It was late and he still had paperwork that needed to be filled out. On any normal day he would have desperately tried to find someone else to work on this and he'd leave it them while he took off to go home to his family. However, this was no ordinary day and he was in no rush to travel back home.

It shamed him immensely to admit that for once in his life he had no wish to see his daughter. Maes knew that he would not be able to handle it; not yet. He could not openly voice his concerns, especially when it was about something like this. He was, after all, 'Maes Hughes the overly obsessive father and walking photo album'.

Hughes was sitting at his desk, his head rested firmly upon his fist and the photo of his family was turned away from his view. A file photo of Scar's latest victim held his attention captive. She was only a year older then Elicia, with brown hair tied into braided pigtails, and deep blue eyes. Her name was Nina Tucker. Hughes had been the one who found her dead.

He had approached the Tucker home unescorted and as seemingly calm. He was, after all, expecting to find him alive but when he saw the guards at the front gate lying dead with crushed skulls, he knew.

Hughes could not bring himself to extend any empathy towards the now late Shou Tucker, all he felt was pure disgust. In fact the way in which Tucker met his end would seem almost fitting if it were not for the fact that Nina's life was also taken. Shou Tucker, her own father, had taken away her very humanity and Scar had come along to claim the rest. Before doing the responsible thing and alerting the military of what had occurred, he sat there with the bodies. It all appalled him.

During the Ishvalan War it had been vital for all soldiers to build up a false persona in order to cope with the daily struggles of war. For most this meant learning to properly compartmentalize and to separate themselves from the actions that they needed to take on the battlefield. Hughes, however, had already mastered this by the time he was 10. With most you could easily see through their facade; like with Roy who puts on a lackadaisical front, all the while plotting to take on the role of Fuhrer. With Hughes it was different, in all these years only two people had ever been able to see what lay beneath his happy persona; those two people where Roy Mustang and Gracia.

He had learned to laugh with his friends and in a split second pull the trigger on an innocent civilian. He had gotten so good at wearing his mask that he was often unaware as to what actions were his own and which belonged to this false identity.

There was someone else like that; Riza Hawkeye. She was Hughes' perfect opposite. Her false persona was that of a woman ho had never known a single moment of joy or freedom, though Hughes and Roy knew better. She had once been able to laugh t Roy's stupid jokes and as a child she had frequented the park to take advantage of the swing set.

Maes looked over at the clock and seeing now that his work had been completed he decided to go home. By now both his wife and daughter would be in bed and in the morning he could rest his thoughts and go back to being what the world knew best.

Upon his arrival back to his apartment, he could hear the tinny pitter patter of feet and a soft whine, as though a child were in the middle of begging. It was Elicia.

He opened the door and his daughter came rushing towards him. He was startled to see his daughter up so late. Gracia came walking in with a concerned look on her face "Elicia, I tucked you in bed three hours ago."

Elicia ignored her mother

"Daddy, you were taking so long and you promised me a bedtime story!"

'Had I?...Oh that's right I did.'

His daughter stretched out her arms, signalling for a hug. Hughes bent down, certain that even after everything he had seen he could deal with something as simple as this. Nina Tucker lay dead but his own daughter still lived and as he wrapped his arms around her he could not help but to think, "How could anyone taint such a wonderful feeling?"

It was then that Elicia began to pull away. She touched her cheek and she felt the dampness of a tear. She looked into her father's green eyes and saw them watering up.

His mask had cracked

Hughes had never allowed his daughter to see him cry and so this moment came as a shock to them both. He was her father and that meant he had to be strong and now...now he was crying in front of her.

Elicia held her father tighter now "It's ok daddy. Please don't be sad."

Just like that his mask began to heal. A momentary laps and nothing more.

Hughes smiled at his daughter as he picked her up "Yeah, your right. There's nothing to cry about. Now how about that bedtime story?"

"Yeah!"

I'm so sorry. I keep telling myself to write and get all of these one-shot ideas that I have on the computer published. I really hope you enjoyed this; I'm starting to really like writing for Hughes. He's a lot more complex then one would think.

I am working with my friend MaryTheLolicon on a new Elicia fanfic that I hope to publish soon. It will be called How to Babysit: The Fort Briggs Way.