He was still sleeping when Al returned. "Winry?" he called, "I got the food you asked for. Where should I put it?"
She got up, glancing back at Ed. "I can put it away," she said, walking into the next room. She smiled at him. "I better cook some breakfast," she said. "Or lunch, I guess."
"How is Brother?" Al said, looking past her into the surgery.
"He woke up," she said. "Sort of; I don't think he was really awake. But it's a good sign."
"Oh!" Al said. "Do you think he'll wake up again soon?"
Winry shrugged. "You know how it is when someone's hurt. Ed sleeps all the time anyway, and it only makes sense that he'll sleep even more when he's injured."
"Maybe I should go sit with him," Al said, turning towards the surgery.
"He's just in the other room," Winry said. "We'll know if he wakes up. Why don't you keep me company while I cook? I think I'll make some soup," she added. "When he wakes up, he can have some. Besides, soup is pretty much the only way I can get him to drink his milk, huh?" She smiled, trying to be cheerful for Al's sake.
"Brother does hate milk," Al said, and she had the sense that he was trying to be cheerful for her sake, too.
They talked while she cooked. Mostly, Winry talked and Al listened. She told him about Paninya and Mr. Garfiel and Satella and the baby, and everything else she could think of to tell him. He was interested, he laughed in the right places, but she noticed that he volunteered almost nothing about what he and Ed had been up to lately.
When she was done with the soup, she tidied up the kitchen, and the surgery, and was halfway into cleaning up her workroom when she heard someone banging on the door. "What is it?" Winry called, irritable. "It's our day off; we're closed. Come back tomorrow." She opened the door.
"Can't a friend come visit?" grinned Paninya. "I heard Ed and Al were in town," she said, barging in. "I thought I'd come say-" She stopped short, as she entered the surgery, her mouth dropping open. "Hi, Al," she said, closing her mouth.
"Hi, Paninya," Al said, from where he was sitting next to Ed's bedside. "How are you doing?"
"Better than you guys, apparently," she said. "I hadn't heard that Ed was all beat up."
"I'd rather everyone didn't know," Winry said, frowning. Until they knew why Ed and Al had been attacked, it was probably best to keep it quiet.
"Okay, okay," Paninya said. "He sure is accident-prone, though. How many times have you had to replace that arm?"
Winry sighed. "I'm going to have to do it again, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get it done by the time he's ready to use it."
Paninya snorted. "I've been in the same pair of legs since I stopped growing," she said. "He's lucky he's got you around to fix him up."
"We know," Al said. "We know that."
"Ed's resting now," Winry said, suddenly. "But I'm gonna need some parts if I'm going to build Ed another arm from scratch. If I give you a list, could you pick some things up for me?" A shopping mission had worked to get Al on his feet and moving; it might also work to get Paninya out of her hair. "Just tell them to put it on my account." She started scribbling on a piece of paper.
"Sure, sure," Paninya said. "Whatever you want." She rolled her eyes. "I won't mention that Ed's hurt. Don't worry, everyone will just assume that he's holed up in here with you." Just in case Winry hadn't gotten the message, she started making kissy faces.
"Thanks, Paninya," Winry said firmly, handing her the list. She could feel her face turning red. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Fine," Paninya said, laughing, and left.
"Sorry, Al," Winry said, not sure what she was apologizing for. She liked Paninya, but she could be so embarrassing sometimes.
Just then, Ed stirred again. "Al?" he croaked.
"Brother?" Al said, excited. "You're awake!"
"Yeah, Al," Ed said, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. "Where are we?"
"You're in Rush Valley," Winry said, turning pink. She hoped really hard that Ed hadn't heard what Paninya had just said.
"Ah." Ed said, turning to look at her. "Are you going to yell at me for breaking your automail again?"
"I've been waiting for you to wake up for that," she said. "Speaking of which- if you're awake, I should check your automail over. I don't like the look of your ports."
He turned a little to give her better access to his arm. Winry took her tools and began the process of removing what was left of the arm. "Why are you being so nice to me, Winry?" Ed asked, his voice hoarse and tired.
"Idiot," she said, sharply, and smacked him in the head with her hand. "I'm not being nice to you."
"You didn't hit me with your wrench," Ed pointed out.
"Idiot," she repeated, and leaned into her work, turning her face so that he couldn't see her eyes. "Two of your ribs are broken," she said, after a while.
"I figured that out," he said, pointedly. "I'm not stupid."
"So don't go trying move around," she said, ignoring him. "It'll only take longer to heal. You had some bleeding inside you, too, and-" She shook her head. "I'm going to disconnect your arm now," she told him. He stiffened, bracing for the pain. He grunted softly as she disengaged the nerve connections. It was just as painful as engaging them, she'd been told, but at least it was over sooner. She looked down at the arm, frowning. It was junk. She would probably be able to salvage parts from it later, but for now it was better to start fresh. Setting it aside, she leaned down and began inspecting the port.
"How long was I out?" Ed asked.
"Most of a day," she answered. Her voice sounded clipped, angry, and she wasn't sure why. "You woke up a little bit this afternoon, but I don't know if you remember that. Are you hungry?"
"A little," he said, staring off into space while she prodded him.
Al stood up, his armor clanking. "I'll get you some soup, then, Brother," he said, and made to go to the kitchen.
"Thanks, Al," Ed said, wearily.
Winry worked in silence. She examined the join between Ed's flesh and the port for his arm. The shiny scar tissue there was normal; forcing flesh to bond to metal causes unavoidable trauma. The pinkness and ropiness of Ed's scars was not normal, however. Ed always pushed himself too far, too hard. Automail was never meant to be knocked around as much as Ed did it, not in a body that was still growing. "You see, moron?" she snapped at him suddenly, tapping at a particularly red patch of tissue. "I'm going to have to check the whole housing, and you'll be lucky if you don't have to have more surgery. And that's not even taking into account that I'm going to have to build you a new arm, again, you inconsiderate idiot!" By the end, she was screaming and brandishing a wrench.
"Er," said Al, appearing in the doorway with a bowl. "Winry?"
She picked up her tools and ran. When it came to Ed, she didn't know why screaming always stood in for words like 'I'm afraid for you' or 'please, at least try to stay safe' or even 'I love you'. Somehow, the words she meant to say never quite came out.
She wasn't crying when Al came out to check on her. "I'm sorry," she said, picking up her tools again. "He just woke up; I shouldn't be yelling at him yet."
"I think Brother would worry if you didn't," Al said, and she knew that if Al had a body, he'd be smiling at her. "The doctor just came," he added. "I thought you might want to talk to him."
Doctor Hess was prodding Ed's side gently as she entered the room. "Hello, Doctor Hess," she said. "How's Ed doing?"
"As well as we can expect," he said, looking up at her. He frowned. "The blood loss is the major problem at the moment. You'll need fluids, and lots of rest," he said, turning to Ed. "You can expect to be tired all the time while your body works at making new blood to replace what it lost. And you need to try not to move, or you'll risk re-opening your wounds. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ed said, turning away. "I've done this before, you know." He sounded so exhausted.
Doctor Hess packed up his bag. "He really will be fine," he told Winry. "We got his wounds closed in time, and there's no sign of infection. Just keep an eye on him."
"Thank you, Doctor," she said, and her smile wasn't all politeness.
When she came back in the room after seeing the doctor out, she noticed the empty soup bowl on the tray next to Ed's bed. She approached Ed cautiously, picking the bowl up to take it into the other room. "I'm glad you were able to eat," she said, and she tried to make it mean I'm sorry and I was just so frightened for you at the same time.
"Yeah," Ed answered. "You make good soup, Winry." It's okay, she could almost hear. I'm sorry I worried you.
Ed fell asleep again soon after that, and Winry called Mr. Garfiel. Tomorrow there would be patients streaming in, and Winry wasn't sure about what to do with Ed. Mr. Garfiel came over from his home as soon as she explained the situation.
"Al!" he cried, embracing the younger Elric brother. "Oh, you boys have gotten yourselves into another mess, haven't you?"
"Er," said Al, patting the older man on the back awkwardly.
Mr. Garfiel screeched when he saw Ed, still asleep, covered in bandages. "Winry, darling!" he said, with horror in his voice, "Look at what he's done to your beautiful automail!"
"We can probably move him into a hotel in the morning, Mr. Garfiel," she told him, earnestly, after they'd got done discussing the technical particulars of Ed's automail. "I don't want him to be in your way." There was just no way that the workshop could function with an incapacitated Ed in the middle of it. Aside from space considerations, she shuddered to think what he might say to her customers.
"No, darling," Mr. Garfiel said, firmly, "I won't hear of it. The boys come to us, injured, and we throw them out into the street? Absolutely not. We'll close the shop for tomorrow, and then after that, we'll see."
"Thank you, Mr. Garfiel," she said, swallowing a lump in her throat. She was absolutely not going to cry if she could help it.