Disclaimer: Well finally, and for the last time, I DON"T OWN THIS SHOW! sniffs but I did write this fic, and that amounts to something... doesn't it? Doesn't it? sob

Chapter 9

It was raining, like it always rains in Rizenbull; darkly, often warmly, but always with the promise that it would only make things more beautiful. Ed had used to hate the rain; it always seemed to remind him of that first day, the day that started everything. But now, as he watched it stream down the windows, he realized that he actually liked it, if not respected it. It had been there to wash away their mistakes and cry when they couldn't, it had been there the first day they had met their teacher, and it seemed to show up on the best of days as well as the worst. Ed liked it, because it didn't seem to have a side.

He threw on his jacket and left the house without telling anyone where he was going, or stopping to answer the questions of his brother or his auntie, Winry still hadn't gotten out of bed yet.

He walked down the muddy street in his soaking clothes, and tried to embrace the fact that he wasn't going to be able to do anything about his hair being plastered to his forehead. He wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he felt he needed to be out in the rain. He needed to think.

What was he doing? Why did he have to go and do something like this now? Why couldn't he have waited for everything to be over with, so he could be free to have a long life back in Rizenbull with Winry? At the present moment, he was never quite sure when his last day was going to be, or what would happen if people knew about the other people he loved. When Lust had just mentioned Winry in passing he felt like his world crumbled away a bit, and he had to extend yet another limb to hold it up. But if he kept doing that, he took away from the strength of his other limbs, protecting Winry took away from him protecting Al, and at the moment… he couldn't decide which one needed it more.

Ed looked up from his feet when he felt someone approaching down the road. The figure was long and dark, and held the presence of a snake.

"Do you enjoy the rain?" slippery words came out of a dark lipped mouth.

Seeing that Lust was the only one there, Ed let himself relax a little, she was never like the others. "I'm not sure either way…"

"Hmph" She shrugged and looked over the farmland, "Me neither. I like dry weather much more, but rain always seems to attract me…"

"Did you just find me to talk about the weather, or was there something else?"

"I was just wondering how long you were planning on staying in this quaint little village, don't you have a stone to make?"

Ed held back the urge to sneer, and decided to stay looking indifferent, "What do you care?"

She looked to him with a knowing glare, "The strings on you are getting a little looser than expected, I'm just here to get you dancing properly again."

"You sound like someone else I know." The difference between being a puppet and a dog was starting to get a little blurry, "I suppose you can't tell me what Frederic had to do with anything?"

She sighed, "I already told you, he wasn't needed anymore, and we saw that he was going to give us… difficulties in the future."

Ed snorted, "I think you were worried that he was the only one who could get rid of Gluttony…"

She looked to the side again, "That's only part of the reason. Mr. Leaning failed to retrieve what we wanted, people who fail in our line of work, tend to die."

So they were making Frederic create the Philosophers Stone. Ed sighed, he was tired of finding those people, they always ended up dead, and he was beginning to wonder how close behind them he was. "Well it was nice talking, but if you don't mind, I would like to continue my walk." He passed her with a brush of his jacket, and cast his eyes down once again.

"You should know that protecting the ones you love will only exhaust and weaken you, it slows you down from your goal, and makes you forget the things that are truly important. I've seen many people die because of love Fullmetal, take my advice and finish what you started as soon as you can. If you let the ones you love slow you down, you'll never be able to keep them safe."

Ed swallowed her words and continued walking, even though she was right, the people he loved were the ones who started everything to begin with, to take his eyes off them, would be to look away from the goal. But Winry was different, she had nothing to do with anything, and he knew protecting her would only serve to distract him. If he just kept her out of everything, he wouldn't have to protect her at all… but what did that mean?

He jumped over the short stonewall along the road and sat down in the grass on the other side, using the stones for support as he closed his eyes and tried to only think about the rain.

"What do you mean 'he just left'? He didn't say where he was going?" Winry frowned at the two expressionless faces before her. When they didn't say anything she decided to continue, "It's raining! Who goes out in the rain without an umbrella?"

"I think a lot of people do…" Al added the only thing he could think of.

"That's not the point…"

Pinako sighed, "If you're that worried, go looking for him."

"I'm not worried! I'm just… I'm just annoyed! He never lets anyone know anything" she grumbled and stomped over to the door swinging on her black jacket and grabbing a black umbrella from a hook, "And that's why I'm going looking for him"

"Because you're annoyed?" Al questioned.

"Because I want to yell at him!" Winry opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, making sure to scream over her shoulder one last time before she was out of earshot, "And I don't feel like an escort. I'll be fine on my own, so if you don't mind I would like to be ALONE!" she knew if she didn't say it she would have Al after her in a second. She didn't blame him either, but if she didn't find Ed, she liked the idea of taking a walk on her own.

She felt the weight of the umbrella in her new hand and once again marveled at how real it looked. She could sift through the entire country and not find another person with an arm like hers. She was still getting over the surprise that Ed had done something like that for her, and the more she thought about it, the more she liked it.

The rain padding down on her umbrella let her get lost in simpler thoughts, until the only thing filling her head was the sound of rain. It was a beautiful day, why couldn't more people see that in rain? Even though she hated lighting, and strong storms, she had nothing against rain… it always felt comforting to her.

After a little longer of walking she stopped in her tracks. She saw a pair of red-bottomed boots sprouting out from the other side of a stonewall, and knew it really couldn't be anyone else.

Ed opened his eyes when the rain falling down on him suddenly stopped, but the sound of it didn't, he looked up to see a pair of legs swinging over the stones, and a moment later found Winry sitting next to him; close enough so they could share the umbrella.

"Beautiful day for a walk, isn't it?" Winry looked out over the dark and misty land

He smiled at her smile and found himself unusually happy with her company, "Apparently."

She turned to him, "You left before I could thank you properly… for the arm." She held the auto-mail up and smiled warmly at the red symbol in her palm.

"Auntie didn't yell at you for letting me do it?" he watched her fingers move smoothly and was a little surprised by his own work.

"She was a little huffy, but that's understandable. When I explained to her that it was like carrying around a piece of my two favorite people, she got all quiet and started bossing Al around making him cook."

Ed's eyes shifted a little, he hadn't thought about that. When his eyes wandered back to her he saw her brow furrowed.

"Did I do that?"

"Wha…?"

She lifted her hand up but pulled her fingers back to resist the urge to touch his lip, "Your lip…"

Ed's own hand came up to feel the cut gently, "It's ok, I've been through worse," he smiled widely.

But Winry only frowned and looked down, "You're going to have to leave again, aren't you?"

Ed sighed, it always came back to this, "You know that I have to continue what I'm doing; I can't just stop."

"I suppose we can't continue like this either…"

"Winry it's not—"

"And you're probably going to tell me it's because you don't want to put me in danger, you can't always protect me, you can't take me along with you," her voice started to shake a little, "You can't possibly stay with me because once it comes down to it, I'll only ever be in the way!" She was surprised by how fast she was getting worked up, she had promised herself that she would be able to handle herself calmly when it came to this, "And I don't know if—" she stopped because suddenly Ed's gloved auto-mail hand was in her hair holding her head and he was leaned over her for a kiss.

The kiss was soft and reassuring, and when he pulled away Winry could tell it was reluctantly.

He brought one of his knees up to rest his arm on, and looked away. He figured the kiss would be enough of a reply.

"So every time you leave, I'll just be here waiting for you again, worried that every time I see you is going to be the last because every time you come back you look like you've been in a war.

"It's not as if we can't enjoy being together before I come back for good! I'm just a train ride away…"

She was getting tired of sighing so she chocked back her breath, "But we'll never be relaxed."

He smiled at the misty world and the hum of rain, "We're relaxed now…"

Her lip twitched wanting to smile, and she let herself fall onto his shoulder, letting the umbrella dip and rest on the stones behind them. "Might as well keep it that way…"

(a/n I was thinking about ending it here considering it's such a cute scene, but figured I needed to tie off a few loose ends and give you another fluffy scene before everything's over . )

Ed held his eyes closed tightly before he opened them, and let his ears register the sound of crickets. Had he fallen asleep? He was slumped down further than he remembered and could feel the unpleasant presence of a knotted back and an achy neck. He was distracted from the pain a minute later when he realized the weight on his chest was Winry curled up half on him and half on the grass. Her auto-mail hand was rested on his chest next to her head and open mouth. He couldn't tell where her other hand was though.

He kept himself from laughing and whispered quietly, "We really have to stop waking up like this…"

Winry stirred, mumbled something incoherent, nuzzled deeper into his chest, and fell back into her dreams.

Ed blushed a little, still not really used to being this close to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly, "Auntie will get worried."

She mumbled again, something about 'warm' and something else about 'steel' and then 'golden eyes'. Ed wasn't sure if she was talking about auto-mail or him, but she was still dreaming.

He tried again, "Winry?"

She blinked a few times, realized what she was lying on again, and shuffled up quickly, "Yeah… I'm up." She sniffed, and seemed to be completely awake now.

"We should get back before auntie sends out Den."

She shuffled some more and stood up; stretching her back and picking up the umbrella, "I—yeah."

Ed kept himself from smiling at her stutter, wondering what she had been planning to say, but just shook his shoulders out and stood up.

Winry frowned, "You're still soaking…"

"Hm?" he felt his jacket and wondered why he hadn't gotten cold, he was still pretty soggy. He clapped his hands and a second later he was perfectly dry, "are you wet at all?"

"Just my skirt a little from the grass, but I'll be fine. We should just get home."

"Yeah."

Between Pinako and her pipe and Al pulling off an odd look of suspicion, both Ed and Winry would have rather been anywhere but the kitchen.

"We just felt like staying out in the rain…" Ed shifted uncomfortably

"Mmhmm." Pinako let out a breath of smoke.

Winry rolled her eyes, "I'll be in the workroom."

Ed smiled nervously, "I'll be—"

"You're coming with me." Winry said

"—with her…"

In the workroom Winry walked over to a small table in the corner with a white sheet over it, and what looked like a pile of things under it.

"You're going to be leaving tomorrow… aren't you?"

Ed shifted his gaze and looked over his shoulder, "Yeah…"

"Then I want you to see this so you have something to come back for."

"I have plenty to come back for." He smiled

"Well a bit more wont hurt," She pulled the sheet off the table, and underneath, beside tools and metal files, was a steel arm. It looked almost exactly like the arm Ed had created for Winry just a but more sloppy, "I was surprised that you remade my arm when I've been doing the same thing for you. Auntie thinks it's ridiculous that I'm changing auto-mail like this, she says it's not meant to look so real, that a lot of people like that 'not so human' look. But I just wanted to see if I could do it… and I thought that maybe if I made it real enough… human enough… you might… might…" her voice cracked a little.

"You know I still have to return Al to his body though…" it's the thought that counts though, he thought. She wants so badly to bring him back home for good.

With her head down her shoulders shook a little.

His hand outlined her arm without touching it, until he came to her auto-mail and grabbed her hand turning it palm up, "Thank you… it's beautiful."

She looked up, happier than she thought she'd be with his appreciation "Next time you come back, it'll be finished. I want to make it as good as you made mine."

He brushed his real fingers over the symbol on her palm; happy to know that she at least had it's protection, "When I come back."

Pinako's voice carried across the house, "Are you two coming for dinner or would you like that I serve it to you in there?"

Both Ed and Winry sighed.

"I could bring candles too, if you want to complete the mood." Her voice was joking, but they blushed anyways.

Ed laughed a little, "I'll miss that."

Winry laughed as well, "you wouldn't if you lived with her…"

"We'll see."

She smiled with the implication. He would come back… when it was all over… he would come back to the house… to her.

Well, that's all folks! Sorry about all the fluffiness towards the end, and some slight OOCness, I was just figuring that that's probably how they would act if they got together. I hope you all liked it, and I hope you all tell me what you think!

If I get enough "happy people" reviews, I might consider making a sequel to this after the movie comes out, gets subbed, and I see it I would like to see what I could do with it, and make all the edXwin fans happy if the movie doesn't. If you like the idea of that, let me know, because I do need encouragement . I promise that it will be longer though.

So tah tah for now, and keep an eye out for the FMA movie, because I'll probably be following close behind.

If you're one of the people who doesn't like the idea of me making another story because this one was so horribly sickening, and a complete waste of however many hours you spent reading it. Then tough…