Snow gently fell outside of the large picture window in the family room. A fire crackled merrily behind the grate that stood before the moderate stone fireplace. Seated on the couch, his legs crossed, a cup of hot coffee in one hand and the newspaper in the other, Roy glanced up and spotted Mae as she toddled toward the coffee table. Ever since her first steps, the girl had been a force to reckon with; neither he nor Riza had a moment's rest as they chased the girl away from things she should not get into.
Today, however, Mae was content with remaining in the family room with him while her mother was busy in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes from their breakfast. It was the weekend, and neither one of them had anything pressing to do. Though, Roy knew he should consider working on the reports from the East. Ever since the stabilization of the Ishvalan region, he had focused on other areas, leaving the continued maintenance of the peace there in the capable hands of his people. Yet, he still found himself perusing the reports to ascertain that all was still running smoothly and that any issues were handled with the required finesse.
"Da…Da," Mae's call pulled him from his thoughts, causing him to look at her over the edge of the coffee table.
With hands to either side of her face, grasping the edge of the table tightly, Mae looked at him with wide brown eyes that showed she was smiling. Roy found himself returning the grin as he set his coffee mug and paper down, uncrossed his legs and reached across the wooden table top. He lifted the toddler into his arms. Mae squealed with delight as he lightly tossed her into the air and caught her again, hugging her tiny form to his chest.
"Dada!" Mae giggled happily, her eyes shining with joy as she gazed up into his face, "More!"
Laughing, Roy obliged the child and threw her into the air a few more times. The entire time, she giggled and threw her arms out. There was no fear in her face, she knew he'd never let her fall and get hurt. He just hoped he could continue to be such a force of safety for her, it seemed he had let down a lot of people in his lifetime.
XXX
"Roy, why don't you take Mae outside?" Riza walked up behind as he sat at his desk, perusing the reports he'd considered looking over earlier in the day.
"She awake?" he leaned back in his chair and examined his wife's gentle features. After the years of fighting and trying not to get killed, she'd seemingly become ageless. The worry lines were gone and her eyes no longer held a fierce determination, only love and concern. Though, she was still a force to be reckoned with when angry.
"Yes and I already bundled her up," Riza grinned, tossing Roy's long black coat onto the desk top before him.
Roy mock scowled at her, grumbling about sending him out into the cold snow with their daughter while she got to stay inside the nice, dry, warm house. Riza bought none of it as she quirked an eyebrow in his direction, watching as he donned his coat and gloves. By the time he emerged from his study, Riza had returned to the family room where Mae was enclosed by baby gates. Instead of standing with or begging to be lifted into her mother's arms, Mae was standing at the gate to the stairs, waiting impatiently for him to arrive. Roy laughed at the squeal of delight that heralded his approach on the stairs.
Moments later Roy was standing on the back porch, watching as Mae made her first discovery of the confounding substance known as 'snow'. She squatted down, nearly falling on her bottom, and gingerly put her mitten covered hand into the snow that had drifted at the edge of the porch. The look of utter concentration on her face had Roy suppressing a wide grin, since every time she glanced up at him, she'd frown if she saw him smiling down at her in mirth.
"Well, Mae, what do you think?" Roy kneeled down beside the small girl, his long black coat fanning out behind him on the frost covered wood planks of the porch's floor. Even though it was cold enough for the snow to accumulate, it was not that cold out. At least, it didn't feel that cold, yet.
"What?" Mae demanded, pointing at the white stuff before her.
"Snow," Roy responded, watching as Mae's face screwed up with the effort of understanding the new word.
After making a few attempts at repeating her father, Mae became frustrated with the attempt and gave up with a humph that was highly reminiscent of her mother when she became frustrated. However, her displeasure was quickly forgotten as Roy scooped her up and made his way down the slippery steps, into the powdery snow that had turned the backyard into a veritable winter wonderland.
Just as Roy was about to set Mae down, a black and white body streaked past, kicking up snow and barking wildly. It was the most animated he had ever seen Riza's dog, Black Hayate. For a few seconds, he stood, bent over, watching in perplexed fascination as the dog ran around the yard, sliding through the turns, flipping snow up on his nose and sneezing as it came back down into his face. Eventually, the gaiety ended and Black Hayate wound up standing directly in front of Roy, tail wagging wildly behind him. Quirking an eyebrow at the overly enthusiastic canine, Roy finished the kneeling down process and set a, still giggling, Mae on the ground.
The moment her small, booted feet touched the snow and her body sank in, hip deep, Mae stopped giggling and looked at the snow surrounding her with wide eyes. After a moment's indecision, she flopped down into the snow, landing on her bottom and sending a spray of icy particles into her father's face. This seemed to be what Hayate was waiting for; as soon as Mae had made herself comfortable, the dog was off on another tangent of wild romping.
By the time Roy carried Mae back into the house, his face was bright red, with his nose particularly bright. Though he knew she had to be cold, Mae was wriggling wildly in his grip, shouting no the entire way back inside. Gratefully, Roy handed the protesting toddler off to Riza as he made his way to the family room and the fireplace.
"Next time, you get to take her out," Roy said, trying to ignore his chattering teeth.
Riza simply sent him a knowing smile before setting Mae down on the floor where she had spread paper and crayons a few minutes before she had seen her husband approaching the house. The tears and cries of "NO" ended immediately as Mae realized what was around her on the floor. Within seconds, half the paper was covered in scribbles that Mae seemed quite proud of, forcing them upon her father as he kneeled before the fire, trying to force some semblance of warmth back into his body. Catching her before she could return to coloring, he quickly removed her warm outer clothing, depositing it on the hearth. For once, Mae didn't fight him on this, instead she grabbed him around the neck and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek before scrambling away to scribble some more.
In that moment, he knew what Riza's smile had meant. Like hell he'd give up the opportunity to take Mae out into the snow again.
At just that moment, Black Hayate ran into the room and showered all within with icy water and pellets of ice before circling the floor before the hearth and laying down with a sigh of deep pleasure.