FicWad

Chapter 7: Connection

Al, Ed, Winry and I arrived at the Mess and Al went to save us seats while the rest of us stood in line.

Ed was first of course because he was going to die if he didn't eat soon. I motioned for Winry to get in line next and said, "Ladies first," with a wink.

She insisted that I go first; I decided that I should listen as causing a scene, or receiving the wrench was not on my agenda. We went through the line with no major issues thought I did have to ask Winry to get a dessert for me that I couldn't reach, and she insisted that I have milk to drink. I pushed my tray along the rail, paid and then balanced the tray on my lap so I could get to the seats Al had saved for us.

Al had remembered that I would need a seat at the end of the table as the tables in the Mess Hall were set close together and moving chairs to get by would be awkward. As I settled in and placed my tray on the table I smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Just as we started eating Sciezka walked by and Winry invited her to sit with us. Everyone scooted over and let her sit next to me since I was apparently the guest of honor. Sciezka sat down, gave a curt nod in my direction and began to talk animatedly with everyone else in our group.

I thought to myself, "She must still be mad at you about the Frog Prince thing... fix it."

I cleared my throat and said, "Sciezka, I read the Frog Prince story with Elysia again last night and you made some very valid points yesterday. I'd completely missed them the first time through the story."

Sciezka grinned and said, "I knew you'd see the universal themes, social moirés and the fable like nature of the work!"

"Whoa Sciezka, slow down," I said in a joking tone. "I'm afraid you may have to use small words at first and speak slowly, I'm used to hanging out with Breda and Feury. All Breda reads are magazines and Feury has a thing for those ten cens romance novels."

Sciezka shook her head and said, "That lack of culture will be the military's downfall. All great leaders were once schooled in the humanities as well as the martial arts."

"I quite agree Sciezka," I said trying to score points as she was interesting and wasn't afraid to challenge me... it was nice to talk with someone who didn't know me very well before the accident.

The Boss, Al and Winry had snuck off and I hadn't noticed, though neither had Sciezka.

"Jean, that reminds me, I compiled your reading list last night, you might like these books, even if you aren't..." she said and then paused.

"A total cynic with no imagination?" I said with a smile.

"I'm so sorry about that," Sciezka said and blushed. "I have to go, my lunch break is over."

"If you aren't running too late I could walk you back to work, I'm on my way near there anyway," I said trying to sound casual.

"Sure you could walk with me... sorry," Sciezka said, looking embarrassed.

"Sciezka, sorry? You didn't do anything. I'm confused, well more confused than usual," I said with a laugh.

"The whole 'walking' comment Jean, sorry," said Sciezka.

"Oh that. No worries, if that bothered me Amestrian wouldn't sound right. Phrases like 'side roll', 'roll about' and 'roll in the park' would be ridiculous. Not to mention the 'Do Not Roll' signs for intersections."

Sciezka smiled and said, "Well will you please walk me to my office?"

I grinned and said, "I'd like to see that!"

She gave me an affectionate punch in the arm and we left the Mess.

*

On the way to Sciezka's office we made small talk. We stuck to the weather, how I liked my new clothes and of course Elysia. When we got to Sciezka's office she turned to me and said, "Thanks for the escort Jean. Where are you off to?"

"I thought I'd drop by the lounge. Winry and Al will be there while Ed gives his report. It will be the easiest place to see the most people... though most of the old crew got transferred," I said, my mood dropping as I remembered that Breda, Feury and Falman wouldn't be there.

"I have an idea," Sciezka said. "Why don't you come home with me to pick up your required reading and then we'll get you home? I had planned on stopping to see Gracia after work anyway."

"That sounds like a plan. I'll probably be in the lounge for the rest of the afternoon, but if I leave I'll be back there by five when you get out. I'll let Gracia know to expect company for dinner as well," I said.

Sciezka got back to work and I headed toward the lounge.

*

When I arrived at the lounge I found Al sitting at the table reading one of the tawdry romance novels Feury had left behind. He closed it quickly and tried to shuffle it under a stack of papers when he noticed he had company.

"Scholar of Literature, eh?" I said and winked at him.

"They aren't too well written, but they pass the time. I've already read this one before, but I guess I miss Feury," Al said.

I sighed and said, "Me too Al, me too."

He changed the subject, as the transfer orders were not a happy topic of conversation.

"So you and Sciezka seemed to be quite friendly in the Mess, anything I should know about?"

"Oh that? We had an argument, well more of a debate yesterday about a fairy tale of all things while we were waiting for Gracia at the coffee house," I said and shrugged.

"Which fairy tale?" Al asked.

"That Frog Prince one," I said. "A vain, asshole prince gets cursed by a witch and turned into a frog and can only be turned back if he gets someone to kiss him in that form. I thought it was pretty out there at first."

"Jean it's a metaphor for so many things!" Al said. "You could even compare that kiss to finding true enlightenment, or the Philosopher's Stone or any number of things."

"I suppose you are right Al, it is deep, but this frog isn't going to get kissed...ribbit," I said and rolled over to the bulletin board.

Just then Hawkeye came in. She looked surprised and happy to see me.

"Jean, it is so good to see you! I didn't expect to see you soon after your release. You look great. I was about to go down to the range for some target practice. Would you like to come?" she said looking at me hopefully.

"The range? Sure I'll come to watch," I said.

She appeared deep in thought and then said, "I have a few spare firearms in my locker down there if you'd like to shoot as well, it could get awfully boring watching."

"That sounds like an excellent idea. I have some time to kill before Sciezka gets off work. Besides, if you want me to go, you are armed," I said sticking my hands up in mock surrender.

*

When we got down to the range Hawkeye stopped abruptly and said, "Jean, I haven't been completely honest with you bringing you down here."

I looked at her, searching her eyes for what she could mean.

"What are you talking about? We're going to fire off some rounds and blow off some steam. No big deal," I said. "Right?"

"I ran into Fullmetal in the corridor, I came looking for you. I'm sorry I wasn't completely forthright," she said.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her key chain and removed a key. Then she took my hand and placed the key in my palm.

"What's this for Hawkeye?" I asked.

"Jean, just look at it, and call me Riza, you are retired after all," she said quietly.

Then it hit me. This was my locker key.

"Hawkeye... um, Riza, I thought they'd cleared all that out..." I trailed off.

"No they didn't, now let's see if you're still a good shot Sniper."

We entered the range and went to our lockers. It was like opening a time capsule. It had been left untouched in my absence; a half finished pack of smokes and the unchanged pin-up calendar page confirmed it.

I sat in front of my locker dazed and then reached for my goggles and hearing protection. She interrupted my stupor when she set my bag and scope down on the bench next to me.

"Riza, you called me a sniper, and I was, but I don't think I can handle the recoil yet. Really, I'm not sure if I ever will be able to. Besides, I'm a civilian now."

"You can take a man out of the military, but you can't take the military out of the man," Riza said with a smile. "Besides, today you'll be practicing tripod braced shots from a prone position."

"You are as brilliant as you are dangerous," I said with a grin.

Once on the line Riza set up the tripod while I checked and assembled my rifle.

As I locked on the scope I said, "Riza, you cleaned this, thank you."

I noticed she'd set down a tarp in front of the tripod so I wouldn't get dirty.

"I may end up making a fool of myself, but at least I won't get dirty," I said and then said, "Could you hold this?" and handed her my rifle.

I took a deep breath and decided that there was no time like the present to transfer and that it would let Riza down if I didn't at least try some target practice.

I picked up my left foot and put it on the ground to the side of the chair, following it with my right. I set the brakes on the chair then placed my hands on either side of the frame and scooted forward and attempted to lower myself to the ground as gracefully as possible.

Once on the ground I moved to my stomach and belly crawled to the tripod. I nodded to Riza that I was ready for my rifle and she started to position it on the tripod.

"I'll get that. I'm picky about a few of the settings," I said, slightly out of breath from the effort of getting into position.

I got my rifle locked into place and positioned myself. Once I was propped up on my forearms I braced the rifle butt against my right shoulder. I placed my finger on the trigger, aimed and squeezed. I hit the target but missed my mark by a few inches.

Riza was standing behind me and once I looked up from the scope said, "I knew you could do it, how did it feel?"

"I missed by a few inches, but it felt good you trigger happy freak!" smiling, as Riza was one of the few people I knew who would understand missing my gun.

I shot off a few more rounds and decided to call it quits because managing the recoil was more tiring than I had remembered.

I put the safety on, and then rolled myself over and propped myself up on my elbows. I reached into my cargo pocket for my cigarettes, pulled one out of the box and lit it up.

Riza just smiled, and then laughed.

"That good Jean?" she teased.

I blushed and said, "It was great, but no... not that good."

Riza then said, "You're really moving quite well on your own in such a short time. You must be working hard."

I nodded and said, "What else can I do? I attempted to skulk off to the East and you people won't let me. So now I've got to work extra hard to catch up."

Riza looked at me hopefully and said, "Are you thinking of coming back?"

"No, no..." I said shaking my head. "But if I'm going to live in Central I'll need to be independent. I don't want to sit home wasting away. Besides, chicks dig muscles."

I pushed myself up all the way to sitting, found my balance and flexed to mockingly show off my muscles.

Riza smiled and I scooted back toward my chair and pulled myself back up into it.

She handed my rifle to me and I disassembled it and put away my scope.

"Riza, thank you," I said and I went to the locker room to put my things away.

*

As Riza and I put away our equipment she updated me on what had been going on at H.Q. since the accident.

"Jean, if Roy ever needed you to do something for him, would you at least think it over before saying no?" Riza asked her tone changing from the previously light mood.

"I'd do anything for Roy, for you for that matter, but what can I possibly do like this?" I said irritated she had asked such a question. "What could Roy possibly need that I could even offer him?"

"Nothing yet, but with your knowledge of the layout and protocol, if you were here regularly it wouldn't arouse suspicion if we needed you to help us," Riza said, lowering her volume.

"Ah, because I wouldn't be suspected or searched?" I asked, beginning to understand their strategy.

"Precisely," Riza said. "Let's get some coffee and scare Roy for a bit before I'm away from the office for too long. I'm lucky to be valued for my firearms skills, so my schedule permits range time. You should come more often. With training and adaptations you'd be as good a shot as you were before."

"Riza, that's a great idea," I said.

"Which one?" she asked.

"All of them, especially scaring Roy," I said laughing a bit. "Maybe with more hand-gun practice I can be your substitute and keep him from slacking off. I do a great impression of him, ask Gracia."

"For that, I'm buying," Riza, said with a smile.

We headed to the canteen for coffee and then up to Mustang's office.

*

Riza told me to go on ahead that she'd bring the coffee to Roy's office when there was a line at the canteen. I thought about arguing, but decided against it since as always, Riza was armed and I had some questions for Roy.

I arrived at Roy's office just as Ed was storming out.

I waited for Ed to clear the doorway and then made my entrance. There were new faces and I was not in the mood to get to know them. I wanted things back the way they were.

"Colonel Mustang, do you have some time to talk?" I asked.

"Sure, of course. You'd be a welcome distraction from this paperwork," he said and then dismissed his staff so we could have some privacy.

I stationed myself in front of his desk and was grateful that he was seated.

Roy started the conversation saying, "It's good to see that you are getting out. What have you been up to?"

"The usual, well, now usual; therapy, playing with Elysia, I'm reading a lot..." I said and paused. "Sciezka has compiled some required reading for me, we're going to get the books on the way home after work. I went to the firing range with Riza today."

Just then Riza came in with the coffee.

"He didn't just come to the range today," Riza said. "Jean don't be so humble, you shot a target at fifty yards with great accuracy. If that's rusty, I'm looking forward to seeing how you do once you've had more practice."

Roy nodded and smiled.

Riza put the coffee down on the desk and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to get back to Fuhrer Bradley's office. Jean, it was great seeing you, same time next week at the range?"

"Put me down on the visitor's list," I said with a smile. "Fullmetal rescued me on the way in today. It was pretty funny. I forgot about the whole clearance thing."

Riza left and Roy said, "It's nice of you to pay a visit and you're welcome anytime, but I get the feeling you didn't come by just to exchange pleasantries."

"Roy, you always could read me," I said. "I have some questions, some holes that I need you to fill in."

Roy put his hands together, hesitated a bit and then said, "What did you want to know Jean?"

"The mission, well where we were, was there any way I could have avoided you know..." I trailed off.

"You did everything right. You fought valiantly. I'm surprised we're not both dead with the traps and fire power they had in that lab," he said as if he was surprised I'd even asked. He looked like he had more to say.

I interrupted his train of thought and said, "So this... this isn't the result of a screw up on my part?"

"You did it by the numbers, the odds were just stacked. This is one of my biggest regrets," Roy said. "I'd understand if you hated me for putting you in danger."

"Like you said, it was unavoidable," I said. "As for putting me in danger you know I wouldn't have had it any other way."

"So you don't hate me?" Roy asked.

"Roy no, never. Shit happens. I'm only sorry I can't help with what is going on right now."

"About that..." Roy said.

"Riza filled me in, no worries," I said. "Maybe sometime if you ever dig yourself out of that pile of paperwork we could go for a drink."

"I'd like that very much," Roy said.

With that, I excused myself and headed back to the lounge. Sciezka would be off work soon, and I didn't want to piss her off as I'd only just fixed the Frog Prince argument.