Roy set up shop at Riza's bedside, trying to figure out who had given her the 'medicine' that nearly killed her. Edward was also on the ground, investigating the doctors and nurses who were staffed when the hospital opened to help with Roy and Riza's injuries. There had to be something there. No one just gave out poison in prescriptions, and as the only patients in the hospital, there was no way this was a mistake. The question that lingered in Roy's mind, though, was whether or not it was actually meant for him.
The idea that the pills were originally meant for the Colonel killed him. If he could do anything to take this pain away from Riza, he would in a heartbeat. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her and watching her sleep for days, fevered and in pain, because he hadn't been vigilant enough was the worst punishment he could imagine.
Riza slept for three days. For three days, Roy worked at her side, calling around, having others track down doctors and pharmacists. For three days, she seized, coughed up blood, ran fever after fever, and whispered nonsensically to herself. Sometimes she seemed like she was awake, but her words and actions told Roy she was very much stuck in her mind. He knew one more pill and she likely would not be alive. Roy wasn't sure if she knew he was even there, but she didn't seem to appreciate when he left the room because she would moan louder and cry out whenever he did, so he did his best to stay.
"Roy," she whispered on the second day of her haze. Roy was talking with Ed on the phone he'd connected in her room. He glanced over at her and, seeing she was awake, he quickly hung up and turned to her.
"Hey, Riza." He'd long since dropped even attempting the formalities, and so had she in her fever dreams. He took her hand, but her eyes didn't open, and to his dismay, he knew she was not able to break through the barrier that separated her from consciousness and the dream world she was stuck in. She'd been trying so hard lately, and he was hopeful she'd truly wake for soon.
She had fallen silent, so Roy returned to his paper and had almost forgotten she whispered anything in the first place when she spoke again.
"Father wants you." Her words were slurred and low, but Mustang could hear everything clearly. He glanced up at her with a confused expression on his face but decided he would humor her.
"I'll be right there, Riza," he said, barely pulling his eyes from the words on the pages. She fell silent again for a long while and Roy began jotting down some numbers and addresses he wanted Edward to follow up on.
"... into hell." Roy snapped back up.
"Riza?"
Another long silence. "I'm following you."
"I know. That's your fault, though." He chuckled and reached over, grasping her hand once more. Even though he knew she wasn't really lucid, he enjoyed these moments where he could talk to her. Her words made no sense and he couldn't follow her train of thought because something was happening behind the scenes that he wasn't able to see. But her voice was what mattered.
"I'm trying, sir. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry."
Once again, she fell silent and Roy went back to his list.
"Black Hayate shouldn't be on the couch."
"I'll be sure to tell him that."
"We need more milk."
"We?"
"Roy?"
"Yes?"
There was a pause. "I love him."
Roy froze and stared at her for a moment, but quickly shook his head. There was no way that line of thinking was connected because none of those thoughts were connected. There was no rhyme or reason to what she was saying, though it did give him quite the shock.
"Oh?" was all he said, laughing nervously. There was too much to do to worry about the mumblings of a fevered woman. Or maybe he didn't want to accept that she'd loved him too, but he'd missed all the signs.
"I do. I do." She mumbled those words over and over again until she was merely moving her lips with no sound coming out. And then, finally, her lips stopped moving at all and she fell silent. Roy kissed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"He loves you too."
That night, Riza had another seizure and began coughing up blood. Roy was up into the very early morning, holding her, trying to cool her down, and making sure she didn't choke. Red spots appeared on her mouth and face, down to her neck and onto her clothes, though Roy tried his hardest to prevent that. She moaned in pain and tried to talk, but Roy shushed her each time.
He struggled with the decision on whether or not to change her because he didn't want to be disrespectful, but he also wanted to clean the blood off of her. Around three that morning, he decided he would run her a bath and filled the tub with lukewarm water because he worried cold would shock her system.
He left her long night shirt on and brought in a nightgown he found. He felt extremely embarrassed but told himself there was nothing to feel weird about. She was sweaty, bloody, and gross. She needed a bath.
After the tub had been filled, Roy gently lowered her in, taking care not to get her hair too wet, since he didn't want to leave her with a wet head of hair. Instead, he worked soap and a rag around the blood stains and made sure she was clean of all her dirt and grime. He then just sat there a bit, letting the cooling water help lower her temperature, and she seemed more relaxed than before.
When he felt he'd done enough, he pulled the plug and reached across the bathroom, grabbing a towel off the rack. Quickly, and averting his eyes as best he could, he pulled her nightshirt off and wrapped the towel around her before lifting her up and bringing her back to the bedroom. She instinctively curled into him and seemed much more at ease than she had been, and Roy no longer felt strange about giving her the bath.
He dressed her in a nightgown and tucked her into clean sheets, which he had pulled onto the bed, leaving the dirty ones in a pile on the floor. He'd clean up, uh… eventually. Right now, the important thing was getting Riza settled for the night, and hopefully, she'd go a nice long stretch without making Roy think she was about to die.
Once all was said and done, Roy was exhausted. It was nearing four in the morning and he hadn't slept at all in over twenty-four hours and hadn't slept much before then. Exhausted, and worried Riza would have a seizure and fall off the bed, he climbed up next to her and pulled her close. God, this woman was going to be the death of him, if she wasn't the death of herself first. But, Roy was glad she was still breathing, and that he was still there, and that was all that mattered.
And, that was how Riza woke, when she finally did manage to break through the barrier. It had taken quite the struggle to find a way through, but once she found a way, she wasn't going to turn back. Struggling, she opened her eyes to find her room bathed in sunlight, and she could tell it was almost afternoon. Looking straight ahead, she saw… darkness, and quickly realized she was pressed up against the Colonel. He smelled like sweet spices and his arms were wrapped tightly around her, as though he was afraid she would try to get away.
She moved just slightly, trying not to wake him and got a good look at his face. His mouth was parted slightly as he slept, and a light snore hitched with every breath in. He looked peaceful, but the bags under his eyes told Riza he hadn't slept in a long while, and that this was the first real rest he'd gotten.
She closed her eyes, careful not to fall back asleep, but wanting to sense the fullness of the embrace without being hindered by her sight. She felt weak, but warm and safe. And then she felt guilt because she remembered the last thing she'd said to him was in anger. She'd been so mad at the Colonel for not taking her seriously, though, now that her fever was down she could look back and realize that she did sound outrageous. Not to mention, Roy had been tired and was at his wits end with her. She shouldn't have pushed him.
Riza nestled her head in the crook of Roy's arm and dozed off. She didn't fully fall asleep, but some time passed before Roy suddenly shifted and perked his back up. He opened his eyes first and groaned as the sunlight bore holes straight into his eyes. Gently, he tried to untangle himself from Riza and that was when she opened her eyes. He looked surprised, and then thankful because he knew by looking at her that she was really awake for the first time in a while.
"Hey." he said softly.
"Hi," she whispered back.
Roy pressed her head into his chest and gave her a big hug. She felt him let out a huge sigh of relief and knew that she was not waking from a normal night of sleep.
"How long-" she started, but Roy knew what she was trying to ask.
"Three days."
Shit. Three whole days. Roy's voice was heavy with emotion, and she knew it had not been an easy three days. And, for the woman who had sworn to be at Roy's side no matter what, it was tough knowing she'd been essentially MIA for three long days.
"What happened?" she asked and Roy pulled her away and looked into her eyes.
"A lot," he said after a moment. "Everything. But you're awake now and that's what matters." He decided she didn't need to know about the fever dreams or the seizures, or all the times she nearly choked on her own blood. "You don't feel so warm."
"I don't think I am," she said, and she was being honest because while she knew she still had quite a high temperature, she didn't feel like she was on fire.
"Are you hungry?" Roy asked and picked himself up so he was half sitting, half laying down with his weight resting on one of his arms. Riza felt like she'd lost something when he untangled himself from her and wished they'd stayed like that a little longer.
"Just thirsty. I'll eat something a little later with my medicine." She didn't know if they'd been able to give her the medicine while she was asleep. But, she also noticed that Roy's face darkened as he got up off the bed. "Colonel?" she asked.
"You aren't taking that medicine anymore." he said with a heavy tone, and she knew something big had happened while she was asleep.
"I'm sorry, sir?" she asked, not completely understanding.
"The medicine was poison," Roy said after a long pause. "Someone gave you poison instead of medicine. We don't know who, or why, or if it was even supposed to be for you. But that was what was making you so sick."
Riza stared for a long moment, completely astounded that it was her own doing, her own medicine that she had received, or thought she received, from the hospital, that made her so sick. It wasn't her wound or a mysterious illness that nearly killed her. It was the very thing she thought was trying to help.
It was something bigger.
But, looking at Roy, Riza couldn't bring herself to inform him she'd been right all along. He wasn't looking at her and his face had a sour, dark look that told her he blamed himself. Being right didn't matter so much when that hunch was what made Roy look so guilty.
"It's not-"
He held a hand up and she stopped herself. "Fullmetal already told me," he said. "I know." But, his tone told her that while he knew, and had been told, he didn't believe it. Riza searched herself for something she could say to make all of this hurt leave him, but there was nothing, and she knew there would be nothing to absolve him of the guilt he felt.
"Well, then I guess we'd better figure out who did this," Riza said after a long moment. "Before they do this to someone else."
Roy glanced up over at her and furrowed his brows. She held his gaze steadily and with eyes shining from determination. The woman knew what he was thinking. He'd picked up on the 'we' in her sentence and was trying to decide first if she was serious, and second if he should call her on it.
"We aren't doing anything," the Colonel said slowly, still studying her face for signs that she'd merely been joking. She really couldn't be serious, after a week of being on death's door and three days pretty much in a coma. But Riza Hawkeye was not one for jokes, and he could tell from the simple sparkle in her eyes that she was determined to stick her hands in this. "You need to focus on getting better. That stuff did a number on your system, it'll be a month or more before you're even out of bed."
Much to his surprise, Riza laughed. He would have smiled too, had he not been so concerned and confused. Roy missed that laugh, but he also knew she was laughing at him. "A month, sir?" she asked. "You really don't know me at all." And, he knew, she was absolutely right. The idea that Hawkeye would spend a month doing anything was laughable. However, he didn't want her pushing herself. He'd come too close to losing her.
"I'm serious, Lieutenant," he frowned, using her title for the first time in a while. "You're not touching this, that's an order."
"I refuse."
"It's an order."
"I refuse."
They glared at each other, and Roy found himself strangely thankful she had the energy to call him out and argue with him like this. God, he missed those eyes that burned with loyalty and confidence. She knew, as did he, that Roy could beg, plead, and order, but Riza was going to help whether he liked it or not.
Roy was the first to break. He always was.
"Fine!" He threw his hands up in frustration and turned away from the woman, who tried to hide a victorious smile. "But I swear to god, Lieutenant, if you manage to hurt yourself more or push too hard, you'll be answering to me!"
"I always do, sir," Riza smiled as she leaned back into the pillows.
Updating schedule? What's that? Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! A liiiittle cliche but it helps build up the romance sub-plot so there you go. Thanks again for all the love on my story! It means a lot!