His yellow eyes were wide, locked onto the now limp body that collapsed onto the frozen ground. The purple mist dissipated, although the gray that hazed his vision was still present. Now frozen in disgust and dismay, he stared at the corpse that was not even a yard in front of him.

"Edward?" The voice of the shooter said his voice so gently, as if its owner hadn't just killed a man a moment before. Ed tore his gaze away from the corpse and looked up at Riza. She smiled a bit at getting a response, putting a hand on his shoulder "Do you feel okay?"

Ed nodded, only to be hit with a wave of nausea that felt like a punch in the gut. He slapped his flesh hand over his mouth, fighting to not vomit. Evidently, he failed, as he twisted away from the Lieutenant and puked all over the ground.

Riza gently pulled Ed's bangs over his face. And when Ed was done emptying his stomach, he was greeted by a not-so-happy voice.

"FullMetal, what the hell did I tell you?"

Ed snorted, rolling his eyes. He staggered to his feet, pushing Riza away when she leaned in to offer support. He put his hands on his hips looking his superior in the eye.

"Well, I caught him." Ed said smugly.

"He almost killed you." Roy retorted immediately. Ed's ego popped like a balloon, but he hid it quickly, crossing his arms over his chest and sticking his nose up in the air.

"I could've handled it." Ed said. Roy sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever you say FullMetal." As he spoke, the Colonel turned to give orders to Havoc, whom Edward had just noticed was there. Ed stubbornly refused to look at the body, staring straight ahead when a hand clapped onto his shoulder.

"Heya Ed! Good job finding the perp!" Hughes said loudly, leaning ever-so-slightly on Edward. The slight change of weight completely threw Ed off balance, sending him stumbling to the side. He didn't fall to the ground, however, as he was gently both pushed and pulled back to his feet. "Yeesh! Sorry, kid." Hughes said with a sheepish grin.

"Edward, are you sure you're alright?" Riza said on the other side of him.

"I'm FINE!" Ed spat, pushing them both away. His yelling attracted the attention of Mustang, who strolled his way over with no care in the world.

"Well he DID just almost get transmuted." he pointed out the obvious. Riza nodded instantly.

"True, Sir. Alright Edward, I'll take you the hospital. Come along."

"I don't NEED to go to the stinkin' hospita- urg…." Ed was cut off by another punch of nausea, stumbling again to his side where Riza was waiting to support him. Ed swallowed down some more vomit then hung his head in defeat "Fine I'll go to the stinkin' hospital…."

Riza nodded, smiling fondly. Her gaze then turned to Roy. "I trust you can handle this without me?" she said.

"You offend me." Roy pouted, crossing his arms over his chest "Yes, Lieutenant. We can take the rest of this ourselves."

Riza nodded "Alright Sir." she turned back to the boy "Let's go, Edward."

"Fine…." Ed said in a slur, leaning more of his weight on her. Riza grunted a bit, caught off guard by the extra weight, but said nothing. She gently guided him to a nearby car and loaded him in. "'M sure I'm fine, Lieutenant….Just…..a…..bit tired…" He yawned near the end of his sentence, and after the yawn he quickly fell asleep. Riza frowned, taking a quick moment or two to check his pulse and breathing just to make sure he was still alive. Upon verifying he wasn't in any immediate threat of dying, she stepped on the gas pedal and they were on there way.

Soon after, Ed was checked in, the situation explained, and the medical staff did their job.

The diagnosis: Ed had a cold.

"That's it?" Roy said with a slight snort "All those theatrics for a cold?"

"Well, his automail does play a hinderance on his immune system. So it's not impossible for him to get very sick very fast." Riza explained, reiterating what the Doctor had told her earlier. "They couldn't find anything else wrong with him, so that's really the only explanation."

Roy sighed, rubbing his face "Damn kid."

"Did he scare you, sir?" Riza said with a slight smile and tilt of her head. Roy immediately snapped back

"Of course not!"

Riza allowed herself a short chuckle "Of course, sir."

"Whatever." Roy mumbled. He sighed again, a look of annoyance settling over his features "...Alphonse is still out of town, isn't he?"

Riza nodded "I believe so."

"Well shit, I guess the kid's gonna have to stay in the hospital. Oh well-"

"He is definitely not staying in the hospital." A Doctor who's nametag read 'Lynn' interrupted Mustang, crossing her arms over her chest after walking into the room. "He has a cold, not a terminal illness. There's no reason for him to be taking up space here."

"Well his brother's not in town and there's no one else there to take care of him right now." Roy said slowly, as if explaining to a little kid "So he's going to stay in the hospital until his brother comes home."

"No. No he is not." Lynn said even slower, accenting each word for the Colonel.

"Okay, both of you stop." Riza sighed. "I'll take care of him until Alphonse comes back. So that solves that problem."

"Great." Lynn chirped, her tone shifting drastically "So if you'd excuse me, I got other patients to attend to." she turned on heel, trotting out of the room and into the hall.

Roy snorted "Nice lady." He shook his head, shifting his gaze to his Lieutenant "Are you sure you can handle him? You know how Ed can get."

Riza gave a curt nod "It's just until Alphonse gets back. I think I can hold out until then."

"You're the bravest soldier I have, Lieutenant."

She gave a salute "Thank you, sir."

A/N

And next chapter is when things start to get interesting. ;)