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

Chapter42: Knives' POV
The trip from his hidden home to Maran went faster than the first half of the journey. There was only one town on the way, and their stop there was brief, lasting only a couple of days for them to deal with everything. He had made sure to pack plenty of money into his saddle bag, and the lizaeri had made sure to pack plenty of fresh foods as well. He had considered taking the hover, but decided he better not. Besides that Hassaar and Eza had already informed him it would be needed to bring supplies to wherever they were going to build.

Since Vash's agreement with the judge was for seven plants and he had worked on five already, it was decided that he would head to the city of December and repair the plant there. If he also managed to stop at Chapels orphanage, well that was probably on his agenda too. Temper was planning on going with him, but at this point Knives did not know if he wanted to go or not. It would depend on whether blue-eyes went or not.

Blue-eyes, well that was a completely difficult subject for him to consider, he can almost see the changes in her even though they are barely physical. The calm that she had as a spider seemed to have been strengthen, and she was able to use it to calm those around her down. Past that, she was now beginning to show. Her stomach was curving in a way that caught his attention when he would see her without her heavy travel cloak. He still was not sure what was happening there. However, after a long discussion with Dai shortly before they left, he had finally admitted that he found her somewhat physically appealing.

It was night when they reached the town, and he was surprised to see how dead it was, sure temper had said it was small, but this seemed tiny even by spider standards. Maran had a sheriff's office, a two-bulb plant, a general store, bakery, and cloth store as far as he could tell. It also had three inn-bar combinations. The second of which we had chosen to stay at since it was the only one with three separate sleeping areas. While Vash and temper preferred to share a sleeping area, he was nowhere near comfortable doing the same thing with blue-eyes.

Maybe now would be a good time to start getting comfortable with her, he thinks. Of course first I have to discover whether she has any interest, her mind has been surprisingly quiet as her body changes. At thirteen weeks pregnant, he got more impressions from her child than he did from her, though sometimes he thought he got the impression of two, not one. Despite that, he had not tried to ask if he could check her, instead leaving her in temper's seemingly capable hands.

He had also decided that it was in his best interest to allow temper and blue-eyes to be the ones dealing with the spiders. It kept the chances of his own temper from rising to the surface since most humans annoyed him greatly, particularly when their minds were so loud that it was impossible not to hear them.

Vash's POV
They were finally in Maran, he thought to himself as they found an inn to sleep at. That meant the majority of their traveling was done. Meryl and him had decided to make a trip to December for his last required plant repair. It would also give him a chance to check on the orphanage and make sure Wolfwood had been properly buried as he had requested. It was not a journey he was looking forward to, but the journey back would be one he eagerly awaited. He would have a home to come back to, it was a wonderful thing.

The lizaeri Hassaar and Eza had insisted on sending proper supplies to them, and were waiting for communications from us to let them know where we had settled. According to them, not only was a lizaeri building team coming with supplies and the ability to make the house wherever they settled, a memousi settling group would be coming as well in order to create a water system much like the outside of his ship.

He was of two different views on that idea. A large part of him was overjoyed at the idea of the help and the fresh foods that would come with them helping to accomplish setting up their home sooner than later. Another part of him was nervous of having a bunch of mouse-people live in the ground beneath and around his home. For some reason that just seemed like an odd idea. It did not help that he knew both races were not fond of humans, so he was hoping that they were not going to intentionally cause problems for the humans nearby though Knives had reassured him they would not.

Personally, he was hoping that they could find an already built house or complex that had been abandoned because its plant had stopped working. Depending on why it stopped, he would probably be able to fix it. From there, they would be able to repair their home to what they want without having to start from scratch. That would be a lovely thing. While he knew that Dai, Rena, and Amber would not be coming here, it was possible that there were other bulbs that needed to be found in the desert that they could bring in as well if there was a pasted away plant.

As they bid goodnight to Milly and Knives, the two of them tucked themselves into their rented room for the night, smiling about the fact that they were alone again.

Perching on the edge of the bed, his short girl smiles at him commenting, "Well we are finally here, do we want to take a day to rest or start our search for a home tomorrow?"

Shrugging off his coat, he throws it over the dresser, blushing as her eyes carefully run his body. She seems to take great pleasure in watching him disrobe, at times it makes him highly self conscious because he had retained most of the scars on the surface of his skin. "I say we take a day to relax," he answers her eventually, still blushing at her frank enjoyment of watching him.

Sitting on the bed he takes off his boots, slipping them to the side of the bed. About that time a mischievous grin curls her lips as she shifts where she is sitting so that she is right next to him. Her slender hand lifts his newly grown one, gently playing brushing her fingers over the delicate skin. He had not yet developed the callous' from use on it yet.

Suppressing a shudder, he smiles at her, leaning down to kiss her. He's not worried about his armor because he knows she'll help him out of it here in a bit. Even though they had been together just a little over a month, he still was nervous with her at times. By now he was pretty certain that she did not mind his scars and body, but after his sisters had made some alterations to it, they had only had the one night alone and he wasn't completely sure that she was okay with it. Of course, why wouldn't she be okay with it? He wonders to himself as she kisses him back. Soon all thoughts were long gone because she was determine to show him her appreciation of his body.

Milly's POV
Traveling sucks, she thinks to herself as she gets comfortable in her room, I don't want to travel for a very long while. The little lizard people said that they were going to come to help build our new home, I wonder why when they don't like most humans? Is it because of Mr. Knives that they wish to help? Shaking her head, she sighs stretching out on her bed. Mr. Knives seems to have become a better person in the weeks since he joined us. He no longer snarls at Meryl and me, he no longer goes on about evil spiders, he's been helping out around the camp. Yes, indeed, he has changed over the last few weeks. Hopefully he continues to change in a positive way.

The one thing she had noticed though was his eyes seemed to stick with her more than they did the other two. Sometimes it was a protective look, but more often than not it was the same type of look Nick would give her when he thought she wasn't paying attention. At one point that would have bothered her, but now after getting to know him a little better it did not. She was still a bit frustrated over the fact he was the main reason Nick was dead, but she had not been lying when she told him she forgave him for that. She really had forgiven him.

Staring at her ceiling, she drifts off to sleep with thoughts of little dark haired boy playing with other children. Humming, she hopes her own little one can hear her sing and enjoy it the same way the other plants do.

Authors Note: Hi all, my laptop is refusing to charge so I finished this chapter up to submit before I gave it over to the computer guy to fix. Hopefully it will be resolved in a quick manner, otherwise, new chapters will be written as I can get my hands on a computer, still R&R I promise to respond when I get a chance.