Disclaimer: -Checks watch- C'mon! Any year now! -Looks up- Oh hey peoples! –sigh- Those rights were supposed to have been here by now. I'll keep waiting for the contract, you just read.
"Mommy, when's Daddy gonna get home?"
"I'm sure he'll be here soon, sweety. It's getting late, you'd better get to bed." Gracia said to her four-year-old daughter. In truth, she was starting to worry for her husband. He was supposed to have been home half an hour before. That night she stayed up late waiting, wondering where on earth he could be.
She was woken from a fitful sleep in the most comfortable chair in the living room. Someone was knocking on her door. Who would be at her door at two in the morning? Hurriedly she answered, becoming more worried with each step.
Behind the door stood a very grave looking Roy and Riza. "What? What is it? What happened?" Gracia was becoming more and more frantic. Roy exchanged looks with Riza, took off his military issued hat, bowed his head and said, "Gracia, can we come inside?" She stood aside to let her husbands' co-workers take a seat in the living room.
"Gracia," Roy seemed near tears.
"What? Just spit it out already!"
"Gracia, you may want to take a seat."
"No! All I want is to know what the hell is going on!" She shouted quietly so as not to wake her sleeping child.
Mustang took a deep breath and said as gently as he could, "Gracia, Maes is- Well we found him near a phone booth outside military property. His assistant notified us that something seemed to be… not ok. We think-" Roy stopped talking for a moment to look at Gracia, who had sunk to the couch with her hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. "We think he may have uncovered some new information right before he left base. Apparently he was in his office when he seemed to have figured something out. Right before he ran out he fired Sheska, we think, maybe for her safety."
"Well what happened? I mean, is he ok?"
"I- No, he's not."
A twinge of pain hinted at the growing knot in Gracia's stomach, then realization hit her. "Oh God. Oh-Oh no! You're- You're not saying-? Oh God no! Oh God-" She went into hysterics and collapsed to the floor, tears flooding down her face as she continued uttering incoherent words. Riza rushed over to comfort her what little she could.
"We still don't know who did it of course, but I promise you, Gracia, we won't stop until we find out."
"Oh God, oh God! Oh God, why? Why??" Gracia choked at the floor she couldn't see.
-The Next Day-
"Mommy, when will Daddy be here?" Gracia's eyes filled with tears yet again as she did all she could to keep from crying at her daughter's voice. The teacup was warm in her trembling hands. She'd been crying for six hours straight.
"He's not, sweety." She turned her watery gaze and forced a sad smile at her toddler.
"Why not?"
"He's-" She couldn't help it. She dropped from the chair to her knees and hugged her daughter. "Daddy's- Daddy's not coming home, sweety."
"Why?"
"He's- Daddy's gone."
"Gone where?" Her daughter's innocence made Gracia laugh through her tears and hold her tighter. Now she was all she had left and even more precious for it.
"He's just gone. He went to sleep."
"When will he wake up?"
"He- won't." Explaining death to her daughter was more painful than Gracia could've ever imagined.
"Mommy, why are you crying? Mommy, where's Daddy?" Gracia hugged her daughter close and said, "He's in Heaven sweety. He's… gone."