DICLAIMER: Heh. I forgot this in the first two chapters. Whoops. Anyway, I do not own FMA (probably) but if I did, Ed wouldn't be permitted to wear shirts. Because he is, quite frankly, a studmuffin.

Edo: What the HELL?

Michi: Please to be shutting up now, silly little man. Oh, and before I forget – a big large grande THANK YOU! to everyone who reviewed. I would do the responding personally thing, but I haven't the time. Here's chapter three!

Edit: I seriously have NO CLUE how you put up with this story as it was before, all running together and bad. I read through it just now and was like "UURGH! It's a wonder I didn't get flamed." Thanks for your patience!

CHAPTER THREE: A GOOD FRIEND

Winry woke up the next morning to a massive headache. She moaned in pain and buried her face in the pillow. Had she been his in the head with her own wrench? No, more like several wrenches. Several very large wrenches. As a result of her head pounding, it took several moments for her brain to register the fact that she was not entirely alone.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. Whose hand was she holding? She sat up, and stared in confusion at Ed, who was sitting in the chair next to her bed, fast asleep. She stared in wonder for a few moments, and squeezed his hand gently.

"Ed? Ed, wake up!" He jerked awake, stared blearily at her for a moment, and smiled.

"Oh, you're awake. How do you feel?" What on earth was he talking about? How could he know that she felt awful? And what, exactly, was he doing here? Her head spun with questions, and she told them all firmly to go jump off a bridge before answering him.

"Fine. Apart from the fact that my head's about to split open. Mind telling me what you're doing here?" Well, one or two of the questions had remained. He blinked in surprise.

"You mean you don't remember what happened yesterday?" She thought a moment, and was alarmed to find that she couldn't.

"No," She said, beginning to panic slightly, "I don't remember anything after I found George at the carnival. What happened?" No matter how hard she tried, there was a large blank spot in her memory, and it was very disconcerting. Ed sighed.

"He drugged you, Winry. He drugged you and tried to rape you."

Suddenly, she remembered. Not everything, but flashes of what had happened to her last night. The dizzy feeling. Horror at what was going to happen to her. Trying to run. George's lips on hers.

"Winry?" came a voice from far away, "WINRY!" She snapped back to herself, and snatched the mirror off her bedside table. She looked into it, and gasped.

There was a large, ugly bruise on the left side of her face. Her lips were swollen slightly, and there was a scab on her lower lip. She dropped the mirror on her bed, and stretched out her arms in front of her. They were bruised, from where George had grabbed her. Upon further examination, she discovered bruises all over her legs, and it felt as though there might be some on her hips as well, but she would have to check those later. She glanced up at Ed, and more memories came flooding back: angry shouts, Ed's face, him holding her tightly. She stared at him in surprise.

"How did you know?" She asked, and he sighed again.

"I couldn't find you at the carnival, so I climbed a tree to look for you. From there, I saw you and George at the barn."

"And… what did you do to him?"

"Beat him to a bloody pulp." Winry's eyes widened.

"You did?" He looked away.

"Of course I did. I couldn't just let him go. Not after what he did to you – or would have done if I hadn't shown up." Winry nodded, and, on impulse, reached out and grabbed his other hand as well.

"Thank you." She told him simply. Of course, words couldn't really express how grateful she was to him, but the look in her eyes as she said it gave him a hint. He turned a brilliant shade of red.

"Anyone else would have done the same." He muttered. Winry released him, got up, and began rifling through her dresser for some clothes.

"That may be true," She said, "But anyone else wouldn't have sat by my bed all night. You're a good friend, Ed." She told him, before disappearing into the bathroom with her bundle of clothes. Ed stood up, stretched, and left.

Upon entering his own room, Ed changed clothes, thinking the entire time about what confusing creatures women were.

She was drugged last night, he concluded, she didn't have any idea what she was talking about. This was a certainty, and Ed felt an odd kind of relief. He had been worried about the implications of what she had said last night, but he eventually decided that it was true – Winry loved Ed, and Al as well. Loved them like brothers. That was all she meant by it.

Winry had been right- there were several bruises on her sides and hips. Some were quite large – all were the purplish-blue of a new bruise. She winced when she saw them, but there really wasn't anything she could do except let them fade normally. Her lip would need to be iced.

She stared resolutely into the mirror, trying to look strong and entirely not bothered. She surveyed her mouth again, and her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her.

That was my first kiss!

That thought along was enough to leave her crying into a towel for a good five minutes. Eventually, though, she dried her tears.

Oh well, she thought stubbornly as she washed her face. That doesn't count as a kiss and that's all there is to it. No one but me ever has to know. She paused. But …does Ed know as well?

When Winry walked stiffly downstairs, Pinako and Al were already there. Pinako winced when she saw the state of Winry's bruises, and Al gasped. He ran over to her and circled her, examining the many bruises on her arms and legs. Once he was done, he burst into tears.

"Al. what-?" Winry began, but was cut off as Al threw his arms around her and she was hit by a wave of pain.

"Winry, I'm sorry!" He wailed, "It was all my fault!"

"Ouch…"

"I should never, ever have left you alone! I'm so sorreeeeeeee!"

"Hey, get off her – can't you see she's all bruised?" Came Ed's voice casually as he descended the stairs. Al obeyed, and backed away. Pinako walked up to Winry as Well, and poked a bruise on the girl's upper arm. Winry jumped slightly – it was a large bruise, and quite painful.

"I'm going to go see if I have any ointment for those." She said, "But I hope you've learned your lesson about accepting drinks from strange boys!" She said, before shuffling off to the next room. Winry hung her head.

"That was harsh." Ed muttered.

"She's only harsh because she was worried, Ed." Winry said, still staring at the ground. "She's right though. I'll never be that stupid again." She looked up at Al, "So you see, it wasn't your fault in the least – it was mine." Tears welled up in her eyes. Tears of shame, and of embarrassment. "For being such an idiot." She felt someone place their hands on her shoulders, and looked up to find Ed's face only inches from her own.

"It's not your fault." He told her firmly. "It's George's fault, and no one else's." He said it in a tone that promised extreme trouble fro George if the two boys were to ever meet again, ten miles away from Winry or not.

That night, as it was getting dark, Winry found herself in a sudden possession of a desire to go to the second night of the spring carnival. There were three nights, each celebrating something different – youth, happiness, and love. Winry had never missed a night of the carnival, and she decided that she wasn't about to start now.

She decided to approach Ed and Al with the idea first; Pinako knew that Winry was perfectly capable of making her own decisions, but the boys would throw an absolute fit, Winry knew, if she left without so much as mentioning it to them. Also, she wanted to see if one of them would go along with her; she wasn't sure if she could handle being alone just yet.

She found them in Al's room – reading, as usual.

"Hi guys." She said brightly, taking a seat on the end of the bed. "Were you two planning on doing anything tonight?" They exchanged a Look.

"No…" Al said slowly, "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking about going to the carnival again," Winry said. Ed dropped his book.

"Are you insane?" he asked incredulously, "After what happened yesterday, you want to go back there? Why?"

"Well, I've never, ever missed a day of the spring carnival." She explained, "I love it so much, and also..." She paused a moment, "I don't want to let – him – prevent me from going places. I won't hide." She smiled slightly, "Besides, if one – or both – of you go with me, I'll be perfectly safe." Al shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Winry." He told her, "But I promised Pinako that I'd help her clean the workshop." He looked sideways at Ed, and smiled, "But you'll go with her, won't you, Big brother?"

"Well, I –,"

"Come on, you don't want to make Winry go alone, do you?" Ed sighed, defeated.

"Ok, I'll go." He said grudgingly, "but only to make sure that nothing happens to you again." Winry grinned and hugged him briefly around the shoulders.

"I couldn't ask for more."

That night, Winry stood in front of her mirror for far longer than she had the previous night. She was still self-conscious about all of the bruises she had acquired. The perfect solution to that, she decided, was to make herself took as pretty as possible, so that no one would notice. She was wearing a short, form-fitting dress patterned with blue daisies. She had curled her hair slightly, and tied half of it up.

"So what do you think?" she asked Al, who was sitting on the bed behind her, munching on an apple.

"Why are you getting all dressed up to go somewhere with Nii-san?"

"I'm not. It's just so that people won't notice that I look kind of… beat up." Al nodded.

"The darkness should help also."

"That's what I was thinking."

"WINRY!" Came Ed's voice from downstairs, "I'M GETTING BORED DOWN HERE!" Winry rolled her eyes.

"It's too bad you're not going, Al." She said. "It would be more fun if you were." Al grinned.

"I'm sure that you and Brother will have a great time." He assured her. "Besides. I'd only be dragged off by that group of girls anyway." Winry laughed.

"I bet Ed will have the same problem." She said, but Al shook his head.

"If I know Brother, he won't leave your side for a moment."

"WINRY!"

"I'M COMING!" she bellowed back, then turned back to Al. "I hope you're right – I don't want to be alone. Not just yet." Al nodded, and stood up.

"You'd better get going." Winry sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably right." They left her room and walked out into the hall and down the stairs.

"WINRY, DON'T MAKE ME COME UP TH- oh." He blinked, as she and Al walked down the stairs. "There you are. C'mon; let's go already and get this over with." Winry and Al exchanged glances, and Al glared at Ed, who looked quite frightened.

"Ed, you'd better not ruin this for Winry," he said, in all seriousness "you agreed to go, so you're going to have fun!" He smiled suddenly, and pushed both of them out the door. "Have a nice time, make good choices!" Wham. The door shut, leaving Ed and Winry standing outside.

"What the hell?" Ed exclaimed, and Winry laughed.

"Come on. We'd better go have fun, or I think Al's going to hurt you."

Al walked into Pinako's tidy workroom and sat on a stool in the corner. "They're gone." He announced, and Pinako looked up.

"About time." She said. "What took so long, anyway?" Al looked down at the floor.

"Winry." He said. "She – she was worried about all of the bruises she has." They sat in silence for a moment before Pinako spoke.

"And why aren't you going with them?" Al's face broke into a wide grin.

"I told them that I was busy helping you clean your workshop." He said. Pinako looked up at him and smiled.

"Good boy."

Tonight the atmosphere of the carnival was considerably different. Bouquets of yellow flowers were everywhere, the gazebo next to the band was draped in a canopy of lace, and the whole thing was lively, yet somehow romantic. Apparently love was something most people associated with happiness; the theme for the second day.

Edward Elric was not one of Those People.

"Yuck." He said bluntly, as yet another couple strolled by, fingers entwined.

"Aw, come on, Ed. Isn't it sweet? Just a little?"

"Yuck."

"You are quite phenomenally hopeless." Winry informed him, looking around. She spotted the gazebo; in the half-light of sunset, the white lace seemed to glow as though on fire, with the light of the setting sun behind it. The band was playing a slow amorous melody, and there were only a few couples inside. "Let's go dance!" She suggested, and Ed shook his head.

"Not on your life. You dragged me here, but there is no way in HELL you're going to get me to dance with you." Winry shrugged.

"All right." She said nonchalantly, "Then I suppose I'll just have to go and find someone else to dance with, and you can just stay here." She turned and walked off towards the gazebo. She hadn't gotten very far, however, before she felt someone grab her wrist. She turned, and saw Ed walking next to her.

"Idiot. Haven't you learned anything?" He asked her.

"I know you wouldn't really let me go off by myself." She replied. He turned pink and glared resolutely at all the flowers.

"Maybe just one dance." He lowered his hand so that he was holding her hand rather than her wrist, and pulled her up the steps and into the gazebo.

It was even more beautiful on the inside. Lace all around, creating a filmy white barrier between them and the rest of the world. Perhaps it was the lace, or the sunset, or the torches, but the lighting was dim, golden, and absolutely perfect. Even Ed looked not entirely sorry that he had been talked into dancing.

Well, coming inside the gazebo, actually. The dancing was another matter entirely. He turned a very amusing shade of red when Winry placed her hand on his shoulder, and seeing she would have to do everything, put his hand on her waist as well before catching his other hand in hers and entwining their fingers. It wasn't terribly helpful that he persisted in standing as far away from her as possible. She rolled her eyes and for the fifteenth time tried to bring him closer.

"For goodness sake, Ed, just relax. You're acting as though you've never danced with a girl before."

"That would be because I haven't." Winry snickered when she thought about it; of course – when would he have had time to dance with anyone? She grinned when she realized how entirely inexperienced with women he must actually be.

"Never?"

"Never."

"Amazing. I suppose you've never had a proper girlfriend either? Or kissed a girl before?" He glared at her; Ed did not like to be teased.

"For your information I kissed Hughes' niece at a military party once."

"On the cheek doesn't count, Ed." He glared even more; she had been entirely right in her assumption. She felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach – he'd never kissed her on the cheek. She had the sudden desire to kill Hughes' niece.

"Well, You've never had a boyfriend, or been kissed properly either." He taunted in revenge. Winry opened her mouth to say something, but nothing would come out.

His mouth on hers. Pain.

Ed must have noticed the look on her face, because, close as she was to him, Winry felt him inhale sharply.

"I'm so sorry." He said in a rush, and she looked up at him in surprise – it wasn't like him to ever apologize. For anything. But he truly looked sorry, "I should never have said that." His eyes narrowed, and he stared off into space. "I'll kill that bastard."

"It's fine." She said in a small voice. "I shouldn't have teased you either." He said nothing after that, but simply pulled her closer to him. Winry closed her eyes, fighting against the memories that would not go away.

Quite some time later, after all the natural light had faded, the two of them emerged from the gazebo, Winry holding onto Ed's arm.

"That wasn't so horrid, was it?" She asked.

"No. I never really thought that it would be."

"Then why all the whining?" He shrugged.

"Well, because if I let you have your way all the time, you'd get spoiled." He said. She released his arm and stood in front of him, hands on her hips. He couldn't help but notice that, despite her bruised cheek and lip, she looked gorgeous. Blue was most definitely a good color for her. She smiled suddenly.

"Well, we did something that I wanted to do, so now it's your turn. Pick something." Ed looked around.

"The Ferris wheel." He said, and she snickered. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just amusing that the Fullmetal Alchemist, Major Elric, Defender of the Weak, Bane of Roy Mustang's Existence, blah blah, likes Ferris wheels." He raised an eyebrow at her, and she slid her hand down his arm, and slipped her hand into his. His eyes widened, but he said nothing about this gesture.

"I've always liked Ferris wheels." He said, "Don't you remember that time when we were really little, and that traveling carnival came into town? And I made you and Al with me over and over?" Winry thought a bit, and nodded,

"And then Al got sick from eating too much cotton candy!"

They reached the Ferris wheel, and the attendant directed them into the first empty seat, with a smile, and a "My, but aren't you two a cute couple!"

"We are NOT a couple!" Ed practically shouted at the man, who jumped about a foot and apologized profusely. Winry had to step in and tell the man it was ok before he gave the order to start the wheel. The seats were rather small, so they had to sit very close together. Neither of them minded – after being friends their entire lives, the closeness didn't bother them at all.

Then why does my stomach feel so funny? Winry thought. Maybe it's a side effect of the drug George gave me yesterday.

"You know, this was actually more fun than I thought it would be." Ed told Winry as they walked back. It was well past midnight, and most of the town had left already.

"Good." Winry said, "Because I'm dragging you back there tomorrow. And Al as well, if he's not busy again." Ed nodded.

"I guess I'll go along with you then." She smiled.

"I had fun too."

They reached the house, whish was entirely dark – Al and Pinako must have already gone to bed. Winry pulled out her key and unlocked the door, and they stumbled around in the dark a bit before finding the stairs. They finally did, and climbed up to the second floor carefully. Ed turned to walk off to his own room, but Winry stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Ed, wait," he turned to face her.

"What?"

She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. Even in the dark, she could tell that he was blushing.

"What was that for?" Winry shrugged.

"For being so nice." She said, and walked into her room and shut the door.

She changed quickly into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before climbing into bed. She lay there in bed for quite sometime, staring out into the darkness.

Something was different than it had been two days ago. The shadows in the corner of the room seemed more menacing. A tree branch scraped against the wall, and Winry jumped. In the darkness, it looked as though the shadows were moving. An image flashed in her mind – the back of a barn. Terror, pain. She jumped and pulled the covers over her head. This wasn't any better – it was stuffy, and she couldn't breathe.

A hand crushing her windpipe…

She flung the covers off, grabbed a pillow and a few blankets, and left.

Winry checked Al's room first, but he was already asleep, and she didn't want to wake him – he needed all the rest he could get. She considered going downstairs to Pinako, but she didn't want to seem silly, or like a frightened child. That left Ed.

She poked her head in his room. He looked like he might already be asleep, but she wasn't sure.

"Ed?" She called in a loud whisper, "Are you asleep?" He sat up.

"No. What are you doing here?" Winry walked up to the foot of his bed.

"I was wondering if I could sleep in here tonight." She said.

"What's wrong with your room?"

"There's no one in it, that's what's wrong." She said. "I'm a little creeped out from what happened last night." He sighed. "Please?"

"Ok, but only for tonight." Winry nodded, and dropped her pillow and blankets on the floor. He got out of bed and picked them up again.

"Don't be stupid – there's room for both of us." He looked down at himself – he was wearing only a pair of boxers – and tossed her belongings on the bed. "I think I'm gonna go put a shirt on." Now it was Winry's turn to roll her eyes.

"Now who's being stupid? I'm your mechanic – well, I was, at any rate, - I've seen you in your boxers loads of times." She adjusted her pillow and blankets and climbed into bed, and he did the same.

"You'd better not thrash around, or I'm kicking you out." Ed warned.

"I won't, and you'd better not hog the covers."

Within minutes, they were both fast asleep.

Al woke up bright and early the next morning, and went into Winry's room as soon as he woke up to ask about the carnival. He had meant to stay up and wait for them, but he had fallen asleep around midnight.

"Winryyyyyy, rise and – Winry?" to Al's surprise, she wasn't there, and the pillows and blankets were gone from her bed. Al immediately began to panic.

Did Winry get kidnapped? Did she run away? Maybe she's downstairs. But why would she be downstairs? Maybe she got hurt and couldn't walk up the stairs! But if that happened, Brother would just carry her, like yesterday. I'll go ask him – maybe he knows what happened.

Al poked his head into Ed's room, and stifled a giggle. His plan had worked better than he had hoped. Tangled in a mass of blankets and pillows were Winry and Ed, still sleeping peacefully.

They must have got in late last night. Al mused, backing out of the room. I think I'll just let them sleep for now.

Michi: Ooer.

Edo: ….again, I ask you, what the HELL?

Michi: I do so enjoy playing puppet master.