A/N: This story exists in the AU world of Perfect Blood, and takes place after Perfect Blood, Novaturient, Equanimity, and Litost. I do not own FMA.
There is nothing, nothing, so brave as to allow yourself complete vulnerability.
When we are stripped bare of all the armor we thought we needed to carry, how high we can finally climb.
-Tyler Knott Gregson
It started out innocently. Just a wink and a "How's your day?" from the man who worked at the Italian deli near the library. His name was Pitt. He was about my age; maybe a little older, but he had dark hair and dark eyes and a sweet smile, and he was friendly to me.
I'd been going to Carlitano's Butch & Bakery almost every day for three months since I'd started volunteering at the New York Public Library in Bryant Park. Books were a passion of mine, and I wanted to be surrounded by them since I was finally comfortable enough to go out and live as close to a normal life as possible. Edward had been considering a resignation from the State Alchemist program, but after many talks with Roy and Riza he decided to remain on as Reserve instead of an Active Duty soldier, asking only to be brought in as a last resort. He had learned to see the value of life in a way he hadn't before. He wanted time away from the difficult life he'd always known, and he wanted safety for me.
So since he wasn't flying out on missions every few weeks and was instead staying at HQ to help train the newer soldiers, I had a decision to make. I firmly believed in the theory of absence making the heart fonder, and I didn't want to just sit around the apartment all day while Ed was in the building working. The military only needed me for my duties as a test subject here and there, so I decided to fill my spare time with volunteer work four days a week.
I had fallen into a very happy rhythm. I'd be at the library from 10 to 4 Monday through Thursday, and my evenings and weekends were spent with Ed. It felt wonderful having something to get up and do everyday, and when the library tried to offer me a real job I politely declined; I didn't need any money because we already had more than we knew what to do with, and I didn't want a full-time job taking me away from Edward.
I stood in line at Carlitano's almost every day while at the library; the pastrami sandwiches were to die for, and they did some of the best rice balls I'd ever had. Everything on the menu was fresh, homemade, and delicious. Nothing came from a can, no processed crap, just good Italian food. They had a smart operation. A butcher in the back, a deli in the front, and a bakery off to the side; it was small and family owned since its opening in 1955, and the line was always out the door.
I'd become familiar with the faces behind the counters, they all bore family resemblance. This was the Carlitano family, and they'd always been very nice to me when I'd order my sandwich or soup or whatever it was that day. When one of the older sons -Pitt Carlitano- took special notice of me, I tried to pretend to not notice his flirtatious looks. The way he'd smirk at me with that cocky, boyish grin and ask me things like,
"Hey there blondie, you know my day gets brighter when you walk through that door."
And,
"Look at that smile! Prettiest girl in all of New York."
And let's not forget,
"Gorgeous, lemme take you out sometime. I'm a perfect gentleman, lemme show you a good time."
That's when I should've stopped going to the deli. I should've said yes, gave him a fake phone number and walked out never to return again. But I didn't like being deceiving or bitchy. Pitt had been very sweet and complimentary, it's not like he was the first guy who ever tried to capture my special attention. I didn't want to be mean, so I blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear nervously.
"I really appreciate the compliment, but I'm in a relationship and we're very happy."
"I never see him." Pitt responded, wiping down the counter with a rag. "You don't ever mention this boyfriend. You must not be that happy with him, or maybe he isn't real." He said chuckling. I plastered on a fake smile and thought to myself,
'Oh, he's very real alright.'
He stopped his flirting after that, to my relief, and things went back to normal. That is until two weeks later, when I was working late at the library and was closing up. I was walking through Bryant Park behind the library with Nellie, the young woman who curated the exhibits for the library. She was young with brown hair and happy eyes and we'd become fast friends. As we crossed the park on our way to the subway, we spied a group of men in the shadows arguing. When they noticed us they grew silent, and watched us as we passed. I made brief eye contact with Pitt Carlitano, and he smirked at me before folding up the wad of cash he was holding and sliding it into his coat pocket.
"Let's go!" Nellie whispered, grabbing my arm as we scurried to the subway and down the steps.
"Don't mess with that guy." She said once we were underground. "You should stop going to that deli. He's got his eye on you and that's not good."
"I told him I'm not interested."
"You don't get it. The Carlitano family is scary. They've been involved with mob rings for years."
"How do you know?" I asked, swiping my metro card and pushing through the turnstile to join her on the other side.
"Years ago my uncle did some business with Gus Carlitano, Pitt's father. My uncle owed Gus a lot of money, and when he couldn't pay, he went missing for a week then turned up one night on my Mother's doorstep with two broken legs."
I bit back a gasp as she continued.
"He never pressed charges and he refuses to talk about it so there's no tangible proof, but you know how when you have a gut feeling about something? Like you just know it deep down? Well, I know Gus Carlitano hurt my uncle. I've always been told to stay far, far away from those Carlitano boys, and you should do the same. Pitt likes you, and he's a powerful guy."
"My boyfriend is a powerful guy too, but if it makes you feel better I'll find somewhere else to get lunch."
She smiled and hooked her arm with mine as we switched topics to the upcoming Christmas exhibit and stepped onto the train to head downtown.
Two days later I was sitting in the park by myself eating a meatball sub from the pizza place around the corner, enjoying the crisp air and bright sunshine of November as I watched the holiday shoppers hurry up and down 6th avenue when the empty chair across from me was suddenly filled by Pitt Carlitano.
"Where ya been Winry? Haven't seen you around the deli. I know that sub didn't come from us." He said with a smile.
"Guilty." I laughed nervously, "They've got me pretty busy here, haven't had much time to go out for lunch, and I felt like changing things up today."
He reached across the table and put his hand on mine.
"Go out with me Winry. Lemme buy you a nice dinner." I pulled my hand back casually to tuck my hair behind my ear, like I always did when I was nervous.
"It's a very nice offer, but I have to decline." I said as sweetly as I could.
"Oh come on, if you were my girl I'd be showing you off to everyone I know. I'd be proud to have you on my arm. This guy of yours, he never shows his face. Don't tell me he's ashamed to be seen with you." He said.
"Not at all. He just works hard and likes to be home in his downtime." I semi-fibbed. The last thing I needed to do was talk about the real reasons why Ed and I didn't flash our relationship around. Pitt gave me a smirk.
"So he's a working man huh? 9 to 5 type?"
"You could say that." More fibbing.
"Working guys are suckers." He said.
"Don't you work at the deli?" I challenged, getting irritated. He gave a small laugh.
"That's just for show. That's just me helping the family. I make my money in other ways." As he said that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a diamond bracelet. The box said Cartier.
"Take it Winry, it's for you."
"I can't accept that." I said.
"There's more where this came from. Dump the guy and be my girl, Win."
My mind rocketed toward thoughts of Edward. He called me Win. He called me 'my girl'. My skin crawled hearing these endearments coming from someone who wasn't Ed. I rolled up the rest of my meatball sub in its tin foil and grabbed my bag.
"Pitt, you're a sweet guy and you've always been very nice to me, and I know you'll make some special girl very happy someday. I'm sorry but I just can't be that girl. I'm in love with my boyfriend." He stood and followed me, pressing on as I turned and walked back towards the library.
"You're gonna be that girl Winry." He said.
"I have to go, I'm sorry." I opened the door to the eastern wing entrance as I heard Pitt call after me.
"You're my girl, Win! You hear me?! You're MY girl!"
I closed the door behind me and scurried up the marble stairs toward the lobby. This was becoming a real problem, and my first instinct was to tell Edward. But I stopped myself mid-stride.
If I told Ed about this, he'd try to stop me from working at the library. Either that or he'd put the fear of God in Pitt Carlitano. I didn't want any drama, and I didn't want to concern Ed with this when nothing had really happened. So after that day, I started carrying pepper spray in my messenger bag since security always checked bags upon entering and I wasn't licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
I'd become very comfortable using a gun after months of training from Riza, and Ed had finally accepted it, but it was taking a very long time to process the paperwork allowing me to carry a gun in my bag. Not that I wanted to shoot Pitt, I just wanted him to stop hitting on me so I could go to the deli and get a damn pastrami sandwich.
I returned home that evening to Ed on the couch in those amazing grey sweats that hung low on his hips with his eyes fixed on the hockey game and a mouth full of lo mein noodles.
"That was offside!" He shouted at the flatscreen, his disapproval muffled by food. His eyes fell to me as I stepped out of the elevator and I grinned at him. He stuck his chopsticks in the carton of noodles he was holding and hooked a come-hither steel finger at me as he grinned wickedly. I strode over gave him a quick peck.
"Hi." I said coyly. "Nice noodles you got there. Any for me?" He nodded towards a plastic bag on the coffee table.
"Chicken lo mein and crab Rangoon."
I loved this man.
I joined Ed on the couch after changing into some yoga pants and a slouchy sweater, and happily dug into my carton of noodles.
"So, how was your day?" I asked as he turned down the volume on the TV when the game went to intermission.
"Not bad. Got a new batch of guys fresh from basic training, I have a sinking feeling they'll be a tougher bunch to train than usual. They scare way too easy."
"How do you mean?"
"Well," he said after slurping up a noodle. "One of the first things you learn in hand to hand combat training is how to take a hit. A soldier needs to understand the physical impact of the force they'll apply while attacking, and until they're in the field they'll be practicing on eachother, but their fighting is sloppy when we get them here. We train them up to fight the way a soldier should. The best way to make sure they don't abuse these skills out in the world is to display the full force on them directly. They were literally shaking in their boots when Havoc and I told them they'd each be receiving one punch to the face by either me or him."
"Yikes, that's a little barbaric."
"But necessary. It's the same idea used in the Police Academy when they taser new officers. When you're given a weapon you're also given responsibility. I won't train soldiers to fight the way I do without them understanding how it feels to be the victim." He said. "Anyway, how was your day?"
"Far less dramatic than yours." I lied.
"I should hope so, but while we're on the subject of drama, you wanna tell me how you know Pitt Carlitano?"
I nearly choked on my lo mein. NOTHING got past this guy.
"I don't know him, why do you ask? How do you know him?"
His brow furrowed and his sharp eyes focused on his carton as he pushed his noodles around with his chopsticks and said,
"This isn't about me, it's about you. How long have you been having lunch with him?"
"I haven't been having lunch with him. He interrupted mine today so he could ask me out. I handled it, there's nothing to worry about." I said. He slid his eyes over to me and gave me a knowing look.
"Win... how long have you been talking to Pitt Carlitano?"
I let out an exasperated sigh and rolled my eyes. "We aren't talking, he works at his family's deli and I go there for lunch. Their pastrami sandwiches are solving a lot of what's wrong with the world."
"Stop being cute, this is serious." He said.
"No it's not Ed, don't you trust me?" He took my carton from me and set it on the coffee table next to his, and turned to me to take my hands in his.
"Of course I do, it's Pitt I don't trust. His family is dangerous and he's not the kind of person who can accept not getting what he wants. Please stay away from him."
"No arguments here. I never wanted anything to do with the guy, I just want a sandwich."
He leaned forward and kissed me, promptly liquefying my insides before breaking and locking eyes on me.
"Find pastrami elsewhere."
A few days later we were embroiled in the same conversation, only at a higher decibel level because Pitt had shown up at the library asking Nellie questions about me, and Ed had somehow found out about it. He was not happy.
"I don't go looking for him, just so you know. I haven't been back to the deli. He came looking for me."
"I'm even less thrilled about that! If he keeps this up I'm gonna have a hard time being nice about it." He warned. My heart raced, but not in a good way.
"Ed please don't do anything. I'm fine, I told him to go away. Security knows what he looks like so they'll be on the lookout. How'd you know about this anyway?"
He straightened up and set his mouth in a grim line. "Your co-worker called me, some girl named Nellie. Said she pulled my number from your file."
My jaw dropped. I listed Edward as my 'incase of emergency contact', and after Nellie came to me clearly shaken by Pitt's interrogation I begged her to keep it between us. The last thing I wanted was Edward waging war against the mob.
"Don't be mad at her." He continued with a sharp glare. "She was only looking out for you. I'm glad she called, since it seems like you had no intention of telling me."
"Because there's nothing to tell! Nothing happened!"
"He came to your place of work! He cornered someone and started gathering information about you! You're severely underestimating this Winry. Pitt Carlitano is a sneaky bastard and he's dangerous. You need to lay low for a while. I don't want you going back to the library. Stay home."
The thought of being taken away from the library both broke my heart and surged my anger. I was happy there. I was calm there among the beauty of the intricate architecture, under the gorgeous renaissance paintings that adorned the ceilings and the cozy smell of musty old books. He had no right to take that from me. My blood boiled in my veins.
"Like hell I will! I'm not a child and you're not my bodyguard anymore, you don't make the rules."
"I do when the mob is involved!" He hollered at me. "Gus Carlitano has been a mafia boss for decades, but he's getting old and he's been preparing his son to take his place. The military leaves mafia issues to the Feds because compared to global terrorism the mob just isn't high on our priority list. The Carlitano's are smart to stay out of our way, but Pitt must be a bigger psycho than his old man if he's gonna bother you of all people while knowing who I am."
"I've never told anyone your name." I said. "Not Nellie and certainly not Pitt. No one knows we're together." This seemed to calm Ed only fractionally.
"Well I wish you had in this case. If he comes around again, drop my name. If he's smart he'll back off instantly."
"Why would he know you if the military doesn't interfere with the mob?" Ed took a quiet moment, I could see him mentally collecting himself before he responded,
"Because I work with the Feds on rare occasions, in matters of national security. The Carlitano's stay away from military issues because they're afraid of me. This could all get very messy."
I stepped forward to smooth my hand across his cheek.
"Please don't ask me to stay here. I'm carrying pepper spray, I'll change my hours and I'll go to lunch at a different time. I'll even start entering and exiting from different doors in the building."
"I'm not satisfied." He said.
"You can't do anything about this, he hasn't done anything to me, he's just annoying. You can't put the hurt on someone for being a pest."
"Sure I can. I can do whatever the hell I want." He said half-jokingly as he pulled me into his arms. "I'm just trying to protect you, Win."
I let the warmth of his solid body wash over me as I slid my arms around him and buried my face in his shoulder.
"I'll do everything I can to avoid him," I said quietly. "I'll make sure my phone is always on me and if I see him anywhere near the building I'll call you straight away." He smoothed a hand up my back before pulling back to look at me. He finally sighed and I knew he was caving.
"Alright. Just please be careful."
I smiled warmly, relieved that I'd be able to go work the next day and I wrapped my arms Ed's neck and kissed him, pressing myself flush against his body so he'd know the full extent of my gratitude. The message was well received, because his tongue slid over mine as he kissed me back desperately and his hands smoothed over my back as we sank down onto the couch together. I felt the front of my jeans unbutton, and when he kissed me again and slid a warm hand beneath my waistband I suddenly forgot what we were fighting about.
The next day I was pulling books from the shelf in the adult non-fiction section when Pitt materialized next to me, making me jump in surprise.
"Pitt! What're you doing here?" I breathed, keeping my voice hushed. We were in a library, after all.
"I wanted to see you, but you've been ducking me, which is a little rude. We need to schedule our dinner."
"Pitt please, we've been over this. I'm in love with Edward and he knows you've been showing up here."
He paused for a moment, giving me a curious look.
"Edward who? I don't know anyone named Edward."
I was fed up, and decided I would end this once and for all. I straightened up and fixed my eyes on him.
"Edward Elric. I've been seeing him for quite a while and he's not happy that you've been bothering me. I don't want this becoming a big thing and neither does he. It's best if we just go our separate ways." I tucked the books under my arm and angled to stride past him, when he blocked my way, laughing softly.
"You're seeing the Fullmetal Alchemist? That's rich, Winry. That guy's an enigma, nobody knows anything about him, you expect me to believe he's the romantic type? Even if it were true, I'm not afraid of Elric. He talks a big game but in all the years I've known about him he's never once shown his face. It's like the boy who cried wolf; after plenty of no shows, it's hard to take the threat seriously."
I looked Pitt square in the eye and said,
"Until the day the wolf shows up."
I pushed past him and immediately made my way out of the room and down the corridor towards my favorite place in the children's section of the library. As I entered the children's section I went to my messenger bag hanging on the wall, but paused when I had my phone in my hand. I had promised Ed I'd call, but he also said that Pitt would most likely back off if I mentioned him. If I called Ed there would absolutely be a big uproar, so I pushed down the twinge of worry in my chest and shoved the phone back in my bag.
I knew Pitt was acting like Ed wasn't a big deal because he didn't want me to see him sweat. I had handled everything just fine without worrying Ed, there was no need to create more drama.
I decided to stay late that night in hopes it would throw off the likelihood of Pitt trying to find me when I was supposed to leave around 7. It was nearly 9 and the library was mostly dark save for the dimmed lighting where I was, dusting glass display cases in the exhibit dedicated to great children's books through history. I was nearly finished, and pulled on my cardigan as I prepared to leave.
"I would've been good to you." A voice called from the darkness. I froze in place as Pitt Carlitano stepped out of the shadows. "But you wouldn't give me a chance."
He had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes were unfocused, his movements unsteady. He was either drunk or on something.
He strode forward and grabbed my arm, slamming me against the heavy mahogany wall and he growled,
"You're such a fucking cock tease."
Time seemed to slow down yet speed up at the same time. My pepper spray. Where was my pepper spray? In my messenger bag.
In the children's section. Down the hall. Fucking fuck.
"You're gonna give me what I want!" He yelled, and yanked my head back by my hair. He seized his opportunity when I yelped, and kissed me forcefully, pushing his tongue in my mouth. I don't know if it was fear or anger or total disgust that mustered the strength, but I shoved him off me and wiped my mouth on the back of my hand as I sprinted out of the room. I silently thanked god that I wore the low-top chucks Ed hated instead of heels or boots that would've made it harder for me to run. I tore down the corridor toward the east wing exit, knowing he was close on my tail. Suddenly my head was yanked back again by the ends of my damn hair, throwing my legs out from under me and sending me to the floor, flat on my back with a loud thud. He straddled me, and ripped my cardigan before his hands gripped around my throat, cutting off my air supply.
Since moving in with Edward and training in self-defense, I'd learned some valuable information. Like how to take a gun from someone, and how when being attacked to never let them move you to a new location. Ed also wanted to make sure there would never be another incident like the one where he had a night terror and strangled me in his sleep, so he showed me the remarkably simple way to break out of a chokehold.
Instead of struggling, I focused my eyes on Pitt's dark menacing gaze and clasped my hands together in a fist between us. I pushed my clasped hands up above my head, sliding between his arms and spread my arms wide, forcing his hands to part from my throat. When I loosened his grip enough to get air, I mustered my remaining strength and drove my knee into his groin.
He yelled in pain and fell to his side, finally freeing me to get away. I stumbled to my feet and attempted to flee when he grabbed my ankle sending me back to the ground, smacking my head on the floor. I must not have hit him hard enough if he was already moving, and he climbed over me and backhanded me across the face.
I saw stars, and he staggered to his feet to look over me. I watched in terror as his leg reared back, he was preparing to kick me with his steel-toe boot. I swiveled my hips, swung my leg as hard as I could and connected with the side of his knee. He went down like a sack of potatoes. A very angry, foul-mouthed sack of potatoes. I scrambled to my feet and sprinted out of the library and toward the back of the building, pulling my torn cardigan over my shoulders as I raced across the park and down the steps. I hailed a cab and got in, reaching for my phone to call Ed.
No phone. I left it at the library with my bag. My head was pounding and I was pretty sure I was bleeding from somewhere around my hairline. The quiet of the cab forced the events to surge to the forefront of my mind, and my throat tightened painfully as I thought to myself,
'A mobster just attacked you. You fought off a mobster all by yourself! Sure, there would definitely be bruises the next day, and Ed would...'
My brief mental girl-power celebration was immediately snuffed out.
'...Ed would... Oh God, Ed.'
I put my head in my hands and tried to suppress the tears. I should've called him earlier. I should've listened. He was right, I should've lied low. I shouldn't have gone back the library. He was going to be furious.
I gave the 20 in my pocket to the cabbie and he drove away, leaving me disheveled and battered on the steps of Central, and I silently thanked God for letting this happen at night when the building would be nearly empty. I punched in the security code and scurried to the elevator, my heart still hammering and my body shaking from the waves of adrenaline, and as I stood in that elevator and watched the numbers climb my eyes began to water. The tears fell, and I did nothing to try and stop them because in that moment I didn't want to be strong or independent, I was angry and in pain and just wanted to be taken care of. I didn't want to fight with Ed about this, I didn't want to hear how he was right and how I was never going back to volunteer at the library, and most of all...
...I didn't want to see the look on his face when I walked in crying and bleeding.
I steeled myself as the elevator doors opened and I slowly walked into our apartment. Edward stood in the kitchen with his back to me, and turned at the sound of my shaky, fragile voice.
"...I'm sorry... I should've listened... I'm sorry Ed..." I dissolved into tears as his eyes widened in horror, taking in my disheveled hair, bruised neck, swollen cheek and bleeding forehead. The whiskey glass slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor and he bound toward me, carefully taking my face in his hands to examine the damage.
"What happened?!" He asked horrified.
I opened my mouth to say something but the words choked off and just melted into tears, as I clutched the front of his shirt feeling exhaustion get the better of me. His face changed from shock to anger; rage burned behind his golden eyes and he scooped me up and carried me to the master bath, whispering to me that I was home now and everything was ok. I was safe now.
I opened my eyes the next morning to sunlight pouring in the windows and an empty bed. Ed usually woke before I did, and I moved to get up and slip on my silk robe before shuffling into the bathroom. I was pretty slow-moving due to the pounding headache and stiff neck I was dealing with, and I looked myself over in the mirror to survey the damage.
The bruises had darkened considerably overnight, changing from the previous night's yellowish-green to a vivid patchwork of blue and purple spread across my neck and splayed over my cheekbone. The hit had ruptured a blood vessel in my eye, changing the white to a disturbing vermilion and there was a half-inch split on my forehead near my hairline with it's own supply of red and purple splotches from my head's impact on the library's floor. Much of the swelling had reduced since Ed put a butterfly stitch in it the night before, but I knew I would need to see my doctors that day just to be safe.
I was too exhausted and upset to allow Ed to take me to the hospital, and Ed had learned enough about patching himself up when injured on a mission that he could easily fix me up. I wasn't concussed, but I was quite a vision none the less. I showered and dressed myself in jeans and a fitted white t-shirt and carefully made my way to the living room, opting to let my hair air dry. Ed was on the phone, and walked over to me to tilt my face up carefully.
"I'll deal with it today." He said to whomever he was speaking with as his golden gaze roamed over me, gently turning my face to the side as he took in the state of my injuries. "I'm not concerned with that in the slightest." He continued. "He may be a moron but his old man isn't. We won't have another incident like this, I'll make sure of that."
He gently pulled me close to plant a soft kiss on my forehead ever so carefully, and I moved to the kitchen to make some coffee and grabbed an ice pack for my swollen temple. He joined me a few minutes later as I was stirring in creamer.
"What's your pain level today?" He asked, his eyes not really looking at me as much as they were focused on my stitched up head and blood ruptured eye.
"It's up there." I said, pausing to sip my coffee. "I'll go to the hospital in a little bit so they can look me over. I doubt they'll do anything you haven't already done."
"It would make me feel better if you went." He said.
"I'll go, I promise. Was that Roy?"
"Yes. When you leave to see your doctors at the hospital, he and I will be making a few house calls. He's just as upset about this as I am."
"What's going to happen?" I asked. His eyes darkened and mouth set in a grim line, and he said nothing. Fear spiked in me.
"Ed please don't do anything crazy." I said nervously as I curled my hands around my warm mug.
"He's seriously crossed the line, Winry. I'm not going so sit by and act like everything's fine."
I gulped as I stirred my coffee, and slid my wide eyes up at him.
"Are you gonna... you know..."
He was quiet for a moment, and breathed out an angry sigh when I gave him a look silently begging him not to.
"No, I won't. I'm not looking for an all out war, but I am going to send a message. Trust me, when Gus Carlitano finds out what his idiot son did he'll give him a beating just as bad. Pitt's in for a rude awakening. He's never going to bother you ever again."
"Are you going to try and convince me to stop volunteering?" I asked, my throat tightening and mist forming behind my eyes. His hard eyes softened and he tilted my down-turned gaze up to meet his.
"No. None of this was your fault and this was a pretty unusual circumstance. Besides," he said with a lop-sided grin as he took a sip of my coffee for himself. "You fought off a mobster, Rockbell. You're a tough broad."
I smiled wide and said, "I think I blew his knee out. I also got him the nads." Ed laughed and kissed me soundly on my uninjured cheek.
"That's my girl."
The next day I received a delivery while Ed was at work. The biggest, most elaborate flower arrangement of white lilies and baby's breath I'd ever seen; the delivery guy set it on the living room floor and it still towered over me. After he left I found the card and plucked it from its plastic perch in the foliage. It was hand written.
'Winry-
Offering my sincerest apologies to you and Edward, and wishing you a speedy recovery. -Gus
Just then the elevator pinged and the doors opened to reveal Riza stepping out.
"Knock knock. Wow, that's impressive." She said to me while marveling at the ornate gift. "Is Ed in the dog house?"
I smiled at her joke and handed her the card.
"Hardly, they're from quite the intriguing source." Her eyes scanned the card quickly.
"Well I'm not surprised. You should've seen Gus's face when he opened his front door to us yesterday afternoon. When Ed told Gus what happened he granted Ed permission to teach Pitt a lesson. Gus better make you happy if he wants his son to live."
"What did Ed do?" I asked as anxiety coiled around my insides.
"Nothing crazy. He only broke one of his hands, and he basically told Pitt if he ever came near you again he'd put a bullet in his head. Well, maybe not those exact words," She said before pausing to smell a lily. "But the same basic message."
I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.
"He was so restrained. You would've been proud."
'Right.' I thought. 'Restrained.'
"Ok are you ready this time? I'm gonna grab you, it's up to you to get away."
"I'm ready." I called back to him, spread my feet and bent my knees slightly, waiting for the impact. Ed's uneven footfalls raced up behind me and his arms gripped around me tightly. I struggled to break free, to no avail.
"Escape Winry." He said, now dragging me back to simulate what it might be like if someone tried to put me in a car. "Escape!"
He was too strong for me to do the maneuver he'd showed me, so I improvised, and elbowed him roughly in the abdomen before slamming my foot down on the instep of his natural foot. I then pivoted my arm to drive my elbow into his nose and delivered the final blow when brought my hands together in a fist and swung down, hitting him squarely in the groin. He cursed loudly and fell to the mat, landing with a loud grunt.
Boisterous laughter roared in waves from Mustang and his crew, standing on the gyms perimeter and bending over while holding their stomachs and slapping their knees. I gasped at what I'd done and quickly dropped to my knees to check on Ed.
"Edward?" He was moaning and not moving. After a few deep breaths he peered a golden eye open and glared at me, but relaxed and grinned when I pecked the tip of his poor, punched nose.
"How was that?" I asked. He propped himself up on one elbow and rubbed his abdomen where I'd elbowed him.
"It's not exactly what we went over, but it worked." He smiled, and we looked back over at Mustang and crew, still doubled over from watching me clobber the Fullmetal Alchemist. Of course we all knew he could've easily overpowered me, but I took him down none-the-less and it felt great to know that I was stronger than I originally thought. With Ed's help I could get to a point where if anyone harassed me again, I'd be the one hurting them. I smiled and gasped as an arm slid around my waist and I was dragged down, pinned beneath him on the mat as he grinned down at me wickedly.
"You're kinda hot when you beat me up, Rockbell." He said with mischief in his eyes, and he leaned down and kissed me full and slow, promptly silencing the faraway laughter before it changed to whistles and whoops and Mustang yelling at Ed about conduct unbecoming of a soldier and how we needed to get a room.
I marched up to the front doors of the Carlitano house with Roy to my right, Riza on my left, and enough brewing rage to frighten Attila the Hun. As we stood at the front door I turned to my commanding officer and said,
"I'll make this quick, but no matter what happens, don't let me kill him."
"I'll stop you just in time." He said with black fire in his eyes. He was just as furious and appalled as I was when I texted him pictures of Winry's face the night before while she slept. I knocked on the door and waited, and when the housekeeper opened the door and tried to dismiss us saying that Pitt was still sleeping, I pushed my way past her and bounded up the stairs.
I burst through the double doors of the master bedroom, ratcheted back the hammer on my gun, and fired a bullet into the pillow next to Pitt Carlitano's head. He sprang upright with a shriek amidst a cloud of goose feathers and I tucked my gun back into the holster hidden under my jacket as he looked around in frantic stupor, rubbing his eyes and trying to grasp what was happening. When his eyes finally settled on me, his jaw slackened and he shook his head back and forth, holding his hands up in front of him while saying,
"Oh fuck...Oh fuck me, what the hell are you doing here?!" I strode forward and grabbed his right hand, crushing two of his fingers in my automail with a sickening crunch and sharply jerking it backward, fracturing his wrist with a violent snap as he screamed.
"You sonovabitch!" He wailed. "You broke my hand! My fucking hand!" His whining instantly pissed me off and I grabbed a handful of his messy hair and slammed his head down on the edge of the nightstand, earning a trail of blood from a split in his forehead not unlike the one Winry was sporting. He screamed and cursed some more and I finally grabbed him by the throat and hauled him up, nearly to eye level with me.
"I would love to kill you right now." I said quietly, squeezing his throat. "But I promised her I wouldn't. This time. If you go near Winry Rockbell ever again... I'll kill you, and I'll make your life a living hell before I do it."
He gasped and sputtered as he used his only working hand to try and free himself from my vice grip. I finally released him and let him fall back to the bed hacking and coughing, and I bent down to whisper in his ear quietly,
"You're the boy who cried, and I'm the wolf, and if you're not careful," I warned with a punishing squeeze to his broken hand , "I'll eat you alive."
We exited the room and made our way down the stairs when a dark-haired woman in her fifties rushed in through the front door as the frightened housekeeper frantically rattled off to her in italian. She looked up at me with palpable fear in her eyes and I calmly made my way over to her.
"What did you do?!" She quaked with tears in her eyes as she grabbed the front of my shirt. "I just heard from Gus. What did you do to my son?!"
"He'll be alright, Mrs. Carlitano." I said calmly as I gently pried her fingers from me. "Did Gus tell you what happened?" She put a hand to her chest to steady her breathing.
"Not really. My husband said he gave you permission to be here? He said Pitt assaulted someone last night." Mafia men never gave their wives full disclosure of what happened in their 'business', so I wasn't surprised that she was in the dark. I certainly didn't tell Winry about most of what happened when I 'went to work', but this was different. This was a terrified mother who knew the threat I posed. I pulled out my phone and showed her the picture I'd sent to Mustang during the night, and she gasped as her hands flew to her mouth in shock at the sight of Winry's battered face.
"Your son did this last night." I said to her. "I let him live because I promised her I would, and because your husband swore this would never happen again."
"He's right." She gulped, looking up at me. "We've never taught Pitt to treat women that way, I don't know where that behavior came from. This won't ever happen again."
"It better not, because I won't be so generous next time. This wasn't a matter of business, Mrs. Carlitano. This was very personal. She's my wife."
If it were possible for every ounce of blood to drain from someone's face in an instant, I saw it happen in Doreen Carlitano.
Riza reached forward to steady her when her eyes widened from fear and she swayed.
"We're leaving now, will you be alright?" Riza asked her. She took a shaky breath and nodded numbly before turning her watery gaze back to me.
"I'm so sorry." She choked out. I understood the woman's fear for her son, but I couldn't falter.
"If Gus doesn't want me interfering with this family, he needs to make sure his son stays away from mine." She nodded her head in vigorous agreement. I had worked for the Feds in previous years, taking out entire crime families who posed serious threats to national security. The Carlitanos knew what I was capable of in matters of strictly business, so Doreen was aware of my shocking generosity in light of this very personal matter.
"Pitt's condition isn't life threatening, but you should get him to a doctor. I'm sorry Doreen." I strode past her toward the front door with Roy and Riza on my heels as Doreen Carlitano burst into tears and ran upstairs to find her son.
The drive back to Central from Long Island was quiet and tense. I'd asked Mustang to drive for me since I was far too angry to be behind the wheel, and Riza followed behind us in her car. My eyes were fixed out the window looking for anything that might capture my attention enough to distract me from my anger, but my mind was relentlessly flooded with images of Winry's face; bloody and bruised and tear-stained. Her beautiful aquamarine eyes glassy and one of them marred with a frightening demonic red in place of white. My blood boiled at the memory of last night when I heard her broken voice saying that she was sorry and should've listened to me.
As if she had anything to apologize for, none of this was her fault.
"You called her your wife." Roy said, breaking me out of my torturous reverie.
"Hmm? Oh, yea. Well, 'girlfriend' doesn't have quite the same punch as 'wife'. 'Wife' is something people take more seriously, the term 'girlfriend' doesn't really imply as much commitment as it should. I want Gus and Doreen to view Winry as a permanent presence in my life just like you or Riza." He considered my words and gave a curt nod in understanding.
"Would you ever consider making it official?"
"Actually I spend more time considering if I should end it."
"You don't really want that." He said.
"Of course not. But my life continues to pose serious threat to her, and it isn't right. We keep our relationship a total secret and somehow she's still a magnet for danger. The thought of it kills me, but to keep her safe I have to leave her." My grave words hung heavy in the silence, and after a beat Roy said,
"Maybe that's the problem. Maybe your enemies need to know about Winry."
"Are you insane?!" I said whipping around and shooting him an icy glare.
"Think about it Ed, that time when your apartment was broken into the intruders were looking for you. They didn't expect anyone else to be there and when they found Winry they didn't know she was your girlfriend. You said she didn't tell Pitt who you were at first right? And when she finally did he didn't take her seriously. I think you need to broadcast who Winry is so that your enemies know she's off-limits." The thought of it made me sick.
"You've become something like a terrifying story that organized criminals tell each other. 'Watch out, or the Fullmetal Alchemist will find you'," he said, mimicking the way kids tell each other scary stories. He slowed to stop at a red light and turned to me.
"Make them just as afraid of Winry. Make it known that approaching Winry would be just as much of a deathwish as confronting you. I'd be willing to bet your enemies would be even less inclined to provoke either of you if they knew you had a personal reason for fighting back."
His reasoning swirled around my mind for a moment, and I began to marinate the idea of directly exposing my involvement with Winry Rockbell and how that might affect our life. The mob was a bunch of degenerate scumbags with broken moral compasses, but they had one unspoken rule that was taken very seriously: children and wives were strictly off-limits. No matter what the issue may be, 'business' was never taken out on those not involved. Mobsters held family value extremely high, even if a lot of them were adulterers and absentee fathers. It was the only shred of dignity they possessed which held them just above sex offenders and terrorists on the totem pole of evil. If I made it known among the criminal circles that Winry was mine, it might actually buy us a little peace.
"It's not the worst idea in the world, Ed." Mustang continued, pulling into the parking garage under Central and killing the engine. "You know what'll happen if you leave, she'll go looking for you. She'll harass me endlessly to find you. The only way you could ever get rid of her is by doing something awful enough to convince her you don't love her anymore."
The thought was sobering. It soured my stomach instantly to think of ever hurting her like that, I could never do it. We got out and joined Riza as we made our way to the office and I continued on towards the seventh floor, where I knew she'd be waiting for me. Mustang was a brilliant objective thinker, he raised two excellent points which I'd never considered, and the more I sat on them the more I began to warm to the idea he presented. I loved Winry, I never wanted to spend another day without her.
To keep her safe, I had to seriously consider marrying Winry Rockbell.
A/N: Many thanks to everyone who has stuck around with this AU plot line. I've been brainstorming new ideas for FMA fics (AU and Non AU), but so far the only ideas I've come up with that I like enough to actually write are ones that fit within this universe. Theres so many directions this plot line could go in, and I'm still having fun exploring those options. I hope you're all enjoying the ride with me. Thanks for the reads and reviews :)