Missed the Understanding

Summary: Winry comes to Central for the celebration of Amestres's first full year of democracy and ends up trying to help Edward win over the mysterious, unnamed girl he's got a crush on. Edward becomes enveloped in work and new terrorist group threatens national security, just as a large group of foreign envoys arrive. Humor, romance, drama, alcohol, and Xingians abound. EdWin, RoyAi, LingRanFan, and AlMei

Rating: T+ (for adult situations, strong language, and some violence)

Disclaimer: I'm not Hiromu Arakawa; if I was, this would all be in Japanese. Every word of this is mine (besides a couple flashbacks), but the characters aren't (besides a couple of OCs).

IMPORTANT!

Several changes have been made to Chapter 1. Many thanks go out to Inundation for spotting typos and SJ Smith for reminding me that snooze buttons and walkie talkies small enough to clip to a belt wouldn't exist in a 1920s-esque setting. Ed now turns off an alarm clock and uses a phone booth.

Also, I've changed "...where she finally told Ed that she was head-over-heels in love with him..." to "...where she finally told Ed that she thought she might be in love with him..." to help portray a greater sense of maturity in Winry's line of thinking. Winry strikes me as a coolly logical character at points (i.e. when she decided to travel with Scar) so I think rushing into a question like "Am I in love with this person?" wouldn't be like her.

Please inform me of any typos, inconsistencies, out-of-character characters, and other ridiculous over-sights I may have made. I want to hear your opinions!

Al shook his head, "You were almost assassinated a minute ago and all you can think about it being on time to see Winry? You've got it bad."

Ed gave Al the "you're crazy" look again.

"The hell?"

Chapter 2: Regroup and Rendezvous Part B

Winry found Ed the moment she stepped off of the train. Barely registering what she was doing, the mechanic took off. Her feet seemed to fly over the pavement and her heart beat out of time. She stopped right in front of Ed before tangling her hands in his soft braid and pulling his head slightly down to hers.

"I want you…" she whispered.

No one in the train station paid any head as two blonds clashed lip-to-lip, breathing heavily. Winry closed her eyes and wrapped a leg around Ed's waist, a hand slipping down to navigate the warm, hard area underneath his shirt, when something… changed.

"You only want it to be him."

Falling to the ground in shock, Winry looked up at a raven-haired man a little older than Ed and much taller.

"Damn it…" Winry gazed at her surroundings.

She was still in the train station, but everything had become hazier. The world had a bluish tint to it and Winry got the sudden impression she was under water. The man changed again in a watery sort of transformation, this time into a redhead.

"I may not be him, but I can be better," said the redhead, offering her a hand. "Come on, Winry…"

"No!" she yelled back. "No, no, no!"

"Winry!"

"I said 'no'!"

Bright white snapped into Winry's line of vision and spots danced in front of her eyes. Sitting up promptly only led to the offending little black circles inviting their friends (some lovely little flashing white circles) and an instant rush of throbbing in her head.

"Winry? Are you OK?"

Winry turned to face Van Hohenheim with a light blush, "Sorry about that. Just a crazy dream, you know?"

"A crazy dream about jumping your son's bones…" Winry thought with much cause for embarrassment. Why did her mind have to wander like that in front of Hohenheim? Did her subconscious really hate her that much? More importantly, her subconscious interjected, when was she was actually going to acquire the guts to stick her hands up Ed's shirt awake…? Wait.

"You look a little under the weather," Hohenheim handed her a steaming cup of coffee. "Here; this should do wonders to wake you back up. I made a run to the dining car to pick you up a cup. We've almost arrived."

Winry breathed in the warm aroma with a happy sigh, "Thank you so much, Hohenheim-san! I… Wait. How's my hair?"

Hohenheim chuckled, "You may want to run a brush through it."

--

Edward tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Winry's train; it'd been over a year since he'd seen her face-to-face.

"Now that you and Al are doing so much better, I'm going to be leaving you guys for a while," Winry had told him and his brother over a hearty meal of stew and apple pie.

Edward, who had been preoccupied with draft upon draft of the new Constitution of Amestres in order to distract himself from Winry's overall… distracting nature, had snapped his eyes immediately to hers, "Where are you going? Rush Valley? Why now?"

He had begun to feel a strange sinking feeling somewhere in his gut, and Al's expression became suddenly rigid.

"I can't just hang around here anymore," Winry had snapped back at the slightly accusatory tone he'd used. "Neither of you really need me, so I'm through playing maid. Do you have any idea how frustrating this has started to get for me? My knowledge of politics is limited and even if I did try to help, it's not like anyone would listen to some teenage girl when they have the Fullmetal Alchemist and a Parliament to pay attention to. You're not the only ones who want to do something for Amestres and I didn't put all my plans on hold to do menial labor and only the most basic medical procedures. There… there's a group of doctors and a few automail mechanics that travel around the country, sometimes even outside of it, helping people who can't afford medical treatment. They call themselves Helping Hands Healing Hearts, and although they don't always have the best supplies, they do have some great medical minds. I've learned almost all I can from Garfiel and Dominic, so I'm going to join them for a while. When I have time, I can also study and earn some money since I don't have nearly enough yet…"

"Nearly enough? For what?" Ed had asked, throat dry.

"Medical school, of course," Winry had replied. "There are so many doctors out there who don't have proper training and end up screwing over patients. Although I trust myself, I won't become one of those doctors without the necessary experience and education. You can't become a true doctor without a doctorate, you know. And students who spend a certain amount of time volunteering with Helping Hands can get a decent allotment of scholarship money."

Ed recalled himself trying to convince her to let him pay for her education; he certainly had enough personal wealth to. But Winry had insisted on doing things on her own. Ed still felt awful about the weeks following Father's defeat. Winry had worked so hard taking care of his and Al's injuries and long after they'd had the strength to move well on their own she stayed at HQ to cook for them and sort files for Ed after he'd pass out on a couch in exhaustion. Too engrossed in politics and hunting down the last of the Führer's men (not to mention his constant fussing over Al), Ed hadn't noticed Winry's fostering aggravation. How stupid was he really?

Shortly after Winry left, Al began studying for university entrance exams so he could attend a college that fall. He too, wanted to do something on his own. The part Al had played in the defeat of Father had spread as well, and unwilling to enter school as a minor celebrity, he entered Dublith U. as Alphonse Curtis, Izumi's "long-lost nephew."

The train pulled up and a slew of people began to spill from the shining metal doors, some walking at a fast pace towards various destinations, others glancing around for a sign of someone they were supposed to meet. Ed smiled. He loved being in the midst of a crowd that didn't know he was there. No one expected the Fullmetal Alchemist to be hanging around Central with sunglasses in place of the usual red cloak he liked to wear when at a public gatherings.

"Nii-san! It's her!"

Ed followed Al's finger and felt his breath catch in his throat. Winry looked… perfect. She wore a simple, light blue v-neck top that hugged her curves and a classy-looking pair of grey pants. Her hair was left down with every stand in place. He may not have broken a sweat when fighting off a potential assassin, but the mere sight of Winry was causing a sheen of perspiration to coat his forehead.

"Winry! Winry! Over here!" Al called to their friend as he jumped up and down sporadically, arms flailing.

The corners of Ed's mouth stretched upward and he waved as well. When Winry spotted them both and waved back, flashing a smile that caused her to appear nothing less than drop-dead gorgeous, Ed felt his insides turn to mush. He became momentarily hypnotized by her legs moving towards them; she looked so much more mature than she had before, and held herself with much more certainty than Ed believed he was capable of attaining.

"Hey, Winry." He grinned at her as the group of friends approached each other, managing to keep his voice cool and steady. "How've you been?"

"Great!" she grinned back before grabbing both him and Al around the neck and hugging them tightly, "I missed you guys."

"We missed you too, Winry!" Al replied, hugging her back while Ed remained frozen.

The Fullmetal Alchemist tucked his flesh hand awkwardly around Winry's shoulders, trying furiously not to act as flustered as he felt. He stepped away and cleared his throat.

"So… Do you want me to carry your suitcase for you?" he asked her.

"No thanks, I'm fine." Winry replied before glancing over her shoulder, "Hohenheim-san! Over here!"

Both Ed and Al jumped, a bit startled. So did Hohenheim, who'd been watching the teenagers reunite from a distance.

Ed glanced at his father without the rising feeling of utter hatred he'd possessed previously, but the small vestiges of mistrust and misunderstanding remained. He still couldn't look at Hohenheim without picturing his mother's tears or remembering the acrid feeling of rejection as a heavy wooden door slammed in his face. Ed took a deep breath and reminded himself of Hohenheim's reasons for leaving them. Noble as they were, they still didn't erase all those years of imagined abandonment, but Ed figured he should have grown out of that already anyway. And besides, Hohenheim was one of the main reasons Al's soul was now firmly set inside a body of flesh.

"Hey," was all Ed ended up saying as he extended a hand towards his only living relative besides Al.

Hohenheim became a little less tense and shook it, "It's good to see you. I was just heading over to the apartment I've rented for this fine occasion and happened to meet Miss Rockbell here on the train." His expression became suddenly more serious, "Almost everyone is moving towards Central right now, and I'm aware that the government is doing its best to keep things under control, but I'd like to hang around and offer my assistance to you and anyone else who needs it."

Ed shook his head curtly in what he hoped was interpreted as a very manly acceptance of help. Al, obviously tired of his brother's stanch stoicism towards their father, went up to Hohenheim and hugged him, leaving both men with almost identical expressions of astonishment scribbled across their faces. Then Ed started to laugh.

"I thought you were supposed to be Mr. Cool College Kid now," he teased Al.

Winry snorted, "Don't tell me you've suddenly become too cool for hugs within the last two minutes, Edward."

"I have no problem hugging girls, but hugging guys in public is a different matter entirely," Ed sputtered back.

Winry rolled her eyes then looked back at him, a face full of unhidden mirth, "Is there some reason you feel the need to prove your masculinity?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed asked, eyes narrowing.

Winry began laughing uncontrollably, "I… saw some weird newspaper out east saying you and the president are having a sordid affair. Of course, it was right next to an article about an alien landing in the desert, so I don't think it was very credible."

Ed buried his head in his hands, "I swear, if just one person actually believes that I will die of shame right here and now. Who would buy something like that?"

"I did!" Winry piped up, "It was hilarious and had some very flattering pictures of you and the…"

She had to maneuver out of the way as Ed made a grab for her suitcase.

"Burn… I'm going to burn it!" He yelled after her as she darted out of his reach.

"Just like the article says you and the former Flame Alchemist are burning for each other?" she shouted back.

As he went after Winry, Ed decided he was probably having way too much fun considering how his masculinity was in danger. For some reason though, he didn't care quite as much as he thought he should. The girl in front of him was stunningly beautiful, but she was still Winry. Winry who liked to tease him, drive him crazy, and mess with his automail. Those facts, of course, only caused him to become even more smitten with her.

It was at that moment Ed realized his brother was right. He did have it bad.

Shit.

--

Al stood to the side with Hohenheim laughing his ass off as his older brother and his good friend reunited in their own special way: With the maturity of schoolchildren. He glanced over at his dad, who was smiling and shaking his head. It was the first time in a long time that Al felt like he was part of a real family and he made up his mind then and there that he was going to make this feeling come back to stay. All he needed to do was get Ed and Winry together, repair Ed's relationship with Hohenheim, and adopt a kitten. Since two of those goals involved Ed getting in touch with his more sensitive side, Al had a bad feeling that his new quest would be harder to accomplish than finding the Philosopher's Stone had been.

"Dad?" he turned to his father.

Hohenheim started a little at the unfamiliar word, "Yes?"

"We're taking Winry to lunch. Would you like to come with us?"

Al watched Hohenheim's face closely. The eyes so full of age-old wisdom and sadness seemed conflicted.

"I don't think your brother would appreciate my coming," he finally said with a small smile. "I'm amazed how cordial he's become towards me and that's enough to make an old man happy."

"But…"

"Alphonse," Hohenheim interrupted, "Your brother's feelings are completely understandable. You were too young to remember the night I left, but Ed remembers my betrayal quite vividly. Some wounds cut deeper than others," he stared off into space for a moment. "It took me hundreds of years to stop hating my father."

Alphonse just looked at the man who'd helped him get his body back, paid for his education so his brother wouldn't have to (even though Ed certainly could if Al would let him), and made him feel like he'd had a real family just a moment ago. Maybe he was too forgiving. Maybe he had some sort of weird complex. Nevertheless, Al knew something had to be done about the current situation. Hohenheim wasn't immortal anymore; Ed didn't have hundreds of years to finally come to terms with him. Al briefly wondered just what his grandfather had done in order to deserve such bitter feelings for centuries.

Hohenheim smiled and handed Al an envelope, "You wrote to me that the little Xingian girl you like is coming for the celebrations. There should be enough sens to impress even a princess." His smile suddenly became mischievous, "Just remember: it'll take more much than all the riches in the universe to truly impress any woman who's worth holding onto."

He gave his son a wink and took off before Al could decide whether or not he should take his father's money.

--

Winry's eyes darted to Ed then back to the complementary roll she was buttering.

"Thanks again for taking me out, guys. I'm famished!" she grinned at the two brothers as she took a monster bite out of her sacred mound of carbohydrates.

The three had situated themselves at a cute little café table in the heart of Central's developing arts district. When Ed had asked her where she'd like to eat, she'd immediately decided the day was too pleasant to eat inside.

"You certainly won't be if you shove that roll down your throat any faster," Ed teased.

Winry had a momentary flash of insecurity… insanity - she corrected herself - were she thought she may need to act more ladylike and take smaller bites. She instantly rebelled by shoving the rest of the roll into her mouth. She could act ladylike, sure, but who was Edward Elric to cause her to put on airs? Then she remembered. He was the Alchemist of the People, National Hero of Amestres, signer of the Amestrian Constitution, close friend to the president, fourth richest person in the country, and Head of the Committee of Intelligence and Investigation.

Damn it.

"You shouldn't talk," Winry retaliated with more poise than she suddenly felt, "You've already eaten two of them."

Ed laughed, "Yeah, I don't really eat out much and this stuff is good!"

"Then you have no right to tease me."

"Of course not, but I do it anyway."

"Why in the world?"

"It's fun…"

Al snickered, "I think he's just waiting to see how far he can get before you whack him with your wrench."

"She doesn't have big enough pockets to keep a wrench in today," Ed pointed out. "I'm home free."

"That's what you think. Haven't you noticed my purse?"

She watched Ed's eyebrows rise, as if daring her to take out her wrench and smack him with it. For all the frustration he was causing her, she was tempted. Despite her teasing him about his masculinity, her awareness that Edward Elric was, among other things, overwhelmingly male had been close to smothering her since she'd hugged him less than half an hour earlier.

"So, Winry," Al began, unaware of her sizzling attraction to his older brother, "How's the organization you've been working for doing?"

"Great, actually!" Winry exclaimed enthusiastically, appreciative for the change in subject. "We were starting to go broke for a while several months ago but we've been gaining support in the government, so we've gotten some sizable grants, and there's been a lot of big anonymous donors lately. I think our growing popularity has gotten us noticed in the upper crust of society or something. We've been able to help so many people already and now we can help even more!"

The truth was that Helping Hands Healing Hearts had become so immersed in debt that it could no longer afford to provide food for its volunteers. Most of the people volunteering were retired or already successful doctors taking a sabbatical and had savings to pull from, but Winry and some of the other members had been hopelessly out of luck, causing a number of younger volunteers to quit. Winry, determined to stay on without pulling from the money she was saving for medical school, hadn't eaten very much during that time. It had been a glorious week when several enormous donations had come in and the government started negotiating grants with them.

"Do you have any idea who the big donors were?" Al asked her nonchalantly.

Winry didn't have the slightest clue why he'd want to know, "I have no idea. Why?"

Al shrugged, "Nii-san might know them or something is all," he told her. "He could try and talk them into donating more, you know?"

"That'd be a very nice gesture, but an anonymous donor is an anonymous donor." Winry took a sip of the iced tea she'd ordered. "So, Al, have you gotten any closer to choosing a major yet? You told me you were still conflicted in your last letter."

Al looked down at his plate, suddenly seeming much less confident than he had seconds before. Winry could see the young boy he'd once been reflected in his downcast eyes, and the suit of armor he'd become later on.

"A lot of people have absolutely no idea what they want to do," she reassured him with a small smile. "I've met so many kids older than you that aren't nearly as far as you are in figuring their lives out."

"Yes… but I'm not a normal kid." Al countered, "I'm supposed to be some sort of prodigy, yet I can't even decide whether I want to become a pediatrician or a school teacher or a vet… and all those things, they're still not quite as impressive as nii-san's job."

"Trust me, Al," Ed spoke up, "You wouldn't want to be stuck in my job. Politics doesn't suit you. No one expects anything of you that goes beyond what you're capable of, and I personally think healing or teaching kids would be far more challenging for me than handling a bunch of bureaucrats. Of course, Mustang can be just as annoying as a kid sometimes…"

Winry nodded at the first statement Ed made, glancing at him as she did so. Despite being rough around the edges, he was a complete softy on the inside. Ed was always taking care of and looking out for other people. Winry wished that she'd get the chance to take care of him… only, Ed was rich. He probably had plenty of people to do that already. His bangs shifted and she caught site of a bruise on his forehead. His arm danced across the table to retrieve his glass of water and, though muscular, it looked just a tad too thin. He pushed his sunglasses up into his hair and his eyes were a little bloodshot. Perhaps the Fullmetal Alchemist needed some help after all.

"Ed's right," she heard herself telling Al, "I think any one of those professions would suit you much better than some high-powered job that would only wear you down."

The food came and conversation turned towards Ed's newest edition of soul-stealing government employment. How Ed was going to run two committees, Winry couldn't begin to fathom. It sounded like Ed wouldn't be getting any sleep at all. It also sounded like he wouldn't have much time to spend with her. Winry sighed under her breath and Ed cocked his head to the side, the question "What?" written all over his face. Winry shrugged absentmindedly and the nonverbal communication ended as Ed bent over his food again. She couldn't help but notice that this new shirt he was wearing didn't hide his neck like the high collared black ones he liked to wear. Trying not to stare, Winry fought a sudden longing to kiss that oh-so-perfectly masculine neck. Rockbell women, Granny liked to say, had a proud tradition of going after their dreams and desires with energy unrivaled. Perhaps she'd put some of that energy to the test.

--

Ed felt Winry's eyes on him and tried desperately to keep from turning red. The conversation picked up again, yet every time she looked at him he became suddenly nervous. When she left for the bathroom he couldn't help but turn to Al, anxiety written all over his face.

"How does my hair look?"

Al burst out into a mad fit of giggles, "What are you, a girl?"

Ed knew his eyes must have looked pleading as he ignored the obvious insult to his manhood, "I'm serious. Every time Winry glances my way I feel like something's probably wrong with me and…"

"Nii-san, calm down!" Al interrupted, taking pity on his poor brother, "Your hair isn't perfect but its fine. Winry was probably more concerned about that ugly-looking bruise on your head."

Maybe pity was the wrong word.

"Shit." Ed stated blandly. "I hit myself in the head with my automail this morning. So lame. If anyone asks, by the way, I bruised myself when I was fighting that would-be assassin. Only don't tell Winry that, I don't need her worrying about anything, especially not me."

"Nii-san…"

"I have it bad. I know."

Al grinned, "Thank goodness you're not denying it anymore! But, hey, I have a more important bone to pick with you. You're one of the anonymous donors Winry was talking about, right?"

Ed flinched; Alphonse knew him much too well.

"I'm more than one of those donors."

Al raised an eyebrow, "How much money did you give that organization and how did you know it was going broke in the first place? Winry didn't tell me about the financial problem and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't tell you either."

"Several million sens…" Ed answered; it'd been tens of millions really, "And I talked some members of Parliament into negotiating grants and such. I found out when… well…"

It had started with a picture, Ed recalled. Winry had asked him if he'd like to see a picture of her coworkers and he'd said yes. When the picture had reached him, he noticed right away that Winry looked tired and skinnier than she probably should. The average person wouldn't have noticed, the image of Winry presented was smiling, happy, and surrounded by friends, but Ed had known something was off.

"Hey, Winry, are you feeling OK?" he'd asked her over the phone. "You look a little worn out in this picture you sent."

"I'm fine," she'd responded curtly. "Don't worry about me."

"But…"

"Are you saying I look bad in that picture?"

"No, I just…"

"Oh, shut up."

Ed scratched the back of his neck and flashed a milder version of his usual cocky grin at his brother, "I knew she was hiding something," he continued, "So as the Head of the Committee on Intelligence and Investigation, I sort of sent some of my top agents to spy on her and found out she wasn't eating much and working overtime. I used some inside sources to look into the organization as well and found out the organization had stopped providing food for its volunteers."

Al choked on the sandwich he was eating.

"You sent spies out on her then talked the government into supporting her organization?" he exclaimed.

"I had no choice; she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. It's not like I did anything unseemly, I just donated a bunch of my own money to a worthy cause and had the government do the same thing. Besides, what's money and power if you can't use it?"

Al face-palmed, "As a good taxpaying citizen, I object to your blatant abuse of power."

"Shut up, poor college student; you're in the lowest tax bracket anyway."

Al shot Ed a dirty look, "Tyrant."

"Plebian," Ed countered.

"So now that you're not in a state of utter denial anymore, are you going to tell Winry you're in love with her?" Al changed the subject, needing to ask his question before Winry returned.

Ed blushed and broke out into a cold sweat on reflex at Al's last five words.

"How the heck am I supposed to do that?" he asked with a hint of exasperation.

"Do what?" Winry asked, returning to the table and plopping back down in her chair.

"Er… We were just talking about how I'm going to find time to entertain you and Al while you're here, you know?" Ed covered.

Winry nodded, "Hey, Ed, you look a little warm. You should probably take off that black undershirt. We're in the shade so your automail shouldn't burn you up if you do."

"If my automail shows someone might recognize me," Ed told her, pulling his sunglasses back over his eyes.

He'd never been so thankful for his unintentionally acquired fame. True, he was getting rather hot in the long sleeves, but that wasn't the entirety of the explanation for the little beads of sweat that ran down his forehead. Although it was part of it.

Picking up her large cloth napkin and dipping it in her glass of ice water, Winry reached across the table and wiped it across Ed's forehead with the utmost gentleness. The action left him suddenly dizzy, and most likely redder than before. He remembered all the times she'd watched over him after he'd first gotten his automail. What had he ever done for her? True, he'd just spent millions of sens on her charity organization earlier that year, but millions of sens surely didn't count as equivalent exchange to everything Winry had given him.

"Put this on the back of your neck," Winry told him as she dipped the cloth in her water again and handed it to him. "And don't worry about Al and I, we can entertain ourselves. In fact, I think I'd like to help you with whatever it is you need to do. I don't know much about politics, but I can run errands, use a typewriter, and take care of any emergency medical situations that are sure to arise with you in charge. Like, where the heck did that horrid bruise come from?"

Ed groaned, "I hit my head with my automail on accident this morning."

Winry laughed so hard iced tea came out of her nose and she had to bury her face in Al's napkin since her own was already around Ed's neck, doing wonders for his overheated body. Great. Now she thought he was an idiot.

"At least you haven't been getting into anymore fights lately." Winry said.

"Yeah…" Ed shot his brother a warning glance and Al covered up his amused snort by faking a very awkward coughing fit.

"You should also," Winry continued her previous avowal after giving Al a strange look, "Take the following week off. You've obviously been digging your own grave and you're working overtime doing it. I took off a couple of weeks, so I can worry about entertaining you."

Ed thought he deserved to sulk a little after that. She shouldn't be talking seeing as how she'd been practically starving herself for the sake of charity and medical school, but he couldn't mention that without admitting he'd spied on her. Take time off? What was she thinking? And what was he thinking? At the mention of Winry entertaining him, he'd immediately decided that simply getting to look at her all the time was probably entertaining enough and felt like a dirty old man for it. He didn't want her working on her vacation, and certainly not his behalf.

"That's a terrible idea." Ed groused.

--

"That's a wonderful idea!" the President of Amestres exclaimed forty-five minutes later after Winry proposed the same thing to him in his office at Central Headquarters.

Ed slumped his shoulders like the agitated teenager he still was but normally didn't act like. Winry shot him a satisfied smirk, a part of her mind befuddled by how unreal it was to be ganging up on Ed with the most powerful man in the country.

"Alright!" Al grinned, "Now we can all spend some real vacation time together next week!"

"But first," Mustang interjected, "Your brother and I have some urgent business to attend to. You need to meet with some colleagues from Intelligence and Investigation and myself after your stint with the IR Committee to discuss the Lotus Squad. Also, several members of Parliament and some political party heads are a tad… disgruntled. A group of them have banned together and they'll be a small dinner meeting tonight. "

Ed straightened his shoulders, gaze hardening into what Winry thought looked like a very mature show of resignation and determination.

"Would you like to bring Miss Rockbell and Alphonse with you?" Roy asked. "If they're going to be assisting you this week, it may be a good idea to give them some idea of what they're getting into."

"I'd love to go." Winry said quickly, before Ed even had a chance to open his mouth. "I want to meet the people Ed works with and besides… it's not every day an average citizen like me gets a chance to see who runs the country up close and in person."

She sent a smile Ed's way but he let it fly by him with a turn of the head in the opposite direction.

"I don't want you or Al getting too involved in the political lifestyle," Ed replied brusquely. "I can deal with it, partially because of my influence and connections, but it can be cutthroat and cruel. There are all kinds of people involved and they're all competing for something. Ideals, power, wealth, others, themselves… Who's right and wrong can get lost in the process of heated arguments on the floor of the Law and Resolution Tower. I don't want either of you to look like you're too close to me because you could become immediate targets for the press, I…" He paused, looking at Winry with eyes so sincerely intense she thought they may have taken her ability to move, "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm a big girl, Edward." She lifted her chin in defiance, contrasting with the soft voice she couldn't help but use when he gave her that look. "I can take care of myself. Let me go to the dinner and I'll make my own decisions about whether or not I want to get involved in this. I don't plan to play the political game, remember? I only want to help you."

"I doubt I could stop you from going anyway," Ed sighed, the resignation setting in with more vigor than before.

There was a sudden knock on the door and a moment later a woman with short dark hair that Winry felt like she recognized from somewhere entered.

"Ross!" Ed exclaimed, much to her surprise. "Maria Ross. I haven't seen you around lately."

The woman, Maria, smiled, "You'll be seeing quite a bit of me this week, sir." She seemed to remember who she was talking to and gave a very serious salute to her superior. "I work under the Committee of International Relations."

"Really?" Ed's face showed obvious surprise.

Maria nodded, "I lived in Xing for a period, remember? So I help with our relations with them. I do admit it's one of the easier countries to deal with. And… I apologize in advance for my unprofessional behavior, but my Xingian boyfriend has just recently become my Xingian fiancé!"

Winry smiled at the wide grin on that woman's face as she flipped out her left hand in an extremely girly gesture.

"I think that's the most feminine thing I've ever seen you do." Ed told her.

"I think it's wonderful!" Winry exclaimed, her voice getting suddenly higher in pure female delight. "Congratulations!"

"Well…" Ed began, an amused expression written on his finely chiseled features, "I suppose it's time for my first experience with the International Relations Committee, the big IR!" His overconfident grin returned in full-force and Winry recognized the spark in his eyes that told her he was excited to undertake a new challenge as he turned to Ms. Ross, "We're scheduled to rendezvous with the rest in ten minutes."

Maria chuckled, "Rendezvous? These are diplomats we're talking about, not military personal."

"What is diplomacy but a war of words and wits?" Ed shrugged. "Let's see if I can pull it off, shall we?"

Before they made it out of the room, a rapping on the other side of the door caused Winry to jump.

"Oh," Roy shook his head quickly and moved towards the door. "I should introduce you to my nephew before I leave. I distanced myself from my family while I was trying to take the presidency, and now that things are safer, I've begun to reconnect with them. He's your age, so perhaps you'll get along…"

But when Mustang opened the door, Winry felt her heart drop into her stomach. Get along? That wasn't going to happen. The dark eyes of the boy the door revealed widened in shock and she was sure her expression bore some similarity to his. His hair jet black like his uncle's, his posture smooth, and his disposition tall – Liam Weller was a lady-killer in the making and a womanizer to a fault.

Why, of all people, did this particular ex-boyfriend have to show up now?

End Notes:

I hope people are having fun reading this, because I'm sure as hell having a lot of fun making it all up. XD

On a more important note, do you think I should change the rating of this fic to M? According to Fiction Ratings, an M means 16+. I think I may be vamping up the sexual tension just enough to push it over that edge, but I admit I'm no expert.

Thanks to ArtificialRed for answering my question on chapter lengths! I really do appreciate it when I get opinions from readers.

Thank you to all who reviewed!

Next Chapter:

In the next chapter, which remains untitled for the time being, we learn about what Winry's been up to socially since she left Central, get a better understanding of Amestrian politics, and witness a... let's just say interesting, turning point in the romantic plot of this story.