Prompt: The Scenery From the Car Seat

Set post-Ishvalan War, but pre-manga.

Rebecca sighed as she slumped against the window.

Grumman had sent them on some wild goose chase out to the countryside and now she was stuck in the backseat with with no one to talk to, sure Fuery was there, but he was reading some radio manual and she had nothing to do. It's not like the scenery was even interesting, just trees and grass, and flatlands.

So she just scratched away at the maroon nail polish she had chipped when packing away the boxes of evidence they were transporting.

She looked up as the car jolted a bit.

"Sorry, Sir, I didn't realize that pothole was so deep," Hawkeye apologized.

"It's just a pothole, Lieutenant, it's not like you ran us off the road and into a tree."

Rebecca watched the exchange, sensing a story in there from the scowl her friend shot back at her smirking superior officer, but she knew it would take some prying to get it out of either of them.

She shrugged to herself and moved on to the next nail, she would have them all clean by the time they got back to Eastern headquarters. But every now and then, she noticed them steal glances at one another. She even made a game out of keeping track of the hidden looks. Until their eyes met, that was. Even in the back seat she felt the spark that happened when their gazes collided.

She coughed to break the tension. "Anyone have some water left?"

Fuery soundlessly passed a canteen over to her. He did look up briefly from the manual. His gaze suggested maybe, just maybe, he had an idea of what brought on the sudden coughing fit, though he offered no information. She looked back to the window with a sip of water, silently vowing to keep her eyes peeled for the rest of the ride home.

When they finally got back to headquarters, she couldn't get out of the car fast enough. "I hate going out to the country," she complained as she stretched.

"It wasn't that bad," Hawkeye said through a sigh.

"I've got to write up my report on that criminal escaping," Mustang cringed at the thought, then fixed his gaze on Rebecca. "Take the evidence we collected up to Grumman, Catalina,"

Rebecca rolled her eyes at his complaints, [but ignored him. She wasn't sure if it was out of pity for her friend or a genuine disregard for his complaints, but she hefted the heavier of the two boxes and stalked off. "You could have at least said please," she murmured under her breath. She wasn't sure if she imagined it or if she actually heard Hawkeye chuckle quietly as she stalked off to Grumman's office.

She stared at the office door with a huff, the box was too big to prop up on her shoulder, but too heavy to hold in one hand, so she attempted a knock with her elbow. "Of course no one is there," she grumbled.

"Having some trouble, Catalina?"

"Haha. Why don't you be a gentleman and open the door for a lady?"

Havoc stopped short and looked around. "Oh, there's a lady in need, where?"

Rebecca scowled. "Real funny, you jerk."

"Now, now, would a jerk open the door for you?" he asked through a smirk as he finally helped her out.

She was about to mutter a half hearted thanks as she walked into the office, but she nearly walked right into Grumman.

"Ho ho, thank you for assisting my subordinate, Havoc."

"Any time, Sir," Havoc said as he saluted.

"This is the evidence from the case you sent us to investigate," she informed Grumman as the door closed.

"Just leave it over there."

She dumped the box onto one of the desks he'd waved toward. When she turned around he was walking back to his desk.

"Have a seat. How was the trip?"

"Uneventful," she complained. "We got there, he was gone, so they dumped their evidence and files on us. Sadly, everything was a dead end."

"Hmm, I'll have to make sure they keep searching for him. Nothing else happened? No arguments between the other members of the investigation group?" Grumman inquired.

It finally clicked in her head. He'd sent her to be his spy. "They get along well enough, Sir. Finish each others sentences and everything," she reported.

"All three of them?"

"No. Fuery was pretty quiet, Sir," she answered.

Grumman nodded. "So they seem to get along? It's important to me that the teams working under me work well together."

"Quite well. I don't think they'll have any complaints about working together, Sir."

"Good, that's a relief. It's been a long couple days for you. Why don't you take the next two off," he suggested.

Rebecca grinned. "That I can do, Sir."

She was nearly out of the office, but she turned back around. "You might need to check up on Mustang every now and then to make sure his paperwork gets finished," she suggested, a hint of smile playing across her face. "He does have an aversion to it."

"Oh, I doubt I'll have to worry too much. From what I hear, Hawkeye won't let him slack off too much."

Rebecca nodded in agreement, wondering why he had grilled her about the pair if he already knew them so well. She shrugged to herself and left the office, glad for a chance to relax and have a bit of fun after that trip.

She was sitting in the mess hall when tray plopped down across from her. "Where have you been?" Hawkeye asked, an agitated edge to her voice.

"Grumman gave me a few days leave after our little excursion," she bragged.

Hawkeye scowled. "Must be good having friends in high places. You get to play around for two days while I get orders to double check all of Mustang's work before it's sent out," she huffed.

Rebecca couldn't decide if she wanted to strangle her friend for that first comment or laugh at the latter. "First of all, eww. He's old and I'm not that desperate. Secondly, Grumman seemed more interested to hear about you and your Colonel than the case. Last of all, you wanted to work with him."

Hawkeye huffed. "I have my reasons."

Rebecca smirked. "Like those googoo eyes you two were making in the car?" she teased, raising her fork to fend off a piece of broccoli aimed at her.

"Just because you are always looking for a man, doesn't mean I am," Hawkeye said through a groan.

"Because you already found him," Rebecca mumbled under breath before changing the subject, "So, how much of his paperwork have you had to correct?"

"I did hear that, but for the sake of our friendship, and probably your last clean uniform, I'll ignore it. Honestly, his paperwork isn't that bad, he just hates having to do it," she explained. "He's actually skipping lunch to finish up some reports right now," she added proudly.

Rebecca's eyes widened as she spotted Mustang with a tray of food trying to slip out of the mess hall through the doors at Hawkeye's back. Their eyes met and she smirked. He put a finger to his lips and shook his head. She shrugged and turned her eyes to her tray. "Not like he's missing much," she replied, tucking away the fact that Mustang now owed her a favor, and that made the entire trip and interview with Grumman quite worthwhile.

A.N.: Thank you to all the new and returning readers. I'm hoping to get back to this and at least finish things I've started. Also, many thanks to Bizzy for her input!