Spoilers: More of the not quite expected type.

If you have not read any of Eden Evergreen's stuff, then this is a huge plot spoiler, sorry!

Spoilers start from here onwards – you have been warned!

A/N: A Gift Fic for one awesome Eden Evergreen!

So, Eden Evergreen wrote this series of stories where Vash falls in love with a female independent plant called Shyla. (Go and check it out, the first is "Vash's Quiet Life", and the others follow on from there.) This scene I wrote while discussing random things with her, and she said I could post it. Yay! (Elements of it occur in Vash Vindicated:VQL#4 ch6 & Shared Memories:VQL#4.5 ch7) Hehe, Fan Fic of Fan Fic, again. :)

First Posted: 10 09 2013

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With This Ring

or

How to Catch One's Lady Love

.

Vash the Stampede, or Nate Saverem, as he was now known, was in a bind. Not his usual predicament of how to dodge bullets or fast talk others out of a situation. No, this was a problem of a more precarious nature. It would affect his whole life, yet not with the usual uncertain balance between living and dying. He had proposed to Shyla. It had slipped out with all the suppressed longing in his heart. She had delightedly accepted. They had spent a very pleasant evening cuddling on her bed to fall asleep in each other's arms. He rubbed his hand over his stomach almost unconsciously feeling the newly healed skin through the material of his shirt. Not only had Shyla healed him, she had also spent a considerable amount of time that evening tracing her fingers over the newly healed areas. It felt so different. He would never tell her, as he was not sure if he imagined it, but the places where the scars had been seemed to be sensitive to her touch, in a very pleasurable way.

He had sneaked off to try some exercises earlier that day. Nothing too strenuous, but enough to remind his muscles that they needed to work. The injuries from the gunshot wounds were healing well. The ache and uncomfortable stretching sensation were gone thanks to Shyla's attention to the surface of the injuries. Internally he was healing slower than he would have liked, but he supposed that had to do with his own diminished plant power. It still ached and he certainly could not do sit-ups with any ease. Yet, somehow, he had forgotten that. He had woken in the night to find her asleep against his chest, cuddled to him for warmth. His back was cold, and he found himself holding her, not only for the sheer pleasure of it, but for the practical reason that the temperatures plummeted at night. He had wanted to pick her up so that he could cover her in the blankets she now slept on, but the moment he had tried to lift her his stomach muscles reminded him starkly that he was in no state to be lifting anything. He had settled her down gently before she could wake and had tucked the blankets about her as best he could and then looped his arm around her to hold them in place. With his free hand he stroked her pale hair until he dozed off.

He scratched the back of his neck realising he was procrastinating. He had just finished talking the priest into marrying them today. Honestly one would think the priest did not understand plants. Vash lowered his hand and stared at his fingers. Perhaps the man did not. He shrugged. He was only procrastinating more. He had perhaps half an hour and he had no time to stand around waiting for the solution to magically appear. He flexed his fingers. He needed to find a ring for Shyla. On his more whimsical and self-tormented days, he had browsed the windows of the jeweller's stores and picked out rings he had thought she would like. But he had never bought one. That would be tempting fate in the worst manner. He was not superstitious, but he did not want to admit the depth of his own feelings before she was able to connect with him at that level. Now, he realised the predicament he was in. He needed a ring. Now. In twenty five minutes.

"Vash, what are you doing standing there dreaming?" He jumped as Rem put her head in at the door, her arms filled with frilly white materials. He felt his heart plummet as he realised he was nowhere near ready. Shyla was going to be a bride in white. The dread then vanished in the rising delight and joy that suddenly filled his heart.

"I was right."

He gave a start at how critically Rem was eyeing him.

"You do need someone to help you. I'll send William up; he volunteered his help if any was needed."

"William?" Vash raised an eyebrow at the way Rem said the name.

She gave him a ghost of a smile and slipped out of the room. What was that all about? He knew William; he was a plant engineer who lived in the village two houses down from Shyla's place. Naw, he must be imagining things. Rem was quite direct, if she liked the man she would have said. He laughed silently at himself; he must be quite tied up with love to have thought of that at all.

Twenty minutes, oh man, this was not helping him with his solution.

.

"Nate!"

Vash looked up from where he had distracted himself. He was a little embarrassed to discover he had been caught staring blankly at the mouth of his bag unable to decide the best thing to wear to his own wedding.

William strode in, cheerful yet calm.

"Oh man!" Vash exclaimed and hurried over and hastily closed the door behind William. "I'm in so much trouble!"

William looked from him to the door and frowned at the bag that had fallen against the bed.

"I've an old suit I can lend you, not sure if the trousers will fit though, you're taller than me."

"No!" Vash exclaimed and agitatedly shifted his stance. "I don't have a ring for Shyla!"

William blinked at him.

"Well if you do want to get married at such short notice, there will have to be some sacrifices. I'm sure she will understand."

Vash gave him a helpless stare, his shoulders slumped.

"Yes, she will. She is kind like that. Only, I want to give her a ring, now. I know she is the kind of person to treasure that." He paused as memories of years of watching weddings and the behaviour around them. "I mean, girls really love rings, I've seen how they show them off when they are given them."

"Nate, you can buy wedding bands at Joseph's Jewellers on the second deck of the ship." William said in a quiet voice, as if carefully reminding a man of something he should know.

"Oh yes!" Vash's face lit up. "Let's go!"

"Not so fast!" William caught his prosthetic arm. "Rem said to keep you up here so you wouldn't see Shyla. You're not supposed to see her before the wedding. I'll go and warn them that we're leaving and they can tuck the bride away."

.

It seemed to take them an age to reach the jewellers. Vash half skipped and would have run the distance if William had not been walking at a swift pace beside him. Joseph's Jewellers was a small place, but there were rings in cabinets as well as necklaces and bracelets. Vash did not see any of the jeweller's exquisite handiwork; all he could focus on were the rings.

"There." He pointed. "I like that one with the diamond."

"That's an engagement ring. The wedding bands are traditionally simple gold bands, there." William pointed the pair out.

"What?" Vash raised his head in dismay as his stomach sunk horribly. "I was supposed to give her a ring earlier?"

"It is traditional to have a diamond ring when proposing." William explained.

Vash blinked. Oh dear.

"You didn't know?"

Vash was wondering how to explain that he knew plenty of traditions, just not this one. He covered his confusion by turning to the jeweller, Joseph himself, who had come to stand on the other side of the counter.

"I'll buy that ring and the wedding bands."

"Ah, do you have the ring sizes? It will be a few days for us to adjust them for you Nate."

Vash felt his desperation rise, a few days?

"I need them now." He pleaded.

"Well, you might be lucky and they will fit." Joseph said amiably and brought out the rings.

Vash found his a little loose but it stayed on his hand, and for a ring to actually fit on and stay on one of the prosthetic fingers was fairly impressive. He found himself pondering if they had made the prosthetic to mimic his other arm, or to some proportional scale.

He abruptly ran into another predicament.

"And your partner, what is her ring size?"

Vash turned to William, speechless.

"I'll go find out." William said in a helpful manner, seeing the flat panic in Vash's eyes. "In the mean time, pay for it and get home and get dressed. You'll be late for your own wedding."

"You're getting married today!" Joseph exclaimed. "Who is the lucky lady?"

"Leave off the teasing Joe, he can't think straight." William said and nudged Vash. Vash rubbed his arm and realised he had been trying to locate the best part of the story to begin telling Joseph about Shyla.

.

Alone with the jeweller, Vash realised it was pointless to have William return. They would not be able to adjust the ring size at this time, and certainly not in the next ten minutes. Oh man, he needed to catch William and borrow that suit. He bought the rings with a promise to Joseph to return to him to have them adjusted. He flat out ran back to the house. He caught William as he was on his way back out.

"Aha, I have it." William held up a loop of thread with a knot in it.

They went down to William's house so Vash could borrow the suit. They took out the rings and measured it against the loop of thread. The rings were slightly bigger. Vash breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Shyla had small hands.

He dressed, tied his cravat, checked his hair was tidily back in a tail with a burnished red leather loop that matched a red waistcoat William had borrowed from a friend. It fit him surprisingly well. But Vash had more pressing things on his mind than primping and preening before the mirror, so when William's back was turned he sneaked out of the window. He hurried down the back alley until he came to Shyla's home. He peered in at the windows until he found the room she was in, and he was lucky she was looking in his direction while the other ladies were not. He hastily signed that she should move to the next room. She frowned.

(Vash, you shouldn't be here.) She sent her thoughts telepathically to him.

(Please!) He begged. He could not stop all the heartfelt pleading from leaking across.

She smiled indulgently then and still dressed in her slim under shift, excused herself from the room.

"Psst!"

Vash hurried over to the bathroom window where Shyla was leaning on the window still. He peered in; she was crouched on the countertop around the basin to reach the window. He stole a kiss and she entwined her arms around his neck and kissed him thoroughly. She caught his hands as they touched her hair that had been done up with little clips and pins so it seemed that a whole flutter of white butterflies had landed in it.

"Careful." She giggled. "What are you doing here? We're getting married in five minutes and I'm not even dressed properly yet."

He slipped the diamond ring out of his pocket and concealed it in his hand, then smiled at her.

"Shyla, would you marry me?" His voice becoming husky with emotion at the end.

"Of course, dearest." She whispered and kissed him. "I've already said yes."

Vash produced a ring and she gasped, clapping both hands to her face. She eyed him, tears gathering, unable to speak aloud.

(That is beautiful.) She murmured. (Oh my love, where did you get that, it's so beautiful!)

He took that as assent and gently tugged her left hand away from her face and slipped it on. Shyla eyed it with heart melting delight, he had not been wrong to interrupt her preparation time.

"I love you." He kissed her on the now bare cheek and took her hand. She was trembling. "Climb off the counter carefully. I don't want you to fall. Careful now."

In a dazed state Shyla did as he directed.

"See you at the wedding."

She smiled, still unable to speak, and blinked at her tears.

He gave a wave which she returned then he had to tear himself away as a knock came at the door.

"Shyla, you alight in there?" Rem called. "You're not being sick are you? Nerves can do peculiar things."

"I'm fine!" Shyla managed in a husky voice after a few attempts.

.

Vash watched as Shyla walked across the garden. He was aware there were other people and the priest in attendance, but somehow they did not exist. All he had eyes for were Shyla. He felt a lump form in his throat. She was so gloriously beautiful. He watched her delicate movements, and the way she shyly gazed at him as if all her universe contained was him. He did not deserve her, yet somehow, she had said yes. And now wore his ring. And was about to marry him. He breathed out a soft breath of incredulity and joy. He loved her, and felt a blanket of peace wrap around his heart at the thought of her as his wife. He would never have guessed having selected her village at random all those years ago, that it would have yielded such a gift. Out of such a time of sorrow and weakness, and many years of patience and confusion, they had all culminated in this. He smiled with the joy and hope that she was to him.

(I love you.)

Vash tried not to jump at the mental nudge she gave him. As light headed with joy and wonder as he had been, Shyla had shyly added a sense of longing and desire to the mix. He blinked, long used to keeping control of himself.

(I love you too.) But not so much control that he could not share the same longing and desire with his wife to be.

She came to stand beside him and the priest started the ceremony. Ah, never ever had he dreamed that he would have such a moment in his life. Vash smiled out at the audience.

(Thank you for the engagement ring.) She murmured. (It is special that you remembered.)

At that, he knew he had done the right thing.