AN: Merry Christmas everyone! I'll be going away on holiday so updates will be a bit slow. I'm thinking this story will probably have 2 more chapters to wrap it up. Hopefully the journey has been short and sweet for you all!


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Ch.3 Cold Office

It was a very crisp November morning and Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc was grinning to himself as he reminisced about his amazing date yesterday with the angelic-looking Marta from the neighbourhood flower shop. As he crossed the street towards Eastern Command, his grin started slipping as he stopped dead in his tracks to look up at the foreboding building before him. Was it always so tall? Did it usually cast such a long shadow?

He continued to stare at the building with great hesitation.

"Yo, marveling at the architecture?"

Havoc was in mid-puff on his cigarette when the familiar voice of his comrade Vato Falman stopped short next to him. The older Warrant Officer glanced at Havoc, then glanced at the building. Havoc half-smirked in response.

"You know, at first I thought it was a great thing you know. The Colonel and his girl…"

Falman nodded slowly in agreement.

"Also, it was nice to see Lieutenant Hawkeye having a more well-rounded life," the voice of Heymans Breda chimed in. Havoc and Falman didn't even flinch at the new voice that joined them, with both only nodding in acknowledgement.

"There are a lot of phone calls to filter through too," stated the last of the group to join the three standing stoically in front of the gates. Kain Fuery tilted his head towards his colleagues as a quick greeting before turning his gaze to follow that of everyone else's.

The four almost sighed in unison.

Breda was the first to break the silence. "So, what's the tally at right now?"

Falman responded numbly, "Hawkeye 15, Mustang 2."

The four sighed again in unison.

No, Jean decided, the architecture of Eastern Command was nothing to marvel over. But the tense, chilly atmosphere of Colonel Roy Mustang's office was definitely something to be weary of, if not downright fearful…


Oct 19, 14:11

The team was almost certain that the Colonel was about to stare so hard at the clock that it would burst into flames without the Flame Alchemist even needing to raise a hand.

At precisely eleven minutes past two in the afternoon, Riza Hawkeye entered the room and immediately paused at the entrance when she saw all eyes staring at her.

"Is something—"

"Lieutenant! It's eleven minutes past lunch break!"

Riza had stared at the Colonel in surprise as she glanced at the clock, then tried to hide the laugh of disbelief threatening to break free from her lips. She went over to her seat and sat down without another word. The Colonel had become so ridiculous lately.

This seemed to irk the Colonel even more as he leaned over against his desk, pushing aside three tall stacks of papers that had been obscuring his view of the Lieutenant. "Do you care to explain—"

"Sir, I am working on next week's reports already and the requests from Central," Riza intercepted promptly and met the Colonel's crazed gaze with level eyes. "I see that you still have the same amount of paperwork that I left you with at 13:11 o'clock." She pretended not to see the Colonel's jaw drop and opened the file in front of her. "And sir, I was in the belief that we had a floating lunch hour as long as we took an hour and an hour only."

She was pleased to notice that the Colonel was struggling to find an appropriate response, and decided it was about time to get straight back to work.

The rest of the team pretended to be busy, but not before Havoc quickly mouthed "Hawkeye, 5!" and dived his blonde head behind a folder.


Oct 23, 09:05

Riza had to do a double take to make sure she wasn't seeing incorrectly, but no, her eyes were just as sharp as they ever were. The crisped leaves of the vase of flowers she had put out on the conjoining desks of her colleagues were very much…crispy.

It was as if the vase of crisped flowers knew they were being scrutinized, as right then the head of what was once a yellow tulip cracked off and hit the desk with a soft crinkle.

Riza stared. She had sworn the darn thing was lush and alive just yesterday when she left work. She really didn't know how to take care of plants.

As she was emptying the vase out in the trash, Falman and Fuery entered, saw her at the trash can, and mouthed to each other, "Mustang, 1."


Oct 28, 12:00

The gang looked up in surprise as the First Lieutenant plopped down a stack of Tupperware at the table. "I brought extra lunch today!"

Havoc leaned in closer, scrutinizing the contents through the containers, "It looks awfully…green."

Riza Hawkeye propped her hands on her waist and declared, "You all don't eat enough vegetables."

To everyone's surprise, the Colonel had joined them around their desks and was already diving into one of the containers next to Havoc. "The First Lieutenant is right! Eat your greens, men!"

Riza nodded in agreement and was glad the Colonel was finally being relatively normal today. It had been a strange few weeks.

Fuery reached out to take one of the packed lunches but couldn't help but glance at the First Lieutenant curiously. "This is new. You never bring lunch for us."

Riza beamed, "Major Ballard noticed that I don't eat enough vegetables so he took it upon himself to make extra."

Havoc found himself attacked by a face full of chewed salad that had projected out of the Colonel's mouth.

Breda turned to Falman, "Hawkeye, 10."


Oct 29, 15:27

The Colonel couldn't help but feel agitated lately. The plain, stark walls of the office looked dull and chipped. He should probably request for a new paint job. His desk creaked if he leaned too hard on it. Maybe he could ask for a new desk too. The air was a bit stale in the room. Maybe he should take a break.

The phone rang so piercingly that he thought his brain would explode.

The Flame Alchemist looked up sharply towards the direction of the agitating sound and saw that it was the phone on his First Lieutenant's desk that was ringing. Riza Hawkeye was already reaching for it when he found himself snapping, "NO PRIVATE CALLS DURING WORK HOURS!"

First Lieutenant Hawkeye had glanced at him briefly before proceeding to pick up the phone anyhow. Roy Mustang found himself wanting to burn something.

"Yes, right," he heard Riza say into the phone. He felt a vein throb.

"Yes, you're right. It should probably be that date," Riza continued and was jotting something down on a paper pad in front of her. "I'll let him know."

She hung up, and before Roy could open his mouth again, she turned to him and stated, "Central wanted to double check the resolution date you put on Case #41593. They said you probably meant September 24, 1910, not 1810."

Roy stared.

Breda choked on his water but the rest of the gang definitely heard a gurgling, "Hawkeye, 15."


Oct 31, 17:43

Riza was pretty satisfied with the day's work. The Colonel hadn't taken too many breaks and there hadn't been any random inspections he had needed to conduct. She found herself slowly tidying up her desk as the rest of her colleagues started to do the same.

A soft knock came at the door.

Everyone looked up just as the door cracked opened to reveal a female in her 20s poking her head in. Riza immediately recognized the face and felt herself stiffen involuntarily.

The Colonel's surprised but happy voice interrupted her from her trance.

"Isabella! What a surprise!"

Isabella smiled brightly as she fully walked into the office space, and it was only then that Riza noticed the girl was wearing ridiculous fuzzy cat ears and what looked like an awfully tight black dress underneath her big wool coat. What sort of sane adult would be wearing fuzzy cat ears?

"I thought you might not be prepared for tonight's party so I brought you these!" The girl, as Riza had decided to label her as, pranced in brandishing something small in her hands and stopped in front of the Colonel's desk to present the item.

Roy Mustang looked a bit sheepish as he took the item from the girl's hands. Riza squinted and noticed they looked to be…something pointy and curved…

"Thanks, I was just about to pack up and meet you," the Colonel explained as he stood up to grab his things. The girl must've felt all the eyes in the room on her because she had suddenly turned around to survey them all.

Roy noticed and quickly waved across the room. "Oh, right, how rude of me. These are my most trusted men—"

He heard Falman clear his throat stiffly.

"And women—woman," Roy found himself adding awkwardly as he felt a strange pressure coming off of the intense stares from his team. To top it off, he felt like he couldn't turn all the way to the right where he knew his First Lieutenant was. There was an intensity from that corner that even the Flame Alchemist felt like he should not try to battle.

Isabella waved cheerily at the group. "So nice to meet you guys! I've always wondered who Roy worked with!"

The group all smiled and waved politely. Riza kept her gaze steady and simply nodded curtly.

The Colonel took this as his cue to quickly exit, popping whatever the item the girl had given him into his mouth. They were fangs.

Riza couldn't help but stare as the two made their way out the door. Since when did the Colonel ever play dress up? The child lady was definitely not a good influence on the man whose sole goal in life was to become Fuhrer.

Falman cleared his throat again after an undiscerning amount of time had passed. "Lieutenant," he nudged, getting no response. The officer cleared his throat again. "First Lieutenant!"

Riza snapped out of her thoughts and automatically went straight back to packing up her bag. "See you guys tomorrow," she said automatically as she grabbed her coat and left without another word.

Havoc had just finished lighting a cigarette. "Mustang, 2?"

Everyone else nodded in agreement.


Roy Mustang found himself wondering how he had gotten himself into the situation at hand. He never celebrated Halloween, nor did he understand what the holiday was even for. He glanced down and saw the tips of the fuzzy cat ears that Isabella was sporting atop her dark locks, then shifted the fake vampire fangs he himself was now wearing. It was quite uncomfortable and made swallowing awkward. They continued down the street.

Isabella grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the familiar brick building that he frequented often.

"C'mon Roy, I was supposed to help with some setup."

Roy sighed and let himself be pulled. "I'm sure Madame will be fine with one less pair of hands on deck."

"Mom will still nag at me for having poor time management skills," Isabella responded with a huff and hurried ahead herself and through the door of Madame Christmas' establishment.

The Colonel let himself smile slightly and paused at the door. It was a good thing really. Chris Mustang was basically his only true family left in the world and he was happy for the woman that she had reconciled with one of her estranged daughters.

He was well-versed with Chris Mustang's colourful past. Growing up under the woman's care, he had seen her fair share of suitors and her dramatic romances that usually exploded in screams and furniture being flung. Nonetheless, she had explained to him it was all for love. And sometimes love would create children.

Isabella was one of them. He wasn't sure if she was daughter number three, or if she was daughter number four, but he was glad to see that one of his cousins had turned out with a sensible enough head and a natural talent for alchemy. Roy had been surprised when Chris Mustang told him about the appearance of her daughter in East City a few months ago and the usually unfazed woman had felt a bit nervous about trying to rekindle any form of relationship with the girl. Naturally, Roy had been roped in to help bridge the relationship.

He found himself rather fond of the younger girl. She was hopeful, enjoyed some rather silly things in life still, but had a good heart. He frowned suddenly as he remembered why he was rather happy that he had her as a distraction in life recently.

That damn Major Francis Ballard.

Once he had identified the man, he had gone on a rather long "inspection" but had actually nestled himself inside the Eastern Command archive room digging up all things Ballard. He had learned that the taller man had gotten his State Certification only a year ago, but was already quite well known for his ability to bend earth-based materials.

He had rolled his eyes. What help would a bunch of flowers and trees be when war brought raining hellfire? Useless man, he had thought.

"Roy!" He heard the annoyed hiss of Isabella as she poked her head out the door again to wave him inside. "I need help lighting all the candles. We're doing a fully candlelit party tonight so that it's appropriately spooky."

"Ok, ok," he sighed and found himself taking out those ridiculous fangs.


Riza was the first one in. She was oftentimes the first one in lately, and she didn't mind that she got a quiet ten minutes to herself before her colleagues would slowly trickle in. In fact, she relished the eerie silence caused only by the fact that she was the only person in the room. Lately the room had been eerily silent even when the whole gang was here. Or more like, everyone except the Colonel had become eerily quiet, as if waiting for something.

On cue, the rest of the team started coming in. Riza said a rather cheery good morning to them, in which she received half enthused responses in return. What was up with everybody lately?

Riza knew what was up with herself. She had developed quite a wonderful friendship with Major Ballard, who had become sort of her go-to lunch buddy most of the days. Sometimes they would even grab a meal after work.

She had to emphasize the thought on friendship.

Yes, after a dozen conversations over various meals, Riza Hawkeye had learned that one Major Francis Ballard was absolutely lovesick. And no, not lovesick with one Riza Hawkeye, but in fact, with another impressive and intimidating blonde- Brigadier General Olivier Armstrong.

What Rebecca had caught as sad, pathetic pining was in fact, just another frustrated soul that needed a listening ear. Riza felt a faint flush rise to her cheeks when she remembered one rather direct conversation with Major Ballard at dinner two weeks ago.

"I assumed as much that you were in a similar situation as myself," Ballard had said while picking up a forkful of salad.

Riza had simply stared at her new friend in confusion, hesitating to bite into her breaded pork cutlet.

"How long has it been?"

Riza had still just stared at Ballard quizzically until the Major, also a State Alchemist revered for his natural ability with Mother Earth and all things green, had sighed in exasperation. "You and Mustang! That guy, let me tell you the things I hear about him," he scoffed. "Don't even know why a lovely woman like yourself would be interested!"

Riza had fully dropped her fork at that point and was trying to contain the rising redness to her cheeks. "Excuse me?" She had feigned ignorance, though clearly without much conviction.

Ballard had grinned then and continued eating. "I knew I was a goner the first day I was assigned to Oli—I mean, General Armstrong's unit. That unrelenting strength, that focus, absolute focus…" his grin had fallen slightly then. "But it's impossible. I'm a direct subordinate. I don't know how you do it."

The First Lieutenant had found it quite amusing then, how strange this relationship had turned out. But she also remembered feeling a great weight lift ever so slightly from her chest. Ah, another forbidden military romance. Another unrequited love. She wasn't so alone in her foolishness after all.

And ever since that meal, Major Francis Ballard had helped First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye sort through her ever frustrating but ever present feelings towards her direct superior.


AN: I was definitely inspired to write this mostly lighthearted "log-form" chapter from the original FMA series episode 37. And yes, I realize Madame Christmas actually lives in Central, but for the purpose of this story, she has an East City joint ;) Hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it, and let me know if you have any comments (especially in terms of characterization!) .