Author's Note: Perhaps amusingly, this one was written months after Catching Rainbows even though they were scheduled to be posted in this order. While they are both camping stories, I think I like placing them together because of how much it illustrates the differences between the Brothers and other people: in this case, Roy and family. Enjoy. We get back to high adventure in the next story. Promise!
July 22nd, 1942
"Roy Mustang, what is this?" Riza looked at the pile of miscellaneous items scattered across her normally tidy living room. The dogs milled about, sniffing at the well-worn items and Maes was digging eagerly through the mess. Their almost-thirteen year old son looked absolutely enthralled.
Roy looked up from where he was inspecting a rucksack. "Camping equipment!" He replied with a grin as though it weren't obvious. He looked far too excited.
Riza sighed and shook her head. This was going to be good. "I can see that. What is it for?"
"I thought we'd all go camping this weekend. You know, as a family," Roy responded. It had been a long time since Riza had seen him so excited about something.
"Can we, Mom?" Maes looked up at her with the same pleading dark eyes as his father. "It would be fun! Dad says he knows a great camping spot too."
How could she say no to both of those faces? Riza smiled and resigned herself to the situation. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy camping. It just wasn't something she had ever expected Roy to suggest as a family activity. "Of course we can go."
"Yay!" Maes went back to looking through the stuff with renewed vigor.
"Don't worry, I've got everything under control," Roy assured her. "I pulled all this stuff out of the closet. Some of it looks practically new."
Riza smirked. "That would be because you've almost never used it." She surveyed the items critically. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Roy shook his head. "I don't think so."
"There's no tent," she pointed out.
At that, Roy snorted a laugh. "We're roughing it, like in survival training."
"Did you pass survival training?" She was being mostly sarcastic, but it wasn't an invalid question considering her husband's lack of most common sense day-to-day skills.
"Of course I did. I survived didn't I?" Roy glared at her indignantly out of his good eye.
Riza gave in and began looking through the one pack he had already filled then looked around the pile again. "No matches. No flashlight. No food."
"I said roughing it," Roy pointed out.
This did not bode well, and it was clear that Roy really wanted to do things his way.
"Let's do it Dad's way," Maes pleaded. "It was his idea. We've never done something like this before."
It hurt to hear the words, but it was the truth. With Roy's position for the last twenty-plus years – longer than Maes had been part of their lives – they had never had time for a real family vacation that was not somehow related to politics and diplomacy, though Roy had often taken them both with him on such trips.
Riza sighed. "Fine, but I'm packing my own bag." At least one of them was going to be prepared for the eventualities she was sure would come up.
July 27th, 1942
The campsite Roy had picked out was a couple of days outside of Central, and several miles up into some steep hills. There was a small lake up there, good ground, and very few tourists. They took the train to the nearest town and caught a ride out to the beginning of the trail.
Roy was almost as confident about this trip as he had assured Riza he was. In truth, other than his survival training, he had almost no experience with this kind of thing. That was part of why he had always wanted to do it; something he had missed out on as a kid by not having a regular family and childhood.
"How long is the trail again?" Maes asked Riza who had pulled out the map and was looking at it intently.
"Seven miles," Riza replied matter-of-factly. She began explaining some of the details of the trail, but Roy found himself distracted admiring his wife. She had pulled out her old military fatigues for this – the ones meant for the field – and they still fit beautifully. Roy could look at her in that snug black shirt all day. Her pants and boots looked just as well taken care of and fit just as well. Her hair was up the way she used to wear it all the time, and sometimes still did. Though she wore it down much more often now, even if it was pulled back. Roy could have admired her all day.
"All right, let's go." Maes grinned and started off up the trail.
"Did you get all that?" Riza looked at Roy.
He grinned confidently. "Of course I did."
Seven miles later, Roy had learned the consequences of his inattention and in picking this particular campsite. The trail was steeper than he had expected, with a lot more bends and turns and ups and downs. There had been a nettle patch at the bottom of one turn that was invisible until they came around the turn itself. They had paused while Riza cleaned the itchy, bleeding scratches that Roy got on his left hand when he caught himself sliding on loose rock and hit the nettle patch. Then there had been an angry porcupine that had nearly chased him up a tree before Riza startled it off by firing a blank shot. Why she had brought her gun, Roy really had no idea. He hadn't even known she'd packed it until she pulled it! Roy had been glad to escape that encounter unscathed.
He was panting hard when they reached the campsite; his lungs burned and he had a stitch in his side. It had been a long time since Roy had done anything like this and, while he had always kept in shape, this type of activity was entirely different from what he was used to and required a different type of endurance.
"This is great!" Maes was grinning excitedly as he dropped his pack under a tree and looked out at the small lake ringed with pine trees. "We're the only ones here."
"With that trek, I'm surprised anyone comes up here," Roy grumbled as he dropped his pack next to his son's. Still, he wasn't going to complain about his aches and pains and ruin everyone else's fun. The enjoyment on his son's face made it worth the trouble of getting up here. "Now, the fun starts."
"Now, we set up camp," Riza corrected as she slipped off her own pack and surveyed the area. "We'll need shelter, a cooking pit, firewood, and food, and we'll need it all before dark."
"That's hours off," Roy scoffed and grinned at his wife. "What's your hurry?"
"It's going to rain," Riza replied matter-of-factly; no-nonsense as always. "And I doubt you want to sleep soaking wet."
Roy looked up at the sky. There were a couple of fluffy white clouds scudding across, but nothing that looked ominous. "It doesn't look like rain."
Riza just gave him a 'shows-how-much-you-know' look and shrugged. "Have it your way then, Dear. It's your trip."
"Are you sure, Dad?" Maes looked up at Roy. "Mom sounds like she knows what she's talking about."
"And I don't?" Roy gave his a son a mildly-offended look.
Maes grinned cheekily. "Frankly, no."
"All right smart-ass," Roy cuffed his son playfully across the back of the head. "Then how about we go catch dinner? I'll bet there's plenty of fish in that lake."
"Don't take too long," Riza called as they headed off towards the water. "Don't you want some fishing line?"
Roy shook his head and kept walking. "We'll be fine. I'm going to show Maes how to catch fish the way we did it in survival training."
"How's that?" Maes asked curiously.
Roy grinned. "With your bare hands."
Or perhaps they had actually used sticks and twine and bent metal for hooks, Roy thought about three hours later as he huddled, miserably soaked, under a surprisingly water-tight shelter made of sticks and fallen branches and leaves. Riza had erected it while he and Maes failed to catch fish. Roy had gotten frustrated, but Maes had apparently had a blast chasing after the fish and, once, attempting to blast them out of the water with a little alchemy. That hadn't worked too well either, and scared all the fish away.
The storm had moved in as summer showers often do – strong and fast – and Roy and Maes had both gotten soaked running back to the campsite in nothing but their shirts and shorts, having pulled off long pants to avoid getting them wet. The irony was that now everything was soaked.
Roy stared out through the steady downpour to where Riza was crouched over the fire pit, manually lighting the fire that Roy had been unable to light with alchemy thanks to the weather. She worked with diligent patience, comfortably dry under the old military issue poncho she had packed in her bag.
Maes was sitting next to her in a similar poncho. Riza, in her infinite planning wisdom, had packed more than one. As Roy watched, curled up in one of the old wool blankets that Riza had also thought to pack, Maes turned and came back through the rain to the lean-to. "Mom's got another poncho if you want it, Dad," he grinned, looking a little smug. "You sure you don't want it?"
"I'm fine," Roy growled and sniffed. He hated getting wet. "How's the fire coming?" He would come out when there was some way of getting warm and dry. Riza had built the fire and the lean-to under the trees where the ground had actually stayed reasonably dry.
"It's lit," Maes replied. "Mom's cooking dinner now."
"Dinner?" Roy had not been allowed to see what was in Riza's pack, so he had no idea what she had brought. "What is it?"
"You'll have to join us to find out," Maes laughed as he turned and darted back over to the fire. Well, at least the boy was having a good time. Once more, Roy resolved to keep trying to enjoy the experience. Camping was something he had always wanted to do as a boy, but he had never had the opportunity. It was also something that he had discovered in the military that he was actually pretty bad at. His survival instincts were good, but they did not automatically translate into useful basic skills. Riza had made him and Maes go gather more firewood beyond what she had gathered together despite the rain, and Roy had realized he had absolutely no idea how to tell dry wood from fresh if it didn't have leaves on it, or how to find wood that was not totally soaked or would still burn even if it was wet on the outside. Even Maes had proven to be better at it.
Maes was the important part of this whole experience though. Roy wanted his son to have good memories of his childhood and his family, and to know without doubts that his parents loved him and put him above the daily duties that had made Roy break a lot of promises of time and events with his only child over the years. The guilt of each of those would never really leave him, and he didn't want it to. It was a small price to pay for ball games not played, or school events missed in the name of national security or yet another boring-but-essential Assembly meeting.
His son really seemed to be having a good time. Not just in spite of the weather, but perhaps because of it. Maes actually enjoyed the raw weather, toughing things out and trying something completely new. Riza seemed to be having a good time as well, much to Roy's surprise. But then, he had always known – though would rarely admit – that she was certainly the more capable of the two of them. She always seemed to know what needed doing in a situation, and how to do it herself. Riza was good at taking care of them, just as she had taken care of her father – Roy's alchemy teacher – when Roy had first met her.
Riza was waving in his direction. Reluctantly, Roy stood up and dropped the blanket, leaving it in the lean-to so it would stay dry for later, and darted across the intervening space to where Riza and Maes were huddled around the fire.
"What's this?" Roy looked down into the cooking pan that Riza had apparently brought. It looked interesting. He saw mushrooms, wild onions, a couple of other herb looking plants he thought he had seen in their kitchen at home, and some white lumpy dough looking things.
"Dumpling stew," Maes grinned, handing him a spoon. There were no bowls, just the one high-sided pan, but Roy was not about to complain!
"How did you manage all this?" Roy asked, honestly impressed as he took a spoonful, blew on it several times, and stuck it in his mouth. It was good! Of course, after all that hiking, he suspected shoe leather might taste almost edible.
"The mushrooms, onions and herbs are all local," Riza replied as she set the pan off the fire and onto a tall flat rock that served as a reasonable table. She and Maes started eating too. "I have a bag of flour in my sack."
"How is that not cheating?" Roy asked her, smirking.
Riza met his smirk with a smug little smile of her own. "The first rule of survival: never go anywhere unprepared, especially not if you have advanced warning." Which explained the items she had brought that Roy hadn't: ponchos, two wool blankets, a tarp, a first aid kid, flour apparently, the cooking pan. Now Roy wondered what else she had brought but not mentioned. Still, Riza had managed the entire camp set up without these things. Once again, he admitted begrudgingly, she had proven herself smarter than he was; at least when it came to foresight and planning.
"This is really tasty, Mom," Maes ate eagerly, barely blowing on each spoonful before swallowing. "How did you know what was safe to eat?"
Riza was still smirking as she responded. "Survival training."
After dinner, they huddled around the fire until it got low, then Roy helped cover it to keep the ashes dry for tomorrow morning. At least he knew enough about fire to help that much around the site! Then the whole family cuddled up under the pup tent shaped lean-to. Fortunately, Riza had made it wide enough for three people to lie down in. The tarp had gone to line the bottom and keep them dry, and Maes wrapped up in one of the wool blankets while Roy and Riza shared the other.
Roy was very glad he had at least determined that packing extra clothing was a reasonable allowance on the trip, and changed into dry pants, thick socks and a dry shirt before curling up with Riza, who was dressed dry and warm and whose body was much warmer than his because of it. He didn't care to watch the rain as darkness fell, so they curled up with their feet toward the exit and their heads in the back, where Riza had actually put up a back wall as well as the sides.
Maes chose to lie the other way and watch night descend. "I like it," he said as he rolled up. "The sound of the rain is really soothing, you know? And I've never watched it get really dark before. There're always lights at home."
They lay in companionable silence for a while as it grew continually darker. The dark was not something that Roy had ever been afraid of, but it occurred to him that this was the first time in a very long time that he had been in a place he did not know, entirely unarmed. Oh sure, he had his alchemy, but in this weather it was only useful if he drew a circle somewhere dry enough to start a spark, and inside their wooden shelter was not the place to do it. He hadn't thought to ask what other wild animals might be out here, and he was privately glad that Riza had brought her gun. Not that he thought they would need it. No, of course not.
Eventually, the sound of even breathing told Roy that Maes was fast asleep.
"Roy," Riza spoke softly. Roy couldn't even see her, but with his arms around her body, he knew exactly where she was.
"What?" he asked just as quietly.
"Are you upset with me at all?" she asked. "I know you wanted to do this the hard way."
Roy smiled self-depreciatingly. It didn't hurt his pride to admit things in the dark. That might be why so many of their conversations over the years had taken place in bed at night. "No, I'm not mad," he replied honestly. "Even if I have been shown up in front of my only son by a mere woman."
There was a sharp jab in his stomach from her finger. "Very funny. I mean it."
"So do I," Roy stopped with the sardonic wit. "That I'm not mad I mean. If you weren't prepared, this would have been an absolute disaster. We'd be huddled under a tree, soaking wet, starving to death while my hand got infected from nettle stings."
"So are you admitting that I was right?" she asked, and Roy thought she sounded smug.
"Don't push your luck," Roy laughed quietly, but he softened only a moment later. "Yes, I am. I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for all the time and effort you've put into doing these things for me for years, and for Maes too."
"Maes is less work," Riza replied, though she definitely sounded touched and a little surprised by his honesty. "He's much more capable than you are."
"I noticed," Roy replied proudly. He was glad to know his son had inherited his mother's resourcefulness and common sense. If he had inherited Roy's the boy would have been in serious trouble.
"I'm glad we did this," Riza said after several seconds. "Even if it didn't turn out the way you planned, I'm having a good time."
"You are?" Roy had thought so, but he hadn't wanted to assume.
"I enjoy living simply," Riza nodded; Roy could feel her move slightly. "Our life is comfortable, but I like getting my hands dirty and doing things for myself when I have the opportunity."
"So I should fire the cleaning service and the gardeners?" Roy teased. They had actually been Riza's idea in the first place, given how little time they'd had for basic household things a lot of the time. Of course, Roy probably would have hired a full time cook too on his salary if Riza hadn't insisted that they could certainly handle some elements of living on their own. That meant that usually Riza cooked. Roy was hopeless in the kitchen. About the best he could hope for was to follow directions for sticking something in the oven for a couple of hours on the rare occasions he was home first.
"Only if you want to start doing all that work," Riza chuckled. They both knew what a disaster that would be. Roy hated doing laundry and picking up after other people. Picking up after himself was pain enough. "Though we could certainly do more ourselves around the house now and more things like this now that we have a little more time."
"That was the whole point of me dropping Amestris on Breda," Roy replied. "What's the use of giving myself room to breathe again if I don't actually do it?"
"And here I had been worried I'd have to pry you out of the office," Riza said, sounding pleased with his answer. "I'm proud of you." He felt her breath near his face only moments before she kissed him.
Roy returned the kiss. Yes, they definitely needed to do this more often!
July 28th, 1942
Perhaps bringing cots would not have been so bad. Not that Roy slept badly curled up next to his wife, but the hard ground was enough to make his joints remind him rather loudly the next morning that he was not as young as he liked to insist he still was. Denial was a happy place. He ached all over and when the sun came up, he rolled up further in the blanket and went back to sleep when Riza slipped out of their little impromptu bed.
He would have napped there until much later except that he felt Maes' hand on the blankets after a while, shaking him. "Get up, Dad. Mom's making breakfast and she wants us to help."
"Unless it involves flambéing something," Roy grumbled, but rolled over, "I doubt I'm going to be much help."
"Oh come on, Old Man," Maes laughed. "You give up too easily."
"What did you call me?" Roy came fully awake all at once, sitting up and almost knocking Maes over with the suddenness of his movements. He winced as his upright motion was heralded by several loudly – and painfully - popping joints.
Maes looked mildly sympathetic, though he was still smiling. "Mom wants us to pick berries. She saw some yesterday while she was gathering firewood."
"Oh, yum," Roy commented sarcastically. "Berries. What's next, nuts?"
"She also saw a pecan tree," Maes' grin broadened. "She collected a bunch of them."
"And what is she planning to make with these?" Roy sighed as he stood up and came out of the lean-to, stretching more fully.
"Pancakes."
Suddenly breakfast sounded a whole lot more appetizing. "Well let's go," Roy dragged his boots back on. "We shouldn't keep your mother waiting!"
Maes laughed at him as he followed behind, but Roy didn't mind. Now that he was awake, it really was a pretty morning. The rain had moved out sometime during the night, and everything was covered in bright sparkling dew. The sky was clean and cloudless blue, the surface of the lake lightly ruffled from the cool morning breeze that cut through the warmth of the sun.
They found the berries. There were two kinds actually: blueberries and blackberries. "Which do you think Mom wants?" Maes asked. "She didn't say."
"Then we pick both," Roy grinned, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and folding it easily into a carry sack by tying the ends together.
"Hey neat," Maes commented appreciatively. "I thought you didn't have any useful camping skills."
"Learned this in basic training," Roy smirked as he started picking blueberries. "Great for biscuits when they don't give you time to finish shoveling down breakfast."
They stuffed the impromptu cloth sack with as many berries as they could then returned to camp, where Riza had the fire going and dough made up.
"I'm amazed there were any left," Riza teased as she mixed the berries into the batter with the shelled pecans. "I thought you would have eaten them all."
"Give us some credit," Roy complained.
"Yeah, we only ate half," Maes chuckled as he dropped down next to the fire with a limber ease that made Roy a little jealous. He tried to sit down with graceful ease but managed dignified at best. At least this time nothing popped.
Breakfast proved to be as satisfactory as dinner had been the night before. "You two are responsible for finding everything for lunch and dinner," Riza tasked them when they were done. "And for cleaning out this pan. This is a vacation and I don't plan to do all the work."
"Yes ma'am," Roy and Maes chorused. Neither was going to argue with the family matriarch!
They took the pan down to the lake and washed it, then Roy humbly accepted Riza's offer of fishing line and hooks. After that he and Maes found a couple of fairly bendy, long sticks out in the woods and rigged up fishing poles. It didn't take them long to figure out how to prop them up using rocks either.
"Now this is what I call work," Roy chuckled as he lay back on the grass, folding his hands beneath his head. "I could do this all day."
"From what some of your friends say, I thought napping was what you did at work," Maes dared to tease him a little. He had heard enough stories to know that his father was not always the bear he could be at work, or even at home when he was in a bad mood and under stress. Apparently, he had been under a lot of stress for most of Maes' life. He understood that, and he respected his father for all the hard work he had put into making Amestris what it was now. Still, Maes was hoping now that some of that burden was lifted, he would see a little bit more of the legendary Colonel Mustang that he heard about whenever friends of the family had get-togethers. Sara Elric's dad certainly always had some colorful tales to tell! President Breda did too, and his Dad's other friends. The Roy Mustang that Maes saw at home always seemed tired though, and bothered by things, as if a burden had rested on him. Lately, that was lessened and Maes was doing his best to prod some of the father he remembered from even when he was very small back out of his Dad.
His father cracked his eye open again and gave Maes a look. "Subordinates have a way of exaggerating the truth."
"Even when all their stories match up?" Maes chuckled, daring to push just a little further when his father didn't get angry or bark at him.
"I think you've been spending too much time over at the Elrics'," Roy sighed.
Maes shrugged. Sara was his best friend. They did alchemy together and hung out a lot in general even though they were too old to really play anymore. Not that it stopped them from entertaining Sara's little brothers sometimes. "Well what would you expect me to do?" he countered.
"Nothing," Roy admitted. "I'm glad you feel comfortable over there." Roy watched his son as they talked. He was actually enjoying the conversation, even with Maes' daring remarks. He was glad to hear them actually; to know that his son didn't fear him and didn't mind playing around a little. He had spirit, but he didn't take things too far. The last question brought Roy up a little short though. What else would he expect Maes to do? Ed's house was always full of life, with people coming and going and plenty to do. Unlike at home, where Roy spend a lot of his time in his office even there. Maes didn't have any siblings to spend time with. The dogs certainly didn't count as company.
"They treat me like family," Maes admitted, smiling. "It's kind of like having a whole lot of siblings I don't have to share a room with and who never mess with my stuff."
"Do you ever… wish you had a brother or sister?" Roy swallowed. It wasn't a question he had ever dared to ask Maes until now. Most small kids did at some point in their lives as far as he knew, but Maes had never asked why he didn't have any, and Roy had not been brave enough to bring up the topic.
"Sure," Maes shrugged casually. "But I knew that wasn't ever going to happen. I mean, I know how hard it was on Mom to have me. I didn't want her to suffer like that again, and you and Mom are, well, older than most of the parents of my friends," he said the last hesitantly, as if he expected Roy to be insulted. "So once I knew how it worked, I knew it would probably never happen."
It was a very mature answer. "We'd have liked to have been able to give you that," Roy admitted softly. Of course, they had waited so long and a lot of that was Roy's fault. He knew that.
Maes smiled. "I know, Dad. Don't feel bad about it. It means I get you and Mom all to myself."
Roy couldn't help smiling back. "I guess that's one way to look at it."
"Most of my friends at school wish they had more time without having to share their space and folks with brothers and sisters," Maes leaned back too, though he rested against his elbows instead of lying all the way down. "That or they don't get how I can live in a house with so few people." From his tone, Roy guessed Maes thought that both groups didn't really understand. Maes chuckled then, proving him right. "So I tell them that; that it means I get you all to myself."
"How is school?" Roy asked after several quiet moments. It was out for the summer now, of course, but he so rarely had the chance to really talk like this with Maes, and it touched him deeply that Maes felt he could talk this easily with him.
"Orderly in the classroom and chaos anywhere else," Maes smirked. "Things got kind of weird this last year."
"Weird?" Roy scowled. "How so?"
Maes shrugged. "This year it was like all the boys decided that girls weren't gross anymore, and all the girls decided that guys should be stared at and giggled over."
Ah yes, that kind of weird. Roy remembered that well enough. He had rather enjoyed it himself. "And where do you fall?" he smirked.
Maes blushed slightly. "I never thought girls were gross," he pointed out, sounding mildly defensive. "Sara would kill me!"
Roy chuckled. "Getting killed by a girl would ruin your reputation before you even get to high school."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Maes laughed, though he sounded a little nervous. "But I think it's weirder being one of the guys the girls keeping giggling about."
"That would be the curse of genetics," Roy laughed. "Your mother's gorgeous and I've never had any girl complain," he added the last with a knowing grin.
"What should I do about it?" Maes asked, surprisingly earnest.
Now this was something Roy knew something about. "Smile, be polite, and don't make any promises you can't keep," he replied easily. "If you're interested, say so. If you're not, let them down easy; but always be a gentleman."
"Did you follow those rules?" Maes asked suspiciously. "Or only after you met, Mom?"
"Always," Roy replied truthfully. "What that means to some girls is different than to others of course," he admitted, "but treat them with respect. You'll get farther." He realized how that might sound only as his son's face turned bright red, and Roy couldn't help chuckling. Maes was saved from having to reply as both of their lines started dancing at once. Roy sat up and reached for his fishing pole. "Looks like you're off the hook," he teased as he hauled on the line.
Maes glared at him and then focused on bringing in his fish too. Within seconds, they had two fat bass flopping on the ground. "Hey Dad, do you know how to skin these?"
Roy shrugged a little helplessly. "Honestly, I have no idea."
Hot pan-seared bass and another pile of fresh berries made a great lunch. Then after cleaning up from lunch, they all went for a much shorter hike than the one the day before, just around the lake itself. It was fun and relaxing. Riza, with her still-excellent eye sight spotted fifteen different types of birds and a family of deer hiding in the brush beneath the trees.
"Look, Dad," Maes finally spotted something first. "Up there!" He pointed into the trees, and they all saw a sleeping opossum.
"Good eye," Roy had to squint to see it clearly. Great, down one eye as it was and now the other was going! He'd look a complete fool with a monocle, but a full set of eye glasses didn't make sense either. At least it was things mostly at a distance so he didn't have any trouble reading.
Riza also showed them how to identify the herbs and mushrooms she had located the other evening. "Fortunately none of the mushrooms around here are the wrong kinds. So there's no worry of mistaking them."
"What would the wrong kind do?" Maes asked curiously.
Roy snorted. "You'd either end up sick enough to wish you were dead for a day or so, or they'll leave you hallucinating so bad you won't know down from sideways and then you'd be sick enough to wish you were really dead."
Maes looked more than a little startled. "Yeah, I think I'll let Mom do the foraging. It sounds a lot safer."
"Now you know my real trick to survival," Roy winked at Maes behind Riza's back as she stopped to sniff at a small patch of wildflowers as lightly golden as her hair.
"I heard that," Riza replied without even glancing back their way. "Don't forget that dinner is your duty tonight too."
"What will you be doing?" Roy asked.
Riza chuckled, smiling brightly as she turned to face them. "Enjoying myself!"
As it turned out, they all did some more of that. When they got back to camp Roy and Maes did a little more fishing. Once more, they caught two fish, though these were smaller. "Good enough for stew," Roy declared them. Then while food was cooking in the pan on the coals near the fire, they all went for a relaxing swim. Or at least, Maes and Riza swam. After the first evening, Roy was not in a hurry to get cold and wet again. But he enjoyed watching Riza – who had brought a swim suit, much to his regret – who swam back and forth near where he lounging on the shore, her strokes smooth and even as she seemed to move effortlessly through the water. Maes tried to match her, but while his form was good, he wasn't quite as efficient. They ended up the swim with a boy-versus-mother race that Riza won by a solid couple of body lengths.
"Wow, Mom," Maes panted as he waded out of the water and collapsed on the shore, breathing hard. "You're good!"
"I keep in practice," Riza chuckled as she followed him out of the water and sat down between the two men, her legs stretched out in front of her.
"I'll say," Roy eyed her appreciatively, having to turn his head to do it. He made no effort to hide the fact that he was enjoying the view. "You look cold. Need someone to warm you up?"
"Okay, if you two get physical I'm hiking home." Maes made a gagging noise from the other side of Riza.
"I thought you liked girls," Roy laughed, teasing his son.
Maes shuddered. "There's a difference between thinking girls are cute and sitting around having to listen to you do that with my mother!"
"Will you two stop it?" Riza shook her head. "Boys."
"Hey!" Roy and Maes chorused their objection in unison.
Riza laughed. "Dinner should be ready by now. Anybody hungry?"
"Starved!" Maes jumped up and ran towards the fire.
Riza gave Roy an amused glance. "And what about you?"
Roy smirked. "I'm good with the view. I think I can survive on love alone, no matter what ancient philosophers say."
Riza stood up again, standing over him briefly. "We'll see if you're still saying that in a few hours if you don't eat now. You'll need your energy." She winked at him, surprisingly playful out here, away from the strains and proprieties of life in Central. Just as she had been the perfect Lieutenant, she was the consummate officer's wife. Out here, she was just his Riza.
Dinner was surprisingly satisfying and Roy felt good at knowing that he had, for once, actually had some real part in making it. He wasn't great at gutting fish, but it was definitely tastier than if he had just charred it black with a quick snap of his fingers.
Afterwards they headed back down to the lakeshore and watched the stars come out. The moonlight bounced off the lake.
"You never see anything like this at home!" Maes stared up in awe as he lay on his back in the grass. He had dragged out one of the wool blankets and was lying on it. "It's beautiful, like millions of specks of sugar."
"How poetic," Riza smiled. She and Roy had lain down on the ground with the other blanket, a little apart from their son. Her head was pillowed on Roy's right shoulder, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"It's alchemy," Roy chuckled, "Chemical reactions putting off so much energy in heat and light that we can see it from immeasurable distances."
Riza sighed, but Roy noticed that she looked mildly amused. "Don't you ever think about anything else?"
"I think about you," Roy replied softly, as if that weren't obvious. "Isn't that enough?"
Riza tilted her head slightly, her eyes catching the starlight, and her hair almost luminescent under the moon. Roy's breath caught. Her answer was a soft, lingering kiss that left him feeling warm. "You know something," she said in a near whisper. "I've always wanted to do this with you."
"Always?" Roy asked. He remembered far too well the thousands of exasperated sighs and irritated glares he had received from this very woman over the years, especially when she was still technically his subordinate.
"Even teenage girls have daydreams about handsome dark haired older boys," Riza actually giggled, such a rare sound that Roy wasn't sure he had heard right. "Especially the ones they find aggravating at the same time."
Well there was a small punch to the ego. Roy flashed his best for-the-ladies grin. "What can I say; I make women's wildest dreams come true."
"There's only one woman you'd better be concerned with," Riza replied in that 'don't-argue-with-me' tone.
Roy grinned wickedly and rolled over quickly, pinning her to the ground. "You know I like it when you get authoritative."
"That explains why you're constantly trying to piss me off and make me yell at you isn't it?" Riza laughed quietly. "And here I thought you liked your women youthful and willing."
"I do," Roy kissed her again. "You haven't aged a day since you hit perfection."
Riza actually blushed in the darkness as they kissed; the change in her skin tone barely visible in the moonlight. Then she glanced off to Roy's left. "What about Maes?" she asked.
Roy turned his head all the way and glanced over to his left. Maes had rolled up in his blanket and appeared to be out cold. "Fast asleep," he grinned, turning his attentions back to the extremely attractive woman underneath him. "That means tonight I can endeavor to surpass your fantasies."
"You did that by managing not to cut yourself gutting that fish," Riza laughed, but was cut off as he kissed her more forcefully. Neither of them spoke again for quite some time.
Maes wasn't actually asleep yet, but he had no intention of letting his parents know that fact! They worked hard and had so little time to themselves at home, and he didn't want to intrude on their private moments. He was glad he was curled up in the blanket though, for the muffled protection it offered from the noises coming from behind him. At home, the house had thick walls and his room was further down the hallway, so he had never really had to listen to what he knew went on in his parents' bedroom in those late hours when they were actually alone together. Though he heard enough stories from Sara and Aldon about the sounds that came out of their parents' bedroom some nights! It made Maes blush, just a little, as he tried to ignore his parents. With the crickets, a few bullfrogs, and the occasional owl, he could almost pretend that what he heard was nothing more than the wind in the trees. If nothing else, it was nice to know his parents still loved each other very much. Maes clamped his eyes shut and made a determined effort to actually fall asleep.
August 2nd, 1942
A couple of days later they were all back in Central and life had pretty much returned to normal. The hike back through the hills had been made in much better spirits, and Roy had managed not to injure himself again or irritate the local wildlife. When he walked into the office the day after they got home, he was greeted with the usual hellos and a lot of curious faces.
"So," Falman asked with a grin. "How was your little vacation?"
"Exciting?" Feury asked right on top of him.
"Or was it a disaster?" one of the brave Lieutenants dared to pipe up as Breda stuck his head out of his office.
Roy grinned at them all, noticing that Edward and Alphonse, apparently there to see Breda, hadn't made any suggestions. "Actually, we all had a really good time." It was surprisingly true. Despite the first day Roy had actually enjoyed himself. More importantly, Riza and Maes had fun, and they had been able to relax and spent time as a family.
There was a chorus of groans as Edward held out his hand, palm up. "All right, pay up guys!"
Why was Roy not surprised that there had been bets around the office about the trip? He sidled on over to Ed a couple of minutes later as the Fullmetal Alchemist was counting his winnings. "So what was the bet this go around?" he asked curiously.
Ed pocketed a nice little wad of cash. "I bet you'd actually have a good time."
"Even knowing how much I love the outdoors and spending days without running water and flush toilets?" Roy smirked.
"Actually," Ed laughed, "I figured it was a pretty sure bet that even if you didn't have a good time, you'd never tell the guys how miserable it really was since it was your idea in the first place."
Roy looked at Ed contemplatively for several long seconds as he fathomed the astounding insight and depths of that logic. Al, who was still standing next to Ed, was smiling broadly. Roy finally smiled too, because it was absolutely true. "Careful how you play your hand next time then, Edward, or you might find yourself sharked."
Ed met his gaze evenly. "I'll take my chances."