Guests
When Elicia learns that they will have guests for dinner tonight, she insists on helping to get everything ready. Gracia doesn't trust her anywhere near the kitchen appliances or the food, of course, but she is more than willing to sacrifice a bowl of pie dough to make Elicia happy.
She directs Roy to set the table, reminding him of one of Maes' favorite sayings ("Roy doesn't need his gloves to burn water if he's in the kitchen") when Roy offers to help with dinner.
The doorbell rings and Elicia abandons her demolished bowl of dough to dash out of the kitchen and open the door. Roy follows her before Gracia can put down the wooden spoon.
Alphonse has been looking better every time Gracia has visited him, and it is a true pleasure to watch him walk into the living room under his own power, even if he needs crutches to do so. Edward hovers behind him, but he doesn't try to interfere with Alphonse's slow advance.
Gracia smiles warmly and tells everybody to take a seat, announcing the food will be out shortly. She watches as Elicia climbs on a chair next to Alphonse before walking back into the kitchen. Roy follows her, pretending that he has missed the fact Gracia was telling him to sit down as well, and asks if he can do anything to help.
Gracia rolls her eyes (in times like this it's easy to see how Maes and Roy were such good friends), but she points at one of the many pots -containing soup in this case- and asks him to bring it out while Gracia picks up the meatballs+.
There are four other pots waiting aside from a large apple pie, and Gracia is fully aware that there will be leftovers for a week when they're done, but that doesn't matter. This is Alphonse's first meal outside of the hospital, and Gracia will make sure it is as perfect as possible.