Wooo! So, I've been sitting on this one for a long time really, trying to figure out how I wanted to play this out and figured that I'd make it a shorter fanfic, maybe two or three chapters long, but packed with lots of EdWin action. Basically it's all EdWin action, so if you don't like that, don't read it. Or read it. Whatever floats your boat. I've just been shipping these two harder than life for the past few days and needed to get some of it out of my system.

Title: Picking Up the Pieces
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Rating: T (for language) - may be changed later depending on the degree of citrus
Pairing: EdWin
Summary: A short fanfic based throughout the Brotherhood series, in which Ed says something a little insensitive to Winry, and she's afraid he's going to make good on his promise.
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or anything associated with it. Just writing this for shits and gigs folks.

Please review so I know it's not a total bomb! Remember, I love your feedback, but please extinguish the flames before leaving them in my reviews :) Don't hesitate to give me constructive criticism, though! I love to see how I can adapt my work and become a better writer!

"Edward, what have you done to my automail!" she cried out. Winry had never seen it in such a state. It was completely ruined, incapable of being fixed. His leg had sustained less damage, though his recent growth spurt meant that his leg was going to need an extension. She'd have to make a completely new limb, in addition to adjusting the other.

They'd just been through a rather traumatic fight against Scar that left Ed's automail dysfunctional, Al's armor body in shambles, and their world turned on its side. The fight hadn't fallen in their favor, until Mustang and his team had stepped in, just in time. Ed didn't like to think of what would have happened if that bastard Colonel hadn't shown up. So there they were, back in Resembool for maintenance and much needed rest. After a flying wrench to the skull and some bickering for old time's sake, Ed truly felt that he'd returned home.

And just as he'd predicted, Winry would be pleased to see them, but less than pleased to see the condition their bodies were in.

"Yeah, sorry," Ed said nervously. "It's a little smashed up."

"A little smashed up!" she mimicked, clearly enraged. "You've completely trashed it!"

"Not completely. It's basically the same as it was before, just in smaller pieces," he said nonchalantly, sipping from his cup of coffee. He seemed satisfied with his answer. Winry contemplated dislocating his automail leg and beating him with it. Profusely.

"Ed, what the hell happened that could have wrecked your arm like this?"

Winry turned to him as she asked the question, hoping that he would give her something, anything, that would clue her into what the boys had been doing in Central. For a moment, his face darkened, and she knew he wasn't going to confide in her. Her oldest friend, the boy she'd been raised with her entire life, wouldn't tell her what had happened to him. He never did.

"It's not indestructible," she continued. "You can't just keep doing whatever it is that you're doing and expect to come out in one piece Edward!"

"Yeah, yeah. If it was indestructible I wouldn't be here right now, would I?" he spit back, turning his golden gaze on her.

Somehow, she felt like he was blaming her, even though she knew he wasn't. When angry, Edward had a tendency to say whatever was on his mind without filtering his thoughts; and since she'd known him his entire life, Winry knew this best. Most of the time his words hurt her, they were unintentional. She could sense his frustration, the eagerness to travel back to Central. Or maybe he was just eager to leave Resembool.

Either way, it meant he would leave her.

Again.

And suddenly, she was infuriated.

With herself, for not making automail that was strong enough to endure what he was doing in Central. Because that meant that the small piece of herself he took with her everywhere he went didn't do its job correctly. It didn't protect him the way she had wanted it to. If it was stronger, then he wouldn't have had to come back to a place that burdened him with bittersweet memories.

For not being strong enough to show him a brave face. She hated that she didn't know what he was doing in Central, what kind of danger he was getting himself into, and she was worried that one day, if he wasn't careful, he might hurt himself beyond repair.

And then she was angry at him.

For wrecking her automail and acting like an insensitive jerk all the time.

For never writing or calling, even if it was just to say hello, or that he was alive.

For making her wait, even though she didn't want to.

She wanted to lash out at him, make him feel her frustration and pain. But she knew he was already burdened with his own demons; he didn't need hers too. So she'd have to settle for something a little bit different.

"Let's just hope your head is more durable than that arm then," she gritted out, and wacked him in the temple with her heaviest wrench.

"Winry, what the hell!" he shouted, rubbing his temple with his flesh hand. "You're gonna kill me before I can figure out a way to get mine and Al's bodies back!"

"No, Edward! If you keep up this- this recklessness, you're going to beat me to it! You're not indestructible Ed! Haven't you realized that yet? I can't always fix everything up!" Her blue eyes flashed with irritation, and her cheeks heated as their argument spanned on. She knew she was being dramatic, that she probably shouldn't be doing this, but she couldn't stop. Once the words came out, there was no going back. They both knew this would only end with one of them getting hurt.

"I know that Winry! Okay? I get it!" he shouted back in a tone that wasn't to be argued with. But Winry had long since heeded that warning. So she kept goading him.

"No, I don't think you do. You wreck my automail, waltz up to the shop for maintenance, if that's what I can even call it with your automail in this state, and then repeat the process again a few weeks later! At this rate, I should just be making spare limbs for you so we don't have to deal with you coming back here every damn time something happens to-"

"Great idea," he spat sardonically. "Then I wouldn't have to deal with you nagging me every time I-"

"Nagging you! You have no idea how badly I could nag you, Edward! You need a healthy dose of nagging to snap you back into reality. One day I might not be here to fix you again, and then what will you do, huh?"

"I'll just go find some other damn mechanic!" He could feel the reigns of his control slipping as their argument became more heated. Winry always knew just what to say to get on his nerves. He was convinced that if he didn't die trying to restore his brother and himself into their original bodies, Winry would nag him right into his grave.

"Oh yeah?," Winry sneered. "Who would take a little, arrogant, runt like-"

"Who are you calling little?" he yelled, but Winry continued ranting as if he hadn't even spoken.

"-you as a customer? Not every mechanic is as willing to perform emergency maintenance at the drop of the hat like we are, Ed."

"And not every mechanic is as much of a raging bitch as you are Winry!"

At that, Winry stopped speaking, moving, breathing, and just stared at Edward. He'd stood up in the middle of their fight, though she couldn't pinpoint when it had happened. Everything seemed like a blur, except for his eyes. She noted that he must have grown several inches since she'd last saw him, or last paid any attention to his height, since their eyes were now level with each other.

Maybe a second had passed since he'd finished speaking, maybe a few. It was enough time for Winry to reach into her back pocket and grasp the weapon she desired, and enough time for Edward to anticipate what was about to happen.

"Winry, I swear, if you hit me with that wrench one more time, I will never come back."

His tone was low and harsh, but she couldn't tell if it was an empty threat. She tore her gaze away from his, afraid that what she'd see there would affirm her worst nightmares.

That maybe, he never wanted to come back.

That maybe, he didn't need her as much as she needed him.

So she turned back to her work table and made herself busy with the leftover pieces of his desecrated arm, hearing the familiar scrape of automail against wood floors as Ed shuffled out of the room. She kept tinkering with the metal pieces, as if she could piece together everything that had fallen apart.

The next two days passed by uneventfully. Winry and Ed kept their distance from each other.

Winry shut herself in her workshop, building Ed's new automail arm, taking breaks only when necessary.

Ed visited his mother's grave, as well as his old home, and explored the town to see the changes in Resembool in his long absence.

Al, Pinako, and Armstrong noticed the tense atmosphere when the two happened to wander in for dinner at the same time that night. Winry had taken a break from working, and Ed had sauntered in from his walk when Pinako had told them that they better sit down and eat while the food was still warm. Both had no excuse to skip dinner, so begrudgingly, they sat down at the table, Ed across from Armstrong, Winry seated to his left at the head of the table. In the middle of their meal, he'd asked her to pass the salt, and she'd used her wrist to slide the shaker to him, neither really acknowledging the other's existence.

The other three occupants of the dining table forced conversation, while Ed and Winry remained mute through their meal, until Winry finished, stood, and uttered one sentence to Ed.

"Your automail will be done by tomorrow morning, so pack tonight."

And it was the closest he'd ever felt to being unwelcome in the Rockbell home.

To say reattaching Edward's arm was awkward would be an understatement. It meant that they couldn't avoid each other anymore, or what they had said to each other.

Regret rolled off both of them in palpable waves. Neither wanted to say goodbye with unresolved tension between them, but neither felt they should be the first to apologize. And that was their problem.

So their day continued on, and they skirted around each other like repelling magnets. The time for their departure grew closer and closer, until it was time for Edward, Alphonse, and Major Armstrong to leave.

Pinako and Winry stood before the house at sunset, waiting for their three guests to emerge from the house so they could say their goodbyes. Winry stared out to the horizon, willing the train that would take her friends away from her again to stop coming, even though she knew it wouldn't stop Edward and Alphonse from leaving her. They would find another way; they always do.

"You should make amends with him before he leaves," Pinako said softly from beside Winry. She could hear Den barking inside the house, most likely expecting a round of fetch outside with Alphonse when he noticed the suit of armor walking outside.

Winry gave her grandmother a look that said, none of your business, but she knew her grandmother was right, she just didn't want to admit it.

So she hugged Alphonse, shook Armstrong's hand, and let her eyes meet Ed's one last time before he left.

She was sure that her emotions were written all over her face, but she was surprised to see the swell of emotion on his.

"Be safe," she said when she could no longer stand the silence.

He gave her a sad smile, and she could feel her face mimicking his. This was the closest thing to an apology either was willing to give.

"Bye, Winry," he said, and turned to join the others as they walked down the dirt road, away from the house. Away from Winry.

And suddenly she was running.

"Ed!"

As he turned at the sound of his name, she crashed into him, arms winding tightly around his neck, face buried in his neck. She could feel the tears burning behind her eyelids, but she didn't care. She didn't really care that he was unresponsive for a moment, because eventually, he wrapped his arms around her too. She didn't really care that they were all awkward limbs, metal and flesh. All she cared about was that he was warm, and alive. He didn't have to come back to Resembool if it meant he would be just that.

And that's when Winry realized just how much she cared about the boy in her arms.

Thanks for reading, and look forward to the next chapter :)