A/N: I want to thank InconsciousSin and mixmax300 for their reviews as well as the other people who favorited and followed this story! I appreciate your support and maybe there will be more Kimbley stories in the future:)

Riza was sure she was dreaming when she saw Roy Mustang's face floating above hers; a halo of light around his face making him look like an angel.

"Roy?" She said doubtfully.

The side of his mouth twitched in happiness. "You could say it a little more cheerfully, you know."

She smiled even though it hurt a little. "What are you doing here, Roy?" Attempting to make some sort of motion, she tried to sit up but her arm felt like a dead weight. She groaned and leaned back in bed.

"What does it look like? Visiting my wounded sniper. You gave us all quite a scare."

It all came back to her now. Getting shot, the ambush, Kimbley saving her and then ending the battle…

"What did they do to me? Will I be OK?"

"Relax, Hawkeye. They're expecting you to make a full recovery. The doctors took the bullet out, but they gave you some pretty strong medicine to numb your arm. It might take a few days for it to wear off. They also gave you some stitches from the damage the rocks did when you hit them."

"Anything else?"

"Oh yeah, and you had a concussion."

"Great."

"Yep. It might be a while before you can go back out."

"Unbelievable!" She said a little too loudly. Her voice rang against the empty room.

He reached over and put a hand gently on her good arm. "Don't be so upset. You got off lucky."

"Thanks to major Kimbley." Riza said.

Roy frowned.

"It's true though, isn't it? He saved me. I would be dead right now if it weren't for him."

"But at the cost of several others."

"What are you talking about?"

"He took all that time to carry you back, and all the while his men, your companions, were being slaughtered. Before he ended the battle with his alchemy he let hundreds of his men be killed while he got you to safety."

She knew he told the truth. She remembered now, Kimbley taking her back the other way, while all the while men were dying. But even so…."Why are you telling me this? I don't need to be reminded."

"Apparently you do. And I just don't want you to think he was a good person or anything. He's still a monster, remember."

"Of course." Roy was right. It was horrible that he had sacrificed all of those other men just to save her, but she would be lying to herself if she said a small part of her wasn't relieved. She was alive, after all. It was hard to be angry at him, even when he had done something horrible, knowing that he had saved her. "What does it mean, sir, that he would save me? What's going on?"

"It's simple. He respects you. He knows you're extremely skilled, obviously. He thought that you were worth more than all of his other men. Hell, he was right. Doesn't make it OK, though."

"No. No it doesn't. I suppose I should still thank him, though. Where is he?"

"You won't be able to for a while at least. He's back out in the field."

"Already? They left without me?"

"You might be in here for a while. They couldn't wait for you. We all have some busy days ahead of us."

"Us? Don't tell me you're leaving, too?"

He turned his head, eyes squinting as he stared out of the window where the noon sun was coming in bright. "I'm afraid so. I'm heading out this afternoon. I'm sorry."

She wanted to protest, to beg him not to go, but how could she? She couldn't even ask him to stay with her, and she couldn't even tell him about the way she felt about him-the way she had felt for years. But she had to. Right now. She was a strong woman and a warrior at that. Her heart was steel and she was not afraid to bare it to anyone, and especially not the man that she loved from her head to her toes.

"Roy."

He had made his way to the door, but he stopped and turned now, waiting for her to speak.

"I just wanted to say…"

He waited for her to go on. He was smiling, one hand on the door, and a sparkle in his dark eyes.

But she couldn't. It wasn't the right time.

"Be careful."

He laughed. "I have to be since my trusty sharpshooter won't be watching my back. But you should know better than to worry about me. I'll be OK. I promise."

She nodded to him and then turned so she wouldn't have to watch him leave.

He would come back. He wouldn't leave her here alone.

…..

Roy gasped, falling to the ground and clutching his bloody stump. His vision started to go grey, although he wasn't sure why. Although he couldn't see anymore, he could still here Kimbley's laugh coming from above, and then his voice.

"I must say Roy, you look oddly surprised. It's strange to me. After all, you never trusted me before, and you never really liked me. Are you really so surprised right now?"

Roy struggled for a moment to speak. It felt was like trying to breathe underwater. Pain racked his whole body and made his vision cloudy. "Yes." He finally spurted out. "I knew you were insane, but I thought you were loyal to Amestris."

"That's rich, Roy. You should know something about me by now; I'm loyal to no one but myself. "

"Why." Roy said, lacking the energy to add inflection to his voice.

"Well, I would like to tell you it's nothing personal, but then that would be a lie. To tell you the truth Mustang, I'm after something and you're standing in my way."

Roy gurgled a little, a sound they both knew was a question.

"You don't know? Haven't I said often how much I love passionate women?"

It couldn't be. Not her. Not his sniper.

But of course it was.

Coughing and spitting a good amount of blood before he could speak, Roy managed to sit up a little. "She hates the job." He croaked.

"Yes, she's not passionate about her job, that's true. She's passionate about something else."

Any other moment Roy would have denied it as he had always done, to himself and to others. But time was too short for that now. Of course he knew that Riza loved him. Almost as much as he loved her. So much that he could never tell her…never bear to lose her if he said so and the military separated them.

Kimbley brushed some dust off of his jacket and shrugged."I wish someone were that passionate about me. Maybe she might be. It's all about a transfer of loyalty." After he spoke he smiled, and bent down to where Roy was laying.

To his horror, Roy felt Kimbley opening up his lapel, and taking out his pocket watch, and then the blood red flower that he had picked yesterday.

"Nice seeing you, Roy."

Roy felt himself being lifted up by his shirt, and swiftly falling through the air. The building wasn't particularly tall, but Roy knew if the ground didn't do him in, then the Ishvalans waiting below surely would.

Roy wasn't one to waste his last moments in regret; regret for the mother he would never see again, Hughes' wedding that he would never attend, or the words he wanted to say to a beautiful blond sniper that he would never be able to now. Instead he just settled in and hoped that she would like the flower that he picked for her.

…

Riza could stand up now. She knew she could have stood up days ago, but the doctors had been very strict. She was still not to stand up unless someone was there to catch her if she fell, but a few weeks ago, towards the early hours of the morning, something had woken her in her sleep. A bad dream, she had thought, because the horrible feeling it had left her wouldn't go away, and she had paced back and forth across her room until the doctors came in and told her to get back in bed.

That was days ago. It was the middle of the night now and she couldn't sleep, so she stared out the window.

In the distance, lights started to appear. She pushed herself off the sill and stood up a little straighter. It was soldiers returning. She could hear voices now.

It had to be Roy. He was supposed to have been back two days ago.

Should she put on her shoes and go meet him? No-the doctors would just stop her in the hall. She would wait for him here.

She leaned back against the window, her face against the warm glass, almost falling asleep until the sound of the door opening jerked her awake.

She turned quickly, her heart beating in anticipation, but it wasn't Roy.

Major Kimbley was standing there in the doorway, for once not looking smug.

"Kimbley. It's you. I…I thought you were Roy."

He didn't say anything as he came over to where she was standing. His jacket was gone and there was blood all over his white shirt. That and the dark circles under his eyes made her think that he must not have slept since the last battle.

"I'm glad that you're doing better. We were worried about you last time I saw you."

"I'm doing fine. What about Colonel Mustang? He was supposed to get back days ago…have you heard from him?"

She watched his face slowly change from concerned to sorrowful.

"What is it?" She whispered.

He stared at her for a long moment. In that moment, she already knew.

"No."

"I'm terribly sorry. There was a battle, we were overwhelmed, we fought for hours…"

He went on speaking, but Riza couldn't even hear him.

"No no no no no no no no no." She half heard herself saying before her voice gave way to sobs.

"Please. Calm down, it's all right. He's at peace now."

She cringed, covering her face with her hands. He stopped speaking, understanding that she didn't want to hear more about the details. When she started to slump he called the doctor.

For the next few days she willingly spent her days in the sick bed. In her grief she made herself sick again. When the doctors tried to turn the lights on in her room she would refuse, but even the light coming through the windows during the day were too strong. It seemed to cast an eerie glow on everything in her room. All day she stared around her, too numb to practically feel anything but pain. Weeks went by and they said that the war was over now, thanks to Kimbley and the other state alchemists.

She was healing, and it was inevitable that she would have to get up eventually.

Officers were coming and going all over the base. Camp and equipment was being moved as troops were pulled in and the Amestrisian military got ready to leave Ishval.

The doctors ordered Riza to get out of bed, and although the first few to say so to her almost lost an eye, she eventually knew that she would indeed have to be leaving soon to go home.

So she made an effort to get out of bed once in a while and walk around. But it hurt to do so. It hurt her so bad and not in her body. She just couldn't imagine leaving Ishval now, because it was where Roy had been killed. To leave Ishval was to say goodbye to Roy forever.

She stood by herself now, looking out the window at the black expanse of night. She heard the door to her room open. "I don't want my medicine now." She said, not turning around.

"Good. I don't have any for you, I'm afraid."

She turned around and saw Kimbley standing in the doorway.

"Oh. I'm sorry major Kimbley. I thought that you were my doctor."

She turned back to the window after she had spoken. She would be polite to him but she didn't have to like him.

That bastard had fought at the battle with Roy and lived. How was that fair? How could the universe have spared Kimbley and not Roy? And she could never forgive him for being the one to tell her of Roy's death. Mainly because she was sure that he had looked forward to being the bearer of bad news…

"Do you have a minute, Miss Hawkeye? I understand if you don't feel like talking right now. You're still recovering and you've been under a lot of stress…"

"I'm fine, sir." She said, ignoring the look he gave her. What right had he to look concerned? "Whatever you need to say, you may go ahead."

He stepped closer to her, a little too close for her taste.

"I have something that I want to give you. I wanted to give it to you weeks ago but I was worried that it might upset you too much."

She braced herself for whatever was ahead. When it came to Kimbley, she wouldn't be surprised if he was about to put a knife in her stomach. With that thought in her head, she tensed as she saw him reach into his coat.

He opened his hand in front of her slowly.

In his tattooed palm sat Roy's pocket watch.

Riza's hand shot up to cover her mouth, almost but not quite stifling the sound she made that was halfway between a sob and a gasp.

She didn't seem to notice the way Kimbley watched her face, his eyes all but devouring her as he reached for her hand and put Roy's watch in her own.

"He wanted you to have it."

There was silence for a moment as Riza stared at it. "How do you know?" She finally whispered. "How do you know he would have wanted me to have it?"

"He told me. I held him as he died, and he gave it to me, and said your name."

She looked up at him, suddenly suspicious. "How? He was swarmed…they said…"

"Yes." He said, looking so somber it touched her heart. "But I had to try to save him. He was my brother in arms, how could I not? I fought my way through them all, trying to go back for him. He was already too far wounded when I found him, but I was able to hold him as he died…"

Riza tried to speak but she couldn't. She just couldn't.

Roy

Roy

Kimbley waited, hoping she would open the watch up, wondering if he should suggest she do so, but after a while, she did just that.

Inside the watch was a blood red flower.

"He picked it for you, before the last battle." Kimbley said.

Riza was sobbing in earnest now. So far deep in her grief that she let Kimbley do the unthinkable: She let him pull her into his arms and cry into his chest.

He stroked he head gently, letting her continue, although he did not say anything.

It seemed like forever when Riza finally pulled back to look up at him, her eyes shimmering with tears. "Why?" She said, "Why would you do this for him? For me?"

He didn't tell her that she didn't know everything about him, like she had thought he might. He didn't say that he was actually a good person, or that he wasn't the monster that everyone seemed to think that he was. He didn't say anything at all, he just stared at her with those blue eyes that she had thought were so cold, once upon a time. And his silence spoke louder than his words ever could have.

She shook her head to herself. "All this time…" She started, and had to clear her throat before she went on, "All this time I thought that you were selfish, a bad man, a monster-someone to be avoided at all costs."

"I was wrong, wasn't I?"

Kimbley could taste her tears on her lips when he went in to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her harder, passionately, but he held back. There was time for that later. He kissed her slowly, gently, waiting for her to kiss him back, which she, in her grief, finally did.

In her heartbreak, in her need for comfort, she didn't break the kiss.

And she didn't pull away when he led her over to her bed.

Kimbley smiled to himself as he pulled her tighter against him.

Somehow, things always had a way of working out just right.

….

Kimbley sighed, a deep sound of relief. He had scarcely hoped that things would go this well.

He reached down to carefully tuck the flower and Roy Mustang's pocket watch in his jacket pocket.

The sun was just rising, and the sky was bright pink and yellow.

"What a beautiful day." He said to himself.

He cracked his knuckles together. It was time to get this show on the road. And he still had more work in Ishval to do.

He stretched his arms out to his sides.

The End