"Yeah, thanks a lot, Mustang," Havoc exclaimed sarcastically, sitting in his wheelchair and putting Mustang and Riza's groceries in a brown paper bag. His parent's store was still in Xing, but after Havoc talked to Mustang about how bored he was, being away from central so long, Mustang was able to pull a few strings and give his family another store located near central that Jean could run. He was another person that could be trusted with the information about the baby and their situation, and they were always happy to see him, especially Riza, who had been more on edge and bored then she had been lately, so they made it a point to visit his store at least once every other day, even if it was just to pick up a stick of gum.
A few times, Mustang really thought the lack of air in his apartment would ultimately lead to the demise of their relationship, or worse…
"That physical therapist you referred me to really works wonders," he went on waving his hands around in the air to convey his sarcasm. "Look, I can already wiggle my left pinky toe, and it's only been, oh I don't know… a half a year?" Mustang smiled at his friend as Riza slipped away for a moment and came back with a box pizza, a jar of pickles and a jar of peanut butter.
Mustang and Havoc stopped their conversation and looked at her crooked headed.
She looked around, embarrassed, and put the things down on the counter.
"Don't ask, ok?" she finally said. She tried to keep her pregnancy cravings out of the sight of Mustang, and sometimes she'd eat late at night, but he'd been catching her consuming the weirdest things he'd ever seen in his life lately, and couldn't help but shake his head and walk away. One of the times he remembered so vividly was when he rolled over in bed smelling bacon cooking on the stove, and peered over at his clock that said 2am. He went to place his hand on Riza's shoulder in the bed next to him, not realizing she wasn't even there and groggily flopped on his side on the bed like a drunk.
He trudged out in the kitchen where he saw her placing about ten slices of bacon on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a jar of mustard in her other hand, and a jar of pickles and olives sitting open next to her.
For a moment, he literally just stood there watching her, seemingly not noticing him at all standing behind a corner in the wall, wondering if it really was an alien inside of her that made her to eat that way…
"Sir!" she exclaimed finally spotting him out of the corner of her eye. Her face went red and she froze, horrified he had seen her in this state.
He forced a smile and walked over to her, remembering this was the woman he loved, and he would stick with her no matter what she chose to eat.
"Don't worry about it," he assured kissing her forehead, careful to stay away from her lips to divert himself from tasting anything else she had eaten that night, "It's my kid, you're bound to do some weird things."
She hugged him and smiled, believing he didn't have a problem with it, but he gritted his teeth and hoped the cravings would stop soon.
Havok shrugged and placed the pizza, pickles, and peanut butter in the bag with all the other things.
"You seem to be on edge today," Mustang smiled picking up the heaviest bag so Riza wouldn't feel like she had to carry it.
"Yeah," he replied, sadly. "I quit smoking." Mustang and Riza's eyes almost popped out of their heads.
"WHAT!" they both exclaimed in unison.
"My new girlfriend says she's allergic to nicotine and can't keep seeing me if I keep smoking," he told them using air quotes around "allergic to nicotine" and frowning in withdrawal.
Both Riza and Roy had the same expression on their faces thinking the same thing; yeah, that's going to work…
"Anyway, how are you two love birds doing?" he smiled. Mustang and Hawkeye gasped and looked at each other in fear. Mustang's expression swung over back to Havoc, angrily.
"Don't say that out loud, Havoc!" he exclaimed in a whisper.
"Hey man, chill out!" Havoc said trying to protect himself. He always forgot he was supposed to keep them a secret. As far as he was concerned it was actually kind of natural for them to be together, and anyone else who knew them the same way he did would have known Mustang was the father anyway.
Riza picked up one of the lighter bags to please Mustang, even though she knew she could have easily carried one of the heavier ones with her pinky finger. Of course she knew their relationship was supposed to be hush-hush, but she didn't have to like it. For the first time, she had a man in her life who seriously loved her and she wanted everyone to know it. Sometimes she actually wished he hadn't gotten the presidency so they wouldn't have to be so secretive about things, because it just made it harder to love each other.
And she wasn't sure if they were real emotions or hormones, but when he was so overprotective of her she actually kind of hated him. Of course he was a good man, (surprisingly) an incredible lover, (not so surprisingly) and she knew he was going to be an amazing father to their child (that part blew her mind). The good always outweighed the bad with him but his paranoia did get a little annoying.
It was like he forgot who she was when she decided to be with him for their own sakes as well as the sake of her baby. He was always helping her do things he knew she could still do herself, and giving death stares to anyone who even looked at her the wrong way.
Didn't he know she could still take care of herself? She took care of both him as well as herself for years, the only thing he really had to do was care for his baby and let her take care of herself, or at least ease up a little on her.
Of course she could understand his worry. She was part of a scandal and she was in a weakened state. If the wrong person found out that the leader of his country was going to have an illegitimate child, the results could be disastrous.
And it was pretty cute how sometimes he would hug her randomly and promise he would never let anything happen to her. His voice was completely serious when he told her this and he was probably the only person she would actually believe in making a promise like that to her.
She decided she would look at it as cute, as well as slightly annoying.
He only protected the ones he loved after all, unless being ordered to do differently, and he protected her above all else.
"Sir, its ok," she interjected into his and Jean's argument, "There's no one here…"
He looked back at her and then carefully scanned the store. Realizing she was right, and feeling like a complete idiot for yelling at someone for no good reason, turned back to his friend, who now had a smile on his face that told him; "I told you so!"
"It's almost closing time," Havoc told him, "nobody here but you and me." Mustang shot him one more look of anger, said a quick goodbye and pulled Riza out the door into the pouring rain.
"Damn," he grunted pulling his collar up. Riza coolly strolled down the street beside him, the rain not bothering her in the least. "I hate it when it rains…"
"Only because you're useless in it," she finished his thought. He shot her a look of frustration.
"I'm not useless…" he started, "I just can't do alchemy in it…" He clenched the still dry gloves in his pockets.
She looked up at him and smiled a crooked grin at his statement.
"Well… you're useless without your gun but you never see me drawing attention to that!" he was grasping at any comeback he could. Why was it that he could tell everybody else off with one good sarcastic statement but when it came to her it was almost if her sarcasm… matched his! The worst thing was that she didn't even have to say a thing to get back at him, that one look got him all the time.
"I always have my gun, sir. I don't lose it in snowstorms like you lose your weapon in the rain." The baby started rumbling around in her stomach like it did whenever it rained. The doctor had told them that it was much stronger then it should have been by the sixth month and though it was a good thing to have a healthy child inside of her, it was going to cause her some pain from time to time since it kicked more often then other babies.
She stopped walking and clenched onto the fabric on top of her stomach in pain. These weren't happy kicks as she came to realize. The thing wasn't even in this world but it was always sure to let its mother know whether it was content or not.
Mustang stopped dead in his tracks and looked back when he realized she wasn't by his side. Seeing her stationary in the middle of the sidewalk in pain made him run over to her as fast as possible. He just thanked god he wasn't too far ahead.
"What's wrong?" he exclaimed placing one hand on her shoulder and the other on her stomach worriedly where he felt the baby kick and punch and rumble around inside of her like a circus freak.
"It's normal," she said back, still in pain, "the doctor said it was fine if this happened. Don't worry about me!"
"Sorry," he said nonchalantly, helping her to walk forward, "That's my job, don't bother questioning it."
It was funny, the weather they had been having lately. A minute ago it was almost like a hurricane and now it was a light sprinkle. That's what it had been like. One minute it would be pouring rain like it would never stop and the next minute the sun would be out.
She felt a brush of air run past her face, only it was unnatural, like someone was running very fast and generated enough air to hit someone with. It came with a light swishing sound and almost a low grumbled…
laugh…
"Sir, stop!" she whispered gravely. He stopped in his tracks. "There's someone following us."
He made himself look like they were having any conversation a normal young couple would have and shot her a fake and believable smile, even though his heart was pumping like never before, his paranoia coming true. He had to stay strong for Riza, and the baby. He'd acted brave before, only this time he was actually frightened something might happen that he couldn't stop. It hadn't stopped raining yet and he didn't have a gun…
What was scarier was the fact that after she had told him that, he felt the same breeze on his face and knew she was right.
"How can you tell dear?" he acted. She knew his game and she'd played along before.
She smiled back and clung onto his arm, looking up at him with her big brown eyes.
"Oh just wait a minute, honey," she said, trying to make herself sound as sexy as she could, reaching into her purse where she had her small gun, and leaning in close for what seemed like a lover's kiss, only when her lips touched his she gracefully slipped the barrel of her pistol into the top of his pants.
The baby finally quieted down, knowing that if it wanted this plan was to work it needed to stay still for a moment.
They both felt the unnatural wind again, this time closer to them as Mustang reached for her hand that still hid the gun and wrapped his hand around it, pushing her into a small alleyway conveniently located right behind them. He pretended like he was pushing her hand down to have… a little fun, and moaned a bit for effect as he slipped the gun in the inside pocket of his coat.
They looked up at each other, getting ready for the final stage, and stared into each others eyes like lovers did, only they were both waiting for the breeze to come again.
It came. He swung the gun out gracefully, covering Riza and let out one bullet. A scream, loud and low pitched, and they both peered over at their stalker.
He almost looked like…
He smiled an evil grin and looked down at the bullet wound that had only been a scrape against his arm. He put a finger in the blood and licked the red liquid tenderly, breathing in loudly. The confidence radiating off of this man, sure to make Mustang waver, kept him standing still as a rock.
He tried to think of this as some kind of business, and nothing to do with his baby or Riza. If he thought about them for even a second with this threat right in front of him he was sure to lose his cool. This was all about focus and he couldn't afford to lose any of it.
"Good job Fuhrer Mustang," the man said taking a step forward. Mustang still stood, holding the gun in its position unwaveringly and looking straight into his eyes…
his squinty eyes…
"I've never been shot before," he continued. His voice sounded familiar… Riza figured he could be no older than Ed…
He went on, still smiling malevolently at them. "You really are as impressive as people say you are." Riza saw him look at her and cock his head as his eyes traveled down to her stomach. She flinched and tried to cover it with her long white coat, as his smile got broader looking back up at Mustang seeming to subtlety shield her. He was beginning to put two and two together, wondering how an opportunity like this could fall right into his lap.
Here he was, in front of the man he wanted to overthrow, and it just happens that there was a woman he obviously cared about, probably carrying his child standing right there with him, close enough to grab.
It couldn't possibly be better, could it?
"Sorry I have to do this to you, Fuhrer Mustang," he grinned. "Must sting… losing something you love."
Faster than Mustang could react, the man looked like he was going to go into a sprint and he shot blindly at him again as soon as his body went into a blur and he disappeared. It was quiet for a moment before he felt the breeze against his face.
He heard Riza's scream float down the alleyway, as she too turned into the same blur and disappeared with the man.
His heart dropped to his shoes and he gripped the gun so hard his knuckles turned white as he shot down the alley after them. He felt like his whole world was crashing down beneath his feet.
He could hardly breathe or think about anything but her and his baby, feeling helpless and praying the rain would stop.
Maybe he couldn't keep his promise.