Go read YOU WANT TO SAVE THEM ALL. Very good fic. Poor author needs reviews.

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The next morning things were a bit strained between Kiley and Knives, as both tried to ignore what had almost happened. Ace sat back and did her best not to laugh at the two of them. Every chance they got, they were sneaking looks at each other. When one noticed the other looking, they would act completely nonchalant, then within a minute would be sneaking a look in return. It was hilarious. To Ace. The two of them would have given a different response, had they been asked.

The walk hadn't helped Knives much. He had returned to see Kiley already asleep, or at least doing a very good job of pretending. He still didn't know what he wanted. Well, no, he knew what he wanted, but somehow all the things he wanted didn't fit together anymore. He grimaced down at her still form then sought his own bed. That Dream Dancer of hers had surely screwed up his life. He hadn't asked to have her unceremoniously dropped in his lap. He hadn't asked to deal with this. He didn't want to. Unfortunately, that didn't change things.

His thoughts troubled him and he couldn't find sleep. She was right to have stopped him. She was a vermin. The thought of what they were doing together should have sickened him, and it did on a very remote level. Bestiality. He could see keeping this human around as a pet, easily, for the rest of her life. That thought alone was a huge surprise. He had never thought he would find a vermin worthy of being his pet. But no matter how much he liked her, one did not indulge with a pet. The very thought was disgusting. Remotely. But not when he thought of her.

He found himself thinking of his brother and his pet. He knew that Vash didn't think of Meryl as something inferior, even though she was. He had no problem making like bunnies with the woman. His skin crawled at the thought like it had so many times before, but now he found himself wondering. Was it so bad? It wasn't like they weren't similar, closely shaped and formed. Was it so disgusting?

He shook his head. Of course it was. Thoughts like these were dangerous. If he admitted that they were good enough to play with, it was a short step towards liking them. That would make exterminating them all that much harder. His brother thought he killed humans because he hated them. He killed them because they needed to die; hating them just made things easier for him. No, it would be best to ignore her. With that thought, he finally fell asleep, but he found when waking that it was easier to resolve then it was to carry out.

Kiley, on the other hand, just wondered what was going through Knives' head. The decision needed to be made by him; she could not help him along his way or lead him to a conclusion. Her stomach twisted as she worried over what he was thinking; his shuttered visage gave her no clues one way or the other. Would he be able to accept her? And what would she do if he didn't? Could she still stick around, could she handle that? She didn't know. She was very afraid that she had fallen in love with him. It wouldn't surprise her; her heart had the most execrable taste in men. But love was love, and what could you do? Ignore it? She didn't know if she could be that strong.

She found herself entertaining fantasies of what would happen if he did decide she was worthy of his notice. Her heart soared as she pondered the possibilities, then fell as she snuck looks at his blank face. What was he thinking? And if he came to the wrong decision, could she change his mind?

Ace watched both of them and wondered what the big deal was. She was nice enough, and Knives obviously liked her. Why worry about things that hadn't happened yet? She was young and had still managed to figure out that life was full of surprises. You never knew what tomorrow would throw at you, so it was best to enjoy right now and let the later things take care of themselves. But, they were adults. Maybe adults liked to complicate things. So she sat and observed both of them, and only giggled a few times. She had to turn her head often though, as grins sneaked out without her permission.

With all that was on her mind, Kiley may perhaps be forgiven her lapse in attention. Normally she was very astute. Perhaps she was distracted. Perhaps the relative peace had softened her. Her worries had overlain the nagging feeling in the back of her mind, but as the day drew to a close it finally penetrated her consciousness.

Someone was looking for them. Someone was close. Panicked, she searched for them, finding them coming from the direction of December. Whoever it was, they were no more than fifteen minutes away. There was no time to run, and nowhere to go. She looked at their scattered supplies and knew that there was no avoiding whatever was approaching. She didn't know who or what was nearing, and she wondered if it might be more of those men who had waylaid them as they left December. Her gaze went to Ace. The girl was playing with a deck of cards, teaching herself tricks, fanning and shuffling the deck.

They were not going to get her again. She had promised.

Shaking herself out of her light trance, she strode over to Ace and picked her up. Knives ignored her actions, but he tensed when she spoke.

"Knives, someone's coming,"

He turned and looked at her coldly, then his gaze unfocused. She blinked, surprised, having forgotten that he could affect the minds of others. He stayed that way for a second or two, then returned to piercing her with his eyes.

"It's Vash."