A/N: Firstly, thanks again to all of those who reviewed. It really makes me feel good about my writing. Right now I'm currently on my way to Mexico, which I will spend about 2 weeks in for a short vacation away from home in California.

Secondly, I'm really sorry for taking so long in updating the story. A lot of things have come up over the past few months which took up my time to sit down and continue writing. But not to worry! I hope this chapter makes up for the wait.

Thirdly, this chapter may contain some spoilers for some episodes towards the end of Full Metal Alchemist. You have been warned.

Important note: At the moment, I'm currently wondering if I need a Beta reader. If anyone feels it's necessary, please let me know in a review or e-mail to sakura187 at msn dot com letting me know if you think I need one, or if you'd like to be my Beta reader. If anyone decides to be my little helper, I'd be glad to think it over. Thanks a bunch.

OoOoO

Last time:

All of the questions that were reeling in Winry's mind seemed to flood out of her mouth before she can stop herself. She held her breath, looking at Ed with full attention, waiting to see what he would do. To her surprise, he closed his eyes, turned away and sighed.

At hearing him sigh, she knew he couldn't stay quiet. She let a sigh of relief and stared at Ed with rapt attention, waiting for him to start his incredible story.

OoOoO

Chapter 5: Kisses and Mixed Emotions

It was about an hour later when Ed had finished telling his story to Winry. The whole time she had stared at him with mixed emotions etched into her pretty face. She was a good audience; she gasped at all the right moments and knew when to stay quiet or when to say comforting words.

During his little moment of story telling, Ed would glance over his shoulder to look at Winry during the critical moments to see her reaction. In all honesty, he didn't know whether she would understand what truly happened while he was away, but to him it felt as if a weight had lifted off of his shoulders and he felt better.

He never knew that Winry would be interested in his and Al's journey in search of the Philosopher's Stone, but when he saw the way she would look at him with her full attention, her eyes slightly wide, her arms wrapped around her knees, he was glad that he was telling her now. He felt bad he had never confided in her before. He and Al had always left her out of everything, and now he looked back at that with regret. He knew that he would no longer leave her out, only if he felt necessary.

On the way back to Winry's house, he would casually glimpse her way, quickly turning away when he noticed she was looking at him. Something had been different when he was telling her his story. He had never seen her so serious before, and it made him recognize that she had matured of the time of his absence. He liked this side of Winry, he thought. He turned to look at her again, and he noticed that she had turned to look at him at the same time. She gave him a small smile, making him blush and turn away quickly. He felt embarrassed for being caught at looking at her.

Now that he thought about it, when did her smiles make him blush? That was certainly something new. To be exact, he never noticed how pretty she was. The color of her eyes was unique; somewhere between sapphire and cerulean, with a hint of a gold sparks here and there, and he had realized that he much liked that color. He also liked the way her hair had captured the glow of the full moon, making her hair look like it was emanating light, making her look some what ethereal. Her skin had also picked up the rays of moonlight, making it look flawless and smooth, like a porcelain doll. He had turned away when he realized that he sometimes had stared a second too long for his liking, making him feel a twitch in his stomach that he knew had nothing to do with the telling of his journey.

Sometime during their walk to her house, Winry had noticed that Ed was occasionally looking her way, with a distant look in his sunset colored eyes; the eyes she had always been fond of. She would smile back and he would turn away quickly, making her think that he was trying to avoid her gaze. That was the last thing she wanted, to have him hate her for making him tell her what happened. But why would he? He himself went on without her pushing him on to tell her. She had given him plenty of time to say no. With that thought quickly placed into the back of her mind, she continued her walk to her home.

OoOoO

Ten minutes later, Winry and Ed arrived at the little house situated along a little dirt path. The moon was high up in the sky, still brightly illuminating the path and everything around it. Winry opened the door and stepped in, moving aside to allow Ed to get through as well. Once he entered, stopped a little ways in front of Winry, putting his hands inside his pockets, he glanced back at her as if waiting for her to make her way to her up.

With the click of the door, she shut it and putting the lock in its place. She noticed Ed looking her and smiled at him. He had been looking at her again, she noticed, and this time he turned away slowly instead of quickly as he had before. She noticed a slight pinkish color grazing his cheeks, put pulled it off as the faint glow of the kitchen light.

He made his way up the stairs, Winry close behind him. He stopped in front of the door to his room, reaching up to grab a hold of the doorknob but didn't open it. Winry stepped up to the door to her room at the same time, opening it a little before turning to Ed, noticing he hadn't opened his door yet, but looking at her as if he wanted to say something but couldn't get the right words out. She gave him a puzzled look before giving him a shy smile.

"Winry…?" He asked with a hint of question.

"Hm?"

"Erm…nothing…Good night," he replied

"Good night."

Winry seemed a little confused at his actions. He seemed to be struggling with something and she didn't have the faintest idea what it could have been. She shrugged it off and continued her way into her room. She closed the door behind her, clicking the lock into place, before making her way to the window, which still had the curtains open from before she went on her walk with Ed.

Ah, Ed. He was more on her mind now after that story he had told her. How many things he had gone through without her knowing a thing? She processed the new information in head, thinking what could have made Ed finally confide in her.

'…Al and I finally discovered the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone…which isn't something I really like, to be honest.' He said, with a bit of dislike.

'The whole time our journey was planned out by those man-made humans, Homunculus…' He paused for a second, regarding Winry, '…you do know what that is, don't you?' He asked, knowing that perhaps she didn't, seeing that she hadn't been there during his journey.

She shook her head, confirming that indeed she didn't know.

'Well, you know that Human Alchemy is forbidden…Alchemists that have attempted Human Alchemy and failed create a thing, much like a human, but with powers. For example, Al and I came across one that could extend her nails and pierce through anything. Another one could eat anything, metal or flesh.' He paused, looking at Winry as if silently asking if he could continue.

She nodded for him to continue, her eyes wide with interest and her arms wrapped around her knees.

'As you know, Al and I went in search for the Philosopher's Stone, hoping that we could regain everything we had lost that night.' At this, he glimpsed up at the sky with a far off look, as if remembering that very night.

He closed his eyes and sighed, continuing a short moment after.

'When Al and I found out that humans were the final component at this to make the Philosopher's Stone,' at this, Winry gasped lightly, '- we went in search for a different way. We tried to find different methods of creating the stone without using actual humans. We searched and reread Doctor Marcoh's research and found that we hadn't made a mistake.

'On our journey, we ran into those Homunculi several times, as well as Scar. He was connected to some deaths of State Alchemists, as well as Nina's. He uses Alchemy to kill from inside out, making the victim implode.'

Winry cringed. 'How could anyone be so cruel?' She thought.

'Turned out he wanted to make the Philosopher's Stone too. Winry, a lot of things happened that not even I understand…but somehow during my separation with Al, he had been made into a bomb by some ex-State Alchemist…and somehow Scar found him and did something to him…he somehow turned Al in-into…' He swallowed, pausing and taking a breath.

Winry stared at him a bit puzzled and wanted for him to continue. He glimpsed at her and she nodded, encouraging him to continue.

'Scar turned Al into the Philosopher's Stone…and for some reason, when he touches me, s-something happens and I don't understand what it is…I think it just might be a reaction because I'm an alchemist…but I really don't know.

'Well, when that happened, I tried my best to keep Al from getting to close. And somewhere along the way here, those damn bastard Homunculus tracked us down. Al and I separated in order to lose them. I ended up making my way here…and I really hoped Al would have been here when I got here.'

Winry lay on her bed facing upward, looking at the white ceiling while remembering what Ed had told her. In all honesty, she was shocked with what happened. He went through a lot and she felt sorry for him. She felt that she couldn't do anything since she didn't really understand what had happened. She wished that she could help him somehow, seeing that he seemed really lonely those days he's spent there.

She sat up in bed and sighed. She looked at her clock sitting on a drawer to her left of her bed, bright green numbers glowing violently. It had been twenty minutes since she came back from the hill she had been at with Ed.

She swung her legs to the side of her bed and stood up, her bare feet padding softly on the cool wooden floor. She carefully opened door to make sure it didn't creak and quietly walked out. She walked across the hall to the room in which Ed was currently residing in and stood in front of the door, staring blankly at the white-painted surface.

She lifted her left hand to knock on the door but decided against it. If he was asleep, she didn't want to wake him up. Besides, she just wanted to take a peek at him, just to make sure he was alright. She blushed at the thought of him catching her watching him sleep. She shook her head and gathered her courage. She looked at the knob and saw that the door stood a jar, revealing an inch of darkness that lay inside.

She carefully pushed it open wide enough for to slide past without opening it completely. Her bare feet made no sound as she took a few steps inside and pushed the door back quietly. Directly in front of her was the occupied bed, the form rising and falling with each breath it took. She quietly padded towards the bed and looked at the sleeping form. She sat on the edge of the bed, trying carefully not to move it so it wouldn't awaken the sleeping boy.

There was Ed, lying on his right side with his metal arm on the pillow near his face. His honey-colored bangs lay on his forehead, some stray hairs tickling his nose, moving up and down softly with each breath he took.

The coverings of his window were swept aside, letting the bright light of the moon filter in and illuminate everything in its way, giving it a soft glow. Ed's blonde hair reflected the light, making his skin glow like hers had earlier. The calm look of his face made her catch her breath, taking in the innocence of his features, making him look like he had never suffered in his young life.

The stray locks continued to rise and fall with every breath he took, inspiring her to move her hand to his face and sweep his bangs aside softly. She hadn't noticed how close she had gotten while she was watching him, and it made her blush deeply just realizing the fact that she had been watching him, without him having a clue of what was transpiring.

She didn't know how long she sat there; a second, perhaps two, or maybe even five minutes. To her, it felt like almost an eternity. Her finger traced the metal of his arm slightly, letting the cool touch envelope her flesh. A shiver crept up her spine as she continued to slide her finger up and down the auto-mail.

She looked back to Ed's face and saw him stir, making her panic in the process. She snapped her hand back, clutching it with her other one. 'He couldn't have felt that…it was auto-mail; he didn't have feeling in that arm,' she thought while still looking at his face. She let out a sigh of relief. She slowly inched her hand closer to his face, moving some hair that had fallen back on his nose when he stirred.

Ed began to stir again and Winry held her breath. He opened his eyes slowly and began to sit up. He took a hold of the hand that was on his cheek and blinked a few times before turning to face Winry. He looked at her groggily before speaking.

"Winry…what are you doing here?" He asked with a puzzled look,

She stared at him, scared that he would be angry with her for not letting him know she was in his room, let alone touching his face while he slept.

"Well, you see," she began, slowly trying to get her hand away, "I couldn't sleep and well, I thought I'd come to check up on you, you know, to see if you were asleep yet." She finished off lamely, hoping he'd buy it and go back to sleep.

He smiled and closed his eyes, still not letting go of her hand. To her amazement, he seemed to lean into her touch. She blushed at the warm contact, contrasting the feel of the metal arm she had felt with her finger just moments before.

He gently pulled her until she was now sitting fully on the bed next to him, her body facing the opposite direction. He lowered her hand along with his but did not let go and simply held it with his left hand. She looked at his hair, which was resting gently on his shoulder, and noticed that he hadn't bothered taking out his braid. She smiled and scooted over until she was sitting directly behind him and tugged at the band that was holding his hair into a braid.

With her fingers, she gently ran them through his hair until the braid came undone. When his hair was out, she put her hands in her lap and laid her cheek on his left shoulder, letting the warm skin warm her cheek.

"Thank you, Winry," he whispered quietly.

"You're welcome," she replied gently, letting a small smile tug at the corner of her pink lips.

"I meant, you know, for hearing me out."

The smile on her lips grew wider.

"Of course," she replied.

She felt him move so she removed her cheek from his shoulder, already missing the warmth of his skin. He turned around slightly to face her and smiled. He reached up to her cheek with his left hand and caressed it with his thumb.

Her heart began to beat faster as she saw him get closer. Her cheeks began to flush a brilliant shade of pink and she closed her eyes when he was eye to eye with her. He noticed that she was blushing and that she had closed her eyes. He smiled.

"Winry…open your eyes," he said in a whisper.

She obeyed and opened her eyes slowly to meet his. At the closeness, she could see the beautiful color of his eyes; something between melted gold and the color of a sunset, flecks of silver here and there. He inched his face painfully slow, making her feel butterflies in her stomach from the anticipation.

She kept her gaze with his, never faltering as he continued to get closer. Finally, he let his lips brush hers with the softest, feather-soft touch, keeping her gaze the whole time. Seeing that she didn't pull away, he dared himself to deepen the kiss, letting his tongue lightly touch her bottom lip, asking for permission to continue.

The intense gaze and the feel of his lips on hers made her melt; she felt like she was floating above the bed, butterflies dancing in her stomach. When she felt his tongue touch her bottom lip, she instinctively opened her mouth to let him in.

When he felt her open her mouth slightly, he gladly accepted the invitation and deepened the kiss. The intense feeling in Winry's stomach was something she had never experienced before. She let herself dwell in the feeling and she closed her eyes, Ed doing the same thing a second after.

They continued the kiss slowly, memorizing the feel of each others lips on their own.

OoOoO

A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Finally, they get a little action! LOL I'm sure some of you readers were waiting for something to happen. I thought that perhaps they needed something happen between them to get closer. And voila! Well, please review! It would mean a lot to me. Oh, and if you're interested in telling me know if I need a Beta reader, of if you'd like to be my Beta reader, please let me know and I'll take it into consideration.

Thanks a bunch!

GFA86