Draped in Wires
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Theme 059: Calm Before the Storm

"Ugh, Ed, scoot over." Winry murmured, pushing him away from her with her hand. She rolled on her side but quickly winced when the child in her stomach gave a disgruntled kick. She rolled on her back once more, sighing contently when the disturbances within her tummy settled and everything became calm once more.

Edward merely groped for the sheets and pulled them over him while Winry rolled her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. If they'd had trouble sleeping on the same bed before when she was not pregnant, it was worse now that she was nearing her due date and her stomach looked as if about to burst.

He didn't often come home to keep her company, as travel to Resembool and back was taxing, so she usually went to him and stayed over in his small apartment for a few days. She mainly spent the days in Resembool meandering around town or her grandmothers home anyway; often tinkering with some machinery, learning the trade of motherhood through her grandmother and other friends who had their share of children. But nothing too strenuous as Winry knew better than to strain herself while being so delicate body-wise. She'd handled the pregnancy well, though, as Pinako had confidently said she would, but Winry was becoming more and more nervous about her approaching due date.

Pinako hadn't directly said it but the old woman had assumed she would be due in a few days tops.

Winry had yet to tell Ed but she had a feeling the once-alchemist knew that she was nearing labor. It was likely in the way she went to the bathroom like she'd drunk pitchers of water or in the way she'd suddenly flinch and grab her abdomen, waving off his concerns as nothing more than minor cramps.

Winry quietly groaned and rubbed a palm over her swelled stomach, trying to pacify the fidgety child within. She hissed when pain flashed in her abdomen, so fast she could believe she'd imagined it. But the flashes of pain slowly began to grow more and more frequent, the longer Winry laid in bed with sweat building at the base of her neck.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, she felt something hot trail down her leg. It pooled in her sheets, her nightgown, and Winry paled at the thought of what'd just happened.

"Ed!" Winry whispered, shaking his shoulder. "Edward!"

"Nnng, wanna' sleep, Win..." Ed snored, swatting her hand away.

"Ed! Ed, wake up!" Winry shouted, startling the man out of his sleep.

"Wha—? I'm up, I'm up!" Ed yawned, squinting at his wife in the dark with annoyance.

"Ed, we have to go the hospital – we have to go to my grandma!" Winry rushed, holding her stomach.

"Wait a second! First of all, we're in Central, Win, and it's three in the goddamn morning." Ed held a hand up, rubbing his eyes out of sleep with the other. "Can't it wait until, oh, I dunno', morning?"

"Well, Ed, either I pissed myself," Winry growled, menacingly, "or my water just broke. And I haven't had an accident since I was six."

Edward stared, eyes darting down to her sheets. Under the light glow of the moonlight, he could see how the sheets stuck to her thigh as if wet. His attention was brought back to Winry when she suddenly heaved forward, clutching her contracting stomach. The moan of pain that escaped her throat was enough to set his teeth, cause the hairs on his arms to rise in dread while his stomach plummeted to the floor.

"ED!"

"Dammit, Pinako!" Ed bellowed, scooping Winry up in his arms while she groaned and held her abdomen. "Oh, fuck, you can't hold it for three hours can you—?"

"ED, HOSPITAL!"

"RIGHT!"

Alphonse was his first call, Pinako his second call, after he drove Winry to the hospital and carried her into the emergency room—all the while shouting like someone had just died unexpectedly.

He was lucky to have such a level-headed brother to calm him through the phone or the doctors would have forcefully sedated him hours ago.

A/N: Okay, guys, I know I haven't updated this story frequently but it's taking me much longer to string together how, exactly, I'm going to go about this collection. As it is, it's more like a story than a true collection (as it follows a plot-line and all) but I'm treating it as a collection because it helps psychologically lol

I've got the last half of this 'collection' all ready for posting. It's just the next few chapters of this arc that are shaky. I'll try my best, though! :D

Scarlett.