Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters, and nor do I own the song "Merry Christmas, Darling". As some of my faithful readers know, I have a tendency to really get into the spirit of the holidays, especially Christmas and Valentine's Day since they both offer so many opportunities for the love stories I love to write! Thus, this is a new Roy/Riza Christmas story that is somewhat retrospective of "All I Want For Christmas is You" and "Let it Snow". Merry Christmas, all, and I hope you all enjoy it!

Glad that the day was finally over, Hawkeye sat down in the chair in front of her fireplace and stared into the flames that so reminded her of a certain daring and handsome officer. She and the others had had their own little annual Christmas party, and while it was true that she'd had a good time, it just didn't seem like Christmas without Mustang there to celebrate it with them, especially not after last year.

He'd promised her the previous year that they would spend Christmas evening together again and share another dinner. He'd even said that the entire meal would be on him, which she had been looking forward to all year just so that she could make fun of his lousy cooking. Unfortunately, their plans had been interrupted when he'd been called on an emergency mission to the East, where it seemed Fullmetal was causing much more trouble than he was worth. It seemed to be an easy enough mission, except that it would keep him away for an entire week, causing him to miss Christmas.

Of course, she couldn't say that she was sore about it. She knew that he had a job to do, and the only reason that the rest of them had Christmas off was because it had been so slow around the base for the past several months. There had been no uprisings, no rebellions, no nothing. In fact, that was part of what scared her. It had been almost a little too quiet, which was why she knew Mustang was glad he was going to get to see a little bit of action.

Well, wherever he was and whatever he was doing -- she thought to herself -- she hoped that he was well and knew that he was in her thoughts. It was still a bit disappointing that he couldn't be here with his friends for Christmas, duty or not, so Hawkeye leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes as she sent him a little Christmas wish, a kind of mental Christmas card. Maybe, just maybe, he would receive it.

Greeting cards have all been sent

The Christmas rush is through

But I still have one more wish to make

A special one for you

Hawkeye had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had fallen asleep after closing her eyes, and she found herself in that exact room exactly one year earlier. She was wearing a most lovely red velvet dress, her hair down, and a smile on her face as she and Mustang ate their Christmas dinner. It had taken every bit of nerve she had in her body to ask him over, and when he'd actually accepted, she wasn't sure how she was going to be able to handle it.

It turned out, however, that they'd had a very pleasant evening that ended with his arms around her as they stared out at the snow, gentle music rising up to them from the apartment below hers, "Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we've no place to go, let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!"

Mustang smiled as he whispered, "There may be a cruel world out there waiting for us, but for now…let it snow."

It had been at that moment that her heart began to race faster than it ever had in her life, and she let herself rest in his capable, strong arms as they listened to the music for a couple of hours more. Just before he got up to leave, she whispered sleepily, "Merry Christmas, Roy."

Merry Christmas Darling

We're apart that's true

But I can dream and in my dreams

I'm Christmas-ing with you

Just after she'd whispered those words, her dream quickly switched to the party she'd just left. She was sitting in a chair in the corner, watching as Breda and Havoc decided to have a drinking contest with the eggnog, Armstrong displayed his still bulging muscles to a very frightened Fuery, and Falman tried his best to save him.

Finally, she heard Havoc call, "Hey, Hawkeye! At least get over here and have some eggnog! You don't have to try to out-drink us, but at least have some fun! Gods, you're always wound so tightly! Let loose a little for the holidays!"

When she got over to them at the drink table, Breda nudged his friend in the side and said jokingly, "Come on, Havoc. Don't tease her. You know she's not going to let go, especially now that Mustang's gone for the week. She'll be depressed until he gets back, which is all the more reason for us to get her smashed!"

"Gentlemen!" Armstrong bellowed. "Leave the lieutenant alone! She'd much rather gaze at my gape-worthy lineage handed down through all the Armstrong men for centuries! There's nothing like a handsome man to take a woman's mind off of another!"

This was perhaps the one thing that could have made her laugh, and to say that she was "cracked up" would have been an understatement. Seeing all of them around in their natural habitat this way, acting like their natural selves, made her see them all in a new light all of a sudden. "Thank you all for the laugh," she said. "This has been fun, but I should get home. Black Hayate is probably starved for his Christmas ham by now. I'll see you all in a couple of days."

"Well wait a minute, lieutenant," Fuery said. "We haven't been able to give you your present yet."

She raised an eyebrow, expecting a gag gift of some kind, and was surprised when he returned with a little box wrapped in nice paper with a cute little green bow on top. Still wary, however, she opened it carefully to find a leather gun holster with her full name engraved on it and ammo clips to put on it. Of course, this gift (being so cliché) made her laugh again and she said, "Thank you, everyone. It's very sweet. I'm sure I'll get to use this a lot with the new year coming around."

Holidays are joyful

There's always something new

But every day's a holiday

When I'm near to you

Hawkeye was suddenly awoken to Black Hayate licking her hand, wanting to be petted and paid attention to. She smiled and scratched behind his ears saying, "You spoiled brat. You're just a big baby, you know that? I'll bet you enjoyed that ham too. You sure at it a lot faster than that turkey last year. Maybe that will be our new Christmas tradition. You and I will have our own ham every Christmas. What do you think?"

He just lifted his head so that she could scratch his hand, and she took that as a yes. As she continued petting him, she looked over to the corner to see her tree burning brightly. She'd done it all herself, as usual, and decorated it with white lights, ornaments she'd collected over the years, and an angel she'd purchased especially for this year. She didn't want to say that Mustang's approval meant the most to her, but she'd hoped that he would get to see the tree she'd decorated so beautifully this year.

She then turned back to the fire and instantly saw his face there. She could hardly count the number of times she'd seen his face illuminated by fire, normally fire he'd created himself, and how debonair he looked at those times. Somehow just staring there at that fire made her miss him even more all of a sudden.

The lights on my tree

I wish you could see

I wish it every day

The logs on the fire

Fill me with desire

To see you and to say

As she sat there and let Black Hayate rub his head against her hand, there was a gentle rapping at the door. There was that gag gift they'd decided to spring on her, she thought as she got up to answer. "I'm coming!" she called. "This better not be anything too heartless, gentlemen, or I'll bust you all back down to buck private!"

When she opened the door, however, instead of finding some cruel joke concocted by her colleagues, she instead found a very handsome, dark-haired man in a suit and tie, smiling as he bowed and said, "Merry Christmas, Riza."

Her eyes went wide, and it took her a minute to regain her composure as she said, "Roy! I thought you were going to be gone until next week!"

He laughed as he stepped inside and replied, "Well, that isn't exactly the response I was expecting. I was kind of hoping for a 'Roy, I'm so glad to see you!' or 'Merry Christmas to you too, Roy!' But, that works, too."

"Oh!" she said, suddenly realizing that what she'd said sounded completely rude. She then hugged him tightly, her excitement rising again. "I'm sorry! I was just surprised! I really am glad to see you."

"I was hoping you would be," he said, revealing a bottle of wine he'd brought. "Remember, I said that dinner was on me this year. I thought we'd have a glass and then get going."

"Get going?" she asked.

He chuckled as he brought out the wine glasses and said, "Surely you didn't take that to mean that I was going to cook. If I wanted to kill you, I'd do it a much less painful way. Go get dressed; we have reservations."

She smiled and hurried into her bedroom to put on the same red dress from the year before. After a quick glass of wine, they headed out to the restaurant, and as they sat over the candlelit table, Mustang took her hand and said again, "Merry Christmas, Riza."

"Merry Christmas, Roy," she replied. "I guess my wish for both of us came true."

That I wish you a merry Christmas

Happy New Year, too

I've just one wish

On this Christmas Eve

I wish I were with you

I wish I were with you