Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Chapter 9

Winry stepped off the train at central. Spotting Ed, she made her way over to him and tapped him on the shoulder with her wrench.

Spinning around, he would have decapitated her had she not fortunately ducked quite quickly. Holding her wrench threateningly, she glared at him.

"Jeez, Ed! Is that any way to greet a lady!"

"Lady!" Ed snorted, then grinned apologetically as she tapped her wrench warningly. "Sorry. There's been a bit of trouble lately"

"What sort of trouble?" she asked suspiciously. "The sort of trouble that'll break my precious automail?"

"No, it's just Military trouble. Don't worry about it. It's nothing"

She continued to stare at him suspiciously, sure that 'nothing' would not leave Ed tense enough to almost knock her head off.

"Really! It's nothing!" Ed insisted, seeing that she didn't believe him.

Sighing exasperatedly, she shrugged and let it drop. If Ed didn't want her to know, nothing in this world – no, not even the dreaded wrench – would make him tell her.

Ed knocked at the door of Roy and Al's house. Receiving no answer, he frowned and went to try again. "I'm sure they're expecting us…" he muttered.

Winry, growing impatient, pushed past him and slammed open the door. "Al! We're here!" she called, striding into the house.

And stopped dead.

"Aaaaagh! Why is it, every time I see you two, you're doing something!"

Al carefully disentangled himself from Roy, blushing slightly. He glanced at a clock. "I'm sorry. I thought you weren't due for another fifteen minutes…"

"And I suppose Roy suggested that was just enough time for a quickie?"

Al blushed harder. Winry never failed to shock him with her carelessly dropped innuendos. "Um… er…"

"Oh, whatever" Her tone brightened. "Where are the twins! I want to see them!"

"They're upstairs sleeping" said Al, still trying to recover from his embarrassment. "They should be waking up about now though…"

As if on cue, a horrible wail cracked the atmosphere, and almost the windows.

"That would be Elizabeth" volunteered Roy, as Al rushed up the stairs and a second scream joined the first.

Soon Al came back downstairs holding the twins, who were considerably quieter now.

"Awww!" crooned Winry as she saw them. "They're so beautiful! Al, can I hold one!"

"Sure" said Al. He gave Alexander to Winry. "This is Alex. The quieter one"

"Hey there you adorable little b… Al?"

"Yes?"

"Is that a ring?" Asked the blonde automail mechanic in a dangerous tone.

Al blushed. "…Yes" he said in a small voice.

"What!" shrieked Ed, speaking up for the first time. He grabbed Al's hand, and looked furious at the evidence he saw there. "Mustang!" he growled.

Roy backed away almost imperceptibly from the maddened auras of the two blondes. "Yes?"

"You proposed to my brother" Ed's voice was flat, and seemed to indicate that he would be quite capable of inflicting severe pain on the older alchemist.

"Nii-san!" protested Al. "I was the one who said 'yes'. It was my decision"

Ed stared at him for a long while as the world held it's breath. Then finally, he sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. But I'm still not happy about this"

Just then, Elizabeth decided she wanted attention. And she wanted it now.

Chuckling deceptively, she reached over and pulled a still furious Winry's hair. She yelled. "Ow-ow-ow! Ed, you idiot!"

Ed scowled. "It's not me! Why do you always blame me!"

Winry blinked, and tried to dislodge her hair from the demonic child's fingers. "Oh, sorry Ed. It just usually is you…"

"You mean to say I pull your hair on a regular basis?" grumbled Ed.

"Well, no…" admitted Winry. "But the number of times you've destroyed my precious automail makes me want to tear my hair out"

"Yeah! Well, you always end up taking your frustrations out on me and beating me to a pulp!" he growled.

Winry scowled at him, still trying to free her hair, and opened her mouth to start shouting.

"Um, guys?" interrupted Al softly. "Can you two try not to argue for once?"

They stared at him. Not argue? Impossible!

Seeing the identical rebellious looks on their faces, Al sighed. "Do you guys want something to eat?" Food was always a good distraction.

Giving up the fight, both blondes nodded, Winry wincing as Elizabeth gave her hair a sharp tug.

As Al turned towards the kitchen, Winry followed him, towed by the demonic child's relentless grip on her hair.

"Hey, Al! Can you get her to let go of my hair, first?" she asked him, giving up on that battle of wills as well.

Elizabeth smiled and gave the lock of hair a sharp yank, delighted that she'd won.

Al coaxed the baby into giving up it's prize and went to get something to eat.

Hmm, one of these days I should actually put a bit of work into a chapter...

Anyway, please review!