Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! ^^ Here's the next chapter. ;D

I don't own FMA. I only own the OC's and the plot.


Riza observed everything from her little bench. From the sounds of the water dropping down from the fountain behind her, the bird's perky songs, to the conversations going on around her. She timed every single interview. She calculated and averaged each to be around three to four minutes. The food was already being served. She currently helped herself to the lemonade. It was scorching hot. Well, what do you expect? It's summer.

One of the maids brought her a small box with food in it. Hawkeye smiled and thanked the woman after taking it. This maid would be one of her future workmates if she got in. If she got in. Riza opened the box and it revealed a tasty looking sandwich. There were chips and some salad at the side. She reckoned it was filled with chicken. But before she could take a bite, her number was called.

"Applicant number one-five-five. Miss Elizabeth Hawkeye." Maria called in through the microphone and repeated.

Hawkeye stood up, straightened her skirt and posture and walked in with Maria.

"Hello, Miss Hawkeye. My name is Maria Ross. I am Mister Mustang's personal assistant. Please come this way." Maria led the way through a series of rooms and halls. Hawkeye was amazed. The mansion was as beautiful as it was on the outside. Hawkeye couldn't help but scrutinize Maria. So she was his PA, huh? She is a very beautiful woman. Hell, if being pretty was one of the qualifications, she thought she was doomed. But Maria seemed very intelligent, capable and dependable.

Finally, they made it into the living room. Roy was standing beside a classy looking wing back chair. If his image from afar didn't appeal to her, seeing him three feet away from her sure did. God, he looked so attractive! It was hard to believe that this man had already married and has three children. He should be having the time of his life. Living it large as a bachelor, and not as a father.

Roy offered her a small smile. He would indeed admit that she looked very appealing. The clothes she wore complemented her shape while still looking proper and very feminine. Is this person really a Lieutenant? This young lady surely looks beautiful. Thought Roy. She has good fashion sense too. Very proper and appealing. She gets extra points for that.

Riza smiled and said, "Hello, Mister Mustang. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"As to you, Miss Hawkeye." Roy shook her hand and gestured her to sit down on the couch in front of his favorite chair. He took a hold of her application form and looked at her. "Would you care to tell me something about yourself, Miss Hawkeye?"

Riza straightened up and spoke confidently and sternly. "As you may have read there, I am a Lieutenant in the military, under the sniper's division with a 99.9% shooting accuracy. And—"

"Yes, about that," Mustang ran a hand through his raven locks and continued. Riza had to keep her mouth shut to prevent herself from drooling. "I don't want to expose my children to guns as much. I know this is quite ironic because I hold the biggest ammunition and Weapons Company in the world." He let out a light chuckle escape him before going back on topic. "I don't want them to see their babysitter carrying a gun around with them knowing that there is a possibility she can shoot anyone on the street easily."

"I assure you, sir, I only keep my guns with me for protection and I have no intention to kill unless the situation demands it."

"And tell me, what situation might this be?" Roy asked calmly and curiously.

"It's definitely not because Edward doesn't want to drink his milk." Riza wanted to make her probable employer laugh and she was successful. She did her homework.

"No, don't worry about that. My daughter and I have ways of getting it into him one way or the other." Mustang grinned, and then it became a fine and serious line. "But if I do hear from any one of my children that you drew a gun at them and fired, even if it was a miss, I assure you, Miss Hawkeye, I will certainly not take it lying down."

Riza felt a lump at her throat. Of course she wouldn't dare shoot the children! Even if that was her main tool for getting her other workmates to get back into the papers, she wouldn't dare want to shoot them. "Of course not, sir. I assure you, if I get this job, I will take care of the children as they were my own."

"Do you have children?" Mustang asked abruptly.

"Oh, no, sir. I do not." Riza answered almost instantly.

Mustang nodded and looked at her application form once more, scanning for probably questions.

Riza took not of the time; she was in here for more than five minutes. That could be a good thing, yes? If not, it could be damn horrible.

"Well, Miss Hawkeye, I have one last question." Roy said. "If you do get this job, would you be willing to leave your services and loyalties to the military behind?" Roy scrutinized her expression, looking deep into her eyes, searching if she could possibly be hiding something.

Riza stayed quiet and quickly weighed her options. If she did leave the military for this job, she would get more money, but lose her respectable position and her gun privileges. Hawkeye stayed far longer than she thought she did.

"I know it is a tough question, so I will tell you what privileges you might get if you are my babysitter."

"I thought I was going to be your children's babysitter, sir, not yours." Hawkeye said smugly.

Mustang smirked. "Yes, yes. Though let me tell you this: I know that if you tell the world that you are a babysitter, they think that you don't earn much. But if you really did do your homework—I mean, you found out that my son doesn't enjoy drinking milk." Mustang paused, to watch Riza's expression then continued. "If you will work for me, you will be under a one year contract but if you want to leave, I will not hold you. But the catch is, if you don't stay here for at least a year, I will be forced to withdraw everything I have given you."

"…Everything?" Hawkeye repeated, bemused.

"Meaning to say, Miss Hawkeye," Maria butted in, "If Mister Mustang here has given you a house, a car and a helicopter and you have stayed for more than a year, then that is all yours. But if you leave, you will be forced to give it all back. You cannot stay if Mister Mustang doesn't wish for you to, so you will have to keep your performance up in order to stay." Mustang merely nodded and smiled.

"Well said, Maria." Mustang took a sip of water and smiled casually.

"Thank you, sir. I really must say, Miss Hawkeye, if you do get this job, you will have twice the salary of any hotel manager in Amestris. Mister Mustang's employees and staff call it a privilege to be working under him. He has much to share and I don't just mean materialistic possessions."

After that little speech, Riza looked at the man sitting so laid back in front of her. This man, one of the riches in the whole world… DAMN!

"A… Helicopter…?" Riza asked softly.

"Yes, it's possible." Roy said smugly. "I'm buying Micha an Apache Helicopter next week. She loves flying choppers."

His sixteen year old daughter… is going to have a freakin' war chopper just because she likes flying in them? Riza thought. How incredulous!

"I might even get you a Black Hawk," Mustang joked.

Maria chuckled and took note. She's going to get the job.

Riza opened her mouth to speak, but Mustang cut her off.

"I'm sorry, Miss Hawkeye. We have told you this not to bribe you, but to simply inform you that working under me will not be as treacherous as some would think it to be. I have three lovable children and if you love them, I assure you that they will love you back." Roy grinned at her, showing her a perfect set of white teeth. "You don't have to answer the question; I believe I already know the answer. Maria will inform you if you have been hired or not."

What the hell… I barely spoke and I think… I have a good possibility of getting in. I hope. Riza thought.

Mustang rose from his chair whilst Riza followed suit. Roy personally escorted her to the front door. But as soon as he opened it, his best friend appeared.

"Yo, Roy!" Hughes grinned.

"Hello, Maes." Roy said.

Hughes tore his attention to the young lady standing next to his best friend. "Might I say, madam, you look beautiful." Maes smiled gently at Riza.

"Thank you, sir." Riza replied softy at his compliment.

"Ah, Maes, this is Miss Elizabeth Hawkeye, she is one of the applicants." Roy introduced. "Miss Hawkeye, this is Maes Hughes, my best friend and the Director of the Board."

"Pleasure." Riza smiled. Ok, so his PA looks beautiful and now his DOB is handsome… I think looks are really one of the qualifications… I'M DOOMED! Riza has so much going through her head, but didn't let it show.

"Thank you for your time, Miss Hawkeye." Roy finally said as Riza left his house.

Once she was out of ear shot, Maes whistled. "Damn, Roy, she's hot."

Roy laughed heartily and went back inside. "She is, isn't she? I might just hire her."

"Go for it, Roy!" Maes cheered. "I just hope you'll hire her because she's capable and not because she looks like—"

"Mister Mustang, this is Misses Heather Tapper." Maria brought in the next applicant.

"Hello, Misses Tapper, thank you so much for your time." Roy greeted the old woman and then went on with the other interviews.

(((-)))

After eating dinner and cleaning up after herself, Riza made a mug of warm milk for her and her little puppy while watching the evening's news. There was a special on how Mustang's interviews went. They panned out the whole line and Hawkeye briefly spotter herself, registering and getting a number. The reporter said that it ended at eight in the evening. They got a chance to ask Mustang a few questions.

"Yes, I have found a new babysitter, like I said; she will get a call from me-personally-the next morning."

The reporter tried to get a leak on who the lucky lady might be, but he steeled up and didn't answer. With much persuasion, Mustang finally said, "Well, she is beautiful. And you might know, hundreds of beautiful ladies applied to take care of my children." He laughed then the report was over.

Riza groaned then changed the channel. She never really found her own self pretty and people seldom praised her for her looks. That afternoon, when Mustang's BOD told her that she was beautiful, it made her eyes light up a bit and some newly found hope. You can only imagine what Mister Mustang could give! If what his PA said was true, she could have a car, a house and maybe even a helicopter. A damn helicopter! But Riza didn't bet on it. There were lots of other pretty women out there and she recalled seeing a picture of his ex-wife. Now she was gorgeous.

She was just a little younger than Roy, most likely her age, wavy golden hair, and eyes that shone like the sun. Hawkeye thought that they had some similarities, like the hair, but Hawkeye thought she looked plain compared to Mustang's posh ex-wife.

(((-)))

The next morning, Riza was making her bed. It was only seven in the morning. Today, she would go job hunting again but then… faith was calling her on her phone.

"Hello?" Riza answered.

"Good morning, Miss Hawkeye. Congratulations, you have been chosen among many." Mustang said cooly over the phone.

"Wha-what? Really? Thank you Mister Must—"

"Now, now. To confirm that you accept, you are expected to be in my office at seven-thirty sharp. If not, I will be forced to give your job to someone else. Good bye, Miss Hawkeye, see you in thirty minutes."


And behold… A CLIFFY! Because I'm evil that way. 8D [Well… it's not really much of a cliffy.]

Well, I wouldn't say that there was RoyAi… but at least it was in their heads? I plan to make the RoyAi reveal itself slowly and timely. Thank you for all the kind reviews, reading and the support. Please do drop a review my way. It makes me grin from ear to ear. ;D