A/N: Thank you to all my supporters and reviewers! As promised, a sooner update to make up for a short chapter last time.
Chapter 12
"Well, basically, there are no bouncers." Maes stated. Riza blinked and turned to Roy, sending him a confused glance.
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Edward. Roy sighed and sat down at his desk.
"It seems that the bouncers of the sugar bowl are considered outside contractors. There is no record of them and they are paid upfront in cash. They are muscle for hire, paid to do anything that Luigi wants them to do. He's damn good at covering his tracks as well. We're having a hard time getting any names at all." Roy stated gloomily.
"So... what do we do now?" Alphonse asked timidly.
"We keep trying." Roy stated forcefully, as if trying to reassure himself more than anyone else. The rest of his team nodded, each one of their faces set in a look of determination. After all, what else could they possibly do?
Riza sighed listening to the incessant ringing on the other end of the phone. This was the last time she would try. From the other side of the room, Havoc swore loudly as he stubbed his toe on a filing cabinet that he was unable to see due to the large amount of records he was holding. Roy rushed out of his office at the sound, assuming that they had finally, after an entire morning of searching, uncovered a lead. Seeing the chaos that Havoc had created, Roy gritted his teeth in frustration before proceeding with a lecture. As Havoc seethed on the floor, Riza stood up, ready to put a stop to the impending argument, when a breathless voice stated.
"Hello, Roxanne here."
"Hey." Riza replied turning her back on to the scene.
"Rizzy! Sorry I didn't pick up sooner hun, but I was with a client." Roxanne stated with a laugh, "It was the weirdest thing, he wanted me to lick..."
"I don't want to know!" Riza interrupted loudly, her face turning bright red at the idea.
"Oh come on, it may give you some ideas of what you should try."
"I don't need any ideas like that!" Riza hissed, her face turning, if possible, an even brighter shade of red.
"Are you at work?" Roxy stated, amusement clear in her voice.
"Of course I am, why?" Riza asked.
"Is tall dark and smouldering staring at you now?" she asked, laughing as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Riza turned around to find not only Roy, but everyone else in the office staring at her.
"Why are you blushing?" Roy whispered at her. Riza growled and turned around once more as laughter filled her ears.
"That wasn't funny." She stated.
"It got him to look though. Sorry, I'll be serious now. What's up?" Roxy asked.
"I need your help again. Urgently." Riza stated her voice deadly serious.
"Of course, I have tonight off. Shall I meet you outside headquarters?" Roxanne asked.
"That would be great, thank you." Riza stated with a smile.
"No problem hun, I'll see you then. Oh, and Rizzy?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful of letter openers while having a quickie on the desk. Believe me." And with that the phone line went dead leaving Riza staring at it in absolute horror.
"You're blushing again." Riza nearly jumped out of her skin as Roy whispered in her ear. She whipped around to see him smirking at her.
"I think your going to have to repeat that conversation to me later Lieutenant, sounds rather interesting." And with that he walked back into his office, closing the door behind him. Riza sighed and flopped down on her chair once more. Why on earth was talking to that woman so exhausting? She smiled to herself. Although she would never tell, the desk idea in itself was rather appealing...
"Maes, I am going to tie you to a chair unless you SIT DOWN" Roy yelled. Hughes held up his hand in surrender, slowly sitting himself down in the chair across from Roy. However, he couldn't keep his leg from jiggling up and down with excitement. Roy gripped his hair in frustration
"Hughes..." He hissed warningly.
"Oh Roy, please just tell me! The suspense is killing me!" Maes exclaimed, jumping from his chair and slamming his hand on the desk.
"No." Roy replied, picking up a file and raising it up high, in order to block out his friend's figure. Maes slumped in defeat. As another idea crossed his mind, his head sprung up once more.
"Can I at least have a little peek..."
"No Maes." Hughes pouted, falling back into his seat.
"You know I would let you! In fact I..."
"Hughes." Maes looked up expectantly, only to find his best friend pulling on his white gloves. Maes sighed and picked up his work.
"You're no fun anymore." Hughes muttered under his breath as the two of them continued with their work.
The end of the day was drawing near and Mustang's subordinates were getting ready to leave. Havoc yawned and tapped Riza on the arm as a goodnight gesture. Riza sent him a strange look as she walked back towards Roy's office.
"Maes, GIVE IT BACK NOW!" She heard Roy yell.
"OUCH!! Alright, okay, here. Damn, Roy that really hurt, what if I had lost the use of my hand. This is my flash button pressing hand you know!" Hughes stated in a hurt tone. Riza suppressed the urge to laugh it the insane answer the Lieutenant Colonel gave. She cleared her throat and knocked at the door, causing both men to spin around. She raised an eyebrow at the pair.
"Am I missing something?" she asked. Roy smiled, walking over and kissing her softly.
"Not at all." He stated with a smile. Riza smiled in return at the sweet gesture. Until Maes bounded in front of her and made his way to the door.
"I'll leave you two love birds to it!" He called. Riza saluted at his retreating back while Roy just sighed at his best friend's strange behaviour. Riza turned around to face Roy. He grinned at her.
"I'll be a minute, just need to sort something out." He stated, moving back towards his desk in order to rearrange the mess of files that had been balancing there. Riza leaned against the door frame, simply watching Roy move.
"Oh, I nearly forgot, what was that phone call about?" Roy asked. Riza frowned for a moment, confused at the question. Then it dawned on her what he was asking. Her face turned red as she recalled her friend's words and realised where exactly she was standing. Roy looked up when he gained to response and frowned in confusion at seeing his girlfriend look so flustered. Noticing his stare, Riza turned away.
"It was nothing." She muttered.
"Come on, you know you can tell me, I'm curious." Roy pushed. Riza shook her head, keeping her gaze averted. Roy sighed and turned back to his papers, muttering
"Typical." Riza's head shot up as she caught his mutterings.
"What did you say?" Riza asked. Roy straightened, not meeting her eyes.
"Shall we go?" Roy asked. Riza folded her arms.
"What do you mean typical, Roy? Is there something you want to say?" Riza asked, her voice neutral and steady. Roy closed his eyes slowly.
"It doesn't matter Riza, let's just go." Riza however, did not move. Roy groaned.
"It's just that you don't seem to tell me anything anymore. I hate not knowing everything that happens Riza." Roy stated softly , moving to put his arms around her. Riza moved away from his grasp, turning her back on him.
"You don't trust me." Roy started suddenly. This wasn't going well.
"No, I never said that!" He cried, walking towards her
"That's why you assume that I'm cheating on you." Riza stated, her voice staying soft and emotionless. Roy couldn't believe this. He stopped short of reaching Riza.
"I've never said that Riza." He replied, attempting to keep his voice steady. "I just don't know what to do when you don't tell me things."
"I don't have to tell you everything. You can't control my life." She stated evenly.
"Damn it Riza, I'm not trying to control you! I love you, I care about you!" Roy yelled, losing his temper. He couldn't understand this. Why was Riza acting this way all of a sudden? Riza turned slowly, her eyes fixed on the ground.
"That's why you want to put me in a box and protect me from everything, keep me away from the world? Because you love me?" She whispered.
"Yes!" Riza's head shot up at the statement. Roy mentally kicked himself. He didn't mean it to sound that way at all.
"Don't you know anything about me?" Riza stated, her voice cracking slightly.
"No, I don't Riza!" Roy yelled, making her jump slightly at the volume of his voice.
"How am I meant to understand you if you won't talk to me! You have all these secrets, all these things that I don't understand. You didn't tell me about the interviews with those women, god knows where the hell those flowers came from..."
"Back to the flowers..." Riza muttered
"Yes, back to the damn flowers! God Riza, how do you think that looks to me?" Roy cried. Riza turned to look at him, hurt flicking across her face. How could he possibly say this to her? Before she could bite back the words, she countered with the first thing that flew into her mind.
"Don't you think it's me that should be worrying about cheating?" she hissed. Roy's eyes widened at the statement. He was certain that it would have hurt less if she had punched him. His eyes narrowed.
"So now you don't trust me? I risked everything for you, hell I would again and let your still worried that I'm going behind your back? What more do you want from me Riza?" Roy replied, gesturing widely. Riza stood stiffly in the doorway.
"I don't want anything, that's not what I meant..." she trailed off, shaking her head sadly. Roy stared at her for a moment before sighing heavily.
"You don't want anything from me huh?" he whispered, turning away. Riza's eyes widened at the pained voice he used. It sounded so unlike him that it was hard to believe that it was really her Roy speaking.
"You don't want me, and you've sure as hell proved you don't need me. You can't or don't trust me and you don't think that I love you..."
"I never said that Roy!" Riza cried, moving forward slightly, his statements alarming her.
"What are we even doing?" Roy murmured to himself. He slammed his hand on his desk in annoyance "There's no point in us even being together if all of this is true!" Roy stated. There was silence for a moment. Roy steadied his breathing, calming himself. There was no need to say such rash and stupid things...
"If that's what you want." Roy spun around as soon as he heard the whisper. But Riza was already by the door.
"Riza, no wait..." but she had left, slamming the door shut behind him. Roy stared in dismay as he realised what he had done.
Riza walked blindly through the corridors, her feet taking her towards the exit while her mind replayed the argument over and over in her head. She couldn't believe the things that she had said to him. But more importantly, she couldn't believe the things she had not said. Of course she trusted him, of course she needed him. She loved him far more than she ever thought was possible, but when he needed her to say it, she didn't. And now the most important person in her life was gone, probably forever. Even if she turned back right now and apologised, said everything that she should have done, there was no way in hell he would take her back. Who would possibly want her after everything that she had said to him? Her eyes blurred as she walked down the steps and into the street. She stood on the steps for a moment, in an attempt to control herself, to suppress the pain that was threatening to overwhelm her.
"Riza?" Riza turned slowly to her left to see Roxanne staring at her a concerned look on her face. Riza turned away as her friend rushed towards her. She needed to keep control, she needed to stay calm.
"Riza? Riza, what's happened?" Roxanne whispered, peering at her friend closely. Riza stayed silent, her body quaking as she struggled with everything she was feeling. Slowly, a steady stream of tears made their silent way down her cheeks as the past few minutes really hit her.
"Riza?" Roxy whispered softly, as Riza raised her hand to cover her traitorous eyes. Roxy stared at her for a moment before putting her arms around her friend. Riza stood rigidly for a moment, before leaning in closer, sobbing quietly in her friend's embrace.
Roy sat at his chair, staring off into noting. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had driven the woman he loved more than life away from him. The argument had been petty and stupid, little things that could and should have been sorted out long ago. Roy put his head in his hand, while the other reached into the pocket of his military uniform. He pulled a small black velvet box out, squeezing it tightly in his hand as he allowed himself to be consumed by guilt.
A/N: Hehe... Please don't kill me!