He decided to visit the colonel's office, thinking that the two would probably need an extra pair of hands. And he was right. When he opened the door, piles of paper were everywhere – on the colonel's desk, on the floor, everywhere.

"Havoc!" The relief on Hawkeye's face made him feel good. Not that he's falling for the lieutenant, it's just that… if fate will give them a chance, he surely will grab the opportunity. She's a beautiful woman, after all, and he was lucky enough to see a side of her that was kept hidden to the rest of the world. Without even a salute to the superior officer behind his table, Havoc tiptoed toward her direction (careful not to knock any of the papers with his foot), took the folders in her hands and placed them into the opened drawer.

"Thank you." Hawkeye whispered. "I was looking for a five-year old file and I couldn't find it here…"

"You should've called me." He whispered back. Lt. Jean Havoc's attention was too fixed on Hawkeye (who stared back at him in bewilderment) that he failed to notice the scowl on Col. Mustang's face. "Havoc!"

He was ignored (unconsciously, really).

"LT. JEAN HAVOC!"

Both lieutenants jumped, spun on their heel and faced the ill-tempered colonel.

"Yes sir!"

"I need you to take these…" he pointed two envelopes on the less populated side of his desk. "to the post office. Pronto."

"Yes sir." He took the envelopes, glanced at the poor blonde with her stacks of documents and left the office.

"I have more papers here." Mustang reminded the lieutenant, who immediately walked toward his desk and retrieved the said papers with her usual, unreadable expression.

"So how did it go?"

"What's it, sir."

"The date."

Hawkeye was too busy fumbling through the documents that she barely paid any attention to the colonel's question. She simply shrugged it off.

Mustang cleared his throat. "I'm asking because I need you on a mission."

Upon the mention of the word "mission", Hawkeye ignored the papers and diverted her attention to him. "What mission, sir?"

"Top secret. I need a bodyguard, and since you're the best sniper in this side of the world…"

She disregarded the compliment and asked, "When?"

"Today."

"Today?" She looked at the papers scattered across the floor. "But… I still haven't found the document you needed."

Mustang was already on his feet. "Forget about that. I can ask Fuery to look for it."

When she looked like she was about to object, Mustang grabbed her by the wrist and forced her to go with him.

x0x

Havoc was gasping for air when he reached the colonel's office, only to find Fuery, Falman and Breda in there, surrounded by a sea of papers. "Where's the colonel?"

The three officers shrugged. "They left," answered a very irritated Breda.

"They." He immediately realized who the other person was. "Do you know where they went?"

"Boss said it's top secret." Breda answered. "And we shouldn't go around telling people that they left. But what the heck! You deserve to know. "

"So nobody knows where they are?"

The three officers shook their head. Havoc looked at the envelopes which were supposed to be mailed, if not for their fictional recipients and non-existing addresses. Apparently, "Cherry Lane" and "Neverland" are places found only in children's books.

"Anyway, where have you been? Lt. Hawkeye was looking for you…"

"I went to the post office, carrying a mail to Willy Wonka of 354 Cherry Lane and Wendy Darling of Neverland."

Fuery frowned in confusion. "You're writing letters to Willy Wonka?"

"Not me. The colonel asked me to mail them."

"Any luck?" Breda asked mockingly. Havoc answered him with a chuckle.

"Anyway, what are you doing in here?" he asked the three officers who were busy rummaging though stockpiles of papers and folders.

"We're under orders." Breda informed him.

"Yeah." Fuery agreed with a nod. "Do you happen to know a file signed five years ago about an incident in a place called Oz?"

"Who asked you to look for it?"

"The colonel."

Havoc closed the door behind him and said, "You won't find it." He bent down to pick up the paper next to his foot. "It doesn't exist."

x0x

"What exactly are we doing here?" Hawkeye asked. She was expecting something big, heck she even carried extra bullets in her purse just in case. She agreed to wear the fancy black dress Mustang had given him, put on some make-up to complete the get-up, and even linked her hand with his so they can convince people in that fancy restaurant that they're just another couple. But when they entered through the glass doors, there were no fancy-dressed people to convince. Except for a number of workers, the entire place was practically empty.

At first, the oddity of the situation made her worried, but after noticing how the colonel dodged every questioning glance from her, she became irritated. She was obviously tricked.

"Sit down." He said to her before giving his orders to the guy in tuxedo waiting beside their table.

"How about you?" Mustang asked Hawkeye.

"Anything I can drink with not too much alcohol in it." She said with a frown.

"You're not going to eat?" Mustang said thoughtfully.

"That is all."

The waiter was baffled, but he's too terrified to cross the annoyed woman.

Mustang studied her in silence, and then decided to order something on her behalf. Hawkeye did not protest, she was too annoyed to care. It's his money, anyway. Let the man waste it.

"I thought we were on a mission, sir. Why are we here?"

Mustang glanced at her whose gaze was drifting away. She's angry, he can tell, but perhaps he can go around it somehow. He had been up all night thinking about this, there's no way for the plan to go to waste.

Uncomfortable silence filled the air until their food was served. "Let's eat."

"You still haven't answered my question."

Mustang straightened himself up. "Why are you acting like this?"

She finally looked at him. "Because you're not answering my question. WHY ARE WE HERE."

"We're on a date."

"Really?"

Her haughty attitude was getting on his nerves. "Let's just eat for a while, okay?"

"No. I'm going." She was about to leave the table when Mustang grabbed her arm and shove her back to her seat.

"No. You're not."

She tried to peel his grip off her arm.

"Were you this difficult when you went out with Havoc?"

"FYI that date was your idea."

"This date is also my idea! I was up all night planning for this."

"So what?"

"So what?" He mimicked her tone. "Please don't tell me you're in love with Havoc."

Hawkeye gave him a cold look he had never seen before. "Jean Havoc never tricked me into doing what he wants." She snatched her arm away from his grasp, stood up and fled the scene with his car keys.

It took him a long while to find an empty taxi cab in this busy part of town. He was fortunate enough to have a wallet in his pocket, the rest of his belongings – house keys, IDs, pistol, etc. – were in the car which Hawkeye used for her escape. When he arrived at the office, soldiers were already leaving for home. Whether Hawkeye was still in there or not, he didn't notice. Actually he didn't care. He wasn't prepared to deal with her horrible side yet, and he would be one lucky man if the woman doesn't show up and confront him.

Hawkeye have just finished changing clothes and is currently washing off the make-up on her face. Satisfied that every last of it has been erased, she marched out of the restroom and into the colonel's office, where the colonel was busy looking for something in one of the drawers of his wooden desk. He barely paid any attention when she came in, although Hawkeye knew he was aware of her presence.

She took out his car keys and placed them onto the colonel's desk, together with the black dress he asked her to wear. The colonel retreated from his fussing around and stared at the two objects on his desk. Then he looked up and met Hawkeye's steady gaze. He was mentally preparing himself from a verbal joust when Hawkeye suddenly turned her back on him and left.

Mustang stood there, baffled. Of all the women he had dealt with, he had never been mystified by anyone as much as Lt. Riza Hawkeye have in the past few hours.

Havoc knew something was wrong when a ghostly Hawkeye passed by the hallway. She probably didn't notice him, or maybe she did but deliberately ignored his presence. What's obvious, though, is the blankness of her eyes as she stared ahead… as if in deep thought.

And when he passed by the colonel's office on his way out, he saw a ghostly Mustang standing by the window at the far end of his room, looking out into the evening sky with the same blank gaze.

x0x0x0x

fW: I can't help it. The desire to upload another chapter is too irresistible… so here it is. Next chapter will be uploaded this coming Sunday. And I think this fic will be a bit longer than planned...