Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or any of their characters (any of the others are mine)

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I was trying to make it longer, but I decided just to make the second part into another chapter. I've been a little sick... so it's kinda hard to think with insane headaches, sorry. Please don't be mad for the wait!

By the way, Al has his body, so Ed never had to give up his right arm to put Al's soul in the suit of armor, but Ed is missing his left leg.

Ok, well on with the story!

"Ed!" Winry screamed bolting straight up in her bed, causing two other crew members to be startled.

"Where is he?!"

"He is being treated by the physician."

"I need to see him!" Winry exclaimed. The two men nodded their heads and led the young girl to the physicians courtiers.

On the way, Winry gasped at all the damage that had been done to the ship, rafters had broken and fallen to the floor, railings where shattered. Some men lay under white cloth, giving the dead their privacy. All this had happened and for what? Ed?

When they finally reached the room that held Ed, Winry started to let her tears fall. 'Why did he do that? Why didn't he save himself after I told him to?' The young woman held her breath as she pushed open the door. Almost immediately, the physician was at Winry's side checking for anything out of the ordinary, once she was done checking, Winry looked up at the woman questioningly.

"I hear you are a good mechanic."

Winry nodded slowly, not sure what the old woman was getting at.

"Are you willing to spare a lot of hard work and effort for the man who saved your life?"

Winry nodded again.

"Well boys get this ship to town. FullMetal is getting some automail."

Edward woke around noon in a strange room, confused at why he was surrounded completely by white, that is, until all thoughts about his location left as pain in his right arm overtook him completely. He allowed no more than a groan to escape his lips, though he longed to scream in agony.

The feeling soon lowered and was merely an uncomfortable sting. He reluctantly turned his head in the direction of the sudden feeling in his arm to learn the reason behind the pain. He expected it to only be nothing more than a deep cut, but instead found nothing but bandages where his arm should be. Ed mentally face-palmed as the memories of last night's events ran through his mind. 'Of course! A chunk of wood launched itself in my arm, completely severing the nerves in the explosion. Damn it! I can't even save someone without getting hurt!'

His golden eyes widened at the last bit of his thought, "Winry!"

Before he could move, however, Ed heard a familiar gasp coming from only a few feet in front of his bed. He turned to find Winry, wide-eyed and with a look of worry and complete sadness, tainting her already beautiful features. She slowly started to walk towards her captain after quietly closing the door, her eyes never leaving the being laying in the bed.

"Ed, a-are you ok?" the girl asked barely above a whisper.

The boy didn't answer her question and simply turned away, asking instead, "How long was I out?"

Winry gently helped the boy sit up and prop his head against the headboard before sitting at the end of his bed, "A few days. We docked here in Rush Valley so I could get parts for your automail and so you could get proper treatment for your arm."

"Thanks, but what's wrong with my leg?" Ed tilted his head in confusion.

"It got busted up pretty bad, so I decided to make you a new one, and I figured that you'd want a leg before an arm so you could walk around," the blue-eyed teen faced towards her captain and smiled.

Edward returned the girl's smile, but it faded shortly and he turned away. "Do you think you could make an arm for me?"

Winry quickly told told the saddened boy happily, "I've actually already been working on the blue prints for it. Both your leg and arm should be ready by the end of the week if I pull a few overnighters. I just need permission from you to get the base of the arm on. If it's ok with you of course."

"Why wouldn't I not want an automail? Do you even have to ask?" the boy looked at Winry exasperated.

Winry giggled at the boy's reaction 'Wait, why am I giggling? I don't giggle. I laugh, but I don't giggle.' She looked away, suddenly finding the door very interesting so as not to allow the boy to see her now crimson face. 'Why am I blushing? I've never blushed before. Why am I blushing now?'

Luckily, Ed hadn't noticed the girl's strange reaction and instead became serious. "Winry, what happened after I passed out?" he looked straight into the girl's eyes, who turned around when she heard her name.

"There were many wounded, and three casualties," the girl turned down, not facing her captain.

"Oh," Ed couldn't help but feel somewhat sad that some of his crew were lost to them now.

"I'm sorry," Winry said after a few moments of silence, "It's all my fault. If it weren't for me, then you probably could've defeated them sooner... I-I'm so sorry. It's my fault you lost your arm just like how it's my fault that your leg's completely destroyed!" silent tears were falling down her cheeks, with her hair covering her eyes.

Ed couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'Does she really think it's all her fault?' He slowly reached his hand out, taking her chin in his hand, bringing her face to look straight into his eyes, surprising both teens, "Don't. Don't think that. I's not your fault and it never will be. If you hadn't been taken, the battle could have been much longer and there could have been many more casualties than there already are. And even if I'm wrong, I never would have left you. I promise, Winry, I will protect you. No matter what." The boy's golden eyes burning with seriousness looking straight into a sea of blue. He never faltered. He never even blushed or look away. He was completely serious, and determined. He would keep his promise, and no one will make him break that. He stared into those eyes, becoming lost, but never leaving his determined state.

'Those eyes. They're so beautiful. They're so serious. It's like they're melting me from the inside out.' The girl couldn't help but stare at his eyes for the briefest moment, until what he had said finally reached her. Winry's eyes widened slightly as his last few sentences repeated in her mind"I promise, Winry, I will protect you. No matter what..."

They sat there, on his bed, staring into each other's eyes, never drifting away, for what seemed like hours. Winry, finally breaking the silence by smiling and suddenly leaped into his arms, hugging him around his waist; her face buried into his shirt. "Thank you," she whispered into his chest, both slightly red. He returned the hug after a moment, smiling and burying his face into her hair, subconsciously enjoying the feel and smell of her soft blonde hair on his cheeks and nose.

She could hear his heart slightly quicken as she leaned more into him, causing her to smile softly. Feeling her own heart flutter, she wondered,'Why do I feel this way every time I'm near him. We could be having one of our arguments, and yet, it's still there. I'm so confused.'

Winry pushed those thoughts to the side as she faintly enjoyed being in his arms, and not because she's in danger.

Neither one wanted to leave and were slightly disappointed as they both pulled away, not wanting to risk the chance of anyone seeing them and suspect things.

"So, uhh... where have you been working? I-I mean...o-on my automail?" the boy stuttered, still a light shade of crimson from what had just taken place.

"Oh, well... I had to constantly measure your arm and leg, and it was too much of a hassle to go back and forth between here and an actual automail shop, so I work in the room that's connected to this one. That way, you can have your privacy and I don't have to go very far to make sure everything'll fit right," the girl pointed across the room to a door Ed hadn't noticed before.

"Can I see the blueprints? I mean, if I am gonna have to live with it, I want to know about it somewhat," Ed asked.

Winry instantly brightened and rush out of the room to the adjacent one, only to come flying right back in, her hair flapping in the rush, holding a large rolled up piece of paper. She rushed over and quickly sat right next to Ed on the bed, explaining every about the limbs she possibly could. Ed saw the bright smile on her lips as he watched her done on about how each little part of the automail worked and how even one screw could mess the whole thing up.

He tried listening to what the girl was saying, but after a few moments, he had swirls in his eyes, interrupting her, "Winry! English!"

She looked at him confused and when she understood that he had no idea what she was saying, she made it easier on him, "It's gonna be cold and heat resistant, but it won't be too heavy. You'll also be able to transmute it if you ever need to." She paused and was about to say something else, but was interrupted by Trevor, one of the higher ranks, running into the room, "Captain!" The young man noticed Winry on his captain's bed, and became wide-eyed and slightly embarrassed for probably interrupting a private moment between the two blondes, "I-I'm sorry, sir... I didn't realize you had company... I-I'll come back later." He began to leave the confused blondes, when a very red Winry jumped out of the bed that contained a crimson Edward. "G-Go ahead, I-I was just about to go work on his automail, anyway," with that, she left, leaving a still blushing Ed with his subordinate.

"What do you want?" Ed asked, somewhat irritated at the man who ruined his moment of happiness with Winry.

"Captain, I'm sorry to bring this bad piece of information, but the crew has decided that we should tell you..." the man drifted off, apparently not wanting to tell the teenager.

"Tell me what?" the blonde asked, suspicious about what the crew wanted to tell him.

Trevor let out a deep breath and closed his eyes scared of what his reaction would be, "Al's missing... No one's seen him since the attack. I'm afraid he's gone missing. He was fighting Envy when their ship blew and all their crew members on our ship left. I'm also afraid that he was on their ship when the battle ended. No one's seen him since."

Ed couldn't believe what he was hearing. His eyes were wide, full of fear. He seemed to forget how to breath.

"I see you need some time alone to let this sink in. As soon as you can get used to the new automail, we are ready to go," the man turned and left the room, closing the door slowly.

Winry could hear the door shut; she heard what Trevor had said, and she knew Ed wouldn't be able to take the news well. He had been through everything with his younger brother, and knew he wouldn't be his normal self without him.

After a few minutes, she still heard nothing. She took a deep breath and walked into the boy's room. Winry found him sitting on the edge of his bed facing the opposite wall. She felt a strange urge to run up to the captain and hug the poor boy to no end, but fought it and pushed it away. She slowly walked next to him and sat down to help comfort him. She had no idea how, but she had to try.

She turned to look at him to understand his feelings, but couldn't seeing as his bangs covering his eyes due to him facing the ground. She wanted to say something, but instead, closed her mouth, not wanting to make him even more depressed.

After a long moment, Ed couldn't stand the silence, "I can't believe he's gone. We've been through everything together. Al's in all my memories. I can't think of a single moment where he wasn't with me."

Winry looked at the older blonde, seeing his eyes downcast to hide any emotions threatening to appear. Her own eyes starting to form their own droplets of water, falling at the corners of the blue orbs. She couldn't stand to see her friend so vulnerable like this. Wait, did she just call him her friend? 'Well, I guess we are friends. I mean, he saved me from Greed when he could have just left me to die. I wonder if he calls me his friend. No, I can't think that right now. I can ask him later; right now, he needs someone to help him through this, and I'm gonna be that person.'

"He meant a lot to everyone. He was one of my best friends on board. Trevor never said he was killed, it isn't proven that he's lost forever. All we have to do is keep our hopes up and look for him. I'm sure he's alive out there, somewhere; I can feel it," the girl smiled hoping that would lift Ed's spirit.

With his bangs still covering the upper half of his face, Winry saw a single tear fall from under the blonde hair and onto his lap. Winry, surprising both of them, leaned against the Ed's shoulder, trying to comfort her captain.

"Thank you," was all Ed could manage to leave his lips before softly breaking down, leaning his head on Winry's, who was still on his shoulder. Even with her right there, she had to strain her ears to hear the whispered words.

The two stayed in that position long enough for Winry to fall asleep against him. Edward, not knowing what to do, didn't dare wake the beauty in his arms. Instead, he silently and carefully leaned against the headboard for more comfort. Ed laid his head on hers and wrapped his left arm around the girl, trying to give her some warmth as she slept. It wasn't long before Ed was taken by exhaustion as well, falling asleep with Winry snuggling for more warmth.

A/N: MAJOR FLUFF! You better have loved it... -_-

Chapter 5: Automail