Strong people stand up for themselves,

but stronger people stand up for others.

-unknown

November brought chilling winds and with it, an unusually early snowfall. 3 inches of white powder would never disturb a New Yorker, yet Roy Mustang stood on the curb outside 27 Wooster St with dusted shoulders and a heavy heart as he looked up at Alchemy's new front window.

"You sure about this boss? I mean, it's Fullmetal." Hymens Braeda was a lot like an english bulldog. Tough, loyal, and stocky. He'd follow his Commissioner to hell and back, but he wasn't dumb, and he wasn't afraid to ask the questions that needed asking.

"I'm not sure Braeda, but you know its not personal. Its the job we signed up for."

"But it's Ed. He served along side us, he's a good guy. He'd never—"

"—Ed has a hard life, a short temper, and not much left to lose. As much as I don't want to believe it, it would make sense for him to do this. He has the motivation." Roy said, his mouth set in a grim line. They cast each other a final look before buzzing up and ascending the stairs to Alchemy.

Greed stood at the front desk and exchanged friendly handshakes with the two lawmen upon their entering.

"Haven't seen you in a while Mustang, how're things?"

Roy Mustang's midnight eyes scanned the bustling studio and honed in on Edward towards the back, sitting in a small booth tracing over the lightbox.

"Things are bad." He answered. "How busy is Ed right now?"

Greed started connecting the dots and his happy demeanor fell away as he looked down at the day's schedule.

"There's nothing on his book for today until later, I'd say he's just preparing for that."

Roy's request for Braeda to stay up front with Greed was met with a simple nod before Mustang walked back to meet Ed. He glanced over Ed's shoulder.

"Flowers huh? I thought you didn't draw those for people anymore." He said. Edward turned and looked up with a sheepish grin and a brightness in his eyes that Roy hadn't seen in years.

"Well I don't, but I made an exception for Winry."

Mustang's heart fell to his feet for the second time that day. He swallowed hard.

"Ed, we need to talk. Somewhere private."

The grave look on his friend's face sent Ed's heart racing as he rose from his seat and showed Mustang to his office. Roy's eyes connected to Braeda for him to follow them back, and they shut the door behind them. Once inside the quiet confines of his office Edward turned to address them.

"Whatever it is tell me fast, you're freaking me out." He said, recalling the last time Roy had pulled him aside to deliver devastating news.

"Where were you 4 nights ago? On Wednesday?" Mustang asked, all personal attachments put aside and professionalism in full force. As much as he wanted to be a friend, he had to be a cop.

"Wednesday?" Ed mused, he opened his phone and scrolled through his schedule to jog his memory and that's when it flooded back. "Oh right, I was here."

He silently wondered how he could've forgotten, it was the day he finally kissed Winry, and probably would have tried for more if it hadn't been for the asshole who sent a brick through his front window.

"You mean you didn't close up shop that afternoon when the window was shattered?" Braeda asked.

"I did. But I didn't see the need to sleep elsewhere that night, plus I wanted to be here to guard the shop until the repair guys could bring some new glass the next day. I couldn't leave all this equipment here with a massive open hole in the front of my store, not to mention the safe is upstairs."

"Can anyone vouch for you? Do you have cameras?"

"Sorry, what's this about?" Ed asked. "Am I in trouble for something?"

Mustang and Braeda exchanged a look before Roy reached into the breast pocket of his black trench and produced a fe photographs.

"You recognize this guy?"

Ed's eyes widened slightly at the sight of a body, grayish and plumped from water absorption with white, unseeing eyes. It only took a moment for Ed to make the connection.

"Yeah, this guy was in the store that day." He said, handing the photos back. "He came in for a tattoo, became belligerent when it was time to pay, and I threw him out. His name was B something-"

"—Barry Bostic." Roy interjected. "He was a police officer. He was seen at the 503 that evening and then didn't show up for his shift the day after. His body washed up at Chelsea Piers two nights ago, autopsy shows he was dead before he went into the river."

"So what's this got to do with me?" Ed asked.

"Security footage from neighboring storefronts as well as traffic lights showed someone stumbling out of your building entrance Wednesday clutching his throat. 40 minutes later those cameras caught the same person returning to throw a brick through your window. It was Barry."

Edward eyed him curiously. "Sorry, I don't follow."

"This guy's neck was broken, and the bruises match automail. The tenants living downstairs where both out of the country when this happened and they don't carry automail anyway. You're the only person in this building with automail and yours fits the size of the bruises on this guy's neck."

Panic filled Ed's chest as he looked back and forth between his two comrades. "Okay… I was pissed at this guy and I grabbed him, but I didn't break his neck. You said so yourself he left the shop and then came back to break my window."

"There are people who believe you went after him later. What's the nature of your relationship with Winry Rockbell?" Roy pressed, hating himself more and more with each minute that passed. Ed was lost for only a moment as he thought of how to describe such a thing.

"We're …friends I guess."

"You care about her more than that." Roy said with a knowing look. "You must, after the way you reacted when she was attacked by Noah, and if you're drawing flowers for her. You've been obsessed with her for a while now Ed, and the brick Barry threw had a direct threat for you to stay away from Winry. Did you follow this guy and kill him?"

"NO! Of course not!" Ed paced the small room as he searched his mind for an alibi, anything that could prove he hadn't left the studio that night. "What about those camera's outside? You said they show the building's entrance—"

"—But not the back alley. You have a fire escape scaling the rear of the building that peaks at your attic window and there's nothing to prove you didn't leave that way."

"Do you have security cameras?" Braeda asked, to which Ed shook his head defeatedly.

"I've been saving up for an advanced system, but the money just isn't there yet. No one was here with me that night…" He trailed off, knowing he had no alibi to prove his innocence, when his mind went to the late night conversation he'd had with Winry that evening. "In the letter he told me to stay away from Winry, what's his connection to her? How did they know each other?"

"We have a theory, but we need to question her next."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Mustang considered his friend's request for a moment. "….I'm not supposed to share that information with you, Fullmetal."

Edward pulled a pack of cigarettes from a desk drawer and lit one as he shot Roy a wounded look. "I'm not a fucking terrorist, Flame." He said, referring to Roy's codename from their time in the Army together. "If you want to me clear my name I need help."

"We think he might be the one who's been harassing Winry."

Ed dragged on his cigarette —an indulgence he only craved under extreme stress— and ashed into an empty candlestick holder on his desk. "No, that's her ex who's been messing with her. I don't understand why you haven't brought the hammer down on that guy yet."

"Because there's no hammer to be thrown, Ed. We talked about this. Frank Archer's been checking in with his P.O. regularly, he never leaves his house, and with no evidence to support your claims that he was harassing her theres nothing I can do. My best guess is that Barry Bostic knows Winry because he was on the force with Archer a few years back. Maybe Barry was the one following her and sending her flowers. After all, there's no way Frank Archer could've gotten into the 503 to take all the files that are missing, but Barry could've."

Edward sucked on his cigarette as he listened to Roy and ran a hand through his hair. "Isn't this all speculation? I mean, I definitely didn't kill this Barry guy so you're not gonna find any evidence showing that I did."

"You don't need a video of someone committing the crime to prove they did it. You can put someone away with dates and times, weapons, and probable cause." Mustang said. Edward crushed out his cigarette before looking up at his friends desperately.

"…So are you here to arrest me for a murder I didn't commit?"

Roy and Braeda exchanged somber looks. "We're here to tell you that as of now, you're the number one suspect in the murder of a cop, and if you can't produce an alibi before the arrest warrant goes out, we won't be able to help you no matter how much we wish we could."

They turned to leave and Edward spoke up.

"She's never gonna trust me after this." He said, stopping Roy on his way out. "She already thinks I'm dangerous."

"You are, Ed."

"I'd never hurt her, and I didn't kill this guy. I didn't even seriously injure him. It was an empty threat."

Roy sighed. "Well, we live in a time where even empty threats have to be considered terroristic ones. In the meantime keep a low profile, and if you had any vacation plans cancel them. Leaving town now will only make you look more guilty." Edward rose from his seat to address his friend again.

"You know I didn't do this Roy. You have to know that."

"I want to believe it with my whole heart, but I need you to do your part, Fullmetal. Get me that alibi."

He shut the door as Edward lit another cigarette and poured himself some scotch.

They paired nicely with a downward spiral into hopelessness.

Winry stood ram-rod straight as she held the letter in her shaking hands; no matter how many times she'd read it she only become more frightened. It had been dropped in the mail slot for her at Garfiel's and she didn't think much of it when she opened it and saw it was from Ed.

I need to see you, it read.

Meet me tonight at Pier 3 on the west side.

I need to tell you something important. See you at midnight.

She opened her phone to call him and that's when it hit her like lightning.

—He wouldn't have written her a letter, he would have texted her. Even if he had sent a letter, it would be hand-written. This letter was typed.

The letter couldn't have possibly come from Edward, but rather from someone who wanted him out of the way and knew exactly how to make that happen. Someone who wanted Winry alone. Someone who knew that it was only a matter of a few days before Edward's lack of an alibi landed him in a jail cell.

Roy Mustang had visited to question her 3 days prior and that was when she'd learned of Edward's predicament. Winry had never before been more compelled to rip herself in two and run in opposite directions —one half of her directly to Edward to offer what help she could if any, and the other half of her screaming for the hills and never looking back. She lied to Roy when he asked her if she'd ever witnessed Edward exhibit aggression, and she knew she took an enormous risk in covering for a man who, for all she knew, could very well be guilty of the crime he'd been accused of.

But it didn't change the fact that she KNEW her ex was toying with them both. She just needed a way to prove it. She would never be able to fish out the truth if Frank thought Ed was still sniffing around, so Winry made a choice. She stuffed the note in one of her jumpsuit's pockets and made sure her ID was on her just incase the worst should happen.

Her heart burned. Fists shook not of fear, but fury. All she'd ever wanted was for Edward to not be involved, and now he'd become the very center of her chaotic problems.

'I just want a normal life.' She thought. 'Just a normal fucking life. Goddamn him for doing this to Ed. For doing this to ME. Fuck this. FUCK THIS!'

She needed to prove Ed's innocence, and him being stuck behind bars didn't change the precarious nature of her situation.

She knew the note was from Archer.

She knew she could make him talk.

She would risk everything and go to him alone, because she was done being the damsel in distress Frank Archer had made her for so many years. If Edward really had killed Barry Bostic then she could consider it a big bullet dodged, but she couldn't live with herself if he spent his life behind bars for a crime she felt in her gut was tied to Archer. Winry would find the truth, even if she paid the ultimate price for it.

A/N: Thanks for being so patient and so loyal. You guys really are the best. More to come.