I don't own FMA.

However, I do own Ken Pierce, Jeff, Jill, General Joseph Alsvid, Charlotte Alsvid, Elizabeth Tridae, Julie Mrow, and any other original characters that creep into this story.

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Denny had his tray of food in hand and searched for the familiar head of chestnut hair. He frowned when he found it surrounded by other female officers, no doubt talking about the book they were all reading.

As he walked closer to the group he could hear the voices of the women, one above the rest said, "Did you really go to meet him in person? Isn't he so handsome? I love his red hair!" Denny could identify the voice as Julie Mrow, a Second Lieutenant. He remembered her as one of the woman that hates Lieutenant Hawkeye for her "close relationship" with Mustang.

Denny glanced at Maria to judge her reaction and deepend his frown when he saw her nodding in reply. He was about to turn and walk away, but she called out to him. He used that forced smile again and crossed the remaining distance to the table.

The women around her went silent the minute he sat down. Maria turned to him and struck up a conversation. "Re-evaluations are coming up, how do you think you're going to do?" she asked.

Denny let the forced smile be replaced with a real one when he noticed she didn't want to talk about the amazing Ken Pierce or his book. They talked about hand to hand combat, firearms, and endurance test until the others got bored and left them alone. When they were alone she gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks, they're starting to get annoying. I shouldn't have told them I've got his phone number. That's all they ever want to talk about," she explained.

"Oh," Denny replied unsure how to feel about the fact that she had just used him.

"So, how far have you gotten?" she asked.

Denny took extra long to chew and swallow the piece of chicken in his mouth. "I've gotten just past the halfway point. They're in Drachma, where Elizabeth gets hurt but doesn't tell Joseph."

"I'm almost done," she stated proudly. "I've been keeping in mind what Ken told me, and there are only two people I can think of that match his characters.

Denny couldn't deny his interest in the subject, but he didn't want to admit that the man he considered a rival had his attention. He used his tactic of eating slowly again. "Who do you think it is?" he asked hoping he didn't sound too interested. He even enacted tactic two before she answered—take a long swig of his root beer.

"Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye," she said amicably.

Bubbles of carbonation filled his nostrils, and made his eyes water as he choked and spluttered, "What?"

He hadn't noticed her hand rising in salute.

"Are you okay Sergeant Brosh?" Riza Hawkeye asked as she stepped into his line of vision and handed him a napkin.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye," Denny managed to say. Roy Mustang stepped into view. "Colonel Mustang," he acknowledged the man. Salutes were exchanged. "I just had a…uh…delayed reaction to something Ross said."

Mustang clucked his tongue. "No need for formalities. We're all off duty at the moment."

Riza held out a familiar book to Maria.

"I already have a copy," Maria told her. While attention was focused on the two women Denny cleaned off the spattered table and discretely wiped his nose.

"No, this one is yours. It has your name in it Maria. Havoc must've swiped it from your desk when you left to lunch. He was using it to chat up a delivery girl outside," Riza explained.

Maria gratefully took the book and checked the inside cover to make sure it was hers.

"He was saying something about being goof friends with the author. Says that the main character was based off of him," Roy's words were lost in his laughter. He took a deep breath and continued, "All you have to do is open it up to the first page and notice the character isn't smoking to know the truth."

Maria nodded.

"Well, we should get in line before it gets longer," Riza said.

"Than you Riza," Maria called to the already retreating pair. Riza raised a hand to wave it off. Maria watched them.

"Riza," Roy said.

"Sir," she responded.

"Riza," he whined emphasizing the first syllable of her name and drawing out the second one.

"Sir?" she questioned her voice low and warning.

"I thought I said no formalities back there," he pointed out.

"You did," she agreed.

"And you called Maria Maria," he stated.

"That is her name, Sir," she replied.

"Well, my name isn't sir," he said agitated.

Riza cocked her head to the side and waited a few minutes before answering, "It isn't? Oh, that's right, you prefer Colonel."

"No, it' just…" he trailed off to a mumble when he realized she wouldn't let up.

"Stop talking to yourself Roy. People might start to think you've gone crazy," she told him as they took their place in line.

Maria laughed as she overheard they're exchange. "That was close."

"So you did mean those two," Denny asked.

"Yes, if you listen to the way those two talk to each other it's obvious. He almost made it too easy to tell. An alchemist with a female bodyguard, how many state alchemists have a female bodyguard here in central? Two—it has to be them because the other pair gets along swimmingly. Then the names—Elizabeth and Riza are too close for coincidence. The main difference between the character and Riza is the title difference. Riza is a first lieutenant while Elizabeth is part of a branch of the military Ken made up, a special task force trained to stealthily take out people who are in the act or have committed treason. Only people with composure and marksmanship like Riza's would be part of it," Maria took a deep breath. "Then, there is Joseph Alsvid. His niece calls him Joey, and whose name does that sound like—Roy. Plus, his alchemic abilities are just like Roy's, except with liquids. He's a war hero. Oh, and there's more than one passage about how much he despises paperwork. The big difference between Joseph and Roy is social lives, but Joseph is taking care of his niece, so his social life wouldn't be very active. What we just heard is another clue. Elizabeth insists on calling him general or sir until he makes her stop," Maria finished her explanation and flippd through her book to get a passage that supported her theory.

"Here, page 63, towards the bottom. When Elizabeth puts Charlotte to bed," she said putting the book in front of Denny.

Denny scanned the page and found the passage she was indicating.

Elizabeth gazed longingly at the raven-haired girl smiling at her through half closed eyes.

"'Night Elizabeth," the girl half-said through a yawn.

"Goodnight Charlotte," Elizabeth replied and turned out the bedroom light. Elizabeth fingered the copy of Snow White in her hands while she watched the girl's eyes finally close all the way in the flickering light of a single candle in the small bedroom. She set the book back on the shelves by the door, let her hair down, and ran her fingers through it until the girl's breathing evened out. "General?" she asked.

Joseph pushed off from the door frame of his bedroom where he had been watching the nightly routine Elizabeth and Charlotte had developed and walked towards the blonde. "It wouldn't actually kill you to say my name once," he said.

"My business here is professional, Sir. I'd like to keep it that way," she replied meeting him halfway so they wouldn't wake the sleeping child.

"Your relationship with my niece hardly seems professional," he said roughly his sky blue orbs piercing her emerald ones.

"I…I," she fumbled for words to explain herself, to reason away his claim, but she couldn't. She didn't know why this particular child was able to defrost her. She had made so many children into orphans without even batting an eye, but from the first time she met Charlotte the child had a place in her heart. She had even began to thing about retiring from S.O.A.T. and taking a desk job. She ducked her head in defeat, he was right. She was sure he could deduce exactly what she was thinking.

Joseph smirked at the slight panic her eyes held at first. Had she really just realized the way her actions with Charlotte revealed what she really wanted?

"You're right, General. I'm sorry," she apologized.

Joseph frowned. "Don't be. She's taken quite a liking to you. Besides, she needs a female in her life. You're a good role model for her." Elizabeth was looking at him again. The surprise at his words was evident in her wide eyes. He smiled at her glad to see her unmasked form for once. "I think I'll be able to find it in my heart to forgive you, but," he winked at her, "you'll have to call me by name while it's just the three of us. I don't mind titles when we're out in public. We do have reputations to hold up. Besides, if you're always calling me sir or general Charlotte might decide to follow your example."

Denny closed the book and handed it back to Maria, "You're right, it has to be them," Denny replied watching the two mentioned officers sitting together with their trays of food.

"So, do you think there's anything blooming between those two?" Maria asked.

Denny stared at her. "You know Lieutenant Hawkeye better than I do. What do you think?"

"I think they would be together if the fraternization laws weren't in effect," Maria said.

"Screw the frat laws. Hardly anyone follows them anyway," Denny hissed.

Denny nearly fell out of his chair when an arm wrapped around his shoulder, and someone was saying, "Well said, Sergeant, well said." Denny turned his head and found Jean Havoc was the culprit. Maria was laughing. "So, you're finally trying to persuade Maria to go out on a date with you. We knew you'd pluck up the courage sooner or later." Jean turned to the speechless Maria. "How can you resist him?"

Both Maria and Denny flushed with embarrassment. Denny removed Jean's arm from around his shoulder. "What do you want?" Denny asked refraining from punching the chain smoker.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye told me I had to apologize about borrowing your book without asking. I was going to put it back, but she took it from me," Jean told Maria.

"Oh," Maria replied.

"Well, actually I wanted to ask if I could really borrow it. I kind of told Schiezka I was reading it, and now she wants to talk to me about it. We've got a date Friday night, so please can I borrow it?" he asked using his best puppy dog eyes.

"Sure, but I'll give it to you tomorrow, okay?" she gave in, not because the puppy dog eyes, but because she knew he would make a scene if she didn't agree.

"Thanks Maria, you're a lifesaver," he said. He was already turning to walk away, but stopped and turned back to them. "Hey why don't we make it double date? You two are reading the book, right? Come on, it'll be perfect."

"The fraternization-"

Jean cut Maria off, "Now, now, what did Denny say a few minutes ago? Besides, I'm ignoring them."

Denny mumbled and let his head fall onto the table.

"What was that?" Jean asked.

"The laws don't apply for Schiezka, she's non-comissioned," Maria said flatly.

"Oh, well, are you going to come or not?" he asked.

"Will you go away if we say yes?" Denny asked.

"Yep."

"Fine, we'll go," Maria said.

"Okay, Friday night, I'll make the reservations and let you know when and where. I'll just leave you love birds alone now," Jean grinned and walked away.

"We're not…" Denny and Maria tired to tell him, but he was already gone.

"I can't believe that guy," Denny muttered.

"He just doesn't know when to stop, does he?" Maria asked.

Denny shook his head in response and enacted his two tactics of avoiding conversation, so she wouldn't know how much he was looking forward to Friday night.

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A.N.-Surely Schiezka won't miss the similarities between the character's and Roy and Riza. Next update won't be until Friday.

Thanks for Reviewing: OTP, BlueRose.xoxo, Mirage992, Bizzy, WinglessFairy25, Smokerbabe, Dailenna, Animeluvr8, MoonStarDutchess, Riza Hawkeye 9, and the anonymous reviewer.

Names: Charlotte Alsvid: Charlotte from Lottie from the nick name given to Christine in Phantom of the Opera. Julie Mrow: Nothing too special for her. Just her last name backwards is worm. S.O.A.T.: Special Operations Against Treason.