I AM SO SORRY!!!!
My inter-webs broke...then I had a great idea...then I couldn't post it.
I absolutly LOVE how this chapter turned out! It's exactly the way I wanted it to work out.
I hope you all like it.
Remember! Italics mean people are speaking english.
Chapter 8
Ed was sweating bullets as Winry spoke. He was positive of it, two of the same person couldn't exist on the same side of the gate at the same time, which is why he himself didn't come over in physical form the first time, rather he did so in the body of someone else, his alternate. How could he tell her, he was at a loss for words. "So..." He began. "Do you have much saved?" He tried to move the conversation along.
Winry held up her half empty cup at the bar tender, getting his attention. "A bit. My living expenses keep catching up to me."
"Why not move to a cheaper place?" He tried to reason.
"No. I like where I'm at, it's in a good neighborhood. Besides, I'd feel bad about selling my parent's home while I'm still living in Germany. I was born in that house." She said, polishing off the final half of her glass in one mouthful then handing it to the man behind the counter.
"I'm think you're suppose to just sip that stuff." Ed wasn't a fan of wine, but he was sure it wasn't meant to be chugged.
Giving him a shrug, she took hold of her bread roll and allowed it to soak more of the tomato soup in. "Who cares?" Having her glass refilled, she smiled and laid the glass down, making direct eye contact with Edward while she did so. "You should help me home."
"Why?" He reluctantly asked as if he didn't know why she was requesting assistance.
Winry held out his car keys in one hand. "I'm drunk." She sipped her replenished glass of alcohol with the other.
Ed checked his pockets. "How did you get them?"
Edward held on to Winry's arm as he carefully took her house keys out of an unsure hand and arranged it in the door so he could open it. "De ja'vu." He said after finally managing to haul Winry through the door of the two story home. It wasn't extravagant but still, he was sure if she moved into a small apartment she could easily save in record time. Edward recalled the night they met as best he could, this was exactly how it happened, he was too drunk to function and she helped him in, now the tables were turned, and Edward was left with a choice; stay or go.
"You can stay if you want." She said as though she knew what he was thinking. Giving her drowsy eyes a rub she yawned. Having his answer given to him without much thought, Winry decided to let him stay with her that night. She made a wide u-turn in the hall, using the walls as a guide and came to an uncomfortably close 'face to face' with Ed.
Quickly wanting to deter from anything happening between them again, he eyed the sofa in the next room. "I'll stay on the coach and be out of your hair by morning." At that moment, he realized that is feelings for Winry weren't what he thought they were. As much as he tried to hold out and think that she may have been the same, he just couldn't bring himself to do anything with her after hearing her whole story. Also, he had promised Ilsa something similar earlier that night, so he felt guilty about doing anything with Winry.
"Great." She hugged him in a haze and then made her way down the hall to her room. "Be out before I get up." Closing the bedroom door she left Edward standing in the hallway.
"..." Figuring she was planning on feeling ill the following morning, it was no wonder she wanted him out. Ed looked the house over, a small kitchen, a decent sized living room and from the looks of it, it had several bedrooms. She had said earlier that she was born here and had at least one sibling, so the rest of the rooms must have been upstairs.
Giving the downstairs one final look over, he came up to the couch and sat down on the center cushion and peered around the room. "Odd." She mentioned how much she and her brother got along, yet there were no family photos of them together; on the other hand, there was one of her and what appeared to be her father. There was also one with her and her mother. "Damn." Ed was hoping he could see a photo of the young man Winry was referring to, but to no avail.
Giving up for the time being, he decided to catch some sleep and so, dozed off on the coach, his metal arm wedged beneath a soft throw pillow. He briefly had a dream, but it didn't stay with him.
The morning was met with disarray. Winry quickly stormed into her living room and towered over an unsuspecting Edward. "What are you still doing here?" She shook him awake. "You have to leave now." She practically picked him up off the coach and straight to his feet.
"Why, you don't look sick?" He was being shoved towards the front door, it seemed he was being woken up in violent manners a lot recently.
She spoke rapidly. "I'm not, I'm expecting company. Now you have to go. Thanks for taking me home, thanks for not doing unspeakable things to me in my sleep and thank you for listening to me complain." Push, push. "See you at work next week. Try the veal at the café near the end of the road, goodbye." With one final shove Edward was on the outside and she slammed the door.
Ed was dumbfounded. He could have sworn that less than a minute ago he was curled up on a red velvet sofa, but now he was out in cold, seven o'clock in the morning air of Berlin. "Mmm." He stretched his arms behind his head and walked down to the driveway. He could see the dew still sticking to the front and side windows. He sighed as he entered the car and pulled out of the driveway.
No sooner had he made the turn to leave Winry's block when he spotted Winry peeking out the curtain in a discrete manner, barely touching the shade. Suspicion getting the better of him, he turned right, and decided to make a loop around the block so he could see what would happen next. Would she make a run for it, or was she really waiting for someone to show up? Slinking around the entire block, he parked several houses away from Winry's to see what would unfold.
The minutes passed and finally, the front door opened. It looked to be like Winry was leaving; she stepped out on the front step and glanced around, missing his parked car entirely. 'Why did she lie and say she wanted me gone before she got up if she was just planning on leaving herself? I could have left with her.' Which is when a second face came into view, a smaller red haired girl. Ed's mind raced with confusion, who was this person, and why didn't Winry want him to know about her? He watched them exchange conversation briefly and then Winry handed over a few bills to the thin girl.
Innumerable possibilities fluttered through his head, three to be precise. Was this girl a maid, her lover on their way to the market or another prostitute she paid? The last one didn't make a whole lot of sense, but the first two seemed plausible. He watched the girl go down the walkway and make a right turn. He was planning on following her, so he gave her some time to make a little distance.
Edward trailed the mysterious girl for three blocks until he finally pulled the car up along side her. She was wearing a modest green dress that reached her knees and tights beneath them, black in color which reached her ankles, meeting up with dark brown shoes. There was a bag that draped over her shoulder, it looked like an old military duffel bag. Her hair was tied back with a single elastic and it's length dangled just past her shoulders. From the view Edward had, he saw that her hair was naturally red and eyes naturally green, like Winry's old bodyguard, she was more than likely a Scottish immigrant as well. "Excuse me." Edward began in a polite tone.
The girl might as well have turned around and seen the devil himself, because the second she set eyes on him, she took off running in the direction she was originally heading.
"Wait!" Edward said as he clumsily tried to get out of the vehicle, he was trying to lock it up and not lose track of the girl at the same time. He watched her run and make a jump over a half-wall. "I just want to talk!" He bellowed at her; she didn't even try to look back, she just kept going. Ed remained right behind her, occasionally trying to coax her into stop by yelling, he actually wondered why it wasn't working.
This girl was agile. Bounding in between buildings, making it over three fences, across one park and then down an alley before he finally cornered her. "I just want to ask you a question." He said through panting.
The girl was terrified and also out of breath; her eyes frantically searched for a way out of the alley as Ed was taking a few more steps towards her. "Come on, I work with Winry, I just want to know what you were doing in her house." He tried to smile and reassure her, sadly, this wasn't the outcome. Grabbing an empty tin garbage can, she threw it in hopes of knocking him down and then running past.
Reflexes weren't something she was expecting to be so astute; Ed quickly punched the can out of his way with the right arm, and grabbed the vagrant girl as she tried to run by. "Let me go!" She bellowed in her native language.
"You don't speak German??" Ed mentally kicked himself for not trying English on someone who looked like they would have spoken it; it was no wonder she didn't stop when he called. "Hold on. I just want to ask you a question."
"I don't answer to thieves! Let me go!" She kicked and fussed and squirmed, but it was no use, she was trapped.
"Thief? I'm Winry's bodyguard from work; I'm no thief." Ed held her around the waist tightly against his own stomach.
"Oh yeah!? Then why did she tell me to run if I saw you?" She spoke with a sharp tongue.
"She told you to run?" He thought for a moment. "Maybe you know something she doesn't want other people to know. Namely, me." She became calm and Ed released his grip.
"What's this now?" The girl turned and faced him, looking him over to see if his intentions were true. "You're her body guard? ...Winry said you have an automail arm. Let's see it then." She folded her arms and waited for Ed to show the goods.
"What?" He looked over at the destroyed trashcan. "That right hook wasn't proof enough?" He removed his glove and sported his metal fingers curled tightly into a fist.
She looked at the can, dented beyond repair, he had even tore a gash in it. "True." She allowed herself to get closer. "So you're Edward? Huh?"
"Yes. And you are...?" He questioned the fiery young lady.
"I'm Aria. I'm Winry's nanny." She said. "I clean her house and watch after her little one."
Edward stared at her in disbelief. Apparently Winry was telling the truth, her expenses couldn't be cut. Though it made a lot more sense as to why she wanted him gone before she got up, she didn't want him to hear a baby or to see this girl leaving, knowing full well he was able to converse with her and Winry couldn't tell her what was ok to say, and what wasn't. "What can you tell me about Winry?"
She folded her arms. "Why should I? If she doesn't want anything being told..."
"Are you hungry?" He saw her smile.
Bringing her back to his apartment was a good idea; eating the amount of food she did would have cost Ed and arm and leg at any restaurant, and he was already out one of each limb to begin with.
"You know." Alphonse began. "Though she is eating all our food, she's so cute." He admired her, shoveling food in her mouth as though someone were trying to pry it from her hand. "Tell her I said she's cute."
"No." Ed frowned. "So, do you eat much at home?" He said, hinting to her stopping soon so they could talk.
"No." She said through a bite. "My dad's a big man, he normally gets the biggest helping." She pointed her fork at him. "You know him. He use to be Winry's bodyguard, that's how I got my job; through him."
Ed's eyes widened. "Breda's your father? I can see the resemblance now that you mention it. But down to business." He folded his hands. "I have fed you food, now, you feed me a little information. What's this about Winry having a child? Is it hers?"
"Ah, I heard you say Winry!" Alphonse chimed in. "Was this here the girl you were seeing at the brothel?"
Ed looked to his roommate. "I'll fill you in whenever I get some answers." He turned back to Aria. "Anyway; proceed."
"Yes, Winry had a baby two years ago, I never got a definite on who the father was, I don't think she even knows. I just go upstairs, spend the night when I have to and go home in the morning." She polished off her final bite of sausage and dabbed her mouth with the napkin provided. "Winry won't go up there, so she can't keep the whole place clean on her own. And that's my job. 'Nanny and maid.'" She held her arms out, palms up, in a forward shrug. "Her mom tried to commit suicide at the top of the stairs, so Winry won't go up there. That's where the baby's things are, so...yeah. She's not well, is she?"
"Probably not." Edward was shocked. He was expecting something a little less out in left field. He thought some more. "Do you know when her mother did this?"
"When she tried to kill herself? Not really, but I do know it was long before she had the baby." She sat back and made eye contact with Alphonse, who in turn, quickly broke it out of embarrassment; he had been staring.
"Do you know why?" He probed deeper.
She shook her head. "That's really all I know. I can't really talk to Winry, she doesn't speak good English."
Ed nodded. " I guess she didn't know how to say 'don't tell him anything' in a way you would understand. So getting you to avoid me was the best she could do."
"Seems so." She stood up. "Well, I think I've eaten enough for the rest of the week." She patted her full stomach.
"She's so cute." Alphonse admired her strain with a stretch.
"What about the bartender at the usual spot? What about you not liking people who aren't German? Did that go out the window?" He was becoming frustrated, his friend was never usually so friendly.
"No, it didn't...she's just got really pretty eyes." He looked at her, once more making eye contact and then getting nervous again. "I have to go to work." Nine o'clock was fast approaching. Taking his leave, he grabbed his coat and headed out the door.
"What's wrong with him?" She noticed his discomfort.
"He's late for work. And you ate all our food." He lied and joked all at the same time.
"I did not eat all your food! There's still some left!" She stomped her foot.
Edward laughed. "I know. I do have to ask though, how did you get all this information if you can't talk to Winry?"
Aria smiled. "My dad and his boss are good friends. She calls him her 'hard working Scot'. She had to tell him a few things so he could work with Winry, these were a few things she told him. Also, she doodles pictures for me, that's how I recognized you. Pony tail and yellow eyes."
He had a brief thought as to how 'outstanding' Winry's drawing skill must have been to be done so quickly. "A few things? Anything else I should know?" He wondered if there may have been a clue into figuring Winry out.
"Well..." Aria thought about it. "Nothing he told me, but something I noticed myself. She has friends who come over who she gives money to."
"Money? A lot?" Edward was incredibly confused. Winry on one hand complained that she couldn't save money fast enough, yet she was giving it away.
"Not much. Less than she pays me in a week. But she gives them all the same amount. I think they're all prostitutes too; they all have those rings, like yours" Aria grabbed her 'over the shoulder' bag and placed it around her neck.
Glancing down at his finger, he caught a glimpse of the gold ring with the red jewel. Mama-san said it would come in handy, he didn't imagine she meant like this. "Now this question is important." Ed locked eyes with her. "Do you know any of their names? I know you don't speak the language, but did you catch them saying any names?" Much like Alphonse had done only a few moments ago.
She shook her head. "No, sorry."
"Alright...What did they look like?" He tried another method.
"One had black hair with pale blue eyes. The other four are all blond hair and blue eyes, but one had curly hair. She also has a necklace I like, red and orange beads dangle from it."
"Ilsa?" He spoke her name, remembering a piece of jewelery he saw on her last night. Purely a lucky coincidence, she changed it nightly.
Aria looked at him in revelation. "They do say that name, now that you've mentioned it. But sorry I couldn't be more help."
Giving her a shake of his head, he smiled. "You helped me a lot. Now I have to go and find Ilsa and get some more answers. And no worries, I didn't hear anything from you."
She nodded as he saw Aria to the door and closed it behind her.
There you have it!
I don't know when I'll be able to post again, I'm at a friends now, so...sit tight, I'll post as best I can...I'll bug my mom if I have to.
