Title: Picking Up the Pieces
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Rating: T (for language) - may be changed later depending on the degree of citrus
Pairing: EdWin
Summary: A short fanfic based throughout the Brotherhood series, in which Ed says something a little insensitive to Winry, and she's afraid he's going to make good on his promise.
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or anything associated with it. Just writing this for shits and gigs folks.

A/N: Yay, another chapter up, one more to go! Though, I've gotta admit, this isn't really going the way I'd planned. So, in the forseable future, I may update these chapters a bit and change the story line around, but for now, I give you chapter two of "Picking Up The Pieces"

Enjoy and review! (Thanks to those who have reviewed so far, you're awesome!)

Edward could feel his best friend's anger through the telephone as he explained his request. His right arm was busted again, and he was hoping Winry would make a service call to Central for emergency maintenance. To his surprise, she'd agreed with little resistance, though she made up for it with her temper.

Seeing her would be worth the beating he'd receive for desecrating his automail again.

"You ruined my automail again, you moron! When I get to Central, you're in for it, alchemy freak!" she'd shrieked. Ed cringed and pulled the receiver away from his ear, giving her time to get her out of her system. When he returned the receiver to his ear, he was met with silence.

"Winry, you still there?"

He heard her sigh softly in his ear, and felt a warm heat spread over his neck and cheeks. Hearing Winry's voice so close had disoriented him more than usual. His mind instantly took him back to their last goodbye, when she had clung to him so tightly, every part of her body pressing against his and-

Not the time, Ed, he scolded himself. Definitely, not the time.

"Just tell me how to get there, Ed."

After the initial shock of seeing Ed in a hospital bed, bandages wrapped around his torso and head, had subsided, Winry went to work. They'd gone through this routine so many times, she didn't even have to ask Ed to position his body anymore, he knew exact what to do. So there was no reason for him to feel flustered or nervous, but Ed couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something was different this time.

Winry was overpowering his senses. She was touching him everywhere, her fingertips dusting over his collarbones, light as a feather. Who knew that a mechanic's touch could be so soft? And her hair; though the majority of her blonde locks were held back in a black band, stray pieces brushed over the exposed skin of his chest, scattering goose bumps in its trail.

She was invading his vision: everywhere he looked, she was there. Or rather, he couldn't stop looking at her. When had she gotten so pretty? It was like she'd become a girl over the past few years without Ed noticing until that moment. Her face had definitely matured; she'd lost some of the innocent roundness he'd tease her for relentlessly as children, her lips seemed fuller, and they looked soft as satin. Ed could only imagine how they might feel against his own. But that was a thought he needed to rid his mind of, quickly.

Her scent was something else entirely, and he couldn't avoid its ambush as she leaned over him to tighten screws on his shoulder. She smelled familiar, like grease and Winry, and something else. Citrus, maybe?

"You smell nice."

The words had left his mouth before his mind could process what had come out. Winry sat back and looked at him skeptically, as if she was expecting some sort of follow-up joke at her expense.

"Stop looking at me like that, Winry! Jeez, can't a guy compliment a girl once in a while?"

"You never compliment me, Ed. It's strange." She pushed a wayward piece of hair back from her face and tried to tuck it behind her ear, only to have it fall forward into her eyes again.

"Well, I'm doing it now!" He huffed and tried to cross his arms, but since only one of his arms was mobile, it just ended up flopping against his chest listlessly.

"Thank you," she said from beside him, so softly that he wasn't sure if he had imagined it until he looked at her face to see a light blush sweep over her cheekbones and a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Ed wished he could bottle that image and keep it tucked safely away with him for the rest of his life. When he started feeling his face warm, he looked away, and Winry resumed her ministrations on his arm. He couldn't believe he was reacting like this over Winry.

Winry, who he'd shared a bath with, multiple times, as a toddler. Winry, who he'd climbed trees and had mud fights with. Winry, the tomboy, was turning into a woman.

And Ed didn't know how to feel about it.

Alphonse saved him from his thoughts as he made his way into the room, followed by a familiar face.

"Yo, Ed my boy! Is it true you brought a pretty blonde girl into your room to service you?" Hughes shouted, loud enough for the entire wing of the hospital to hear.

Embarrassed beyond compare, Ed vehemently denied Hughes' statement. "She's my automail mechanic! That's all, nothing more!"

"Oh, I see. You've seduced your mechanic, have you?"

Ed could tell this hospital stay would be beyond uncomfortable.

When Winry returned to the hospital the next day to put some last minute touches on Ed's automail, she found him to be in one of his sour moods. She could only guess that being forced to rest in bed for the past few days has made him stir crazy, and she seemed to be right. He was testy, and all too-willing to vent that frustration into arguing with Winry. There were no others in the room, since Ed and Winry scared off Alphonse, Ross and Brosh when the insults started flying. They were too focused on each other that they didn't even notice.

"It's not my fault your automail crapped out on me! It just stopped working, how is that my fault?"

"Oh, so now it's my automail?" Winry retorted. Ed always knew which buttons to push, but she knew for a fact that this time, it was her fault. She'd forgotten to insert a screw when she installed his new arm, but if he had tested his automail the way she showed him, he would have noticed.

"Maybe, if you kept up with your maintenance while you were away, this wouldn't have happened!"

"I did!"

Winry gave him a look.

"Okay, I didn't!"

"If you don't make some adjustments this will happen again, Ed! You need to be more careful!"

Winry felt like they were having the same argument, over and over again. Their last argument in Resembool was too heated for Winry, and left them both feeling upset and hurt. Things were tense between the two, and she hated it. The way Ed had squirmed while she worked on his arm yesterday was proof of her worries. He was uncomfortable around her now, and they couldn't seem to carry a conversation the way they used to. Tempers flared, hurtful words were passed between them, and neither apologized. It was taking a toll on their friendship. Ed was her best friend. She couldn't lose him, ever.

A part of her wished that he could be more, but she knew he wasn't ready for that admission. He was too focused on getting Al back in his own body, that he didn't even care about himself or what he wanted.

So Winry would wait. Just like she always did.

"Jeez, Winry. You really get on my nerves sometimes."

She felt her heart constrict in her chest. It was so easy for him to hurt her. He didn't even know he was doing it, really. She'd heard those words, thousands of times, under multiple different circumstances. But none hit her as hard as this time. He sounded so tired.

Of her.

Feeling the familiar sting of tears in her eyes, she blinked them back fiercely and stayed quiet, afraid that if she spoke, her voice would crack and give her away. The last thing she wanted was to look weak in front of Ed; that would just give him more incentive to keep her in the dark. She knew he worried about her, but she didn't know why he kept everything from her. Wouldn't it be easier for him to share his burdens with someone? She wanted him to rely on her more, but crying would get them no where. So she sucked in a breath, tightened her grip on the wrench handle, and began to lift it, when she remembered his promise from their last meeting.

Winry, I swear, if you hit me with that wrench one more time, I will never come back.

She released her grip on the wrench as if it had burnt her, feeling the blood drain from her face. That sentence haunted her for weeks following her best friend's departure from Resembool. She'd had the same dream, multiple times, about Ed walking down the dirt road away from the Rockbell shop, never flinching or looking back at the sound of Winry's broken voice, calling his name, pleading with him to return. She'd wake to a tear stained face, her body trembling as if she'd gone into shock.

Winry quickly lunged to pick up the fallen tool, as if grabbing it quick enough would mean it didn't happen, that Ed didn't see it. But he did, and his face twisted into a mask of concern.

"Win, are you alri-"

"I'm fine, Ed. Just shut up. I don't feel like arguing with you anymore."

And that was the end of their fight. Winry adjusted a few screws, oiled his joints, and wrote him a clean bill of health. His 'thank you' fell on deaf ears, as Winry threw her belongings into the tool box, and nearly sprinted out the door. She knew that if she spent another moment in that room with him, the waterworks would begin.

So she ran, down the wing of the hospital, through the streets of Central, to Hughes' house, where she crawled into bed under the blankets, and let the tears flow freely, wondering if things would ever be normal between them again.

A/N: Review and let me know what you think! I love your feedback!