The Wants of the Few
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author's note: The children made up in this chapter were just that, made up. They don't have any real meaning other than I wanted to show the readers that Elysia is a sweet little girl with the ability to make friends with all sorts of people (a talent I'm sure she gets from her daddy). Oh, and sorry about the "sexual tension" bit. I know all of you are dying for some hot royai sex scene...its not gonna happen. Though my very good friend The Air Alchemist has some nice lemony and limey stories :) (check the reviews, she's in there somewhere ;) )
Chapter 16 – Motley Crew
'Fifteen 'til 10:00.' Riza drove quickly to Gracia's house. Gracia met them outside. "Oh Riza…for a second I thought something had happened." Gracia said, taking Elysia from Roy.
"Nothing that we couldn't handle, right Riza?" Roy said to her. Leaving the events of the night a little vague to Gracia.
Riza smiled in agreement. It was subtle, but Gracia could pick up a change in them. She wasn't quite sure what had changed, but she had a feeling that Roy had finally realized what she meant about not regretting getting married to Maes. "I'm going to get Elysia dressed in her party outfit, come on in and make yourselves comfortable. The parents should be dropping off their children anytime now." The three adults made their way inside, Black Hayate trotted behind. Riza and Roy stayed in the living room while Gracia disappeared upstairs. They were alone once more. They glanced at each other and smiled. It felt as if there was some great secret shared between them. He guided her to the couch where he and Gracia had slept some of the night before. It felt strange being her with here…especially considering just a few hours ago he'd been dreaming about her right here. It amazed him how it'd only been a few hours ago…it felt as if it should have been weeks ago…years even. She smiled at him as she studied his face. It was strange how just being close to him made her spirits soar. 'Maes was right…he did come around.' She thought happily. The two felt their faces gravitating toward each other, just as their lips were just about to touch the doorbell rang. They jerked back, afraid that they could be seen. Even if they knew how the other felt, they still wouldn't be able to act on these feelings…they had other responsibilities. Roy got up and went to the door. As Riza waited expectantly on the couch she studied her surroundings. The decorations looked wonderful and Riza was surprised at the good a job they did. As she was reading one of the banners, something caught her eye. It was the telephone…it was unplugged. Riza got up and plugged it back in. 'Well that explains why she didn't pick up when I called last night.' She thought. It'd been a lucky break for her. She couldn't imagine how to explain to Gracia that she lost her daughter. Suddenly, four little children came bounding in. They all stopped in their tracks when they saw Riza. A small girl with a blonde pony tail came over to stand next to her. "You're pretty." She said staring up at Riza. Hawkeye blushed a little, "Thank you…"
"I can see up your nose." A little boy mentioned to her. She directed her attention to the little boy who spoke. He was actively picking his nose. "Um…that's nice." Riza said…a little unsure of what to say. "My name's Susan…what's yours?" said the little girl that told Riza she was pretty.
"My name's Miss Riza." She told Susan.
"I'm James!" said the little boy still picking his nose. "Nice to meet you James." Riza said politely, trying hard to not notice the little boy's disgusting habit. The other two that had come in with James and Susan were two little girls. One was quietly standing behind James and the other was actively investigating the party room. "What's your name?" Riza asked the little girl behind James who was actively petting Black Hayate. The little girl didn't even notice Riza speaking. James did notice, he took his finger out of his nose and said, "That's my sister Allison. She doesn't talk."
"Is she shy?" Riza asked.
James shook his head. "No, she can't hear. She's got to talk with her hands." He promptly tapped his sister and made a few motions and pointed to Riza. The little girl smiled warmly at her and waved. Riza waved back. It was quite a motley crew of friends that Elysia had. At that moment Riza's attention was drawn to Roy who had just come back in holding another child. This one was a sweet little blonde baby boy. "That's my brother." Susan said, pointing to the baby. "Oh, and that's my sister over there jumping on the couch." Riza suddenly noticed the other little girl and ran over to get her off of the couch.
"Oh! You're not supposed to jump on that!" she said as she lifted the jumping girl off the couch.
"You're funny." The little girl said.
"What's your name?" Riza asked.
"My name's Josie."
"Well Josie, you're not supposed to jump on the furniture. I'm sure you don't do that at your house."
"Yes she does." interjected Susan. Roy couldn't help but smile. He'd been standing off to the side as he watched the children more or less terrorize Hawkeye.
"She's not supposed to jump on the furniture here. You have to be nice to other people's things." Riza tried to reason…too bad for her Josie was already off exploring the kitchen. Roy decided it was time to intervene. It was all well and fun to watch the children say silly things to Hawkeye and pester her a bit, but the cake was in the kitchen and he didn't want to have to explain to Elysia why there were finger marks on her cake…besides, he'd spent several hours here last night and he wasn't about to let his hard work go to waste. As he walked by Riza he handed the baby off to her and made his way into the kitchen. Josie was just about to stick a finger into the cake, Roy grabbed her away from it and lifted her onto his shoulder.
"Cool!" Josie shouted. It wasn't often she got to ride around on someone's shoulders.
"Yeah it's real cool; now let's go back in the living room with the others." Roy said as he made his way back into the living room. He half expected to see Riza surround by the children saying more embarrassing things but to his surprise, not only were they not being annoying, they were all sitting really still on the couch. 'What the?' he started to think but then he noticed Riza's holster was open. Roy wasn't too keen on the idea that she'd actually threatened the children…but whatever she did, it worked. He swung Josie off his shoulder and plopped her on the couch. Riza opened her mouth to say something to Josie but before she could, Josie jumped up and ran over to the stairs. Elysia was standing there in her party dress looking as sweet as Hughes so often described.
"Happy happy happy birthday!" Josie said as she hugged Elysia hard. The little girls smiled wide and the rest of the children jumped off the couch to join them. There were many murmurs of Happy Birthdays and Riza even noticed Allison signing her a message. It surprised Hawkeye a bit that Elysia was easily able to sign something back to her. The rest of the part was just as rambunctious as the first few minutes had been and it continued into the mid afternoon. There were party games and just a few accidents. The most memorable was while Roy was spinning James for pin the tail on the donkey…it was just too bad for Roy that James missed the donkey and tried to pin the tail on Roy's crotch.
It came time to open presents. Elysia opened up several. Many were stuffed animals and dolls. Roy's heart quickened when he saw her reach for the blue square package that he'd seen in the park. Gracia read the tag out loud to Elysia and her face practically glowed. Excitedly she ripped the paper off revealing a glossy redwood box. Gracia picked it up and flipped it over. She showed Elysia how to wind the key and then she set it back on the table. Elysia's face radiated an innocence only found in children. She carefully lifted the lid, the quiet tune of "Hush Little Baby" began playing. It echoed through the house and not a soul breathed. The little girl smiled with amazement. The three adults looked on, tears threatening each.