Author's Note: This is one of my favorite OT3s (Roy/Maes/Gracia), and in this continuum (which I'm still working on) Roy has gone off to war, leaving the other two behind to wait for him. In his absence, Gracia is slowly starting to lean more toward Maes. Ah, Gracia, nuuu! ;;

Anyhow, please enjoy, and ignore my obvious fetish for dreams and sleeping! ;;

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In his dream, he could see them.

Maes was wearing those ridiculous pajamas, a huge grin on his face, practically bouncing while Gracia sat next to him on the couch in her green nightgown, carefully undoing the tape that held the red Santa wrapping paper together. She needn't have bothered; Maes would've been just as happy if she'd torn through the thing like a three-year-old. But she slid slender fingers through the folds, snapping the binding, until the box lay bare in her hands.

It was a beautiful thing, the box. Smooth, dark wood, the clasp made of brass and gold, a perfect, tiny keyhole in the front. Gracia pushed the lid back, and her mouth fell open.

"Oh... oh you didn't..."

Maes' grin widened as Gracia pulled the string of creamy, almost pink pearls from the black velvet confines. She shook her head once, eyes already misting over.

"They're not real, Maes. Tell me they're not real."

"Would we insult you with something fake? Of course they're real." He reached for the strand, moving so he could gently fasten them around her neck. "...there. Do you like 'em?"

The first tear slid down her cheek, and she swiped at it with manicured fingers, but the others quickly followed. "You're so -- you can't afford it."

"Don't worry about that. It's Christmas, you're not supposed to think about budgets. It's bad manners to ask the cost of a present. Anyway, we found them on the street, so you're fine."

She laughed, still crying, and threw her arms around Maes. "I love them, they're gorgeous! You shouldn't have, you shouldn't have, oh, Maes...!"

He kissed her ear amd hugged her tightly, his smile warm and pleased. "He said they were perfect, just like you, and I couldn't say no to that. You deserve everything you want, Gracia, everything we can give you."

She sniffled, laughing again, and brushed at the tears one more time as she leaned back. "You're a sneak, and I love you."

"Then I'm a lucky sneak," he answered, and pulled her close. They kissed, long and deep --

And the bugle brought him awake just as three men shoved the flap of his tent aside. Roy stared at them from his cot, the dream clinging to him like broken cobwebs.

"Sir?" One of the men came forward, holding out a hand. "We need you. It's getting ugly out there."

Roy took it, blinking the last remnants of sleep from his eyes as he was hauled upright. "There's a surprise."

"Yeah, I know. Hell of a way to spend Christmas, huh, sir? Guess these heathens don't know what that is. General says meet out front. We've got to wake the others. Merry Christmas, sir!"

They darted away, and Roy looked back at his cot, the smell of burning buildings greeting him like an old friend. They were still there, if he could get back to sleep; Maes and Gracia, and Christmas morning...

"... well. At least she liked the pearls," he murmured. "We know how to shop, don't we, Maes?" And he grabbed his uniform coat and went outside.