AN: Hey guys, this has been heavily added to and edited. Please let me know what you think!
Waking in the cemetery, Ed sat up slowly. His head was heavy and his eyes were raw from crying all night, in fact he must have let every tear he'd been holding in all these years come out. Stretching widely, he took in a mental checklist of all of the random pains he felt from sleeping on the wet ground. As he looked at his parents graves, things were starting to seem like they would go just as well for him as they had for his idiot father. While walking back to Winry's, his head began to clear and vividly he remembered the last thing he had said to her and it was less than endearing, further proof of what an asshole he was. If Alphonse would've been there he was sure to have gotten an earful at his poor treatment of a lady, especially the one that was like family to them. Wincing, he was bitterly reminded that Al was gone. He would never hear his little brother give him another lesson in manners ever again. Sighing, he felt like every step towards the Rockbell home was taken through wet sand, but eventually he made it to the stairs.
As he opened the door, he saw Winry, what looked like uncomfortably asleep still by the phone, clutching a photo of the three of them. Clearly sleep would feel as good for her when she woke as it had for him. Staring at her still worried expression, he internally punched himself for leaving her like such a complete dick. Would his selfishness ever end? She had loved Al nearly as much as he did, by walking out on her yet again, he had shown that he didn't deserve her at all. Leaning towards her, he gently stroked her silvery blonde hair and whispered a meaningless apology. Frowning, he went into the kitchen and saw a note from Granny.
ED & WINRY,
I LEFT YOU GUYS SOME STEW, HEAT IT UP ON THE STOVE. I'M
SO SORRY ABOUT HAVING TO LEAVE YOU BOTH RIGHT NOW,
THERE WAS AN EMERGENCY WITH A CUSTOMER'S AUTOMAIL.
I'M SO SORRY ED.
-GRANNY
Reading the note from Pinako made him feel even worse about walking out last night, Winry had literally been there heart broken and scared about his well being by herself all night. Wanting to make up for his error somehow, Ed decided that maybe he could use a little food and so could Winry since he was sure she hadn't eaten. Opening a cabinet to get a pot out, he saw Granny's reknowned stash of Scotch. Looking at the dark liquid he was debating having a drink- And why shouldn't he? This had to be the worst 24 hours of his life, so if he wanted to have a drink at eight in the morning, he felt he had every right to one. He had tried different liquors in the West, not really liking any but generally feeling good and warm after consuming the small bit that he had in the past. So with that thought he grabbed the pot and the bottle and set them both on the table. He put the stew in the pot to heat it up and pulled out a glass into which he poured the brown spirit. For a few moments, he just looked at the color in the glass debating if this really was the best idea, then deciding he'd already gotten it out so he might as well have some, took a large drink. Shit, it burned horribly...maybe it had expired. Or maybe Granny really did have the strong constitution of a man, unlike him apparently.
By the time Winry woke up and walked into the kitchen, he was half cocked singing to himself and burning the stew. While in the middle of his song, he had been dancing, bottle in hand unnoticing of the woman staring wide eyed at the rare sight in front of her. She didn't think she had ever seen him dance before, let along sing...and if she really thought about, she'd never seen him attempt to cook anything either. Sure, he'd made himself sandwiches before, but never anything involving the stove and now she knew why.
"What the hell are you doing Ed? Is that Granny's Scotch? Is that stew that is being ruined on the stove?" She raised her eyebrows at him in disbelief, while turning the heat off of the pot. A knock on the door, sent her hastily out of the room further distracting her. Of course, it was the ever wondeful William. Laughing bitterly at how fast his plan to be more kind to her went south in a matter of minutes at his arrival. Thankfully, she had the grace to send him away because honestly, he didn't have it in him to pretend to not want to punch him in his smiling face today. Actually maybe he could tell her to invite him back so he could do just that. A toothy grin crossed his face at the thought. She came back in the room and started to speak but Ed cut her off.
"Winry I'm sorry about last night, all the shit I said to you wasn't right or true." At her deflated look, he gathered she thought he was just talking about the last thing he said and continued to clarify. "You don't deserve me trying to make you feel guilty for just for looking out for yourself and trying to find happiness where I failed. Even if that happiness led to you finding someone else. And I lied to you yesterday earlier as well." He was embarrassed since this part his didn't want to explain to her, even though his liquor sodden mind led him to continue.
"How's that?" She stepped forward with one foot and placed a hand on her hip.
"Remember when you saw me with those rings?" She nodded in response. "Well I made up the other girl bullshit because I was jealous that you had moved on and I haven't. Besides Al, you were all I wanted in my life and now I've lost you both to my inability to be there when it counted - and to that I raise my glass." With his shot he smiled sardonically. He knew he should stop drinking and that his thoughts probably weren't coming out coherently but this was the easiest it had felt to be open with Winry thanks to liquid courage. At his previous statement Winry walked to the cupboard, grabbed a glass, sat down and poured some Scotch in her own cup. He knew his must have looked astonished as she tipped the burning fluid back with a challenging smirk. Shocked, he stared blankly at her.
"What? I can have a drink just like you? In fact I can probably have more than you, I am my Granny's granddaughter. As to your lying, let's not talk about it for the moment, though don't think for one second you are off the hook. Right now all I want is to talk about is the good times we've had with Al and your trip West okay?" She was incredible, he had thought for sure that she was going to brain him for drinking, but here she was sipping warm Scotch like it was tea on a summer day. He was utterly stunned by this woman. The sun was coming through the window in a way that when it hit her hair, it automatically showcased every highlight framing her face. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he answered.
"Okay, fair enough- just remind me to call Fuhrer Fuckhead later so we can figure things out with Al." Grimacing, he felt his stomach drop just thinking of having to talk to Mustang about getting Al's body back so they could have a funeral for his little brother.
"Hey." Getting his attention, she slid her hands across the table to cover his own, setting his heart racing. "We are going to worry about that later for now let's just be happy for the times we've had with Al. You know that's what he would want." She was right, Al had always been the most unselfish person, never thinking of anything but the happiness of others, and cats. Ha his face raised in a small smile at the memory.
"So there was this one time we were in Central and I had started to notice that Al smelled kind of funky and when I said as much, he tried to tell me that his loin cloth was dirty and needed to be cleaned. But one night I was trying to sleep and all I could hear was a weird scratching sound coming from Al. I kept asking what he had in his armor and I'll be damned if his didn't have a whole litter of kittens living in it and using his legs as a litterbox!" Laughing together loudly at the memory, he continued almost forgetting his heartache from the smile on Winry's face. "So, I freaked out and made him give the kittens to the first people we saw on the street. He was so mad that I wouldn't let him keep even one but we were traveling so much it wouldn't have been fair to them anyways." While Ed was laughing, tears beaded in his eyes. "Finally he let me take off his legs so they could be cleaned, but I swear he was going to walk around in them like that just to irritate me for not letting him keep them." By the end of this story he was actually feeling a little better. He poured Winry a drink and then another for himself. "To Alphonse, the best brother and friend, I couldn't have picked a better one had I tried." He clinked his glass with hers and swigged his drink down, she followed suit. Her cheeks pinkened from the burn of the alcohol, she was so lovely he couldn't figure out how he had even gotten himself to leave for the West when he had her here.
After a couple of hours of talking and telling stories Ed suggested that they play a game and that the winner got a prize of their choosing. Winry agreed sluggishly waving her wrench in the air stating, "I'll win even if I lose." He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what that meant. The game was simplistic and hard at the same time. All they had to do was count from one up as high as they could but replace the multiples of five with a different word without saying the number on accident or missing the multiple altogether. Whoever got the highest without messing up won. Ed suggested ladies first, so Winry started with one and he followed with two and so forth. They had made it into the 40's when Winry said '45' instead of Scotch which was the designated word they had decided on.
"HA! You lost!" He was slurring his words at this point. Ed wondered if she thought it was hot in the kitchen as well. Sitting in his leather pants and baggy black shirt without sleeves, he still thought even that was stifling, so he pulled it off.
"No I didn't! I said Scotch not 45!" Her eyes had fixated on his shirtless chest and he almost laughed at the undisguised look of tension that crossed her face, until she pulled down the top half of her automail jumpsuit leaving only said tiny tube top.
"Actually you did, so now I get a prize of my choosing." A mischievous smile formed on his face.
"Okay, I didn't but I'll concede that you probably would've counted higher than me eventually." Had she just admitted he was smarter? Grinning largely, he waited for her to ask the obvious question. "What is the prize?" She asked nervously, while twirling a strand of long hair around her finger.
"You have to close your eyes and you will find out." She had a look of hesitation on her face but she closed her eyes anyway. He wished she didn't have that damn wrench at her arms length but he thought the trade off would be worth it. Placing his lips a mere fraction away from hers, for a moment he just enjoyed the closeness of her. He could smell her hair, it was like sun bathed flowers with a hint of oil. Heaven. Originally he had planned to just lightly press his lips to hers, but the second his eager mouth touched hers his lips took on a life of their own, parting hers with his questing tongue. Running the tip of his tongue lightly over top lip, he sucked gently at it. Slipping his fingers into her loose ponytail, he reveled in the softness of it. She had tilted her head, allowing him easier access to fully explore her mouth. Heat flooded his body as he rubbed his tongue along hers attempting to learn every part of her. Years of restricting himself from caring for her and keeping her out of danger had taken its toll, and now he became greedy to make up for all the times he should have kissed her. He had never imagined kissing Winry to be this satisfying, Alchemy had been the only thing that made him passionate before. Now it couldn't even compare. Winry pushed him suddenly away, and leaned back gasping to regain her breath.
"Ed, I can't do this-" Flustered she seemed to be trying to hang on to her point. "I have a boyfriend, and you are probably just confused because of Al being gone and drinking so much. This isn't what you really want, in a couple of weeks you will get restless and feel the need to find the secrets of life and Alchemy, I can't even compete with your love of knowledge and I'm not going to try anymore." She got up so quickly that she knocked her glass onto the floor shattering it loudly, but she stumbled upstairs with no intention of staying in the kitchen with him one minute longer.
As Ed bent to the floor and started picking up the small shards of glass, he thought sadly how all the broken pieces reminded him of his broken life.
AN: Please review!
