Chapter 13

Riza sighed deeply as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was annoyed with Winry's outfit of choice. On Thursday night Winry and Kara had come over, barged into her house, completely destroyed her bedroom by flinging clothes everywhere and then sat on her sofa, gossiping and eating ice-cream until 12.30 am.

Winry's final decision on her outfit had been a thick strapped black dress, coming up to the knee and floating out from the waist with a plain cream cardigan. What Riza didn't understand was why it had taken them 5 hours to reach such a simple outfit.

Putting on the shoes that she had chosen herself (Kara's choice of shoes had been shoes so high that Riza would be about a foot taller than Roy), she brushed her hair and sat on the sofa, looking at the clock, and waited for Roy to pick her up.

Two minutes later (exactly, Riza had been timing him), there was a knock on the door and she opened it to a breathless Roy, dressed in a pristine suit. Looking up from his arm as he caught his breath, leaning against the door-frame he grinned.

"Sorry, I didn't want to be late," he explain and Riza rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go."

Riza grabbed her coat and picked up her keys, putting them in her bag before shutting the door, giving the door a push to make sure it had locked.

"So, how are we getting there?" Riza asked as they walked through the parking lot while she eyed up the cars, trying to guess which one was Roy's.

"We're driving, but I didn't want to take my car; I thought you'd hate it. I've borrowed Maes' instead," Roy replied and Riza nodded.

"Which one is yours?" she asked and he grinned, pointing to a dangerous looking sports car. "Okay, I'm glad you've borrowed Maes'. Wait, you're sure you can drive it, right?"

"Yeah, I was practising earlier…I only ran Maes over twice!" Riza stiffened in shock. "Relax, I'm only joking." Riza didn't seem reassured by this however and Roy sighed.

"You better not drive over 30," Riza nodded and Roy saluted.

"Yes Ma'am!"

They opened the door to a plain looking car, nothing like Roy's extravagant one, and Riza quickly put her seatbelt on, giving it a tug to make sure it worked okay.

Roy smirked, but got in too, doing the same before putting the key into the ignition and starting up the car, hearing it give a soft purr.

"You do know where we're going, right?" Riza asked cautiously and Roy frowned.

"Of course I do! What kind of crap date do you think I am?"

"Do you want me to answer that?" Riza snapped and Roy sighed, driving into Central without passing a glance at Riza. 'This is going to be a long evening,' they both thought.

15 minutes later they pulled into the entrance of the restaurant, the bright, dazzling lights of Central a bitter contrast to the plain, artificial ones of the classrooms.

Roy jumped out of the car before Riza could even take off her seatbelt and opened the door for her, allowing her to get out before shutting it and throwing the keys to a boy stood by the door of the restaurant, who in turn gave him a slip of paper with a number on it.

"Are you sure he works here?" Riza asked as they walked in.

"Nope."

"But you just gave him the keys to the car!"

"It's not my car," Roy grinned and Riza sighed. "Don't worry, I know he works here; he had a badge clipped to his trousers."

They followed the waiter, who led them to a table in the corner of the restaurant, and Roy took the drinks menu that was handed to him.

"I think we'll have a bottle of the house red wine please," Roy ordered and Riza turned to the waiter.

"Can we also have a bottle of sparkling water?" The waiter nodded silently before walking off. The two sat in an awkward silence.

"So, how are you enjoying teaching then? I haven't really asked you yet. I've spoken to Winry about it and she loves it, so how about you?" Roy asked, breaking the silence. Riza let out a sigh of relief that she would not have to start the conversation. 'Though the reason he doesn't know about how I'm enjoying it is because he keeps asking me out,' she thought as Roy waited eagerly for her answer.

"It's great. The children are so well behaved and listen to everything I tell them. I was expecting them to be disruptive and badly behaved, but they're all so good. It's surprising really."

"I know, they are, aren't they? Respect is very important here, but it's not just that the students have to respect the teachers. Respect is a two way street. The teachers have to respect the kids too. I didn't want to start up a school that didn't have respect as one of the most important factors."

"You started up the school yourself?" Riza asked. She was actually amazed by Roy's reply to her answer. It was so honest and intelligent, which she had never thought he would be capable of.

"Yeah. Just after I turned 25, I lost my job in a shop as an assistant. I hated it, but I was still annoyed that I was unemployed. I started thinking about school and what I should've done and then it dawned on me. I didn't get enough guidance. At first I came to the conclusion that I would have done some work if the teachers had respected me, but later I decided that that theory was stupid and I wouldn't have done any work even if they did. I still think it's an important thing though. I eventually decided that I didn't want what happened to me to happen to other people." Riza grinned at Roy's theory and he sent her a lopsided smile back. "I borrowed some money from my foster mother and contacted my old school friend Maes and told him my plan.

"We then bought the building together and did it up, putting all our money and time into it. Finally, it was done and we hired a few friends to teach the basic subjects. Lots of children started coming and we got more and more money. I was able to hire more teachers, allowing me and Maes to stop teaching and focusing more on the more important aspects, like actually controlling the school. A few of years later I hired Ed and Al, and then the next year I hired Kara. As they say, the rest is history." Riza stared in amazement at his determination and dedication to the school. "What?" He asked when he saw her staring.

"Oh nothing, I mean that's amazing though. And you did it all when you were 25!"

"I had a lot of help though. Maes and the other teachers have been brilliant, and I couldn't have done it without Madame Christmas, my foster mother," Roy explained. "Anyway, let's change the subject; it makes me sound a lot better than I actually am." Riza smiled happily at the fact he wasn't going to boast about his achievements.

"So, you're fostered…" Riza started and then trailed off, realising that she might have just brought up a touchy subject.

"Yeah. I was put into fostering as soon as I was born. Madame Christmas has looked after me and some other kids for as long as I can remember. I owe her so much; though she still calls me Roy Boy, even though I'm 30! What about you, any family?"

"Yeah, I have a mother and a father, though I'm an only child. I think my parents were happy with just me," Riza started but stopped when a girl skipped over to Roy and gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

"Roy! Baby how have you been?" The brunette asked and Riza noted her waitress uniform and pinned up hair. 'She must work here…oh no!'

"Laura, I'm good thanks, and yourself?"

"Oh I'm good. Who's your friend?" she asked, glancing quickly at Riza before turning her full attention back to Roy.

"Oh this is Riza; she's a friend and colleague of mine. She teaches self defence at my school."

"Oh, I was going to say that if she was some sort of family then I could have gotten you a discount so your meal would be free. So, is she your sister?" Laura replied, hinting at him to play along.

"No, sorry she isn't," he pulled her down so that her ear was level with his mouth. "I think I'll pay full price today." The girl frowned, but nodded and passed them menus before skipping away again.

"Why didn't you get the discount for us?" Riza asked once the girl was out of earshot.

"What kind of crappy date would do that?" He asked and smiled before looking at the menu, leaving a bemused Riza to glance at him while trying to process everything she had taken in. She had learnt so much already and she wasn't even half way through the date!

"Okay, how about this one; is that a mirror in your pants? Because I can see myself in them," Roy said smirking and gave Riza a wink, causing her to snort with laughter.

"Please tell me you've never used that one," she replied and Roy was silent for a second. "Oh my God, you did! Did it work?"

"Yep, though I can't see why. It's awful, isn't it? What's the worst pickup line you've ever been hit on with?"

Riza couldn't deny she was having a good time. She had only intended to have one glass of wine and then stick to water, but the wine was so good and it went so well with her food that she ended up sharing the bottle with Roy, causing her to become slightly tipsy.

"Well one guy at the army once came up to me and said 'If you were a bogey I'd pick you first," Riza said and Roy laughed loudly.

"Excuse me; have you finished with your desserts?" A waiter asked and they both nodded.

"Can I have the bill please?" Roy asked and the waiter nodded before whisking their plates away, coming straight back a moment later with the bill.

Roy signed the bill quickly and put his card in the black leather booklet, allowing the waiter to take it away.

"How much was it?" Riza asked, opening her purse to take out some money, but stopped when a hand reached across and stopped her.

"It's my treat." Riza started to protest but Roy simply put a finger to her lips to silence her. "No buts. No gentleman would allow a lady to pay for anything on a date." And when the waiter came back he took his card and stood up to leave. "Come on, it's late and I have a ton of things to arrange tomorrow. We have a trip down to the North in December to get the results of our inspection and I need to arrange transport and hotels, so I have to be awake to organize them." Riza nodded and looped her arm through his offered one, thanking the waiters as they left.

The drive home seemed much quicker than the drive there, Riza thought, though she hadn't realised how tired she was until she got into the car and put her seatbelt on. Her eyes nearly crashed shut when she leaned back and it took all her energy just to keep them open.

Roy walked her back to her apartment in silence, assuming she was too tired to talk.

"Here we are," he announced and watched her fumble inside her bag for her keys.

"Thanks for a great evening," she replied as she put her key in the lock. "I had a really good time."

"You sound surprised," Roy commented and Riza raised her eyebrows.

"You know what I mean. Anyway, I'll see you on Monday" and she walked into her apartment, giving Roy a quick smile before closing the door.

'See you on Monday,' Roy thought and walked back to his apartment, a huge smile on his face, which not even remembering the cost of the dinner could wipe away.

a/n Lots of things to say. Firstly, I'm very sorry this is late, I've had mocks and I got stage manager for a theatre production so for the last three weeks they have taken up all of my time.

Secondly, this will be my final chapter for a while because I'm going to help rebuild a school in Gambia, and won't be back till the 19th of December. Sorry but I'll update as soon as I can, though that probably won't be till after Christmas.

Thirdly, I know it seems a little strange having Roy set up the school at such a young age, but you have to remember that he got pretty high up in the army ranking thingy at a pretty young age so it's kinda justified.

And finally thanks to my beta. I must have driven her mad by having the beta'd chapter and not putting it up (from lack of time in all fairness). She's awesome!

I really am sorry about all of that!

Please review!

Love you all

xxxx