Hey, all! Here's a new chapter for yall! I apologize for the long wait, but I've been very busy with school work, marching band, and equestrian team. Thank you all so much for your patients. I hope you enjoy!

I grumbled slightly under my breath as I picked at the restricting collar of the white undershirt that came with the horrid military uniform I was forced to wear this evening. Had we been at home in Amestris, I wouldn't have minded wearing the gaudy uniform because everyone in the military wore one. It was commonplace. There were few places in Amestris you could go without seeing a blue uniform. But here, I was going to be a spectacle. I didn't enjoy being the center of attention, and there was no doubt there would be plenty of eyes on Winry and myself tonight.

Even from just the past week of Winry being here, I knew there would be girls staring with jealousy and scorn while the professors would no doubt be interested in the numerous ribbons decorating the blue coat. And of course, there was the issue of the entire student body and the foreign teachers seeing me in a military uniform. I really did not want to explain to anyone why I was in the military or at what age I had joined. It would be best if I could just avoid that conversation altogether, but I seriously doubted that would be possible.

I would have been much happier to return to the position I had awoken in this morning – wrapped in my warm comforter with Winry's head on my chest, her strong arms locked tight around my waist even in sleep. Oh, how I longed to return to that peaceful morning we had shared, trading sleepy whispers alongside more than a few soft kisses. But alas, I had to don the monkey suit as I had dubbed it and make a public appearance as a professor. A sigh escaped my lips as the thoughts of what could have been were replaced with the reminder of what unfortunately was.

"Ed, what are you doing? We're going to be late," Winry scolded, and I looked up to find the young woman standing behind me as she slipped her feet into a pair of black heels. I felt my face heat up at the sight of the woman I was lucky enough to call mine. She was dressed in a beautiful black velvet gown that hugged her curves in all the right ways. The straps of her dress were off the shoulder, showing off pale skin, a sapphire charm hanging from a silver chain resting between her collarbones. Her hair was done up in a simple yet elegant bun, a few pieces of hair framing her face.

The sight of the woman I loved caused the small piece of silver in my uniform pocket to feel as though it weighed as much as the sun. I knew with one look at her I had made the right decision.

"Edward, you look at me like you've never seen me in a dress before," she said, trying to sound intimidating, but the pink blush on her cheeks and the way she averted her eyes from mine took any threatening nature away. I picked my jaw up off the floor where it had fallen and shook myself. Back to my senses, I walked forward and took one of her hands in mine, using the touch to spin her around so I could get a better look at the beautiful woman in front of me.

"Ed?" she whispered when she had completed a full circle and was once again facing me. Her sapphire eyes were wide as she stared up at me, the light blush that had decorated her cheeks now a blazing wildfire. Instead of answering, I put a hand on her warm cheek and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. I felt her sigh into the kiss as her lips turned up in the shape of a smile.

"Never in a dress like this before," I whispered, the hand that wasn't holding her cheek moving to rest lightly on her waist. "You're beautiful," I told her. She only rolled her eyes.

"When did you turn into the hopeless romantic, Elric?" she teased, an eyebrow raised as she looked up at me. I shrugged, an eyebrow of my own raising in uncertainty.

"I wouldn't call it hopeless romantic," I explained. "I would just call it telling the truth," I admitted. Her cheeks were set ablaze at my words as she rolled her eyes and slapped me lightly on the chest.

"You need to finish getting ready," she said, deflecting the compliment. I only smile at her as she retrieved my uniform jacket from my chair. She helped me thread my arms through the jacket before buttoning it, making sure everything was still in its proper place – it was.

"You really do look beautiful, Winry," I told her quietly after a few moments as she straightened out my uniform to her liking.

"Thank you, Ed," she whispered, not lifting her eyes from my chest where she rested her hands over the lapels of my jacket. I hummed softly in response as she continued to touch up my uniform. Before long, she was stepping back to get a better look at me. She didn't say a word as she retrieved my gloves from my desk.

"For old times sake," she said with a smile as I slipped them on. "Now sit so I can do your hair again." With minimal grumbling, I took a seat behind my desk, allowing Winry to gather my hair up into the clip Hawkeye had sent with my uniform. When my hair met the girl's standards, she gently placed the hat of the uniform on my head, careful not to mess up the work on my hair she had just completed.

"There, all done," she said, and I took that as an invitation to stand up from my chair. I turned to face Winry as she appraised her work. "You clean up nicely, Ed. You look very handsome," she said before stepping forward to press a lingering kiss on my cheek. "I'm proud of you," she said, her voice full of conviction.

"Thank you, Winry," I said with a genuine smile. She returned my smile in response. I shook myself and cleared my throat, holding an arm out to the woman in front of me. "Shall we?" I asked. She wordlessly took my arm in hers and allowed me to lead her out of the room, through the hallways, across the everchanging staircases, and down to the Great Hall.

When we hit the main floor just outside the doors of the Great Hall, the loud chatter from the students suddenly dropped off into nothingness only to pick back up in hushed whispers all in a matter of a few seconds. I tried to avert my eyes from the wide, prying eyes of my students as they whispered and gossiped. If the military uniform wasn't enough, I also had Winry on my arm. Now, that was something I would never regret, but I didn't appreciate all of the eyes on us. And I knew more than one set of eyes was glaring at us, either jealous of me or Winry. I tried not to think too much about it.

I felt a familiar hand, one strengthened by years of working with metal, squeeze my bicep. This action caused me to turn to look at the beautiful woman on my arm and give her a small smile. She gave me a smile and visibly took a deep breath, silently telling me to do the same. I followed her lead, and before I knew it, we had reached the other professors and the three headmasters gathered by the doors to the Great Hall.

"Good evening, you two," Dumbledore's voice rang out, causing me to look up at the old headmaster. "My, you look very lovely, Miss Rockbell," Dumbledore commented in that tone that I now compared to the one Granny took up when she was proud of one of the three of us.

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," Winry said graciously with a small bow of her head.

"Oh, none of that, my dear. Just Albus," he requested with the usual small smile.

"Then just Winry for me," the girl said with a smile of her own, one eyebrow raised. "Miss Rockbell is my grandmother. The headmaster laughed.

"Of course, my dear, of course."

For the next few minutes, Winry and I stood with the rest of the professors as we waited for the clock to chime, signaling the top of the hour and the beginning of the ball. Poppy, Pomona, and even Irma were cooing over Winry's dress, telling her what a beautiful young lady she was and how well her black dress fit her form. I couldn't help but smile at Winry's sudden shyness.

All the while, Poor Minerva was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get the four champions and their dates ready for the opening dance while simultaneously ushering the other students into the Great Hall. Just mere minutes before the top of the hour arrived, Dumbledore directed us into the Great Hall with the majority of the students. We took our places at the head of the hall, right before where the professor's table was normally placed. Instead of the normal long table stretching across the front of the hall, a small orchestra sat, getting their instruments ready for the night.

"Military, huh, Elric?" a voice said, and I looked over to see Karkaroff looking down at me with scrutinizing eyes. His dark eyes were raking over the ribbons on my chest and the stars on my shoulder.

"Yes," I said as I averted my eyes from the unsettling older man, turning to look expectantly at the doors of the Great Hall, willing the clock to chime and the music of the opening dance to start. Or maybe something would catch fire. Anything to get the pompous headmaster to stop talking to me.

"How does someone your age become as decorated as you? I really must know," he said, his voice filled with disdain and skepticism. "If you truly are in the military, how much arse kissing did you do?" I had just opened my mouth to tell the bastard off when the trumpets behind us suddenly started up and the champions and their dates entered the hall, successfully stopping the conversation from continuing. Fleur led the way into the Hall with her date on her arm. Victor Krum had Hermione by her side. The pair was followed by Diggory and Cho, both exceptional students in my opinion. Harry and one of the Patil twins brought up the rear.

Once the four champions and their dates had taken their places on the dance floor, the trumpeting stopped only for the orchestra to pick up quickly thereafter. I had to put a hand over my mouth to stifle the laughter from bubbling past my lips as I watched Harry flounder. The boy clearly has no idea what he was doing. What made it all the more entertaining was that the other couples looked graceful and elegant, as if this was second nature to them.

"He looks like Al when he was trying to learn to walk again," I couldn't help but mutter to Winry. This only earned me a halfhearted elbow to the ribs. I sent a heatless glare in my date's direction. Her arms were crossed over her chest, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, like you know any better, Elric," Winry challenged. At this point, other couples were taking their places on the dance floor.

"Try me," I said, extending a hand to the girl as an offering. She gave me a dubious look but took my hand anyway, allowing me to lead her out onto the dance floor. I was quick to brush off any cobwebs from my lessons with the lieutenant and start leading Winry in a basic waltz in time to the orchestra. Winry looked surprised but was quick to fall into step with me.

"When did you learn to dance, Ed?" Winry asked as we moved around the dance floor, being careful to steer clear of the other couples that now littered the dance floor.

"The lieutenant taught me to dance because she wanted me to be prepared for military balls if I were ever to attend," I said with a burning hot blush on my face. I was unable to meet Winry's gorgeous sapphire eyes as I spoke. Mustang hadn't let it go for months afterward.

"That's Captain now, Edward," Winry admonished gently, but there was a smile on her face. I rolled my eyes and smiled at the girl, causing her to giggle lightly. The sound of her laugh only served to make my smile widen.

"She also told me I needed to learn if I was ever going to get off my ass and tell you how I felt," I added, more than a little embarrassed at the confession. I honestly wasn't sure where it had come from; it had just kinda slipped out. Winry only smiled and squeezed my newly returned hand that was wrapped in her own.

When the song ended, I took Winry's hand, just as the lieutenant had taught me, bowed before the blonde, and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

"Aren't you a gentleman," Winry commented. Surely my face was as red as my signature trenchcoat by now. "Captain Hawkeye taught you well," she complimented. I could only smile at her. "Come on, Ed, I need something to drink. And I'm pretty sure I saw cupcakes somewhere," she said, leading me off the dance floor, my hand still clasped in hers.

Once both Winry and I had found the drinks and the cupcakes Winry has spied earlier in the evening, she was dragging me back out onto the dance floor as the orchestra picked up another slower tune. I couldn't help but feel a pit form in my stomach. I was taught classical dancing, not how to slow dance. Winry seemed to pick up on my sudden lack of confidence, and she silently placed my hands on her hips before she put her hands on my shoulders. Winry slowly picked up the rhythm of the song, and I was soon swaying with her to the music.

We talked about anything and everything as we slow danced, both of us laughing at probably inappropriate times. Even as the orchestra was replaced with a band, Winry and I remained toward the back of the crowd, keeping to ourselves and swaying gently to our own made-up rhythm.

When the band finally pulled away from the aggressive music they were playing, I had truly never heard anything like it before, I turned to a ballad, I thought it was a perfect time to bring up what had been weighing heavily on my conscious all night. My expression must have changed, even in the slightest bit, because Winry tilted her head to the side and called my name softly.

"Winry," I said, digging in the pocket of my uniform pants to retrieve the little piece of metal sitting in my pocket. "I know we said we would take this slow, but I did propose, and I do recall you saying yes. I figured we should seal the deal and get a ring involved," I said and pulled out the ring I had stashed in my pocket. I had fashioned the ring out of a bar of silver I had bought, transmuting it in such a way that it looked like a tiny wrench, curved to perfectly fit her finger. In the socket of the wrench was a tiny Flamel symbol.

"Edward," she whispered, a hand lifting to cover her mouth. We had stopped dancing when I pulled the ring out, and if there were eyes on us, I couldn't have cared less. This was our moment, and nothing else mattered. "Edward, are you serious?" she asked, her voice nothing more than a breathy whisper.

"If you want me to be," I whispered back. Despite her earlier agreeance, I was worried that the ring would scare her off. But I couldn't help it. I loved her and she loved me. That was all the more information I needed. I wanted to be hers forever. There was no one else I could imagine spending the rest of my life with.

The blonde's eyes welled up with tears before she threw her arms around my neck, pressing her face to my chest. I scrambled for purchase on the ring, not having been prepared for the sudden embrace. After the ring was safely enclosed in my fist, I returned the embrace, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

When she pulled back, her sapphire eyes were shining, not with tears, but with happiness. "Are you going to put it on me?" she asked shyly, extending her left hand to me.

"Is that a yes?" I asked. She only sent me one of her infamous looks, causing me to laugh heartily. I carefully slipped the ring onto her finger, and we both took a moment to admire the silver band against her pale skin.

"Come here," I said, unable to contain myself anymore. The sight of the ring on her finger nearly had my heart bursting right out of my chest with happiness and love. I grasped her waist and pulled her flush against my chest before pressing a kiss to her lips. She made a soft noise of contentment before her hands came up to clasp behind my neck, deepening the kiss.

When we broke for air, I took her hand in my own and pressed a kiss to the ring. "I can't wait to make you Mrs. Elric," I whispered, a smirk adorning my lips.

"Who said I'm changing my last name, Mr. Elric?" she countered without a second of hesitation. Her typical wit had me laughing again. And when I had settled, I placed both of my hands on her cheeks and pulled her into another kiss. She giggled against my lips, and I couldn't help but add to her laughter with a bit of my own.

For that moment, it was just the two of us. For that moment, nothing else mattered more than the woman I held in my arms. And for that moment, there was nowhere else I would rather be.