Riza spent the rest of the day sometimes dozing, and sometimes looking over the papers that detailed the investigation Roy and Edward had been leading. There was a lot written down, and a lot of names and addresses crossed off and check marked, but they'd also hit a lot of dead ends and didn't have any viable leads left.

Winry and Edward came over that evening, and they both looked relieved that Riza had finally woken up. While Roy and Edward talked about where the investigation was going, Winry did a brief check up on Riza. She'd warned everyone that she wasn't a real doctor, and only had expertise in automail surgeries, but she also had a skillset in bringing down fevers and was happy to impart her knowledge about that.

"I think you'll be alright," she concluded as she packed her medical bag back up when she was done. Riza smiled lightly. "It's a miracle too. Ed told me some of the stuff what was in those pills. Someone else would have been dead days ago."

Riza just smiled, unsure how to respond. Winry wasn't trying to scare her and had meant those words as a compliment to her strength and resilience. But, dying scared the woman. If she died, who was going to look after the hotheaded Colonel? Sure, Edward was there, but the boy was just as stubborn as he was.

"How's the whole investigation going?" Winry asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure, to be honest," Riza replied. "The Colonel has only let me see so much. He doesn't want me to stress myself out. But, I feel fine." She rolled her eyes a little and smiled over at the girl who smiled back at her.

"I know the feeling," Winry said. "I've been Ed's auto mechanic since… Damn, since forever it seems. I've seen the things he does, the battles he's in. But he still feels the need to protect me. It's infuriating, but I know he does it because he cares."

Riza nodded with a light laugh. "Well, I don't know what Edward would do without his mechanic," she said kindly. "But yes, it's aggravating, especially since I'm trained to take care of both him and myself."

Winry sat on the edge of the bed and shrugged at her. "It doesn't matter when they care so much."

"What do you mean?"

It was Winry's turn to laugh and Riza frowned at the girl, unsure of what she had said that made her so funny. Was she still making no sense? After being fevered for so long, she sometimes doubted her words and actions.

Winry glanced back at the older woman and shook her head. "You really don't know, do you?" she asked. "Lieutenant Hawkeye, the Colonel cares about you more than anything in the world."

Riza shifted uncomfortably and looked away, feeling a flush of embarrassment cross her cheeks. "Oh. Did he say something?" she asked awkwardly, though she didn't know if she really wanted the answer to her question. Winry gave her an odd look and stood, grabbing her bag.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Lieutenant." the girl said apologetically. "It's just… Hard not to notice. You know, the way he looks at you and talks about you. I mean, he gave up a whole week of work to stay here with you."

"Oh, yes. We're really good friends. We've known each other a long time."

Winry just looked at the woman, confused for a moment, but broke into a forced smile. She patted Riza's shoulder and turned for the door. "Of course you are," she said. "Anyway, get well soon, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Yes, and have a safe journey home, Winry." The door open and shut, and the girl was gone, leaving Riza alone with her thoughts. She sighed and flopped against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling. Anyone would have stayed with her, she told herself. Roy was just such a good friend. Plus, he couldn't have his bodyguard and second in command die on him, so really he was just being a good strategist.

A few minutes later there was a light knock on her door and Roy entered the room. He smiled at her and sat down in the chair by her bed. "They left," he said. "Winry said you're doing great. Your temperature is down and you should be recovered soon. She's going back tomorrow."

"Any new leads?" Riza asked him, wanting to shake herself of her thoughts and get back to the important matters at hand.

"Yes." Roy pulled out a small notebook and opened it, handing it over to her. She glanced at the page he'd open to and read the name. "Julia Huntington?" she asked.

"She's been missing for over a year," Mustang explained. "Up and vanished, left behind a husband and three kids. She was a doctor at the military hospital, but after Bradley was ousted and the new Fuhrer put into power, she joined the rebellion and left."

"So, she's a rebel doctor, probably helping out her cause on the battlefield, or she's dead." Riza shrugged, handing the notebook back to the man. "What does that matter?"

"She was spotted in the city two days ago," Roy said. "Wearing her military medic uniform and walking around the hospital. Someone, an old coworker, called out to her and she ran off. Hasn't been seen since. She also hasn't contacted her family or any friends."

Riza frowned. "And you think she's the one who poisoned the pills?"

"No, but it's strange and it's a start," Roy said. "We've gotten a lot of information but no real start on where to truly begin."

"I see." Riza nodded and then looked down at the sheets. She gripped the fabric in her hands and didn't look back up. "And if this is another piece of useless information?"

"We keep looking."

"For how long?"

Roy looked at her incredulously. "For how… what?" he asked her and bent down, trying to catch her eye, but she wouldn't look at him. "Lieutenant, we'll keep looking until we find who did this to you. If for no other reason than because we're worried they might do it to someone else. But, most importantly because I won't let anyone get away with hurting y-." He stopped himself short, realizing his words had gotten away from him. "No one hurts my men."

Riza just nodded and stayed silent for a moment. Roy tried to look at her face, but she was half hidden from him, and he couldn't tell what the expression he could see meant. Finally, she regrouped herself and put on a neutral face, and turned to her boss.

"How is everything at the office, Colonel?" she asked him, though she knew he hadn't been back. She didn't know why she bothered with a question like that, or why she was fishing for information she probably didn't want.

"Uh, I'm not sure. Havoc's been holding down the fort," Roy shrugged. "I've been here."

"You're probably behind on paperwork."

"There are some things more important than paperwork."

"Sir, if anyone found out that you have been staying at my house instead of going into the office…" Riza started.

"Then I would tell them you've been extremely sick, and with the hospitals closed, there was no one else who could help take care of you. What? You think I'd get in trouble for helping a sick soldier? Even the military isn't that cold." He frowned at her and placed a hand on hers. She flinched at the touch, but despite moving a bit, didn't pull her hand away. "Riza, what's wrong?"

"I just worry you'll get in trouble, Colonel." Riza refused to use his name, though she loved the way hers rolled off his tongue. He looked at her with great concern and found himself feeling hurt, though she hadn't insulted him.

"We're not going to get in trouble," Roy replied. "With everything going on, you think the military really cares about a Colonel taking care of his sick Lieutenant? They have much bigger things to worry about."

Riza nodded slowly and ran a hand through her hair. She suddenly felt so tired, and Roy saw her start to sag with exhaustion. It was only the first day of her truly being awake, and only a few days since she'd stopped taking the poisonous pills. It was a wonder she'd been able to stay awake so long.

"Why don't you go to sleep, Riz-Lieutenant?" Roy suggested, struggling to use her title instead of her name. "I'll fill you in on everything in the morning and we can start working, together, to find out who did this." And then that would be a great distraction from the thoughts and feelings swirling around in their heads.

"Yes, good idea, Colonel," Riza replied as she began to make her bed ready for sleep. "Sir, I forgot to mention, there's a futon in the spare room. So you don't have to sleep on the couch."

Again, Roy found himself hurt by that, but he didn't know why. With Riza getting better by the hour, it wasn't like he needed to stay with her every second of the day. And a futon was much more comfortable than the small couch downstairs. But, having held Riza in his arms so often throughout the week, not getting to do so was saddening. Roy realized that might have been the first and last time he'd get to hold her all night like that, and he yearned for the physical touch.

Riza saw all of these emotions passing through his face but didn't say anything else. The man just nodded at her comment and wished her a good night's sleep, and then left. Riza was then left alone in her room as the last light of the evening slowly dimmed her room. Eventually, she was sitting in darkness, completely alone.

The next day, the two got to work in her room, calling around and following up on leads they'd found. There was no more discussion of the talk they'd had the night before, and they were both glad. Roy found himself constantly catching his words in his mouth before he called the Lieutenant 'Riza', though the woman had no problem falling back into formal phrasing. Roy even wondered if the sick woman who'd called out his name so often was even the same person as the one sitting up in the bed, thin reading glasses perched on her face as she flipped through some notes.

He wanted to tell her about her fever dreams, but then he wondered his motive. Of course, he could tell her she'd insinuated she loved him, but she'd probably just push it aside and tell him to get back to work. He also just wanted to come out and say it, since he'd realized how much he couldn't stand to lose her over the past week. Of course, he'd always known he'd be devastated if anything ever happened to her, but she had been so close to actually dying that he wanted nothing more than to tell her his true feelings.

But where was that going to get him? 'Riza, I love you and I always have, and you said something about love when you had a super high fever that I thought was about me. And, even though we can't actually be together because I'm your boss, I still love you and always have. Ya know, just wanted you to know that.'

It was absolutely absurd. Besides, he knew their relationship was likely going to shift a bit since he'd spent so much time taking care of her. There was no need to say the wrong thing and change it more. Sometimes change was a good thing, but he liked the way life was now and didn't want to say something to make things worse.

"Fullmetal says there was another sighting of Julia by the medical library near the city center," Roy said as he walked into the room, having just gotten off the phone with the younger boy.

"Good, I have a source that confirms the same," Riza said. Although the man had wanted her to take it easy, she'd thrown herself fully into the investigation. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, both because she wanted to find out what was going in, and because she wanted Roy to start focusing on other things.

"I'll send someone out tomorrow to investigate," Mustang nodded as he sat down on the chair by her bed and jotted some notes down in the notebook on the end table. The chair and table had become his makeshift desk, and his papers were scattered around it. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," Hawkeye replied simply. "I should be able to help in the field by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Roy's head snapped up to look at her. "You've only just started to get better and god knows what that poison did to you. You should stay down for a week, at least."

"I'm fine, sir. I'll know if I'm not feeling well," was the short reply. She looked over at him and saw the pleading in his eyes. It was strange since they were not the eyes of a Colonel ordering his soldier. They were the eyes of a friend begging their loved one to relax a little. "Sir, really, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I'd just worry about making sure whoever is putting poison in pills is caught."

Roy looked back at his paper and sighed. "You're too stubborn."

"If I wasn't, sir, I wouldn't be myself."

"Damn right." Something sounded almost charming about the way he said it, though she knew he meant it ruefully. "Even when you were sick you couldn't help arguing with me."

"I am very sorry that I yelled at you, Colonel. I know I was ill, but I still shouldn't have done that." The Colonel looked up and smiled openly at his subordinate.

"You said some pretty stupid shit when you were asleep, Lieutenant," he chuckled. "Arguing with me isn't even on the list."

"Oh?" Riza was intrigued. "What else did I say?" Perhaps this was the conversation they needed to bring themselves back to a light hearted, amicable atmosphere. Something had lingered in the air since Riza had woken up a few days before, and it felt sad and apprehensive. It also made working a little more difficult.

"Oh, you told Black Hayate to get off the couch," Roy recalled.

"Well, he's not supposed to be on there. You didn't let him on, did you?" The man looked over at her, knowing the dog was on the furniture right now since he'd just come from downstairs.

"Uh, no. No, of course not, Lieutenant." Riza knew he was lying. She didn't mind and instead found it funny.

"What else?"

"You wanted me to go see your dad," Mustang continued. "And that we needed milk. And then you said that you lo-" He stopped short and his eyes widened, realizing that, as he was reading the paper before him, he wasn't focusing on his words. He didn't want her to know she'd said that and he cautiously looked at her to see if she'd caught him. Which, since she was Riza Hawkeye, she had.

"I what?" Now Riza was curious, if not a little concerned about the look in Roy's eyes. He seemed upset or anxious. It was some sort of emotion between those two that she couldn't quite place.

"Nothing." He said shortly.

"With all due respect, sir, I think I deserve to know what I said while I was unconscious." Riza reasoned, wondering if that would work.

"You should get to bed, it's getting late," Roy said as he stood abruptly, reaching for the light. "If you want to be up tomorrow, you'll need more rest."

"Yes, I know sir, but what did I say?" She had to know now. She was dying to know what in the world she had said to fluster her Colonel so much. "Colonel, please."

Roy looked at her with eyes filled with emotion. They both were still for a long time as they regarded the other. Riza was desperate to know what she'd said, and Roy was desperate not to tell her. But, as was usual, Riza won that battle. Roy mumbled something under his breath and his cheeks heated up, but Riza didn't catch what he'd said.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't hear you."

He mumbled again.

"Sir?"

"You said you love me."

Now, Riza's eyes went wide and she quickly looked away from the man. She didn't say anything for a while, hoping he would leave, but he didn't. "Oh," she said in a small voice and struggled to bring back a neutral, uncaring expression back to her face. When she did look back at him, her face was strained and she looked extremely uncomfortable. "What a stupid fever dream."

Roy watched her for a moment and when she spoke again, he just nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Stupid fever dream."

He turned to the door and Riza caught his arm. "Sir, I-" But she didn't have time to finish the sentence because, in that moment, there was a loud bang from downstairs. The sounds of glass shattering and Black Hayate's feet pouncing onto the floor accompanied by his frantic barks filled their ears. Someone had broken in.

As always, much love to everyone who reads my stories! Thank you for making what I do so worthwile! Of course, I'm trapped in RoyAi hell, so I've got quite a few more ideas floating around. I'll get the next chapter of Gifted out soon and I need to get back to work on the "sequel" for this work. But, I've also got a RoyAi fantacy!AU that's taken over.. ahh so much to write, so little time! Anyway, thanks again!