Disclaimer: WE DON'T OWN FMA OR FMAB. As much as we wish it otherwise, we don't own the previously mentioned.

Author's Note: This is a co-fanfic. I did not write this alone. I am Ginger Kaga and my fellow writer is practice4morale. Many of you had read her two stories Babysitting the Boss Guy, and Flame Legacy. This goes with the two. This takes place after Ed's encounter with Roy and Riza, but before Nina and Maes's adventure. This is practice4morale's third fanfic, and my first. Enjoy, and please review.

Chapter 1: Homeward Limp

"Spent four years dodging that bastard," I muttered to myself, "and he picks now to make me feel guilty about it."

The train vibrating over the tracks used to be soothing and nostalgic. Now the jostling just hurt my stump. I'd planned on being in Resembool two days ago, but I'd seen Hawkeye and Mustang on the train on my way over and made a detour to ask what they were up to. I should've just left it alone.

Mustang had done something stupid and illegal again and gotten himself shot seven times in the process. Hawkeye was taking care of him like she always did, but his dumbass ways had put him at risk and now the duo was on the run from Drachma's government. Things weren't looking good.

I wanted to help them. I really did. Mustang looked half-dead and Hawkeye looked like she'd been crying. But, come on. What could I have possibly done? My alchemy was gone and my stump had gotten so weak, it couldn't even take Winry's automail anymore. I was walking on crutches, dammit. I couldn't even help Hawkeye push Mustang's chair.

Truth was, I would've just slowed them down. I wasn't the Fullmetal Alchemist anymore. So, I just left. After four years, I left.

Like I'd left Winry.

Damn it! Two years back she'd said she'd spend the rest of her life with me. No matter how you looked at it, that's what she'd said. I'd been thinking about it for almost twenty seven months now. I'd doubt myself, tell myself I was reading too much into that one stupid moment at Resembool Station, but I always came back to the same conclusion. She'd said she would marry me. She'd said it like she'd stubbornly wanted to.

And I'd been gone for two years.

The train came up on Resembool around midday and I wondered a little if Winry would be too angry to let me eat lunch with her. I cringed. She'd probably smile and serve me a pitcher of milk with my food. Oh, well. Guess I deserved it. I still wouldn't drink it.

Everything was so green close to home. I'd really taken that for granted as a kid. I found myself smiling as the train passed the sheep field. Al had always gone crazy over the Sheep Festival when we were little. Didn't get much sheep in the big cities.

The train pulled up to the station and hissed to a stop. I looked out my window. It'd been two years, but I still knew the place like I'd never left. It never changed. Time stopped in Resembool. I grabbed my crutches from where I'd leaned them against the window and rocked forward in my seat. I fought a wince as I came to my feet—foot. I swung my suitcase over the crook of my elbow. I could use a little less change for a while.

Walking up that long dirt path to get to the Rockbell house was enough work with two legs. Going up on crutches with a leg missing was sore as hell. Winry was going to bash my face in with her wrench when I told her I'd had to leave my automail leg in Creta. The end of my stump had gotten too worn to wear automail anymore, and I couldn't carry the leg back by hand in the state I was in.

Honestly, right now the leg was nothing but spare parts in my eyes. It wasn't like I'd ever be wearing that model again. Being in the military those four years had been tough on my body. Didn't really help at how reckless I'd been back then. It was all about act first, try not to die later.

Most of all it was that damn Portal that had done me in. Sure, old wounds were bound to act up sometimes. Mine in particular had never been pretty. But those eventually healed, more or less. They usually got better. But I'd gone through the Portal three times before I lost my alchemy. Forget payments. That was three times of going in and out of hell. That's a lot of stress on a guy's body to begin with. I was a guy with a metal leg bolted into my half-leg. If that wasn't a vulnerability, I didn't know what was.

I hadn't really noticed it at first. Actually, I'd been in denial about it until about a month ago when the leg started bruising black at the end where the dock was secured. But eventually all that wear over the years had caught up with me and I'd been too stubborn to accept the fact that I needed a gentler model. And maybe have my stump re-docked. It made my stomach turn to think about suffering through that part of the procedure again, but it was better than letting my leg continue to get worse until I had to go through the who automail surgery and rehabilitation process all over again.

I couldn't help but think what it would mean to come home to Winry like this and show her the damage. She'd see what had happened and it would take her about five seconds to have it worked out in her head. Five at the most. She'd get that hard look in her eye that told me she'd figured out that I'd be staying in Resembool for a while this time and I'd be depending on her to get me back on my feet.

Two years and I was coming home to ask her to play nurse!

Well, at least I was guaranteed to stay longer than a week this time. She used to hate how short me and Alphonse's visits had been back when I was still a State Alchemist. I couldn't blame her for that. We used to disappear for months, even years at a time, and we'd leave almost as soon as we came. At least we had a good excuse back then.

I came up to the lawn. My pelvis ached from carrying my unsupported stump up the road and my skin was sweating from all the walking, despite the cool air. I stared at the house. It looked smaller now than it had when I was a kid. Still pretty intimidating, considering who was inside. But smaller. Being a grown-up was difficult. Everywhere suddenly seemed too tight to fit.

I thought about climbing the concrete steps to her from door, but the idea didn't seem too appealing after considering that Winry was more than likely to hear my crutches clacking up the steps and knock me off the stairs with her wrench. I stood out front and watched the green front door. I prepared myself for the worst and tried to think of something to say. Something that wouldn't end in the back of my head being bludgeoned with automail tools.

I got nothing.

That is until Den showed up and started barking at me.

Just my luck. Now Winry will definitely know I'm here. Well time to try and shut Den up.