Disclaimer, yo, 'cause I really, REALLY don't want to get sued.

A/N: OH GOD IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME. Almost a YEAR?! Oh Gods T.T I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! As a reader myself I know how aggravating it is when writers do this! The Muse LEFT me for the longest time and I didn't want to give you guys something low quality, but now it's back, baby! Right, on with the show.

Also, as a side note, I went to Anime Boston and was on the volunteer staff. I got put on guard duty at Travis Willingham's panel. He's a really nice guy, but some of his fangirls are SCARY! There was one girl who, I swear to god, was getting ready to jump onto the stage. Luckily, I managed to catch her eye and shake my head, so she just asked her question and sat down. But I can't help but wonder, why would someone do that? Celebrities, no matter how nice they are to their fans, are still people, with personal space rights that others should respect.

P.S. I should be shot for this chapter title, but I couldn't think of anything less cliché.

Incendiary Device

Chapter 7: Morning Light

Roy awoke with a hangover. It wasn't the worst one he'd ever had, but it wasn't much fun, either. So far, a routine morning for the Colonel. He rubbed his eyes and started to sit up. A weight on top of him stopped his movement and he looked down, startled. The sight of golden hair greeted him, and he realized he was looking at the top of Liza's head.

Disoriented, he took stock of his surroundings. He and Liza were lying on her bed, on top of the blankets, him on his back and her on top of him. Memories of the previous night, fuzzy and fragmented, came back to his sluggish mind. After confessing their feelings for each other, they'd moved from the couch into her room, where they'd talked for a little while and then simply fallen asleep, too tired to do anything else.

Liza's alarm clock clicked over to 6:15 and went off. She reached out with one hand and hit it, turning it off without opening her eyes in what was obviously a reflex response. Roy watched as she yawned, rubbed her eyes, and noticed that something wasn't quite normal. She looked up and met his eyes briefly before looking away, blushing. The look on her face made Roy chuckle. It all seemed too good to be real. He was afraid that if he broke this moment, it would evaporate, turn out to all have been a dream, but he couldn't resist reaching out to her. He hesitantly ran a hand through her hair, whispering, "Good morning, Lieutenant."

Liza looked as unsure as Roy felt, but she smiled back at him and leaned into his hand. "You too, Sir. How're you feeling?"

"Surprisingly good for someone who got hit over the head with a bottle of scotch."

Liza rolled her eyes and pushed herself up off of him, sitting cross-legged on the bed. "It's good to hear you back to normal, sir."

Roy sat up as well, swinging his legs off the side and leaning against her. "We should get back soon, before anyone else notices I'm gone…"

Liza nodded, eyes unfocused and still a little sleepy, not looking at anything in particular. "You're right…"

They were silent for a while, neither knowing what to say or do, but content to sit with each other until something presented itself. Eventually, Liza broke the silence. "Sir, we can't…I mean, we'd both be kicked out, and the military needs people like us, especially since there's definitely something wrong, based on what happened at the warehouse…"

Roy silenced her with a finger on her lips. "I know, Lieutenant, believe me I know. But right now, I'm too hungover and sore to make any plans about what to do. Let's just…take it one step at a time."

Liza nodded, then slid off the bed and stretched her hands toward the ceiling, working the kinks out of her back and limbs. "I guess the first step would be to get you back so you can get released later today, then."

They moved through the rest of their morning in relative silence, unsure of each other because of the sudden huge shift in their relationship. Liza got dressed first while Roy made coffee and toast, then got some more of his clean clothes from her car so he could change. By the time they arrived back at the hospital, his head had cleared up and he was beginning to think about how he would manage working around his feelings for his Lieutenant. No idea was forthcoming. He was sure they both had the self-control to hide it while at the office, but even being seen together off-duty would be risky. He needed more time and energy to work this out, time and energy that already were being worn thin with worrying about the Elric brothers, the Homonculi, and now a possible military conspiracy.

When the pair arrived under Roy and Havoc's window at the back of the building, Roy discovered that the strain of climbing back up was too much for him. The bar fight had been the last bit of abuse that his body was willing to take, and his shoulders felt like they were on fire when he tried to use the drainpipe to get to the window.

Dropping back to the ground after his third attempt, Roy shook his head, grimacing. "I don't think I can do it. We'll have to find another way in, one that doesn't involve me climbing anything."

Liza was looking up at the window, which was still slightly open. From there her eyes followed the wall of the building, lighting up as she noticed a small door set into the wall. "That door…do you know what it's for?" she asked, pointing it out.

"Probably a secondary exit or something. You know, in case there's an emergency and they have to get people out."

Liza was already shrugging off her overcoat and handing it to Roy. "Please hold this for a moment, Sir," she said, wrapping one hand around the drainpipe and tugging on it to test its stability. Bracing her feet against the wall, she made her way up until she was next to the window. She could see Havoc's feet at the end of his bed. Using the windowsill to keep herself from falling, Liza knocked on the window. "Havoc!" she said, not too loudly so as not to alert anyone who might be passing by in the hallway, "Havoc, wake up!"

There was a mutter from inside that sounded like, "Five more minutes, Mom, I swear I'll be there on time…" Liza gave the window another sharp rap. "Havoc, either you can wake up or I can wake you up."

Havoc sat up, bringing his face into view in the window. "Hawkeye? How…this is the second floor!"

"Shh, keep it down!" She hissed. "We need a way to get Roy back in so he doesn't get in trouble. He got into a fight last night and can't get back up the drainpipe."

"Okay, well, why are you telling me?"

"Because you really, really need a cigarette."

Havoc made a face. "You're damn right I do! They've cut me off for a month now and it's starting to get unbearable! If I could get up I'd…" he trailed off at the look on her face. "Oh. Riiiight. Okay, I need a cigarette."

"Good. Tell them you want to sit outside while you smoke it. That way they'll take you out the door that's over here. We'll be just around the corner." Liza shinned down the pipe until she was ten feet from the ground, then dropped the rest of the way, landing in a crouch. She took her coat back from Roy and put it on, leading him around the corner of the building so they could watch to see when Havoc came out.

From above, they could hear Havoc calling for the nurse, and his negotiations for a single cigarette. "Please? Just one! I'm going crazy!"

A few minutes later the back door opened and the nurse wheeled Havoc, who had lit up as soon as the door opened, into the sunlight. "I'll be making up the room. Call me again when you're done."

As the door started to swing closed, Liza darted out and caught it. Roy walked after her, limping slightly, and they went inside, leaving Havoc to enjoy his cigarette. The halls were quiet, and Liza got Roy back into his bed a few minutes before the nurse returned with Havoc, who looked calmer than he had in days now that his nicotine addiction had been assuaged. Once the orderly escorting him left, Liza closed the door and sat in her usual spot, a chair between the two beds.

"What's this I hear about a fight?" asked Havoc, looking at Roy curiously. "Did another Homunculus show up?"

"Nothing so dramatic, I'm afraid," said Roy, trying to remember back to the fight. Had he really used alchemy against unarmed citizens? Well, almost unarmed, he amended, remembering a certain pool cue. "I just…made a bad decision…So what's this I hear about you retiring?" Roy changed the subject, rather gracelessly.

Havoc, true to his easygoing nature, shrugged and went with the change. "Well, sir, seeing as how I can't be of much use in the field anymore, and I never was that great at desk work, I figured there was nothing left that I could do, so I'm gonna get myself a nice house somewhere and learn to fish."

The sound of the legs of Liza's chair scraping across the floor made Roy and Havoc look up at her, surprised. She was standing up with her hands clenched into fists at her sides, glaring at Havoc. "So that's it?" She asked, "You're just giving up?" The men glanced at each other, startled by her harsh tone. What had gotten into her?

Memories of that hellish night in the factory were flickering through Liza's mind. The feeling that had shocked through her when the homunculus told her Roy was dead, the weakness and disgust she'd felt for herself, the blame for not being strong enough to help him…and overlayed with those, the more recent thoughts of watching over her Colonel in the hospital, of covering for him last night…that kiss…and waking up in his arms…she flushed, but continued to keep eye contact with Havoc. "Even after what we saw at the factory? Even after knowing that the military we've believed in for so long, given our lives to, given our souls to, might be covering this up? You'd leave, and take away another of the people we can trust, who are already so few?" She paused, waiting for an answer, but Havoc was so shocked and taken off guard that he couldn't say anything.

"Fine," said Liza, heading for the door, "Go enjoy your early retirement. See if I care." She closed the door behind her with slightly more force than was necessary, leaned against the wall next to it, and slid down to the ground, head in her hands. What the hell are you doing?! She asked herself, staring at the tiled linoleum floor, at the stain near the wall on the other side that was shaped oddly like a rabbit, at the feet and occasional wheels passing by. No answer was forthcoming. She sat still, and waited for the constricted feeling in her throat to go away.

"Um," Said Havoc, staring at the door.

"I honestly have no idea…" said Roy. The two men looked at each other, thrown completely for a loop by Liza's uncharacteristic outburst.

After a few seconds, Roy broke the silence. "I really would prefer it if you'd stay, Havoc…but it's your decision whether or not to retire."

Havoc looked down at his feet, trying to feel them. He shook his head and laid back, hands behind his head.

Roy sighed, disappointed. He felt guilty about being the one who'd gotten Havoc into this mess in the first place, but even more he felt guilty about taking away Havoc's military career. Apart from womanizing and spending time learning how to shoot non-military-issue firearms, Havoc didn't have much in his life besides the military. He just…fit with the military lifestyle. But he wasn't cut out for paperwork, a trait he and Roy shared.

"Well…" said Havoc, speaking to the ceiling, "I guess I could get Schieska to teach me how to drive a desk."