Riza woke to Hayate nudging her hand, which was hanging off the edge of the couch. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes, then freezing at the sight of the bright yellow note on her coffee table and quickly grabbed it to pour over its contents. In Mustang's tidy scrawl she read, "I took care of it. Rest up!" she flipped it over. "P.S. I walked Hayate around 7:30." Riza then noticed the sun streaming into her living room and scrambled to find her watch. The windows faced West, and if she was getting sun…that idiot. "Three o'clock?" she exclaimed, jumping up and heading to the phone. He answered on the first ring, and she could practically see him flinch as the words flew out of her mouth. He must have recovered quickly, because his smooth, cool voice answered back, "Elizabeth, hellooo! How many times do I have to tell you, it's dangerous to call me at work."

Riza bristled. "Oh, we're going to play it like that, are we?"

Mustang laughed heartily. "Surely I don't know what you mean, Elizabeth."

Almost habitually, and out of spite, Riza twirled her hair around a finger and popped a hip. "Oh, Roy, now you listen here, and you listen good. If you don't explain yourself right now, I'm going to—"

Miles away, a certain Colonel's eyes widened and a faint blush crept up his neck.

Riza cocked an eyebrow triumphantly. "Now, are you going to talk, or am I going to have to make you?"

"My lieutenant, you ask? She's on a long weekend." He paused, she waited. "Oh, no, she'll be back Monday. Can't have fun for long, haha!"

"Sir, if you expect me to sit here and do nothing for the next three days you are sorely mistaken."

"Oh, that's exactly what I expect from you, Elizabeth. Although, I thought you already knew what I wanted."

Riza held the phone tighter. "You know security isn't tight right now, the Furher took a platoon of men to the East. I have to be there to protect—"

"Oh, you are too funny!" Mustang cut in, giving a short laugh. "You worry almost as much as my lieutenant."

"You can't stop me."

"But I can, darling. Just watch me." This was followed by a definitive, triumphant click.

Riza huffed and set down the phone, pausing for the first time since waking up to take stock of herself and her apartment. She needed food, a shower, and a few solid minutes tidying the living room and kitchen. Her toast did not sit well, and again she found herself sick to her stomach, delaying her plans of showing up at the office despite the colonel's cheeky declaration and approval of leave she never requested to take. She decided to lie down for a little bit to get the room to stop spinning, covering her face with her hands. There was technically only an hour and a half left before the offices shut, but that left the extra six or seven they had been pulling still wide open for completing paperwork. She took a deep breath and felt her body relax, sleep tugging at the edges of all of her thoughts. She woke again around seven o'clock but was too groggy to immediately feel any sort of shame at missing almost an entire day of work. Her head was pounding, and she realized she had barely drank the entire day. Stretching off of the sofa, she picked up a water bottle and started sorting through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. She thought she spotted the bottle of painkillers amongst the stocked meds and began to reach for it, accidentally knocking a slim box into the sink. She glanced down at it and froze, hand hovering and eyes going in and out of focus.

—-

Fuck. The evening was spent repeating the word in her head, trying to grasp what she now could not deny, and had left on the bathroom sink. Riza wrung her hands and paced her apartment, her restlessness causing Hayate considerable worry. He trotted along her heels, giving her leg a nudge with his nose whenever she stopped to change direction. Once or twice she bent down to pet him, but stood quickly when she felt tears in her eyes. She did not know what to do; the realization had ripped the ground out from under her and left her head spinning. Fear was not something Hawkeye routinely felt, being submerged in it from head to toe was almost unbearable. She sat heavily on the sofa and put her head in her hands and shortly soft sobs started to shake her. "What am I going to do?" she repeated quietly, Hayate hopping up and pressing against her. She pulled him closer and cried. After some time, when the post-crying-hiccups had subsided and the post-crying-headache had just begun, Riza made her way to the phone and gingerly picked it up. She took a breath and dialed. Hollow ringing bleated. Riza's heart pounded and she took another deep breath. Each unanswered trill was more anxiety inducing than the last, and finally on the ninth ring, it cut to voicemail. "Hi! You've reached the voicemail box of Rebecca Catalina! Leave a message if you're rich and single!" Riza let out a breathy laugh; Rebecca was certainly never shy about her ambitions. After the short instructional recording about how to leave a message after the tone, she cleared her throat and spoke quietly, "Hey Rebecca, it's Riza. Please call me back when you get this. Thank you." As soon as the phone hit the receiver it rang. The sudden, shrill sound made Riza jump in surprise before she quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

"Goood evening Ms. Hawkeye, and how is Central City's own sleeping beauty fairing this fine evening?"

Riza released the breath she had not realized she was holding. Roy Mustang, that idiot. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath; she could not even think about how Roy was going to react. She was not even sure how she was reacting. His timing was uncanny.

"Colonel."

"Lieutenant." It was said with a hint of sass, the underlying tone of don't-you-Colonel-me. Most days it would have been humorous, but in her current situation Riza did not find it funny at all. It occurred to her that maybe he had seen Rebecca and could give a clue as to where she was this evening. Riza drew in a breath to ask but was interrupted.

"What's wrong?"

He sounded serious, tone no longer light and easygoing. Riza cursed silently. She took a second to respond, which was her mistake.

"Hawkeye."

She drew in a breath, steadying herself. She didn't want her voice to betray her, even though her silence already had.

"I'm fine."

He snorted. "Yeah, and I'm the First Lady of Amestris. What's going on?"

"Nothing, I'm just—" Riza was cut off by a knocking at the door.

"You're what?" His words were veiled with concern; she knew she could not bullshit her way out of his questions. She heard knocking again and rushed to end the conversation.

"I've got to go." She hung up the phone, thanking and cursing whoever was at the door. They saved her from outright lying to the Colonel, but now she had to face whoever was there. She quickly straightened her clothes; pajama pants and a faded tee shirt, hair pulled back uncharacteristically in a messy bun. The knock sounded again, and she called her approach as Hayate padded ahead of her toward the door. She opened it a crack and peered out cautiously to see who was there, and then flung it open completely.