Chapter Two "Sickness"


The woman was unbearable. Everyday Runa Curtis walked in the door, Riza wanted to cry and bang her head on the desk. Runa Curtis had to be the most annoying person Riza had ever met. She didn't know how Archer, let alone the rest of the unit could put up with her. She never stopped talking, she always had to express her every thought, and she never stopped bugging anyone.

Riza was about two weeks into her receptionist job. And if you asked her, she was doing a pretty damn good job too. The phone never rang often, her paperwork was always done on time, and she never once complained. She was very quiet to, and generally kept to herself…unless of course Runa was there.

Some days, when Runa was busy at her own desk outside of Riza's office, Riza would sit and fantasize on how to kill her and the other two people on her list. She would of course, do no such thing, but when it came to Runa, the idea was very tempting. Today was different however, because she had been invited into Colonel Archer's office.


"How do you like your job?" he asked, not looking up from his work. She looked around his quaint office, noticing he had a lovely selection of books, and that everything was in neat and precise order. It was almost as if nobody worked in the room itself. Like a stage prop in some play. "It's fine I suppose. Not much happens." She answered back softly.

"I see you're getting along with Miss Curtis." Frank said, deciding to get a reaction out of her. It worked, partly. "Getting along with her, sir? I'd call it more like…her talking non-stop and myself sitting there trying to figure out how to shoot her without you coming out of your office, if you don't mind me saying so." She said politely. He chuckled, looking up at her, his blue eyes piercing. "No, I don't mind. I don't have much of a tolerance for her on most days. The fact that she thinks she's in love with me, and worships the ground I walk on, is no help." He said, his lips twitching as he went back to his work.

She couldn't help but let out a small laugh of her own. 'He's rather, pleasant. I suppose I misunderstood him. This is turning out better than I thought.' She thought to herself. "Permission to speak freely, sir?" she asked. "Do I dare grant it?" he asked, smirking as he looked up at her again, nodding his head. "What did you do to make her think that, that she's in love with you?" she asked quietly.

"You know, I've been trying to figure that out for myself. I've been trying to get the Fuhrer to transfer her, but to no avail. But, really…if we're to be stuck with her, we might as well make the best of it." He said, his tone sounding final. Riza nodded. "You may go now. Thank you for your time." He said, giving her a small smile before returning back to his work. Well, well… it wouldn't be nearly as bad as she thought it would be.

He had been rather pleasant, and subtle. Still though, she didn't know if she wanted anything to do with him. He still hadn't given her title back, and she didn't know why he wanted to become Fuhrer. She's talked to Mustang during lunch the other day, and it turned out he wasn't so dead set on becoming Fuhrer anymore, which was a shock to her. Maes Hughes must have been rolling around in his grave. And it was mostly because of his precious Fiancée that he wasn't so interested anymore.

She sat down at her desk, and the phone started ringing. "Colonel Archer's Offices." She answered it promptly. "Yes, yes. Of course. Thank you." She said quickly after a few moments. She stood up, going over to his door, and knocking on it promptly. "Yes?" his voice came from behind it, and she opened it quickly. "The Fuhrer requested your presence in his office immediately sir." She said quickly.

"Hold my calls, I'll be back in a awhile." Archer said quickly, standing up, and walking past her out the door. She rolled her eyes to the heavens as Runa came rushing in. "Oh my gosh, what happened? I just saw Frankie go through there like his office was on fire!" she said, her hands on her cheeks.

"He was summoned to the Fuhrer's office. There's nothing to worry about." Riza stated calmly, going back to her romance novel. "Are you sure? Maybe there's a fire in the Fuhrer's office they called him to put out…he could do that you know." Runa said anxiously. "Or maybe his secretary is choking, and they need Frankie to save her." Runa said. Riza let out a snort, rolling her eyes, "I highly doubt it." Riza muttered, settling back down at her desk.

"I should get back to my work…" Runa chirped, walking quickly out of the room. "Good idea…" Riza said lightly, picking up her pen. She got started on the rest of her paperwork, watching the minutes tick by on small clock as she waited for the Colonel to come back. When he did come back, he looked grim and unhappy. "Come on Hawkeye, we have a case to do, and I need you to take notes." He said in a formal tone, getting his coat off the rack, and she stood up quickly, getting her own coat and a pen and notepad.

"Where are we going?" she asked him quickly as he grabbed a couple other people and they headed out of the building. Thankfully he had left Runa behind. "We're heading to a crime scene. The Fuhrer wants us on it, because everyone else is full, and we're the only ones available." Frank answered their questions curtly. Riza wrote down the date and day, then the time as they all got into a car and another officer drove them to the crime scene in the drizzling rain, which was slowly turning into snow.

When they got to scene of the crime, there were only several officers trying to fend off the crowd, and Frank looked irritated as he took Riza by the arm and led her to the body. "Take notes on whatever I say, and don't listen to anyone else." He instructed quietly, and she nodded. He called one of his officers over, instructing them to lift up the sheet on the body, and his eyes scanned it quickly, looking over it.

He muttered a few things here and there, and Riza took everything down quickly, her neat penmanship scrawled across the page as she wrote it all down. When it was over, and the body was loaded up and taken to the morgue, they all piled back into the car and went back to Headquarters.

"Leave those notes with Runa, and tell her to type them up on the typewriter. Then go get me some peppermint tea; I don't want to catch a cold. And get yourself some, you're looking pale." Frank told Riza as they entered the building. The officer beside Riza coughed "Look whose talking." The officer said. Frank gave him a scornful look as they entered the offices, and Riza walked slowly to do her assignment, not really in a hurry.

"Sir, who do you think murdered that woman?" Riza asked quietly as she set his tea down in front of him. The dead body was still fresh in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to get it out. "Somebody sick, obviously. Other than that, I have no clue as of yet." He said taking a sip of his tea. Riza watched him, before pulling her eyes away. The way he did everything was so…elegant. Well, his pinky didn't stick out when he sipped tea, but when his eyes closed, and he just looked so…peaceful.

She excused herself quietly and went into her own office, sitting down and getting back to her work. She had of course, forgotten her own tea. It's not like she was going to get sick. But towards the end of the day, she was starting to get a headache. It wasn't because she was getting sick, no--It was probably because Runa wouldn't stop talking. Looking miserable, She collected her things as the time came for everyone to start heading home, and Frank came out of his office, looking fit as a fiddle.

"You didn't get yourself tea, did you?" he asked her in a sort of mocking tone. She gave him a rueful glance as she walked through her office door, into the empty office ahead of it. "No. It's not like I'm going to sick. I only have a headache because of Runa's constant prattle." She stated firmly.

"If you come to work sick tomorrow, I'm sending you back home." He warned her. "That's an order I'll refuse, thank you, sir." She said, trying very hard not to be insubordinate. "That's one of the things I like about you, Hawkeye. One of the reasons I wanted you in my unit. You're loyal, you're a strong woman, and you have good morals, positive attitude…" He said, ticking off reasons.

"Does that mean I can have my title back?" she asked quickly. He chuckled, shaking his head. "No, not quite yet, Hawkeye. Prove yourself to me a little more, and perhaps then you may have it back." He said, his eyes looking at her teasingly as he walked off in the opposite direction she used to go home. She looked after him, wanting to pull her gun out and just shoot a bullet past his head. But again, she resisted temptation.


Frank set his house keys on the in table with his coat, and walked into the kitchen, seeing immediately that all three of his cats were waiting by their food dishes, looking up at him hungrily. "What's this? Are we that hungry today?" he asked, giving them a fond smile as he opened a cupboard and took out three cans of cat food, opening them, and dropping them in their proper bowls.

Sinatra, his Siamese cat, only liked chicken flavored food, and Buster, his fat tabby cat, only liked fish flavored food. Amadeus, the kitten calico, liked any kind of food Frank set down in front of him. He was a growing boy after all. After he fed his pets, and gave them some fresh water, he went to his room, shrugging out of his military jacket, and unbuttoning a couple buttons on his undershirt.

She tugged off his boots and wiggled his toes in his socks. That uniform did get uncomfortable after a few hours of wearing it everyday. He then walked back out into the living room, pouring himself a glass of brandy from his stores, and put on a nice jazz record. He settled onto his couch, leaning back after taking a sip of his brandy. Listening to the music for a minute, he began to hum along with it as his cats entered the room one by one, purring after their dinner.

That was basically what he did when he came home. He lived by himself, and he had come to terms with the fact that he might as well keep it that way. He had his pride, and his pride told him that he wouldn't find one person in this world that could hold an intelligent conversation with him long enough to make him believe anything less than that. Of course, his pride was wrong, and so was he. Because there someone across the way thinking the same exact thing.


Riza read her book quietly in the lamplight, coughing every now and then. She refused to believe that she was sick. Of course, she was sick, but it was just barely coming to her notice. In the morning it would hit her full-fledged and she would go to work anyways, at least try to hide that fact that she was indeed sick from Frank.

She made herself some soup, and some mixed berry tea, and then took some medicine before she went to bed. She lay awake in her bed though, just looking up at the ceiling. Hayate was already asleep at her feet, and she gave him a happy look. She had a nice, quiet, simple life. She didn't really need a significant other. In fact, she could live this way the rest of her life, if she wanted. But in the back of her mind, she knew that wasn't the case.


The next morning, She coughed heavily as she entered the office, trying to cover it up with her scarf as she walked to her desk, feeling light headed. It had taken her longer than she thought it would for her to get dressed. She felt like she was going to faint, but she'd never taken a day off in her life, and she wasn't about to. Screw Archer, and the rest of world. And if Runa even opened her mouth today, Riza would do something mean to her, of this, she was positive.

She sat down at her desk, her head throbbing and her eyes wavering for a minute. "I thought I told you not to come in today if you got sick." Archer's voice came from his doorway. "I've never taken a sick day in my life, I refuse to start now, Colonel Archer." She said, giving him what she hoped was a rueful look.

"Come on, get up. You're going home." He said firmly. "No, sir--leave me alone." She said, resisting as he tried to get her out of her chair. "Hawkeye, don't make me do this." He said firmly, coolly. "I can't go home. I have a job to do, I want my old job back. I have to…have to protect him…" she said, her breathing increasing as she fought to keep her eyes open. "Simmons, call for a doctor, Miss Hawkeye is about to faint." Frank said calmly, lowering Riza to the floor.

"You're at the top of my list, Archer. I wouldn't be passing…passing out if it weren't…weren't for you..." she said as the world began to fade black.

"OH! Frankie, What happened?" she heard Runa's voice and managed a groan. "Everyone back to work." Frank said, his tone final as he shut the office door on them. And that was the last thing she heard before the entire world went black and she fell into a deep slumber.

A/N: Please review, thanks for reading.