DISCLAIMER: Trigun and its characters belong to Yasuhiro Nightow.

Snow Day

"Good grief, it's cold! I can't remember it ever being so cold here before!" Meryl shivered; she had on five layers and was still cold. "How'd it get so cold while we were asleep?" She scooted closer to the fireplace for warmth.

"The guy on the radio said it's something called a polar vortex," Vash said, rummaging in the closet.

"Huh? Does Gunsmoke even have poles?" Meryl wondered.

Vash shrugged. "It's a planet, I assume so. Anyway, this weather isn't entirely unprecedented. It's supposed to get this cold this time of year over in the mountains."

Meryl reached for her mug of hot cocoa, wrapping mittened hands around it and reveling in the steam rising off it. Other people could wear gloves all they wanted; if she could avoid wearing gloves in this weather, Meryl would opt for her fur mittens every time. They were much warmer, thanks.

"We're not over in the mountains," she pointed out. "We're in the flats. What are you doing, anyway?"

Vash had put on a heavy lumberjack-style coat, a dark green wool cap, purple scarf, and his heavy work gloves. He was a completely mismatched sight, having grabbed the first things he came across. Now he was rummaging in the tool closet next to the clothes closet.

"Aha!" He came out with a heavy double-edged axe. Took off the dual sheath and hefted it over his shoulder, striking a manly pose with his free hand on his hip. Meryl rolled her eyes, and he grinned.

"Going to go chop some wood," he explained. "We keep the fireplace stocked for light chills, not heavy cold. Supply'll run out quick if I don't get more."

"You're right. Good thinking, broom-head," Meryl said cheerily. Vash sulked at the use of what he considered an evil nickname. "Close the door and be safe." He started for the door. "And Vash?"

He turned back. "Yeah?"

Meryl smiled right into his eyes. "I love you."

Vash grinned. "Love you, too, Meryl." He opened the door…

"What in the blue holy hell!"

Meryl jumped and came running, mug clattering as she set it on the fireplace mantle. "What? What is it?"

Vash pointed. "Outside! What – what the hell is all that!?"

Meryl was stunned at the view. "I have no idea."

Their desert landscape, the tan and khaki colors they were so used to seeing, had been completely replaced by a blanket of white. A flat land of white, far as the eye could see.

Meryl ran to turn on the radio to find out what was going on. Vash set down his axe and cautiously stepped outside. The white stuff even covered part of their front deck. Not entirely sure what he was dealing with, he touched the white stuff with his boot. Nothing happened, so he was a little more confident as he stepped on it.

He heard the white stuff crunch underneath his boot as his leg sank into it. The white stuff came up to mid-calf. He pulled his leg out. His denim-covered leg looked wet where the white stuff had covered it, bits of the substance still on it.

Wet? He took off his right glove and put his bare hand into the white stuff, moved it around, feeling the strange substance. Squeezed it in his fist, felt it compress. Took some in his hand and brought it up. Sniffed it. Didn't smell like anything.

Licked it. It melted in his mouth, a cold, refreshing feeling.

Vash picked up his glove and ran inside. "Hey, Meryl, this stuff is made of water!"

"Snow," Meryl said. "The radio said it's called snow." She had a thick book out and was thumbing through it. "Here we go. You're right, the scientific encyclopedia says snow is made of water. Crystalline ice, actually. It looks like it forms in the clouds, and the resulting precipitation is called snow." She closed the book and set it down. "So it seems like we're having an encounter with really soft ice."

"Weird," Vash replied. "But if it's soft, I bet it can be played in." He knocked on the wall, grinning. "Can Meryl come out and play?"

"Good grief, no, Meryl cannot come out and play! It's too cold! You go play, just close the door behind you." She went back to her hot cocoa.

Vash's face fell. He sulked outside.

He was soon over his disappointment at Meryl's refusal to have fun with him when he discovered the snow was deep enough to be rolled around in. Vash had a blast playing in the snow, and discovered if he laid on his back and moved his arms and legs back and forth, the resulting impression in the snow looked like an angel. He also discovered the snow would take whatever shape he put it in; if he scooped it up in his hands and patted it, it took on a shape like a ball. Further experimentation revealed that the snow made a nice little harmless projectile. He laughed at the possibilities.

Vash was out there an hour or so, playing by himself, before Meryl came to check on him. She set foot in the snow and sank. The snow went much higher on her tiny frame than it did Vash's.

"Crying out loud!" she exploded. "I have to work tomorrow; I can't go to work in this stuff!" She hauled herself back on the deck. "Vash, you'll have to get a shovel and clear out a path for me so I can go to work tomorrow."

"On it, Meryl!" He ran inside to get a shovel.

Meryl made sure to grab his arm as he was running back out and kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you for doing this. I know you'd rather play than work."

Vash gave her an aw-shucks smile. "It's no problem. I'll be in the snow either way. Snow is really fun!"

Two weeks, later, Meryl shook him awake yet again. It had become a ritual for her to wake him early to shovel. "Vash, it snowed again last night. I need you to shovel out a path so I can go to work."

Vash reluctantly got up and got dressed. "Son of a bitch," he grumbled as he pulled on his boots. "I hate snow!"

He had just started shoveling when he heard Meryl call from the deck. "Hey, Vash!"

He turned around and was hit in the face with a snowball. Blinked his eyes in surprise. "What the hell, Meryl? I've got to get this crap out of here so you can go to work!" He turned back around to finish shoveling, and was hit in the back with another snowball.

"Meryl, will you –" He turned to chew her out, stopped when he saw her. She looked incredibly sexy in her pink winter outfit, complete witth pink hat with little pom on top and pink mittens. He also saw she was tossing a snowball in each hand, and had assembled a pile of them at her feet.

"Psych!" she grinned. "It's my day off. Today's the day we play in the snow!"

Vash wahooed at the chance to play with the woman he loved in the snow.

A ferocious snowball fight ensued that lasted several hours. As the sun rose high in the sky, they discovered other things you could do with snow, like making a snow man. They built a little snow family. They built s snow castle, which didn't work out as well as the snow family. They had a snow wrestling match, which Meryl won by full nelson. They spent the whole day in the snow, enjoying the white stuff and the cold weather that was all too uncommon in their neck of Gunsmoke.

There was a fun game where they pretended one of the snow men was their local parson. Vash waved the branch that was its arm. "Are you married?" he intoned, playing the snow man.

Meryl laughed and said, "No, man, but you can do the job when you're in town!"

As the sun set on their snow day, neither one felt the cold any more. They were feeling pretty warm as they kissed in the fading sunlight.