Open Up

I've got chapter seven up for you, I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter. I had to rewrite it eight times until I felt it was good enough to be published. It's more of a filler, I was planning on making this chapter jump straight into Cecelia going to Central, but I felt like that was too cut and dry. Oh well. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and feel free to leave a review or two, they're really encouraging :D And thank you to those who have reviewed.

Typical Disclaimer: I don't own FMA but I do own Cecelia.


It was early in the morning and on any other morning, everyone in the Rockbell house would be fast asleep, but on the morning of Al's birthday, Winry was a woman on a mission. She already had Cecelia dressed and ready to go in the kitchen and Ed would be her next victim. Opening the door as quietly as she could, she slipped into Ed and Al's room. Aww, how cute. Both boys were sprawled out in different locations; Al had the bed while Ed took to the floor. They look so…innocent.

With her foot, she nudged Edward's side until he began to stir. He let out an incoherent complaint and swatted at her foot, but made no other movement. She jabbed her foot into his side with enough force to cause him to shoot straight up. He shot her a mean look, but didn't yell at her for the sake of not waking up his brother. She gestured for him to follow her out and he did so begrudgingly.

"What the hell was that for Winry?" he hissed when he heard the click of the door.

"I need you to go into town and pick some stuff up."

"You're joking right?"

He turned on his heel so he could go back to bed, but was stopped when she grabbed a fist full of his hair and gave a sharp tug.

"Stop it. That hurts, why can't you just go?"

"I'm going to entertain Al while you are gone."

"Just make Cecelia go," he whined and tried his puppy eyes on her, "I'm tired."

"She doesn't know how to get there," Winry started down the stairs, "and if I don't see you down here in the next ten minutes then you are going to have hell to pay."

She left Ed to get dressed and went down the see how Cecelia was doing. The girl in question was in the same spot she'd left her, slumped over onto the kitchen table with her arms dangling off the sides.

"Oh come on, it's not that early," she checked her watch, "it's 5:47, that isn't that early."

Cecelia's head lolled from side to side and she lazily lifted a hand to wave the blond away.

"That is early, why do I have to go the store? I don't even know where it is."

"That's why I'm sending Edward with you."

"Why can't he go by himself?"

"Because I don't trust him to get everything, now stop asking me all these questions."

Winry turned away from her complaining companion and was about to go check up on Ed when he came trudging down the stairs. He looked quite disheveled. His usual braid had fly away hairs all over and his clothes were wrinkled. Cecelia, who managed to finally sit up and get herself situated, openly pointed out his poor appearance.

"You look awful." she said.

"Oh shut up, you don't look any better."

"But I do look better."

Before Ed could fire something back, Winry stood in between them and shoved a folded sheet of paper into his hand. He read through the lengthy list and stuffed it into his pocket. Winry pulled their coats off the coat rack and after passing each coat to its respective owner, ushered the two outside.

"And don't come back until you have everything on that list." She said with a grin before shutting the door.

Cecelia looked over to Ed and back to the door.

"I hate her."

Edward and Cecelia made it into town without any major complications. The latter managed to step into a snow covered hole and they had to make a quick stop to pull her foot out without twisting her ankle. They were both silent for the most part, but he would occasionally point out certain land marks to her as they passed them.

"What's on the list anyway?" she asked when they passed the first vendor.

"It's for the most part a grocery list."

He handed over their list and let her look it over.

"Most of this is food, but she did add on a few tools at the end."

"She did?" He looked over her shoulder and read the last few items, "I thought those were just some foreign spices or something."

Folding the list up, she rolled her eyes and handed it back to him.

"How in the world does a drill bit set sound like a spice?" she poked him in the side.

Ed's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he looked away, rubbing the back of his head. When she started to giggle, he spun on his heel and began marching towards the butcher, leaving her behind.

"Hey, wait up you troll!"

The rest of their morning was spent locating the items on Winry's list. It annoyed Ed that Winry expected him to pay for everything and it annoyed him further that Cecelia ended up paying for everything because he'd left his billfold at home. She even paid for breakfast. How much money does this girl have?

"Do you mind if we take a break?" she asked half way through their trip.

"No that's fine."

Ed set down his load and she did the same, quickly stuffing her hands into her pockets as soon as they were free of anything. He tugged on her arm, pulling her hand out of her pocket. Ignoring her protests, he examined her tender skin. It was raw and red from the bitter cold air.

"Why didn't you bring gloves?"

Pulling her hand away, she replied defensively "I forgot them at the house; I didn't do it on purpose."

With a sigh, he pulled his gloves off and held them out to her. He gazed up at the cloudy sky, making it a point to not look her in the eyes to avoid letting her see the blush that was forming on his cheeks. Cecelia stared at his offering before tentatively receiving the gloves. They were still warm from his hands.

"Thanks Ed…" she mumbled, slapping her newly gloved hands bashfully over her cheeks.

"Uhh yeah, no problem."

Ed and Cecelia stood there a few moments longer before taking up their loads and continuing their walk to Winry's house.

"Thank you all so much, this has been the best birthday ever." said Alphonse as his special day started coming to a close.

Everyone was seated in the living room around Al as he opened his presents. He got a new dress shirt from Winry, an Alkahestry book from Ed, a photo with him and Ed as kids from Pinako and a stuffed cat plush from Cecelia. Wrapping paper surrounded him on all sides and he carefully set his gifts aside. He went around the room giving everyone a quick hug and a special thank you. Working together, they got the living room cleaned up and Pinako excused herself to her room to get ready for bed when things were cleaned to her standards.

The young adults got comfortable in the living room. Ed and Winry were in an in depth conversation about how he was treating his leg while Al and Cecelia were chatting about Central. She'd never been before while he had spent a great amount of his time there when he was younger.

"When do you think you'll be heading into Central?"

"Probably soon, the snow is starting to melt so I bet the trains will be up and running again."

Ed jumped into the conversation, "You know, we could all go up there at the same time. I need to head back into work and Al needs to get back to studying anyway. The ride up there can be boring so the more the merrier"

Cecelia, Al and Ed all began planning their train ride to Central, not noticing the sad look on Winry's face when she dismissed herself for bed.


That's chapter seven for you and I promise that chapter eight will have more humor in it. See you all then.