Speed Bumps

Disclaimer: I Don't Own FMA In Any Way.

Rating: PG—PG-13 Due To Bad Language and Blood.

A/N: Please enjoy everyone! ;)

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What? Was the first thing Winry could think of. Ed…loves me? Had she heard correctly? Or was her saddened heart playing tricks on her? Carefully, she pulled away from him once more and looked him in the eye, keeping her hands upon his banded chest. She stared into his eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of what he was thinking; she saw nervousness and hope mixed together in his golden orbs.

"What did you say?" she said in a hushed tone, unwilling to talk any louder and destroy the little atmosphere that was just the two of them. Ed shrugged, blushed and averted his gaze away for a moment. He then forced all the pride out of him before looking back to her.

"I love you," he repeated in the same silent, but shaky, tone of voice. Winry's eyes widened for a moment.

"You…really mean that, Ed?" the mechanic questioned hopefully, bringing her body closer to him. The Elric sighed a little and lowered his head. Slowly and anxiously, he pulled her hand into his flesh one. A tremble shot through him for a quick minute and then went away. The Alchemist leaned his face closer to her own and looked up once more. Gently and ever so softly, he closed his eyes and placed his lips on hers in a small, sweet kiss.

The Rockbell mechanic was surprised, to say the least. It was short-lasted as Ed pulled away and looked into her eyes once again.

"If I didn't, do you honestly think I'd put my life on the line for you?" he asked of her. Winry smiled slightly but didn't respond. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling their lips into a deeper, more passionate, kiss. Ed was surprised at first; soon though, his eyes went half-lidded and then closed completely as he returned the kiss.

They forced themselves to hold their breaths as they explored each other; through the kiss and with their hands. Winry had slid her arms back and cupped the Elric's cheeks while the blonde Alchemist held her back lovingly, urging them to stay in that pose for as long as possible. When they felt they needed to breathe, though, they unwillingly parted, out of breath but smiling and blushing compulsively. Winry ran her nails along the cheeks of his face before wrapping them around his neck again. Ed's skin crawled at the light touch of her nails.

The Elric gave her one last smile before pulling her into another embrace, placing his head down on hers and rubbing his cheek against her. Winry kept her arms around his neck but rested her head down on his right shoulder.

"I love you," Winry repeated his words to him softly. Ed held her tighter in response. It was a moment before either said anything to each other, but they soon parted and smiled at each other happily. Ed placed his flesh hand on her cheek and rubbed it softly. He said nothing as he simply stared into her eyes.

"I'm glad I invited you," he then said suddenly. The Rockbell blushed and placed her hand on his, smiling.

"I'm glad you did, too," she joked. The mechanic reached up to his cheek and gently wiped away the tear streak with her thumb. "It's so hard to see you like this." Ed shrugged and looked away. Winry only forced him to look back at her.

"I like seeing you like this; it lets me know you're not as tough as you'd like people to think," she explained to him. "It makes you cuter." Her teasing voice caused a small laugh to escape the Elric's lips.

"I'll give you that one, I guess," he replied finally, looking back to her. Winry pulled her hands to his chest, smiling. Unfortunately, Ed flinched back and pulled his flesh hand over his bullet wound.

"Ed!" The blonde Rockbell cried out worriedly. The Alchemist shrugged, rather unpleasantly, but managed to look at her and smile a bit.

"It's OK, Win," he told her. "I've been ignoring the pain; guess it wanted me to finally feel it." With that, he sat on his bed once more and pulled his legs up onto the rest of the bed. "Looks like I won't be going anywhere for a while," he said as he got comfortable and the pain diminished. His beloved was immediately at his side, holding his hand and rubbing her forehead against his. She smiled in spite of the situation.

"You're gonna get some major spoiling after this," she told him playfully. Edward laughed slightly.

"I'd like that."

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After five days in the hospital, Ed was finally ready to get the hell outta there; whether he was fully healed or not! Nevertheless, Winry had taken the liberty of bringing them their clothes from the hotel, paying their stay there with Ed's money, and remaining their stay in the hospital room. Ed had several visitors in those days, including some of the townspeople, some State Alchemist and the kids they had played with. Obviously, there were a few jealous girls when they found out about Ed and Winry being together but brushed it off, eventually, and found it fairly cute.

The two blondes walked out of the hospital, their belongings in tow. Ed squinted slightly at the Sunlight that shone but he allowed a smile to play on his lips; he was able to see and feel that Sun again and he thanked the God he didn't believe in that he was able to. He looked to his girlfriend, wrapped a metallic arm around her waist as he pulled her closer to him, and kissed her forehead. Winry blushed, smiled, and reached up and kissed his cheek. It all felt so right.

They walked up to the military car that the mechanic had driven over their stay. They heard footsteps behind them and looked; it was the group of kids once again; teens and children alike. The blonde couple smiled at them happily. The kids walked up to them.

"Ed, Winry!" Jessica said, rather sad. "You guys leaving already?" all of them seemed to hold their breath as they waited for the reply. Ed and Winry looked at each other before responding.

"Yeah, we're heading back to Central," the Alchemist told them. The children slumped their shoulders and pouted sadly. Fullmetal shrugged and looked to Winry. The Rockbell gave him her bag, telling him to go and put the bags in the car. He obliged and took her luggage.

The mechanic, however, smiled at the kids.

"It's OK," she told them.

"No it's not," another young girl said.

"Yeah, what if you never come back?" Thomas, he had come along with his brother as well, had asked and the others agreed. Suddenly, Ed walked up behind Winry.

"We will," he told them and the blonde Rockbell looked to him, slightly surprised. "Remember, this town could get as much help as it needs," he explained to her with a smile. The Automail tech smiled and turned back to the kids.

"Promise?" Scott asked anxiously. Both Alchemist and mechanic nodded their heads.

"Of course," Ed replied and knelt down in front of them, his arms out wide to his sides; obviously he was offering goodbye hugs. The kids immediately hugged him tightly, each saying their goodbyes and that they would miss him; the Elric said the same in return. He pulled away and stood up, smiling at them. Winry then followed his actions as well, secretly thanking young Jessica for her encouragement earlier that week in the hospital.

"Maybe next time we'll bring Al along, Ed's younger brother," she said as she stood up and the girls immediately began gossiping on whether or not the younger Elric would be as good-looking. The mechanic giggled slightly at this. Suddenly, she felt herself being swept off her feet one minute and, the next; she was being carried in Ed's arms, bridal style. He smiled at her, charmingly. She smiled back.

"Your doctor said not to carry stuff for a while, Ed," she scolded teasingly as she wrapped her arms around his neck for better support.

"It's OK," the Elric Alchemist told her. "I can take it." With that, they began to bring their faces closer, forgetting everything around them. The elder teens covered the eyes of the younger ones around them, only causing them to protest slightly before the Elric and Rockbell kissed once again. They resisted the urge to 'aw' at them; for a few moments anyway before they simultaneously awed at them, causing the two to instantly pull away and look to them, blushing.

Ed smiled and walked towards the car, placing Winry inside the open passenger's side of car, closing the door afterwards and walking to the driver's side. He opened the door, climbed in, closed the door once more and started the car. The engine roared and he looked over to Winry.

"Ready?" he asked her. The blonde Rockbell looked to the kids behind them.

"Yeah," she said, almost unwillingly. The Alchemist smiled and rolled down his window. He called for the kids to come over, which they did.

"We'll be back soon, guys," he told them. They all nodded and said goodbye once again. Ed placed his hands on the steering wheel and then told them something he had once heard.

"'It's not goodbye,' " he said quietly. "'It's see you later.'" He smiled and winked at them, silently promising once again that they would return one day soon. With that, he drove off in the direction of Central. He could see them in his rear-view mirror; they were all waving but had slightly thoughtful expressions across their faces.

A sigh was heard to his sighed. The Elric saw that it was Winry.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly. She said nothing for a moment.

"This trip has interesting," she explained finally. The Alchemist looked to the road.

"Each person has their own path, Win," he began; his tone indicated this would be an infamous lecture of his that always taught whoever was listening something about life. "And I can guarantee you that no one has a perfect ay of life because there is no such thing," he continued, his tone not changing. "Everyone has bumps along the road; take me for example. One big mistake and, for years, my life was a living nightmare." This depressed Winry a bit but she stayed silent, allowing him to speak further.

"And even you; when you're working on Automail, for example. You always want to make the perfect arm or leg but you mess up a few times too; that, or the newer designs can't be built because of a miscalculation here or there." He paused for a moment before continuing, obviously choosing his words carefully. "Each one of those kids back there has a path, Winry. Which direction they go is up to them; and what they're going through right now is a Speed Bump."

Winry looked up to him; he truly was amazing when it came to such serious topics. "It's a pretty big one," the Alchemist perked up once more. "But I know they'll get through it; each Speed Bump in person's life only makes them stronger. It teaches them things they need to know and will keep in mind forever. Those kids look pretty strong already; this'll just make that strength grow. And it's up to them to accept the lessons they learn and use them."

"Everybody faces Speed Bumps in their life; the important thing is to learn from them and be willing to use it in their lives. I know that even we'll face a few new ones with us being a couple now," he turned to her smiling. "But I know we'll get over them." He looked at her for a few more minutes before looking to the road once more. The Rockbell continued to stare at him, completely astounded at him; he always seemed to leave her that way when he told her such incredible talks.

She bowed her head and sighed. "I guess you're right, Ed," she said silently. The blonde looked up to the road ahead; it was clear and straightforward, the very opposite of life's own road. She smiled as she picked up on Ed's lingo. "We have to get over those bumps," she agreed with him.

"And I know we will."

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Life is about taking your mistakes and learning from them. We like to call these mistakes 'bumps on the road.' 'Bumps,' as in being either hard and rough or smooth but still painful. Whatever the case may be, we can always overcome these obstacles if we just put in some effort to do so.

'If you mess up once, you try again.'

'If you fall of the horse, just back on.'

These starting to make sense? Take control and don't stumble on you difficulties; instead, drive right over them and look back on them to learn.

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A/N: Please R&R, constructive criticism, no flames :) thanks!

Credit for some quotes goes to their respected creators!

This story is complete!