Due Date Ch.7 EdWin

“Okay, this is just plain ridiculous.” Winry whispered to herself. It was nearly three in the morning, and she was wide eyed, staring into their refrigerator. “We have absolutely no food.” I could’ve sworn that I still had some pie left!

“Damn it.” She grumbled to herself, while rummaging through their fridge some more. With her being preoccupied by her adventure through the lack of food, she hadn’t noticed when Ed came down the stairs.

He turned the kitchen lights on, and was met with the sight of a messy haired Winry sitting on the floor chugging a carton of milk. “Umm, having fun down there?” He held in his laughter and went to the sink, pouring himself some water.

“No!” She hopped up, which wasn’t so easy now that she had a small, but still growing, round belly. “We have nothing to eat and I’m starving!” She gave Ed who was now leaning against the counter, taking in his wife’s silly appearance, a sudden glare, “Would you happen to know what happened to the rest of my pie?”

“Yes I do as a matter of fact,” he went over to the trash, and tilted it so that Winry could see the empty pie tin sitting on top, “You ate it before we went to sleep.”

“Oh,” she scratched her head, “it seems like I did.” Her tone was trying to cover up the fact that she didn’t recall the event.

But like always, Ed saw through her, “You don’t remember eating it do you?” he gave a laugh and put the trash back.

“Whatever, it’s late, I’m tired and hungry. There’s no need for me to remember that.” She crossed her arms stubbornly, “And I don’t appreciate you laughing at me.”

“Alright, alright,” Ed put his hands in the air, and then quickly bowed, “Please forgive me Miss Automail Princess.”

Winry pulled her wrench out of that secret place on her body that no one knew about, and hurled it at Ed, “I’m not a princess! I’m just pissed off and hungry!!” She unintentionally slammed the fridge door shut, and upstairs Mei stirred in her sleep.

“Well, I guess there nothing for it.” Ed left the kitchen, holding the part of his head that was now bruising, and came back with his jacket and sandals on, having already had on sweats and a t-shirt, “I’ll run over to the store and get you something.”

“Oooh!” Winry’s face immediately lit up at the thought of going on a walk in the middle of the night, “I’ll come with you! Just wait here a second!”

Again Ed laughed and spoke to himself as Winry darted out of the kitchen, “Where would I go?”

She rushed back into the kitchen with a similar appearance as his, a huge grin on her well rested face. She was wearing one of Ed’s jackets, fitting black shorts and sandals, her hair still messy “Alright, I’m ready!”

Ed nodded and smiled, “Let’s go then.”

He led the two of them down the hall and out the door, blushing slightly when Winry took hold of his hand. Well, this will most likely be the first of many midnight trips. Ed thought this as he recalled his recent visit to Ms. Gracia Hughes.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 It had been a very slow week day at work and luckily, he had managed to slip out unnoticed a little earlier than he was supposed to. The reason for this was that he had decided to make time for a trip over to see Mrs. Hughes. Al had strolled along, also wanting to pay a visit. Though the real reason for Ed’s trip wasn’t just for a mere visit, he was desperate for advice.

Everyday conversing and interacting with Winry was getting just a little bit more difficult. Some days were just fine and they went about them normally, but other days, she would easily find offense at things he said, cry her eyes out, or not want to talk at all. And now, sitting in the family’s living room, his nerves were on an extreme edge when confessing his problems to Mrs. Hughes.

Al was in the other room, having been invited to play by Elicia, who was growing older quite swiftly it seemed now, and the two of them had started this awkward conversation with a sudden outburst from Ed.

“Well Edward,” Ms. Hughes began her statement gently, a look of sympathy on her face, “I’ll gladly offer advice to you as a formerly pregnant woman, but ultimately you’ll have to figure out most of this for yourself.”

Ed gave a small laugh to himself and began thinking. That’s kind of how I thought mom would answer that question. He gave a sigh and let his shoulders slump down a little. Of course he had thought about what his mom would’ve thought or said if he had had the chance to tell her any of this. It was slightly painful, but when he did imagine it, he thought her answer would be similar to Mrs. Hughes’s answer.

Another laugh shook his shoulders, he had even thought about what his shitty father would’ve said. That’s only natural right?

“Edward? Are you alright?” her voice had snapped him out of his slightly sullen thoughts and back into the reality of things.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine, just thinking about a few things.” He smoothed it over quickly, “And what you said earlier, I guess you’re right! It would be best if I could figure it out on my own, right?”

She gave him a look that told him she wasn’t buying his smooth lie, “Edward, I’ve known you far too long to know that you are not alright. Now,” she crossed her legs and leaned back into her sofa, making herself comfortable, “tell me what’s on your mind.”

She really is like mom huh? “Geez,” Ed brought his hand over his eyes, covering the top half on his face, “I was just thinking about what my parents would’ve said in this situation. What they would’ve told me if I had asked them for help like I did you.” His voice cracked in a few spots, but he didn’t care. It really felt like he was talking to his mother when he conversed with Mrs. Hughes, so he really didn’t care if he broke his composure in this way when in her presence.

Silently, she got up and went over to the couch opposite of hers, and sat beside Ed, bringing his head to her shoulder, “You know, I think the same thing about Maes.” She began her personal sentence with a strong, unwavering voice, “When Elicia does something completely new, I ask myself the same question you do. What would he say or do in this situation?” a moment’s pause passed before she began again, “But I like to believe that I knew him well enough to know what he would say or do!” A laughing grin crossed her face, “I’m sure that he would throw his hands up to his cheeks and wiggle around when she did something praiseworthy, he would scold her sternly, yet lovingly when she did something bad, and I know that he would support her in the things that she wants to achieve in life!”

“So,” she gently moved Ed’s head from her shoulder and looked him in the eyes, “When we think these questions, imagine their response, and believe that that is truly how they would respond!”

Yeah, Ed thought, Just like mom.

“Brother! We’re going to be late for the train home!!” Ed heard Al yell as he sprinted into the living room, “It’s going to leave in seven minutes!!”

Oh shit!! “Alright!” Ed quickly jumped up, grabbed his coat, and headed for the door, “We’ll stop by again soon!”

“Oh Edward!” Mrs. Hughes stopped him before he could run out the door, “As for the advice, I have three short things for you off the top of my head! One is never comment on her weight, two is do whatever she tells you to, depending on her mood the consequence may be severe if you don’t, and three is be prepared to make a lot of midnight trips for food!!”

The two brothers laughed in response and headed out the door, Mrs. Hughes and Elicia stepping out to see them walk down the stairs, “Bye bye!!!” Elicia waved her hand back and forth with unnecessary speed.

“Be careful you two!! And make sure to tell Winry we both said hello!!”

As they left the building and began their mad dash for the train, Ed thought to himself. I wonder if those three things will work in my case?

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ed’s memory began to fade back into where he kept all of his other memories as he began his walk with Winry to the store. Well, this answers my earlier question.

“Hey Ed,” Winry began out of the blue, having been silent for a time now, “can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, what is it?” His voice held a note of weariness in it. Winry wasn’t one to ask for permission to ask a question. She usually just came out with it.

“Well um, are you alright? You’ve seemed kind of distant lately.” She moved her eyes up to his face that was now expressionless.

Ed stopped walking, and looked up to the moonlit sky, defeated, mumbling to the stars, “And here I was thinking I hid it well.”

“So I was right?!” Winry was surprised at this. It had been on her mind for a while now, but she didn’t think she was actually right. “Well, would you like to talk about it?”

Luckily, they had already made it to the closest store, so she led them both to a bench that was right by the doors.

“Sit.” She ordered him, and he did as was told. Swiftly, she sat next to him and put her hand atop her small but now bulging stomach, her usual posture. “Now, what’s on your mind?”

Ed sighed. He had wanted to avoid talking about this with Winry since it was the same for her. Her parents had died many years ago, but she still thought of them, and he was sure that she wished they could be here to share in the happiness of her pregnancy.

He tried to avoid this because he didn’t want to see her hurt. He didn’t want her to shed painful tears, and think what would have been, but now that she was asking out of worry for him, there wasn’t any way that he would be able to lie to her.

“You know,” Ed began, “Al and I stopped by Mrs. Hughes place a few days ago.”

“You did?” Surprise colored her face again, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well if I had, then we might’ve had this conversation.”

Winry’s brain wasn’t computing. Either she was actually really tired, or she was just too hungry to want to understand anything. Oh that’s right, I’m hungry…. No! I have to listen to Ed! She snapped herself out of her hunger, setting it aside for a moment, “Um, I don’t really understand….”

“Well you wouldn’t would you?” Ed sighed again, “I’m just making this harder than it needs to be.”

The look on Winry’s face was telling him to go on, so he did, “I’ve just been thinking about how mom, and strangely my dad, would’ve reacted to us having a baby. What they would’ve said, what they would’ve done. Things like that. And when I went over to Mrs. Hughes and talked with her,” he gave a small laugh as he continued, “she reminded me of mom. I thought that the way she responded would’ve been like how mom would’ve.”

“Yeah,” Winry spoke with a gentle smile on her face, her gaze traveling to the moon, “she reminds me of my mom too.”

Ed remained silent; he honestly didn’t know what to say in these situations. Winry turned her head from the sky and towards Ed who she could tell was at a loss for words.

“Ed, you can tell me these type of things you know.” She laid her head on his shoulder, resting there, “I’m not a little girl, I can handle talking about my parents, just like you can. It may be hard sometimes, and I’ll cry, but we can’t let that stop us from remembering them.”

Her eyes closed when she felt him shoulder begin to softly shake, “It’s alright, it’s completely normal to want to know what they would’ve done, or said.  I ask myself the same question too, but I know that no matter what, they’d be happy for us, my parents and yours.”

“Win-“

She cut him off before he could talk, not done speaking yet, “It’s alright Ed, don’t say you’re sorry. Just don’t be afraid to tell me things like this in the future okay?”

She stopped and looked Ed in his slightly tearstained eyes, smiling, “We’re both broken and whole for the same reasons right?”

Slowly and gently, she connected her lips to his, drawing her hand to the side of his face and kissed him lovingly. She understood exactly what he was feeling, and she didn’t want him to think he had to keep this kind of thing from her.

 They’re broken for their parents, and whole for each other.

“Alright then!” Winry jumped up from the bench and pulled Ed up, leading them into the brightly lit store, not letting go of his hand, “I’m in the mood for some chocolate! What about you?”

Ed couldn’t help but laugh at the sudden change in mood, “Yeah that actually sounds pretty good.”

Quickly, she threw him a smile and ran off to the part of the store where the chocolate was, a giddy look on her face.

For a moment he stood there, observing his wife run off, thinking about how lucky he had become before walking to her side.

“Hey Ed, you do know that chocolate has milk in it right?”

“Yeah but someone cleverly disguised it in something awesome tasting like chocolate! Just like stew!”

“Hahaha, whatever!”

The both of them stood there in the practically empty store, laughing for no reason but to just laugh.Ed looked over to his wife smiling face and began thinking again.  I guess I will have to figure it all out for myself.

Another remark from Winry came and he came to a conclusion, but it’s all completely worth it.