Chapter 9: Baby Proofing
Pairing: Royai
Characters: Riza Hawkeye, Roy Mustang, Team Mustang
Rating: G
Summary: Sophia Mustang is determined to find her parents.
Sophia Nicole Mustang had, once again, found herself being watched by her uncles while her loving and doting parents went off to do business elsewhere. Without her.
And, once again, she was not happy about it.
But she wasn't screaming bloody murder about it. No. She was, albeit only slightly, older then that now. No, she decided that she was going to take matters into her own eleven and a half month chubby little hands and go find her Mommy or Daddy herself.
She just had to through some obstacles first. Obstacles one: Get out of playpen. Obstacles two: get through the doors of Daddy's office unseen. Oddly enough, the first one was actually the more difficult one. People were constantly going in and out of the big doors. She just had to wait for it to open and crawl out quietly.
Now how to get out of the crummy playpen without being seen or heard...? Hmmm...
Using all the body weight that she had, which wasn't much, Sophia body slammed herself against the side of her playpen, knocking it over into the carpet with a dull thud that went unnoticed by the three men that were not doing a very good job at keeping an eye on her.
Now for the first half of obstacle two: getting to the door.
Which way? Which way to go? The side by Uncle Kain and Uncle Jean is quicker, but more likely to get caught. But the way by Uncle Hey-Hey is longer. Huh. Sophia pouted, hiding behind a tall plant by her Mommy's desk until she was able to make a decision.
"I'm gonna go take a leak." Heymans shrugged, standing up and going to the bathroom.
"While you're at it, I'm gonna go stretch my legs. Damn physical therapy upkeep." Jean groaned, standing up.
Perfect!
As quick as she could, Sophia crawled after her uncle Jean, barely managing to slip through the open door before it shut on her face. Unfortunately, it did close on her foot, barely pinching her toes before she pulled her foot out before it was crushed.
Don't cry or you won't be able to go find Mommy or Daddy!
Looking down both ends of the empty hallway, Sophia decided to go the direction opposite of Jean. Her only objective in mind was to find her parents.
It was only after Heymans and Jean had left that Kain realized that Sophia was gone.
"Oh God. We're gonna die." He gasped, stomach doing flips.
"Who's gonna die and why?" Heymans asked, stepping out of the bathroom, the sounds of a flush being left behind.
"We are. Look!" Kain gulped, pointing to Sophia's knocked over playpen.
"Gah! Where did she go?" Heymans yelped, as he and Kain frantically tore the office apart looking for nearly one year old infant of their superior officers.
"What... are you guys doing?" Jean scoffed, reentering the office a few minutes later. The office, which was normally nice and tidy, looked... well...
It looked like Edward Elric and Roy Mustang has gotten into an Alchemy fight in there.
Again.
"We're gonna die." Heymans groaned.
"In the most agonizing way possible." Kain whimpered.
"Why?" Jean asked again.
His answer was his two comrades pointing to Sophia's over turned and empty playpen.
"Well, my life has been great so far. Hopefully my soon-to-be widow doesn't move on too quickly." The sandy blonde haired man gulped.
Oh Mommy. Daddy. Where are you? Sophia asked herself, as she crawled through the very long hallway, hoping to find them. Come on. Where- There you are!
Standing at the end of the hallway, unknowingly walking towards her, where Roy and Riza, their focus on a folder of documents in Riza's hands.
"When will Major General Maverick let his half-assed, blatantly sexist, idea for the military go?" Roy growled.
"Should've let me shoot him, Sir." Riza scoffed.
"Oh do not start that again." He groaned as they continued walking.
Right passed the corner where their daughter was waiting for them.
Hey! What the heck?!
"Bah!" She yelled after them, using the floor to help her stand up and the corner of the wall to keep herself balanced. Her parents upruptly froze, eyes wide at the noise.
"Was that a baby?" Roy asked.
Riza nodded. "Please tell me that wasn't our baby." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.
She was going to kill the men.
They turned around and exhaled sharply at the sight of their daughter, left alone in the hallway.
"Sophia Nicole, what are you doing out here baby?" Riza gasped, trying not to let her daughter think she was mad at her.
With a wide smile on her face, Sophia took the six steps towards her parents, hands outstretched to grab for either of them. Gasping, Riza crouched down to her knees, scooping Sophia up into her arms and standing back up before the little girl could stumble and fall.
"Look at you, honey!" Roy gasped, ruffling her hair.
"When did you start walking Sophia?" Riza asked, never knowing that the steps she and Roy witnessed Sophia taking were, in fact, her first steps.
"Oh God." Roy groaned, forehead in his hand.
"What?" Riza asked, confused.
"She's walking now." He reminded her.
"Oh no. I don't wanna start baby proofing." She whined, both of their heads hung down in frustration.
"We'll do it after we kill the rest of the team for not keeping a good eye on her." Roy decided, the two of them glaring at the thought of the men failing to watch their infant daughter.
Sophia just clapped happily.
For anyone who wants a more accurate visual of what Sophia looks like, there's a link over on my Ao3 account (same name as here) that has a link that SHOULD work *crosses fingers* of a baby I always picture in my head whenever I think of her.