FMA: One Step Away - Chapter 7

Chapter 7


"You got all the stuff in the living room already?

"Yep. It's wonderful to have something to do finally!"

"It all made it into the box without being taken apart?"

"Well, I'd never seen a clock like the one in there before so I just took the back plate off and looked." Winry narrowed her eyes at Edward, just like she used to back home. "I didn't take anything apart, I swear, Ed!"

"Okay, that's what I was asking," Ed replied, putting his hands up. Winry finished taping the box shut and wrote on the cardboard 'living room' in marker. She popped the cap back over the felt tip and followed him out into the dining room, where Al and Noah had lunch set out.

The brothers were finished eating in record time and almost immediately set to work packing up what was in their rooms while Winry offered to help Noah do the dishes.

An agonizing few minutes passed without either one saying anything. Winry couldn't stand the silence anymore and said the first thing that came to mind.

"So does Ed still refuse to drink milk?" she asked, drying off a plate. Noah smiled slightly and nodded. "No one can make him drink it. You can't bribe him, anything. He's dead set against it." Winry looked out the corner of her eye at Noah and was caught off guard by the look on her face. She dried another plate as she built up the strength to ask her something.

"You love him, don't you?" Winry asked, being courteous enough to keep her voice down through Edward and Alphonse were upstairs. She glanced at Noah out of the corner of her eye when it sounded like the girl had dropped a dish back into the water. She'd hit the nail right on the head.

Noah's cheeks sported a deep red blush  as she struggled to come up with an answer. She finally sighed and nodded.

"Y-yes, I do," she replied, fishing out the saucer she'd dropped in the dishwater. "But he doesn't know."

"What do you mean?" Winry asked, curiosity overtaking her.
"When I first met him two years ago, I was under the impression that he had taken a liking to me. After he came back from his world – well, your world – I could feel something different about him. He got sick a few days later and was crying out for you in his sleep. I was sure then that it wasn't me he'd fallen for."

Winry felt her heart skip a beat or two and a knot formed in her stomach at Noah's words. Ed…could he really have fallen in love with her, even after he could have been separated from her forever? Winry herself didn't even know for sure how she felt about him.

"But I'm sure all that'll change soon," she growled predatorily, looking at Winry with bittnerness and what Winry thought was hatred glowing like coals in her dark eyes.

Winry shivered. She slowly set the plate she was drying into the rack and walked upstairs in a partial daze. She ducked past Ed's room hoping he wouldn't see her walk past and walked into the room they had set up for her. She closed the door and stood just inside, trying to comprehend all that Noah had told her. Did she really consider her a threat?

~*~*~*~*~

The bang startled Edward and caused him to walk out into the hall, wondering if Noah or Al had dropped something. He noticed that Winry's door, which had originally been left open, was shut, and Ed noticed a shadow stretching beneath the door. It didn't move, and Ed walked to the top of the stairs. He could see Noah washing dishes like she'd been when he'd gone upstairs to pack.

"Did you say something to her?" he asked. Noah looked back at him as if she didn't hear him. "What do you mean?"

Ed bristled. "Don't give me that innocent crap again, Noah. What did you say to her?" Noah's lips pressed together as she refused to answer. Ed turned and walked back down the hallway to Al's room. He poked his head through the door and looked for Al. He was seated on his bed packing up some books.

"Hey Al," Ed murmured. "Would you mind taking Winry and get some new clothes for her? She's been stuck in the house except for her trip to the market with Noah earlier."

"Um, sure, brother," Al replied. "Why do you really want me to go?"

Ed sighed. "I have a feeling my discussion with Noah over Winry isn't going to be suitable for yours or Winry's ears."

"What'd she do?" Al asked, getting up and walking toward Edward.

"I think she said something to Winry that upset her somehow. When we were downstairs a little while ago everything was fine. A few minutes ago I heard Winry's door shut and Noah's down there washing dishes by herself. She had to have said or done something."

Al's eyes widened. "Okay. What are you going to do, brother?"

Ed shook his head. "Just talk with her and drag whatever she did to Winry out of her, and hopefully I won't have to tell her to stay behind when we go to Coventry."

Al nodded and walked into the hallway to approach Winry's door. While he did so, Ed went back downstairs and started counting boxes while he waited for Al and Winry to leave. He looked over at the front door when he heard footsteps, and felt his stomach wrench at the look on Winry's face. She looked like she had just seen someone get killed or had a gun trained on her head. She glanced at Ed, then at Noah, and followed Al out the door at his insistence.

The door slammed shut and seemed to shake the whole house. Ed stood leaning on the stair banister and took a deep breath. 'Here goes,' he whispered to himself, gathering his thoughts.

"Noah, really, what did you say to Winry?" he asked again. It was already an hour later and Noah hadn't even opened her mouth. Ed's patience was running out – and fast. "Damnit, Noah, it doesn't take that much to tell me!" he said, his voice starting to gain volume. He ran a hand through his hair to release some of his frustration. If he had thought she was stubborn before, he hadn't seen anything. He finally slammed his fist on the table. "Noah, I need to know, god damnit!"

She looked up at him, a different sparkle in her eyes. "You really want to know?" she whispered, looking into his eyes. Ed nodded, his eyes flaring with his impatience. "Hell yes, I want to know!"

Noah slowly stood up from her spot at the table and walked over to where he stood, almost the same height as her, only about an inch shorter. "I told her I love you," she whispered. Ed's eyes widened and he started to step back away from her, but Noah pulled him close to her and pressed her lips against his.

Ed didn't know what was happening until he managed to open his eyes. He had shut them because he thought Noah was about to slap him, but then he felt her lips on his. He admitted to himself that if it were Winry, he wouldn't have minded at all, but this was Noah, and there was nothing close to sincerety in her kiss.

"Noah – what the hell – get off of me!" Ed yelled, despite the fact that he was still so close to her. He stumbled backward and stood in the foyer. 'That's it,' he thought. 'I'm going t find Al and Winry.' Without a word he spun around and grabbed his brown jacket off the coatrack and stepped out into the brisk Munich air. He had made his decision.

Noah was staying in Munich.