Disclaimer: I do not own Winry, Ed, or any other characters in FMA.

I Need You

Winry burst into the room, heaving for air as she looked around uneasily. Knowing the room was safe of doctors and people of the sort, she quickly closed the door behind her. She wasn't supposed to be in here nor was she allowed to be, but she didn't care. All she cared about was she had to see him.

She looked around the room, eyes resting upon the single bed where Edward was in. She rushed to his side to find him still unconscious as Al had told her, flinching at the site of the bloody bandages hiding his new battle wounds.

"Edward?" her voice squeaked out. "Can you hear me?" Ed laid there, unmoving except for the rise and fall of his chest.

"Hey bean boy, wake up," she tried again just to make sure he wasn't fooling around with her. Instead of him shooting out of the bed to yell at her like she was expecting him to, he quietly rested there like he had been frozen in time. She took a seat in the chair next to his bedside as she kept her glance on him, thinking that maybe if she stared long enough, he would wake up from the trance he was in.

"God, Edward. What the hell were you doing out there?" she voiced outloud, although she knew she would get no response. She felt like she was speaking to a brick wall, and she could just hear people telling her it was useless to try to talk to someone who couldn't hear her or respond back.

But it wasn't useless, or at least not completely. This would probably be the only time Winry could talk to him without holding anything back, something she had been doing a while now, especially around Ed.

"Well, I'm glad you're still alive," she said, noticing how peaceful he looked even in the state he was in. So relaxed and calm, an expression she hadn't seen on him since before the death of his and Al's mother. She brushed away strands of stray hair so she could see his face properly.

"But still, I wish you'd stop being so careless all the time, Ed. You can't be throwing your life away like it means nothing!" she raised her voice only to have it amplified from the quietness in the room. Feeling like the whole hospital could hear her, she lowered her tone to a whisper. "I wish you'd stop making me worry so much. Sometimes, I can't sleep at night because I'm always wondering if you're ok and hoping you're not hurt. You do know that I care a lot about you, right?"

She cupped a hand over his, fixating her eyes out of the open window. "I mean, I don't intend to yell at you all the time. It's just that you make me so angry and I have no choice but to throw my wrench at you to shut you up. You're so intolerable and hard to deal with... not to mention stubborn, but..." she smiled softly to herself, "I guess that's what makes you all the more charming.

She swallowed a lump that had been forming in her throat, suddenly feeling nervous. She couldn't believe that even with him unconscious, he still had the power to make her edgy.

"Those qualities you have sometimes make it a little challenging to be your friend, and... well, I-I... wonder what it would be like to be more than that... because- um, I've liked you forever, Ed. Ever since we were younger, I've had this huge crush on you, but I've always been to scared to tell you about it. "

She felt her face turn a bright shade of red, and a crazy notion in her mind expected Ed to open his eyes and laugh at her for saying something like that. It was a confession she had been keeping inside forever, her own personal secret that no one knew of. When nothing happened, she assured herself that nothing was going to happen.

Regaining some confidence, she placed her eyes on his face. "Sure you're my best friend, but I can't help myself when I notice how good-looking you are... You have the most captivating eyes that you've got me under a spell when you look at me. Then there's your smile that's just so contagious, and the way your hair falls into your eyes..."

She abruptly stood up, thinking she heard footsteps outside the door. Listening carefully, she heard voices coming very faintly from down the hall.

"Edward... I don't what else to say, even though it feels like I need to tell you something more... I know you can't hear me, but just get better ok? I wouldn't want to lose you- Everyone needs you. Al needs you..."

She squeezed his hand tenderly, saying so softly that it was barely a whisper,

"I need you."

With a last glance at him, she rushed out of the room, not caring anymore if she was caught sneaking in. All that mattered was she was finally able to get that heavy burden off of her shoulders and tell Ed how she really felt, even though he wasn't blinking and awake to hear it. The three words she last said to him echoed in her head, and she knew that would be the only thing racing through her mind the next time she would see Ed.

I need you.

So? Whaddya think? Please leave a review- it is greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!