The Rizembool watering hole had been a childhood hotspot for generations. Young children would visit it daily in the heat of summer to splash in the small pond full of cool muddy water. It was surrounded by a round lagoon like expanse of willow trees and moss. The sun was assuaged and the air seemed more breathable around the watering hole. Even parents ventured there to watch their happy kids when the weather became too hot to stand.

There were small fish in the pond as well as a whole array of amphibians…young boys and tom-boys, maybe even the childhood Elric Brothers and adamant to join-in Winry Rockbell could sometimes be seen fashioning poles out of long crooked sticks. They hoped to catch one of these very sea creatures from the pond and parade their catch to the mothers back home waiting for them. Laughter surrounded the watering hole and it was a happy place in the memories of Edward, Alphonse, and Winry. It had always been.

Now, in 1918 by Amestrian reckoning, summer was ending and the school children where beckoned back to their classrooms by day, but the heat of August had not yet broken, and September was sultry with humidity. Alphonse had returned to his studies in Xing with a promise he would return for Christmas with visitors. His two months with Ed, Winry and Pinako had been a happy and productive. Edward and Alphonse had begun to draw up their first initial plans for starting their Academy, deciding it would resemble a boarding school for those children who had no real home of their own to go to. The debate was continual as to WHERE they would establish this school and who would be their staff? Without an answer decided, Alphonse promised to think more diligently and speak to his friends in the East while Edward began visitng friends in Central and writing letters to acquaintances in Creta. By Christmas, the brothers would decide their first steps to achieve their goal.

Until then, there was a wedding to plan.

December 31st was the date set and Winry stayed busy with planning the "small" but somehow growing affair that was to be the legal union of Elric and Rockbell. She mused that both she and Edward would have much preferred an Elopement, but the family around them would not hear of it. Pinako seemed insulted by the idea, Alphonse hurt…soon letters came pouring in from Gracia Hughes, Alex Armstrong, and even Izumi Curtis inquiring as to when and where their wedding would be (perhaps Alphonse's doing?). The two caved in and agreed upon a small winter ceremony on the last day of the year. They would marry at the town hall in Rizembool and hop on the train to Creta the next day for an extended honeymoon out west.

Now that she was planning, Winry was excited to have a wedding. However, currently, it was so suffocatingly hot that she could not get much done. Sweat lined her whole body – and she had started walking around the house with an ice pack tied to the back of her neck to stay cool. She considered cutting her hair short to relieve some of the misery, but knew Edward would protest adamantly at the loss of something he deemed he could not live without…her long, blond locks.

Edward. The thought of him made her more hot and bothered as she tried to sit at the kitchen table to address in long, looping black script, her own wedding invitations. She wasn't having much luck. The air just was too thick and hot and no fan could help her cause. It did not help her that her Fiance whom she had become physically obsessed with over the past two months sat right across from her reading an Alchemy text book, his brow furrowed in intense concentration, one hand repeatedly rubbing a diminishing ice cube over his temples in an attempt to stay cool.

Her first mistake was to watch his hands. They were robust and manly and reminded her of the nights (and days) where those hands would slowly peel off her clothes, hold her close, and touch her between her legs. Those brown hands she watched rub an failing ice cube and turn the page of a book were the same hands that broke her down with caresses and pinches and built her back up with strokes and presses.

Then she let her eyes linger on the temples that had moistened from the ice which called attention to his long, golden blond hair. He still refused to cut it (now Winry believed out of an attempt to invoke his now dead Father, more than anything), but Winry was not complaining. It framed his face and grew more lustrous with age. Currently, his entire head was damp with sweat and beads of moisture danced down the curves of his neck and pooled in the crevice of his Adams apple. That neck – she had held onto it for dear life last night as he had pushed her up against the bedroom door (as soon as she had shut it), ripped her night dress off, spread her legs, and entered her will still standing.

He was an insatiable lover; sometimes rough, but oftentimes gentle. Winry loved that his moods always reflected his outpourings in the bedroom and she always seemed to compliment them perfectly herself. They had chemistry – and even she could appreciate that. She had visited Rush Valley a few times since his return and blushed to remember how she had told Garfiel every single steamy detail.

"Winry-chan! Oh how I envy your sex life!" He had said.

She blushed. It was still strange to think that she HAD a sex life and that it was a point of envy. But then again, looking across at Edward reading with such focus, his body so calm and lovely even in this heat, she counted her blessings.

But this heat!

The idea was organic and sprung from an honest deduction of the most sound reasoning.

"That's enough Edward."

He looked up from his book alarmed. His eyes tensed. "What?"

"It's too hot for this right now."

For a moment she thought he may argue, but then he seemed to remember he had a melting ice cube in his hand and that his shirt was completely drenched in sweat.

"You're right."

"I have an idea." She stood up, pulled him to his feet, and practically ran out the door.

/

"But….ANYONE could see us, Winry!"

"Schools started. We will be quite alone!" She teased as she removed her bra and shimmied out of her skirt and underwear. She expected initial resistance at first, but knew once she was naked he would follow her. He had become suddenly quiet and refusing to look back at him while exaggerating the shake of her hips; she jumped clean off the tree root and dropped four feet into deep, cool, water.

Divinity! Oh how cool and perfect the water felt. She stayed under a moment or two to enjoy the complete feeling of refreshment after blazing hours in the hot summer sun. When she re-emerged from the water she saw Edward at the tree root where she had just jumped. He was eying her with suspicion – only his shirt was removed.

"Get in you big baby!" Winry called after him as she kicked around. She swam further out towards the center of the pond and turned back to him. He had not moved but was watching her with a grin across his face.

"You look happy." He called out to her "Like a giddy mermaid or something."

"You could be happy too if you get it. The water feels fine!" She kicked up a toe.

He looked over his shoulder and the debate was final. Quickly stepping out of his pants and boxes and removing his shoes, he dived, head first to follow her in.

Winry giggled. This was like childhood almost – it took her back and felt very familiar. She remembered summers as a five year old, swimming in this lake with Ed and Al. They weren't allowed to go out as far as she currently was because it got pretty deep at the center. Yet, she remembered water fights and even mud castles along the bank. It was strange that coming here had never occurred to her before now, but it was a wonderful feeling to be back here again and whole.

She had become lost in thought and had forgotten her pursuer. She squealed as a hand yanked her under and another tickled at her waist. She fought back, trying to dunk him and the splashing and giggling echoed through the watering hole lagoon for some time before they both tired out and swam for shallower water.

When she could put her tip toes on the floor of the pond Winry stopped and lazily began drawing circles in the water with her fingers. Edward reclined and floated on the surface for a while, and both smirked in enjoyment as they just let themselves enjoy the coolness of the moment and the memories that flooded their senses.

"It's nice out here, huh, Winry." He said after a while.

"Yes. Like old times."

"Yeah." He swam closer to her and pulled her in for an embrace. She rested her nose against the crook of his neck and inhaled his scent and the surrounding aroma of fresh water and mud and grass as his arms came to wrap around her waist and caress her sensitive skin there.

He kissed her neck, then the line of her jaw. His tongue traced a line of water from her ear to her chin. Feeling encouraged by his actions, Winry pushed up slightly and wrapped her legs around his waist, the water helped support her as he now began trailing down to her shoulders and breasts.

She was starting to feel hot again. "This is something we certainly haven't done here before." She whispered. He chuckled and took a nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue against it. It felt wonderful and she arched into his touch while rubbing her pelvis against his waist. Despite the chill of the water, she could feel him hardening underneath her rump and suddenly her heart began to race.

Yes. This is what she wanted from the beginning.

Tugging at his hair, Winry pulled his face back up to hers and bit the soft skin of his lower lip. She held it suspended with her teeth and stared straight into his eyes attempting in the best way to communicate how turned on she was (albeit telepathically). Those brown hands of her adoration came to her face and cupped her cheeks as he intensified the kiss and his tongue reached out to find hers. They moaned and groaned, more out of anticipation than anything, and Winry wiggled her hips against his, rocking a little with desire.

The water splashed with their movements and somewhere a bird was crying out in the distance. Winry was aware of those sounds as he pulled her thighs further apart, pulled her down slightly, and entered her fully in one smooth thrust.

The water made them both feel light and graceful – this was a new sensation, and Winry closed her eyes tight and held on for dear life as he fluidly began to thrust his hips against her. He pulled out as far as he could go and entered her as deep as he could manage.

Edward's toes bent and rolled into the muddy ground of the pond and his arms shook as he tried to hold her against him as he fucked her. He had also hoped this would happen from the moment she had pulled him up from the kitchen table and out the door of the Rockbell house.

But, once again, she had surprised him in locale.

"Winry, you feel so unbelievable." He whispered against her ears. He had come to realize that, although it was more physically challenging to maintain, he really enjoyed the tightness and feeling fucking while standing, and Winry was an impressive acrobat herself. She moaned against his ear, and the reverberations encouraged him to pick up the pace. In, out, in, out. Kiss and grab. Touch and taste. These simple instincts drove him mad with desire and being out in the open – in this natural environment made him feel as if he was the only man on the earth, and she was the only woman.

He let his head fall back as his blood warmed and his heart raced against the confines of his chest. She was meeting him thrust for Thrust and leveraging the angle to swivel her hips every time he re-entered her. He moaned and moaned and couldn't get enough. The splashes of water became more violent and spiraled around them as they continued to move in rhythm.

He reached one had around her and clasped onto the crook of her neck and shoulder, the other he let wander underneath the line of water and against the sensitive mount right above where they were joined together. He had become quite familiar with this area and it was his new favorite part of Winry. He began to rub, though his rhythm was erratic, due to the coiling of his own insides every time he thrust into her and she called out his name.

Winry clung on for dear life and rocked her hips as violently as she could manage against him. She whined and moaned as her orgasm slightly surfaced from beneath an unknown region of her belly. She was aware of the water slushing around their bodies with each thrust and aware of his thumb and rubbing circles against her clit with care. One look into his eyes – dark with passion was enough to undo her. She twisted and writhed against him, her shouts echoing and reverberating throughout the lagoon.

"I'm…I'm cumming, Edward." She shouted as she clawed her fingers into his shoulder. He grunted in reply, his own member throbbing within her and releasing all that pent up emotion and strain.

And with one final whimper, they both went limp in the water.

/

Later that evening, they took a bath together. Winry scrubbed the muck of pond water off his skin, and he lathered and washed the murky water from her hair. They couldn't stop grinning. Everything was still so new and every moment was meant to be cherished.

As they crawled into bed, they shared their fondest memories together of their childhood days at the watering hole. They laughed and even cried a little when reminiscing about the happy faces of their parents watching them learn to swim. Edward stroked her hair and held her tight as they talked. Soon – they grew quiet, but just before they trailed to sleep, Edward whispered against her head.

"I want the school to be here. Here in Rizembool. Near the watering hole."

"Yes." She replied, happy and edging near dreams. "I think that would be perfect."