I don't own FMA
Ed had to stay in Central for a few days due to the problem on the train tracks, so he decided to look around for a gift to take home to Winry. He wanted to find something special for her but didn't know what to buy, so he went to Central command to ask Roy what he thinks he should get, he did think about getting her some new tools but was laughed at by Roy who was sitting at his desk.
"Tools? What are you thinking?" He asked trying to hold back his giggles, Ed frowned at him, it wasn't his fault that he didn't know what to buy a woman.
"Well I don't know what else to get her, the only think that I know she likes is auto-mail." Ed argued back annoyed. Riza looked up from the big desk and listened to the conversation with amusement, she wondered if Roy had ever had that talk with the brothers. Roy looked straight at Ed with his usual smug smile.
"Well if you tell me what the occasion is then maybe I can help you." He said, Ed thought about the reason he was buying her the gift and blushed, remembering the conversation that they had had before he left.
'An appointment? Winry! Uh...um...how do I say this?" Ed asked stammering Winry looked at him with a confused expression.
"Er...Like, an appointment or a promise. Right?" Ed asked a hint of pink gracing his cheeks. Winry stared blankly at him.
"Just spit it out already."
"Equivalent exchange. I'll give you half of my life. So you give me half of yours!" Ed exclaimed stunning Winry. Ed stared at her with a serious expression his cheeks becoming slightly brighter.
"Argh...why are alchemists like this? What kind of idiot are you going on about The Law of Equivalent Exchange?" Winry screamed banging her hands on the train that had arrived moments before in the station.
"Wh-what?"
"You really are dumb aren't you? You want half? I'll give you all of it." Winry continued standing up and looking straight at him, Ed stared at her in complete shock. Winry thought about what she had just said and blushed hiding her face behind her hands.
"Oh...um...! Maybe not all of it. 90%...No, 80%? I guess? 70%...No, more than that, 85% maybe..." Winry stammered counting of her fingers trying to work out how much she wanted to give, Ed burst out laughing at her making her blush deepen with embarrassment.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha..."
"What?"
"Sorry sorry, Your really something. I'm going to overturn the law of Equivalent exchange." Ed said grinning at her. Winry looked at him confused again.
"Huh? What are you talking about? Your making fun of me aren't you?" She asked frowning up at him. Ed put his hand on Winry's head before pulling her into an embrace.
"No, you've actually cheered me up. Thank you." Winry wrapped her arms around his back pulling him into a tighter hug.
"I'll see you later." Ed said letting her go and stepping onto the train that would soon be departing. He found himself a seat and put his case in the overhead storage apartment before sitting down, he saw Winry talking to Mrs pots who worked in the stations office and smiled fondly out the window at her as the train started to move and pick up speed.'
Roy shouted at Ed who was staring blushing at the office wall. "Edward, EDWARD. HEY FULLMETAL!" He shouted causing Ed to snap out of his thoughts glaring at him.
"I told you to stop calling me that, caterpillar face." Ed said annoyed, Roy smirked at him, it seemed that he could still annoy the young ex-alchemist. Riza just shook her head pretending to read a form that was in front of her, she had always found it entertaining watching them two banter with each other, even if she didn't let everyone else know that. She noticed that the blush that was on Ed's cheeks had become a deeper pink, making her wonder what it was that he had been thinking about.
"What's wrong Ed? I haven't embarrassed you have I?" Roy asked also noticing the blush with the hint of amusement in his voice, Ed realised that he was blushing in front of the smug bastard and tried to hide his face from him, coughing into his hand.
"It's nothing. I was just...I mean I want to get Winry something really special, something that will show her how much I care for her." Ed replied looking at the floor. Riza could see that Ed had very deep feelings for Winry and decided that she would help him with his dilemma.
"It's going to be my lunch break soon, how about we go and look around town for the right gift for her." Riza suggested giving Roy her puppy dog look. Ed looked up at them with a half hearted smile, he had expected Roy to be laughing at him trying to give him perverted tips with Riza glaring at him from the table.
Riza finished off the paperwork that she had on her desk before placing them on Roy's desk for signing to his dismay. She put her cream autumn coat on and left the office with Ed telling Roy that she expects to see half of the papers on his desk in the completed pile when she got back. Roy banged his head on his desk, wincing slightly from the pain before picking up a form from the top of the pile and started reading.
Outside HQ Ed tightened his coat around himself to protect him from the cool wind as they walked towards the shops. Ed glanced at Riza as she walked noticing for the first time that she seemed more relaxed and content, like she hand finally found what she had been searching for. He had also noticed the way that she would look at the General when she thought no body was looking.
"So Edward, what are you planning to do when you get home?" Riza asked waving to a young girl outside a flower shop, Ed stopped and thought about what Riza had asked.
"Ed?"
"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it." Ed said feeling lost and unsure for the first time since he was a kid. Riza gave him a small sympathetic smile.
"Well you have all the time in the world to decide now. I'm sure that Winry will be happy to have you home, she's missed you very much." Riza replied making him smile, his blush returning gracing his features.
"S-so what about you and Mustang? Are you two..."
"No...um...we are just good friends, he is trying to make up for the sins that we committed during the war and I respect that. He's a good man." Riza said the hint to sorrow in her voice.
"You love him don't you?" Ed asked her, he knew that it was a bold move but he didn't want to see her unhappy, especially if it was because of Roy who obviously loves her too. Riza glared at him making him back off slightly from fear of being shot but then relaxed her features smiling softly at him.
"Is it that obvious?" She asked raising an eyebrow, Ed nodded.
"The way you handed him his paperwork and blushed was an indication. I was the same whenever I saw Winry or spoke to her on the phone." Ed replied shyly. They continued walking until they came to a jewellery shop. Ed looked at the rings and necklaces that where in the window unsure if this was the right thing to buy her.
"I don't think Winry wears jewellery, the only thing is her earrings and she already has some...Oh crap." Ed shouted smacking his hand against his head. Riza gave him a funny look.
"What? Is there something wrong?"
"Her earrings, she gave them to me when we where in Briggs chasing Scar and Marco and I only gave her two pairs back. I think I lost a pair." Ed explained feeling stupid that he hadn't remembered that before.
"Well then you can buy her a new pair for her to wear, what is her favourite gem stone?" Riza asked walking into the shop looking at all the different earrings in the glass cases. Ed stared at them trying to remember if Winry had told him her favourite gem stone.
"I'm not sure, the ones that Al and I got her before were just plain silver studs." Ed replied scanning the case for something to catch his eyes. The assistant recognized Ed with his long golden ponytail and walked up to see if she could be any assistance.
"Hello Edward, I haven't seen you here for awhile. Are you looking for anything special today?" She asked smiling at them Riza gave him a suspicious look, it seemed that he has bought Winry 'gifts' more often then he was making out, Ed returned her look with a shrug of his shoulders.
"We are looking for something that tells Edwards girlfriend how much he loves her." Riza said in a tone that told her to back off, Ed mouthed sorry to the assistant who looked really offended by the tone.
"We have some more earrings in the back that we have only received today for stock, would you like me to show you them?" Ed nodded and the assistant went into the back to retrieve the earrings, Ed gave Riza a warning glare, whispering her to 'behave herself.'
They continued looking at the other jewellery for a few moments when the assistant came back in carrying a tray with a purple velvet cloth on it.
"Here you go, let me know if there is anything else I can help you with." The assistant who Riza noted was called Claire from her name tag said.
"Ah these are perfect, Claire is this a sapphire?" Ed asked holding up a beautiful star shape earring with diamonds and a sapphire in the middle.
"It is and it's the only pair in the set, all the others are ruby's or emeralds." Claire replied showing him a stunning pair of diamond and ruby star earrings. Ed looked at the other earrings that Claire had brought out for him but decided that they weren't as nice as the sapphire pair.
"I will take these, can you put an inscription in the box?" Ed asked excitedly, Claire took the tray to the counter and pulled out a selection of boxes for Ed to choose from. Ed looked at all of the boxes and picked out a Velvet gold one.
"OK if could write down the message that you wish to put, I will have it in-scripted in the box." Claire said handing Ed a book to write the message in, Riza and Claire looked over his shoulder to see what he has written.
"Awww that is so sweet." Claire squealed almost making Ed go deaf taking the book off of him. Riza stood next to him with a smug smirk like Roy's scaring Ed (know one has ever seen her smirk.)
"Oh Ed, who knew that you could be such a romantic." She said causing Ed to go red again.
"SHUT UP." Ed screamed in embarrassment making Riza giggle, which was also a rare sight. Claire told Ed that he could pick up his order tomorrow and Ed paid here annoyed that Claire had giving him a discount because he 'was the people's hero'. They thanked Claire for her help and headed back to HQ, Ed making Riza promise that she wouldn't tell anyone in the office about the message in the box.
In Resembool Al and Winry were walking down the dusty road heading to the graveyard to visit Trisha's and Hohenheim's graves. They entered the graveyard and Al placed a ring of white lilies on each grave before knelling down in front of them.
"Hi mum, dad sorry I haven't been to visit for awhile, I've been busy spreading the value of Equivalent exchange across Amestris and learning Rentanjutsu from May in Xing, you were right dad Xing is a beautiful country." Al said with a sad smile, Winry noticed that every time he thought that someone wasn't watching he would stare out of the window like he was searching for something.
"I'm sorry that I didn't get to know you brtter dad but I'm glad that I got to see you again, Brother would say something like you was a bastard for leaving but deep down I know that he cared, he just needed help expressing it." Al wiped the tears from his eyes as he spoke trying not to make himself too upset, Winry knelled down beside him and put her arm around his shoulders.
"They would be proud of you Al, of both of you." She said with a sad smile, Al smiled back at her and stood up walking over to Sara and Urey Rockbell's grave's where Winry put and red rose on each of them.
"Hey mum and dad guess who's home? Alphonse is back and has come to say hello. What? No Edward isn't here, he's out somewhere in the country saving someone's life and telling them to do the same for someone else to teach us about equivalent exchange. No doubt he's got himself into some kind off trouble and is damaging the auto-mail that I made him." Winry said laughing Al looked at her with amazement, Winry had been through so much and yet she was still able to laugh and enjoy life when others would have given up. Winry looked up at Al noticing the distant look in his eyes.
"Al are you alright? You seem to be distracted by something." Winry asked concerned causing Al to snap out of his dream like state.
"Um...yeah I'm fine, I just can't believe that we made it." Al replied reassuringly but Winry didn't believe him, something was bugging Al and she was going to find out what. They stayed at the graves for a little longer before heading home for dinner, Al had promised them that he would make them something that he had learnt to cook in Xing.
Back in Central Riza and Ed returned to HQ where Havoc, Breda, Fuery and Roy were talking in the office about Ed's relationship with Winry.
"So you think that he will propose?" Fuery asked flinching when he thought he heard someone near the door.
"No, at least not yet. I don't think their even going out yet." Roy said leaning back in his chair, Havoc gave him a worrying look.
"You know Hawkeye told you to get these done before she got back." He said making Roy smirk.
"She said to do at least half before she gets back, and besides all I need to do is sign them." Havoc shook his head, he didn't understand how Hawkeye hadn't shot him yet. He figured it was because she liked him too much to do it, though she did threaten him a lot.
"I think that Al likes her, I heard that when they where kids they fought each other to see who would marry her." Breda said munching on a bacon cob. Fuery stared at him in bewilderment.
"How do you know that?"
"Ling overheard it when he was sitting outside their window. I asked him if he had any good gossip on Ed that we could use and he told me." Breda said making Havoc and Roy look interested to hear more.
"So who won?"
"Al but then Winry turned them both down." Breda replied snickering.
"Why did she do that? I thought that she liked them both." Fuery asked curious, behind them Ed and Riza entered the room quietly sneaking up on them to scare them into never slacking when they thought she wasn't there. Roy stared out of the window waiting for Breda to answer.
"(Snicker) It was because...she didn't like...going out with boys who where shorter than her." Breda said finally finding it hard to contain his laughter. Ed froze. No one knew about that story except Winry, Al and himself, he listened to them laughing and lost it, he picked up a knife that Breda had left on the big desk and throw it barely missing Roy's head. Roy turned with Havoc and the others and turned sheet white. There in front of them was a very pissed of Edward Elric and a very annoyed and armed Riza Hawkeye.
"WHAT WAS THAT BREDA?" Ed screamed glaring at them with fire in his amber eyes. Breda gulped and fell to his knees pleading for forgiveness.
"Look Ed I was only joking, Ling was the one who told me. Besides you are really tall now so why does it matter." He said trying to reason with him as Ed strolled up to him, Roy sat back in his chair with a huge grin plastering his feature.
"I don't know why your scared Breda, he can't use alchemy any more." Breda looked up at him with a sign of relief, he stood up and put his hand out to continue to explain himself. Ed smirked he always did like it when people underestimated him, he grabbed hold of Breda's wrist and throw him over his shoulder, flipping him onto his stomach and twisting his arm into and arm-lock. Know one in the room had never seen Ed fight and was shocked at what they had just seen, even Roy paled when Ed let go of Breda and slowly walked over to him.
The only thing that could be heard outside the office was Roy screaming that he will never slack off or tease anyone again.
Thanks for reading, I wonder what the message was that Ed wrote for Winry? Read to find out in the next chapter.
AN: I have just re-read this and found loads of mistakes so I have re-written it slightly.