A/N: I tried to break these up somewhat evenly, but I left most of the action to the last bit, so this one is the longest and most Exciting. One of these events was inspired on a post I saw floating around Tumblr that I could not for the life of me find to link, but if it rings any bells please link me so I can give credit where credit is due!

Thank you so much to everyone for all your kind words! I hope you enjoy this last installment!

"I kissed a commanding officer." Sheska blurted to Sara, one of her coworkers that she worked the most often with. Not because she trusted her, or because she even necessarily wanted to talk about it, but she was so worried she was about to get court martialed for her lack of discretion that she had to share it with someone.

Of course, rationally she knew better, she had memorized the laws inside and out as soon as she had been hired, but sometimes, clear founded logic went out the window.

Beyond that, she felt foolish and embarrassed and awkward and - okay, maybe she did want to talk about it.

Sara, who was sitting in the desk across from her looked up, eyes wide with amusement. "Who hasn't?"

Sheska stared at her, flushing, and she giggled. "Come on, you can't just come out with a statement like that and not give me any details; you're going to need to elaborate Sheska."

The brunette wrung her hands together. "Well –it was on the cheek. And I didn't realize he worked for the military too."

Looking as though she were trying to decide whether Sheska was joking or not, Sara eventually rolled her eyes. "A kiss on the cheek is hardly anything to generate any buzz. Who was it?"

"I don't think I should say…"

"Sheska."

"Okay, okay! Uh – Sergeant Major Fuery."

Sara wrinkled her nose. "The nerdy one who works for Mustang?"

Sheska flushed. "I didn't realize he was part of that Team. He's – really sweet! And smart, and kind."

"Hmm. Sounds like someone has a little crush."

Sheska started shaking her head so vigorously that she nearly toppled off her chair. "No! It's not like that! He's a friend."

"So that explains why you're going around kissing him on the cheek."

Unable to tell whether she was being made fun of or not, Sheska picked up the book she had been transcribing in, and held it up to hide her scarlet cheeks. Only after a few moments of deep breathing did she realize that she was holding it upside down.

Later that day, Sheska was sitting on the floor, surrounded by papers as she transcribed, hand flying quickly across the sheets of paper.

"Sheska!" Sara came bursting into the office, making Sheska jump. She tossed her pen up in the air, trying to catch it and failing. It felt to the ground with a small smack.

"What? What's wrong?"

Sara tossed the daily newspaper down at her, and Sheska was startled to see that Second Lieutenant Maria Ross was on the front page. Picking up the paper, she rustled through it, and it screamed a cacophony of terror at her, eyes nearly blurring as she quickly took in the information.

Inhaling so sharply she started to choke, Sheska dropped the paper and wiped her eyes. "That's insane!"

She had met Maria Ross a few times, and the Lieutenant hadn't struck her as anything but loyal, kind, and dedicated to her job.

In fact, she'd even saved Sheska's life, rescuing her from being suffocated by a pile of books.

"What would she have to gain from this?"

"I don't know, but everyone is talking about it. Apparently they have a bullet from her gun that was found during autopsy."

Sheska's jaw dropped.

"She wouldn't have done this. I don't believe it Sara."

Sara scoffed, "Right, because you know better than our commanding officers? Okay, Sheska."

In the following few days, it was difficult to try to figure out what to believe. At the very least, Lieutenant Ross deserved a fair trial, but she really couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she had killed anyone. She couldn't and didn't believe it.

Particularly not Brigadier General Hughes.

It was hard to focus on work, though there was a lot to do, and she found herself leaving so late at night that she would forget to even eat dinner before passing out, fully clothed on her bed.

And then came the most horrifying news of all.

Colonel Mustang had burned Maria Ross alive.

Her coworkers were chirping so much about it that in an attempt to get away from it all, Sheska had to let herself into one of the file rooms, lock the door, and curl up into a ball as she attempted to not be sick.

Maria Ross had not deserved that fate.

Colonel Mustang was nothing short of a monster.

Sheska avoided the National Central Library for the rest of the week.

For the first time in weeks, she didn't meet Kain.

What would she even say to him if she did?

And so, she was fully surprised as she was pouring herself a bowl of cereal for a late night snack, when there was a timid knock on her door.

She'd never had a visitor before!

Despite the late hour, she wrenched her door open.

"Kain!"

"Sheska", he sounded a little exasperated. "Were you not going to at least ask who it was before you opened the door? What if I were here to -" He paused, sounding unsure of how to finish his sentence. "What if I were here to rob you?"

"Well – yeah good point. I'll be more careful next time", she shrugged up a shoulder, and stepped aside so she could usher him inside her flat. "Did you want some cereal? I need to go grocery shopping so I don't have much to offer, but…"

"No, I'm alright, thank you."

"Okay."

The awkwardness between them hung heavy in the air, they hadn't seen each other since she'd embarrassed herself in front of his colleagues, and she was surprised he even wanted to see her after all that.

"I'm sorry about the other day-", Sheska started, the exact same time that Kain blurted, "I don't want you to be embarrassed-"

They both looked at each other a little sheepishly. Kain rubbed the back of his neck, and gestured to Sheska.

"You go first."

"I just – I'm sorry about the other day, I hope I didn't embarrass you in front of your – boss." She choked a little on the last word, and then turned away to start making tea so that she had something to do with her hands.

"I was going to say that I didn't want you to be embarrassed about what happened at the office – or with what happened before that."

"I'm - I'm not." She never had been a very good liar.

They were silent for a few awkward moments before Sheska turned back to face him. "Why did you come here, Kain?"

He paused for a long moment, and the kettle started whistling.

They both ignored it.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were alright."

She wasn't sure why those words had such an impact on her, but she burst into tears, and Kain took a step forward. Before she knew it, his arms were wrapped around her, and she was crying into his chest. It seemed like such a natural gesture between friends, Sheska didn't even allow herself time to be embarrassed about it. It had been a long time since she'd had a hug.

Finally, Kain leaned over and moved the kettle off the stove, and she smiled weakly.

There were so many things that she wanted to tell him, so many things she needed to get off her chest, but none of them seemed as important as the question that was burning at the forefront of her mind.

"How do you know that you can trust Colonel Mustang?"

Kain's face hardened. "It's – complicated."

"I know what happened in Ishval. I can't imagine having the power to kill people so easily. I guess it gets to your head."

Letting out a gust of breath, Kain looked like he was wavering somewhere between audacity and disbelief.

"Sheska-"

"Maybe we all need to stop blindly following our superiors when they do things like – like – like burning someone alive!"

Kain gaped at her, and Sheska immediately felt a twinge of guilt tug at her heart. Here she was, snapping at her only friend because of something that was emotionally impacting her, yet she had absolutely nothing to do with.

But it wasn't right.

And she didn't want Kain to defend him.

He looked as though he wanted to say a million different things to her, but finally decided on, "That's what soldiers do."

Sheska wrapped her arms around herself, "I'm not a soldier. And I don't want to be a monster."

Kain scrubbed his hand over his face, clearly at war with himself. "You don't – I can't – I'm not going to stand here and listen to you insult the Colonel!"

With a flood of nerve the brunette hadn't even realized she possessed, Sheska marched over to the door and wrenched it open. "Well then, here's the door."

Kain flinched as though she had struck him, and she started crying again, but she held her resolve as she held open the door, and after a moment, her friend shook his head, and walked over to it, pausing, just before he left.

"Colonel Mustang is not a monster. He's a good man."

Slamming the door shut, Sheska sunk to the ground, shaking. If only she didn't need the money for her still deteriorating mother, she'd quit her job on principle.

It took her over a week to get up the nerve to go to the library again, but her life felt empty without it. It felt empty without Kain, too, but she didn't even know how she would go about apologizing.

She kept expecting to run into him, but she never did.

Her anger and heartache had turned to sadness and heartache.

At least before, she hadn't known what it was like to have a good friend, so she may have been lonely, but she didn't feel like she was missing anything. Now, she felt like there was a small piece of her missing, and she didn't know what to do about it.

Sara's comment had stuck with her, and Sheska wondered if she was starting to feel something more than friendship for her companion. Love was something she'd only read about in books, she wasn't sure how you knew when you felt it.

She still couldn't see her mother – who wasn't getting better or worse, so at least she had that to cling onto – and all she had were the clucking ladies at work, and so she fell back into the loneliness that this time, even books couldn't fully pull her from.

Finally, finally after what felt like years but could only have been a few weeks, Kain came to find her.

She was sitting in her comfortable corner of the library, books stacked high beside her, pretending that her problems didn't exist.

"Hey, Sheska."

She looked up, startled, and smiled weakly at her – well, was he still her friend? She wasn't sure if he would want to be.

"Hey, Kain. Do you want to uh – sit down?"

He nodded, "Sure. Thanks."

He said, "I'm happy that you finally stood up for yourself," the same time as she blurted, "I'm so sorry for what I said and I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore."

"Wait, what? Sheska, friends disagree sometimes, it doesn't mean I like you any less. I just – I have loyalty to my Colonel, and I wish you saw him the way I do. But please, at the very least, tell me that you can trust me."

She bit her lip. "I – I do. I trust you."

The two sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their thoughts. "So – we're friends again?"

Kain chuckled, "Of course, we never stopped being friends. And I uh – I need my friend right now."

Oh no. "What's wrong?"

"I've been transferred to the South Headquarters. I leave in the morning."

Sheska gasped, both hands flew to cover her mouth. "But the South is at war with Aerugo!"

Kain smiled wryly, "Do you have any important Aerugonian phrases you can teach me?"

She laughed, and then burst into tears for what felt like the millionth time in such a short span of time, leaning over both chair arms to hug him.

"Promise me you'll be safe, okay."

"I promise."

"You have to come back so you can teach me how to build a radio."

Kain laughed.

Sheska wasn't sure how long they embraced for, but finally, he pulled away, and wiped his cheeks.

"I want you to promise me that whatever happens here - you'll stay safe too."

A little taken aback, Sheska nodded. "I promise."

"I should get going, but I wanted to come and make sure I said goodbye."

"Yeah – I'm glad we're still friends."

"Me too. I'll see you soon Sheska, okay?"

Sheska nodded, and she watched him as he turned to leave.

Maybe if she were someone more confident, or someone who could go after what she wanted with more conviction, she would have run after him. Maybe she would have kissed him, for real that time – her cheeks reddened at the very thought.

But she wasn't one of those people, she never had been. So she watched him walk away, and watched as he turned around just before he reached the steps downstairs so he could wave at her one last time.

Sheska hoped with all her heart that she could see him again.