She liked to think that the sky was blue above the clouds, and that, any minute now, they would all just blow away to reveal the perfect sunny day that she was dreaming of…
"Sorry, Elysia. It looks like there'll be no park today," her mother apologised sadly, walking up to stand by the little girl as she pressed her nose against the cool window with a sigh.
"But what if I miss something, Mommy?" Elysia whined miserably, stepping back to cast a pleading look at Gracia Hughes, who was looking equally disappointed by the less-than-perfect weather.
"I know you love the park, Elysia," she said, ruffling her daughter's hair lightly. "But what is there that's there today that won't be there next Saturday, when the sun's out?"
"The new baby!!" Elysia exclaimed, gesturing widely, and, when her mother showed no sign of recognition, she let out a cutely annoyed little sigh. "Every Saturday, Aunty Riza and Uncle Roy go for a walk in Central Park," she went on to explain, sounding rather as though she thought that her mother ought to already somehow know this very important piece of information. "And last week they went past the playground and I heard Uncle Roy askin' her if she wanted children and she said that yes she did so I have to go TODAY to see if they've had a baby yet!!"
Gracia blinked twice, then shook her head to clear it. "Roy and Riza?
"Yeah, at the park!!" Elysia agreed fervently, seeing that she'd gotten her mother's attention. "They go for walkies with Hayate together on Saturdays! Always!!"
Gracia seemed to consider this carefully, still staring out the window as if weighing up something important in her mind. "Really…" she mused quietly.
"It's really cute!" Elysia wheedled. "They looked like Daddy and you always used to!! Huggling and kissing and laughing and stuff!!"
Gracia's head snapped up in surprise. "Really?! They do?!"
"YEAH!!"
No more convincing was need after that statement; Gracia was fully focused and marching towards the door in an instant. "Grab your coat, Elysia! I'll get the spare umbrella! We're going to the park!!"
"Yaaaay, Mommy!!"
-
'I really don't know what I'm doing here…' Gracia thought suddenly as she let Elysia in through the child-safe gate to the deserted, but thankfully sheltered, playground and set her big black umbrella aside. 'What am I going to do when I see them? It's not like they'll actually have a new baby…'
"Look, Mommy!! There they are!!"
Despite the doubts she'd been having a moment before, Gracia's head snapped up at the soft cry and she immediately cast her gaze around in search of her friends. Elysia was right: there they were.
Riza and Roy were walking down the path towards the playground from the opposite direction, cuddling close under a small blue kitty umbrella that Elysia vaguely remembered leaving over at Riza's place a few days before. Riza, with her face hidden in Roy's neck, didn't notice Gracia at first but Roy was slightly faster on the uptake.
Ashamed to have been caught watching them (if only for a few moments), Gracia called Elysia over to her and they went over to greet the couple.
"Morning, Riza!! You too, Colonel Mustang!" she gushed brightly and Riza's head shot up at the sound of her friend's voice.
"Gracia!" she exclaimed, blushing lightly. "What are you doing out on a day like this?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Gracia replied smilingly.
"Buraha needed a walk," she explained. "How have you been?"
"Elysia and I are doing fine. How about you?" asked Gracia, ruffling her daughter's hair happily.
"Roy and I are also fine," Riza told her politely.
"And the baby??" asked Elysia quickly. "What about the baby?!"
Riza blushed bright red and glanced at Gracia who was also blushing at her daughter's comment. She then turned to Roy, who was opening his mouth to speak- probably to deny it.
"What ba-?" He was cut off by Riza's hand on his shoulder, which then floated down to rest on her flat stomach.
"I haven't a clue how you guessed, Elysia-chan… But the baby's doing well," she admitted with a smile, eyes crinkling in delight. "In about 9 months you'll have another little girl to play with, or maybe a boy."
"Are you kidding?" asked Roy, eyes widening incredulously. "It'll be a girl for sure, and she'll be just as beautiful as her mother."
Riza grinned at Gracia with a sort of 'what can you do?' look on her face. "He's a shameless flirt," she sighed and her friend laughed happily.
"He is. Very cute, though," Gracia agreed with a wink.
"Very cute," Riza agreed, smiling brightly. Then she turned to Roy. "Take Gracia and Elysia out to that café around the corner, won't you? I'll follow on with Buraha in a few minutes."
"Sure," said Roy, blinking in surprise. "But what will you be doing?"
"Oh, nothing you should worry yourself about," Riza assured him with a warm smile. "There's just a certain chain-smoking blonde Lieutenant in a tree that I have to take care of before I join you." A horrified little yelp issued from overhead, causing Riza to glance up and smiled sweetly at the sight she was met with.
"That idiot…" Roy muttered, wringing out a soaked glove irritably. "I thought we'd lost him in the red light district…"
"Apparently not," Riza replied with a shrug as she shuffled through her handbag for the compact little firearm that she distinctly remembered having packed before leaving the house that morning but that just didn't seem to be there…
As it turned out, though it wasn't necessary, because at that moment their attention was drawn by a happy little gasp from Elysia Hughes who was still looking up through the thick green leaves of Havoc's tree.
"Look, Mum!!" she cried excitedly. "It's finally stopped raining!!"