Unrequited Love:

Riza sat in the waiting room with Havoc and Fuery for four very long hours. Eventually Vato Falman and Heymans Breda joined them. No one spoke. For four hours, they simply stared at the wall or at their shoes and waited.

It was torture for Riza. The day's events circled in her head. The image of Roy's dull and unseeing eyes haunted her. She never wanted to see eyes like that again. She couldn't cry. She couldn't speak. All she could do was shake as she gripped the arms of her hard, wooden chair.

Still, she waited, for she had no other place to go. She could think of nothing else to do.

A large woman in a low-cut, purple dress sat beside Riza. One hand clutched at the gaudy, gold necklace at her throat and the other massaged one of her knees.

Riza had failed to notice her approach. She supposed the shock of the morning's events had dulled her senses. Eventually Riza recognized the newcomer as Madame Christmas. She had seen Roy's aunt and foster mother a few times in the recent past. Of course she would want to be here. The woman wasn't crying either. Like the rest of them, she only sat and stared, nervously playing with the metal and the beads at her throat.

Silently, they all waited.

After four grueling hours and two emergency surgeries later, Roy Mustang was finally moved to a regular room. The doctor had given no clues as to Roy's current condition, but stated that he would be allowed visitors. Riza watched passively as Madame Christmas unsteadily rose from her seat and left the waiting room upon hearing the doctor's news. Roy was alive. She had heard all she needed to hear.

Without a spoken word, it was agreed that Riza would be the first to see Roy. All the men knew recognized the Lieutenant's feelings for Roy as more than mere devotion, even if the Lieutenant herself did not. Still shaking, she took a deep breath and allowed the doctor to escort her to Roy's room.

Hospitals had always made Riza feel ill at ease. Seeing Roy's unconscious form against whitewashed walls, wrapped in white sheets, and swathed in white bandages did nothing for the queasiness in her stomach.

Still, Riza drug a chair over to Roy's bedside. A nurse had informed her that the chances of the Lieutenant Colonel's survival, even now after the bullets had been removed, were still slim to none. But she couldn't just give up. Drawing another deep breath, she forced herself to look at Roy's face. Surrounded by all the white, he appeared even more ghostly. He still hadn't woken up. Riza didn't feel as if she could blame him for that. Pumped full of painkillers, he would probably be asleep for a while. It was strange. He looked so peaceful with his eyes closed and breathing steadily. He wasn't so sweaty any more, either. Apparently someone had done something to lower the fever.

Once, when her mother had been in the hospital, a doctor had told her that even though unconscious people were supposedly unable to hear anything else in the room, it didn't hurt to talk to them. It took a couple of tries, but eventually Riza started to speak to Roy.

"I always told you that mouth of yours would get you in trouble," she chuckled nervously.

Roy didn't react.

"Madame Christmas came to see you."

Still, no reaction.

Riza swallowed roughly. Talking to an unresponsive person was more difficult than she had remembered it. Everything about this was so utterly wrong. Roy wasn't supposed to just lay there. He was supposed to reply. He always had some witty quip prepared just for her. Now his silences were nearly unbearable.

"She left. I don't think she wanted to give away her connection to you, but of course she had to know you were alright."

She closed her eyes in an effort to block the tears that were beginning to form once more. Maybe it would be easier to talk to him if she didn't focus her attention on Roy's pasty, unmoving form.

Still with eyes closed, Riza reached for Roy's hand, gently brushing her thumb over the raised scars.

"I should have been there." She nearly choked on the words. "I should have, I should have been there with you. You idiot, why didn't you call me sooner! I would have been there with or without orders. Protecting you is my job. Why do you always have to make it so difficult for me to do my job?"

She risked peeking one eye open at him, half expecting that trademark smirk to greet her. It didn't and she snapped her eyes shut once more.

"I wish I knew what was worth this," she breathed in an effort to control her trembling voice. "Is climbing to the top really worth this?"

She squeezed his hand as she repeated the question. She shook in an effort to suppress the sobs building within her. When she finally dared to open her eyes completely once more, she saw that nothing had changed.

Roy's sleeping visage remained unaffected by the pain in her voice and the treacherous tears that now snaked down his subordinate's face.

Riza brushed a strand of jet black hair away from Roy's eyes in a display of emotion that she rarely allowed herself. She supposed it didn't matter now. It wasn't as if he would remember.

As she lightly ran her fingers across his brow, she thought she felt Roy twitch beneath her fingertips.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reviewing. Those reviews really mean a lot to me. They make my day. So please, continue to review! I can't beg you enough ! I got a little bored tonight and drew sketches to go with the first two chapters of this fic. The links below should take you there, but you'll have to remove the spaces.

http :/ kyra-illion .deviantart. com /art /Advance-with-Caution-231246628

http :/kyra-illion .deviantart. com /art /Blood-Sweat-and-Tears-231289211