The Gift

23

Christmas Eve

December 24th – Sunday

Ed pulled the covers over his head when he heard someone knocking at his door. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He just wanted to stay in bed all day and mope.

"Ed! Breakfast is done!" Winry shouted on the other side of the door.

"I'm not hungry!" he shouted back at her.

"Too bad! You have to eat, now get out here before I drag you out of bed!"

He threw the covers back for a moment, and yelled, "Just leave me alone!" before pulling the covers back over his head.

"Edward, I'm coming in there!" There was a pause then the door opened and he heard Winry stomping across the wooden floor toward his bed. She stopped and a moment later his blankets were pulled off of him. "Up. Now."

Growling, Ed curled his body tightly trying to protect himself from the sudden cold, then snatched his pillow and plopped it on his head. "I already told you I'm not hungry!"

"I don't care," she countered and grabbed at his pillow, but he kept a hold of it. "Let go, Ed!"

"Fine!" he shouted. He let go of the pillow and turned in time to see her stumbling backward with the pillow in her hands. This whole exchange was so frustrating. Was it too much to ask to just be left alone?

"Ed..." Winry said, a look of concern crossing her face as she watched him. "Are you alright?"

His lip trembled and he turned over on the bed, his back to her. "Yeah, of course. What do you think? Now go away..."

I'm such an idiot... he thought. The look on Roy's face as the train left the station had haunted him all day yesterday and then into his dreams. Ed shook his head at himself. He was so confused!

"Ed..." Winry said and touched his shoulder. "Please come downstairs... I made omelets... and I'm not even serving milk at all..."

The teen sighed, turned onto his back and stared up at her worried face. "Fine..." he muttered.

She stepped back and he swung his legs over the side of the bed, then sat up. His loose hair tickled his skin and he pushed it off his shoulders with a sweep of his hand. Standing up, he scrubbed a hand over his tanktop and his boxers, then sighed. If it had been any other girl, he might have been embarrassed about being in his underclothes, but Winry and Pinako had seen him mostly naked so many times that it didn't even faze him now.

Despite that, Winry squawked when he started out the bedroom door without putting anything else on. "Aren't you going to get dressed first?" she asked as she followed him.

"Nope. You wanted me out of bed, so here I am. If you don't want me walking around the house like this then you should have left me alone."

The blonde mechanic made an exasperated sound and shook her head. "You're such a stubborn brat sometimes, you know that?"

He stopped and glared at her. "I'm a brat? Who was it that was playing pranks during Thanksgiving?"

She blushed and said defensively, "I had a good reason."

"Oh, and I don't? Jeez, what a hypocrite..." he muttered, then started down the stairs.

When he entered the dining room, both Al and Pinako looked up at him. The old woman simply chuckled and shook her head, while Al...well, he didn't really do anything, but if he could have, Ed was sure his brother would have blanched or rolled his eyes.

"Good morning, Edward," Pinako said as he took a seat at the table. To that he simply grunted. This caused her to laugh out loud. "As polite and pleasant as ever, I see."

"Winry bullied me into getting out of bed," he muttered and stared down at the omelet on his plate.

"Whatever, Mr. Fullmetal. You let yourself be bullied," Winry said as she took a seat next to him.

Glaring in her direction, Ed folded his arms and said, "You bully everyone. You even bullied Ro..." he trailed off and looked back down at the plate. He didn't want to talk about Roy. It hurt too much.

There was silence around the table for a moment, then Pinako said, "Well, let's eat. There's a lot to be done around here to prepare for tomorrow."

Ed lay lazily on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. He could hear the wind howling outside as the storm raged on. He actually felt it was pretty fitting given the storm in his heart.

His anger from the other day had taken a back seat to his guilt. What if Roy had been telling the truth? What if there was no other girl? What if this was all just some sort of misunderstanding?

"Hey..."

Ed glanced over to where Winry was sitting on the rocking chair by the fireplace. He'd been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard her come in. "What are you thinking about?"

He sighed and looked back to the ceiling. Why was it that women always asked that question?

"I think...I think I did something stupid?" he said quietly. When she didn't say anything, he continued. "I think I made the wrong decision about something and I don't know what to do..."

"Is it about the colonel?" she asked slowly, and he nodded. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" He shook his head. Not really. He didn't want her to know what kind of an idiot he was.

It was her turn to sigh. "Well...you know, you could just talk to him about it."

Of course. That was always the answer for everything with girls. Talking... "Maybe..." he said. "But with this storm, there's no way I'll be able to make it back to Central for a while..."

"Ed, what do you think phones are for?" she said in her 'you're a dork' voice.

Blood rushed to his cheeks. In all his worrying, he hadn't even thought about calling Roy... He looked at her and said, "Why do you want me to call him anyway? I thought you hated him."

She gave him a sheepish look. "We talked it over..."

At that, he grunted and stood up, quickly heading toward the small table next to the wall where the phone sat.

Swallowing, Ed nervously picked up the phone and was about to dial the number when he noticed something. Pulling the phone away from his ear, Ed stared at it, then pushed down the button on the phone unit before pressing the receiver next to his ear.

Nothing.

"What is it?" Winry asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"There's no dial tone..." he said softly. The young alchemist glanced at one of the windows. The snow was flying around so much that all that could be seen was white. "The phone lines must be down..."

A dull pain filled his chest and he felt like crying. He set the phone down. It wasn't fair. What if Roy hated him now? What if they couldn't work this out? What if he was right and Roy really had been seeing someone? What if he was with her right now?

Anger from the previous night filled him and he roughly pushed the table over. The phone clanged nosily on the floor and Winry shouted, "Ed! What are you doing?"

"Just leave me alone!" he yelled and ran upstairs. He burst into his room and slammed the door behind him. Gritting his teeth together, Ed tried hard to hold back the sob that was fighting its way out, but he couldn't. Walking quickly to his bed, the teen flopped down on the mattress and buried his head in his pillow.

It hurt.

It hurt so much...

He felt so angry that Roy might be cheating on him, yet he also felt angry at himself for doubting the other man. If the colonel wasn't seeing someone on the side, then what was going on, and why wouldn't Roy tell him anything?

A small creaking sounded in his ears as the door to the bedroom opened. Ed growled, ready to tell Winry to go away, when he heard the familiar clanking noise of Alphonse's armor.

"Brother?" Al said, his unsure tone ringing hollowly in the room.

"I'm fine... I just want to be alone..." Ed said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"Brother... I don't think you're fine. Please let me help..." The door closed and Al's clanking footsteps came closer to the bed. "Please talk to me... I don't want to see you so upset... Did the colonel do something bad to you?" The last was said cautiously, as if he were afraid Ed might attack him for asking.

Sniffling, Ed turned over onto his back and wiped a hand over his wet eyes. "No. Yes. No... I don't know..." He took a deep breath and said, "Before we came here for Thanksgiving I found a piece of paper in Roy's wallet with a girl's name and a phone number..." He paused and said quickly, "No, I wasn't going through his wallet, it fell out and I was picking it up."

"I never said you did," Al said reassuringly.

"Anyway... I don't know, I tried not to think about it, but with him being gone so much... I don't know what I'm supposed to think. I kept meaning to ask him about it, but I could never get up the courage, then he came home late on Friday and I just started yelling at him. He said he wasn't seeing anyone else, but...I don't know. I just didn't believe him, and I was so mad...

Ed laid his arm over his eyes, trying to hide his tears from Al. "I'm such an idiot..." he whispered.

The mattress lowered as Al sat on it. "What's done is done, brother. As soon as the storm quits you should go back to Central. I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding."

Ed sat up and stared at his brother. "I don't know if I can face him. What if he really is having an affair?"

"I don't think he is, brother."

Ed thought about that for a moment, then blinked in surprise when his brother leaned over and hugged him. It was a little uncomfortable with the metal, but Ed didn't care. He wrapped his arms around his brother as best as he could and said, "Do you really think so?"

"I know so," Al reassured.

Last Chapter: tomorrow!! I can't believe it! It's hard to believe this story is coming to a close... I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve.

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