Winry,
I'm sorry that I couldn't stay with you here in Risembool...after a 2 week break from my duties, I was supposed to continue my regular military position the day after I arrived in Central. This morning I got a call from Roy Mustang, and he said there was a change of plans. I'm not sure when I will return, but I will visit and possibly stay in Risembool permanently as soon as I can, whenever that is. Al will be back by next spring.
I never realized how much I loved you until last night when you kissed me. It was the most amazing night of my life. I hope we can have another night like that when I get home...
You looked too peaceful and beautiful to wake up...so I let you sleep, even though I'm gonna have a wrench to my head as soon as you see me walking up the road because I didn't wake you up.
I'll try to write to you and Pinako as often as I can.
Love,
Ed
P.S.
I never knew you were so flexible...now packing clothes gets me excited...
By the time Winry had finished reading the letter, tears were pouring down her face, and she was repeating bits of the letter aloud in between sobs. Then suddenly, last night's memories returned to her... (She thought the perverted comments were funny, though)
"Ed...Do you want to...?" Winry whispered in Ed's ear.
"Only if you want to..." he replied...
Then as he entered, Winry bit her lip in pain.
"Am I hurting you?" Ed whispered...he REALLY didn't want to ruin things.
"No, you're fine...it just hurts a little" Winry replied through gritted teeth...
40 minutes later, and after many ahem new experiences, she and Ed laid in bed together. Winry had her head on Ed's abs, and he had his right arm around her...she loved the cold feel of his automail around her, and his six-pack abs under her, especially since it was Ed. He loved the fact that a naked girl was in bed with him...but also because it was Winry in specific.
"Ed...Why do you and Al do this?" Winry whispered. She hated awkward silences, and there were questions burning on her mind that she had to have answered before Ed left.
"Winry, you know why. Al and I need to find the philosopher's stone so we can get our normal bodies' back." Ed whispered back. He didn't want to have this argument again...although it had led to the greatest night of his life...
"But why do you want it back so bad? I mean, I can understand why you want to get Al's body back, but what's so bad about automail?" Winry had asked this a million times, but never got the answer she wanted. Ed had always changed the subject.
"Nothing's wrong with automail," Ed said as he kissed Winry on the forehead, "in fact, that's the only time I get to see you, when my automail needs touching up. You know I love you, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. But me and Al made a mistake...we went against the laws of alchemy and tried to bring mom back, and we need to fix it. For the sake of alchemy" Winry could see a tear roll down Ed's face, and she wiped it off his cheek and softly kissed him. She had found the answer she wanted. Finally.
Winry still wanted Ed to come back for automail touch-ups, but she knew this was worth it. She didn't want to be selfish. She was going to spend the rest of her life with Ed, and that was enough.
The days went by slowly, but she tried not to think about Ed, because sometimes when she thought about him too much, she would break down crying hoping he was safe. She checked the mail eagerly each day to see if he had written her...5 months had gone by and the only letters and parcels she received was automail parts and letters from customers. Finally Winry gave up and knew he wasn't going to write her a letter. So she casually sorted through mail, expecting the usual- payments and tools each day for two and a half years.
Aunt Pinako had to go to town for a week for a special automail patient, and left Winry and Den at the house while she was gone.
The day after Pinako left, Winry spent all day cleaning up the house, and walking around the familiar places she didn't visit as much as she should've- the garden, the place where the Elric's house used to be, and Trisha Elric's grave...she set some flowers there and prayed that Ed and Al would make it home safely. Then as she went back home to make dinner, she realized she hadn't checked the mail that day. She put the mail in her bag, and walked back to the house with Den trailing by her side.
Winry fixed a small dinner of corn, bread rolls, and chicken. As she was washing dishes, she remembered that she forgot to check the mail. She walked over to the bag, pulled the mail out, ad sorted through it – money in one pile, automail requests in another, and automail parts and tools in another pile. Then she looked in the bag to see if there was any more mail, and saw an envelope...the address was written in bold cursive ink, and the handwriting looked so familiar... she opened it and read the letter, and fell to the ground sobbing. It was the letter she had been waiting for the last two and a half years
Winry
I'm coming home.
Ed