ATTENTION PEOPLE OF THE PEBBLE: Are you composing a waltz yet? I don't think I'll ever quite understand that song. But anyway, this chapter is a little too longwinded for my taste. But I guess you can't have action all the time. I'll try and think of this as downtime. All just chilling out in the country, meeting Milly's odd extended family. By the way, Neptune Butterfly...did you manage to catch Lord Kuroneko before the coyotes did? Because they've been looking quite plump, and I'm really hoping it hasn't been a stray cat diet they've got going on.

She was so nervous...it almost made her queasy. It was like the time she forgot to shut the stable doors all over again. Man, that was horrible. Having to work up the nerve to tell Grandpa she'd 'accidentally' let the entire herd escape out into the desert. It'd taken nearly a week to round them all up. She thought she'd be grounded for the rest of her life. Milly looked over her shoulder at the other three. Why were they hanging back so much? They could give her a little support, you know. Instead of making her stand all alone on this porch.

Meryl made shooing motions. "Don't chicken out now! Go ahead, knock on the door!"

She sighed, taking off her hat and knocking on the frame of the screen door. This couldn't be the same door could it? How many times had that flimsy thing ripped off its hinges when she came tearing in from playing outside? She used to get fussed at all the time for that too...and tracking dirt in the house, and bringing in stray animals, and of course that time her and Jeremy buried Grandma's jewelry box so they could play buried treasure. Wow, did they ever get in trouble for that one.

A female voice called out from inside. "Coming!"

Milly clutched her hat to her stomach while looking down. What should she say? Hello? Hi Grandma? Um...seven years? What seven years? I've just been playing in the fort in the backyard! Had so much fun, I decided to live there! Didn't you notice? Ugh. Maybe she should run...no, that was the strategy that got her into this mess in the first place.

The screen swung open and a stout, gray haired little woman who looked to be in her late fifties stepped onto the porch, wearing thick reading glasses, an oven mitt, and an apron with little smiling bumblebees on it. She only came up to the stranger's shoulder and had to look up to make eye contact. Her face went deathly white. "NATALIE?"

The tall girl dropped her hat, instantly jumping forward to catch the older woman by the wrists before she could fall backwards in shock. "No Grandma! It's okay! It's me, Milly!"

"Mil...Milly Thompson?" She slowly caught her breath, placing her hand over her heart. Then just when she seemed calm again, nailed Milly over the head with her oven mitt. "GOD SAKES CHILD DON'T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

Well that certainly was familiar. Milly grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Grandma..."

The old woman looked her over frantically, as if it was some kind of mirage. "Oh my stars, girl...is this real? Look at ya! How tall...and you let your hair grow out! Is that the same coat?My God, you look so much like your mother..." She turned, yelling back inside. "PAUL, GET OUT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"

A gruff voice answered. "I'M LISTENIN' TO THE RADIO, EDNA..."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE BLASTED SATELLITE, YOU GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT! YOUR GRANDAUGHTER'S STANDIN' ON THE BLOODY PORCH!"

"WHAT?"

Meryl blinked. Somehow this was not how she pictured Milly's role models.

A few seconds later a man a whole head taller than Milly, stepped outside. To the others, he looked more like an ex-con than a kindly father figure. He was big and brawny, with a thick beard and tan leathery skin. His rough, farmer hands looked like they could just as easily crush someone's skull as plow a field. Milly instantly dove on him with a big bear hug. "Grandpa!"

The big man smiled. "I must be dreaming! Kid, what the heck are you doing here?"

She looked a little guilty. "Me and my friends were on a bus going through this region and it broke down here. So I guess someone up there thought it was about time I came back and visit!"

He looked up and into the road where Vash, Meryl, and Nick were all standing. "Those are your friends?"

She smiled. "Yes sir."

The insurance girls were oblivious but Vash and Wolfwood instantly recognized the man's stare. He was sizing them up and knew what they were in a heartbeat. Yeh, this was not your ordinary Grandpa.

The old woman yelled to them. "Well don't just stand there! Friends of Milly are friends of ours! Come in! I was just cooking breakfast!"

Milly's face brightened up even more. "YOUR HOMEMADE CINAMMON ROLLS?"

Edna smiled. "Well don't I always cook those on Thursday?"

"HOLY COW!" The tall girl dashed into the house, leaving the screen swinging wildly by one hinge behind her.

"MILLY THOMPSON!" The old woman chunked her oven mitt with the accuracy that only an annoyed grandmother can possess.

The insurance girl yelped from inside and the old man chuckled. Only Milly could pull something like that off...disappear without a trace and turn up on the porch seven years later, as cheerful as if she'd just left yesterday.

Heaven on a bun. Still not pudding...but a dang close second. Milly smiled while grabbing another. The nostalgia was overwhelming. Same round little kitchen table, same this, same that...time really did stand still in this town.

The old woman shoveled some more food into Milly's plate. "Well I can tell you ain't had decent cooking in years, but aren't you gonna introduce us to your little group here?"

"Oh." Milly finished off her milk then motioned to her best friend. "First off, this is Meryl Stryfe. We both work together for the Bernardelli Insurance Society in December City."

The short girl nodded politely while sipping some coffee.

Paul cocked an eyebrow. "Well that's different. And here I figured you'd be a bounty hunter or something by now..."

She grinned a little, looking down at her plate. "Well, it might be in my blood...but I don't think it's really my calling. I found out being a field agent is actually a lot more fun. At least with our assignment..." The tall girl pointed to the Typhoon. "See, it's our job to follow this guy."

Vash lifted his hand with a donut in his mouth. "Ello."

Milly's Grandfather wasn't exactly satisfied with the vague introduction. Not when the guy had that kind of firepower hanging from his belt anyway. "Why the heck would you get paid to do that?"

She looked to Meryl for a little assistance. "Well..."

He grabbed another donut and spoke nonchalantly. "It's cuz I'm Vash The Stampede...you cook very well by the way Mrs...um..."

"You can call me Mrs.Harper young man."

Meryl blinked. Idiot! He didn't have to say his real name!

The old man cocked an eyebrow. "You? The Vash the Stampede, huh?"

Milly smiled. "He's nothing like anyone says, except for the excellent gunman part."

"Hmm." Looks like she was telling the truth. The guy's identity didn't really surprise him though. For such a good kid, she did always have her father's knack for finding trouble. But the blonde guy wasn't the one that worried him the most anyway. His eyes fell onto the stranger in black, who was currently downing some bacon while sitting smugly next to his grandaughter. "What about this guy?"

She looked to the man beside her. Grandpa was always good at reading people. He probably thought the worst of Nick. And with Wolfwood silently pigging out while still wearing his 'new' black sunglasses even though they were all inside, the preacher wasn't exactly proving the old man wrong. Milly flashed an overly innocent smile. "This is Nicholas D. Wolfwood. He's a traveling priest that we kind of picked up along the way." Those steel blue eyes gave her a questioning look as she removed his shades. "And you'll have to forgive the poor manners. He's so use to wearing these things in the desert, sometimes he forgets they're even on..."

So that's how it was going to be. Wolfwood swallowed the rest of his food, straightening up. Well if Milly wanted him to play the good boy to appease them, then he could do it. Nick outstretched his hand, with an equally over innocent smile. "Heh, sorry about that! I should be thanking you for your kindness and here I am just stuffing my face! My apologies sir, and I agree with blondie over there. Your wife is a very excellent cook."

Paul shook the priest's hand without much emotion. He'd just been struck with a sickening case of deja vu.

"So are you still the sheriff, grandpa?"

"Nah...I got tired of dealing with everyone's crap. Retired a couple years ago." He looked up at her. "Jeremy handles all that now."

Milly blinked. "Jeremy...is the sheriff?"

"What? I taught him everything I taught you. You can still shoot a gun can't ya?"

"Well yeah, but..." She giggled. "I just can't picture it."

Edna spoke up from by the sink. "You will go see him, won't you child? You know how fond he was of you. It just broke the boy's heart when you ran off like that..."

Wolfwood began coughing as some of his coffee found its way into his lungs.

Milly instantly blushed and patted her poor priest on the back without thinking. "Ah, don't worry Nick, it isn't like it sounds!"

Meryl and Vash took notice of the sudden awkwardness as Milly's grandparents exchanged disapproving glances.

"Quit smiling Tongari...it just makes me want to hit you, and I don't won't to get blood on the couch of a woman that made me breakfast."

Vash relaxed, stretching his legs across the living room carpet. After a long silence he closed his eyes and leaned his head over the top of the couch. "I bet Meryl's dad would approve of me..."

Now it was Wolfwood's turn to smile. "Bullshit."

"Quit cussing in the house!" Big girl gave him a shove as she sat down.

The Typhoon smirked. "But we can still cuss outside, right?"

Meryl frowned, plopping down beside him. "Just shut up, Vash."

Nick agreed. "Amen."

He whined, still not opening his eyes. "When's everyone gonna quit being so mean to me?"

The short girl threw a blanket that had been on the floor, over his face. "Alright guys, no need to worry. I've solved the problem. If we can't see him...he doesn't exist."

"I wish." Wolfwood leaned forward with a smile, taking interest in the little book Milly had in her lap. "What you got there big girl?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Just an old photo album I haven't seen in awhile." Milly wiped the dust from it, opening the cover.

When he didn't see papa bear lurking anywhere in the shadows, Nick slid his arm around her. "Sounds like something to me."

The blanket suddenly spoke out. "I want to see too! Meryl, can I be unpunished now?"

She smirked. "Will you refrain from saying anything stupid for at least the next fifteen minutes?"

"Ooh...I don't know about fifteen. That's a bit of a stretch. How about ten?"

"Twelve or no deal."

"You drive a hard bargain, madam. But all right. Twelve it is."

Meryl pulled the blanket back and he grinned.

To anyone who had the fortune or misfortune of knowing all four of them personally, it might have been a bit of an odd sight. Sitting in a colorful little living room, snuggled together on a plushy old sofa looking at family photos. Stark contrast to the gunfights and life and death struggles that had become their habit.

Milly wasn't that sure why she'd wanted to see these again. Every photo was practically burned into her mind as it was. Because in a way, their faces were really all she had. If they had to leave her, she'd always just wished she could have at least been older when it happened. So she might have had the chance to know them as people. Not just from the viewpoint of a distraught four-year-old.

The very first picture was of a young man. He was sitting on a weathered looking wooden fence smoking a cigarette. In fact, it was the same fence that encircled the property behind the house they were currently sitting in. The man was casually looking towards the camera as if the person holding it had just called his name. A slight smirk adorned his face, signaling that perhaps it was someone he liked. His face was clean shaven but his hair was messy. It was dark brown and a bit wild from what could be seen. But the majority of it was concealed under a dirty brown cowboy hat. He was tall and thin, with a touch of desert tan. This could be gathered, because besides the cowboy hat, all he had on was a pair of dust-covered jeans, some raggedy looking brown boots, and a leather holster around his waist with two silver revolvers glinting in the sunlight. Besides the glint of the revolvers, the other feature that stood out most drastically in the bland setting was the brightness of his eyes. A blue almost lighter than the sky. Though amused at the moment, cunning still seemed to burn within them. Looking into those shining eyes, it was hard to imagine this dangerous young man being called anything less than the title he had been given.

Meryl blinked. "That's your father?" In her mind, she'd always pictured the so called 'Desert Coyote' as someone more around Milly's grandfather's build. This guy wasn't any bigger than Vash or Nick and he didn't look a day over 21. Too handsome to be a bounty hunter anyway...more like someone you'd date than someone you'd be afraid of.

"Who else would he be?" Milly donned a pondering look. "I think my mom took this picture. Dad was taking a break from training I bet."

Vash cocked an eyebrow. "Training?"

"Well that's why my dad came to this town in the first place. Grandpa knows way more than just gunfighting. He might be big, but he's really good at all kinds of martial arts. My dad heard about him and he came here to learn from him. He stayed about a month until he left again, and I bet that's when this picture was taken."

The short girl looked back up. "So that's how your parents met?"

Milly smiled. Regardless of the poor circumstances, it was still pretty sweet. "Yeh...dad traveled around a couple more years after that, but he never forgot about her. Eventually he got tired of what he was doing and came back to Hawk Canyon. They got married and started a family."

For Wolfwood and Vash, one look at the next picture didn't make it hard to see why. The setting was the local bar. Most likely at night...impossible to really know, but it just seemed that way. Jim was in the picture again, now in his more usual attire. Same hat, same boots, same belt holster, brown pants, a button up shirt, and a long brown trench coat. But this time he was downright grinning. Not because of the mug of beer raised in his left hand, but more likely for what his right arm was currently wrapped around. The future Mrs.Natalie Thompson. Smiling and blushing at the same time, while a certain cowboy held her hostage. She was an innocent looking thing. Not quiet as tall as Milly, with long, light brown hair and pretty green eyes. She was wearing a little spaghetti strap floral print dress that cut off above her knees with some brown sandals. Clearly another textbook case of good girl meets bad boy.

There were only a few more pictures. Random snapshots of life in the Thompson household. Caleb and Evan completely covered in dirt, and grinning sheepishly from ear to ear as their mother stood behind them with her arms crossed. An oblivious Jim sleeping on the porch swing as his giggling daughters drew on his face with lipstick. Just happy little still frames of an easy lifestyle cut short.

They all looked up as Edna called from the kitchen. "Girls, I'm going to the store! Why don't you come with me and pick what you want for dinner tonight?"

The tall girl was instantly excited. "Can we have desert too?"

Mrs.Harper leaned her head in the doorway with a smile. "Well I was thinking vanilla pudding, but if you wanted something else..."

Milly blinked, knowing she was being teased. "Ah! Are you kidding?" She jumped up. "Come on Sempai!"

Meryl smiled and stood up to follow the other insurance girl.

Vash whimpered and both girls looked back over their shoulders. He gave his best puppy eyes. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

The short girl sighed. "Vash, we're only going to the store. You'd be bored anyway. So just stay here and talk about guy stuff with Wolfwood or something."

The two men looked at each other, hesitated with less than thrilled looks on their faces, then spoke simultaneously while getting off the couch.

Nick: "I'm going out for a smoke."

Vash: "Where's the bathroom?"