Winry woke up slowly, warm in her blankets and with her ports not hurting her for once. She almost felt like she was back in time, before the whole mess began. The shifting of textureless blankets against her pressure plates told her otherwise and she debated whether or not to open her eyes. After a few moments, she opened them and was momentarily blinded by the light streaming in through the windows. But she kept her blinds closed...

She sat up, rubbing her eyes and wincing when she applied too much pressure.

"Where...?" She began to question until she remembered.

She was at the Col.'s house. Riza had offered her home to Winry while she was staying in Central for Edward. Winry shook her head briefly and jumped when a noise came from the other room. When no voice joined in the cacophony, she quietly got to her feet, glad she was still in her outfit from yesterday and quietly picked her wrench up from the floor beside the couch.

She tiptoed to the doorway, heart in her throat before dashing into the room, wrench raised high.

"Oh, good morning, Winry." The mechanic stared for a moment before lowering her wrench. She'd thought there was a thief. Instead, it was the Col., making breakfast. "I wasn't expecting you to be up this early."

"What time is it?" Winry wondered aloud, taking a seat at the table, setting her wrench down at her side.

"It's about seven-thirty," the older woman answered.

"So late?!" Winry practically screeched, "I meant to be up hours ago!"

"Calm down Winry," Hawkeye soothed, "You looked like you needed the sleep. Yesterday was pretty stressful for everyone.

"But I have to get Edward's automail done as soon as possible! He hates having to wait for it!" Riza watched the distraught young woman carefully for a moment before moving the skillet off of the heat and walking to said mechanic's side.

"Winry, look at me," she commanded the other blonde. Winry looked up after a moment, extremely distressed at the thought of upsetting Edward. "You're hurting yourself. This isn't healthy for you to worry so much. And besides, Edward just got out of a major surgery yesterday. He isn't going to need those limbs for quite a while. Even if he says something to you, just do what you always do and ignore him." Winry nodded after another moment and relaxed the mechanics of her hands to let go of where they had clamped onto the sides of her face.

"Thank you Col."

"Just call me Riza, Winry. We've been over this before."

"Alright then," Winry replied hesitantly, "Is there anything I can help you with since I'm staying with you, Miss Riza?"

"Now that's a better attitude." Riza smiled and the two women finished breakfast together and ate before cleaning all of the dishes.

"Where would you like to work on all of that?" Riza asked, gesturing to the case and tools leaning against the end of the couch.

"Well, the first few adjustments don't really need anything beyond some elbow-greece..."

"In that case, why don't you come work in the office with us? We've got an extra table around somewhere and that way we don't have to worry about your safety."

"Is there a reason why I should be concerned about my safety?" Winry worried.

"Nothing special," Riza lied easily, "It's just that Central is a lot different than Risembool or even Rush Valley. A lot more crime happens around here. Plus, this way Roy and I can bring you with us when we go to visit Edward." Riza smiled gently at the mechanic and Winry nodded again.

"Alright, now go get dressed," Riza said, glancing at the clock, "We've got about a half an hour before we need to leave if we're not gonna be late." The two women showered, dressed, and applied make-up before grabbing their tools for the day and heading for the door. Winry hurried as best she could, trying her best to not make the Col. late for her day. Riza was just amused by the lengths to which Winry would go before asking for help from anyone else.

The two finally made it to Central Command and into the Fuhrer's outer office at eight-forty five sharp. Riza helped Winry find a table and then settled down at her own desk with a stack of paper before the rest of the crew began to wonder in. Havoc and Breda had been recalled from the front with Creta a month and a half ago when General Armstrong, Alex, not his sister Olivier, volunteered to go.

Havoc was the first male of the team to wonder in that morning with Breda as a close second. Fuery came in a little later and finally Roy made it in last at nine o'clock sharp, as per usual. No one questioned Winry's presence and instead merely took up residence at the desks until the lunch hour rolled around.
Winry tweaked and jittered the automail this way and that, trying her best to be quiet but still making noise every time she applied the tools of her trade. At ten past eleven, she gave up her quest for quiet when she took out her hammer. For the next fifty minutes, the hammer went on until Mustang emerged from his inner office.

"Lunch!" he announced loudly and everyone scrambled for their coats as quickly as possible.

"Would you like to join us, Miss Rockbell?" Havoc called, gesturing to himself and Fuery, "We're going to this cafe that just opened a little ways away. Heard from an ex that it's supposed to be really good!" Winry glanced at her work, trying to decide whether she should pack it up or if it would be safe.

"The doors to this office are always locked when there is no one here Winry," Mustang answered her unasked query, "And because it is the office of the Fuhrer, there's also always guards outside my door." Winry nodded again and the group went out to lunch.

"And then, then he says 'I'll cut your legs off and stick 'em on your head!' It was the longest short rant I think I ever heard!"

"You shoulda heard some of the ones he did when we were actually short," Winry chuckled, glad that she'd already finished eating, "Some of those were hilarious! Or the time when he and Al tried to fight over who was gonna marry me. I think Al won, but I turned them both down flat!"

"What'd you say?" Fuery wondered.

" 'I don't like men who are shorter than me'." The crew burst out laughing again with even Riza giving a small chuckle at the story.

"Alright," Roy announced after a few more minutes, "We better get back to the office." A few grumbled complaints later, the group was trooping back to Central Command.

Someone passing them on the street bumped into Winry and she turned to apologize, but the other woman was already gone. All Winry got was a flash of red hair. Somehow though, she knew that something was up. And all bets were off when Winry Rockbell got involved...

AUTHOR'S RAMBLING REPLIES

199: Um... Love me because I write you another chappy today? Pwease? And the gun is very frightening... It scares me off... I just kinda lost all inspiration for writing and got really busy with my job. I know that's not a proper excuse, but that's all I got.

QueenCari1129: Does now count? I'm glad to see that I still have readers after my inexcusable hiatus...

Karmadella1234: Does this mean no more death threats?

PWEASE LOVE ME! KNOW THAT I AM SCARED OF GUNS!