A/n: Just finished writing this chapter. It took me 3 hours none stop and yet its short o.O ah well as long as its finished. Please review! I want to know what you think, okay


They were back in Central. Back to work again after that quick detour to the Elric household, following their departure from their post at Ishvalan settlement. They had to report all the new developments that were happening there and make requests for what they needed. Even though it had been close to a year since they started work at the site, there was still a lot more to be done.

It was the start of their 'office week' as Riza liked to refer to it. Although she called it 'week' it usually took more than that, according to the amount of paper load they had to finish. And this time around they had a whole lot of paperwork to fill out and other preparations to make before they returned, which might make them stay longer at central for perhaps a month, give or take she assumed. But Riza didn't mind.

She enjoyed these days since they were less stressing and she could relax more and didn't have to worry about Mustang's safety as much.
She didn't have to watch out for some random bullet flying through the air or an attack by a renegade with a knife. Thankfully none of these situations actually happened so far, except for a minor incident which she'd managed to intercept promptly, her mind however, would not stop relaying all the possible worse case scenarios that could happen. There was never a moment's rest for her while they were at Ishval and Riza had to be extra alert. She hated to admit it, but it was starting to wear her out.

The calm of the office and the safety she found within the rigid walls of headquarters was why she looked forward to their officedays. Also she secretly enjoyed spending time alone with her General.
Dropping the files she'd received earlier that morning on her desk, and went over to kitchen to grab herself a cup of coffee. She needed the caffeine to keep her focused on job at hand. Returning to the office moments later with a piping hot red mug in her hand, she was surprised not to find the general at his desk by now. Looking up at the clock she shook her head, it was already nine thirty am and her superior hadn't come into the office yet.

'Some things just never change.' She thought to herself with a smile.

She put down the mug on a coaster and stretched out her arms and let out a soft sigh, then grabbing her pen she started to work. Just then Mustang strolled in with both his hands tucked in his pant pockets; sleep lurking behind those pitch black eyes. He felt like a truck had run him over and was in a horrible mood. As he entered his office he was greeted with the sight of his lieutenant colonel stretching out freely, probably thinking no one was around to see her. And the little act brought a smile to his face, making him forget all about the foul mood.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Did you sleep well last night?" He called out as he went to her desk.

Finishing off the last word on paper in front of her, she heard his deep familiar voice and glanced up to see that he was standing beside her desk. She met his eyes and notice that he seemed really tired, she frowned.

"Well enough sir, however I can see you didn't, anything wrong?"

Roy shook his head. "Nothing of importance, I just couldn't fall asleep last night. And by the time I did sleep, for about an hour I think, the damn alarm went off and half an hour ago later here I am. Anyways what's in store for me today?"

She nodded then put down her pen and stood up, "Just the usual filling of the files Sir, nothing of importance yet. Although it isn't certain, whether the meeting scheduled for noon today will be held or not, since several of the other generals haven't reported back to headquarters."

She walked over to his desk and pulled his blue 'I'm the man!' mug out the top drawer. Then meeting his eyes she smiled and softly said.

"Let me get you a pick-me-up then," raising the mug with a grin as she continued, "since you're going to need it filling out all those forms."

Leaning on her desk and crossing his arms over his chest, he tilted his head and gave her a weary grin. "Thank you Lieutenant, what would I ever do without you?"

"I don't think you'd ever to get anything done, Sir." She smiled then headed to the kitchen, holding the mug in both her hands.

Roy let out an exhausted sigh, slowly made his way over to his desk and sat down in his big black chair. He leaned back, closed his eyes and leisurely stroked the bridge of his nose with his thumb and first two fingers. He hoped that meeting Riza mentioned would be canceled; he wasn't in the mood to discuss anything today. Those damn nightmares got the best of him last night. Usually he was able to keep them at bay, once in a while however they managed to haunt him no matter what he did to ignore them.

Hawkeye walked back into the office with steaming blue mug in one hand, and some more files an officer passing by their office had given her, in the other. Her eyes fell on Mustang in his chair and a worried look crossed her face. Last night must have been one of 'those' nights then, she noted, sympathy in her eyes as she stared at him. She totally understood how draining they were to him.

She hurried inside and before she handed him his mug, she stopped by her desk and deposited the files onto the stack already there. Then picked out the ones with the least amount of work and carried them over to his desk, putting them down. She extended her mug held hand and quietly studying his face for awhile before breaking the silence.

"Here you go, sir" she said

He opened his eyes, blinked then spotted her standing in front of him. With a slight sigh he gently reached out and took the mug from her hand, their hands touched for more than a moment before she pulled hers back.

"Thanks again, Lieutenant. I really needed this." Giving her a worn out smile

She returned the smile gave him a quick nod and went back to sit behind her own desk. She briefly stared at the stack in front of her, let out a deep sigh and got back to work.

After taking a couple of sips of his coffee, Roy put down his mug and decided not to delay what awaited his attention any longer. He looked at the files on his desk, and then raised an eyebrow, surprised to find only five files were there since he expected much more. His gaze went over Riza's table and he saw her high stack of files and understood why.

'My selfless guardian angel, always looking out for me' He grinned, grateful.

He picked up his pen clicked it then opened a file that said urgent and started filling it.

'I'll have to make it up to her somehow.' That thought lingered on his mind as he worked.


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