

"Thank you, Alphonse."

"What do we do, Mister Hughes?" Alphonse asked quietly.

"We try to find a way to use this to our advantage, I guess."

Mustang slammed his fist on the desk next to him again. "What the hell are you saying, Hughes?! We're not involving kids in our investigation!"

"Roy, I'm not happy with this either…" Hughes began. Riza was afraid that he had a valid point to follow up with, but Mustang strode up to him before he got to finish talking.

"Hughes! Hawkeye! My office, now!"

Riza did as she was told, walking into the inner office that belonged to the DCI. Hughes followed and Mustang slammed the door shut behind them. It was a bit odd for her to see just how protective her boss was of her kids, but she appreciated it. There was no way he was going to put those two in even more danger.

"We're not involving Ed and Al anymore! They're to be under constant supervision until this case has been solved!" Mustang said.

"Roy, if you do that, you could be putting them in even more danger. It may alert Yoki that we're onto him. If he is behind the murders, then killing the boys could easily become his first priority in order to silence them before they can testify against him," Hughes said. He was speaking calmly, but his eyes betrayed just how much panic this latest development was bringing him. Riza was at least happy to see that he had the boys's well-being on the top of the list.

Riza didn't know what to think. She had promised the boys that she wanted to give them a safe home, and look at her now. If she had only stayed at home, then they wouldn't have met Yoki and they wouldn't be in danger.

"Damn it! We should have thought that Yoki would try something like this!" Mustang exclaimed, looking like he wanted to hit something. "I'm not involving kids in this business, and especially not those two! They have both been face to face with one homicidal maniac, they don't need another one!"

"Roy, I know," Hughes began, looking contemplative. Riza guessed he was really the only one who could be seen to be thinking straight. She still had a worryingly large part of her considering to just steal Mustang's car keys and drive her and the boys over to the next country and call it witness protection. "But I think that right now, the safest thing is to watch the boys from a distance and let them feed Yoki some false information, or at least something that makes him believe that we're not as much on his heels as we are."

"Hughes, am I hearing you right?" Mustang began. "You want an eleven-year-old and his little brother to deceive a seasoned police officer? I thought you were the one who was the children's expert among us?!"

"I don't like it, but if we keep a close eye on Ed and Al throughout the process and are ready to pull them out at a second's notice, then it is probably the safest way for them. If we let Yoki know that Ed was trying to get dirt on him, then they go from being a resource to a liability in a flash. And although I hate saying it, this could be the way to finally get Yoki. Ed's right, if we get proof that Yoki is paying him to steal evidence, then that will at least get him thrown out of the station no matter how many people he bribes. If we get the right people in the courtroom, he'll get years in prison. Either way, we'll get rid of a dirty cop. If we blow the whistle on him now, however, all we have is two boys who don't trust strangers swearing that a cop gave them a wallet to give them information. All Yoki has to say is that the kids stole his wallet, which is why it has his fingerprints. His testimony weighs a hell of a lot more than Ed and Al's."

"So you want Ed and Al to be double agents?" Riza asked quietly, feeling shivers going up her spine at the thought.

"I don't want it at all, but right now it's the safest bet if we want to get this case solved quickly. And the quicker we get this done, the sooner Ed and Al are out of harm's way." Hughes sighed. "Besides, I've read the files … the few people who have tried to stab Yoki in the back, all ended up in the hospital within a month with near-fatal injuries after being mugged. I don't think that it's a coincidence."

Riza felt her stomach clench at the thought. She did not want Ed and Al to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders because of this. Placing them in witness protection would hardly be good for them either. She didn't want to force them to move yet again.

"Fine," she said. "But only if they say yes."

"DAMN IT!" Mustang said. "Hughes: get Fuery to find Ed and Al a microphone and a concealed camera each, I want eyes and ears on them all the time from now on!" Hughes left the office, closing the door behind him. "Hawkeye, fetch me the wallet, chances are that there's a time and a place for their next meeting somewhere inside. And get Ed and Al in here, we need to explain the situation to them."

Riza moved to leave, but Mustang put a hand on her shoulder and she turned back to him. "Listen, Hawkeye, if Ed and Al say no, then I won't force them to do it." He spoke a lot softer. He smiled confidently at her. "If they say no, I'm going to fucking have the three of you move in with me just to make sure that they don't get hurt, okay? I'm not going to let them get hurt any more than they already have." Riza could see that he wasn't lying, he really would do just that. And Riza realised that she might be their foster mother, but they most definitely had an unofficial foster father in Roy Mustang as well. And he was just as stressed and scared as she was.

She suddenly felt an odd urge to just hug him and seek comfort from him. But that was insane. He was her boss.

Her boss who just offered up his house to keep the boys safe…

She had known it before, but now she was certain: her relationship with Roy Mustang was going to be something unlike any other.

Just what does that mean though?