It's un edited so I'm warning you for crappy writing. I'm still looking for a beta. Please bare with me.

-Ken

"I thought you said you lived in apartment six"

"I-I...I do"

"This is six!"

"No. This is...is nine"

Winry couldn't help hold him up anymore, she steered him over to a bench in the hall and made him sit. The second he sat down he laid onto his side and started humming again.

"Give me your keys" She said holding her hand out to him. Oh how appealing it sounded to leave him on the bench for the night and let him be embarrassed by the neighbors. But she couldn't be that heartless.

Lifting his head from the bench he squinted at her, as if he just noticed her, "My what?"

"Your keys" She said, dragging out the word as if she were talking to a two year old so that they could understand. But it didn't seem to work as well on him as he just stared at her with a dumb look on his face.

"My keezah? What the hell is a keezah?"

Playing around with the idea of slapping him, she decided not to and just pointed at his pocket of his pants. He blinked at the finger than at his pocket and seemed to understand.

Reaching into his pocket he emptied it all out on the floor. A cell phone. Pocket watch. A couple pens. And finally a set of keys. Once she snagged the keys from him before he could drop them his head hit the seat of the bench again.

After opening the door she left the keys in the slot and went over to pick up all the stuff he emptied on the ground and held it out to him.

"I don't want 'em"

"Edward, this is a three hundred dollar cellphone. Of course you want it" She knew because it was the same model she wanted but her parents said they'd buy it for her and set up a plan that they would pay for if she went to med school. Talk about buying someone.

"I don't want it!" He whined.

Stuffing everything into her hand bag that she had strapped over her shoulder, she grabbed him by the shoulder and made him stand and walk into the apartment. She smiled as she thought of her parents, oh how they would kill her for what she was doing. But she was 22, she could make her own stupid mistakes.

He suddenly shrugged her off and headed for another doorway, only staggering a few times. She watched him dissappear through the door way and she stood there caught.

Should she just leave and lock the door behind her? Of course she would leave all the stuff he emptied from his pocket on the table beside the door. But whatever family he came from, they must be loaded, because this apartment was nice and their was no way a pre-grad could afford this on their own.

The phone in her bag started ringing and she jumped, emitting a yelp of surprise. Pulling the phone out she realized that it wasn't hers, but Edward's. She read the caller ID.

Alphonse

Answering it on impulse she heard a panicky voice on the other end.

"Brother?! What are you doing?! How could you drink tonight, it was family reunion!"

"Um...Alphonse? This is...Winry" She stated awkwardly.

"Oh! I'm so sorry for blowing up on you like that!" His voice dropped his pitch, "Is Ed alright?"

"He-uh...He's really drunk, I just-"

"Is Roy there? Or Jean?"

"Um, no, no one's here. I just dropped im off. I was leaving now-"

"Wait! You can't leave him alone! Where'd you find him? Was he at the general store again?"

"No. He was outside of the bar in a snow bank" She said a little angrily, "Look I don't even know this guy. I just brought him him to his apartment out of pity"

"In the snowbank?! Oh no... listen you can't leave him alone when he's drunk. Please wait! I'll be over in half an hour"

"Wait a minute! I don't even know him and you want me to stay here?!"

"Please! He's harmless! He just can't be left alone"

"Why not?"

There was a silence on his end for a moment.

"He's...he can get a little...god, he'd kill me for telling you..."

"Alphonse, just tell me. What's the problem? If you don't give me a good excuse then I'm not staying"

"He's got anxiety and depression problems" Alphonse said in a rush, "When he's drunk and alone it gets worse. So please please please don't leave him or he'll do something stupid or freak out"

"I am not staying with someone who's going to freak out!"

"He won't! Just stay in the apartment and he won't do anything, I promise! Look, I'll pay you, how does a hundred dollars sound?"

"You're paying me to babysit your drunk twenty-something year old brother?"

"Just please don't leave him! Roy and Jean know better than to leave him alone when he's drunk. Now something bad'll happen and it'll be all my fault!" Alphonse's' voice started breaking and Winry began feeling sorry for him.

"Ok, look. If you promise me he won't...do anything if I stay....I'll watch him" She sighed.

"Really?! You will?! Ok I promise, he's easy to watch. Just wait, I'm leaving right now!"

Before Winry could say anything else he hung up. Sighing deeply, she re pocketed the phone and started for the doorway Edward went through. What was Alphonse talking about anxiety and depression problems. Although she hated to admit it, she did know a lot in the medical field and depression problems didn't come from just anywhere. What happened to him?

All she knew was that that little brat better be right about him being harmless or both of them would end up with concussions.

Walking through the doorway she found herself in a small and simple kitchen. Edward was over at a black table with a glass top. He shouldn't be around that. Moving over to him she was about to tell him to get up when she saw a can in his hand and he seemed to be having a stare down with it.

"Why are you still drinking? Haven't you learned your lesson?"

He jerked his head up and blinked at her. She almost lost her serious mask as she saw the disarray of his hair, pieces were sticking on end and one side of his bangs were trying to stick straight up but instead they flopped over themselves, giving into gravity.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

Winry frowned, "I'm the angel who saved you from the gravity" She said rolling her eyes.

"Ohhhhh... you can...you can have whatever you want. I owe you big time" He said looking back at his can to resume the match.

Walking over angrily she snatched the can from him and frowned at him, "You've got to be joking. This afternoon you seemed really sweet and now you're trying to over drink?"

He only shrugged, "I don't like this anymore...can you just end it?"

Winry's eyes widened, oh damn.
"No, Edward. You said you owed me right?"

He nodded sullenly, staring at the glass top of the table.
"Then just go to bed ok? It's just your depression making you think like that and alcohol is just going to make it worse... go to bed"

Winry knew now why his brother panicked so much. She almost felt like panicking herself.

"Y-you wan' me to go to bed?" He asked her, finally meeting her eye. She nodded and he broke out into a grin, throwing her for a loop as he stood up and left. Shaking her head she picked up the can from the table and dumped it out in the sink. She half wondered if she should throw all alcohol out, but if Edward was this bad of a drinker it'd take her all night.

Rinsing her hands off from the sticky feeling of beer she dried her hands off on a towel. For an alcoholic Edward seemed to keep his place nice at least, or did someone do it for him?

As she set the towel back down on the counter she heard a loud smash and a thud as her heart stopped and she ran. She flew out of the kitchen to find the noise and tripped over something sending her to the ground just like this afternoon. Is her life doomed to repeat?!

As she sat up she felt her knee had a wide cut on it and it was bleeding all over her leg. But that didn't matter, what did Edward do?! A noise behind her made her stop and look over her shoulder.

On the ground behind her Edward was sprawled on his back a book in his hand. In her hurry to get out of the kitchen she saw a book shelf was knocked over and books were thrown everywhere. A tell tale stool was on its side propping up one of Edward's legs.

"God, you idiot! I said go to bed, not get a freaking dictionary!" She yelled, standing up and wincing at her knee. Moving over to Edward she saw he had a split down his forehead and blood was seeping through his bangs. He looked dazed.

"Edward? Are you alright?! How hard did you hit your head?!" She asked, helping him sit up. Ok, first she needed to stop their bleeding. It wasn't life threatening but it was getting the nice tan rug under them stained with ugly brown spots and smears.

The door opened and Winry heard loud laughing and she blanched as she saw Roy Mustang and Jean from the bar and other guys come in. At first they just stared until a man stepped over.

"Jeez, are you two alright? There's blood everywhere, what happened?" The man asked. Winry faintly recognized him as the one who laughed when she turned Roy down at the bar.

"H-he knocked the case over and got cut. I didn't know he was laying in front of the doorway so I ran out and...tripped over him"

"Roy get Ed's head cleaned off, and come on I'll take care of your knee"

Winry pulled away from the man with a glare, "I can take care of my self!"

The man regarded her with his green stare and she felt pinned. Instead of fighting she let him help her into the kitchen and over to a chair. She realized she couldn't put much weight on her knee.

She watched him warily as he went over to the counters and pulled open a drawer, pulling out a cloth. After he wetted it down he came back over and wiped the blood off her shin and folded the cloth and pressed it to the cut. Turning red she grabbed the cloth and held it there herself.

"I have a daughter of my own. She's always getting bumps and scrapes. So...are you the girl Ed was cheating with on Melissa?"

"What?"

He smiled and shook his head as he went over to the other side of the table and sat down, "Melissa has been spreading rumors that Ed is cheating on her"

"I thought they broke up in the bar tonight"

"Yeah, they always 'break up'. I don't know why Ed keeps going back to her, she's kinda....she's kind of a bitch"

Winry scowled at him, "I would be too if my boyfriend got drunk every night"

"Nah, its not that. That's just something for her to bitch about. But really...I really hope this is the last time"

"Well, for the record, I'm only here because I found that lush buried in a snowbank outside the bar and felt bad so I took him home. There's nothing between us" She said with callousness, "The only reason I stayed was because his whiney little brother called and begged me to stay"

The man busted out laughing, "That sounds like Alphonse, alright. But I really am thankful too that you stayed"

"What's wrong with him?" Winry finally asked, feeling water start dripping down her leg from the cloth on her knee, "Why is he such a drunk?"

The man started looking uncomfortable, "Well...its not my place to say anything but... ask Alphonse, he's more open about it"

Winry scoffed, staring down at the bloodied rag under her hand, "I'm not asking someone I never even met before"

"Ok, I don't care who you are, you will love Alphonse. That kid is the most lovable thing you'll ever meet"

"I think I'll pass on loving him too"

"Ouch, you're pretty cold"

"I'm not exactly having a good day, ok?!" Winry snapped at him, jutting out her lower jaw in anger as she tested her knee by bending it.

"I can see that. Running into Edward would make anyone's day a living hell" He joked, adjusting his glasses and reached a hand out across the table, "'Name's Maes. Maes Hughes"

Winry stared at his hand. She could see the golden band on his left finger and was slightly impressed. A lot of men removed their rings when they went out, but it seemed Maes kept his on.

Trying a smile she grabbed his hand after wiping it off her skirt, "Winry Rockbell"

"It's nice to meet you, Winry" He looked at the doorway and Winry could hear that same panicky, pitchy voice she heard on Edward's cellphone, "I think its time for you to meet Alphonse"