Sunny: Okay, I've been looking at the reviews, and I will answer all your questions *and* I will relate them into the stories.

Legato: And to the person who pointed out that Knives wanted Wolfwood to protect Vash, we're aware of that! But, if you pay close attention to episode 23, Chapel (NDW's guardian) informs Bokushi-san that the order has been retracted.

Midvally: And everything *will* make sense in the end, we promise.

::postcard from Meryl in the Bahamas--without Vash or Milly, might we add--reads "Don't forget to say that we don't own Trigun"::

(oh, yeah, I definately don't own what I like to call "Vash's Little Happy Song", which is also property of Nightgow-sama. But it's a darned funny song coming out of his mouth!)

Unmarked--Chapter Four

            I felt an elbow in my rib.

            "Bokushi-san," Milly whispered in my ear. "Listen."

            I sat up groggily, covering my eyes with my hands, blocking the little light dispersed by the moon. I don't like having my sleep interrupted, especially the dreamless brand.

            I could hear a soft giggle coming from another room.

            Meryl never struck me as the giggling type; I would be surprised if she even knew how.

            "It's so nice that Vash-san and Sempai love each other," Milly said, staring up at the ceiling. "It's nice having everyone be happy again,"

            "I love you, Milly-chan," I murmured, sliding back beneath the quilt on our bed.

            I heard Milly's reassurance that she loved me as well just as sleep's clutches stole me away from consciousness.

********

            I couldn't help but snicker the next morning as I sipped my coffee. Meryl shot me a particularly vicious glance, and Vash ignored me entirely.

            My eyes slid over to the shorter Insurance girl and I spotted Vash's mark peeking out of her collar. Meryl caught me looking at her and tugged at her shirt slightly, in a futile attempt to hide it.

            "Too late," I chuckled.

            'I'm sure Vash would be willing to share such an entertainment, since I'm sure you and Milly haven't been doing much lately,'

            My free hand slid over my eyes. It was too early to have Knives bothering me. I'd attend to him as soon as Vash and Meryl had left. Milly had to stop working now, but she didn't mind it, since I was around, and she would tell me tales of people she'd met with Vash and Meryl when I wasn't with them, as well as before I'd met her.

            'Chapel! I want you!'

            'So does Milly,' I thought complacently. I would have paid money to see the look on his face upon hearing such a thought.

            'Get your ass up here now, or I will have to summon someone to kill you again!'

            "And who might that be?" I snarled, getting up from the table.

            "Wolfwood," Vash glanced over at me, but didn't say anything more.

            "Total slaughter," the song Vash was singing a few days after I found him again rang through my head. Amusing myself, I sang it quietly.

            "I won't leave, a single man alive. La di dadi di, genocide. La di dada da, an ocean of blood."

            "CUT IT OUT!" a familiarly bitchy voice called from the kitchen.

            "Let's begin the killing time," I murmured, opening the door to Knives's room.

            "Interesting song, Chapel," his response had a slight perfunctory ring to it. "I must admit, that's the only song I've heard recently that appeals to me even slightly."

            "Insatiable blood lust, sir?"

            "Funny," his voice was dripping with sarcasm. "How dare you compare me to something of human legend,"

            "If you really want to know, your brother was the one who devised that song?"

            Knives's eyes suddenly resembled light glinting off of a silver sword. "Are you sure?"

            "I was present the first time he sang it."  And the last, but I didn't need to mention that.

            "There's hope for him yet,"

            The plant leaned back, deep in thought. I had a compulsion to run and find my cross, so I'd be able to blow him to smithereens.

            "What the hell kind of churchman are you anyway?" Not a good one. I admit it.

            I cast my eyes around the room, looking for anything that would subdue Knives long enough for me to get out of the room alive.

            'You're thinking as though he poses some threat!' I chided myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a pentagonal object slightly larger than a human head. A-ha!

            I slowly inched over towards it, catching the rubber edge of the sole of my shoe along the bottom, lifting it just enough that I could pick it up.

            "Chapel!" Knives glanced over at me. "I have an assignment for you."

            "May I say something first?"

I watched the deep obvious nod of Knives's head and felt a smirk cross my face slightly. This would not be the first plant I'd pulled this stunt on.

"You're hurting like crazy on the inside, yet you grin and bear it."

"Chapel...those are human emotions."

I ignored the warning in his voice. "At least that's this man's opinion, anyway. That's why I have this confessional!" I screamed, slamming the box on his head. In the split second it took him to realize what had happened, I was already out of the room and halfway down the stairs.

            "CHAPEL!!!!!!!!" He screamed.

            "Do I want to know?" Meryl asked, halfway out the door.

            "Just met up with an old friend, per se,"

            I felt Milly's arm wrap my own. "Oh Nicky-kun," she sighed. "You're so funny."

********

            "Calm down!" Vash clasped my shoulders in a death-grip. "She'll be fine. Milly's stronger than most women, and they all live through it,"

            "My own mother didn't,"

            "Milly will, I promise,"

            A shrill wail came from the other side of the door, the room where Milly, Meryl, and the town doctor were presently locked in.

            A few minutes later, and all ten fingernails bitten off, Meryl stuck her head out the door. "You can come in,"

            It was as though I'd forgotten how to walk; my legs didn't want to move, yet at the same time they felt as though they'd been turned into gelatin.

            "One foot in front of the other," Vash said, pushing me forward slightly.

            I peeked in to see Milly sitting calmly, her hair and face damp with sweat, two infants nestled in her arms.

            "Nicky-kun," she breathed quietly. I heard the door close behind me, and looked back to see that we were alone.

            "They're so much like you," she went on, sliding over slightly. I sat gingerly on the edge of the bed next to her, taking one of the newborns, a girl, my flesh-and-blood daughter, into my own arms.

            "They're beautiful, my honey," I whispered.

            "That one will be Rebekah Nicole Meryl Wolfwood," Milly stroked the cheek of the one she held. "And this, her brother, is Daniel Nicholas Vash Wolfwood,"

            "Perfect,"

            I was apt to agree with anything right now, holding this tiny miracle.

            The twins were adorable, both with fine jet black hair, and eyes the same crystalline blue as the sky outside.

            I studied Rebekah closely, noticing a birthmark in the crook of her elbow. Squinting, I realized it looked somewhat like a heart.

            "Nicky-kun, look," Milly gently brushed some of Daniel's hair away from his right ear. "It looks like a cross, don't you think?"

            "So it does,"

I was eternally grateful to Almighty God for letting me live that day, so I could be here now, with further living proof of His grace and love for this forsaken place.

            Maybe it was so that there was no place worse than this planet, and we would have Knives to thank for our being here, ultimately, but right now, I couldn't think of any better place. Even Eden wouldn't be quite as good, because Milly wouldn't have been there.

            "I love you, my preciouses," I murmured, not caring whether it was a real word or not right now. I was here, with something I'd never had in my life--a family of my own.

§§§§§§§§

            There sat two men on the rooftop of the house, listening to the conversations below, between Wolfwood and Milly, Vash and Meryl, and the amazingly animated one that Knives appeared to be having with himself.

            One of the men vanished within a vortex, just to reappear minutes later with a woman with long dark brown hair.

            These three sat on the rooftop, basking in the sunlight.

            Knives, in his room, suddenly stopped talking, as he heard a faint saxophone tune drift in his open window.

            A smile crept across his face.

            "At last," he whispered. "At last,"

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

Egad! What are these people doing on the roof? Who are they in the first place? And if they are who we think they are, aren't they supposed to be...dead?

Then again...our favorite representative of God on Earth-der-Gunsmoke was also supposed to be dead.

Are you glad the twins have arrived? Don't they sound cute?

Again, I'd like to thank Uozumi for helping me pick a name for the girl (my other ideas were Rachael, Heather, or Chloe).

You know the drill. Review if you want more!

P.S. In a future chapter, there will be a VERY technical explanation for the people on the roof. Scary things happen when I start getting overly critical watching shows.