Chapter Eight
Riza and the rest of Team Mustang sat in their office trying to work as the commotion in the building continued to grow. They'd tried to continue working, but soon all stopped and stood.
"What in the world is going on out there?" Fuery asked.
"Surely if it was something bad someone would've come to notify us right?" Falman replied.
"The boss would've come back I'm sure of it," Havoc said. He headed for the door with Breda on his heels. "I'll go see what's going on."
Before he could reach the door, it swung open and a breathless Roy Mustang rushed into the office and shoved a small stack of papers and files into Havoc's hands. Roy could see Havoc's lips moving, but he only had eyes for Riza who was staring back at him with confusion and concern. She stood by her desk with a file in her arms against her chest and she was more beautiful to him than she'd ever been. He smiled at her still completely oblivious to the rest of the team in the office. In a rush he crossed the room, cupped her jaw and kissed her. The file in her hand fluttered to the floor as her hands came up to grip his wrists as shock took hold. Almost as quickly as he'd done it, he pulled back and gently rested his forehead to hers.
"It's gone. Grumman got rid of it," He whispered and pulled back to look down at her with no filters to hide his true feelings for her. "That stupid law is gone."
"Truly?" Riza dropped her hands from his wrists to circle his waist as a tear slid down her cheek.
"Yes," Roy swiped at her cheeks with his thumbs. "We don't have to hide anymore."
Riza reached up and captured his lips in a hard, bruising kiss that he returned just as equally. Her arms slid up to wrap around his neck while his circled her waist to lift her gently off the floor. Havoc and the others stood by the door -+shocked into silence as they watched the scene unfold before them. Havoc chuckled as he realized they were indeed flirting earlier just as he and Rebecca had thought.
"What'd he hand you?" Breda asked with a gesture to the stack still in Havoc's hand.
"Looks like a memo," Havoc replied as he held it out for them all to read. "Looks like Fuhrer Grumman is getting rid of the anti-frat law."
"No wonder they're so happy," Fuery said with a happy sigh as he watched his superiors continue as if they were the only ones in the room.
"So, is this new or have they been together all this time?" Falman asked.
Havoc thought back to all he'd seen and heard. Especially since they'd come back from Edward's all those months ago. They'd both been miserable before then and so weary. Afterwards, they'd been like completely different people and at the time he hadn't thought much of it. But now?
"My money is on Resembool when they went to babysit for Ed," Havoc said.
"I'm with you," Breda said in agreement.
Before the others could reply, Rebecca Catalina came running through the door with the memo in hand and stood stock still at the sight in front of her. Shock ran across her features before she finally moved and smacked Havoc across the bicep.
"You said you'd tell me if you saw anything else!" She exclaimed.
"I honestly didn't get a chance," He replied with hands in the air in surrender. "He literally just came in here and bypassed us altogether."
"I guess we were right after all," She said with a happy smirk as she watched her best friend. She glanced up at Havoc with a smile.
"I think so," He replied in agreement.
Roy and Riza still hadn't emerged from their bubble despite the addition of Rebecca and the door she'd left open to other surprised onlookers. Roy finally set her down on her feet, but kept his arms wrapped firmly around her waist.
"You know, now we can do what I asked you all those months ago," He whispered.
"Is this you actually proposing, Roy?" She replied with a serene smile.
"Not yet. At least not this unromantically and in front of these nosy onlookers," He said with a nod over his shoulder to the team and Rebecca who were still gaping at the kiss and at Riza's mention of a proposal along with using his first name.
They turned as one to the group who quickly shut their shocked open mouths. Rebecca seemed to be the first to recover and smirked at her best friend.
"So, is this why you told me you didn't need help when I brought you home from the hospital? Is your neighbor even a retired nurse?" She asked with just a hint of hurt in her voice.
"Yes, to both. I'm sorry I never told you, Rebecca, but it's not exactly something I could tell anyone. Even you," Riza replied as she stepped out of Roy's arms to grasp her best friends' hands.
"It's ok I understand. Truly. I'm just happy you're happy," Rebecca replied with a smile. "As long as I get to be Maid of Honor when he proposes for real."
Riza laughed a genuine laugh that her team, except for Roy, had never heard before. Any lingering shock or hurt from being kept in the dark immediately disappeared upon hearing it tumble from her mouth so freely. None of them, again except for Roy, had seen her look so happy before. There'd always been a dark cloud that seemed to hover over her and they all suddenly realized that part of that cloud was having to keep herself separated from the man she loved all while being his trusty right hand.
"Yes, you will be," Riza said and pulled her friend in for a hug.
Rebecca looked back over her shoulder to the four men behind her who were still patiently waiting and smiled.
"I better go and let you all talk this out," She said and reached for Roy as he came to stand next to Riza. Surprise written clearly on his face, he accepted the hug she pulled him into. "Thanks for making her happy. And know if you hurt her I'm almost as good of a shot as she is."
Roy chuckled. "Duly noted."
With one last smirk and wink to her best friend she left, pulling the door shut behind her to close the team off from any other lingering onlookers in the hall. Roy wrapped his arm around Riza's waist as they faced their team who didn't appear angry, upset or anything other than happy.
"We're so sorry we kept you guys in the dark about this," Riza said wringing her hands together. Coming clean to Rebecca felt so much easier than telling the guys who'd been by their side through everything.
"We had to do it for obvious reasons, but we're still sorry we didn't tell you," Roy said. He tightened his hold on Riza as they waited for a reply. He wouldn't have done anything differently other than caving to their feelings sooner and finding a way to trust their team with this development. As he'd told Riza before, these men in front of them were family. Not subordinates or coworkers.
"We get it. No apologies necessary, Roy," Havoc replied with the others nodding along beside him. "We just want to know when this all started. Resembool right?"
"Yes," Riza confirmed with a smile up at Roy. "It was great to get away, but we realized we couldn't do what we were doing anymore. We were miserable that way."
"So wait," Breda said suddenly pointing to the couple. "Did Ed know before us?"
"Only because he caught us," Roy confirmed with a hand up to quelch the dirty comment that was likely to come from Havoc's mouth. "Not like that. We had to borrow their protection and apparently having a baby means they keep count of their condoms."
"Besides, Winry would've noticed a difference in our demeanors anyway even if Ed hadn't," Riza said. She wasn't fazed that their sex life was being discussed so openly. She was used to this kind of conversation being surrounded by men like she was. She'd give them this one opportunity to talk about her love life so openly just once considering how Roy suddenly approached her as he had in front of them all.
"Seriously though," Fuery said with a smile at his superiors. "We're happy that you're happy."
"We should go out tonight. Celebrate," Havoc exclaimed.
Roy looked down at Riza, tucked into his side, who nodded. "Sure. We'll meet you guys at our normal place."
The men all nodded and the group went back to work like it was a normal day even though it was anything but. When the last of their work was finished, Roy and Riza left the office hand in hand. Stares followed them down the halls and out the front door, but the two would never have noticed. Roy, oblivious to the looks the other soldiers were giving him, whispered endearments in Riza's ear while she gripped his arm tightly as she smiled serenely. For the first time, they left together hand in hand and didn't try to hide their love any longer.