Chapter 3: Thinking of You

"Oi…" Meryl woke up feeling hung-over, though no drop of alcohol had touched her lips. She dragged herself out of bed, shuffling into the kitchen to get some coffee. "What a horrible night…" She muttered, the dream replaying in her head. She shuddered at the thought. Oh, how horrible! …but… I know that's not how it would have been… GAH! What am I thinking!

Meryl entered the kitchen and froze. Milly was giving Noah his bottle, and Vash was sitting at the table eating a donut. "Good morning, Meryl!" Milly greeted. "Enjoying your day off?"

"Day off… oh, yeah, I have the day off today…" She muttered, rubbing her eyes with her fists. "Oh, yeah… It's soooo great."

"What's the matter?" Vash asked innocently.

"I need coffee…" She muttered, unconsciously sitting down right next to Vash.

Milly got up and fixed Meryl's coffee, black, the way she liked it. "Here you are," Milly said sweetly, setting it down in front of her.

Meryl began drinking the coffee slowly.

"So… You must have had a pretty bad nightmare last night," Vash said casually, leaning his face on his hand.

Meryl spit out her coffee. "Oh, nononononono!" She cried in defense. "I-it wasn't a nightmare!---" What am I saying? Yes, it was!

Maybe she should switch to decaf… Noah thought to himself.

"Then… why did you scream?" Vash blinked.

"Oh… uh… oh! You meant that dream! Ahahahahahahaha!" She waved her hands in front of her.

"Yeah…" Vash said.

Oh, yeah… DEFINITELY a decaf girl, Noah thought to himself, sweat dropping.

"So… What had you so freaked out? No paperwork?" Vash laughed his stupid 'a hah hah hah!' laughed until Meryl whacked him on the back of the head.

"You idiot!" she yelled.

I hope she doesn't hit me like that… Noah thought to himself.

"Owww…." Vash moaned, rubbing the lump on his head with tears water-falling down his face.

"That's not what it was about at all!"

"Sorry… Can't you take a joke?"

"So, what do you want to do on your day off, Meryl?" Milly asked.

You go, Mom. Changing the subject before it got rowdy… Noah giggled and made baby noises.

"I don't know… I figure I'll get some paperwork done--"

"-but… isn't it your day off?" Vash asked.

"I don't want to fall behind…" Meryl muttered.

"I know! We'll have a mega movie night!"

"Heh…?" Meryl looked over at him, her eyes flattened in irritation.

"We'll watch lots of good movies! It'll be awesome! We'll have popcorn and donuts and soda and any other food we can imagine," He beamed at the people at the table, his eyes sparkling.

"That sounds like fun!" Milly cheered.

He looks so adorable when he does that… Meryl thought, leaning on her hand. GAH! There I go again! What's wrong with me!

"Well, we can't watch them until it gets dark, so… I'm going to go get some!" Vash zoomed away.

"Oi…" Meryl placed her forehead on her hand.

"Meryl…"

"He's so agitating! He acts younger than Noah sometimes!"

I resent that… Noah pouted.

"Meryl," Milly stated.

"What?" She looked over at Milly.

"What was that horrible dream?" She asked concernedly.

"Eh-" Meryl froze and turned pale. "Uh…" She looked down at her hands, fidgeting nervously, her face turning red. "Oh… uh… um…" What was she supposed to say? It was a dumb dream!

"Oh, Meryl… Was it like a horror movie?" Milly whispered as if there were actual horror movie monsters listening.

"You-- could say that," Meryl shrugged, speaking nonchalantly.

"Was I there?" She asked, suddenly excited.

"Yeah."

"Noah, too?"

"Mm-hm."

"What about Mr. Vash?"

"GAH!" Meryl's face turned even redder than before if it was possible. "Uh-uh-"

Dude… He was like… totally there… What, did she dream about him and her romanticizing or something? "Gah…" Noah said.

"Meryl?"

"NO!" Meryl cried.

You're lying in front of an infant. That's setting a bad example. Noah grinned. "Goo."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh----" Meryl froze again. "Oh…" She lowered her head. "I can't lie to you…"

"What happened, Meryl?" She asked.

"To tell the truth… I really don't want to talk about it…" She muttered, sweating, and hoping Milly would let it go. If she didn't, she'd have to run out of the room screaming to escape those big, innocent eyes.

"Okay, you can tell me later then. Come on, Noah, let's go get you dressed," Milly said, carrying him out of the room.

Come on, Noah… Tch, like I can go anywhere by myself… "Gah goo goo…"

Meryl laid her head down on the table, partly because she was relieved that Milly left her alone, partly because she was so frustrated with herself and with what was traveling around town. "Stupid dream… Stupid rumor… Stupid Vash… Stupid me…" She sighed.

-

After about half an hour, Meryl decided to get dressed. She had wandered into her room and grabbed up her clothing, when a thought struck her.

"I really… need a bath," She said, feeling suddenly nasty. "Yeah, a good shower will do me good."

-

She turned on the water of the shower and stripped out of her nightshirt and undergarments. "Oh, man… Why have I been so messed up lately?" She asked, glancing at her reflection as she nabbed a towel out of the closet next to the shower. "I don't love Vash… that's just a stupid rumor…"

She laid the towel down next to her clothes and stepped inside.

The warm water was very soothing. She quickly relaxed and smiled. "I wish I could stay in here forever…" She muttered, sighing. "It seems the bathroom is the only place I can go to escape my life and everything in it… That sucks…"

She began rubbing shampoo through her hair, scrubbing roughly. "I don't know why I'm making a big deal out of it… It's not like I haven't been the center of rumors before… then again, that was way back when I was in school… Virgin Meryl, they'd all joke… Of course… that didn't really affect me because it was true…" She growled and let the shampoo rinse out of her hair. "Stupid immature people!"

She soaped herself down and rinsed it off, then filled up the tub and sat in it for awhile. "I don't know why it's always such a big deal. People can't live unless they're talking about someone else She sunk into the water until only her eyes and nose were above it.

It's not that I'm stupid… Vash is cute, and he's funny too… but I don't feel like that. The thing is, I don't know why I keep telling myself. Aren't I the only one who's convinced?… You know, besides Vash… She rose her head up again and sighed. If I dwell on it much longer I'll kill myself… That stupid dream had me even more jumpy than it should have… I mean, COME ON! Even if we were getting married, it wouldn't have been like that! She leaned back and sighed again. "Besides… how dumb does Meryl-Strife the Stampede sound?" She chuckled a bit, shutting her eyes. "It'll all blow over…"

She wasn't going to let Vash the Stampede, or the rumors about him control her life. It was her own choice about who she liked and who she didn't. The only problem was… she might actually like HIM.

-

"There, don't you look cute!" Milly said, admiring Noah in his red shirt and blue jean overalls.

"Goo." He said. I hate you.

Milly giggled delightfully. "I know you don't like it. That look on your face tells me so. Sometimes I swear you look just like your father."

He smiled. Yeah, tell the stories about that Wolfwood guy again! He's so awesome!

Meryl came walking into the room, drying her hair with a towel.

"Feeling better?"

"Much," Meryl replied. "Amazing what ten minutes can do."

"Well, I'm glad. I was afraid you were going to lose your mind there for a second!" She laughed, though Meryl wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"Me too," She replied, putting on her earrings. "Is Vash back yet?"

"Nah, he's probably renting out every movie in the store."

"Knowing Vash," Meryl replied flatly. "Goofball moron."

"I think he's cute!" Milly responded. "He's like an adorable little kid!"

"I fail to see anything little about that six-foot-tall, bumbling, spiky-haired idiot," Meryl said, "besides his brain size."

"Mr. Vash is actually a lot smarter than he lets on, you know," Milly said.

"Well, maybe he should 'let on' a little more, don't you think?" Meryl replied, grinning slightly.

"I think it's his own way of retaining his innocence. I mean, you of all people know he has a darker side. You've been there."

"Yeah…" Meryl whispered, recalling the days after the death of Legato Bluesummers. He had been a bit of a wreck then… talking to the dead… sitting by himself and crying… speaking about going to where Rem is… It was a really depressing memory. It hurt her to see him like that. He just wasn't Vash anymore. He was an empty shell, broken-hearted and confused. She was afraid he wouldn't ever come back, but after she had sat with him on that cliff-side and saved him from those men, he returned, not quite as happy at first, but determined. Not to mention shaven.

"What exactly happened out there on that cliff, Meryl?" Milly asked.

"Well… we kinda just sat there. Around two o' clock, he fell asleep, and around three, I was out. When I woke up, I was inside, and he was gone."

Milly sighed, picking Noah up. "He's a great guy, Mr. Vash."

"Yeah… he is…" Meryl agreed. "-but still stupid and annoying."

Milly chuckled. "You're so silly, Meryl."

"I am not silly!" Meryl replied promptly. "You're the one always telling me that I'm all business!"

"-and that's silly!" Milly responded happily.

The wisdom of a naive mind was unfathomable.

(A/N: GASP I don't believe it! AN UPDATE! This is actually for a really sweet reviewer who kindly asked me to update. So, I got to working on it and managed to spit out a chapter! Woo-hoo! Maybe I'll work miracles and get out another chapter of teen samurai... )