A/N: In case you were wondering what happened before "silver watch."
49. Untouchable
Winry was not a shy girl, far from it in fact, but the stares she was getting from the officers were starting to creep her out. One might go so far as to say the younger officers were even leering at her. Normally, if she caught a customer looking down her shirt, he got whacked across the face with the nearest tool, but these were soldiers, and knowing Ed, he'd already pissed off half of them, so she found herself blushing and averting eyes. Mustang's a colonel, he can't be this hard to find, then someone can help me find Ed and Al, she thought (Ed said she'd need an escort from that office to get into his hospital room). She'd followed some signs toward the higher-ups' offices, but so far hadn't found any familiar names.
A whistle from the other side of the hall brought her out of her thoughts. Winry looked up to see an officer looking at her through his chin-length dark hair. It was a come-hither look if she'd ever seen one, and she was tired of being meek. It was Ed's fault anyway for not sending someone to meet her and making her wander on her own through a military compound full of horny men.
"Hey, baby, I'm off in twenty minutes, how about you come with me for a good time?"
Winry glared at him like he'd insulted her automail. Before she knew it, she was digging for a tool- any tool, but a familiar voice stopped her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Kage," said the calm, assertive voice of Riza Hawkeye. Winry breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm just trying to take the lady out for a nice evening," Kage replied. Winry thought his voice and manner were both too smarmy for her comfort. He held his arm out faux-innocently and slinked a step closer to Winry.
Hawkeye shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she added. "You do know she's Fullmetal's-"
The eager officer had been centimeters away from brushing his hand against her cheek, but at Hawkeye's warning, his arm snapped back and he raced down the hall.
Winry glanced up at Hawkeye. "Do I even want to know what Ed did to deserve that?" she asked, pointing toward the retreating figure.
Hawkeye gave her a rare smile. "Kage voiced some incorrect assumptions last week, and Edward… corrected him," she said. "It's probably safe to say that mentioning Fullmetal's name makes you practically untouchable around here."
Winry felt her cheeks burn red, much as she tried not to react. "Stupid overprotective midget," she muttered, and Riza beckoned for her to follow.