A/N: Has anyone ever wondered about Winry's parents? You could speculate so much with them you know? So here's my version.

Stethoscope

"Granny?" Winry asked, they were working on an auto-mail leg for one of there customers. Pinako grunted in reply.

"What, what was Dad like when he was my age?" Winry asked softly. His birthday had been a couple months ago and it bothered her that she knew so little about him. And her mom too. Pinako straightened from scrutinizing the knee joint of the leg.

"Crazy," she announced sharply, "The boy was a lunatic"

Granny smiled at the memory. "He was always into something"

Winry grinned, she could relate. She had, after all, grown up with the Elric brothers.

"Did you know Dad would be a doctor right away?"

Pinako chuckled, "Yup. It all started with a stethoscope"

Winry raised an eyebrow, "A stethoscope?"

"Mmhm, your father loved the sound of a heartbeat. He started stealing my stethoscope when he was…about five years old I think. Then he'd run around and listen to everything's heartbeat. Our dog's, the neighbors cat, Farmer Johnson's sheep, and even the rooster when he could catch it. Then he got your mother into it--"

"You never told me Dad knew Mom growing up," Winry interupted, lightly surprised by the information.

Pinako grinned around her pipe, "You never asked. Anyway your mother's parents had a home here and lived here during the summer months. Well, that was until her parents got divorced when she was…ten years old, I believe. Then she and her mother moved in there permanently," the old woman explained.

"Oh, I didn't know that…," Winry said sadly.

"Of course you didn't! You never asked," Pinako quipped, "Nevertheless your father introduced your mother to the idea of medicine with that stethoscope he liked so much. I'll never forget this moment either, cause it was the day I started placing bets as to whether or not they'd get married," she chuckled.

"Your father was seven that summer, he had just stolen my stethoscope…again. And this time while I was with a patient too. So I charged after the little twerp. He was just out in front of the house, brandishing that stethoscope as if it were the coolest thing in the world. Your mother was looking at him as if he'd completely lost his mind.

And who could blame her? The kid was in love with a damn stethoscope! He snapped in the earplugs and walked up to her, she looked kind of confused but didn't move. He handed her the end. Heh, no one said he wasn't a gentleman. When she still looked confused, he tapped his chest and said 'I wanna have a listen'. Your grandfather always said that when he listened to a patients heart, so there's no doubt where he got that from," she gave Winry a soft, sad smile.

"Anyway," Pinako sighed, "He had to tell her where to put the microphone end, but she eventually got it right. Normally he would listen close to three minutes but she cut him short my talking into the end and giving him a blast of reality 'When's my turn?' she had said. 'Okay' he said and gave her the earplugs. She was no lady, that's for sure," Pinako smirked.

"She shoved the stethoscope end down his shirt and felt around till she found his heart. Then she listened with such concentration you'd think she was cracking a million dollar safe. Your father's cheeks turned red. And then she looked up at him, smiled, and said 'your heart is beating really fast'. He grinned and said 'The roosters heart sounds best, you wanna listen?' she said yes and they spent the entire afternoon chasing that poor chicken all over the yard," Pinako finished. She smiled nostalgically, staring off into space.

Winry grinned. She grinned the evil, I'm-plotting-something grin.

--

This is why when Ed and Al came home for maintenance a few months later she ran out to meet them, not with the wrench, but with a stethoscope. Ed cringed expecting the worst. But instead of a wrench to the head, Winry shoved the end of the stethoscope down his shirt. She concentrated on the sound as it quickened drastically.

"W-Winry? What are you doing?" he asked, his cheeks were red and he was obviously flustered.

"Hey Ed?," she grinned up at him, "Your heart's beating really fast"

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Sorry about all the "he's" and "she's" but i only know Winry's mothers name which is Sara. says so in volume 15 of the manga. i'm not sure i like this one anymore...the idea seemed sweeter in my head for some reason. constructive critism is welcome (and wanted).

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