Ok, looks like Kib's back. She just edited this chapter. Wanted to let you guys know.

Ed had his knees pulled up, feet on the leather upholstery of the car. His head rested on his flesh knees as he stared out the window, watching the scenery darken as the hours passed. The old man had replaced the car tire, saying, "I'm just doing a good deed in God's eyes. You don't have to always assume you owe me somethin'."

Speaking so freely of God was ridiculous in Ed's opinion. It wasn't as if he actually existed. If he did, then... where the hell was he when Ed and Al needed him the most? Or did he just abandon people?

And Winry. She kept giving him this look, crossed between anxious and sympathetic. It was driving him nuts trying to figure out what he had done to make her look that way. Was she expecting him to pass out again and spew blood? Or had something else happened?

As if reading his thoughts, she cast him another look from the corner of her eye when she thought he wasn't looking.

"Winry? What are you looking at?" he asked, resting the other side of his head against his knee to look over at her.

"It's nothing!" she said quickly, looking back at the road instantly. "... It's just... was there something you wanted to tell Al and me?"

Al seemed to become less interested in the scenery outside and leaned forward so his head poked out between them up front. "You wanted to tell us something? What is it, Brother?"

Ed felt his face blanch as he stared back out the window, feigning disinterest. "What are you talking about? I didn't want to tell you anything – " Realization struck him like a blow across the face. "...Winry, you didn't!"

Winry didn't answer.

He slammed his feet to the floor of the car and fisted his hands at his sides as he stared at Winry with a fearsome glare. "How much did you hear?!"

She flinched. "I… I didn't hear anything important, just that you were… scared to tell us something," Winry finally admitted. "I wasn't going to say anything, but it's driving me crazy trying to think of what you might want to tell us!"

Ed hesitated, unconsciously grabbing at his metal wrist to pull the sleeve down. Better safe than sorry. "What were you thinking?"

"Ed… what did he do to you?" his friend asked, suddenly pulling the car off to the side of the road, adding to Ed's anxiety as he felt the car come to an abrupt stop.

The boy tried to even his breathing as Al and Winry stared at him. It wouldn't do to start coughing blood again, not when they were already so suspicious. No way. There's no way I'm going to give in and tell them just like that. No fucking way. "Why did you stop?" He laughed weakly, forcing a grin. "You guys don't have to be so dramatic. Just keep going!"

"If I keep going, are you going to stop being so dramatic and tell us what's wrong?" Winry shot back without missing a beat. Surprisingly, she didn't sound angry or even agitated. She looked like she honestly cared, with not a trace of sarcasm.

"Doesn't matter, I'm going to sleep. So sit there all night if you want to. I have nothing to tell you."

"Nothing you want to tell us, you mean," Winry added, her eyes narrowing at him.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Forget it, Win. I don't have anything to – "

"'I can't tell them. Win would leave and… and I'm sure Al would too, as soon as he could'." Winry put on her best "Ed" voice, and he started as he realised she was quoting him word for word. "Now tell me what you did that would piss me off that bad!"

I didn't do anything! I never asked for this!

"Brother? Why would I leave?" Al asked.

Ed didn't answer as he pushed himself up against the door, trying to put some distance between him and the pair's persistent questioning. The way Al had said that… he was far too innocent for his own good. He said it like Ed could never do anything wrong. Al knew Ed did a few things that weren't dubbed as 'good', but stealing food when you were starving was inevitable. Still… his little brother's faith in him was incredible. He could feel his eyes moisten up when Al moved over to the other side of Ed's seat and rested his chin on Ed's shoulder. He shrugged him off gently, making sure he didn't nail Al with the metal shoulder. That would be a dead giveaway.

"Sorry Al, my shoulder's sore," he lied, trying to make sure he didn't hurt Al's feelings with the curt gesture.

"Please tell me, Ed. Why would I leave? What did you do?" Al pressed, lightly tugging on the end of Ed's ponytail. It was something he seemed to do whenever he tried prying information out of Ed, some kind of weird persuasion technique that usually made Ed cave in and tell him. But not this time. He'd never tell Al. Or Winry.

"Cut it out, Al," he growled, batting Al's hand away. "Winry, could you get driving? I'm getting really hungry now."

"And how do you expect to get food without any money?" she asked, finally pulling out from the side of the road.

There was a heavy sigh from the back of the car. Ed just quirked a corner of his mouth while Winry cast a curious glance at the both of them. The brothers both knew what was coming. "Winry, pull over here" Ed said. Winry pulled into a convenience store, still staring at him.

"Don't get in trouble, Brother," came the disapproving mutter from behind them.

"I won't, Al."

"Trouble? Wait, Ed don't tell me you're going in there to steal," Winry gasped.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not some idiot. I know how this works, just chill and watch how it's done, I've been doing this for years."

"Don't expect me to be impressed," she muttered crossing her arms. "I can't believe you're just going to go in there and – "

"Don't worry, I don't think I could impress you," Ed interrupted her, getting out of the car and slamming the door behind him before Winry could say something back. He began to walk towards the shop when a thought occurred to him, and he glanced down at his attire… and groaned. How could he pull anything off looking like this? Black jeans and black sweater topped off with long hair tied into a ponytail. Along with the black gloves. And he wasn't a local, so they would be staring anyway. "Wonderful. This will be the greatest challenge I've ever had," he mumbled to himself as he headed into the store.

The minute Ed stepped into the room, everyone stared. There was a small cafeteria on one side of the store where almost everyone was seated, drinking cheap coffee and discussing the town's most recent crimes and gossip at the tables on ripped cushion seats. Not even glancing at them, the boy looked around as if searching for something, not trying to look innocent or unsuspicious. The thing with this deal; you can't look innocent. Ever. Or they'll know it, and watch you so closely you can hardly breathe. Ed had never been caught before… and he wasn't planning on it this time.

Ignoring the oppressive feeling of two dozen eyes on his back, he just sighed and walked forward with his hands in his pockets. First things first. One thing people always messed up on was that they were so worried about being caught by a person that they forgot the cameras. Acting as if he were looking at the cigarette ads on the wall, he quickly located all the obvious cameras – four of those. Now for the hidden ones. There were always at least two of them.

Probably one under the magazine rack… and another behind those reflectors, he told himself, looking up at the reflector in the corner of the room. It looked like a bent mirror, but it really was a one way window with a camera hidden behind it. Alright, now where's the blind spot… He moved casually away, still scanning the aisles with a small frown on his face as if searching for something, until he reached an aisle hidden from all the cameras and out of eyesight of any customers or attendants. Now that was done… in comparison, this was the easy part.

Sighing blearily and letting a yawn escape, he stretched lazily and grabbed the thing closest to him, cringing at the sound of rustling plastic as he tucked it into his shirt and under his metal arm. He resisted the urge to scan the area for any witnesses. He'd only look guiltier, and if anyone had seen… he'd know about it soon enough.

Whatever he had snatched, it'd have to be enough since grabbing two things would be suicide. He walked over to the magazine rack with the hidden camera and looked down at them, reading each name carefully as he forced himself not to sneak a glance at the concealed camera lens. Take your time, Ed. Rushing in and out is way too obvious… Gotta have come in here for something, and avoiding the hidden cameras would reek of seasoned professional after all…

"Hey, kid!"

Ed froze for a fraction of a second, before turning slowly and glancing up at the man who had called him. "Uh… h-hey?"

~*~

Waiting impatiently in the car, Winry chewed on the lining of her cheek as she pondered all the possible ways to get Ed to spill what he was hiding. Was he gravely sick? That fit quite well, considering the blood he had thrown up and all. But then, that could have been from the severe stress he'd obviously been under. Supporting his brother – and now, as much as she hated to admit it, herself – must have been quite a toll. Still, she didn't need to be a doctor like her parents to know that stress was not enough to make a man start retching blood.

"Winry?"

Winry glanced over her shoulder in the back seat, where the small voice came from. She regarded the owner of the voice worriedly before answering, "What is it, Al? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. … It's just… what about Brother? What's wrong? What could he have done so bad to make me… and you, want to leave?"

"I'm not sure, Al," she sighed, running her fingers along the steering wheel, stopping a hair shy from the indents that mangled the nearly perfect circle. She still couldn't figure that out. It was plain weird. "I can't think of any reason to leave him. And I'm absolutely positive you wouldn't abandon him for any reason… unless…" She laughed outright, thinking of the most bizarre, insane reason she could fathom. "Unless he killed someone or… or… some…thing…" She trailed off, finally realizing as she looked back at Al with wide eyes. "Maybe that's it? Maybe he really…? But that doesn't explain the throwing up blood part. Has he always done that?"

The boy pondered for a second. "Not naturally. He did cough up some when... when Mr. Welson… hit him hard enough."

She nodded, trying to crush her pangs of guilt and sympathy as she tried to think. Those kind of feelings wouldn't help her friend or help her try to figure out what was wrong with him. And she was sure she could help, if only she could work it out. "I'm thinking it was a little internal bleeding and it just built up. Now that it's probably mostly healed, his body is just disposing of it... but then…" There was no way Ed could really…

Al was thinking along the same lines. "But Brother wouldn't kill someone, Winry! That just isn't him!"

"Think about it, Al! What else could he have done that would make him think that we would leave him? Maybe he did it out of self defense?" she considered out loud, hopefully. She really didn't want to be around a killer. Not when that killer was also her best friend.

"That would be the only reason why he would kill someone," Al said defiantly. "Even then he would try his hardest to make killing a last resort. I know he would."

Winry pulled her legs up and turned, laying them out on the passenger's seat, her back resting on the car door as she frowned. "I know, Al. I couldn't see him killing someone. Brutally beating them up, maybe, if they called him short," she added with a laugh.

Al joined in with her laughter, lightening the tense mood in the car. Without realizing it, Ed was really putting a toll on the two, worrying them both sick.

"In 4th grade he was so small, a lot of kids picked on him for it. But when a couple of 8th graders decided to pick on me… they got a little surprise. He went ballistic on them. He bit a piece off one of their ears."

They both started laughing harder, Al clutching his sides as Winry told him the story when Ed got them both locked in the old factory near the lake. He enjoyed it, grinning wryly at their antics, but she knew she would never tell him the story of the time when she and Ed stood in the tree, hiding from the cops below. They had been so close, and now that Al explained a while back, she knew what that look in his eyes had been. So close.

"Winry, what're you thinking about?" the boy asked innocently as he sat up on his knees and leaned over the head of Winry's seat, looking down at her.

She snapped to attention, blushing as she whipped her head away from him and sat back up in a proper position. She glared out the windshield. "Nothing, Al. Still just wondering what's wrong with that moron of a brother of yours."

"Still?" Al smiled reassuringly. "He'll tell us eventually. If it's bugging him as badly as it seems, he'll eventually cave in and tell us. He always does in the end. Well… I guess he'll tell me if it's too embarrassing," he added with a laugh. "And if its really something to worry about I'll tell you, okay?"

Winry smiled back at him, playfully pinching his cheek with her thumb and index finger. "You'd rat your brother out for me? How sweet."

He squirmed, laughing. "Of course I would, Winry! He's really important to you, isn't he?"

She felt the heat rise in her face again as she looked away, back out the window, watching the people walking by, to their cars. It was so dark she could barely see their faces. They really needed to get moving again. "Of course he is, Al," she murmured, avoiding the real query she could hear behind the innocent-sounding question. "You are both important to me."

"What are we going to do? After, you know, everything is calmed down? I mean, we can't live like this forever, can we?"

Winry resumed chewing the inside of her cheek, furrowing her brow. Of course they couldn't live like this forever. As she opened her mouth to say something else, the passenger door opened and Ed plopped down in the seat, looking paler then usual. She was instantly watching him like a hawk for any signs of imminent collapse. The last time he'd been that colour, she'd nearly been subjected to a heart attack.

"Brother? What's wrong? Were you caught?" Al asked, nearly bouncing into the front seat between them.

"No, Al, I wasn't. We're on TV… they have pictures of us… the state is looking for us." He groaned, putting his face into his hands.

"They're… what?!"

"I talked to this guy in the store. He said I looked familiar… 'almost like one of the kids on the news that went missing from a boy's home in South Carolina'." He looked up at Al with wide, wide eyes, licking his lips nervously. It was one of the first signs of open fear Winry had seen on his face… and it frightened her. "I told him that was really interesting and asked for directions before he could say anything else so he'd shut up and quit thinking about it. Dammit Al, people are going to recognize us."

Winry saw the fear in Ed's eyes as he looked to Al for comfort, or some sort of reassurance, but both of the boys looked lost… unsure… scared.

Sighing, she reached out and grabbed Ed's hand from his face and squeezed it. "It'll be alright, Ed. Quit worrying about it. They'll forget about you guys in a week, and I doubt many people are going to be looking out for any of the boys that left the home. Watch, everything will turn out fine."

Ed smiled lightly at her as she released his hand and started the car. It seemed Al was right about Ed. He was breaking down slowly, telling them his little worries, showing his fear for once. She began to wonder how badly he would break down before he caved in and told them what was on his mind. She hoped it wouldn't be too late.