Chapter 10
Roy
Roy is on his way home with his head up high and a big smile. Today was the first day in a long time since Roy has felt like this. It was almost midnight before Roy arrived home. The night was pitch black and the only lights around were the faint brightness coming from neighbors windows. Roy parks his car and turns out the headlights, making the night even darker. Roy exits his car and he couldn't see a thing. Roy then snaps his finger to make a small flare of fire to create enough light to see his way to the front door. Roy then walks to his door quickly before the light was gone then unlocked his door. He enters the room and turns on the light, so bright now after the immense darkness he is blinded by the light a little.
Roy walks to the kitchen covering his eyes and gets a cup of tea. He downs the cup with a few gulps, after all he hasn't drunken anything since he left the office this afternoon. Roy then made his way to the couch and flopped down. Not one second has the smile left his face. Darcie has been on his mind ever since he met her walking down the street. "There's just something about her" he said to himself. He then turned on TV but he didn't pay attention to a thing it played as he was thinking about Darcie. Eventually he made his way to the bedroom and fell asleep.
It was six am and Roy woke up peacefully to the sounds of many chirping birds. Roy then sits up, "That was different." he said. Roy didn't sleep very well with all the stress on his mind. Now that he had Darcie to think about everything just seemed so much better. Roy grabs a shower and then buts on a clean uniform. After doing that he goes to his closet and looks for casual clothing to wear for dinner tonight with Darcie. Looking through all the uniforms he had he could only find a few pieces of casual clothing. He then picks out a white t-shirt and a tan over jacket, along with some dark blue jeans and belt. He sets them on the bed for when he gets home. Out of the corner of his eye he sees a ascot that he used to wear and decides to add that to his attire.
After Roy finally gets ready and straightens up the house a little bit he gets ready to head out. "You never know when a guest might come by" he said to himself. Deep in the back of his dirty mind he had thoughts about what may come tonight. Roy opens the door smiling but then right before he steps out he hears the roar of rain slamming against the ground. "Uh I hate rain." He says before getting his rain coat off the rack and puts his plastic on his military hat. Roy puts them on then goes to his car. He quickly gets in and he hears the heavy rain pounding on the metal of the car, the sound of a million tiny drummers. Roy then starts the engine and drives off to work at central command.
Nothing but the sound of rain, then a faint car engine. Roy arrives at central command. The breaks squeal a little. It catches Roy's attention but he knows it's only the wetness from the rain on his breaks. He gets out and locks his door before quickly heading into the building. Roy gets through the doors and shakes the rain off his coat like a dog. The sectary notices, "Oh Colonel Mustang, acting like a true dog of the military I see." she said with a giggle. Darcie turned around and say Roy standing at the door drenched. Roy walks up to the counter, "Yeah, typical dog. How's the day been so far? Quiet like usual?" he asks before confronting Darcie. Darcie stood there not wanting to interrupt Roy. "Yes quiet like usual, you know how it is on rainy days." The sectary replies. "Yeah, and I'm not that much useful either so it's a good thing." he said in a dull tone. "Don't worry Roy, that's why you're not the only state alchemist around." she laughed. Roy just waved her off with a smirk.
Roy turns to Darcie, "How are you Private?" he says to Darcie. "Also sir, Private Winters here was saying she was looking for you, that you may have orders for her." The sectary says. "Yes yes, I'll handle it miss." Roy replies then the sectary nods and helps another person. "I'm doing great sir." Darcie finally got to reply. "That's wonderful to hear. Walk with me." he says while walking down the hall. Darcie follows by his side. "I'd like you to meet everyone first. You will not be joining us until next week unfortunately. Next week I will have a new office and you will have your own personal space to work in there. I will put your desk closest to mine." Roy says with a smile. Darcie blushes and gains a big smile, "Thank you sir, but what shall I be doing in the mean time?" she asks. "Well I am promoting you straight up to Sergeant skipping a couple ranks that way you can be my close combat specialist. You will need to return your uniforms medals for the correct medals. Also after that you will have a week off with double pay due to your jump of ranks. I would like for you to spend time with your uncle and puppy while you what the time off, because you will be busy afterwards." he says to her.
Roy then gets to his current small office with Darcie. He walks in with her and the team looks up from their work. "Good morning everyone, this is our new close combat specialist Sergeant Darcie Winters." he says after getting to his desk. Darcie then goes around to each person and introduces herself. She goes to Falman, Breda and Kain first she gives the same greeting and they all give the same reply, "Hello my name is Darcie Winters" she handed out her hand. They shook her hand while saying "It's nice to meet you, welcome to the unit miss.". Darcie has a smile on her face as she feels accepted and that they didn't mind her being part Ishbalan. Darcie gets to Riza and hands out her hand, "Hello miss, my name is." she says before being interrupted. "I know who you are, welcome to the team." Riza says in a dull tone not shaking her and then goes back to her work. Darcie just stood there before turning around. She goes up to Havoc in his wheelchair. "Hello sir, my name is Darcie Winters." she said leaning over to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you Darcie. Call me Havoc, I hate being called sir. And don't mind her, something has had her all wadded up the past week." he said laughing while shaking her hand. "Shut up Havoc!" Riza said in a growling tone. "Enough you two, why don't you take Havoc out for a stroll Riza?" Roy said. "Fine." Riza said before jerking his wheelchair around then out the door. "Geeze woman you trying to kill me?" Havoc said, you could hear him from a distance.
Roy sat down in his chair after they left . "Darcie please have a seat." he said. Darcie slowly sat down in a chair next to Breda. "Don't worry I don't bite" Breda said with a laugh. Darcie turned to him and smiled, "Thanks for trying to make me feel comfortable.". "Okay well guys Darcie here will be joining us next week in our new office, assuming we get it." Roy said to the remaining group. Everyone smiled and was excited to finally get out of the small room. "Darcie you may leave now, and enjoy your time off." Roy said. Darcie nodded, "Thank you sir again!" she said while heading for the door. "See you next week." Everyone else said waving bye. Darcie left the office and returned home.
Roy shuffles through all the paperwork on his desk trying to straighten it up to look like a presentable Colonel. "So Sergeant Winters, is her reports good?" Breda asks. "Of course they are, they have to be.. Right Colonel?" Kain says. "Yes her reports are great, her close combat is outstanding. the only thing saw wrong was she isn't that good with a firearm." Roy said reassuring the team. "Wow, if you would have said that while Riza was here she would have laughed." Falman says. "Have you seen her actually do anything at first hand though is what I'm asking." Breda said. Roy looked up and said, "Yes of course" he said lying. Roy didn't want them to know that he hired her right away because he was falling for her.
Time passes by and the day comes to an end. Its five pm and dinner is in two hours. Today was the first day in years that Roy was the first to leave the office. Roy put his coat and hat on and walked back out to his car in the same pouring rain. Roy gets to his car and drops his keys in a puddle. "Ah damn" he says while picking them up. Roy gets in his car and returns home. Roy decides tonight had to be the best night and he needed to make it that way. Roy took another shower to make sure he's completely clean and he shaves his face removing any scruff.
After an hour of spending time in the bathroom Roy finally comes out. Roy hasn't been this clean in quite some time. He looked at the time and realized he spent way too long in the bathroom. "Ah only have an half hour left until I need to be at Darcie's." he muttered to himself. Roy puts his clothes on and spends five minutes looking in the mirror making sure everything was perfect. Some may say he was worse than a girl at getting ready for a date but a perfectionist is a perfectionist. Roy looks out the window and sees that it's still raining and he will need a jacket. He decides to use his suite jacket and a towel to cover his head. It's just time to leave.
Roy leaves his house with the towel over his head protecting his hair from the rain. He gets in the car and tosses the towel in the back seat. Before heading to Darcie's, Roy has just enough time to pick her up a gift. Roy pulls up the florists stand and asks for a bouquet of red amaryllis, the flower that she had picked out the night before. The woman gets the flowers and hands them to him from outside the car, Roy pays the woman and leaves. Roy arrives at Darcie's a couple minutes early and parks his car. He grabs the flowers and lifts his jacket over his head before running up to the front door and awning.
Roy shakes off the rain on his jacket then rings her door bell, holding the bouquet of flowers in his hands. After a moment the door creeps open to Darcie standing in the doorway in a red dress and black heels. The dress had covered her arms completely and a little over her hands. "W..Wow... You Look beautiful." Roy said extremely star struck. Darcie blushed and looked at his hands holding the flowers she liked, "Are those for me?" she said in a soft tone. Roy looked down at the flowers as he was speechless, "Oh yeah, these are for you." he said handing out the flowers in his shaky hand. Darcie giggled then took the flowers and smelled them. "Let me go put these in water then we can go okay?" she said turning around to the kitchen. Roy just stood there watching her walk, it was like a goddess had fallen into his life. Darcie came back and looked behind him to see the rain, "Oh no its raining.." she said. Roy quickly took off his jacket and held it over her head, "C'mon hurry into the car." he said walking behind her. Darcie walked as fast as she could in the heels, it wasn't very fast.
Roy got in the driver side and looked over at Darcie, he was drenched from the rain. His hair was dripping onto his lap. "Your all wet now, I'm sorry." Darcie said. "It's okay." Roy said reaching back for his towel and dries his hair off. Now Roy's hair was a messy train wreck, no longer neatly groomed. Roy saw his reflection in the windshield, "Oh no my hair!" he panics. Darcie chuckles, "Don't worry, if you're lucky your hair would have looked like that later anyways." she teased. Roy looked over at her surprised by her comment. Roy was even more nervous than what he was before. After a minute they drove off to the restaurant.
Roy pulls up and parks next to an exotic restaurant and the rain has dies down to a light drizzle. "Wow, this place looks incredible and I haven't even seen the inside." Darcie said. Roy smiles and gets out hurrying over to open her door. "Thank you Roy." she said. Roy puts out his arm and Darcie takes it and then they walk in. The line for dinner was a little long. Most of the people in the line left the place arguing, "How the hell are we supposed to get an reservation if there always so busy!"they people said. Finally they reached the counter. "Name please" the waiter said. He looked like a very snobby person. "Oh I don't have a reservation." Roy said. The waiter sighed "Sir I'm afraid you need a reservation to dine here." he said in a very unpleasant tone. "No I don't" Roy said smirking while showing off his state alchemist pocket watch. "Excuse me sir, my apologies, right this way." the waiter knew that it could risk his job if he didn't let a state alchemist in. Darcie looked up at Roy while holding his arm, she felt in a presence of such a higher man and admired him.
Roy and Darcie took their seats at a well kept booth. "Thank you sir." Roy said to the waiter. The waiter looked surprised at his kindness and asked them for their orders and received wine on the house. Both Roy and Darcie gave their orders and the waiter left. "I didn't realize that being a state alchemist had so much power." she said in awe. "It does certainly have its perks." he laughed and drank his wine. "Also thanks again for coming tonight." Roy said. "Oh really it was my pleasure, I was waiting for you to ask me out for a while." she said taking a drink. Darcie drank her wine quickly because she was nervous and didn't want to make a fool out of herself. "Whoa whoa whoa slow down there, I don't want you to get all tipsy on me" Roy said teasing. Darcie poured a little more in her glass, "Sorry". Roy laughed, "It's alright.".
Shortly after that the waiter arrives with their meals. Most of the people in the restaurant have already been there for quite some time and they sill haven't gotten their food. "Here you go sir and madam." the waiter says then leaves. "This looks delicious!" Darcie said in excitement. "You deserve it darling." he said with a smile. she looks at him and smiles "Thank you again, this is too much really". "No no its fine just enjoy it." Roy says smiling. They begin to eat and after a couple bites Roy says, "You know, you've been on my mind all day. I wanted to make this perfect." he said looking into her eyes. Darcie looks back into his eyes "I've been thinking about you the whole time I've known you and this is perfect.". After a couple glasses of wine and finishing off what they could of their platters they call for the check. Roy leaves a generous tip and pays the bill.
As there leaving Darcie holds out her hand. Roy grabs her hand and looks over to her and smiles. They walk outside and are walking to the car in the drizzling night. Darcie then leans over and kisses his cheek. "I loved that kiss last night." she said blushing. "I did too" Roy said opening her side of the car. Darcie climbs in and Roy gets in on his side. Roy starts the car and lets it get warm, it's a little chilly outside. "Burr its cold." Darcie says. "Maybe this will warm you up." Roy replies and leans over and plants a kiss on her lips. Darcie closed her eyes and enjoyed the kiss as she leaned over kissing him back. Roy wraps his arms around her and continues to kiss her. Darcie does the same. "Do you want me to take you back home now or..?" Roy muttered while kissing her. Darcie kept kissing him "No, not after this." she pulls back and looks into his eyes "How about we go back to your place?" she said with a smirk. Roy was surprised then rushed back home..