Watching Al regain his senses had taught her not to take things for granted. Seeing him relearning the simple pleasures of touch and taste; the way he would smile with such joy at the slightest whisper of air on his face or the laugh he gave when his lips puckered at the bitterness of the lemon she had tricked him with. How ironic then that she now realised that Al had been the one thing she had always taken for granted. Winry's head fell forward and her shoulders slumped. A single tear broke free and was followed by another. She should have said something to Al a long time ago she thought as her shoulders shook.
And then his arms were around her and his hand was turning her face into his shoulder and she could only shake as silent tears wet his shirt. She wanted to push him away but she couldn't find the strength or the desire within her to do so and Al held her as if he was never going to let her go.
They never knew how long they stood there. When Al whispered her name she looked up at him, her blue eyes watery and vulnerable. Neither was sure who was the first to start the gentle kiss but neither was prepared to be the one to end it.
When they did finally part Winry's eyes had lost their hurt look and Al's were rather dazed. Words hovered between them but Al didn't know how to start and Winry was afraid. It was the shaky grip on his fingers that warned Al that he had to say something or he would jeopardise all he just achieved. After all he was a genius, he had two supporters at the house and Winry had just kissed him. How hard could this be?
"I love you and I brought Ed back." He blurted out and then cringed at the sound of his own triteness. He flinched as Winry stared at him. Shock plastered itself all over her face and her hands twitched in his. He held her fingers tightly, there was no way he was going to let her slap him again.
"Alphonse Elric, you mean that… that… is Ed?"
Still seated at the table Edward and Pinako heard the scream and looked at each other with matching grins.
When Winry came bursting back into the house she grabbed a wrench and she hit Edward with it. Then she screamed at him for disappearing and leaving Al all alone for so long, then she hit him again for losing his arm and then she yelled at Al for turning his brother into a girl. And then she hugged them both.
Edward smiled at his brother. This was home and family as it should be.
It was after lunch before Winry and Pinako decided to take a closer look at Edward and begin the preparations for his new arm. Most of the morning had been spent talking of the missing years. With Winry distracted by her now 'official' relationship with Al, Ed was spared the intensity of the usual homecoming inquisition and the "you never tell me anything" speech. They asked and he answered. Some things were hard to describe but he managed to give them some idea of what life on that side of the Gate had been like for him. He didn't think they understood just how hard it had been for him to be in that grey place with no alchemy and the shadows of those he had known. And there were some things that he knew he would never tell them. Even Al would never hear the whole truth of what had happened there.
He had tried and he had made true friends, ones that he missed terribly now, but always there had been a quiet loneliness and a fear that he too was nothing more than a shadow. He said nothing of that to them and he kept his voice light as he regaled them with tales of Maes and his clumsy attempts to woo the Gracia of the other side or the time Noa had tried to teach him to pick pockets. He didn't notice the measuring eyes of Pinako on him as she noted the changes and restraint in this new mature Edward.
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