1. I do not own any of these characters at all in any way, they belong to 'The Cow.'

2. THIS IS IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE!

Chapter Six- In Awe

"I'm not as stiff as I used to be; age does that to you. Especially if you're alone…" She trailed off, absent-mindedly rubbing a smooth piece of her automail. "I've also discovered in the past six years that I don't want to be alone anymore. I remember you saying you'd wait for me to learn what love was. Well, I've learned; love is that of a father for his child, and man for his wife; and you and me. I've lived without you for six years and I don't want to live without you any longer." She said, taking his hand in her left one, rubbing her thumb over the places he used to have calluses. His skin was still rough and scarred, but it felt good to touch him. She had longed for the feel of his hand in hers, to react to the touch of her hand on his.

"Riza… I don't know what to say; I've waited so long to hear you say those words. We can be together, but I have no way of supporting you, I have no job…" He said as she put a finger to his lips.

"I don't care if you don't have a job; you know you can join the military again. I've got orders to let you back in at the rank of colonel after you take the state alchemy exam." She said, looking into his eyes.

"If this comes as a surprise to you, I'll understand. I don't want to be a state alchemist anymore. I devoted my entire military career to getting to the top to end up 'perishing' in the hospital. I'd be so low in rank it wouldn't be funny. Hell you've surpassed me by two ranks already! I'll go back, but I won't do it as a dog of the military; not this time." He said, holding both of Riza's hands in his. "Riza? Will you tell me exactly how this came to be? I don't want a synopsis; I want the full story from beginning to end." He said, running his thumbs across her knuckles.

"Are you sure you want to know? The world has become much more cruel since you 'died.'" She said, letting Roy move her automail fingers as he tinkered and poked the metal.

"Yes; I'm not going anywhere and I want to know exactly why Envy did this to you." He said, tracing a piece of the metal arm that formed her bicep.

"Fine; but for confidential military matters I have to leave some details out." Roy tried to nod his head, but winced as pain seared through his body. Riza instantly reached up and held his head still and straight; stopping the pain. "First, after killing Pride, the other homunculi took their turns breaking into the hospital and trying to kill you and I. I won the battle between Lust and I, but Envy caught me while I was helping Trixie, the woman I found during the crossfire. I was in the hospital for close to four months as the doctors tried to salvage my arm and my shoulder. Like I said earlier, Winry visited me often and we became good friends. When I found out a few weeks later that most of the tissues in my arm were dead and that they couldn't be used for anything anymore Rockbell gave me my own ultimatum; either quit the military and lead a civilian life, or she joins the military to help me. I refused both choices, but she was serious. When she visited me almost a month later, right before I almost signed my retirement papers, she was in a military uniform and assigned to work directly under me. She told me when she joined she knew nothing other than automail mechanics and that she wanted to learn sharp shooting from me. I told her there was no way for me to do that with only one arm. The next day she brought a large case into my room while I slept and left it next to my bed, on top of the retirement papers. I woke and opened it finding a letter and what I thought was Edward's automail arm. In the letter she explained that I have inspired her to do something with her life other than pick on Ed and she wanted to repay me by helping get two working arms again. The arm on the box was for me; later that afternoon the Furher called me and told me that my discharge would be honorable. I told him not to bother because I would be up and ready to serve again in another six months with both arms. The decision I made that day I thought for sure would make my life less painful; I had no clue the pain involved with getting automail would be so intense." She paused, rubbing her metallic shoulder.

"What happened next? Was the automail successful? How'd you get yourself to the point you're at now?" He asked, prodding her for more about her.

"The first time, no; the metal reacted negatively with my skin, giving me a really bad allergic reaction. The military paid for some of the more expensive metal from Rush Valley that was reinforced with something else so it wouldn't react with my skin. Winry made me a new arm, the one you see here now. I've had it for almost four years and all she's had to do to it is normal maintenance. I've been careful about what I do with this so I don't break it like Edward does." She finished, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Her eyes filled with tears but she held them back; he didn't need to see her break down again.

"I'm in awe at your strength Riza; I've been told by other people how painful getting automail is. You are an amazing person, one I'm glad to call mine now." He said, leaning close to her. She opened her eyes and saw the closeness of his face and stood up. She called the dogs to her and was about to move out of his arms reach when he reached out, caught her hand and pulled her back towards him.

"What? What's wrong?" She said, her mind telling her it was time to leave before she told him anymore of her past, or he got any closer to her.

"Riza; I know you're scared you'll lose me. I'm scared now because the homunculi know I'm alive. You've got to loosen up and let me see you in the pure light of truth; let that sink into your mind overnight. Go home and try to sleep; I will be here tomorrow once you get off work." He said, pushing himself down on the bed as she pulled the covers up to his shoulders. She leaned down and lightly kissed his forehead as he wrapped his fingers in her automail ones. "This doesn't change the way I feel about you; you're still the strong and brave lieutenant I knew six years ago."

"Thank you Roy; I really think I needed to hear that from you." She said as she rolled her sleeve down and put her gloves back on. She called the dogs after her again and they followed her out the door. Roy's eyes closed and he drifted off into a fit full sleep, plagued by dreams of Riza getting her arms removed and bleeding to death, calling out his name as the last breath was released from her body.

A/N: Did you like that chapter? I hope so... I would like to thank Fading Wind because this person has reviewed almost every chapter. I've gotten 18 reviews so far, but no one reviewed chapter three, and only one person reviewed chapters four and five... If people don't start letting me know if they like it or not, I'm not oing to put the next chapters up.