i don't know why i keep thinking that roy's office has a couch in it or that the apartments are upstairs/downstairs. anyhow, enjoy

Roy was signing papers in his office when Sergeant Fuery opened the door.

"Sir? You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." He said, looking up briefly. "I wanted to thank you for letting me borrow your uniform while I was in my… predicament."

"Oh, of course, sir."

"Your uniforms are on the couch." He said, pointed with his pen.

Fuery nodded and grabbed them up, holding them to his chest.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"H- have you gone to see Edward since your release?"

"Haven't had time." He said, putting a paper on another stack. He looked up. "Is that all, Sergeant?"

"Well… How is the um… regrowth coming?"

Mustang lifted an eyebrow. "That's the word you picked?"

"I… well… I'm not sure how I should say it. I mean, I know you're not to your right age but you're getting there so it's a little confusing."

"I'd pick a different word next time, Sergeant Fuery, but I'm doing fine. I have two more doses to go through and I should be back to normal. Dr. Striker is coming today, actually."

"And, Fullmetal, sir?"

"If you want information on Fullmetal, you can go check on him yourself."

Fuery nodded. "Yes, Colonel, sorry… Thank you for returning my uniforms."

"Thank you for letting me borrow them." He said, getting back to signing papers.

Fuery left as Riza walked in.

"Dr. Striker is coming today, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

Riza walked over to the table and leaned on it, looking at Roy.

"You're acting strange, Colonel."

"How is that?"

"You know what you're doing. I'm sorry to say that at in this stage of your life, you haven't perfected it."

Roy looked up as Riza stared at him. They stared at each other for a while when Roy leaned back, putting his hand on his face.

"Damn it."

"Hmm…" Riza said, standing up straight. "Sorry to see right through you so verbally, sir, but you're not very good at keeping your cool or acting blasé yet."

"Thank you, Lieutenant, for being so blunt."

"Nothing short of your sass, sir."

Roy smiled a little at her forceful speaking but leaned forward to put his elbows on the table and his face in his hands.

"Have you heard anything?"

Riza sat in the chair in front of the desk.

"I called today to see how he was. They said that he is making some progress. Not much, but enough to be hopeful. Colonel, you should probably go and see him."

"That's not necessary. Alphonse is with him and he never liked my coming to see him before. He'd probably hit me and tell me to mind my own business. He'd just say, 'Damn it Colonel, I don't need to see your face. All it does it make me sicker.'… or something idiotic like that."

Riza smiled at him, ignoring the thickness of his voice. Colonel Mustang was a hardened man and did not cry very often. He hardly cried when Hughes died and Riza didn't expect him to cry now. However, Roy had been through trauma that left him with different feelings than he had before. No longer was Edward just a subordinate -just like she no longer was- but he was something more to Roy now. He was a close friend, a protector; she was a caretaker, a mother. There were lines he had drawn that had been moved during his plight and as much as he wanted to draw them back, there was no way possible that it could be done.

Even so, Riza respected the faded lines of before, as would Edward if he were awake to do so. They both knew Roy and knew what had changed, but for Roy's own preservation, they would always stay behind the faded lines, even when Roy ventured back over them himself. They had their places…

"Even so, Colonel, I think you should go and see him. Relieve Al a little. He's worried sick and even though he can't sleep or needs to rest, I'm sure thinking about it all the time isn't very good either. I'll go with you if you need me to."

Roy peeked through his fingers and sighed, pulling his hands down his face. Riza ignored the redness in his eyes.

"If you could, that would be helpful."

There was a knock on the door and Jean stuck his head in.

"Hey, the doctor is here."

"Good, send him in."

Riza stood up and began to leave.

"Stay." Riza looked back. Roy cleared his throat. "If you please. This is when things went wrong last time and I would prefer not to go through any of that again."

Riza nodded as the door opened and Dr. Striker walked in with his medicine bag.

"Good afternoon, Colonel, Lieutenant."

"Good afternoon."

Dr. Striker looked at her and then at the Colonel and nodded.

"Ah, I see. A witness."

"Let's make this clear, Dr. Striker," Roy said, standing up and unbuttoning his uniform. "I still don't trust you. I yo-yoed a lot from this age now to becoming a… baby." He seethed, yanking off the top. "So, in regards to getting back to normal, I am particularly wary."

Dr. Striker laughed a little.

"You have every right to be, Colonel. There is no way for you to understand that everything wasn't me at all but those monsters that came in. All I can do is give you the serum and you trust it's the right one."

"Exactly."

Dr. Striker nodded, pushing up his glasses, and sitting on the couch. He pulled out a small vial and a syringe, putting the needle into the top of the vial and drawing liquid into the cylinder. He then pushed the air out of the needle as Roy sat across from him on the couch. He rubbed the space he wanted with alcohol, smacked Roy's arm a little for a vein to come up and then stuck the needle into his arm, letting the plunger down to dispense the liquid into his arm. He then covered the small hole with a cotton ball.

"How long will this one take effect? How old will I get from here?"

"Tomorrow you should see a difference. You can call me and let me know whether or not you want the last dose or not. I don't want to make you older than you are, but being a little younger isn't that much of a hassle is it?"

"No, not really."

"Thought as much."

"Is this going to be like the last ones, where I will pass out and sleep?"

"No, since your body is older now it shouldn't have to have a recovery time. You may feel a little dizzy but everything should be done by the time you wake up tomorrow. You won't need to nap now."

Roy nodded and went over to his uniform shirt to stick it back on.

"Thank you, Dr. Striker. I'll let you know tomorrow if I need that extra dosage."

"I have a feeling it will be pretty close… I went to see Mr. Elric today."

"Hmm." He said, looking down to button his shirt.

"He's finally off the breathing tube and breathing on his own. They say with that obstacle out of the way, his wounds should be healing better and he should wake up soon."

"That's good to hear."

Dr. Striker looked at Riza and she shook her head, knowing all about his blasé demeanor. Dr. Striker just nodded and stuck his instruments back in his bag.

"Well then, I will await your call, Colonel."

"Of course."

He left and Roy sighed.

Riza went to the door too.

"I have work to do as well, Colonel."

He just nodded and she went back to her desk.

Roy got home and put his coat in the closet and went up the stairs, holding onto the railing harder than usual. Dr. Striker hadn't been kidding out the dizziness and so he took it slow up the stairs. He removed his uniform to slip into something comfortable to lounge around in. As he took off his shirt and searched around the room to find another he went by the mirror and stopped. He looked at the burns all along the backs of his arms and along his back where the fire had gotten to him. All it did was make him remember what Edward had gone through and he turned away, trying to forget it. Out of all the scars he was proud of, these were not among them. These were scars of the weak, scars of worthlessness… scars of a child. He finally found his shirt and put it on, finding his sweats and slipping into them and climbing into bed. Even though he didn't need to go to sleep, the dizziness was grueling and so he decided sleep was a good remedy for it.

Riza went to the hospital and knocked on the door to Edward's room. She heard someone tell her to come in and opened the door, seeing Alphonse look up at her.

"Oh, Lieutenant." He looked past her for a moment. "Is… the Colonel not with you?"

"No, he got a treatment today and went home. I do believe he's avoid the place." She said with a smile. "How is he?"

"Now that he's off the ventilators, they say he has better chances now. He should wake up at some point but they don't know when. They say that once he's awake, he can start taking treatments to get back to his normal age."

"That's excellent. I'll have to let the Colonel know. He'll be happy."

"How is he? The last time he was in here he was maybe Brother's age or so?"

"Yeah, just about, and he's trying to act like he isn't worried but he is. Having all the problems when he was in his younger stages didn't really help either. They say things affect you when you're young and I don't think it made an exception to what happened to Roy."

"Yeah… I think Brother will be the same way but from an older view."

Riza smiled and walked over to him, touching Edward's shoulder.

"Hey, Ed. You need to hurry up and get better so the Colonel will stop acting like he doesn't care. He sucks at it. Hurry up and knock some sense into him…"

Alphonse chuckled and Riza squeezed Edward's shoulder.

She stayed and talked with Alphonse until visiting hours were over.

roy's just shy. he doesn't want to think of edward in any way different than before. but that line has already been crossed. silly colonel.