Roy wrapped the small blanket around him and closed his eyes for a little nap on the couch in his office. He had been feeling tired for a while now and just wanted a little shut eye. He was happy that he had gotten the pill so he could have a decent night's sleep without worrying whether or not he would regress or not. Just as he was getting calm and really starting to head toward REM sleep, the door opened and his eyes shot open.

"Colonel?"

"Yes?"

The door closed and he sighed, turning over to see who it was that was disturbing him. It was Hawkeye and he sat up.

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"Are you alright?"

"I just wanted a little shut eye. Is that a problem?"

"No… it's just, with these past events, I was making sure that you were still alright."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Please, I think I can handle things. What is it?"

Riza made a face but sat on the table in front of the couch.

"Dr. Striker called and said that he had some results about your blood work. He wants us to go down to the lab."

"Great! Now we can finally get to the bottom of this-"

"Sir, I'm requesting that you stay here and let Edward and I go."

Roy stared at her intently for a moment and leaned forward on his hands that were beside him.

"I am going to assume you have a reason for this?"

"Considering the fact that the past three times you've been there, things have not gone right when you came back. I feel as if someone is targeting you, sir, and I want to be able to do my duty and protect you. If you write out a letter stating that you allow that doctor to tell Ed and I your health status…"

"I personally don't see what the big deal is. He's getting the blood work so that he can make me something to get me back to normal. Why do you keep making me wait?"

"I'm doing it for your own good, Colonel. If someone is targeting you, you not being there will only foil their plots against you for the moment but will also give us the time to see if that's true." Riza grabbed Roy's hands and looked at him. "I only want to protect you, Colonel."

Though Roy didn't like it, he knew that Riza would only do something like this if she truly felt that there was something to fear. He sighed and nodded and she smiled, pulling her hands from his.

"Great. I'll go find Ed and you can stay with Jean until we get back."

"I don't appreciate you telling others about my situation."

"Well, I had no choice. I want you to be watched by someone we all trust and Jean is the next under me, am I not right, sir?"

"True…"

"In that case, if anything happens, he will be there for you."

Roy really didn't like the idea that he couldn't be there when the blood results were given but he trusted his lieutenant with his life and this situation concerned it. He got up and went to his desk, grabbing a pen and paper to write a letter of consent.

"Do you really think that someone is targeting the Colonel?" Edward asked as they drove to the laboratory.

"I truly think so. We won't know until we go to get the results, but I am 80% certain that someone is targeting the Colonel for some reason."

"I wonder what for? He hasn't been doing anything unsavory, has he? Like looking up the skirts of the natives in other countries or something, right?" Edward said with a laugh.

Riza smiled. "No, nothing like that. Though, he has been looking into Hughes' death… maybe something is linked to that…"

Edward nodded, still saddened about the death of a dear friend. He had been so nice to him and Al when they had come to Central and Edward felt a small sense of responsibility toward his death. With the small amount of guilt he felt, he was sure Roy had more anger and guilt within him to dig deeper into what had happened that fateful night but he was also sure that Roy would delve into things he knew were dangerous in order to find out what had happened to his dear friend.

"I see… I guess since Hughes' death was a little strange, the Colonel would start looking in places he might not usually look into."

"Exactly. Which is why I was worried about him being a target. He and Roy were very close and it was a big blow to Roy's secretly caring heart. It may not seem so, but the Colonel is a lot more sensitive than people realize." Riza said with a smirk, remembering the morning events and how flustered he had been.

They pulled up to the lab and got out of the car, going in.

When they got to Dr. Striker's lab, the older man frowned.

"Where's the Colonel?"

"He was in the middle of something and sent us to discuss his condition with you. Here is a letter of consent." She said, handing it to the doctor.

Dr. Striker read it over and nodded.

"Alright then, walk with me."

He turned and Edward began to follow but Riza grabbed his shoulder, leaning down to his ear.

"I believe my suspicion to be correct. I need you to walk behind the both of us and look around, taking in everything you see. If you see something out of place, note it and tell me later. I'll listen to the report."

Edward nodded and followed at the back of the group.

Roy lifted at his subordinate.

"Is this a joke?"

"No… you said you wanted something to read that wasn't military papers..." Roy held up the magazines that displayed lovely women on the front in risqué poses. Jean shrugged, looking at him with the same look. "Well, you're a growing boy, Colonel. I figured you would be happy to read something to heighten your senses a little more than that boring paperwork."

Roy growled and whacked his subordinate in the head with the magazines.

"I am a full grown man, Havoc! I may not look like it but give me some credit, will ya?! Are you trying to mock my intelligence? Or my ability to control myself? Now either throw these away or find a place to stash them where I don't know about them."

"Yes, sir…"

"Besides, I don't need magazines. I can get plenty of action without it."

"Yeah, at the expense of everyone else's girlfriends. I still really haven't forgiven you about stealing Marilyn from me two years ago."

"I did nothing of the sort. You brought her into the office and I simply showed her around a little. That's not a bad thing."

"No, but you put on that charm you have and none of the girls want to be with me."

Roy made a face. "Just go find me something to do to pass the time."

"Why don't you go and practice your flame alchemy?"

"I can't. I have to keep all this under wraps. If I go out there, they'll see who I am and I can't have that."

"How about chess?"

Roy and Jean looked over as Heymans brought over a travel chessboard to the lieutenant's desk.

"I haven't played a good match in a while. So, kid, you ever play this before?"

Roy was happy that Breda didn't hear their conversation but he was going to yell at him (considering he usually did a decent job of playing chess already) but decided to play innocent.

"No, I've never played this before. My uncle has tried to teach me but I fear that I'm not that good." He said a little more dramatically than he wanted.

Breda didn't seem to take any notice. "Ah, no sweat kid. Let ole Breda teach you how to play. Even your uncle hasn't beaten me yet."

Which is completely true. Roy thought as he watched Breda set it up.

"Alright, I'll tell you how to play it. Watch carefully, okay?"

Riza and Edward walked out of the labs and Riza sighed as well as Edward.

"What did you find out?" Edward asked.

"Well, from what the doctor could tell, whatever was in those pills had effected the Colonel in regards to the his exposure to the doctor's chemical. He said he still doesn't know how he got it on or in him, but it was definitely the pills that caused the reaction that's happening. He said he's whipping up a special batch right now that will slowly increase his age to the age he was within a matter of days."

"Do you believe him?"

"It depends on your report."

Edward frowned, shoving his hands into his pocket.

"Agh, you're not gonna like it."

Riza stopped and looked at him as he made a face and turned.

"What is it?"

"I was doing what you said when I noticed a girl that had been there every time we came. But she wasn't just in the same spot. She was in a lot of different spots. She had accidentally spilled a tray of the serum in the Colonel's direction the first time he was here and then when we saw Dr. Striker use the experiment for the first time on a human, she was the maid and she spilled the tea that was in a cup all over Mustang. When we came last time, she was looking in a microscope and this time, she was measuring out the serum into smaller vials but…"

"But what?"

"I noticed that every time we came in, she would always make eye contact. Usually with the Colonel, but lately it's been with me. I have a feeling that when we go back there the next time, she won't be there because she's probably already figured out that we've spied her."

"I see… Do you remember the name on her coat?"

"It was… Crimble."

"I'll go to military records and ask Sheska if she's seen anything in regards to a Crimble working for the labs. Good eye, Edward; but why did you say I'd be mad?"

"Because I was really obvious when it happened. I had remembered her spilling everything and so I didn't realize I was staring at her until she turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes. So… I kind of blew our cover of everything. I'm sorry…"

"You're not specifically trained for this kind of work. You've helped out a lot though, so don't sweat it. Besides, Dr. Striker was nice enough to give me a vial of the small batch he whipped up for the Colonel. He said we'd have to dilute it in water and have him drink it though."

Edward nodded but he looked up at Riza.

"Hey, Hawkeye?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Just because… well… can you just give the Colonel only half of what that vial contains? Actually, on second thought, just give him about a teaspoon of it."

Riza narrowed her eyes at Edward.

"Do you think something's wrong with it?"

"I just have this weird feeling in my gut that that bottle may have been tainted. Call it alchemical worry or something but I just feel something right with those contents. Just tell the Colonel you have to give it to him in increments or something. Increase the dosage little by little. I don't know how much will do anything or not but we shouldn't take chances."

Riza nodded. "Alright then. I'll do that."

They walked back to the car, both with high suspicion in their heads.

ed has a suspicion. could it be right? and i have every confidence in the world that jean has nudie mags at the office. just because he likes boobs too much.