Aiden desperately wished for a camera to snap a picture at the scene in front of her. Kain was asleep at his desk, as was Jean Havoc, and Roy Mustang himself. Riza was at her side, in the doorway, staring at the men. It was late at night so it wasn't surprising that they'd fallen asleep. Falman and Breda must've gone home earlier, as they weren't in the office. Or so Aiden assumed.

"I want to wake them but they're so darn cute," Aiden whispered.

"Yes, but they need to sleep in one of the bunks or head home. This doesn't need to become a habit," Riza said, walking over to Jean.

"Rude awakening?"

"It's their first offense for Jean and Kain, no. Roy has done this at least thirty-seven times. I don't see why we can't wake him up quicker than the rest."

"And here I was thinking you weren't mischievous at all."

"I don't know what you mean."

Aiden grinned and nodded. Riza had become much like a sister to her in the years that had passed. They had much in common besides their lines of work. A lot of the time when either team visited, the two could be seen together on days off, joking and hanging out.

She slipped past the doorway and made her way to Kain. "Adorable," she cooed gently. Then she grabbed his shoulder and shook the man awake. "Wake up, Kain."

"What?" Kain groaned, looking up from his desk. "Huh? Aiden? What're you doing here?"

"All in due time," Aiden smiled sweetly. "But you have to get up, no sleeping in the workplaces I'm afraid. Riza says so."

Kain bolted upright at the mention of the frightening woman. He glanced over at Jean who was staring up at Riza, but he was frozen solid. Aiden chuckled and shook her head.

"So," she said, turning to face Riza. "Roy's wake up time?"

"Yes."

Aiden grinned and when Riza made no move to do anything, that grin faltered. Did Riza want her to wake Roy? Seconds passed and the two stared. Then Aiden had a malicious glint in her eye. Both Jean and Kain shivered.

Aiden turned to one of the couches sitting in the center of the workplace and grabbed one of the large pillows resting there. A quick glance at Roy's hands told her that he didn't have his gloves on, so at least she wouldn't be barbecued. She paused right next to Roy's chair and sleeping form, the large pillow ready to strike.

"She's crazy," Jean whispered.

"Wake up!" Aiden screamed, slamming the pillow into Roy's side. The blow sent the man flying from his chair. "Wake up!" she screamed again, throwing the pillow in his face.

Roy groaned and sat up from the floor, the pillow fell from his face to his lap. He looked around in confusion before his eyes landed on Aiden's grinning face and the pillow on his lap.

"What happened?" Roy asked.

"Wow, boss. I didn't think she'd hit you so hard you'd end up with memory loss," Jean muttered.

"You've obviously never heard the stories about Aiden," Kain laughed. "She once gave an entire platoon of men nightmares by telling a ghost story from her home! You know James the cook? He still has nightmares sometimes."

"As amusing as that is," Roy said, getting up from the floor, "why'd you wake me up?"

Aiden shrugged and gestured to Riza. "She said no sleeping in the office. You can't exactly argue with her."

Roy opened his mouth, then closed it. He opened it once more but nothing came out. Then he rolled his eyes and tossed the pillow back at Aiden who caught it with ease. In turn, she threw it back on the couch.

"Whatever," Roy grumbled. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"It's that annual thing where two of the best investigative teams from Central comes to the East and sets up false murders and crimes for your teams to solve." Aiden shrugged and waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "This is my third year in this thing and my first year with my own team. Maes and I decided to separate our teams since we always crush your men."

"Oh that's right!" Kain gasped. "You got promoted and made your own unit!"

"Yup!" Aiden smiled, popping the 'p'.

"Hang on," Roy said slowly. "If you're here that means Maes is too. Where is he?"

Roy stared at the door as if the walking headache would storm through any second.

"I'm actually here a week early. Everyone won't arrive for a while. For now, I'm just gonna stick around you guys or something." Suddenly Aiden clapped her hands and pointed at the men in the room. "Get some rest! I'll see you all later!"

Aiden waved as she strode out of the room, leaving behind an annoyed Flame Alchemist. Riza looked from the door to her friend.

"She's right, sir. You either need to go home for rest or sleep in one of the open bunks."

Roy groaned and shook his head. The week would be long, and he knew it too.

The next morning Aiden came sauntering into the office with coffee for each person. She had no idea how Falman and Breda liked their coffee so she grabbed a small thing of creamer and sugar. While she carried the tray in both hands, a folder was stashed under an arm. Kain was the first to notice it as Aiden sat down on the couch and placed the items on a table in front of her.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked as he pointed to the folder.

"The file I need to help myself remember the crime I'm setting up. Coffee for Kain," Aiden held up the cup and Kain quickly grabbed it. He downed a big gulp and sighed contentedly.

"Crime?" Falman asked. "You're setting up a crime in the middle of Eastern Command. Why?"

Aiden shrugged, not looking up from her folder. The contents having been laid across the table. One paper was labeled 'murder', another 'theft', and others with more crimes. But anything written beyond that was gibberish to anyone who looked at it.

"It's for the investigation team competition," Jean said. He looked at the cups in front of Aiden eagerly.

Aiden grabbed another cup without looking and held it up. It was almost like a reward for answering the question so she wouldn't have to. "Jean, coffee."

The cup was out of her hands before she could think more about the subject. Not that she wanted to. Aiden scribbled something down on one of the papers, looking rather satisfied with herself.

"Is there ever a day my people don't act like lap dogs for you?" a voice remarked.

"Good morning to you too, and no, not really. Coffee?" Aiden once more held up the coffee and waited patiently for an answer. All she got was a huff and an empty hand. "What was that about lap dogs?"

"Shut up."

Aiden huffed a laugh and shook her head. Then she grabbed one of the last four cups and held it out behind her head.

"You too Riza. Coffee."

"Thanks," Riza said, smiling as Roy grumbled about mutiny.

Aiden removed her cup from the remaining three and set it aside. Then she finally looked up from her papers to stare at the last people who hadn't gotten any coffee yet. She held the tray out to them to take.

"I don't know how you guys take yours so it's just black. But I did grab creamer and sugar."

She received nods of thanks from both men and then she returned to her work. There was silence for only a moment until Jean broke it.

"Hang on, how do you know how you like my coffee?" Jean asked.

"The last time I visited you were binge drinking it so much I thought you'd end up in a coma. While you were passed out I switched you to decaf and added more creamer. You never noticed until I just pointed it out," Aiden replied without missing a beat.

Jean was silent and then, "Hey!"

"Shut up, I'm working."

"That'd be a first."

"I didn't need input from the peanut gallery, Roy."

"This is my office!"

"I just commandeered it."

Roy groaned and planted his head on his desk. The day was long indeed. But other than the incident that morning Aiden was relatively quiet the entire time. Mostly focused on her task of creating a crime scene. Occasionally the team would hear a sigh of annoyance, a hum of possibly a song, or the popping of her back after not having moved for a long while.

Suddenly Aiden looked up, relief washing over her in waves. "Done," she whispered.

Then she looked around. Aiden noticed how she and Roy were the only ones left in the office. The sun had gone down, and the only sound she could hear was Roy's pen scratching something down. Had she really been there so long she missed lunch and people leaving for the night?

"Did everyone leave for the night?" she asked.

"Yes. We tried to tell you but you were too absorbed in the paper labeled 'murder'. Should I be worried?"

"I don't think so."

Aiden sat up straight and arched her back. A sigh of pleasure escaped her lips as her pine cracked all the way up. Her joints were stiff so she stood and stretched, resulting in more pops.

"Should I be worried about that at least?" Roy sounded genuinely concerned for her well-being.

"My body is just musical. Luckily, I don't do that often. I'm usually more active in a day, I'm more flexible than that, believe me."

"I wonder if you can prove that."

Aiden froze as she stared at Roy who in turn stared back, stone-faced. Then Aiden cracked a grin and laughed.

"I can't believe you just made a pass at me!"

"Ignore me, please," Roy uttered.

Aiden nodded, still chuckling at the comment. In all honesty she wouldn't mind one bit, if she didn't care for the integrity of the timeline. She needed to keep things on course. Aiden considered the image brought to her mind and she shivered. She most certainly wouldn't mind.

Aiden grimaced and mentally berated herself. Keep the timeline intact, change little to nothing, save Maes. She didn't have the time for relationships. Especially not with major characters. It didn't matter if she wanted it.

Aiden checked her watch. "We should get going." Then she gathered up her papers into the folder and stared at Roy, who had gone back to signing his work.

Roy glanced between his work and Aiden before shrugging on his coat and joining her near the door. Aiden quickly bent down and snagged her bag from the floor, placed the files in it, and the two left. They walked out of the room and made their way out of Eastern Command and to the streets. It wasn't too dark with the lampposts providing light.

"So what have you got in store for our detectives this year?" Roy asked, mainly trying to fill the silence. He genuinely was interested.

"You gonna tell them?"

"Of course not."

"Well, in that case, I was thinking a murder of some sort." Aiden shrugged as if it didn't matter. "Not very original but effective if given enough effort." She stopped walking under a lamp and Roy too paused. "I have another stop to make. You're welcome to come with, but if not that's fine too."

Roy stared at Aiden before shrugging. He had nowhere else to be. If anything he was rather bored and it would give him something to do. So Aiden led the way through East City. Passing through alleyways, under street lamps, through the odd abandoned building. Roy did have to question where she was leading him, but all he got in answer was a 'you'll see'.

Finally the two stopped just before a small abandoned apartment complex. The state of the building was horrible and an overall disaster. Roy turned to Aiden with a questioning look, but she was digging through her bag. She gave a triumphant cry of success when her hand reappeared with a flashlight.

Before Roy could ask Aiden turned to the horrendous building and clicked the flashlight on and off a few times, creating a rhythm. After a few seconds of silence Aiden frowned and repeated her actions. Then another flashlight returned the same rhythm from a second story window. Aiden jogged into the building, Roy close at her heels. She led him up a set of stairs which probably weren't safe. As they reached the landing Aiden turned to the first door on her left and didn't hesitate to enter. Unlike Roy, who was cautious.

"I was worried for a second!" Aiden whispered furiously.

There was a small scuffling sound and Roy hurried around the corner, only to see Aiden and two smaller figures. Aiden had both of the two wrapped in her arms as she squeezed them both tightly. She let go of the two and Roy could see that both were barely teens, one being a boy and the other a girl. The boy noticed Roy first and pulled the girl behind him, almost as if he could protect her.

"Who's he?" the boy asked Aiden, gesturing to Roy.

Aiden looked over her shoulder and smiled at Roy. "That's Roy Mustang, I've told you about him. Remember?"

Roy stared at Aiden. She told the kids about him? Why? Moreover, why were they here, any of them? He could take a guess that judging from the state of their clothes and their dirtiness, both teens either didn't have homes or were orphans.

A girl peeked her head around the boy's body. "The hot man?" she questioned innocently.

Roy almost choked on his spit. Aiden facepalmed, her hand hiding the blush covering her face. She muttered something under her breath over and over again.

The boy poked the younger girl and shook his head. "No, Aiden said Flame, not hot."

Roy took the chance to look more closely at the teens. The boy couldn't have been older than fourteen, with short, dark hair and dark eyes. He wasn't very tall and he was skinny, though Roy supposed he was more lean than anything. The girl was the boy's polar opposite. She had blonde hair down to her shoulders and blue eyes. She was skinny as well, but that was to be expected. He could guess that the girl was only a year younger than the boy, or the same age with the same height problems.

"Thanks Ken," Aiden sighed, thankful for the small cover the boy had given her. Then she glared down at the two, Roy was struck at how different she was acting. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! You were supposed to answer when I use the flashlight!"

Both teens looked similarly downcast; heads hung in shame. Suddenly the girl brightened, which Roy found very odd. The girl looked up at Aiden with hope in her eyes and a smiling face.

"Did you bring it this time?" the girl asked.

"Annie," Ken whispered furiously, nudging her in her side.

Aiden rolled her eyes and slipped her bag from her shoulder. "Yeah yeah, I brought it. Now, what's the password?"

She reached in the bag but didn't bring her hand back out. Both young teens frowned and thought for a moment. Then Annie gasped and whispered something in Ken's ear, who nodded. Suddenly the two tackled Aiden in a hug with huge grins.

"Please!" they pleaded together.

Aiden laughed and held out a small bag for the two to take. Ken grabbed it, looked inside, and smiled like there was no tomorrow.

"We'll go put these away for later!"

The two booked it out of the room, no longer caring that Roy was by the door. Aiden chuckled and laid on the ground, only standing up when Roy offered his hand. She dusted herself off and smiled as she heard an excited squeal from Annie.

"What's all this about?" Roy asked, finally getting the time to speak.

Aiden smiled sadly at Roy and shouldered her bag once more. "I've been helping them forage for a while now. Annie is fourteen and Ken is fifteen, strange despite his stature. I've tried taking them to a home, but they always end up back here. So instead of getting on their bad side, I give them extra things they need. Whether it be food, hygienic things, clothes, or even a story to tell."

Roy nodded slowly as Aiden led him a few rooms down. They peered into the room to see Annie smiling at a sword book, only a few pages in. Ken was exactly the same, nose stuck in a poetry book. There were a few cans in between the makeshift beds they sat on. A small mound of books created another pile, a few notebooks and pencils thrown in wherever. From where he was standing Roy could clearly see a math book sitting at the top.

"Alright kids, I'm gonna head out now. Don't stay up too late," Aiden said.

The teens stopped their reading and attacked Aiden in a hug once more. Clearly they were attached to her. Aiden was more than likely their only role model, Roy thought.

"Come back soon!" Annie pouted, sad to see Aiden go.

"Yeah!" Ken nodded in agreement. "The math book is almost finished, we'll be needing a new one. You have to make sure to come and see us!"

"And you can tell us more stories about Roy-Flame and your adventures!"

Aiden laughed and hugged the two teens tightly. "You got it. Make sure to say by to Roy."

"By Roy!"

"By hot man!" Annie shot off with laughter and returned to her bed.

Aiden sighed and Roy gave a small laugh, waving at the two. Then they turned and left Ken and Annie alone. Roy did feel rather bad about it, but Aiden was doing a good job looking after them. Even if she did live in Central.

By the time they made it back to the street they left, both were starting to feel rather tired. Aiden had yawned at least four times on the way. Roy made sure she had gotten home safely before he too turned home. Luckily he didn't live that far away.

The rest of the week passed by uneventfully, something that made quite a few inhabitants of Eastern Command sigh in relief. They really hated paperwork. Roy didn't get a chance to speak more about the two teens living in that horrid place. Or rather, he did, Aiden was just too absorbed in her work to notice.

With the new week came the investigators from Central, and Maes by default. He came barreling into Roy's office with a greeting and a picture of his wife and daughter for all to see.

Then he joined Aiden on the couch and they discussed their fake crimes, neither knowing what the other would be doing. They told one another where they would be set up so their crimes didn't overlap, and that was all they said on the matter.

"So who did you lose?"

Aiden looked up, startled at the question. She and Roy were once again sitting alone in his office late at night. Both still had work to do. Aiden really hadn't expected any talk.

"What?"

"The way you cared for those children. You must have lost someone."

Roy said it almost cautiously, as if he didn't want to ask but his curiosity got the better of him. Aiden wanted to ignore the question or shrug it off, but she knew she couldn't. It'd seem strange to not answer such a question when she had such an open persona. And yet it made sense when the answer was simple.

"... A boy," Aiden said tersely, staring at a blank page. "Tristan."

"How?"

Aiden's breath hitched, an image of her son flashing through her mind. He was laughing, Jessica's arms wrapped around him. Then they were in the car. They were screaming, all of them.

"An accident." Then she got up and left. "I'm sorry."

Roy stared but didn't go after her. He had no comment and he didn't feel like he deserved to have one.

Aiden sat in the cafeteria sulking. There weren't too many people at the time, most of the superior officers were in their offices, Aiden being the exception. But there were more stragglers than one would think. She had been thinking of Tristan since Roy had brought it up. It hurt, but she knew he didn't mean anything by it. He'd just been curious.

A small scuffling sound made her look up and Aiden watched in interest as two officers began arguing. They were both a few ranks below her, so she could break them apart by ordering. And then by force, if needed. Aiden walked closer to the men and sat next to a woman.

"What's going on?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the two.

The woman noticed Aiden was a superior officer and immediately straightened. "That one there," she pointed at the shorter of the two, "is Colin. The taller one, Oliver, as far as I can tell he thinks he has something to prove."

Aiden nodded slowly. "I see. Does this happen often?"

"Between those two? Fairly often enough. Other than that they're fine men. Although, Oliver has been causing a few scenes lately."

Aiden nodded once more and thanked the woman. In the corner of her eye, she noticed Jean walk in and take a seat not too far away. As she noticed the situation with the men escalating and Oliver readying a punch, she sighed. If any of the higher-ups got wind of this, who knew what would happen. And if word got to the streets that the military had internal fights and spats, they wouldn't trust them as much. So Aiden stepped forward and kicked both men to the ground. They landed with loud thuds.

"You are both officers of the military. Act like it!" Aiden barked, glowering at the men at her feet.

Oliver and Colin cowered as a dark, almost black aura surrounded the woman. Her dark green eyes were lit up with flames that were surely from the pits of Hell itself. The two picked themselves up off the floor and sat in their seats. All ears picked up the sound of a door squeaking open. There in the doorway, stood a man, Major General Sparrow. He was peeking his head in, a rather scary sight when combined with his killer face and piercing eyes that could possibly break any and all souls. Aiden silently sat back in her seat.

"Would someone care to explain the little ruckus I heard just now?" Sparrow stared at the occupants of the room, daring one of them to speak up. "I do hope everything's alright."

Aiden took a small breath, steeled herself, and raised her hand. "Oliver passed some gas, sir."

Oliver gasped but didn't defend himself. Any other soldiers sucked in a breath and looked away from Sparrow in the doorway, trying their hardest not to laugh. Any smiles were aimed away where he couldn't see. Aiden could see Jean biting his lip out of the corner of her eyes.

"Why am I not surprised," Sparrow said. Oliver gasped again in offence. "For the love of God, learn some self-control." Then the man left the room.

Seconds passed as they waited for any sign that he would return. When they heard nothing, the cafeteria cracked up in laughter. Oliver thumped his head into the table as people laughed at his expense.

"Why would you do that to me?" Oliver cried out.

"It was either that or tell the truth," Aiden shrugged. "You don't need a disciplinary action on your record. Either of you." She glared pointedly at Colin, who looked away.

"Yes ma'am," Colin said hurriedly. He'd only just noticed her rank.

Oliver gaped. "Yes ma'am."

Aiden smiled and nodded. "Try not to get into more trouble." Then Aiden went back to her original table, packed up her lunch, and left. She noticed Jean joining her. He had a shit eating grin on his face. "Not having lunch anymore?"

"It can wait," Jean snickered. "I have to tell the rest of the unit. It's too good!"

Aiden waved as he left, humming a song that came to mind. It was unfortunate that she didn't know the words, but at the same time, it was a miracle she remembered the song at all. She was in high spirits the rest of the day. Obviously the story of the cafeteria had passed around and Aiden received a lot of smiles and grins, which she returned easily.

The next day was the start of the investigations for Eastern. Aiden was rather confident that she would stump them. No one had been able to catch the killer that her scene was based on. It was the unsolved mystery of a serial killer.

Six days passed and the team set up to investigate her crime scene were in hysterics. Aiden honestly wanted to stand around with popcorn. Of course, with the sixth day came the rule for Aiden to give a hint the team needed. If they didn't give up by then.

Roy and his team were standing and watching with Aiden as the Eastern team scrambled to find a clue. Aiden found it as entertaining as one of the shows she used to watch. Roy was worried. That woman could cook up a mystery from nowhere and it was rather astounding how good she was at setting up murders.

"Where did you come up with an idea for this?" Kain asked.

"It's based on an old case that was never solved. And since it was never solved, I had to give it an ending. You'll never guess who the culprit is." Aiden laughed, grinning maliciously.

"Unsolved? You never caught the guy?"

"Nope! All we ever had was a name we made up. Jack the Ripper. We never found the guy because all of the sudden his killings stopped, no one knows why."

Yes, she'd based her imaginary case off of the one and only, Jack the Ripper. It was a little unfair, but Aiden had changed small details to where if they paid enough attention, and didn't overlook things, they'd find the killer. The only reason it was going so well was because Aiden had done extensive research for a paper in high school and the knowledge stuck.

"Well that's a little unfair," Roy said.

"I said I made an ending. If they paid attention then they'll figure it out. Honestly, they should've figured it out by day three."

The team didn't figure it out. Aiden even offered to give them an extra day but they were spent. She did congratulate them on never giving up. Finally she got to tell them where they went wrong.

They gathered in a spare room. Aiden was there, along with the Eastern team, Maes' team, Roy's team, and any others who decided to hear what she had to say.

"Did any of you notice how each of the prostitutes had the exact same procedure done on them?" Aiden asked. One person raised their hand. "Sir, please tell me why you didn't tell anyone what you found."

"I saw the procedure... but I didn't think it was important compared to the other similarities," the man said slowly.

"And that right there is where you went wrong. You didn't communicate with your team. Even the most minuscule thing could have a big impact on a case. Got that?" The man nodded, a little put out. "Oh don't make that face. Also, Eastern team, don't take it out on him it could have been any of you to have done it. After all, none of you noticed the procedure besides him. So what's the overall point? Communicate and trust one another. That is all."

Aiden went to leave but one of the other members spoke up.

"Excuse me, but now that we know that, can you tell us how the case should have gone?"

Aiden thought and then shrugged. "You should have followed up with a check at the hospital and who performed the surgery. There you would have noticed that only one woman was the doctor for the girls. The woman was the murderer."

"Why did she do it?" another person asked. "Why kill the prostitutes who got rid of a child?"

"The doctor could never have children, so she killed those who had the choice and threw it away. She was envious of them, jealous."

Aiden waited for more responses but none came. So she left the room and decided to head home for the day. She was rather tired. A sigh escaped her as she paused for a moment against a wall. Aiden visibly jumped when a voice spoke up behind her.

"That was one hell of a case," Maes said.

Aiden turned and noticed Maes along with Roy and his team.

"What are you all staring at me for?" Aiden asked, folding her arms.

"Nothing," Kain shrugged.

"We just didn't expect you to actually get away with murder," Jean said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It was rather scary, your attention to detail," Roy added.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you really were a serial killer," Riza said.

"Uh, thanks?" Aiden said. She really wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not.

"Such a tragically wonderful story!" a voice boomed.

Aiden cringed, how did she not seen him. She did her best to duck as Armstrong almost showered her in tears and sparkles. Her friends, of course, did nothing to help her. They only grinned.

"Jean! You're my next target if a brawl breaks out!" Aiden yelled as Armstrong chased her around the group.

"What? Why me?"

"Because I said so!"

**********

Aiden: I can get away with murder and here's how.

Roy and friends: What the actual fuck Aiden.