A/N: . -takes a deep breath- We updated~ Sorry for taking so long - I got a foreign exchange sis, and she was settling in (her name's Jenny, she's from Denmark), and Melissa was - I was on vacation in Michigan. Yeah. So, sorry for the delay, and yeah. Here it is! :D
Special thanks to our favorite people in the world, our reviewers: Shadow (We loved Roy's answer too. I'm pretty sure that I'll answer to my kids' questions. ^^), Fire and Ice (Yay! Song-time! :D I think you're the only who actually composed a song! We heart your face!), Lady Skorpio (Well, yeah, they know about Havoc. He's their brother. ;D), PirateZombieNinjaChicks a.k.a. chocolvr (Isn't fluffiness beeyootiful? Lex quite enjoys it.), and Charlie (Did you know that we freakin' adore you for reviewing three times? That's beautiful of you to do such a thing! And hey, here's your update!) You guys are fantastic~
Random Bittersweet Fact #2: Alice was originally going to be named Ivy, but we decided it was too strong a name. She was also going to be Violet for awhile as well; plant names were really popular before we settled on Alice.
Disclaimer: We don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, for if we did, Alex Louis Armstrong would be like, The Dancing Fairy Sparkle Alchemist. Or something to that effect.
The blush on Alice's face when she woke up to find herself on Roy's shoulder didn't rub off until she had gotten home. Charlotte's children were beautiful, though she couldn't believe that the woman had named them what she had. She got to hold little Alister and little Roya, and after doing so was told she had to leave the hospital. Roy took the woman home, as Alice was not about to go walking home at three in the morning.
Roy went home, and Staccato greeted Alice with a hearty meow as she crawled into bed.
The next day, being Friday as it was, Alice was exhausted, despite the three students she had to teach that day. Not to mention Willa. Oh, Willa... The thought alone made Alice shudder. Somehow, though, Alice managed to suffer through the day, taking power naps between students and cursing the world every time a knock came on her front door. By five, however, thankfully, Alice had managed to get a decent enough amount of sleep to stay awake until it was nighttime once more.
At six, there was a knock on her door yet again. She opened it to find..."Ivy?"
"Alice! Let's go get drunk!" the woman tried to pull her neighbor out of her house. "Come on! You need to drink your troubles away! And maybe we can find you a new boyfriend!"
"As, er, lovely as that sounds, Ivy, I'd really rather not..." Alice said quietly. She hadn't told Ivy that she and Roy had made up.
"Alice, believe me, if you don't get back into the dating world right away, it'll be even harder. That's why I'm taking you out to find a new boyfriend!" Ivy turned to find none other than Roy Mustang standing directly behind her with a smirk on his face.
"And what's so bad about her current boyfriend?"
"Roy Mustang. What the hell are you doing here? Alice doesn't want you anymore, you lying asshole! How dare you show up here after what you did to her?" Ivy spat.
"Um...Ivy?" Alice tried to cut in.
"Don't you worry, Alice, I'll take care of him for you!"
"But, Ivy..."
"Let's go, Alice!"
"Ivy! For goodness sakes, stop talking!" Ivy immediately stopped at the sound of Alice's raised voice. She turned to Roy, "Hello, Roy. How are you?"
Roy smirked and replied, "I'm very amused right now... I take it that you didn't tell her that we're together, my dear Alice?" Alice blushed slightly and shook her head. "Well, are you ready to go?"
"Go? Where? I didn't know that we have plans tonight..."
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. You two are together? Like officially?" They both nodded and Alice continued to blush. "Why did no one tell me this?"
Ivy's eyes grew wide, and she slid close to Alice's side; "Does this mean there was… fornication?"
Alice briefly looked to Roy before shoving Ivy away frantically. "Not that I'm aware of, and even if we had fornicated it wouldn't be any of your damn business, Ivy!"
Alice refused to look up from the floor, while Ivy grinned mischievously. "Sweetheart, it's only a matter of time before it happens–"
With that, Alice grabbed Roy's wrist, pulling him inward while simultaneously pushing Ivy out. She slammed the door in the woman's face, all the while she was protesting, before smiling shyly at the man who stood before her. "…It's Ivy. That's my only explanation for what she does."
"Oh, that makes up for everything. What can I say? Her words really pierced my heart…" Roy gave her a wink worthy of his status and looks, but she had meandered away far enough as to not see it.
With a sigh and a smile, Roy asked, "Ready to go?" Alice nodded in response, checking all the light bulbs briefly before she went out. It hadn't rained for a few days; she had no choice but to be cautious.
When they went out the door, arm in arm, they found Ivy still on the doorstep. "Ivy! Go home!"
"But, but, Alice…!" Roy couldn't help but chuckle at Ivy's crestfallen expression.
"It's okay, Ivy. I promise I'll get her a bit drunk for you." She brightened a bit at this while Alice gave Roy a playful glare, to which he responded with a wink.
To Alice's surprise, her neighbor let the couple pass at Roy's promise. And the two got into the car and made their way to the restaurant. "So, um, sorry about Ivy."
Roy smiled. "I assure you, my dear Alice, that I'm very used to it by now."
"How is that even possible? I've been living next to her for over a year and I'm still not used to her!" The colonel laughed lightly. "What's so funny about that?"
Roy put his hand on the woman's knee and glanced her way with a smirk. "Ivy's the only thing that you really get riled up about. I just find it rather amusing…"
It wasn't as if they were doing anything out of the ordinary for the two of them; it wasn't the first time they'd gone to dinner, and she was always wholeheartedly praying that there would be another around the corner. Despite all that had happened with the bet, the woman still considered the black-haired man to be quite the gentleman – regardless of his occasional tendency to get, as she put it, forward.
"It's not amusing to have to answer all her questions about fornicating…"
"Really? Because I can surely talk to her about it, if you'd like, my dear Alice." Roy floated a wink Alice's way, and an exclamation burst from her lips.
"What? The last thing I want is for you to say anything to her about you and I being sexually involved…" With a brief pause, Alice started up again, saying, "And don't you dare get any ideas…"
Well, if it she were going to do such a thing with someone, it would probably be Roy anyw–
That thought was thankfully cut short by the arrival of the two to the restaurant, and despite her date's questions, Alice's deep, dark blush would remain unexplained.
Roy had reserved a small table for them in the back corner. He knew that Alice preferred the privacy. They ordered their food and Roy took the liberty of ordering wine to fulfill his promise to Ivy. As not to be rude, Alice sipped at her wine and commented on how delicious it was.
"You don't have to drink it if you really don't like it, you know," Roy said with a smirk as he took up his glass.
"No, no, really, it's good…"
"Now, Alice, you really shouldn't lie to your boyfriend." Alice gave the man a joking smile.
"Now, Roy, you really shouldn't be mean to your girlfriend…"
Dinner progressed with light, playful banter as they ate. Shortly after receiving their meals, a waitress came over carrying a telephone. "Excuse me, sir, but you have a call."
Roy put the phone up to his ear and gave Alice an apologetic smile. "Mustang. What do you want, Hughes? I'm in the middle of something. What? Yes, I'm with Alice." Alice could see a vein in Roy's forehead pulsate. "That's none of your business. What do you want?" The man's face grew serious suddenly. "Oh. Yeah, I'll take care of it. Yeah." With that, he hung up and the waitress left with the telephone. The man stood up with conviction, sending Alice an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry, Alice. I have to postpone this date until a later time; something came up with work, and I have to leave immediately." With a quick kiss on the cheek and not another word on the matter, Roy left.
As a general rule, Alice would not have been one to question what Roy was doing; but, that was just so out of character for the man… Therefore, against her better judgment, Alice Ackerman arose from the table just as her boyfriend had before her, and took the same path he had.
Stepping out the door, Alice caught only the tail end of Roy Mustang's coat before he took off around the corner, moving more briskly than the woman had anticipated. With a few brief steps in his general direction, the woman quickly decided that heels were not a good idea, and though she knew she wouldn't be able to run far, Alice busted off that which gave her height. With the heels gone off her shoes, Alice quickly took off toward the man, only to round the corner and see that he had disappeared from view. With a sigh, Alice continued on quickly, rounding another corner to briefly catch sight of him again.
After catching up with him there, she found Roy Mustang face-to-face with a dark-skinned man in a yellow jacket.
"Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. What a righteous day this is." Roy didn't respond in words, instead slipping on the gloves she had seen him wear from time to time. Flame Alchemist…?
Her bewildered thoughts were met with a raging inferno, and Alice Ackerman's eyes widened in utter terror. When all had calmed, and the fire had dimmed, Scar had disappeared; Roy Mustang turned with an exclamation of "Shit!" and found his girlfriend standing behind him.
When their eyes met, all he could see in her was pure, unbridled fear. "Alice? Alice, what are you doing here? It's dangerous. Let's get you home." The man's eyes were dark with concern while his face still managed to seem cheerful. Alice just stared at him with a look of absolute horror as frightened tears began to form in her eyes. "Alice…? Come on, I think I should take you home now."
He took a small step in her direction and her eyes grew even wider as tears fell down her cheeks. A frightened noise escaped from her lips. He knew that dark look in her eyes all too well. He had seen it in Ishbal more times than he wanted to remember. It was a look that a human gets right when they realize that they are going to die. It was a look that Roy Mustang had never wished to see again. A piece of him died when Alice, his Alice, had that very look in those green eyes that he had become so fond of. Roy tried to take another step towards Alice. The woman turned and ran, tears streaming down her face.
"Alice? Alice! Alice!" Roy called, starting to run after her, but thinking better of it half a block later. "Alice…my Alice." Roy sighed with a rueful look on his face before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking back to his car.
Alice didn't stop running until she reached her house. Once her door was locked and bolted, she sunk to the floor and put her face in her sweaty palms. She just couldn't believe it…
And she knew for a fact that she was altogether overreacting. But she couldn't make herself feel anything but petrified.