A/N: The Havoc and Riza dialogue from in the second half of this chapter comes directly from the FMA:Brotherhood English dub of episode 45. We just want to be sure to give proper credit where it's due.
November 1914
It happened without warning. One day, the Mustang Unit was fully intact, minus Havoc who had begun the process of completing his medical discharge papers. The next, they were separated and sent across Amestris. Falman was sent north to Briggs, Breda to the West, and Fuery to the South. Between the border disputes with Drachma, Creta, and Aerugo, they were all areas on the brink of war and Mustang knew there was more to the new placements than just separating his team. In these places where border skirmishes were common, it would be all too easy for the Fuhrer to make any one of them disappear in a supposed ambush by the enemy.
Though Riza wasn't in an active war zone, she was in the most danger. Bradley had taken her as his personal assistant, effectively making her a hostage to ensure Roy's cooperation. Mustang blamed himself for that and for anything that may happen to one of his men. He'd been too quick to trust General Raven and it had been his downfall.
Despite her new position so close to the Fuhrer, it had been only slightly difficult for Riza to get away. There was a decent amount of downtime here and there in between her duties as assistant to the Fuhrer. Every day was heartache that she was separated from her team, from her love. But, she managed to keep her poker face on while at work so as not to give Bradley any form of satisfaction with her displeasure.
On this day, she had received word that Havoc had accepted his fate and once he left the hospital, he would retire from the military. She knew him well and so she knew it was a difficult choice for someone like him. The war had affected everyone involved, and even though it was the most horrific time of their lives, it was something that had made itself a part of their beings. It was what made them who they were. And now Havoc had to let that go, be crippled, and always be haunted without much ability to take action.
She knocked gently on the door to his room, which was already open, and poked her head inside. She wore a smile, trying to keep him from seeing the pity. "Hey, there. How are you feeling?" she greeted.
Havoc looked up from the papers he'd been reading over at the sound of her knock. "I can honestly say I've been better," he said with a slight smile. He set the papers on the bedside table and motioned for her to come sit in the chair next to the bed. "It's nice to see a friendly face, though."
She sighed, her smile faltering slightly. "I know what you mean." She sat down in the chair next to his bed. She hadn't seen even Roy's face for a while now. Perhaps in the corner of her eye in passing through the halls, but she never got to just look at him anymore. And now, she was afraid to do so. Her team being gone so suddenly wasn't helping, either. As quirky as they were, she missed them almost as much.
Havoc gave her a sympathetic look. "I heard what happened. Breda came to see me after his orders came in. He brought me those and ordered me not to get lazy," he said, nodding toward the hand weights in the corner. "Fuery and Falman both came by before they left, too. Then the Colonel came yesterday. He doesn't look like he's been sleeping. Probably still blames himself for what happened to me and now he's got everyone else to worry about." Havoc sighed and looked at her. "You don't look like you've been sleeping well, either, Hawkeye. You holding up alright?"
Curse him for being so observant. She was trying so hard to appear fine. She gave a weak nod. "You know me. I'm just fine. Sure, not being with them is a bit of an adjustment. But I'm surviving. That's usually the most important thing." The news that Roy looked like he hadn't been sleeping bothered her. It would be in his nature to torture himself about what happened. She missed him so much, especially now knowing for sure that he wasn't doing as well as he could be.
He frowned. "I understand. Still, make sure you're taking care of yourself, alright?"
"I'm doing what I can, Havoc. I promise." she smiled a little. "So, what are your plans for retirement? Anything special?"
"I'm going to move back East. My folks run a general store, figure I might be of some use there at least. Might go see some of our old friends at Eastern Command on my way through. See how Grumman is at least, " he said, hinting at his plans to pass the message along to the General about what had happened here.
"I see. Sounds like you'll be pretty busy. Speaking of back East, Rebecca is coming into town in a couple days. We're having lunch." Riza said. She had heard the hint loud and clear.
"Really? Oh man, I haven't seen Catalina in forever. Tell her I said hi and that maybe I'll come see her when I move back. It feels like it's been a lifetime since the three of us used to hang out during our academy days," he said, smiling at the memory, but the smile didn't last long. "Can't believe it's already over for me," he said with a sigh. "I guess the one good thing to come out of this is that I still have my freedom this way. They can't send me anywhere I don't want to go now that I'm officially out."
Riza smiled, the memories coming back to her as well. "That's true. That's certainly an advantage you hold over the rest of us. Guess that makes you a lucky man."
Havoc nodded slightly. "You know….there is one other good thing that came out of this," he said with a mischievous smirk.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"
"Now that I'm not in the military anymore, you're out of excuses not to let me take you on a date."
Riza froze for a moment, then rolled her eyes. "You still smoke, Havoc." She smirked, gesturing to the half empty pack of cigarettes on the stand by his bed. This joke never got old with him, did it?
He chuckled. "Oh, that's right. That was your other condition, wasn't it?" he said referring to the night he and his friend Trevor had run into Riza and Rebecca at the bar during their academy days. It'd been seven years since then and they'd come so far during that time. They'd made it through the academy and Ishval together and they'd always had each other's backs in the years that had passed since then. "You know, I always did sort of have a thing for you," he admitted, all joking aside.
Riza blinked. "What? Are you serious?" she asked. She looked into his eyes and could see he was no longer joking. Her cheeks felt warm and her eyes flew to the floor. "Havoc, I...don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. I already know I don't stand a chance against a man like the Colonel."
She swore her heart skipped a beat. Suddenly her pulse was racing. "What? What the hell are you talking about, Havoc?" Her voice was almost shaking, but she somehow managed to keep it steady. Had they been discovered? Did anyone else know?
Havoc wasn't buying her feigned ignorance. "Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything to anyone about it. I just wanted you to know how I felt before I leave."
She could've kept going, kept pretending. But she knew he wouldn't buy it. If anyone else did know, clearly nobody had told on them as of yet. She could trust Havoc. She and Roy both could. She sighed, looking a tad embarrassed for a moment. "Well, thank you, Jean. You've always been a good friend to me, and I couldn't have asked for a better competitor at the academy than you." She laid her hand gently on his for a moment, then let it slide off as she stood up to go. "I'll give your regards to Rebecca when I see her. Have a safe trip home. And once you're there you'd better write me, or else I'll come make you. I'll be the blonde with the gun."
He chuckled. "I wouldn't expect anything less. Take care of yourself, Riza."
She nodded. "You, too, Jean." She smiled at him, then made her way out the door and back to the real world.
It seemed like it was the week for having visitors.
Havoc wasn't surprised to see Roy Mustang when he turned up again a few days later. The Colonel had made a habit of checking on him every few days at least to make sure he had everything he needed. His compassion and concern for his subordinates had always been part of what made him such a good leader. Havoc had always thought so, anyway.
He didn't blame Mustang at all for what had happened to him. It was only thanks to him that he was still here at all and he knew he would do anything in his power to help him make this country a better place, even if he wasn't as useful as he once was due to his lack of mobility these days.
Roy's visits to Havoc had been getting longer recently. Before, he would just stop by for a few minutes to check on him. Now, he'd pull up the chair and sit for a while, talking.
Havoc suspected that had something to do with the Colonel's now empty office.
Roy had settled into the seat and they had made it through the usual questions about Havoc's well-being before he started giving updates of his own on the current situation in Central.
"General Armstrong is in town now, " he was saying. "She challenged the Major to a duel for the family estate. Left half the place in ruins from what I've heard."
Havoc chuckled. "That sounds about right."
"She said the Elric brothers were just up north at Briggs, but they…" Mustang cut off abruptly at the sound of footsteps echoing down the hallway. He stood and pulled the privacy curtain closed while Havoc watched in confusion.
"What're you-?" he stopped when he received a warning look from Roy before he disappeared behind the curtain again.
The footsteps drew closer and stopped outside of his room to knock.
"Come in!" he called from the bed.
He was surprised to see her again so soon when their last conversation had sounded so much like a farewell. He understood Roy's actions now, though, and he noticed Riza's eyes rest briefly on the curtain when she opened the door as if she could sense what was behind it. She didn't say a word about it, though, as she walked in and closed the door behind her.
"Hey there, Hawkeye. Can't say I was expecting to see you today."
"I wanted to stop by and see how you were doing," she said. "I heard the discharge paperwork went through. What are you planning to do now?"
Havoc's brow furrowed in confusion. Hadn't they just had this conversation earlier this week? Something was off, but he knew she must have her reasons, so he went along with it.
"I'm waiting on my condition to stabilize. Then I'm thinking about going back East."
"Really? We'll miss you around here." She reached into her purse, rummaging through it as she looked for something. "I wish I had a better going away gift, but I'm sure you'll like this." She held up a pack of cigarettes. "Here you go. Only one per day, though."
"Aw, thanks, Lieutenant. I was just about to run out."
She smiled and turned to go. "I'll drop in again soon."
"Thank you!"
She was halfway to the door when she stopped and turned. "Oh. Rebecca wanted me to say hello for her." She took a few more steps and her hand was on the doorknob when she turned again. "Oh, and tell the Colonel I said hi."
The door shut behind her with a click.
"You heard the lady," Havoc said, looking toward the curtain as he pulled one cigarette from the carton. "She says hi."
He smirked when he noticed the rolled piece of paper hidden among the cigarettes in the carton. Perhaps he could be useful in his condition after all.
A/N: Fun fact: the original 2015 draft of this story didn't include any of the scenes that hinted at Havoc having feelings for Riza. In fact, Riza's academy days weren't in the first draft at all. When we started editing the story with the intent of publishing, we found some timeline errors in the original draft. When we corrected those by adding in new scenes to make the timeline accurate, the first hint of Havoc's feelings just came out naturally and then we had a few reviews commenting on that so we ran with it.
In terms of story timeline, this chapter goes along with episode 45 when Rebecca slips the note about the Promised Day in Hayate's collar, Riza takes the note to Havoc hidden in the cigarettes, and Havoc gives it to Roy. Both Brotherhood and the manga skip quite a few months between this scene and the arrival of Spring when the Promised Day occurs, so we've got a few chapters coming your way to help fill in those gap months with what we think happened.
Thanks for reading! -J&C