A/N: Chapter two is up. I hope you enjoy it.

One note though, just because I had a reviewer who asked this: Pinako's been dead for a year and Ed didn't know? I find that hard to believe. So if it's been a whole year since that, how old are the characters right now?

To clear it up, when I was writing the chapter, I said, "last year", and I didn't mean it in the context as, it's been a year since she's died. I meant it as, "Oh, it's the 2009 year. She died last year, in the 2008 year." I planned for this to happen close to the earlier part of the year. Another thing, not so much for clarification, but to let you all know, I am making the characters the following ages:

Edward Elric: 18

Winry Rockbell: 18

Alphonse Elric: 17 (though he might not show up in the story)

Sorry for the blabbering, I just wanted this to get cleared up. Enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter 2

Winry's POV

"…She's dead Edward. She passed away last year…" That familiar feeling of pain and depressed swung over me again. I tried to hold back the tears, now was not the time to get emotional. Edward needs to get his arm fixed, and I'm sure he wants to get back to Central as soon as possible, even if he did say he was going to stay a week.

I turned to look at him on the floor and sighed. "It's fine Ed… She was getting older anyway… I'll be right back." He snapped out of his thoughts, and looked back up at me. He nodded, and I proceeded out of the room. I heard Den whimpering again. A tear slowly fell down my face. Den only barks every once and a while, because he usually whimpers now. He's started whimpering on that horrible day, the one I can usually never bear to remember…

Flashback

I heard a faint voice. "It'll be alright Winry, just hold on." My face was wet, and I was hurting like hell. I managed to open my eyes slightly, to see where I was.

"Mrs. Rockbell!!" The voice yelled out. Nellie was carrying me to the house. It was raining, with plenty of thunder accompanying it.

"Nellie…" I sobbed. I couldn't tell if the reason my face was wet was because I was crying or because it was raining. It was probably both. My hair clung to my face, getting stuck in my eyes. "Nellie…" I whispered again.

She looked down at me, "Winry, it'll be alright, just wait." She used her other hand and tried to get my wet bangs out of my face. She was clinging to my side, and my arm was thrown around her shoulders. I closed my eyes again.

The pain was too much. I cried, "It hurts…" I moaned. "Mrs. Rockbell!! Pinako!" Nellie yelled once more. I heard a door slam open, and then a scream. Grandma's voice rang out into the night. "Winry!" I didn't open my eyes again, but there was suddenly the pressure of a new person, trying to support me.

I couldn't remember what happened after that, but the next time I opened my eyes, I was back in the house, lying on the couch. Den had trotted over to where I was, and whimpering. He put his head down next to mine, still upset.

"Winry, what happened?" Pinako spoke quietly, but frightened, putting a wet washcloth on my forehead. Nellie was sitting by me too, but she was looking at the floor.

I couldn't say it.

I didn't want to.

Just thinking about it all over again caused me to start crying again. I had to though. I would probably would go insane if I kept it a secret.

Maybe I can tell at least one person. I pulled my aching arms and put my hands on my eyes, sobbing.

I stuttered, "I-I wa-was…"

End Flashback

I shuddered. "I can't think about it… Not while Edward's here. I have to stay calm." I whispered to myself. I wondered how long I could really last until I cracked.

I grabbed a few other tools and took a deep breath before making my way back into the room.

"Okay Ed, sit down on the chair. I'm going to take out your arm." I spoke, trying to sound somewhat normal. He whipped his head around, his face all red.

"U-uh, yeah, sure." He stuttered, shoving something into his pocket. He stood up and walked to the chair, only, he stopped, right before sitting down. "Almost forgot…" He mumbled. He started to undo his buttons on his shirt, and continued to undress his upper half until he had nothing left. While he was doing this, I turned to my worktable sharply.

'It's Edward, it's Ed… He won't hurt me.' I started shaking. Maybe this "try to be calm" thing wouldn't work very well… At least not all week long.

I picked up my tools, and brought them to the chair, where he was currently sitting in. Den had followed me and stayed by my side, whimpering once more. I fumbled with my tools to get his arm off.

"Are you okay Winry?" He asked smoothly. His voice sounded too nice… Someone as dirty as myself shouldn't be treated to something like this. Especially after…

I shook my head, and spoke loudly, "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

"You just seemed so upset a few minutes ago. I get worried about you, you know."

I faked a laugh, "Haha, the great Fullmetal Alchemist worries for once, that's great!" He frowned and his eyebrows furrowed. "I just missed you was all. No need to get your boxers in a bundle."

"I didn't miss you…" He mumbled off to the side. I yanked his arm out of the port, which caused him to be shaken a bit.

"Short idiot."

"Automail freak."

I sighed heavily, "I've already had your new arm upgrade for a while. Did you want it now?" He looked at me with curious eyes. "This is what happens when one has so much time on their hands. Do you want it or not?" I shuffled to my worktable again, reaching for the arm.

"Uh, yes, please…" He replied.

"And you think you can handle the pain, Midget Man?" I joked.

"I'm NOT short!!" He furiously yelled.

"Sure you aren't…" I mumbled. I put the arm in the socket, and prepared to connect the nerves. "Ready?" I asked him. I don't try to just suddenly connect them. I'd only do that when I'm really pissed off by him.

"Yeah." He spoke forcefully. And with that, I connected his nerves, and he grunted in pain. I made the necessary adjustments, even though Ed was in pain. He gritted his teeth, and moaned a bit.

"Are you alright?" I asked him. The voice that came out of my mouth didn't sound like me. It sounded too normal, which is something I'm completely far from. He nodded, groaning once more.

"I'm good." I made the last inspection, to make sure everything was working all right. "I'm done, Ed." I spoke solemnly, picking up my materials. He stood up, and started to swing his arm around.

"Guh, it still hurts… But it feels really good. A lot lighter." His voice is sounding happier. At least it didn't sound annoyed with pain… or me.

"That's good," I mumbled, trying to look the other way. Ed was putting his shirt back on, and I could feel my face heating up. I closed my eyes slowly.

'I can't stand this… I've loved Ed forever, but I can't let him near me… I can't let him know what's happened.' I knew my thoughts were grim. I opened my eyes fiercely. 'I won't let him know.' I sighed heavily, and spoke softly, "ever…"

I heard him speak behind me, "did you say something Win?"

I turned around, with a fake smile on my face, "Nope. Are you hungry Ed?" I wiped my hands off with a nearby rag. "I can make us some lunch… Do you want to eat?" He nodded his head, in reply, as he fixed his top button. "What would you like?"

"Anything's fine… Thanks." He smiled his signature grin.

"Anything it is!" I exclaimed, feigning this new mood. I proceeded to leave to room, when something grabbed my arm. I was startled, but not as much as when he first got here.

Oh boy, my face was turning red again; I could just feel it. I turned around to see a red-faced Edward as well.

"Y-yes Ed?" I asked him. My heart was about to leap out of my chest, though I couldn't tell if it was because of love or fear. Maybe it was both.

"Um, I-I just wanted to say… Thanks again… And you know I'm here for you if you ever need to talk. Even if I'm in Central, I'll rush here."

He was holding my hand now. It was his Automail arm, and surprisingly, the coldness of seemed to be a relief to my body. I sighed with happiness and closed my eyes. Maybe this was real happiness… I wouldn't know, I haven't felt such a thing for a long time. "Edward…" I whispered.

"A-also, I wanted to give you this." I opened my eyes again, and he held a small blue, velvet box in his opposite hand. "Just as another thanks… It means a lot to me, everything you do." He stuttered with his last statement.

"Y-You… Mean a lot to me…"

That was it, I felt my face turn intensely hot, and unknowingly, I yanked my hand out of his. "Ah, um… Thank you Ed…" I took the box out of his hand and opened it slowly.

Inside was a beautiful necklace. It was a stone that was mixed with colors of blue and silver, carved in the shape of a heart. It was all held together by a thin, silver chain. It mesmerized me; I had never seen anything so pretty.

"Edward… Thank you, but I'm fi-"

He cut me off my sentence. He was getting closer to me, and I didn't know what to do. I froze, closing my eyes again, and brought my shoulders close to me. I had no idea what he was going to do to me until he ran his hand through my hair, sighing.

He kissed my forehead slowly, leaving his hand on my head. After that, he made a pretty immediate "escape" to the upstairs, where his usual room was. All I did was drop to the floor, with my hand held up to my forehead. I looked at the necklace again, and started to cry.

Only, these weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of happiness. "Thank you I whispered," I clutched the box, my heart still racing. "Thank you…"

Ed's POV

"Sure Ed, kiss her on the forehead. What I great thing to do!" I mumbled fiercely to myself. "And what a way to scare the crap outta her too, god I'm such an idiot!" I brought my cold Auto-mail arm to my face, in desperate efforts to cool it down. My face hurt more than my arm did now. It felt like it was on fire.

I stumbled up the stairs. "At least she liked the necklace…" I whispered, "I think…" I made my way to the door that led to the room I usually stayed in.

Nothing had really changed much in here. I opened the shades to a bright sunny sky. The sky always seemed so blue in Risembool. I have to admit it was one of the things I missed the most here, after leaving to become a State Alchemist. I took another glance around the room. Boy, it looked awfully dusty. I guess it has been a while since we've been here.

I opened up the top drawer of the dresser, only to suddenly that I left my suitcase by the door. "Crap…" I muttered, "I guess I can't put my clothes away quite yet." Still, with the drawer open, I peaked in there, to see if anything had been left in there. I noticed a tattered notebook. It was covered in dust also, but not as much as the room, which meant it was used more recently than the room was.

I shook the book off, trying to free it of unnecessary dust, only to have a picture fly out. It landed gracefully on the floor. After I set the notebook down on top of the dresser, I bent down to look at the picture. "Who's this?" I looked at it carefully.

It was a photo of a girl in what it seemed to be a hospital bed, with bandaging all over herself, and quite a bit of gauze and bandaging wrap over her left eye.

You could also see dark purple and black spots on her body, where there was no bandaging. Her face just seemed to scream as if it were filled with sorrow. "Who would take a picture of a girl this beaten up?" I flipped it to the opposite side. Reading it, my eyes went wide.

"Winry Rockbell, East Hospital. Day One of recovery."

A/N: Question for all of you: Is the story going too fast? Please let me know of your opinion. Thank you for reading!