Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, I'm just borrowing it for awhile. Trigun is property of Yasuhiro Nightow, Mad House, Pioneer, and whoever else was smart enough to get a piece of the action. I just know I wasn't. T_T
"..." is talking
'...' is thinking
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A Glimpse of Eden
-----------------
Chapter 4 -
~
Meryl leaned back from scrubbing Locke's hair and sighed. How could such a small child get so filthy? And so quickly? He had been taking his afternoon nap and she had left him alone for only a few minutes to retrieve a book from her room and when she had returned she had found the bed empty and Locke missing. A frantic search had found Locke in the kitchen area playing with various cooking ingredients, one of which happened to be flour. She usually would have been upset at the mess he had made and scolded him about it, but at the time she had been so relieved to have found him safe that she had forgotten to be angry. Now she was just thankful that he hadn't found anything sharp to play with. She would have to be more careful from now on.
She reached out and fingered a strand of his hair. The mess was finally starting to wash off. His clothes were ruined, of course. There was no possible way she could get all of the stains out. She smiled. At least in her mad dash to the bathroom to clean him up she hadn't run into Knives. She hated to think of what his reaction to Locke's appearance would have been.
She thought she had made somewhat of a breakthrough since that day in the arboretum two months ago. Knives no longer ignored or avoided her as he had done before. In fact, he now routinely took meals with her and Locke, chatting politely with her over breakfast or dinner about the things she and Locke had done that day, or her thoughts on a book she had been reading. He even called her by her name instead of 'girl' now. But... he still acted like she was some inferior being that he only allowed to exist because he had a use for her.
"Locke..." she sighed, "why did you wander off? You were supposed to be taking a nap."
"I'm sorry," he replied, his lower lip quivering.
"It's alright, Locke. Just... don't do it again, ok?"
"Ok, Meryl." He smiled and happily resumed splashing in the water.
She patted his blonde head affectionately. He was only four months old, she reminded herself, he didn't know any better yet. She rinsed the soap and shampoo off and wrapped him in a large towel, ignoring his protests over being taken out of the water. After she finished drying him off, which took quite a bit of time because he kept trying to squirm out of her grasp and climb back into the tub, she picked him up and carried him back to his room. Setting him down on his bed, she looked through his clothes and tried to find him something to wear. Alot of the things didn't fit him properly anymore. He grew like a weed.
She finally found something clean that still fit and dressed him, absently listening as his yakked at her about black cats not liking cookies, or something like that. After she finished buttoning his shirt, she grabbed a hairbrush and began running it through his tangled long hair, much to his dismay. The brush caught on a knot, causing Locke to cry out, and he tried to get away from her and the object that had caused him pain, but he only succeeded in further entangling the brush in his hair. She sat down on the bed and pulled him onto her lap, wrapping her arms around him and waiting for him to calm down before attempting to untangle the knot. He gave an annoyed grunt, but allowed her to finish brushing his hair. Fighting back tears of frustration, she buried her face in his hair, wondering if all children were this difficult.
After a minute, Locke yawned and leaned back against her, reminding her that he hadn't had his afternoon nap yet, the little troublemaker. She tucked him into bed, and after another yawn, he curled up under the blanket and, almost immediately, fell asleep. She brushed the hair away from his face and smiled at how innocent he looked, like a little angel.
"Yeah, right. Only when he's sleeping," she mumbled, still irritated over the disappearing act he had pulled.
After bending down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, she turned back to the matter at hand. She really needed to make him new clothes, but what would she do when she ran out of the materials? She needed new things, too. She only had two changes of clothing left and they were both getting ragged.
Maybe she should talk to Knives about taking her into town to do some shopping. He had gone a month before to purchase food, but it hadn't occurred to Meryl at the time to ask to accompany him. Would he even let her? She would have to take Locke with her. They both needed new clothing, and she just couldn't picture Knives shopping for children's clothes and ladies' lingerie.
She decided she would talk to him about it before the day was done.
~
Meryl found him in the study, sitting cross-legged on the floor and surrounded by books open to various pages. He glanced up briefly as she entered, then returned his attention to the book he held on his lap. She walked over until she stood directly in front of him, trying to gage what kind of mood he was in.
"Yes?" he asked curtly, annoyed that she would interupt his work.
When she didn't answer right away he glanced back up at her. She appeared to be nervous and kept shifting her weight from one foot to another. He didn't like it when she acted like this. It usually meant she had something to tell him that she knew would upset him. Like the last time, when she had let Locke play on computer's keyboard and the boy had managed to erase all of the data he had collected that day.
"Um, Knives? Can I talk to you?" she asked, sounding slightly hesitant.
"About what?" he asked, unconsciously leaning away from her, her close proximity an irritant.
"Locke."
Growing alarmed by the seriousness of her tone, he started to rise to his feet. "Is he alright? He isn't hurt, is he?"
"No, no, no!" Meryl said hurriedly to calm his fears. "Locke's fine. He's taking a nap."
Relieved, he settled back on the floor. Relief then quickly turned to irritation. "What is it then!?"
"It's... um... just that, Locke is growing out of his clothes and needs new ones."
"Is that all?" He glanced back down at his book, impatient to resume his studies. "So make him some new ones. That's what you've been doing, isn't it?"
"Well, yes," she blushed. So he had noticed. "But I'm running low on the materials I've been using."
"But you have enough for now?" he asked absently, glancing away from the book to write something down in a notebook.
"Well... yes. But only for another month or so. I need... I need to go to town." His head jerked up. Oops, that hadn't come out quite the way she had wanted it to.
"No," he said flatly, his mouth forming into a frown.
"But, Knives--" she began, her hands gesturing impatiently.
"No!" he shouted, slamming his book shut and glaring up at her.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried not to glare back. The man was impossible! Not only was he not even going to give her request consideration, but he wasn't even going to allow her to argue her point. "Please, Knives. I need some things, too." A thought occured to her. "I promise you I won't try to run away." Maybe that was the reason for his refusal.
"No. I won't give you the chance." So she had guessed right.
"But I promised!"
"And your word means NOTHING to me!"
Her eyes widened at the fierceness of his reply. All this time and he still didn't trust her? Of course not, why should he? She was human after all. According to what he believed they were all liars and not to be trusted. She turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" His voice, low and slightly curious, halted her angry retreat.
She whirled around to face him, her hands clenched at her sides. "Back to my room."
"Who gave you permission to leave?" he raised in eyebrow slightly in question.
She frowned, her brow knitting in confusion. "I thought we were done."
"We're done when I say we're done." He placed the book on a stack with some others and casually got to his feet. He was in a playful mood and perhaps the girl would entertain him for awhile. He walked slowly around her, enjoying her irritation, especially since he knew he was the cause of it. "What would you do? If I were to allow you to accompany me to town?" he asked, putting extra emphasis on the word 'allow'.
She blinked, surprised. "What would I do?" she repeated blankly.
"Yes."
"I would get the things we needed."
"... And?" he prompted.
"And... I would visit my friends," she raised her chin defiantly.
"Exactly! And how would your friends react? To see you walk into town with the man who abducted you?" He crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly to one side, awaiting her reply.
Oh... she had forgotten about that part.
"Well?"
"I guess... they wouldn't react very well." She replied lamely, lowering her head and looking at the floor so she wouldn't have to see his smug face.
He smirked. "Of course not! So you see why I shouldn't allow you to go to town?"
"I guess so." She hung her head even lower, defeated.
He bent down so his eyes were level to hers and grinned at her, pleased to have won the argument.
"But..." she glanced up at him.
"But what?"
"But we don't have to go to Spring. We could go to a different town. A town where nobody knows me," she smiled, her eyes hopeful. It was a compromise, maybe Knives would--
Knives frowned and straightened, glaring down at her. "No."
"But, Knives--"
"No! And that is final." He jerked his head in the direction of the door. "You may go now."
He turned his back on her, signaling that the conversation was over. With a sigh she turned and left the room.
'You haven't heard the last of this, Knives! I promise you that!'
-----------------
End chapter 4
~
Magnet-Rose: Thanks for coming back to review! Yep, the chapters are short, but at least there's no cliffhangers. Oh... wait, there's one of those in chapter 7...
Yma: Yma!!! Yay! Thanks for reviewing my fic! And thank you, if you think my characterization is good, then I must be doing something right. ^_^v
Neptune Butterfly: Yep, I'm from H-Town, Texas! I love K/M/V fics alot, too, and I agree, not knowing who Meryl winds up with until the very end is the best part. Chapter 7... you'll have to wait and see. That was my favorite chapter to write, though , and I think it's one of my fics best. Fluffiness? Knives!? I don't think Knives can be 'fluffy' and still remain in character, so no worries there.
angelarms: I'm glad you like it! And if you're a fan of V/M, stick around. ^_^
Ana: Thanks for the continued support! Yeah, Knives dropping his 'guard' is important in the later chapters. I'm glad people are already picking up on that.
~
Next time: Chocolate cake, tantrums, and discipline. (Uber-short chapter coming up, more like an added 'bonus' chapter than anything else.)
~
"..." is talking
'...' is thinking
-----------------
A Glimpse of Eden
-----------------
Chapter 4 -
~
Meryl leaned back from scrubbing Locke's hair and sighed. How could such a small child get so filthy? And so quickly? He had been taking his afternoon nap and she had left him alone for only a few minutes to retrieve a book from her room and when she had returned she had found the bed empty and Locke missing. A frantic search had found Locke in the kitchen area playing with various cooking ingredients, one of which happened to be flour. She usually would have been upset at the mess he had made and scolded him about it, but at the time she had been so relieved to have found him safe that she had forgotten to be angry. Now she was just thankful that he hadn't found anything sharp to play with. She would have to be more careful from now on.
She reached out and fingered a strand of his hair. The mess was finally starting to wash off. His clothes were ruined, of course. There was no possible way she could get all of the stains out. She smiled. At least in her mad dash to the bathroom to clean him up she hadn't run into Knives. She hated to think of what his reaction to Locke's appearance would have been.
She thought she had made somewhat of a breakthrough since that day in the arboretum two months ago. Knives no longer ignored or avoided her as he had done before. In fact, he now routinely took meals with her and Locke, chatting politely with her over breakfast or dinner about the things she and Locke had done that day, or her thoughts on a book she had been reading. He even called her by her name instead of 'girl' now. But... he still acted like she was some inferior being that he only allowed to exist because he had a use for her.
"Locke..." she sighed, "why did you wander off? You were supposed to be taking a nap."
"I'm sorry," he replied, his lower lip quivering.
"It's alright, Locke. Just... don't do it again, ok?"
"Ok, Meryl." He smiled and happily resumed splashing in the water.
She patted his blonde head affectionately. He was only four months old, she reminded herself, he didn't know any better yet. She rinsed the soap and shampoo off and wrapped him in a large towel, ignoring his protests over being taken out of the water. After she finished drying him off, which took quite a bit of time because he kept trying to squirm out of her grasp and climb back into the tub, she picked him up and carried him back to his room. Setting him down on his bed, she looked through his clothes and tried to find him something to wear. Alot of the things didn't fit him properly anymore. He grew like a weed.
She finally found something clean that still fit and dressed him, absently listening as his yakked at her about black cats not liking cookies, or something like that. After she finished buttoning his shirt, she grabbed a hairbrush and began running it through his tangled long hair, much to his dismay. The brush caught on a knot, causing Locke to cry out, and he tried to get away from her and the object that had caused him pain, but he only succeeded in further entangling the brush in his hair. She sat down on the bed and pulled him onto her lap, wrapping her arms around him and waiting for him to calm down before attempting to untangle the knot. He gave an annoyed grunt, but allowed her to finish brushing his hair. Fighting back tears of frustration, she buried her face in his hair, wondering if all children were this difficult.
After a minute, Locke yawned and leaned back against her, reminding her that he hadn't had his afternoon nap yet, the little troublemaker. She tucked him into bed, and after another yawn, he curled up under the blanket and, almost immediately, fell asleep. She brushed the hair away from his face and smiled at how innocent he looked, like a little angel.
"Yeah, right. Only when he's sleeping," she mumbled, still irritated over the disappearing act he had pulled.
After bending down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, she turned back to the matter at hand. She really needed to make him new clothes, but what would she do when she ran out of the materials? She needed new things, too. She only had two changes of clothing left and they were both getting ragged.
Maybe she should talk to Knives about taking her into town to do some shopping. He had gone a month before to purchase food, but it hadn't occurred to Meryl at the time to ask to accompany him. Would he even let her? She would have to take Locke with her. They both needed new clothing, and she just couldn't picture Knives shopping for children's clothes and ladies' lingerie.
She decided she would talk to him about it before the day was done.
~
Meryl found him in the study, sitting cross-legged on the floor and surrounded by books open to various pages. He glanced up briefly as she entered, then returned his attention to the book he held on his lap. She walked over until she stood directly in front of him, trying to gage what kind of mood he was in.
"Yes?" he asked curtly, annoyed that she would interupt his work.
When she didn't answer right away he glanced back up at her. She appeared to be nervous and kept shifting her weight from one foot to another. He didn't like it when she acted like this. It usually meant she had something to tell him that she knew would upset him. Like the last time, when she had let Locke play on computer's keyboard and the boy had managed to erase all of the data he had collected that day.
"Um, Knives? Can I talk to you?" she asked, sounding slightly hesitant.
"About what?" he asked, unconsciously leaning away from her, her close proximity an irritant.
"Locke."
Growing alarmed by the seriousness of her tone, he started to rise to his feet. "Is he alright? He isn't hurt, is he?"
"No, no, no!" Meryl said hurriedly to calm his fears. "Locke's fine. He's taking a nap."
Relieved, he settled back on the floor. Relief then quickly turned to irritation. "What is it then!?"
"It's... um... just that, Locke is growing out of his clothes and needs new ones."
"Is that all?" He glanced back down at his book, impatient to resume his studies. "So make him some new ones. That's what you've been doing, isn't it?"
"Well, yes," she blushed. So he had noticed. "But I'm running low on the materials I've been using."
"But you have enough for now?" he asked absently, glancing away from the book to write something down in a notebook.
"Well... yes. But only for another month or so. I need... I need to go to town." His head jerked up. Oops, that hadn't come out quite the way she had wanted it to.
"No," he said flatly, his mouth forming into a frown.
"But, Knives--" she began, her hands gesturing impatiently.
"No!" he shouted, slamming his book shut and glaring up at her.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried not to glare back. The man was impossible! Not only was he not even going to give her request consideration, but he wasn't even going to allow her to argue her point. "Please, Knives. I need some things, too." A thought occured to her. "I promise you I won't try to run away." Maybe that was the reason for his refusal.
"No. I won't give you the chance." So she had guessed right.
"But I promised!"
"And your word means NOTHING to me!"
Her eyes widened at the fierceness of his reply. All this time and he still didn't trust her? Of course not, why should he? She was human after all. According to what he believed they were all liars and not to be trusted. She turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" His voice, low and slightly curious, halted her angry retreat.
She whirled around to face him, her hands clenched at her sides. "Back to my room."
"Who gave you permission to leave?" he raised in eyebrow slightly in question.
She frowned, her brow knitting in confusion. "I thought we were done."
"We're done when I say we're done." He placed the book on a stack with some others and casually got to his feet. He was in a playful mood and perhaps the girl would entertain him for awhile. He walked slowly around her, enjoying her irritation, especially since he knew he was the cause of it. "What would you do? If I were to allow you to accompany me to town?" he asked, putting extra emphasis on the word 'allow'.
She blinked, surprised. "What would I do?" she repeated blankly.
"Yes."
"I would get the things we needed."
"... And?" he prompted.
"And... I would visit my friends," she raised her chin defiantly.
"Exactly! And how would your friends react? To see you walk into town with the man who abducted you?" He crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly to one side, awaiting her reply.
Oh... she had forgotten about that part.
"Well?"
"I guess... they wouldn't react very well." She replied lamely, lowering her head and looking at the floor so she wouldn't have to see his smug face.
He smirked. "Of course not! So you see why I shouldn't allow you to go to town?"
"I guess so." She hung her head even lower, defeated.
He bent down so his eyes were level to hers and grinned at her, pleased to have won the argument.
"But..." she glanced up at him.
"But what?"
"But we don't have to go to Spring. We could go to a different town. A town where nobody knows me," she smiled, her eyes hopeful. It was a compromise, maybe Knives would--
Knives frowned and straightened, glaring down at her. "No."
"But, Knives--"
"No! And that is final." He jerked his head in the direction of the door. "You may go now."
He turned his back on her, signaling that the conversation was over. With a sigh she turned and left the room.
'You haven't heard the last of this, Knives! I promise you that!'
-----------------
End chapter 4
~
Magnet-Rose: Thanks for coming back to review! Yep, the chapters are short, but at least there's no cliffhangers. Oh... wait, there's one of those in chapter 7...
Yma: Yma!!! Yay! Thanks for reviewing my fic! And thank you, if you think my characterization is good, then I must be doing something right. ^_^v
Neptune Butterfly: Yep, I'm from H-Town, Texas! I love K/M/V fics alot, too, and I agree, not knowing who Meryl winds up with until the very end is the best part. Chapter 7... you'll have to wait and see. That was my favorite chapter to write, though , and I think it's one of my fics best. Fluffiness? Knives!? I don't think Knives can be 'fluffy' and still remain in character, so no worries there.
angelarms: I'm glad you like it! And if you're a fan of V/M, stick around. ^_^
Ana: Thanks for the continued support! Yeah, Knives dropping his 'guard' is important in the later chapters. I'm glad people are already picking up on that.
~
Next time: Chocolate cake, tantrums, and discipline. (Uber-short chapter coming up, more like an added 'bonus' chapter than anything else.)
~