ONE OF THE CHAPTERS WAS LOST! LAST CHAPTER WAS A NEW ONE, AND MY VERY FIRST LEMON! PLEASE BE KIND!
Sorry, for the wait, but all artists of all kinds know inspiration doesn't come just because you want it to.
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA/FMAB
Fic Rating: T
No More Secrets
Winry Rockbell waved goodbye to yet another customer from the green painted porch of her grandmother's house. It was late afternoon in Resembool, but already Winry had seen ten people and scheduled five appointments by lunch time. Ever since the Elric brothers saved Amestris on the Promised Day, people have been showing up on the Rockbell's doorstep with all sorts of problems. She was now threatening to put Rush Valley out of the automail business—the town were she first made a name for herself.
Most of her regulars had come and gone. She'd done everything from fixing wires to upgrading to the newest models. Most of the time Winry worked inside along with her grandmother, but the bigger projects she took to the small workshop beside the house Alphonse conveniently created from old heaps of scrap metal.
Winry just finished the first step of giving new arms to a child, around twelve maybe. Coincidentally, Edward had arrived yesterday from his western tour. He had spent most of the day to himself, only casually checking out what his fiancée was working on. However, when Micheal and his parents, Alec and Clarissa, stopped by to see if anything could be done about a birth defect, Edward sat by the frightened boy during the entire process.
Today, Winry could only get the measurements, talk with Micheal's parents about the details and order in some new limbs. It took an hour and a half, and all the while Edward told of his adventures—leaving out what he'd done to lose his arm and leg—to Micheal. The boy knew instantly who the elder Elric was and listened intently to the tales all Amestris knew of.
As Winry worked at the desk in the back of the garage, she couldn't help the incredible grin threatening to split her face in half. She knew Edward was good with kids, but this was something else entirely. She glanced back when Ed mentioned her name, and he did often enough, but he was too absorbed in his own story to see if anyone else was listening.
Alec was out chopping wood to help pay for the automail limbs he couldn't quite afford with money. Clarissa was propped up on the stool beside Winry, though she seldom disturbed the young Rockbell. When she did, she talked about her son and how Edward made it so much easier on the family.
"That's what Edward's good at." Winry had said without taking her sea blue eyes off the arm piece and the sketching below. "He worries about everyone else before himself."
"You're very lucky." Clarissa whispered from the side. Those three little words burrowed inside Winry's brain and stayed there. It caught Winry off guard. Looking back at Edward, she was slightly amazed at how well he told his life with Alphonse and herself.
She stood up suddenly and walked off into the kitchen through the garage door. Clarissa stared after her, but merely shrugged and returned back to the animated Elric, deep in the thoughts of his glory days. Pinako was reading the local newspaper in the living room, only to briefly look up when she heard someone trudging around in the other room.
"Granny, I'm going to use the phone." Winry called from the kitchen.
"Be my guest," her grandmother acknowledged with dry interest. She heard faint murmuring, a polite goodbye, and a hanging up of the telephone. She only glanced back up again when the blonde mechanic entered the room.
"Why aren't you out running errands or fixing up automail." Winry's tone was light, for it wasn't meant to seem rude. Just curious.
"Who wants an old geezer like me when they could have a pretty young thing such as yourself?" Pinako's voice hovered around slight accusation. Winry wondered if all the business she was getting had offended her grandmother, since Pinako had hardly touched a piece of metal unless she was helping out Winry. However, instead of a frown, it was just the opposite. She smiled.
"I'm proud of you." Pinako grinned from the armchair, the tall lamp's light capturing the gray strands in her pulled back bun. She laid the newspaper aside and slipped off the chair's cushions. Out of her apron pocket she pulled a long wooden pipe. "I'll be back before supper. I just remembered we're out of beef stew." With that mischievous grin only broadening, Pinako headed out with one hand in her pocket and the other propping up the pipe.
When Winry reached the garage with a tray of cold lemonade, she could hardly see her grandmother's tiny silhouette in the lowering sun. She wasn't worried about Pinako. If anything, she was afraid of anyone who crossed paths with the old fox. After all, Winry did learn how to handle a wrench after her granny.
Micheal no longer appeared scared in anyway. Clarissa had joined the conversation and was laughing alongside her son. Alec was leaning against the wall and wiping his sweaty forehead with an equally sweaty arm. Winry felt compelled to offer him a drink first. He took it, graciously, and so did his wife and son. Edward also took a sip from his own glass.
"Will you be hear when I get my arms put on?" It was an abrupt question, but one Micheal eagerly wanted to know. Edward frowned. He had business to attend to in southern Drachma.
"Well..." He faltered. The boy's face fell only just, but it was enough to make the ex-alchemist stiffen all over. He saw himself, if only a glimmer, in Micheal at that moment. Winry could see the look in his golden eyes, and waited for a reply from him. With a heavy sigh, Edward nodded.
"Sure," he finally said with a tired smile. He knew it would a month before the boy got his arms working properly, but that look had rendered him helpless. In some ways, it would have been like Hohenheim leaving him and Al all over again. So he said yes, just so it would make Micheal's journey a little less painful.
...
That evening, while the soon-to-be married couple waited for Pinako to return, Edward was the one who struck up a conversation.
"How often do you see those men?" He'd been looking out the window for quite awhile, following the dissipating black fumes of Micheal's family car as they disappeared around a bend. Now, he glanced back at the sandy blonde in the armchair.
"What men?" Winry looked up from her book. She hadn't really been reading it, but she managed to keep up. Clarissa's words were still ringing in her ears.
"Patrick and Dill or something like that..." Edward muttered, trying to act casual as he glared at a bug crawling on the window pane.
"You mean Derick and Phil?" Winry snorted at her fiancé's irritated posture. His muscles tensed through his loose cotton button-up.
Edward had stood in the back of the dinning room where the blonde had worked on Derick and Phil's perfectly fine automail arms. He saw the way they looked at her, but had managed to stop any extra skin contact with a simple glare. Most people still thought he could use alchemy.
"Not usually," Winry said, referring to Ed's earlier question. She watched him with a quirked eyebrow before settling her sky blue eyes back on the faded pages of her novel. She had retired for the night, now sporting pink cotton pajamas bottoms and matching long sleeved top. She had taken a shower, and now fresh, damp yellow strands of hair piled around her shoulders where she pushed them back. Edward still hadn't taken off his dirty shoes.
Unable to bear the silence between them, she said, "I was able to upgrade to a new model for a few of my clients, complimentary of Dominic."
"You gunna send it to that grizzly bear up in Briggs?" Asked Edward distantly, his mind seemingly elsewhere.
"I was going to give you an upgrade." Tried Winry a sardonic grin, but the man only shrugged.
"I don't need an upgrade." He sated simply. He was becoming hopeless. She wasn't even taking his money anymore, but that hardly fazed him it seemed. He sighed, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulder.
"It's not a matter of needing one. Besides, don't tell me you've stopped growing already." She grinned at that, knowing it would set him off. His eyes widened and his glare hardened as well at the rest of his body. It was only a matter of time until Winry pushed the right button.
"How many times have I told you to drink your milk? Now you really will be short forever!" The vain running up Edward's forehead almost burst.
"I DON'T HAVE TO DRINK THE DAMN THING IF I DON'T WANT TO!" He bellowed, standing up from the other chair in one fluid movement. He towered over Winry, but she took joy in the fact that he didn't realize this.
"Why else wouldn't you need a knew automail leg?" Winry demanded.
As if running out of options, Edward screamed, "Crazy gear head!"
In which Winry came back with, "Alchemy freak! At least I don't refer to everything through alchemy! You don't even use alchemy anymore!"
"IF I HADN'T GIVEN UP ALCHEMY, AL WOULD HAVE NEVER GOT HIS BODY BACK!"
Winry gasped, taken aback. She hadn't realized that was why Edward hadn't used alchemy since he'd gotten back from Central two years ago. He had dismissed it as nothing, but he never told her the truth.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice was softer now, but only because she was desperately trying to push back the tears.
Edward looked to the side so he wouldn't meet Winry's gaze. "Would it have mattered?" He demanded, his tone still harsh but the words fell off his chapped lips in a whisper.
"Yes," She finally said. Ed gave her a long sideways look through parted golden bangs. She would've already pounded him in the skull if her wrench hadn't been upstairs in her room. He sighed again, tiredly. He straightened but kept his eyes locked with her's.
"You can't be keeping secrets from me anymore," She continued, "you selfish jerk." Her lips trembled with anger and something else. She hadn't meant for the argument to go this far; she hadn't meant to outrage Edward to this point. Still, he said nothing. He looked almost sorrowful, but his eyes burned with the same intensity Winry had come to love.
Then he laughed.
It wasn't the gutbusting choker that had driven him to his knees when he purposed to her three months ago, but nonetheless, it had startled her. Then, when his gaze returned to meet her's, his golden eyes were filled with amazement and love. Just as they had been at the train station.
A fleshen hand—years before would have been metal—reached out to her. Winry took it, enjoying the warmth it brought. She was pulled to Edward's hard chest where he protectively wrapped both arms around her waist. Looking up into the warm gaze, she could feel the tickling sensation of his long bangs prickling against her cheeks. One hand was brought up from her waist, gently cupping her chin with his fingers. Hesitantly, he kissed her.
And it felt like cool raindrops on water. His lips, clumsy and innocent—when not spouting threats—molded against perfectly. Winry gasped, her mouth opening in the kiss unintentionally. His eyelids hovered half-closed before shutting completely. A soft groan came from the back of his throat, muffled by the blonde's lips on his own. Her eyes slipped closed and her fingers pulled gently at Edward's ponytail, unleashing golden waves from captivity.
When the time came for air, both reluctantly separated. Warm breath cascaded over their noses as they gasped for a breath. Edward rested his forehead against Winry's while his breathing slowed.
"No more secrets," He promised, still breathless, against her lips. She could only nod dazedly.
"Well, isn't this a sight," came a gruffly voice from behind the two. Edward turned and Winry looked over his shoulder to see Pinako with the door still open and brown grocery bags held from their paper handles.
"Granny!" They exclaimed in unison.
About time I updated, huh? Well, there ya go! Over 2,000 words. Very seldom do I EVER go over 3,000. There will come a day though! PLEASE REVIEW! And also review the last chapter, which was my first lemon!