From afar, Meryl watched as Vash fell. Her eyes widened as she noticed something about his size land on top of him...something he had been carrying. She squinted to try and make it out. It didn't look like the Punisher Cross he had left with, but more like another man. Vash had carried someone over his shoulder the entire trek back, all the while on foot?

It occurred to her that he would need her help. Every thought in her brain was backing up. She realized how naked she felt with her limited attire and no guns. Never mind that, she thought.

Breaking into a run, she raced to the edge of town.

There he was, lying on the ground in the sand. The person she had seen him topple over with was a man bearing a striking resemblance to Vash. This must be Knives, she reasoned. But why on earth would Vash have brought him back to endanger more people?

Pushing those thoughts aside, she dropped to her knees next to Vash, gently guiding his head up onto her lap. She pushed his brother over onto the sand, mindful to not hurt him. Tenderly opening one of his eye lids with her thumb and forefinger, she tentatively peered into the aqua depths. They looked tired and glassy from dehydration, unaware of anything.

"Oh, Vash."

Everything had gone so quick. She hadn't even had a chance to realize that he was back!

Stronger than she looked, she worked on pulling more of him upon her lap, and hugging him tight, wondering if she'd ever be able to let go. In a sudden outburst of emotion, she broke into tears and began to smile, pressing her face into his limp, sweaty hair. His perfectly gelled spikes had long expired from the heat. He stirred a little, one eye opening slowly to look at her.

Lifting up his arm, he brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face.

Gasping in relief, she let her questions spill out:

"Vash? Can you hear me? Are you hurt? Can you move you legs-"

His first and only delirious thought was to figure out why Meryl was crying. And then stop it. The best way, his mind reasoned, was to silence the short woman. Painfully scooting up on one elbow, he leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth, then pressed his forehead to hers.

"Why...why don't you get Milly. She can carry Knives. He...he needs a doctor. Dontlethimhurtanybody...."

Exhausted by the effort of speaking, He once more passed out.

***

He was standing in the control room of the SEEDS ship. No machinery hummed, no people spoke. The place was deserted and cold.

Panicked, he looked out of a nearby porthole. Black. Empty, black space.

Then footsteps.

Coming closer.

His eyes widened as he looked up and down the main console for somewhere to tuck away. But there was nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run.

Footfalls getting louder.

Backing into a corner, he began to whimper, unable to close his terrified eyes.

As the person rounded the corner, every muscle in his body went slack. It was only Rem!

"Rem!"

But as the words left his mouth, he suddenly knew that something was wrong. She looked like herself...but it wasn't her. Her pupils widened to encompass her whole eyes. Then they went jet black, a demented smile on her lips. Her mouth opened, and she spoke. It was not her own sweet voice, but his brothers.

"You KILLED me!"

"KNIVES! NO!"

***

Vash sat bolt upright in bed, clutching at his head and bandaged shoulder in pain.

The first thing he noticed was Meryl sitting at his bedside. She had a perplexed and frightened look on her face.

"Vash? What is it? You-"

He swiftly cut her off.

"Is he ok? Is Knives ok? I didn't kill him, did I? She wouldn't have wanted that! Oh god, tell me that I didn't KILL HIM!?"

Her features relaxed slightly, but retained a worried expression. "He'll be ok. Don't worry, you didn't kill him. He's downstairs on the couch...he hasn't come around yet, but the doctor said he wouldn't, for a few days at least."

She paused and looked at the man sitting on the bed. He looked like a frightened child.

"I---we were worried about you."

She paused again, wishing he would say something, intensely curious, but not wanting to pry. After a few seconds of silence, her curiosity got the better of her. "What was your dream--"

"My Mother," He interrupted. He paused with the pain. "I dreamt about my mother. Knives..." He swallowed and closed his eyes. "Knives killed her."

Meryl's eyes went wide and sympathetic at the facts she already knew. He had told her about Rem, and about what Knives had done before, that had been when he had asked her not to follow him. When she had first discovered who Knives really was. It was her main reason she feared the blond man in the living room, and avoided him at all costs. "I'm...I'm so sorry", was all she could think to say.

"She loved Knives; She wouldn't have wanted me to kill him."

He looked down at his prosthetic arm.

"So I didn't."

Feeling awkward, Meryl came over and sat by his feet on the bed. "You did the right thing, Vash."

They both looked down at their hands, an uncomfortable silence between them.

Gradually a puzzled look appeared on his face. "How long have I been back?", He asked.

"What exactly happened? And, come to think of it-", -Here he looked at down at himself- "Where're my clothes?"

At the three questions, Meryl started to feel the old urge to club him in the head creep up on her, but resisted.

"They're downstairs. In the living room, with your brother."

"Oh. Back up- We're in a house? Whose?" He didn't recognize it as the one he had left some weeks earlier.

"Well...technically my name is on the deed, but Milly paid for it, mostly. Oh, she struck water, by the way. And then we had quite a bit of extra money...so here we are." She fiddled with the bow on her shirt.

"We both agreed that you should have this room." She bit her lip. "That is, if you want to stay now." She felt a strange sense of deja-vu as she said that, and she knew she had said it before, right before he had left. 'See how far that got me', She thought to herself.

"I don't know yet." He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, wondering who had dressed him into his pajamas. Cracking his neck, he muttered something about seeing his brother, and slid off the bed. "On second thought," He asked, "Where's the bathroom?"

***

Milly pulled the thermometer out of her sleeping patient's mouth and stared at it for a full minute. Satisfied, she laid it down on the coffee table, and sat in a nearby chair. Opening up the local newspaper, she began to talk at the slumbering invalid.

"Now Mr. Knives, let me read you some of today's news since you've kinda been out of touch with the real world lately. Oooh, let me see here..."

"Sand-steamer holdup, 3 towns over! Locals say it's the worst robbery they've had in years!"

"That sounds exciting." Sighing, she set down her paper and gazed out the window.

"Mr Knives, it's really nice to lead a normal life for once. But I for one, really miss using my gun. When every thing's so peaceful and nice, I start to think, and that doesn't make me very happy. I don't like to think bout things like Miss Meryl does. She likes to think about - MISTER VASH!"

One look at the man on the landing, and Milly jumped up from her chair, scattering the newspapers all over the floor. More agile than she looked, she swooped over to where Vash was standing, and proceeded to give him a bone-crushingly big hug.

After a few seconds of torture, she released him.

"We've been worried SICK about you! We thought you'd never wake up!"

He just rubbed the back of his head and smiled at Milly, not saying anything. "I suppose you want to see Mister Knives, huh?" He nodded and strode past her down the stars to the living room.

Seeing his brother like that was hard. His hair was messy and damp, with a light sheen of sweat covering his face.

"A doctor's been here?", He asked.

"Oh, yeah! Don't worry, he'll be okay." Somehow, Vash didn't look particularly worried.

"Vash, you must be starved." Meryl had descended the flight of stairs, and was heading for the kitchen. After one last glance at his brother, he followed quietly behind her into the kitchen.

Milly, discerning person that she was, kept out.

***