Beast From 'Beauty and the Beast' Steps In for Deployed Dad at Father-Daughter Dance

The little girl was shocked.

A Texas Pre-K student got a special surprise date for her school's daddy-daughter dance when her father couldn’t be there.

Gracee Nelson, 5, was ecstatic when she learned her school was having the Beauty and the Beast-themed dance, but was heartbroken to learn that her father, Christopher, who is currently working in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army contractor, would not be taking her.

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“I had to break it to her that her daddy wasn’t going to be able to make it," Lanya Nelson, Gracee’s mom, told InsideEdition.com. "Once we saw her reaction, me and my husband tried to figure out a solution.” 

Nelson said that other members of their family live hours away so there was no one to step in.

“I thought since the theme was Beauty and the Beast, what if we hired the beast as a costume character?” Nelson said. “We contacted an event company in town. The owner was so welcoming to the idea.”

And on the day of the dance last week, “Beast” surprised Gracee in the hallway of her El Paso elementary school.

“Her face just lit up she was so happy. I have never seen my daughter that happy,” Nelson said.  “He escorted her into the dance and all the kids were like, 'Oh my god!'"

Little Gracee even got to FaceTime her dad during the dance and he watched her dance with her beastly beau.

“The beast was a huge hit," Nelson said. "All eyes were on her so she felt like the most beautiful person there."

Read: Mom Creates Enchanting Photos of Her Daughter as a Disney Princess

Nelson said her daughter is still adjusting to the idea of her dad being gone for the next year but they were happy to give her that special moment.

“We were able to make lemonade out of lemons with our situation and still make a girl smile even though her dad wasn’t there,” Nelson said.

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