A/N: This story was inspired by my love of the newly released Kelly Clarkson song over the radio before I got the cd but don't let that discouarge you (if you're not a fan of hers) from reading on. It's really more of a story about how Riza learns to deal with what Roy keeps dishing out for her. Riza is a tad out of character but it's to freak out the men she works with so please don't freak out yourselves :p Please R&R all you FMA lovers!

Standard FMA disclaimers apply. Background music-"All I Ever Wanted" by Kelly Clarkson

"The In-Between"

By MakoRain

The shooting range was hers for the night, as it remained for every past and future Friday night to come. It had been a particularly stressful day which added to the extra distance fellow soldiers had given her, allowing her time to process and deal, as it were.

This is how she was dealing.

Riza Hawkeye didn't even bother aiming, not giving the target a second glance from a mere 50 meters away before opening fire. She emptied the entire clip in one go before reloading and walking to the next target as if it were child's play.

Stupid man.

Not only had Colonel Mustang had the audacity to gloat to his fellow officers, in her presence even, about the "hot little number" he had taken out the night before but he had brought pictures! It was almost as bad as when Maes was flashing photos of his beloved Elicia around the office like they were freaking winning lottery tickets.

The men took a much keener interest in their Colonel's bounty, however, with the way Falman was leering over the Colonel's shoulder. Breda gave a long wolf whistle and Havoc clapped Mustang on the shoulder with enough gusto to make him rock on his feet. One glare of her "not amused" stare had Breda cutting his whistle short with a cough and Havoc removing his hand from Roy's shoulder quickly.

Not that the puffed up alpha male paid any attention to that. He was much too busy gauging her reaction out of the corner of his eye as if she couldn't see what he was doing. He didn't have the gall to flash the pictures directly in her face but oh, she had seen them all right. Pictures of the little hussy in something skimpy and completely nonsensical for concealing a weapon.

Riza sighed gustily in exasperation to such women, blowing her bangs out of her face with the motion. It's not that she really needed to see her target, she was an expert marksman. No, this was just for blowing off steam. It was better she shoot the stupid paper silhouette of a man 100 meters away than a close range target of the actual man...or woman for that matter.

It wasn't even the fact that the woman was something one would call attractive. Truthfully, Riza didn't understand what those men saw in woman who have more cleavage than brains let alone common sense but hey, to each his own.

She said as much at the time and was met with four pairs of eyes staring at her in shock and one set looking cautiously at her over the rim of his glasses. Fury was trying his best to keep out of it so as not to be reamed out by Hawkeye with the rest but he was sucked into the conversation via simple curiosity nonetheless.

"Oh come on, Hawkeye. Look at her. You know a woman dressed like that ain't afraid of doing anything and everything," Breda said, tapping the picture as evidence.

"Your point being?"

If Breda was a smart man, he wouldn't answer. Instead it was Havoc, being more ballsy than most in this situation, who elaborated for him.

"He means that if she's barely covered there, it won't take much to get the rest off. Plus, you know blondes are freaks in the sac, ain't that right Hawkeye?" Havoc chuckled as the rest of the men stared at him as if he'd lost his mind, to say something like that to Riza- the number one blonde female sharp shooter.

Her overall reaction to such a statement never changed but there was a sense of foreboding in the small stale office air as if the temperature had dropped a good ten degrees and the atmosphere held a charge about them. Roy recovered quicker than the others, trying to beat her to reaching for her gun as he swiftly snatched it from her holster at her side. The look in her eyes figuratively shot him a glare that had him moving a few steps back towards the other men.

The Colonel took control of the situation, holding his hands up in the universal sign for surrender. "Now, now Hawkeye. Havoc didn't mean anything by it." Turning on his heel, he was directly in Havoc's face. "Isn't that right Lieutenant Havoc!"

Startled, Havoc recovered quickly with a "Sir yes Colonel sir!" clicking his heels for good measure along with the salute.

"See, no harm no foul, right Riza?" Roy lifted his eyebrows up hopefully in her direction to see if she was buying it. Apparently, she either really was or she just wanted her gun back.

"So it would seem. May I have my gun back now, Sir?" She asked in an uninterested voice, trying to disarm them with her lack of interest in the matter? Maybe.

It seemed to be working as Roy handled the cold piece of metal uncomfortably. Everyone knew how much he despised semi-automatics.

"Are you going to shoot anyone?" The rest of the men perked their ears, intent on hearing her reply in the negative most hopefully.

"Of course not, Sir." Now Riza had to fight the urge to place a hand on her hip in annoyance. Seriously, sometimes working with only men was such a feat she no longer wanted to deal with.

"Are you going to fire at anyone?"

Damn, the Colonel knew her too well. "Honestly, it was a fleeting thought."

The men paled and she crossed her arms over her chest defensively. She wasn't that scary for crying out loud! "I said fleeting, as in no longer in the realm of possibility."

Colonel Mustang turned to his men and they simply shrugged, not completely comprehending her meaning as it was laced with sarcasm.

"So do I have your word that once you get this gun back, you won't shoot at or near or around anyone?" Mustang's eyebrow cocked in smug confidence, thinking he had covered all of his bases in this agreement. She had to remind herself to keep her cool or she was never going to get her gun back. It was her favorite hand gun, too. Why had she left herself open like that in the first place?

"I agree to the aforementioned terms."

"Good. Then here you go, Hawkeye. I better not hear about you copping out on our deal."

Carefully, she examined the piece of weaponry in her hand as if it were an extension of her being. With how often she was holding one, this was practically true. Riza Hawkeye would always be known for her marksmanship and it was something she would never be ashamed of, especially when she could make the "dominant" sex shake in their boots.

Exactly like now.

With the gun still in her hand, she turned and headed towards the doorway before pausing in the center of the wooden frame. Looking at the group of men over her shoulder with her gun held high in both hands, she held the position for a few minutes to let the cheesecake pose sink into their testosterone infused brains.

She couldn't resist letting the opportunity pass for her to throw their words right back at them.

"Oh and Havoc? You have no idea."

A simple sashay of her hips making sure it was clearly visible in her military uniform sealed her meaning before she simply walked out the door to the sound of five throats gulping in unison.

Oh yeah, she knew how to put them in their place.

That incident had happened earlier in the day and yet here it was hours past sunset and it still burned at the back of her mind. And all over a stupid picture of some woman she didn't even know? What was wrong with her?!

More shots rang off as she squeezed the trigger mindlessly, that same stupid woman from the picture filling the target. Riza wasn't proud to see that each and every shot went right through the vital points of the head, chest and more specifically the heart.

So much for not holding onto petty jealousy.

Riza reloaded on autopilot, walking over to the next target now set at 300 meters away. The distance didn't faze her in the least and yet the fact that she could even feel jealousy after the many years of guarding Roy Mustang "Playboy of the Military" simply amazed and startled her all at once. She was used to the unabashed flirting and women throwing themselves all over him, once again in her presence even, but he had never brought pictures of his "conquests" to the office before. What would urge him to do such a thing now?

Her vision filled with that smug smiling face that could take the edge off of her strict stance to relax once in a while but instead all she felt now was anger and self loathing. She quickly unloaded the gun into the paper target Roy, happy to see not only the vital points had been hit but the groin as well to the point of shredded cheese it was riddled with so many bullet holes. Well, what wasn't considered vital to a sniper would most definitely be vital to the man in question. Instantly, she felt her smile slip from her lips with an accompanied pang of guilt

Swallowing, she positioned herself in front of a new target 500 meters away and cocked the gun, forcing herself to concentrate this time; not only on the target but on letting go of this ridiculous jealousy that had been eating away at her for far too long. It's not as if it mattered, anyways.

"I hope you weren't thinking of anyone I know." Roy groaned, eyeing the previous target she had torn to shreds then chuckling as she jumped about a mile in shock.

"You startled me!" Riza's hand flew to her chest to keep her heart from beating out of it, it was pounding so strong. "What in your right mind makes you think sneaking up on someone at a practice range is a god idea, Sir?"

"Since it was you, I knew you'd react in time to not blow my head off. And it looks like I was right." He eyed the way she quickly disassembled the pistol, getting it ready for cleaning without hesitation. He didn't know it also gave her something to busy her hands with while taking the focus off of how he had been able to sneak up on her like that. Or maybe he did know.

"I thought I gave you strict orders no to shoot at or near or around anyone." Colonel Mustang had his arms crossed over his chest in an impatient 'I'm waiting' stance he had seen him use many times before with his subordinates and on most nights, she wouldn't rise to his bait but as with previous events, this was not a normal day. She rose to the bait carefully and just enough to taunt but not get hooked.

"Since when is a paper target a person, Sir?" Which is lucky for your sake.

Roy's eyes shifted from playful intrigue to simply intrigue. He had been prodding at his First Lieutenant, sure; how could he not after that display in the office earlier? But he was unused to her actually bantering along with him. She was witty; it was something he had always liked and missed about her. That and her sense of feminine grace which she showed as well today, not only in her precision on the shooting range but in the office as well. He'd be damned lucky if he could get the image out of his head in his waking hours yet alone when he tried to sleep tonight. Not that it would be much of a change of medium to his dreams; Riza always managed to grace them with her presence.

Roy may have been caught up in the moment of his thoughts and/or of previous events but one thing was certain as he closed the distance between them in two strides and kissed her, she tasted just the same as always. The vanilla of her lotion tinted with cleaning oil filled his senses as his hands took advantage of her off-kilter state to sift his hands through her golden strands, pulling out the blasted clip to flow freely through his fingers.

Just as sudden as he had been scolding her he had started kissing her. Anger of only moments before melted into recollection of those long summer nights with Roy staying at her house studying under her father. His aftershave mingled with ash to form the distinct scent that was simply him. She gasped as his hands pulled softly through her long hair and he took full advantage of the moment, grazing his tongue along her lower lip and teeth to gain entrance she so willingly gave.

Somehow, Riza's hands had found their way to rest on his waist, holding on as his wandering hands suddenly had her backed up against the bench and holding her there, where her gun was resting in pieces. He flinched at the touch of cold metal under his touch and she inwardly groaned. How could she have been so stupid to leave something he hates so much just lying around? Well, it was a shooting range after all.

It was as if Roy was doused with cold water, he sprang back from her so fast. Absentmindedly she straightened her uniform that his hands had mussed up as he did the same, their eyes never straying from their task in the way that shame directs people who have crossed a line tends to do.

The memories had simply caught up to them and they had been trapped in a fleeting momentary weakness. Emphasis on fleeting. That's what Riza told herself anyways as he decided to break the silence first with a strained voice.

"Is that what you wanted?"

Had she wanted that kiss? Truthfully... "No."

"Is it what you needed?" His voice was still strained, from the passion of mere moments before or because of the urgency for her answer, she could only guess. If it was anything like her persistent thoughts, it was a jumble of both fighting for dominance at the moment.

"Yes."

Roy didn't move, didn't give any sign that her words held any impact physically but she knew they did. She could see it in his eyes, in that spark that glowed in those dark orbs for her and was out of sight the moment his lids slid closed.

"Me too."

Once they were out of each other's personal space it was right back to business as usual as if nothing had ever happened. But they knew it had, they knew their lives were changed from that night on. Riza would not disobey the fraternization law, no- she was too much of a dedicated soldier for that. And Roy would in no way jeopardize his way to the top. So this is how it had to be, until he climbed the ranks and could make a change to be with the woman he loved every day, every hour, every minute.

That night was the turning point cherished most.

As it was meant to be

The End