3/30/14 A/N: I got this idea that Edward had terrible growing pains. After all, during the time he and Al stayed in Resembool he had to have grown a bunch – he was taller than Winry at the train station.

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Growing Pains

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She heard the sound before. Sure, it was years and years ago, but there was no mistaking that pitiful plea for relief from pain – a moan. This tiny sound, this unmistakable noise caused her to stir from a sound sleep. This moan was so slight that she couldn't believe she heard it all the way in her own bedroom either. Winry sighed and wearily tossed aside her warm bed covers then slowly inched her way to the source of the sound.

She knew it came from Ed and Al's room, even before she set her hand on their doorknob and turned the old brass.

As she peered into the blue darkness of the boys' bedroom, she spied Alphonse splayed out on his twin bed sleeping sound as a stone. It made her happy to see him enjoy the sleep that he was denied all those years while in armor. Next to Al's bed, Edward squirmed in his own. She couldn't see his face, only the outline of his body as he rolled under the covers trying and failing to find a comfortable position.

"...it hurts." He growled very softly.

She frowned not quite sure what to do. Winry didn't want to disturb Al, but also didn't want to embarrass Edward if he were just having a bad dream. Something in her gut told her that Ed wasn't asleep and struggled with something other than pain associated with his automail. It wasn't even raining, so she knew the port wasn't aching. She decided to take a chance.

"Ed?" Winry uttered. As soon as the name left her lips, she noticed the boy straighten his body, then turn toward her.

"...huh?" The boy responded, not sure he had actually heard his name.

"I'm getting some tea...if you wanna come downstairs." With that, she left the door ajar and made her way downstairs toward the kitchen. Not knowing if he heard her or if he did, he'd even, she gave him an opportunity to come to her on his own.

The mechanic grabbed the tea kettle from the stove and expertly filled it with water from the tap. As she set it down on the iron grate and lit the gas, she was rewarded by the step-clank sound of Ed's bare foot then automail foot stepping on the old timbers of the floorboards upstairs. He slowly made his way down the creaky stairs and into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes at the bright light in the room.

"Cream and sugar?" She chuckled knowing he'd fuss about the former.

"Sugar, lots." He muttered and flopped down in a chair and grimaced as he did.

"Ed?" She set two mugs on the table and inserted the tea bags. "Are you in pain?" Winry turned to grab the sugar bowl and some spoons, not really wanting to see his face.

"...yeah."

"This has been going on for a few days, hasn't it?" The mechanic remembered hearing Ed moaning in his sleep on a few occasions this week. She set the sugar and spoons on the table, then took the chair next to the boy.

"Sounds about right." Edward couldn't talk in full sentences.

"Is it your automail? You know you need to tell me if it hurts you, there may be something wrong I need to fix..."

"Not the automail." He wearily put his head on his arms such as a school boy in timeout. "It's everything."

"What?"

"My leg, my joints, everything just aches. It started as an odd sensation and got worse. I can handle it during the day when I move around, but...at night..."

"It kills you?" Her mind slowly wrapped around this information and an idea, a reason came to fruition in her head.

"Yeah. It's like, it's like my bones trying to push through my skin or something." He turned to her, his head still on his arms. "Am I dying?"

She smiled at this silly question. "No, I don't think so."

Winry remembered a time in her childhood, a time she later was told she hit a growth spurt in that aching pain disturbed her own sleep. Could this be happening to Ed? She thought of all that time Al's body was lost and Edward sustained him at the detriment of his own growth and now, perhaps Ed was actually growing.

The tea kettle whistled, startling them both. Winry sprung up, turned off the gas and returned to the table with it and filled their mugs. She set it back down on a cold burner and returned to the table while their tea steeped.

"Then what?" He just wanted to stop hurting.

"I want to measure your real leg tomorrow and compare to my notes from you last fitting." She took her spoon and poked at the tea bag in her mug. "I think your having growing pains."

"What?" He frowned at her. "I'm sixteen, too old for that."

"You're nearly seventeen, and I think you're body is catching up too fast after you brought Al's body back. Remember, you said somehow he was getting nourishment and rest from you when you ate or slept. That kept your body from growing like it should. Now that you don't need to support Al that way, your body is trying to catch up." She said it so matter-of-factly.

"Growing pains, huh?" He still couldn't believe it.

"Sure. The long bones in your arms and leg are growing faster than the supporting muscles and tendons...they're stretching them from the inside. It hurts." She plucked the tea bag out of her mug and started spooning copious amounts of sugar into the brown liquid.

"When will it stop."

"Can't say for sure, but I have some anti-inflammatory medication in the pharmacy cabinet I can give you tonight, then Granny and I can take a look at your measurements tomorrow and she can figure out something stronger to help manage the pain until it stops." She picked up the mug of sugary tea and set it in front of the former Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Whatever." He took the hot drink, sat up and took a sip, enjoying the taste and marveling on just how she knew he liked it so sweet. Ed noticed her smirk as she took the still steeping mug in front of him and started the process of making her own tea.

"I think it's good news, Ed." She emptied two normal-sized spoonfuls of sugar in her drink and stirred.

"How the hell is this pain good news?" He realized he was getting testy but didn't care.

"Think about it." She took a sip. "Growing pains. It means you're actually growing!" Winry wanted to laugh at Edward's expense, but really controlled herself.

"I told you I would grow! I told you all I was a late bloomer!" He chugged down his tea. "Now, where's that medication? Please?"

"I'll get it."

Later that morning, Winry did measure Ed's leg and found that since his last tuneup only a month ago, the poor boy had grown and inch and a half. She felt bad for teasing him because that was an awful lot of internal tugging and pulling on his muscles. Pinako found the right mix of medication Edward could only take at night which helped him sleep until the pains subsided.

Alphonse was overjoyed at hearing Ed finally grew.

Edward also strutted around proudly that he was right about this thing too, that he was right when he told them all he wouldn't stay short forever.

He only wished his growth spurts didn't come with growth pain, but figured like anything he and Al went through, it was equivalent exchange.

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fin-