Five Golden Rings

Author: MoonStarDutchess

Chapter 4: Owner

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction but I do own my idea. Sadly I also own any typos you might see. Lol

Owner

She swallowed and her eyes locked on the photograph as if it was pulling her gaze toward it with some invisible force. That young man was- It was wrong! He shouldn't be dead."

"Were you a colleague of Phillips?" Riza turned her head to the right and saw a brown haired woman sitting in a chair in the corner. She was covered in soft shadows so Riza couldn't make much out of her face but her physical state was clear. She was swollen with child, which caused an already sharp ache in her heart to hurt even more. Not only did the woman lose a fiancé, that baby lost a father.

Please no, Riza begged fate even though her pleading would be of no benefit.

"Oh. No," the woman said. "I'm sorry. I mistook your military uniform for a fireman's. My mistake." Her voice cracked and sounded scratchy among her kind lilts.

Riza smiled and looked back at the picture. She wracked her brain for some condolences but couldn't think of anything strong and ended up with a simple. "I'm sorry."

"How did you know Phillip?"

"Um. . . I didn't really know him."

The girl tilted her head questioningly, but no ill expression crossed her face. Riza smiled at her. "He helped me and my boyfriend during the attacks. When I was coming out of the building I could barely hold my boyfriend up and he came along and helped me get him on the street."

A smile blossomed on her face. "I'm glad you are all right." Her smile left and she turned serious. "Is your boyfriend okay?"

Riza was touched that she thought to ask that when she'd lost her love. "Yes, he's recuperating fine."

"That's good to hear." She motioned to the casket. "Phillip would be happy to know that. It was his goal since we were children to be a fireman and to save people. He died doing that. Of course, you saved so many people too didn't you? The entire nation."

Riza turned to face her. "Pardon."

"You're Riza Hawkeye."

"Yes." Riza hated being known. If she had it her way she'd stay in a corner somewhere away from the papers during the time after the so called "rebellion" and let Roy up at the forefront. But he insisted on her being right by his side during interviews and the like. There were a few positives to the situation. If she hadn't been well-known it would have been so easy to get the address so she could return the ring.

"He looked up to you two a lot and we supported you. I still do."

"Thank you." Riza looked around. "I have something you need to have. Is there a place where we can talk away from these people?"

The girl stood, wobbling on her feet enough that Riza walk forward and steadied her. She laughed. "It's hard walking when you're thirty-five pounds heavier." She motioned her head towards a door. "We can go out onto the bedroom balcony. This way."

Riza let go of her and followed the woman back into a small bedroom and out onto the balcony. The woman inched down onto the cushioned bench and patted the seat next to her. Riza couldn't help but find it odd that she was holding up so well and treating her so congenially. Riza placed her purse on her lap and unclasped the top. "Miss…" Riza realized she hadn't gotten the woman's name.

"Call me Cheryl." Via the sunlight Riza could make out her red stained eyes and raw cheeks even more vividly. Perhaps the reason she seemed to be holding up so well was because she had no more tears to shed. She recalled Gracia mentioning something about running out of tears when Maes died and had no choice but to move on.

"Cheryl," Riza said as she pulled out a small velvet box. "Your boyfriend dropped this when he was helping. The paramedic handed it to me, guess he thought it was mine, and I put it in my bag. At the time I wasn't thinking about anything but if Roy was okay."

Cheryl nodded. Shock overwhelmed her face when Riza pulled out a ring box. She forced her hands to remain steady, as if she were about to fire a shot, as she passed it to the young woman's shaky grasp.

Cheryl brought the ring down to rest in her lap, opened it, and opened her mouth to say something. Instead her lip quivered and she lifted the ring against her chest, and bowed her head. No tears came though. Riza was at a loss of what to do. She knew what the woman was feeling somewhat, having thought she lost Roy first with lust, then with the terrorist attack. The major difference was that her love came back.

"Oh my, Cheryl there you-" An older woman came out onto the balcony and we she saw the woman's state, glared at Riza. "What in the hell did you do to her?"

Riza was about to respond when Cheryl did. "She gave me the most precious Christmas gift." She showed the ring to the woman. "Phillip was going to give this to me."

The old woman took the ring and tears fell from her eyes. "He was going to propose. My grandson was going to. . ."

Riza stared up at the woman to see a pain filled yet happy look. She couldn't understand it. He was gone; not able to give his proposal the way he should have. How could they see this as something positive? Her intentions were to return the ring to him. She saw it as a morbid duty to have to return it to his surviving girlfriend.

"You don't understand how we can be happy about this?"

Riza shook her heads. "No, I don't. I was almost tempted to not give it to you now, but I shouldn't put off the inevitable."

She placed her hand on top of Riza's and squeezed it. "I'm so glad you didn't wait. No one thought he had real intentions toward me. Even with this baby on the way. No one but Grandma Martha here. We were together and happy and that's what mattered most, but to everyone else they wanted to see a marriage. Society doesn't see love without a ceremony sometimes. He got a lot of grief from people. Now maybe he can rest. I didn't care if he ever proposed because I loved him, but with this it will take our lack of wedding off their minds and focus on the fact he was a hero that died young."

/-/-/-/

Riza thought about what the woman said as she made her way down to the car. When she got into the automobile, she shut the door and leaned back into her seat. That woman was far stronger than she would have been. If she'd been in her place she would have chucked the ring in anger. Not because he never proposed but because people felt the need to stick their noses in where it didn't belong. It made her angry that the young man who saved many would still be seen in a negative light. Just like Roy would go through if he was ever put in that position.

She gripped the steering wheel with both hands. It didn't matter a bit to Cheryl that he never proposed. It didn't matter to her if Roy ever did. It mattered to PEOPLE. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she reached up to wipe them away. That couple went through so much, that woman would have a child without a young man whose good deeds might go unnoticed if she hadn't returned the ring. It was pathetic.

She turned the key in the car, giving up on wiping away her tears, and headed to the safe house. After she turned into the driveway and shut off the car, she checked her face in the mirror to make sure there were no tear streaks and her eyes weren't red. When satisfied that there were no tell-tale signs of her tears, she got out of the car and walked into the house after nodding at a security guard next to the door.

The moment she entered the house she felt as if something strange was going on. Normally there'd be someone walking past her, the sound of music or typing or papers rustling. Everyone should be working and the fact they weren't both angered her and made her suspicious. With everything going, there wasn't time for everyone to take off at once.

She made her way to the study and her eyes widened when she saw her friends decorating the small room in different decorations than proper Christmas ones. As if they were having a little party that she didn't know about. Roy was sitting in a chair amongst it all. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance, revealing that he wasn't behind this little change of scenery.

"What in the hell is going on here?" Everyone turned to her like they'd been caught murdering someone. She reasoned that, in her eyes, they were. When they remained quiet she spoke again. "I asked what was going on!" She made sure to keep her eyes off Roy to impart that she knew he was against it. He should have ordered them back to work, but she wouldn't hold that against him for now.

"Um… we..." Havoc stammered.

"Why are you here? You weren't supposed to be home yet!" Rebecca said.

Riza narrowed her eyes at her friend. "What do you mean I'm not supposed to be back yet? I never told you what time I would be back. I didn't even know myself!"

In a rare act of fright, Rebecca hid behind Havoc, and peaked up over his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Riza looked around. "Fuery, tell me what—"

"Calm down Riza," Roy said. Her eyes fell to him and he smiled. "Come here."

"Why?"

"What?"

"You are going to do something to embarrass me aren't you?"

Roy laughed. "As if you could be embarrassed." He extended his hand. "Just come here okay?"

Riza walked to stand in front of him and he took her hand in his. "I love you," he said.

Riza tried to keep a blush off her face but failed. When Rebecca made an "awww" sound, she glared daggers. Rebecca cowered behind Havoc again.

"I love you too, Sir," she said when Roy looked at her expectantly.

"Really?"

"You know that already."

"Then . . ." Using his other hand, he removed a ring box, the same exact type of box she'd returned to its rightful owner. So that's how he knew about the shop. Chills overran her body and her heart started beating so loud she could hear it in her ears. "Will you marry me Riza?"

"Grumman is going to kill him for proposing when he's not here," Havoc whispered to his fiancée.

"Nah, that man will be happy just to see her married."

"Well?" he asked.

"Of course I will." She tried to smile and she knew he noticed that it wasn't a wholehearted one. He slowly slipped the ring on her finger, his eyes still studying her face for an answer. He struggled to stand and hug her. She helped him to his feet and wrapped her arms around him.

"What's wrong?" he whispered as congratulations surrounded them. This time for a valid reason.

"Looks like since Riza returned the ring you don't have to get married after all Fuery," Falman commented.

"I didn't HAVE to get married in the first place," he snapped.

"Kind of fun, having five golden rings for Christmas," Rebecca said with a laugh. "Five happy engagements."

When Roy felt a familiar shudder, he knew what was coming and pulled her head down to his shoulder, so no one would see her eyes. Then he let her cry without having to know the reason for the tears.

"Four," she whispered sadly. "There's only four."

End.

AN: Sorry for the late update with this. To be honest I forgot about needing to post the final chapter. Hope you enjoyed the fiction and please drop a review if you have the time.