CHAPTER 3

Winry slept for nearly 12 hours, waking just in time to have a quick shower and grab a cup of coffee before she was back on duty. She had slept fitfully, dreaming of amber eyes and cruel words.

When she entered the ward to relieve Lukas she frowned at the two body bags in the hallway and made her way to where he was talking quietly with an orderly in the corner.

"Lukas?" She asked, "What happened? Was there another attack?"

He glanced at her apprehensively, a deep frown on his face.

"No, Winry," he said softly. "I'm sorry, but the young woman in 3. And the gentleman in 5…." Winry felt her blood run cold. "There was a complication during the night…" he trailed off and Winry gaped at him in horror.

"But, they were both fine when I left," Winry said softly, turning to look at the body bags. She gazed up at Lukas accusingly. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"I'm so sorry, it all happened so quickly," he said, gripping her arm, comfortingly. "You know how these things go."

And she did. She did know how these things went, but damn, that was just yet another punch to the gut. She nodded faintly and turned to get on with her rounds, her mind elsewhere.

Her shift went by in a flash of stitches, and medical checks, dressing changes and inoculations. She felt as though she had barely sat down when Lukas was relieving her twelve hours later and she stared at her hands. Healing hands, someone had once told her. She clenched them into fists.

She went back to her room and showered, her mind lingering on the body bags that she had been greeted with 12 hours earlier. As a doctor you got used to death. But it didn't make it any easier when you had to watch the young die. What was worse was how sure Winry had been that the young Lieutenant would recover. After all, they had mended the artery, there had been no sign of infection, in fact the young soldier's vitals had been on the increase. She just didn't understand it.

Shaking her head slightly she stepped out from under the hot spray, turning the shower off and toweling herself dry. She changed into some clean clothes and sat on the edge of her bed with a sigh, drying her hair slowly.

She didn't feel like being alone tonight and she wasn't even nearly tired. Too wired and wound up by the events of the last 48 hours.

Grabbing her ID she stepped from her room and moved through the quiet ward. She could see Lukas at the end of the ward, his mousey brown head bent over one of the patients and she smiled. He was a good doctor.

She made her way down to the mess hall. What she needed was to be around people, to hear the noiseless chatter of living breathing people to flush the cobwebs from her mind.

She entered the mess hall. It was relatively quiet and she made her way to the bar at the back. Sitting on a bar stool she caught the barman's attention.

"Hey, Doc," the man said kindly, putting the glass he was polishing to one side. "It's good to see you down here."

She smiled at him kindly. "What can I get for you?" he asked. "Whatever you want, it's on the house."

She frowned. "Oh, no, thank you, but I couldn't possibly-"

"Doc, you saved two of my buddies this week…" the barman said seriously. "What do you want?"

Winry flushed. "Uhhh, a glass of wine," she murmured. "Better make it a big one…" she chuckled, humorlessly.

The guy grinned at her. "You want red or white?" he asked fetching a large wine glass.

"White," she said, playing with the bar mat in front of her.

She took the glass as he handed it to her with an appreciative smile but was glad when he moved off to serve another customer. She sipped her wine slowly. Damn it was good, cold and crisp.

"Hey Doc," a voice said at her elbow and Winry turned to see a young woman smiling at her. She couldn't get used to everyone recognizing her and she gave a strained smile in return.

"Hello," Winry replied, politely.

"I'm Faye," the woman said, shaking Winry's hand. "First Lieutenant Faye Samson." Winry nodded.

"Doctor Winry Rockbell," she replied as the woman slid into the seat next to her and order a beer.

"So," she said and Winry glanced at her. "How're you settling in?"

"Oh, you know," Winry said breezily. "It takes a while to get used to the way things work here." Samson nodded, sipping her beer casually.

"And the way the people work too?"

Winry frowned. "Yeah, I guess so…"

"You've had a lot of patients recently," Samson said casually.

Winry frowned, wondering where the Frist Lieutenant was going with this.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Not yesterday my commanding officer was in the ward for treatment," the woman eyed Winry strangely.

"Oh really?" Winry asked, feeling her stomach drop. "And just who is your commanding officer?"

"Major Elric," Samson replied, a little too casually. Winry gripped her wine glass so hard she thought it might break.

"Ah, yes," she grit out, unsure how to reply.

"You know," Samson said, "He sure has been acting strangely for the last couple of weeks."

"How so?" Winry faced the taller woman. She had a kind face, but her eyes held some kind of concern. Her dark hair was swept back in a neat bun.

"Well, he's been moody and irritable," she said and Winry snorted. "Well, more so than usual," the other woman smiled.

"Hmmm," Winry sipped her wine.

They sat in companionable silence for a while.

"Listen," Samson said, turning to face the young doctor. "I get that you and Ed, have some sort of," she waved her hand, her face contorted as she searched for the right word, "history!" She snapped her fingers and Winry grimaced.

"You could say that," she said evasively.

"Well, it's just that, maybe you could…" and at this point Samson had the decency to blush, "leave him alone for a while."

Winry felt her spine prickle.

"First Lieutenant Samson," she said coolly. "Edward and I may have a common history, and believe me, that is none of your concern." She delighted in seeing the flush that rose up Samson's cheeks. "But if you feel the need to press the issue, I can assure you that at the present moment I have no desire to have any contact with Major Elric whatsoever, so you have no need to feel…" she hesitated, glaring at the woman, "threatened."

Samson stared at her dumbfounded for a moment, before bursting out into laughter and Winry felt herself growl in annoyance. "What the hell is so funny?!" She sputtered.

The woman wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye and patted Winry's hand in a friendly manner.

"You've got it all wrong Doc," she chuckled and Winry frowned. "I have no romantic interest in the Major." Winry schooled her expression into polite indifference, but she felt her stomach unclench, slightly as Samson continued. "It's just that he's making it hellish to work for him, you know?"

Winry smiled, she did know.

"I'm sorry," she said to the young solider. "I guess Ed was not as happy to see me as I thought he might be," she confessed, shredding the helpless bar mat in front of her into smithereens.

Samson looked at her, with a tinge of sadness and appeared that she was going to say something, but thought better of it.

"I'll make you a deal, Samson," Winry said, taking a large gulp of her Wine. "I'll stay away from the Major, if you try and keep him away from me."

Samson was quiet for a moment. "Agreed," she said quietly and Winry was surprised by the sad tone in the other woman's voice.