Chapter 11:

"How much longer is she planning to stay up there?" Vash asked staring at the staircase.

"I'm not surprised she hasn't come out yet." Knives answered, walking past Vash from the lounge into the kitchen.

"It was rhetorical question." He followed Knives with a glare, three days later he was still annoyed at his brother. "And I still think this is your fault."

"And I fail to see how you lay the blame entirely on me, after all she asked me. And you never told me to lie to her."

"Oh piss off."

"I warned you this was going to end in someone getting hurt."

"It's not like you actually want her around."

"I don't know, she can be fun to annoy sometimes."

"That's typical of you." Knives responded with a grunt and poured himself a glass of water. "You should talk to her Y'know."

"Huh?"

"She might actually listen to you."

"Huh? she hates me."

"No, she hates me, you she might still be able to stand."

"Just great." Vash threw his hands up in the air. There was a moment of silence before Knives spoke again.

"You were right you know, she can hear us."

"She what!"

"She can hear us."

"Knives... Please don't tell me." He took a sip of water and looked at Vash over the rim of the glass. Who returned the look for a few seconds.

"Shit, didn't you think what that would do to her?"

"Didn't it occur to you that it would hurt her to perpetuate a lie just to make her being here easier for you?"

"What the hell does that mean!" He placed specific emphasis on the 'hell'

"I think you know." He paused." You lied to her, because you were afraid of having to deal with the truth."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You don't really need to ask me that, do you?"

"Apparently I do knives. I wanna know what the fuck you meant by that!"

"You knew she wasn't your daughter. You knew that she wasn't even entirely HUMAN. Hell for all you know she isn't even really Meryl's daughter. But you choose to keep that from her. If you'd told her from the beginning we wouldn't be standing here right now having this conversation. Hell, maybe she would have just killed herself then and saved us from having to put up with her smart ass attitude for the past two months." Vash fell back, dropping like he had been shot to land roughly in a chair by the table. His eyes wide, mouth open a little.

"God... How can you say that?"

"Oh god, What if she heard you."

"Then maybe, she'll think it was a good idea and take the advice." Vash looked at him in a state of horror for a moment.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." He spoke with resolution and quickly left the kitchen and headed upstairs.

"Ellie, can I come in."

"No."

"It's kind of hard to have convocation through a door."

"Who said I wanted to talk."

"Ellie, Please."

"Fuck off!"

"We're just worried about you Ellie, you've been holed up in here for days."

"Yeah, I'm sure that bastard really cares what happens to me."

"Ellie... he's ... not what you think."

"Spare me the bullshit. You can go down and tell your little brother that I'm perfectly fine."

"Why don't you come down yourself and show him. I've made dinner, you've gotta be hungry."

"Not really."

"Ellie please, eat something? For me? I made your favorite."

"Fine, it'll come eat something if it'll get you to go away." came the exasperated reply. He heard her get up through the door a rustle of clothing and then footsteps. When she opened he swallowed the breath he was exhaling, She looked like hell, white as a sheet, hair messed and tangled, and blood shot eyes, she hadn't made an attempt to disguise the fact she'd barley slept in three days or and the fact that the smell of alcohol still lingered on her, despite having changed clothes, show she hadn't washed either. But he didn't mention it, one wrong move and she would be back in that most likely. She followed him slowly down the stairs dragging her heels as she walked. She stopped at the doorway to the kitchen. Seeing Knives sitting at the table she froze.

"Its okay, come on. It's your favorite." She nodded and plopped down in a seat opposite him, shifting back a bit as she got comfortable. Knives sat leaning back, relaxed. As Vash placed a warm plate, with an omelet on it in front of each of them, then sat down next to Knives.

"Looks tasty huh?" Knives shrugged a little.

"It's hardly a fine cut of steak, marinated in wine, cooked till its just rare is it?" Vash looked at him slightly downcast.

"I do my best with what I have." Eliana looked down while the two bothers continued their banter over food, and gently poked the omelet with her fork a few times, then picking up her knife, cut a piece and slowly ate it, chewing and swallowing quickly. She then began to eat quicker eating after the meal before Vash and Knives had barley started.

"Well someone enjoys my cooking." There was a grunt from Knives.

"The girl hasn't eaten for two days, I imagine she'd eat anything you put in front of her."

"Oh shut up." Again another grunt. And a whispered, under the breath, you know I'm right. She paused for a second. Had he spoke in her mind, or Vash's again. Or was she just not paying attention when he said that. Her mind raced for a moment. Vash looked up at her a moment.

"You okay Ellie." She nodded, half heartedly. It was all she could manage. She took a sip from a glass of water that had been placed in front of her at some point. She wasn't sure when. Then continued eating, slower now. The convocation was rather dry for the remainder of the meal, with Vash attempting to start it and it either petered out, or was shot down by Knives. They eat in silence for a few minutes before Knives put down his knife and fork and stood up.

"I'm going to work on the old car."

"Don't you want desert?"

"Put some in fridge the for me."

"Okay fine."

"Thanks." Knives put his knife and fork down, and left the table, heading out the front door.

"So Ellie do you want some desert." He looked at Eliana with a look that could be classed as puppy dog eyed. She nodded, although there wasn't much effort.

"Okay finish up and I'll get you some." She finished the rest of her omelet in a few minutes and then drunk some more of her water. While Vash got up and took two steaming bowls from inside the still warm oven. He placed one in front of her and another on in front of his seat. She looked down at the bowl and saw a mess of apple pulp and pastry.

"Sorry it's kind of deformed, it's supposed to be apple pie." He smiled hopelessly

"That's okay." she muttered, putting a spoonful into her mouth and swallowing. It tasted dry and crumbly, and took most of the moisture from her mouth. Yet she took another spoonful, this time there was some as well as pastry, this made it taste a little better. She ate slowly taking sips of water in between mouthfuls.

"Do you like it?" He asked partway through. She could only manage a nod. When she finished she put down her spoon and pushed the bowl away from her a little. Standing up she left the kitchen and walked upstairs. As she left Vash sighed to himself.

"Well at least she ate something."

"Vash." He heard Knives call from the doorway. He turned to see his brother, one hand gripping the other tightly, blood soaked a thin strip of cloth that was tightly bound around it.

"Would you take over on the car while I go clean up this, she's leaking oil and radiator fluid over the floor." Vash winced a little at the wound, but nodded.

"Sure, I'll go patch her up for you, how'd you do that?"

"A bolt head sheered of while I was loosening it with a wrench, made my hand slip and get caught on that broken crank shaft.

"Ouch." Knives nodded and entered the house as Vash left. He went into the back hall and up the stairs. He winced as he bit down on the edge of the old rag, grabbed the other end and pulled the makeshift bandage tighter. The blood flow slowed a little but didn't stop although as the white cloth began to turn a deeper shade of red. As he approached the bathroom door he could hear someone moving on the other side. He hesitated, considered knocking when he heard a cough, the muffled sound of someone retching. He pushed the door open, and saw Eliana sitting on the floor, one hand clutching the rim of the toilet, head hanging over the edge. The smell of vomit hit him as he opened the door, it was a smell he was all too familiar with. She didn't look up as he entered and crossed the skin nearby. He turned on the water and unwound the improvised bandage. He flinched a little as the water came out colder than expected and gushed into the wound.

Behind him she wretched again, he heard the vomit splash into the toilet water and the girl cough for lack of breath. He turned off the water and inspected the gash in his hand, it was clean, roughly two inches long, and around a quarter deep. Stitches he decided were the best prognosis. Taking a fresh strip of bandage from the cupboard, and an antiseptic pad. Placing the pad over the wound, he began wrapping the bandage around it tightly several times. Once he was done he pulled it tight and tied the knot in the bandage to keep it secure. Taking a seat on the edge of the bath he looked down at her.

"Why did you throw up?"

"I didn't want to." She moaned. Unsure if there was anything else coming or not. "I just couldn't keep it down."

"You didn't make yourself do it."

"No." She snapped trying to whirl on him, and immediately regretting it, her world spun, she felt dizzy and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she was sitting on the toilet seat, she could feel that Knives had two fingers to her forehead and that he quickly removed them once she opened her eyes.

"You don't have a fever." He said taking his seat on the edge of the bath again. "So unless it was my brothers cooking, which hasn't killed me yet, you're most likely suffering from somatization." She looked at him, eyebrows raised, looking rather bemused.

"You're anxious. Your body can react to this in a number of ways, in your case the fact that your stomach is upset."

"And that means?" She exasperated.

"That you're vomiting was purely psychological, you were so worried and reeling from the shock you received that your body didn't know what to do, and so basically it rejected the food you had just eaten."

"So, is this Somatranization."

"Somatization." He corrected. She looked at him for a moment then turned pale, well a slightly paler shade than she already was.

"I'm gonna throw up again." She moaned and shifted so she fell to the floor, lifting the lid she threw up again. Knives looked down at her.

"Its true that things aren't what you first thought they were, but this is what they are, worrying is only going to make to feel worse, or at best not any better than you feel now. If you stop worrying the sick feeling will go away."

"It will?"

"Yes, you need to accept things and move on, make a step forward and you'll feel better for it in the long run."

"Yeah, maybe." She shifted up onto toilet seat again, putting the lid down to cover the smell of the vomit. And wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve.

"You ready to leave?" She shook her head a little.

"Not yet."

"That's okay." There was a small moment of silence as she looked around the room, and tired not to think about what had happened in the past couple of months. Before she settled on Knives hand. The blood had seeped through the layers of bandage and a small red spot had appeared over where the wound was.

"What happened to your hand?" He looked at it for a moment as if he was wondering himself.

"A bolt sheered while I was fixing the old car, my hand got cut up on the broken crank shaft."

"Ah right, did it hurt."

"Not much, its nothing compared to being shot."

"Yeah..."

"You ready now." She nodded.

"I think so."

"Good. I've got to go stitch this cut up, Will you be okay."

"Sure." She flushed the toilet as Knives got up.

"Erm, could we not motion this to Vash, he's worried about me enough as it is." Knives frowned for a second, but nodded.

"Yeah, I won't tell him"

"Thanks." He left the room, and she could here is footsteps echo down the hall. Making sure all the vomit had been flushed away she left the room as well, shutting the door behind her, she went to her own room, slumping on the bed as she got in the door. For the first time in several days she didn't curl up and cry. She sat up after a while the door opened and Knives came in.

"Here I thought you might enjoy this." He handed her a old leather bound book, Emboldened onto the cover were the words '...'. She took and turned the book over in her hands.

"Look's old."

"It is, be careful with it."

"I will, and thanks." She smiled.

"That's alright. Oh, Vash say's goodnight."

"Okay, g'night Knives." He left closing the door behind him as she laid back and began to read.