Note: So! I have not written any sort of fic in a while. Like, two years? But with the Trigun manga finding its way onto my shelf, I have once again become enthralled with this universe! It is an unstoppable force.

This was written mostly for a need to write some Vash and Wolfwood dialogue, which I have been itching to do for a while. I hope this is not boring! I had fun with it, anyway.

"Oi. Girls're asleep."

Vash looked up from his glass toward the table where the Insurance Girls sat, heads resting against the table and fast asleep, Millie with a hand still wrapped loosely around her mug. The bar had emptied a few hours before, quieting down enough to weaken the girls' resolve to stay awake and vigilant. The girls asleep at the table was a scene of peace that Vash had not witnessed in a long while. He took a moment to drink it in, then took the next moment to take his beer down in one swig.

"I almost hate to wake them," he said, swinging himself from his bar stool and tossing uncounted change on the counter as payment. "You never see them this quiet."

The Priest murmured agreement, pushing himself from the bar and sauntering over to where the girls lay still. He gently prodded the smaller girl on the shoulder. "Oi," he said, pushing more roughly when he elicited no response. "Oi, wake up. You'll catch cold sitting here." The girls did not budge. Millie sighed in her sleep.

"Closing up," the barkeep said from somewhere behind the counter. Vash turned toward the voice, then Wolfwood.

"Bar's closing," he commented, hands in his pockets.

"I heard!"

"Well wake them up already!"

"No use," sighed the priest, exasperated. "They're dead to the world."

Vash drew near the sleeping girls, studying the situation. "They'll catch cold here."

"I know that!" Wolfwood spit, and put a hand through his hair. "We'll have to carry them back to the hotel."

"I'll carry the small one!" Vash quickly volunteered and rounded toward Meryl. Wolfwood put a hand up to stop him.

"Why do you get to carry her?" he contested. "You should have to take the big girl, she follows you!"

"Why are you complaining? You carry that damned heavy cross everywhere!" Vash mimicked the motion of carrying the heavy weapon.

"That's my burden to bear!" Wolfwood said defiantly. "It's different." The Priest drew near Vash, and jabbed his forehead. "And what about you? You've got all this dead weight in your head!" Vash stopped his hand from jabbing him again.

"All right!" he whined. "We'll flip a coin." Vash drew one from his pocket. "Loser carries her. Ready?" He tossed it.

"Heads!" both men shouted in sync, and glared at the other as the coin clattered on the floor.

"Why should you get to be heads?" Vash growled.

"Me? Why should you!" Wolfwood argued.

"Why should either of you?" barked the voice behind the counter. "Somebody get those girls out of here, or there'll be trouble! I've got a commitment to my bed to keep!"

Wolfwood was the first to pull away from the glaring match and marched vehemently toward Millie. He puzzled over the situation for a moment, then pulled the girl up by the arms, bringing her to rest on his back with her arms around his neck. There was obvious strain on the priest's face.

"She's just as heavy as she looks!" he said in a tight voice, trying to adjust the girl more comfortably on his back while glowering towards a grinning Vash. "She's not drooling on me, is she?"

"Nah, you're fine." Vash stepped toward the short-haired girl and wondered how he could go about this delicately, should she suddenly awaken. Picking her up by her back and legs, she fell into an almost cradled position, her head against the blond-man's neck and her arms tucked away in her cloak. Vash looked down in amazement.

"Look!" he called to Wolfwood. "She's so small! You can hold her like a baby."

Wolfwood adjusted the big girl once again. "…That's eerily cute," he noted, his eyebrows raised. He moved toward the doors, pushing his way through with Vash behind.

The night was still and warm as the two gunmen trudged through the darker streets of the city, silent for a long time. Bits of dust rose from underneath their feet as they walked, illuminated by the spots of moonlight that made their way into the alley. Quiet noises floated to them from far off in the corners of the city—the sound of a baby crying, people murmuring on their porches about the events of the day, the sound of a cat mewing from underneath a windowsill. Vash breathed in deeply, soaking the peace in through every pore in his body.

Meryl shifted slightly and murmured something incoherent. Looking down, Vash saw her brows furrow for a moment, then rest again.

"I wonder what she dreams about," the gunman mused. Wolfwood snapped out of his reverie to glance at the blond-haired man.

"Dunno," he replied. "Prob'ly filing papers."

"Shame…" Vash murmured quietly to himself.

"Hm?"

"Nothing. I was just…" Vash mulled over his words. "I was thinking what a shame it is that she should waste her dreams like that."

Wolfwood cocked an eyebrow at the gunman.

"She should just be dreaming of flying or something," Vash explained. "It's a shame when you can't even escape reality in your dreams."

The priest thought these words over, his brows creased.

"Chocolate!"

Startled, the two men looked at the girl hunched over Wolfwood's back.

"I'll have the chocolate one…" she murmured, sighing and falling back into her rhythmic breathing. Both men chuckled.

"At least she's got it right…" Vash remarked. The smile faded slowly from his eyes, however, as he fell once again into a reverie. A dog barked somewhere far off. The baby had stopped crying. "…They're really good, aren't they?" Vash said, watching the ground pass underneath his feet.

Wolfwood considered this. "Yeah," he agreed. "Cute, too."

Vash turned on the priest, annoyed. "How can you even say that?" he asked loudly. "They're right here! What if they woke up right now?" Vash feigned a high-pitched voice. "' Oh, Mr. Priest, I didn't know you cared!'"

"Well you can't say they aren't!" the priest countered, shifting the weight of the girl on his back. He was startled when Vash came to a halt, staring up at the night sky. Wolfwood followed his gaze to where it was settled on the fifth moon.

"I guess not…" the blond gunman softly assented. "But… I can't say they are, either." His brows furrowed. "I can't…"

Wolfwood studied his friend for a moment, envisioning in his mind's eye the terrible destruction of July, Jeneora Rock… A deep frown creased his mouth, causing his face to reflect the sands of the planet.

"…You really like to make things depressing, don't you?" he asked sourly. Vash turned to him, frowning, irritated, at the dark-haired man.

"Like?" he responded defiantly. He took up his walk once again, passing the glare of the priest. "You really are full of yourself, aren't you?"

"Watch what you say, Tongari! My fist is itching."

Their bickering led them to the hotel, where the pair silently crept up the dark stairwell to the rooms. Locating the girls' room, they gently laid them down on the beds, Wolfwood letting out a relieved sigh as the weight was lifted from his back. Going about as softly as possible, Vash moved to take off the small insurance girl's shoes.

"What are you doing?" Wolfwood asked incredulously. "Undressing her while she's asleep!"

"Stupid!" Vash retorted. "You can't sleep with your shoes on." He unlaced one of the girl's shoes.

"I can sleep with my shoes on," Wolfwood grumbled.

"Just take her shoes off!" Vash indicated toward the big girl. Wolfwood did as he was told. Soon the girls were fully tucked in, shoes on the floor and coats on the hanger. The two gunmen watched the women in silence for a moment, the moonlight from the window giving the room a restful glow.

"Take this in, Tongari," Wolfwood said almost inaudibly. "You might not be seeing something like this again."

Vash nodded, breathing in the peace of the small room. "Should we leave a note?" he asked.

"What's the point?" Wolfwood replied. "They always find you anyway." He grinned. He turned and left the room, leaving Vash one more silent moment before he, too, left the sight behind. The door creaked quietly behind him.

The girls shifted comfortably in their sleep.