I'm guessing this'll catch up to you about the time you get back to Chiron. Al told me he forgot to tell you to say hi to Ellen and all the other nurses. So, say hi to Ellen and all the other nurses, okay?

Oh, and Al wants you to send a letter when you're back on Chiron safe. He worries.

Ed

Ed's letter was the first in a blinking stack of messages waiting for her on her return to Medbase Chiron. She stared at it, thinking about how to respond.

Kain ducked his head in. "Settled in?" he asked, brandishing a cup of coffee.

"Not yet!" she told him, taking the coffee gratefully. "I've got a pile of work to dig through, first."

He smiled shyly, his ocular implants flashing. "Some of us weren't sure you were coming back," he said.

She grinned. "What, me give up on prosthetics?"

Kain shrugged. "I've got your patient files, whenever you're ready for them."

She sighed. "I'll let you know," she said. "Oh, Al says hi, by the way."

"Tell him 'hi' back," Kain said, as he left.

As promised, this is me letting you know that I'm back at Chiron. It was a boring journey, nothing exciting at all. Tell Al that I'll relay his 'hi's' as soon as I can dig myself out from under the work that was waiting for me. It's occurring to me that there was a reason why I never took any leave!

Tell Al to say hello to the stars for me, okay?

Winry

Winry loved the sky at night. It wasn't entirely familiar, covered over by air and clouds as it was. Still, it was black, and there were stars. It made her homesick.

"Thinking about going home?" Alphonse asked, limping up behind her. He was uncannily good at knowing what she was thinking.

Winry cleared her throat. "My leave is almost up," she said. "Chiron will be expecting me back."

Al nodded, perching himself on one of the porch chairs with a relieved sigh. "I know. You miss it."

She smiled apologetically. "I grew up on med bases," she said. "And I can't get over the open sky! And I know this isn't actually true, not if you look at the research, but it all seems so... unsanitary." And yet, she didn't really want to leave. She wasn't sure why.

Al laughed. "I guess it might seem that way if you weren't used to it."

"You're doing really well now, too." Winry nodded at him, acknowledging his hard PT work.

"Except for the leg," Al said, grimacing. He still hadn't really regained the use of his left leg, and he probably never would.

"If you change your mind about the amputation-" There were limits to what they could do with flesh and bone. Winry expected that Al would change his mind eventually. But she guessed she could understand him not being enthusiastic about the prospect of cutting his leg off and replacing it with a prosthetic.

"Of course I'll let you know," Al said. "Brother would never let anyone else give me a new leg."

Winry laughed. "I guess that's true," she said.

Alphonse smiled at her. "I've never thanked you," he said.

"What for?" Winry said. "Ed was the one who rescued you."

"Brother has always been so alone," he said, ducking his head. He rubbed his arm. "When I was captured, I kept thinking about him. I didn't know if he was alive, but I worried about him. But he had you."

Winry colored. "He had his squad more than me," she insisted. "I barely saw him- there was even a year when we weren't writing."

Al smiled again, leaning back in his chair. "But when he tells me about those years, it's always you that he talks about."

Al says he will. He's also giving me shit about how he can use a keyboard same as I can and you could write him his own letters. Or maybe that's him giving you shit. I can't tell.

I guess you're pretty busy, so I won't take up any more of your time.

Ed

Winry glared at the screen for the fourth time that day. She was busy. She didn't have time to deal with Edward Elric's stupid, short letter that didn't say anything. She closed the window and stomped toward the commissary. If she was stomping a little bit, it wasn't anyone's business.

She pulled a sandwich and some fruit from the menu. And if it wasn't real grain bread and the meat was vat-bred, that was fine. It was stupid to miss ham just because they had it on Resembool, where they could grow their own food and it didn't have to be transported in nutripacks and reconstituted.

"Someone's in a mood," Paninya said, sitting down opposite her. Her Tech Officer's cap was twisted around backwards. She'd ordered the spaghetti: protein-enhanced noodles in a red sauce that had never seen a tomato.

Winry blew out a breath. "I guess I am," she said.

"Hard coming back to the grind after all that clean air and sunshine?" Paninya asked, ripping her roll in half.

Winry laughed. "I don't know if I would call it clean air," she said. "They don't have filters on planets, you know."

"I don't know," Paninya said, cheerfully. "These state-of-the-art legs have never set foot on a planet, and if they ever want to, they'll have to do it without me. I'm no groundhog."

"It's not that bad," Winry protested. Had she liked Resembool or hated it? She couldn't seem to make up her mind.

Paninya shrugged. "We're glad to have you back," she said. "The tech staff did not care for the temporary head of Prosthetics."

"You just like me because I let you play with all the best toys," Winry said, grinning.

"Two months, and Emperor Hardass gave us techies nothing to do but maintenance." Paninya agreed. "I hear your patients missed you, too, of course."

Winry shrugged, and ate a bite of her sandwich. The texture was familiar, and the taste comforting. So what was she missing?

Paninya laughed. "Chiron wouldn't be the same without you, Doctor Rockbell."

Don't be a jerk, Ed. Would it kill you to talk to me? How's Al's leg doing? Did the Nedobecks win the sheep competition at the fair? What are you up to?

I was missing Resembool bread today.

Winry

"Really?" Winry said, doubtful.

Ed laughed. "You're supposed to be a surgeon, right?" he asked. "I thought you were okay with blood."

"With blood from surgery," she said. "I've never killed an animal for meat, though."

"Butchered," Al said, helpfully. "And Ed is just teasing you. Mr. Holland already butchered the pig. We're just going to buy one of the hams he cured."

"Real flesh from an animal," she said, feeling a little green.

"You are such a spacer," Ed said, grinning at her. "Trust me, you're going to like this. You liked carrots, didn't you?"

Which came out of the ground, covered in dirt and germs and worms, but were sweet and crisp when she bit into them. After she'd washed them off, of course. "Yes," she admitted.

"We'll stop by the mill and get some flour, too," Al said. "I want to bake bread."

"He's nesting," Ed complained, rolling his eyes. But that grin never left his face, the one that said, shit, Winry, I found him, can you believe it, I brought him home!

"I'm guessing bread is different here, too," Winry said, sighing.

"But better," Ed said.

Later, peeling potatoes (more dirt, more bugs, more germs) while the smells of ham and baking bread filled the air, she had to admit that there was a certain charm to planets. And food that wasn't grown in a vat.

Dear Winry,

Since I know that it is your primary concern, I will begin by saying that my leg is as well as can be expected. It doesn't ache so much as it used to, but it still will not bear weight or bend as it ought. Brother wishes that I might replace it; I may yet but am not ready yet to leave Resembool. Although Resembool (or perhaps just Brother) is a much stormier place since your departure.

The Nedobecks did not win at the sheep festival; they were edged out by the Parkers. This precipitated a fist fight between Ray Nedobeck and Ally Parker, much to the amusement of everyone who was not named either Nedobeck or Parker. The sheep were likewise unamused as is their custom. Otherwise, much fun was had by all. We were very sorry that you missed it.

Brother is a bit at loose ends at the moment. I think that he doesn't know what to do with himself. He is often in poor temper, but that may just be Ed.

Since you said you were sorry for its absence, I have sent a loaf of bread by way of the last ship that left Resembool. I fear it will be stale (or worse) by the time it reaches you, but you can take it as a token of esteem either way.

Yrs. Truly-

Alphonse Elric

"You have a package," Kain said, surprised. "And not from Rush Station."

Winry looked up from the paperwork she was paging through. "Where from?" she asked.

"Doesn't say," Kain said, putting it on her desk. "There's the new parts catalogue, too, though."

"Really?" She perked up. "Do you want to go through it with me? We'll have to make a new requisition soon, and we should be up on the latest models."

"Not until you open your mystery package," he said, smiling as he pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I'm dying to find out what it is."

She picked it up. It was heavy, but not large. She unsealed the plasboard canister to reveal a mass of airbubbles underneath. She pulled that out and unwound them to reveal... a carefully wrapped loaf of homemade bread.

Alphonse.It had to be; Ed didn't bake bread. She unwrapped it and smelled it, checking it carefully for signs of spoilage.

"What is that?" Kain asked, his eyes wide.

"Bread," Winry said, smiling slyly.

He shook his head. "Bread is square," he said. "And white. Not brown."

"That's just the crust. And if you keep arguing, I won't let you try any," Winry said.

He looked at it dubiously. "I guess a taste couldn't hurt," he said.

"Where are you from?" she asked. "Ships? Stations?"

Kain colored a little. "I was a Melchorite," he mumbled.

"So, ships. And that's nothing to be embarrassed about," she told him. "Melchorite ships came through every so often on Rush Station. They always seemed really nice, and their clothing was so pretty. Usually they keep to themselves, though." She looked around for something to cut with.

He shrugged. "Yeah. Joining the army was my way of leaving. We're- they're pacifists, if you didn't know. So I'm pretty much not welcome back to the caravans."

She had a clean scalpel, and cutting bread wouldn't be that bad for the blade. She sliced off a piece and nibbled on it. It tasted like sun and grass to her. "Wow," she said. "Do you miss them?"

Kain looked uncomfortable. "I don't know," he said.

She cut another piece of the bread. "Here," she said firmly. "Taste this."

He nibbled gingerly. "Weird," he said. He swallowed, looking at his shoes. "It's family, you know? There's nobody you care about like them, but there's nobody who can hurt you that bad, either."

She nodded slowly. "Even when they're dead," she said, quietly. "Maybe especially."

Fuery nodded. "Maybe especially," he agreed, and took another bite of bread.

Dear Alphonse:

Thank you so much for the bread! It actually made it to us just before your letter did, so it was quite the surprise. I shared some of it with the staff (who all send their regards, particularly Nurse Ellen). I must admit that it was a little stale but much appreciated all the same.

Your leg is not my primary concern; I am concerned about the whole of you! That said, as long as your leg is healing well and does not show signs of nerve deterioration, then you may feel confident in taking as much time as you need, and you may tell Ed I said so. As enthusiastic as I am about prosthetics, I'm sure that Edward can tell you about the long and painful process of installation and phys-therapy, and you're only just back on your feet. But any time you want to talk about leg options, I would be happy to talk about the details!

All here on Chiron is much as it was. I have been chastised for my long vacation many times by patients and staff alike- which is both distressing and gratifying.

Tell your brother that if he is angry with me, then he shouldn't take it out on you. He can send me a vox letter and shout all he likes and then perhaps he won't be such a grouch.

Fondest regards-

Winry Rockbell

"Is that her?" Winry asked, awkwardly.

"Yeah," Ed said, taking the picture down from the shelf. He blew dust off the frame. "I haven't been in this house since she died," he explained, embarrassed.

Winry shrugged, trying to set him at ease. "We can work on cleaning it up," she said. She reached out and touched the picture. "She's so pretty."

Ed smiled. "Yeah," he said. "Al takes after her, really." He grimaced. "I don't."

"You take after your dad?" she asked, cautiously.

Ed shrugged and looked away. "The hair and eyes," he said. "I hardly knew the bastard-" he shrugged again, his golden eyes dark.

"I take after my dad," she said, swiftly. "Or, I mean, that's what Granny says. She says I have my mom's figure and her chin, but I really look like my dad in the cheeks and the eyes."

"Yeah?" he said.

"Yeah," she said, and fished in her pocket. "Wait, let me show you." She pulled out a dog-eared photograph from the wallet she always carried, and handed it over. Ed studied it.

"Yeah, I can see it," he said. He paused, the photograph dangling awkwardly in his fingers. "You were pretty young when they died, huh?"

"I don't really remember them," she said. "I mean, I sort of do. But it's been so long, I can't tell whether I remember them or the photographs, you know?"

He nodded slowly. "My dad," he said, quietly. Suddenly, he handed her back the photograph. For a moment, his hand was in hers, his calloused fingertips brushing against hers. Her eyes jolted upwards to meet his, those gold irises glowing down at her.

She swallowed. "At least I had Granny," she said. "I wasn't alone, not on Rush Station."

He nodded. "I had Al," he said, curtly.

Until he didn't, of course. She remembered how desperate he'd been the first time she'd seen him, fighting his way out from under sedation calling for his brother. How frustrated he'd been at having to take time to heal, because somewhere, Al needed him. She wondered if Alphonse understood how very much Ed needed him, too.

Impulsively, she leaned forward and hugged him. Ed's face, when she pulled away, was beet red.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"Do you want me not to?" she countered, tartly.

"I didn't say that," he said.

I'm not mad at you.

Al says you're welcome for the bread.

Ed

"Whoa, boss," Paninya said, ducking out of the way. "Take it out on me all you like, but watch the tech!"

Winry caught her balance- she'd almost run straight into Paninya going around a corner. "I'm not actually your boss," she pointed out.

Paninya grinned. "Sure," she said. "But we both know that it's not Department of Technical Services Director Miez who I have to answer to if this leg gets busted up. At least not first."

"It is okay, right?" Winry asked, worried. "That's Tetsu's leg. If it tests out, I've got the installation in a few hours."

"It's not only fine, but it also tests. You do good work. But you didn't need me to tell you that." Paninya carefully put the prosthetic on the rack in the workshop. "Now, what's got your panties in a twist?"

"What?" Winry asked, blinking.

"It's a metaphor," Paninya said. "I know you go commando."

Winry could feel herself turning pink. "I do not-"

"Not actually my question," Paninya pointed out. She shrugged. "Fine, don't tell me. You just seemed upset."

Winry sighed. "Ed," she said. "He's mad at me, and I don't know why."

Paninya squinted at the ceiling of the room, and then climbed on top of a table.

"What are you doing?" Winry asked.

"Your light is flickering," Paninya said. "Have you asked him why?"

"He says he's not mad," Winry said.

Paninya pulled out a multitool and started dismantling the offending light fixture. "Do you actually know why, but you're refusing to admit it to yourself?"

Winry sighed again. "Maybe," she admitted.

Paninya peered at the guts of the fixture, and then zapped it with her multitool. She zapped it twice more, and then started shoving it back into the ceiling. "Well, have you tried talking to him about whatever it is you're not admitting to yourself is the problem?"

"He's so stubborn," Winry complained.

Paninya laughed as she finished re-engaging the clamps that held the fixture up. "Uh huh," she said sarcastically. She jumped down from the table. "Well, I've done my job here," she said. "Leg delivered, lights fixed, ridiculous self-deluding behavior pointed out-"

"Okay, okay," Winry said, cracking a smile.

"That's what we do for each other," Paninya said, cheerfully. "Admittedly, it's usually you doing it for me, but I can stand up when necessary. Double-amputee joke definitely intended."

"Ha ha," Winry said.

"You're not actually going to talk to him, are you?" she said, grinning.

"I might," Winry protested.

Dear Alphonse,

What are you and Ed up to? I looked it up, and I saw that it's getting to be Autumn where you are. You should have someone look at the furnace before it gets cold. Don't let Ed do it; furnaces aren't supposed to explode.

Winry

"Why not?" Ed said. "It's your money."

"No it's not!" she protested. "You left it to me in your will, Ed. And I don't know if you noticed this, but you're not dead."

He shrugged. "I wanted you to have it," he said. "I don't need it."

"I don't need it either!" she fumed. "I was doing just fine without it!"

"Just take it!" he said, almost shouting, now.

"No!" she snapped back.

They stood, glaring at each other.

"Fine," he said, at long last.

"What?" she said, surprised.

"Whatever. Fine." He turned away, scowling.

"Why is it fine?" she snapped. "It wasn't fine a moment ago!"

"Well, it is now!" he shouted. He turned and stumped out of the room.

"Ed!" she shouted after him, but he didn't return.

She turned around to see Alphonse leaning on the door frame behind her. He sighed heavily. "He can be like that," he said, embarrassed.

"I don't understand why he's so upset about it. Most people would be happy to have the money back."

Al shrugged. "Brother's always been an exception," he said. He pursed his lips.

She lashed out, shouting and kicking the leg of the couch. "I don't know how to do this," she said, into Alphonse's stunned silence. "I don't know what he needs. I don't know how to make this work."

Dear Winry,

Brother did actually check over the house's climate controls himself, and as far as I can tell, he did a perfectly fine job. Nothing exploded, at any rate. He tells me to inform you that if he has the technical skills to design a planet-killer, he thinks he can handle a furnace.

It is getting chillier, however. The air is crisp and the leaves are changing- but it's hard to appreciate, as I'm fairly house-bound. I wanted to let you know that you may see us in person soon. The cold makes my leg ache, and the more it hurts, the less attached I am to it. Brother says his stumps hurt, too, but at least he can walk properly.

I'm sorry if I sound snappish. Brother has been in a foul mood since you left, and shows no signs of getting over it. And Resembool just seems so small lately, for both of us.

I hope this letter finds you in better spirits than it leaves us-

Alphonse

Winry checked the dorsal flexors, and then made a few notes. "Mechanically, it's perfect," she said. "It's possible that there was nerve damage in the installation, but more likely, it's just taking your brain a while to adjust to the new hardware. There's therapy we can do for that, though."

The patient- a Lieutenant Anona- sighed. "It's taking forever," she said.

"How long did it take you to learn to use your hands the first time?" Winry asked, cheerily. "This will take time, but you'll get there. Trust me- we'll make sure you do. You just have to keep moving forward."

As they left the room, Ellen looked over at her. "I don't know how you stay so positive," she said, bluntly.

Winry shrugged. "There are worse wards for that than this one," she said. "We hardly ever lose patients, not by the time they get to us. And we get to make them whole again."

Ellen smiled sideways. "It's good you can look at it that way," she said. "I can't believe how many vets we're still getting from the battlefields. The war's been over more than a year. But I guess for these kids, the war's never going to end."

"It will," Winry said, firmly. "That's what we do here. We give them new limbs so that they can go back to their lives. And at least now we're not just sending them back to the battlefield to get hurt again."

"I don't know how you ended up in a military hospital," Ellen said, laughing.

"I wanted to go where I was needed," Winry said. It was true. It was also true that the military had the best hardware, the most resources. It hadn't been an entirely altruistic choice. But when she had gotten to Chiron, her entire perspective had changed. She had trained and learned and studied since she was a little girl just for a pleasure of it, but Chiron was the first place that she had really needed everything she had learned. It was the first place that she had understood the difference that she could make in her patients' lives.

"You are good at what you do," Ellen said.

"So are you," Winry said, returning the compliment.

Dear Alphonse,

I wish I had been able to stay long enough to see the leaves change. I've seen pictures, of course, but it's not the same.

I'm sorry your leg hurts. Just let me know when and I'll make sure there's a bed waiting for you.

Winry

She turned a corner, and nearly ran right into Ed.

"Watch where you're going!" he snapped.

"I was," Winry said, offended. "You watch where you're going, Edward Elric."

"Sorry," he grumbled, apologetically. He ran a hand through his hair. "What're you doing up?"

She shrugged. "Just looking at the stars," she said.

"You miss the black, huh," he said.

She shrugged. "I'm a station brat, remember?"

"Yeah," he said. "Hey, I was going into town tomorrow, if you want to come."

"Alright," she said. "I need to get a flitter ticket for the spaceport anyway. For Monday, you know."

He scowled. "You don't have to take the flitter," he said. "Al and I can drive you."

"You don't have a car," she pointed out.

He leaned against the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Nedobecks have one," he said. "They'd lend it to us; they like you." He scowled deeper. "Everyone likes you."

"Why are you acting like that makes you mad?" she snapped.

"No," he snapped back. "I just- gah!" He threw up his hands. "We'll drive you. To the spaceport. You don't have to take the flitter." He spun around, his unbound hair flying.

"Okay," she said, to his retreating back.

Winry was putting the finishing touches on a requisition form when Kain ducked his head into her office. "You're needed in the landing bay," he said, with enough of a grin to make her suspect something.

"This isn't another surprise party, is it?" she said, tentatively.

"Maybe it's a half-burnt freighter full of wounded," he said, airily.

"Ha!" she huffed. "If that were true, you'd've come in running." She filed the form. "At least tell me it's a surprise party for someone else."

"You'll see," he said.

She followed him along the corridors toward the landing bay. The corridors were grey, slashed with guide stripes. She'd lived in corridors like this her whole life. She wasn't sure why they seemed so small all of a sudden.

The ship was just landing when she made it into the bay. It settled carefully to the ground, lurching slightly as the gravlocks engaged.

"It's not a surprise visit from Granny, is it?" she murmured.

"You'll see," Kain repeated, grinning. His implants flashed green.

And then she realized who was coming. "Edward Elric!" she shouted, as the gangplank lowered. "I told you to call first!"

Ed scratched the back of his neck as he helped Al down the plank. "What, don't you want us here?" he asked, irritably.

Al rolled his eyes. "Brother wanted it to be a surprise," he said.

Winry, already up to the ship, gathered them both in her arms. "Stupid Elrics," she grumbled.