ONE WEEK LATER

"So we're just going to keep town hopping until we pick up on some Vash rumors again?"

Meryl's head turned jerkily to view Milly over her shoulder. "Is that a problem?"

"Not really, this is kind of how I lived before I met you. You know you're really grouchy when you're thirsty."

"You just wandered? You know there's a lot I don't know about you..."

"CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? WHAT'S THIS TOWN COMING TO, VASH THE STAMPEDE. RIGHT AMONG US! FIRST THAT CROOK HOGS ALL THE WATER AND NOW HE BRINGS THE HUMANOID TYPHOON UPON US...AS SOME GUARD FOR HIM! This world's going to hell in a hand basket. I tell ya what..." The old man wandered on rambling to anyone in ear shot. The insurance girls exchanged glances and were immediately off in search of the rich water monger and his new "bodyguard".

"Maybe no one's home. Is this even the right house?"

"Knock again, Milly."

She banged loudly on the large wooden door. "HELLO?" Nothing but silence. She took the box from Meryl. "WE BROUGHT DONUTS!"

The door flew open like a thunder clap, Milly jumped back nearly reaching for a gun. "Oh, it really is Mr.Vash! Wow...I've never seen anyone so obsessed with donuts."

"YOU?" Meryl about died. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Milly nodded her head. "Thank you for cutting our ropes in that last town Mr.Vash."

He nodded back. "Thank you for bringing the donuts insurance lady."

Milly motioned to her raging partner. "Well actually, Meryl bought them, you should thank her."

She pulled at her own hair. "IS ANYONE LISTENING TO ME? THIS IS NOT VASH THE STAMPEDE!"

"Do we have visitors Mr.Stampede?"

The insurance girls peered around the gorging spikey headed one to find the source of the new voice. Millie whispered to Meryl, "He must be the water monger that old man was talking about."

She answered back, "Yes. Just don't tell him that. But I will tell him that his bodyguard is a fraud."

The girls kindly greeted the older man and were all invited into the living room.

Milly didn't really listen to any of the conversation the man was spouting off. He seemed pretty fake, and she couldn't really understand why someone like Vash would want to work for him. Even if it was just a big game. That is, until she saw the water hoarder's pretty young house guest. Meryl sure didn't take to that too kindly. Milly sat patiently while Meryl loudly drug off the old man to tell him who his bodyguard really was.

Vash turned to her. "Your friend is very loud."

"She's nicer than she seems. But she tends to take things at face value."

He cocked an eyebrow. "But you don't?"

Milly grinned her maybe I'm secretly an evil genius or maybe I'm just dumb as a rock smile. Vash gave her a puzzled look which made her only smile bigger.

Meryl re-emerged just as agitated as ever. "Come on Milly, we're staying here for the night."

"Huh?" But she could see it was not negotiable as soon as she saw Meryl's return glare. "I mean, right!"

"CAN YOU BELIEVE HIM? WERE YOU LISTENING TO THOSE THINGS HE WAS SAYING EARLIER IN THE LIVING ROOM?"

Milly ran her hand through the fountain not really paying attention to Meryl. All those people living in drought outside these walls...and this guy had a fountain just spewing the stuff for the sole purpose of looking pretty.

Meryl crossed her eyes and made an idiot voice, "My bullets are known for never missing deir mark...espeswially in madders of da heart! UGH HE MAKES ME WANT TO VOMIT!"

A red blur dove from the sky, pinning Meryl on the ground.

Vash on top of Meryl, in the dirt, him forcing her down while she writhed and screamed. Good thing Vash wasn't really any kind of rapist, because it would have been a good four seconds before Milly had accepted what she was seeing enough to do anything about it. Maybe she should start training again...

He relaxed slightly, looking into Meryl's eyes. "Oh...it's just you."

"JUST ME? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, ASSHOLE? GET OFF!"

He looked upward. "Ms.Marianne, I neutralized the threat! We can go back to what we were doing! Darling?" He stood there for a bit staring blankly at the window while Meryl regained her senses. Tears welled in his eyes and he jumped on Meryl again. "YOU RUINED OUR MOMENT!"

"GET OFF OF ME YOU FREAK!"

Milly sighed, standing up. "I'll leave you two alone now. Obviously you can't suppress you urges anymore."

Both of them froze and stared as Milly casually strolled away. Meryl turned beet red and chased the ace gunman throughout the garden with her Derringer's, pistol whipping him to a pulp.

When Milly entered the house she could still hear them screaming from outside...in fact, that's all she could hear. She stopped, listening closer. The man and Ms.Marianne couldn't be asleep yet. It was barely nine, and all the lights were still on. She edged around the house only to find nothing. Not good. She stepped out onto the balcony to yell at the shadows still fighting in the back garden. "WOULD YOU TWO STOP FLIRTING FOR TWO SECONDS? MARIANNE AND MR.SCHEZAR ARE GONE!" The two immediately stormed inside, obviously they wouldn't realize exactly what she'd said until later, because she was still alive to think about it.

Meryl quickly began accusing needle noggin of having something to do with it and through their slamming each other around a secret passage opened...

Milly sighed. "Okay this is boring. Why does Bernardelli need to know about secret passages and what not. There was a guy hoarding water, a female sheriff pretending to be his houseguest, they got in a fight in the basement where he stored the water, Vash ended it-"

"HE IS NOT VASH!"

"Anyway." Milly got an uncharacteristically sarcastic look. "Somehow this 'ace gunman' by luck that no one on this planet can possibly possess...ends it."

"Exactly. Dumb Luck."

"He dodged a bullet, Meryl."

"The old man couldn't shoot the broad side of a barn, Milly."

"And the place explodes and the town floods, and Marianne says he's a good catch and you freaked out."

"I did not freak out. I just disagreed. He's a loser."

"A loser that always saves us?"

"NO! It's just coincidence Milly."

"I think we'll be seeing him again. And I think you want to see him again. And have you remembered what I said to get you to come back inside the house yet?" A look of understanding slowly donned on Meryl's face. Milly smiled, ducking into the bathroom to take a shower while miscellaneous objects suddenly began slamming into the door behind her.

"FLIRTING? WITH THAT? Thompson! You coward! Come and face your death like a woman!"

"Heh heh. You've got to learn to take a joke, Sempai!"