Best Kept Secret

Author: MoonStarDutchess

Chapter 47: What Isn’t Right

Disclaimer: I don’t own Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit whatsoever for this fanfiction. Any characters similar to a person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

What Isn’t Right

Roy made his way inside the range and began walking to the place where Riza and Rebecca usually practiced their shooting. There was a small, concealed balcony over the area that was a perfect place to hear and see Rebecca's reaction to the secret. Then after he saw the expression, he could easily leave the place without being detected.

He made his way up to the top and waited for them to enter the shooting area. He sat in a chair that was out of view and crossed his legs, listening closely for the sound of footsteps approaching.

--

Riza sat on one of the tables in the preparation room waiting for Rebecca to show up. Her left leg was propped up so that her knee was in the air, and she had one arm resting upon it. She was scratching the puppy between the ears with her other hand, the canine looking incredibly pleased with her actions.

While her posture was rather relaxed, her mind was another story. It was raging with conflicting thoughts, just as it had the entire day. During her walk in the rain the previous morning, she'd decided not to tell Rebecca. Then her decision was going back and forth all day from wanting to tell her, needing to tell her, feeling guilty for wanting to, then deciding not to tell her, and then back to being conflicted on what she should do.

Roy seemed all right with her telling him, as always he was bending to something she wanted. She felt horrible for always being the one that got her way. Roy always made every sacrifice in their relationship. If she actually went through with telling Rebecca about them, she was horribly fearful that it would put a barrier between them. It wasn't right no matter how one looked at it. If Roy couldn't tell Maes, then she shouldn't be able to tell Rebecca, and she just wasn't comfortable sharing such a dangerous secret with Maes yet.

"Is that the dog Fuery was trying to give away?" Rebecca questioned, walking toward her friend. When she didn't get a response she waved her hand in front of Riza's face and snapped, bringing her out of her deep thoughts.

Riza shook her head as if it would clear it and turned to look at her friend. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Are you alright? It's not like you to be so unguarded," Rebecca said, looking worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something," she said, jumping off the table then putting her puppy in the floor as well. "Did you ask me something?"

"Yeah, I asked if that was the puppy Fuery was trying to give away? I heard about him asking almost everyone in headquarters if they wanted it."

"Yeah, one in the same," she said. "I couldn't resist it to be honest. It surprised me that no one else swiped up the cute little thing."

Rebecca kneeled, "You don't strike me the type to like dogs," she said, as she petted him on the head. "Though I'm sure you'll be a great owner. The pup is lucky to get one, but I didn't know you wanted a dog."

"The opportunity never came up. Besides, that puppy is one of the most intelligent animals I've ever seen. He's even potty trained already," Riza said, walking over to her locker, the puppy following on her heel as she did so. She removed one of the rifles and closed the metal door. When she turned around, she nearly tripped over her new pet. "Be careful pup, you don't want to cause me to fall and yourself to be squashed."

Much to Riza and Rebecca's surprise and amusement. It slowly moved to Riza's right side and sat beside her feet, waiting for her to move. Riza took a step and the puppy did the same before once again, sitting down beside her.

Rebecca walked over to her own locker to retrieve her rifle and they made their way to the shooting area of the range, the pup never losing pace with Riza despite his small legs. They walked over to the stall and Rebecca leaned against the wall with her rifle as she watched Riza load her gun.

Riza looked down at the puppy. "Good pup," she said earning a bark in reply.

As soon as he'd heard footsteps, Roy had turned and was now watching the two women and puppy as they interacted at the shooting stall. He was amused at how attached the puppy was to Riza despite her violence toward it earlier.

Riza lifted the gun and aimed at the target several meters away. When she fired several shots, the cracks echoing throughout the range like a bunch of firecrackers being set off, the puppy whimpered and took off running. It hid behind a large barrel and rested its head between its paws. Riza turned as soon as she heard its cry and saw that it was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell?"

"The shot scared it," Rebecca said, "It's behind the barrel."

"I see," Riza said, and clicked the safety on the rifle. "Well it will have to learn to get used to gunshots if it wants to be my dog. She handed the rifle she was holding to Rebecca. "Hold this a minute would you?"

"Sure," she said, taking the rifle and watching as Riza walked over to where the puppy was hiding.

Riza got down on her knees and peaked into the small area, seeing the puppy shuddering and whimpering. "Come on pup, you will be okay," she said, gently reaching her hand back into the area. It looked at her then at her hand. "Come on, that shot wasn't aimed at you. I promise I'll never shoot at you again," she said.

"Again?" Rebecca questioned. "What do you mean again? You shot at that pup?" She stared at Riza strangely, trying to figure out what she meant by again.

Riza didn't bother turning her gaze to Rebecca or answering her questioned. "Come on pup," Riza said again.

The puppy slowly stepped from its hiding place, a bit wary of its surroundings. Riza scratched it between the ears. When it got within arm's reach, it suddenly pounced on her, causing her to lose her balance at the unexpected action and to fall on her butt. She laughed and picked it up before standing and going over to the stall. She sat it down on one of the tables against the wall.

"What did you mean by shoot at it again," Rebecca asked, still not giving up on inquiring about what she heard Riza say.

"It needed potty training," Riza replied. She took her gun back from a confused Rebecca.

"Potty train? What the…" Rebecca trailed off.

While Rebecca tried to organize her next sentence, Riza turned toward the animal. "See here pup. This is a gun. They are very dangerous and can hurt you."

Rebecca looked at her friend oddly, forgetting about the potty training statement as she watched her friend talk to the animal like it was a human being getting a shooting lesson.

"Now, if I am holding one and firing, I'm not going to harm you. I might get shot at several times but you are never to get in the way. If you see someone you don't know with a gun, stay close to me. Do you understand?"

"Um…okay Riza…are you feeling okay? I don't think a dog is going to-" she was interrupted when the dog barked three times at Riza. Her mouth dropped open with surprise as Riza looked over her shoulder at her.

"Dogs are much smarter than you think they are, and understand more than we humans give them credit for."

"Yes, I can see that now. Oh well, either way, they are obviously smarter than men are. After all, it only took it one try to understand what you were explaining."

Riza laughed and raised her gun to the target, aiming quickly and firing off several shots, all of them perfect hits. She lowered her gun and looked at the puppy. It was staring out at where she fired but didn't move an inch from its spot on the table.

"Too bad we can't train our men like we do our dogs," Rebecca stated. "Life would be better that way."

"I bet they say the same thing about us Rebecca," Riza replied, clicking the safety back on her gun before petting her pup on the head. "Good boy."

"Yes but they are wrong for wanting to train what is already great," Rebecca said.

Roy rolled his eyes upon hearing her words, the entire situation had been amusing until Rebecca started in on her man bashing. She complained about not being able to find a good man. The reason she couldn't find one wasn't that there weren't any good ones, but that she wanted to end up trying to "train" the men she got. There's wasn't a male alive that wanted to be bossed around.

"Don't you think things would be boring if we could train all of our men to be the way we wanted? Part of the joy of being with someone is the fun of discovering the differences and accepting and loving them for those differences. A relationship between two different people working together is so much more special than two of the exact same personalities or one being submissive to the other."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at her friend's statement. "And just how do you know so much about relationships? Oh, and speaking of that," she said in a prompting tone. "You were supposed to tell me this big secret you have with Mustang. Let's have it."

Roy grinned mischievously as he stared straight at Rebecca's face, anticipation in his stomach building up for the enviable freak out of the woman. It would be worth the current pain in his neck from sitting in his current position for so long.

Riza's stomach suddenly felt like it wanted to empty its contents. Her heart began beating quickly, and it was almost as if she could feel the sweat seeping up through her pores ready to make its salty, smelly, and wet display upon her peach skin. All of her limbs felt like they were led style automail, and she was traveling on the proverbial road of guilt.

"Rebecca," Riza started, unsure of how to continue her sentence.

"Yeah?"

"You know I don't ask for things very often," she said. "But I'm going to have to ask you for something that will be extremely hard for you to do."

Rebecca looked at her friend quizzically, actually fearing what her friend was about to tell her. Riza sat her gun on the booth wall in front of her and leaned against the table behind her. She took her left hand and moved to grasp the middle of her right arm, a gesture that indicated unease in her.

Rebecca sat her gun down behind her and walked closer to Riza, who was now looking down at the floor. She rested a hand on her shoulder, causing Riza to look up. "What is it?" Rebecca asked, her voice lower in volume and in a more serious tone.

"I need you to forget what I said about the Colonel that day. Everything. Pretend like you never heard about it," she said, her voice shaking. Tears formed in her eyes and leaked down her cheeks softly, a very rare occurrence for her. "I wish I could tell you more Rebecca but I just can't, I'm sorry."

Riza's demeanor had changed so quickly that it terrified Rebecca. As the tears flowed down her cheeks, she realized that whatever secret Riza and Mustang was keeping, it was obviously something very volatile. "I understand. Don't worry, it will be as if I never heard anything about it," Rebecca said.

"Thank you," Riza said. "I am sorry that I can't share it with you."

"Just so you know, no matter what happens. I'll be here for both you and Mustang. Whatever his goals may be, he has my support."

Roy slowly stood from his place, stuck his hands in his pockets, and left the area, his entire body growing tenser and numb as he realized Riza didn't reveal anything to Rebecca. He didn't understand. After everything they'd talked about, after revealing her desire to tell her best friend, she didn't. It didn't make sense at all.

Then there was the fact that she'd cried. Anytime he saw Riza cry it felt like his insides were tearing apart. He knew that she and Rebecca were close but he didn't realize it was so close that she would cry in front of her. He didn't realize that Rebecca was as close to Riza as Maes was to him, that the friendship ran that deeply. Riza had mentioned it and he'd believed her but seeing was what brought it to a replete actualization.

Roy walked out of the range and headed home. He needed a hot shower and time to think before Riza got home. He needed to think about whether to admit to spying and ask her why she didn't tell, or to just keep things quiet and see if she would admit that she didn't.

--

Riza walked to her apartment, the rain beating down upon the black umbrella she carried, the thump of each drop on the fabric annoying her greatly and reminding her of the last time she walked in the rain alone. The little puppy she carried was cuddled into her embrace, clearly fearing that she was going to put it back in the rain.

"I'm your new owner now pup. No more cardboard boxes and rain for you," she said, gently, while looking down at the creature. "We'll get you a nice warm doggie bed and some toys tomorrow." It tucked its head between her arm and her body and snuggled down into the warmth of her jacket.

Riza smiled at the smart dog that, without a doubt, understood her fully. Rebecca had been surprised at how smart the animal was. Within a few tries, Riza had it retrieving the targets for her. It barked on command and easily fell into the atmosphere of the guns going off and the range.

She sighed. The situation with Rebecca hadn't gone as smoothly as she'd hoped. She'd hoped that all she'd have to say was I can't tell you. Please forget it. Unfortunately, her guilt and stress over the situation had gotten the best of her and she ended up crying. Of course, Rebecca accepted that Riza couldn't bring herself to tell her the secret and she knew from the hints she'd given a while ago that it had to do with a relationship with Roy. However, she didn't know how deeply, serious the relationship was, and Riza was confident that Rebecca wouldn't press the issue or even mention it again.

When she arrived at her apartment, she unlocked the door and opened it. She sat the pup down on the floor. "This is your new…" she trailed off as the puppy quickly ran inside and straight to her living room. She noticed that the light was on and assumed Roy was in there; but she still kept her guard up just in case. With everything going on around East City, it was better to play it safe than sorry. She entered the apartment, shut the door behind her, and locked it. After putting her purse on the table beside the door and discarding her coat and jacket, hanging them on the hanger, she went to her living room.

As expected, Roy was sitting in there, in front of the fireplace, in his favorite chair. The puppy was jumping and playing on his lap, Roy's earlier actions that day doing nothing to deter the puppy from playing with him. Then again, if her shooting at the animal didn't deter it from being around her, the excited shake that Roy gave it wouldn't have.

"He likes you," Riza said, further entering the room.

"Of course! Dogs love me!" Roy said loudly and enthusiastically.

"Did you know you sound like Armstrong when you talk like that?" She walked over to stand beside his chair, looking down at the dog on his lap.

"Damn it! Maes told me that too!" he said in a complaining tone. He pushed the puppy away from him. It quickly bounced back and bit his hand playfully, a small cute growl leaving him. "He's quick. He's like a little hurricane," Roy lifted his eyes to look at her. "You could call him Black Hurricane."

"Black Hayate," Riza said, using the Xingese term for Hurricane.

"Nice," he said. "Do you like that?" he questioned, lifting the puppy up and looking it in the eyes. He barked and wagged his tail, an action that Roy and Riza took as him accepting the name. Roy stood and took Hayate over to the fireplace. Much to Riza's amazement, there was a bed and chew toys there. He sat the pup in the bed, and it instantly cuddled down into the soft pillow and went to sleep.

Roy walked over to Riza and cupped her face in his hands, giving her a quick kiss. "When did you get those," she asked, motioning to the dog items.

"On the way home," he said, there's some treats and dog food in the kitchen."

Riza laughed and moved herself against him, resting her head against his chest. "You are going to spoil the animal, but thank you," she said.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "You are very welcome love."

She snuggled in his embrace and took a deep breath, taking in his fresh smell. She could tell that he'd just gotten out of the shower not long ago. His tank top was also slightly wet with his damp skin, cooling the parts of her body that was pressed against his chest.

She lifted her head and looked at him for a moment before giving him a quick kiss and moving her lips down to his neck, to kiss it gently and breathe in more of his smell. "I need a shower too, you smell better than me and that's not right," she joked, trying to forget the tiring day she had.

"Then go take a shower and relax. I'll fix some dinner."

She pulled away from him and raised an eyebrow. "You are going to cook?"

"Yep! I found this good looking premade stir-fry at the market today," he said. "You just add chicken."

Riza laughed. "Okay, if you call that cooking I'll let you have at it." She turned around and walked to the door, suddenly pausing directly in the doorway. "Roy, there's something I need to tell you after dinner. It's about…Rebecca."