AN: Thank you very much for the favorites and follows! They really mean a lot to me. And thank you to my wonderful beta, pen n' notebook. I hope that you all like this chapter; if you do, please leave a review! Also, I wanted to note that descriptions of the tarot card in the previous chapter are from my personal deck, Ethereal Visions Illuminated Tarot Deck, made by Matt Hughes. It's available on Amazon and if you're looking for a deck I highly recommend it because it's gorgeous. Just remember that it's bad luck to buy a tarot deck for yourself, so get someone else to buy it for you!


As soon as Riza stepped over the threshold of the rented house, she was greeted with the worried gaze of five sets of eyes. With a straight face, she stared back at them and shut the door behind her.

Roy spoke first. He strode over to her, eyes roaming up and down her body for any signs of distress. "Where were you? We were just going to go out and look for you!"

Impassively, Riza humored him by letting him examine her with his gaze. "As you can see, sir, I am perfectly fine." She glanced at the time piece on her wrist. "I was only gone for forty-five minutes or so."

"It's been over an hour, Lieutenant. Let me see your watch."

Stony but somewhat amused, she unstrapped her timepiece and handed it to him, watching as he fiddled with it and pulled out his own watch for comparison.

"Well, we're hungry," Havoc declared, breaking the moment of silence. "Can we go out and look for something to eat?"

"I passed a cafe on my way back," Riza offered. "It didn't look like much but it smelled good."

Roy snapped his pocket watch closed and tucked it in his jacket before passing Riza's watch back to her, which she slipped back on her wrist after checking the face. It had indeed been off time and he had set it back to be matched with his. She didn't know how that had happened because they kept their timepieces perfectly synchronized. But then, it was an old watch. The leather strap was well worn, and even after he re-set it the hands ticked in place instead of moving forward. "Let's go then," he announced. "Lunch is on the State Military."

The men cheered and passed the two superior officers. Riza followed them, glancing at the Colonel. "You know that this means one more expense report for you to write."

He groaned. "Don't be so pessimistic, Hawkeye." Riza just shook her head but she almost stopped in her tracks when she felt Roy's hand on the small of her back, guiding her out the door. She looked back at him, expecting to see a smirk directed her way, but his face was innocuous. She realized that the motion was so natural to him that he hadn't realized that he had done it. It wasn't like them at all; their interactions with each other were normally so conscientious. The influence of the desert town pulled at his thoughts as well. They would have to be even more careful than they normally were. He paused to lock the door behind them, then turned to her, raising his eyebrows as he realized that she had been watching him. But he didn't acknowledge her heedful gaze.

"Lead the way, Lieutenant."


The day passed into evening. Riza willingly allowed herself to be cajoled into playing several rounds of poker with the unit to help pass the time, as they had nothing better to do anyway. Meetings with local community leaders started the next day, and the men were restless. They lamented that there was no alcohol to be found in town, due to the Ishvallan's strict views on temperance. Fortunately, Sergeant Fuery had the wherewithal to pack a bag of poker chips in his suitcase. After many rounds, Riza and Lieutenant Breda sat with the most chips in front of them. Breda was a brilliant strategist with a keen mind, but Riza's poker face was simply unbeatable, and after counting their piles of chips he conceded victory to her. By that time the sun hung low in the sky. They decided to call it a night, and retreated to their rooms.

In her room, Riza stripped off her clothes and changed into a crisp pair of striped pajamas. She let her hair down from the clip she had been wearing, shaking out the crimps with her fingertips. Regretfully, she realized that she had forgotten to pack slippers, and in the chill of the night air her bare feet were cold on the wooden floor. From her suitcase she retrieved the package that she had carefully hidden from the colonel's eyes earlier in the day. With the brown paper wrapping crinkling in her hand, she left her bedroom to knock on the door next to hers.

"Who is it?" The deep voice asked on the other side of the door.

"It's me," she answered. "Can I come in?"

"Yes, I'm decent," came the reply. She opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her. He had also changed into pajamas, expect his were blue, and his black eyes looked down at her quizzically. "What can I do for you, Lieutenant?"

Riza held out the package to him. "Happy birthday, sir."

He frowned in confusion but took it from her. "It's not..." His words faltered as realization dawned on his face. "Damn, it is my birthday." He looked up at her with widened eyes. "You remembered."

A faint smile curved the corners of her lips, just a little bit to show that she was sincere but teasing him, and she nodded in affirmation. "It's a big one this year."

Roy unwrapped the package slowly, letting the paper fall to the ground. She watched as he marveled at the bottle in his hands. "You got me whiskey."

"Yes, sir. Thirty years old, just like you."

"Thank you." He grinned at her at her and she felt a familiar tug of affection in her chest. Sitting back down on the slim bed, he pulled at the exposed cork stopper until it unplugged the opening with an audible pop. "Have a drink with me, Hawkeye."

She hesitated, but after a moment decided that it would be okay to take a seat beside him. "I don't have any glasses," she admitted.

"I don't mind sharing if you don't." He smirked at her and after she nodded her consent, he took a swig from the bottle and passed it to her. "You know that Daliha is a dry town, Lieutenant."

"I am aware, sir, but I trust your discretion on that issue. Unless you are willing to write me up for it." While he chuckled Riza took a drink and quickly cringed at the burn in the back of her throat, choking back a cough. She handled the bottle back to him and watched as his adam's apple bobbed when he took a gulp of the fiery liquid.

"You know this brings me back to the first time I had whiskey." When she raised an eyebrow, he continued. "It was your first time as well, if I am not mistaken."

"You mean when we picked the lock on my father's liquor cabinet?" She smiled at the memory and took another mouthful from the bottle. The burn was not as prominent this time, and she was able to savor the smoky flavor. "Let's see… I was fourteen, so you must have been seventeen."

"That sounds about right. Madame allowed me to have a little wine and beer before, but that was my first time drinking liquor." He took the bottle from her and consumed another gulp before handing it back to her. "I think that was also the first time I made you laugh."

"Yes, because you told me that awful dirty joke. 'What does a leper say after having sex with a prostitute?'" She took another drink, longer this time.

"'Keep the tip'", he answered, laughing boisterously. Feeling the buzz of the liquor, Riza snickered as well, covering her mouth with her hand to stifle the noise. "Alice told me that one." She recognized the name as one of his sisters' from his childhood.

"It's disgusting. And don't be so loud," she chastised, although there was a smile on her lips. "You'll wake up the men."

"I think those are the exact words you said to me, except you were talking about your father." When he collected the bottle from her again, he slipped a little closer to her side, resting one hand on the mattress behind her. "Do you think he ever found out?"

She shook her head, the memories of her strict upbringing coming to her mind. "He would have said something to me if he did." Roy passed the bottle to her and she accepted it. "Are you going to make a birthday wish?"

"Don't you have blow out candles on a cake to do that?" He waited for her to take a gulp before he took the bottle back.

Riza shrugged. "A cake would have gotten smashed in my suitcase. Also, I am much better at making pies."

"Your pies are remarkably good," he admitted. "How come you never make them anymore?"

"I live alone, Colonel," she reminded him. "I don't have anyone to share them with."

"That is true." He tilted his head to the side pensively "You could bring them into the office. I let you bring your dog into the office, you could at the very least bring in a pie. It would be good for morale."

Without realizing it, she mirrored his actions as she considered his proposal. "I suppose that would work."

They passed the bottle back and forth again, taking drinks before he spoke. "So, about my birthday wish..." He made a big show of tapping his chin thoughtfully and she rolled her eyes. While normally more indulgent of his playful antics, the alcohol in her system was making her feel a little more… exaggerated. "I've decided what I want."

"What's that, sir?"

He grinned, deliberately making her wait a moment in silence for dramatic effect. "I want a kiss," he announced, keeping his voice low.

Riza snorted. "You might have to put in more effort than you normally do, sir, but I'm sure that with your particular talents you could find a pretty young woman to woo."

He chuckled and leaned over to set the bottle on the floor, watching her the whole time. "No, Lieutenant, I want a kiss from you."

With the whiskey in her system it took her a moment to process what he had said, and her mouth fell open in shock. It wasn't that she had never considered what he proposed. Not at all. In fact, she thought about sharing a kiss with him more often than she cared to admit, even to herself. Every time he looked at her with his dark, smoldering gaze she couldn't help but imagine how his mouth would feel against hers. She knew that he felt the same way- she saw how he would watch the movement of her lips when they stood close together. But she never thought that he would be so direct about it; after all, even a simple kiss could leave to them both being court martialed. They both knew better than to indulge in something so dangerous.

"I know what you're going to say," he said quickly, holding up his hands to pacify her. He swayed a bit and she realized that he was drunk too. He had to be to say something so absurd, a weak voice in her head rationalized. Her eyes flickered to the large scars on his palms before they returned to his face. "But no one will know."

They would know, she thought. And they would have to live with it for the rest of their lives and fight the temptation to ever do it again. It would open the door to all sorts of behavior that they fought to indulge in with every interaction that they shared. It was a horrible, awful, terrible idea, and she nearly opened her mouth to tell him so. But her head swam with the liquor's influence, and she found herself reconsidering. The heady, dizzy feeling dampened her good sense. The image of a man and woman flit through her mind. They were as naked as their feelings and standing against the background of a lush paradise. They were free.

Riza wanted to be free.

For all of his bravado, she could tell that he was surprised as she turned her body towards him and gently placed her hand on his knee. He took a shaky breath as she angled her mouth towards his until their lips were just barely apart. With her eyes closed, she felt his hand glide up her arm and shoulder to cup her throat... right over her recently healed stitches.

Instantly, her eyes snapped open as she winced in pain and pulled away. What the hell had she been thinking? No longer lost in the moment, she felt mortified, like a bucket of ice water had been poured over her. Her blood pounded in her head as she rose to her feet. He quickly grasped for her hand, but his fingers slipped through hers.

"I.. I'm sorry, sir," her voice faltered. His expression was pained and she couldn't look at him, instead focusing on the middle distance to the left of his ear. "I made a mistake."

"Wait, Riz- Lieutenant-" he struggled to get the words out. "Don't go-"

But she was already striding out the door. As she quickly entered the safety of her bedroom, she heard him curse on the other side of the wall.