Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist, but if I did…. *daydreams*

Winry was sitting in her house, oblivious to everything around her. Her mind was elsewhere. It lingered on his face, his words, everything about him.

"Winry, are you ok?" her mother asked her, knocking her out of her reverie. "It seems that you have been silent since we came back home. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, mother, I am fine," she said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just a mother's intuition," she said. "I can tell that you care concentrating hard on something just as I can tell that someday, you will go somewhere, and you will not want me to follow. I just want you to know that, whatever you choose; I will always honor your wishes."

"Mother, that day will never come," Winry assured her.

"Still, I wonder," her mother trailed off.

"Mother, you worry too much," she said. "I think that I'll for a walk."

"Be back before nightfall," her mother told her. "I know that you go into the woods. There are wolves there, you know."

"I shall make sure that I am not eaten by wolves," Winry told her mother. She pulled on her cape and began to walk into the woods

She walked to what she called her "thinking spot".

Truthfully, it was just a pond, but it calmed her down. When she really needed to, she would swim in it, which would make her mother wonder why she would come home wet. She sat on a rock by the water's edge, took off her shoes and put her feet in the cool water.

She looked down at her reflection. It knew all her secrets and would not judge her or tell anyone, therefore, she could trust her reflection implicitly.

"It seems that I have fallen fast for our future king," she said to it, a small smile threatening to claim her lips. "I do not know why. I barely know the man. We could be polar opposites, but I'm afraid I shall never know."

Winry then dove into the water, hoping that its coolness would clear her head.

She had been floating for a while when something hit her arm. It was a small circular rock, and it had scraped her arm so it was bleeding.

She stood up in the shallow water to look at who threw it.

"Who's there?" she asked, trying to disguise the wavering in her voice.

"Sorry," a voice said from close behind. "I didn't see you."

"Well you should be more careful," she said, turning around. "I only got hit on the arm, but someone could get seriously- Oh!"

She nearly fell over when she saw who it was.

The prince was at the lake. The prince was at her lake. And she had spoken too freely.

She quickly bowed her head as she had done at the procession. "Forgive me, sir, for I did not know it was you."

"Well, I don't assume that you want to stand in the water all day," he said, more politely than she ever thought. It had been her perception that perhaps the way he acted at the procession was perhaps an act that he put on to have a good reputation with the people. Even more surprisingly, he offered her his hand.

Tentatively, she took it.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I could be asking you the same question." He laughed. His face then grew solemn, and he looked out at the water. "My guess is that your wondering why a prince would be out in the forest where everything is in disarray when he lives in a clean, orderly palace? Is that what you were going to ask?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly what I was going to ask, but, but-" she couldn't figure out what she was going to say. "You're a prince. Don't you have, I don't know, things to do?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed. "What was I thinking? What could be more fun than meeting with the leaders of foreign countries at some drab party where all the men discuss politics and the women are all talking about the latest scandal?"

"Well, it doesn't sound that pleasant when you put it that way," she said. "But you don't know what it seems like for someone of my class. You can't understand what this looks like, either." She gestured to herself and him. "It is strangely uncomfortable to sit next to a prince, as strange as that may seem to you."

"But why should it be uncomfortable?" he asked. "We are both people."

"Perhaps that is true," she said, "but we live in wholly different worlds. My father is a blacksmith whereas yours is… Well, he's the king."

"Maybe you are right," he said. "And in many ways, you are much freer than I. At the end of the day, you can choose what you want, and I shall be married off to the princess of some faraway kingdom for diplomatic purposes." His tone was bitter.

"So, you're engaged, then?" she asked. She didn't know why it bothered her.

"Unfortunately," he said. "But I am determined to find a way out of it, though both by father and brother think that I am silly for wanting love over this."

"I don't that it's very silly," she said.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes," she told him. "I think that everyone should be able to experience love. I think that there is someone for everyone on this earth and that they just don't know it yet."

"Well, I wish that my family shared your vision," he said. "I am not fond of arranged marriages in the least."

"Have you ever met this girl?" she asked. He shook his head. "Well, then how do you know that you aren't going to like her?" For some reason, it pained her to ask that.

"I don't," he said, "but there is a slim chance of me actually falling in love with her, and I don't want a marriage that is just fondness. What do you think?"

"I think that we are being entirely too informal," Winry said, picking herself up. "I apologize for the bold things that I said. It was not my place." She turned around and began to walk away.

"Winry," Edward called after her.

Winry turned around, elated and confused at the same time that he used her first name. "Y-yes?" she sputtered.

"Shall I see you again?" he asked.

"Do you wish to?" she asked. This was very strange to her.

"I would very much like to see you again," he said. "Could you meet me here tomorrow at around noon?" he asked.

Winry only nodded, seemingly unable to form words.

"That's perfect," Edward said. "I shall see you tomorrow." He grinned widely.

Winry nodded again, and she walked away, her heart beating faster than ever before.

Be careful, Winry, she told herself. You must not forget that he is a prince. Do not hope that by some miracle he will be able to choose you over the foreign princess. For all you know, he doesn't like you. He probably just wants someone to talk to and you were just there conveniently.

But there was still a part of her that didn't believe the voice in her head. That small part of her mind actually believed that he liked her. She knew that she liked him. A part of her really hoped that this was love, and that they could be together.