#34. Telephone

He watched her clean her gun in a slow and methodical way. Taking each piece a part and polishing it and inspecting it to make sure that every part functioned correctly. To the casual observer she would have appeared to be a calm soldier who was merely taking care of a necessity. Roy however, had been watching her all morning and knew that this was not the case. He had watched her clean that same gun 5 times already.

She glanced up at him to find him staring at her, head propped up on his fist. He had that cocky grin on his face that he often did when he knew something you didn't want him to know. If she didn't strive so hard to keep her emotions under control, she would have been tempted to hurl the stapler on her desk at his head.

Instead she glanced back down at her gun and asked, "Is there something that is amusing you?"

"I'm just amazed at how nervous you are today. I do believe you are even more nervous than I am." He continued to look at her with that grin on his face, but underneath she saw the hint of fondness he held for her.

"If you would actually do some work, maybe we would both have something else to focus on rather than waiting for that damn phone to ring."

At this statement his face broke into a bigger smile. He loved it when he was able to frustrate her enough to cause her to reveal something other than her normal calm and collect personality.

"You know that doing work now would just be a waste. I won't get to finish any thing I start now anyway."

She paused in her cleaning to stare at him. "You're that confident?"

Standing, he walked to the window to stare out of it. "Would it matter if I wasn't? I have to keep a confident demeanor at all times, or my men won't be confident in me. I don't think many people would want to follow me if they knew that I how terrified I was of that phone ringing."

It was her turn to smile now as she stood up and walked to the window to stand beside him. Looking out the window into the courtyard below she responded to him, "I don't think many men in your place would be able to keep the fear and control from eating at them right now. I find it admirable you are able to control yourself so well given the circumstances. You know I'm always there for you if you need someone to talk to." She turned her head to look at him. "Besides, I thought by now I was more than just one of your men whom you needed to impress with a fake façade."

At this statement he turned to start back at her. Lifting his hand, he gently caressed her face. She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned into his hand. Savoring the feel.

"You know we can't be too friendly right now. But soon that will change. Soon I will have reached my goal. When that phone rings, I will be called down into the meeting room. Then the group of Generals gathered there will tell me if they voted me in as their next Fuhrer. I'm almost positive of a win. Then we can start to build a military we can both be proud of… and we will do it together."

They both stared at each other for a moment thinking of the future they would create. It wasn't long however before their thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of a phone. Riza took a step back, straightened her back, and saluted him. With a small smile on her face she told him, "Good luck Sir."

Flashing a cocky grin at her he walked over to the ringing phone and to his destiny.

I hated the ending of this one. I struggled over it for well over a month trying to think of how to end it. I finally had to have some closure to this one and came up with this. Thanks for the reviews everyone. I'll try to get you a better chapter out soon.