AN: Alright so today (2/16/13) I awoke to discover that somehow or another the original chapter two for this story was replaced by chapter three. I have no idea how or why this happened as you can imagine I am rather ticked off right now. I did my best to re-write this chapter from memory but in all likelihood it will not sound as good as it did before. I liked this chapter too!

I thank you for your understanding and much needed support. I think, from now on I should make a note to save everything I write onto my USB in case of more little fuck ups like this one.

Later on that day…

Second Lieutenant Maria Ross was sitting down inside of Central Headquarters' lunchroom. She had spent the greater part of her morning correcting the mistakes that Denny Brosh had made on the paperwork. It had almost seemed that he had been messing up on purpose. There wasn't much in the way off food on top of her tray; just a small salad and a fruit cup. Maria hadn't been feeling well and while she thought of going home early, she worried that in her absence Brosh might bungle something else up.

As she was about to eat, she looked up from her tray and saw a familiar looking woman . She was fidgeting where she stood, as though she was unsure as to what move she should make next.

"Sergeant Colt?"

Having been noticed the woman realized that there was no going back.

"I'm…I'm sorry for bothering you, Lieutenant but may I speak with you?"

"Yes, of course." Maria made motion for Sergeant Colt to take the chair across from her.

Her name was Sergeant Sarah Colt and while she and Maria were far from friends, as her superior officer she would always be there to listen. Sergeant Colt was a dutiful and respectful soldier, who did all that was asked of her but she was also painfully introverted and lacked most social graces that one would have expected to have learned in childhood. This timid personality of hers coupled with her pageboy styled haircut had left her looking far from a proper soldier. Many had had been left to wonder what she was doing in the military and what sort of life she had lead before.

However, it wouldn't be fair to write her off so quickly. One may only hand her a gun to see that she belonged in the military. With her deadly accurate aim, Maria was confident that she would continue to climb up the ranks; she only needed to learn not to be so shy. She was young, though. She had only just turned Twenty-one last month; there would be plenty of time for her to learn.

"Lieutenant Ross…" Sarah struggled to even begin.

"Yes?"

She took a deep breath and went for it, "I need your advice."

Maria was a bit taken aback by this. She had always made a point to be helpful to both her superiors and subordinates alike but no one had ever asked for her advice before.

"What is it?"

"What do you do when you like someone?"

Maria was suddenly made rather uncomfortable by such a question.

"Don't you think that it would be more appropriate to ask someone else?"

Immediately she wished that had not said that. In all likelihood this woman probably didn't have very many, if any friends. If she did have any at all, Maria doubted very much that they were close. She wished that Brosh was there to answer such a question. He was constantly bragging about the many girlfriends he had during his teenaged years.

"You should tell him how you feel."

"I can't do that!"

Maria understood all at once.

"They're in the military." It was a statement and not a question but still Sarah responded with a meek "Yes."

"You know that the Fraternization Laws in this country are stringent and that both parties involved would be dishonorably discharged if they were ever caught. You should forget about him."

Oh but Sarah could not and she found her eyes and mind wondering in the direction of her love, who sat alone far in the back of the cafeteria. It didn't make sense to Sarah, for surely she could sit with whom ever she wished to and yet there she was at an empty table. 'If only I could join you…'

While Maria did not notice Sarah's eyes slinking off to gaze upon the flawless beauty, whom most in the military feared for she was rumored to have been armed to the teeth at all times; she could still tell that Sarah was undoubtedly thinking of whoever it was that she had fallen for.

"What is his rank?"

"Huh?" Sarah's thoughts were yanked back to reality.

"It's ok; you don't have to tell me who they are. I just want to know their rank."

"They're a First Lieutenant."

This brought Maria into utter shock. It was one thing for an officer to secretly covet affection for another member of the military but to have a crush on someone with a rank that was four times higher than theirs, was another story all together.

"Are you sure this isn't just a case of puppy love?"

"What's 'puppy love'" She was serious.

This conversation was becoming increasingly more gauche. Maria was sitting across from a woman who had come to her for love advice because she was fawning over someone who outranked her and she didn't even know what 'puppy love' meant.

"Didn't your mother ever talk to you about things like this?"

Sarah shook her head, "My mother died when I was born."

"I'm sorry...I didn't know."

"It's alright." 'I killed her…' "I never knew her."

Sarah's eyes began to wonder again.

"I still don't think you should pursue this. There's far too much risk involved and if you were caught Amestris would lose one of its finest snipers."

Without tearing herself away from her view of Riza she smiled softly and said, "I know but I just think it would be nice to have them feel the same way about me as I do about them. "

"I know you do and as a hard as it may be to believe, one day you'll find someone else and you'll forget all about them. "

Sarah tried desperately to envision herself not being in love with Riza but she just couldn't. There would never be a day when she wasn't on her mind. How could anyone ever forget about Riza?

"You're right, Lieutenant. Thank you for your help."

As Sarah got up to leave and to return to her work she stopped and remembered what Roy had said about her poor writing abilities and thought, ' Is my writing really that bad? Maybe the bastard is right…"

"…Lieutenant…there's one more thing I'd like to ask."

"Yes?"

"Do you know where I can find a good writer?"

"Well I used to be pretty good at writing when I was in high school…on second thought maybe you should find someone else. I don't know how good her writing is but she does read a lot. Her name's Private Sheska."

"Where can I find her?"

Meanwhile on the other side of the lunchroom, Riza Hawkeye had just finished her lunch and was preparing to return to the office. That's when Havoc, Breda, and Fuery appeared. She knew instantly that they were about to embark on some harebrained scheme as Falman was not with them. She was thankful to have at least one pragmatic member on their team.

"Lieutenant, we've come up with the best idea to find out whose been sending you those anonymous letters." Stated Havoc rather proudly.

Riza sighed "Let me guess, you're going to keep an eye on the mailroom?"

"Exactly" replied Breda

"The three of you should stop being so preoccupied with my mail and get back to work."

"Oh come on, Lieutenant! Aren't you even the least bit curious as to who it might be?" questioned Havoc

"No." She turned to head out of the lunchroom door, "I'll see you all back in the office."

When she had left Havoc lit up a cigarette and turned to Breda, "Well you know what this means."

"Yeah." Spoke Breda nodding along

"No, wait. What does it mean?" asked the confused Fuery.

"It means that she's already got a boyfriend. Which is why we really do need to keep an eye on the mailroom. After all what kind of people would we be if we just let this guy go on thinking that he has a shot with Lieutenant Hawkeye?