Second part of this little series; I don't own FMA, kiddies.

I had to use the words and or things thunderstorm, kiss and library in this fic. Yeah, it was one of those pairing generator challenges. It's set after Part One, as Roy is ready to make his move on Bradley. This is future AU.

Forty-one minutes and twenty seconds until the hour. Forty-one minutes and seventeen seconds until Colonel Roy Mustang made his long-anticipated move on Central with just Hawkeye, Breda, Farman, Fuery and Armstrong as his backup. Forty-one minutes and eleven seconds until his closest friends left for a cause that may well have been hopeless. Lightning flashed outside, illuminating the small library that Northern HQ kept through large, multi-storey windows; the shock of the sudden stormy weather was just enough to bring Jean from his thoughts and back to the papers he was supposed to be looking over. They were records dating back many years, and he was supposed to be looking for any mention of Fuhrer King Bradley, but had found no hide nor hair of the Fuhrer mentioned so far. Perhaps what had annoyed him the most about this little exercise is that Mustang had chosen not to divulge to them the reason for his wanting to know minor details about Bradley's military history. First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had asked no questions as opposed to the barrage that Havoc himself had immediately fired off, but simply nodded, saluted and began to move both his wheelchair and himself towards the library, her hold on the rubber grips of the wheelchair tightening so quickly that her fingernail squeaked against the smooth texture of the rubber. Riza had always been so much better than the rest of them at deciphering Roy language.

Hawkeye was currently seated opposite him, her reading glasses perched on the end of her small, pointed nose and her hair hanging loose down her back to complement her plain civilian attire. She was reading over the handwritten records and notes quietly, and appeared impassive to the heavy sheets of rain that were now hammering against the glass panes of the windows. He, however, felt nervous and restless; he had never been an academic in his own humble opinion and the current situation was doing nothing to help his inability to focus on the frustratingly loopy, aged scrawl on the yellowed paper in front of him. Ever since they'd invited him to come North with them since his hometown was left empty by yet another military conflict and his parents decided to move their store to the South, he'd felt they had been carefully treading on eggshells around him, so as not to alarm him with what they'd discovered; Mustang and Hawkeye were especially bad, but he suspected she was just picking up on Mustang's feelings as she so often did and was reacting accordingly.

Another lightning strike tore both of them from their thoughts this time, and Havoc immediately glanced at the clock; twenty-nine minutes, thirty-three seconds. He turned back to Riza and their eyes met; hers were almost bright red in the light of the lightning, and the stiff-jawed formality on her face was unnerving him.

"Riza."

"Yes, Second Lieutenant?"

"Riza."

"What is it, Jean?" she asked plainly, returning to her notes as if the former exchange had never occurred.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"There's nothing that you don't already know."

"Don't give me that crap," he hissed, "You're hiding something from me."

"And why would I ever feel the need to hide anything from you?" she questioned, the barest hint of frustration in her voice.

Jean fell silent and Riza's eyes flickered upwards to look at him.

"Do you think that we... that I somehow don't think you're worthy of being in on the Colonel's plans?"

"What else am I supposed to think!" he snarled, and he immediately regretted acting so selfishly as he saw Riza's eyes darken to their usual shade of claret in flash of the lightning; she got to her feet and thunder rumbled in the distance, as if mirroring her anguish.

"Do you think that we… that I ever wanted to see you like this? Do you not think that Roy felt guilt after that homunculus attacked you? Do you think that I... heck, any of us have any less respect for you now than we did before you were in this wheelchair? Do you think that the Colonel wants to be going into a make-or-break situation without one of his most trusted subordinates at his back?" she retorted, voice low in her throat and hands fisted at her sides, "Do you think for one second that I would hide from you what I knew if Mustang would just... oh, God, Jean!"

Hawkeye crossed her arms just below her breasts and looked away from him, trying to steady her breathing; she eventually decided that this apparently was not enough and raised her right hand, carefully bit down on the side of her index finger and said nothing.

Havoc chewed uncomfortably on his bottom lip, trying to decide the best course of action. After two minutes of careful procrastination, he laced his fingers through the spokes of the wheels on his chair and gradually made his way over to her with the brakes still on; he couldn't reach them himself and he didn't want to ask her, so instead he made his slow, shuddering journey across the carpeted floor and finally took her hand when he reached her; she was apparently too intent on staring out at the storm to notice this, because when his fingers laced through hers she jumped.

"I'm sorry... I didn't think of what this meant for you, and I..." he paused, searching for the right words, "I'm afraid that all of you are going to go out there and never come back, that I'll never see you again. I don't think I could take it."

She sighed and squeezed his fingers, and he drew her down and into his lap with a gentle tug on her arm. Riza perched herself horizontally across his lap, legs hanging over the armrest of his wheelchair and head rested comfortably into the curve of his neck. A part of himself reflected that they hadn't sat together like this since the week he'd arrived back in his hometown; it had been almost a year since then.

"I don't want to lose you Riza."

"I made a promise to you; a promise that I'd never leave you," she whispered, her breath soft and sweet against his skin, "And have you ever known me to break a promise to someone I love?"

He shook his head slowly and slid his arm carefully around her waist.

"Then you have to understand that I might be gone for a while, but I'll always return to you as soon as I can."

"I know that," he whispered hoarsely.

"Then you must know that you're not the only one I have a promise to... he misses you too Jean, but he understands that for the moment, you can't follow him but eventually you'll have to catch up. Now, the question is if you understand that?"

Jean nodded and slipped his hand up to the back of her neck.

"I do. Now kiss me before I say anything else unbearably stupid."

She smiled and pressed her lips softly against his skin; first his earlobe, then his cheek, and finally in the soft space just between mouth and chin. He drew his tongue along her bottom lip and leaned in further as those lips parted to let him kiss her. She squirmed in his lap and threaded her left hand through the back of his hair, brought her tongue up to meet his as he ran his hands down her back and slipped his fingers under her shirt to feel the soft dips and rises in her vertebrae. When they broke away from one another, her head rested on his shoulder and his arm was once again around her waist, with his fingers brushing gently against her thigh through the material of her skirt.

"Hey, I was thinking just before..." he breathed, but he was quickly cut off.

"You mean when you were supposed to be working?"

"Yeah, then," he smiled, and he could almost see that amused little smirk appearing on her face, "I was thinking... seeing that my hometown has pretty much gone to heck in a hand basket... after the Chief's had his revolution and become Fuhrer, how about we buy a place in Central somewhere?"

"Firstly, that is ifhe succeeds and secondly, are you inviting me to live with you?" she smiled, poking him in painfully in the chest just below his sternum.

'"It's not 'if', it's 'when'. And technically, you've been living with me for almost a year."

"Hayate goes where I go."

"I have a feeling we're going to have to prise my mother off him with a crowbar when we go to pick him up."

Riza was silent, obviously considering her options. She nodded slowly, and murmured, "I'll give you my answer when I return from this... this mission."

"What if you don't return from this mission?" he shivered, dreading the very prospect that even one of them would not make it out alive.

"It's not 'if', it's 'when'," she teased, and her eyes moved to the clock on the wall. Ten minutes until the allotted meeting time. "I have to go and get ready now."

Havoc nodded and slowly released her small frame from his embrace; she stood slowly, and leaned down to kiss the side of his neck before making her way back to the table.

"Did you find anything on Bradley?"

"Nothing. You?"

"No, but I'm sure Roy just gave all of us jobs in order to give us all time to ourselves beforehand."

Damn and bless that woman and her perception. "Why did he..." he was silenced with a dry look. "So he knows?"

"Let's just say he notices changes in people, especially his subordinates."

She kicked the breaks on his wheelchair and walked towards the door slowly, opening it for him before stepping out herself. This is where they were forced to head in opposite directions.

"I'll see you at the top, Lieutenant," he saluted, fingertips trembling just enough to betray him.

"I'll see you again soon," she said, and her words sounded weighted. And with that, the two of them turned their separate ways with backs to one another.

It was the first time Riza hadn't been there to help him get into bed, so he called for assistance from two of the guards in the dorms. Once he was settled in with everything he'd need for the night, the two nervous young officers left. Havoc was proud that he managed to hold himself with pride and calm until they left the room.

Riza Hawkeye had never broken a promise. For now, all he could do was hold belief in her, and in Mustang's ideals. Then, he would see what tomorrow would bring for all of Amestris.

END

Third part of this is currently being mapped out; it'll bea while before it's done. I hope you enjoyed this little interlude, however.