Jackie: AH! Welcome my friends, I'm writing another… Yes, yes, I know. FINALLY. I think the death threats in my email finally hit my head in the right direction to sink in. To those of you who don't know me, I also wrote a Knives x OC romance a while back. I kind of rushed through that one, and I'm hoping to take my time with this and crank up the quality. hears the relieved sighs HEY! That's not nice!

Anyway, this one is centered on Vash X Meryl, but I might add in a little Knives X OC. Everyone who has read Silver Wings knows I don't buy the Millie X Knives connection. I haven't made up my mind yet on weather there will be a Knives romance at all in this one. This fic is in no way related to Silver Wings.

Okay, so the grammar:

'Telepathic speech'

Thinking

Everything else is standard so if you don't understand... Ummm… I'll try to explain when you review or email me.

The Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, I'm in no way profiting from this.

One last thing…. REVIEW OR ELSE… Or else what? Or else I'll cry and make pouting faces at you. On with the story.

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Chapter 1:

"Home Again"

"Meryl!" Millie squealed, "We hit water!"

As if the geyser of water spurting up through the ground hadn't clued her into that. Still Meryl smiled at the big girl and said, "Yeah!"

Everyone came out of their houses and businesses to play in the down pour. Meryl and Millie clasped hands and frolicked. Yes, she, Meryl Stryfe, was frolicking. She just knew he was coming back today. She just knew it.

'OH MAN, I'm so thirsty!'

'If you hadn't shot me up so bad you wouldn't have to carry me, and you wouldn't be so thirsty now would you?'

'If I hadn't shot you up so bad you be racing toward the town to kill everyone'

'You make that sound like a BAD thing'
'You're hopeless, I'm not talking to you anymore until you wake up'

'But that could be weeks! You know my body shuts down to heal.'

'Yep, I bet you'll be pretty lonely.'

With that Vash closed the link. He was sure Knives would be pretty angry with him for that when he woke up, but somehow he didn't care. He couldn't wait to see his short girl again. Then he saw it; a huge eruption of water from the center of town. There was only one sight that could be more welcome. Meryl…

"Oh my gosh!" Millie squeaked, "Meryl… LOOK!"

"What?" Meryl turned and could not suppress the smile that lit her face.

Vash waved furiously and Meryl took off running. He's here… He's really here… He came back!

Vash would have run if it weren't for the weight on his shoulder. For just a second he thought of dropping Knives, but figured that even if he wasn't conscious he would find out somehow.

"VASH!" Meryl yelled as she ran.

"Short girl!" Vash called back to her.

Meryl closed in on him in seconds. He was surprised she could run that fast with such short legs. She threw her arms around him, and Vash was a little taken aback at her sudden outburst of affection. He had half expected to get a thump on the head and…

KAPOW!

Meryl thumped him on the head and said, "What took you?"

Yep, that was his Meryl. Vash rubbed his head and whined, "Hey! I travel through the scorching desert to get back here and that's the greeting I receive?"

"I told you to take the car and some water," Meryl lectured, "So I don't want to hear anything about walking or thirst. You brought it on yourself."

She looked at Knives, slung over Vash's shoulder. She took a step back and asked, "Is that… Is that… HIM?"

"Yep, that's my bro!" Vash said lightly, "I'm going to reform him, right here near the two kindest people I know. You and Millie."

Meryl blushed pretty pink. He loved it when she did that. All he could do was smile stupidly down at her.

"Well then," She said, "We had best get him inside."

It didn't take long to settle Vash and knives into Millie's room, and Millie made quick work of moving her things into Meryl's room. It was just like old times having the boys in one room and the girls in the other… Except that instead of Wolfwood they had Vash's crazed psycho brother. Meryl's head began to throb. Vash couldn't be serious. Reform a man who had been killing for over 130 years? It was hard enough for most people to stop chewing their nails. She looked down at the salty taste in her mouth and yanked her fingers from her lips. I've been trying to quit that for years!

Meryl chopped the vegetables for dinner. She had picked them just this morning so they were good and fresh. As she added them to the boiling water, the petit woman had no idea she was being watched.

Vash stood in the kitchen doorway leaning against the frame. As soon as he settled Knives he had showered and changed. His hair hung limply around his face and his shirt hung on his shoulders unbuttoned. His hands sat lazily in the pockets of his black jeans and his mouth was curved in a contented smile. He was used to being wounded, unlike his brother, and was only slightly aware of the pain as he watched his darling short girl toiling over dinner. This was it. He was home and it was over. He could finally love her.

Millie smiled down the stairs at Vash. Watching him watch Meryl made it all to clear that he was as smitten with Meryl and Meryl was with him. Millie hadn't doubted that, but she still liked seeing it confirmed. She was happy for them. Not wanting to interrupt the moment, she walked back into her room and sat down to write "The Millie Monthly".

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Jackie: That's all you get until you beg me for more! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA evil laugh continues for several minutes

Well, actually, that's all you get until I write the next chapter. I can make my writing SO much better if people would review or email me… HINT