Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!

Chapter 23: Vash's POV
After dinner Meryl leaves for work, Milly cleans up in her normal way and Knives watches her. The curiosity in his gaze makes Vash wonder if this punishment from their sisters is going to end up being something more. Well that could end on a positive note, of course if something went wrong it could end on a really negative note too.

"Hey tall girl, do you need help with anything?" he asks her as he watches her buzz around the kitchen.

She stops and smiles at him, "No thank you Mr. Vash," she replies, "I enjoy simple things like this. Besides, its been the long standing deal between Meryl and me, she cooks the food, I clean up afterwards. We take turns on all other cleaning, though I end up with the trash more and she gets the laundry more often." Still smiling she goes back to work, humming the entire time.

He just shakes his head and goes outside, sitting on the porch and staring up at the sky. He does not feel like going to the bar since he knows Meryl's working there for one thing, and he doesn't actually feel like drinking the beer for another.

That sense that has told him for years when someone was nearby kicked in just as Knives take a seat next to him on the porch.

Why are you out here? He inquires, looking out over the desert and the skies above.

Vash smiles at him whimsically, "Thinking, trying to figure out what to do." He rubs a hand over his face, brushing the hair that fallen against it away. "You were always the one with a plan, not me. I just drifted, I desired a home, someone that would always want me to come back, but I never expected it to happen. So now what do I do? She's beautiful, smart, and can probably do a hell of a lot better than my broken up ass."

Knives cuffs him in the back of the head and before he can ask why he comments, "You realize that if she was the one sitting here, she would probably do the same thing. Remember I saw Temper earlier. She'll cuff you in a heartbeat if she thinks you're being stupid. You're the one who gets emotional in the sappy way, not me. The only thing my plan has been for during the last hundred years was how to get you to come back to me. You really should not be asking me for advice on keeping the person you want with you." he stops to chuckle for a minute, "my advice? Simple, don't try to force the issue, actually talk about whatever it is going through that overdriven brain, and for god's sake don't get yourself killed."

Vash starts laughing, softly at first, but it gains power as he considers the fact that his brother has a really good point. They had just spent over one-hundred years driving each other mad because of a lack of communication skills. So yeah, that was probably the best advice that Knives could give him. Still, the delivery of it could have been better.

He recognized that his self-esteem sucked. He acknowledged that he did not know the first thing about dealing with other people in a more personal way. He even admitted that he probably avoided any sort of commitment like the plague. On the same note, he had a really good reason for years. Every time he thought that it would be safe to get close to someone they had ended up in Knives targets, most were killed for just that reason and he was certain those were the lucky ones. The unlucky ones had lived with the results of it, and not a one of them had wanted him around afterwards.

Now he had Meryl. His determined Meryl who probably would have followed him to the end of the world and said it was duty when it was so much more according to her eyes. She didn't have to follow him to the end of the world, he could stay right wherever they wanted together in mostly peace, though Vash, well that name caused some issues so maybe he would have to consider changing it. He could finally have that peaceful life he had wanted so many times before but unable to reach. Of course he didn't remember the first thing about the peaceful life so that made it a little difficult.

Sighing, he rubs his face as the laughter dies in his throat. What was he going to do? The last twenty-fours had been amazing, how did one keep that type of thing going? How did one act when in the process of feeling their way through a relationship?

"You're over thinking," his irksome twin informs him. "Stop thinking so hard, you picked a determined mate, one with more guts than any other spider I have seen in a long time. I would bet money that had she realized that I was the reason you were having so many problems she would have tracked me down herself to deal with me. Probably wouldn't have got far but she sure as hell would have tried. Of course on the flip side, had she gotten help from our sisters first she might have successfully got somewhere."

Both brothers smile at each other, one in all serious annoyance and the other accepting the truth of it.

"It's been years since I used my voice this much," Knives eventually mutters.

He chuckles, replying, "This is the most that I have used telepathy in a long while. Even though the girls often sing, I don't respond a lot."

Knives shakes his head, and the two of them just sit there watching the desert. As the sun sets and the moons starts to rise, he glances at is brother, off-handily commenting, "Wherever we settle, let's make sure there is some room around it for plants. I don't like seeing all this dirt."

Vash chuckles, "Green would be nice, I miss being able to see trees and such."

As the brothers continue to sit there, they spot Meryl when she first leaves the bar. Knives unfolds himself, standing, "Don't over think, just go with the flow, even without telepathy I could almost promise that she is just as nervous as you. Only I think that she's got determination on her side." Saying nothing else he heads back in the house.

Still on the nervous side, he watches as she approaches. She really is beautiful, he thinks, small, lithe, beautiful. Knives is right, she probably would have tracked him down if she thought it would solve the problem. When she gets close, he stands, unfolding himself to wait.

"Hey," he murmurs in greeting.

She smiles at him, her lavender eyes seem to glow with happiness, "Hello," she replies stopping just in front of him and tilting her head a slight bit to look at him. "Have a good day?"

He nods, smiling back, "Indeed, it's nice not having all the problems."

For a moment they stand there, each watching the other. Eventually, he decides to hug her, after all, what's the worst that can happen? She could smack him? Stepping forward, he tentatively, reaches for her and her smile widens. Grinning, she pulls him into the hug and wraps her arms around him. Several heartbeats, later there still standing there in each others embrace.

It is a nice feeling, he decides, to be the person to get hugged when one's partner gets home. He could definitely get used to it. Now he just needs to make sure that she knows.