Author's notes: Well…Here's chapter fourteen! 'Wait!' You say. 'That isn't right! You've only had twelve others – so that makes this thirteen!' Well - I'm not normally a supposititious person, but I didn't want to risk it. For future reference; the real chapter fourteen will be know as 'Chapter fourteen and a half'. Confused yet?

Moving on, I some how managed to get a cold, (Staying up until three in the morning playing poker probably had something to do with it…and I wasn't using real money, so don't call the fuzz – unless you consider candy hearts money – in which case; phone away.) Anyway, my point was; if this chapter sucks. Blame it on whoever gave me this crummy cold. It's their fault. This stupid thing is messing up my brain.

-oo00o00oo-

The silence that followed Gracia's words felt like an eternity. For a second Mustang felt paralyzed. He couldn't move. His heart stopped. For just that brief moment he was aware of being completely emotionless, only a hazy empty feeling filled him. Then the guilt set in. The heavy, sad feeling was almost like an old friend to him by now, and he acknowledged it by taking a deep breath. 'Welcome back' He thought sarcastically. He should have known it was too good to be true, that all his problems couldn't melt away so quickly and simply. Roy swallowed, barley noticing the by now normal lump in his throat. It'd been a long night. He wanted nothing more then to find a nice deep river to jump into; it would feel so welcoming and refreshing. The water would be like ice, it would take away all his problems. He wouldn't be afraid, not this time. This time he'd jump before he could have any second thoughts. Then it could be all over.

Hughes was in too much shock to notice the cold, determined look on Mustang's face, or how the man's fists were clenched defiantly at his sides. He only looked ahead blankly, trying to comprehend. "Say that again…" he asked softly after a minute.

"Y-you're going to be alight." Gracia stuttered again, also failing to catch Mustang's odd behavior. Roy wasn't even sure if they knew he was in the room any more. Hughes seemed to have completely forgotten about him, he was looking at Gracia as if he'd never seen her before. Slowly, a smile crept up his face, growing until he was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm going to be alright!" He laughed, pulling Gracia up and kissing her. "I'm going to be here to see our Elicia grow up! I'm not going to miss a second of it!" He tried to break away from Gracia and moved quickly for the door.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Gracia asked desperately, trying to slow her husband's pace by tugging on his uniform jacket.

"To wake up Elicia! We're going out for dinner!" Hughes exclaimed. With a tug he broke free of his wife's grip and bounded out the open door. Heavy steps could be heard as he thundered up the stairs.

"…But it's late." Gracia pointed out in vain, more to herself, since Maes was already gone. She sighed and looked across at Mustang. "You'll have to excuse my husband…" She tried to explain. "We thought – "

"I understand." Roy said, trying to inject a note of happiness and understanding into his voice. The end effect sounded less then convincing, but Gracia didn't seem to notice.

A moment later Hughes reappeared, a bleary-eyed child rested her head on his shoulder as she clung to him.

"Isn't she the cutest?" He asked Mustang in a whisper.

Roy looked up and immediately regretted it. The sight of the slumbering child stirred up fresh guilt. "Adorable." He managed to get out in a flat tone.

Elicia drew back at the sound of his voice, clutching her father tighter. "Daddy!" She whimpered, hiding her face in his shoulder. Hughes smiled understandingly and bent twisted his neck uncomfortably to look at her. "Don't worry - This man is daddy's friend. His name is Roy Mustang."

Elicia tilted her head slightly to see, still being careful to stay close. Mustang tried to smile, but the effort made him feel sick. After a minute Elicia pulled her head away entirely and fixed him with a puzzled and sleepy look. "Muz-tame" She echoed, trying to say his name. Hughes beamed. "That's right honey!" He gushed affectionately. He turned back to Roy. "I missed her so much already. I didn't think I would be able to stand being away from my angel! And now you don't have to worry about looking after her!"

"Yeah." Mustang grumbled, gritting his teeth.

"I mean – it was really nice of you to agree to – especially seeing as how we'd just met and everything – but now you don't have to have that commitment! I'm not going to miss a minute of my sweetheart's childhood! Not a single minute!" Maes carried on with the enthusiasm of a four year old after eating too much sugar.

Gracia sighed and flashed Roy an apologetic look before turning back to her husband. "You didn't really want to go out to dinner?" She asked Maes, cutting him off from what was undoubtedly another comment about their daughter.

Hughes looked as though the answer to this question was painfully obvious. "Why not!? It's Christmas Eve! We should celebrate!"

"Tomorrow we can have a nice little celebration for – "

"Gracia," Hughes interrupted her before she could finish, his tone suddenly serious. "If there's one thing I've learned from these past few weeks; it's that you can never count on tomorrows. Sooner or later you run out of them."

Gracia knew better then to protest further. She stood very quietly, looking at Maes as if she had never seen him before. "I'll get dressed." She agreed after a minute, smiling slightly. "And then we can find something for Mr. Mustang to wear and –"

"Don't." Roy cut in. "Just the two of you go, I'll stay here with her." He gave a nod at Elicia, who'd fallen asleep again in her father's arms. "I don't feel up to-"

"What!?" Hughes asked in genuine disbelief. "You'd rather be all alone on Christmas Eve then go out to celebrate and enjoy yourself?!"

"I don't think I could."

Hughes didn't seem to understand what Mustang meant by his simple sentence, but Gracia quickly picked up on its deeper meaning.

"Honey, he's been through rather a lot tonight, don't forget about-" She stopped, looking up nervously to catch Roy's eye. "Don't forget about…his arm." She finished awkwardly.

"So he has to eat left handed? That's not going to be to a prob-"

"I don't think he feels like celebrating." Gracia whispered gently, giving her husband a knowing look.

Hughes' face fell as he finally understood. "But that's just all the more reason to go, he needs a good distraction." He looked pleadingly at Mustang. "Sitting around moping won't make things better you know."

Roy avoided his gaze, instead letting his eyes wander around the room, at last coming to rest at the sight of the spilled chicken soup. Fragments of the bowl still scattered the floor, having been forgotten in all the excitement. "No." He took a deep breath. "It won't make things better."

"…Then you'll come?" Maes asked hopefully.

Mustang thought for a minute. Just yesterday he would have given anything in the world to be able to spend Christmas with Hughes, to be able to hear him laugh and joke. Just like in the good old days. There was only one thing Roy didn't like about those happy times, and that was that he hadn't enjoyed them more. He'd only been glooming, constantly dwelling on Ishbal. He remembered thinking that his life could get no worse. He'd been wrong. And yet he'd just kept on doing the same thing over and over. Even after losing Hughes, he'd thought things couldn't possibly become anymore grim, that he'd experienced all the pain he could. Then Hawkeye had been killed. This time would be different though. This time he'd do things differently. Dream or not – he was going to enjoy his time with Maes. Riza could wait. He'd join her soon enough. What difference did a few hours make when all of eternity stretched ahead? He'd go out, enjoy dinner with the whole Hughes family, and then, later…the river…Riza. He looked up, forcing a smile. It was easier then he'd expected.

"I'll come."

"Are you sure you feel up to it?" Gracia asked, trying to make sure he wasn't just going along to be polite.

"No, I'll be fine." Roy widened his smile with a bit of effort and tried to look sincere. "Really." He added, seeing the skeptical look on her face. "Maes is right. I need a distraction."

"If you say so…" Gracia still didn't look convinced. "I'll take Elicia, and then the two of you can go look through your closet, Maes. I'm sure you have something that will work for Mr. Mustang."

Roy almost laughed at how funny 'Mr. Mustang' sounded. He was so used to an official title that anything else sounded foreign and awkward.

Hughes reluctantly allowed Gracia to take the little girl from his arms. "Mommy?" Elicia opened her eyes again as if she'd never fallen back to sleep.

"Don't worry honey." Gracia whispered gently. "Do you want to go out to dinner for a special Christmas treat?"

The child appeared to be in deep thought, her tiny face twisted up as she tried to decide. "Will Santa still come?" She asked solemnly.

Gracia laughed and nodded. "Sure he will sweetheart. You won't be too tired at dinner though?"

Elicia shook her head happily and squirmed from her mother's arms. Gracia set her down and she toddled out the door, yelling loudly; "I wanna wear my sparkly shoes!"