The Roy Mustang Guide to Impressing Riza Hawkeye

Those who knew Riza Hawkeye knew it was hard to impress her. Charming her was a different issue entirely, and more people could do that, but charm alone rarely got anybody more than a polite –but sincere- smile.

As this was the case, Roy knew he had to impress her, and thoroughly.

It would not be flowers, or trying to get a lay out of her. That was not impressive. What would be impressive would be making her so emotional that she cried, and doing so in a way that would make those tears joyful.

First, he would get to work early –very early- and do all of his work. He would not complain, and would even quiet the men if he heard them complaining. He might even help her if she was bogged down. After all, he had mastered the illegible squiggle that most of them –Riza included, shockingly enough- used. Then he would take her out for dinner. It was Roy's best idea by far.

That was why, when he found out she was sick after he had finished his work in record time, he was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. He had just slaved the whole morning and had kept the men quiet, and for what? Still, that had not stopped him from grabbing papers from her desk and initialing them, as well. Nobody would ever know, after all. Havoc and Fuery had even grabbed small stacks, themselves. An overworked Hawkeye was very scary to be around, and with the unusually large amount of work that she had been given, she would be in the office long after she was due to leave.


Having left at a decent hour (in fact, at only five in the evening), Roy decided to change and go visit Riza. He did not want the day's efforts to go to waste.

It took her nearly a minute to reach the door, and Roy could see that she barely looked in any shape to be up. By his estimate, this would cost her a few days of work.

"How are you?" he asked softly.

Riza shook her head. "Not good. I have a fever and I've been nauseous all day. That's it, but that doesn't make it any better."

"How does some toast sound? You need something." Roy went to the small kitchen.

"Did you get your work done today?" Riza wanted to know.

Roy smiled, unseen by Riza. "Yeah. I was actually hoping to take you out tonight after I finished. Instead, I'm rescheduling the date for when you're well again."

"If you want to do that, you'll have to wait a few weeks. I'll have work to do when I get back, you know. As quickly as I seem to work, it'll still take a while. Sorry," she apologized.

"No need to be sorry- you can't help this. And actually, Havoc and Fuery and I got most of your work from today done, so it should be alright." Roy started to boil some water for tea.

Riza stared at him. "You finished your work and did some of mine?"

Roy nodded. "Can't stick you with all that when you get back, now then, can I?"

"Roy…" her eyes filled for a moment. "Thank you."

"No problem. I think getting my work done is more fun, anyway," he half-joked, presenting her with the toast. "Tea'll be ready in a minute."

The tears stayed in her eyes, no matter how many times she tried to wipe them away. Riza finally gave up and, as Roy returned with the tea, he saw a few drops plink! into her cup. "Riza… What's wrong?"

"Nothing- I'm fine. I just thought I'd have a whole pile when I got back to work, and to know that you did this for me… I'm truly grateful to you." She took a sip. "Is there some way I can make this up to you?"

"Just keep on doing what you do. I'm picking up my slack. Maybe it'll help." He shrugged. "I didn't even know you were sick until after I finished my work, anyway. I was concerned, but I knew that if you showed up and I wasn't working, you wouldn't be happy. I don't like it… you not being happy."

Riza had silently cried through all of this, and now she choked out a small sob. Her teacup sat forgotten on her bedside table, another token of what Roy felt for her. In a larger display, he sat gingerly on the edge of her bed and carefully put his arms around her, stroking her back. "About damn time, huh?"

"I guess," Riza giggled against him. Pushing away, she wiped her eyes. "Do you need to leave?"

Looking at the clock, Roy nodded slowly. "I need to get back up tomorrow. Gotta do that again. I guess it was kinda… well… I don't mind it so much." He looked over. Riza was already asleep. He stroked her cheek affectionately. "I love you, Riza."

A/N: I'm sorry! I haven't updated in nearly two weeks! My parents have been away, so I've been with relatives. I haven't had much time to be on the internet, and this one was actually a long time in coming! I'm so sorry!

Oh- and I put the name "Meghan Lind" into Google (see last chapter if you haven't already). It came back with 4 pages of hits! Apparently, there are quite a few out there!

Keep on reviewing! The next one is the last one... "The Roy Mustang Guide to A Happy Ending"!