Chapter One: Good Morning!

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Bowe's Flats, 325 iles SSE of December

Vash bolted upright so fast he accidentally knocked Meryl flat on her back against the foot of the bed. She was barely there a moment before she, too, had sprung back up on her knees to confront her unexpected bedmate. They stared at each other in mute shock, numbly registering their mutual state of semi-undress and general disarray while their jaws fell slack. Then Vash's gaze took a noticeable dip southwards, eyes growing even wider. Meryl reflexively threw her arms across her chest.

It was then that their tongues finally reestablished a tenuous connection with their brains, Vash's slightly faster than Meryl's.

"What-!?!"

"You-?!?"

"Here-!?!"

"Together-?!?"

"When-!?!"

"How-?!?"

"Last night-!?!"

"OH!!!" they screamed together, as vague half-memories of their nocturnal reveries suddenly came rushing back. As the full impact of these thoughts with all their attendant insinuations overcame them, they lapsed back into bewildered silence, Vash now crouched on his haunches, leaning forward heavily on his arms, Meryl with hands pressed over her pale cheeks.

"Last...," began Meryl.

"... night," finished Vash.

With that hanging thickly between them in the obscure morning air, they each slumped backwards on the bed to warily regard the other. As their confusion and disbelief mounted with each passing moment, they guardedly watched each other's glowing faces, searching for something – anything – that might reveal how such a thing came to pass. A minute of impasse that felt like an eternity slipped by, when as if by Fate's hand a fragment of lucidity reached up from the pits of their churning stomachs and finally made a connection.

Then they both promptly leaned over the side of the bed and threw up.

Vash, recovering the soonest, tiredly wiped his chin with his arm as he watched Meryl heaving wretchedly beside him. He frowned worriedly as he observed her shaking form, a flood of disjointed thoughts running through his mind, wondering which of them was the safest to act on. Then as her motions subsided, he hesitatingly reached out to place his hand softly on her arm.

"Uh... you okay?"

At his touch, Meryl quickly jerked back up, one hand now firmly clamped over her mouth, the other holding the front of her blouse closed. Avoiding Vash's gaze, she almost vaulted across the bed and ran out the door without further comment.

Vash listened to her retreating steps in the hallway, staring forlornly at the open door. Finally turning away, he cupped his forehead in his hands and closed his eyes.

"Oh, man... mmmrph!"

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Meryl made her way back through the inn's corridors on a beeline for her room, almost at a run, effortlessly jumping over a man dressed in a frilly pink tutu who was passed out in the middle of a stairwell and just avoiding stepping on a stray black cat sleeping carelessly at the very top of the main landing. Feeling an increasingly pressing urgency start to overtake her, she was soon thundering down the hallway.

I'm not going to make it!

Hand still firmly clamped over mouth, she turned the last corner, very nearly running over a large person who was passed out against the wall, several empty ice cream containers nearby. Letting go of her blouse, she frantically fumbled with the doorknob, beads of sweat now breaking out along her brow.

Where are my keys?!? Where are my - oh no! I must have left them in Va-

No! I won't think... I can't go ba... Oh no oh no oh no no no!!!

"Milly!" Meryl screamed as she began to pound loudly on the door, unmindful of the disturbance she knew she would be causing the inn's other guests. "Damn it, Milly! Wake up! Please!"

No response. Meryl twisted back around, sheer desperation giving her a half-crazed look. Her glazed eyes scanned up and down the hall, covering every inch, looking for something, anything...

Like an empty ice cream container. Meryl all but threw herself on the floor to grab the nearest one when her eyes fell on the face of the unconscious person, who had apparently not been in the least disturbed by all her racket. The face of a very familiar person, actually.

"Milly?"

Milly Thompson, formidable strongwoman of the M&M duo (and voted most likely to be on permanent janitorial duty by her fellow Bernardelli employees) lay propped against the wall, a decidedly contented smile plastered across her cheery face. Meryl could just make out a dribble of chocolate in the corner of her mouth. Dropping the container, she now grabbed hold of the larger girl's blouse and began to shake her.

"Milly, please, wake up! I need to get your room key. MILLY!!!"

Her comatose partner giggled. "I'm sorry, mister, but I just don't do that sort of thing... I said I wanted pistachio nuts with my order!"

Letting go of her friend's collar, Meryl fought the urge to pull her own hair out – when Milly was like this, it would take the sound of a Sandsteamer crash to wake her up. And she was rapidly running out of time...

"Sorry, Milly, I'd wake you up to ask you first and find-out-what-the-heck-it-is-you're-doing-out-here-but this is an emergency!" Quickly rifling through her coat pockets, Meryl yanked out the key and scrambled back to the door. Finally meeting with success, she hurled herself through and slammed it shut behind her.

The loud bang succeeded where Meryl had not in rousing Milly from her stupor. Blearily gazing up at her room door, Milly blinked in momentary confusion, then smiled languidly. "Meryl?... Izzat you? Where ya been? I had the strangest dream..."

Then she promptly rolled over and threw up.

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The sun had fully risen when Vash finally made his way along the hallway, reluctantly heading in what he thought was the general direction of the dining room. Sticking his head in a basin of cold water for a half hour had not abated his nausea nor bestowed any clarity to the unsettling events of that morning. If anything, he only felt worse.

My head... I don't understand... feels like it's splitting in half. And my stomach... I've been drunk before... but I... I never... what in the world happened last night? Did I lose... no... this hangover, never felt one like it... but I couldn't have... really lost it?

Did Meryl and I ... really..?

With that disturbing thought, Vash paused in the entranceway of the cafe. He would have wished anything, even facing his own brother, than what he knew he would soon have to deal with that morning. For a moment, he seriously considered living up to his purported reputation and really act the coward. Maybe he should do like he did in the past, just head on out of town without a word? He might even catch the bus to the next settlement before the girls were even –

"Good morning, Mr. Vash!"

Milly called out cheerfully to him, in the process drawing a few annoyed glances from several of the cafe's other patrons, most of whom did not look quite as pleased to be awake. Vash saw that the two women were sitting at a table near the window well away from everyone else, and appeared to have already ordered a (largely) liquid breakfast; Milly looking little worse for wear; Meryl, decidedly ill.

Swallowing hard, Vash made his way over. Pulling out a chair, he nervously ran a hand through his spiky hair and sat down, quickly snapping up a menu and propping it open in front of his face, out of either woman's direct line of vision.

"Er... good morning, Milly... Meryl."

"Morning," she mumbled softly, not looking up.

They lapsed into silence – unusual for their group, even if it was morning – and Vash made a show of being very interested in reading the menu while Meryl stared at the street outside, ignoring her coffee growing cold on the table. Unaccustomed to the lethargic display of her companions (she was usually the slowest one in the morning) Milly glanced over the rim of her teacup between the two. She looked thoughtful as she quietly studied their faces, then setting her cup down, decided that a little conversation was in order.

"So, how did you two sleep last night?" Milly asked brightly.

That brought them around.

"HUH?!?" Vash and Meryl fairly shouted at the same time, causing several other guests to turn around and glare.

"Last night," Milly repeated patiently, pouring herself another cup from a large, green bottle labeled Wilde Thomas Olde Tyme Tea Tonic. "How did you sleep?"

"Uh..."

"Er..."

"We... that is, I-"

"Well, you see..."

"Fine, just fine, really...," Meryl finally managed to get out, in what she hoped was a casual voice.

"Yeah," Vash added quickly. "Just great! Ha, ha, ha! Couldn't be better! Ha, ha, ha! I should have more nights like tha- ...uh... ahuh, aha, ah, ha, ha, HA-!"

"Oh?" Milly looked surprised.

"Why do you ask?" Meryl interrupted, as nonchalantly as possible while drawing her foot back from where she had kicked Vash under the table.

"I was just thinking that both of you looked somehow, I don't know, different this morning."

The two visibly paled as Milly took another contemplative sip.

"D-different?" Vash stammered. "How so?"

Meryl stayed speechless.

"Well, you're both green for one thing. Aren't you feeling sick?"

They stared at Milly in disbelief, who only blinked innocently back at them, before simultaneously letting out private sighs of relief. Looking up, they accidentally caught each other's eye, and with the unspoken tension between them seemingly diffused, they began to chuckle sheepishly.

"What's so funny?" asked Milly, still watching them.

"Uh... nothing, really," said Vash, as he and Meryl both reddened slightly.

"Well, I'm happy to see that you two made up, in any case."

They stopped laughing. Made up?

Milly continued. "I'm so glad. I was really worried there for a moment. After what happened at dinner last night, I thought Meryl was going to slap you, Mr. Vash."

Slap him? Meryl was startled. I was angry with him? B-but then how…?

Meryl furrowed her brow in puzzlement. It wasn't the knowledge that she had allegedly been upset with Vash (that of itself was neither alarming nor surprising), it was that she simply couldn't recollect any of it. And what was more –

Come to think of it, I can't really remember anything at all since before… waking up this morning.

Meryl felt her heart begin to thump ominously as she shifted nervously in her chair. Questions that had been swirling around in her mind just before Vash had appeared at the table, throwing off her train of thought entirely, again clamored for her immediate attention.

I don't understand… I don't understand. This makes no sense at all!

There were two things that Meryl always prided herself on: her trust in her own senses and her belief that she could always be depended upon to act responsibly, no matter how events might spiral out of control around her, as they were often prone to in Vash's company. She was certain of this. It was the only thing that kept her relatively sane after all this time.

Last night… I only had a stupid dream. And that's ALL it was. Okay. So maybe it was a little more… detailed than the average dream. All right, just a bit more. A lot more. But It Was A Dream. And so what if that pervert was in my bed… er, in his bed… in his bedroom… that I was in. So...

Anyway, it's beside the point. It's not possible that… Of course not. Ridiculous. I know myself. And besides, I couldn't just forget doing something like... that. I'd remember. I'm sure of it...

But then why can't I really remember…?

Meryl felt her stomach churning.

NO. That can't be... I know I would never just... I wouldn't!

She snuck a covert glance at Vash.

... wouldn't I?

Unexpectedly, she felt her chest tighten.

Wouldn't I?!?

Hardly believing it possible, she felt herself grow paler.

Oh, heavens, what in the world happened last night?

Unknown to her, Vash was likewise confronting a few unpleasant thoughts of his own. Slap me? The gunman frowned. It wasn't the revelation that he had supposedly done something to anger Meryl (that was neither unusual nor particularly troubling), it was that he couldn't for the life of him remember any of it.

But there was something else...

"So Meryl was angry with me... what's strange about that?" Vash laughed carelessly, while in the back of his mind warning bells were going off.

Milly swirled her cup idly. "Actually, Mr. Vash, what surprised me was what you did to provoke her."

Eh? Vash was taken aback.

"And then you two went and made that silly bet. It really shocked me."

"Bet? What bet?" Vash blurted out before he could stop himself, as Meryl raised her head to stare intently at her friend.

Milly only looked at back Vash quizzically. "Don't you remember?"

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