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

Chapter 26: Meryl's POV
Most of her shift went quickly, it was actually nearing the end of her shift when the group walked in. As soon as she notices them, her attention skims over them and she grins to herself. Ethan is part of the group, the rest of them are his federal guards. Waving the other waitress away, she grabs her ordering booklet and walks over to the group as they sit down. One of the guards gets in her way, and she rolls her eyes stepping around them.

"Hello Ethan," she greets him as she ignores the protesting guard.

"Meryl?" he questions, glancing at her. "My god, you haven't changed a bit. Well this saves me tracking you down in the morning."

She smiles, "Well what do you want to drink? My shift is done in half hour. We can talk then if that works for you."

He smirks, "Something cold, preferably not beer, and that will work fine, should I expect you to evict most my guards?"

She shrugs, smirking back, "They can go sit on the other side of the room while we talk, I'll be right back with you whiskey."

He nods, his smirk turning into a smile, "Alright, I will be here."

She returns to doing her work for the last half hour, including getting his drink. Once she is done with her shift, she clocks out, and joins him. When one of his guards starts to protest he waves them away. All of the guards but one move on to the other side of the bar, his secretary also stays with him.

"So you forwarded me a massively large file on one Vash the Stampede, including an entire host of evidence as to why the bounty should be revoked, affidavits from various people who he has saved, and the appeal paperwork." He pauses to take a drink, "anyone else sending me that much paperwork would either be ignored or thrown in jail for being annoying. However I am sure that you have a perfectly good reason for all that annoying paperwork when a simple letter giving me an overview would have done the trick."

She chuckles, drinking the soda that she had grabbed before replying, "This way if one of the other judges ever did review the file for some reason they cannot say the papers aren't there. I did include a letter that covered everything in the very beginning of the file."

He glances over at his assistant, raising an eyebrow in question. The assistant flushes, dropping her gaze down. He just sighs in response.

"Well are you sure of your paperwork? Of him?"

She nods, "Very sure, I spent one year tracking him, another two years compiling the information, and then I took the time to find out why before I sent it on. Do you want a run through everything?"

He shakes his head, "No, I only have one question about it all, July, was it intentional?"

She shakes her head, "It was not, Legato, who there is in another file included in the Vash files, began the reaction, it was through Vash's actions that the people survived rather than died as Legato had planned."

"Eda, get me the entire collection of bounty with drawl papers I had you draw up," he tells her as he finishes his drink. Once his assistant is out of hearing range he comments, "So when do I get to meet him? Not only did you do lots of boring paperwork, but you also wanted to be around him and not just the adrenaline junky in you either. There must be an attraction. I am going to bet it's fairly new though, because otherwise you would not be being patient with me."

Downing her soda she turns to face him replying, "It's really simple Ethan, while we're talking about work we are not talking about our personal lives."

He smiles, nodding, "Alright, we can talk about it after she comes back with the paper work. Now I did include that he would have to pay a fine or do a service in order to pay for his part of destroying countless cities, even if it was by the accident of being chased by bounty hunters. In your paperwork you included a detail on the ability to work with the plants. Were you being serious?"

Shaking her head, she smiles, "Yes, a family skill of his, which I am sure he would have already applied if not for the fact he does not like them damaged, and bounty hunters can be asses."

"Well, seven plants either repaired or upgrade in the next seven years. If at the end of that seven years it's not done, the bounty goes back." He informs her after a few minutes hesitation.

She smirks at him, nodding, "Easily done. Well then, I need to get home, I have no clue if he cooks, that's normally something I do."

As she stands he does as well, and chuckles at her, "Still like to cook then? Well some things never change, so when do I get to meet him?"

Turning to walk away, she flashes a smile at him, replying, "First house when you enter town. One guard only, I don't need a headache in the morning, after breakfast, bring donuts."

He grins, "Any particular type of donuts?"

Shaking her head she says nope as she walks out the door. Humming to herself she heads home in order to make dinner. When she first gets there she says hi to everyone before heading in the kitchen to start cooking. As she cooks, Milly comes in the kitchen to visit with her. Apparently, she had finished the second well today so she was now done with the work that she had been hired to do, she could pick up her pay in the morning. Once dinner is done she calls the guys in to eat.

As the four of them eat dinner together, they chat about their respective days. Vash had enjoyed his time playing with the town's children. Knives had spent his time relaxing on the roof thinking. Milly had finished her project and was happy about it. Meryl had a good night at work. After dinner, she lets Milly clean up.

After taking a hot bath in the back bedroom bathroom, she decides to lounge on the bed and wait for Vash. While she is waiting she reviews the papers, making notes accordingly. There are is only two things that Ethan needs to revise. When she is done, she sets the papers on the table next to the bed. Not long afterwards he joins her. Stretching out beside her on the bed, he props his head on his hands, watching her.

"Hey," he murmurs smiling.

She smiles back, stretching out beside him, "Hey," she replies, laying her head against his shoulder. "Ethan Ulem, the judge, got in to town this afternoon. He'll be stopping by tomorrow after breakfast with donuts in hand. I've known him for years. The paperwork is over there, most of it is correct, though there are two things that will need to be fixed. As of this minute you are no longer a wanted man, you're free to do pretty much anything you want."

He shifts so they are looking at each other. He seems to be studying her face, trying to determine if she is joking or not. She smiles at him, reaching up to brush his hair away from his face.

"Are you serious?" he finally asks, a type of longing in his tone.

Nodding, she replies, "I am, I have even went over the paperwork, two things needs fixed, otherwise everything is in order."

Shocked, he lays back and stares at the ceiling. She can almost see the shock and fear running across his face. If she was a telepath, she would bet that she would be hearing him go through an entire list of internal problems and fears.

"Vash," she murmurs, as she leans over so she can look him in the face, his glance flickers to her and away, there is fear in his beautiful eyes. "I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to, and even then I will be stubborn about it. I am sorry if I over stepped by sending the paperwork in, I just figured you might like not having bounty hunters being annoying. You've grumbled about it often enough in the past."

His focus comes back to her, still softly smiling at him. "I just never expected it to work," he mutters in response.

Leaning down she brushes her lips against his, grinning when he takes a sudden deep breath. Snuggling up next to him, she wraps an arm around him while her other tucks beneath her. When his arms surround her in a hug she is sure everything will be okay. That's how they eventually drift off to sleep with her curled against his side and pressed against him, and his arms holding her close.