"Winry. Hey Winry. What're you doing? Huh?" Iris prodded, peering over her friend's shoulder. "Can I help?"
The engineer didn't even look up from her work. Usually, she would love to talk, but she never had much tolerance for distractions during work.
"Win?"
"What, Iris?"
Iris deflated at the realization that she was being ignored. Still, she offered, "Do you need any help?"
"No," she answered bluntly.
The alchemist exhaled a breath that made her bangs fly up "Really? You don't need help with anything?"
"You can help by counting the bolts."
"I already counted them. There were only six." She said pointedly.
Winry sighed and positioned her goggles from her eyes to the crown of her head. Turning around in her chair she faced Iris, trying to think of something - anything - she could do.
"I do have a new patient today, and she's never had this done to her before, so maybe you could gather some things for prep?"
Iris smiled widely. She was becoming so bored, and she needed a distraction. Plus, worry was eating at the back of her mind.
'Damn those Elric brothers.'
"We'll need some IV bags, pain medication, towels and oh- new bedsheets! We ran out yesterday. You think you can handle that?"
Iris nods, raising her hands behind her head to tie up her hair.
"We already have IV bags and towels in the house somewhere, but I need all the stuff in the garage before she gets here at 12."
"Okay, I got it."
"Oh, wait!" she called just before Iris raced out. "Get a gallon of oil, too, yeah?"
"Sure! I'm off!"
Going into town, she saw no sign of Ling or his crew. Worry trickled into her thoughts easily, but she disregarded it and set out for her tasks.
"Another day, another dollar," she bantered to herself. "Except I'm not getting paid."
•••
"Winry, I'm done!" Iris called from the garage, setting the items she had rounded up in a neat and organized line.
"'Kay!" she replies, and Iris can hear footsteps approaching the room.
"You have everything?" she asks, hands on her rounded hips, a pair of engineering goggles in the large pocket of her apron.
The alchemist nods, listing off things. "Pain meds, oil, IV bags, I even bought new towels!"
"Great! And the bedsheets?"
At the single word, her face dropped.
Seeing her uncertainty, Winry's eyes widened.
"Iris! She'll be here in 20 minutes!"
"Uh..." She tried to think quick on her feet. Getting an idea, she pointed at Winry.
"I'll be right back!" She raced out before she could say anything else.
Jogging upstairs, she grabbed her travel suitcase from her room and went into Winry's.
She closed the door behind her and said, "Here goes nothing."
Taking off her shirt, Iris caught her reflection in the mirror. Stopping, she stares at her stomach. Taking a finger, she drags it across the long scar that is swept over the bottom half of her torso.
'How ugly.'
She looks away, removes her pants, and throws them next to her shirt.
"That'll do."
Rummaging through her things, she finds her transmutation gloves and slips them on.
In a flash of light, she transmutes her two articles of clothing into one long, black, bed sheet. She smiles at her handiwork proudly.
"Sorry Win," she muttered. "I'll have to borrow some of your clothes."
After setting her gloves aside, she walked over to the closet and opened it to see only one thing hanging inside: a light green dress.
"Winry, you have got to be kidding me." She deadpanned.
How convenient that it was the only thing clean.
Giving a sigh she pulled the dress off the rack and gave it a funny look. This went on for at least another minute.
Iris shook her head, sighing. "No. You know what, I'll just transmute this too."
She reached for her gloves, but before she could grab them, a loud clutter of noise and yelling downstairs interrupted her. Scrambling, she quickly threw on the dress and headed down worriedly.
"Win?" she called while descending the stairs. "What happened? Are you okay?"
The first thing she saw when coming down the stairs was a small puddle of blood. She only relaxed when she saw an unconscious Edward and a bloody wrench next to it.
Iris put a hand on her chest. "Oh, you scared me for a second. I thought that something bad happened."
"Sorry to drop in like this, Winry," Alphonse apologized sheepishly.
Iris smiled brightly and dashed over to the suit of armor."Al! I'm so glad you're okay. You two have me worried 24/7 these days!"
"Sorry... Everything's okay, now, though."
"What do you guys mean?" Winry asked, blonde eyebrows furrowing in concern.
"It's nothing," she covered, not meeting her friend in the eye.
"Well... fine. Listen guys, I'm about to do some automail surgery on a first-timer, so I really can't talk right now," she explained. "Ed, I can fix yours, but not now. I'll need to get some more parts from town."
She turned to Iris. "Any luck with bedsheets?"
"Yeah. Check upstairs in your room."
"Thanks."
"We'll try not to be a bother," said Al. "Thank you, Winry." Ed didn't say anything, just wiped his bloody face messily as his brother dragged him out of the shop. Iris followed after, and Winry was left to work.
Stepping into the valley heat, Iris couldn't deny how freeing it felt to be in a dress. It flowed in the wind slightly, and she was almost inclined to twirl. Almost.
"Kill time, eh?" Ed complained. "How are we supposed to do that in an automail town?"
"I've kept myself busy enough around here," Iris responded, looking around.
He grunted and was about to give her a glare when he saw her attire. A pink hue grazed across his cheeks. He inwardly cursed as he stuttered, "You're..."
"Yes, I'm wearing a dress! So?!" She yelled, crossing her arms defensively as her ears turned red, embarrassed.
"N-nothing! I just..!"
"Are you saying I can't wear a dress?! Because I can kick your ass in this thing!"
He shook his head furiously, waving his hands along to go with it. "No!"
"For what it's worth," Al put in, "I think, uh, you look very pretty, Iris."
"Pretty weird," Ed mumbled.
"What was that, Ed?" Iris said sweetly, giving him a smile that mismatched the crazy look in her eye.
"Nothing!"
"Yeah, mhm. But, thank you, Alphonse!" She beamed at the suit of armor, and somehow, he blushed.
'No matter how little time she had with him, Trisha raised Alphonse right!' she thought to herself. 'Ed... not so much.' She added as an afterthought.
"So," Ed stretched. "Since you think this place is so fine and dandy, why don't you show us around s'more, huh, Iris?"
"Yeah, I guess that'll be fun," she agreed.
"C'mon Al. Al?"
They looked around to see Alphonse hunched over in concern.
"What is it, another homeless cat?" the brother groaned in annoyance.
"Um.. not exactly."
He stepped to the side, revealing a passed out Ling Yao. Iris facepalmed.
"Leave him, the starving bastard."
"Do you know this guy?" Edward asked.
"Yeah, just barely. Met him and his friends a few days ago."
"Pick him up, Al."
Soon enough, the four of them were inside a diner, picking out some food. Al, of course, got nothing, while Iris and Edward bought fountain drinks and a simple sandwich for Ling. The two brothers watched in amazement as the foreigner's head shot up and he quickly devoured the meal in front of him. Iris only rolled her eyes.
"This is Ling," she explained, "a foreigner from the east. Traveled all the way from Xing."
Ling didn't say anything, he only called more attention to himself so that the waiter could get him more to eat.
"And, uh, sorry I didn't warn you before, but he's a huge freeloader."
