Princess Bride Chapter 1, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

I do not own any of these characters. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was created by Hiromu Arakawa. The Princess Bride was written by William Goldman and directed by Rob Reiner. I am none of these people.

OoO

Come my love, I'll tell you a tale
of a boy and girl and their love story
and how he loved her oh, so much,
and all the charms she did possess.

Now this did happen once upon a time
When things were not so complex
How he worshipped the ground she walked
And when he looked in her eyes he became obsessed.

-Princess Bride soundtrack

OoO

Winry Rockbell had been raised on a small farm in the country of Amestris for her entire life. She lived there with with her grandmother, near the village of Resembool, ever since her parents had died. They were killed in the King's war with the neighboring kingdom of Drachma. Winry had been four years old at the time and even now, thirteen years later, with the King all but stepped down and his young son sitting on the throne; the brutal war still haunted the hearts of many of the elders in the land. Not even doctors, like Winry's parents, had escaped its destruction.

Now she lived on the Rockbell farm which over the years had been converted into a smithy. Though a few animals still remained. Winry's favorite thing to do was to help her grandmother, the local blacksmith. She'd spent years learning the trade and was hoping to one day take over the smithy once her grandmother retired. Every day she'd help her granny with the various tasks and and fulfilling orders from customers. But the thing that Winry found herself doing the most with her time was fighting with their hired help: Edward.

"EDWARD! Where are you?" Winry shouted, hoping that the aforementioned male was within earshot.

Silence.

"ELRIC, get your sorry ass in here and help me!" Winry shouted again angrily.

"One minute princess!" barked a voice from outside their blacksmith workshop. "I'm still fixing that damn wagon you broke earlier!"

Winry growled at his use of that stupid nickname. Why did he always have to be such a jackass? The wagon's wheel fell off because rain had rusted through the latches. Usually the smithy kept the wagon dry, but there were holes in its roof so it didn't offer much protection. Edward was supposed to have covered those holes by now; just like he was suppose to be in here helping her.

'Well this box of bolts isn't going to move itself.' Winry thought to herself as she tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. Edward still hadn't entered the smithy yet. She'd been waiting for what felt like hours for him to show up. 'God, he's never this lazy when Granny needs his help. I guess I'm just special.' Winry thought sarcastically.

Several more moments passed before Winry's patience ran out. "Fine! I'll do it myself, shrimp." She yelled; bending down.

"HEY WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE!" Came Ed's angry response.

"You! You insecure mite with dwarfism!" Winry shot back as she tried to find a grip on the large wooden box.

'Honestly, why does he get so angry about his height. He's not even that short.' Ed was an inch or two taller than Winry who stood about 5'4 herself. 'Ok, he's below average, but it could be worse. He's such a baby.' Winry shook her head before concentrating on the task at hand.

'Ok, one...two...three and lift!' Winry heaved as she lifted the box was heavy, but not as heavy as it had initially appeared.

'Ha, I didn't need Edward. I got this.' She thought confidently.

Unfortunately for Winry the box was pretty big and partly obstructed her view of the floor. Because of this, she didn't notice the protruding wrench sticking out of a nearby cabinet until her foot tripped on it.

Outside, by the broken wagon, Edward was still grumbling about the ever growing list of chores for the day. He wasn't lazy or anything, he just disliked being worked like a slave. Unfortunatly for him, his 'employer' seemed hell bent on treating him as such.

"Why couldn't I get a job at a farm that had a normal girl, who did normal girl things." Ed muttered to himself as he screwed the new latch onto the wagon. Ever since he'd first gotten there, him and Winry had butted heads pretty much every day. Winry was always nagging him, always finding something wrong with his work ethic. She was probably one of the most infuriating people he'd ever met.

CRASH

'What the hell!?'

The loud crash, followed by a small shriek from Winry, caused Ed to instantly drop the tools he was holding and sprint to the workshop. He stopped himself at the door and would have laughed at the sight in front of him, if he hadn't been so alarmed. There on the floor, rubbing her head, was a very ticked off looking Winry; surrounded by various nuts and bolts.

"Nice job, Gearhead." He drawled.

"Shut up!" Winry snapped, glaring up from her position on the ground. Seeing that she was good enough to yell at him caused Ed to relax, she was fine.

Winry looked at the screws on the ground and sighed. Ed noticed that she was pouting and let out a chuckle as he held out a hand. She huffed, but accepted the help and let he pull her to her feet. Winry stood up and dusted herself off, her cheeks reddening from embarrassment. The two of them stood in silence for several moments before Winry winced and touched the growing bump on his head. This caused Ed to frown deeply.

"Are you ok, Winry?" He asked after a moment causing her to glance at him in surprise.

She was expecting the question but was surprised by the genuine concern in his voice. She looked at his face suspiciously and saw the same concern showing in his golden eyes. 'You know? When they aren't steaming with anger, those eyes of his can really be hypnotic.' Winry observed to herself. She had never seen eyes quite like his before. They were so unique; beautiful even. They kinda reminded her of the rising sun.

"Winry?"

Winry was snapped out of her thoughts and looked back into Ed's now confused gaze. Her cheeks turned a dark red as she realized that she'd been caught staring.

"Uhhh I'm fine, yeah totally fine." Winry started to say. "S-stupid wrench made me trip. I just bumped my head a little...I'm fine." Winry waved her hands dismissively in front of her, beyond embarrassed at this point.

Ed raised an eyebrow at her weird behavior, but let it pass. "Um...ok, uh how about you finish the broken wagon and I'll clean this mess up? I mean, you're better with tools than I am and any idiot can pick up stupid screws."

Winry's eyes widened slightly as his generous offer. "Um...thank you Ed. Wait?" She said suddenly with an amused smile. "Did you just call yourself an idiot?"

It was now Ed's turn to blush as he realized that he kind of did. "No I didn't...uh I was just...you hit your head too hard! I think you should go uh...rest or something, you seem to be hearing things." He eyes looked away from her smirking face.

"Am I Ed?" Winry wanted to capitalize on this. "I also think that you said that I was above the work of an idiot. Does that mean you think I'm a very intelligent person? Awww, Ed, I didn't know that you could be so nice." She clasped her hands together and gave him the sweetest fake smile ever.

"Shut up and go fix the stupid wagon." Ed looked away from her, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

Winry laughed at his embarrassed tone and strolled outside to work on the wagon. Ed watched her go before looking up at the roof. 'Why does she have to be so annoying? I mean, I was trying to help her out and she ridicules me.' He seethed before looking back at where she'd gone. 'Though...the did look kinda cute when she was pouting. GAH! What the hell was that?'

OoO

Several hours later Ed entered the house absolutely exhausted. Picking up all the screws had taken much longer than he thought it would. The tiny metal pieces had managed to cram themselves into every possible crevice. His legs and back were cramped after spending hours bending over and crouching down. Why he even bothered to find every single screw he'd probably never know. It wasn't like he was trying to impress someone, was he?

As Ed entered the kitchen he saw Winry working at the counter while her grandmother, Pinako, was sitting at the table. Winry's old dog, Den, trotted over to him, happily wagging his tail. Ed reached down and scratched behind the dog's ear.

"Where the hell have you been all afternoon, shrimp?" Pinako grumbled from her chair.

'Miserable old bag.' Ed thought in his head before answering. "In the workshop picking up every single screw that 'the princess' dropped".

Winry glared at him over her shoulder, but didn't say anything and went back to finishing up the surprise she'd been making. Ed found some of Pinako's ale and started chugging it down. He sat down across from the old woman and once he was finished drinking, passed her the ale. This was how dinner usually went for the household. Ed ate with the two Rockbell women, as food was one of the several form of payments that he received for his services around the farm. So far, Ed had been with the Rockbells for about 6 months. Before that, he was a bit of a roamer; simply traveling around from place to place. There were some moments, during his time on the farm, where Ed missed the sense of adventure and the wanderlust. Why then, Ed would often asked himself, had he stayed at a job that he originally took in order to wait out a storm?

As Ed thought about this for the hundredth time this week, a very pleasant aroma caught his attention. He was surprised by a warm apple pie being placed suddenly in front of him. He looked down at the pie and then up at Winry who was smiling shyly.

"Here you go." She said cheerfully, placing a fork and knife in front of Ed.

"What?" asked Ed dumbly.

Winry looked at Ed with a confused look on her face then sighed. "The pie, dummy. It's for you."

"Oh." Ed said in understanding, he then looked down at the pie then back up at Winry. "What's the occasion?"

Winry bit her lip as she fought to keep the blush off her cheeks. "I just felt that...well you've been working so hard for the past few months. I wanted to say thank you and sorry."

"Sorry?" Ed raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for what?"

"For spilling the screws earlier and then leaving you to clean it up." Winry admitted, her eyes becoming slightly downcasted. "You really didn't have to pick up every single one."

"It's fine" Ed said reassuringly.

Winry chewed the inside of her mouth before speaking again. "I've been pretty hard on you lately, haven't I?" She said clasping her hands behind her back and swaying awkwardly.

"As I said it's fine." Ed repeated, then found himself blushing. "Thanks for the pie."

"You're welcome." Winry smiled.

Ed returned the smile and then turned back to the pie. Winry's pies were always great. He looked up briefly to see Winry moving on to do other things. Although he couldn't see it, there was a smile still playing on her lips.

As predicted the pie was heavenly. When Winry picked up the platter she was still smiling.

'She looks cute when she smiles. Hell she looks cute when she's angry too, but I like her better when she smiles.' Ed thought to himself as he watched her work. 'Maybe that's why I've stayed...to see her smile.'

As Ed pondered this, Pinako shook her head at the whole awkward exchange happening in front of her between the two smiling teenagers.

"God help me." She muttered under her breath.

OoO

"Hey Ed?"

"Yes Winry."

"Can you come help me please?"

"Sure thing, one second."

Ed walked into the smithy, wiping the sweat and dirt off his hands with a cloth. Inside, he found Winry waiting for him. Ed raised an eyebrow when he saw she was not wearing her usual plain dresses. Instead Winry was sporting a wool shirt and tight, fitting, tan trousers. He tore his eyes away from her outfit to Winry was smiling pleasantly at him.

"What do you need?" He asked.

"I just need help moving these crates onto the wagon, the city of Liore sent in a order for some crates of oil." Winry told him. "Apparently they have some statues for their church in need of maintaining."

"I don't need the whole story." Ed said as he moved to a box.

"Do you mind coming with me to Liore to help drop them off?" Winry asked, that pleasant smile still on her pretty face.

"No" Ed said as he easily picked up a box. "I could use some time away from this farm and the old bag's nagging."

"Ok." Winry smiled. "Oh, Ed before we go. I really need you to repair the roof of the smithy." Ed responded with a grunt, Winry shook her head and turned to survey the crates looking for a place to start. Ed started loading his box onto the cart. When he turned around he paused when he saw Winry bending over a crate. Ed knew she would bash his head in if she caught him, but he couldn't help but stare at her ass. The pants she wore were rather tight and only got tighter when she bent over. He blinked in surprise, since when did Winry have such a great ass and why had he never noticed it before? He continued to stare shamelessly until Winry stood up and turned around.

Winry was a bit startled when she saw Ed standing there just staring at her. He had a weird look in his eyes, almost like he was sizing her up or something. She had never seen a look like this on his face. For whatever reason his look of scrutiny caused a warm sensation in her stomach and she quickly moved past Ed to put her own box on the crate. Winry then moved on to the next box, avoiding any eye contact with Ed.

Ed quickly went back to moving the crates, blushing at the awkward situation that he had just created. Why was he so hypnotized by her ass? Hell, he was still staring at it as they continued to work. Often times letting her walk in front of him and bend over. A part of Ed felt bad, like he was some kind of pervert. But for some reason he just couldn't stop. Why? Was it that he just realized that Winry was really attractive? Surely he would have noticed that by now after 6 months.

'Well all the two of us ever seemed to do in the beginning was yell at each other.' Ed thought in his head. 'And it's hard to find a girl attractive when she treats you like a slave.' Ed's traitorous gaze moved all across Winry's body. 'Yeah, when a girl treats you like that it's hard to notice her beautiful blond hair, glowing blue eyes, pretty face, flawless skin, full breasts, narrow waist, supple hips, and perfectly round ass.'

Ed groaned at his perverted thoughts and tried to occupy his thoughts and line of sight with something else. If he didn't get himself under control, this could get even more awkward. 'Just get this over with then go fix the roof.'

Winry was confused. A second ago Ed was staring at her like she was a delicious piece of meat and now he wasn't even looking at her. What was his problem? She paused to take a look at him and saw that he was blushing.

'He's blushing. Why is he blushing?' Winry frowned before a peculiar thought popped into his head. 'Was he checking me out?'

This thought hit Winry like a stone wall. 'No no no; it's Ed.' Winry couldn't help but chuckle. 'But maybe...'

Winry wasn't dumb, she knew that the trousers she wore drew attention to a certain...area. Normally she wouldn't wear such form hugging clothing, but she'd have probably torn a dress doing this work. Anyway, if Ed was watching her then...

Winry bent down to pick up another crate; but she did so in a rather exaggerated fashion. As she did so, Winry quickly glanced back to see Ed's head quickly turning away from her; a brilliant blush on his face.

Winry's jaw dropped, Ed was checking her out; Edward Elric! The insecure, loudmouth asshole who had never shown any interest to a member of the female gender in all of the time that she had known him was suddenly checking her out. When did this become a thing? A part of her was offended by Ed's rather lecherous behavior and wanted to bash him over the head. But another part of her was oddly flattered. This part is what perplexed Winry the most. Why was she okay with Ed checking her out?

'Well he has been really sweet recently and we don't fight as much as we used to.' Winry thought. 'And living on this farm can be lonely. I guess the attention is nice.' She blushed at the last thought.

Winry resumed her work with the crates, but her thoughts remained on Ed. She had to admit that he was very handsome and pleasant to be around when he wasn't such a pain in the ass.

OoO

Heights had never bothered Ed. Handling sharp metal objects didn't either. Combine those two and throw a rickety ladder in the mix and Ed was still relatively in his comfort zone. The roof of the smithy was in need of repair and he had to do it before they left, as it looked like it was going to rain. Winry was currently checking the horses and Ed was glad that he was the one performing the more precarious task. But he had to wonder; why was this roof made out of skinny sharp metal plates?

'Ten down, two to go.' Ed thought as he secured another plate.

'Eleven down, one to g-is that Den?' Ed looked down and saw Den from across the field chasing a rabbit in his direction.

'Turn left! Turn left!' Ed thought as the rabbit led Den on a path towards the bottom of the ladder. 'You big eared piece of shit! Ah, son of a bitch, this is going to hurt.'

The rabbit must of thought that running through the ladder would deter the idiotic dog chasing him. It didn't. Ed gripped the ladder tightly as Den smashed headlong into it, tipping to the side.

'Fuck animals'

Ed shut his eyes as he rolled with the fall, angling himself so that he wouldn't land on his head. Hitting the ground knocked the wind out of him, and left him dazed. He was about to try and get up when suddenly a blinding pain exploded in his side.

"Shit!" Ed hissed out. "You've got to kidding me!"

Ed pushed himself into a sitting position and gripped his throbbing side. His hand felt wet as blood oozed through his fingers. Two to three inches of a metal plate was sticking into his side. 'Damn it' Ed thought. Clutching the plate, Ed got to his feet, his breathing becoming ragged at the increasing levels of pain he was experiencing. It was worse then anything he'd ever experience. It only barely registered to Ed so far he hadn't cried out yet though, he had a good pain tolerance. Breaking out into a sweat, Ed slowly started to make his way towards the stables. He kept his movements slow and careful; he didn't want to make the wound any worse. The old bag was gone for a week, so Winry was the only person on the farm.

"I'm gonna skin that dog and eat it." He muttered to himself.

Ed eventually made it to the stables and pushed his way through the door. He saw Winry was brushing the horse's hair. "Sounds like you took a tumble out there, everything all right?" She commented, not looking at him.

"No, not really." Ed grimaced out.

Winry looked up from her work and almost screamed. Ed let out a pained smirk as Winry ran over to him, her face as white as snow.

"What did you do?" She asked horrified.

"Me?" Ed asked incredulously. "I didn't do anything. Your stupid dog tried to kill me." Even with a piece of metal sticking out of him, Ed still found time to argue with Winry.

"Shut up you idiot and sit down." Winry ordered him. "Now don't move, I...I need to figure out what to do."

Since Winry's parents had been doctors, she had pretty good medical knowledge. 'Ok, if I take the piece out now, Ed's going to bleed quickly.' She thought to herself, 'I can try to sew the wound up, but that won't stop the possibility of infection...I could cauterize the wound, but that might be too painful for Ed. Ok I have a plan B, now what's plan A?...of course! Granny's alcohol!'

"Stay right here Ed, I'll be right back." Winry turned and sprinted out of the stables barely hearing Ed's "What else am I supposed to do?" comment.

As Ed watched her disappear outside, he let out a sigh. "I hope she knows what she's doing." he muttered to himself. Eventually she came back holding one of Pinako's ales and some string and needle.

"So what now Doc?" Ed joked.

Winry placed down her items and paused to go over everything in her head.

"Winry?" Ed, sounding impatient.

"Ok." Winry said. "Um, well first things first I'm going to pull this thing out"

"Pull it out!"

"No we're just going to leave it there, draw a face on it and name it Sherman." Winry snapped, rolled her eyes.

"I could be dying!" Ed shouted angrily.

"After I pull it out." She continued, picking up a cloth. "I'll hold this to the wound until we get the bleeding under control. Then I'll douse it with the alcohol to prevent infection and sew it up,

Ed could tell she was nervous. She was trying to remain calm and collected, yet Ed saw that she was scared of making a mistake.

"Hey." Ed spoke up, Winry paused to look into his golden irises. "I trust you. You can do this."

Winry's eyes widened before she gave a small smile and nodded. "Ok." She breathed. She took out a small knife. "What is that for?" Ed asked with a raised eyebrow. "Removing your shirt." Winry said simply as she began to carefully cut Ed's bloodstained shirt. Ed blushed a little at Winry being this close to him while he was shirtless, but she didn't seem to notice. To her all that mattered was Ed.

"You owe me a new shirt." Ed grinned causing Winry to give him a small smile. But then she turned back to the issue at hand.

"This is going to hurt." She looked sympathetic.

"It already hurts, let's just get this over with."

Winry nodded and grabbed a small piece of wood. "Put this between your teeth. It'll help."

"Thanks." Ed mumbled as he placed the wood in his mouth.

"Ok." Winry's small, soft hands firmly gripped the sides of the blade and put a foot up next to Ed on the ledge for leverage. "One. Two-"

Winry suddenly kicked off of the bench, yanking the blade out of Ed. Ed gave a muffled cry of pain and he felt the wood crack in his mouth. his hands instantly went to his side where he felt blood flowing over his fingers.

Winry was by his side the next second, taking his hand in her's as she pressed the cloth against the bleeding wound. Ed tried to bring his breathing under control as Winry squeezed his hand and cooed comfortingly into his ear.

"You're ok, you're ok. I got you, it'll be alright." Winry reassures him as he gripped her hand tightly.

Unfortunately, Ed could barely hear her as the agony in his side seemed to have gotten worse. He ground his teeth at the pain as he felt blood flowing out of the wound. Reaching down he placed his hand over Winry's, putting pressure on the bleeding hole in his side. Exhaling deeply, he finally got his breathing under control. Looking up, his golden eyes met her big blue ones. Despite the situation, he was taken aback by how pretty they were and how much concern was in them. "What happened to three?!" He asked.

"Ed, are you okay?" Winry spoke quickly as she studied his face.

Giving her a smug grin, he responded, "Nah tis but a scratch."

Winry narrowed her eyes and resisted the urge to smack him. "Ed, I would really appreciate it if you didn't make stupid jokes right now."

"Says the girl who doesn't have a hole in her stomach." Ed shot back.

"Well tough guy, here comes the alcohol." Winry getting ready to douse him.

"Wait! Wait! Can I have some first?" Ed asked hopefully.

Winry nodded and handed the bottle to Ed, who swiftly chugged it. Ed closed his eyes as he felt the alcohol pour down his throat, dulling his senses.

"Don't drink all of it, dummy." Winry snatched the bottle back from Ed. Ed shrugged, then winced at the pain that it caused him.

"Ok, this is going to sting as well." Winry warned.

"Why shouldn't it?" Ed said sarcastically.

Without much warning Winry pulled the bloody cloth back and poured a generous amount of alcohol onto the gaping wound. Ed once again had to hold his breath in an effort to not yell out in agony.

Winry cringed at the agonized look on his face. Seeing Ed in so much pain was almost unbearable and she prayed to heaven that she was doing this right. If he died because of a mess up on her part, she'd hate herself forever. Just because Ed could be annoying, didn't mean she wanted anything bad to happen to him. Far from it actually.

'No he's not going to die.' Winry thought determinedly. She placed the cloth back on the wound, putting pressure on it. The front of her dress was stained with blood but she didn't care. The two of them sat there for what felt like hours as the bleeding started to slow down. Once it seemed to come to a stop, Winry decided to sew Ed up.

"Ok Ed, before I sew you up we're gonna have one more douse with the alcohol. You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Ed grumbled.

Winry poured the alcohol on Ed, who barely even flinched this time. He just kept staring into her eyes, seemingly ignoring anything else going on around him. Through the pain, Ed noticed that her eyes reminded him of the sea.

Once that was done, Winry dipped the needle into the alcohol to clean it and then got busy with sewing. Ed continued to stare at her as she worked. She found it a little distracting, but anything to help Ed through this ordeal was fine by her. Thanks to lessons from Pinako, Winry was an excellent sewer and made quick work of Ed's wound. This wasn't the first time that she'd had to patch him up, but it certainty was the scariest.

Ed let out a groan as Winry cut the string that was embedded in his skin. While Winry let out a sigh of relief and leaned back to examine her work. The stitches looked strong and the wound didn't look infected. Winry smiled and looked up at Ed.

"I thinks that's enough excitement for one day; time for bed tough guy." Winry's hands went under his armpits to help him up.

"What?" Ed questioned. "I still have to finish the roof."

"Oh no way in hell am I going to let you go back to work after this. Come on." Winry gently hoisted Ed up, noticing his grimace.

"Do I have to go to sleep?" Ed whined as they exited the stable.

"Of course dummy. You need to rest! Do you want to ruin your stitches after all the hard work I put into them?" Winry glared at him, almost daring him to question her.

Ed went silent after this and the two of them slowly walked into the house. Their pace was slow and ascending the staircase to the second floor was difficult; but Winry held Ed's hand the entire time.

"What are you going to do after this?" Ed asked, as they entered his room.

"I'm staying here. Someone's got to make sure you don't die." Winry said as she helped him cross the room. They paused as they reached Ed's bed.

"What about Liore?" Ed grimaced out as Winry helped him lower himself down onto the soft mattress.

"Liore can wait. Right now I'm worried about you." Winry made sure he was comfortable and pulled the blanket up to Ed's chin.

"Thanks for the concern, mom." Ed rolled his eyes at Winry's dotting actions. But inwardly he was touched and surprised by how much she cared. "So am I going to be okay?"

Winry bit her bottom lip which he'd noticed she always did when she was thinking. "You'll be fine Ed, just as long as you don't do something stupid and reopen the wound."

"Now why would I do that?" Ed's shit eating grin was back. Winry rolled her eyes before turning to exit the room.

"Hey Doc, where are you going?" Ed called after her. Winry stuck her head back, "I'm going to to finish fixing the smithy's roof." She said in a matter of fact voice.

"But it's going to rain out." Ed objected, he didn't want her getting pneumonia or something because of his mess up.

"All the more reason why I need to fix it".

Ed began getting out of the bed, "No wait, I can do it."

"No, you will not!" Winry shouted as she crossed the room and gently pushed him back on the bed. "You will stay here and rest, got it?" Winry was now in 'no nonsense mode' as Ed liked to call it. Reluctantly he sighed and got back under the covers. Winry smiled brightly and stood up, "Okay."

Winry found Den next to the ladder looking guilty, his tail between his leg.

"You know what you did.' Winry put her hands on her hips as she looked down at Den. Den let out a pathetic whine before trotting off to hide somewhere. Winry sighed as she pulled the ladder up and put it into place. Luckily for her there was only one plate left to insert as rain started pouring within a few minutes. After finishing with that she made sure all the horses were in the stable before returning to the house.

Winry's teeth chattered as she lit the fire place. The rain had absolutely soaked her. Glancing over she saw Den asleep in the corner. "You little troublemaker. I'll deal with you later." She looked down at her clothes. 'I better change out of these wet close before I catch a cold.' As Winry climbed the stairs her thoughts turned to Ed and she wondered if he was okay. The plate didn't seem to hit any vital organs, but he could still be in danger. She had read in one of her parents medical books about something called internal bleeding where someone bled inside their bodies. It sounded awful. 'I really hope Ed will be fine. He's been such a good friend. Friend?' She thought. 'Is that what Ed is to me? Well he has been here for months and we do get along some of the time, and he can be really sweet in an immature kind of way. So yeah I guess we're friends.' Winry entered her room and changed into a white cotton sleeping gown.

'Wait, I should check on Ed.' She thought as she got ready for bed. 'I hope that dummy is okay.'

Moving swiftly, she exited her room and went to the guest room that Pinako had given to Ed. Hesitantly she knocked on the door. She heard the bed shifting before hearing his annoyed response, "Yeah, what is it?"

Winry pushed the door open and walked in.

"Hey?" she said softly "How are you doing?"

"Well the blinding pain in my chest has downgraded to a stinging sensation, so you tell me Doc?" Ed drawled. He was sitting on the bed leaning back against the headboard, the candle next to the bed was still burning.

Winry walked over to get a closer look, lifting the blanket to examine the wound. The stitches were holding and there was some small swelling, but no signs of infection or internal bleeding.

"You'll be fine." Winry told him, "You were lucky today, this could very well have ended badly."

"You've always been able to fix me up before." Ed said as he leaned back.

"Yeah I guess I have." Winry sat down on the foot of the bed. "Remember the time I had to fix up your hands after you got into that fight with that man who had a horse with a...what was is? Oh yeah, a horse with a cross on its forehead. Damn, you couldn't work for days after that." She finished with a chuckle.

Ed frowned, "I remember."

"What even caused you to do that?" Winry asked offhandedly. "Based on your hands and the cuts on your face, it looked like you got into a pretty vicious fight."

Ed looked down and he was silent for a moment before saying. "He said something that didn't sit right with me."

Winry raised an eyebrow before smirking. "Let me guess he called you short didn't he?"

Ed scowled and looked down. "No."

Winry furrowed her brow in confusion. "Did he make fun of your hair?"

At this Ed looked up with anger. "What's wrong with my HAIR?" He practically shouted.

"Oh so you haven't noticed? Well you see, it's kinda long. I mean like female long." Winry replied with a teasing voice.

Ed made a face. "Shut up Rockbell, plenty of men wear their hair long."

"Anyway, what was the fight about?" Winry asked. "Don't tell me you just fought a man for no reason."

Ed paused once again, debating what he should and shouldn't tell her. "You." Ed mumbled out.

Winry sat back in surprise. "What?" She asked confused.

"The fight was about you. It was right after you put the shoe on his horse. I was in the pub later that day when he came in with a few friends. He started asking Pitt about you and announced some rather vulgar...ideas that he had."

Winry stared at him open mouth. "S-so you fought this man because he disrespected me?" she asked him quietly.

"Yes." Ed replied unable to meet her gaze.

An awkward silence fell between the two. Winry shifted back and forth unsure of what to do. Ed meanwhile was cursing himself for opening his damn mouth. 'Dammit why did I tell her? She was never supposed to know about that!' He berated himself.

Suddenly he felt the bed shifting and soft lips pressing against his left cheek. Ed froze at the contact and his gaze met with Winry's as she pulled away. She was blushing lightly and he was probably worse off.

"Thank you" she spoke quietly.

Ed could only nod as Winry got to her feet. "But don't do anything that stupid in the future. You know I hate it when you worry me."

"Ok." Ed's brain was still coming back to life.

"You should get some rest." Winry smiled. "Goodnight, Ed."

"Goodnight." Ed muttered as he watched her exit the room and head to her own. Admiring how the white gown flowed around her shapely figure. 'Wow she looks like a freaking angel when she wears white.' He thought dumbly.

He then brought his hand to his cheek and held it there savoring the feeling of her lips against his skin. A goofy grin soon found its way onto his face.

A few minutes later Winry was in her room. Her face still red from the kiss she'd given Ed.

'Why did I do that?' She thought. 'There are other ways to thank a person besides kissing them.'

A few minutes passed before her thoughts turned to the reason why she kissed him. 'I can't believe he fought a guy over me, it's kinda flattering in a...primitive sort of way.'

Winry frowned as she remembered Ed's injuries, his hands were bruised and cut. He had a gash on his forehead as well. 'A man said vulgar things about me and Ed defended my honor. He must like me more than I thought.' Winry blushed to herself.

As she laid on her bed, her thoughts stayed on Ed. 'Plus, he also looks super hot without his shirt….wait what the hell?'

Winry sat up in bed.

'No.' She told herself, 'I can not be attracted to Edward Elric! It's just not possible.'

When she had sat down in Ed's bed, the sight of his muscled chest had distracted her momentarily before she'd shifted her attention to his injury. But now that she was alone, the dirty thoughts were rushing in on her like a dam bursting.

'Okay Winry calm down. So what if I think Ed is handsome, that doesn't mean I'm...sexually attracted to him right?' Winry was blushing even more. 'So what if he has a chest that looked like it was carved out of marble. So what if he has strong, thick arms, a chiseled jaw, and eyes like the burning sun. Oh my god what is wrong with me?'

Winry put her head in hands and groaned. She was sexually attracted to him!

OoO

Winry and Ed's trip to Liore to drop off the crates had taken three days of carriage riding when it should only have taken one. The reason for this delay was more bad weather and conditions. Yet despite this inconvenience the two of them were actually enjoying the ride immensely. They were able to maintain pleasant conversations throughout the trip, with only a few blow outs. And even during the times when they argued, they still retained a sense of playfulness.

Once they had dropped off the crates, the two started on their journey home. The return trip was a lot shorter than the first and close to the end of it, Winry was getting pretty tired. She had been the one driving the carriage to Liore while Ed had sat back with the crates. This time Ed was sitting next to her and noticed that she was dozing off.

"Hey, you ok?" He asked after he saw that her head was drooping.

Winry startled to attention, then looked at Ed somewhat annoyed.

"Of course, I'm fine." She answered.

Ed scoffed. "You're fading fast Rockbell, wanna tap out?"

"We're almost home. I can mak-" Winry's response was interrupted by a soft yawn.

Ed chuckled, finding her antics cute. "Move over Gearhead, I'm driving."

Winry pouted, but handed the reigns over to Ed, who smirked and turned his attention to maintaining the horses. The two of them entered into a comfortable silence, listening to the soft breeze and enjoying the twilight night.

Ed was pretty proud of himself. He had spent several days in very close proximity to Winry and had been able to restrain himself the entire time. Not that he was saying it was easy. Noooooo, far from it. Dear god, did he want her. It was torture. Every second he was with her he wanted to touch her. Watching those plump lips move as she talked left him with an overwhelming urge to kiss those lips and relish in her no doubt wonderful taste. He wanted to run his hand through her soft hair and inhale her scent. Everything she did seemed to turn him into a hormonal mess. The worst was at night when they had slept next each other in the carriage. Having her be so close to him and listening to all the adorable sounds she made in her sleep had been mind numbing. The second night of their trip had been freezing and they had to spoon each other for warmth. For the entire night they were pressed up against each other. Needless to say Ed didn't get much sleep that night on account of her soft body pressed up against his. Not only that but the fact that she trusted him to sleep next to her and hold her filled him with an indescribably good feeling. Hell, just thinking about it caused his heart to swell. Yep, during this trip Ed had realized that he had fallen hard for the blonde blacksmith. For her dazzling smile and the hypnotic sway of her hips. Yes, of course he was still staring at her ass on occasion. But unfortunately, he hadn't been the only one. When they got to Liore there were an innumerable amount of men who had stared at her far too long for his liking. It wasn't like Winry wore revealing cloths; they were just...complimentary. It was even worse when the old priest they were giving the oil too ogled her shamelessly when she turned around to check her sore feet. This had pissed Ed off immensely and fortunately for that old bastard, he backed off when Ed gave him a glare. What right did that creep have to stare at Winry? His Winry, dammit!

Suddenly Ed felt something slump against his shoulder.

'What the hell?'

He turned his head to the side and his face softened at the sight next to him. Winry was asleep and had fallen against his shoulder. She looked so peaceful and her breaths came out in soft huffs. Ed smiled at her and left her where she was. He continued down the road, enjoying the warmth that she provided.

Later, when they finally reached the farm Winry was still slumped against his shoulder sleeping. Once the carriage came to a stop Ed slowly slid out of the seat, gently lowering Winry until she was lying on her side. Ed took the horses and lead them to the stables. Once the horses were back in their pens, Ed returned to the carriage to find Winry still asleep. Rolling his eyes but finding the sight endearing, Ed scooped Winry up in his arms bridal style and carried her inside. While being careful to not wake her up, Ed enjoyed the feeling of Winry in his arms. She was so warm and soft, it was almost a disappointment when he reached her bedroom. Gently laying her down on the bed, Ed removed her boots and stockings. As he did this, he remembered her earlier complaints of having sore feet. Taking her dainty feet in his hands, he rested them on his lap. His hands gently moved up and down the smooth skin, working the muscles. A pleasured sigh caught Ed's attention and he looked up at Winry's face. She had a pleasant smile on her face, and Ed couldn't help but blush. Maybe he should stop this before she woke up and made things weird. Another sigh from Winry snapped him out of his thoughts. As Ed sat there on the bed rubbing Winry's bare feet, he drank in the sight of her sleeping face.

What did he feel for her?

Yes, he had a very strong physical attraction to her, what man couldn't? But it had to be more then that. At Liore, when those men were eyeing her up, Ed felt jealous. Jealous that these men who didn't know her had the ability to admire her beauty. Along with this jealousy Ed felt a strong need to protect. She had been completely oblivious to their lustful looks. Which had only made him even more overprotective of her. He had stood between Winry and those men, blocking them from being able to get to her even if they had tried. He glared that priest down because he could see the less than holy thoughts going on in his head. If any of those men had dared to touch her, Ed would've killed him with his bare hands. If any of them had made perverted comments about her, he would've fought them then and there. Just like he did with the horse man a few weeks ago. He cared deeply about her; he cared about her safety and her comfort. That was the reason he was right now giving her a foot massage even though her feet had stopped hurting hours ago.

She nagged him and bossed him around every day, yet no matter how difficult the task, he always did it. She was also extremely intelligent, tough, charming, and could be very funny when she wanted to. She wasn't just some pretty face to him, she was the pretty face that he wanted to wake up next to every day for the rest of his life because he was in love with her.

There was no denying it, no other possible explanation. He loved her and everything about her. She had saved his life after all, but this had started a long time before that. Seven months on this farm had culminated with him finding the love of his life

Before he left Ed leaned down and planted a kiss on Winry's forehead, causing Winry to murmur in her sleep and toss a little bit.

"It's ok, go back to sleep." He cooed, stroking her hair as he stood up from the bed. She curled up into a comfortable position with a content smile on her beautiful face.

"Goodnight princess."

OoO

Ok, not a lot happened in this chapter, but in the beginning I wanted to dedicate time to showing Ed and Winry's relationship before the story got started. In the movie it's like "she realized that he meant I love you. She loved him too." Boom, everlasting love. The next chapter is going to be similar to this, but it'll start looking more like the Princess Bride.