Minor changes to this chapter, but not too many. I'm super excited for once I get back to the point where I left off. I'm getting so many ideas for this fic as I revise everything.

Disclaimer: This awesome fic is all mine, but I like to share.

Chapter 5: The Deal

If there were words to be said, Roy damn sure wished someone would have told him what they were so that he could say them. Did she really just…She couldn't have…Why would…How did she...How did this situation just switch from him telling her about her parents to her asking….THIS?!...He had to have missed something.

"WHAT!?"

Winry blushed and looked away, a sick feeling in her stomach coming to life. The damage was done. She looked stupid and she knew it. Nothing left to do now but crawl under some rock and pretend this conversation wasn't happening.

How stupid was she to think that this would work? She shouldn't have listened to Amaya or let her get in her head. And what the hell was she thinking talking to Roy of all people about this. He never showed any interest in the fact that she even existed; mind you she hadn't done the same for him. She had pulled a complete 360 on the moment they just had.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have been so forward. I understand if you want me to leave or something. I feel so stupid. I'm sorry." She went off on a tangent of constant apologies.

If Roy had to guess, he would say that the girl was about two seconds from killing over any minute. He may have been better at not showing it, but he wasn't that far off from her. But, at this point, what the fuck! Let's see what's in store for me this time. He'd be lying if he didn't admit that things had been getting…weird…interesting…stressful….something, since Winry decided to start popping up in his life.

Roy just stared, half amused. Damn girl, so nervous. He thought she would just eventually go unconscious. He mentally sighed and refocused himself. As surprising as this was, it would be out of his nature not to dig deeper on this subject. Regardless of whom she was and their history, Roy Mustang would not disregard a girl who had just made such a….unexpected demand of him.

"Calm down." he said, ready to take control of the situation in his usual manner. "Now, mind telling me where you even got this…idea from?"

Winry calmed a little once he started talking and she inhaled deeply, collecting herself also. "Well, a friend of mine explained the concept to me." There was no need to drop names. "I just, want to live a little more and not be tied down at the moment…I just need to cut loose a little" She basically said everything that she had heard Amaya say.

"So you think that fucking me is going to help you do that," Roy asked.

Winry almost chocked at his bluntness. "Yes…and no." she looked away. "I am also…interested in the more…physical part of life…and…"

"So it's killing two birds with one stone." Mustang finished for her with a smirk.

On the outside he seemed completely calm, but on the inside, there was a storm of extreme proportions raging. How the hell was he supposed to handle this?

One side of him, clearer more rational side was telling him that the girl had snapped and she just have her admitted and go about his life. This was trouble and could be nothing but. Aside from how this would affect him, there was also Fullmetal to consider and he highly doubted that Ed would take to him messing around with his friend so easily. Hughes would probably be just as confused as he was right now and the rest of his team…well…they would support him regardless…except maybe Havok.

The other side of his brain, the side that could simply be called human was telling him all systems go. Here he was sitting in front of a young, beautiful girl; one with a very well developed body and she was simply offering herself to him on a platter. Most women he would have simply regarded as simple whores for this, but the thought didn't cross his mind with this one.

There was also the center part of his brain that laughed and mocked at the irony of the situation. He murders the parents and fucks the daughter. There was a special place reserved in hell for this one and the devil would high five him on the way there.

Winry watched, faring far less than she was before in the silence. There were probably a million inappropriate words he was calling her in his mind right now. Mentally sighing, she felt all of her courage and everything receding back to that part of herself where she tried to tuck the naïve farm girl away at. She almost wanted to scoff at thinking that she could ever try to be anything other than that.

"Thank you for clearing everything up and I'm sorry for ruining your lunch." She muttered and stood, preparing to leave. There was no need to stay here and embarrass herself even more than she already had.

When she was about to walk by, Mustang simply reached out and grabbed her hand, halting her fast retreat. He used his other hand to put another fork full of food into his mouth and never made eye contact with her.

"Sit down Rockbell. There's no need to run." he said in a voice that was meant to comfort but also not leave room for declining.

She complied and retook her seat. So is that what she was about to do? Run? Funny how this was almost the exact same position that had been in the other night; when she had stopped him from 'running'.

"We should talk." he said and pushed his plate out of the way. His elbows rested on the table with his hands folded and his eyes staring over them. "What exactly are you asking me for?" He wanted to make no misconceptions about this setup and the girl was going to explain everything.

Winry swallowed. It was like her mind was drawing a complete blank at the moment. It was almost so bad that she was about to ask why she was in the café in the first place.

"Ok…well," she began, "I am ready to try something new and it's easier to use someone you know than finding a completely new person."

"It's easier to use someone you trust more." Roy corrected.

Winry looked down. "I…I do…trust you." She said so slow that's she couldn't believe the words were even coming out of her mouth. It was new, but she knew now that she could trust him.

The story about her parents had confirmed that the part of her that had found it hard to hate him was not far off. He had done everything he could for her mother and father, and, he had also always looked out for her friends and was known to do anything to protect the ones he cared for, like his team. Winry didn't expect to become anything that he cared for, but she knew that he would do nothing to deliberately hurt her.

Mustang was also a little taken aback by her confession. "I see…so, this is a strictly a platonic relationship." he said, continuing their conversation.

Winry nodded. "So…does this mean that you are agreeing?" She was almost afraid to ask.

Roy considered the girl for a moment, thinking. If he was going to do this, this had to be done carefully. He did not intend for this to turn into anything that it wasn't or for things or personal issues to get in the way.

"I am not against your…plan…but there is going to have to be some terms of agreement."

Winry arched a brow. "Like rules?"

He nodded. "Yes."

She didn't disagree with what he was saying. It made sense that if they were going to do this then it would be done right. Besides, she did have a few things that she wanted to make clear.

Mustang continued. "I want emotion out of this. No spending the night, minimal kissing, and no dating, though I am not opposed to spending time together."

Winry listened intently and nodded. This sounded a bit cold for her liking, but she understood where he was coming from. They would and could not get attached. It would just complicate things.

"Also, this thing between us must remain a secret." was his final demand.

"I agree to this….but I also have some demands." Winry said. "I understand that you don't want to get attached, but I at least want my first night to be special." She didn't want the initial loosing of her virginity to just be like a business agreement. She wanted some type of…emotion or atmosphere.

Mustang nodded. "I can understand that." He inwardly smirked, although he wasn't fond of being 'the first' it wouldn't be the first time he deflowered a girl. Her fears and needs were acceptable.

"I also don't want you having…doing anything with anyone else while we are in this agreement." Her request sounded selfish, but she was just protecting herself as much as she could.

"If that's the case, then the same goes for you and my demand is that I get what I want whenever asked." If he was giving up something, then she would pick up the slack.

"…deal."

They sat there for a second, both trying to figure out if they had anymore demands to be made and met. Neither could think of anything else specifically that they required and by now Mustang had long since finished with his plate.

"Well then Ms. Rockbell, looks like you've made yourself a friend."

Mustang extended his hand across the table. She stared at for a second. Somehow, shaking over something like this just made it so impersonal. But, that's what it was supposed to be right. No emotions, no nothing; just a simple agreement between…friends.

Hesitantly, Winry finally took his hand and shook.

"Well, I have more shopping to do before we leave tomorrow. I will be seeing you around." Winry smiled and quickly exited, not wanting to be caught in another awkward silence and not able to bear to sit there in front of him any longer.

Roy watched her quick retreat. He had no idea how his life managed to take him through so many twists and turns constantly. For two years, he avoided her, last night, he found a reason to get away from her, and today, he was agreeing to have sex with her, and tomorrow he would be on vacation with her.

Dealing with Winry Rockbell was never something he thought he would find himself doing or even wanting to do. She was still the walking embodiment and a constant reminder of his wrongs. None of what had just happened made sense to him in any way.

*****^w^*****

The next day, everyone was meeting at the train station so that they could board at the same time, deleting the risk of anyone getting lost or left. Havok was, surprisingly, the first one there. The train hadn't even arrived yet. He sat on one of the benches, his luggage close and his head drawn back, relaxing. He hadn't been waiting long. There was still almost an hour before the train arrived. He was just woke and decided to head to the station.

Smirking, Jean noted how the sun had barely risen and there was still a blue tint to the, just arriving, dawn. His mind drifted to the trip at hand and he was almost anxious. The beach was a place that he had never gotten to go to as a child, not living near any large body of water. Plus, girls in bikinis had danced through his thoughts all night; especially one in particular.

"Well, you're early."

He looked over and noticed his comrade Breda walking towards him. "How long have you been here? Why so early?"

"I could ask you the same question."

He chuckled. "Guess all of us were a bit too anxious to sleep." He moved and sat next to him. "I can't believe we're first. You sure Riza isn't just standing somewhere else?"

Riza was always the first to come and the last to leave; the only exception being the colonel and that was only on very rare occasions.

The station was still mostly empty because of the early hour. No one but other early travelers and the staff were present and that wasn't much.

The two of them fell into a comfortable conversation until the next person to arrive showed up.

"Oh I am so sorry." the girl apologized and lifted up her bag that had fallen and almost took off a passing man's foot. The man glared and was about to say something until the two looks of the officers coming his way stopped him and he went about his business.

"Looks like you've got a lot going on here." Breda commented as he reached out and took one of the many bags from Winry's hand.

Havok also took it upon himself to grab a bag also. "You sure you packed enough?" he commented. He also took the time to admire her outfit, Breda noticed.

Winry had chosen that morning that since they were going to a beach, then she should wear something a bit cooler. She had chosen a jean skirt and pair of simple white sandals. She wore a blue tank that fit tight around her bust and a jean vest to match. Her legs and skin was on full display and Jean couldn't help but to thank whatever god had made her pick this outfit.

"Thank you guys so much. I'm not sure if I packed too much, but at least I know I won't run out of anything." she smiled and walked past them, heading for the same bench they had previously been sitting at.

They followed into step behind her. "Dude, stop checking her out." Breda whispered so that she couldn't hear them.

"Why?"

"Fullmetal…You're barking up the wrong tree boy." he warned.

Havok scoffed. "Still no proof"

The three of them waited and talked, Havok showing more attention to the girl than Breda liked. You didn't have to be a genius to know that there was obviously something going on between Ed and his mechanic; something stronger than the friendship they claimed. He did not want some big thing to come from this just because the man was girl hungry.

It wasn't long after that until Hughes and Riza showed up, both almost at the same time. The only person who was missing from the group now was Mustang. And it was only 20 minutes left before the train would arrive and 10 minutes before it would depart.

"So, everyone excited? It feels like we haven't gotten vacation time in forever." Hughes commented. "And what a surprise to see you here." He waved to Winry.

She returnedthe gesture. "Jean invited me."

"How nice."

Hughes wasn't sure if Mustang knew that she was coming or not, but he was definitely hoping that he did. Roy really didn't need to walk up and see her here out of surprise. It was the only reason that he didn't invite the girl himself like he wanted to.

Speaking of the devil, Hughes did another sweep of the station, expecting to see said man walking up any minute. It was his plan and his trip. He was sure he wouldn't miss it.

"He will be here." Riza said, walking up next to him. "He just runs a little behind sometimes."

She always knew how to handle Mustang almost better than him. "What a lazy ass."

Winry noticed the two of them talking and walked over, ending her conversation with Jean. "Who's a lazy ass?" she smiled appearing between the two of them.

Hughes watched her. "Mustang is." he answered easily, not wanting to show too much emotion in his voice and gauging her reaction.

It wasn't a coincidence that he never came up in conversation when they were around her. She knew that everyone was being conscious of her feelings. She knew that they were watching her so she shrugged. "Hmm...Must have over slept." she commented and went back over to where she was.

Honestly, Winry did not know how she was going to respond to him anymore. She could keep up the act and pretend that she was indifferent, but she didn't want to create any false tension between everyone else and make things awkward. But if she responded too well to him or acted like anything was wrong, she would be a dead giveaway.

How would he respond to her? Would he feel the need to be more talkative to her? Would her ignore her? In fact, she just realized that they had never discussed when this arrangement would be set into action. Would he just show up and tell her when he was ready or would he wait until she was ready? There was too much left unsaid that needed to be cleared up and she was not sure when they would get the chance to talk again without looking suspicious.

With her mind already in overload, she did not notice when the last person arrived and walked to meet everyone.

"Hey, are you ok?" Jean asked, noticed the girls panicked look.

Winry snapped back to reality and tried her best to laugh it off. "I'm fine." she smiled.

"That's good. Nice to see you today."

That voice!

She swallowed and turned to see Roy, half giving her his attention as he conversed with Hughes. His eyes only turned to her when she turned to him and there was no smile or sign that they had ever spoken before this moment. He was as passive as ever.

Hughes swallowed and watched the exchange between the two. He had not expected Mustang to greet her at all. Though, he could figure that Roy was probably going to try and make this trip as cordial as possible with her.

Winry bowed. "Nice to see you also." she simply said, following his lead and then turned back to Havok.

She didn't catch the quick smirk that appeared on his face before he continued speaking with Hughes. Though, his mind was still on the girl. She had followed his lead well, but was half wondering if she had made the decision to back out of this deal yet, like he thought she would by now.

Roy was sure that she had just gotten caught up in the moment and that she would sleep on it and wake up with a new point of view about everything. He really didn't think she had it in her to even go through with their deal.

The train pulled into the station and everyone grabbed their luggage, preparing to board. Winry grabbed her rolling bag and Jean grabbed one of her others bags. She was reaching for her last one when another hand snatched it up instead. She looked to see Mustang holding it, still no emotion on his face, as he boarded.

"…Thank you…" she muttered and stepped onto the train behind him.

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