A/N: I'm going on vacation to Aruba! Plus I'll be gone for 8-9 days. Oh! And I'll be flying first class (they were the last seats available) so I'm ULTRA SUPER HAPPY! Too bad a girl was "kidnapped" there. Hopefully they'll find her. Well, I'll miss you guys T.T But I'll write 2 CHAPTERS while I'm away! w00t! (sorry to my friend Kit who doesn't like leet speak XP)

Well, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and that you can hold out while I'm gone (lol, I know you aren't that dependent on me!) Also thanks all my reviewers, especially cherribomb since she (I'm assuming? Correct me if I'm wrong) has just started in on the madness which is my fic

Okay, now to end my babbling and get on with chapter 11 already!

Disclaimer: Oh okay Well I don't own Fullmetal alchemist and I don't make money off this fic...

I DON'T OWN IT DAMMIT!

CHAPTER 11: MONSTERS UNDER THE BED

Edward strolled along the dirt roads of Risembool, hands in his pockets and head hung low in frustration as he kicked a stone every step of the way.

After much arguing early that morning Winry had managed to convince Ed he could get out of the house and that she could take care of herself fine.

Yeah, whatever.

She didn't even know it was soon to be her birthday. She probably spent all her time thinking about mechanics.

Machine junkie.

"What the hell am I gonna get her," it wasn't like this was Rush Valley or any big automail convention. No, this was a small town that thrived silently along the rolling hills. In fact, most people didn't even know where it was.

"Stupid hag." Ah yes, the backwards old bat who at this moment he was completely and utterly annoyed at. Why did she have to leave him to die within this week of absolute hell?

"I'm sure Al would know what to get her." Alphonse was always the sensitive one. Why was Ed stuck with the duty of buying her something in a place that didn't have the one thing she knew she would like, tools. Or some kind of machine. He could just give her money... but that wasn't very "thoughtful" was it?

He sighed as he stopped and sat on the steps of some shop and closed his eyes. What was he going to do?

Leave it up to Edward to plan your 17th birthday party.

xoxox

"Ugh," Winry groaned. There was absolutely NOTHING to do! She hated being sick, she couldn't work on her beloved automail when she was in bed!

Ed was out shopping. Maybe for groceries or something? Whatever it was she wished she could at least be there instead of cooped up in her room.

She slumped over to her dresser and snatched up the thermometer. Maybe her fever had gone down (Oh yes, she just HAD to catch that stupid fever too!). Nope, no luck there.

As she started back to prison, which was her mattress, Winry grabbed the wrench off her bedside table and hugged it close.

Ah, metal was a girl's best friend!

xoxox

"Hey bean! Get off my steps, I'm trying to sweep here!" shouted a man who had just swept a big cloud of dust and dirt into Edwards face. Yes, that didn't exactly help the situation.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, SWEEPING ALL THAT IN MY FACE! AND WHO YOU CALLIN' A BUG SO SMALL HE GETS LOST IN THE GROOVES OF YOUR SHOE?" Ed shouted back as he started to go into a tantrum. Without Al to hold him back there was no stopping the bean.

"He didn't say all that," chimed the other shopkeepers who had heard Edward, in other words, all of them.

"Yeah," pouted Ed, "Well…" that's where his sentence morphed into a bunch of inaudible mumbling.

"Excuse me?" asked a woman, one of the shopkeepers.

"Well… friend… birthday…" he got out.

"It's your friend's birthday? Well then you need to get him a present right?"

"HER! I NEED TO GET HER A PRESENT AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL SHE WANTS BECAUSE SHE'S A TOMBOY WHO'S IN LOVE WITH MECHANICS!" yelled Ed, surprising everyone with his sudden outburst.

"Oh? A girl? That explains your… confusion," stated the woman as calmly as possible.

"Yeah, so?"

"Is it that girl Winry Rockbell? The automail mechanic around here?" asked a man who was cleaning the windows of another shop. Ed nodded, a hint of annoyance in his golden eyes.

"Oh! Her?" asked the woman from before.

"YES DIDN'T YOU JUST SEE ME NOD!"

"Sorry, but she usually comes around my shop looking at this," the woman pointed to an item in her window.

"That? It looks expensive," replied Ed.

"Well, it is. I'm the only shop of this kind in town. As you know, Resembool is a small town."

"Yeah, well it's sold."

"You mean you'll buy it?"

"ARE YOU DEAF OR SOMETHING WOMAN?"

xoxox

Ed arrived around noon, hiding one bag under Winry's bed (which she would never look under, considering it was a colossal mess) and taking one bag of fruit and tucking it away in the fridge.

"Hey Ed, what'd you get?" Winry asked.

"Oh, just some apples, grapes, an orange or two."

"You spent all that time getting fruit," said Winry with a look of disbelief.

"Hey, I had to make sure it wasn't rotting."

"Ha, ha very funny Edward. Don't make fun of my sickness," and so the rest of the day was spent talking and eating, Winry unaware of the secret that lie just below her.