Disclaimer- I don't own FullMetal Alchemist


Chapter 8

Meaningless, or Not

The following Sunday evening found Kate sitting at her table, grumbling and mumbling to herself as she studied the text of the thick book in front of her and occasionally scribbled something down in the notebook beside it that was already filled with a bunch of seemingly random notations in her neat, small script.

Her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was wearing a pair of loose brown pajama bottoms that tied at the waist and a plain, somewhat baggy tan shirt. She was sitting cross legged in the chair, one of her knees bouncing constantly, a nervous habit she had yet to fully notice. She had the day off and she was trying to catch up on her homework, much of which was due tomorrow and she was silently thankful that she also had Mondays off so that she could study all night and just sleep all day once she got home from school.

Every so often she would stop what she was doing to drop her pencil and pick up the fork that was resting on the red plate in the middle of the table and scoop up a piece of cherry pie. The pie had at some point been whole, but now all that remained was about half of it. It was just as she was taking another bite of the pie that there was a knock on her door, startling her and making her drop the piece onto her just taken notes.

"Oh come on," Kate mumbled agitatedly, glaring at the mess that had ruined her notes.

There was another knock at the door and she growled, unfolding herself from her chair, her pants falling to her ankles as she stood and stalked away from the table.

"This had better be good," she muttered to herself before pulling open the door to come face to face with the one person she really didn't want to see at the moment.

"What took you so long," Roy asked, ignoring the annoyance that was evident on Kate's face as he walked in without waiting for her to invite him.

"I was busy," Kate replied shortly. "And if you can't tell, I have a lot of homework, so go away. Please."

"But I'm hungry."

Staring in disbelief at him, Kate didn't know whether to take him seriously or to just throw the nearest sharp object at him and be done with it. In the week since she had returned from Dublith and had had dinner with him, Roy had been sure to give her an extra hard time since she no longer seemed mad at him and he wasn't scared she'd hurt him, seriously. He would send her on some wild goose chase throughout HQ only to have her return empty handed to see him napping in his chair. He had been late getting his paperwork done three out of the five days she had worked and she had had to listen to the various people she delivered it to complaining and yelling at her and of course she had to take it all and not talk back, she was just the secretary after all. There had of course been more, but she was trying to not think about it as he waltzed self-assuredly through her apartment.

"What does that have to do with me," she finally asked, crossing her arms over chest with a huff.

"I'm lazy, you're my secretary, cook me something," Roy answered, taking off the black coat he wore over his uniform and looking curiously at the mess of papers that was currently strewn about the table.

Her jaw dropping, Kate couldn't do anything but stare at the man that proceeded to make himself comfortable at her table and started reading through one of the books that was set out. Shaking her head to regain herself, Kate walked over to him, grabbed her book from him, slammed it shut, put it back on the table, grabbed Roy's coat from the back of the chair he had set it on, grabbed his collar, making him squeak when she nearly choked him, pulled him out of the chair and dragged him towards the door.

"Get out," she demanded tersely, thrusting his coat into his hands, opening her door and staring expectantly at him.

"Jeez, you're in a bad mood, as always," Roy said, acting offended as he scratched at the top of his head. "And I came all this way just to see you."

"Well thanks for the visit, see you Tuesday, out."

"You're cute when you're mad, a little scary, but cute."

"Mustang," she growled, none too playfully. "If you haven't noticed, I'm buried in homework at the moment and I don't have the time to play games with you. Please leave and let me do my work," she said, her voice becoming more of a whine than the angry growl she had meant it to be.

As he was about to reply, his stomach gurgled, loudly. Chuckling and rubbing at his stomach as Kate gaped at him, Roy didn't say anything and only looked at her pathetically.

Sighing and shaking her head with a small laugh, Kate shut her door and turned towards her kitchen. "Go sit down."

Doing so without a word, Roy made himself comfortable at her table and listened to her rummaging around in the kitchen.

As much as she would have liked to push him out the door and then slam it in his face, she couldn't. She hated to admit it, but she actually liked the guy. He had his bad sides, many of them, but he was still a good person and Kate couldn't ignore that fact at the moment as she moved things around her counter and grabbed a cutting board.

After a few minutes of hearing her moving things around and chopping something, Roy got curious and wandered over to the kitchen. Kate hadn't noticed him, her back was too him as she chopped an onion, one of her feet was raised and resting against the other knee and Roy studied her for a moment before deciding to make himself known.

"Need any help," he offered.

She was just pushing the onion to the side when he had spoken and was reaching for something else, he had surprised her and she gasped, jumping from the scare and dropping the knife that was in her right hand.

"Ah!" She cried when the knife sliced across her skin between her elbow and wrist and red blood instantly bloomed from the cut.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, you alright," Roy asked in concern as Kate grabbed a napkin and placed it over the cut.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, her face contorted in a grimace from the sting of the cut. "Ow."

"Let me see," Roy said, holding out a hand, when Kate refused and only shook her head, he sighed and stepped forward to gently grab her hand and move the napkin aside to look at the cut. "It's fairly deep and it's bleeding pretty badly, we should take you to the hospital."

"No, I'm fine," she protested, wrenching her hand from his grasp.

"You're not fine. Come on, get a coat, I'll drive you."

She shook her head vigorously. "No, I'm not going, I have homework, I'm busy."

"Fine, have it your way," Roy replied nonchalantly and turned around to walk out of her kitchen.

Kate was a little surprised that he let it go and smirked to herself before wincing when she put pressure on the cut to staunch the bleeding. She was walking out of the kitchen to go to the bathroom to clean the cut and bandage it when a heavy black coat was put over her shoulders and her feet were swept out from under her.

"What are you doing," Kate squealed, her eyes wide as she looked into Roy's gray eyes with shock.

"Taking you to the hospital. I suggest you don't fight, I'm stronger and you'll lose," Roy answered simply, adjusting his grip on her and making it nearly impossible for her to struggle against the bonds of his muscled arms.

"I don't want to go, I'm fine," she protested.

"I told you not to bother, I'm taking you, so shut up and behave."

Seeing as how they were already out of her apartment and it was obvious that Kate wouldn't be able to talk her way out of the situation, she let Roy carry her down stairs and to his car, a stubborn look on her face the whole time. The thought of running when he set her in the passenger seat was tempting, but she didn't bother, with a single look at Roy, she doubted she'd get far.

The drive to the hospital didn't take long and Kate really didn't want to get out of the car, but it was either walk on her own or be carried by Roy and seeing as how a cut to her arm wasn't impairing her ability to walk she figured she'd keep some of her dignity and walk on her own, even if she was barefoot. Until they got inside the hospital anyways, where she freaked out a little and tried to turn around and leave only to have Roy grab her shoulders and spin her back around.

"Did I mention I don't like needles and did you know that's what they use to stitch things," Kate said harshly over her shoulder as she was led to the check in desk.

"You'll be fine," Roy assured her.

Well he was wrong, she was not fine. She was until the second that the doctor pulled out a syringe to give her a shot to numb the pain before he stitched the cut that had been cleaned and had stopped bleeding. She had handled that just fine, but as soon as she saw the needle on the syringe, she blanched, stood up and walked out of the room. The doctor yelled after her, but she ignored him and made her way to the waiting room where Roy was waiting, reading boredly over a newspaper, she was a little surprised to find him there and not flirting with the nurse at the counter who kept glancing at him.

"We're leaving," she said, barely stopping as she walked past him.

"You're done?"

"Young lady where do you think you're going," the doctor she had run out on demanded just as she was about to walk out the doors.

"Home," Kate answered, pointing towards the doors.

"You need to have that stitched up first," the doctor reminded her.

She shook her head. "Nope, I'm good."

"Kate," Roy called, grabbing her right hand that wasn't injured and stopping her from leaving.

"Please," Kate pleaded. "I'm fine, I just want to go home."

Now that he had a hold of her, he realized her entire body was shaking and her face had lost all color. The look in her gold eyes was that of a frightened and cornered animal. Frowning, Roy looked back at the doctor. "Are the stitches absolutely necessary, can it just be bandaged?"

"No, the cut is too deep. If it it's just bandaged it will keep opening and likely get infected."

Kate shook her head when Roy looked back at her, his frown still in place.

"You heard him, you need the stitches."

"No," she pleaded, her voice shaking and tears forming in her eyes. "Please just take me home."

"I can't do that," Roy replied apologetically. He had never seen Kate act so frightened and he really would have liked to just scoop her up into his arms and take her home like she wanted, but he didn't want to risk the cut on her arm getting worse or not healing. "I'll sit with you, but you need those stitches Kay."

Bowing her head and not answering or even noticing he had used her nickname, that he rarely ever used, Kate knew that it was probably useless to fight Roy, she was too afraid and it was making her weak. When his arms wrapped around her again and lifted her small, bare feet from the floor and cradled her trembling body to his chest, she couldn't bring herself to look up at him or even pay attention to where he was taking her. He was being unusually kind in her opinion, not that he was ever not a kind person, he just had a tendency to be arrogant and make it seem as if he cared only for himself, even though anyone who knew him well knew that wasn't the case. \

She didn't notice that instead of just sitting her down on the exam bed by herself, he had kept her in his arms and sat down with her still in his grip. When the doctor went to retrieve the needle, Kate began shaking fiercely and she turned her head away to bury it into the curve of Roy's neck. It was then that she finally realized the position she was in in his lap, her eyes widened slightly and she felt heat rush to her cheeks as she rested her forehead against the cool skin of his neck, she could hear his heartbeat and smell the masculine scent that was coming off his skin, it made her forget about where she was until she heard the doctor telling Roy to hold her still since she was shaking so badly. At that point all thoughts went out the window and she forget to be embarrassed about her position on his lap or the way she had buried her head in his neck.

Closing her eyes, Kate could feel the doctor's gloved hand take hers and with a small groan, she buried her head further into Roy's neck and shoulder. His hands squeezed her briefly, reassuring her as the doctor prepared to stick the needle into her arm, and this was just the pain killer.

Roy could feel the warmth of Kate's skin against his own and it made his heart speed up for a moment until he felt the hot tears that had spilled from her eyes running down his neck as the doctor inserted the syringe into her arm. She made a small noise of discomfort and tried to scoot closer to him, which in the position they were in was fairly impossible.

"There that wasn't so bad was it," the doctor said to Kate as he withdrew the needle from her skin. "You don't need many stitches, this won't take long."

Her free hand clutched at Roy's jacket and she took a shuddering breath, ignoring the doctor's words and trying to concentrate on not freaking out and hyperventilating at the thought of having a needle repeatedly pushed into her skin. She could feel the pain killers at work in her system already, her mind was growing fuzzy and her body felt as if it were somewhere else entirely, but that didn't keep her from thinking about what was about to happen. Opening her eyes slowly, Kate began to lift her head to turn to where the doctor was threading a needle, but Roy stopped her, putting a hand under her chin and turning her face back to his.

"I don't suggest looking over there," he said with a small smile.

Gulping, Kate nodded and moaned a little when her head spun, closing her eyes, she let her head fall back onto Roy's shoulder and tried to ignore the spinning sensation and the way her stomach was beginning to turn in anticipation of the coming stitches. She hadn't realized it, but she was trembling still and on top of that her breathing had become heavy and slightly panicked. It startled her when Roy placed his hand on her head and lightly ran it over her hair in soothing strokes. Swallowing, Kate let him comfort her, curious as to if he even realized what he was doing.

It was in the same instant that the doctor went to insert the needle into her skin to begin stitching the cut that she gasped, but it wasn't due to the discomfort or her fear of needles, it was because of the images that flashed through her mind. She had known Roy for over two months now and had come into direct contact with him several times, but she rarely ever saw anything anymore when touching him and if she did, it seemed to be meaningless images. This time though as she rested her warm forehead against his neck, the images that flashed through her mind... were all of her.

She saw the day they had first met on the train, the day he had gotten her fired and then random images of her smiling at him or teasing him as they worked. Not knowing what would make her see images of her from the past it made her feel awkward. Her and Roy had developed a pretty good friendship and while they would occasionally go out for drinks with Havoc, Hawkeye, Breda, Falman and Fuery, she didn't think there was anything special about their relationship.

Of course she wouldn't deny that there were a few awkward moments between the two when they got just a little too close or when Kate would get angry at him for flirting with half the women at the East headquarters and he would pick on her for being jealous. She also wouldn't deny that she was attracted to him, she was getting to know him better and though he was a womanizer and lazy, he was also very protective of his subordinates and she respected him for that, she was one of those subordinates after all.

She had already figured that he wasn't interested in her in any romantic way though, at first she had been disappointed, but she had gotten over it fairly quickly. She had other things to worry about and his womanizing ways got a bit annoying, he obviously wasn't ready for a committed relationship. But seeing all of the images of her made her think that maybe she had been wrong and something in her sparked with hope that she had been. She didn't entirely understand the feeling, yes she found him attractive, yes she respected him despite the way he acted at work but she didn't think she had liked him in that respect any longer. When she had first met him, she definitely wouldn't deny that she had been quite pleased and had hoped that they would see more of each other, but as time wore on she didn't see that happening and she had decided to let it be and just let what happened happen.

Trying to sit still was difficult for her as she felt the needle repeatedly pierce her skin and the tug as the thread was pulled through and tightened to close the wound.

"You're alright, just relax. It's almost over," Roy murmured in her.

Nodding, she swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to concentrate only on the sound of Roy's heartbeat. It proved to help, a little bit anyways, she could still feel the thread being pulled through her skin, but it seemed a bit more distant. When the doctor finally finished and bandaged up the cut, Kate peeked one eye open and raised her head.

"Ok, you can go home now, the nurse will have some papers for you on how to properly take care of it and you will need to come back in about a week or so to have the stitches removed. No needles," the doctor assured her when he saw the look in her eyes, seconds later he was out of the room so he could see the next patient waiting for care.

"Can you stand," Roy asked her.

"Uh, I think so," Kate answered, her voice shaky and weak. Attempting to put her feet on the ground and stand on her own, she managed to get upright before her knees gave out due to a combination of the painkillers and the stress she had put herself through because of her intense fear of needles. "Ok, maybe not," she said as she fell forward and into Roy's arms.

"You're hopeless," he sighed teasingly, holding her shoulders and steadying her so that he could stand up. "I'll carry you again, but don't get too used to it, alright?"

"It's not like I want to be carried in the first place, you know," she retorted, looking up at him only to realize that their faces were only inches apart. Her breath hitched in her throat and she felt her cheeks fill with color as she remembered that she had seen herself in several of his memories only moments before.

Something about the way her cheeks blushed as she looked up into his eyes, made Roy's mind go blank and before he could even think about his actions, he put a hand on her cheek and lowered his lips to hers. Kate's eyes widened, but she responded by wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him closer to her, finding that she liked the warmth of his lips on hers, much to her surprise. Her response seemed to jolt Roy back to his senses and pulled away from Kate, who blinked in confusion as he turned his gaze away from her as if he were ashamed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Of course you didn't, I'm just your subordinate right," Kate replied quickly and with a note of hurt that made her wince when she heard it in her own voice. "I want to go home now."

Sighing and chastising himself for hurting her, Roy went to loop an arm around her petite waist to help her walk since she as rather wobbly on her own.

Swatting his hand away from her, Kate didn't even look at him. "I can walk on my own," she said stiffly.

Mentally smacking himself in the head for being an idiot and having let himself get lost in the moment of having her in his arms, he walked after Kate, prepared to catch her if her knees gave out on her again, which they looked about to do. For someone who claimed to be so great with women, he had a tendency to tick off the one that was stubbornly getting her discharge papers from the nurse and avoiding his eyes at all costs. He didn't want to admit it, but he liked her and he liked her a lot more than he was willing to admit. Her response led him to believe she felt something for him too and it made a proud smirk take residence on his face until Kate was done at the nurse's station and turned to leave without looking at him. Sighing, the smirk disappeared and he followed after the petite girl.

"Are you going to look at me, or just ignore me the entire drive back to your apartment," Roy asked when they climbed into his car and Kate turned her head to stare out her window. "I made you angry," he observed when she continued to ignore him.

"What makes you think that," she asked, emotionlessly.

"Seeing as how you're not actually yelling at me, I don't have much proof, but you are, aren't you?"

She sighed and after a moment, shook her head. "No, I'm not angry. I'm just tired and I still have a lot of homework to do."

"About earlier, I-"

"Don't worry about it," Kate cut in, not wanting to hear whatever excuse he was going to give her. For a second she had lost herself in his embrace and had allowed herself to think that maybe, just maybe, there could be a chance that the man kissing her really liked her because apparently she liked him a lot more than she had realized. She was good at brushing off her own feelings and emotions, but she was beginning to see how that could be a problem and she understood now that it was probably better to face her feelings so that she could deal with them and get over them. Move on in a sense. "It was nothing."

Glancing over at her, he noticed the loneliness in her gold eyes and chose to remain silent and not make her any more upset than she obviously already was. It wasn't until he walked her to her door and she was about to shut it on him with a muttered thank you, that he decided he didn't want to see that look in her eyes anymore than he wanted to be the cause of it. Sticking his foot in the way of the door and pushing it open much Kate's surprise, he walked up to her, making her take a few unsteady steps back in her confusion before his hands were on her shoulders to keep her in place.

"It wasn't nothing," he told her honestly, looking her in the eyes unflinchingly. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"It's a little late for that," Kate sighed. "But don't worry about it, I have more important things to worry about than one meaningless kiss."

"For what it's worth, I am sorry."

Kate waved off the apology, backing out of his grasp to turn her back on him and walk to her bathroom. "Don't worry about it," she said dismissively. "Shut the door on your way out, will you please?"

Roy frowned at her back as she disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door quietly behind her. He had never expected for Kate to kiss him back, he had thought she could barely stand him. Apparently he had been wrong and he knew that he had likely just ruined whatever friendship they had had.


He had been right, not that he was surprised.

Throughout the next several days, Kate barely said a word a him, looked at him or came anywhere near him unless she absolutely had to. She acted the same towards everyone else, but that didn't stop them from realizing how she was acting towards him. She was doing her duties as his secretary and nothing more, she was all calm and cool business. Hughes' wedding was that weekend and he and Kate were both leaving the next day after she got out of class, he somehow thought the weekend was going to be very interesting... and quiet.

"What did you do this time Colonel," Breda asked conversationally, after Kate had left to deliver a stack of papers to the appropriate departments. He was at the far corner of the table set out in front of Roy's, his arms folded over his brawny chest as he lifted a brow curiously at his superior, ignoring the stacks of papers he had in front of himself.

"Nothing," Roy answered dismally.

"Right," Havoc drawled. "Kate hasn't threatened you this week, she's hardly even spoken to you and you expect us to believe you didn't do anything?"

"Shut up Havoc," Roy sighed, scribbling his signature on yet another document and trying to ignore the stares he was getting from all five people in the room who had abandoned their work to interrogate him.

"You know you could say you're sorry," Hawkeye suggested casually.

"Yeah, apologize to her," Havoc agreed, nodding his head for extra emphasis.

Roy ignored them, putting all of his attention into his paperwork. The more he got done, the less time Kate would spend staring at him coldly, waiting for him to finish so she could deliver it.

"It depends on what he did," Falman added thoughtfully. "Knowing the Colonel it could be quite bad and a simple apology might not be enough."

"He could get her flowers," Fuery offered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Or chocolates, women like chocolate," Havoc put in.

"That's all meaningless to a woman. If he really screwed up, then he should-"

"Would you guys shut up," Roy barked, cutting off Hawkeye as he looked up to glare at the people in the room. "And if you must know, I did apologize."

"Just what did you do to begin with to make her so upset," Havoc asked.

"None of your business."

"You didn't buy her a miniskirt or something did you," Breda asked blandly.

"No," Roy answered shortly. "Just drop it."

"It's sure going to be awkward," Havoc mused.

"What," Fuery inquired.

"The wedding is this weekend and Hughes forced the Colonel and Kate to go together."

"You mean as a date," Fuery replied.

"Yup, as a date," Havoc answered, a smirk on his lips as he watched Roy's head fall ever so slightly and the man groaned dramatically.

"Maybe that's why she's mad. I wouldn't want to be forced to go on a date with a womanizer like him either," Breda commented dryly.

"But the Colonel likes her, maybe if he just came clean and told her that, then-"

"I kissed her. Happy!" Roy snapped, making Havoc's jaw drop and everyone else to turn their full attention to him.

"You... kissed her," Havoc repeated slowly.

"Yes. I kissed Kate."

"Then what happened," he asked curiously.

"Well...."

"What did you do," Hawkeye questioned pointedly, her eyes narrowing.

"I sort of stopped and told her I was sorry and...what?" He asked when everyone in the room shook their heads at him and Hawkeye sighed.

"You don't just kiss a girl and tell her you're sorry. You're supposed to be better with women than this, shouldn't you know that," Breda replied.

"Yeah, but he actually likes Kate, even if he won't admit it," Havoc commented.

"What else did you do," Hawkeye inquired.

"I told her it wasn't nothing but that I didn't want her to get hurt."

"You're hopeless," Havoc sighed.

There were mutters of agreements throughout the room, several nods and several disapproving head shakes.

"Thanks for the help guys," Roy muttered, hanging his head.

"You know if you really liked her, you would explain yourself to her. Tell her the reasons why you don't want to get involved in an actual relationship, she deserves to know. It's better than letting her continue to be confused," Hawkeye said.

"She might understand," Havoc added.

"Or she might just smack him for thinking she can't protect herself," Breda pointed out.

"True."

Roy slumped back in his chair, knowing that Hawkeye was right, she usually was, not that he'd ever tell her that, but it was true. He needed to talk to Kate, leaving things as they were was just not going to work. She deserved to know why he had kissed her and why he didn't want to admit that he liked her. It seemed everyone else was already aware he liked her and that they knew him well enough to know what was going on in his head, but that didn't make the thought of talking to Kate and actually getting her to listen to him sound any more appealing.


Hello! I'm still sick, yay! And I'm getting worse, yay again! Ok anyways, I'm hoping this chapter maade sense because to be honest I wrote it while not only sick and not feeling well, but on medication, so yeah.... Just a quick note to those of you reading my other stories, I have not abandoned anything, I'm just not feeling all that great and can't focus on anything and unfortunately I have to try and work through all of it, and let me tell you that's not going so well. So expect a short delay in updates for a week or so, possibly longer since I have to work two weeks straight starting the 8th, as long as I'm not in the hospital anyway. Hmm, that was a depressing thought, sorry, instead lets all think of what Ed would look like in a little frilly pink dress and the look that would be on Roy's face as he dances around like a monkey. Ok, I feel better now.

Thank you to--- Black Claided Cat, fmafan, pudding rox lloyd asplunds sox, XxXLIFEafterDEATHXxX, Miyuki Meiru, Princesa de la Luna for reviewing!

Please review! Thank you!