Pinako examined the irritated and swollen skin around Ed's automail ports. Poking and probing, Ed let out a sneer every time her cold hands touched his sore stumps. In the end, there wasn't much she could do except give him some more painkillers and apply some soothing salve onto the scarred skin.

"There is no doubt. I'm afraid the shrimp's body is rejecting the automail." Pinako stated when she had guided her granddaughter from the bedroom and closed the door. "He has a severe infection, and we should probably have operated the ports off him long before it got this bad."

Winry sighed heavily.

"Is there any way he could keep them? It's... kind of a bad time."

Pinako looked at Winry with a sly smile.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that the two of you are trying to start a family."

Winry blushed, turning her cheeks brightly pink.

"But, you should probably put that off for a couple of months. He's going to need a long time to recover after the surgery," Pinako added, putting her pipe to her mouth.

"Heeeh," Winry stiffened and laughed apprehensively.

"I'm not sure... that's gonna happen," she admitted, with a nervous smile.

Pinako looked at her. And kept looking. For several seconds that felt like minutes, hours, days, centuries.

"Winry..?" she asked, dumbfounded. There was no reason for her to finish the question.

Winry placed her index finger to her lips. "Alphonse doesn't know yet. Please don't freak out!"

Pinako kept on blinking, forgetting about her pipe and let it burn out. She turned on her heel, and marched off to Alphonse's bedroom, waving her hand as to signal Winry to follow.

When they entered the bedroom, making sure it was empty, Pinako closed the door behind them.

"I just found out myself, and told Ed this morning," Winry said almost apologetically.

The older woman just shook her head and embraced her granddaughter tightly.


The next morning it had finally stopped raining, all though the sky was still gray. Winry was the first one to wake up as usual (unless Alphonse was opening the bakery). She had prepared some coffee but realized that she wasn't even sure if she could drink it while pregnant.

She made herself a cup of hot chocolate instead and brought it with her as she let Den out for his 'morning duties'.

Blowing on the hot beverage, she heard the first droplets of the day tap on the roof tiles. A sigh left her lips, realizing that this was going to be yet another painful day for Ed. She had to figure out how she was going to tell Edward that they would probably need to remove the automail. He already knew it was infected and probably had known for a long time, but she was sure he didn't expect this.

The anger blushed her cheeks when she thought about it. She had seen the irritated and swollen skin around the ports for the last couple of months, but she hadn't thought about how long it actually had lasted. He had those types of problems occasionally ever since he got the automail, but usually, it would disappear if he rested for a couple of days. Maybe she had been in denial, while Ed apparently thought that as long as he avoided the subject, it wasn't real.

A strange noise came from inside. Like shaky metal limbs trying to fumble its way down the stairs.

Winry slammed the door open with a furious look on her face, startling her limping fiancè as he clutched to the railings to keep his balance.

"What do you think you're doing?" Winry yelled and stomped up the stairs towards him. Ed looked down at her in confusion, not letting go on the only thing stopping him from tumbling face first down the steps.

"I'm going to work," he said slowly.

"Oh no, you are not! And why the hell have you reattached your automail?"

"Because I need it for work," Ed explained, dumbfounded.

Winry hooked her arm around Eds, dragging him back up the few steps and back to the bedroom.

A few minutes later, the limbs once again laid on the floor beneath the bed, and Ed was only half conscious after the strain that the attachment and shortly followed detaching had on his body. The racket had woken up Alphonse who appeared in the doorway to see what was going on.

"Your brother is being stupid," Winry stated, crossing her arms.

"What else is new?" Alphonse chuckled, which earned him an angry scowl from his brother.

"How were you able to attach it on your own anyway?" she asked, cheeks still red from anger.

Ed shrugged, mumbling "Just did."

"Mr. Franklin isn't going to expect you to come in after yesterday anyway. You need to be resting while we try and treat the infection... to the extent that we can." she added silently. It felt like her body deflated at the revelation.

"What?" Ed's eyes shut open from their half-lidded state, and he sat up way too quickly, making the room spin around him. Al also reacted to her sudden confession, looking upset and taking a step into the room.

"Careful," Winry consoled, leaning two pillows at the headboard of the bed, slowly helping Edward to rest against them.

"What did you mean by that?" Ed's voice was cross and slightly raised. Winry lowered her had, and rested her hand on top of Edward's only flesh one.

"After Granny examined you yesterday," she started to say with a weak voice. She raised her head to look into Edwards' eyes, feeling the threatening warmth of tears wanting to escape her from her own. He looked like he was going to cry too, but she knew his golden eyes were probably just glossy from the fever.

She gathered herself and cleared her throat, gaining some control of her voice.

"After granny examined you yesterday, she told me that your body is rejecting the automail. It's one of the worst infections she's ever seen. How you've been able to stay on your feet at all is... a medical mystery."

"What does that mean?" Ed and Al asked simultaneously, not even seeming to register it.

Winry hesitated, scattering her brain after some kind of alternative to what she knew would be inevitable.

"Winry, please. Just say it," Ed said pleadingly.

"The only thing we can do is to remove it completely."

A shocked gasp escaped Al's lips as his hand covered his mouth. Winry looked intently for Edward's reaction. But there was none.

"Ed?" she asked carefully.

"Both of them?" he finally asked hoarsly, looking at his empty shoulder port. She nodded, whispering an apology.

"Well, if that's what needs to be done..."

"Brother..." Al started to say. His voice was full of compassion.

"No, Alphonse. Don't even think it." Ed already knew what his brother was considering.

"You can't decide that for me," Al argued, gaining a confused look from Winry.

"What are you two talking about?"

The brothers seemed to have started a staring contest, both of them scowling intensively at each other. Al apperenly lost (but to be fair, Ed was used to having these staring competitions with a suit of armor that didn't need to blink).

"Brother, I'm going to get your arm and leg back."

Winry looked at him in surprise. Ed frowned deeply.

"No, you're not. This is your home, and this is our life. You are finally free to do all the things you wrote down in your journal. Also, If I can't use my automail anymore, we need you here."

"But, it's not fair! You got me my body back-"

"Which I lost in the first place! It was my responsibility to get it back. This is not yours. Life happens, and now we have to deal with it."

Al still didn't look convinced. Winry got up from where she was seated on the side of the bed and walked over to where Al was standing in the middle of the room and touched his shoulder.

"We're going to need all the help we can get, once the baby comes..."

At first, Al rolled his eyes and was about to continue to argue his case, but then, her words finally struck him.

"Wha- what?" his eyes widened and hazel pupils grew small as they peered down from Winry's sincere face to her stomach.

"Are you... you..." he stuttered.

Winry smiled and nodded.

"Yes, we're having a baby."

"A baby! You're having a baby!" he threw his arms in the air. "Brother! You're having a baby!"

"Winry is the one having the baby," Ed smirked.

"There's a baby in there?" Al slapped his hands on each side of his face and kneeled down to face Winry's stomach, making inaudible sounds with a soft voice to it.

"Where else?" Ed still smirked.

All though he was feeling angry and scared, sad even, for his own situation, he knew he had to deal with it the way it had to be dealt with.

For Winry, for Al, for the baby.


Thank you for reading! I've been a bit stuck on this story for a while now, so it felt good to actually produce a chapter that I was finally satisfied with. Some health issues have also been making updating a bit more difficult, but hopefully I'll feel up to writing more and gather some new inspiration soon!