A/N: After an extremely long hiatus, I decided to write the sequel to "Just Desserts" It seemed a lot of people liked it, and writing has always been a stress reliever for me, so here it is. I present to you, "Easy as Pie"
Sometimes she couldn't believe it had been three years since everything had happened. In just three years, her life had changed so significantly. In that short amount of time, a once womanizing, careerist, male Colonel was turned into a woman. Not only a woman, but a wife, and a part time housekeeper. Well, things were always known to be very interesting for her, when ever things seemed to return to normal, something was bound to shake it up. That appeared to be just her life, or perhaps luck. But whatever you would call it, Roy, now Riona Mustang, was not expecting a seven year old girl to be standing at her doorstep. She was even more surprised to see her husband's ex-wife holding the girl's hand and saying….she just couldn't take care of her anymore.
Riona motioned to rub her eyes, this just felt like too much of a dream. Maes was out of town on business, and there wasn't any way for her to reach him while he was on a mission. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and looking at Gracia, and then down to Elysia, Maes' pride and joy. She coughed and felt like it was time for her to speak…someone had to say something for Flammel's sale!
"Gracia. Why are you doing this?" She said, in the calmest manner she could muster. She felt the older woman's eyes move to stare into hers, almost like a cry for help.
"I just…I just can't do it alone anymore Roy. I love her, I do. But, I just need to sort some things out in my life right now. And, I think it'd be good for her if she reconnected with her father, she hasn't seen him forever." Gracia said.
Riona sighed and watched as Elysia gripped her hands into fists as she looked up at Riona.
"That's because, I didn't want to! I want to see daddy! I never wanted to see her!" Elysia yelled as she pointed to her stepmother. "You took daddy away from mommy!"
Riona really didn't know what to say to this. She understood in one way or another. It must be hard to be the child of a divorced parents. Especially when one had remarried, and the other was practically abandoning her. She watched as Gracia looked away, and Elysia's eyebrows knitted in an angry expression. Maybe…Elysia did need to be around Maes, he needed to be a father, and she needed to make sure this little girl was okay.
"Fine Gracia, Elysia can stay with us while you 'find yourself', though I do hope you will come back." She said, frowning at the woman. Riona watched the woman nod and give Elysia a hug, a hug that was not returned. With that, Gracia Hughes, a woman Riona never fully understood left, and left behind a part of herself…a child.
After hours of silence, Riona set up her stepdaughter's room, and tried to make her something for dinner. The girl refused and went up to the spare room, yelling something nasty to the brunette woman. Riona sighed, and moved to pick up the phone, hoping to get a hold of Maes.
She dialed the number, and heard it ring a few times, and finally, after silent prayer, Maes' voice was heard on the other end.
"Hello."
"Maes, it's me…we need to talk about something." She said, taking a pregnant pause. "Maes, Gracia showed up today and left Elysia with me…she said she wanted us to take care of her for a little while." She said, listening to Maes curse in the background. She sighed and sat on her bed, waiting for the man to speak.
"I'll be home tomorrow, we will talk about it then." He said, hanging the phone up.
Well, this was wonderful, it seemed things were going to get interesting, and not in a good way.
A/N: It's a little darker than the first fic. I wanted to do something a little more serious with a little more angst. I hope you enjoyed it though. Coming up, how will Maes react when he gets home, and why did Gracia really leave.