Kame: Major points go out to everyone who reviewed and wished me a Happy Bday: bluedog10, obsidianlight, Eriisu-April, Ivory Jade 6669. Everyone else gets an honorable mention; thanks for reviewing. Well, my monthly inspiration struck me and gave me the ideas needed to finish this chapter. Hope u enjoy^^
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Chapter 3
The next morning, Winry didn't come down for breakfast.
"Where is she?!" Ed huffed impatiently. "I need my arm fixed ASAP and she's taking all day to come down!"
"Calm down, Brother." Al replied, playing with Den. "She'll be down here soon."
Pinako said nothing as she finished her breakfast. When noon came and she still didn't make an appearance, both brothers were worried about their childhood friend.
"Granny Pinako, is Winry ok? I mean, I don't think she stayed up all night working on automail, so why hasn't she come down yet?" Al asked with concern evident in his voice.
Pinako sighed. "I guess you boys really don't know then."
"What are you talking about?" Ed asked.
"Well, Winry's on her period." Pinako stated simply.
"Winry's on a period?" Al asked, confused.*
"Her menstrual cycle." Pinako clarified.
"That sounds familiar…I think I came across that term in a book." Ed muttered vaguely. Pinako sighed and explained to them what it was. Three minutes later, Ed and Al were sitting at the table, both traumatized.
"Winry…does that…EVERY MONTH?!" Ed gasped.
Al just sat there, stricken mute by the information.
"Yes and it's not just Winry; all girls do it, unless they're pregnant." Pinako added. "Now I need to go check on her to make sure she's okay." She said as she went upstairs.
"…I've never been happier to be a guy than now." Ed mumbled. A few minutes later, Pinako returned.
"Winry's not feeling well, so don't bother her for the rest of the day." Pinako ordered as she grabbed a coat and headed to the door.
"Wait, where are you going?" Ed asked.
"We ran out of medicine, so I'm about to walk to town and get something for Winry's pain. I'll be back soon." With that, Pinako was out the door. Al finally recovered and broke the silence.
"…poor Winry." He muttered. "I wish there was some way we could make her feel better."
"Let's see…when I'm bleeding and in pain, food sometimes makes me feel better. Maybe we should give Winry something to eat; she hasn't left her room all day." Ed suggested.
"Brother, I don't think it's the same thing…besides, Granny Pinako said to leave Winry alone."
"Yeah, but we need to keep an eye on her so she doesn't get any…worse, I guess, since she's not technically sick." Ed observed.
"But Brother, what can we make for Winry; it's not like you know how to cook." Al pointed out.
"If Winry's not feeling good, we can make some toast. This way, her stomach won't be too upset, since it's just dry bread."
"Um, ok." Al agreed. The two boys spent the next twenty minutes fixing toast for their childhood friend. About six pieces of burnt toast, three burned fingers (the same fingers smashed by a certain hammer), two sticks of melted butter and the sound of a certain alchemist face planting later, the toast was fixed and the Elric brothers headed upstairs to Winry's room. Apprehensive about entering Winry's room and nervous about what they would see, both Ed and Al hovered in front of the door, daring the other to knock and enter.
"Go on Al, knock on the door." Ed urged.
""Why don't you do it Brother? You're always making me do the unpleasant stuff." Al huffed.
"Cause I'm sick of being hit by that damn hammer!" Ed grunted.
Al gave in and knocked on Winry's door. When no one answered, he opened the door slowly and entered. The room looked as if a tool shed and a closet vomited all over the place; the floor was littered with almost every kind of clothing imaginable (thankfully, there was no underwear in sight). Her dresser had a conglomeration of random nuts and bolts, tools, needle and thread, various small bottles and other strange things Ed couldn't figure out the function of. At the other end of the room was a large window with a bed underneath. There was a large lump in the dead center of the bed both brothers concluded was Winry and approached said lump with due caution.
"Hey, Win, you okay?" Ed asked in a shaky voice as they approached Winry's bed; there was no response.
"Winry, we brought you something to eat and drink." Al added in a small timid voice. Winry peeked out from underneath her comforter cave and gazed at Al with glassy eyes and a flushed face.
"Damnit, she has a fever." Ed muttered as he placed the juice on the floor next to her bed. "Al, stay with her while I go run some cold water on a towel."
When Ed returned with the towel, Winry was once again curled up in a ball.
"Is she sleeping? Al, wake her up so I can put this on her head." Ed said as he tried to not trip over a pair of boots. No sooner had he said it, Winry suddenly sat up, looking extremely pale, and darted out of the room, knocking Ed down and sending the towel sailing through the air. A loud retching sound answered their questions.
I hope she made it to the bathroom Ed shuddered as he got up.
"Brother, where did the towel go?" Al asked.
"I don't know…" Ed looked around the room and grimaced when he said, "…I suppose we have to look for it."
With Winry occupied in the bathroom, the two went to work searching through the…'stuff', for lack of a better word, Al pawing on the floor while Ed examined the dresser with a mixture of disgust and curiosity.
"I really thought a girl would keep her room cleaner than this." Ed muttered after shoving some screws off the dresser.
"Brother, Winry's sick. She probably didn't have time to clean up. And don't make more of a mess." Al chided as he looked underneath some overalls.
"Hey, Al, come here for a sec." Ed whispered impatiently.
"What are you looking at?" Al inquired after he joined his brother.
At the end of the dresser was a long cloth like object. Both ends were large and bulbous, with a tapered middle. The thing was soft, white and clean, with a pinkish hue. Ed couldn't figure out its purpose.
"What do you think it is, Al?" Ed asked lightly, curious to what his brother's answer would be.
"I dunno…maybe it's for makeup?" Al answered hesitantly.
"Winry…with makeup?" Ed snorted with amusement. "I mean, really, can you imagine that machine junkie wearing something as girly as makeup?" He picked up the object and pretended he was putting on blush, patted his cheeks in an over exaggerated manner.
"Brother, I don't think we should play with that…" Al tried to warn, but the effect was lost with his giggles as Ed poked out his lips and acted like he was doing his eyebrows. When Winry busted through her door, her face wan and droopy, time itself stopped to see what would happen.
Winry caught sight of what Ed had in his hand and what he was doing; her already flushed face turned even redder.
"Ed, what the HELL are you DOING?!" she shouted, stomping over to the blonde alchemist. "Why are you on my dresser?! Get out!" She screamed as she tossed both Al and Ed out of her room.
"…I can't wait till Winry gets off her period and fixes my arm." Ed snapped as he pulled himself off the floor.
"She'll have another one, Brother." Al reminded.
"Yeah, but we won't be here."
"Not with the way you keep breaking you arm." Al mused.
"Dealing with a PMSing Winry is enough motivation to keep my arm in working condition." Ed muttered darkly.
The Next Day….
Al, Ed and Pinako sit at the table, the latter two eating pancakes and bacon. To their surprise, well at least to Ed and Al's surprise, Winy came down that morning.
"Hi Winry! I'm glad you're feeling better!" Al greeted happily as the blonde took a seat.
"Yeah, thanks for the toast and juice yesterday!" she smiled. She spotted Ed and started giggling.
"Um, Win, are you ok?" Ed asked cautiously, wondering if this Winry is another weird side effect of her monthly cycle.
Winry nodded and started giggleing some more. To Ed's annoyance, Pinako joined in.
"What's so funny?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing the two women.
"Ed, what were you doing yesterday in my room?" she giggled. Ed didn't respond.
"Better yet, do you even know what you were playing with, patting all over your face?" she asked, Pinako chuckling in the background.
"Um, something for makeup?" Ed answered sheepishly. Winry stared at Ed with something close to amazement for how stupid he could be at times. She sighed and shook her head. "Honestly, you're hopeless. You were playing with a pad!"
"So what?" he responded casually, hoping to not sound too ignorant.
"So what?! Do you even know what a pad is used for?!" she shouted as she blushed.
"Remember that talk we had yesterday?" Pinako intervened. Ed nodded his head, afraid of what would come next. His face changed colors faster than a traffic signal; it went from a deep red blush to a sickly green as Pinako explained the function of a pad. He rushed upstairs and into the bathroom amidst gales of laughter from the two women.
"If Brother would hurry up and get with Winry, her period wouldn't be a problem." Al mused quietly. His comment ended abruptly when a hammer smashed into his helmet.
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Kame: hahaha! This was fun to write! I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did! Hope you understood Al's comment at the end (cough cough). And yes, some people actually get that sick when on a cycle. Oh, btw, the type of pad mentioned in this section is a reusable pad. I found out through research that women usually used old rags and the like, or special padded underwear. I simplified it to a reusable pad (which actually exists today, believe it or not). If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to either review or PM me. Ja Mata!^^
*- Al thought of a grammatical period, like the one at the end of this sentence.
