Disclaimer: YES. I AM STILL HERE, AFTER ALL THIS TIME. No, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist after all this time…
Chapter Eleven – Inches and Falling
—xx—
Knock, Knock, Knock.
"Dadddyyyyyyy!"
Edward lifted his head from his work, his eyeglasses lying precariously on the tip of his nose. He groaned and removed them, setting them on the desk. Scooting his chair out from the desk he was sitting at, he strode to the door and opened it. He was met with two happy, shockingly glowing golden eyes looking up at him in the doorway.
"Sol… how many times have I told you?" he ran a hand through his hair, "don't interrupt daddy while he's working?" He bent over and picked her up under her shoulders, holding her against his hip. "This is the fourth time today that you've knocked on my door."
Soliece grinned, putting up her open palm. "Five! I've knocked five times." She glanced over at her hand to make sure she was holding the right number up, and then counted them out, putting a finger up to match. "One… two… three… four… five!"
Edward stared at her for a second, almost incredulously, before letting a chuckle out. He reached up with his other hand to ruffle her soft, wavy, raven hair. "What do you want, kid?"
"Mac and cheese!" She threw her hands in the air and threw her head back, surprising her father, and barely missing being dropped.
He withdrew the pocket watch from his pocket and clicked it open, checking the time. "Well, lucky you," he flashed his teeth, "it's 12:30." He showed the time to her, as if to give her proof, even though, as a three-year-old, she could not yet read time. "That's lunch time!"
"Yaaaaay!" The girl bounced in his arms and began chanting, "Mac and cheese! Mac and cheese!"
"Okay, okay," he let her down from his arms, watching her dash to the kitchen, "but you need a vegetable. I'm gonna put some peas in there, okay?"
She turned around from where she stood, almost twenty feet away, to stick her tongue out.
Clearly, she could only be the spawn of Edward Elric.
He followed after her, eyeing her as she wiggled herself dangerously into one of the high barstools. Fortunately, she did not fall, as she had many times before, and instead sat upon it, swiveling left to right and right to left in it merrily, as a three-year-old should.
"What d'you want to drink, Sol?" Edward asked, opening the cupboard to retrieve the bag of macaroni noodles.
"Miiiiillllk!" Bouncing up in her chair, the young Mustang-Elric licked her lips greedily.
Edward shuddered. Perhaps she wasn't only the spawn of an Elric.
"I don't understand how you can drink that vile drink. I only keep it in the house for you, and the occasional cake…"
"It's yummy, Daddy!" She grinned, standing up on the chair and flexing her nonexistent muscles. "And it makes me grow big and stroooong! Grrr!"
"Soliece Mustang-Elric!" He dropped the bag and pointed a very threatening finger at her, "do not stand on the swivel chairs! You'll fall."
The girl bit her lip tentatively, as if to decide if she was going to obey her father or continue practicing acrobatics. The finger was very threatening to the small girl, and she chose to sit back down on the wooden seat.
"You're just mad because you won't drink milk, and you gotsta take vitamins for it."
Edward considered blowing up at this comment, but instead retrieved a pot from under the stove and filled it with water.
After all, how could he get mad at his daughter when the comment she just made proved that Roy Mustang's DNA was also part of hers?
The pot of water was then transferred to the stove. He retrieved a match from the drawer next to it, and lit the stove cautiously. He missed the days when he would make dinner, and in the other room, as he got the matches from the drawer, Roy would simply snap his fingers and light the stove for him.
Of course, there were many more reasons Edward missed those days.
Soliece watched the fire carefully, as it danced underneath the pot on the stove. Sometimes, when Edward watched his daughter do this, he wondered if Roy was the same way when he was little. After all, he knew very little about his lover's past before Ishbal. Maybe Roy was just like a boy version of their Soliece. Maybe he, too, could watch a candle for hours and not get bored. Maybe, Soliece would grow up just like him.
But then, he remembered what a pyromaniac Roy was, and would quickly find something for her to do before she started sticking things into the flames to see what would happen.
"Here, Sol," he said, handing her a piece of paper, "do these. And if I catch you putting this paper into that fire, I'm gonna kick your butt."
She nodded in response before looking down at the paper. She looked back up at her father and grinned, "Addition! Yay!" The girl reached for a pencil at the end of the counter and began scribbling answers onto the paper. Edward smiled smugly. His daughter was going to be a freaking genius when she started school in two years.
He quickly added the noodles to the now boiling water and turned down the heat a little. After basking in the parental glory of his daughter happily answering math problems, he stepped away from the stove. He wandered around the front part of the apartment, not surprisingly finding himself eventually standing in front of the mantel. He picked up the same picture that he always found himself picking up and held it lovingly in his hands. Looking down at it, he rubbed the wooden frame softly with his fingertips. Staring back at him was Roy Mustang, eternally embracing him, smiling at the camera with that rare, squinty-eyed, toothy smile that he revealed when he was truly happy. Edward loved this picture. It was one of the only pictures of Roy and him, and the only one where both of them looked genuinely happy. Edward smiled softly, his heart pounding anxiously.
"DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" Soliece called, interrupting his moment, as she was so very good at, "THE WATER IS BUBBLING!"
Whipping around, picture still in hand, he answered flatly, "yes, that's what it does when it gets hot, Sol. You know, when vapor pressure is equal to external—"
"No!" Soliece shook her head violently, "look!"
He followed the direction of her finger to where the pot was bulging with bubbling, starchy water. He refrained from swearing under his breath and moved to remove it from heat. Soliece giggled at her father, who gave her one of his famous death stares. She was unmoved by this action and continued her giggling.
"You, know, I oughta dump all these noodles out and make you go hungry, you little brat."
Soliece's wide golden eyes grew horrified, and she put out her hands, "No, no, no, no, no! Don't do that, daddy!"
Edward smirked; even though she was his own child, he wouldn't refrain from using threats to make her behave. He moved to the sink to drain the water and then quickly retrieved all the ingredients and began finishing the mac and cheese. Soliece watched with anticipation and amazement as her father concocted the sticky, cheesy dish, not tearing her eyes from it until it was in front of her in a bowl. She looked up at Edward and flashed her smile, "Thank you, daddy!" Immediately, she dug into the bowl with that typical Elric
appetite. When he was sure that she was alright, he exited the kitchen and headed back to his office. Before he opened the door, he paused.
"No more interruptions, right?" he shouted over his shoulder.
"Uh-huh," Soliece answered, mouth full of macaroni.
He smiled softly and entered his office.
—xx—
Hours later, the sun entered the office, illuminating everything with a honey-colored glow. Edward leaned back and stretched, removing the eyeglasses from his nose. He let out a soft sigh and glanced down at the papers that lay scattered across his desk. He was finally finished with all the work that had piled up over the last couple of months, and now he could leave this office for good. He paused for a second, running his fingers through his short hair. Sometimes, he missed the braid that once lay down his back. People had told him it was his "signature braid," and when he cut if off, people were shocked. However, Edward had learned soon after Soliece was born that having a long plait of hair down his back while dealing with a small child could be dangerous. After about the sixtieth time of it being pulled by his lovably obnoxious daughter, he cut it off. He had considered growing it back out, but had grown accustomed to the lack of attention short hair needed.
The long golden bangs hung against his face, blocking his eyes from the sun, causing the warmth coming in through the window to be quite pleasant. These days, Edward was mostly content. He no longer jumped when ever the doorbell rang, or glanced out the window hopefully when footsteps were heard on the outside walk. He stopped checking for letters, and didn't pick up a newspaper each day to read about the rebellion. He hadn't given up hope, per say, but had instead stopped hoping so much.
Focusing on Soliece had helped that. Winry happily had the girl over when he worked, and being with his daughter had caused his friend to want children, as well, and was currently six months pregnant.
There was no suspicion with Edward's very sudden parenting; anyone that cared to ask was simply told that she was a relative's daughter who died. Though some saw it strange that Edward would be chosen as a parent, none questioned it.
Though the blonde had been able to cope and go on with his life, this wasn't to say that he didn't think about Roy every other second of the day. He'd still occasionally reach for the photo of his lover that was on his desk while working and stare at it for minutes. The last letter he had received was over six months ago, and it explained that, though things were getting better, they weren't very close to succeeding in the south. After almost four years without Roy, Edward had merely assumed that it would be another four before he'd ever see his lover again.
Such depressing thoughts caused the eldest Elric to sigh indefinitely. Edward still hoped, though. He hoped that the next knock to the door wouldn't be his brother, or Winry, or Lt. Hawkeye, but Roy Mustang, tanned and war beaten, finally home to stay. He hoped that the next set of mail that would come in their box would contain a letter from him. He hoped that the next time he entered his bedroom, Roy Mustang would be lying in their bed, completely nude—
Thud.
Edward blinked out of his fantasy, leaning forward in his chair at the sound from the hallway. "Sol?" he called, and was answered by the pitter-patter
of her small, bare feet. He smiled and sighed in relief. He realized that he should probably go out there and entertain her, because before long, she would burst into his room and plead for her father to "please come out and play, daddy, please, I'm bored, are you done, yet, daddy?"
Then, he heard the creak of the door opening, and her feet return back down the hall. As expected, another knock, knock, knock came to his door. Even though he didn't mean it, he yelled, "what did I say about interrupting me, Soliece?"
"Daddy!" He heard her bounce up and down outside her door, "Daddy, daddy, daddy!"
"I told you not to interrupt me," he scolded jokingly, "I'm gonna come out there and play in just a sec!"
"No, Daddy," she shot back angrily, "listen—"
"I know you're hungry, kid," he said, "but—"
"No!" She shouted, interrupting her dad foolishly. Edward, of course, would not allow this, and strode to the door and threw it open, letting it slam against the wall.
"What?!"
She smiled sweetly, "Daddy… mommy's home!"
Edward blinked, contemplating these words, and then looked at where she was pointing to: the doorway. Standing there, was a ruffled, poorly shaven, tanned man. He held his bag with one hand over his shoulder and smirked with a smirk that was so-well remembered by Edward.
"Yelling at children, Edward? I see you haven't changed."
Edward hoped he wasn't dreaming. If he wasn't, it meant Roy Mustang was finally home.
—xx—
A/N: Haha! DONE! You guys thought I had abandoned Waiting Game, hadn't you? Well, I did not forget, I was just missing the motivation and storyline I needed so badly. Well, it's back, and I hope you're ready for more WG, because it's coming. Prepare yourself. Roy is home.
.maria
