The silence stretched, intruded upon by the distant sounds of labor and the low murmur of voices as the townspeople toiled in their yards, laughing, joking, hoping together.  The wind blew, the sand shifted and somewhere high above a bird circled searching for a place to roost, to take a moment to rest from its flight across the desert.  The planet turned, the suns continued to shine down upon it and far beyond the reaches of the atmosphere the stars twinkled brightly, waiting for night to fall to show their brilliance.  Hearts thudded, breaths were held, and still the silence stretched on.

    Knives cleared his throat, shifted his feet, tightened his arms around the small woman held within their circle tight against his chest and still he remained silent, trying to form the words that he needed so desperately to say, to force them out passed the lump forming in his throat as he closed his eyes tightly.  He sighed deeply and smiled, the lines of stress and worry smoothing from his face as his expression softened.  "Ah…Meryl…do you know how long I've waited to hear those words?"  He finally whispered.  He set her away from him at arms length and grinned, blue eyes twinkling with happiness.  "Three years, four months, thirteen days, six hours, and forty-six minutes."  He paused for a moment with a thoughtful frown.  "Twenty-two seconds."

    Her lips formed a round 'o' of surprise, grey eyes wide and intent on his own blue gaze.  "You've…kept count?"  She asked in a small voice and shook her head in wonder when he nodded with a solemn expression replacing his previously happy one.  "All that time…and you never said anything…" She murmured softly, a frown tugging down the corners of her lips.  "Why?  Why did you wait so long to say something?"

    "I didn't want to step in where I wasn't wanted."  He answered simply with a shrug.

    "Who says you weren't wanted?"

    "You never gave any indication that you would welcome advances from me."  He shifted away from her and glanced over his shoulder towards the house they shared with his brother and her friend.  "I was under the impression that it was Vash you wanted."

    "Vash…" She murmured and shook her head.  "Back to that again, are we?"  She sighed and lightly punched his arm.  "You could've asked, you know."

    "Some times there is hope in not knowing."

    "And a lot of misery, too.  I thought you hated me.  Or at least strongly disliked me.  You know…I still don't really know how you feel."

    "Do you need to ask?"  He touched his fingers to her cheek in a tender gesture.

    "Unlike you, I can't read minds."  She tilted her head to the side in thoughtful consideration.  "Speaking of which, why didn't you just read **my** mind, Knives?  You could've known long before now how I really feel if you would've just done it and saved the both of us a lot of misery and uncertainty."

    "I thought of it."  He answered truthfully.  "But as I said, there is hope in not knowing, Meryl."  He shrugged and offered her a slight smile.  "And I didn't want to invade your privacy."

    She blinked in surprise.  "You've changed."  She smiled and shook her head.  "I knew you'd changed in some ways…tolerating humans and not wanting to kill us all…but I never realized how much you truly changed."

    "Is it that surprising?"

    "No, not really."  She pursed her lips thoughtfully.  "So…what do we do now?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "You know…you, me…us."  She gestured between the two of them.  "What do we do?"

    "I don't know.  What do humans do when they love each other?"

    She smiled and stepped closer to him again.  "They get married and live happily ever after."  She giggled and reached up to place her arms around his neck.  He accommodated her smaller stature by bending forward.  "And make lots and lots of babies."  She whispered with a blush.

    "Assuming the couple are genetically compatible."  He whispered back, lowering his head until their lips were nearly touching.

    "Ah…but it'll be fun trying…" Her breath brushed against his lips and he closed his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

    "You know…I have a theory on the compatibility of our species'."

    "Is that so?"  She closed her eyes and pressed closer against him.

    "Mmmm…yes, I do."

    "Why don't you tell me all about it later…after you shut up and kiss me?"

~*~End~*~