Roy's phone rang urgently one night while he was stuck late in the office. "Hello?"
"Colonel? Um...I just needed to speak to you." His lieutenant's voice said quietly from the other end of the line.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye? It's a bit late for you to be calling, isn't it?" He asked, but he was always welcoming a call from her.
"Yes, but I thought I would just give you a report on the day." She answered, and he had to smile at her diligence.
"A report? You weren't out on assignment today." He responded.
"Well, I thought I would do a little work anyway. So I investigated that little anti-government group that you've been having problems with." She said. His face fell slightly.
"Hopefully you got out of there all right. I gave everyone orders to find what they could and get out immediately if they happened upon that group." He said sternly.
"I followed your orders perfectly, sir. But not before one of them managed to catch me with a bullet." He could hear the pain in her voice now.
"What? Well, what are you doing calling me? Go get some help. I ordered you not to die, Riza." He ordered, accidentally slipping into the use of her first name.
"I'm sorry, Roy, but that's just one order that I can't seem to complete. I could barely make it to the phone booth." Her voice was just a whisper now.
"Riza? Riza, please stop this. What the hell are you talking about?" He asked frantically.
"You ordered me not to die. And I'm afraid I just can't do that, sir. Not this time." She told him.
"Riza? Riza?! Answer me, damn it!" He slammed his fist down on the desk.
"Just one more thing, Roy. I love you." She whispered before he heard a thud as something hit the ground.
"Riza? Riza? Can you hear me? Riza, please, answer me." He could feel tears start to form in his eyes and drip down his face. He slammed the receiver back down on the base and buried his face in his hands. He couldn't believe that she had finally confessed to him. But now he could never say it back to her. The tables had turned, and now she was the one going where he couldn't follow. And he knew that deep down, it would haunt him for the rest of his life that he had not been able to tell her how he felt before her death. All because Riza could no longer hear him.