Let's just say the shit hath hiteth the fan...ith haha hope you enjoy

The entire drive back to the Bureau's Central office passed by in a blur for Winry. Riza spent most of the drive talking about their next move but Winry wasn't listening, all she could think about was Father's lingering threat and whether he would actually go through with it or not. Then again it wasn't as if he was a man to be messed with and the kind of people he crossed never came off well. He was also definitely likely to make it look like an accident if he did do anything to here. There was nothing she could do about it. Well... there was one thing she could do about it; she could get Ed to actually agree to get on the stage with the rest of 'The Brotherhood'.

As soon as they arrived back at the office she had come out of her mini-coma and come back to herself. She ripped off the wire still attached to her and, without a word to either Kian or Riza, stormed up the stairs and inside. She was barely down the first corridor when she bumped into Yven coming towards her.

"Agent Rockbell," he said smiling at her, "are you okay?"

"Find me Edward Elric," she told him.

"He's in your office," Yven told her.

"Good start."

"Are you alright?" Yven asked.

"I will be once I've spoken to him," she said. She opened the door of her office and saw Ed, as bold as brass, sitting in her chair with his feet up on her desk.

"Hey Wendy," he said smirking at her.

"Winry," she snapped, "and please get your feet off my desk." Ed's smirk grew as he put his feet down.

"What's got your skirt in a bunch?" he asked, leaning forward on his elbows and completely oblivious to the glare Winry was sending his way.

"Mr Elric am I incredibly annoyed and under a lot of stress right now so I am going to ask you one more time; will you perform with the rest of 'The Brotherhood' this weekend or not?" she asked. Ed seemed to think about this for a moment or two before that infuriating smirk crept onto his face again.

"No," he said.

"Is there nothing I can say to change your mind?" Winry asked feeling that irritation that seemed to accompany being in the presence of Edward Elric for more than a few seconds bubbling up inside her once again.

"No," Ed said.

Winry grit her teeth and took a deep breath. She had to fight the urge not to smack him in the face, despite the fact that he was being a stubborn little shit that would be an even less helpful thing to do.

"Why are you so adamant not to?" she asked.

"Why are you so adamant that I do?" he retaliated.

"Because..." Winry started and then stopped. Should she tell him that Father had threatened to kill her if they didn't? If she admitted it to herself then it was a very real possibility and she might break, then she could lose the team's confidence if they got even the slightest hint that she was nervous. "We just need this to go ahead alright, we're in too deep to pull out now."

"That's what she said," Ed snorted.

"Oh my god you are so annoying!" Winry cried wringing her hands to keep from strangling him.

"What is going on in here?" Hoenheim asked as he entered the office, having been passing, Al, Mustang and Izumi behind him.

"Great," Winry muttered placing a hand over her eyes.

"What's it to you old man? Why are you getting involved?" Ed asked.

"Brother will you stop," Al sighed. "Can you not just let it go, he's only trying to help which is more than can be said for you. Why are you being so difficult?"

"I'm being difficult?" Ed asked as if this was news.

"Yes!" Winry, Al and Mustang all said at the same time.

"Come on Edward there's no need for this much anger towards me," Hoenheim said. "I know we've had our differences in the past but, please, for the sake of your brother and for the sake of the show..."

"Fuck the show," Ed snapped and got to his feet. "I'm done with this and I'm done with the lot of you. I'm not going to perform with any of you, ever again!" And with that he stormed out of the room, leaving a sea of confused and hurt faces. Winry closed her eyes, clearly she was going to be left at the mercy of Father.

"I... I should probably go and try to talk to him," Al said softly after the silence had stretched on for too long. Winry felt her spirits sinking even further into the floor, highly doubting that he was coming back even if he did managed to find Ed.

"This is all way too much drama for me," Izumi stated holding her hands up as if to say that she was washing her hands of the whole thing. "I'm getting on the first train back to Dubleth and going back to my husband."

"Wait..." Winry began to protest and persuade her to stay but she had no idea how she would even begin to do that.

"Sorry darling," Izumi said, "but I'm a bit too old for this shit." She left the room, leaving Winry feeling even worse than she had.

"Well if they're gone I'm not going to stick around," Mustang said.

"Oh come on," Winry groaned. "Why?"

"You can't expect us to do a show made for five with only two of us," he replied and Winry had to admit that he was right.

"No," she sighed. "If you want to go then go."

"I mean if anything else changes then let me know but I've got some other places to be," he said. "Girls to charm and all that."

"Just go," Winry told him. She sighed and flopped down into the chair behind her desk, covering her face with her hands, oblivious to Hoenheim and Yven still in the room staring at her expectantly. When it became apparent that she wasn't going to say anything Hoenheim cleared his throat.

"Well," he said after a pause, "I should probably take my leave too if we're done here." Winry looked up, filled with fear again that her one last chance at salvaging the situation was slipping away. If there was one person who could get them all back together to pull through this it was Hoenheim.

"Wait please," she said, "don't leave. We can fix this, we can still do this. I can't cancel on Father now."

"Look around you Agent Rockbell," Hoenheim said, "we have only one member of the troupe left and no way to get the rest of them to agree to come back."

"But if you could just talk to them..." Winry began.

"And you've heard what happens when I try to talk to Edward," Hoenheim said and Winry had to admit that he was right. Ed was the loose cannon and he was the one who had started this explosive storm out in the first place.

"But I have put everything into this. My entire career is on the line, I... I have to bring Father in now." She could feel herself falling apart as everything seemed to spiral out of control around her with no way for her to stop it.

"I'm sorry," Hoenheim said, "but there's nothing I can do."

"But..."

"It's over Agent Rockbell," Hoenheim said and left the room.

Winry let out a long exhale and let her head drop to her desk again. That was the end of it. She had failed and now she was going to have to explain herself firstly to Olivier that she had failed and maybe lose her job and secondly to Father and most likely lose her life. She could feel everything crumbling underneath her and she had no idea how to bring it all back together. It was all completely fucked.

"You okay?" Yven asked. Winry looked up and shook her head.

"I have no idea," she said.

"So what are you going to do now?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Winry said again shaking her head and feeling defeated. She was supposed to be the lead on this case and now that their first plan had failed she had no idea how to come up with something new.

"Is there anything I can do?" Yven asked.

"I don't think so," Winry said. "Not unless you can get Edward Elric to cooperate and stop being such a child."

"I can have a crack at it," he chuckled.

"Have fun with that," Winry smiled. She sighed and rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I literally have no idea what I'm supposed to do now."

As if to add insult to injury the phone on Winry's desk began to ring and she groaned loudly. Can this day get any worse?

"Do you want me to answer that?" Yven asked.

"Please," she replied.

"No problem," Yven smiled and picked up the phone. "Miss Rockbell's office."

"If it's Olivier I'm not here and you don't know where I am," Winry hissed. Yven nodded and winked at her.

"Yes," he said. "Okay... I will let her know."

"What's happening?" Winry asked.

"Still have no idea what you're going to do?" Yven asked after he had covered the receiver with his hand.

"No," Winry said. "Why?"

"You'd better figure it out quickly," he replied, "because Solaris Bailey is on the phone and she wants to talk to you."

"Balls!"

"My sentiment exactly."

"Right I guess I'd better speak to her then," Winry said taking the phone from him and taking a deep breath.

"Good luck," Yven mouthed.

"Miss Bailey," Winry said after giving him a small smile, "what can I do for you this afternoon?"

"Just checking in Miss Rockbell," Solaris said smoothly. "Just making sure that everything is going according to plan."

"Of course," Winry lied without thinking.

"So everything will be going ahead for sound-check tomorrow and the show on Saturday?" Solaris asked.

"Yep," Winry said cringing at her own stupidity. It would be obvious that she was lying as soon as no one showed up for the sound-check. She made a mental note to send Kian and some other agents along to buy them a little more time.

"Wonderful," Solaris said. "And is half past four still alright for tomorrow?"

"Of course," Winry lied. "Totally fine."

"Wonderful, we'll see you then," Solaris said and put the phone down. Winry groaned as she put her own phone down.

"Well that went well," Yven stated. Winry said nothing just sank back down onto her arms in despair.