July 20th, 1984 Cont'd

Alphonse did his best not to be a hindrance to the frantic but happy wedding preparations going on in the palace around him. He was waiting his turn to talk to his granddaughter, but left her primping and preparations to her army of attendants. At least, bridesmaids, her mother, and her grandmothers managed to look like an army, bearing weapons of social convention designed to turn his happy-in-the-dirt archaeology-loving granddaughter into the half-Xingese princess her bloodline declared her to be.
Not that it had ever mattered a wit to Al, or to Mao. "So are the Xingese royal weddings this insane?" Al asked the emperor as they strolled down a hallway, admiring the murals on the walls and pretending to be useful. Mao was wearing formal Xingese attire, though it was far less flashy than would have been required in Xing; subdued burgundy, trimmed in gold thread.

"Generally," Mao smiled. "Though that's only for peripheral members of the family. The wedding of the Emperor could bankrupt a medium-sized city."

"Makes me sorry I've never seen one," Al chuckled as he paused to admire a particularly lifelike scene of a lion escaping hunters. "I suppose it will be a while, since your grandsons won't inherit, hopefully, for a very long time."

Mao nodded. "It's true. Though I hear from my sons that Meifen and her beau seem to be on the mend as far as their relationship goes. There is hope there."

"You approve of the match then."

"I approve of a man who sticks to his principles, and does not abandon them when faced with tough choices." Mao smiled, looking up at the same mural. "I liked him before his family destroyed the tentative peace of Xing. I have no reason now to disapprove."

"Well, since we're approving marriage prospects today, why don't we go see how Thrakos is doing?" Al suggested. Given how many of those who had attended the bachelor party had looked that morning, he was highly curious to see how the groom had come out of it.

He wasn't disappointed. He and Mao arrived at the room being used for groom preparations to find Thrakos briefly alone. "I expected to find as much of a hullabaloo here as there is down the hall," Al chuckled as he watched Thrakos running a comb through his thick dark hair, which was the smoothest Al had certainly ever seen it. He'd known Thrakos most of his life, though only in passing before Al had spent a time as a visiting professor at Chalas.

"There was a few minutes ago," Thrakos smiled without turning away from the mirror. "I told them all I wanted some time alone."

"If we're interrupting-" Mao began, but Thrakos shook his head.

"No, it's fine. At least, it is as long as you're not here to fuss over me like I suddenly can't put on my own tuxedo. I've only been wearing the damned things since I was three."

"Some grooms can't, but it has nothing to do with clothing familiarity," Mao chuckled.

"You don't look too much the worse for wear, considering," Al noted.

"They tried," Thrakos grinned, "But the lack of sleep is killing me more than anything I drank last night."

Up close, he did look tired. At least around the eyes. "I can't do much for tired," Al apologized.

Thrakos' eyes lit up. "Don't suppose you can do anything for headaches?"

Al tried not to laugh as he nodded. It only took the least bit of alchemy to ease something as simple as a headache, which did appear to be mostly exhaustion, Al found, when he brought his hands together, then briefly put his palm to Thrakos' head. When he removed it, his granddaughter's fiancé looked relieved.

"Thanks. Damned, that's useful."

"It'd be a shame to let something so simple put a damper on the festivities," Al shrugged casually.

"Or the honeymoon," Mao grinned. "My niece should have only the best memories of today."
Thrakos turned back to the mirror to make final preparations. "Hopefully I can give her fond memories of every day for the rest of our lives," he said. "At least, as many as I can."

"So I hear you finally settled on an apartment," Al said conversationally.

Thrakos nodded, smiling as he adjusted his tie in the mirror. "We did. It took a while, but it'll be a great place to live for a while. It's a penthouse, so we won't have many neighbors, and it's even got a roof-top garden, which makes Minx happy." He grinned. "She's got to have dirt to dig in."

"Room for a family?" Mao asked mercilessly, though Al recognized Ren's brother's sense of humor behind the straight delivery of the line.

"It's not small," Thrakos admitted, taking the teasing in stride. "There are three bedrooms, two baths, a large living and kitchen area, and even a study. It's a very open floorplan, but it's got simple, elegant architecture. Kind of a mix between modern and classic really."

"Sounds perfect," Al assured him.

"It's very us," Thrakos agreed. "We'll have to get everything moved in when we get back."

"Which can wait, of course," said Mao. "For now, all you have to do is enjoy today, and get through the ceremony without messing up your vows."
Thrakos swallowed.

"What made you decide you needed to say your vows in all three languages?" asked Al. He knew the couple wasn't repeating their vows three times, but they had decided to say the most relevant parts in each of the three languages of their family.

Thrakos smiled weakly and shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Elicia and Ren had made a deal. Neither would cry until the other did. Elicia was beginning to wonder just how long they would be able to keep that promise. Minxia was breathtaking in the finished gown, her hair done up in elaborate curls in a style that somehow managed to be classically Cretan, and modernly Minx, with the curls pulled partially up in an interwoven net of thin golden ribbons., the rest falling down the back to just below her shoulders. In that glorious dress, she looked like an image out of a children's fairy tale book.

"You know, it's not always wise to render the groom speechless," Elicia teased her granddaughter as she gave her a smile. "He's got to be able to say his vows."

Minxia chuckled. "It'll be fine, Grandma.

"You seem surprisingly relaxed," Elicia noted.

"What's to be nervous about? We go up, we look good, we put on a show for three countries, and we're married."

"You're right," Elicia shook her head, amused. "Nothing to be nervous about at all." It wasn't as if Minxia or Thrakos was going to back out at the last moment. They'd come a long way to get this far, and neither was the type to panic or get cold feet. They had both been raised to this.

"Though possibly embarrassed if your father cries," Ren said as she reached up and carefully adjusted a curl of her daughter's hair.

"Oh, Daddy won't cry," Minxia objected.

"I don't know," Will's voice came from the doorway. "I'm known to get very emotional at weddings."

Elicia turned, smiling at the dashing figure her son cut as he entered the room. His suit was a light tan, with a silk vest in a green that matched his daughter's gown, but a shade darker, and a diagonally striped tie in the same green and pale blue. He had trimmed his professorial-goatee into something a little neater. His hair, still mostly golden brown, though speckled with silver-white, was still thick and wavy.

Minxia's eyes widened. "Wow, Dad."

"Pretty sharp, huh?" Will waggled his eyebrows. "I couldn't let some slob walk you down the aisle."

"You've never been a slob," Minxia objected.

Elicia stifled a laugh, but Ren didn't bother. "Oh, you should have seen him in college," she told her daughter. "He certainly had his scruffy days."

"I'm pretty sure those ended the day we met," Will teased his wife before he turned his attention back to his daughter. Elicia got out of the way as Will pulled her into a very careful hug. "You look amazing, sweetheart."

"Thanks, Daddy." Minxia's voice filled with emotion as she hugged him back.

Elicia caved, and went for her handkerchief. She wasn't ashamed of her emotions. Today, of all days, deserved tears of joy. Everything was going to be perfect.

"What is taking so long?" Callie complained as she tried to keep her nieces and nephews entertained with a game of go fish with a deck of cards. They were supposed to have left for the wedding already, and what was worse, all of her other female cousins and Gia seemed to have vanished despite orders that they were all supposed to stay in the dining room until Grandpa Ed sorted everything out.

"These things never seem to go quickly," Grandma Winry commented with a tone of long-suffering patience.

"You mean this has happened before?" Callie looked up at her in surprise.

Winry gave her a small smile. "In our family, this kind of thing is pretty run-of-the-mill." She looked up at the door. "Though I'm getting worried. Usually he's solved this kind of problem by now."

"We can't be late," Lia said. "All they have to do is delay us and this will mess up everything."

"But it won't necessarily call off the wedding," Winry pointed out. "Thrakos and Minxia aren't going to let anything to that, not even fussy relatives."

"You think Maritza did it?" Deanna asked.

"Of course I do," Winry replied flatly. "The question is how, and how does she think she's going to get away with it?" A deep, contemplative expression came to her face.

"There's got to be something, and I think it's going to take more than one of us to find out what. Ed's good, but they're only going to show him what they think they can get away with."

"Gloria and Lily are missing," Callie couldn't help blurting out. "Gia too. Maybe they know something?"

Her proclamation made everyone in the room look around, as if in the chaos and the questions no one had noticed the teenage girls were gone.

"That's possible," Winry said. "Whatever the case, I'm not waiting around here. I want to see for myself what's going on."

"Can I come, Granny?" Callie practically jumped to her feet. She was going to give her cousins a piece of her mind for leaving her out of the adventure when she found them.

"Sure," her grandmother nodded. Then she turned to the rest of the family, who was watching her expectantly. Side conversations had gone quiet. "I'm going to go find out what's going on. Everyone here should go on to the wedding without us. There's no rules this old bat can lay down that's going to ruin today. I don't care what kind of threats she makes."

"Are you sure, Granny?" Ian looked like he wanted to come with her, but was sure it would just cause more trouble. "What if she calls the police."

"You think Ed and I can't handle something as simple as the Cretan police?"

Callie didn't think she'd ever seen that particular smile on her grandmother's face before.

Apparently everyone else had. Uncle Ethan was grinning. "You take care of it, Mom. We'll get everyone out of here."

"Good." Winry turned and headed for the door. "Come on, Callie. Let's go cause a disturbance."

::There's no way he found it in here,:: Ed objected as he looked at the drawer the servant had professed to have found the vase in. ::It's too narrow.:: Not to mention the drawer was stuffed with clothes. ::Besides, what was he doing rooting through Ian's things?::

::Looking for a missing vase,:: Maritza replied smugly.

::Going through someone's private things first without a reason to consider him a suspect is cutting awfully close to breaking a few laws, even in Creta,:: Ed pointed out.

::Why wouldn't he be a suspect?:: Martiza asked. ::Everyone is suspect.::

::Even you?:: Ed asked. ::Did they go through your things?::

For just a moment, Maritza hesitated. ::Of course,:: she said. ::They are thorough.::

Ed didn't buy a word of it. ::And just when would it have been stolen and brought here?:: he continued the line of questioning, watching both Maritza and her servant almost-bodyguards closely. ::Ian was out with Thrakos last night. They didn't get in until almost morning. You think they did anything more than come in and pass out?::

::I think the middle of the night is an excellent opportunity for all kinds of mischief,:: she sniffed.

::What about security?:: In a house like this, there was no way the only security around was servants who slept at night. Ed had seen a couple of dogs in the yard, but they wouldn't have barked at people staying at the house.

Winry was good at distractions. She had years of practice at it. So the first thing she did upon leaving the dining room and being told by a young woman in an apron that she needed to return on 'Mistress Maritza's' orders was to laugh in the woman's face (she'd apologize later) and insist that she needed to fetch something from her room (for feminine reasons) and that no one was going to stop her.

The maid reluctantly offered to escort her back to her room herself, to be sure Winry didn't stray. She didn't try to question why Callie was tagging along.

Unfortunately for her, Winry had no intention of being cooperative. She groused loudly as they walked, complaining about the pace, first that the maid was moving too slowly, than that she walked too fast for an old woman—a severe exaggeration.

It was only when they had reached the room that Winry shut the door, leaving only herself, Callie, and the maid in the room. Then she rounded on the woman. ::All right, I want to know what's going on in this house,:: she demanded. ::We don't have time for all this nonsense and you know it. If anything happens that ruins this wedding, it won't just be a family matter, it will be an international incident and could ruin the President politically. Now tell me what you know.::

::Nothing!:: the younger woman squeaked, looking horrified. Her face looked pale over the midnight blue uniform dress she wore. She raised her hands in the air. ::I don't know anything! I was just following m'lady Maritza's orders to search and keep an eye on things.:: The terror on her face was convincing enough. So much for an easy target.

Winry sighed. ::All right then. Will you help us solve this mess so we can get to the wedding before everything is ruined and anyone who complied with Maritza faces being fired?::

That elicited a squeak. ::Of course – Mrs. Elric, but what can I do?::

::You can tell me the best place to hide something in this house if you didn't want it to be found, and you can show us where it is.::

Ethan watched his mother and his niece vanish down the hallway following the maid, then waited for a count of fifteen. No one else seemed to be in the halls now, having followed Ed and Maritza, or wisely vanished. Perhaps they were searching the house to make sure nothing else was missing.

Whatever the case, Ethan was going to do exactly what his mother wanted, and that was get everyone to the cars parked outside and down to the wedding . Even if Maritza did call the police, his parents could keep them busy while the wedding continued. It wouldn't wait for them. Ethan would see to that.

"What's the best way out?" Lia asked softly as Ethan closed the door.

"Probably the servant's hall to the kitchen entrance," Ethan pondered aloud. "Presuming the rest of the staff aren't also inclined to believe everything Maritza tells them."

"What about a good old fashioned crawl out a window?" Aldon suggested. "It's not like these aren't large enough." He thumbed over his shoulder at the large windows facing the garden. "If we go around the hedges, we're not likely to be spotted from inside right?"

"Good enough," Ethan grinned at his older brother. "We can help anyone over who needs it. Come on, everyone, let's get out of here."

"I can't believe we're climbing out of windows," Cassie commented a minute later as Ethan and Aldon opened the large pane so everyone could crawl through –or be handed over in the case of the youngest children.

"Didn't I promise you a life of adventure," Aldon grinned as he helped her over carefully.

Ethan could only imagine this was much harder in a dress. He did the same for Lia. "Get around to the front. As long as we pull away before we're caught, we should be fine."

Lia nodded. "It's not like they're going to shoot at us," she pointed out as her feet rested on the ground on the other side of the window.

"Oh, let them have their drama," Cassie chuckled as she started helping collect the grandchildren. "We need to be quiet," she reminded them in a soft voice.

"And very quick," Deanna agreed as she joined them. "It's like hide and seek, okay? Only the cars are base."

Ethan was impressed that the kids all seemed to understand that instruction. They followed the adults with surprising silence as the family began to make its way quickly across the short stretch of lawn into the tall hedges that ran along that side of the gardens.

Part of him found the entire thing absurd. Most of his family had been in far more dangerous situations, yet here they were sneaking around like captives escaping a hostage situation. He waited until everyone, even the other men, were out the window before following them, and carefully closing the window behind. He took a moment to use alchemy to latch it, so it would look like no one could have left from the inside. With a moment of regret, Ethan wished he could see the look on Maritza's face when his parents dealt with her.

"Is it all right to leave?" Lia asked as they crept around the house. "What about the girls?"

"Lily can handle herself," Ethan replied. "What are they really going to do to her anyway? She's got Gloria and Gia with her at the very least, and this is Gia's house. She doesn't strike me as the type to let her aunt get away with much without her parents around to make her behave."

"She's not," Ian commented softly from just ahead of them. "I don't see this going well for the old bat."

"Will you be quiet back there?" Cal hissed in a very soft whisper. "You'd think neither of you knew how to sneak."

"I don't," Ian retorted. "I'm an actor, not a thief."

"Well act like you're playing a thief and shut up."

Ethan stifled a grin as his nephew looked irritated, but did as Cal said. He felt a little sorry for Ian, on whose head this whole thing was being placed. It probably wouldn't look good if the police showed up and none of them were there, given Maritza was trying to peg Ian –or Urey, but it really looked like Ian- as the prime suspect in an attempted theft. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Finally they reached the corner of the house by the garage, only to find there was one more little problem in their plan.

"No cars are out," Coran commented. He went and tried the garage doors, which proved to be locked.

"Then we walk," Cal commented with a shrug, "Unless someone has change for a bus."

"Better get moving then," Aldon said. "It's not that far."

"Says the man not wearing heels," Cassie said, but she started walking immediately.

Ethan let her lead the way, and just hoped they were out of sight around the corner before anyone who cared looked out a front window.

Gloria had never done something like this, but there was something thrilling about sneaking around the huge house. At the moment all three girls were in a room Gia had told them was the electrical room to the entire house. Everything was wired through it, and that was where the junction box was for every fuse in the estate.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lily asked from behind Gloria and Gia, who had crowded up against the wall and were reading the various switches. Gia was doing most of the reading. Gloria's Cretan wasn't good enough to understand the technical names for anything.

"Maritza threatened to call the police," Gia commented as she ran her finger down a list of identification tags. "If there's no phone, than she can't call, and we have more time."

It was a great idea, to Gloria's way of thinking. Anything that kept her cousins out of trouble and kept the wedding from being ruined was worth trying at this point. They'd found the film, and what seemed like proof of tampering, but they still didn't have a way to prove it, or any idea who had actually moved the vase in the first place. They hadn't found the servant who might know either. How had it been planted in Ian and Urey's room without anyone seeing them? Surely Ian would have noticed it in his clothing when he got dressed, right?

Gloria loved a mystery, but only when she was able to solve it. "That's it!"

"Yep," Gia nodded as she paused and flipped a switch. "No phones."

"No, I mean that's it!" Gloria exclaimed, excitement rising. "Ian never saw the vase, and neither did Urey, right?"

Both of the other girls were looking at her now. "Yeah," Lily nodded. "That's what they said."

"Wouldn't they have seen it while they were getting dressed?" Gloria asked. "If they didn't, than someone had to have planted it after they left the room this morning— or maybe it was never actually in their room at all! If the servant who found it was working with Maritza, than he could have just said he found it where-ever he wanted, or planted it at the same time he went in and "found" it."

"But how will we prove either?" Lily asked, looking interested, but still a little skeptical. "There's not film cameras in the bedrooms, right?"

Gia nodded reluctantly. "Unfortunately, no. They are just in the rooms where the most expensive family heirlooms are." She closed the box and turned around. "Okay. Phones are off. What now?"

Lily and Gia were both looking at her. "When did I become the brains of this operation?"

"Aren't you the one who wants to go into investigative reporting?" Lily replied.

"Okay, okay." Gloria thought furiously. "We've got the film evidence that there was tampering, and that means someone had to know about the recording cameras in the first place. We've cut the phones so no one can call out. Now we need to figure out who was involved which means… we need to start talking to the staff, and I don't mean just the ones we saw involved."

"Won't they know something's up?"

"It's my house too," Gia commented, looking irritated. "Technically, they're supposed to work for me too."

"All right then," Gloria smiled. Way to show some backbone, Gia. "Let's go hunt down a few of the staff and ask some questions."

::There's nothing you can say or do that will change my mind,:: Maritza stated as they made their way back down the hall towards the dining room, at her insistence.

If he had been younger, Ed would have resorted to threats or violence by now. Instead, he sighed inside and refrained from rolling his eyes. They hadn't found any real evidence anywhere, but he also hadn't found anything to disprove Maritza's story yet. Nothing solid that he could give to police investigators to convince them not to take Ian and Urey into custody, or at least delay the party long enough that it would be noticed at the wedding. Ed was beginning to think that was all Maritza was really going for. She couldn't possibly hope to actually pull this off… could she?

::I don't have to change your mind,:: Ed pointed out, ::Because they didn't steal it. It isn't even missing and you can't prove when it was taken or by whom, and you're blaming a man who wasn't even home last night. No one's going to argue he doesn't have a solid alibi unless you can prove it was taken after they all got home last night, and that he was alone.:: Which he wouldn't have been for more than a minute given all of their guest rooms were located on the same hallway.

::You'd do anything to cover for them. Under other circumstances I might find that loyalty admirable.:: Maritza reached for the handle to the dining room door. ::However-::

Ed opened his mouth to ask what but never got the opportunity. Instead, he looked into the room and discovered what had made the woman go silent.

There was no one there.

::Did anyone leave this door?:: Maritza demanded of the servant who appeared to have been standing guard.

::No one, ma'am,:: he replied at once as he stared into the room with her.

Nice vanishing trick. Ed had no idea who in his family had engineered it, but given the set of brains they'd left in that room, he should have expected that they would find a way out. Maritza looked like she might have a fit. ::Where are they?:: she demanded, rounding on Ed.

::How should I know?:: he asked honestly. ::I don't see them, and I wasn't here.:: He wasn't even sure who of his family was still in the building, if anyone. ::They had a swarm of kids with them, so surely the staff would have noticed if they went anywhere.:: Which meant that some of them, at least, weren't going to let the woman have her way around the President's house.

Her mouth twisted as if she might spit on the floor. ::That's it! I've had enough of this. They've fled. What more guilt do we need?:: She crossed the floor, her ring-covered hand reaching for the phone.

Ed lunged for the phone, but it was too late. She had it to her ear and had dialed before he managed to grab it. ::Oh no you don't!::

::How dare you!:: she swung her cane at him, striking Ed awkwardly on the hip even as he spun. She grabbed for the receiver, but Ed had no problem dodging her grasp.
Ed held it out of her hand, putting it up to his ear to see if the call had connected. A moment later, he laughed, and let it go. ::Go ahead,:: he said, grinning. He had no idea if it was dumb luck or not, but it couldn't have come at a better time.

Maritza snatched the receiver. ::Hello? Hello, police?::

::Don't waste your breath,:: Ed smiled, crossing his arms. ::The line's dead.::