The Reassignment

Part 2

Author: MoonStarDutchess

Beta: Dark Secret Keeper

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA and gain no profit from this fanfiction.

AN: Honestly wasn't sure to make this as a second part or stick it with the first since it was so short but ultimately I listened to my gut and decided to stick it as a second instead.

The Reassignment Pt 2

It took a lot of work to keep up the facade of happiness about her new promotion and position in the military. The task was only complicated more by the fact she felt Roy's focus on her, studying every move she made, for the past half hour. She excused herself from a conversation with Raven and Maria Ross, citing the need for some fresh air, and went outside to the patio to escape from his dark gaze.

Not long after she left the house, she heard someone come up behind her, easily telling exactly who it was by his footfalls and the smell that the cool wind brought to her nose. He walked beside her and looked out over the garden. "I believe you said you'd go for a walk with me after dinner."

"I did."

"Do you still want to go or are you angry with me?"

Riza hesitated a moment before turning her head to the right to look at him. "Where to?"

/=/=/=/

Ten minutes later, after managing to navigate through the party goers to the front door to get her coat, she found herself walking with Roy along a small cobblestone pathway that ran through the property.

"You bought a new car?" She tried to keep the conversation as impersonal as possible without going too much onto a business route. She rubbed her hands together, cursing that she left her gloves at home. She saw a bit of frustration in his eyes but he replied to her observance.

"Yeah, I did. Thought it was about time to retire my old one. Now it belongs to a nice elderly couple."

"That's nice. It should prove useful for them."

Roy sighed. "Stop trying to distract me from how you feel. I can read you just as good as you can read me."

"Sir?"

"You aren't happy."

"No, I'm not. At least not with the second announcement."

"I don't understand why," he said. "It's a great responsibility."

She hugged her coat closer to her body. "Yeah, no doubt it is."

"Being a captain also pays much better than being a lieutenant."

"I like being a lieutenant. My job was never about the salary."

Roy laughed but it was one of those breathy laughs indicating he didn't find the circumstances as funny as he did incredulous. "I think you are the first officer in the history of the military to be upset about a promotion."

She stopped and turned to him. "This is going to make me break my promise to you. I promised that I would support you until you became fuehrer. You told me to shoot you if you ever strayed from the path and I take my promise very seriously. You aren't fuehrer yet and by my reassignment I can't protect you or fulfill my promise."

"You can assign people that are capable." A strange quizzical expression developed onto his face, as if he suddenly realized something important. He opened his mouth to speak, but she spoke first.

"But it's not me that will be protecting you. I can't ever trust anyone with your life like that." She exhaled through her nose roughly and continued to try to warm her hands.

Roy took her hands and rubbed them between his, trying to put a bit of warmth back into it. A moment later, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his gloves. She watched as he slipped them on her hands and then looked up at him. She knew he never let anyone wear his gloves. He kept her right hand in his left and began walking again, basically forcing her to start walking as well.

"Then don't," Roy said.

"What?"

"You're in charge of the teams but you'll be answering directly to Grumman. No one said you couldn't assign yourself to my team. You aren't being reassigned Riza. You were given a task, with extra paperwork of course, and a promotion to go along with it. Unless you want to move positions you'll still be with me."

She clinched her teeth. "Why in the hell did he make it sound like a reassignment?"

"I suppose it is if you want to reassign yourself."

Riza shook her head. "I feel like an idiot."

"We all have our moments."

"You would know right?" She punctuated her tone with a teasing lilt.

"Funny."

She sighed. "Things are changing so quickly now that Bradley is out of office. I think my mind just doesn't want to grasp that I don't have to worry about homunculi and overthrowing the government. I'm not used to peace and it makes me so uneasy." She pulled away and moved over to lean back against a fence surrounding a small pond.

"Peace makes you uneasy. That's rather contradictory isn't it?"

"We've been fighting for so long then suddenly we don't have to do nearly as much. We don't have to be covert and worry about walls listening as much. I can't seem to get used to that. Recently the worst problem we had was making sure that a random Ishbalian didn't come up and try to kill us. Even they showed no acts of violence though."

"You aren't thankful for that?"

"Of course I am, that's not the point."

"Well violence isn't the Ishbalian way. Never really was."

Riza nodded. "I know."

Roy looked to his right and chuckled. "This is something."

"What is?"

"Our conversations always turn out to be related to business. I didn't want today to be too professional. I should have known that would be a failure considering the announcement."

"It's just natural for us."

Roy took another deep breath then walked over to her and braced his hands on either side of her, effectively trapping her body between him and the fence. "I want something else to be natural for us."

Riza's heart sped up. "And what would that be?" Her hands moved to grasp his wrists as her words came out along with a white cloud of breath. Roy soon took that breath when his lips moved against hers briefly. Riza smiled softly. "That seemed. . ." she took a deep, shuttering breath, ". . . that seemed pretty natural to me."

"Good," he said. "Now I can do that not worry as much about the consequences of dating you now that now that I'm not doing your evaluations. There's a right time for everything and now's the right time for me to confess that I'm completely in love with you."

Without a doubt there was always a mutual fondness far deeper than friendship stemming from both of them-she'd be an idiot to deny that —but to hear that it got to the point he was in love with her both thrilled and terrified her.

"Now would be a good time for you to say something." Riza smiled and let go of his wrists. She turned around to stare out at the pond. "I mean, I know it's sudden of me to tell you that but it's the truth and the more I wait the more I lose my courage. It's perfectly okay if you don't feel the same but I—"

She leaned back against him and in a bold, and unexpected move, she arched her head upward and pushed her lips against his. His arms hugged her body as her arms moved up to wrap around his neck.

Their mouths danced with each other with perfect pacing, as if expertly choreographed and meticulously rehearsed for just that moment. They confronted the kiss like they faced everything that came upon them. With passion, heart, and commitment that very few people could muster within themselves. The years that passed, when they repressed everything for the sake of their goal, only served to grow their bond to this present, blissful moment in time.

When they pulled away, Roy turned her around in his embrace and she rested her head against this chest.

"In case you didn't know," Riza said when she caught her breath, "that means I love you too."

"So does that mean you'll go out to dinner with me?"

She poked him gently and laughed. "Yes. If you want."

"Tomorrow night?"

"Yes."

"And the next?"

"Sure."

"And how about becoming first lady when I become fuehrer."

Riza moved to look up at his face. "From dinner to first lady? That's a little sudden."

"I just want to make sure you approve of that reassignment. Even though I don't know when that will be of course."

"Well…" she said, "I'll be ready when that reassignment comes and you'll get no complaints out of me."