HEIR TO THE FLAME

CHAPTER 1: POSITIVE

Riza looked from one end of the room to the other, her eyes trailing across the carpeted floor, the cloth sofa, and the heavy wood desk near the back wall. Behind that desk was a leather chair, turned away from the table to face the green curtained window which revealed a gray and overcast day; a sure to be rainy one, the kind that Mustang despised, behind it. She scanned the desk, and noticed with mild detachment that none of the papers were even close to finished. She didn't reach for her gun because her superior had neglected his paperwork again, oh no. She had something much more important in mind.

Roy Mustang had fallen asleep in his chair yet again, after spending another sleepless night at home lying on his back and staring at the ceiling as it flaked, vaguely thinking that he should fix it the next day before it fell on him. Yes, he had fallen asleep, again, for the sixtieth day in a row.

And the First Lieutenant had said nothing of it.

She had been feeling tired herself, drained and nauseated, snappish and irritable. Her exhaustion was different from his however, hers was not something that could be cured by a good day's sleep at work. She had a headache, and she felt like crying, and she clenched the thing in her hand tighter, her fingernails digging into her palm. She sniffed loudly and Mustang stirred, opening a bleary slanted eye and gazed at her worriedly, asking-without saying a word- what was wrong.

She crossed the distance between them slowly, dragging her feet, a sense of impending doom clouding her tired and anxious mind. Mustang wondered what on earth could have upset her so in the lavatories; nothing had ever incited such a tearful emotion from her. She put her hands on his desk and he swung around quickly in his chair, standing up and circling around the desk to hold her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" he asked, every note one of question and worry. She handed him the object in her hand and sank onto the sofa, crying. He stared at it for a few seconds, his expression unfathomable, too jumbled up for words, then a look of confusion crossed his face, and she cried harder. He ran his hand through his dark hair, thinking... thinking...

He went over to the sofa and kneeled down in front of her. "Let me see." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stared at him, confused. He smiled at her and she sniffed again, somehow taking strength in that smile. Her hands strayed to her stomach, then clenched, suddenly afraid. He put his hand on hers, squeezing it gently. "It's okay, it's alright, don't worry." She opened her mouth as if to say something, and he watched her intently, but she closed it again. She pulled her uniform up over her stomach and he examined her carefully, then a smug and proud expression of approval sneaked across his face, his eyes lit up happily and he got up, pecked her cheek, and trotted happily over to his desk to start his paperwork.

"Two months?" he asked, and she replied that it was. He stood up again and told her to lie down on the sofa and not to move too much. He walked out of his office and made a beeline to the mess hall, and waved to a wary looking Edward Elric who was passing through the area with Alphonse.

"Hello Colonel!" Alphonse said brightly. Ed hissed at him and threw a hateful glance at Roy, but he trotted happily past them as well, telling them to 'keep Hawkeye company in his office' until he returned, which would only be a few minutes. Ed grumbled something incomprehensible which Roy ignored and continued his search for passably decent food, examining various types of mush and mess before moodily settling for something that resembled chicken and tasted fine to him, a salad, the odd assortment of fruits, cheese, milk, water, and a bowl of soup. Jean Havoc stared at him incredulously and asked him if he was serious about eating all that, and that it was probably a huge waste of his salary. He replied that he knew someone who would, and wheeled the cart back down to his office.

Ed and Al stared at the cart full of food, mouth hanging open, and Al coming as close as he possibly could to bugging out. Roy ignored them for a moment and located his office closet, rummaging around inside of it and tossing out the occasional Jean Havoc cigarette pack, and Armstrong's ripped uniforms; everyone seemed to like mucking up his closet. He found what he was looking for, shot a venomous look at Ed just for the satisfaction of seeing him quail for an instant before becoming angry, put a pillow under Riza's head and two layers of blankets over her. Satisfied that he had made her as comfortable as possible, he adressed the problem at hand: the Fullmetal Pipsqueak.

"Any luck on the Philosopher's Stone?" Ed shook his head no, that they had not, and that they were onto another lead. Roy let him blabber on, but kept eye contact without actually paying attention. His mind was doing flips and cartwheels, and a goofily happy expression slithered onto his countenance. Ed gave him a strange look and Riza groaned, curling up into a ball on the sofa. He quickly wiped the expression off of his face and replaced it with his usual smirky smug look that infuriated Fullmetal and made him leave sooner than a normal expression would. Ed glanced over to Riza.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked, and Al fluttered over the First Lietenant anxiously. Roy gave him a dismissive glance and said, "Maternity issues, leave her alone." Ed's jaw dropped and he and Al obediantly left the room, gossiping. Roy sighed and ran his hand through his hair again, then kneeled down next to her. "Anything you want?"

She turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye, then slumped under the covers again. "Do your paperwork, Roy. We'll need the money now." Roy cocked his head, then obligingly sat down at his desk to resume signing and filling out mounds of tree slices. His pen quivered over a paper, somewhat unhappily. "Do you want to keep it?" he asked, pen still poised above the paper.

"Do you want it?" she asked. He thought a moment, and replied that he did. She then answered that if he wanted it, she wanted it too, and curled around her stomach again. He scribbled his signature on the papers and started thinking to himself. What would he name it? Would it be a boy or a girl? And how would they hide the fact that he was the father? He sighed heavily, only now thinking of the perfect mess he had gotten them both into. They wouldn't even be able to hide the fact that Riza was pregnant after a few more months... he looked at her, sleeping peacefully, and decided not to bother her with his questions on their predicament. He glanced out the window again, and discovered that it was not raining, as it usually did when there were bad times abound in Roy's life. Maybe this would turn out alright after all.