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He didn't speak to her for the rest of the day.
Not a peep, not an order, not a 'Lieutenant,'
not even a groan when she piled more stacks on his desk.
Even the extensive packets, jam-packed with legalese.
He didn't speak to her until she forced him to.
He did his work.
He read the pages.
He signed his forms.
He didn't procrastinate,
spin in his chair,
count the cracks in the ceiling.
Or flat out sleep.
She thought, for a brief moment, maybe she should reveal
most unpleasant secrets she had kept from him on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, this one was truly the only secret she had in her arsenal.
So no luck.
She forced him out of his childish, though most honestly reasonable rage,
if she could admit to that, and laid the last form of the day on his desk.
On top of his work, in front of his nose.
Impossible for even his world-class,
juvenile silent treatment to ignore.
"My request for leave, Sir."
He crumpled the paper and tossed it into the trash
without even looking up at her.
"Sir." She gritted her teeth.
The men were gone.
It was far past five.
She shouldn't have waited. She needed witnesses
for her very certain burn at the stake,
or at least a simple disappearance.
And, unfortunately, he didn't waste any time cutting to the quick.
He made clear exactly what he was getting at.
Finally, he was direct.
She should have addressed him earlier.
When there were witnesses.
She needed witnesses.
But, he felt betrayed, being left in the dark like that.
He knew everything about her. Even the little things he had no business knowing.
This wasn't a little thing, though.
This was important. This was crucial information.
Her father must have turned sour much earlier than he thought.
He could have helped her. He didn't know how.
She would have denied it from dusk till dawn.
But, he would have found a way.
Yet, she kept it from him.
This most sensitive detail.
Roy couldn't avoid the fact that it hurt.
"You didn't tell me he ever looked into human transmutation.
Much less the philosopher's stone." He finally cut a whisper to her.
"I was young," she countered, unwavering.
"How young exactly?"
"Before you arrived," is all he needed to know.
He couldn't have helped is what she was saying.
He didn't accept that as an answer.
He shook his head.
And his voice shook just so.
"You should have told me."
"It wasn't something I wanted to bring up, Sir."
He clenched his jaw and slammed down his pen.
His lowered voice was venom.
"Riza."
"Colonel."
She defied his attempt to make this totally and completely personal,
though she wasn't sure how long she could hold down that fort.
Because that's all it was. Personal.
He still stared at his desk.
"Are you sure you want to go?"
"I'd like to help Edward and Alphonse."
"You're looking out for them." He said, running his hand through his hair,
nearly pulling it all out in one snatch "But, I need to look out for you as your superior."
"Edward is your subordinate as well," but it was as if Riza hadn't even spoken.
He said without pause, "Now, are you completely cerain-"
"Yes - Sir, please. The more I think about it, the more I'll hesitate.
I don't want to hesitate," She stiffened. So did he.
They looked each other straight in the eye for the first time since this morning.
That was quite the record for them.
He was very rarely this angry with her.
She had a reason.
And, he needed to understand.
She couldn't do this without his approval, unfortunately.
Even though she would continue without it anyway.
For her well being, though,
they had to reach an understanding.
"They need this," she said sternly, "They need what I have."
It felt like a very long while, so silent and still as the sun set
through the wide windows behind him, before Roy finally voiced
what he decided the moment Riza offered to take them: "I'm coming with you."
She wanted to bite back an absolutely not and instead countered a caustic,
"What business do you have there, Colonel?"
"You," he stood up, leaned on his desk and confronted her head on.
No one would have seen her flinch in that moment.
But, Roy could read her, see her. He knew her.
"You can not be alone there."
"I spent plenty of time alone there."
She said coldly.
It was almost too cold, she knew.
Already the sting was sinking in. That place was poison.
He left her alone there once. He wouldn't do it again.
"Lieutenant. This is an order from a superior."
"Sir, my personal affairs don't fall under you jurisdi-"
"Hawkeye."
She didn't answer. She didn't budge.
He switched his tactic. Sometimes the stoic Riza Hawkeye
needed soft. Honest, soft, sincere. A detail no one else knew.
"Don't tell the pipsqueak this," he sighed, "But, he and I are not that different.
You leave me alone, I will destroy East City. One way or another."
He attempted to give even the weakest laugh.
His smirk was just as weak.
Her face didn't even twitch.
Riza just turned to the door and stopped briefly under the frame.
She truly did need him there. Riza couldn't pretend otherwise.
Her old home was too riddled with wretched memories.
He was always ever the only saving grace about that place.
Her old friend.
Her best friend.
Returning without him would most likely be too much
even if she couldn't admit it aloud.
"For the sake of the town," Riza was fragile when she said,
"You may accompany us."
He smiled softly at her when she looked over her shoulder.
"I probably would have shown up regardless."
"Yes, Sir." She nodded and walked away.
She said with a tinge of bitterness,
yet a tinge of relief. He could sense both.
"Do the paperwork, Colonel. We leave bright and early."