Winry noticed two things as she opened her heavy-lidded eyes.
First, someone was knocking on her window. Second, she was tired. Very tired.
She groaned as she swung her legs over the side of her bed and trudged over to the window. Squinting, she tried to make out who it was.
...And her eyes widened with shock as she realized who it was. Wrenching open the window, she got a closer look at her visitor, confirming her suspicions.
"Ed?" She began, still completely in awe of the alchemist's appearance, "What are you doing here?" She noticed him tense up and lift up a hand in greeting before clambering in through the window.
"Hey," He muttered, looking down at his feet with a stormy expression laced into his features. "I'm sort of in a tight spot."
"What? Don't tell me you broke your automail again."
"No, it's just…" He looked as if he couldn't decide on what to say next. "I need some help."
Ed fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat.
"I didn't know where else to go," He spluttered. "I mean, everyone in Mustang's team is out to get me - no, scratch that, everyone in the whole damn Military is out to me, and then Al -" He paused for a moment, running a hand through his hair. "Shit, I didn't even-!"
"Shut it. Let me think." Winry commanded from her slouched position on her bed. She glanced at the time. 1:27 AM. "Are you going to tell Al?" She inquired, her gaze not leaving the clock.
Ed stood up and paced around the room anxiously. "I have no idea! I don't know if he knows where I am, if Mustang is tracking me, if someone framed me, if they're looking for me, or-"
"I asked you to answer a question, not list off a bunch of 'what-ifs'!" She snapped, blue eyes ablaze with irritation. But her gaze softened once she met Ed's eyes.
She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. Of course he would be stressing.
"Listen, Ed." She began quietly, "I know that this is stressful, but could you please, please, calm down a bit? I'm trying to think here, and your pacing isn't helping. Just sit down and relax for a few seconds, okay?" She tried to keep her tone as gentle as she could being both sleep deprived and slightly annoyed with the situation at hand.
"Right." Ed said curtly, looking down at himself like he had just realized that he was pacing. "Sorry." He flopped down into the seat at Winry's desk, drumming his fingers on said workspace and looking out the window.
From what he could tell, he hadn't been followed. At least there was one positive he could add to his current list of all negatives.
Ed snapped to attention as Winry cleared her throat.
"Well, to be honest, I have no ideas whatsoever." She let out a gusty sigh. "All we can do is wait and hope that they find some evidence that you weren't at the crime scene that night."
Ed gulped.
"Could yo-" He was cut off by the harsh ringing of the telephone on Winry's desk. Instinctively, he reached for it, but he paused halfway as Winry rushed forward and answered it before he could grasp it.
She held the receiver with both hands, cradling it next to her ear as if it were the most fragile thing in the world.
"Hello?" She began tentatively, her voice barely above a whisper. Ed saw her knuckles go white as she gripped the receiver tighter.
"Yeah, it's me." At Ed's questioning gaze, she mouthed, 'it's Al' to him before continuing her conversation. She let out a little gasp that sounded quite fake to Ed, but he ignored it as he tried to listen in on what his little brother was saying on the other end of the line.
"I can't believe it! That's… horrible!" Winry breathed, pausing for a few moments for added dramatic effect. "Do you really think he did it, though…?" She played along with the innocent, surprised, I-didn't-know-anything-about-this sister/girlfriend role easily.
"I don't know what to think anymore."
Ed could barely make out Al's agitated voice, and he strained his ears to hear the rest of what he was saying. "I mean, I can't imagine Ed doing something like that, but the Colonel says that he has evidence incriminating Ed. And since I'm not a State Alchemist, he can't share exactly what that evidence is." Al let out a sigh before continuing, "I'm just really stressed out right now… I have no idea where Ed is, and I can't talk to him, and it's…"
Ed felt a pang of pity deep in his gut. He knew it had been stupid, running away, but what else could he have done?
"Say, Al…" Winry said hesitantly, glancing down at Ed. "What would you do if you could talk to Ed?"
Ed perked up at the mention of his name, his eyes quickly locking with Winry's. He panicked for a moment. He couldn't talk to Al! What if he blamed him? What if he told Mustang? What if-
But his what-if brainstorming session was cut short as Winry shoved the phone into his hands.
Al's voice cut through the receiver like a knife.
"Brother?!" Al hissed, his voice barely above a whisper. "Are you there?!"
Ed swallowed over a lump in his throat before replying. "Yeah." He murmured. "Yeah, it's me."
He heard Al sigh with relief. "Thank God! I was so worried! Why'd you just run off like that?"
Ed was silent.
"Brother?" Al inquired softly. "Broth-"
"I don't know, Al. I don't know. I guess I just panicked." Ed exclaimed after a few moments, earning a glare from Winry as she put a finger to her lips to tell him to be quieter. But just as he opened his mouth to apologize, a noise from the hallway made them both turn to the door.
Ed panicked when he recognized the sound as footsteps. Winry whispered a quick, "I have to go, Al" into the receiver before slamming it down and hanging up the call. Grabbing Ed by the hood of his jacket, she pulled him over to a dresser in the far corner of the room and opened one of the drawers.
"Get in." She commanded. Ed took a step back.
"What?! Absolutely not! There's no way I'll be able to fit in there!" He glared at the small drawer. It was about five feet long and two feet wide, and it was completely stuffed with various clothing items.
"We don't have time for this!" She hissed, throwing a glance at the door. "Just get in!" She grabbed him by his braid and shoved him into the lowest drawer, ignoring his muffled protest as he drowned in her clothes. She slammed it shut, telling him to be quiet until she gave him the "all-clear".
Ed mumbled something incoherent, trying to make himself comfortable in the sea of cloth. He fell silent as he heard someone knock on Winry's door.
He could make out Winry's quick shuffle as she headed over to the door and opened it. Ed could barely hear the inquiring voice of Mr. Garfiel asking what she was doing, if she was alright, and why was she talking to herself in the middle of the night? Pressing his ear against the wall of the drawer, Ed listened as Winry chuckled nervously and claimed that she couldn't sleep and that she had been working on some automail that a client had asked for that morning.
He let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding as he heard Winry bid Mr. Garfiel goodbye and close the door. Ed tensed as he felt the drawer jerk open violently, wincing as the light from Winry's desk hit his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the change and attempting to make out Winry's facial expression from where he lie.
She sighed irritably and pulled him out by his hood, eliciting a yelp from the alchemist. Slamming the drawer shut once again, she turned to Ed again and hissed,
"You need to be more quiet! You're going to wake the whole town at this rate!"
Ed rolled his eyes, turning away and glancing at the time. 2:03 AM.
Winry followed his gaze.
"Geez," She sighed. "It's getting late. I have work tomorrow, so I'm going to try to sleep."
Ed looked like he wanted to protest, but in the end, he acknowledged her with a small nod. Winry smiled at him sympathetically.
"You can crash on the couch in my workshop downstairs. Mr. Garfiel doesn't usually go in there."
"Yes ma'am." Ed replied sardonically, already on his way to the door.
"Ed?" Winry called tentatively. "We'll prove you innocent, okay? No matter what."
Ed tensed at his spot in front of the door. He didn't turn around.
"'Night, Win." And then he was gone.