Thanks for all the reviews and favs! Hope you continue to enjoy! This is absolutely a guilty pleasure fic, so lots of fluff and angst and all that good stuff! Enjoy!

Roy got no sleep that night and instead moved between resting his head on the side of the bed, and checking every so often to make sure Riza was still breathing. At some point, just before morning light began to peek into the room, Riza began to seize again, and he found himself up on the bed with his arms curled tightly around her. She had almost fallen off the bed and was dangerously close to hitting her head off the headboard. He hadn't meant to stay there with her, but in his exhaustion, he dozed off, his arms still protectively wrapped around her.

He woke to the sunlight hitting his face and he turned, effectively burying himself into Riza's loose, blonde hair. When he felt the strands brush up and tickle his chin, he realized he was lying in a bed and opened his eyes to find a mop of golden hair attached to a woman sleeping peacefully on her side. He lay there for a moment more, grateful to be tangled up with Riza, though he wished it was under better circumstances. Still, he was glad she had not fallen in the night.

Slowly, so as to not disturb her, he untangled himself from both her and the sheets. This proved much harder than he originally thought because she was clutching his arm as though her life depended on it. When he finally managed to get her to release him, she mumbled something in her sleep, but otherwise didn't stir.

As he stood and moved to stand over her, he placed the backside of his hand on her forehead. She was still burning up, and her fever had not even come close to breaking. He swore under his breath and went to get another cool cloth. He had to figure out how to break this stupid fever. He also really, really needed a doctor.

But there were no doctors, at least none easily accessible in a hospital. And with the current climate, he worried that he wouldn't be able to find a doctor who would be willing to help someone in the military.

His thoughts then drifted to Edward, who obviously wasn't a doctor, but he was lower to the ground and more personable than the entire military combined. If they could track down a doctor, he might be able to charm them into helping. But that, of course, involved tracking down the boy and then, ugh, asking for his help.

Roy gazed over at Riza, still fast asleep on the bed. But, he figured, Riza was more than worth it. Even if he had to grovel and beg and plead, saving Riza's life was worth every minute of going to the Elric boy for help. Hell, that didn't sound so bad in comparison to what Roy would actually give just to ensure Riza recovered. He clenched his jaw. He wasn't going to lose her.

He glanced down and saw Black Hayate looking up at him with those stupid curious eyes. Roy sighed and bent down, patting the dog and earning a lick to the face in return. "You watch out for her, okay?" he said. "Don't let her get up. I'll be back soon."

The dog barked and Roy gave him a strange look. Did the dog… understand? No, he was just a personable little thing. Either way, Roy didn't have time for debating the mental capacities of animals, he had to get moving. So, as he grabbed his jacket and ran out the door, Hayate hopped up on the bed and curled up at Riza's feet.

Roy hurried down the streets to the Military Offices, hoping he would find the young Alchemist there. As he walked down the familiar halls towards his office, he was quickly cornered by Havoc, who pulled him aside.

"I don't have time, Lieutenant," Roy sighed, trying to push past him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Havoc asked. "And where has Hawkeye been?" For once, the usually cheery and silly man was looking quite worried and searched Roy's face for the answer. Roy sighed and shoved the man's hand away.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye is sick." Roy finally said, looking down and away. There was something in his voice that made Havoc realize that this was no ordinary illness, that it was very serious.

"Shit," he said. "I thought she was alright."

"Yeah, so did I." He'd had this conversation, though with a different person, and was impatient, wanting to get away.

"Where are you going then?"

"Have you seen Fullmetal?"

Havoc blinked. Now, this day had taken an even stranger turn. The idea of Roy so desperately wanting to get to the young Alchemist was bewildering to him. "Um, he was in the office today. We had him working on how to reconnect broken service pipes. Can't actually do much without alchemy and all, but he's a pretty good engineer."

"Kid's a fucking protege and you have him playing construction worker?" Roy found himself asking irritably. He then shook his head. Fuck it, he didn't care if the boy was herding cattle, he just needed to find him.

"We didn't know what else you'd want him to do." Havoc shrugged. "Seemed as good a job as any. Anyway, it's near lunch so maybe he's in the cafeteria?"

"Good, thank you," Roy said and turned back the way he came, so he could take another hall to the common areas.

"Hey, wait, Colonel!" Havoc called. Roy turned briefly. "Is Lieutenant Hawkeye gonna be alright?"

"... I don't know."

Much to Roy's utter joy, as strange as the feeling was to him, Edward was in the cafeteria, just finishing up his lunch. Roy ran to him and grabbed his arm, and the boy turned, ready for a fight before he saw who was there.

"Hey, ready to give me a real job?" he blurted out before he remembered everything that had happened over the past day. Roy looked like he wanted to kill him, so he quickly corrected himself. "Sorry, how is she?"

"Terrible," Roy said, his voice heavy with emotion. "We need a doctor. Can you find one?"

"A doctor that will help the military?" Edward frowned. He truly wanted to help Roy, and he especially wanted Lieutenant Hawkeye to get better. "That's going to be a tough one in this city. How long do you think she has?"

There was a question Roy hadn't, or perhaps had refused to, think about. If this went untreated, and Riza slipped further and further into the depths of the illness, how long would she really have? He had no clue, but it seemed like not long, especially after the night seizures and the coughing up blood.

"I don't know," Roy replied honestly, and Edward found himself shocked at how open the Colonel was being. "Maybe I don't want to put a number on it. But she's gotten worse. Seizures, spitting up blood. Her fever hasn't broken either. Hasn't even budged."

"Shit," was all Edward could think to say. He paused for a moment, wracking his brain for someone he could think of to help, who would be willing. "I could send for Winry."

"Does she even know medicine?" Roy asked, irritated. This was nothing to be playing around with. He needed real, practical help now, and he didn't have time for Edward to go through a long list of people who sorta-kinda know what they're doing.

"Yes," Edward answered, feeling himself getting defensive about Winry for reasons he didn't quite understand. "She's not a doctor, but changing and fixing my automail has a huge basis in medicine. She's an option, okay? I'd also have to call her and then she'd have to make the trip. So, it might take too long. It was the first thing that came to mind, okay?"

Roy paused for a moment. The kid did have a point. Although more specialized as an engineer, if something went wrong while working on body parts, she had to know how to help, or at least how to stall until she could get to a doctor. But, she was also so far away, and they needed help now.

"Just, send for her and see if you can find someone here that can at least look her over," Roy said with defeat. "Don't tell them she's in the military. If they think she's a civilian, maybe they'll be more willing to help."

Edward nodded. "I will. In the meantime, I might be able to check her out." Roy glared at the phrasing. "You know what I mean. I've been hospitalized enough to pick up a few things, and I've been looking at how to use Alchemy for healing."

"What, being the youngest State Alchemist in history isn't enough for you?" Roy felt the need to ask and Edward laughed.

"There's always more to learn, especially when you can't practice yourself. Anyway, I'll meet you at her house later, after I call Win and check around, okay?"

"Okay."

With that, Edward left, and Roy hurried back to Hawkeye's home, not wanting to be away from her any longer than needed.

When he got back, she was still asleep, and Hayate was dozing at her feet on the end of the bed. Roy ruffled the dog's fur and sat down beside Riza. She didn't look or feel much better than she had when he left, and he was both thankful she hadn't worsened but worried that she was not getting any better. He settled back to read the day's newspaper, which he had grabbed at Central and hoped she would wake soon.

It took another hour, but Riza found herself regaining consciousness slowly until she felt the fireworks going off in her head and throughout her body. The pain was constant and she had grown used to it, even in her sleep, but now all of her limbs tingled as her body worked overtime to try and heal itself. It was like trying to plug bursting pipes with bandaids. When one thing seemed fixed, it either got worse, or something else broke.

She also felt weaker than she ever had in her entire life, and she hated it. Being strong was what made Riza, Riza. If she couldn't pick herself back up from this, she wasn't going to be able to be Mustang's bodyguard. But, even breathing seemed to take energy out of her.

Slowly, and with great care, she opened her eyes. She found that she was laying on her side, snuggled up in the blankets, with the sunlight reaching just over her head through the closed blinds. Peering up, she saw Colonel Mustang reading a newspaper as he sat at her bedside. His brows were furrowed and he looked so stressed. She could tell from the bags under his eyes that he'd gotten little sleep.

She could only vaguely remember the night before. She'd thrown up, and then collapsed, and she remembered twisting around. Her body became a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings. And then she woke up. But still, she felt like she was missing some presence next to her, and found herself wishing she had something, or someone, to hold on to.

Riza didn't move for a long moment. She wanted to give the Colonel the chance to read the paper and spend one waking moment not entirely focused on her. She felt awful about how he was spending his days attending to her care, but she was beginning to realize how serious all of this was. This wasn't an ordinary illness. So, she couldn't just have ordinary care. It was strange, having Roy look out for her now the way she had for him all of these years. It was also nice, and she felt comforted knowing he was around.

A cough gave her conscious status away and Roy instantly flipped the paper down. "Riza," he breathed, glad to see her amber eyes looking back at him. All formalities had been dropped for him. At this point, he didn't care what she wanted to be called, or what he'd called her for years. She was Riza. She always had been.

"Yes, sir?" she whispered out, and Roy wished again she wouldn't speak. Although tired, and thin, and pale, he could pretend for a moment she wasn't on death's door if she didn't speak in that low, broken tone.

"I'm glad you're awake." he finally said, realizing she thought he was going to say more. They shared a comfortable moment before he knew he had to ask another question. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"Thirsty," she replied and Roy stood.

"You'll have to eat something later." he reminded her before he went and brought back another glass of water for her, and also grabbed the medicine. Even with all of the sleeping and passing out, she was at least consistent with taking it, and Roy was grateful to at least have that.

He slowly sat her up and helped her sip the water and take the pill. She then slumped back against the pillows, utterly drained from even that little bit of movement.

"I'm fucked up." she finally said and Roy was surprised by her frankness and use of language. Then again, he'd been surprised by many things this week, and perhaps everyone was a little different when affected by such a high fever.

"Yeah," he agreed. "You are." He smiled at her and placed his hand on hers. "But you're strong, you'll be fine."

Riza shook her head. "Something happened to me." She said. "This isn't a normal illness. I keep getting better, and then getting worse. One step forward, two steps back. And I was fine for weeks."

"We're trying to find a doctor," Roy replied, not knowing what else to say. Riza looked uncomfortable with the idea but didn't say why, and Roy didn't ask. He was too focused on making sure she did see someone and that she got help.

"This isn't normal," was all she could think to say again. She didn't have the words, nor the strength, nor the mental capacity at the moment to try to convey to Roy what she was trying to tell him. And, though they had been together for years and he knew when she was saying much more with her words, he thought it was more the fever talking than anything else.

"Of course not, I've never seen anyone this sick before." Roy placed a cool cloth over her head once more and she groaned at him. His eyes flashed with worry, as he thought she was in pain, but she was just annoyed he wasn't reading more into her words. "Hey, relax."

"No, Roy," she said sternly, and the man was surprised by her lack of formality. Maybe she really was out of it. "Something is hurting me. Like a curse. I have a bad feeling about this." She looked up at him, trying to catch his eyes so he could see how serious she was. But, even though they shared a look, all Roy saw were tired and fevered eyes and a woman who needed more rest.

"Get some sleep, Riza. Last night was rough," Roy just sighed and moved to help her lay down, but the woman shifted suddenly and squirmed away from him. She glared at him, and Roy had no idea why she looked so upset with him.

"Roy, listen to me," she said harshly, but her anger did nothing to prove her case. Instead, the man just thought she was going crazy from the fever. "You have to help me figure out what's wrong. This isn't normal. This isn't a normal illness." The Colonel could be quite stubborn and so could she, but she wished he didn't have to pick now of all times to be so thick-headed.

"I'm trying, okay? We're going to find a doctor, and Elric is coming over to see if he can find anything in the meantime." Roy said pleadingly, finding himself hurt that Riza seemed so angry at him.

"I don't want a doctor," she said, "That will be no help."

"You sound insane, Riza, go to sleep." Now, his hurt was turning into irritation, as it often did. His voice took on a harsh tone and Riza looked a little shocked at him calling her words insane.

"How dare you!" she quickly turned to anger as well. "I know you're thick-headed, Colonel, but I wish for once in your life you'd listen to me." Her face flushed with anger and fever, and if she'd had any strength at all, she looked like she would have jumped and strangled him. "I'm trying to tell you something that will help and you're blowing me off."

"I already am trying to help!" Roy shouted back. "Why do you think I'm not? I've been taking care of you for two days, and I've almost lost you more than I care to think about. You need rest and sleep, and a doctor, okay? Can you stop being so stubborn and just fucking relax?"

Riza's eyes looked murderous and she wished she had the strength to reach for the gun Roy didn't know she had taped behind her headboard. Black spots poked holes in her vision as she felt her anger rise, and thus, her temperature was also rising. "I know what I need," she said, her voice beginning to wheeze. "You're… the one who… doesn't know…" She coughed and placed a hand on her burning head. Roy realized he'd fucked up.

"Alright, alright Riza, I'm sorry." He said, his anger quickly dissolving into worry for his friend. He placed one hand on her own and the other on her back and tried to lean her into the sheets. She didn't have the strength to resist him.

"Something… is wrong, Roy," she huffed, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's bigger than you think… It's…. Dangerous."

"I know, I know, okay?" Roy pleaded. "Just rest. I'll figure it out."

"Don't blow me off!" she said quickly and began coughing, a dry, hollow hack that made Roy worried she was about to cough up blood. When she was finally done, after what seemed like forever but was only a minute or so, she groaned with pain.

"Riza, I'm not." the man said honestly. "I promise, I'm not, okay? I'm listening. I will figure this out, okay? You're right, this isn't normal. Something happened, and there's something else going on." He didn't know how much he believed it himself, but he saw that repeating what she'd told him comforted the woman and she became less tense.

Reaching up, Riza grasped Roy's shirt. "Please," she said softly. "Don't let your emotions… or your temper... get in the way."

The Colonel stared at her for a minute and brought his hand to meet hers. He gently pried her hand from his shirt but didn't let go. Instead, he held it, her small calloused hand in his own, larger calloused one. He leaned down and pressed her hand to his forehead before lowering it to his lips. He kissed her hand softly and then set it back on the bed.

"I won't. I promise."