*~*~Chapter 5~*~*

"So what made your wheelchair do that?" Vash asked; peering over the ice pack he held to his nose.

"I really don't know."  Meryl was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs at the table.  Vash sat opposite her, forlornly clutching the ice pack to his face.

He had helped off the ground and up the porch steps, since she was unwilling to get back into the wheelchair.  She sat now, gingerly unwrapping her sprained wrist.  It was only the second day since Millie and Wolfwood had left, and things were already going horribly wrong.  A random memory came into her mind.  She remembered the day Vash had left, finally donning the read coat once more, and strolling off into the desert, Wolfwood's Cross Punisher slung over his shoulder.  She and Millie had watched him go.

"I- I couldn't say anything to him," she remembered saying, with tears welling up in her eyes.

She looked up at him now, the infamous Vash the Stampede, the ruthless killer who destroyed whole towns and left only death in his wake, clutching an icepack to his bloody nose and staring out the window.

I still can't say anything.

"Do you know anything about baking?" he asked, startling her.

"Uh… some.  Why?"

He pointed at the counter, the untouched ingredients still ready on the counter.  "I was trying to make donuts earlier, and I couldn't figure it out."

"Couldn't figure it out?" Meryl somewhat scoffed.

"The print is this big," he whined, squinting at his hand in front of his face, the index finger and thumb nearly touching.  "And what the heck is a deep-fat fryer, anyway?"

"We don't have a deep-fat fryer," she said.

"Oh."  His voice was laced with disappointment.

"But we don't need one."

"Oh."  His voice lightened.

Meryl stood from her chair, not putting any pressure on her right foot.

"Come on, I'll show you," she said as she hopped over to the counter.  She waited a second, then turned to look at him, an inquisitive look on her face.

He sat staring at her, his mouth open as if in some silent protest.  Then it snapped shut and he replaced the gape with a grin.  "Okay."