Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or it's characters.

A huige thanks to all my reviewers, story alerts and favourites, it really does mean so very very much! Sorry, this chapter is a little shorter but it just felt like a natural place to end it! Plus I thought if I leave posting it any longer mebh might maime me ... lol Next chapter should be up over the weekend though so not a very long wait!

ENJOY! :D

Riza gripped Maes so hard she wasn't sure if he was crying from the trauma of the situation or the fact his mother was holding him so hard against her quaking chest. She stumbled through the rubble, unsure of where she was going or what she was doing just happy to have her precious little boy in her arms.

"Riza?"

She lifted her tear streaked and dirt stained face to see Havoc standing in front of her among the carnage of Central station. She paused and then a broken sob escaped her lips, "He's alright, Jean...Maes is OK."

Havoc got to her just as her legs caved and another wave of tears threatened to burst free of her tired eyes. He pulled her against his chest tightly and wrapped his arms around her. He was comforting yet supportive at the same time. Quietly allowing Riza to sob in relief and Maes to calm his wails and twist his little fists in her dirty black shirt. After a few moments, he pulled back and smiled comfortingly at her, "Come on, I'll drive you home."

He guided Riza towards the car he'd brought. She was taking deep breaths and with every step she took he saw a little more of Hawkeye return to her scarily gaunt and panicked demeanour. They stepped over the twisted steel and broken cement until they reached the car, Jean opened the door as mother and child eased down into the leather seat. As he walked around the back of the leather military issue vehicle his eye caught movement across the broken limbs of the station.

Roy strode towards the car. He was desperate to know. He needed to confirm his suspicions. Had Riza had a child whilst he'd been away? Was it his? Why was Havoc holding her so tenderly? ... Why hadn't she told him?

Riza was still only a lieutenant in the military so she didn't have a lot of money. He knew she had some savings from her inheritance when her father died but it wasn't much. How was she raising a child alone? Trying to juggle a job, a house, a baby and a small salary? He could have helped. He felt his stomach fall in anger. He had plenty of money just sitting there, money he'd earned but not used because he had been so consumed with saving the country or sat in a small outpost where the chance to spend it appeared very rarely. More importantly, he could have helped her emotionally and physically. He would have stood by her.

Then something else hit him and it made his blood boil. His pace quickened in an attempt to reach the car and Havoc faster. If the child in her arms was his then they would already be over a year old. Riza had denied him the first year of his son or daughter's life. She'd purposefully kept him away by not sending word she was pregnant. He'd missed his own child's birth.

Havoc saw him and quickly got into the drivers seat. He knew he was going to pay later for not waiting for Mustang to catch up but Riza didn't need this. She didn't need to deal with Mustang right now. She needed food, a bath and to cradle her son to reassure herself he wasn't dead. He quickly sped away, glancing momentarily in the rear view mirror at Mustang's fuming face and his piercing glare as he watched the car move away quicker than he could walk.

"He knows, doesn't he?" Riza asked quietly, not taking her eyes off Maes. Havoc was shocked that she'd noticed but she was the best eye in the military and it was no surprise that she would be on her highest guard now while she felt so vulnerable about her son.

Havoc swallowed, "I think he may have figured something out."

Riza sighed heavily and shifted Maes in her arms to press a kiss to his forehead, "We're going to be fine," she whispered to the little boy and then fixed her tired amber eyes on the road.

Havoc finished stirring the mug of hot tea before taking it through to the living room. They had arrived home about an hour ago and Riza had crashed. She had bathed with Maes while he prepared some food and she was now curled up the sofa with him sleeping snuggly in her embrace. Her hair kept slipping off her head and resting on the arm of the couch where her head lay and the warm quilt that normally adorned the back of the deep red soft furnishing was now embracing mother and child.

Havoc smiled and carried the dark coloured liquid towards Riza. She glanced up at him with tired and drained eyes, giving a weak smile at his kindness, "Thank you, Jean. You don't have to stay you know...we'll be fine now."

"I know, I think I may head off in a bit. I just wanted to be certain you and Maes would be OK...you've been through a lot today."

Riza sipped the tea and then turned her gaze back towards him, "so have you. What happened today wasn't easy on anyone and there are still a lot of unanswered questions."

Havoc fell silent and averted his gaze. She knew what question he was thinking about in particular but she wasn't willing to deal with that right now. She just needed to be safely in her home with her son and Hayate, who was curled up at her feet on the couch.

After a pause that left a gaping void between the two friends, Riza finally moved achingly off the sofa, "I'm going to put Maes in his cot. He'll sleep better there." Havoc just nodded and then turned towards the front door. She watched him walk out of the living room and into the hallway, pulling his coat on and picking up the car keys.

He turned back to where she stood quietly in the hallway, gazing down at Maes' peaceful face caringly, "If you need anything..."

Riza just looked up at him and smiled kindly, "I know, Jean. You've been great and I hope I'll see you again soon but under better circumstances." Havoc nodded before Riza added, "Maes likes you, I can tell. Maybe we should go to the park next week or something?" Hayate gave a soft whimper in agreement, liking the sound of the park and a good run around.

Jean looked at Riza, "You're going to have to talk to him, Riza."

She almost visibly flinched at his words. It wasn't that she was trying to be ignorant of the situation, it was just she didn't want to think about Roy right now. She'd gotten used to her peaceful little life with her son. Meeting Havoc and the others at the park in the afternoons, tea with Gracia and Elysia and the peaceful silence that engulfed the house after Maes was fast asleep in bed. Roy would ruin all of it. He'd want to step up as Maes' father, which meant he'd want to move in, start a relationship with her, give her money and support. Most single mothers would be dancing for joy but Riza liked her independence and the way she ran her little family. Not to mention she didn't want to explain to Roy why she'd never told him about Maes.

Havoc left as Riza walked up to Maes' room. No more being said on the subject.

Roy had turned onto Riza's street. She'd moved since he'd last been to her house and it suddenly made sense why she'd given up her flat in the middle of Central for a small two bedroom house with a garden further out. She had a child to think about. His child.

He was sure of it now. With the blood hammering in his ears from the exertion of running here, he had made up his mind that the child she'd carried so closely off the station site was his child and he was sure it was a boy. It suddenly made more sense why Elysia had said Maes had gone with Riza. She'd had his son and called him Maes. The emotions running through his blood were conflicting to say the least. He felt overwhelming shame at having not been there for his son, to put him to bed at night and cradle him when he cried. Instead he'd been hiding in a frozen wasteland pondering his own uselessness. At the same time he was so proud of such a strong looking little boy and proud of Riza for creating him, yet with those thoughts came abject anger. His blood boiled when he thought of Riza not having told him about 'Maes'. He would have stayed, or come back, instantly. She shouldn't have tried to do this alone and besides, he'd had a right to know he was a father and Maes had a right to know him.

He marched down the small manicured front gardens with their square cut hedges and slate garden paths. He saw a black military car pulled up outside one with a bottle green door. Havoc was making his way down the garden path and was pulling the keys through his fingers looking for the ignition key. Roy's anger flared into a new life as he watched Havoc leave, what he assumed was Riza's house. Why was Havoc there so late? He wouldn't think of that right now. This was about his possible son.

Havoc's eyes casually glanced around the peaceful street and then settled on Roy, "H-hey Chief?" he stammered, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" snarled Roy. Moving to walk past Havoc and to Riza's door.

Havoc reached out and gripped his arm, "Chief, maybe ano-" He never got to finish the sentence because Roy's fist connected with his jaw and he was soon sent reeling to the floor. He gasped, gripped his jaw line and looked up at Roy who was staring at him with contempt in his eyes.

"Don't." Was all Roy said before striding to the door and bringing his fist down hard and heavy.

The bang of each hit rang through the small house to where Riza was lying Maes down in his cot. She glanced towards the door to the nursery and her brow furrowed. Maes wasn't disturbed by the noise but that wouldn't last long if the noise didn't stop. Havoc had just left and he certainly wouldn't make such a racket if he'd forgotten something, he was to scared of the consequences of waking Maes. Riza tucked the blanket up around her sleeping son and then walked calmly down the stairs, pausing in the kitchen to pick up her hand gun.

She almost dropped the fire arm at the words that were shouted through her front door, "Open up, Riza! I know you're there!" It was definatly Roy's voice. Why was he here? Why now? She just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. She sucked in a deep breath and approached the door as if it would leap out and bite her at any second. Hayate sensed her unease and walked cautiously beside his master, top lip curled back and ready to strike.

Roy hammered his fist on the door again, causing it to quake in its frame before a pale Riza on the other side. She swallowed and placed the hand gun on the side table, reaching up for the latch. Before she pulled it back and allowed the door to swing open she said through the door, in a steadier voice than she was feeling, "I will open the door, Roy, if you calm down and take a step back."

There was a grumble on the other side and Riza took one last deep breath before she pulled the latch. The door creaked and then opened to reveal a tall and very dark looking Mustang. She noticed Havoc standing close behind him, his chain a beautiful shade of black and purple. She resisted the urge to visibly flinch at the evidence of Roy's assault.

Riza made eye contact with Havoc and she gave him a curt nod to symbolise she was going to be fine and he could leave. He hesitated, glancing at the angry man next to him, but then turned and walked back towards his car. When Havoc had gone she plucked up the courage to look back up at Roy's smouldering black eye.

He watched her critically, the emotions raging through him unchecked, his hands kept fisting and he had to resist the urge to clench his jaw at her. Nothing was said. Riza just stepped to the side and Roy marched into her house.