Well, you knew it had to happen sometime. Yup, that's right, agent000 and I are coauthoring a fanfic. Heh heh heh… Keep up with us, and you're in for one heck of a ride! Oh, and my author's notes will be in italics and agent000's will be in bold if she puts them in.

Well, unfortunately, I still have yet to find a garage sale that has Fullmetal Alchemist for sale cheap, so I still don't own it. And considering that it's winter, I probably won't find a garage sale for quite some time.

I grinned and folded my arms behind my head as the train started slowly pulling out of the station, gaining speed as it went. I then looked over to Al, who was staring out the window hungrily at the passing fields.

"Hey, Al," I said, and he jerked to look at me. "Calm down, would you?" I sighed, trying to sound as reassuring as I could. I knew that I wasn't very good at it, but Al would understand me. He was my brother, after all.

"Come on," I pressed. "We're going back to Reisenburgh. We'll get to show Winry that you actually have your body back."

"But not yours," Al sighed as he turned to stare out the windows again. "I still think we should have kept trying to find another stone so we could get your body back. It's not fair."

"Al, you know how long it took us to get the first stone," I sighed exasperatedly. We had been over the same subject multiple times, and Al still didn't seem to get it. "I'm fine with my automail," I assured him.

Deep down, I knew that if we did go searching for the stone a second time, Al would just end up following me when I knew that he really wanted to settle down and have a normal life. I owed him that, at the very least, even if it wasn't what I really wanted to do. I knew I could deal with staying in one place for Al's sake. At least, for a couple of years.

"You're sure?" Al asked worriedly, looking back at me briefly. I smiled and nodded back at him. Sure, my automail could get a little annoying (and painful) at times, but it also had its benefits. I had never been able to make a weapon with my flesh hand. And I could throw some mean punches with my right hand. Al sighed and turned back to looking out the window.

"Hey, Brother?" he asked after a bit of hesitation, and I looked at him curiously. "Do you mind if I open this window a bit?" I shook my head, wondering why Al was so interested in the outdoors. He didn't usually act like this.

Then again, he didn't usually have skin to feel the breeze with. I grinned at my younger brother, and he grinned back before sticking his face close to the window. I laughed, glad that he was finally able to enjoy simple pleasures like the wind whipping across his face.

"I can't wait until we get back to Reisenburgh," Al sighed as he leaned back in the train seat. "Once we visit Winry, you and I should go for a nice long walk."

"A walk?" I repeated disbelievingly, raising my eyebrows slightly as I looked at Al. What had gotten into him? Sure, I went for walks on my own all the time, but those were always by myself and on a spur of the moment.

"Sure," Al smiled at me excitedly. "We could enjoy all the nice scenery. Reisenburgh has so many nice hills and trees."

Hills? Trees? I concluded that Al had lost his marbles. Usually he was excited to see Winry and Auntie again, not hills and trees. But then again, we never did really have time to just enjoy the beauty of Reisenburgh; we were usually on a tight schedule that didn't allow time for enjoying the scenery. I realized that maybe Al was right. Maybe it was finally time to calm down and take a few deep breaths. If anyone deserved it, it was us, right?

"Alright," I said hesitantly, and Al's grin widened even more. I smiled back, realizing that any walk was definitely worth it just to see him smile like that. Something about his smile just made me feel good deep down inside. Maybe it was the pleasure of making my brother happy; maybe it was because deep down, it secretly reminded me of my mom's smile. Either way, I would do anything just to see him smile like that.

"So, you wanna play cards?" I asked challengingly.

"Uh, sure," Al said, managing to tear his eyes away from the window again. I excitedly reached into my pocket for the pack of cards. I loved passing the time by playing poker.

"Huh. That's weird," I muttered as my fingers brushed against nothing but air. I reached my opposite hand into my other pocket, but still felt no cards. "I could have sworn I put them in my pocket," I muttered, bending my head down to look under the seat. All I came across was an old wrapper and dust.

I grumbled under my breath and pulled out my suitcase, quickly sifting through the contents. I always kept my cards in my pocket for train rides like this, so I had no clue where else to look. I was starting to think I must have dropped them on the road.

When I snapped the suitcase closed again, I noticed the mischievous smirk Al was trying desperately to hide. He squirmed slightly under my gaze, and I had a pretty strong feeling I knew where my cards had gone.

"Al, do you know where my cards are?" I asked innocently. He squirmed again, and I barely caught him managing to hide another smirk.

"Cards? What cards, Brother?" he said in a voice that was dripping with sweetness. It might have fooled someone else that didn't know him as well, but not me, oh no. And I wasn't about to just let this go, either.

"My cards," I persisted with a grin. Two could play at his game. "The ones we use to play poker on the train. Do you know where they are?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Al replied innocently, his eyes dancing in amusement. I rolled my eyes at the comment, knowing that just the opposite was true. I looked Al over quickly and noticed a square lump in his pocket.

"Yeah right, you little liar!" I growled with a grin before leaping towards Al. Al shrieked in protest and tried to push me away, but I had already managed to worm my left hand into his pocket. I felt the familiar rectangle pack of cards between my fingers and triumphantly pulled it out before backing away from Al.

"That wasn't fair," Al grumbled with a slight grin as I started shuffling the cards. I rolled my eyes and dealt us each a hand. As soon as I was clutching my five cards, I snuck a peek at Al. His face was drooping with disappointment, and I could barely keep myself from showing my excitement on my face. Now that Al wasn't in a suit of armor, beating him was going to be a snap. He'd never been very good at hiding his emotions.

We both took our turns trading our cards, and I was doing my best to keep my face calm. I'd gotten a good hand for once without cheating to get it. And judging by the look on Al's face, he hadn't gotten a good hand.

"Full House," I said proudly, revealing my cards to Al. Al's expression suddenly changed to a triumphant smirk, and he showed his cards to me. I could practically feel my mouth drop open in surprise.

"Royal Flush," he told me triumphantly, even though I could see the cards perfectly fine myself.

"Wha-? How did you-?" I stuttered, looking at Al disbelievingly. I had never seen him hide his emotions so well. Even when he was in the armor I could usually pick up on how he was feeling, but that time he'd had me completely fooled.

"Now arriving at Reisenburgh station!" the intercom cackled, interrupting me out of my confusion concerning Al. I shrugged and quickly packed up the cards, (making sure to put them in my pocket) then grabbed the suitcase and stood to leave.

Al and I were both off the train almost as soon as it had ground to a stop. I sighed as the familiar country air washed over me, cleansing my mind of all the large dirty towns we had been staying at recently. Here it was just so much cleaner and nicer, and just, well, better. I looked over at Al, and by the expression on his face, I figured he was feeling about the same way I was. It really was good to be home.

"Well, come on," I said after a silent minute or two. "Let's go show Winry and Auntie the good news." Al nodded and followed behind me silently.

Twenty minutes and three cups of tea later (okay, more like two since I hadn't touched mine), we were sitting in the Rockbell living room quietly. I was secretly hoping that Winry had finally finished with the waterworks. Her crying always made me get antsy.

"So Ed, if you still have your automail, I'm guessing that you want me to fix it up, huh?" Winry asked, rubbing at the corners of her eyes. I nodded gratefully. Automail would definitely distract her enough so that she wouldn't cry anymore.

"Okay, let me see," Winry sighed, motioning me over. I quickly walked over to her and let her roll up my sleeve. She was silent for a moment as she examined my arm, twisting it around to see it from different angles. She then pulled a wrench seemingly out of nowhere and whacked me on the head with it.

"Edward Elric!" she yelled angrily at me. "I slave to make you a masterpiece and this it how you treat it?! Look at this! Your arm's absolutely covered in dents! And it's filthy! And I don't think you've oiled this for at least three weeks!"

Four, actually, but I wasn't about to tell her that.

"Hey, at least it's all in one piece!" I yelled back, feeling my anger rising quickly. I had worked hard to make sure my automail wasn't destroyed completely, and now she was going to treat me like this?

"Yes, but it's just one step away from being in pieces!" Winry yelled back angrily.

"No it's not!" I retorted angrily. "It's working perfectly fine, see?" I raised my hand in a fist to show her just how well my arm was working. Stupid girls, they see one little problem and they freak out.

"Stop making problems less important than they really are!" Winry scolded, shoving me backwards onto the couch. She then pulled off my glove, pushed my sleeve up my arm, flipped a few switches and yanked out my arm forcefully. I winced, not from pain, but from the thought that her 'masterpiece' wasn't going to go back in as nicely as it came out.

"Did you have to take that out?!" I said angrily. I could remember plenty of times where Winry had done her maintenance with my automail still attached to my shoulder.

"Yes, I did," Winry said firmly. "This is way too messed up for me to work on it otherwise; I'm going to have to completely rewire it. And if not for that, then to teach you a lesson." I paled and sank backwards into the couch. Winry could be really scary when she wanted to be.

"Oh, and Ed?"

"Yeah?" I looked at her meekly, the fight having disappeared from me completely. I wasn't as good at fighting when I was off balance, anyway.

"Welcome home," Winry said softly, wrapping her arms around me with the automail still clutched in one hand. I froze and felt my cheeks start burning. She quickly pulled away from me and left the room while I kept staring at the floor. A quick transmutation and I could actuallymake a hole in the ground to crawl into…

Al snickered from across the room, and I snapped my head to look up at him. I was about to retort with something that I hoped would sound witty when a sharp whistle cut through the air. It took me a second to place it, but then I realized it was the teakettle Winry had left on the stove earlier.

"Could someone get that?" Winry called from another room. "I'm a little tied up at the moment." No doubt she'd already dove headfirst into her work. I sighed to myself.

"I'll get it," Al said quickly before trotting off to the kitchen. I settled back into my seat comfortably, as the high-pitched whistle slid down to a lower note and then stopped altogether. My ears stopped ringing just in time to hear a much worse sound.

Al's scream.

I quickly jumped to my feet and hurried to the kitchen, wondering what had happened. The last time I had heard Al scream like that was as I helplessly watched the Gate pull him away from me.

Dammit, Al!

What's wrong?" I asked as soon as I slid into the kitchen. "Did you burn yourself?" I asked, noticing the way Al was cradling his hand to his chest.

"I think so," Al said softly. I slowly pulled his hand away from him and carefully looked at it. His entire hand looked red and raw, as if he had rope burn. I gently touched the edge of his palm, and Al hissed in reply.

"Come on," I murmured softly, and led Al to the sink. I ran some cold water and carefully tested its temperature before carefully holding Al's hand under the water. "Now don't do that again," I scolded as I started putting together an ice pack for his hand. "You're not made of metal anymore. You can't just go picking up hot objects like that."

"I know, Brother," Al said softly as he took the ice pack from me. "I guess I wasn't thinking. Thank you."

"Hey, what are big brothers for?" I grinned at him, and Al grinned back weakly.

But deep down I was still worried. He had managed to get badly burned on his first day back in his own body. I was going to have to keep a closer eye on him if I wanted to make sure he wouldn't hurt himself.

After all, I'm the older one. It's my job to take care of him, right?

So what'd you all think? Wait, I know! If you liked it, then you can leave us a review so that we know just how much you liked it! There's a novel idea! And maybe if you leave enough reviews, then agent000 will feel really good and finish the next chapter quickly! Ain't reviews wonderful?

Word count: 2,380 (without author's notes) --woot?