Disclaimer:… Already stated in the first chapter…

A/N: I contemplated until I practically beat my brains out on whether I should have included this portion of the story in the last chapter or not… But the cliffhanger I left just seemed soooo appropriate! Didn't you guys? Or was that my own opinion? Well, anyway, it did bring you guys back, right? ;3

Chapter Three: Just Like The Rain

Metal…

Winry's fingers shook so badly she could have sworn she was having a attack. She let her hand hover nervously over his shoulder and she had to let out the breath she didn't know she was holding before she risked passing out. She took in a fresh breath of air and placed a lock of His muddy hair in her hands, taking her thumb and hurriedly rubbing there until blonde could be seen through the muddy mess. Her heart began to pound so hard within her chest she thought He would wake up if He heard it.

"Ed…?" she snatched the damp cloth she had used earlier and swiftly wiped away the mud and rain water off his face… She felt her lip tremble and her eyes fill with burning tears that she had given up on His behalf as Ed's face shown through the cakey mud. She dropped the now muddy and heavy cloth towel next to her and placed her hands on either sides of His face.

It's Ed… It really is him! she thought as a tear fell on his face, then sliding down his law-line.

"Winry!" Pinako stood in the hall, her hands laden with a few blankets and a sleeping bag.

"E-Ed… He's- I-"

"Stop your foolishness! Get him stripped of those wet clothes!" Pinako didn't seem to respond to his name as if she had her own realization all along. Pinako began to lay out the blankets and Winry, after moving him successfully into the house and closing the door, removed his clothing, hurrying to see his auto-mail arm to confirm her own beliefs. As she threw his brown, leather coat to the side dismissively, she began to work on the white shirt he wore beneath it, seeing specks of crimson on the white material. She slowly unbuttoned the shirt and felt her heart leap as she revealed the metal plate on the right side of his upper body from his shoulder to the middle of his ribs and she noticed her hands began to tremble again as she realized his whole arm was made from auto-mail… Her auto-mail.

Winry carefully relieved Ed of the shirt so as not to damage his auto-mail any further than it already was. What happened…? As she examined the damage a bit before moving to his other arm, she realized he had twisted the metal on his upper arm and had bent it in a odd angle so that it jabbed at where the flesh and auto-mail joined. She frowned at the condition, but quickly pushed it aside as she timidly unbuckled his belt.

Pinako had already set the couch for him and watched Winry fumble bashfully with his pants after removing his shoes that were full of water and mud.

"I suppose I'll have to clean him up if you're so uncomfortable to do something that may save his life?" Pinako asked, folding her arms behind her. Winry looked up and shook her head slowly,

"I-I'm sorry…" she mumbled as she now removed his pants more robustly, taking in a breath after seeing his auto-mail leg again after almost three years, and immediately looked up at her uncertainly after stopping at his boxers.

"Hmmm… I'll take care of that, you just collect some hot water to clean him up with." Winry nodded and reluctantly got up, leaving both Pinako and Ed.

Winry unconsciously placed a bowl under the hot flow of water for her and Pinako to use to wipe away the sticky and thick mud. He was back… after almost three years of believing he would never return… He was back. But… How? And why was he injured the way he was? Winry pulled her hand back suddenly from the hot bite of water as it spilled over the side of the bowl. She turned the faucet off and let some of the water pour over the rim so as not to spill surplus water as she walked.

She pressed her lips together and carried the bowl and two rags to where Pinako now stood, hands folded behind her back and Ed still on the floor, now in dry boxers and laying on a large towel. She wasn't even going to ask where her grandmother got a pair of clean boxers from… Probably from a old 'storage' of clothes he left behind… She placed the steaming bowl beside Ed's unconscious body and dipped the towel within the water, then ringing it of extra water.

Ed's brows twitched as she wiped away mud and dirt and he started to mumble incoherently as Pinako, too, began to work on removing the sticky mess. At one point, Ed twitched then began to shiver from the cold as they began to finish. His hair was the hardest to relief of the mud, but eventually, their efforts did their job and Ed was then placed on the couch.

"Should we remove his auto-mail?" Winry asked as she poured the dirty water outside where the rain was now a drizzle, "At least his arm? It's damaged and it's the source of the irritation…" Pinako glanced at Ed, who was resting between heaps of blankets and within a sleeping bag. His skin was a shade lighter than usual and he shivered every now and again.

"As long as he stays there and doesn't move too much, it won't cause him anymore harm. When he is conscious again, we'll attempt it. But until then, it's best to let him recover his normal body temperature." Winry opened her mouth to protest the matter, but Pinako turned to leave up the stairs. "He does have a mild hypothermia… Not too serious, but if we remove him from the warmth, he will get worse. Let him rest." With that, she climbed the stairs and left Winry to look at Ed in concern. Den walked over to Ed's sleeping form and Winry pulled at him softly,

"No, Den…" she said softly and he turned to huddle in his usual sleeping space. She turned back to Ed.

Mild hypothermia… If he's lost consciousness, then he was out in the rain for a while before I found him. How long had he been without a proper place to sleep? He had to have been out longer than just tonight… He suddenly grunted and cringed as he shivered again. She numbly walked to his side, feeling on the verge of tears again before she sat down lazily on the couch next to him. Where had he gone if he wasn't dead? Did Al know? If Al did know, he probably couldn't just drop what he was doing and come rushing to Resembul, with him being a State Alchemist and all.

Winry was shaken out of her thoughts as Ed shifted in his sleep and grunted again in pain… She wanted to remove his arm, so as to remove his pain, but Pinako had said to leave him covered. She shifted from her position on the couch and now kneeled on the floor, her head rested on her arms, which lay on the couch just beside his left arm. Winry would have to wait, but she'd gladly do so. She'd wait until he awoke so that she could remove his source of agony and physical pain.

As she waited, however, she, too, drifted off to a much needed rest.

Ed felt his left side falling numb and tingle, and half-consciously rolled over to his right side before he realized that it wasn't a smart idea. A searing pain on his right shoulder caused him to take in a sharp gasp and stiffen beneath the heavy blankets. Blankets… wait…? He was really hot and yet he shivered once before he came to the realization he was not wet and muddy like he was before-

"Ed?" he didn't react to her voice and stared up at the ceiling in thought, and neither did he flinch when Winry shook his flesh arm slightly. "Ed, you awake?"

Winry… When exactly did I end up like this? He inclined himself on his flesh arm and sat up slightly, giving Winry a glance before looking down at his state. He obviously didn't have any clothes on other than boxers, which he quickly shrugged off either way, and looked around the room with only his eyes making any sort of movement. He didn't feel like talking and he looked down at his lap without any sort of expression.

Winry cocked a brow at him and stood before him, her hands on her hips. She didn't know what to say and she let her hands fall to her sides before Ed looked up at her for the second time since regaining some of his consciousness. His golden eyes never wavered and he didn't blink for a long time before he opened his mouth slightly to speak, but then closed it as he realized he didn't know what to say. Looking at her, he came to the realization that he really couldn't say anything at the moment that was worth the time he was gone.

"Do you want me to remove your arm to fix it?" Winry said monotonously. He blinked and realized he hadn't blinked since the awkward silence began. He gave his arm a glance before looking back at her and giving her a half-smile. "Sorry if this hurts…" he heard her voice crack, but he didn't understand and for a moment, his thoughts wavered to his arm as she placed her hands on the arm, and with one swift movement, disconnected it from it's port. Instantly, he felt the old pain cease, and a new wave of fleeting pain as she disconnected the arm, but the feeling of the metal jabbing into his socket was still present as a memory.

Winry placed the auto-mail arm on the table and tried to restrain herself from crying. He was now awake and alive and… Her lips quivered as she let out a choked sob. She was happy…

"Winry…?" she turned to him and noticed he had a distance sort of look in his eyes; like he wasn't really there. Hot tears suddenly came in a torrent from her eyes and down her face like the rain had the night before and she couldn't stop them. Just like the rain. They danced below her chin as they slid down her cheeks, then fell to the floor with soft pitter-patters. Ed simply stared, not knowing how to react. She suddenly let out a sobbing giggle before rushing to the couch, several tears falling and disappearing into the air as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Ed didn't complain, he was cold and her body warmth was warming him greatly, until her tears began to fall from her face and onto his bare back.

"I-I'm just s-so glad y-your-r back…" she sobbed. She just couldn't contain her happiness. After the moment had came and passed she laughed shortly as she finally regained some of her composure, feeling lighter and happier while she wiped her tears off her cheeks with her palms.

"Me too." he said hoarsely, and Winry seemed a little taken aback at his sudden interest to speak and stared at him. "What?" he said defensively and arched a brow at her. She simply smiled and sniffed,

"Nothing…"

A/N: In case anyone was wondering, hypothermia can cause slurred speech, numb hands, poor judgment, lack of concern, shivering… So incase it seemed like Ed wasn't happy to see Winry, that's not the case.

EdxWinry: Thanks for the review and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter… But I think it could have been longer. I try to take each scene step by step if I can.

Hiei44: Well, I tried to stay in character as much as possible when it came to Winry and I had to fight the urge to write her actions based on my own way of doing things, for I probably would have been different. Me, if I had seen a stranger that appeared to be wounded, I would have gone to get someone (Pinako).

Katiecat: I'm glad you like it! I hope everyone likes it as much as I had writing it.

Zirra Nova: It's really okay if I don't get reviews the first time around, because it doesn't exactly mean no one liked it… But thanks for the review!

Meo: No, I figured out (thanks to Nyago) that Ed was actually 16 and that I miscalculated and was given false info by some websites… But anyways, I do try to be as detailed as I can and try not to use the same word for something more than at least two times. I dunno if you can tell that or not, but I guess it really doesn't matter as long as you understand what is going on and how the character feels, right?

GundamWingFanatic90: I'm glad that my story has that influence on you! claps hands together I felt the same way as I jotted ideas and plot for this story when it was a mere thought during the last final weeks of school. It made the exam days all more bareable.

Mustang24: Sorry I left a cliffhanger! But I hope that this chapter fed your interest crosses fingers

C.A.M.E.O.1 and only: Thanks for the review and I'm glad that you think it was cute! I defiantly wanted to see passed the angsty and sorrowful plot and move on to something a bit more... general? Dunno if that was exactly a good word for it.

dbzgtfan2004: squeals I'm so happy that there are so many EdxWinry fans out there! I like different pairings and like to see how a relationship can work, but Ed and Winry's pairing just seemed so...so... expected, I guess?

Nyago: Glad to see that I got your brain cranking and I wanted to see if ANYONE got the possible twist... But, I decided that I should relief some of that angsty stuff in this story and let you guys have it if I make a sequel. But, no worries, you didn't reveal ANYTHING that I didn't already know... though, I did happen upon that info on accident due to a post that wasn't 'spoiler-labeled'. But I guess I kinda expected some things that unfold... Rambling, huh? claps hand over mouth Thanks for the review!

KatieCat: Nice to see that you liked it! Thanks for the review!

Snwbnny: I think you've reviewed for another story of mine... Am I wrong? ;3 Anyway, thanks for the compliment! I hope to be a writer... someday.

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and expect the fourth chapter within a day or two!

XHer Ink Stainx