Papa's Little All-Star
A/N- Have you seen the video of the little girl at the baseball game and what she did with the foul ball that her father caught? If you have not, it's really cute. You can find it on You Tube if you search under "little girl throws baseball back" or WTTE. It's also on a lot of news sites. The father made me think of Maes, and this story came to me. I don't know whether they play baseball in Amestris, but they do in Japan, so I thought why not? I apologize to those of you who are not familiar with the game. I know that it is not universal.
You all know that I am just borrowing Arakawa's universe and characters!
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It was a perfect afternoon to go to a baseball game, and they all had the perfect reason to attend. Mustang's unit, with a little help from Hughes, had solved the very disturbing mystery of a series of racially motivated fire bombings of the homes of Ishballans living in Central. Best of all, they had managed to apprehend the perpetrators before anybody had been killed, though there had been some minor injuries. The soldiers had put in so many long and strenuous hours, and Mustang had decided they all deserved a special treat. That's why he was taking them all out to a day at the ballpark. The Central Cubs were hosting the East City Equinox. They were the top two teams in Amestris, and each team had one of the top two hitters battling for both the hitting and home run titles. Central's Cosmo Ragu had a batting average of .337 with forty-one home runs, and the Equinox's Rufus Salsa was hitting .340 with 38 four-baggers including two grand slams. The teams also each had two of the best pitchers in Amestris, and tonight's game was destined to be a riveting challenge of the skills of great hitters versus excellent pitchers.
The gang filed into their seats in the front row off of the left field foul line. Havoc slid in first, followed by his date, an attractive blonde woman whom he had actually managed to hold onto for over two months. It was her first time meeting the rest of Mustang's minions, and she had made a good impression so far. (Who knows what her impression was!) Next came Sciezska followed by Falman who had slyly but discretely maneuvered around Breda and Fuery to be able to sit next to the librarian. Alas, he had been neither sly enough nor discrete enough for his actions to be overlooked, and psychological torment would be lying in wait for him at the office on Monday. Fuery took the next seat, gently pulling along his date, a cute, be-spectacled, petite young lady who could almost have passed for the technician's sister. The Hughes family followed Fuery and his girl: first Gracia, then three-year-old Elycia, and finally Maes. It was Elycia's first time attending a ball game, and she was thrilled to the roots of her bouncing pigtails. She was wearing a brand-new Cubbies' cap, a tee shirt with Ragu's name and number on it, and she had blue ribbons- blue was the Central's team's color- gracing her pigtails. Maes had already shot an entire roll of film and was well into the second roll.
Elycia loved baseball. She and her papa played catch whenever the weather was nice, and recently, he had taught her how to swing a bat. She hadn't yet managed to hit the ball with the bat, but she knew that she was getting closer. Playing catch with her papa was one of her favorite things. He would always say to her, "Throw it back, Sweetie. Give me that fastball! Throw me that slider! You've got quite an arm, my precious little all-star."
Riza seated herself next to Maes in the third chair from the aisle. It was a warm day, and she was wearing a conservative pair of black shorts with an aqua tee shirt. She still had her signature clip in her hair, but instead of securing her hair in a bun, it was clipped into a high golden ponytail that was nearly as bouncy as Elycia's locks. She smiled and sexily stretched her legs. She knew that Mustang would be watching more than just the action on the diamond. Roy, looking fine in jeans, a black tee, and sunglasses hiding his jet black eyes, arranged himself in the next seat, using the opportunity to look down and admire Hawkeye's rarely exposed lower limbs. He mused that his staff should be given rewards of outdoor activities more often. Breda plopped down into the primo aisle seat with a smirk. Falman might have managed to place himself next to Sciezska, but he, Heymans Breda, had the seat closest to the concessionaires. The guys with the goods. The boys with the beer. The folks with the food. He was a tactical genius, after all.
The game began, and Maes started a scorecard for Elycia. He showed her the blocks in which to put the K's and other codes. She screeched each time a bat hit the ball and giggled at the way that the pitchers wound up before throwing. She jumped up and down whenever a man was running the bases.
Breda had procured enough food and drink for the first few innings, and he had begun to tell Mustang that baseball would be a much better sport to watch if the strategies used in different situations were more creative. "You know they always bunt when…" Roy half listened to Breda but wasn't in the mood for that kind of discussion. He was sitting next to a relaxed (he hoped) Hawkeye on a day off. Breda should know better than to drone on at his colonel in this situation. Riza silently snickered and toyed with the idea of leaning across Roy to encourage Breda to elaborate. She decided that she'd tease Roy in a different way today, and, when she knew he was looking, she crossed her legs. She glanced over at Fuery still holding his date's hand and did truly smile. Kain was such a sweet guy. She hoped that the young man would be spared all of the relationship problems that plagued the rest of them other than Hughes. She pushed the dark part of the thought out of her mind and turned back to the games. Yes, the baseball game and the game of teasing Mustang.
The baseball game was a great game, even better than expected. There had been a few hits during the first four innings, but no one had scored. Salsa and Ragu each had a single and a double. The Equinox scored a run in the fifth inning, and the Cubs finally scored one in the bottom of the seventh. Both of the starting pitchers were still in the game in the bottom of the eighth, when Ragu came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. The first pitch was low and inside. Ball one. The second pitch was a fastball down the middle. Ragu made contact, and the ball flew high into the air towards left field. The Mustang gang collectively sighed as the ball went foul, but a second later; they realized that it was flying right towards them! Havoc, Hughes, Hawkeye, and Mustang jumped to their feet. They all knew that Riza had just about the best hand / eye coordination in the Amestrian Army, so they actually had a fighting chance at the Ragu foul ball.
As the ball flew in their direction, Maes noticed time slowing down. The ball seemed to be floating towards him, aiming itself right at him. He felt that he was in a slow motion movie as he leaned forward and reached out his right hand. Miraculously, the ball was in his hand, and his fingers had closed around it. The fans in their area were all yelling and cheering. Gracia kissed Maes, and Roy high-fived him. A fan from the next row up ruffled Maes' hair, and several strangers shook his hand. As the crowd quieted to watch the next pitch to Ragu, Elycia, who was standing between her father's knees, piped, "Papa. Papa! Give me the ball!"
Maes could never resist his little bundle of cuteness, so with his usual manic Maesian grin, he handed his precious souvenir to his precious daughter. Now, time sped up, and Maes was unable to act, as Elycia threw the ball into the crowd. The Mustang party and its surrounding neighbors gasped in unison. Riza had the momentary urge to draw one of her guns. (She had two concealed on her person.) Mustang had nearly reached for his glove before he paled at the thought of the impulse that could have caused him to incinerate his best friend's daughter.
Elycia, sensing that something was wrong, turned to find Papa's arms thrown into the air and his face looking shocked. Elycia, who loved Papa and never wanted to upset him, could feel the tears coming to her eyes. Her face screwed up into that visage of anguish that only a three-year-old could muster. The shock on Maes' face was replaced by love. His arms came down and wound around his little girl, enveloping her in warmth and strength. He hugged his precious little girl to his chest and said, "It's okay. Nothing is wrong. You've got quite an arm, my precious little all-star."
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A/N- Things have been really crazy, so I have been at a stand still on Roy, Riza, Rock and Roll. I am hoping to get back to it soon, maybe in early October. I hope that you'll check it out when I resume.
Thank you for reading. I'd love to receive reviews!