Author's burbling: Yes, Chapter Seven is at the end of this babble. But first the thankies. Inherently to reviewers. Bless you all. 'Specially you repeaters. You know who you are. And yes, Ten, here is your mention and dankies. Good job someone noticed. I hope everyone liked the Galahs and Mister Archies!
;here is the Disclaimer. It is standard.
Chapter seven: Confrontation
"Fifteen."
'I can…'"Hit me."
'I can hear…'"Twenty one, darling."
'Voices…'"OH YEAH! I AM SO GOOD AT THIS!"
Meryl stirred, a loud, raucous male voice pulling her roughly to consciousness. She blinked her eyes open. It was evening. Meryl found she was laying in a very comfy bed in what she assumed was a hospital wing.
"Honestly," she heard a second, more assertive, male voice speak from the end of the ward. "All your winnings have been nothing but dumb luck."
"I'll make you eat your words, Knives! Deal, Mrs. Stryfe!" Meryl propped herself up onto the cottony soft pillows behind her. She looked to where the voices were issuing from, her vision slightly blurred. It appeared that four people were sitting bent over at a coffee table.
"No, don't deal, Mrs. Stryfe. This bores me."
"Let's play mahjong!" chirped a giddy feminine voice. 'Milly?' Meryl wondered.
"Mah-what?" blurted the first male. Meryl rubbed her fists into her eyes, clearing her vision. She focused and saw Vash, Milly, Knives and her mother all playing Blackjack.
"Mahjo—" Milly suddenly noticed Meryl's upright form. "Meryl! Oh good, you're awake!" she exclaimed, her eyes alight with a warm smile. Vash pivoted in his chair and gazed at Meryl. Meryl was silent, her mouth slightly open, as Vash held her gaze in his.
"Oh, sweet pea, thank goodness you're awake!" cried Meryl's mother, getting up and sidling over to her daughter. She hugged Meryl tight. "I was so worried about you, peach tree!"
"Wha…what happened?" Meryl croaked through her mother's iron grasp.
"It was so scary, darling, so scary! You just sort of…keeled over, sweet pea!" her mother crooned. "I didn't know what else to do, so I got you to the hospital as soon as possible."
"And?" Meryl said.
"I thought the bubby wanted to get out! But everything was fine." Meryl frowned at her mother's verbal blatancy, blushing and trying not to look at Vash.
"I see," she mumbled, not wanting to press the subject and receive further embarrassment from her mother.
"How are you feeling, miss Meryl?" Knives inquired, an unreadable expression crossing his features. Meryl felt slightly cold as she found his eyes.
"Fine," she said quietly.
"You were out for a few days, actually, Meryl," said Milly, who was now seated beside Meryl's knees. Meryl looked up at her. What a warming sight she was, in Meryl's new world of stress and uncertainty. In the few days since their separation, Meryl had greatly missed her friend and the safety she felt in Milly's company.
"Was I?" Meryl gave Milly a gratified smile. Milly beamed back at her, perceiving what Meryl was feeling.
"You were." And they all sat in silence for a moment or two.
"Well, it's getting near teatime, everyone," Meryl's mother announced. "So, I think I'll just pop out the door and get some takeaway or something, sweeties."
"Oh, I'll come with you!" Milly offered.
"Thank you so much, darling." Milly glanced at Knives and Knives to Vash. Vash's eyes darted elsewhere, his lips sewn. Meryl scrutinized him from her place on her bed. Knives looked at Milly and read the look on her impish face.
"I shall come as well," he said jadedly. Vash looked nervously about him.
"Me too," he mumbled.
"Oh no, Mister Vash," Milly cried. "We can't just leave Meryl here all alone!" she pointed out. Obviously she had devilishly planned this beforehand.
"Well…" Vash paused, mulling over. "Well, why don't you stay?" he offered.
"Oh no! I want to go get some pudding!" Milly moaned. "And besides, me and Mister Knives volunteered first!" She gave him a grin with underlying wickedness. Vash cast hopelessly about before suppressing a sigh and murmuring a simple: "Okay."
"Good!" Meryl chipped, bouncing over to Knives, grabbing his wrist and sweeping him out into the hall. Meryl's mother followed, somewhat bemused by the others' antics.
"Oh," she said, poking her head back in the doorway. "Darling, is there anything I can get you?" she asked Meryl. "Anything you…er…need?" she added with a titter.
Meryl thought for a moment. Was there anything she craved? She looked absently at Vash, frozen tensely in his chair.
"Yes," said Meryl, glancing back at her mother. "Get me some donuts."
Vash's ears pricked up and he looked furtively at Meryl, his hands clasping eagerly over the wicker of his chair. Meryl furrowed her brow at him, conveying a threat that he wouldn't receive a single one.
Her mother nodded and smiled. "Okay, sweetie." She left. Meryl stared at Vash, feeling her left hand duck below the covers. Vash gulped and slowly rose from his chair.
"Uh…hi," he said feebly, raising a hand. Meryl gave him a strange nod in response. 'Why so reserved?' she wondered.
"Hi," Meryl said. "So…how long have you been here?" she asked. Something suddenly struck her with momentous force. "No. Uh…what are you doing here?"
"Talking to you?" Vash paced forward.
"Well, of course you're talking to me," Meryl expressed with odd hostility. No doubt she had missed Vash enough to give him a verbal punch. "What I mean is…Why are you here?"
"That's not a very nice way of putting it," Vash stated, taking a seat on the side of Meryl's bunk. "Well, after you left, I felt very…weird," he said.
"Weird? How so?"
"I couldn't shake this feeling that you weren't gonna be exactly safe," he said gently.
'How perceptive,' Meryl thought.
"So you came after me?" she asked. She received a nod. "But how did you find me?" she continued, a little perplexed.
"First, of course, I went to your insurance society," Vash said, shifting into a cross-legged position, his jeans constricting slightly around his knees.
"Oh dear," said Meryl with a dismal laugh. "I hope no-one recognized you." The sides of Vash's mouth twitched into an uneasy grin.
"Actually…some freaky colleagues of yours chased me halfway down the street," he said.
"Oh god," Meryl gloomed, smacking her forehead into her palm. Vash chuckled.
"So I figured that since I hadn't seen you drive out of Bernardelli, you would still be here."
'Very perceptive,' Meryl thought again, her pupils widening slightly. "That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say," she exclaimed.
"Heeey!" Vash growled, folding his arms. "Anyway, to cut a long story short, I eventually found your mum's house and…" he hesitated, a sad look blighting his features.
"Yes?" Meryl coaxed.
"And there you were…just laying unconscious on the floor," Vash breathed.
"Oh," Meryl whispered. "…Sorry."
"You shouldn't be. It wasn't really your fault. Anyway, it was a good thing I got there in time. Your mum was panicking, I can tell you," Vash said. "Your mum's pretty cool, by the way," he added, laughing.
"She embarrasses me," Meryl said with a subsequent flush. "Anyway," she said in a stiff voice, the way people speak when they specify that they wish to move on to a less irritating topic. "How come Milly and…" she hesitated, feeling the trademark chill of Knives name. "…Mister Knives came too?"
"Ah. Well…I know you don't trust Knives and so I knew you wouldn't have liked him being alone with Milly. Neither would I, matter of fact."
'Very, very perceptive.'
There was a small silence. Vash leant forward and kissed Meryl's cheek, taking her hand up in his.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Vash whispered, keeping his face close to Meryl's. Meryl allowed herself a smile and instinctively gave Vash a wallop up the face.
"Yow! What was that for?" he bleated, springing back away from her.
"Why? Are you saying we're not close enough for me to be able to smack you without a reason?" Meryl asked, plastering a look of mock melancholy on her face.
"You're a naughty, little insurance girl!" Vash spat, returning sarcasm. "A 'spank' would be better." Meryl flushed.
"You're a big, horny idiot!" she screamed, the cynicism gone from her tone. She threw Vash a cremating look and a pillow. Vash caught the pillow and giggled stupidly, carefully tackling Meryl backwards onto the remaining pillow and kissing her firmly on the lips. Meryl went a shade funny of mahogany. She looked up into Vash's turquoise-y green eyes and gave back his kiss. 'Now!' Meryl's mind growled. She would. She had to ask him. "Vash?" she whispered, clinging onto his soft neck.
"Yeah?" he murmured.
"You need to tell me something," Meryl said decisively. "You need to tell me about this." She held up her hand, demonstrating the silver ring with the scintillating diamond. Vash stared at it for a moment, no clear expression on his face. Meryl perused him and knotted her brow. "Well?" she prodded. Vash's gaze shifted.
"Well…" he began tensely. "Okay. I know what you're thinking. Yes…it was me."
"When?" Meryl posed.
"The night before you left."
"I see." Meryl paused for a moment, sighing. "You should have woken me!" she warned.
"I know…" Vash pulled up away from her, leaning back on his heels.
"Vash, why do you keep doing things behind my back?" Meryl sighed, propping herself back up onto the pillow.
"What things? I don't do things behind your back!" Vash retorted.
"Yes! You do!" Meryl snarled.
"No, I don't!"
"You do!"
"DON'T!" Vash yelled aberrantly. Meryl recoiled. Why was Vash being so damn defensive?
"S-sorry…" Vash mumbled.
"Right," Meryl said tersely. She crossed her arms. "Anyway, was this inside that box of 'stuff' that you were hiding from me?" she inquired, curtly shoving the ring in Vash's face again.
"Yes. No—I wasn't hiding anything!" Vash growled.
"You were, Vash!"
"I wasnnnnn't," he replied, resorting to whining.
"You were, darn you! And you've been hiding other things besides that!" Meryl's eyes began to ache.
"Like what?" Vash said hotly.
"Like you don't even tell me where you go when you leave the house! And when I ask you, you just change the subject!"
"So what? I don't tell Milly or Knives," Vash pointed out tetchily.
"That's got no relevance whatsoever!" Meryl hissed.
"Fine."
"And you never just 'talk' to me anymore."
"We never talked, anyway," Vash grumbled.
"Then tell me why," Meryl said faintly. Vash looked at her. "Tell me why you can't just talk to me now!" Vash threw his gaze to the floor.
"I just…can't, okay?" he muttered.
"Vash," Meryl whimpered.
"Not yet."
Meryl sighed. She suddenly felt very angry with Vash.
"Then why shouldn't I believe that you aren't being faithful to me?" she demanded.
"Because I love you!" Vash blurted with an almost pleading look.
"Then act like it!" Meryl bellowed, shooting Vash a livid expression. Vash was silent.
"Fine," Meryl continued.
"Fine," she repeated. "If you're not going to talk to me. Then I'm not going to talk you."
"Meryyyl," Vash groused.
"Get out," Meryl replied impertinently.
"But—"
"GET OUT NOW!" she shrieked furiously with a look of wrath that could petrify. Vash stared, his brows raised in alarm. He paused a moment or two, unable to act, then gently edged off the bed. He stared at Meryl's flaming eyes for a moment then sashayed quietly out into the hallway, without a backward glance. Meryl sighed, looking away out the window into the moonlit street. She sighed again, deeply. She curled up and hugged her knees. As she leaned her head on her knees, her plaid nightclothes began to moisten. She let out as tiny sobs as her sorrow would allow, tears streaming free down her cheeks, and she bothered not to wipe them away. Footsteps resonated against the walls as Meryl heard Vash exit the building and then she let out a great wail.
Meryl clapped her hands over her eyes and sobbed harder. Never had she cried so much in her whole life. She slouched back onto her pillow and hid her face, curling up sideways into a fetal position and snuggling back below the covers. Why did such stressful things have to happen to her all the time?
Eventually the tears subsided and she collected herself enough to try and forget her woes. She shut her eyes and attempted to sleep but instead found herself cogitating how strange it felt to be in a single bed. She had never realized how cold a solitary bed could be. She remembered how warm and cosy and snug she had felt just lying next to Vash. The thought made her cry again.
For the remainder of the night, it was beyond Meryl's powers of description how much she wanted her Mister Archibald.
I wonder...Was there something different about this chapter?