-And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees,
just as things grow in fast movies,
I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

The drive back to my apartment was awkward to say the least. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Neither of us were happy with the arrangement, and neither of us fully understood exactly why Edward Elric was here. I stole a quick glance at him during the drive, his body language was clearly displaying his lack of enthusiasm. Elbow on the door, supporting a strong jaw as he gazed out onto the city streets and kept tired eyes looking anywhere but towards me. There was an air about him that I found extremely unsettling. So much in fact that I couldn't bring myself to truly look at him upon our meeting.

Slowing to stop at a red light gave me the opportunity to examine him a little closer while he remained focused on the city life outside the car. Even in his bored, slumped-over state I could see that he was a tall mass of lean muscle with broad shoulders and narrow hips. He had straight, rum-colored hair that was tied in a ponytail and fell between his shoulder blades and choppy, wild bangs that framed high cheekbones. He finally turned to face me, and I found myself leveled by piercing eyes more vivid than any amber or brandy I had ever seen. I'd be lying if I said he wasn't handsome.

"Are you gonna drive the car or what?" His eyes bore into my own like golden daggers when I snapped to and realized the light had since turned green and we were being honked and cursed at mercilessly.

The rest of the drive home was as silent as the start of it, and I was never so glad to be opening the door to my apartment where I could find something to busy myself with and try to lift the awkwardness. Walking in had revealed a small team of Mustang's men milling around my apartment, taking pictures, writing down information, general detective work. It was then that I realized the eyeball and box were in their possession. Lieutenant Jean Havoc ambled over and greeted me with his usual soft grin and casual nod, and then smiled wide at the sight of Edward and clapped him on the shoulder in friendly support.

"Don't worry Win," Jean smiled, "We're taking good care of your little occular friend." He motioned to the box he held, no doubt the contents of which caused my early morning freak-out.
'

The team left about 20 minutes later, leaving me alone to figure out what to do with the brooding government official. We just stood there in my living room. So fucking awkwardly. I couldn't take it anymore.

"So what's your poison?" I asked him. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Whatever you've got that's strong."

"How strong?"

"At this point I'll drink anti-freeze."

Two hours and a few drinks hadn't been enough to help us get to know eachother much, but it eased the tension, and helped us find a spit of common ground. We both were pushing thirty, we both lived in New York, we shared a mutual love of scotch and we agreed that the anchor on the 6 o'clock news wore the worst toupee on the planet. Not exactly a heart-to-heart, but it was progress. I sat cross-legged on my living room rug with my back propped against the couch as I pretended to be interested in the evening news, and slid my gaze over to the elephant in the room. His boots had been kicked off and he looked relaxed and happy, reclining on the chaise end of the grey sectional like a dog that had just finised a big steak dinner. It was good to know that it only took a few glasses of scotch to bring this guy down to earth. He wore snuggly-fitted black pants with a cotton navy crew neck that was loose enough to be comfortable but didn't hide the evidence that he was strong. Long sleeves fell lazily to his knuckles and thats when I noticed it. He wore a tight, black glove of what I suspected was some sort of nylon fabric on only his right hand.

"So Ed," I started in an attempt at light hearted conversation. "What exactly do you do for the military? I can't help but feel like you're not just some body guard." His sunny eyes darkened and he became slightly rigid in response to my query.

"Don't worry about it." He quipped, shrugging off my question.

"What does that mean? You're going to be living with me for God knows how long, we should at least try to get to know eachother." I reasoned. Narrowed eyes slid in my direction.

"I can sit around and bullshit with you if I have to, but believe me when I say that you don't need to know anything about me. Same as how I don't care to know anything about you."

I folded my arms and scoffed. I had never been so brutaly rebuffed in my life. His childish attitude wouldn't deter me, and I pressed on,

"Roy said you were in Moscow just before arriving today, where you vacationing?"

Letting out an exasperated growl he downed the remainder of his scotch, swung his legs off the couch and glared at me. "Lady, I dont take 'vacations'. My trip to and from Moscow was about 96 hours long and the only thing I brought with me was a really big gun."

I woke the next morning to the smell of coffee and the sound of Elric's voice in the livingroom. I slipped out of bed and threw on a silk robe before exiting the master bedroom. I found him on his cell phone, pacing back and forth across my living room with a mug in his hand, complaining. His long golden hair was down and damp from being freshly showered, and striding past him granted my nose the pleasent scent of Starbuck's Holiday Roast. It was only late October, but the cool weather months were my favorite and I wasnt wasting time. I poured myself a cup and eavsdropped.

"You're sure this is really necessary? I can't help but feel like you're still punishing me for the plane incident." The quiet of the room allowed me to hear Mustang's recognizable voice respond,

*I'll never stop finding ways to repay you for the stress you gave me during that 'incident', but this honestly has nothing to do with that. This is far more important. SHE is far more important.*

Edward stopped pacing at hearing this, and his sharp eyes connected with mine. "Mustang, what are you not telling me?"

*Elric, there's a lot that I'm not telling you, because I can't. But what I do need you to understand is that she needs to be protected at all costs. You know as well as I do that no one is more qualified for this than you. Fullmetal, consider this the most important assignment of your career. Keep Winry Rockbell alive.*

Edward slipped his iphone into his back pocket, crossed the room and leaned in very close to me. He smelled fresh from his morning shower, and I was transfixed by golden eyes. I felt warmth creeping its way into my cheeks, betraying my attempt at indifference. His eyes suddendly narrowed and he frowned. "Why does Mustang give such a damn about you?"

I stumbled back a step as his rude question. "That's none of your business." I pulled open the brown paper bag that sat on the kitchen table to inspect the contents, and found muffins and organic strawberry jam. "Did you order breakfast?"

"I got groceries delivered." He replied, sliding into a chair across the table from me and taking a muffin. "You had no food."

I did have food. Sort of. Most days my fridge and cabinets consisted of chinese takeout, beer, cheetos, ramen noodles, half-eaten hoagies, and usually a cake because it was someone's birthday somewhere. Any fruit I persuaded myself to buy would be forgotten and then one day resurface with blue fuzz growing on one side. I opened my fridge and looked in on shelves stocked with almond milk, fruits and veggies, bread, meats, cage-free eggs, you name it. My cabinets were full of brown rice, quinoa, chia seeds, pasta, organic tomato sauce, and any other healthy item a person could come up with.

"Rockbell," He started, pausing to sip his coffee, "How do you eat the way you eat and have a body like that?"

I blushed, "What do you mean?" He raised a brow at me over the rim of his mug.

"I'm not blind, woman." His gaze fell down the front of me before turning to the open newspaper next to him. I looked down and saw that my silk robe had fallen open to reveal me in tiny cotten sleep shorts and a white crop top that did little to hide the fact that my c-cups had noticed the cool air in the apartment and were now standing at attention. I let out a squeek and quickly pulled my robe over my toned stomach. He grinned.

"Relax Rocky, you're not the first broad I've seen half naked. Not too shabby, though."

Puffing up like an angry cat, I sat down and glared at him; contemplating how many years I'd spend in jail for physically assaulting a ranking officer of the military and if it would be worth it. I decided to take the high road and tore into a muffin instead.

"So, what was the plane incident?" I was met with a surprised look followed by more cocky grinning. "Thats none of your business." Although he used my words against me, I had managed to catch him in a fairly pleasent mood, and decided to use it to my advantage.

"If you tell me what the plane incident is, I'll tell you why I'm so important to the military." His grin turned into a 1000-watt smile, and I found it hard to breathe.

"Remember several years back when that plane landed in the Hudson River?" My eyes widened.

"That was you?"

"It was an accident."

"People could have died!" I exclaimed.

"Well they didn't, because of me. Like I said, it was a fuck-up and I handled it."

"I thought the pilot landed the plane."

"And as far the world is concerned, he did." He gave me knowing look. "Okay, your turn."

My eyes focused on the swirling coffee in my cup. Suddenly I couldn't open up. I had been terrified of telling my secret to anyone. I knew it made sense to tell Ed, but I had become so afraid of letting anyone in. The very few times in my life that I had tried, it had blown up in my face. I decided to be more vague than he was.

"I... have a rare disorder." I started, looking up at him. "The military has found it to be...useful." He opened his mouth to say something when his phone vibrated on the table. He swiped his finger across the bottom of the screen and hit the speaker button.

"Mustang! Missing me already?"

*Fullmetal did you charge $200 to your expense account on groceries from Whole Foods?*

We grinned at eachother.