Time Goes By

Chapter 2

A Kiss is Just A Kiss

As the rain came pouring down outside, the patrons of Mustang's Bar paid little heed to the lightning or thunder outside the establishment. The place was packed, the rain being great for business, even the individuals not interested in drinks or dinner were having to place orders in order to avoid being thrown out for loitering. It was good cover for the woman in the traveling suit at the door as she made her way to the lounge to find a seat. She searched the crowd for familiar faces, hoping to find a certain one before she was asked to leave. She didn't go without notice.

"Miss Riza?" Catherine Elle Armstrong, the celebrated piano player at Mustang's, lit up and went over to hug the woman she never thought she would see again. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, Catherine." Riza felt her rib cage scream as Catherine hugged with all the power of the Armstrong family. "How are you doing? Is that a wedding ring on your finger?"

"YES! Remember Jean?" Catherine grinned and showed her her wedding ring. "We got married last year! He works for Roy now and I get to play here instead of those stuffy pretentious music halls. I love it!"

"Married?" Riza said and sure enough there was a ring on her finger. She never thought Jean would make it past the first date, but good for him. "Congratulations!"

"He took off his shirt to help me move the piano and I just...was smitten." She said and sat back down at the piano. "He's amazing. I had no idea he was hiding that body under his shirt. I love a man who can really take care of himself, you know?"

Riza didn't understand the Armstrong family at all but she wasn't going to admit that. Havoc was probably still shocked by it. He seemed resigned to just flirting with her and working the bar for Roy, but something clearly changed. Good for him. However the romance between Jean and Catherine wasn't the reason she came here. She tried to make her next question sound casual, "How's Roy?"

"Still keeps himself in shape. I think it's because he doesn't sleep and needs something to do. Nice abs, but no where near the broad shoulders and muscle mass of Jean. Plus, he's short." Catherine said and then looked at her. "Oh, you mean is he married?"

"I..." Riza wasn't sure what she really wanted to know. She wanted to know more than 'is he here?' and more about what man she was going to encounter when she laid eyes on him again. "Is he well?"

"Well he's OK." Catherine said. "For an alcoholic."

Riza could hear her change in voice. "You want me to leave him alone?"

"You broke his heart Miss Riza." Catherine said. "I'm sure you had your reasons...but you didn't have to see what it did to him. So...I'm glad you're well but you made your choice."

"I did." Riza said and toyed with the small candle on the table.

"He's not here." Catherine said and did her best to cover for the man she knew would shatter if he set eyes on Riza Hawkeye one more time. "It's good seeing you but...you know how Madam gets about non-paying customers."

Riza nodded. Her reaction was understandable and she knew she was probably lying. Roy didn't have anywhere else to go and he wanted to work to keep himself occupied, so there was no reason he wouldn't be here on a busy night like this. She wished she didn't have to see him, but she was left with no choice. So she pulled out a little bit of money and put it in Catherine's tip jar and said, "Just one song before I leave?"

"I can do that." Catherine said and saw the sad smile. "Just not that one."

"Please? Play it Catherine." Riza said softly. She knew it would draw him out and that was the only way she would ever see Roy Mustang again. This song, as cruel as it was. "Play it for me. If Roy's not here, than what difference does it make?"

She realized she had been played, but there was a chance if she played softly he wouldn't hear over the noise of the crowd. Catherine wished she couldn't remember that night so easily, Riza and Riza dancing as he sang to her. Madam dimming the lights so everyone only saw them on the dance floor, lost in each others smiles and eyes. Roy singing like he used to, with a voice that would melt anyone who heard it. The entire bar stopped to listen and watch as two people fell in love. A kiss that took the air out of the room and made everyone stop and watch as something so powerful happened right before their eyes. Then furlough was over and they went back to war. Eventually Roy came home, broken and without the woman he fell in love with.

"Please? I...just need to hear it one last time." Riza said and felt herself get misty eyed. "I'll leave after."

Catherine grudgingly laid her fingers on the keys and started to play that song from that night that seemed a lifetime ago. That song that she hadn't played since. The patrons went about their business not knowing the significance of the song but she could feel Jean's eyes on her from the bar.

"Sing it?" She asked. The song was something she had once and not heard since. It was something Roy had written. She could see Catherine struggling with it but eventually she closed her eyes and her voice filled the bar.

"Sometimes there are days one has to go..." Catherine hadn't though about the words to this song in years. And now she wondered if it was an explanation from Riza as to why she left Roy. "Turning his back on what is precious..."

Riza could feel the lump in her throat as she heard the words. It wasn't Roy's voice but she could still hear it in his. Feel him close to her, singing in a private serenade as they danced too close in front of all those people.

"Men are sad creatures, huh?" Catherine's voice got a little louder, it was hard to not get into singing the song. Roy wasn't out here, he'd never have to know. This song he wrote, seemed so personal now. He wrote it while he was at war. He wrote it to express himself and try to remain human in an inhuman situation. "Dragging weight that can't be extinguished on their backs."

Riza blinked, her eyes were getting damp. They had talked about what they had done, about the weight of their actions. They had found each other during the worst time in their lives and he had shown her the light of hope at the end of it all. He understood they could never made amends for what they did, understood when she said they would carry the dead on their backs forever.

"Boy, embrace your ambition..." Catherine's voice carried. No going back now. She could feel the passion and pain of the songwriter and wanted to understand him better. "If you possess darkness in your right hand...and dreams in your left hand..."

Fools. Naive idiots thinking they could protect people. Thinking they were doing the right thing when all they were doing was killing people for a government that never cared about right or wrong. And him, the dreamer. The dream still existed in him, he wanted to change things. Roy Mustang hadn't lost himself entirely and that was why she was so drawn to him. A humble hero and a battered idealist, but not a broken man. Not until...she broke him.

"My Train in rain
is the vision waving its hand
Time goes by
a memory of that person?

Drown out the screams"

Roy walked into the bar from the back room and was met with the chorus of a song he wrote, a song he never wanted to hear again. He paused, making sure it wasn't his mind playing tricks on him, but then he heard it in Catherine's voice and knew it wasn't a dream. Enraged he stormed over to the piano immediately and slammed his hand down on it and hissed. "God dammit I told you to never play that again."

Catherine stopped immediately and watched his face change as he looked past her to see Riza. Then his anger melted away and all she saw was pain. She got up and pushed her stool in to retreat to the bar where Jean was waiting.

Riza couldn't believe how he still took her breath away, how he could still stir in her the emotions that made her stomach tighten and heart pound. He was breathtaking in his formal wear, Madam always ran a classy establishment. She couldn't even blink away the tears forming in her eyes, fearing he would vanish if she took her eyes off him for a second.

Roy stared at her, the last person he thought he would see again. Riza Hawkeye's beautiful face haunted him every night as he reached out for her and she vanished into thin air. He never forgot a detail about her, not her big brown eyes welling up with tears or the way her lips pursed when she was trying to be strong. It was the Riza he fell in love with, the one struggling to keep herself together despite the damned world trying to destroy her. He fell in love with her strength and here she was, strong enough to sit in his bar and have that damned song played for her.

"Well Miss Hawkeye! It looks like you found Roy after all!"

Hughes. King of perfect timing. Roy took a deep breath and composed himself. Hughes didn't need to know his weakness. They were rivals not friends, despite their cozy arrangement. He composed himself and tapped into the anger he had moments earlier. "I'm not a hard man to find."

Hughes slapped Roy in the shoulder. "All the same, I thought I should be as helpful as possible when a pretty lady was looking for you."

"Hardly a mystery when we're standing in 'Mustang's Bar'." Roy countered and feeling confident his emotions were in check he turned to Hughes.

"I appreciate your help, Chief Hughes." Riza said and could see Roy was on the defensive now. She wasn't upset, she wasn't here to try to take advantage of him, she just knew it would be harder to talk when he was guarded.

"Perhaps I can get you two a drink?" Hughes asked and Roy continued to give him that 'Fuck off' glare.

"You don't work here." Roy growled.

"I work for the people of this fine town, you happen to be one of them." Hughes winked. He turned and stole a wine bottle off another couple's table and sat it down on theirs. Then he swiped some glasses off a passing waitress's tray and sat them all down on the table. "You know Roy, she was asking about you earlier in a way that kinda...made me a little jealous."

"Well consider your duty fulfilled." Roy said dryly. "I'll recommend you for promotion."

"Sit." Hughes said and shoved Roy into a chair and then grabbed the wine bottle and pulled his army knife out of his pocket. The fact that Roy didn't counter with some kind of sexual innuendo made him sure this was a situation as tense as it felt. He flicked open the corkscrew and then twisted it into the cork. With a wink at Hawkeye he popped the cork and then grinned. "Isn't he thoughtful?"

"Yes, he is." Riza said and watched the wine fill the glass.

"There you go again, saying things like you already know him." Hughes leaned on Roy's shoulder to prevent him from getting up.

"We met during the war." Riza said.

"Really?" Hughes said. "Please share details. Was he strapping in his uniform? Any facial hair?"

"Who can remember?" Roy said and considered elbowing Hughes in the crotch. "It was a long time ago. Time goes by."

"I remember all the details." She said. "The smell of smoke in your uniform, the way the sand would fall out of your hair when you ran your hand through it. I remember all of it."

"You were a sniper. Studying details were your specialty." He said and tried to not look in her eyes, but couldn't resist a glance. Did the memories pain her like they did him?

"This is why you're not married." Hughes whispered and squeezed Roy's shoulder.

"I'm not married because the girl I proposed to left me standing at the train station waiting for her. With nothing but a coded message delivered by some obnoxious blond boy." Roy said bitterly. "I suppose it's all a lot easier to do from a distance, isn't it?"

Hughes was surprised by that and let his hand fall from Roy's shoulder. Roy stood up and offered him his seat.

"Enjoy your drinks, put them on my tab. I have a bar to run." Roy got up and turned around, he wasn't going to do this here and now. He was too bitter, too hurt and too eager to lash out. How loved her, still loved her and always would love her, this was not the way he wanted to treat her.

Riza bit her lip as he turned his back to her and walked away. Tears begged to fall from her eyes but she took every ounce of self restrain she had to force them to stay where they were. "I should be going."

Hughes stood there with his wine bottle and watched them go their separate ways. Odd that she show up now just as this hunt was on for travel documents and a famous man named Lazlo. He set the bottle back down on the table he took it off of and then set the glasses beside the plates. The couple dancing or gambling in the back room would never know it had been opened for someone else.