Author's Note: Hey! Good news! I'm not dead! Haha well long story short I've been busy. I hope you guys aren't mad at me however few there actually are. I am sorry though, I hope this makes up for it! But first I have some special thanks to my first reviewers! (By the way I have edited this chapter!)

Court1410: Thank you! And thanks for the motivation to start an account!

Queen NekoChan: Thank you for each update! I know my grammar is horrible and I didn't even edit the last chapter at all! It is a disaster and needs some touching up.

FullmetalFan16: I'm trying! Thank you so much!

Watergirl197: I'm working on it! Thanks!

Moxie4evr: I'm glad you're enjoying it! I love writing it, I'm just unfortunately lazy.

Well here is the long lost fourth chapter! It's kind of long and feels boring in my opinion but I feel it's necessary for them to get closer. Ands it's like an extra 1k, just for you guys! I already have the whole plot figured out, I just have to do the real work now! Oh and there are no breaks in this chapter. I'll stop babbling now, Here ya go!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own FullMetal Alchemist. Only in my dreams ;)

Restart

The crisp chill was carried by the wind as it ventured great distances across Amestris and filed through each building, alleyway, nook and cranny. One particular cranny was down the front gaping hole of the trench coat Winry was wearing. She visibly and audibly shivered which caused a more brisk pace to enfold between her and her escort.

Ed opened his car door for her and shut it curtly to proceed to his own side. Trying to heat her up as soon as possible, Ed practically launched himself inside the car which was followed by the loud bang of a now shut car door. Key already in ignition, he cranked harder than usual and immediately rotated each dial involving heat at its highest setting.

Exhaling a warm breath of relief, Winry gladly adjusted to the now climate controlled car interior. Like most of their conversations so far, it was very mute in the car ride.

After staring out the window to the point where her eyes were strained, Winry decided to make small talk and tell him whatever she could possibly think of. It all just seemed to pour out almost uncontrollably to the unprepared driver to her left.

"Well Rockbell is my last name, and my favorite color is yellow. I grew up in a small town over in the east, where my dog, Den, and my Grandmother currently live. My favorite snack is Nutella on graham crackers and I absolutely hate tapioca pudding. My current jobs are a waitress and a mechanic. I've never been to the ocean before so it's on my list of places I want to go. I normally don't go clubbing very often so last night was rare.. Well not what happened with you I mean!" she corrected frantically with a reddening face and continued her miniature autobiography.

"I used to want to join the medical services in the war up north in Drachma but my other careers got the better of me. I'm trained in CPR, First Aid, and have successfully delivered a baby before. Let's see... Oh! My two closest friends work at the same restaurant that I work in. Their names are Riza and Sheska and they are really wonderful people once you get past the piles of books and rifles."

"Rifles?" asked Ed, intrigued with eyes still painfully focused on the road.

Glad to have snatched his interest, she resumed.

"Riza loves the shooting range, she goes there often to train for the war's pre-assessment. She's really dedicated when it comes to her father's honor and I'm sure anyone would with such knowledge at hand, especially when he passed on his important research to her. She kind of has two personalities but I wouldn't call it bipolar just yet. Whenever she is calm and composed her demeanor is very pleasant and she can be mischievous but fun at the same time. As for her other personality she can be very demanding and at certain times violent, but only when necessary. She has a bit of bite to her bark though so watch how you speak to her or she'll threaten you with some kind of rifle."

With raised eyebrows, Ed whistled and then asked, "So what about Sheska?"

Happy to know he isn't bored yet she flashed him a warm smile before answering him.

"Now for Sheska, she'll somehow squeeze in reading over a hundred books during her multiple jobs. She'll memorize it too, it sounds kind of strange and questionable but once you get past her obscenities, she's a good person. Almost too good, and neither Riza nor I are good role models for her since she should have some sort of way to express herself without the involvement of a novel. Very intelligent that girl, but you get her and a guy alone; she freaks and can barely say anything sensible. Kind of sad really but we're working on it." She laughed heartily and it made Ed want to join in so he muffled his laughter slightly to enable himself to think for his own little life story.

Thinking quickly, he began to blurt whatever came to mind first as they neared the apartment.

"Okay, so my last name is Elric and my favorite color is red. I've been to the ocean before; it's not all it's cracked up to be. All I got was a nasty burn, a jellyfish sting, some fricken crazy crabs on my feet and sand in my shorts."

Winry giggled at his little rant.

"I work at Emc Inc. as an assistant to doctor Marcoh which also identifies anything involving science as my favorite subject. Because of that I'll admit I can be a complete skeptic most of the time and tend to stubbornly argue so here's a sorry for future reference." he added with a light chuckle.

'Hmm, future reference huh?' Winry internally debated whilst paying attention.

"As for a head on career I'm not too sure what to do but I'd probably like to be involved in work that had me going traveling a lot, I really want to see as much of the world as I can. There are so many places to see and search for anything interesting worth discovering."

"Like what?" she asked, leaning towards him, giving off the scent of machine oil, presumably from her job as a mechanic.

He shamefully realized how rapidly he gets distracted whenever her scent rises to his face. He bit his tongue hard to shake it off and answered, being cautious of how he worded himself to prevent any classified information from slipping his lips.

"Oh you know all kinds of things that might seem interesting or significant in any way. I'll collect my observations for research and probably publish some useful books for the travelers. What else do you want to know?" He asked, nervously attempting to casually change the subject.

"Oh! What about your friends?" she said with a look of curiosity that was oblivious to his jittery maneuver.

He ironically thanked God.

Despite the fact he just parked the car in front of the building, he continued. Talking like this was nice every once in a while.

"Okay then, well two of my friends are Maes and Jean but sometimes you'll hear us call each other by our last names. We were friends when we were younger and whenever we played around we called each other that as some sort of codename I guess," He laughed, "Kinda strange I know but we still do it, Maes's codename is Hughes and Jean's is Havoc."

"I don't think it's strange," she said through a smile, "just creative and it sounds innocently adventurous."

He just smiled in relief. "Well that's good to hear, well back to your question. So let's start with Maes. Where do I begin? He's somewhat a pain in the ass but not as much as Havoc. And he certainly doesn't smoke like Havoc does either. He also has a little sister, Elicia, he's way too overprotective about and is always flashing pictures if her in the most inconvenient of times. He can be a smart ass most of the time too and that just takes away from his more intelligent aura. He is the same way with his girlfriend, Gracia. My God they just need to buy a place already before their little'sleepovers' disgust me any more than they already have. Despite that he's got this way of helping people out and understanding them. He's always giving advice to Elicia and believe it or not even to me and Jean. He's the oldest so he's had more experiences than us. In short he's just a goodhearted person, almost like a brother. But I've already got one so a figurative brother is as far as it'll go!" He just laughed at his own realization of his good friend.

-Nearby in Hughes's apartment, the very man himself was sneezing up a storm with a frantic tissue-holding Gracia at arms length. "Where did that come from?" She asked, exasperated at his sudden nasal attack. He just shrugged it off and graciously accepted her tissue. "Blow."-

Back in the car Ed glanced over a Winry only to discover her already large doe eyes grow even wider with sparkling sapphire stars. A matching smile soon plastered her face.

"You have a brother? How amazing! Tell me about him! What's his name?" she shot questions one after another, completely forgetting about what kind of person Havoc is.

Bewildered at her strange and sudden excitement, he simply gave her a funny look.

She sank back in her seat and laughter then apologized, "Sorry, it's just I don't have any siblings... I want to hear what it's like." she gazed down and found her lap very interesting.

"Well more than anything I love Al." he knowingly stated.

"Al?" she asked, looking up. "Yep, Alphonse Elric, the one and only." he answered.

Choosing to ignore the distant look in her eyes he began. "Al... Well I certainly wouldn't know what to do without him. Even though he's the younger one I still rely on him more than I should. He's crazy smart for his age, he's only 16 and he's already in all AP classes. Back when I took AP I took it as advanced procrastination." He chuckled at his own stupidity and she joined him.

"Advanced procrastination? Really?" Her giggles escalated to laughter. "You are too silly," she smiled.

"Continue," she insisted, trying to stifle her amusement.

"Well he is definitely determined and maybe even more than me and that's saying something. He's headstrong but he's still got that child-like innocence and can be naive at times as well. He's better off in the women's department as well. Well better than me at least. I don't know why but he just attracts a LOT of girls to my house. I had to help him eat at least half of his Valentine chocolate this past year. But he's too nice to reject any girls right away. I don't know how many but he's definitely had a lot of first dates that ended with an "I'm sorry but you're not my type, or I'm not really interested in anyone right now." Yeah he has more friends who are girls than friends who are guys. And then there's Rose..."

Her eyes narrowed at the tone of his voice at the mention of her name. "Is something wrong with her?"

"Everything!" he abruptly shouted.

She bounced to the right, surprised at his outburst. "What is everything exactly?" She asked with eyebrows raised.

He groaned into his free hand that covered his mouth and his eyebrows arched in annoyance. She could see the pain and annoyance this woman seemed to cause all over his expression.

"Rose is our neighbor. One day she made an attempt at Al but I intervened because I heard of how she likes to use guys from Hughes and Havoc. I didn't want that to happen to him so I kind of well... intervened."

She gave him a look of questioning. "And?"

"And it was a terrible mistake that feels like a death sentence." He flashed his golden eyes over to hers briefly to try and read her silence. Nothing readable. He resumed. "So I went out on a date to distract her. It was all for Al's sake."

Feeling a strange sudden pang of jealously, she stated, "Well you act like it's a bad thing."

"It is the worst thing any guy would experience. She is obsessed now... with me! I can't remember the last time I peacefully entered my home without getting tackled by her or opening the front door only to find it unlocked and that damned girl in my bed, naked!"

"She's got balls." Winry stated, and soon began laughing at his misfortune openly. His face began to fume and he attempted to halt her laughter by jerking the car purposely as they parked.

"Are you finished?" he asked in annoyance to the giggling woman. She nodded in reply and coughed, tightening her hold in the comfortable coat that was still trapping the warmth to her flesh.

They noticed the stillness of the car after just sitting there so they got out of the car. Ed hastily proceeded to the main entrance of the large building followed by Winry and a silent breeze as well. After a quiet elevator ride consisting of awkward glances, they walked out at a more normal pace and to his own door.

She watched him glance around, assuming he was scanning for the sly woman she heard oh so much about. There weren't any unwanted presences nearby, or in the hallway at least, so he returned his attention to the door in front of him.

While he was twisting the key he added as a side note, "Oh and Al will be coming home later, but he shouldn't be back until 9:30 so I guess we can just chill for a while."

Nodding her head in acknowledgment they entered and he led her to the quaint cream couch in the living room. She sat down slowly and took in her surroundings while Edward went and made some hot chocolate. Waiting for the water to boil he quickly retrieved a sweatshirt from the contents of his closet from his room. On his way back to the kitchen he lightly tossed it onto the couch next to Winry.

"Put that on to keep warm, I don't keep the heat on very often because it's pretty damn expensive."

She obliged and raised her arms over her head, causing her perky bust to make itself known to the world, in the process of applying the garment to her torso. Unknowingly, Ed caught a glimpse of her movements and bit the inside of his cheek to forcibly stop his peeking. She patted the sweater comfortingly around her stomach and she inhaled its scent. There weren't any traces of exotic cologne but there was a scent that drew her in and made her feel safe and warm. Basking in his scent, she looked around again and noticed a few family photos. She stood up and walked over to where the entertainment center was and stared intently at one specific photo.

A beautiful young woman with long, auburn hair was crouched down in grass. Her eyes were closed but they added an effect to her large smile, revealing true joy that was effectively infectious because Winry herself could not help but smile. Especially because the warming expression the woman wore was directed towards the two boys wrapping themselves around her arms. They were of identical height, one with golden wheat hair and the other with chocolate brown hair. The same occurred in their eyes.

After the two steaming mugs were prepared, Ed made his way over to the kitchen phone and dialed the number for pizza, but did not hit 'Send' yet. He moved to the living room and set down the mugs on the coffee table.

"Is this your mother and brother?" She lightly asked, unaware of the bristling rage surfacing on Edward's face. He clenched his fists in pain and looked at the carpet. "Yeah... that's Al and... my Mother."

Not noticing his change of tone, she continued speaking about the contents in the frame in awe. "She is absolutely breathtaking. What is her name?" He flinched almost aggressively as she turned around.

A sharp intake of air came over her. She saw deep and intense pain wash over his golden eyes. The pain of loss, of impending desire, and hopelessness. A look she was all too familiar with.

Not bothering to look her in the eye, he answered anyways. "Her name was Trisha." That was all he could mutter.

She was so shocked she just stood there for a moment in guilt. She began to open her mouth to apologize but he raised his hand and looked up at her with sorrowful eyes. "Please don't... I hear it enough. It's fine I know you didn't mean to."

Embarrassed and ashamed, Winry blurted out, "I feel the same way when people see the picture of Mom and Dad at my house."

His eyes widened and remorse took over.

"Sara and Urey. I still love the even thought they've left this world." He quietly nodded and didn't say anything in response. However there was an empathetic gaze taking over. She walked over to the pastel furniture and parked herself trying not to make things awkward.

He then placed a seat next to Winry, and handed her the steaming mug from the table cautiously. He turned his attention away as he hit 'Send' and made the order with the home phone.

After hitting 'End' on his phone, the delivery call was finished. He returned his undivided attention to her. "So you mentioned living in a small town to the east, which one?" Asked Edward, deciding it would be best to forget about earlier.

"Oh, I lived in Resembool. You ever been there? It's a nice and peaceful town and the way the sun rises over the farms brings back good memories to me." She smiled warmly and resumed easily and thankfully forgetting those depressing thoughts. She didn't know why but it had been worse lately just to think about them. She sighed.

"But it got boring after a while and I needed to shake things up a little bit. So after discussing things with my Granny, I decided to head west to the infamous capital of Amestris. So far I've been doing very well even though it's mainly thanks to the money my parents left behind." Her eyes were once again downcast.

Eyeing the drastic change of expression, Edward answered her previous question. "I actually used to live in Resembool when I was younger, I lived there with my family for a while until... uh... some things happened." Not wanting to bring up an undesired conversation about his past, he raised his arm and scratched the back of his head with his gloved hand and mentioned, "So you said you were a mechanic? What kind?"

Winry almost spit out her chocolate delight as she noticed a glimmer of something when he raised his arm. She snapped out of her gloom and a hint of curiosity made its presence known in her azure gaze.

'I thought it was strange for him to be wearing gloves while indoors.' She observed thoughtfully.

Acting instinctively during her thoughts, she quickly replaced her beverage onto the coffee table and lunged for his right arm.

"What the-!" he yelped as she snaked herself around his arm and fought the immense strength hidden within the clothing.

'What the hell is she doing?' he thought, utterly confused.

He took a sharp inhale as a tingling sensation shot up his right arm. He shivered and gasped slightly when her hands slipped inside his coat sleeve and grasped the cool metal. When they went lax and the nerves settled slowly, Winry cautiously raised his dark sleeve to reveal the very metal of her deepest dreams and desires. Unfortunately for Edward, just as his nerves adjusted to the touch of her firm yet soft hands, his ears now suffered a need of adjustment as well. She squealed higher than the fat kids would, fighting for the last chocolate bar at fat camp.

"Eeeek! AUTOMAIL! I knew there was something you weren't telling me, and hiding this with gloves isn't very tactful Edward." she gabbled on with a tsk tsk.

Pulling out of her grasp immediately in outrage, Ed exclaimed, "Just what the hell do you know about automail?" He then instantly wished he bit back his harsh words when her already excited eyes widened even more. Thinking she was about to burst into tears, he began to frantically think about a way to apologize to her.

Then the exact opposite happened. "WHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT AUTOMAIL? WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT? I KNOW EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT THAT TABOOED SUBJECT!" Her reddened face from the outburst, and the almost visible steam that was radiating from her silenced the poor Elric.

She composed herself and spoke in a more appropriate manner. "Just because I'm a girl, it doesn't mean I don't know anything about mechanics or shop. It's one of my internships, remember? Sorry for yelling at you but you asked for it by yelling first. Why do you look so confused anyways?"

"Well like you said, automail is a tabooed subject so it just surprised me you knew about mechanisms as advanced as this. I mean nobody knows about this really... not to mention you tackled the hell out of me." They both calmed down and Winry began to pour all sorts of information about his arm that even its host didn't know.

But soon her senseless bragging and explanations started to bore Edward and instead of listening, he simply observed her beautiful features. Noticing an oil smudge on her cheek he bit back a chuckle thinking about how cute she looked all dirty. He also noticed how deep and intense her eyes became when she talked about something serious and meaningful to her. Unconsciously, he reached forward to wipe away the smudge, automatically bringing them closer, and she abruptly stopped mid-conversation as she realized their enclosing distance. Feeling his minty breath entice her face, she then felt the warmth of his left hand on her face feel hotter as she moved her head closer and closer as if on instinct. Edward, who was still focused on removing the smudge, had felt her eyes boring into his and turned his attention towards her face, actually her lips. His hand remained on her face, lingering as long as possible. Feeling teased by the presence of their breaths mingling between their faces only made them enclose even more. It had been too long since their kiss and she wanted to remember this one. She started to close her eyes gently and she cautiously leaned in. He put his other hand to her other cheek and pulled her face into his own ready for their lips to meet. She felt the taunting brush of his lips against hers.

"BROTHER! I'm hom-!" announced an expected but quickly previously forgotten visitor. Scrambling back to their original places, Edward leaped from the couch and ran towards the door where his younger brother sat with a heartening smile suitable for his face.

Patting his older brother's shoulder, he nearly inaudibly whispered "It's about damn time brother." And with that he threw Winry a charming smile and announced he was going to his room to study.

As Ed and Winry realized they were once again alone, they refused eye-contact until the shrill of the doorbell rang. Ed answered the door, paid the man, and took the aromatic box into the kitchen, leaving a trail of oregano and basil wafting towards Winry's seat.

Awkwardly returning with some pizza, Edward assumed his position next to her on the couch. Trying to make their previous actions disappear, Ed broke out into a conversation about cars. Being easily distracted by the subject, Winry became sucked in and nearly forgot about their almost kiss. Nearly.

Getting lost in their talk he resumed admiring her features knowing she was oblivious towards his actions. Or so he thought.

Winry was one hundred percent aware of his alluring stare on her figure. Her mind had still not forgotten what almost happened just before his brother arrived.

'Why would almost kissing make me nervous or excited? We've obviously done more than that... if I can remember... Oh my gosh I don't even really remember!'

Clear distress appeared on her face as her speech slurred and heightened in the wrong places. Taking notice Ed obviously asked what was wrong and got the usual, "Oh it's nothing!"

Glancing at the time which she noticed she began doing too often, Winry announced having to work the next morning and would have to leave. Seeing her to the door, he gave a bright smile to encourage her for more hopefully enjoyable visits sometime in the future.

"I had a nice time, thanks for the meal!" Winry told him with what Ed thought was an adorable blush.

"Oh and here's your coat back." She added while removing the garment off her lithe figure.

"No, keep it." He politely refused. "It's pretty cold out so you can hold onto it." He said while flashing a warm smile.

"Yeah... Thanks again. We can meet again and I'll return it properly." She beamed and got the reaction she was hoping for. Wanting to add to his even brighter enthusiastic smile, she landed a quick and surprisingly chaste peck upon his right cheek while saying their goodbyes.

"Call me when you want to hang out again!" She said loudly as she turned the corner towards the stairs with a wave.

"Sure thing!" He answered, seeing her white hand disappear around the corner. Sighing with a warm feeling in his broad chest, he started back into the apartment only to be faced with a similar, yet darker pair of his eyes.

"So… Winry, huh?" Al teased lightly while circling him as he came back to seat himself once again on the couch. Rather ungracefully at that.

"Shut up, Al.. " Ed mumbled while trying to suppress an embarrassing grin.

"She's a friend... " He finally muttered under the sparkling stare of his younger brother. "And stop looking at her, I saw you smiling and flirting with her as soon as you waltzed in uninvited." Ed randomly fumed.

Al's eyes immediately widened in surprise and he chuckled as he maturely pushed aside the accusation. "Wow, Maes was right, you must really like her to be acting this way, even to me."

Unsurprised by Edward's feelings of jealousy turning towards an unattractive irritability, Al sat himself up and bee-lined for the kitchen for some cold pizza and coffee. He bit back words explaining how he actually 'was' invited because it was his home as well. He also ignored the brash comments being nailed at him through the wall as Edward pouted off to his bedroom, cursing about why people had been saying the same thing to him all day.

"I'm goin' to bed!" He obnoxiously bellowed and closed the door loudly.

"Oh brother... " Al whispered, holding the warm mug against his lips.

'This is just what you need to get back to normal. Well... what we need.' He thought and started to focus on a future Ed. One that is much happier than the current one who he could already hear snoring erratically. 'But he is already showing some changes.'

Smiling to himself in hopes for more positive changes, he too clambered off to bed for the night.

To be Continued

See you next chapter! Please review! It will help me stay motivated. :)