A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreciate all of your feedback. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Chapter 8
Roy opened his eyes slowly, dreading what would come when he succumbed to consciousness. However he was beyond desperate for a drink, any drink. And in order to quench his first, and remove what felt like a lump from the back of his throat, he was going to have to get up. Slowly he opened his eyes. He felt...fine. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment as he attempted to piece together the events of the night before.
There's no way I didn't drink last night, he thought to himself, okay, we went to the sugar bowl. Riza looked damn hot in that dress...then there was whisky... more whisky... a lot more whisky. Then Maes was talking about... something... Riza maybe? I don't remember. I think we left the bar, but I don't remember how...
"You're finally awake." Stated a voice from the door way. Roy turned his head slowly, still wary of the fact that he should be sporting one hell of a headache to see Riza leaning against the door frame. He smiled and held out his arms towards her. The blonde sighed and made her way over to the bed in order to sit beside him. However, Roy pulled her down so she was resting her head on his chest. She moved her head in order to look at him.
"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly, reaching out and running her fingers through his bangs. He smiled
"Absolutely fine." He replied. Riza frowned.
"Seriously? You don't normally feel fine after consuming that much alcohol." Roy grinned down at her.
"I must be developing a higher tolerance." He stated proudly. Riza sat up, glaring t him.
"That's not a good thing Roy. Besides, having seen your dinner in reverse last night, I really doubt your tolerance level is dramatically higher." She replied. Roy winced.
"Sorry. I really am." Riza's expression softened.
"It's alright. Besides, I'm sure you can make it up to me later." She added with a smile. Roy grinned definitely liking the sound of that statement. However, to his disappointment, Riza stood up from the bed.
"I need to go home for a while. Hayate needs feeding, plus I really need a shower and a different set of clothes." Seeing Roy's pouting expression Riza smiled.
"I'll be back in a couple of hours, I promise." She stated, turning to leave.
"Oh no you don't" Roy growled, jumping out of bed. However, as soon as he stood vertical, the world around him shifted, causing his legs to give way, forcing him to collapse back on to the bed. He groaned, his head falling to his hands as he waiting for the spinning to subside.
"You're still drunk aren't you? No wonder you felt fine this morning." Riza replied with a laugh. Roy fell back on to the bed, burying his face into the pillow. Riza sighed, walking over and pulling the covers back over him. He turned and looked at her, feeling exceptionally sorry for himself.
"You're just lucky it's a Saturday. Now, gets some sleep. The worst is still to come." She whispered softly before kissing the top of his head and standing to go. However, before she could go very far, Roy grabbed hold of her wrist.
"Don't I get a real goodbye kiss?" he whined. Riza, to his amazement grimaced.
"You just spent most of last night throwing up. I'm sorry Roy, I love you, but until you clean your teeth, there's no way I'm kissing you." And with that she turned and walked out of the apartment, leaving a very disgruntled flame Alchemist to the beginnings of a hangover.
Riza made her way through the streets of Central as fast as her legs could carry her. It was one thing to wear this dress out during the evening, but she was just asking for the stares she was receiving for wearing it on a Saturday morning. Riza ran the last couple of meters, pulling her key out of her pocket as she did so.
"Hayate, I really hope you didn't make a mess." She mumbled to herself as she stepped up to the front step, sliding the key into the lock. It was then she realised she was standing on something. Distractedly, she half glanced down at her feet. Her eyes widened and she backed way in horror. She was standing on dozen white roses, placed perfectly on her front step. She stood still, unable to move, her gaze fixated on the flowers. Suddenly her senses caught up with her and she grabbed her gun from her thigh holster, scanning the area for any threats. There were none. Nothing. The complex was as silent and calm as ever. She sighed heavily, her hand still shaking slightly as she replaced her gun once more.
Get a hold of yourself Riza! She scolded herself; it's just a few roses. Nothing to get frightened about. Still, as soon as she approached the door she frantically kicked the flowers away, until there was no trace of them upon the step. She turned back to the key which was still placed in the lock, allowing herself to open the door. As soon as the door opened a tiny cracked, a blur of black and white fur sped past Riza. She smiled, as she watched the puppy retreat in order to relieve itself. She removed the key from the lock, and walked thankfully into her own apartment, shutting the door behind her. She breathed a sigh of relief, leaning her head against the door. It was good to be home, especially after the night she had just had. She lifted her hand and stared down at her watched. It was just after half past ten. She had just under an hour before she was supposed to meet Roxanne. She removed herself from the door frame and pulled of her jacket, grimacing as her hand brushed a patch of dried sick that her boyfriend had left on her. She smiled to herself slightly. Although Roy was an idiot for drinking that much, he had been rather sweet to her last night, even in a drunken stupor. Which was saying a lot, considering that he seemed to believe that Hughes was a giant talking llama for most of the ride home. She laughed, picking up the jacket and throwing it into the washing basket. It was then that a scrabbling sound from the doorway caught her attention. Hayate was back. She quickly made her way across the room, opening the door and allowing the puppy inside once more. He scampered in, sliding slightly across the floorboards, causing Riza to laugh out loud. The dog automatically whimpered, pawing frantically at his neck. Riza frowned. That was odd.
"Hayate, what's wrong? Please don't tell me you've got fleas." She wondered aloud, she bent down to inspect the dog's fur, allowing her hands to trace his neck. All of a sudden, she drew her hands back as if she had received an electric shock. Hayate barked, ceasing scratching in favour of nuzzling his mistress's fallen hand at her sudden reaction. Riza continued to stare at the dog in horror. For tied around his neck was a blue ribbon, a small folded note, attached where a bell would have been. She gulped, closing her eyes for a moment in order to steady herself.
"It's okay Hayate, I'm okay." she whispered soothingly to the concerned animal, her trembling fingers stroking his soft fur. As she did so, she deftly untied the ribbon, allowing it to fall to the floor, while securing the piece of paper into her hand. Drawing as much courage into her as she could, she sat down on the cold floor, and opened the note.
Bet he liked you in the short red dress, right Lieutenant? Wouldn't have expected that of you, you whoring little bitch.
Riza dropped the note, breathing heavily. This was definitely not good. Whoever this person was, he was now following her on missions, as well as knowing both her home and work addresses. What was worse was that the threat continued to centre around Roy. She clenched her fists together as rage began to override her fear. How dare they use her in order to get to him! When she found them, for there was no doubt she would, she would make them pay for ever threatening her Roy. Her thoughts were interrupted as the phone rang. Riza started, forcing her muscles to move towards the object.
"Hello." She stated, automatically realising too late that her voice was shaking from a mixture of anger and fear.
"Riza?" asked a familiar voice "Is everything alright?" Riza breathed in calmly, steadily her voice before replying.
"Hi Gracia, no everything's fine. What can I do for you?" she asked.
"I'll get straight to the point. Did my husband force you to pose as a prostitute last night?" the older woman stated bluntly. Riza's eyes widened at the statement. She truly wasn't expecting that.
"Ummm... well the original idea was Roy's but I didn't know about my particular role in it until I turned up." She replied, in an attempt to alleviate some of the blame from the Lieutenant Colonel.
"And did my husband come up with this particular role?" replied the voice on the other end of the line. Riza sighed. Gracia was a master when it came to questioning people. It proved exceptionally handy with Maes.
"I believe so from the shocked looks on everyone's faces, yes." She stated in a defeated tone.
"I am going to kill him!" Gracia hissed down the phone, almost causing Riza to burst out laughing.
"Mummy?" questioned a faint voice on the other end of the line.
"Oh, it's very pretty honey, just give me a minute to finish speaking to Aunty Riza and I'll come and look at it properly." Gracia called to her daughter, her tone of voice switching almost instantaneously. "Oh, Riza? Elicia wants to say hello." There was a few scraping sounds as the phone was past into smaller hands.
"Hi, aunty Riza." Said a shy voice. Riza smiled. Elicia was one of the boldest three year olds Riza had ever met, but for some reason, she was exceptionally shy on the phone.
"Hello Elicia." Riza replied gently. There was a small giggle and the patter of little feet as Elicia handed her mother the phone.
"I swear I'll never understand that child." Gracia stated absently, amusement in her voice. "Right down to business. I'm so sorry Riza, on behalf of my idiot of a husband." Riza laughed in response.
"It's alright, really. I'm used to his insane plans now." She replied.
"Still, of all of his plans, this has to be one of the worst. Roy can't have taken to the idea!" the older woman cried.
"No, he's sleeping off a hangover right now." Riza replied. Gracia groaned.
"I am going to kill him. Anyway Riza, you and Roy should come round for dinner tonight, my way of apologising." Gracia asked. Riza smiled.
"Yes, that would be lovely."
"Great. I'll see you both at seven then."
"Okay. Good bye Gracia, see you then."
"Take care Riza." Riza smiled and replaced the phone on the cradle. At least that was something to look forward to. She glanced at the clock on the wall. There wasn't much time. Jumping up, Riza made her way to the shower, deliberately avoiding the small piece of paper on the floor.
The park wasn't overly crowded at half past eleven on a Saturday morning, but still Riza was having trouble spotting her contact. Which was rather ironic actually when she thought about it.
"Riza!" called a voice behind her. Riza turned and smiled as two figures made their way up to her.
"Hi Roxanne." The dark haired woman grinned, flicking her perfectly straight hair over one shoulder. She gestures to the woman beside her.
"This is Marguerite. You'll probably want to talk to her as well so I asked her to come along." Marguerite smiled and held out her hand.
"It's nice to meet you." Riza smiled politely in return shaking the woman's hand. Roxanne grinned.
"Riza you look so great! I love your skirt!" she stated. Riza frowned and looked down at her appearance. She did not look great. Her hair was still slightly damp from the shower and she wore a simple long black skirt and a long sleeved green top. Roxanne's hair was as perfect as it has been the night before, except that the beaded outfit had been replaced by a short pleated white skirt and a short sleeved roll necked top that hugged her figure perfectly. Marguerite had midlength red hair that was in perfect ringlets. She wore silver sandals and a blue knee length dress that suited her petite frame perfectly. No, Riza definitely did not look great.
"And you think I'm being fake." Riza's head snapped up to meet eyes with Roxanne. The dark haired woman raised her eyes. "You don't think much of yourself do you?" Riza sighed. She'd forgotten how good at reading people this woman was.
"I definitely don't look great. Especially compared to both of you." Riza replied. Marguerite snorted.
"Well if you had spent three hours doing your make up like Roxy, there's no way you wouldn't look good." The red head stated with a laugh. Roxanne scowled at her friend before turning back to Riza.
"It's our job to look flawless. Believe me, underneath all this I look a state. I would much rather be a natural beauty like you." Riza stared at her in shock. A Natural beauty? That definitely wasn't a how she would describe herself.
"Besides." Roxanne continued. "I'm sure Mr tall, dark and smouldering thinks you're gorgeous even though you don't believe it." Roxanne added with a wink, causing Riza to blush.
"Tall, dark and smouldering?" Marguerite questioned.
"She's got a total hunk head over heels in love with her." Roxanne replied.
"Damn, the pretty ones have all the luck!" Marguerite moaned.
"Can we get down to business please?" Riza asked, feeling completely embarrassed about the conversation. Both girls looked sheepishly back at her.
"Right, sorry." Roxanne mumbled, "Okay, Roland Tanner, Matthew Waterson and Simon Keel. All three were customers of ours." She stated.
"Roland Tanner was, if you excuse my language, a bastard." Marguerite stated. "Really violent guy. He liked it rough; I've still got marks where he hit me." Riza stared at her in horror.
"He hit you?" she stated in anguish. The red head nodded.
"Inflicting pain turned him on. That's the last time I ever had anything to do with him. Anyway, the night before he died, he was with Leanne, tiny little thing. He strangled her until she passed out, then just... continued. That was the last straw of course; he was barred from ever coming near any of us again. Not that it mattered."
"Matt was on the same lines." Roxanne replied. "I only had him once when Crystall couldn't make it, but that was enough. Complete junky, didn't know in from out when he was high. The morning before he was killed, he made a huge scene in the club while away with the fairies. Hit a few customers, even gave Helena a shiner that lasted two weeks."
"I say they had it coming." Marguerite added, receiving a nod from her friend.
"What about the last one, Simon Keel?" Riza asked. Both girls' faces softened.
"Poor thing. Simon was a lovely man, such a sweet guy." Marguerite commented. Roxanne nodded.
"Yes. His wife was a complete bitch, sleeping with anyone who would have her, then demanding money off him for her shopping trips. He just needed company, preferring to talk to us rather than anything else. But he got into money problems. Two days before he died, he had some sort of argument with Luigi. He threatened to expose this place for what it really is."
"Empty threat, I know many military officers who use my services." Muttered Marguerite. Riza frowned at the statement, but said nothing, allowing Roxanne to continue.
"Anyway, Luigi was hardly worried. But still, two days later poor Simon ends up dead."
"So basically, you're looking for someone who is connected with the sugar bowl." Marguerite said with a smile. Riza laughed at the opened ended statement. She stopped walking and looked at both girls.
"Thank you so much, for all of your help." She stated. Roxanne smiled.
"It's no problem."
"Hey! Do you want to go for lunch?" Marguerite asked with a smile, Roxanne nodding enthusiastically. Riza hesitated.
"No, I'm sorry, I really don't have time." She replied, turning away.
"Riza, wait, please." Roxanne called. Riza turned and gazed at the dark haired woman.
"It's just so great to talk to someone... different. I mean, all we do is work, crash out in the day, then get up for work once more. It will just be nice to spend some time with a person who is not going to talk about eyelash curlers or bed sheets. I know you probably don't understand but..."
"No... No, I do understand." Riza replied quietly. She encompassed both girls in her gaze before replying
"Yes, I'd love to come for lunch."
"Great!" cried Marguerite, "I know this amazing little French place, they serve the best pastries and the iced coffee is to die for!" Roxanne rolled her eyes.
"You wouldn't know it to look at her, but she eats like a horse. So" She continued, linking arms with Riza as they walked out of the park.
"Tell me everything about tall, dark and smouldering."
A/N: let me know what you think.