Chapter 3: Please, I Insist
Sila stood in her kitchenette chopping vegetables for a soup she was making.
The nighttime cloaked Frank as he walked down towards the southern end of the base where the apartments for new soldiers were situated. He had been there before on business and knew the complex fairly well. He took two soldiers with him who he left at the entrance outside the building Sila lived in. He had not announced his intention to come to her quarters and wondered what he would find when he arrived.
Sila heard a knock on her door. She didn't know who would be coming to visit her at that time in the evening and headed towards the door. Her hair was carelessly thrown back in a pony tail and she was wearing her pajamas – a pink set with little yellow ducks.
She opened the door wishing she had a peephole installed and when she saw who stood on the other side her jaw dropped. "Lt. Col. Archer!"
He smirked and said "Yes, may I come in?"
Sila ran through her options and allowed the Lt Colonel in. She popped her head out into the hallway and saw no one around. 'When he said he would be in touch I thought he would call or write or something! Not just show up on my doorstep at dinner time!'
The Lt Colonel admired Sila's clean simple quarters and found his way into the kitchen where she was cooking. He told her to resume what she was doing and he would look over the file she was holding for him. Sila went back to chopping vegetables.
He leaned back on the counter and opened the file. Frank silently scanned the papers and narrowed his eyes in concentration. He stroked his chin and nodded to himself. "Mmmm." He looked up to see what she was up to and noticed the nervous girl was chopping carrots. Frank put down the file on the table and walked up behind Sila. He put his hands around her and rested them on the counter on either side of her. She stretched her neck in invitation and he nuzzled her neck and smelled her hair.
Sila was wide eyed with surprise. 'I never thought he'd be so forward! What do I do? Do I respond in kind or would that be…would he prefer? I don't know what to do.'
Frank laughed quietly "Hmhmhm" as he took in the scent of her hair. "What kind of fragrance is this?"
"Uh, yes sir, it's apple." Sila continued to chop the carrots.
Frank took her hand holding the knife and caused her to place it on the counter. He put his arms around her and squeezed her body. Sila was thrilled, absolutely thrilled.
Frank let go of her and picked up a few of the carrots she had chopped. He took a handful threw them in his mouth.
Sila snapped herself out of her daydream and got back to chopping her carrots. "I wish" she murmured to an empty kitchen.
That same evening Edward Elric was on a train with his Brother Al. Ed pulled papers out from his sleeve. They were curled around his arm and he began to read them. Al asked "What's that, brother?"
"Who knows. A copy of what I fixed for Sila. They were marked confidential. I thought maybe they would be useful to us. I used the materials in my glove to create copies of what was in that folder."
"Brother, that was a bit dishonest! Especially to do that to Sila! She could get in serious trouble for that!"
Ed waved off his hulking brother with a flick of his wrist and said "Don't worry about Sila. I think she can take care of herself." Then Ed's eyes began to scan the papers.
The next morning Lieutenant Colonel Archer looked himself over in a mirror in his house. He stood pulling the comb through his hair, then smoothed out the lapels of his uniform with this palms. He smiled slyly to his own reflection. He checked his teeth then said "Damn I look good in this uniform." Then he headed out to his office for another day of work.
Just as he sat down at his desk Captain Wellbrick was at his door. "Ah, Captain. I believe you have something for me?" Sila handed Frank the file and smiled. He looked through the papers and asked "Did you look through these?"
"No, sir. You said it would be best if I didn't."
"Did anyone else see them?"
Sila thought back to when the Elric brothers arrived and helped her transmute the papers back to normal. She did not recall any reaction on Ed's part that implied he might have seen the papers. She herself didn't have time to really check them over and assumed Ed didn't see anything either. "No, sir. No one else reviewed the file."
He looked up at her with his inscrutable blue eyes. "I didn't ask if anyone read them, just if anyone saw them."
Sila reluctantly and abashedly retold the tale to Archer. She stood with her eyes closed awaiting some kind of punishment or comment on how he would no longer be able to trust her. She got neither. He looked out the window and asked "Who was it that bumped into you? Anyone you recognize?"
Sila thought back through her memory and recalled the faces of the men who bumped into her. "They were familiar sir, but I don't know their names. I believe they were acquaintances of Lieutenant Havoc, sir." Sila's memory was photographic. She could remember the minute details of the incident. She hadn't realized it before but it was Sergeant Breda and the tall fellow that Havoc was sometimes with, the one with the white hair.
The cogs in Frank Archer's mind began to turn. "Convenient that they were all in that area" he murmured.
"Sir?"
"Nothing, Captain. There is no more that you need to know." 'They may have been following her. They could be trying to get more information on this case. I cannot let that happen. What is the chance that all of Major Hughes peers would be in that circle the same time that Sila would be? The chances of that happening unplanned are miniscule. Why would they all be there?' Frank looked up at Captain Wellbrick and asked "Have you met with Mustang before?"
"Yes sir, he was supervising the training of my troop last month sir. We were learning to use new artillery sir."
Frank nodded to himself. 'Perhaps Sila Wellbrick is a spy and she was transferring information to the group about this Homunculi investigation.' "That will be all Sila. I'll be in touch."
"Yes sir!" she saluted enthusiastically.
After Sila left his office Frank made a phone call to have Sila followed.
Sila and Frank sat at the kitchen table in her apartment burning the midnight oil. Sila had a list of names in front of her which corresponded to dates of imprisonment and length of sentence. Sila was to read off the names and other information and Frank double checked it on his own records.
They had been at it for nearly two hours and Sila was very tired. She interrupted a name in order to yawn, then tried again. "Unger, Schlict –uh-Schlicten-uh-"
"Unger Schlictenhaus" said Archer.
Sila giggled at the sound of the name and Frank, as tired as he was just looked at her. Sila apologized as she giggled "Hahah, I'm sorry Lt Colonel, but, I'm tired. Hahaha. That name just" she sighed "sounded funny. Oh just look at me. I never thought this would be kind of responsibilities I would be taking on off duty." She laughed again.
Frank Didn't see the humor in it and said "Well, what did you expect? Amestris won't just run itself. This audit is important"
"No doubt, Lt. Col."
"Then what was it you thought you'd be doing?"
Sila recalled her original intentions and decided to find an alternative "Uh, well, I didn't know. I guess I didn't think about tasks like this." Silas smiled and went back to her list.
Frank thought back to the day of Captain Wellbricks's review and to the conversation they had. The first time through he thought of nothing that strange. He ran it through his memory a second time and his mouth dropped a bit at the memory of Sila giving him a heavy lidded look as she crossed her legs. He could see in retrospect that she had made a pass at him. His mind went into a bit of a fog as she read off the names from her list. The Lt Colonel checked them off now potently aware of what else they could be doing.
They finished their efforts within a third hour and she walked Archer to the door. He wanted to say something, anything, about her original intentions. Captain Wellbrick was smiling. "Are you happy with tonight's efforts, Captain?" he asked without a smile, nor a frown.
"Yes sir, It feels good to have that out of the way."
"Yes, well" Frank looked at the ground "Goodnight then, Sila. I will see you on the morrow."
'Sila? Does that mean I should call him Frank? No. That's, no, I couldn't.' "Goodnight Sir" she said and closed the door.
Frank stood in the hallway looking at her door thinking 'Is there, is she, could we…?' Frank went to knock on her door again, but stopped before his knuckles wrapped on the door. 'No, she didn't say anything because she was embarrassed. I will speak to her about it tomorrow at the office.'
Sila walked her way to work the next morning. She held a leather satchel with more confidential papers for Archer. It was a sunny day and the air was sweet. A car pulled up next to her and the window rolled down. Sila saw Colonel Mustang who offered a ride. The Captain said "Thank you Colonel, but it's such a nice day—"
"Please" he said "I insist."
Sila could never say no when someone insisted and she cursed when Roy figured it out. She settled in the car and was surprised to see a familiar pair of blue eyes looking at her from the rear view mirror "Havoc?" Jean Havoc turned around and winked.
He said "Lieutenant Hawkeye has a cold, so I'm helping out for the day."
He smiled a wide bright smile then went back to driving. Sila shifted in her seat thinking 'Jeez, this guy shows up everywhere.'
The Colonel chuckled a bit and said "Do you two know each other?"
Sila mumbled "Unfortunately."
Havoc said "Come on, Sila. Don't be cruel."
Sila said "I'm just being honest."
Roy laughed out loud and Sila found herself smiling. Colonel Mustang and she had a nice chat on the way to the office. The Captain noticed how much warmer Roy was with his subordinates than Archer. He was still authoritative, but his men followed out of respect not pure duty towards the military structure. During the short ride Sila fell for his dark mysterious eyes, his confidence, and of course his order giving to Havoc. "Havoc, keep your eyes on the road!" "Havoc shut your window!" "Havoc, if you're hat is in the way take it off!"
After a while it was just a joke, but Havoc wasn't laughing. As Havoc was taking guff from Mustang the Colonel was taking Havoc's date to the officer's ball. By the time they reached Sila's building on the base she was thoroughly crushing on Mustang.