Me: Chapter two! Enjoy. Concrit appreciated.


Edward waited patiently for his brother to answer the phone, a steady ring sounding in his ear as the phone connected. Puffing out air through parted lips, he shifted his feet on the thinning carpet. With a frown, he began to tap his auto-mail foot to stop it freezing again now he wasn't near the fire. "Geez. How long does it take to answer the phone, Al…?" He muttered.

"Hello?"

The blond man started slightly at his brother's voice in his ear, before scowling and replying hotly, "Finally. It doesn't normally take you this long to answer the phone."

"Sorry Brother, I was…" Alphonse's apologetic voice halted, sounding embarrassed.

Edward raised an accusatory eyebrow, even though his younger brother wasn't there to see it, "were you feeding a cat again?" He questioned suspiciously.

"It was hungry, Brother! It was mewing and…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You felt sorry for it and decided to give it some food." Edward interrupted, exasperated. "Just as long as it's not there when I get back…" He added, letting the sentence hang.

"It left soon after it finished its milk, don't worry." Alphonse replied, sounding amused.

"Well at least you gave milk instead something edible…"

"Milk is edible, Brother."

Edward ignored that comment. "Anyway. I thought I'd phone up and let you know I'm staying at the lieutenant's tonight…"

Rustling sounded over Alphonse's end. "Because of the snow?"

"Yeah. My auto-mail won't agree with it, so I'm going to have to stay here."

A pause. "Is it bothering you now, Brother?"

"No, it's fine. You going to be ok until tomorrow morning?"

"Yep! Make the most of your stay!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just… take Winry's advice, ok?"

Edward frowned again. Alphonse a little too amused for his liking. "I already did take on her advice…" He muttered sourly, eyes switching over to the general direction of the kitchen.

"Pardon? I didn't hear you…"

"Uh… nothing, Al. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Sure, ok! Be careful with you auto-mail, don't let it get too cold."

Edward rolled his eyes. "I won't." He promised, "See you tomorrow."

"Bye, Brother!"

The alchemist let out a weary sounding sigh as he heard a click, signalling that Alphonse had put down the phone and he followed suit, resting the receiver on its cradle.


Riza Hawkeye had never found cooking difficult, but it was very hard to cut up ingredients with Black Hayate tugging at her trouser leg. She frowned sternly, and shook her leg slightly. "Stop that, Hayate." She ordered.

The dog let go, whining, and looked up at her with pleading brown eyes, ears drooped.

The lieutenant glanced over at the small circular clock on the wall. "Well, it is your dinnertime… I suppose you're hungry?"

Black Hayate barked once, standing up and wagging his tail hopefully.

Riza sighed. "Alright…" Finishing in slicing up the last the vegetables, she dumped them in the large brown pot sitting on the stove and reached up to open of the overhead cupboards. Fishing around inside, she produced a tin of dog food and walked over to where Black Hayate's food bowl was.

A few seconds later, Edward's voice sounded "I've phoned Al." He said, poking his head around the kitchen door frame.

"What did he say?" Riza asked, scooping the meat from the tin and holding up her hand to halt Black Hayate when he bent his head to start eating.

Edward raised an eyebrow, unsure whether to be amused or bewildered when the lieutenant began to give Hayate a set of commands, each of which the dog obeyed immediately, before allowing him to eat. "Some sort of routine?" He questioned, walking fully into the kitchen.

"You could say that." Riza answered, standing from her crouched position and going over to check on the contents of the brown pot. "Would you mind getting out the utensils and bowls?" She asked, reaching for a long wooden spoon and stirring the food with it.

"Ok. Where are they?" The alchemist said, heading to the cupboards and drawers that Riza pointed him to and removing the needed items. Shutting the cupboard door with his booted foot and closing the drawer with his hip, he turned back the blonde woman. "And where are we eating?"

"By the fire." Riza told him, "It's too cold to eat at the kitchen table." She paused, before adding, "Besides, your auto-mail will freeze up again."

"Alright… are you cold?"

Riza shook her head and turned around to smile gently at him at the concerned tone in his voice, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's warm by the stove." She answered him honestly, "go ahead and set out the bowls and get by the fire again." She told him.

A pause. "Ok…"

Riza heard a rustle behind her, and a shocked expression passed over her face briefly as Edward's heavy, warm coat was placed gently over her shoulders, the alchemist's hands rested for a seconds on her shoulders, before they were removed. She heard small clicking sounds in the back ground as Edward gathered up the bowls and utensils and headed out of the room quietly.

Black Hayate glanced up from his dinner bowl, looked up at his mistress and padded over to her to nudge her leg with his nose before hurrying after Edward to have some company by the fire.

Jolted out of her reverie by her dog's nose prod, Riza's free hand rose up to grasp at the hem of Edward's coat. "Well, at least things aren't awkward." She murmured, eyes soft, and she resumed in stirring.


Edward settled himself on the leather couch, leaning back against it with a sigh. He had placed the bowls and utensils on the table next the settee and was now waiting for Riza to come into the room with whatever she had cooked for dinner.

Staring into the flames of the fire in front of him, Edward sighed. Truthfully, although he was grateful that there wasn't much tension between them after the little… incident, he still found his insides squirming when it came to thinking about spending the rest of the evening with her.

He groaned in irritation and tightened his right hand into an aggravated fist. "Stop being so pathetic." He ordered himself.

Black Hayate blinked at him from his spot, curled up in front of the fire like a cat.

"I guess I'll just have to deal with this evening as it comes, won't I?" He muttered to the dog, slightly annoyed when Hayate merely yawned and laid his head on his paws and shutting his eyes.

Edward leaned forwards with a frown. Even if they allowed their current relationship to grow to the 'next level', he didn't know if would be simple or complicated. He wasn't sure about others' reactions, and he didn't know if it was something they both wanted.

"How is it possible to know how you feel and not know what to do with it?" He growled to himself, covering his face with his flesh hand.

Whenever Edward had known how he felt about something, he almost always knew what to do with those feelings after some thought, but here… he didn't.

Shoulders sagging, he let his hand drop away from his face. "I'll wait until I can talk to her…" He murmured.

"I'm here."

Surprised, Edward sat up straight and turned around to face Riza.

She was holding the brown ceramic pot that been sitting on the stove with a pair of oven gloves. A metal ladle was inside. Edward's coat had been pulled on properly and she was smiling softly at him.

Resting the pot on the table, Riza began to dish out their meal into the bowls Edward had brought out. "Still confused?" She questioned, handing the alchemist his dinner.

The blond man took it from her, resting it in his lap without looking at it, gazing into the fire. "Yeah…" he sighed. He glanced down at his meal, the corners of his lips quirked up, "Stew?"

"Yes… don't you like stew?" Riza asked him, frowning at him as she carried her own bowl to sit down beside him.

"It's my favourite." Edward grinned at her.

The lieutenant's eyes softened, relieved. She scooped up a spoonful of her meal and ate it quietly. "What are confused about?" She questioned.

Edward hesitated, unsure as of how to answer, "The future." He replied, swallowing a mouthful of stew.

"The future?"

The alchemist nodded. "Because even if we… do let this," he waved a hand between the two of them, "grow into something more, will it be as easy and simply…" he struggled for a word, "doing more?" He finished, lamely.

Riza watched the embarrassed turmoil pass over the blond man's face, "Nothing's never simple when moving from friendship to a more loving one." She replied simply, her gaze falling to her bowl, "it's different with every relationship, with every two people involved."

Edward ate silently before venturing another question, "so what do you mean by that, exactly?"

"I mean that you can't predict what the outcome will be and that sometimes you have to take the chance for uncertain consequences to occur when you start something special." Riza explained, turning her eyes to him, frowning in concern as she watched him stare into the fire dejectedly. She could understand that Edward was confused and unsure about what was happening between them; he had, after all, never had the time to allow love and affectionate emotions to grow between him and someone else during his journey. But now, Alphonse was back and he unknowingly allowed it to happen. It had caught him by surprise and now he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

Riza had had lovers herself, when she younger and before she enlisted in the military, and grateful that she had at least some experience to help Edward out with concerning his feelings. "Do you know how you feel?" She questioned.

The alchemist nodded. "Yes…" He knew that he cared deeply for the lieutenant sitting beside him, and the feeling wasn't one he had before. It was one for a good friend, like Winry, or of that of a sibling, like Alphonse. It was something else, something that made his face go hot and his insides squiggle. The physical attraction had something to do with the reaction, but Edward knew that it was Riza as a person that managed to coax the emotions.

"And…" Riza paused, "do you know where you want to go with them?"

Edward nodded again, staring into his half empty bowl. "Yes, but…"

"You're unsure about it." The lieutenant answered for him, staring at him softly when he nodded once more slowly.

Riza swallowed a few bites of stew before setting down her bowl on the floor, and reaching out to rest her hand on the cool metal of Edward's exposed auto-mail wrist.

The alchemist didn't react right away, unable to feel the contact, instead finishing off his meal and noticing the lieutenant's hand there with his eyes. "Riza…?" He questioned, staring at her hand, before shrugging it off and grasping it instead with his metal hand. "Do you want to…?" He questioned quietly.

Riza paused, staring at Black Hayate as she came up with a final decision. The dog looked back at her with soulful brown eyes, before keening slightly. She nodded once and turned to face Edward, "I say we give it a chance, if you want to…" She replied.

Edward smiled at her, eyes warm. "Alright…" he agreed, leaning forwards to place a feather-light kiss on the side of the blonde woman's mouth, relaxing when Riza turned her head to allow their lips to cover fully.

The alchemist pulled away first, giving the lieutenant a wide smile, before leaning down and picking up Riza's bowl from the floor. "I'll take these into the kitchen." He told her, lifting up the bowls for emphasis before standing and walking towards the kitchen.

Riza watched him go, amused at his childish happiness.

Black Hayate leapt up to occupy Edward's space, pawing at Riza's upper arm.

The lieutenant rubbed his head absently. "At least it worked out…" She murmured, relieved.

The dog merely leaned into the touch of Riza's rough, slender fingers rubbing behind his ears. Content as he was, he wasn't all that happy, when a hard, metal, cold thing poked his side roughly.

"That's my seat, Hayate." Edward told him with a frown, ushering the dog onto to the floor again.

Black Hayate gave him a reproachful look before curling up and lying on his mistress's feet with a small huff.

Riza raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as Edward sat down again beside her. Closer than before, she noticed.

Mood lighter and mind clearer, Edward leaned against the back of the old leather couch with a grin. He looked over at the lieutenant and received a smile from her, which coaxed his insides to give a little squirm in response.

Watching her as she in turn watched Black Hayate, Edward wondered whether it was love that made Riza Hawkeye look so beautiful then, the light of the flames reflecting and dancing on her cheeks and shining in her eyes.

"Like a setting sun…" he murmured, before blinking, wondering where the poetic reference had come from.

Riza tilted her head at him, "do you say something, Edward?"

The alchemist shook his head and raised a hand in denial, "No!" He replied, embarrassed. He sighed when the blonde woman blinked at him before turning to watch the fire. "These feelings are strange…" he muttered, too quietly for Riza to hear, as he covered his face with his left hand to hide the red on his cheeks.

It couldn't hide his smile, though.


Me: Review? Two more chapters left of this! Keeping this one short, haha...