Edward expected to be woken up by the bright blazing sun, but he can only see a little bit of the sun through his closed eyelids. He opens his eyes and looks across the room at the window. Alphonse is standing in front of it, gazing out at the countryside. Ed makes a noise to alert Alphonse that he's awake.

Al turns his head to look at Ed. "Good morning, Brother," he says.

"Yeah. What are you looking at?" Ed asks.

Al looks back out the window. "Winry sure does work hard…," Al smiles.

Ed immediately gets off his bed to look out the window with Al. Ed's automail and some other supplies are laid neatly on a blanket. Winry is hanging up Ed and Al's clothes on the line to dry. Winry went back to wearing her black tube top and purple work suit with the top half tied around her waist. Al notices Ed smiling calmly and staring at Winry.

Al laughs, "Remember all those times we use to argue about who gets to marry Winry?"

Ed chuckles, "Heh, yeah. We argued about that a lot when we were kids, didn't we?"

"Well, I think you win," Al smirks.

Ed jumps back. He stutters, "Wh-what!"

Al grins, "I know you like Winry! I can just tell in your eyes! I've heard you say her name in your sleep!"

"So now you're a psychic?"

"Oh, so you're saying I'm right?" Al questions.

Ed shakes his hands, "No no you're not right! Winry is just a friend!"

"A really really good friend! Maybe more than a friend…" Al eggs on.

Ed folds his arms. He states, "She is just a friend, nothing more, nothing less. Quit this nonsense!"

"You have a crush on her! Maybe more!"

"No I don't!" Ed screams for almost everyone to hear.

Winry looks up from hanging the clothes. She sighs, "Arguing already? Sometimes I think that's all they are capable of doing."

Al yells, "You're lying! Stop lying!"

"I'm not lying! Quit making up this nonsense!" Ed is getting really frustrated. He hates when Al talks about girls like that, especially Winry. He's keeping his feelings for Winry to himself and that's it. Ed thinks 'I forgot we are in a world with alchemy. What am I doing!'. Pretty soon, sparks of alchemy could be seen inside of the Rockbell house.

Winry looks up again. This time she yells very strictly, "Edward and Alphonse Elric! Get down here right now!"

They obviously didn't hear her. The alchemic light can still be seen. Winry yells in a tone that makes her sound like a homicidal killer.

"EDWARD ELRIC!" The light stopped. All Winry hears are footsteps stomping down the stairs. Ed and Al walk out the door but different ways. Ed walks towards Winry and Al walks behind the house. Al hit a spot in Ed's heart that he is still uncertain of.

As Ed walks closer to Winry he waits for her to ask what they were fighting about. Her face looks red with much anger, but then she bursts out laughing.

That deer-in-the-headlights look made its way onto Edward's face. He mutters, "What's so funny?"

Winry tries to talk while laughing, but it's very hard. "Your…hair," she laughs.

Ed blinks and feels the top on his head. His hair feels a little messy, but how is that funny? Winry picks up Ed's automail arm and holds it up to his face. He looks at his reflection in the automail and… holy shit! Al turned his hair rainbow colors! He looks like he's wearing a clown wig at a carnival. Ed growls and swears under his breath. He claps his hands and transmutes his hair back to its original golden color.

Winry says, "Your clothes are still wet, but they should be dry in a while. I figured it would be cool to hook up your automail out here so you can sleep in the sun. It took me all night, but I finished. I hope you like it." She sets the arm back on the blanket so he can take a good look at it. Before he looks at the automail, he takes a quick glance at her face. She does look a little tired, but not that much. He diverts his attention back to the automail. It looks even shinier than ever.

"The design is almost the same as your original one. I had to make a couple of adjustments, and I changed some other things just to experiment. Oh yeah, and I made it even lighter than last time just to warn you. An automail mechanic from Rush Valley sent me a letter a couple of months ago saying heavy automail makes you grow slower. So I tried to make it as light and durable as I could," Winry states. She is so proud of her automail and still takes any chance she can get to gloat it.

Ed lowered his head so she couldn't see his face. 'Once I get my automail on and stand up, no one will have any more short jokes to make!' He began making his own grave in his head.

"Thanks for being considerate," Ed grumbles. He sits down on the blanket, and a random thought enters his mind. "Hey Winry? I just noticed I haven't seen Den. Where is she?"

Judging by Winry's sad face and silence, Ed figures she died. Winry kneels down next to Ed's side and takes off the substitute prosthetics. She eventually connects his new automail onto his body, and he only groans a little from the pain. She hates seeing him in pain, even something as simple as connecting automail. Winry has had her share of pain in life, but it's nothing compared to Ed's. She wishes he could share his pain with her to take off the load. She lays him down on the blanket as he falls into a deep sleep.

A little over an hour later…

Pinako is standing behind the house, puffing as usual, looking out at the hills of Risembool. Al walks up next to her.

She sighs, "Fighting already? I hope you two don't plan on destroying our house with your alchemy every time you argue. I just might make you sleep outside."

"Granny, I want to ask you something. Has Winry… well… uh… Ed…," Al blurts, not making much sense. He's not sure how to word it.

Pinako laughs, "I think I know what you're trying to say. Winry mentioned Ed every once in a while as the days passed. When I passed her room a couple of times during the night, I saw her standing in front of her window and praying that Ed is alive and safe and that maybe she would get to see him one last time. At one point she told me she thought she loved him. She has only had one boyfriend since you two have been gone, but it didn't last for long." She takes a big puff.

Al's jaw dropped. He guessed that Winry liked Ed a little more than a friend, but loves him! Al is good at reading his brother, but not when it comes to his feelings for others.

He asks, "Why didn't the relationship last long?"

Pinako smiles, "She told him she was trying to rid herself of feelings she had for someone who would never come back to her, but she couldn't seem to get rid of those feelings."

"Feelings for… Edward?"

Pinako nods.

Al jumps up and down with joy. "I knew it! I knew Ed likes Winry, and Winry likes Ed! He just won't stop denying it! He would talk about her, and say her name in his sleep, and wish he had Winry's automail again, and there were a lot of girls where we were that I think Ed might take interest in, but he didn't! He has never been on a date or anything! I started thinking he just doesn't like girls period…".

"Slow down son. Can't even understand half of what you just blabbed," Pinako laughs.

"There's only one problem…," Al begins to say, but Pinako finished his statement.

"Neither of them will admit their feelings to each other. Ed is so stubborn, and Winry is afraid of getting her heart broken."

Al questions, "So how can we get them to admit their feelings to each other? Both of them will die and not tell each other how they really feel."

"Do you really want to get yourself involved in this? Love is not to be toyed with. If they never tell each other, then it wasn't meant to be," She says sternly.

"That's not what I meant, Granny. They just need a boost. Ed won't even tell me, his own brother, how he feels! If he can't even tell me, how will he tell the girl he likes!"

Pinako yawns, "I don't know. We just better think of something quick. I want great-grandchildren before my time is up." She starts walking to the front of the house to check up on Edward.

"Granny!" Alphonse runs after her.

Winry walks outside to check on Ed and the clothes. She feels Ed and Al's clothes, and both of them are dry. She takes them off the line and folds them neatly. She wants to wake Ed up, but he should be waking up soon anyway. 'He has such a nice body build, and those muscles… hah, probably from all that fighting he has done. I figured that automail would be too big for him, but I guess he did grow. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps.' She kneels down very close to Ed to get a good look at his face.

"Oh Edward, if only you knew what feelings I have for you, and if you could return them," she sweetly sings to the sleeping alchemist. She pushes the bangs hanging over his face out of the way. "Whatever you do, please don't leave again. Or if you do, don't promise me that you'll come back when I know you won't. My heart can't take it anymore. Don't think that you're the only one that has… oh never mind." She picks up a bit of his hair and lets it slide through her fingers. 'It's… so soft…'. She picks up more hair and just feels the softness.

Pinako and Alphonse walk around to the front of the house and find Winry next to Ed. Winry's back is facing them, so Pinako motions to Al to be quiet so Winry and Edward don't see or hear them.

"Perhaps they won't need a boost," Pinako suggests.

Winry is too deep in thought and feeling the softness of Ed's hair that she didn't realize he has woken up, or that he was actually awake while she was talking to him.

"Eh… Winry… what are you doing?" Ed speaks. A little blush crosses his cheeks.

Her bubble of thought just popped, and she looks down at Edward to see he is looking straight at her. Her whole face turns the brightest red.

She jumps up. "Edward! You're awake! I was… uh… well I just wanted to see if you're awake, and… er…," Winry blurts out. Winry turns around very slowly because she heard a little laugh. "How long were you two standing there?"

"Long enough," Al grins.

Winry picks up Al's clothes and chucks them at him. "Here, put on your clothes. You look like you want bad attention when you just walk around with just boxers."

Pinako pushes Al into the house with her. Al yells 'Thank you for my clothes!' while being dragged inside. Winry turns back to Ed, who is just staring at her with that confused look. Her face lights up red again. She helps him stand up.

"How does it feel?" Winry asks Ed.

He moves his automail around and takes a good look at it. 'It's even better than before. So much lighter and reflective.'

"It's great, Winry," he smiles. His smile makes her face turn even redder. She picks up his clothes and hands them to him. Once he gets to his vest, she stands in front of him and buttons it up for him. She looks up at him and notices he… has to slightly tilt his head down to look at her. Oh no!

"Oh, no…," Winry panics.

Ed grins that scary grin, "Oh, yes! I have grown! No more short jokes!" He raves on about not being short anymore and blah blah blah.

Winry laughs, "So you started drinking milk?"

He moans, "No, I still hate milk. Just face the fact that I grew!"

"You're still shorty to me." Ed growls. He is about to start one of his "Who are you calling so short that…" whines until Winry grabs his hair tie and starts pulling his hair back.

She sets her hands on his shoulders. "There, all done," she says. Before she goes into the house, she says in a seductive voice, "Glad you lost the braid. You look more attractive this way." She pats his shoulder and walks into the house. Ed just stands there puzzled. He walks into the house as well, thinking about everything Winry said while he was laying there.

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I work an average of 8 hours a day, 4 days a week (for now). So you can see it will take me a while to update sometimes. I forgot to put the disclaimer at the beginning of my story (because I'm stupid and just realized it now) but you already know I don't own full Metal Alchemist. Ed and Al wear their movie clothes in this story and I'll probably describe what Winry wears each time. I was going to make this chapter longer, even though it wasn't going to be this long, but I wanted to post this much or else I wouldn't have an update for another week. Hopefully you're enjoying the story so far. The next chapter will be fun. Maybe we'll see what Winry was up to the other night… please review!