Chapter 1

Winry sat at her desk tinkering on an automail leg with Den sleeping at her feet. She's been working all day on trying to make it as one hundred percent perfect as was possible. Finally, she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand while looking over her work.

"Perfect! This is my best work ever!" Her eyes gleamed with self approval and pride. She gently ran her fingers over the gleaming metal leg she made for Edward. Even though he was no longer a state alchemist, he was bound to get into some kind of trouble and need a new leg, as reckless as he is.

It's been over six months since Edward and Alphonse left to research more about alchemy and alkahestry. While Alphonse has sent at least one letter every week and called once, Edward has been more negligent of Pikako and Winry. He had only sent one letter that really only said that he was alive, and that was over two months ago! Even though he's the older brother, Edward is the least responsible of the two.

"Stupid Ed..." Winry mumbled to herself as she wrapped up the leg.

Winry stood up and stretched from her hours of working on the new leg. Den got up with her and stretched as well. Winry crouched down and began scratching Den behind her ears, getting licks on the cheek as a reward. After another minute of this, Winry stood back up and walked down to the livingroom. Granny was gone visiting an old friend for the day and was going to stay overnight there, and since no one was scheduled for an appointment today, Winry was bored out of her mind.

So she grabbed a random book about automail off the bookshelf and stretched herself out on the couch to read it for a while. But after a while, she fell asleep.

Winry woke up to find that it was nearly dark outside. The last bit of sun asw just about to go below the horizon.

"Great. I'm awake just in time to go to bed." Winry mumblesd. Even though she slept for several hours, she was still exhausted.

Winry sat up on the couch and yawned while stretching her arms up high, her black tank top moving to barely show her belly button. She got up and walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. When she's done, she refilled Den's food and water bowls. Den waged her tail at her before lapping up some water, droplets spilling over the edge of the bowl.

"Night, Den." Winry patted Den on the head one last time before heading up to her bedroom. By then it was completely dark but she didn't bother to turn on any lights. She knows this house so well she can find anything she needs with a blindfold covering her eyes.

Winry reachedthe top of the stairs without any mishap. When she opened her bedroom door, she heard the familiar creak that comes with it. Without bothering to change, she plopped herself down on her bed.

Almost on her bed, that is.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" A man's voice, the man she had just laid on, yelled as he sat upright, throwing her off the bed.

"ACKKKKK!" Winry instinctively ran to her nearby desk and grabbed the wrench she had sitting on it, throwing it at the man in her bedroom. She was rewarded with the satisfying sound of the wrench hitting her target with a big CLUNK!

"Oh, damn!" The stranger was thrown back down on the bed by the force of the wrench.

Winry ran over and turned on the lights to get a better view of the intruder.

"Six months and you haven't lost your touch for throwing that damn thing..." The intruder was sitting up again, brushing aside his golden locks of hair and rubbing where the wrench had done its toll.

That voice... it sounded familiar... "Ed?" Winry ventured, taking a few steps to the side to be able to see his face.

Edward looked up at Winry, his golden eyes squinted in pain. He smiled at her. "Hi, Win-"

"ED!" Winry cut him off as she tackled him with a hug, making them both topple over on the bed.

Ed felt his face grow hot as Winry laid on top of him, her head buried in his shoulder with her arms wrapped around his chest.

Before Ed could react, however, Winry had jumped up and grabbed her wrench again.

WHACK!

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL OR WRITE?! ME AND GRANNY WERE WORRIED SICK OVER YOU?!"

"Winry-" Ed sat up again and rubbed his head

WHACK!

"WHEN YOU LEFT YOU SAID YOU WOULD CALL WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO COME BACK HOME, BUT YOU NEVER EVEN CALLED ONCE! ALL WE GOT WAS ONE STUPID LETTER THAT BARELY EVEN SAID YOU WERE ALIVE!"

WHACK!

"AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?!"

"STOP TRYING TO KILL ME FOR A MINUTE AND LET ME EXPLAIN, WINRY!" Edward sat up on the bed again.

"YOU COULD HAVE CALLED ONCE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! YOU ONLY EVER COME HOME FOR AUTOMAIL REPAIRS AND-" Winry stopped in the middle of her rant. She had automatically looked down at Ed's automail leg.

Actually, she looked down where it was supposed to be.

Winry reached out and poked Ed's left pant leg with her wrench, just to be sure that it was really gone.

Her wrench ended up poking the soft bed through his pant fabric.

"Winry..." Ed slowly scooched backwards on the bed away from the boiling mechanic in front of him.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TRAVELING AND RESEARCHING! NOT GETTING INTO FIGHTS! ALL OF MY PRECIOUS AUTOMAIL IS GONE!"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, OK?!" Ed tried to explain himself.

"AN ACCIDENT?! HOW DO YOU 'ACCIDENTALLY' DESTROY YOUR WHOLE LEG?!" Winry's wrench hand was shaking with rage.

"WINRY!" Edward, not wanting another blow with that stupid wrench, automatically reached out and grabbed the hand that was holding the wrench. "Just calm down for a minute, Winry!"

Winry huffed. Then she looked down at her hand. Ed followed her gaze and realize that he was holding her hand! He had done it to stop the wrench, but he hadn't let go!

"Er..." Edward quickly let go of her wrist, his face a deep red.

Winry sighed. He was such an idiot. The last time they had seen each other, he had kind of proposed to her, yet here he was acting like nothing had happened.

Winry's face turned red as well. He...had... proposed to her? Well, yes... it could be viewed as a proposal if you put it in a certain light... or maybe more of him just declaring his love for her... nope. Not better at all.

Winry blinked several times to clear her head. "Well come on then, pipsqueak. We have to get you a new leg."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PIPSQUEAK?! NOW I'M TALLER THAN YOU SO YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT!"

"Well at least right now I'm taller than you for the moment." Winry smirked.

It was true as Edward was sitting down and Winry was standing up. But really, Edward had grown much taller than Winry.

"Now come on, we have to get you yet another new leg." Winry sighed.

Edward reached over and grabbed a crutch, leaning against the wall, that Winry hadn't noticed before. Edward put the crutch under his left arm and stood up shakily. Winry led the way to her workshop. Within minutes, Ed was laying down on the table he always lain on in only his boxers. Winry was holding up the leg she had been working on to see if it would fit him. While she was inspecting her handiwork, Ed was trying not to wriggle around nervously. He can't help but remember at the train station when he had left for the west.

He had meant it when he had told Winry he would give her half of his life, but now... he really didn't know what to do. He was no good with words, and really all he knew how to do was fight and alchemy. And he couldn't even do alchemy anymore! And he doubted that fighting would help him solve his problems with his mechanic.

Winry groaned. "What did you do to destroy your entire leg?"

"Seems like you don't really mind since you already had a new leg ready for me." Edward smirked.

"BECAUSE YOU'RE A RECKLESS IDIOT!" Winry slammed the metal leg she was holding down on the table.

"I TOLD YOU! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! I DIDN'T MEAN TO DESTROY MY LEG! HOW MANY TIMES TO I HAVE TO SAY IT?!" Edward yelled back at her.

"YOU DON'T HAVE ALCHEMY ANYMORE SO YOU SHOULDN'T BE GETTING INTO MORE TROUBLE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE! YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!" As Winry yelled this Edward noticed that her eyes were welling up with tears. He immediately softened.

Edward propped himself up on his elbows. "Winry..." His hand automatically reached out and cupped her face, his thumb gently stroking her cheek. "Don't cry, ok? I'm sorry"

Winry didn't say anything. She nodded her head slightly as she began to silently cry.

Edward brushed away her tears as gently as he could. Her face felt so soft and warm... he hated to see it stained by her tears. Tears he had made her shed.

After a few minutes, Winry looked up at Ed. Somehow he had gotten closer. A lot closer. Now he and Winry were only inches apart. She couldn't help but glance down at his lips, imaging what they would feel against her own...

Den started barking, breaking their trance. Suddenly Ed noticed how close he had gotten. His face turned scarlet as he scooted away, his hand dropping away from Winry's face in embarrassment.

Winry's face immediately felt colder as his warm hand dropped away. She missed the bubble of warmth that he seemed to be surrounding him at all times.

Winry gave Edward a small smile at his embarrassment, then continued working on attaching his automail leg.

"I'm going to connect the nerves." Winry warned him, her hand hovering above the lever. "You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Edward balled his hands into fists ahead of time.

After Edward took a deep breath, Winry turned the lever as quickly as possible.

Edward's brow scrunched up in pain and grit is teeth in pain. But amazingly, the only sound he made was a very loud groan that was building up to become a scream. Finally, it was finished. Edward was still in pain, of course, but now he only grit his teeth and gripped the sides of the table.

"You ok?" Winry asked.

"Of course." Edward said sarcastically. "I just got my nerves connected but hey, never better!"

"Oh, shut up already!" Winry would have slapped him or hit him with her wrench, but he was enough pain already.

Then there was an uneasy silence, both of them deep in their thoughts. Unfortunatly, Ed had decided to go into deep thinking while he was looking at Winry, so it seemed like he was staring at her. Winry soon noticed.

"What?" She snapped at him.

"Oh, er... nothing. Sorry." Edward blushed.

Winry rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll go get your bedroom ready." She stood up and began to leave.

"Wait!" Winry's hand was about to land on the doorknob. She turned around.

"What, Ed?"

"I'm fine, let me do it." Edward swung his legs over the edge of the table. But as soon as his thigh hit the table a little too hard he grimaced.

"No, I got it." Winry exited the room.

Edward sighed, frustrated. He banged his right hand on the table as hard as he could. Not a smart move as that hand is no longer automail. He groaned, holding his bruised hand. Ed waited another few minutes for the rest of the pain to go away. Then he stood up, got dressed, and walked up to the bedroom where he and Al always stayed.

Winry was just dropping the pillow on top of the neat bed. Ed walked up behind her.

"Winry?"

She jumped and spun around, ready to hit him. When she saw that it was only Ed, she relaxed a bit, but not much. "Yes?"

"Thanks for the leg."

"Yeah. Just..." Winry clenched her fist, being silent for a moment. She sighed as she relaxed her hand. "Be more careful, ok?"

Ed smiled slightly. "I wasn't looking for trouble. Trouble just seems to come to me."

"Yup." Winry wouldn't look Ed in the eye.

Edward could tell that something was bothering his best friend. "Winry. What's the matter?"

She was intent on looking at the floor. She replied in barely a whisper, "you're not going to be here tomorrow morning, are you?"

A sharp intake of breath. Winry scoffed. "I thought so... you never stay."

"Winry..." Edward gently placed his hand under her chin and tilted it up, forcing her to look him in the eye. He could tell that she was about to cry again. "I promise that I'm not leaving tomorrow." Winry looked surprised.

"Y-you have research to do, and plans that you were in the west..."

Edward smiled. "I was going to come back here for a visit soon anyways. When I lost my leg, it just gave me a reason to come sooner. I might even stay longer then I planned to."

Even as a single tear started its way down her face, Winry was smiling as big as she could. Without any warning, she wrapped her arms around Ed in a big hug.

This hug lasted for several minutes without Winry attacking him with her wrench. When they finally let go of each other, it was only because Ed could tell that Winry was falling asleep.

Winry was about to fall down, so Ed helped her, although it was almost carrying her, back to her own bed. She was comfortably under her covers and Ed was leaving the room.

"See you tomorrow, Ed." Winry said softly.

When Ed turned around, Winry was already asleep. He chuckled. "See you tomorrow."

I will try to update as soon as I can. But I won't if no one reviews or even reads this story. So R&R! I hope you enjoyed it!

Sorry about the past-present tenses being mixed up, but I fixed them!