I don't own FMA, but I do own all my original characters in this story.
Thanks Dai and Bizzy you've been a great help.
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Riza stood outside his apartment and knocked on the door as best she could with a bag of groceries in one hand and Hayate's leash in the other. She knew he was already back from HQ, because she could smell the faint odor of cigarette smoke in the hall.
Jean answered the door. "You're early."
"No, I'm barely on time," she said as she made her way past Jean. She let Hayate off his leash and explained, "All of his clocks are seven minutes behind."
Jean closed the door behind her and stared curiously at the brown paper bag of groceries she held to her in the same manner she held paperwork at the office. His observation reminded him of her request. "Hawkeye, you wouldn't believe it. I had to practically pry the paperwork you wanted from Mrow's hands."
"That's odd," came her reply as she pulled various items from the bag.
"She said that she didn't mind staying late," he explained.
"There's no point in her being paid to stay late when I'm-" she stopped mid-sentence. "Where's Mustang?"
Jean smirked and pointed over his shoulder, "Took you long enough. He's asleep on he couch. He said you woke him up an hour earlier than he usually gets up. Mrow wouldn't let him nap with all her chatter."
Riza stopped unloading her ingredients for dinner and looked at the couch to find Jean was indeed telling the truth. A part of her wished she had a camera when she saw that Hayate had curled up next to Roy and gone to sleep.
Before she knew what she was saying she told Jean, "He talks in his sleep."
"I've noticed that," Jean replied, making eye contact with her.
Riza felt her cheeks heating under his knowing gaze and wanted to shoot the smirk off his face. Her true feelings never would have been so persistent in rising to the surface is she hadn't heard them talking that night. She had to settle for scowling at him. "Havoc, do you realize you've been off for twenty minutes now?"
He looked at his watch and, to her satisfaction, his smirk disappeared. "Shit, I'm supposed to pick up Schiezka in ten minutes."
Roy stirred at the sound of the door slamming shut behind Jean, but didn't wake up.
Riza cast him a glance and forced the rising thoughts of how adorable he looked with Hayate curled up next to him to the back of her mind.
She continued to empty the bag of its contents. She found a bowl sitting atop his refrigerator, rinsed it out, and filled it with apples. She put a box of teabags into the cupboard to the left of the stove. Carrots, tomatoes, chicken, lettuce, and onion went on the counter.
Hayate woke to the loud sound of rumbling in his ear. A hand weighed down his sleepy head. His tail wagged at the smell of chicken. He wiggled out from under the hand and pranced at the feet of his mistress in hopes of being given a treat.
Roy's senses slowly stirred. His first thought was of hunger, the second of the food he smelled, and the third of how much he like waking up to the sight of Riza. He didn't speak-he wanted to watch her for a moment. She started chopping an onion. He took note of the way she fought the natural tears the fumes of the onion called forth. She stopped for a moment and pressed a blue sleeve against her eyes to block out the vapors. He was beside her just as she pulled her arm away from her face.
The only evidence of her surprise at having him say he'd finish it for was the slight twitch of the knife in her hands.
"I hope you don't mind me bringing Hayate. I didn't have the time to drop him at Fuery's before I came over since the market was busier than I anticipated," she explained while she turned the chicken over in the skillet.
"I was wondering when I'd see him," Roy replied as he added half of the diced onion to the pan of chicken.
Hayate whined for some food at the new mixture of smells in the air. Roy accidentally knocked a few carrot slices onto the floor.
"Is everyone keeping busy with their work?" she asked. He laughed, and she fixed him with a stern glare.
"The first hour at the office was spent putting everything back in place. Lieutenant Mrow either stayed late last night, or came in early this morning to move everything around so the office would 'run more efficiently'," he placed air quotes around the phrase Mrow had used when explaining the new setup of the office. Riza raised a brow for him to continue. "She moved our desks together-into a rectangle-so we could all face each other. Apparently, it would make it faster to push the paperwork around like that. She said we wouldn't have to waste time walking across the office just to get the proper second signature on documents, and we wouldn't have to get up to discuss anything pertaining to the documents without shouting across the room. She even re-organized the insides of everyone's desk-pens and envelopes in the top right hand drawer and the least important items being in the bottom drawers."
"She's just trying to do her job," Riza admitted matter-of-factly. She really didn't want to do the woman any favors, but she certainly admired the efforts she put into making sure paperwork was done.
Jean came to a halt in front of Schiezka sitting on the brick wall in front of HQ engrossed in a book. "Sorry I'm late. I was talking to Riza and lost track of time," he explained.
Schiezka flashed him a smile and finished the page she was reading. "It's okay," she said, slipping her 'Aliens Exist' bookmark into place as she closed the book.
Jean tucked the leather-bound book under his arm and gave her a hand up from the brick wall. They stopped by the dorms, so both of them could change-they got too many stares when they were in uniform-and found a familiar hamburger joint, Tom's Place. It was one of those places that served a variety of foods, but was best known for it's hamburgers.
They were seated in a booth near the corner, and were soon placing their order with a glassy-eyed, runny-nosed, scratchy-voiced waiter. Jean found it comforting that unlike most of the other women he had dated Schiezka ordered something that wasn't a salad.
"You should have seen it," Jean started out his story while they waited for their food. "She was staring at Roy and Hayate like it was the most adorable thing in the world. Then, she told me he talks in his sleep, and believe me I already know that. All I told her was I know, and she turned tomato red."
"Do you think this whole bodyguard thing is making them closer?" Schiezka asked.
"It's definitely pressing the issue," Havoc laughed. "Oh, he won't even shower while she's there. I can guarantee that there would be no problem if everything between them was completely platonic."
Julie Mrow sat at the booth behind them in civilian clothing with her back to Schiezka. She had stopped talking to her dark-skinned friend when she heard Jean's voice, and strained to listen to his conversation. She was stewing with anger by the time she heard his last sentence. How dare the blonde slut try and take her man, this called for serious actions. No one could have Roy Mustang if she couldn't.
"What's wrong?" Shelly asked.
"Nothing," Julie answered with the shake of her head then an airy laugh, "I just realized that I need to buy some cat food for Chester before I go home."
Shelly nodded at the lie. She knew Julie-something was eating at her friend, and she planned to get to the bottom of it.
"I'm finished," Julie said, shoving the bowl of half-eaten chicken salad away from her. She snapped open her purse and sifted through it for her wallet. Her fingers touched a single key and the texture of pyrotechnic cloth. She smiled as she remembered the sulfuric smell of the white gloves.
Shelly grinned back at her friend. "Maybe we can go out for coffee or to a bar."
Julie shook her head. "No thanks, all the paperwork at the office tired me out."
Shelly shot her an incredulous glare through her sunglasses and hissed, "You know, that's just as bad as the 'I have to wash my hair' excuse." Shelly put her money for the bill down on the table.
"Maybe you should try staring at paperwork all day, it's draining," Julie defended herself.
"You had plenty of energy when you were going on about this Roy guy," Shelly accused. When Julie didn't have a rebuff ready she continued, "You know, something has changed about you, for the worse. I go through a lot just to be able to come to dinner with you every other week. Call me when you want to tell me what's wrong, otherwise find someone else to ditch." With that said Shelly left the restaurant.
"Changed?" Julie asked her self as she finally pulled her wallet out of her purse. She placed her half of the bill and a lousy tip on the table while muttering to herself, "I don't need her, she's too moody anyways."
Julie left the restaurant thankful that she had befriended Shelly some time ago. It was helpful to know an Ishbalan after all. She knew where their hideout was, and she could use that to her advantage. She smiled as the realization struck her.
Julie's cat looked at her expectantly as she dumped the bag of cat food on the floor beside the food bowl, opened it, and scooped a couple cups into the bowl.
Chester mewed with gratitude and ignored her for the remainder of the night.
Julie didn't mind the cat's mood. She wanted some time alone with Roy. She tossed her purse on her bed and pulled a shoebox out of the top of her closet. Once she was settled on her bed she opened the box and pulled out various pictures of Roy Mustang-most were from his file or the newspaper, while others were ones she had taken of him-those were often half pictures with the faces of other women cut out of them. She pulled the ignition gloves out of her purse and buried her face in them, inhaling the sulfuric scent. She stared at the red embroidery until the array was burned into her memory. Next, she took the single key out of her purse and kissed it. He hadn't even realized it was missing when he undid all of her hard work of reorganizing his desk. She drifted off to sleep with clutching the key in her hand with the pictures and gloves scattered around her on the bed.
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A.N.-I'm really sorry about the wait. I didn't know I was going to be scheduled 6 eight hour days at work on top of having to complete finals last week, and it drained me. I apologize again, and am working my hardest to get the next chapter our on Saturday night. I do everything the long way by hand writing it first, and then typing it up. I hope I've got all the spelling and grammatical errors out now.
Thanks for reviewing: OneMoreBite, SmokerBabe, Animeluvr8, OTP, BlueRose.xoxo, MoonStarDutchess, Last.Alchemist.Standing, Yun Min, Riza Hawkeye 9, Bizzy, Dailenna, WinglessFairy25, OblivionEclipse, Mirage992, UnheardGoodConscience, Your Favourite Plushie, and Anne Packrat.