Little do you know
How I'm breaking while you fall asleep
Little do you know
I'm still haunted by the memories
Little do you know
I'm trying to pick myself up piece by piece
Little do you know
I need a little more time
Underneath it all I'm held captive by the hole inside
I've been holding back
For the fear that you might change your mind

**********

"Are you sure you want to Aiden?" Gracia hesitated, worrying over her daughter. "Taking care of a child is a large responsibility."

Aiden smiled reassuringly and nodded. "We'll be fine. It's only for the rest of today and then tomorrow. And you're forgetting that I've helped raise Elicia when you had no idea what you're doing," she reminded.

Ever since the funeral, Aiden had had to watch Gracia be run ragged taking care of her child and finding a job. The military had given her something to live off of for a time but it wouldn't last. So she'd been taking jobs wherever to get some source of income for her daughter. It wasn't until recently that Gracia had found a job at the local flower shop. Often times Elicia would go with her mother to the shop and the women there would dote on her and coo at her cuteness. Other times she'd been left with a babysitter for the day and while Aiden thought it was a good idea, she saw no point for Gracia to waste her money when she had friends who could help.

At first, Gracia had been hesitant to let Aiden take care of her daughter. It wasn't like she didn't trust her, she just didn't want to burden her friends. Aiden had rolled her eyes and told Gracia that friends were around for a reason and if she couldn't even look after a child for a day then she was a pretty useless friend.

"And you're sure nothing will happen?" Gracia glanced down at Elicia who was putting a pair of her favorite pajamas in a bag, followed closely by her stuffed duckling.

Aiden smiled gently and placed a hand on the worried mother's shoulder. "I promise that if anything happens she'll either stay with me or I'll stick her with Roy. You know that we'd die before we'd let anything happen to her."

"It's just that..."

"I know. He died in the line of duty but nothing like that will ever happen to you again. I swear."

"I'm ready mommy!" Elicia squealed, racing up to the pair with a small bag in her arms. It was filled with the usual overnight things.

Gracia smiled and kneeled down, "Alright. Make sure you're good for Aunty Aiden, okay?"

Elicia nodded with a look of utmost determination on her face. "Kay!"

Aiden grinned and slung the small bag over her shoulder, followed closely by the three-year-old. "You ready for a girl's day?"

"Yes!"

She nodded and wrapped Gracia in a one-armed hug. "We'll be okay," she promised. "Take a day to relax." The soldier took a step back and gently prodded the child in her arms who squealed and laughed. "Make sure to tell mommy bye."

"Buh-bye mommy! See you later!"

Gracia smiled and waved and the two left the home behind. She knew that nothing would happen in the presence of the entire military but she was a mother. It was her job to worry about things, even the most unlikely of them.

Out on the street, Elicia was grinning widely as Aiden danced with her on her hip, not caring what the people thought of the pair. Aiden was wearing her uniform so she more than likely just looked strange dancing with a child on her hip. She straightened out her form as they neared Central Command. She was lucky she had no paperwork left to do, yesterday she may have drowned and needed a lifeguard to save her.

"Lieutenant Colonel Wilson!" the men at the gates saluted her.

"As you were." She walked past the men without looking at them. Elicia glanced at them over Aiden's shoulder, smiled, and waved. The soldiers looked surprised but they waved back.

When the two were a far enough distance away, one soldier turned to his comrade. "Isn't that the Brigadier General's kid?" There was no possible way they could forget the face of the child Maes Hughes had constantly bragged about.

"Yeah, I think so. Only the Lieutenant Colonel knows why."

Sheska was shocked when her commanding officer had walked in with a child on her hip. She knew that some officers brought their children to work when there was no other place to put them but those occurrences were few and far between. "Oh! Miss Wilson! I didn't know you had a child."

Aiden almost tripped over her feet and stared at Sheska. It hadn't occurred to her that she may have been mistaken for Elicia's mother and vice versa. The entire office was watching her for some sort of explanation. Jack, on the other hand, was in the back grinning from ear to ear, knowing full well who Elicia belonged to.

"Sheska," she said, "this is Elicia. Hughes."

"Oh! My apologies!" Sheska gasped.

"It's fine, I'm just looking after her for today and tomorrow. Hey, Elicia, Sheska here is really good at making paper flowers. You wanna try?"

The girl stared open-mouthed at Sheska and smiled. "Really? Can I?"

The woman stared between her superior and the three year old for a moment before nodding. If Aiden suggested it then it was obviously okay to do. "Yes, I can show you."

"Yay!"

An hour later the three females were found sitting in the center of the office with various paper flowers strewn around them. All showed different varieties of success. At some point the men had joined them and gone back to their work.

"I still don't think I'm doing this right."

"You're folding it backwards Aiden."

"Thanks Jed."

"Uh-huh."

There was silence for a moment before Aiden flopped onto her back. She winced at the hard floor. "I'm useless at this."

"Uh-huh."

"You could at least pretend I'm not!" Sheska laughed lightly at Aiden's defeated look.

"I'm finished now!" Elicia announced. She held up the small flower proudly and smiled at the room.

Sheska clapped her hands. "Perfect!"

Aiden sulked on the floor. "A three-year-old can do origami better than me." Suddenly she sat up and grabbed a blank sheet of paper. The paper was quickly drawn over with geometric shapes of circles, lines, and triangles. "Elicia, want to see something pretty?" She touched the edge of the circle and a small amount of blue lightning erupted from the paper. Elicia gasped and watched with rapt attention as the paper slowly reformed into the shape of a duck. "How's that for origami?"

"That's cheating," Jed said, staring at the duck.

"No it's not! I'm just... using my resources!"

"Since when could you do alchemy?"

Aiden paused and stared at her subordinates one by one. "Hang on, did none of you know I could do this?"

"Nope."

"No."

"Uh-uh."

"Not a clue."

She nodded slowly. To be fair she hadn't really told anybody she could perform alchemy, but she hadn't said she couldn't either. "Alright then. Well, I can."

"Pretty!" Elicia gasped, finally voicing her opinion about the flower and the lightning that came from the alchemic reaction. She picked up the duck and held it in her hands to get a better look at it. "Aunty Aiden! Make more, okay?"

Aiden smiled and nodded, "I will, but maybe later. How about we go show Uncle Roy, miss Riza, and the rest your flower and duck." She was eager to get out from under the stares of her subordinates.

"Kay!"

She picked up the toddler and rested her on her hip before handing her a few of the more successful flowers and duck. When the door closed behind her she breathed a sigh of relief. They made their way down the hallway, receiving a few curious looks, and paused when they made it to Roy's door. She held up a finger to her lips in a shushing motion and Elicia giggled and nodded, copying her movement.

Aiden knocked on the door. "Special delivery for Colonel Mustang," she said in a gruff voice. Elicia giggled into her hand.

There were a few moments wait before Riza opened the door. She took in their smiles and Aiden's finger at her lips and nodded. "I see, thank you." She opened the door wider and let the two enter the room.

Jean went to ask why Aiden was present with a kid but he too stopped at the finger on her lips. As did the rest of the office. Roy's chair was turned toward the window and she could see his shadow on the wall. She quickly crossed the room and stopped in front of his desk.

"Who was that, Hawkeye?" he asked.

"The Man in the Moon," Aiden intoned. "I hear he's a good person." Roy whirled around to stare at the twin smiles on the girls' faces. "Hey there! I brought a present." She held out Elicia who giggled and laughed and held out one of the paper flowers for the man to take.

Roy smiled gently and accepted the flower. Aiden returned the child to her hip and smiled approvingly at his actions. "Well this is a surprise," Roy said. "What are you doing here?"

"Aunty Aiden made a duck with circles!" Elicia gushed, showing him the duck in question.

"Well, it's a good duck." Aiden set the girl down and she immediately set off on showing the rest of the office her flowers and duck. She made sure to give a flower to each of them. "Why is she here?" he asked in a whisper. "Even if the regulations allow it, you know that Central Command is no place for a child. Especially after what happened."

"I know that Roy, I'm not stupid. Gracia needed a break and Elicia is in safe hands with us. If something were to happen to us I'd have one of my officers, or yours, take her somewhere safe." She looked down at the man in his seat. "You can trust me to make sure that no harm will come to the Hughes'."

What Aiden meant was she was protecting the family, including Maes, from any harm from the homunculi. She knew Roy took it as a vow to protect the remaining family. Either way, it assured him that Aiden had things under control.

"I see." They looked at Elicia who was talking with Riza and doing her best to show the woman how to make a flower from paper. "So you used alchemy to make an origami duck?"

"Origami and I aren't friends, I'm useless at it," Aiden admitted, her figure slumping slightly.

"I can relate," Roy sighed. They watched the team and Elicia for a moment before Roy's eyes narrowed and he turned back to Aiden. "You're wearing your glasses."

"I lost one of my contacts somewhere so until I get a new set I'll be wearing them. You'd only just now noticed?"

To be honest, he'd noticed the change in appearance when he'd first seen her. His mind hadn't processed the information until that moment. "Yeah." Aiden tilted her head in question of his observational skills. Roy simply stared up at her.

Suddenly Breda broke into great guffaws and Jean and Kain were snickering behind their hands. The two superior officers turned in sync to stare at them before they looked to Riza who had a small smile on her face.

"What are you laughing about?" she asked.

Kain quickly looked skyward, his shoulders still shaking lightly. "Nothing."

Riza's smile widened and she looked down at little Elicia. "How about you ask them?"

Elicia nodded and hopped down from the seat to approach them. The two gave the child their full attention, both wondering what on earth she had said to make Roy's unit laugh so hard. She stared up at Aiden. "Daddy says that when two people like each other a lot they get married. When are you and Uncle Roy getting married?"

Aiden slumped to the ground in shock and stared eye-to-eye with Elicia. Roy was in a similar state of being, his head had almost hit his desk. The team burst into laughter once more at the innocent-sounding question, Jean was almost in tears. Oh how Aiden wished she could tear Maes a new one at that very moment.

"Someone kill me," she muttered before saying louder. "We're not getting married."

"Why?"

"It's complicated."

"Why?"

Her hand met her face and she glanced up at Roy. "Help me out here."

He looked unsure but nodded and turned back to Elicia who looked at him in turn. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. How was he going to explain how relationships, or lack thereof, worked to a three-year-old? "It's because we're still planning!"

Aiden pinched the bridge of her nose and shot a scathing look at the man. Roy looked at her helplessly and then shrugged slightly, he was making it up because there was no way to explain things to a toddler. She cleared her throat and nodded in agreement. "Yeah! And you get to be the flower girl!"

Elicia gasped and jumped up and down in excitement. "Yay! Aunty Aiden and Uncle Roy are gonna get married."

She nodded and grinned as a thought struck her. "Yep! And guess who the maids of honor are. It's your mom and miss Riza." Aiden glanced over the girls head and smiled sweetly at Riza. If she was going down then she was taking others with her.

Roy gave his own grin and stared at his men who shivered under his gaze. "These men are organizing flower decorations. Go ahead and tell little Elicia what kind of flowers we're having."

They all went to open their mouths but nothing came out when they were put on the spot. Suddenly Jean stood up. "I just remembered I have a... thing! To do. Somewhere else." He rushed out of the office followed by the rest of the team who all said they had things to do that they had all conveniently forgot.

"Your men are all cowards," Aiden declared. The two officers shared a look before bursting into laughter. Elicia stared at the two laughing adults and smiled.

"Uncle Roy!" she gasped. "Can you do the pretty lights?"

He smiled down at the girl. "I can't right now, but I'm sure Aunty Aiden can."

Aiden nodded and grabbed a few sheets of blank paper from Roy's desk and his pen. "Alright, what kind of animal do we want to make this time?"

Later that night the three occupants walked home, Aiden carrying the sleeping Elicia in her arms. Roy had shouldered the bag and was walking them back to Aiden's apartment.

"Maybe she won't remember today aside from all the origami pieces," Aiden mused, stepping up another flight of stairs. "Too bad Falman's sick, he and Bunny would've loved to see that."

Roy snorted and shook his head. They paused at a door. "Bunny? That's what we're going with?"

She nodded and unlocked the door, walking in and leaving the door open for Roy to follow. She tossed the keys on the counter, rousing the sleeping child. "Hey there," Aiden whispered. "We're back. I can make dinner but if you want to go to bed then you can do that. You'll have to change into your jammies first."

Elicia yawned and snuggled further into Aiden's arms. "Bed."

"Pajamas first." She nodded slowly and Aiden knelt on the ground, motioning for the bag from Roy. He handed it to Elicia who immediately started off to the second bedroom she'd been to plenty of times before. "You got it?"

"Uh-huh," was the sleepy reply.

Aiden chuckled and stood up. When he heard the door click he looked at Aiden. "You're good with kids," he observed.

"I've had practice." Memories of Tristan and Jess claimed her mind followed shortly by newer and fewer memories of Ken and Annie, the orphans from the East. "And you're not so bad yourself. You helped me keep her entertained when I ran out of ideas."

"I hardly call giving a child sugar helping."

"Hey, it tired her out. I call that a win." She shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the rack. Roy did the same and they sat on the couch. Her body was tense for a moment before she sighed and slouched into the back of the couch. "What are we doing?"

"We're taking care of a child."

"Roy. What are we doing?"

There was sound as he too sighed and leaned into the couch. "I don't know," he admitted. "I've tried talking to you but you've always been coming or going. It's been two weeks, I'm sure you can imagine what kind of signal that sends."

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just..." Aiden sighed and ran a hand through her hair, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. His head was leaned onto the back of the couch, resting there while he stared at the ceiling. "I don't know... I know I have feelings for you, that much is evident. I just don't know how to act around you. For the longest time, I hid my feelings around you until I shouted them at the top of my lungs at Scar. And then you acted like nothing happened so I did too. Things were back to normal until..."

"Until I kissed you," he finished. Then he glanced at her. "But you kissed me back."

She nodded. "Yeah." The pair was silent for a moment until her head turned toward Roy. "Out of curiosity, what exactly drew you to me? What do you see in me?"

"I see that you care a lot about your friends and those who are close to you. You go out of your way to help orphans when no one else would. You put yourself between Scar and Edward, disregarding my order to stay put and held him in place long enough for backup to arrive. You saved my life twice now, once in Ishval and then again when Scar attacked me.

"And while others may not see it, I can see when you tell a joke to remove people from a bad situation, to make them think of something besides that terrible happening." He chuckled and shook his head. "I've lost count how many times you've done that to me. You ask me what I see and I tell you that I see how caring and protective you are. You're a fighter. And you'd do anything to keep your people safe."

At some point Roy had turned to stare at Aiden. Their eyes met and throughout his answer her eyes had grown wider. "That's what you really think?"

He reached out and cupped her cheek. "That and more."

Her cheeks reddened and immediately she turned away to hide the blush. In turn Roy scooted forward and gently grabbed her jaw to face him. The second she was facing him he kissed her and Aiden responded immediately. Just like last time warmth spread between them and he was reminded how soft her lips were. Her scent and taste alone was enough to short circuit his mind.

Before he had the chance to think more, or perhaps lose his senses further than he already had, he felt her pull away. He opened his eyes to ask why but she cut him off.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Her eyes shut tight to force away the tears she felt threatening to come up. It had to be done. "But I can't."

His voice came out soft, nearly a whisper. "Why?"

"Because you don't know me. There are things that I've never shared to you and while I understand that all people have secrets like that, these secrets..." Aiden looked up and met the black eyes that held her heart. "These secrets wouldn't allow you to see me in the same light. They would make you furious with me and I don't think I could handle that."

Roy's eyes slowly slipped downward and to his lap, mulling over her words. She took his silence as answer enough and stood from the couch before making her way to her room. "How do you know I'd be angry?" he asked. He didn't look over his shoulder.

Her eyes shut tight once more. "I don't. But I just can't take that chance."

"Alright. Then I'll wait."

Aiden whirled around, going through the words again and again. "You'll what?"

He stood from the couch, turned, and crossed the space between them. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and he brushed them away with his thumb. "I said I'll wait. I'll wait until you're ready to tell me."

"Roy, I -"

"Aiden. I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

Aiden stared into his eyes for a moment longer before sighing and nodding. He smiled softly as he stepped back and she almost walked straight back into his arms. Then he walked to the door and put on his coat. Roy smiled once more at Aiden and stepped out the door. And she was left staring at the damned piece of wood separating them once again.

Why did he have to say that? Why did he have to become so attached to me? Why did I have to love him? Why did I involve myself in the first place?

Aiden took off her glasses and glared at the blurry door as if it were to blame. Then she walked into her room and opened the journal. "I have to put aside my feelings. There's no place for love in war."

**********

Roy, poking Aiden with a stick: Look Aiden I know you're a paranoid lunatic but for the love of fuck please work with me here.

Aiden, crouched on top of her 7649831 trust issues and hissing: No!! No!!