Final Chapter is up : ) - I don't own FMA

Chapter Twenty One

Roy wiped the sweat from his forehead as he finished putting the final box of stuff in the back of a military car. He glanced around, counting how many boxes there were.

"So you're finally off are you?" Corgen asked. Roy turned to him.

"Looks like it," Roy replied.

"Are you sure you're ready to go?" Corgen asked. Roy smirked.

"I'll be fine. My memories have all seemed to have come back which is good and bad," Roy explained.

"You fine that all things are good and bad," Corgen remarked.

"Yeah," Roy said as he slammed the car door shut, "But I'm happy that I can finally remember everything."

"Four years has been a long time to recover," Corgen said thoughtfully, "But I'm afraid you'll probably never be you again. Your body was turned back to its adolescent stage which means you'll have a longer life."

"Fine with me," Roy said, "At least I've got a second chance to do some things I never would have."

"You're serious about taking her with you, aren't you?" Corgen asked. Roy smiled.

"I am," Roy said, "I owe it to her. Besides we can't mess things up too badly. She the only woman I've had a lasting and decent relationship with in my entire life. That's got to be telling you something."

Corgen was still unimpressed by the whole notion of Roy running off like this. He'd gone back to the military and became a State Alchemist again. Corgen disapproved of this but this time Roy had chosen a different path. He had rejected active duty and was instead taking up a post as a researcher for the Intelligence Department. They had to be desperate if they had actually employed Roy. Corgen smiled thinking of Roy in thick rimmed glasses.

"Back in Ishval," Corgen said thoughtfully, "You once told me not to go out at night and I listened. I went to sleep but then there was an explosion. How did you know?"

Roy smiled to himself. "Riza told me that there was something going down. She'd noticed some Ishvalans on the outskirts and she thought they'd attack at night when it was dark. She was right and I haven't doubted her since."

"So it was her," Corgen said, "She knows how to save lives that girl."

Roy looked towards the house as he saw Riza walking carefully with a heavy box in her arms.

"You forgot this," she yelled. Roy rushed to help her but ended up having the box dumped on him. He didn't mind. To him it wasn't that heavy. He took it to the car and placed it in the foot well of one of the back seats. "Are you sure you've got everything."

"Geez, this already?" Roy moaned, "I thought you'd ask me that when we'd been married for ten years not after a week of marriage."

"Have you?" she asked. Roy grinned.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we've got everything," he said. Corgen laughed hysterically at the couple.

"The most lasting and decent relationship, huh?" he said. Roy frowned at him. Corgen took Riza's hand and raised it to his lips. "If you kill him, make it look like an accident, you're far too pretty to go to jail for this joke."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said. She walked from Corgen and went to climb in the car at the driver's side. Roy rushed to the driver's door too, refusing to let her get in.

"What are you doing?" she asked in her monotone.

"I'm driving," Roy said, "I know where we're going."

"Then you can tell me," Riza said. Her eyes narrowed at him.

"I'm driving," Roy repeated.

"I've seen the way you drive," Riza said coldly. Roy glared at her. "I'll drive if you want to get there in one piece."

"I said I'd handle it," Roy sighed. He glanced at Corgen who was laughing silently to himself. "You should rest and relax otherwise you'll go crazy."

"You're one to talk," Riza retorted.

"Too late, I'm insane," he said, "I'm insane for thinking I could drag the woman I love off to some remote place where we could have some piece and quite after all these years of turmoil. I'm totally insane for thinking that she'd actually relax and trust me for five minutes."

"Fine," she replied. She walked to the other side of the car and climbed in. Roy sighed. He looked over the car roof at Corgen.

"Good luck," he said. Roy smiled. He opened the driver's door and climbed into the car. Riza was sat in silence with her arms crossed.

"Oh dear, you're mad at me," he remarked as he turned the ignition key. She looked at him with a slight smile on her face.

"You're not insane," she said.

"Not yet," he retorted. She lent over and kissed him gently on the cheek. He smiled as he felt her lips on his cheek.

"I love you Roy," she said, "but this is going to be difficult for me to get used to. I'm so used to being there to protect you and now you don't need protecting."

"You'll get used to it," Roy said. He looked at her. "Ready to go?"

"I've waited forever for you ask me that," she said. Roy smiled.

"Then to Oz," Roy said. Riza smiled.

The car drove down the drive of the old house and turned the corner onto the main road. Corgen watched his friend drive away. He was smiling because he knew something Roy didn't. They'd be ok. And they would live happily ever after.

*

Roy pulled up in front of the new house. It was white washed, hidden by a couple of huge green oaks. Riza looked at it. She slowly got out of the car.

"This is it?" she asked. She turned to Roy who had already started to get some boxes out of the car.

"Yep," he replied. Riza closed the door of the car and slowly walked to the house. "Keys!"

She turned to catch a couple of keys on a chain.

"The big one for the front door," Roy explained quickly. Riza walked to the door. She carefully unlocked it and pushed it open. The hallway was dark but lightly furnished. She looked round in complete awe of the place. It was big. She leaned into the house but daren't step into it. Roy brushed past her suddenly. He put down some boxes on the wooden floor.

"You like it?" he asked. Riza nodded slowly.

"I never thought it'd be this big," she said, "It's wonderful."

"Then you're not regretting running off with me?" he asked.

"At this point I'm not regretting anything," she replied in her monotone, "I don't even regret wasting all those years when I had a crush on you and not saying anything. You would've never been able to afford such a nice house."

"Cheeky," Roy muttered. He walked out the door to fetch more boxes.

"Do you need any help?" she asked.

"No," he yelled back, "You go look around."

Slowly Riza walked into the house. She climbed the staircase to the first floor. The whole house was utterly beautiful. She wondered round the first floor, opening each door and peering into it. She stopped at the master bedroom. She stood in the door way for a while thinking about everything that had happened to her during the last few years. Was this her reward for staying with Roy all this time? Perhaps.

"There you are," Roy said cheerfully as he ran up the stairs to the hallway. He quickly came up behind her and wrapped his arm round her stomach. "Do you like it?"

"It's very nice," Riza replied.

"Very nice?" Roy mimicked.

"Oh, shut up," Riza snapped.

"Well, here we are," Roy said putting his chin on her shoulder, "It's only taken us how long?"

"It's worth waiting for," Riza said with a shy smile. Roy returned the smile.

"It's well worth waiting for," he repeated.

The End

I hope you've enjoyed this. Thank you very much for reading and bearing with me : ) ~RS