Chapter Seventeen-Suspicions

When Edward walked back into the hospital room, Winry couldn't help but notice that he seemed to be having trouble with his automail. For some reason he was having a hard time moving it in sync with his other leg. He searched the room for May, wondering if the Xingese girl could detect his presence as well.

"Where's May?" Winry pointed to the closed bathroom door before walking over to him.

"She's in there. Hey Ed, is your automail bothering you?" He glanced over at her in complete shock that she'd noticed. This entire time Pride had gone to great lengths to act normal and to adapt to the metal limb. But as hard as he had tried that entire morning, he was still having difficulty with the timing.

"Oh well, maybe I messed it up when I was attacked. Guess I didn't realize it." Winry frowned some at his response. She wondered why he wouldn't have said anything sooner about it. He knew his own automail just as much as she did by this point. Having it for about ten years now, he could almost always pin point what was wrong with it. Being around her had helped out a lot. She was able to teach him quite a bit but then she chopped that up to the fact that he didn't have alchemy occupying his time now.

"Why didn't you say something, let me take a look at it." He backed away some, letting out a nervous laugh.

"No that's okay. I'm sure it'll get better over time." Winry's mouth twisted into a deep frown. He knew better then to just leave it alone and let the problem fix itself. If a part was broken, it needed to be replaced. Otherwise it could cause more parts to malfunction. If the timing was off then she needed to tweak it so that it was in complete synchronization with his nerves. Of course he always hated when that was the problem since it involved disconnecting and reconnecting his nerves over and over till it was right. Maybe that was why he had avoided telling her.

"Alright, take your pants off and let me have a look." She had that determined look in her eyes. Pride had no idea what it meant but was about to find out. Even so, he knew that if she looked at it and found out nothing was wrong she might come to the conclusion that he wasn't very familiar with it.

"We're in the middle of a hospital. Don't you think we can do this some other time?"

"You're going to ruin it and then it won't just be an easy fix. Do you really want to go for a whole week without it?" Pride actually found himself rolling his eyes. He didn't realized she was so stubborn.

oOoOo

Once Lt. Hawkeye had composed herself, the General and she headed back to Alphonse room. The two of them went back to their silent respect for each other even though deep down Riza wanted to thank him for being there for her. As they made their way down the hall, Roy couldn't help but wonder what had upset her so much. Had there been bad news about Al that he hadn't heard just yet? Despite how much he wanted to know, he chose to leave it alone.

When he opened the door to Al's room, he stopped short, causing Riza to bump into his backside.

"Sir?" She tried to see around him, wondering what had stopped him in this tracks. It was more fear then curiosity for her as she brought her hand to her side for her firearm.

"Do I even want to know what you two have been up to in here," Mustang smirked at Winry and Ed. She had her hands on his belt and was trying to get it undone while he was hollering at her to stop. Both of them turned their attention to Roy who now stood there with his arms crossed and amused. Riza forced herself to visibly relax. "As much as I approve of something like this, perhaps another place would be more appropriate." Winry let go of the belt and turned, blushing. Of course Roy expected Edward to explode at the implication but he didn't, which was odd for the younger man. Instead he stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned his back to his wife.

"See I told you it can wait till later." He stomped out of the room. "I've gotta go check on something. I'll be back." With that, he pushed past Mustang and Hawkeye but not before giving Riza a look that sent a chill down her spine.

"That was kind of weird." Roy got out of the way so that Riza could move further into the room. She remained where she was until she heard his voice again. "You alright?" Glancing up at him, she noticed worry had set into his features and she quickly stood up straighter, entering the room.

"Sorry sir, just thinking."

"About what? Everyones' been off lately." He scratched his head and let out a sigh.

"I promise it won't effect my work, sir."

Oh, I'm not worried about that at all. But if I can't pick on Ed anymore, that's gonna make things really boring for me while he's around. Which reminds me," he turned to Winry. Quickly she waved her hands back and forth, blushing once more.

"We weren't doing anything, I promise. I just wanted to get a look at his automail. He gets so fidgety about it though."

"No, that's not what I was thinking about. I was wondering if he's said anything about what your plans are. I'd assume you're staying in town till Alphonse is better, right?"

"Believe it or not, Ed hasn't mentioned what we're doing yet. And he hasn't really seemed too upset about Al either. I don't know what's going on with him lately." There was a soft moan from the bed that caused the conversation to cease as Al turned his head and brought his hand up to scratch the bandage on his cheek. Winry hurried to the bed and leaned over him.

"Al? Are you awake?" He shook his head and let out a whine.

"Why is everyone being so loud? It's hurting my head," he admitted. Winry realized May was still in the bathroom and rushed to the other side of the room, banging on the door.

"May, Al's awake!" The younger girl opened the door and it was clear that she had been in there crying this whole time.

"Alphonse?" She moved past Winry and over to the bed, taking his one hand.

"May," Al breathed out quietly. "Where am I?" Shao Mei jumped over and rubbed her face against the back of his hand until he moved his arm and lightly petted her.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Um, it's a little fuzzy but I think I saw Pride attack Ed. Is he okay?" Al's weak gaze wondered over to Mustang.

"He seems fine. I don't know, maybe the attack is whats' causing him to act so weird. I haven't had the chance to really talk to him now that I think about it." Winry bit the inside of her mouth also realizing that Ed hadn't said anything to her either which really didn't make any sense since he told her pretty much everything now. Maybe it was his way of protecting her but even so, she wanted to know that he was alright. Slowly a shadow that no one noticed slipped across the floor and out of the room. Pride stood nearby listening in on everything they were discussing. At least Riza hadn't said anything otherwise he might have had to make an example of her. But even so it would seem that his facade was starting to fall apart and he needed to come up with a plan before they all caught on. And he definitely didn't want to go back to a dust ball of a town like Resembol. No, he had unfinished plans for Central and this country. Everyone and anyone who opposed him and Father were going to suffer.

A/N-So I work in an auto shop and it took some of my knowledge about cars and parts to come up with the beginning explaining what might be wrong with Ed's automail. Phew. (occupational hazzard I know)I hope it made some sense. I would like to think cars and automail might have some similarities. They both require mechanics afterall.