Hey, all! So sorry for such a long wait; I just recently moved into college, and I'm still trying to get into the swing of things. My updates will probably be slower as college is SO much different than high school, but I will still update!

Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this extra long chapter!

"Dragons? They weren't chimeras?" Winry asked as she tightened one of the screws on my automail leg that was now detached from the port. We were currently holed up in the hospital wing while Winry checked over my port and automail, trying to see if she could make any changes to make the pain more manageable. Sure, Severus was bringing me a pain potion every month, and that certainly helped to ease the pain, but it didn't take it away completely. There was still a dull pain in my port whenever I put pressure on it, and the feeling had yet to dissipate.

I had begged Winry to just go back to my room so I could have at least some privacy as my mechanic looked over my automail leg, but she wasn't having any of it. She wanted to have access to medical equipment just in case as she had only been able to bring a few sets of clothes and her tools through the gate. Thankfully, Poppy had been nice enough to pull some curtains around the bed I was occupying which was also in the farthest back corner of the hospital wing.

Now, I was lying propped up on the pillows of the bed as the blonde girl inspected my automail leg and port. I told her about everything I hadn't been able to put in my letters, all the little details I had wanted to tell her but didn't have the time to write down. She nodded along and asked questions as she did her job, prompting me to tell her more. It was refreshing and dare I say comforting to have someone from home here at Hogwarts. I hadn't realized just how much I missed my family until she got her, and my chest loosened a little bit in relief.

I had also warned Winry about Rita Skeeter and even read her the article out loud for Winry. It was clear she approved of the article about as much as I did. My childhood friend had been mortified when I had told her about the letter, both of knowing Winry wasn't the type of person to write sappy love letters. And frankly, we weren't even writing love letters back and forth to each other. Our relationship was complicated at best, and neither of us wanted people to jump to any conclusions or be too far involved in our lives. Unfortunately, it was too late for that.

Albeit a little reluctantly, I had filled the girl in on the rumors that were floating through the corridors about her and our relationship. I had to explain to her about the females I had in class that were clearly not happy about the fact that I was not available in a romantic sense. I was hearing a Slytherin girl had actually been crying over the news. We had both ended up as blushing messes by the time the conversation was over, and Winry was quick to jump to discuss another aspect of the letter.

"How dare she make assumptions about your mother and father like that!" she had shouted angrily. At this point, she had set down her tools and was looking me in the eyes, her blue eyes blazing with a raging fire. I had quickly soothed the girl whose eyes were starting to water. I knew how much she loved my mother, almost as much as I did, and while she knew I was conflicted when it came to Hohenheim, we both knew he was still my father and wanted the best for my brother and I. Thankfully, my words had caused the girl to settle and wipe away her tears, getting back to the task at hand.

"No chimeras," I said through a sigh, wriggling around a little bit, trying to get comfortable on the hospital wing cot. She chided me softly for moving while she was trying to do her job, but there was no heat to her words. "They were definitely dragons," I added. "Even though I didn't get a close up look at them, they were definitely whole creatures." The girl by my side nodded before changing the topic of conversation suddenly.

"You said Dumbledore said the potion and the enchantments should take away the pain, right?" the blonde mused as she tapped her chin with a finger, looking thoughtful. Truth, she was beautiful, her eyebrows furrowed, her blue eyes determined. "Ed?" she pressed when I didn't respond. Her blue eyes were wide now as she looked at me expectantly.

"Y-yeah, yeah, that's what Dumbledore said; it should take away the pain," I said with a nod when she looked at me skeptically. She just rolled her eyes and got back down to business.

"Well, it's not a port infection," she concluded much to my relief. As much as I trusted Poppy, it was nice to hear it from an automail expert. "You would have a fever by now, and you would have thrown up," she explained. "It might be an internal port problem," the engineer mused as she procured a flashlight from her tool kit. She bent down a little in her seat and shined the flashlight into the port, looking for any abnormalities that may be present.

"Ah ha!" Winry exclaimed after a few moments.

"Huh?" I asked, lifting my head up to look down at her where she was sitting in the chair by my leg. She had a little flashlight in her mouth as she looked into the gaping hole of my leg port. "What is it? Did you find something?" I asked when she didn't answer, instead choosing to mutter under her breath to herself, just like she did every time she was thinking hard about one of her projects. She hummed and nodded, reaching for a pair of pliers that were laying on the table positioned at her side. "Well?" I pressed, looking for some sort of explanation.

She didn't answer, just reached inside the cavity of the port with the pliers. This wasn't the first time she had done this, gotten so carried away with a project that she forgot to explain what in the hell was going through her gearhead mind. Unsurprisingly, this didn't happen with any of her other clients, just me. How lucky.

I shouted out in pain, not having been able to prepare myself for the sudden onslaught of pain, when something deep within my port was shifted. "Fuck," I panted when I had gotten control of the pain and regained some of my composure. "Could have given me some warning," I snapped. "What the hell did you do?" Before I could get an answer from the blonde mechanic, Poppy was poking her head around the corner of one of the curtains.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, though her face was pale as her eyes slid over my leg. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, tired of having people ogle  at my automail. "I heard Edward shout."

"Yeah, everything's fine," Winry said, causing me to scoff. "I actually found what was causing Ed so much pain," I perked up at her words. "There was a piece of metal stuck up against one of the nerves and was scraping against the nerves when he walked. I just removed the damaged piece of metal, and now he should be good to go!" the blonde explained as he held up a piece of metal about the size of my fingernail clasped in between the pliers. Poppy's face was tinged green now.

"Though, I could use your help with something, Madame Pomfrey," Winry mused as she sat the pliers back on the table that was currently serving as her work bench. "Only if you don't mind, that is!" Winry added quickly, but Poppy just shook her head at the girl.

"What is it that I can help you with?" the nurse said as she stepped further into the little 'room' the curtains had created. She still looked a little green around the edges as she gazed at my leg, but she seemed to be regaining her composure. Though, if Winry was going to ask what I thought she was going to, the nurse's composure wasn't going to last very long.

"I just need you to hold Ed's shoulders down while I reconnect the nerves if you're willing to do that," Winry informed the nurse. Yup. There it was.

"C-connect the nerves?" Poppy stuttered out, looking horrified. Winry nodded, her face now a little more grim than before. Though, it wasn't so much grim as it was serious.

"Yes," the blonde said as she turned to place a hand on the port. "This is the port which has all of Ed's nerves connected to it, all of which are protected for his safety. If the nerves themselves are damaged, the automail would be rendered useless." The girl paused in her explanation as she stood to retrieve my automail leg from the makeshift work table and brought it over to the bed. "Connecting the leg to the port connects the nerves, and it can be pretty painful," she said, looking up at me, her eyes filled with guilt.

"Winry," I warned, knowing which road her mind was going down. I knew she hated putting me through the physical and mental pain of reconnecting the nerves, but there wasn't much she could do about it. I had learned to deal with it at this point, and I would be okay. We both knew that, but sometimes Winry needed a reminder. She nodded, and I could practically see herself mentally shake the negative thoughts from her mind.

"Alright," she said and grabbed a few tools. "Getting your leg set for connection," she muttered as she moved to click the leg and port together. I knew the process like the back of my hand, so she must have been going through the steps for her own benefit. "Madame Pomfrey, if you could just put your hands on his shoulders and hold him down firmly; he can be quite the wiggle worm," she teased, throwing me one of her dazzling smiles. I just rolled my eyes, leaning back in the bed and trying to mentally prepare myself for the oncoming pain.

Poppy did just that, her gentle but firm hands on my clothed shoulders as I kept my eyes screwed shut, refusing to look at the woman. My leg was moved around a little bit and a few things clicked before Winry announced everything was in place.

"You ready, Ed?" she asked, her voice soft.

"Just do it please," I growled out through clenched teeth, but none of my internal fire was projected at the girl.

"On three. One." I swallowed and squeezed my eyes tight until I saw random shapes and colors appearing in my vision. "Two." I clenched my teeth, hoping to keep any pained sounds from escaping my lips. "Three." Lightning hot pain raced up my legs as the nerves connected. As per usual, I felt myself nearly blacking out in the process, but I knew that would only cause Winry to cry. I couldn't do that to her, not again. Instead, I breathed harshly through my nose, trying to calm myself from the traumatic experience.

I flinched when there was a hand suddenly smoothing back my hair. Then, Winry's soft voice entered my ears. "Ed?" she asked quietly. "I'm all done. Just take a few minutes to rest while I clean up. Then maybe we can get some dinner," she said, but it was more of a question than a statement. I nodded, letting out a heavy breath as I finally opened my eyes.

Poppy was flitting around anxiously, asking Winry if there was anything she could do to help. Of course, Winry assured Poppy that she was fine and could handle the clean up on her own. There was a moment of silence before Poppy nodded, saying she wanted to check on Draco's wounds.

"How ya feeling?" Winry asked after a minute, glancing over at me from where she was packing her tool box. "I know that takes a lot out of you," she muttered.

"Winry," I said, reaching out to grasp her wrist. "This is not your fault," I said firmly when I had the blonde's attention. She looked at me, her blue eyes wide. "This is my fault and my fault alone. Al and I knew what we were doing that night. We knew it was wrong, but we still did it anyway," I reminded her. She nodded slowly, but she didn't look any happier.

"Winry," I repeated. She nodded, telling me she was listening, her wide blue eyes boring into my golden ones. "You gave me a leg to walk on. You gave me hope. You gave me the resources to get Al's body back. Your invention was the reason I could fight Father on the Promised Day. It's the reason I'm still alive today. And I will never stop thanking you for that," I said firmly. She just stared at me for a moment, not saying a word before she moved her hand still clasped within my own, lacing our fingers and squeezing gently.

"Okay," was all she said, but I knew the message had been received.

After that, Winry made quick work of her tools as I slowly sat up, working my leg, knee, and ankle, making sure everything felt the way it should. Thankfully, everything seemed to be working order, and when I stood, there was no longer any pain. Winry looked pleased with herself as I informed her of this, saying if I hadn't broken her precious automail, she wouldn't have had to fix it. There she was again, the good old Winry I knew and loved.

After Winry thanked Poppy profusely, we made our way out of the Hospital Wing, Draco staring at us from behind as we went. We made dinner a quick and quiet affair as almost every student stared at the two of us as we tried to have a normal dinner. Unfortunately, my life just wasn't normal. Because of prying eyes, we were quick to finish our meals and escape back up to my room as the sun was setting, the stars starting to appear on the opposite horizon.

When we reached my room, we did in fact find another bed against the opposite wall for Winry to stay in. While I graded a few papers at my desk in the classroom, Winry took a look around my classroom and unpacked her things into the empty drawers of my dresser. Thankfully, I was able to make quick work of the rest of the papers I had promised to hand back tomorrow and started getting ready for bed. Winry and I took our turn in the bathroom before we were both in our respective beds, getting settled for the night.

The small light on my bedside table was on to bathe the book I was reading in a soft light. The rest of the room was dark as all the other lights had been turned off for the night. Winry, across the room in her own bed, was curled up on her side, facing me but not saying a word. After a while, it became a little concerning and even a little unnerving.

"Winry?" I asked softly as I looked over at the girl, closing my book and setting it to the side. "You alright?" I pressed. She blinked and nodded, pulling the sheet wrapped around her body up underneath her chin.

"It's been a long time since we had a sleepover like this," she said with a bright smile. I chuckled at her childish words. "All we're missing is Al," she said, and I nodded, thinking of my little brother with a small smile on my face.

"And Granny yelling at us to go to bed and stop making so much racket," I added, causing the blonde girl across the room to laugh heartily. Her laugh was infectious, and I couldn't help but join her. Once we had both sobered, we sat in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. In fact, it was quite nice. It was nice to have a familiar face here with me, even if we were just sitting in silence.

"Ed?" she said.

"Hmm?" I hummed, prompting her to continue.

"Did," she paused, "did you really mean what you said before you left?" she asked, though neither of us could bear to look at each other, far too embarrassed. I sighed and pulled myself to sit up a little further against the headboard.

"I did," I said with a nod, staring down at my hands which were lying in my lap, twitching with nervous energy. "I'm sorry it came out the way it did. And I'm sorry I said it when I did. I should have asked you to sit down with me so we could have an actual conversation about it," I said, running a hand through my hair, the golden strands pooling over my shoulders.

"I'm just glad you asked," Winry whispered, her voice so soft I almost missed it. I looked over at her. Her face was red as she clutched the blankets to her chest. She finally looked up at me as she spoke again. "I would have said something sooner if my damn pride hadn't gotten in the way," she admitted after a moment.

"Really?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah," she said, moving to sit against the headboard of her bed. She twirled her loose hair around a finger, refusing to look at me again. "I-I've been in love with you for so long, Edward, but I was too prideful, too foolish to say anything," she said, practically turning her entire body away from me in embarrassment.

My eyes widened in shock. I never would have imagined she had loved me all these years. All this time I had been in love with her as well. All this time I had thought my love for her was unrequited. I had never said anything because I never thought she would feel the same way. I had been taking a real dangerous chance with what I had said right before I left.

"God, I can't believe I just said all that," she said, her face now in her hands.

"Why?" I asked, confused now.

"Because, because it was so easy!" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "I could have said that years ago," she gripped, shaking her head which was still in her hands.

"Well, I guess that makes two of us then," I offered, hoping to ease her embarrassment by showing her we were both in the same boat. She finally took her face out of her hands, looking at me, her beautiful blue eyes wide as she stared at me.

"I've loved you for years too, Winry," I finally said, my face heating up even more, if that was humanly possible. I looked back at my hands again. "And I could never say it because I was afraid I wasn't going to come home. I was afraid I would confess, and I would make you cry when I didn't come back to you. And I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same way."

"You idiot!" she all but shouted, causing me to snap my head up and look at her again. To my horror, there were tears forming in her eyes.

"Winry-" I started, but she cut me off before I could continue.

"I would have cried either way, and you know that," she said, wiping her face with her pajama sleeves, trying to stem her tears. "And of course I felt the same way. You're everything to me, Ed. I seriously don't know where I would be without you," she relented as she drew her knees up toward her chest. She tooo a deep breath, quickly over her sudden bout of tears.

"You're my everything too, Winry," I said softly. I saw her lips quirk up in a smile. "I'm sorry I didn't say something sooner," I whispered.

"Me too," she murmured back, hugging her knees to her chest tightly. "I want to be with you, Ed," she started, "I want to give you my entire life, but this is all happening so fast. You would think to take me on a proper date first," she said with a laugh, causing me to crack a white smile.

"Yeah, you're right. So why don't you be my date to the Yule Ball?" I teased with a smirk.

"I would love that," she said, resting her chin on her knee as she looked at me. I wouldn't help but smile at the blissful look she had on her face. She was beautiful.

"Get some sleep, Winry," I said as I shuffled to lay down under the covers. "I'll see you in the morning," I vowed. She followed my lead and burrowed under her blankets.

"Good night, Ed. I'll see you in the morning," she replied. I sent her one more quick smile before flipping the bedside light off, plunging the room into darkness.

"I love you, Ed," I heard a small voice say from across the room, and I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my lips.

"I love you, too, Winry. Forever and always."