It had to be two in the morning when I got home that night. And to my wonderful surprise, I found a very angry insurance girl with coffee in hand at the table in front of the door. "Uh, hi, insurance girl. What keeps you up this late?" I scratched my head nervously.

"You keep meup this late Mr. Gunman. Mr. 24-hour Surveilance. If you're not in bed, I have to make sure you aren't up to trouble. So I stay up when you are up." Judging by her appearance, she was well ready for bed and I was the obstacle that prevented her rest. I'd be mad at me too.

"Ah...sorry. I forgot." I was lying, I know...but I didn't want to face her wrath tonight. It hadn't been too great. Too many brawls that ended in me secretly saving a life from an angry gunshot for me to actually drink. "I'm here now though, so we can go to bed!" Oo, that sounds great, I thought. Going to bed with Meryl...

"You know what? We're not."

This surprised me. Didn't she have to work or do something in the morning like always? Doesn't she need to sleep before work? "Why?" It was a big step to ask why to an angry tired and obviously irrational Meryl...but I really had to ask.

"Because." She smirked at me. Oh no... "If I can stay up this late, I can stay up the rest of the night. And you're going to stay up just because I hate being alone all night."

Ah, so it was revenge she wanted. Well it was revenge she'd get. Who could stay awake the longest? "Okay then. What do you want to do?"

She shrugged, and sat back down with a fresh cup of coffee. I reached in the pantry, pulling out a box of my favorite pastry. I tried to savor them and eat them slowly. This was going to be a long night.

About ten minutes after both of us started this little game, we both began to get really bored. She was strumming her nails along the false wood table, and I was shaking my leg at the speed of light. Finally she broke the silence. "What's your favorite color?"

Well if that wasn't the most random statement I ever heard come from her mouth. "Um, haha, uh, red. Can't you tell?' I said in an airy laugh.

"Oh...yeah." At my laughter, she quirked a brow. "What's so funny?"

"That was just so out of the blue." I calmed down. "So what's your favorite color?"

"Hmm...probably green." She had to think about it first. That must mean something.

"Why green?"

She laughed. "Do I need a reason?"

"No..." I half whined.

She smiled. "Because...I like flowers, but I don't have a favorite. But all flowers have green in them. I love that vibrant green of the flowers that I never see."

I smiled at that. She had so many similarities to Rem it was almost insane. But that's not what I love about Meryl. No, it's what makes her different than my mother that makes me love her. Yeah, I said it. I love her.

"Why do you like red?"

"It was my mother's favorite." That was a simple answer...although I guess it led to some more questions.

Meryl stared at me seriously for a moment. "You mean Rem." I had forgotten that I had told her everything about Rem and the ship so at first this statement took me by surprise. I'm still not used to people knowing that I'm not human.

"Yeah." I answered, in spite of my hesitance. "She loved red. Red geraniums were her favorite flower."

Then Meryl did something, completely by surprise. She giggled.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I just...nevermind." She frowned. "You might get mad at me... I know how sensitive you are."

I didn't know what she was going to say...but for some reason I didn't think I could ever get mad about it. Meryl is not the type to say something that would disrespect Rem...and that would be the only thing that one could say to get me mad in this particular conversation. "No, really. What? I promise, I won't get mad."

She laughed again. "I never liked the geranium. Just the name sounds too...sciency. I know I use a rather large vocabulary at times, but geranium isn't as romantic as the names as the other flowers. Not to mention that the flower is so...odd looking."

I laughed. She thought I was going to get mad about her opinion on a flower. Then I realized...she was right. The geranium did look rather odd. "So...what flowers do you like?"

"I don't know, all of them really. Maybe a tulip best...or an iris."

"I like the tulip." I responded. "It's such a simple flower, and so small. But it's beautiful in its own way, and comes in so many colors."

She nodded. "You know a lot about flowers, don't you?"

I shrugged. "Not really. Just about what some look like. Only the ones that used to be in the recreation room."

"Oh." she sounded a bit disappointed. "I wish we had more flowers here."

I laughed. "They're here...just very rare." I liked this. We had never actually had a real conversation, Meryl and I. This was great. "Do you have any more odd questions?"

She laughed. "Acutally plenty."

"Me too."

She seemed surprised at that. "Really, now?" She thought for a second. "Well lets play a game. We'll take turns asking and answering questions, but you have to answer truthfully. Okay?"

This could end bad. I thought. Despite my conscience--or rather, my common sense--telling me not to. I agreed. "You start."

"Okay." She lost a smile as she thought hard on what her first question was. "How many girls have you slept with?"

Damn. She just had to start on that question didn't she? So nice of her. "Man, that's a bit personal, don't you think?"

"You said you'd answer truthfully." Damn.

I sighed, but admitted to myself that I had indeed agreed. And I gave her first chance. I'm so stupid. "Ugh...this is embarassing."

She laughed. "What, so many you can't count?"

"None."

She laughed hysterically. "None?!"

I knew I was turning bright red. Imagine it. The humanoid typhoon, Vash the Stampede, and his sixty-billion double-dollar face as red as his infamous coat. "It's not funny!"

She tried to catch her breath. "You have got to be kidding! You, the king of womanizers, are a virgin?!"

She made it sound even worse by calling me the "v" word. I'd prefered "inexperienced."

"It's not embarassing, calm down." She said, as my face became even more red (if that's possible). "It was just unexpected. I'm a virgin too. Of course, I'm only 23, and you're, what, 131? 132?"

"133." She doesn't stop, does she? "Fine, it's mine turn." I had to think hard...what was going to be as embarassing as that? "How many boyfriends have you ever had?" Okay that had to be the most immature moment of my life. And I'd had quite a few of them. Strangely enough, however, she did seem to be embarassed. She muttered something under her breath, to which I had to ask her to repeat.

"Two..." She repeated. I had to laugh. At least I'd had some girlfriends in my lifetime. Not many...but more than two! I'd had at least sixteen in the eighty-one years before I was on the run all the time...then of course, I couldn't keep a girlfriend.

"Only two?!" It was her turn to blush, which I have to say looked really cute. I loved seeing strong Meryl Stryfe so vulnurable. It was as if I was her savior...even though I never was. "Why?"

"I wasn't allowed to date until I was sixteen. And after I graduated I joined the insurance society. In two years it's hard to get many boyfriends. And when I'm chasing after a bountied disaster, between the bounty hunters and the disaster himself, who is there to date?"

She had a good point. I wish I could be the disaster that was her boyfriend. That'd be interesting. Oh no...I realized, it's her turn. I must have showed that realization on my face, because she seized it.

"Why are you so pale, Mr. Human Disaster? Afraid of a few questions?" I ignored her...or at least pretended to. She then thought of another question. "Why haven't you tried to run away again?"

This question surprised me, but at least it wasn't embarassing. Not unless I told every reason I stayed. Hey, she said tell the truth, not the WHOLE truth. "There's no reason to. You two keep the angry mobs away from me, and I don't have to travel alone. It's a win-win situation."

"Unless one person loses and has to stay up all night with you." I laughed. She was kind of right.

I then remembered I still had donuts, and began eating my fourth one. She was my distraction...not that I minded. "Can I have one?"

"You like donuts, Meryl?" I didn't think she did, after every time that she ignored me eating them I never saw her sneak a bite.

She laughed. "Of course! Who doesn't like donuts?" She laughed again, snatching a donut from my box. She picked up a napkin from the middle of the table and set the donut on it, after breaking it into three peices. "It's your turn." She said, dipping a peice of donut in her coffee.

"Oh right." I tried to think, but that donut glaze on her upper lip was so distracting. So...damn...distracting. I finally got back to thinking, when she licked the small spot off, which distracted me again. Finally I remembered something I'd been meaning to ask her anyways. As she chewed on another bite of donut, I asked, "What did you try to tell me before you left?"

She nearly choked on the pastry as the last word left my mouth. After gaining her breath back, with a help of my hand patting her back, she looked at me. "I think I'm going to bed now."

I laughed, grabbing her hand. "No you aren't. Not until you answer my question. You made up this game, now you have to play by your own rules." She blushed like before, but this time she couldn't meet my eyes.

"You don't really want to know."

"Yes I do." I watched as she took the arm that I had grabbed and held it in her other hand. Her face was a distraction again from even listening as she blushed cutely, her eyes glossy from lack of sleep, and her lips glossy from donut glaze. It had to have been the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. This is another fact that makes me very weird.

"It's not important." She tried to run again, but I grabbed her arm again, and pulled her back. This time she wasn't so graceful, falling over only to have me catch her before her head hit the table. Before I knew it she was in my arms, her back against my chest, both of us facing the table of broken donuts and a now empty box. She was so close I could smell her. Everything about her had a scent, from the donuts she ate, and the coffee she lived off of, to her own special scent that should be named and made into a famous perfume. It was intoxicating.

"It is important." I whispered, still wanting an answer. She was so tense in my arms. I laid my chin apon her head, my hands, which had been on her forearms, finally sliding across her so as to wrap my arms around her. I could feel her chest move up and down as she breathed, and finally she relaxed.

She took a deep breath, finally breathing out three words. "I love you."

Those words...as soon as they left her mouth I realized where my life has truly been all these years. My life was in those three words that could only come out of her mouth. She let out the rest of the breath she'd been holding in. My head dropped from hers to her shoulder, where the baggy tee-shirt was falling off so my chin touched the softness of her bare skin. I whispered in her ear.

"Thank God." I think I confused her, because she turned to look at me, I wanted to say I loved her too, but when met with that blushing expression she held before, I couldn't say anything. I kissed her softly on the lips, not even opening my mouth, but feeling her lips on mine was enough. That feeling of a short kiss with her was the most wonderful thing I ever experienced. Pulling back after only a few seconds, I licked my lips. They tasted like coffee and donuts.

I didn't have a time to think about the whole situation before I was pulled down to her, my mouth crushing against her roughly. There was that ambitious Meryl I knew and love. Notice love is present tense in a past tense story.

I opened my mouth and brushed my tongue over her truly sweet lips, and was soon met with an open mouth and tongue, ready to mingle. I had kissed before, but this kiss made me feel like my spine had just turned to ice and melted down my back. That cold wonderful chill down my back was evened out by a heat coming from the rest of my body. I hadn't realized that she had even turned around, but I knew I felt her chest against my own, and I seized the moment.

My real hand landed on her neck, my thumb on her jaw line. My other arm swept around her small waist and pressed her body against my own. The feeling itself was inexplainable. It was as if our souls had left our bodies and were intertwined in each other.

Her hand was still on my neck, and her fingers were toying with the small hairs on the back of my neck. It was a wonderful torture. We were soon migrating down the hall, my lips never leaving her skin if they did leave the sanctity of her precious lips. I'd kiss across her jaw and back to her lips, or down her neck almost to her shoulder, but soon I found myself on her lips again. They were irresistable. I wasn't even directing where we were going, but soon we were on the floor in the room Meryl used to sew. Which was the only room we would be safe in, because she and Milly shared a room, and my bed is in the kitchen.

We made it to a far wall on my left. The moonlight hit her face just as I pulled away. She was beautiful. Her skin was luminous and her eyes were such a smokey color, it was amazing the shine they held. I could see the moon in her eyes.

As we laid on the bare floor through the night, never leaving each others arms, I finally told her in words I love her. In the midst of my lethargic moment, however, I worded it wrong. I didn't care though. It was close enough to what I was trying to say, and we were both tired. "I love you..." I said, "more than donuts and coffee."

Authors Note: This is the first time I've written in a while. I am very happy with this though. I love this one shot. I have to be proud of it. Please review, whether you like it or not, tell me what you think that way my writers block can finally go away for good and I can start posting regularly again like I used to. I might write a more explicit part to this later, but it won't be on of course. Maybe on But I'll put message you if you want me to if I do. Well goodnight all!

Meryl is so lucky...