Alternative Us
Chapter 2
Equivalent Exchange
Roy's eyes fluttered open and he fought the urge to nod back off to sleep. He tried to move and felt arm pinned by something and looked down at the girl on his arm. It wasn't an odd occurrence, he took plenty of women to bed with him and often found them draped over his body in the morning with little or no recollection of the previous night. Whatever the hell he drank last night had to be damned good and probably cost half his paycheck because he could swear he had sex with Riza. Heknew he was really at rock bottom if he finally took some blond to bed and pretended she was Riza. He raised his eyebrows as the girl rolled over under the sheets and rested her head on his chest, her long golden hair spilling over his arm and her hand now rolling up his chest to wrap around his neck.
Holy Shit! He really did have sex with Riza last night! That wasn't a dream! He let his head lean back into the flat and uncomfortable pillow and stared at the ceiling. His mind replayed the previous night and early mornings activities and his grin returned. He didn't fault himself for not believing it at first, any sane man would question the memories of a night like that. Fifteen years of sexual frustration really was a powerful thing.
He picked up his head and looked down at her again and felt a genuine glow come over him. She was beautiful, not just because she was naked and lying on him in his bed. It wasn't something he had never noticed, it just was a powerful thing to wake up to in the morning. She seemed to look so natural and comfortable cuddled up close to him. It was normal for him to wake up confused and surprised that he had another body in his bed, but Riza was not a whore like him. She clearly had some experience, something he found out last night, but she respected herself and her body too much to be the philandering bastard he had become.
He put his head back down, his neck protesting the awkward position and starting to cramp. So now it was time for the guilt. What exactly did this achieve? He didn't have a clue how to get out of here without risking everyone's lives. He had nothing to offer her, not like that 'other Roy' who was just Mr. Fucking Perfect. Hell, he couldn't even make their first time right! Seriously Roy? That's how you ask a woman like this to sleep with you!? Fucking idiot.
"You OK?"
He swallowed hard and realized he must have said the last words out loud. He looked down at her sleepy eyes and everything left his brain and the frustration melted off his face. "Just regretting my lack of romance last night. You deserved better than that."
"I liked the direct route." Riza said softly. "Not really the kind of girl who wants a car load of flowers."
"Not quite on par with what you read in your books..." Roy ran his hands through her hair and smiled.
"What books?" She whispered, not quite sure what he thought she was reading at the office.
"Those romance novels you read."
"I don't read romance novels."
"What about Romance of the Three Kings?" He hoped he would score points for being observant and not lose them for being a stalker. However he was curious now, eager to gain some new iota of knowledge about her now that they had been together this long.
"King-doms. As in the Three Kingdoms era of Xing, a novel about the war." She put her chin on his chest and looked at his furrowed brow. He was wracking his brain to come up with another title to prove his point.
"A Night to Remember?"
"About an unsinkable ship being sunk by an iceberg." Riza smiled amused at the display of expressions on his face.
"Hmmm.." Roy thought about that.
"You should really explore more than the alchemy section of the library." She said as he gave her the most pleasant and sweet grin she could have ever imagined.
"Apparently I should have explored a lot of other options."
Riza laughed and looked at him as he smiled down at her. She thought the morning would come and it would be awkward and more depressing than it had been, but somehow they were here talking like they used to. Laughing and smiling. His smile was genuine right here and she couldn't help but run her hand over his face.
"What about...A Tale of two Titties?"
She laughed and slapped his bare chest. Yes this was definitely her Roy."Haven't read that one, I'm sure it's on your bookshelf."
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to smell the scent of the shampoo in her hair. "I'm sorry that I got us here."
"In your bed?" She asked knowing that wasn't what he meant.
"Here." He said and let his eyes look at the room littered with dirty clothes, coffee cups growing mold, complex cobwebs and old water stains on the cracking plaster ceiling. "You said you'd follow me to hell and I sure lead us straight to it and pitched a tent in the square."
"Where have you been Roy?" She sat up and looked at his face. Unguarded for the first time in ages. "Where the hell have you been keeping this part of you?"
"Under gallons of booze."
Sadly that was really the honest answer. "You didn't have to hide from me."
"You didn't have to protect me either. Not from what you really felt...not about how I let you down."
He ran his hand over her tattoo and the scar on her shoulder. "I should have seen it back then, when you asked me to destroy your back. How ashamed you were of me."
"You had no choice." She said quietly. "I blamed myself. I saw what it did to you and it was all my fault for giving you those secrets. Knowing those days still haunt you and it's all my fault..."
"I could have said no." He said. "But instead I did what I was told, even though I knew it was wrong. Even though I knew it was exactly what I promised I would never do with your secret. That made me unworthy of you, your loyalty and your life. Yet you stayed and I punished you for it."
"This is just another assignment." She said quietly. "Not the end of the world."
"It will be." He said and sighed. "And I'm leaving it to a pair of teenagers to take care of on their own because I fucked up."
"Then let's get out of here."
He pushed a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and leaned in to kiss her again. "What if I'm not that man anymore?"
"If you weren't, I would have killed you already like I promised. You're still in there Roy, I know you are. So don't let them win." She whispered. "I'm by your side until the very end, please don't let our last day together be the day those bastards use you as a human sacrifice."
"On one condition."
"Ok."
"Have dinner with me tonight."
She let a smile tug at her lips. "I have dinner with you every night that you bother to show up for dinner."
That was true, if he determined it was one of those few days he needed real nourishment instead of a belly of bourbon he'd make his way to the mess hall and they'd sit in silence and eat. "Ok, fine. How about you have sex with me now for breakfast?"
She felt his hand roll over her back, his fingers tracing the perimeter of her scar as those words stirred something in the pit of her stomach. "Making up for lost time are we?"
"Would you believe me if I said I was trying to apologize for everything I've done and said that was wrong?"
"Not really." Riza replied and leaned up to give him a kiss. "But I'll let you do it anyway. You're tongue is quite skilled even when you're not using it to talk."
He let the world fade back into the shadows as her lips touched his and her chest dragged across his. Last night was the first time they had ever been together yet this morning it felt like there was nothing but comfort and familiarity in this bed between them. His arms wrapped around her body as she began kissing his jawline to his earlobe, his breath catching with every move she made. Her kisses were light and her lips dragged across his skin delicately as his hands began to beg for another chance to worship her perfect body. It was hard to concentrate as she traced his collarbone with her tongue and placed a kiss on his Adam's apple. At this point she was just appreciating him and he worried a little about what she could really do if she was aiming to tease instead.
Roy's finger's traced her tattoo closest to her tailbone and then started to wander as she slid down his body a bit to gain access to his chest. She let a breath catch in her throat as he dragged three fingers over the side of her breast before running them over her shoulder scar and down her arm. She gained a moment of concentration as she licked around his nipple but had to stop as he took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth. She looked up at those dark and delicious eyes as he began to place kisses on her palm.
They were going to have to start having breakfast more often.
Riza walked down the hall with a smile still on her face. Reveille wouldn't sound for another half an hour but she was already dressed and ready for the day. To wake up and greet the sunrise with an actual purpose again was a very welcome change. Even when she had been with 'Other Roy', she woke up expecting to be back in her own bed, dreading the monotony of the day and the tired routine. When she woke up next to that man, it felt surreal. The optimism that surrounded him, the joy of his family and life, seemed to be what made the concept so difficult to accept. He looked forward to his day. It was the fog that clouded her vision, a way for her mind to tell her that that life was not hers.
She stopped and reached for the office doorknob, thinking about that. Last night there had been passion. Years of pent up frustrations, both personal and professional, had lead them to tumbling around his bed like a pair of animals. Clawing and nipping at each other, both of them trying to take command of the other to bring years of their lives to a head with one night's inhibitions. When the anger and lust faded, the curtain of denial was drawn back and they looked at each other for the first time in years. It would be no surprise to anyone to know Roy Mustang was built of a series of complicated facades that would only chip and crack to reveal another layer. Most people would be surprised that she had a softer side to her, but even she was just as guilty of fortifying the walls around herself. It was supposed to be how they protected themselves, but it only managed to give them less and less reason to venture outside of those self made barricades. Last night, the walls came crashing down just because of one innocent smile that he allowed to surface. An innocent smile from their youth, from a boy she thought was long dead and suffocated by the demons he carried.
Riza let a soft smile touch her lips as she thought about it. That ray of light, just the slightest upward tilt on the edge of his lips had made the fog lift. That was the man she'd fight for, even if she had to fight dozens of fake Roy Mustangs that he had created to defend the innocent core. That man needed to see the light of day again and take in the fresh air, to crawl out of the rubble of the shattered versions of himself and remember the day he looked up to the top and said he was going to fix this world. She felt a warmth spread through her chest and took in a deep breath. A full smile spread across her face and she opened the door to the office and stared at a man who should not have been there. "Hughes."
"Funny thing about jumping between universes is that two of the same individuals can't occupy the same place at once." Maes Hughes pushed his glasses up his nose and leaned against the desk. "So after you told us that I had met with an untimely end here...well it made sense that I be the one to appeal to you to return with me."
Riza stepped inside and closed the door. Her heart, just swelling with pride and hope seconds before, started to pound. In the quiet of the darkened room, it was all she could hear. She stood up tall and pressed her back against the door. This was Hughes, albeit not the Maes Hughes that belonged here, but it was still a man who could read people and their reactions like a book. He was on a mission to save his best friend and leader and wouldn't hesitate to take the actions he deemed necessary to facilitate the outcome he wanted. She couldn't let him know that, even through their goals were identical, the man they supported was not the same. "You do realize you're asking me to come with you and take over the life of a dead woman? That no matter what grief that alleviates for the moment that it will inevitably cause catastrophic problems?"
"I've known you for a long time." Hughes said and watched her eyes drift around the room, always the trained eye looking for the slightest movement in the shadows. Sizing up her enemy. "You forget that I was a part of your life too. I know you can't be happy here. Not because you don't have the man you love, but because he is miserable."
"So this other me would be perfectly happy surrendering her life to a stranger who clearly screwed up her first life? I know myself pretty well too and I know I would never trust a person like that with what I hold dear." Riza locked eyes with him and she knew he was on to her. Her questions were accusations instead of curious requests for more information.
"You were the one who went over to the other side first." Maes wasn't expecting to find so much resistance after such a short amount of time. Then again he should have expected Riza to be prepared to dig in and fight. "There is another world on the other side of us, one where you did not survive. In that world...Roy died too. The world was much darker than you think this one is. However the individuals that killed him there were interested in finishing him off in my world too...so you returned to save him..."
"So you're telling me that your people caused all these problems. That by meddling in these wormholes that you caused the death of your own first lady?"
Hughes raised his eyebrow as she stepped forward and raised her voice. "They invaded us first. Destroyed their world and were moving on ours. So we took their technology and after turning them back...sought to right the wrongs."
"By doing the exact same thing?" She shook her head disapprvingly. "I don't think I like the men you both have become there. "
Hughes was about to say something when he heard a 'click' from the darkness. Someone had just clicked off the safety of his service weapon. Something must have happened between them for Roy to be awake before dawn, otherwise he'd still be in bed wallowing in his own self-pity and depression. This would complicate things. "So...do I get to meet the other Roy Mustang?"
Roy emerged from the shadows and looked at his lost friend. He had heard voices in his office and used the other door to sneak in. He wanted to surprise Riza and watch the sunrise from his window with her, the symbolic 'dawn of a new day' that wouldn't be lost on her. He was hoping to hold her in his arms and watch the light peak over the horizon not greet this man who rose from the dead. "Son of a bitch."
"I'm sorry that I have to do this to you, but my loyalty is to my friend and my President not this other version of you who has botched your life. How many times have you had that gun in your mouth Roy? Thinking about ending it all? " Hughes didn't move. He remained still, making eye contact with the broken down version of his friend. The bags under his eyes, the stubble growing on his cheeks and an old uniform that hung on him denoting the body underneath was malnourished and thin. A defeated man who no longer cared for his own well being.
She looked at Roy and saw the gun shake. How had she not seen this? "You...did. Didn't you?"
"I know my best friend." Hughes said sadly. "Unfortunately I had to beg him to not end it all six months ago when we kept finding you dead in every world we crossed. Riza knew this darkness was inevitable which is why it was her orders to find another you to help ease his pain. You did want this, because when the ultimate sacrifice was made you wanted your family to be taken care of even if it meant you would be erased. That's why, when you were killed, we didn't let anyone know. As far as everyone is concerned, even your own children, Riza Mustang is simply on a mission and is alive and well."
"I ordered you to..." She stared at him wide eyed. "What kind of monster was I?"
Roy blinked as he heard Maes say her name. Riza Mustang. It made sense. She was married, she'd take his name, but he didn't expect to like the way it sounded so much. "So where is she? Do you bury her in a nameless grave?"
Maes answered quietly, "You cremated her."
Roy stared at his lost friend and knew that look. "I...cremated her? As in..."
"Yeah. You immediately looked to alchemy to save you from your grief. I talked you out of human transmutation and you...chose to cremate her yourself. You didn't want anyone else to touch her but you. You...wanted her to be warm again so you..." Hughes rubbed his face. He never wanted to remember that night and it was worse sharing it with a stranger. "It was a rough night followed by many more."
Roy wondered if he could have that kind of strength and resolve. To snap his fingers and erase the body of the woman he loved? To be the one who actually turned her to ash? He looked at Riza and a part of him ached thinking about the prospect of not having her in his life. He was happy to erase himself from this world, he was at this point a complete fuck-up, but he didn't consider what it would do to her. How long they had been together, how they knew each other so well they could communicate on a mission with just looks. Burning her back had been horrible enough, yet there was a version of him that had the strength to burn her entire body? Even if it was just an empty vessel, he couldn't do that. Destroy something so perfect, letting the alchemy that had taken so much from her be what consumed her mortal body as well.
"Honestly I think it's a rather charitable thing to do, sacrificing yourself so a stranger can have the life you made for yourself? Really? You see that as a monster? I see that as a saint!" Hughes stood. "I have seen what happens to your family if you don't return. You don't want to know what I have seen. So please, we need you to return and we don't have time to fight about this."
"What do you mean 'don't have the time'?" Roy asked, still holding the gun at his 'friend'.
"The thing about parallel universes is that the lines between the two aren't exactly straight, that they do come close enough at points for us to bridge that gap and travel between the two. Briefly. However when they get close enough again than sometimes the universe tries to right itself and correct the imbalance, or meddling, and that's why you were returned. "
"What's to stop that from happening again?" Riza asked, afraid of the answer.
"I'm going to have to make sure we drive the course of this world away from parallel...so that we no longer run the risk of coming this close again." Maes stood and could see the gun in his peripherals adjust to keep him in Mustang's sights.
Roy's voice was low and nonthreatening, just a emotionless response. "So you're here to kill me."
Hughes frowned. "I wish that you weren't always so damned smart."
They stood in silence as the first rays of sunlight began to brighten the room a little. Roy let his arm lower and looked to Riza. "You should go. You said yourself it's like heaven, I think I've kept it from you long enough. You should go and have that family and life you deserve."
"Roy..." Riza gasped, her heart felt like a dark hand wrapped around it and squeezed.
"That man wasn't an idiot who left you to rot away with him in some remote barracks. That man knew the good thing he had and made sure you knew it. Stop getting your head wrapped up in all the details, we both know that in that situation we would have done the exact same thing. That if this life was worth fighting for...we'd be over there right now making sure we got to keep it. However I screwed this up, I let you down and this is nothing worth fighting for." Roy regained his focus, his mind locking on to the correct course of action now.
"We only just...Roy we only just tried to make something of this last night." She saw him rise up and steel himself against his emotions and knew if she didn't act quickly he'd wall her out again.
"Last night doesn't make up for a lifetime of me letting you down. I've only seen you as a secretary and a bodyguard, I don't deserve you and you know it." He looked to Hughes. "Get her out of here and I'll take care of ensuring our paths never cross again."
"What.." She reached for him as he swallowed hard and looked at his revolver. Her heart began to pound, was he really considering taking himself from her now!?
"Go, don't make her watch this." Roy waved off Hughes who seemed to understand him just like his old best friend did. Those sad eyes, the bow of the head as he accepted what was necessary and the posture of a soldier who knew how to repress his conscience for the sake of a mission.
Hughes nodded. "I never do."
"Roy!" She felt Hughes grab her arm and watched Roy lean against his desk, deep in thought.
"Riza, this is my end now or later. At least I can die knowing you will be happy. It's equivalent exchange. His Riza died protecting him...I'll give my life to protect you. This whole time I've been willing to throw away our lives to save this country that is too far gone and me with it. You however, are not a lost cause. Have that life you deserve, I'm more than willing to pay the cost of that toll."
"That's not how life works you coward!" Riza screamed. "You can't just give up!"
"Riza, it's equivalent exchange." He said it again that simple phrase making everything so much clearer in his foggy and rotting mind. "A life...it's made up of decisions and actions instead of elements or ingredients. I have failed to create this life through my own inadequacies, failure has it's cost. There is no reason you need to be included in the price paid for my failure. Especially not when you have a family to take care of. I know myself and that Roy will turn to human transmutation if you don't go to him, he thinks he is better than everyone else who has tried and he will open up his world to homunculus and ruin it just like here."
"Then Maes can stop him."
"I lost my parents...I don't want those kids to go through that." Roy cleared his throat and found his commanding tone again. "Now get her out of here Hughes."
"If that Roy is willing to take himself from his children than I don't want him.!" Riza snapped, a cold edge to her voice betraying her bitterness. She looked into his watery eyes. "That's not my life."
"Riza..."
"Don't go where I can't follow!" She felt the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Don't...send me away where you can't follow."
"I can't give you anything." Roy waved his bare hand around to show the squalid living conditions he condemned them to. "You deserve to have everything."
"I only ever needed you." She said quietly. "I don't know that man, I however know you."
"Damaged, depressed, failure?"
"You're my Roy Mustang." She said. "I know you, I know what you're capable of. If you're going to shoot yourself then shoot me first because I am as much to blame for us being here as you are."
His breath caught in his throat as he digested those words. My Roy Mustang. He really didn't deserve that. He watched her pull from Maes's grasp and run over to him, her arms around his neck and her hands clenching his shirt in her fists.
"Your my Roy." She repeated. "I'll protect you from everyone, including yourself, until my dying breathe. You bastard! Don't you dare give me last night and take it back. That's more cruel than showing what we could have had, because that woman was not me. I'll take this life, no matter where it leads because it's the one we've made. Even if it ends today, at least this is my life. Not someone else's."
Maes let loose a heavy sigh, knowing when he was defeated.
"Just find another me somewhere. One who doesn't have someone she has to protect." Riza said and looked back at Maes while taking Roy's gun from his hand. Maes nodded, knowing that the only way to take her back was by force. He clearly knew her well enough to know that would never work.
"I hope...this works out for you." Maes said genuinely.
Roy's arms wrapped around Riza, every fiber of his being letting loose a sigh of content. If they were to die feeling like this, together, he could say he did live a life riddled with failure but certain worth living. Just to hold her and be held like this.
Maes broke the silence. "You should seriously consider getting yourself a wife, Roy."
Roy's eyebrows raised. Some things apparently never changed no matter what universe you were from.
"Riza, your kids have been working on your macaroni picture technology and have practically depleted Central of all pasta while creating their masterpieces. They're going to be disappointed that you won't show them more." Maes was stalling, he knew it. He didn't want to see Roy's face when he returned alone.
Roy frowned. "Macaroni picture technology?"
"It's not something we have. Your Riza, taught them." Maes explained. "We eat our pasta and don't play with it or glue it to paper plates. Well, I guess we do now. Your kids are pioneers in macaroni art now."
Riza smiled. "I'm sure their Dad can figure it out. It's not human transmutation, it's just macaroni."
"Don't wait forever to start a family." Maes took a picture out of his pocket and placed it on the desk.
"Think I might finally listen to your advice, Maes." Roy said.
"Good luck to you both." Maes said quietly, ashamed that he failed. Afraid to tell Roy he was just going to have to keep suffering. However he would understand, because it's why he loved Riza so much.
"Tell him..." Riza bit her lip. "Thank you for showing me what I almost lost. There's a girl out there somewhere who needs someone to protect. Tell him he needs to save her. He'll find her and he'll be her salvation. "
"You always are." Maes said and left them as the beams of sunlight began to peak through the window behind them.
Dr. Yates sighed and looked at dog tags on the neck of the charred corpse. So Roy Mustang was finally on his slab. Ironic that he managed to set himself on fire before he shot himself. Perhaps he was trying to erase the evidence of the suicide so his family could get his death benefit? Who knew what went through that man's mind. Pity he had to ruin a good bottle of bourbon to do it.
He looked over at the woman's body on the next slab. Now there was a true loss, Lieutenant Hawkeye was an exceptional officer and it always bothered him that she remained loyal to this asshole. He expected him to be the death of her, but not like this. He didn't think Mustang had sunk so low as to shoot his loyal subordinate before taking his own life.
He sat down at his desk and called Central Command. A murder-suicide like this would require investigation and he didn't want to piss off anyone. Last thing he wanted was to be stuck here for his career. Colonel Frank Archer was now in charge of investigations, he could deal with the bodies and crime scene when he got here with Mustang's replacement.
"How does it feel to be a dead man?"
Roy turned to look at Riza and smiled. "Pretty damned liberating. Nice to stick someone else with the paperwork for a change. Especially Dr. Yates, he's going to have to deal with enough calls to set the phone lines from Central on fire."
"Where to?" She asked as she sat down beside him.
"Probably better go see my Mom before she gets the official notice that I'm dead." Roy said and wrapped his arm around her as the box car rattled down the tracks.
"Very thoughtful." Riza leaned into him, he smelled smokey.
"The Ghost of Roy Mustang is quite the thoughtful and handsome bastard." He smiled. "I look damned good in wrapped in sheets too."
"I noticed."
He pulled her close to him. "So, still interested in saving the world?"
"We probably should." She said and looked up at him, a grin on his face that was genuine. "Before some fangirl performs human transmutation to bring you back from the dead."
"Me? I'm having to fend off fanboys from another universe in order to keep you!" He took out the picture Maes had left them again and smiled. Four kids and one happy couple. A boy sitting on his shoulders, another one trying to take the glove off his hand and two girls that looked just like they were the mischievous ones. A BB gun was slung from the tallest's shoulder and she had his eyes, but her mother's beautiful determination. So this was the future he was looking for? "I still hate this guy."
She sat up and crawled over him so she could straddle his lap. "Let me make one thing clear."
"Kinda hard to think with you on my lap like that." Roy gave her a suggestive smirk.
"You gave me the burden of ending your life." She said and poked him in the chest. "You, therefore, have no right to make that decision yourself. If I ever hear, feel or see you thinking about it again I will break your damned fingers."
"Probably a bad time to point out I just technically killed both of us by stealing a pair of cadavers and tweaking them with alchemy to look like us." He grinned. "Though the ghost of Riza is apparently a lap dancer and I'm OK with that."
"Roy." She snapped. "I'm being serious!"
"We've been serious for way too long." He rested his hands on her hips and smiled. "It's nice to feel alive again instead of waiting for death."
She couldn't resist taking his face in her hands and kissing him. Perhaps as a reward for choosing life, or maybe for finally choosing her over everything that didn't work out. Why it felt so natural to be sitting on him like this or to be unable to resist touching him after just one night. One night was all it took to transition them from business to pleasure and she wanted to scream at God for not allowing her to see how simple or right it would be. For allowing them to waste so many years being so close yet never this close. For letting a man like this teeter on the brink of self-destruction before she reached out and pulled him back.
"You're crying again." He sat up and let his grin fade and concern wash over his face as she sat up. Her tears had fallen on his cheek as she kissed him and now they ran down her own cheeks. He reached up and brushed one away and tenderly caressed her jaw. The jaw that had always been set in frustration or determination due to something he had said or done, now all he wanted to do was trace it with his fingers and admire her soft skin and adorable chin.
"I'm just...thinking about how we've lost so much time. That if we had seen this alternative us before that things may have turned out differently."
He rested his head against the train car wall and let his finger twirl around her hair. Now he didn't have to fantasize about it, he really could just reach out and touch her. She even leaned into his touch now, something that made his heart swell. "I think it's been well established that I'm a fucking idiot when it comes to you. Had we indulged in this before, I would have put you at risk. To be honest, I thought myself invincible and until I landed us here I would have never been convinced otherwise. I'm just a fool who needs to see what I have to lose before I can truly see."
She closed her eyes. "No matter how tempting those visions of our perfect life were, I'd rather travel this road with you than be handed something I didn't earn. Life is living this journey. A lesson without pain is meaningless. You cannot gain anything without sacrificing something else in return. "
"Nothing's perfect, the world's not perfect, but it's there for us, trying the best it can. That's what makes it so damn beautiful." He said and ran his hands through her hair and let a warm smile touch his lips. "So how about we make up for lost time? It's a long ride to Central."
She let a smile grace her lips as she drank in the beauty of the man in front of her. How he could say something so eloquent one second and without missing a beat top it with something so sweetly laced with sexuality it made you want to smack him. She bent down and rewarded him with another kiss as the train rattled along on the steel tracks carrying them back into the fight and into a brighter future no matter what end they might meet.
