Chapter 2: She Should Have Worn Her Helmet

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"Just what the hell happened to you!" Granny Pinako nearly dropped her pipe when Winry slunk inside the house nursing an ever growing shiner and all bandaged up. The old woman tugged off her yellow latex gloves and chucked them in the drainer of the sink then gingerly held onto the counter so she could get down from the step stool that enabled her to wash the dishes comfortably.

"Granny! I don't like you using that stool when no one's in the house!" She snorted and tried to deflect her own woes to their ongoing argument about safety and her concern for her elderly grandmother. "You could have fallen!"

"...and can't get up?" Pinako chuckled.

"That's not funny." Winry pouted and pulled aside the worn wooden chair and planted herself at the kitchen table as her grandmother scurried next to her to examine her wounds.

"Girl...where's your bike?" The old woman knew exactly what happened, her granddaughter had to have wrecked, but judging from the expert bandaging, she knew that Winry had medical care from a doctor. The hospital bracelet around her left wrist sealed the deal.

"Well..." She totally forgot about her dead bike and wracked her cramping brain to remember just where it was. Then, it hit her. "Crap." She sighed. "It's in his trunk."

"Whose trunk? You better spill, girl." Pinako pulled up her own chair, scooted it next to the girl then sat down. "And where's your helmet?"

"I sort of had an accident...totally not my fault!" Winry relayed her version of the story and how she unfortunately met the Elric brothers and their father Dr. Hohenheim. "So, here I am. I've lost my shoe and probably will have to see that mean Edward character again when he brings my bike back." She took in a breath to finish, knowing her grandmother would not like what she was going to say. "I forgot my helmet. It's still in my room."

"You know I should ground you for not wearing the head gear." Pinako threatened.

"Granny! I'm fine!" Winry knew the black eye and bandage didn't make her look fine. "And, my bike...there's nothing I can do to fix it...the frame's bent to hell."

"Watch the language."

"Sorry." Winry long lost the argument on using dirty words in front of Granny – despite the old woman using some colorful language herself. "Ugh, I just don't know if I could deal with him again today, he's just, just so infuriating! I mean, his brother was the only reason I got to the hospital in the first place...Al seems to be the nice one." Indeed, she could stand to see the younger Elric's face again, he was so much kinder and not bad to look at either. Ed, on the other hand, he seemed to be in a constant state of scowl.

"I'm not at all happy about this, Winry." Pinako's face became stern. "These boys hurt you and destroyed your bike, I think I need to call up their father, the good doctor." The old woman smiled. "I know Dr. Hohenheim, personally."

"You know him?"

"Yes, dear, from years ago." The look on her face told the girl she wasn't going to give any more away than that. "Still, I think they are responsible for replacing your bike so he needs a call." She made motions to get up.

"Gran...I don't want any more trouble, please don't. Besides, you should see what his car looks like." Her face shone with mirth.

"Really?" Pinako sat back down.

"Yeah and Ed's probably got a black eye too...I hit him with my missing shoe." She startled to giggle.

"Hard?"

"Pretty hard." Winry could no longer contain her laughter and Pinako joined her.

"Good girl..." The old woman stood from her seat and made her way over to the sink, grabbing her step stool and carrying it to the refrigerator granting her easier access to freezer. "Now, let's get you some relief for that eye." She rifled through the icebox until she found a large bundle wrapped in a freezer bag. Granny stepped down and slammed the parcel on the adjacent counter then unwrapped its contents revealing two large sirloin steaks. She finished prying them apart then opened a drawer and retrieved another freezer bag. Leaving one steak on the counter and still in its bag, she took the two or three steps back to the table placing the second steak in the pristine bag, zipping it and handing it to Winry. "I was going to defrost these tomorrow for Sunday supper, but I guess we can have them tonight...hold this to your eye."

"Ok?" Winry placed the frozen bag of meat on her eye.

"Don't hold it continuously or you'll get frostbite...when it thaws enough, take it out of the bag and let the steak lay on the bruise." She smirked and reached for her pipe. "That'll be YOUR steak."

"Gee, thanks." Then the girl remembered something important. "So, can I still help with the Camaro today?"

"Are you serious?" Pinako now stood over the waste bin and tapped the ashes out of her pipe. "You have a head wound...YOU are spending today in bed."

"Crap." Winry's pouted, a pout she'd practiced since she was a baby and perfected years ago.

"Well, I could prop you up in the cot from the back room and let you watch..." She never could keep her granddaughter from something she really wanted and she knew Winry used those baby eyes to work her over.

"That'd be great!" She yelled so loud, her head hurt.

"Brother, dad's going to kill us, shock us back to life again then kill us again." Alphonse realized in the span of a half hour since dropping the Rockbell girl at her house, that he sat shotgun once again. "And he's a doctor so he knows how to do it."

"Calm down, we'll be done and back at the house before he gets home at noon. Besides, we'll not have a chance to get this done when he takes the car away."

"Still, I don't think he'll be happy we did all this without asking him."

"What's one more coal on the fire?" Ed cringed because he knew that even though he'd figure out a way to fix all their troubles, they were still in trouble before the door was smashed. Before long, they pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall, the elder brother releasing the trunk latch with his key fob. "C'mon, help me with this wreck."

"I still don't know how you spending my money is helping me." Al assisted his brother in extricating the mangled bike frame from the car. "I still don't know how you talked me into that." When it was out, he noticed a small, neon green sneaker laying in the truck – her shoe.

"Let me explain it to you again..." They carried the frame to the shop and leaned it outside against the brick. "Your money getting my car up and running will equal you driving my car when we go out."

Edward said it so matter-of-factually that Alphonse almost bought it. Almost.

"Not enough." He stood tall in front of his shorter brother.

"Ok...what do you want?"

"I don't know, I'll think about it and you'll agree to it?"

"Sure, yeah, whatever you want." They both entered the shop and were greeted by a muscular clerk, dressed in spandex.

"Welcome, what can I help you with?" He smiled too wide for Edward's liking.

"Um, we sort of destroyed a friend's bike and want to replace it with a similar one." Ed motioned to the door and led the clerk outside to see the bent up frame.

"You did a doozey on this one...but I can recommend a great upgrade to this model..." The clerk walked them back inside and motioned to a row of bikes in the store. Dollar signs replaced his eyes as he knew he'd be making a good commission from these boys.

Winry tried to enjoy watching Pitt and Gramps work on her car, she really did. It just wasn't the same watching from the sidelines instead of getting her hands all greasy. Her head hurt her fiercely despite the good medication Granny gave her. She thanked the boys profusely for helping her then decided to go upstairs and lay in her bed for a while. Winry hadn't been wrapped all cozy and warm in her fluffy purple comforter a scant ten minutes when her cell phone rang. She eyed the contact on the screen and grabbed the device.

"Paninya?" The girl hadn't heard hide nor hair from her friend since the end of the last school year. Paninya spent her summers working as a 4-H camp counselor way down in Rush Valley. Winry wished her friend would have made an effort to call her when she could, but she kept herself so freaking busy there apparently was no time for old friends until the weekend before school started. That hurt, a little.

"In the flesh!"

"About time I heard from you, Turd."

"Hey, what can I say, my social calendar was full." She snorted. "Anywho, I'm dying to see you and guess what?"

"Chicken butt?"

"Nope, not even that. The guys are doing one last swim before we have to go back to prison on Monday and you are one of the elite invited."

"Ugh...not today." She felt the knot under her bandage.

"No, silly, not today, tomorrow morning so pack a lunch. I'm coming over tonight so we can go together early and stake out a good rock and lay out and let them drool over our bods."

"Great." Winry really didn't think anyone would drool over her body with her black eye and puffy face. "Paninya, I can't. I had an accident..."

"What! You gotta broken leg or something?"

"No, just a mushed up face."

"Oh, I'm so coming over...I'll fix you up!" She hung up the phone before Winry could protest.

"God, help me."

Knock, knock, knock!

She heard the loud sound rising up from the front door at the end of the stairs and the boom rolled around inside her hurt head like a sledgehammer. Worse of all, she knew Gran was next door in the garage and not due to check on her for a while. Winry sighed and glanced down at her holey sweat shorts and old hand-me-down R.E.M. Concert t-shirt that once belonged to her father. Whoever was at the door will have to deal with it, she decided.

"Coming!" Just yelling made the pain worse and she really wished it was because she drank the night before and not because she wrecked her bike. Slowly, she pulled herself upright and rolled out of bed.

Knock, knock knock!

"Damn-it, quit the knocking, I'm coming!" She held onto the railing coming downstairs, then peeked through the eye-hole to see two shining blond mops and golden eyes. "Elrics?" Winry groaned and opened the door.

"Hey." Alphonse greeted her first.

"Yeah." Ed managed to squeak the words out, but his grin said the rest.

"I supposed you brought my bike back?" Winry just wanted to go back to bed.

"Sure did." Edward smiled wider and he and Al moved aside to reveal their gift. "Hope this makes up for ruining your other one."

"Oh, my." The girl stepped barefoot on her porch to examine the new mountain bike. It was the same brand as her old one but a newer model and had all the bells and whistles, top notch. "This is really nice!" She squeezed the handbrakes.

"We felt bad about this morning." Al began. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Having headaches, but I think I'll live." Winry smiled at the younger Elric.

"Great!" Ed sauntered closer. "So, will you fix my door now?"

"What?" The small hairs on the back of her neck rose as did her temper.

"You know, you're bike is fixed so can you fix my door?"

"Ugh, you are unbelievable!"

"We'll pay you."

"We will?" Al didn't like Ed volunteering any more of his funds.

"You bet your Aunt Fanny, you will!" Winry sneered. "You may have given me back a bike...and a nice one..." She murmured the last part. "But you still have to work off the damage to my face!" The girl pointed at Ed as she spoke.

"Oh my God, Win...did he do that?" Paninya had pulled up in her Jeep and heard and seen Winry for the first time all summer.

"Wait..." Ed protested, this girl evidently thought he'd hit Winry with his fists.

"Did you hit my friend?" The girl leapt from the vehicle and soared through the air, tackling Edward by his waist and the two landed on the porch. "How dare you hit a girl!" Paninya began waylaying the hapless young man, landing good, solid punches on his nose and jaw.

Bark! Bark! Den came outside through the open door and danced around Paninya while she pummeled Edward.

"No!" Winry left her bike to try to pull her friend off the boy, but she didn't try too hard.

"There's a big misunderstanding!" Alphonse successfully pulled Winry's friend off his brother, allowing the young man to sit up and wipe his bloodied nose with the back of his left hand. "Ed didn't strike her...it was an accident!"

"Accident?" The dark-skinned girl looked from her bandaged friend to the kind face of the other golden-haired boy.

"Yes, I ran into his car door as he opened it." Winry huffed and tried to settle her friend down.

"I knew it!" Edward yelled and pointed at the blond girl. "You admit it!"

"Ugh!" Winry held her head. "Everyone stop yelling!"

"You kids!" All faces turned to see Pinako standing in the doorway, tapping her sandaled-foot. "Get your butts inside right now!" She stared each youth down as they slowly traipsed inside. The old woman didn't have time for any teenage drama so she decided to nip this in the bud. "Sit!" She instructed them to find a seat in the living room.

Ed, Al and Winry sat down on a floral covered sofa. Winry reached over Alphonse and handed Ed a box of tissues, he took it quickly and pulled a piece out, wrapped it in a cord and stuffed it up his bleeding nose. The blonde girl giggled at the sight which earned her a glare. Paninya sat on the adjacent chair keeping an angry gaze at Edward and Granny took her recliner. Den thought this all was a grand hoot and quit barking and took her seat on top of Winry's feet.

"Hey...Winry?" Al, who was in the middle, poked the girl with his elbow to get her attention. "I found your shoe." He handed her the green sneaker.

"Thanks, Al." She fingered the item and placed it on her lap while her grandma spoke.

"Here's the deal." Pinako leaned forward for emphasis. "You boys injured my girl, here." She pointed to Winry. "Winry injured that one." She pointed to Ed's eye which by now was a lovely shade of purple underneath and slowly picking up the texture of the tread of the girl's shoe. "The bike's been replaced." She sat back. "The only thing not left equal is the car door." Pinako narrowed her eyes and looked directly at her granddaughter. "I think fixing the door would be a great learning experience for you." A thin smile cracked her elder lips. "At no charge."

"What!" Winry jumped making Den move from her feet and the shoe hit the floor. "Owie." Yelling suddenly hurt her head.

"You should have been wearing your helmet. I've told you a hundred times. Consider yourself lucky." Pinako scooted off the edge of the chair and left the teenagers glaring at each other. She turned to Paninya before she left the room. "And YOU...apologize to him for his nose!"

"Geesh...sorry." Paninya halfheartedly spoke.

"Eh, I've had worse." Edward snickered making the girl grumble.

"So...you guys are new here, huh?" Paninya looked the brothers up and down from shoe to head. "You know, if you want to get in with the popular crowd right away, there's a party tomorrow..."

"Shhhh!" Winry scolded her friend. She didn't want to go to this thing, herself least alone having to explain in person why Edward had a black eye too.

"Where's the party?" Alphonse wanted to start this school year right, he knew making an impression was key. He also didn't dislike the idea of seeing Winry in a bathing suit.

"Right on the Rain river at the Rocks." Paninya smiled wide.