Ed really knew that they shouldn't have made port in that one town.

However, Winry had insisted that she just needed one more part for the automail and she was finished completely. And she could be rather persuasive when she wanted to be.

The captain had finally given in to the pleas of the apple-pie-smitten crew when they'd been promised a whole new batch of their favourite food but with a hint of rum thrown in. Mmm.

"Not long though. I don't like the look of this place." He'd said as they'd landed anchor in the dark murky waters and narrowly avoided landing on a swearing drunk guy and his two make-up plastered girlfriends.

Winry for one, seemed to be enjoying herself. The town had an entire shop dedicated just to trading and buying mechanic parts; ironically and to much of Ed's bemusement, she'd managed to find a heaven in this hell.

Relievingly, all ran smoothly- that was until, they'd made their way back to the ship. Everyone was preoccupied by the thought of apple pies with rum and Winry's excitement at having the pieces to finally finish her automail, as well as a few new tools to play with, was infectious, even for the captain himself.

His grin soon fell off as the crack of a gunshot rang through the air and a flurry of people hailed down from above.

Sure, being a pirate was fun and all. The only problem was that anyone could be a pirate, and most of the time, this meant trouble.

Ed knew that he'd made a mistake coming here when he heard Winry scream.

The rest of the crew were prepared to fight, cutlasses and other weapons whipped out at once- but no-one was there to stop someone holding a blade against Winry's neck, one arm trapping her against a alien body.

His love for her only struck him when he saw the fear in her eyes. What would he do if she died?

Instead he stood, fists clenched, glaring at the foreign-looking guy who was holding his mechanic under dangerous hostage.

"Let her go." He uttered, the anger rolling off his tongue like daggers; unfortunately, the other guy didn't seem to get it.

"So you're Edward Elric, the infamous golden captain of The Alchemy. Nice ship, I must say." A small growl escaped Ed's mouth as the man turned his last comment towards Winry with a tilt of his head, a grin on his face.

"I said, let her go."

Oh, he was so going to tear the smirk off this bastard's stupid face.

"But don't you want to know who I am? I'm Captain Ling- or Captain Greed, as everyone calls me. This is my cre-"

The arm that was about to gesture to the armed gang around him never got to complete it's job as a bullet split through Greed's skull, killing him instantly.

The blade clattered to the floor and he fell backwards, Winry stumbling forwards as she was released from his grip and landing, her legs giving way from the shock, at a pair of black-leather-booted feet.

Relief flooded her as she glanced upwards, finding that Ed's arm was still outstretched, the gun in his hand smoking from the tip.

He'd shot someone to save... her?

He replaced the gun in his coat and held out his hand to help her up, not taking his narrowed gaze off the spot where the enemy had stood, not even once.

The dead captain's crew didn't have to even be addressed only once by Captain Elric before they fled.

"Get out of here if you want to live."

No-one else in the crew seemed that bothered about the earlier attack. Not even the captain himself.

But Winry was not a pirate and she was female, a sensitive one at that. She could tell that even though Ed seemed tough, he was a softie inside. The thought almost made her want to giggle.

Ed seemed so distant when she was about to attach his new automail. It was when she connected his nerves that she could tell that he wasn't himself.

He whimpered.

He never showed any signs of pain at all, she'd seen that for herself. But whimpering?

Her surprise must have shown on her face because he suddenly went red, averting his eyes and with his fists clenched.

A distraction was evident.

"Uh, so does it work?" Luckily her question seemed to catch his attention and his golden gaze drifted to hers as he stood upright.

"Oh uh, yeah, it seems fine... You did a really good job."

A warm feeling spread through her at his praise. Thank god, she needed distracting herself from the fact that she'd managed to get him shirtless again.

It was the sadness in his next statement that made her heart almost stop.

"I guess you'll want to go home now, right...?"

The expression on his face was tight-lipped but there was so much distress in his eyes that her heart almost broke, there and then.

Then Winry smiled.

"Why would I, when I'm home already?" She turned away to start wiping her oil-splattered hands, almost afraid of seeing his reaction.

"But... But I thought... You wanted..."

Her laughter made his heart jump, or maybe it was skipping a few beats- he couldn't actually tell. It was too busy uplifting with hope to even get his attention.

"I didn't have a home when you found me. I made it up because... because..." Winry finally turned around to face him again and found her breath catching; her nose was inches away from his.

So close.

Heat flushed up her neck and for some reason, her mind began bizarrely noting that there were several different golden shades in his eyes; from a rich deep amber to a gleaming yellow gold, to a firey orange like the sun...

It was like one of those moments that you really want to remember in detail, every single second of it, and you beg your memory to take it in, for it to be etched into your mind forever so you can just replay it again and again and again; she was trying so hard to remember it that she hadn't even realised that she'd stopped breathing.

After a scream for air from her lungs she finally let out a hurried gasp, so close to him that her breath skimmed over his lips, making his mind hitch as it went oh my god I want to kiss her right now.

But both sides were nervous and both of them just waited for it to happen before the moment got awkward and they suddenly found that the golden one was driving the blue-eyed other backwards, towards the bed at the far side of the room, without even realising he was doing it.

Ed's mind screamed again.

I want to kiss her...

He pressed his lips to hers hurriedly, just as she fell backwards. He followed.

...right. now.