Vash slammed the receiver onto the cradle and stormed out of his office and into the dining room, sitting down across from Saria, slowly sipping his coffee.
"Is anything wrong?" asked Saria.
"My brother is engaged to the woman who was supposedly in love with me," replied Vash, anger rising in his voice.
"Who is she?"
"Meryl Styfe, the woman of my dreams, the perfect one for me, the love of my life. I should never have sent Knives with her." Vash placed his coffee mug on the table and rested his head in his hands, all plans of the proposal slipping from his mind.
Saria rose from her chair and walked over to Vash's side, placing her hand on his shoulder. Vash lifted his head and looked up at Saria, tears welling in his eyes.
"It's going to be okay Vash," cooed Saria, bending down and kissing Vash's forehead.
Vash remembered when Rem would tell him those same words after one of Steve's beatings.
'Vash, it's going to be okay,' said a distant voice. 'I'm here. Open your eyes.'
Vash slowly blinked open his eyes and tried to sit up, but fell back down, wincing in pain.
'Relax Vash,' said the voice. 'Just open your eyes.'
Vash obeyed and slowly opened his eyes, blinking away the tears that had welled up in his eyes as well as the blood that covered them. He focused and looked up at Rem, slowly forming a smile.
'Rem?' whispered Vash.
'I'm here Vash,' she cooed, pushing Vash's long blonde hair out of his eyes. 'It's going to be okay. Just relax.'
"Vash?" Vash jumped and came back to reality, looking over his shoulder at Saria and smiling.
"I'm sorry baby," said Vash, standing and taking Saria's hands in his.
"What were you thinking about?" asked Saria.
"Just something that happened to me when I was a child. I was thinking about my brother and Meryl and I came to a realization that I don't love her, but I love someone else."
"Who is that?"
"You."
"Me? Why?"
"Saria, I love you because you care about me and well, yeah. And, in saying all of this, I have one thing to ask you." Vash dropped down onto one knee and stared up at Saria.
"Vash, you're down on one knee," said Saria, staring down at Vash.
"Saria, will you marry me?"
A/N: I know, painfully short, but this is all I want to write for this chapter...saving all the good stuff for later. I'm sorry it's taking so long to update, but I am almost finished the actual writing of it. Will update soon.