Chapter Text
Ed was having a good night. He’d gone to bed early and hadn’t been interrupted by nightmares. He had drifted asleep snuggled up against his beautiful wife.
Speaking of being snuggled against his wife, he must have let her go during the night. In a half-asleep state, he’d rolled back over to wrap his arm around her. However, instead of being greeted by his wife’s smooth, warm skin, his hand had thud against the mattress.
He slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of an empty bed. The sheets had still been warm from her body heat - she must have just gotten out of bed and gone to the bathroom.
Disappointed, Ed closed his eyes again. Out of all the times for him to wake up and want to hold his wife, it had to be when she wasn’t there.
Now that he thought about it, she had probably woken him up. In the past years, he’d gotten little sleep; whenever he did get to rest, he couldn’t be woken. But now that everything’s over, he’d gotten more than enough rest. It was so weird, even the slightest of movements could wake him.
He’d tried to go back to sleep but wanted to wait for Winry to return so he could get what he wanted. The soft ticking of the clock in the corner of their room told him how much time it’d been.
One minute.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Once he counted to fifteen minutes, he began to get worried. She normally doesn’t take this long in the bathroom. Was she getting sick?
Worried, Ed threw his legs over the side of the bed and put his slippers on. He headed to the bathroom and knocked.
“Winry?”
There was no answer.
“Are you alright?
There was no answer.
Edward’s mind began to race. His thoughts were assuming the worst. He felt his heart begin to beat through his chest and his throat close up.
“Winry, I’m coming in.”
He opened the door with a creak. He stepped into the bathroom and looked around. She wasn’t on the toilet nor on the ground throwing up. He checked behind the shower curtain and even in the closet.
The bathroom was empty.
“Where the hell is she?” He questioned anxiously.
He made his way out of the bathroom and checked all the rooms.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
His anxiety really had started to skyrocket. He sped through the hall and headed towards the porch. Did she leave the house? Had someone broken in and taken her!? As he speed-walked through the house, he skid to a stop as he noticed the kitchen light on.
He had two questions. The first was why was the light on, and his second, how the hell had he missed that?
He quietly approached the kitchen. Half ready to attack, half ready to be relieved that he’d finally found her.
He was lucky. He didn’t have to sock someone in the face today.
She sat silently at the kitchen table grasping her favorite mug filled with thyme tea. Her shoulders slouched as she leaned over the table and her hair frazzled from sleep. The strong therapeutic aroma of oregano and clove blended together filled the air.
“Winry...there you are,” he said gently as he walked over.
Startled, her neck snapped backward. Her eyes were puffy and red and filled with fear. Ed’s own eyes widened at the sight. Slowly, her body began to relax as she realized she was in no danger and turned back to the table.
“Oh, Ed, I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?”
She wiped at her eyes in a futile attempt to dispel any signs that she had been crying.
“Winry? Are you alright? What happened?”
Ed hurried over to her side and put both hands on her shoulders. He made her look at him. He stared straight into her bloodshot eyes. Her face looked ashamed that she has shown any signs of weakness.
Ed’s eyebrows scrunched up in sadness and his lips formed a line, “Winry, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
She diverted her eyes and shook her head.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” she smiled. Ed saw right through it. He knew all too well what a fake smile was. He’d spent years smiling - acting if everything was alright and being strong for his brother - despite the reality that guilt and sorrow were eating away at his insides. She couldn’t fool him.
“Win...you can talk to me,” he said as he sat down at the seat across from her, “Why are you crying?”
“It’s nothing. It’s just over something stupid,”
“Well,” he leaned over the table and brought his thumb to her eye to wipe a stray tear away, “If you’re crying like this then it can’t be that stupid.”
Winry was silent. She zoned out staring into the warm brown of her tea. Ed clasped his hands together as he patiently waited for her response.
“It was just a stupid nightmare...that’s all…”
Ed’s ears perked up as he heard her answer in a soft whisper, “A nightmare?” he questioned.
“Mm..”
The side of Ed’s mouth tilted up ever so slightly, “Win…,” he took her hands into his, “You think being upset about a nightmare is stupid? I’ve had nightmares almost every night for the past ten years. Whenever I have one when you’re there. You’re by my side until I can calm down. You really think I’d believe that crying over a nightmare is stupid?”
“Well…You have your reasons…” she trailed off, “Mine are uncomparable to what you deal with,”
He squeezed her hands tighter, “Win. I don’t care if you had a nightmare about something horrific or if you dreamt there was a giant purple bear chasing you,” that had gotten a breathy laugh out of her, “We all have our reasons. We’re all different people with different experiences. So please,” she looked up to him slightly and was met with warm, kind, golden eyes staring at her with all the love in the world, “Don’t compare your nightmares to mine.”
Winry was silent. She looked down at his hands enveloping hers, “It’s just…” she started, “I dreamed about that day.”
Ed cocked his head slightly, “What day?”
“The day Al brought you over after…” she didn’t want to say it. She couldn’t bare thinking about it right now.
Edward sighed, “I’m sorry…” he apologized. Winry’s head shot up and stared at him in disbelief.
“What? Why are you sorry?”
“Well...I mean...If that had never happened, you wouldn’t have nightmares about it.”
It was Winry’s turn to squeeze Ed’s hands, “It’s not your fault! Stop blaming yourself for what happened that night!”
“I...w-whatever!” he shook his head, “This isn’t about me. This is about you. Do you want to talk more about it?”
Winry’s eyes cast downwards once more, “I…” the words were caught in her mouth.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but it’ll help.”
Winry closed her eyes and nodded. She took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, “It’s just...I was remembering Al’s armor...it was just covered in blood. Your blood. You-you were barely breathing. You didn’t have two of your limbs and Al was a 7ft walking, talking suit of armor…”
She let go of Ed’s hands and balled them in her messy blonde hair, “Everything was the same as it was in real life up until we had gotten you on the surgery table,” Her breathing was labored at this point. Ed looked at her with worry-filled eyes, “You bled out before we could do a transfusion. You died right in front of my eyes. Then Al had collapsed. I’d lost both of you in the span of one second.”
She’d fallen into hysterics. Large tears streamed down her face and her grip tightened in her locks. Each word that slipped past her lips was faster than the last.
“Winry,” a gentle voice brought her out from her thoughts, “It’s alright,” Ed stood behind her and one by one began loosened her fingers and brought her hands to her lap, “It’s alright. That must have been scary,” He rested his chin upon her shoulder and rubbed circled along her back.
Winry looked at him from the side of her eyes. Her face scrunched up buried her face in his golden hair, crying against it.
“It felt so real. It felt so real, Ed. You and Al were gone...I couldn’t handle it. I know it’s not real but…” her words choked in her mouth as she gasped for breath from crying.
“I know...I know,” He said as he rubbed her back, “I’m right here. I’m alright Win. Just let it out.”
Shh’s filled the air as he listened to her sobs. The tea on the table had long since gone cold and the sun’s light began to shine over the hills outside. Slowly the tears stopped streaming down her face, leaving their watery mark upon her cheeks.
“Thank you…” she whispered. She pulled away from him and twiddled her fingers. Ed stood looking over her. He rested his right arm on her head and pet her.
“You know I love you, right?”
Winry’s face darkened in embarrassment. A small smile grew on her face.
“I love you too…” she murmured.
“Do you want to go back to bed?” he asked.
Winry looked out the window and noticed how long it had been. “I’m sorry for keeping you up so long.”
“I don’t mind one bit. It was for you. Now,” Ed swiftly scooped her into his arms bridal style, “Let’s head to bed,”
Winry giggled and kissed his cheek, “Yeah. That’d be nice.”
They made their way to the bed and laid facing each other. Their limbs entwined, a sense of protection surrounded them. They lay safe in each other’s arms, feeling each other’s body heat. It didn’t take long for Winry to slip back into slumber. The crying had left her exhausted.
This had all originally started from sleep.
Now, she slept without a care in the world.