I don't own FMA or its characters. I only own the OCs and plot.
Micha and Daniel drove quietly down the mountain side. There were a few cars following suit, all of their headlights were on high beam. The fog wasn't so bad anymore, but nobody was taking their chances. Daniel concentrated on driving. It was hard enough that he was unfamiliar with the zigzag road, but having the fog close in again was making him tense.
"Maybe you should slow down a bit," Micha commented quietly.
"I just don't want us to get stuck up here. Besides, we're almost at the foot," Daniel replied. "Do you want to get some breakfast? It's still pretty early."
Micha bit her lip, she didn't want Daniel to think anything of her idea, but she said it anyway. "Actually, I was thinking we could go back to my place first? I kind of want to change, and if you're hungry I can just make you something."
Daniel was surprised that Micha would offer, but he didn't dare refuse. "Sounds good. Maybe we can just head out for lunch instead?"
"Sure," Micha replied quickly. I know a good place. Well, maybe not as good as the Central retaurants, but I think you'll find it okay."
Daniel parked his car in front of Micha's apartment block. It looked fairly new, there were some units that were still vacant. The pair made their way up. The wooden stairs had a subtle creak that was strangely comforting. Apparently, Micha's apartment was on the top floor. While walking down the hall, she took her keys out of her bag. The pair strode in silence until the end of the hall. Daniel noticed that the two doors next to her unit had nothing in front of it; no welcome mats, no potted plants, it was empty. While Micha was opening her door, Daniel was memorizing everything he could about his surroundings. She knew what he was up to, but thought nothing of it. Once she pushed her door open, she walked in first, while he followed suit quietly. They both took their shoes off, and headed for the small living room.
"Make yourself comfortable, I'll just change for a bit," Micha said. With that, she walked to her room and locked her door behind her.
Daniel looked around Micha's apartment. It was sparsely furnished. There was a small couch, and a center table in front of it. Leaning on the wall was a thin bookshelf, with only a few books sitting in it. The kitchen was pretty small, perfect for two people at most to move around in. There was a stove, but no oven. The small refrigerator was next to the toaster. Right next to the small toaster was a microwave. The sink was in front of the window, overlooking the park next door. The whole setup wasn't that bad, actually. Although Daniel felt that the lack of an oven must have been depressing for Micha, since baking was her ultimate stress reliever.
He sat gingerly on the couch and soaked it all in. This was why Leila and Jadine were worried. They had a feeling that Micha wasn't living in a 'proper place' that's why she never let those two come to visit her. He understood where the two girls were coming from. Of course this was nothing compared to the luxury condominium that those girls so carefully prepared for Micha across Central University. Both Leila and Jadine had been so excited that the three of them would be attending the same college.
Daniel never cared about luxury apartments, couture clothing, and billions of dollars. He was always teased for that, too. He never felt like he fit in all those fancy soirees his father made him attend to connect to the wealthy and powerful. Being the eldest son of a general put a lot of pressure on him to always behave and make 'the right friends.'
Daniel closed his eyes and remembered the first time he met Micha. He knew who she was. He'd been studying her profile for a month, staring at her photos and going through her social media accounts. He was preparing for this soiree that one of her friends was hosting. His father told him to attend with the sole purpose of meeting her.
"Her father owns Mustang Corp. He has three children, but she is the eldest. She will most likely be the one to inherit his company, or at least manage it before Edward is old enough." Daniel's father added sternly, "make sure to be close to her; gain her trust. She is a valuable connection. You can make her fall for you, but never break her heart. I will have your head if you do."
Daniel slowly opened his green eyes and stared at the tiny kitchen. I should buy her a new oven, he thought. Of course, that was his mind's way of hiding the thought that he fell for her, and it was never the other way around.
(((-)))
She opened her closet and took a look. Micha pulled out a pair of soft blue jeans, and a maroon colored turtle neck sweater. It was starting to rain outside. She felt quite embarrassed that she actually took Daniel into her apartment. It was so small, and poorly furnished. She didn't even have an oven, or decent utensils. Micha sat on her small bed and immediately regretted taking Daniel in here. He was going to tell the girls and confirm their theories. They would definitely come marching in here with Johnny and insist on making her live somewhere else. She looked around her small room. She liked living here. It was quiet, and the place was big enough for her. Of course it could use some work, like buying an oven, but that was out of her budget for now.
Since Micha left, she resorted to using her secret accounts. These bank accounts didn't have nearly as much as the ones her father's bankers handled for her. Those accounts were always full of cash, no matter how much money she would spend on clothes, or donating to her charities. Micha's secret accounts were mostly where the extra cash in her wallet, and the cash gifts she would receive would go. Roy always urged her to use her credit cards instead so he could monitor her spending. But now, those credit cards were out of the question. He would be able to trace where she is, and how she's doing. That kind of information was something she didn't want her father to know about.
She stood up, opened the door, and caught Daniel staring at her kitchen. This put a small smile on her face. "Hungry?" She asked.
Daniel snapped out of his gaze and looked at her. How it possible for someone to look sexy all wrapped up in jeans and a sweater? "Yeah, a bit," he finally said. He wasn't quite sure what exactly he was hungry for, though. If you know what I mean.
"What do you want to have?" She asked him as she walked to her kitchen and opened her fridge. "I think I still have some bacon in here somewhere," Micha pulled out a small bag of bacon, and two eggs.
"You need some help?" Daniel stood from the couch and went over to her. He stood in front of her, with the kitchen counter in between them. "I make good omelets," he bragged.
Micha snickered and handed him the eggs, "sure. Go crazy. I don't have much things you could put in an omelet though." This embarrassed her a bit, so to hide her blush, she stuck her head in her fridge and pulled out some cheese. "Here."
Daniel proceeded to grating some of the cheddar. They worked together in the kitchen quietly for some time. Micha started frying the bacon, and it smelled heavenly. As she took the bacon out of the pan and into a plate, she tried to open a conversation.
"Daniel."
"Hmm?"
"Do you think Riza still loves my father?"
Daniel poured the grated cheese in with the eggs and beat them lightly, "what made you suddenly ask that?"
"Father isn't so hard to love, you know. But he can be such an annoying prick," she replied candidly. This made Daniel laugh.
"I won't argue on that. But do you really think Riza fell in love with your dad?"
Micha lifted herself and sat on the counter. She looked at Daniel and rolled her eyes. "It's so obvious. And it was even more obvious that dad fell in love with her too. I'm just so upset." Her eyes softened as she placed the last bacon strip on the plate and placed it down next to Daniel. "Things were going so well, and we all really liked Riza. We were rooting for her."
Daniel poured the egg and cheese mixture into the frying pan. "Well, Riza's a kind person. I'm sure whatever made her fall in love with your dad in the first place will still be there. Maybe the fire won't be raging, but there will always be little embers left. You can never fan that out completely." He wasn't so sure if he was talking about Riza anymore. He finished cooking the omelet and placed it next to the bacon strips.
He looked at Micha. Her eyes were downcast and her lips quivered slightly. She dared to look at him straight into his green eyes and he couldn't help but stare into hers as well. He knew that look. There was something she really wanted to know. She searched for it, somewhere in his face but she couldn't quite catch it. Since she was perched on the counter, they were at eye level. Daniel opened his mouth to speak, he knew what he wanted to say, but she beat him to the punch.
"I'm feeling impulsive today," she started. "Come to the store with me, I want to buy an oven."
(((-)))
Edward pulled a chair in front of one of the payphones. He took the phone, and tucked it between his left ear and shoulder as he pushed his right hand into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. After putting the coin in the slot, he started dialing in his sister's number.
"Is it ringing?" Alphonse anxiously asked.
"I just dialed it, hold on," Ed replied. "It's ringing!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Winry's sapphire eyes lit up with hope. And Alphonse's golden eyes danced with expectation.
Edward couldn't believe his ears when his sister picked up.
"Hello?"
(((-)))
It was a slow day in the office for Jean and his colleagues. Roy didn't come to office again, so there wasn't much to do. The busiest of them all was Ross. She continually had to rearrange Roy's schedule, and pushed back all his appointments again. This was the third day in a row that he didn't come to work.
Kain was tinkering with a little surveillance device. This was one of the projects that Roy had entrusted to him. It was like a classic fly cam, except this was made in the form of a glass winged butterfly. It would be good for scouting in forest and garden setups. He just couldn't figure out how to stabilize the camera properly since the butterfly cam flutters.
"Guys, can we please call it a day?" Jean groaned. "There is nothing to do!"
"It's only two in the afternoon, Jean," Vato replied as he organized a box of papers on his desk.
"I miss Micha," Jean whined. "She always kept things interesting around here."
Everyone in the room agreed. They all missed her. Edward and Alphonse didn't come to the office anymore too. Having them there was always a pleasure.
"Then why don't you boys go out and visit her?" Maes came in the room with a victorious grin on his face.
"We don't even know where she is," Heymans replied quite bitterly.
"Ah," Maes replied. "But I do," He winked.
"Get out! You do?" Heymans replied. "I've been trying to locate her and you found her?" His jaw dropped.
"Hey, chief. Is that for real? Where is she? Is she okay?" Jean asked.
"I just got a call from Winry. She picked her phone up," Maes replied casually. "Apparently she's with Daniel. And it's pretty easy to track down those military guys, so," he laughed heartily.
All the men couldn't believe what they were hearing. It's been four months, and they couldn't find her. And all it took was one phone call?
"I need to give Riza a call. I'm arranging for her and the boys to go see her. It's about time those siblings saw each other. I need two of you to go and see that Riza and the boys get there safely," Maes took a look at the agape faces staring at him.
"Kain, I need you to go. I need you to secure Micha's apartment from any bugs. And to set up a tap free connection. Figure out how she can communicate to us without being traced. Jean, I need you to make sure that Micha is safe. Do a security sweep over there, would you?" Maes ordered. The two men obliged without another question.
"I'm staying here. Ross and I will take care of Roy. Vato and Heymans, get the intel on Rachelle's whereabouts. Make sure she doesn't notice that the boys are missing. Make something up, like a field trip or something. Make sure to give the boys an excuse to be gone for a weekend."
(((-)))
At a local grocery store, Riza strolled along the aisles with a basket hanging from the crook of her left arm. She only had a few more minutes before she would need to fetch the boys, so she would need to hurry along with her grocery shopping. She already took in some toiletries, but she was thinking of buying some things she could buy for the boys to snack on during the drive home. She was choosing between a jar of peanut butter and wheat bread, or a pack of granola bars. Those boys loved their sweets, but they really needed to control their intake. Too much sweets makes them too much to handle. But for today, she felt like she could give them a break.
Her phone started ringing. Riza pulled it out of her pocket and checked the screen. Jean was calling her. Her blond brows started to furrow. Why would Roy's personnel call her?
Riza clicked the green button and placed the phone to her ear, "hello?"
"Hey! You at the grocery? Buy me a pack, will you?" You could feel Jean's grin from the other side of the line.
"You're feeling quite lucky today, aren't you?" Riza didn't know what came over her, but her snarky reply did not go unnoticed.
"Woah, bad day?" Jean replied. "I bet ya I can tell you something that will lighten it."
Riza sighed. She pulled the pack of granola bars into her basket and made her way to the counter. "What is it? Should I drop the boys over at the office?"
Jean laughed, and this annoyed Riza for a bit. She hated it when people just wouldn't cut to the chase. She fell in line at a counter, "You should go back to the house and start packing for a weekend. Pack for a cold place. For you and the boys. I'll be over to fetch you guys tomorrow at 4am. And don't forget my cigs!" With that, Jean ended the call.
Riza's heart was racing. She placed her phone back in her pocket. The clerk was already adding up her groceries. She didn't know what to do, but she knew what this meant. She knew exactly where she was going.
"That will be ten-seventy five," the clerk said, expectantly. "Will that be all?"
She took a pack of cigarettes, and a lighter, and gave it to the clerk. "I'll take this too." It's going to be chilly, Riza thought.
I never realized it's been 2 years since I last updated. Within those two years, I never really stopped thinking about this story. So I think it's worth picking up and continuing where I left off. Seeing that people still review, and wait on this story really touches me. Thanks for not giving up on the long wait! Let me know what you think and leave me a review! I love seeing all of your feedback. Seeing people's review alerts in my email was actually what drove me to continue again. ^^~
