Something was wrong.

Ed had been watching Winry ever since she came back from her phone call. She smiled, laughed, and still joined in on conversations. But, there was a tightness around her eyes and mouth that she couldn't shake. She kept wringing her hands, or shredding a napkin, anything to keep her hands busy.

Eventually, the crowd began to disperse. Riza, Maes, and the normal humans first. When Winry was the last human left, he caught her elbow and asked her if she was tired. She smiled gratefully and nodded. They made their farewells, and were soon in Ed's car on their way to her apartment.

"Winry, is everything ok?"

She frowned, "Was it that obvious?"

He shook his head and changed lanes, "Nah. But you did seem a little tense there at the end."

She sighed and pulled her feet up onto the seat, wrapping her arms around her knees as she said, "I guess they didn't take me leaving Lab 5 too well. The board called Paninya up and grilled her for hours about it. Why was I leaving? How long had I been thinking about it? What did you guys offer me. She said they were pretty . . . intense."

Ed frowned over the steering wheel, "Is she ok?"

"I guess. She said they just kept asking questions, but it was pretty exhausting. She's going to call me and get together for lunch or something this weekend."

"If things get out of hand, let me know. Or Roy, or Maes. Someone. We can take care of things."

She smiled weakly and nodded, "I appreciate it, but I'm sure they were just startled. Like I said, I haven't been there long, and this was pretty sudden."

"Alright, but keep it in mind."

They had pulled up to her building by now, and they were both pretty quiet as he showed her up to her door. She waved vaguely inside as she opened the door.

"Do you want to come in?"

He smiled but shook his head, "That's alright. You need your rest. I'll see you Monday, but remember to call me if you need anything."

She smiled and nodded, but he didn't move until he heard the door lock. He was making a habit of leaving Winry's apartment angry, he thought, as he stormed out of the building.

When Winry got up the next morning, she decided she could use some 'Girl Time' after the hectic week she'd had. She messaged Rose and Paninya, and the three agreed that a shopping spree was long overdue.

They had a blast, and Winry was pretty excited about some new outfits she could wear to her new job this week, especially a pair of boots that she got an amazing deal on. Eventually, they found themselves at an outdoor table at a café they frequently went to after their shopping trips. After ordering and comparing deals once again, Rose leaned her chin onto her hands, elbows on the table, and smiled at Winry.

"So, tell me about this new job!"

Winry smiled, "It's a dream job! Total intellectual freedom, great funding, and a lot of flexibility. I may need to hit up the tanning bed eventually though!"

Rose leaned back and tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

Winry shrugged, "The labs are all subterranean, so no windows. I think it's some sort of safety precaution or something. Nobody there seemed to think it was odd at all."

The blonde shrugged, but Rose was giving her an odd look.

She may have pressed, but Paninya piped up with, "Plus, working with all the hotties isn't a bad perk!"

Winry rolled her eyes and laughed, "Trust you, Paninya. But, seriously, they're all like, crazy smart."

Rose raised one eyebrow, "Coming from you?"

She shook her head, "No, really. While I was there, a few of us were looking at some recent results of Ed's and I was totally lost. Granted, not my field, but still."

Rose shrugged, "I never understand it when you talk about your work. Not exactly comparable to my hours at the daycare."

Paninya nodded, "You were way smarter than the other guys at the lab, too. I'm sure you'll blow them away. Why else would they have hired you?" Her eyes turned mischievous, "Unless Ed just has a lot of pull."

"Ed?"

Winry waved a dismissive hand, "She's talking about the guy who introduced me to all of the CRD crew. He's one of their researchers. I had a bit of trouble the other day, and he came along and helped me out. Next thing I know: new job."

Rose smiled, "I'm glad it's working out for you. I told you that you were going to go far!"

Winry smiled her thanks as their order arrived; glad she had such good friends.

"I don't know, Ed. I'm not sure there's a real threat here."

Ed glared over his kitchen counter at Roy, "I'm telling you, the girl was scared. You met her the other night. I don't think she's the type to shake too easily."

Roy nodded, "Maybe, but they let her go. If they'd meant her harm, the Homunculi were more than capable of taking care of it then."

Ed scoffed, "She works for them. Not like there's a rush."

"You said she and Winry are going to get together this weekend?" At Ed's nod, he continued, "Alright, feel Winry out on Monday. See if this Paninya girl is still shaken. If she is, we can look into it further. They'd be stupid to threaten outright conflict with our clan over one human after all this time."

Ed rolled his eyes, "Like they're known for their intelligence. There's a reason they hire their brains in to compete with us."

As Maes had told her, Riza was waiting in the lobby for her Monday morning with a welcoming smiled. Of course, her expression dimmed slightly at the sight of Winry and Rose dragging in mass amounts of papers, scale models, and long rolls of schematics stuffed into cardboard boxes.

After a brief discussion, (Yes, there are a couple more trips worth of this.) Riza made a quick call. Soon enough, they'd gotten everything piled neatly in the lobby where someone from maintenance would be along shortly to see that it all made it down to Winry's new lab. With another heartfelt thanks from Winry, Rose was soon on her way.

Now that Winry's hands were no longer full of paper and cardboard, Riza was able to hand over her new id badge and explain a few last minute things.

"Uh, quick question, Riza?"

"Of course."

Winry smiled sheepishly, "Um, do I go through the conference room upstairs, or-"

Riza laughed softly, "No, that was just easiest from Maes' office. Here. You can reach the labs from the far right elevator here, as long as you have your badge. It comes out next to the break rooms on your level."

"Ah!" Winry now recalled seeing it, but her tour had been a little . . . unconventional. "Thank you!"

"Not a problem. If you need anything at all, Security is extension 9 on all the phones in the building."

Winry nodded, and stepped into the elevator. Remembering from last week, she swiped her card and selected her floor. She'd brought her bag with her laptop and most important papers, but left everything else in the lobby. There was a definite bounce in her step as she made her way down the hall to her new lab.

As she got closer, she heard the distinct sound of something very heavy scraping across the floor coming from her doorway. She cautiously opened the door, but a quick glance around just showed Ed next to the large worktable that had previously been in the center of the room, but she and Roy had decided to push into the front corner. It was now in the corner they'd discussed, but surely it was too large for Ed to have moved on his own. It was a massive block of wood and metal. Ed stepped away from it quickly as she entered the room.

"Uh, Morning, Winry."

"Hello Edward."

"The, um, table was crooked. I thought I'd straighten it out a bit."

She glanced down at the worktable, a little surprised. It had sounded like something had been dragged a good distance, not just slightly adjusted. Must be too early on a Monday morning.

"Thanks, Ed!"

As she set her bag down on the table and pulled out her laptop he asked, "Is that all you brought? I thought your friend was going to help you bring all that research in today."

She smiled, "Yeah, we left it up in the lobby. Riza is going to have someone bring it down in a bit."

He smirked and tilted his head, "It was a lot of stuff." She chuckled and agreed before he continued, "Roy has a meeting this morning, so he asked me to get you settled. How about I show you around the computer systems here?"

He led her over to the computer station set up in the corner on the other side of the door from the massive work table. He gestured for her to take the rolling computer chair, but he took the mouse and gestured to the post-it on the corner of the screen.

"There's your user name and password, you should change that today before you leave. Only you and Roy will have total access to your computer, but he doesn't really mess with people's files. It's just a precaution." She nodded, and he continued, "This is the shared drive. We each have a folder on there with our names, so if you want someone to look over something, or just think they'll be interested or whatever, you can drop it in their folder."

"That's handy!"

He nodded, "Yeah, don't be surprised if Al keeps dropping things in your folder all the time. Your stuff has some overlap with his robotics, and I'm surprised he isn't here already with a million questions."

She laughed, "That's fine! I'd like to see his work too."

"This is your email, obviously, but mostly we use this messaging program. It's a little more, I don't know, casual?"

He pulled it up, and she saw a list of names, many she remembered from last week. She found Al and Ed's names, both with green dots next to them. "Most of us are in the habit of using this for pretty much everything. We hardly use the phones of email anymore. Say you want me to look over some data. You could drop it in my folder, and then send me a quick message about it."

"Group messages too. Oh, and you can put it on your phone if you want, or your laptop. Since a bunch of us have odd hours, it helps."

She gave him a sly look, "I heard you were 'practically nocturnal' last week."

He turned a little pink and stepped back from the computer. "I don't think that's the best way to describe my sleeping habits, but whatever."

They both looked down at her screen when there was a beep. She smiled and looked up at Ed, "It seems your brother is looking for you."

She pulled out the keyboard and typed back, "Yup, he's here. He's going over the computer systems with me."

Al's response was lightning fast, "No problem! I'll catch him later! Good luck today, Winry!"

"Thanks, Al!"

There was a knock at the door, which swung open to two men with dollies loaded up with her papers and such from the lobby. Ed excused himself as Winry dealt with the sudden influx of clutter.