Author's Notes: This has been bouncing around in my head for a while and though there are a million other things I need to be writing (like the Promised Day daemon AU), I wanted to get this one out.

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Never will be.

"If you withhold love as a form of punishment, who is being punished?"
– Donald L Hicks

Rebecca knew that something was wrong the moment she looked at Hiroko. The normally friendly and bubbly German Shepherd daemon was refrained more than she'd ever seen before. Instead of bounding towards her and running around her in circles like she always did as a greeting, she slipped inside quietly and then heeled at Jean's side. It was an action that all canine daemons in the military were taught, trained in a way that mirrored their animal counterparts. Rebecca had only seen Hiroko act like that a handful of times, such as when they ran into her and Jean in Eastern HQ or the one time they were on a joint mission together.

To see Hiroko acting like a military trained canine now in a private setting put Rebecca in an uneasy state of mind. She focused on the dog daemon, unable to look anywhere else, and couldn't help but notice that Hiroko was looking at anything but Rebecca.

Orion's tail flickered against her thigh as he rubbed against her leg. He didn't need to say anything, out loud or in her mind, for her to feel a brush of comfort from him, telling her to be at ease. It could be nothing. After all, Jean's nervousness had a habit of bleeding into Hiroko. She'd thought it was rather endearing the way Hiroko would lie down and throw a paw over her eyes whenever Jean produced flowers or a teddy bear for her from behind his back.

Maybe it was something like that.

(But no, Rebecca knew. Orion was trying to assuage her fears, but he knew better than to directly lie to her. This was not Hiroko or Jean being nervous. This was Hiroko being distant, guarded, and closed off – something that she had never been with them, not even from the get go when all they did was argue.)

Instead of letting it get to her, Rebecca swelled up and walked into the kitchen. "You're a little early, so dinner isn't ready quite yet. You want something to drink?"

"Yes," Jean responded quickly, his voice sounding strangely desperate. When she glanced back, she caught a momentary look of guilt on his face before it vanished. "Ah, no."

She didn't miss the way Jean seemed to waver, his hand dropping to his side almost subconsciously so that Hiroko could bump her head into his palm. The two of them were incredibly close, as all people were with their daemons, but Rebecca thought that sometimes Hiroko took it upon herself to take care of Jean when he didn't realize he needed help. The touch brought some sort of peace to Jean. He blinked and the look in his eyes became more present than distant, still just as guarded as Hiroko's stance.

Rebecca turned away and placed her hands on the counter. She closed her eyes as Orion jumped onto the countertop and brushed against her. She had to fight the urge to dig her fingers into his fur in order to center herself. Oh, she wasn't stupid. She knew what this was, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, blame it on nerves, anything but this. The tension was thick in the air, radiating even more so from Orion than Jean and Hiroko, who were still standing by the front door. She could feel Orion's pain through their bond and when she opened her eyes, she saw his frustration in the flick of his tail and glint in his eyes.

Why? Things were going so well…

Orion didn't answer her. He just shook his head.

"You obviously have something to say." Rebecca spun around and folded her arms across her chest. She wanted to give them a flat stare, a blank look that said she didn't care – she wouldn't care – but she could not stop the heat from appearing in her brown eyes. "So say it."

Jean opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again, but nothing came out. Whenever he got like this, Hiroko always spoke up for him. She would roll her eyes, a playful dog grin on her face, and then say the words that he couldn't get out of his mouth. She'd done that for him when Jean had tried to honestly ask her out on a proper date the first time when all he'd been able to do was sputter a few words before nearly walking away. He would have if Hiroko hadn't bit his jacket and jerked him back.

Now though, Hiroko remained silent at his side, her rich brown eyes downcast. She looked so…sad. Everyone knew that canine daemons were some of the most expressive of daemons, and Hiroko was no different. She was trying her best to remain impassive, just as Rebecca was, but neither of them were doing a very good job. Orion didn't even bother hiding his irritation.

"Jean–"

"We need to break up," Jean said, the words pouring out of him like a rapid flood.

An awkward and tense silence settled over them. Rebecca and Jean stared at one another, Hiroko still looking at the ground determinedly and Orion glowering at her. It took a second, but once she really began to think about what Jean said, her stomach clenched sickly and her throat constricted as a torrent of emotions began to boil inside of her. It was only when Orion scoffed that Hiroko finally looked up, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Okay," Orion practically spat when Rebecca couldn't get anything out.

"We really don't want to!" Hiroko burst out. The laugh that came out of Orion was terribly caustic, no mirth in it whatsoever. The German Shepherd daemon actually flinched at the harsh sound of his laugh. Rebecca could feel Orion both closing up on himself and opening up to her. It was a strange feeling.

"It's just that–" Jean rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm being transferred to Central."

Orion leaped off the counter and began to pace the floor in front of her. He was a ball of anger, but Rebecca knew that was a front to hide any pain. He did not like to admit to being wounded, especially by a man and his goofy dog daemon. They'd been dumped before and Orion had always taken it coolly while Rebecca threw herself a pity party afterwards. He would rub against her and tell her that she was better than that guy, that she deserved better, that she would find love one day. Orion kept his distance with any guy she dated and their daemon, preferring to remain cool to her hot, but now…

Rebecca felt his anger, but more importantly, she felt his regret.

Orion had opened up to Jean in a way that he had never done before to anyone else besides her and Riza. He hadn't bonded so closely with another daemon since Riza and Wojciech were assigned as their roommates at the military academy. And he was furious that he had allowed himself to open up to being hurt, if only because he knew that the stronger his bond with another person and their daemon was, the stronger her feelings became for that person. It was a double edged sword that he'd tried to protect her from for so long.

"Under whose orders?" Rebecca finally managed to ask.

All it took was for Jean and Hiroko to shoot each other quick looks for both Orion and Rebecca to know, but was Orion who bared his teeth and growled, "Bloody Colonel Mustang."

"There's something serious going on in Central," Hiroko said, as if something going on in Central would mean shit to Rebecca or Orion when they were stuck in Eastern. "He needs people that he can trust."

"Bullshit," Orion snapped. "He needs people that he can use."

A terrible thought suddenly occurred to Rebecca. It was so sharp that she almost gasped and managed to hurt her just as much as Jean breaking up with her and leaving her high and dry, perhaps even more so. "He's taking Riza with him too, isn't he?"

Jean dropped his eyes again and nodded his head. "She's planning on calling you tonight."

"Wojciech even suggested asking you to go out for drinks," Hiroko added, a little bit of frustrated humor in her tone. "And you know how often she goes out with us for drinks."

Rebecca felt like all the air was sucked right out of her chest and the rug pulled out from under her feet. She unfolded her arms so that she could put a hand back on the counter and lean back against it so that her legs didn't buckle underneath her. Jean breaking up with her suddenly and leaving her… It sucked. It hurt. It pissed her off. But she could handle it. She had Orion after all. And while she'd had a long history with Jean, they'd only been officially dating for a month.

But Riza being taken away from her too? That was a low blow that she didn't know if she could handle without breaking down at least a little.

If she was being honest, Rebecca didn't have a lot of female friends. They were difficult to come by when you were in the military – and not working behind a desk. She didn't go to work and wear skirts and heels. Sure, nearly all of the personnel in the military went through training at the Academy, even the people that just ended up pushing papers and taking notes, but she'd come out looking to do more than that. She came off as abrasive and pushy (many would describe her personality as "bitchy" at best), and she didn't give a damn what people thought of her. Orion thought even less about other people, able to give the cold shoulder to anyone that he didn't like.

Then there was Riza. The quiet and unassuming girl with a huge ass scary wolf daemon that was assigned to be her roommate at the Academy. Rebecca hadn't known what to think of the other girl as she politely introduced herself and shook Rebecca's hand, not when Wojciech silently stood behind her and swept his eyes in a pretend-lazy manner through the room. There had been no hiding the sharp attentiveness of the wolf's eyes even back then, but sure as hell not now, not after the Ishval War. But that girl, for however different she and Rebecca were, had become not only her closest friend, but very much like a sister to her.

It felt as if a keening whine was building up in Rebecca's throat as tears pricked at her eyes, but then Orion pushed his small body against hers and she swallowed the pain down.

"You should go," Rebecca said in a slightly wavering voice. She cursed herself for being so weak, but there was nothing to be done. Riza was leaving her. Jean was leaving her. Everyone left her in the end, didn't they?

I'm not leaving you, Orion told her fiercely.

Jean stepped forward, one hand outstretched. "Rebecca, I didn't want to hurt you–"

"You didn't," Orion snapped harshly, stepping out in front of Rebecca. He was so small compared to Hiroko. The German Shepherd daemon could be imposing when need be, even though she generally wore a goofy grin on her face. She had seen Hiroko snap viciously at a Doberman daemon that had been harassing Fuery's otter daemon Ada and the way her hackles would raise whenever a man tried to hit on Rebecca. And yet, with just two words from Orion, she watched as Hiroko backed down, looking away and flattening her ears.

Even Jean hesitated. "You have to understand: I do care about you."

"Well she doesn't care about you." Orion was vicious when he was feeling protective. He was being protective of her. He always had been, despite his size. If he could, he'd get into it with any person and their daemon that tried to hurt her. He was also a dirty liar sometimes. Rebecca did care about Jean – she cared about him a hell of a lot – and the truth was that Orion had grown to as well.

"Have fun in Central. I'm sure you'll find some floozy soon enough and forget all about us. Then you'll just drop her too."

A dark look crossed Jean's face. "That's low."

"So is having sex with a girl and then dumping her out of the blue right after," Orion responded. Rebecca almost blushed at that, but stopped herself. She knew what Orion was doing – he was being cruel in order to get Jean to leave her alone – he was burning the bridge for her because she was too weak this time – but it still hurt. While they had been intimate with each other before actually dating, they'd never had sex until a week ago. It did sort of feel like he was using her as a notch on his bedpost, even though logically she knew that he wasn't that type of guy, even if he'd seemed like it at first.

Still, Orion's words had the right effect. Jean raised his eyebrows and his jaw dropped in shock, only to be quickly replaced by a furrowed brow, heated eyes, and deep frown. "That's not what I'm doing and you know it. I'm being transferred! It's out of my hands! What do you want from me? A long distance relationship? You think you'd be satisfied with that, not knowing when we'd be able to see each other and stuck with late night phone calls and letters?"

Orion snapped his mouth shut and Rebecca looked away. Both of them knew the answer to that, and it was a resounding no. What Jean was doing was logical and honest. He was ending things with her, effectively setting her free, so that she wouldn't be stuck on a leash with him after he left. He couldn't be here to give her the relationship that she wanted. Breaking up was the reasonable thing to do. It shouldn't have hurt – it should have been okay and she should have accepted it right after he explained himself – but holy hell did it feel like a sucker punch to the gut.

"Listen, Rebecca; I'm sorry," Jean sighed, sounding so terribly earnest that it made Rebecca's chest want to burst. He was so good at that. Unless he was on a mission, he almost never lied, not if he could help it. He was perhaps the most honest man she had ever met, and it was because of that that she knew he was telling the truth when he said that he was sorry, when he said that he cared about her, when he said that he didn't want to do this but he had to go to Central. He was a good soldier, and he was a great man.

Of course he'd have to leave her.

"This just came up so suddenly, and we can't…" Hiroko shook her head. "We can't abandon the team and we can't desert the Colonel, not after what happened to Brigadier General Hughes." The shocking murder in Central had been on everyone's lips, especially considering that people had known that the man had been close to one polarizing Colonel Mustang. Rebecca almost smiled. Of course the man she cared about would throw himself headlong into an investigation to help his superior officer avenge his friend. "We wouldn't do this if we didn't have to."

That was one of the things about Jean and Hiroko that had caught her off guard the most: they shared their emotions so thoroughly. While she and Orion were obviously close, there were times when their feelings did not match up. She felt grief while he felt rage and she felt glee when he felt wariness. She would talk about herself as one entity while Orion talked about himself as something else. There were times when they were on the same page and referred to each other as such, but not all the time, not like Jean and Hiroko. For them, it was almost always "we" – they were a team, together, one. Not everyone was like that with their daemons, despite them being extensions of the soul. But in their mind, both of them cared about Rebecca and Orion – both of them refused to abandon their duty – both of them were distraught over having to end the relationship.

The phone ringing stirred Rebecca from her thoughts. However, all she could do was stare at it, fear rolling over her like dark waves. She didn't need to answer the phone to know who it was.

Jean didn't need to either. "That's probably Riza now."

Just hearing her best friend's name made Rebecca want to cry. Instead, she picked up Orion and held him close against her chest. She didn't do that very often, seeing as how he generally didn't like to be carried, but right now, he let her hold him without complaint and even rubbed against her.

"You should go," Rebecca said as she walked over to the phone. When Jean opened his mouth, most likely to apologize again, she cut him off with a single, strangled word, "Please."

She could feel Orion bristling and readying himself to say something nasty, but she squeezed him gently and he bit his tongue. She refused to look back at them, but it was as if she could feel Jean nodding his head. The door opened behind her and the sound of his boots and Hiroko's nails clacking on the wood floor told her that they were doing as they were told.

Once the door clicked shut, the phone stopped ringing. Rebecca stared down at it. The sudden urge to tear it out of the wall and throw it across the room flashed in her and she honestly didn't know if it was Orion's thought or her own. Maybe they'd just bled into each other. The phone started ringing again. She could just imagine Riza sitting placidly at her table, winding the cord around her finger subconsciously, while Wojciech paced the room and wondered if perhaps Rebecca wasn't home and where they could find her. The bar by her apartment, most like, sulking about being dumped yet again. A double shot of whisky was sounding mighty nice right now. Maybe five of them. They were leaving her.

"You don't have to answer it," Orion told her.

But Rebecca shook her head. She'd regret not talking to Riza and she really did want to see her friend. She wanted to be around Wojciech's comforting presence and while Orion would never admit it out loud, she could tell that he wanted to be with Wojciech as well. The wolf daemon with a scar on his face was so sweet and gentle with Orion and the two of them were terribly graceful together. Already she regretted being so distant with Jean and Hiroko. She wanted to see that goofy grin on Hiroko's face that matched Jean's so wonderfully one last time.

On its last ring, Rebecca picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Becca, it's Riza," her best friend said on the other end. "Are you busy?"

I won't be for long with everyone abandoning me, Rebecca couldn't help but think.

I'll never abandon you, Orion proclaimed. I'll never let anyone hurt you again.

Rebecca smiled weakly into the receiver. "No, what's up?"

"Would you want to meet for a few drinks tonight?"

Hiroko had been right, of course. Rebecca almost laughed. Almost. "That sounds great." It did, it really did, and it didn't at the same time.