"Would you hold still already?!" the automail mechanic screeched, doing her best to not smack the Fullmetal alchemist full across the face.
"Well maybe I would if you stopped STABBING me with the stupid wrench!" Edward shot back, "Mechanic-otaku!"
"Renkenjistu-otaku!" Winry returned. She continued on in her efforts, finally finishing the adjustments to Ed's ports. "There," she huffed, "You're all adjusted. We'll give it another three days to heal and then we'll move on."
"Why do we have to wait so long?" Edward almost whined. Winry tapped her wrench against his port and the alchemist flinched heavily as pain ran up his nerve receptors.
"That's why," Winry stated bluntly, "And the fact that it could send you into cardiovascular shock. I think we've had more than enough of that recently." Edward nodded and looked away from Winry while she packed up her equipment.
Winry stormed out of Ed's hospital room and the alchemist flinched.
"Well that went well." The coughing that filled the room a moment later seemed to disagree with his statement.
The next day, Edward lazed about until a nurse came in, announcing a visitor.
"Well, who the hell is it?"
"It's Fuhrer Mustang, Sir."
"Send the Bastard in," the Brig. Gen. sighed out. A few minutes later, the man entered and Edward started before he could even sit down.
"I'm so bored!" the blonde alchemist whined, "You don't visit me as much now and I don't have anything to work on!"
"I've offered to bring you research materials, Fullmetal," the Fuhrer replied, irritated with his subordinate's childlike complaints as he pulled up a chair.
"And I've told you, how would you know what I need when I don't even know what to work on!"
"Because I could bring you more books if you would just give me a broad topic!"
"What if I don't want to share my research with you?!"
"Then I could ORDER you to as your Fuhrer and direct superior!" Edward looked pointedly away from Mustang and to the wall. The older man suspected that if the younger had his automail arm as well as flesh that the two limbs would be crossed in a show of defiance.
"I just don't want to be in the hospital any longer..." Edward murmured dejectedly, still facing the wall, "Al's still stuck in there and I could be saving him instead of just being a burden on everyone..."
"Edward Elric!" Mustang barked, using the young man's full name to get his full attention, "You are not a burden on anyone except yourself when you think that way! I don't want to hear you continually blaming yourself." Edward listened to the man miserably, knowing that he should probably take the man's advice to heart. Despite the longing Edward knew he felt for a father figure, he also knew that everyone would be better off with Alphonse instead. The blonde sighed again but began coughing a moment later, prompting the Fuhrer to break off and hit the call button at the end of the bed.
A few minutes later, a nurse appeared in the doorway to the room.
"You called, Sir?" Mustang noticed that it was a different nurse than the day before and gestured to Edward's shaking form. The nurse flew into action and the man backed up a few steps to allow her space to work. Mustang watched as Edward was sat up fully and his the nurse glanced at the screens as she hit a few buttons and fluids began dripping down his IV line. A few moments later, the coughing subsided and the nurse helped Edward lean back somewhat to be more comfortable. Mustang stuck around for a few more hours and the two men talked. The subjects weren't anything important, but Edward was ranting at a short joke as the Fuhrer left.
The next day, no one came to visit the Brig. Gen. and Edward felt more alone than he had in a while. So he planned. When the nurses came to check on him, he was staring out of the window on the other side of the room doing nothing. No one was the wiser as the day came to the end, but Edward knew. He knew how to get back his brother. Sleep did not come that night.
"Like hell I'm just gonna let you do that!" he screeched, growling like a cornered animal, "You aren't gonna stab me with that needle and knock me out!"
"Then calm down," the doctor replied, stepping closer, "and all I'll do is draw some blood!"
"THE HELL YOU WILL!"
The ruckus carrier down the hall and Winry smiled as she cleared the security checkpoints. Edward shouting helped to remind her of his vitality and made her think of when he and Al would come visit her in Risembool.
Winry entered the hospital room, automail limbs in hand, and watched as the doctor finally succeeded in drawing blood from his patient. She waited a moment while he transferred the blood to a different container and let her gaze roam over Edward's slight figure. He looked absolutely antsy and she did her best not to giggle at his childish actions.
She failed though and Edward looked up from the bemoaning of his fate to glare at her briefly before returning his unwavering attention to the doctor. Winry giggled again at Edward's expression before the doctor finally turned to face her.
"Hello Miss Rockbell," he greeted politely, "I take you are ready for the attachment procedure, but where is Elric's automail mechanic? Should he not be here for the operation?" Winry felt her ire rise at the doctor's dismissal of her skill, but forced herself to shake his hastily washed hand with a firm grip.
"Of course, Doctor," she replied, her smile dissapearing, "But I must correct you. You see, I've been an automail mechanic for over a decade and trained directly under Pinako Rockbell since I was born." The doctor gulped and visibly paled.
"P-Please, proceed," he stuttered out before wisely bolting from the room and sending a nurse back in to help Winry however the mechanic saw fit.
Ten minutes later, Winry had everything suitably wiped down and sanitized on Edward's ports and and adjacent table to hold his arm at the proper level until his nerves stabilized. She aligned the limbs and sent the nurse back out.
"I'll hit the call button when we need the assistance," she assured the woman as she shut the door. Winry walked over to Edward and looked him over.
He was still skinny, but not quite as unbearably so after the two and a half weeks she had been in Central. One more week and then she would leave him behind to return to Risembool...
Edward stared at Winry apprehensively when she sent the nurse out. There was no more stalling for time and the attachment had to happen. This time though... He didn't know if he would be able to keep from screaming... Al wasn't here.
Winry hooked her final tool into the limbs and looked Edward in the eye.
"Are you ready?" He nodded hesitantly, not trusting his voice. "Alright," she answered, sliding her gloves on a little tighter. "1... 2... 3!" the twist of her lever whirled down the shafts to the connections in both the arm and leg to the nerves.
Fire shot into him from the two points and spread through his entire body. The pain held him in an eternity of limbo before it finally lessened slightly. After a little while, he finally managed to open his eyes (when had he closed them?) and saw Winry hovering over him anxiously. When she saw the golden eyes focused on her, she gave Edward a watery smile and the alchemist thought she was going to collapse.
Winry felt her knees go weak after five anxious minutes of waiting on Edward. She'd been so worried. The connections could've been jammed or misaligned and she was just so scared that he wouldn't wake up. He did though, so she pulled on the latex gloves waiting on her and ran through a basic diagnosis before pulling back on her heavy work gloves over her automail to protect it. She sat back in the chair and waited out the worst part of Edward's pain for the next hour before standing once more.
"Time to examine your range of motion!" she announced with a bright smile. Edward groaned, but leaned up to run through the familiar exercises with the female mechanic.
When she finally announced his range off motion complete and left the hospital, she'd been in the white building for four hours. She lectured the nurses, plus one doctor, on the symptoms to look for and where to reach her if complications arose before leaving the hospital.
Winry considered changing out of her work clothes before leaving but decided she was too tired to deal with a skirt and instead pulled the sleeves of her jumpsuit on without zipping the baggy clothing all the way up. As she walked, Winry was glad that the Col. only lived a few blocks away from the hospital, about the same distance as her house from the train station on the opposite side of Risembool. She set out, not paying much attention to her surroundings until, merely steps from the Gen.'s apartment building, a hand grabbed her shoulder and her world went dark.
AUTHOR'S INANE RAMBLING REPLIES
Jmliana: I'm curious as to who she is too. But my sister just spewed a huge backstory for her, so I know who she is now! Also, my nee-san is kinda really insane... She's got a knife... (She keeps claiming it's a pencil. Don't trust her!) (I think she carries shuriken... But I KNOW she has swords all over her wall...)
199: YOU JUST SWORE! HOW COULD YOU! I'D YELL AT YOU IN CHINESE BUT MY BRAIN KEEPS THINKING IN JAPANESE! ONAKA GA SUITE IMASU! Good thing that I have cookie-dough...
ShadowSnowdapple: Thank you for reading this!
Sorry this is a little bit late guys... I have to write a huge research paper and memorize a five minute clipping from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and it's annoying me... It's not really hard, just a lot of work. Wish me luck cause I present on Thursday! (Also, this chapter is 1.5 K because it's late... and I won't be updating this week probably...) So hide the guns and pitchforks becausse they scare me and I don't write when they're present... LOVE YOU GUYS!