"Best Babysitter"

by: Chibi Viki

Lt. Gen. Roy Mustang sat uncomfortably in the conference room of the Central Military Headquarters as he tried to listen, somewhat, to the discussions and debates of the members of the Parliament and the delegates from Amesteris' neighboring country, Drachma. Beside him sat his wife and secretary, Lt. Col. Riza Hawkeye-Mustang.

The meeting was totally unprepared for, if not for the sudden arrival of the delegates who offered a peace treaty between the two countries. An event such as this was not to be missed, even if it meant spending the whole afternoon away from their son.

Roy sighed. He turned to his wife who seemed unperturbed. They were supposed to go out for a picnic this afternoon… but instead were stuck in a room full of indecisive old farts who had no idea how to run the country. Oh how he wanted to finally take his son out for a walk.

"You're not worried about leaving our son like that?", he whispered under his breath, trying to hide their private conversation from the rest of the party.

Riza did the same. "Not really… after all, I left him with the best babysitter…"

Down at Lt. Gen. Mustang's office, four men scrambled in panic trying to figure out how to make their little ward to stop crying. From within his blue stroller, the tiny child held his fort and wailed to his heart's content. It was barely 10 minutes since the Lt. General and the Lt. Colonel left their son, Maes, in their care when little he suddenly decided to cry. It has been almost an hour since then, and still, he would not stop crying.

Major Hymans Breda has his hands on his ears in pain. "Make him stop! Make him stop! MAKE HIM STOOOOOOOOP!!!!", he cried out.

"I-I'm sorry", First Lt. Cain Fuery said, scratching his head lightly, "I don't know what to do… we've tried everything but he still won't stop crying".

Capt. Watteau Farman stood beside Maes' stroller putting the bag full of the baby's necessities down on the floor beside him. His hand held his chin in thought. "We've already tried everything… bottle-feeding, burping, playing… we even checked his diapers."

"What a pain", Major Jan Havoc muttered, an unlit cigar in his mouth, "we wouldn't be in this predicament if it wasn't for that sudden urgent meeting". He took the cigar from his mouth and sighed, "I can't even light this thing with him around".

Through the loud wails of the small child, Fuery heard the sound of scratching from the door. Having been around the Mustangs for years, he already knew what it was. He walked to the door as the rest of his team continued to scratch their heads in thought or cover their ears in pain.

Fuery opened the door slightly and in came Black Hayate, Riza's dog. Walking past small officer, Black Hayate went straight for the stroller and barked a few times.

"Oh great", muttered Breda, "more noise".

Whether by a miracle or by coincidence, the baby suddenly stopped crying. Black Hayate proceeded to the baby bag beside Farman. Burying its nose in the bag's contents, Black Hayate took out a blue pacifier. Lifting its front paws unto the side of the stroller, the dog presented little Maes with his prize.

To the staff's amazement, little Maes took the pacifier into his mouth and began to suck on it. All it took were a few nozzles from Black Hayate and the baby finally fell asleep.

"I didn't know Havoc and the others were great babysitters… ", Roy whispered back to his wife a tone of doubt in his voice.

"I was referring to Black Hayate", she replied nonchalantly.

"Oh". Roy sighed in relief. Now he knew his son was in good hands err—paws.


A/N: Hehe, Black Hayate is so handy to have around, huh? Wish I had a dog like that, except that he would do my chores instead… like Artemis of the Sailormoon Live Action series. Not that I watched it, but my friend MJ told me about it. Just imagine a pet cat that could do all your household chores… even cook and do the laundry! And all you need is catfood for its services! Hehe, right now, I feel like Roy during his "Dogs are man's slaves" speech in episode 13/manga gaiden 2.

Gah! 's quick edit doesn't allow extra space between paragraphs... oh well... > ;;