Smile

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It was late in the afternoon. A little girl, around the age of four, was on her father's shoulders while heading home from town. Her short blond hair was swaying with the wind and her cerulean eyes kept wandering around her surroundings, stimulating her curiosity and asked her father non-stop about them. He was amused by how his daughter was so intrigued by the things around her and tried his best to answer whatever she inquired. When they reached the path towards their home, they both saw a figure of a woman, sharing the same color of eyes and hair with the child, smiling and waving a hand towards them. The little girl noticed that her father had a different kind of smile when he saw the woman. The daughter felt a strange kind of warmth, but in a good way, coming from that grin. Sure she felt happy and warm when her father smiled at her too, but that one he had at that moment was so…different. She couldn't put a finger on how it was so. Intrigued by the action, she spared her inquisitive thoughts by asking a question to her father.

"Why do you smile like that to mom?"

The father was caught in a bit of surprise hearing that question from his daughter, but recovered immediately and smiled again. However, it was already a different smile, his daughter noted. 'It wasn't like before…' she trailed off.

"What do you mean, sweetie?" he asked.

"Your smile…when you saw mom, you had a strange but nice smile. Why is that?"

He was quite impressed that his daughter was so keen and observant with the things going on around her. He gave a hearty chuckle.

"As expected of my daughter, you're as sharp as a knife."

"Huh?" the girl replied.

The father giggled. "Never mind that; let me go back to your question before. Why did I smile like that for your mother?"

"Yes…"

He smiled again like he did before. "The reason is simple. I love her."

"How about me, don't you love me, too?"

The father kissed his daughter's hand. "I love you too, but it's different with your mother. In the future, when you grow older, you'll understand what I mean."

The girl scowled. "I can't wait that long!"

Her father laughed. "Well, there's nothing else you can do but wait."

The daughter sighed. "I want somebody to smile like that to me."

He smiled. "Soon my dear…if you find a man whom you love and loves you back like both your mother and I, you'll get that smile."

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'But that faithful afternoon happened years ago…'

A woman in her early 20's was standing in front of a headstone on a hill near her home. Her long blond hair was moving along with the wind while her cerulean eyes focused on the tough rock in front of her with the engraved name of her late father, "Urey Rockbell".

She put down the bouquet of flowers she brought along with her on the grave. As she stood up, her eyes remained on the stone, seeming to trace the engravings. She let her eyes wander to the grave beside it, staring first at the flowers she previously put down and looked at the headstone where her late mother's name, "Sara Rockbell", was engraved on.

Her eyes travelled back to her father's grave and gave a sad smile.

'I had to wait for a long time to find the man that you were talking about dad…' her thoughts started, but later on stopped when her eyes caught a flash of gold from her far right and turned to see what or who it was.

It was then that she saw it; that same smile that her father had given her mother during that faithful afternoon many years ago.

'…but the wait was worth it…'

A man, sporting long golden-blond hair tied back in a braid, was smiling and was walking towards the woman until he reached her side. He offered out a hand to her in which she took without question and couldn't help but return the same loving smile he gave her before.

'…I finally found him."

-The End-

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Original Author's Notes: This story is dedicated to my late father whose 6th death anniversary is today, October 10, 2009.

Additional A/N: I'm only posting this story now because I still had it edited by my beta-reader, Auto-Alchemechanicist – my sincerest thanks to her.

I hope you enjoyed reading this.

Disclaimer: Hiromu Arakawa is the owner of Fullmetal Alchemist.