After hours of tossing and turning, she finally opened her eyes to glare at the pillow beside her. A few blonde hairs still lingered there, glistening tauntingly in the moonlight. The bed was too cold for comfort, and she felt vulnerable without his body beside hers. It's not that she thought herself weak, but when you get used to the planet's best gunman holding his arms around you every night...there tends to be slight insecurity when he's suddenly absent. Why couldn't she just trust that'd he'd come home on his own? Hah. Home. There was no home. Home was wherever she made her bed for the night. In truth, she was mainly afraid of him pulling one of those noble stunts of his. Like in Jeneora...when he gave that 'sorry my life's too dangerous for companionship' speech. She always worried about him leaving again. Now he was gone to take on a whole town. Dammit. He was the humanoid typhoon. He'd come back to her, right?
"Hey, Preacher...you awake?"

A grunt came from the other side of what had once been their campfire. "What?"

Hmm. He didn't yell or anything. Must be half asleep. "You think the girls miss us?"

"What does it matter?" They were the ones that sent them out to do this.

Vash smirked. "Well I don't know...if I'm thinking about her, I'd like to think she's thinking about me too."

"Psh...I bet Meryl threw a party."

"That's mean."

"Then take a hint and quit bugging me."

Vash tried to taunt back. "Well I bet Milly's happy! She probably hasn't had such clean air in ages. You're gonna give that girl lung cancer you know..."

Nick opened one eye. "Bull. She probably likes the scent." He grinned. "I bet it reminds her of me..."

Vash shook his head. "So full of yourself."

"Milly?"

She lifted her head from Nick's smoky pillow to look up at the silhouette in the doorway. After a second, she sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Meryl? What's wrong?"

The short girl walked in and sat down on the floor. "I can't do it. I thought I could, but I can't..."

She cocked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"We can't stay behind, we've got to follow them."

"But Meryl...we promised."

"I know, but I've just got this eerie feeling I can't get rid of. Like they're going to need us."

But the guys were only looking out for their best interests. A town like that would be no place for them. "What if we just get in their way? And they've already got a head start and everything, Meryl please don't look at me that way..."

"You know you want to go after him."

"That isn't the point!"

She stood up, turning her back. "Well I'm going anyway. You do what you think is right..."

Milly sighed. Meryl never was much for bluffing. "Okay okay, but we can't just go waltzing up in there looking like this..."

It was a day and a half of walking, with only small breaks in between for a bite to eat and possibly a short nap. They'd left Cat in the care of one of the kind families that had helped them when they first brought her to the town. She'd protested of course, but the insurance girls were steadfast in their decision and swore they'd do all in their power to return with her sisters' in tow. Though the pair's current attire put into question whether they were insurance 'girls' at all. They were both dressed in baggy slacks, men's boots, loose trenchcoats buttoned all the way up, and cowboy hats that partially hid their faces. Milly had her long hair pinned up under the hat and her revolvers in her outside pockets instead of on her belt inside the coat. Meryl had done the same thing so she wouldn't have to needlessly expose her female figure either, and had as many Derringers as she could in her side pockets, but the rest were still in their elaborate holster setup inside her coat if she really needed them. She tipped her hat up a little. "That must be the town."

Milly took a breath. "Good. Okay, so I guess we just start walking around looking for them. I guess we just try not to talk much, keep our girly hands out of sight, and keep our faces hidden. Right?" She tugged the brim down so her face was shaded and only her mouth was visible.

"Yeh." Meryl did the same. "Ah! How can you even see like this?"

She smiled. "You'll get used to it."

Vash paused, looking over his shoulder towards the desert.

The priest came to a stop beside him. "What now?"

"Nothing...I just..." He didn't even know the answer himself. "It's nothing."

"Then come on, Spikey. We've got a lot of legwork to do."

15 MINUTES LATER

Milly walked casually into the bar, glancing around for a certain handsome preacher or blonde goofball. The smell was sickening...beer and sweaty bandits. A lovely brawl was just beginning in the corner.

Meryl followed cautiously. Disgusting, like a room of animals. Not a woman in sight. The guys weren't in here. Time to move on. She turned and a behemoth of a male backed right into her.

Milly could see the incident as if it was all in slow motion. They could not afford a fight this soon. She quickly stepped in front of Meryl, looking up at him. He dropped a couple f-bombs then grabbed her by the front of her coat before she could stop him. Her stomach turned. Oh crap. She hoped he hadn't felt what she assumed he had. Out of all the places to grab...

"YOU THINK YOU'RE SOME KIND OF TOUGH GUY?"

Okay...judging by his breath, he was obviously too wasted to tell. She lowered her voice, lifting her hands innocently. "Naw, man! I just wanted to apologize for my friend here! How 'bout I buy you a beer!"

Meryl blinked as the huge man suddenly threw an arm around Milly, giving her a noogie.

"I like the way you think! You got a deal pardna! What's your name scrawny guy?"

This was unbelievable, and embarrassing. "Uh...Mark." She motioned to Meryl. "And this little dude is Mike."

Some random man slurred from one of the neighboring tables. "You guys should come party with us!"

Meryl cut in, completely horrified that they were making conversation with these people. She sounded more like a teenager than a man. "Uh, well...we were actually looking for these two other guys."

Milly handed the behemoth the beer she'd promised, trying to keep her choice of words in character. "Yeh...uh, pretty tall. One of 'em calls himself a priest of sorts. He's got this big freaking cross he carries aroun-"

The fight in the corner instantly came to a standstill. "A PRIEST? IN THIS TOWN!"

She faked a throaty, perverted guy laugh. "Don't worry man, he ain't your traditional lamb of God if you know what I mean!"

A drunken guy raised his hands in feigned praise. "Woo! Reverend likes to get nasty! Now that's my kind of religion! Beer and whores! Damn straight!"

Another man looked to Meryl. "Yo, Mike who's the other dude?"

She'd never seen so many drunken men in one setting. "Um, he's pretty stupid looking. Dumb blonde hair that spikes up like a broom, can't hold his liquor, weird red trench coat...I guess you just want to kick his ass every time you look at him..."

They all laughed and one guy raised his hand. "Yo! I saw that dude! He was going in the mansion! That mama's boy lookin fella! And that cross dude was there too! Yeh man, I remember!"

The girls looked at him. "Mansion? Which way is that?"

"Hah hah! You guys must be so toasted...it's that way, remember?" He pointed then burped. "Man you dudes are funny..."

Milly made her way for the door. "Well, uh...thanks. Nice talkin' to ya. But we gotta go find those punks..."

"THANKS FOR THE BEER SCRAWNY! COME PARTY SOME TIME! BRING YOUR LITTLE BROTHER TOO!"

She waved, walking out the saloon. "Will do!"

Meryl glared. "Little brother?"

Milly let out a huge sigh of relief once they were outside. "Thank God those men were all drunk. I thought we were dead for sure..."

"Do you think we put up a decent performance?"

"I don't know. Hopefully it was good enough..."

It wasn't long before they found the 'mansion' and it definitely deserved it's name. Meryl observed as different men came and went. "It looks like we need to pay to get in..."

"You think that's the club that Cat was talking about?"

"Has to be." Meryl glared. "But those two better be in there strictly on business..."

Milly cocked an eyebrow. "Prostitution is a bu-"

"Shut it!"