Author's Note: (Disclaimer: You know the drill; I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist in any way, shape or form.)

So this is a scene from Volume Fifteen, it's cute and one of my favorite scenes so I thought I'd tinker with it a little :p

I hope you guys like it =]

Love,

AL

P.S. The italicized male pronouns such as he, him, or his refer to Roy Mustang. I'm sorry if it's bothersome while reading, I did this so that no one would get confused and think that Riza was referring to Edward :p

The redundant flickering of a streetlight just across the way was what first caught her eye. Its light bulb was slowly burning out and the miserable thing had been sparking on and off for a full week.

"Lieutenant?"

"I'm listening," she answered, still digesting what he had just said.

"…the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of Scar begging Winry to lower the gun."

That last line seared her heart like an open flame as the haunting memories of her blood-stained past began to seep back into her conscious mind.

"I've never seen her cry so hard before, I'm sure she hated Scar enough to want to kill him," Edward Elric leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table with a look of maturity far beyond his own age glowing in his mournful golden eyes.

She nodded sympathetically and zoned out once again, focusing on the crimson dappled gun that rested on the table in pieces before her, the one she had leant to Edward. With a deep frown Riza tried to picture the young and lovely Winry with the gun in her trembling hands while her finger numbly pawed at the trigger. Edward cleared his throat and said something more, but Riza only caught a small fragment of his words, "…it's easy to forget about the pain and loss she's lived with all this time…"

"Edward," she began softly, plucking a discharged bullet from the pile of gun pieces, "you've only got the luxury to worry about things like this because you made it back in one piece…no matter how difficult things get, no matter how foolish you look struggling under the weight of your burdens, you have to keep living…for the ones you love." As she said this, she saw his face bright and clear in her mind as if he were sitting right next to her.

Just picturing the intense warmth of his amber eyes brought color to her cheeks. Before Edward could ask her about her sudden blush, she put down the hollowed bullet and declared, "You have to protect her."

He raised his eyebrows while taking a sip of his tea, "Huh?"

She picked up the barrel of the gun and shrugged nonchalantly, "You love Winry, don't you?"

Riza jumped slightly at the young man's reaction. At the mere mention of the word love and Winry in the same sentence, Edward spewed his tea all over the table while managing to get a few drops of the sickly sweet Chamomile onto the fluffed up fur of Black Hayate.

A drop of tea slid from the corner of his mouth down to his chin as he sputtered, "Sh-Sh-She's j-j-j-ust a…a ch-childhood friend f-friend, we're like family!"

"Oh my," Riza giggled and set down the barrel, which she'd been polishing. It's far worse than I expected, she mused and leaned back in her chair.

"Sorry," he muttered, wiping the table with an old dust rag.

"It's quite alright Edward," she smiled gently, resting her head in her hands.

I remember when I would deny how I felt about Roy…

She gazed out the window at the flickering street lamp once again; it shone dimly against the dark backdrop of night.

It drove me crazy until finally one day I realized to just admit it, to accept what I was feeling… after all, the heart does know best.

She glanced back at Edward, who had an embarrassed smile planted on his flushed face as he rung out the tea-soaked rag.

…but I'll let him find that one out on his own.