Down the road and around the corner, in the second building on the left was a small bakery that Vash had been casing for nearly a week. This store was the main reason he had headed through May City. He'd never been in town before for the quick draw tournament since his mind was completely set on this little shop the last time he was through. It opened at precisely eight thirty in the morning and he wanted to be there on time because the donuts they made there caused a line up every morning.

This wasn't the only place he wanted to take Milly that day, but it was a good place to start. The big girl looked droopy as she walked beside him. "You awake there?"

"Uh?" Milly snapped her eyes open, "Yes, I'm okay, I'm just not used to getting up early." She put that fake smile up on her face and Vash tried not to be bothered by it. He had a feeling that as soon as he got something good in her stomach and took her to the special place Neil and the others recommended she'd forget all of the anxiety she had over Meryl's words.

He was still aggravated over it himself. More so than he would have before. Vash lived his life the way he wanted to. He was just fine before the two girls showed up to keep him from having any fun and enjoying his rambunctious lifestyle. A drifter at heart, not a care in the world, happily chasing skirts and occasionally catching one.

Vash glanced behind him as Milly started to drag her feet. She was drooping; eyes hidden behind long bangs. Suddenly he had a splendid idea. "Milly!"

"What…what?" She jumped, looking around.

Pointing into the sky, he said with sudden excitement, "Look! What is that!" Milly looked up where his finger was pointed and he attacked her. Grabbing her sides Vash tickled her, hoping upon hopes she'd be ticklish and Milly did not fail to disappoint.

Milly screamed. "Stop! Stop, oh please!" But she was laughing so hard Vash wouldn't stop until tears rolled down her cheeks. Finally, breathless, and with an audience of townsfolk, she collapsed into his arms. "Oh goodness… I… That was so… You're so mean!" But Milly was smiling, and it was the look of a contented child, pink faced and happy.

"You awake now?" He asked, helping her to stay upright as she caught her breath.

"Yes," she took one last deep breath and added, "I haven't been tickled like that since I was a kid and all of my older brothers would tackle me to the ground."

"We may just have to arrange that for later," Vash said with a twinkle in his eye. Milly put her hands in her armpits and pressed her lips together as if guarding from another attack. Vash laughed, she really was like a little girl in so many ways. He waved to her, "Come on, we have to get to the bakery before they're sold out." She followed him, still wide awake and wary of another attack.

"Bakery?"

It was the single largest pile of donuts Milly had ever seen. She doubted she'd see one bigger in her lifetime from the way that Vash staggered under the tray he was carrying over to the table. His face was lost behind it, and his voice was muffled by the pastries, "I love breakfast!"

Milly giggled as he put down the tray in front of him, "I think you may have bought out the entire bakery," she said glancing behind him to the counter. Sure enough, the display case was wiped free from any traces of powdered sugar and the bakers were scrambling to make new batches for the customers coming in the door. It probably took the entire night to make the pile they had in front of them and Vash was already on his third donut as she reached for her first. It was custard filled and she bit into it with relish. "Thanks for taking me to breakfast," she said after a moment, trying to hold the smile on her face that Vash wanted her to have, although it felt a bit forced.

Vash acted as if he didn't notice as he put another donut to his lips, this one covered in chocolate frosting, "You're very welcome Milly. It's been a long time since I've had any company on one of these binges." He grinned and held up a donut, "A toast."

Smiling, Milly held up her donut in return, "What are we toasting?"

"To a new day," Vash said in good spirits, "And many more to come!"

They bumped donuts and Vash fell silent as he continued to scarf down the assorted pastries. Milly ate slowly, picking out her favorite types and sticking her finger into the custards and creams and licking them off her fingers. She glanced over her shoulder out the window, thinking about Meryl. She was undoubtedly still up in the hotel room writing angrily about how she had betrayed her to go out and have fun with Vash the Stampede, and probably feeling miserable. Milly sighed, glancing at the donuts, at Vash's happily closed eyes, his powdered nose and his chocolate covered fingers. She felt so guilty now and her stomach was starting to ache from the fourth donut she'd managed to eat.

Milly sat back in her chair and Vash opened his eyes, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied. "I'm just full, that's all. Four donut limit." Milly smiled and patted her tummy… Then raised her hand to her mouth, maybe I should have made that a three donut limit… She managed to swallow and stood up, "I need to get something to drink."

Vash nodded and she went up to the counter to buy a couple of bottles of milk. After handing over the money, she turned back to the table and the donuts were gone. All of them were gone. Milly's mouth dropped open and she rushed back, "Oh my goodness…"

With a goofy smile on his face, Vash burped. "Oh, excuse me," he said his eyes rolling around in his head. "Sorry… They were just so good!" He licked his lips and Milly handed him one of the bottles. "Ah, this is perfect." He took a swig of the milk and set it down onto the table with a tink. Milly took a sip of hers, watching in utter amazement. He'd eaten that entire tray of donuts… In only a matter of minutes.

"Are you okay, Vash?"

The gunman nodded and looked up at her. He took a napkin from the dispenser on the table, and by the time he had finished wiping his fingers and mouth, he looked completely normal. Milly just stood there holding her milk bottle. She'd seen her brothers eat pies and hotdogs in contests before, but they always came away with stomachaches and many times they ran to the bathroom a few moments later. But not so Mr. Vash. "You must have a fast metabolism," she said after a moment, finally sitting back down in her chair.

"I have a hollow arm," he said with a grin. Milly giggled and nodded, although, when Vash looked at her again she had a strange feeling that he was telling the complete truth. Was it possible that the gunman really did have a hollow arm?

"Which one?"

"The left," he said with a grin. She shook her head and looked at him for a moment. He really was a mystery sometimes. She finished off her milk and watched Vash do the same with his before reaching for another napkin. "You have something on your face," Vash said suddenly, extending the napkin to her.

"I do?" Milly looked down her nose, and Vash chuckled. She looked so sweet like that, as if she could see something on her own face. Milly started to take the napkin from his hand but he moved it away out of her reach. "Where is it? Let me get it…"

Vash smiled, "I'll get it," he leaned forward and a blush rose on Milly's cheeks. Vash liked the reaction as he gently ran the napkin over her pink lips. She held very still, looking down at his hand with crossed eyes. After a moment he sat back down in his seat and put the used napkin onto the empty donut tray. "There, all better."

"T-thanks," Milly said with a swallow. When had the restaurant gotten so stuffy? She stood up and nodded to the door, "Can we go now? I need fresh air or my donuts aren't going to settle properly." In fact she could already feel that fourth donut threatening to come out the hard way. Vash followed suit and they left the bakery, out into the cool spring air.

When they hit the sidewalk Vash said, "So, are you ready for the next surprise?"

Milly shrugged, it wasn't as if she had anything better to do, although she had work but that wasn't exactly better, it was just supposed to be necessary, but Meryl did say that she would do it for her. She didn't want to feel guilty about anything, wasn't that what it was to be spontaneous? Meryl hated spontaneity and had to plan everything out ahead of time, Milly thought it was a bit dull really, but there wasn't much else she could do.

Vash watched her stand there thinking, wondering if he should wave his hand in front of her nose. Milly had these moments where she just stood staring out into space. When he first met her, he thought it was because she was a little slow, and really there wasn't too much to prove she wasn't, except for the fact that when she got to talking, really talking, he realized that she was a lot smarter than she let on. He had a feeling that when most people thought she was spacing out she was really lost in some deep thought or another, and Vash hoped she wasn't thinking of a way to break off their fun.

It worried him to see her with the false smiles this morning when the day before she had seemed to enjoy herself so much. He noticed that she still wore the necklace he bought her, and had even been wearing it when she ran past him to get dressed that morning. She must have worn it to bed, he thought with a smile. It had to be true that she liked him, that it wasn't a game, but Milly was a devoted and loyal friend to Meryl and it was probably tearing her up inside.

Wondering about whether he was right or not, he did finally wave the hand in front of her face and Milly blinked. She smiled, "Sorry…"

"C-cent for your thoughts," he said, digging in his pocket to produce a coin. "Let me guess…" He held the coin to his forehead and said, "You're thinking that you're worried about Meryl… Am I right?"

Milly's mouth dropped open, "How did you know? Can you read minds?"

Vash laughed and reached for her hand, and after depositing the coin in her palm, folded her fingers around it. "No, but I could read it on your face." He wrapped his arm around hers and started them into motion down the street. In the middle of the city lay a sheer rock face, and it was there the boys told him he should take Milly to see something only a select few in the town knew about. He glanced at Milly out of the corner of his eye, "Don't have second thoughts on me… Yesterday you…"

"No! Oh no!" Milly shook her head but she didn't look at him. "It's just… Oh, don't worry about it. I've just…" She kept trailing off, but Vash kept silent hoping she would finish her train of thought. "I've just, you know, never had a boyfriend before, and even though this is kind of temporary and all, I just don't know if what I'm doing is right because all of my sisters, the first guy they dated they married… Courtship and all. And I know there's no way we'd… I mean…" She blushed Milly stopped walking, "You really don't want to go that far right?"

Vash looked down into her eyes, concern crossing his features. No wonder she was so thoughtful now a day later, of course she'd be thinking of the future, what young woman didn't? But the truth was he knew he couldn't marry her or bring her happiness like that… He was immortal and even though the big girl didn't know it, he was well over a hundred years old and incapable of… He couldn't have children… His anatomy was built the same way as human males but he was sterile like a mule, at least that's what the Doc told him; although Vash wasn't quite sure what a mule was. Mostly it was his appearance that kept him from going very far with a woman. But back to Milly's question, "No… Not right now anyway," he said slowly and awkwardly, "I figured we'd just take this slowly and figure it out as we went."

"That's just fine," Milly said, her face falling slightly, and Vash wondered if he'd said the wrong thing. It was just so hard to tell… Most of the women he'd happened to get close to in the past were amorous and eager for one night stands, but he always had the tendency to "fall asleep" before they got very far. He was always afraid they'd see his scars and be turned off right then and there. It was painful enough to have to cut the night short anyway. They would leave and he'd start the chase all over again. He had never had any relationship of any sort last for more than a day, so hanging out with Milly like this was a whole new experience for him. She was raised in a family where undoubtedly there were only just so many girls and guys and they paired up in school and were married as soon as they were old enough. Milly was probably not lucky enough to have someone in town her age of the opposite sex, and when no suitors arrived she just gave up and her parents decided to send her out to find someone. She just happened to run into him and he'd taken her up on her offer.

"I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear," Vash said. "I guess I'm not very good at this kind of thing yet."

Milly lifted her head, "You aren't?"

He shrugged, "I'm afraid no one has ever stuck around for more than a day… I think part of it has something to do with my name," he added, knowing he didn't want to admit his personal flaws, even though if they went out long enough there would be need to eventually.

"Well, if they knew Vash the Stampede like I know him, they wouldn't!" She smiled, and for the first time that day Milly wasn't putting on the fake smile. It lifted his spirits to see her willing and able to cheer him up. He smiled in return.

"All right then!" He pointed down the lane they were walking, and at the end a stone stairway lead into the mountain. "Let's get a move on! I have something to show you!" He pulled her on and Milly eagerly followed.