12/1/14: I didn't want this to be Ed and Winry in love - yet. This takes place the winter after the boy's returned home to Resembool and Ed and Winry hadn't yet expressed their feelings to each other. Because they're both dorks about it, I imagine it was a slow, long process of "unintended" courting and flirting during the two years Alphonse recovered. I'd so love it if Arakawa did another manga about that time. I'm sure it'd be filled with family issues, running a home and automail business, dabbles with the military, a few adventures all the while Ed and Winry sidestepped around how they felt for each other. Le sigh.

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Chapter 3: Health

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Alphonse, still clad in Winry's pink apron, ran to the telephone. This small burst of energy left the young man out of breath. He knew their friends in the military would come through and that Dr. Marcoh would be returning Ed's call. He inhaled deeply as his still-thin hand picked up the telephone.

"Hello?"

"Alphonse?" Tim Marcoh's voice garbled over the line-definitely a "patched in" call and most likely Kain Fuery's handiwork.

"Yes! It's me, Dr. Marcoh!" He felt his knees couldn't support him so he sat down in an adjacent chair.

"I understand Ms. Rockbell is ill, influenza?" He cleared his throat. "How long?"

"Yes...for nine days so far."

"Fever?"

"Um, yeah. We cannot get it down. It has been..." His brother's voice interrupted the call.

"Hey Al?" Ed scurried to the top of the stairs still wearing his mask and having not washed his hands yet. "Is that Marcoh?"

"Yes, Brother!" Alphonse was about to finish telling the doctor about Winry's condition when Marcoh interrupted.

"Alphonse, I understand that Winry's grandmother is a surgeon. I need to speak with her, if that's possible?" He hoped this wouldn't upset the boy, but he really needed to speak with the physician taking care of the girl.

"Um, yeah, just a minute." He gently set the receiver by the phone and dashed to the bottom of the stairwell. Looking up and seeing his concerned brother he spoke loudly. "He needs to speak with Granny..."

"Who needs me?" Pinako emerged from her room and started descending the stairs.

"It's Dr. Tim Marcoh, Granny." Ed piped in through his cloth mask. "He's also an alchemist and has one of the last philosopher's stones the military created." He closed his eyes, thankful for the technology that allowed the good doctor to call them all the way from Ishval. "We think he could use it to cure Winry."

"Then I need to speak with him." She closed the short distance from the end of the stairs to the telephone table and picked up the receiver. Al and Ed listened carefully as Pinako gave a precise medical description of Winry's symptoms and the medications she had been given. Then she stood there emotionless as the doctor spoke to her, his words unheard by the brothers. After a long while she sighed and began again. "No, Edward is at the top of the stairs, he's not washed up and should not be around Alphonse until he is."

"Alphonse shouldn't be in that house!" Marcoh's voice carried so loudly that the younger Elric heard. "I treated him before the boys left for home, I know he still in a weakened state."

"No!" Al rushed forward. "Tell, him, tell him Granny!" His sad eyes pleaded. "That I've gained almost thirty pounds since the spring!"

"Thirty pounds of pure muscle!" Edward hollered down the stairwell hearing half of the conversation and proud of the hard work his brother endured to build up his body.

"That may be." Marcoh continued. "But I knew how much he weighed when he left central and adding thirty pounds – he's still underweight for a young man his age. His immune system couldn't last influenza."

"You are correct." Pinako pushed her glasses up. "But, many folks here have been stricken with this illness – there are not many households without a family member sick. There's not exactly many places Al could go. We have him sequestered on the first floor. Ed and I are taking strict precautions..."

"I hope so." He knew there was no talking them out of it. "May I speak with him? With Al?"

"Just a minute." She took the clean tissue she'd been holding and wiped down the receiver and handed it to Alphonse.

"Yes?"

"Al, I can make there in two days. It would be sooner, but unfortunately I'm also treating a lot of people here with what sounds like the same virus."

"That'd be wonderful!" His eyes lit up with the prospect of the alchemist and doctor saving Winry as he did Havoc and Mustang.

"But, I knew Miss Winry. Does she know the implications of using a philosopher's stone? Does she know and is she alright with it? I'm only asking because you brothers, you knew. You both never wanted to use souls, so I'm surprised you've turned to me for help now." He didn't sound unkind at all, he only wanted to make sure that Winry wanted to use the stone.

"I, I never considered what she'd want." Panic surged through the young man's mind. They'd just assume Winry wanted to get well and since medicine wasn't getting her well she'd let them use alchemy. "We are so stupid."

"Go, explain it to your brother and have him ask her. I'll call back in ten minutes to see what you want me to do."

"Alright...thank you." He set the receiver down on the phone and allowed his shoulders to fall. He knew exactly what Winry would want. "Ed!" Alphonse yelled up the stairwell. "I need you to wash up and get down here." His golden eyes met those of the aged woman in his presence. "We have to talk about something quickly."

Edward dreaded the conversation he embarked upon. Having discussed it with Alphonse and Pinako, he trudged upstairs, washed his hands again and tugged the cloth mask from the nail he'd put just outside Winry's door. The young man tied the cloth around his head and turned the brass knob to enter his mechanic's room.

As the door opened, again, he hoped to see her sitting up in the warm glow of the sun. The all-too-familiar sight of her slight form enrobed in blankets and asleep dashed his high hopes. The young man trudged to her beside and sat down in the wooden chair he'd swore to demolish when this ordeal was over. Ed scrutinized the girl's pale face: the last coughing fit forced them to use the oxygen mask instead of the cannula; and despite the fever she chilled and shivered in her sleep. He gently shook her shoulder to rouse her and Winry slowly opened her blue eyes.

The mechanic gazed up at the blond man, a man who lovingly stared down at her. Suddenly overjoyed at seeing him, she smiled and hardly could believe it. It had been years, after all. She remember that smile, every time she had an illness or hurt, that smile made it better. HE made it better. His EYES made it better. The soft blue eyes she also possessed twinkled down with utmost love and affection.

"Dad?"

Ed backed off, stunned at her words. Her eyes were wide opened yet, she behaved as one still caught up in a dream. "No. Winry, I'm not Urey." Edward frowned. He half wished he were her father, the doctor and surgeon. If Urey and Pinako worked together, they'd cure Winry but he had no such illusions of himself, only doubt.

"Oh." She squinted as her father's lovely azure eyes changed. As if someone poured liquid gold into a blue glass, his eyes and then his face morphed back into the owner of the voice she just recognized as Edward. Winry became agitated as she understood the significance of her error. "Ed. Please don't tell Granny or Al." She relaxed a little in her pillow. "I mean, it's the fever. I'm afraid it's affecting my brain." The girl said this with all seriousness.

"I have to tell them, you know that." Ed frowned. "It's a new symptom." He gently rubbed circles in her shoulder with his left hand. "Listen, Win, Dr. Marcoh called...remember I was telling you about contacting him?"

Winry scrunched her nose but happily remembered that conversation. "Yes. He has a philosopher's stone."

"Right. He can be here in a few days to...you know, heal you up using the stone." Ed didn't want to explain it because he knew what Winry's answer was going to be.

"Edward, you, you make it sound like that's not a good thing?" She didn't understand the underlying sad tone of the young man's voice

"Listen. Remember what the stone is made of, right?" His amber eyes searched hers for understanding and he saw it building. "Souls of criminals who had no choice when the military used them to make it." He lowered his eyes. "Souls that serve as the energy for the transmutation that bypasses equivalent exchange..."

"But...but Roy Mustang, and Havoc...you said Marcoh healed them and he's healing people in Ishval with it right now?"

"Yes, he is. But Mustang and Havoc made their own choice to use the souls for their recovery. And, Marcoh says he has an obligation to explain it to his patients not familiar with alchemy so they can make their own decision too."

"And...and he's giving me the same choice." She closed her eyes. "Recover using up unwilling souls or not." Winry turned her head to Edward. "Dummy, did you really need to ask?" The girl smiled.

"Please, Win!" Urgency made Edward lean closer. "Al and I won't think bad of you for it! We don't harbor any hateful feelings for the others, hell, I had to use Envy's philosopher's stone to get out of Gluttony's stomach." He winced at the memory.

"Please. Don't give me that crap." Her anger sparked some hope in the ex alchemist. "You and Alphonse's swore not to use any souls to get your bodies back...I remember so much! Do you think I could be a hypocrite about that belief?" She reached up to squeeze his hand. "I'm sorry if I believe that too." Her smile made his insides squirm with nervous affection.

"We don't like it." Ed huffed and crossed his arms. "Other people are sick in Resembool, Dr. Marcoh coming here to help you could mean he could help others too." He knew it was a long shot, but felt he needed to try to sway her on the prospect of helping others too.

"Then tell him to come, but I've made up my mind." She turned her head.

"Damn it." Ed shot up from his chair. "I'll tell Al." The ringing telephone made them both jump. "Be right back."

Pinako Rockbell made her rounds in the withering garden looking for any edibles they'd missed in harvest. Her basket contained some nice potatoes and some teeny tomatoes and squash the cold weather and rain had not spoiled. Sweat stained her wrinkled brow and she cursed the unusual late October heatwave Resembool suffered. Her porch thermometer read 23 degrees centigrade when she left the house and it sure felt hotter now that she'd worked a little. The surgeon had already chucked the seed corn to her chickens but decided to rest a bit outside their pen. She lumbered with her produce basket to the stump of an old tree her late husband fell some fifty odd years earlier and she sat down with a satisfactory 'oomph.' This particular stump Ed used to split the logs for their fireplace and wood stoves. She grunted at the pile of wood still needing chopping and knowing that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Pinako had lived long enough to know all sorts of hardships and she'd stormed right through them to the other side every single time. She'd lived through the death of her husband and later her son and his wife. She'd helped comfort poor Trisha Elric as she left this world and leaving her wonderful sons alone. She raised the boys as best she could along side Winry. Even the shock of seeing Ed's small body lacking his arm and leg and covered in blood didn't sway her- she just always knew what she needed to do and did it. But now, now the old woman did not want to go back inside the house because she dreaded finding out about her granddaughter's decline.

Nothing ever improved. Winry only grew worse and worse each day.

"Damn it." She swore to her chickens. Pinako didn't want to think of a world without Winry or Winry leaving it before she did. The boy's didn't know these thoughts and she sure as hell wasn't going to let them know. Sometimes, she thought about how Winry's death would affect Edward and Al, mostly Edward. She cursed again, breaking those thoughts up and washing them from her brain. Before she realized what was happening, her cheek felt wet. A tear. She smeared it across her face with the back of her hand just in time to see Alphonse saunter up the dirt road on his way back from the market.

"Granny?" He'd seen it with his own eyes. Never before in his whole life, no matter how bad anything got he'd never ever seen Pinako shed a single tear.

"Oh can it, Alphonse!' The old woman knew she'd been caught and handled it the same way she did everything, right up front. "Just worried about Winry, that's all." She took notice of the boy using his crutch again and pulling the groceries with their cart. "I'm sorry you had to walk all that way, thank you for that, Alphonse." She managed a grateful smile.

"It's nothing...I need to move my legs every now and then." Al smiled back at her as they both strolled toward the kitchen door to make unloading the cart easier. "Hey, did you know Stalwar's Mercantile has a brand new walk in freezer?" The proprietor had been so proud, she gave each customer a tour, including the young Elric. "She has beef, lamb of course, and frozen dinners! Can you imagine, dinners you put in the oven and heat and eat!" He suddenly felt hungry. "She gave me a sample of the ice cream they had delivered, though it's odd to have ice cream in the winter...even as hot as it is today."

"Sounds very exciting."

"It was. I can't help think that Winry'd enjoy checking out the mechanisms to it when she feels better." His optimistic tone betrayed the reality of the girl in the house.

"We'll have to persuade them to let her check it out soon." Pinako truly hoped this would happen.

"Granny, I passed Mr. Brown on the road."

"How is he?"

"Not good." Alphonse cringed, he shouldn't have brought this up but had to tell her now. "His son-in-law passed away last night. He'd asked if Edward could be a pall-bearer. I told him about Winry and he said for Ed not to worry about it."

"Did his son-in law have influenza too?" She knew the answer.

"Yes." Alphonse was thankful Edward made him wear his mask to the store and back. "He said they never could get the fever to come down." Al felt really sick to his stomach.

"Between me and the town doctor, we've seen a lot of people with fevers, Alphonse." She sighed at all the late night calls received since this epidemic hit their tiny burgh.

"Oh."

"We have to be vigilant with Winry and we are doing just that." Indeed, she was proud of the care that Edward had been giving her granddaughter and everything Alphonse did to keep the house running so she and Ed could give Winry that care.

The younger Elric opened the kitchen door and set his crutch inside. He figured he'd be ok to carry in groceries so he and Pinako filled their hands with the brown paper grocery bags and took them inside. After a while of putting odds and ends up in the refrigerator and the pantry, Pinako suddenly stopped and huffed.

"Darn it, left the garden basket at the coop."

"Don't worry, I'll go get it?" Al was out the door without his crutch before the old woman could think twice.

Walking briskly toward the coop and the stump, Alphonse spied the well-worn basket used for as long as he could remember to haul garden vegetables. He plucked it up and turned to walk back to the house when he heard a soft sound from the front. The boy came around the corner and heard someone humming a familiar tune, yet it was one he couldn't quite place. Gaining a closer vantage of the Rockbell house, his stomach fluttered as he found the source. Winry stood on her balcony clad in her white linen nightgown. Her hair lay tangled down to her shoulders with bangs plastered across her sweaty forehead. Alphonse could see the shadow of her dwindling body through the white fabric, she was painfully thin.

"Winry!"

The girl turned to see him, or at least the source of her name. Her blue eyes landed upon his amber ones but Al found no sense of recognition upon her seeing him. For a second they stood there – Winry on the balcony, Al on the ground. Suddenly, the girl crumpled to the floor, like a porcelain doll thrown away by a child.

"Brother!" Adrenaline kicked in and Alphonse shot toward the front door not realizing what happened to the basket no longer in his hands. "Granny!" He ran straight up the stairs and barreled into Winry's room disrupting his brother who had fallen asleep leaning back in his chair.

"What the hell?" Edward screamed as his brother's shouts awoke him. "What's the bid deal?"

"Winry, Brother!" Al stopped just at the threshold and pointed toward the open sliding glass doors.

"Win!" Edward wasted no more time and flew to the body laying on the balcony, scooping her up and depositing her back on her bed. "Winry! Wake up!" He felt her forehead and she burned with fever, hotter than he remembered. Edward grabbed the thermometer and held it in her mouth.

"Ed?" Al entered the room further with much trepidation.

"Get back Alphonse!" Ed's hard glare served to push the younger back to the hallway to watch. Pinako had made her way upstairs and hurried past Al and into the room. She wasted no time wringing a damp cloth and applying it to Winry's head. "How long has she been like this?

"Not a minute, Granny!" Al yelled from the hallway. "I heard her humming and came around front, she fell just as soon as I saw her."

"I fell asleep." He hated himself for that. "She got past me then." He rolled the thermometer around in the girl's mouth to try to read the gauge.

"Don't fret now, Edward." Pinako patted his hand. "Just concentrate on her."

"Forty-one degrees." He felt the bile rising in his throat. This was bad. Really bad.

"We've got to cool her down fast." Pinako turned toward Alphonse. "Can you fill the bathtub up with cold water?" The old woman knew little to nothing about Alchemy other than it often led to horrific endings – such as Edward losing his limbs and everyone almost dying on the Promised Day. But, she knew enough to understand that Al could do something as simple as change cool water to cold, frozen water and that Winry really need that right now. "Can you change it to ice?"

"You bet I can!" Alphonse's golden eyes sparkled. At last he was given a task he could really do to help Winry. He turned on the ball of his foot and scurried the few feet down the hallway to the bathroom.

"Edward." Pinako heard the water running. "I'll need you to carry her and put her in the tub." She moved to the doorway. "Al!" The old woman yelled. "Make sure it's broken up!"

"Got it!" The boy answered.

"I've got her." Ed had the unconscious girl ready. Her body burned in his arms. They heard the water stop running then two separate ringing sounds – evidence that Al had finished the transmutation.

"It's ready!" The younger Elric screamed.

"Get out of there, Al! Hurry and get downstairs!" Pinako was already worried that the boy had been too close to the sick girl, she couldn't risk him in the closed quarters of their bathroom with Winry. "C'mon, Ed get her in the tub."

It took all of of two seconds for the young man to whisk his precious bundle of Winry wrapped in her bed linens into the bathroom and into the tub now filled with ice. His worried eyes searched the girl's face for any sign of improvement but the only response she offered was labored breathing.

"How long?"

"If it's going to work, it will be soon." Pinako brought with her the mercury thermometer and after shaking it vigorously, she plucked it in Winry's mouth. "The problem is that it is just too warm in the house today. I'm not sure this is going to cool her down adequately." She gazed at her wristwatch. A thought shot into her head. "Stalwar's." The woman uttered quietly.

"What?" Ed couldn't hear what she said.

"She needs enveloped in cold." Pinako removed the thermometer and shook her head. "Ice isn't enough, Ed." She showed him that Winry's temperature hadn't fallen. "We need to get her to the walk in freezer at Stalwar's...Al said they just got it."

"Say no more." Ed didn't ask why or how, he just scooped Winry back up in his arms and slung her warm body over his shoulder to carry her safely down the stairs. "Al, stay outta our way!" He yelled, hoping his brother wasn't near. He and Winry were out the front door before Alphonse could even ask.

"Where are they going?" The younger Elric questioned Pinako as she made her way to the first floor.

"The deep freeze at the market. Winry needs it." She made her way to the door. "Oh, crap! I forgot my bag." She turned to go back upstairs, but Alphonse brushed past her.

"I'll get it!"

Run. His mind kept staunch on one thing: running. He couldn't drop the precious bundle slung over his shoulder as he ran toward town. Even wrapped in a thin sheet, Winry's body heat burned the skin on his shoulder. Edward tried to dodge the pot holes and ruts the horse carts made in the dirt road and he was glad his cardiovascular system still worked at peak despite him "lazing about" while Al convalesced. He couldn't let the fever win, couldn't give up on Winry because, well, she never gave up on him or his brother.

"I'm going to be sick." Her voice seemed so small and weak but Ed heard her and slowed down to a stop.

"Here." He gently let her body slide down his own and lowered them both to the ground sitting. "If you need to, go, but make it quick." His eyes were wide with concern as droplets of sweat fell about his face. He'd let his mask fall down to his neck. Without further prodding, the girl retched and wiped her mouth with the sheet.

"Done." She didn't even try to smile.

"Ok." Edward scooped her up with an arm under her knees and the other around her back. "We're almost there." He could see the small cluster of buildings that made up Resembool's "downtown." The boy started running again, this time faster and ignoring the holes in the road. His feet seemed to skim the air just above the dirt as he ran. He realized small movement at his chest and felt Winry's feverish head resting directly on his heart. She nimbly tucked his mask back behind his ears and pulled the white cloth up over his nose and mouth.

"...can't let you get sick too."

"Yeah." He couldn't believe her. Even in her worst, her sickest she still worried about others – worried about him. Before long, Edward could see the shop window of Stalwar's, a window that held a neon-gas filled sign. His heart fell as the sign blazed "closed." Nope. That wasn't going to stop him.

"Son of a Bitch!" Edward cursed as he carried Winry to the glass shop door. He expected her to scold him for his language but when he looked down at her face, she was asleep...or passed out, he couldn't tell.

More gently than before, the young man placed the girl down on the wooden decking in front of the store. He knew she'd be pissed at what he was about to do, but he knew that Alphonse was close behind him and his brother could fix anything he broke. Without much more thought than that, he drove his left leg through the glass door shattering the lower pane. Ed then reached through the jagged glass and unlocked the door.

"Ouch!" The boy yelped as a shard of glass cut his left hand just above this thumb. He knew it would be a minor wound so he turned to pick up his friend and they both entered the store.

The former alchemist had never seen a walk in freezer before. He figured the hotels in Central and the military dining halls had them, but it truly was a big deal for a small town like Resembool to have such a thing. Scanning the back of the store, behind the counter, he spied a heavy-looking steel door and bolted toward it. Ed found the handle and it was blessedly cold. He opened the door, leaving a bloody hand print. Finally, he and Winry made their destination and finding a pallet of frozen food in the center of the room, he carefully spread her body on top and took a seat beside her.

"Winry?" She did not respond. Ed took a ripped edge of her sheet and tore off a strip to bind the cut on this thumb. He didn't want to bleed over everything, after all. It was about this time the young man felt the numbing cold of the room and noticed the vapor of his cold breath. He wasn't quite sure what to do so sat and absentmindedly rubbed her arm.

"Ok, automail freak, I've got your hot head in a freezer...so...so...you better cool off!" Edward wasn't sure where the anger came from he just felt so mad. Not mad at the girl, but he felt angry he was so helpless and normally if he felt that way in the mechanic's presence they fought. Yet now, she couldn't really fight back, so he resolved to have his end of the fight out loud just for the principle of the thing.

"What? Got nothing to say back?" He growled. "Of course you do!" Ed stood up for emphasis and paced the small room.

"Tell me I'm stupid for worrying about you!" Her face didn't move. "Tell me if I'd taken better care of my leg we would have gotten here faster!" Ed barely saw her breath in the cold room. "Call me an alchemy freak!" The former alchemist plopped back down on the edge of the pallet and gripped both the girl's shoulders. "Winry! Please! Call me a name! Hit me with a bag of vegetables!" The young man let his shoulders fall in defeat. He didn't notice the yells and shouts coming from inside the store nor did he see the angry face glaring at his back from the freezer door window.

"What are you doing here?" A mustachioed man holding a garden hoe filled up the open doorway but the young man paid him no heed. "Is that Miss Rockbell?"

"C'mon Winry!" Edward pleaded. "You'd never let me give in to something as stupid as a teeny tiny virus so I'm not gonna let you! I mean, I was ran through with a fucking POLE and I still came home...I came home to you!" He raked his hand through is bangs, his hair growing crispy as the perspiration in it froze.

"Honey, it's Winry Rockbell and one of the Elric boys...something's wrong with her." The man yelled over his shoulder. "Can you get Pinako on the phone?" A woman answered.

"Goddammit Winry! Don't you dare give up!" Edward shouted a the girl's body as if the volume of his voice would scatter the infection from her. "Don't...don't give up..." He let his head fall on her shoulder. "Dont...don't forget all the people who need you! Don't forget the people who need you to make their arms and legs, so they can walk and work and live...like you did for me. Dont...don't forget..."

"Edward?" The boy heard Pinako's voice but he didn't move from Winry. The old woman came into the freezer and placed her warm hand on the back of Edward's neck. She heard Alphonse's sweet voice explaining what happened to the store's owners and that he'd fix the door. "Ed...please let me see her."

"Granny?" The boy moved just slightly aside so Pinako could take Winry's temperature and vital signs. He watched with terror as the woman placed the thermometer in the girl's lips and felt for her pulse. They both turned to Winry as a garbled sound came from the girl's mouth, the words hampered by the mercury thermometer. "What was that?" Pinako answered by plucking the instrument from the mechanic's lips.

"Could'a brought me a coat...Ed. Dumb-ass."

Winry finally conquered that terrible fever and by the time the first snows fell, the horrible influenza epidemic eventually passed over Resembool. Stalwar's Mercantile offered the use of their freezer to anyone who needed it and thankfully casualties remained minimal. Despite caring for the sick girl, neither Edward, Alphonse or Pinako contracted the virus and became ill. However, it took the mechanic nearly three weeks to build her strength back up before she was able to return to her automail work and both she and Al remained painfully thin.

Ed brought in a bundle of firewood and shook snow from his hair. He hung up his coat on the peg by the kitchen door and removed his heavy boots, leaving them in the tray under the peg. The young man smiled as Winry and his brother sat at the kitchen table, the room warm and cozy heated by the glow of the iron stove and the wood he had time to chop before the snow fell. Pinako decided to make red velvet cookies that day, infusing the batter with extra eggs and butter to fatten up her granddaughter and adopted grandson. The younger Elric and the mechanic took turns dolloping the sweet batter on cookie trays with equal parts of batter also deposited directly into their mouths.

"Hey Ed?" Winry ushered the cold young man to sit next to her. "Do you like red velvet cookies?"

"Uh, sure." He smiled back at his family. But before he could burn the happy scene into his memory forever, Winry splat a spoonful of batter on his nose. Alphonse almost squealed with laughter.

"Like them now?" Her smile oozed with mirth, the mischievousness of youth and of health.

"Yeah, still do." He wiped the sweet goo off his nose with his index finger and took a lick, then smeared the remainder, slobber and all on Winry's forehead.

"Oh, it's on, alchemy freak!"

Alphonse nearly peed his pants.

-fin