As promised, here are the next two chapters to my story! I really don't have much to say, since I now have to go and gouge my eyes out after watching the newest remake to the Amityville Horror…

Note: Don't worry, Indome. I'm a fellow blond and have my moments quite often (You can ask my coworker!).

Chapter Sixteen

The boys left Regan's house after visiting, and on their walk back to the Rockbell's, they decided to stop by the burnt remains of their house. Edward watched as Alphonse reminisced in the remains, tracing his steps through each room, and talking about the old days. Ed vaguely listened as his thoughts were in a totally separate place.

It's sad…Edward thought to himself, this is really the first time I've thought of our predicament, of trying to get our bodies back. I've been thinking of Winry so much lately, that it just dawned on me. I've still got to find a way to get both of our bodies back, if not mine, than at least Al's. I've been putting off studying for the Philosopher's Stone because I've been looking for ways to make limb adjustments easier…for her. I hate to see her in pain, I'd do anything to prevent it, but at the same time I swore to get our bodies back. Am I being selfish? Can I do both tasks at once?

"Brother," Al said, bringing Edward from his thoughts, "Are you okay? Something's troubling you, I can tell…"
"Don't worry, Al, it's nothing. Well," Ed said after a moment, "Are we ready to head back for dinner?"

Alphonse nodded his head, and the two began to walk again. "Regan has grown up a lot since the last time we saw her. Wasn't it right before you tested to be a State Alchemist?" Al said, trying to cheer his older brother up. "She used to be so quiet and hide behind her long hair, but she finally chopped it off and is not afraid to be the one talking. I'm surprised we got a word in the whole time!" He looked over to see his brother smile slightly. "I'm glad we stopped by, aren't you Ed?"

"Yeah," replied the elder brother. Silence prevailed as the two continued walking. Alphonse knew Edward was thinking about Winry, and he seemed so sad for some reason. "Brother," Al said finally, "Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

Edward stopped walking and stared at Al, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You know, Winry…Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

Ed frowned slightly and started to walk again, slightly faster than normal, "I don't know what you're talking about, Alphonse…"

Al cringed slightly, but quickly caught up with Edward, "Everyone can see you two have feelings for each other, so why don't you tell her?"

Edward whirled around and faced his brother, "Just drop it, Al. That's enough. Besides, even if I did want to tell her how I felt, she's not here for me to tell her, now is she?" he snapped out, then turned around again and walked faster towards the house.

"Brother, STOP!" Al yelled, causing Edward to stop in his place, and turn around to face him with surprise written on his face. Al closed the distance between the two quickly, "Why do you always have to be so stubborn! Why are you denying everything?" Al looked to the sky, "Please forgive me Winry," he said quietly.

"Brother, you can't ignore the fact that you have feelings for her, it's written all over your face. You've done nothing but pout all day since we've gotten here! Look," he said after a few moments, "Winry doesn't want to be in the way. She wants us to get our bodies back, but is afraid of coming between us and our goal." Al wasn't going to tell Edward everything she said, for that was something she would need to discuss with him.

"What?" Edward finally said after a few moments, "She was afraid of being in the way? She'd never be in the way!"

"She thought you would say that Ed, but look at what happened in Heissgart with her, and how you reacted when she got hurt. It hurts her a lot too to be away from us, but she thought it would be better until we get our bodies back."

Edward stood in silent contemplation at the new information. "Al, we are going to get our bodies back, though I don't know how long it will take," he said as he placed his hand on Al's arm. "I just hope she'll still be there when we're done…"

Al placed his own hand on Ed's shoulder, "Don't worry, brother, I have no doubt she will still be there waiting for you…"

Edward nodded his head, and smiled, "Well, let's get back to Pinako's before she begins to think we've run off."

The boys began walking again and arrived back at the house shortly thereafter. They walked in to see Pinako giving Major Armstrong a few bowls to set on the table, while checking on the stew in her pot. She looked over to see the boys walking into the room and smiled. "Well, it took you boys long enough now didn't you," she said while getting glasses down from the shelf.

"Yeah, well we stopped by a friend's house on the way back. We haven't seen Regan in a long time, so we dro—"

CRASH!

Edward and Alphonse jumped at the sudden noise, and looked to see that Pinako had dropped three glasses onto the floor, shattering all of them. "Oh, my my…Look at what I've done. You boys don't come in here; I don't want you to get cut. Major, would you grab my broom and dustpan from that closet over there? Thank you very much." Pinako began to sweep the pieces up from the floor and dumped them into the trash.

"Silly me, I really must be getting old if I'm dropping everything. Now what were you saying Edward? You stopped by Regan's house?" Pinako asked, as she saw the teen nod, "Well, I haven't seen that girl in what seems like forever. You used to play with her a lot when you children were younger. How is she doing?"

Al piped in Edward helped himself to the stew in front of him, "She seems to be doing fine. I think her father may have turned their house into a bed and breakfast though, because she was afraid of disturbing her guests. Their house is big enough to, since all of her siblings moved out…" He saw Pinako nod at this and begin dishing out her own stew.

"Yes, well that child is part of a larger family, now isn't she? Well, it was nice of you two to visit with her. Since Winry's been gone, there has really been no one her age around here to talk with."

"Auntie Pinako?" Ed asked as he finished his food a few minutes later and placed his bowl in the sink, "Could I talk with you for a second?" The older woman looked at the teenager inquisitively, but finally nodded as she, too, placed her bowl in the sink to wash soon. The two walked into the other room and closed the door behind them.

"What is it Edward?" Pinako asked as soon as the door was shut.

"Is it okay for me to use the workshop for a little bit tonight? There's something I need to do before I leave tomorrow…"

The elder woman sighed in relief, "That's it? Of course you can use it, Edward. I thought something was wrong for a moment."

Edward smiled and hugged the small woman, "Thanks, auntie. For everything…" He let go of her, and began to walk upstairs to the workshop.

I wonder what he could be up to, thought Pinako, but finally shrugged her shoulders and walked back into the kitchen to find Major Armstrong with his sleeves rolled up, washing the dishes. "If only every man would be like you, my life would be set," joked the older woman as she sat in a nearby chair and lit her pipe.

HR>

Early the next morning, after a wonderful breakfast made from the traditional Armstrong cookbook, the three men left stood on the porch to give their farewell to Pinako. Edward came up and gave the elder woman a sealed envelope, "Thanks for everything, Auntie, as usual. Could you give this to Winry the next time you see her? I have a feeling she'll be home soon," he smiled. Pinako held the envelope and nodded in agreement. She waved as the three began to walk towards the train station, and waited until their figures faded into the distance before walking back into the house to inform her granddaughter of their departure.

"Hello Regan, it's Pinako. Can you tell Winry it's clear for her to come home now? And make sure she doesn't try to do or lift anything, that's why she has those two soldiers with her. Thank you dear," she said before hanging up the phone. The elder woman placed the envelope in the middle of the table, and went to await her granddaughter's arrival from the porch. Not much time went by before she saw a group of people walking from where Regan's house stood. Second Lieutenant Havoc led the way with Winry and Regan behind him, followed by Sergeant Fury who was stuck with carrying Winry's bag. Pinako could see Winry looking around; as if she was afraid someone would jump out from behind a bush or tree. She cradled her left arm with her other, and kept it resting lightly in a sling.

"I heard you had some visitors yesterday, Regan," Pinako laughed as the group came up to the house. Regan smiled, and replied, "Yeah, I don't know how we got out of that one, but fortunately we were able to hide these two guys. If Ed or Al would have saw either one of them, the gig would have been up."

"Well, thank you again for taking care of her overnight, and for putting up with extra complications," Pinako said as she continued to smoke her pipe, causing Havoc to light up his own cigarette.

"It was no problem! I hadn't talked to those two boys anyway in such a long time, so it was really no bother…"

"Grams, did Ed and Al stop by the cemetery yesterday at all?" Winry asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes, dear, what makes you ask?"

"Oh, nothing," she said as she smiled and remembered the extra flower that was put on both of her parent's grave. Since the cemetery was on the way, Winry insisted on stopping so she could put the flowers Regan's mother bought the day prior on her mother's plot. She was surprised, to say the least, to see not only more flowers on Mrs. Elric's grave, but also one next to each of her parent's headstones. She had figured it had been Edward, from the way that the wood was transmuted into the different containers.

"Well, Winry, I need to start getting back home. I promised mom I'd go with her to market today, so she's waiting on me. Call me before you leave, okay?" Regan said as she watched her friend thinking. Winry nodded and gently gave her friend a hug, then waved with her right hand as Regan began to jog back down the path to her house.

"By the way, Winry, Edward left something for you. It's in an envelope on the kitchen table," the older woman said as she puffed on her pipe. Winry turned her head to look at her grandmother in confusion, but nodded her head and walked inside, leaving both Havoc and Fury to talk with her grandmother.

"Well, will you boys be heading back soon?" she asked the two officers. Fury stood up from petting a sleeping Den to answer her question, "Well, the Colonel asked us to just bring her out here, but didn't say how long we need to stay. Did he say anything to you, Havoc?

"Nope, not a thing…" Havoc replied as he flicked away his cigarette, "I tried calling him a couple days ago, but was told he had to go to Heissgart to take care of something. I'll try again tomorrow," he turned and smiled as he faced the older woman, "unless you needed us out of here sooner, I mean…"
"No, there's no rush, so don't you worry. I want to thank you, though, for bringing her home so quickly," Pinako thanked the two soldiers.

Fury stepped up and bowed to Pinako, "Don't worry, it was no problem. We're surprised she's up and walking around so quickly after what she went through."

"Yeah, she took quite a beating, but she's a strong one. If only she was older—I mean, for her to be able to stand up against Scar…There's a lot of Alchemists who can't even scratch him!" Havoc blushed and scratched his head, trying to cover up what he almost said.

Pinako smiled as his comment; there was no fooling her. She heard what he said.

Winry walked into the house and went straight to the kitchen. On the table laid an envelope with her name scrawled on the front in Edward's handwriting. Sitting down in a nearby chair, the girl picked up the envelope and stared at it for a few moments. What could he possibly have left for her? Maybe it's a letter yelling at me because he couldn't do it in person, she thought to herself. She carefully opened the envelope and removed the letter from within it. There was also another, smaller sealed envelope next to it. She unfolded the note and read the message written inside:

Winry,

I wish I could give this to you in person, hell, to tell you in person, but I bet you're getting this the same day we left your house anyway. I knew you were around Rizenbul somewhere, but I couldn't pinpoint it. Anyway, Al and I are going to continue our search for the Philosopher's Stone. I don't know when and where we will see each other again, but we will, so don't worry. I know I'm not there to ask, but I would like you to promise me you won't go after Scar just because of what he did to your parents. He's dangerous, as you have seen, and I don't want you to do anything stupid, because we both know you and I are capable of doing crazy things without thinking first.

I understand how you feel about being in the way of my promise to regain Al's body. Which is why I included what is in the second envelope. You know how bad I am with telling anyone how I'm feeling, so I used the only thing I'm good at.

Please stay safe until that day we meet again.

Edward

Winry's eyes began to tear up at his letter. During the whole time he had been gone after training for state alchemist, she had barely received one letter; she knew how hard it was for him to write anything, so for her, this was special in itself. She picked up the second envelope and felt something in the bottom of it. Carefully opening it, Winry pulled out a pendant and chain. The shiny silver pendant was in the shape of the symbol on Al's shoulder and both Edward's and her jackets, the one with the snake wrapped around a cross with a crown at the top. It wasn't very big, being about the size of a larger coin, but it had wonderful detail. She could make out each of the serpent's scales on the front of the piece. On the back of the snake, Winry read the short inscribed message:

Please wait for me

Tears now freely flowed down the girl's cheeks at the message. Of course I will wait for you Edward, I'll wait forever if I have to…the girl thought to herself. "Just come back to me," she said softly to the empty room. She folded the note back up and put it in the envelope once again, and held the pendant in her right hand, the cool metal pressing against her skin.

"Child, what's wrong?" she heard her grandmother say as she walked into the room. Winry looked up and smiled at her, "Nothing, absolutely nothing. Would you mind putting this on me Grams? I'm afraid automail hands are not very good at manipulating jewelry," she asked the elder woman. Pinako looked at the piece of metal and smiled, "So that's what he was working on last night."

"You mean he made this?"

"Well, I don't know if he carved it himself, or if he transmuted it, but I'd have to say he did a fine job either way," replied her grandmother as she clasped the chain around the girl's neck. "He even measured the necklace length right; it's not too short or long. If he ever gets out of the military he could have a good career ahead of him."

Winry walked around the room to a mirror on the opposite wall to look at it. Her grandmother was right, the pendant hung in just the right place.

Yes, Edward, I'll be waiting, Winry thought again as she reached up to grasp the precious gift.