IMPORTANT NOTE: This installment continues on from a oneshot, called "Proposal", that I wrote a while back, and will most likely only make sense if you read the previous story first.

Compulsion

"I'm sorry, Al," she says out of the blue as they sit together on the crest of the hill, pulling up flowers from the roots and counting the petals.

It has been two weeks since that hot summer day, heated still further by all the shouting and crying that took place between the three of them. Al has been sitting peacefully as she dissects the plants, observing the sky with a sort of focused interest, and as he turns his head to look over at her he seems vaguely surprised, as if he had forgotten she was there.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for laughing at you that time when you . . . you know," Winry says, already regretting mentioning it. She isn't sure why she has brought the subject up again- after all, she has already apologised about it. It has just unexpectedly occurred to her that when she said she was sorry the first time, it was with Ed lurking threateningly behind her with an expression that could have frozen water solid in an instant, and she had still been trying not to laugh. It's strange, she thinks, but she can't bear the thought that her apology was like that, and that will be the last he remembers of it.

"Oh." Al ducks his head, and Winry can't tell whether he is embarrassed or upset.

She realises with a start that maybe he managed to forget about it after all; and a hot spark of guilt flares in her chest as she thinks that she may have reminded him of the incident again just when he had got over it.

She fiddles restlessly with the hem of her dress.

"I just-" Unexpectedly she feels a compulsion to talk, to fill the vast silence that swells around them, and she finds herself, bizarrely, attempting to explain everything, all in her sudden desire for him to understand. "I thought that the way I said sorry before, it was like Ed forced me to-" Ed did force me to- "and it doesn't seem fair. I just wanted to tell you, I really am sorry Al. Not because Ed wants me to be, I really am."

Al blinks, bewildered, as he processes this flood of information.

Eventually he speaks, his tone suddenly shy and hesitant. "Wh- why did you laugh at me?"

Winry has been asked this exact same question before, and exactly like before, she isn't certain how to answer. "I. . . I think. . ." She hesitates, and considers silently. "It's because I've already decided who I'm going to marry," she says at last.

"Who?" Al asks, distressed. "Not Ed?"

Winry hoots with laughter. "Of course not! I'd rather marry Den than Ed," and she shakes her head in disgust, still cackling with mirth.

Al perks up a little at this. "Who then?"

"I haven't met him yet," she tells him matter-of-factly, "but he's tall and handsome and wears a suit, and he's smart enough to be rich. And that's not Ed."

Al shakes his head. It most certainly isn't.

"Mmh . . ." she says thoughtfully, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Actually, I suppose you're both smart- you and Ed- and I can't imagine either of you ever being tall," she says bluntly, gazing critically at him. Then her gaze softens, and she takes his hand. "But, I don't know . . . in time, perhaps. . ."

Al blushes the same colour as Winry's new lipstick, and smiles happily. There is hope, after all. In time, perhaps- and he closes his fingers, savouring the feeling of her hand over his- perhaps in time, he will start to look a little more like Winry's husband.

Author's notes: Written because there is a lack of child fics in this series so far.

Writer's block has eaten my soul and oozed lethargy all over me. I have been extremely busy over the last few months, and will continue to be for the next few. I have been struggling through myriad exams, and quite frankly have other things to do with my time. I have next to no motivation to write any more, and am tempted just to give up where I am. The ONLY thing I get back from my efforts to write and update to make it worthwhile is reviews. As such, please please please do leave a comment if you want to see more from this series. It is literally what gives me the motivation to carry on.