"Shit," Edward muttered as he stepped out of his car. There was smoke coming from his hood, and in return, he slammed his door out of pure anger. It wasn't like he had anywhere important to be. Normally around this time of day he was off to the library to return what books he had borrowed, and to check out new ones for his continuous research him and his brother were working on. The two of them were close-knit, hardly ever apart, aside from today. Alphonse was busy with his classwork from school, so Edward decided to leave him be.

Carefully approaching the source of the smoke, a grunt could be heard from the young man as he lifted the burning hood. Of course, this was a bad idea and it hurt like hell, but this allowed the smoke to clear more. "Just what I needed… something to go wrong on the one day I happen to be alone," he tried to mumble under his breath so he didn't cause more of a scene than he already had with his smoking vehicle.

Passerbys slowed down to assess the situation, but none stopped to help out. Typical, but it didn't matter to him if someone helped him or not. He could handle this on his own. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and searched for the best mechanic in town. Almost immediately finding one with a five-star rating, Ed entered the number and called. With his phone now against his ear, he listened to the annoying rings until finally, a male voice echoed through, stating his name, the shop, and asking the usual question of 'How can I be of service today?'.

"Yeah, Mr. Garfiel. My name's Edward Elric. I'm stuck on NY 25, actually just a few blocks away from your shop. The engine is smoking. ...um, it's in between a light and a dark gray, and I drive an Audi. If possible, I'd like to be towed to your shop and have repairs done as soon as possible. ...uh huh, okay. That works for me. I'll see you soon." Hitting end, he let out a sigh and slid the phone back into his pocket. It was certainly going to be a long day for him, he just hoped this wouldn't take forever. He wanted to be home at least by dinner time if anything.

About half an hour passed and before he was about to call again, a blue tow truck pulled up in front of him and he shook his head. "A little late, I was starting to get worried that I would be stranded out here," he told the man sarcastically as he exited the truck.

"Oh, I apologize darling. I had to make sure everything was alright at the shop. My apprentice is there on their own, so I just wanted to make sure they could handle everything, plus I had to make sure I had all of my tools with me," he returned with a smile as he walked over to Edward's car to assess the damage. "Oh my, this doesn't look so good. You may need a whole new engine. Let's bring it to my shop and I'll have my lovely apprentice take a look at it." Edward only moaned in return. This was worse than he thought it was going to be. It's not like they had engines like his on hand. It would most likely need to be ordered for sure. As for his apprentice, he wasn't sure of what to make this person. They were just beginning, at least that's what he was assuming. This was definitely going to be a nightmare.

After getting the car onto the truck, he signaled for Ed to enter and they drove off back to the shop. Once there, Mr. Garfiel let him get out at the front and brought his car around to the back for his apprentice. In the meantime, he entered the building and sat down in the chair, waiting for someone to come back to tell him the horrible news. It was only about another half hour until the owner came out to the front. "Oh Edward, I'd like you to meet my lovely apprentice! She will be taking care of your car. This is Miss Winry Rockbell." Standing up from his seat, he walked over to the counter to greet the woman. Slowly, he raised his hand to shake her's as she entered the room, but as soon as he actually looked at her, his heart stopped.

He thought the name sounded familiar, but… was it really her? "It's nice to meet you, Edward," she greeted happily, taking a hold of his hand and shaking it. "Your car definitely needs some…" she suddenly stopped as she opened her eyes and saw the man before her. He appeared shocked, and that's exactly how she felt, as well as lost, curious, and concerned. "...E-Ed?"

"Winry?"

(AN: Gosh, it's been years since I've written any fanfics. I used to do this a long time ago back in middle school, and since then, I've been mainly roleplaying, but I wanted to try and start this again since I enjoyed it so much. I figured I would start off small for my beginning chapter to get back into the swing of things, though I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of my Modern AU fic for Fullmetal Alchemist.)