thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad you guys like this story. I'm so excited to keep writing more (: wrote this one kinda fast, probs gonna wirte about the Xing crew next!

Character: Winry

The Elric brothers were absolutely unpredictable to the point that they became predictable. No matter what kind of shenanigans they got into, there was one fact that always held true: They never called.

This fact alone was the sole motivator for the blonde mechanic that was grumbling over the results of her three day long, rage-fueled automail binge.

When Ed sauntered in with broken automail and Al was in pieces, she was always initially pissed at the sudden intrusion but her wrath quickly subsided and gave way to warm affection for the two boys she thought of as family. The fact that they hadn't given her any warning was typically brushed aside in favor of tending to their wounds and trying to piece together the severity of their emotional turmoil from the terse snippets she was given.

But when Ed left for the final showdown, and the world seemingly died a mass death only to be resurrected minutes later, then all of Central shut down with reports of the death of the Fuhrer and all trains were on a temporary travel ban… of all time for the Elrics to be predictable, Winry lamented, why did it have to be this one!?

All her calls were in vain and so she did what she always did when she couldn't sleep due to anxiety over her wayward alchemists: she turned that anger and anxiety and worry into something useful.

Winry buried herself in that work, a commission piece for a wealthy woman in the North who wanted something both practical and stylish- something Winry could truly get behind.

She rarely slept, hardly ate, and refused to leave the phone's side for more than a few minutes. The only constant was the radio which gave a live, minute by minute update to the happenings in Central.

The first few hours after they announced the fall of the Fuhrer were the worst. As the death toll rose each turn of her wrench was punctuated with the same thought: They're not dead. Turn. They're not dead. Turn. They aren't dead. Turn. Because then I'd have to kill 'em!

The subtle tap of a mug being set beside her jolted her from her reverie as if it were a gunshot. Winry gasped and tugged her goggles off.

"Working yourself to death won't bring them home any sooner," Pinako said over the steaming mug of tea.

Winry wilted. "I know. Thank you, Granny," Winry said as she took a sip of the calming tea. It didn't do much to soothe her worries but it tasted great.

"Try to rest. I'll guard the phone."

Winry nodded and rose to finally try to catch some much needed beauty sleep (the combination of dark circles and impressions left from her goggles did nothing for her appearance) when as if by some strange magic of being discussed, the phone rang.

Winry was so stunned that she was frozen in place. Pinako, of stronger nerves, glanced her way before saying, "Want me to answer it?"

Winry gulped. "No, I should do it."

Her hand hovered over the phone for a minute; it shook worse than the time she had aimed a gun at Scar. Finally she took a deep breath and…

"Hello. Miss Rockbell? It is I, Major Alex Louis Armstrong…"

After a short conversation, Winry said thank you and hung up. She immediately sunk to her knees, exhausted in so many ways, and buried her face in her hands.

She cried. And she cried. But she also smiled.

"That idiot," she whispered as the tears flowed and Pinako attempted to stroke her back. "But at least he kept his promise."

Winry truly felt the weight of the past several days hit her after the phone call from the Major. After scarfing down a simple dinner she decided to take a long relaxing bath.

She stripped from her oil-stained jumper and took her hair down from its messy bun. Her fair hair was slick with both natural oil and automail oil- she grimaced. She had really let herself go due to stress.

When the tub was full, Winry stepped in, rejoicing in the way the hot water scalded her sore knuckles and soothed her aching shoulders.

Her mind was racing despite the outside calm. The Major had not been able to tell her much but there were three main facts that swarm about her head like angry bees: They had won. The boys were alive. Al has his body back.

She didn't know the details and she didn't care, all that mattered were the people she loved the most in the world hadn't abandoned her the same way her parents had. The Elrics would be coming home on their own feet and not in matching coffins.

Winry felt her eyes welling up again and willed them away. What a baby. She thought. What would Ed think if he knew I was crying this much…

She tried to focus on scrubbing her skin and washing her hair, tried to push away the thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her. She tried to think of simple happy things they could do when the boys were home. What would Al look like after all this time? She thought of how Ed had always taken after Hohenheim and Al, their mother. She wondered if that was still true. She wondered if he was healthy after all that time in the limbo world of the Truth and felt her stomach drop in worry.

First thing tomorrow, I'm buying a bushel of apples.

She was broken from her reverie when the phone rang again. She jolted in the tub, splashing water over the side, listening as she heard her Grandmother's voice muffled in the distance.

Another phone call? So soon? Did something happen?

She heard her grandmother cry out and couldn't tell if it was from joy or grief. The cold hand of dread gripped her heart again. How cruel the world would be to gift her with Ed and Al's safe return only to rip it from her grasp a moment later. How fitting.

A moment later Pinako was hollering, "Winry! Pick up the phone! Your best customer is calling!"

Winry gasped and bolted from the tub, almost slipping in the process. She didn't bother to dry off or even cover herself with a towel (her grandmother was the only one in the house, and was on the first floor anyway).

"Hello? Ed?" She was breathless despite the upstairs phone being a short distance from the bathroom.

"Hey, good to hear your voice! Granny said she thought you might have passed out."

The tears were back but her voice was surprisingly controlled. "Yeah, I haven't been sleeping well."

"I was hoping to break the good news and keep my promise, but I hear that loudmouth Armstrong got to you first. Sorry about that."

Winry shook her head despite being miles apart, her fingers tangled in the phone cord. "That's okay. I don't care who says it, so long as it's true…. it is true, isn't? Are you okay? Is Al…?"

"Why don't I let somebody else fill you in on that," she could hear the chuckle in Eds voice and the shuffling of the receiver as it was passed to someone else.

A short pause, then,

"Hi, Winry."

"Alphonse…," his name came out as more of a breath of air than a word. She couldn't believe it even though she could hear it, immediately. Despite sounding shy, and tired, Al didn't sound like he was talking out of a tin can for the first time in nearly five years. Her hand clenched around the cord. "Is it really you? Are you really…?"

"Yep, I'm back. In the flesh."

"I'm so glad…," She couldn't help the sob that tore from her throat then. "You really did it! You got you body back!"

"Ah, Winry, no- Please don't cry!"

"Sorry," she said with a small laugh. "I'm just so happy. How are you doing, are you okay?"

There was a tense silence and that all but confirmed her deepest fears. They had worried about the health of Al's body while being in the void, she hoped it wasn't too bad.

"I'm… I'm okay," Alphonse said in the voice one used when they weren't okay but wanted to reassure someone. "Really. A little thin and a little tired, but otherwise unharmed."

"That's good to hear," Winry replied, used to not getting the whole story. "How's Ed? Did he restore his body as well?"

"Ummm…"

There was more shuffling and then Ed was back.

"Hate to disappoint ya, but looks like my bill's gonna be cut in half from now on!"

He went on to explain that he had his arm back but not his leg. He didn't go into details and she didn't ask. There would be a day for stories. Right now all that mattered was that Al and Ed were alive and well.

"That's good to hear. I'm so glad you called, I was really worried."

"Yeah…," Ed's voice had softened. "Sorry to worry you, Winry."

"That's okay. I should probably go now and finish getting ready for bed. It was good to hear from you, Ed. Promise to call again okay?"

"You too. I promise. And sorry if we woke you, Granny said you weren't sleeping well."

"No that's okay, I wasn't sleeping," Winry said cheerily. "I was just in the bath when you called; I was so excited to talk to you I ran out without a towel even and almost slipped and fell," she said offhandedly with a laugh.

There was a weird stuttering on the other end of the phone, that sounded like, "W-w-wha- with- out a- wha-..."

"Ed? You there? I think you're breaking up."

There was silence then shuffling then,

"Winry? Brother just turned red and handed me the phone and walked off. What the heck did you say to him?"

The days passed easier after that. She desperately wanted to be in Central but Ed filled her in when Al wasn't around: How badly Al's body had wasted away in the portal and how the teen wasn't keen on having anyone see him until he could truly stand on his own two feet.

"He doesn't want to worry you," Ed had said in soft serious tones when she insisted she should be there anyway. "And I don't blame him. I wouldn't want you to see me in hat shape either."

"Is he… is he really that bad off," she had asked, full of concern.

"Yeah. He won't like me telling you, but yeah, it's pretty bad." There was a moment of silence then," I think we got him back in the nick of time, Winry. I don't think he could have survived much longer, honestly…He might have…"

Winry didn't have to question that tense silence. Alphonse hadn't died and that's all that mattered.

"I thought he was dead," Edward continued with a choked laugh that was probably masking a sob. "When he fell asleep earlier, I panicked. I really thought he had died, right there! And I-..."

More soft slightly manic laughter. Winry tried to reassure him and say that everything would be fine from this point on.

"Yeah," Ed agreed softly. Another long silence, this time the silence of two people who had run out of things to say but neither wanted to hang up yet.

Winry was just about to attempt a good bye when Ed said, "I understand why you can't be here, but… I'd really like to see you, Winry."

Winry smiled. "Well, you two will just have to get well soon and come see me as soon as you can, then, huh?"

"Yeah. We will."

They had hung up after that and despite the worrisome news about Al's health, Winry slept better than she had in weeks.