Hey everyone. Long time, no write. I hope this is to everyone's liking. Bad-ass Vash certainly got a response out of you guys. I hope some of you are still around to finish the story. I'm thinking after this there will be two or three more chapters.

Vash walked to the back of the house, stumbled out the door, supported himself against the wall, and proceeded to vomit.

He'd never said anything remotely like that in his entire life.

He stood there a moment with his eyes closed and tried to collect himself. The moment he saw Meryl with a gun pointed at Knives, he'd snapped. He'd lost too much to stand by idly once again while his brother took something else away from him. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and got a hold of himself.

He walked back to the front porch and saw Meryl sitting on the steps. He sat down beside her.

"Are you ok?" He looked at her as she stared at something on the horizon.

"Yeah, I'm ok." She looked shaken, but not hurt.

"I'm sor—" Meryl cut him off.

"Don't apologize for him! You didn't do anything wrong." She finally looked at him. "I'm ok and you didn't do anything wrong, so don't say you're sorry." She leaned into him and he put his arm around her.

"I made it clear to him that trying anything like that again would be a mistake." Meryl snuggled closer to him and hoped to god Vash knew what he was talking about.

Knives lay in his room alone. His shoulder hurt. No one had bothered to take care of his wounds. They'd just left him there to sulk alone like some misbehaving child. All he could do was stair at the ceiling, and he'd decided long ago this wasn't an activity for a superior being. He grew angry as he thought of the harsh words his brother had imparted on him, and he grew even angrier still as he thought back to the way in which Vash relayed them. Never mind the fact that his dopey brother just might have a point; nobody spoke to him like that and got away with it. He'd lost to his brother in battle, and would not take any more abuse from him. Didn't Vash realize that all he was trying to do was save him from these horrible insects? Instead, his brother insisted on keeping these creatures as pets.

Knives was in the mood for a little distraction.

Millie was having a good day. Actually, that was an understatement. Millie was having a great day! It had started out with pudding, then coffee with Mr. Jim, then work at the job she loved. She was living in a town that felt like her old home and Meryl and Vash were finally together. She was feeling great about a lot of things.

Instead of going to work to keep her mind off of the painful thought of Wolfwood's death, she was actually beginning to come out of her shell and really enjoy what she was doing. The town literally bloomed as they worked on the well. The place was buzzing with new enthusiasm. Everyone knew it was possible to live without the plants, but they had to find resources first. This was the first step in moving away from old technology and towards the future. Instead of the dry exterior that most people presented, the people in town began to change. Everybody was filled with new hope.

Millie found that Mr. Jim was very conscientious about her emotions and he was someone she could lean on during hard times. Now that Meryl had her hands full with Vash and taking care of Knives, it was nice to have someone else to talk to. She was even starting to notice that he was actually pretty cute, but whenever she thought about that, she just laughed at herself and continued what she was doing.

She liked working with the people and making the town a better place to be. This was somewhere she could call home.

It was evening. Once again, Meryl made her way towards Knives' room. She didn't want to be on sick plant duty ever again, but she knew that if Vash went in there, he was liable to do something very un-Vash-like to his dear brother.

She mentally prepared herself before walking into the room. As she opened the door, the homicidal man in bed greeted her with a smile. It had a shade of evil to it, but given the fact that the majority of his last 130 years had been spent solely on the annihilation of the entire human species, Meryl let it slide.

Since he was now conscious, she figured introductions were in order.

"Hello. My name is Meryl. I've been taking care of you since you've been here."

Knives sneered. "So you're the one I can blame for such shoddy repair work. " He laughed to himself as he saw his brother's pet bristle with anger. He decided to leave her alone until she was finished taking care of him.

She moved to the side of his bed cautiously, but tried not to be intimidated. Vash had assured her all day long that while Knives was dangerous in many ways, he would be nothing she couldn't handle. That made her feel better earlier, but now, standing next to the hostile, bed-ridden man, she was a little less than sure of herself.

She tried to touch him as little as possible. She was all business with surgical accuracy and no dillydallying whatsoever.

When she was done with her work, she stepped back to make sure everything was in place. That's when she noticed Knives was still looking at her, and his slightly evil smile had become a definitely evil smirk. She thought of her gun, but just as she was about to reach for it, she saw a burst of feathers from Knives' shoulder as he lunged for her. She only had time for one thought to come to mind.

'Oh shit.'

A/N: Ok. Cliff-hanger. Review.