Standard Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money, please don't sue…

From somewhere in the far away distance, chaos reigned in the room. But that was of no importance to the man in the crimson coat. His daughter, the child of his heart, stood glued to the side of a man who had been dead for more than twenty-five years. And he knew that man to be dead because he'd been the one to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger.

Vash the Stampede stood shock still, staring into a face from his past, and held his gleaming silver pistol raised once again at Legato Bluesummers. The quiet acceptance of the fact that he had taken a life was shattered as he suddenly relived that scene over and over in his mind, haunted by the knowledge that there had been another way out of the situation, he'd just not been able to see it in time. He did not have to kill anyone; it was not his right to make that type of decision.

His mind blankly registered the fact that Nickie was looking horribly embarrassed, Nick was hissing obscenities, and Meryl was shocked speechless. He heard from very far away that this man was not from his past. This was someone else. His pistol lowered to his side. A son? Legato had a son? This was worse. He'd been responsible for depriving a child of a parent. What kind of monster was he?

*********

Meryl Stryfe stood in shocked disbelief at the sight of her adopted daughter, clad in only a sheet, wrapped around the frame of a young man. She had known that this day would eventually come, but there was something horrifying about the actual knowledge that her daughter had reached the point that she had decided to take a lover. Meryl remembered having not been quite so upset when she discovered Nick was visiting a brothel, but then he was a boy.

There came a distinct popping sound and she knew that Nick was taking this entire incident way too personally. Why else would he have opened his father's gun. She was dimly aware of Nickie's introduction, but the most disturbing point was the vacant aqua stare across Vash's face, as he coldly demanded that Legato let go of Nickie. He didn't seem to be taking this well either.

Meryl stared at the young man beside Nickie and felt herself pulled back across the years. Legato was dead, she herself had seen his body lying on the ground. Dark red blood from a single bullet hole flowed freely and had stained the earth. He couldn't have lost that much blood and lived. This man wore the same coat and he had the same dark blue hair, but there was something different about this man. She searched his face. The eyes were different.

"…My father, Legato Bluesummers…"

Meryl stifled a gasp. Of all the people for Nickie to get mixed up with! Nick suddenly looked unsure of himself, but he raised the gun another notch. Vash looked even worse than he had a few minutes ago. Meryl knew he was reliving the past. Her daughter had a look of stunned disbelief across her face before she collapsed in a dead faint.

The man at her side caught her deftly before she could hit the floor. Meryl noticed the concerned look in his eyes and the possessive way he held Nickie in his arms. Nick was in an uproar, shouting obscenities and demanding that Nickie be let go. Vash was standing in stunned silence, his pistol hanging limply in his fingers. Meryl mentally shook herself. This situation had gotten out of hand.

"Nicholas Vash Wolfwood, be silent this instant. Your vulgar speech is not something I want to hear at this point," Meryl ordered him sharply. "And for God's sake, put that thing away." She motioned at the Cross- Punisher. "What are you going to do? Shoot him and Nickie both?"

Nick looked at his mother in askance. "Mother, you can't be serious. This lying bastard has dirtied my sister and you want me to just act like nothing has happened?" He lowered the gun and stood towering over her. "This bastard fucked my innocent sister and you want me to forget about it?"

Lazarus bristled at Nick's tone. He stepped forward, a cold angry stare darkening his face. "Speak one more word of disrespect towards Nicole and you will answer to me." His platinum eyes flashed dangerously. "I already owe you for allowing your sister to be placed in harm's way on more than one occasion." He paused meaningfully and smiled grimly, "And, you may find that I more than just resemble my father."

Nick whipped back around to face Lazarus. "I don't care who the fuck you take after. You had no right to screw my innocent sister." He raised the Cross-Punisher again. "Don't underestimate me either, pal. You have no idea how much I take after my father."

Lazarus smiled at Nicole's face and looked back up at her brother. Perhaps he would have felt the same way had he had a sister, but that was neither here nor there. Eyeing the raised firearm pointing at him, he glared at Nick again. "I can agree with you that I did not deserve Nicole's innocence, but, by the same token, how could I have turned down what was so freely offered?" He grinned at Nick's snarl of rage. "Especially when it came so beautifully packaged?"

Nick snapped the Cross-Punisher to Lazarus' head. "I can take your head off and there is nothing you can do about it. Just one more word… give me enough reason to pull the trigger…."

Vash snapped back to reality at the flare of fury in the pale eyes of Legato's son. He'd seen a similar reaction from that one often enough to recognize the warning of impending disaster. Meryl was correct. This situation had gotten out of hand. Cool rational thinking was needed now, and not anymore verbal taunts these two pups were throwing at each other.

"Enough. Nick, Lazarus, both of you stand down… Nick, you heard your mother." Vash spoke in a quiet, deadly tone. He holstered his gun and turned to face Meryl. "You want to see about Nickie, while I remove this young hothead from here? Gunplay is not going to help this situation." He smiled weakly at Meryl. "Downstairs in a while?"

She nodded. "We will be down eventually," she answered as Vash hustled the protesting Nick down the stairs.

Sighing heavily, she turned back to face the determined young man still holding her daughter. "Lazarus, wasn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, feeling it wise for the time being to display his best manners. There could be a time in the near future when he might need the assistance of this small woman.

Meryl pointed to a nearby sofa. "Will you please bring Nickie over here?" She smiled in his direction. "I think a cool cloth would be appropriate." She watched closely as he placed her gently on the cushions, taking care to arrange her arms at her sides and to pull her hair from under her back. She stifled a sigh as he stroked Nickie's cheek gently and placed a light kiss on her lips.

"Where could I find a damp towel, Lazarus?" Meryl turned in the direction of his hand and went hurriedly about her errand. Her path took her into a bedroom and she quickly glanced at her surroundings. Her eyes fell on the bed and the small red stains marring the white perfection. She looked away with another sigh. There was no escaping the proof of last night's events. Their entire family would have to deal with this situation as best as possible.

Returning from her errand, she placed the cloth in Lazarus' outstretched hand. Meryl hid a small smile behind her hand at the gentle way he stroked her child's face with the soft towel. She knew in her heart that Lazarus was not the man his father had been. "Do you care about my daughter a great deal, Lazarus?"

"As much as someone like me can care about another I suppose." He shrugged at the thought. "I know it was wrong of me to lie to her, but I couldn’t risk her knowing who I was." He glanced up at Meryl, "She is important to me, but I can’t understand why. Does that sound strange to you?" He rose to his feet and stood towering over Meryl, assessing her with his platinum gaze. How could her mother be this tiny?

Meryl smiled impishly up at him. "I'm not her natural mother, if that's what you're thinking."

Lazarus had the grace to look guilty. "I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect."

Meryl sighed tiredly as she made her way to a nearby chair. "Come and join me Lazarus. And if you please, take off that dreadful coat. It brings back bad memories."

Lazarus took another look at Nicole and removed his coat the woman's request. She was a strange one to be sure. He caught no glimmer of her thoughts about himself as he scanned her mind. Her largest concerns seemed to be Nicole and Vash.

Meryl quietly watched Lazarus as he shed his coat gracefully and moved across the room. If she were honest, then she supposed Nickie couldn't be blamed for giving herself to this young man. He was very handsome and his tight black clothes emphasized his well-built body.

"Her mother was my best friend Milly Thompson. We worked at the Bernardelli Insurance Agency as loss prevention experts. It was through our travels with Vash the Stampede that she met Nickie's father."

"The priest in black? The one known as 'Wolfwood'?" Lazarus spoke quietly. "I learned of her father through my travels. Here on the frontier, tales of Vash the Stampede and the priest known as Wolfwood are like sands on the ground."

"Yes, Nicholas D. Wolfwood is her and Nick's father. He was killed before he even knew that Milly was pregnant. It was very hard for her, being alone and with child." Meryl paused a moment. "Vash and I tried to re-assure her as often as possible, but…"

"Nicole told me her mother was gunned down in the streets of a small village by Knives Millions."

Meryl stared off in the distance, hearing the reports of guns from the past, smelling the powder, seeing the fog of smoke as it cleared. "Yes, correct again. Milly might have lived, but she was in labor and the blood loss, bullet damage, and delivery stress all combined to do her in. Vash and I promised to raise their children as our own." Meryl paused again as she studied the man across the table from her. "Why do you call her 'Nicole' instead of 'Nickie'?"

Lazarus glanced across the room at the woman lying on the sofa. "Nickie is a name for a tomboyish girl with a flat chest. Nicole is a woman's name and it suits her."

Meryl smiled at that response, "Yes, I can see how someone outside the family would view her in a different light. She is actually a good deal like her mother although she has her father's coloring." Meryl looked into his eyes and abruptly switched subjects. "Why do you search for Knives, Lazarus?"

"Knives was responsible for my father's death. And yet that is not why I search. My mother is the reason." He stared off into the distance for a few minutes before speaking again, "I suppose I was fortunate in the fact that my mother lives, but her desire for vengeance has been the driving force behind my actions for so long now…"

"Vash was there, you know he was the one who killed Legato." Meryl persisted gently. She had to be certain this man meant no harm to her family.

"While Vash the Stampede may have been the instrument to end Legato's life, it was his brother, Knives, who ordered Legato to his death. It was his final thought of pleasing his Master that my mother heard and knew who had caused those events to happen. It was my mother who was left behind, alone, and burdened with me even though she did not know of my existence yet. And it was she who mourned has mourned my father as long as I can remember."

"Then you hunt Knives to kill him. Do you want him dead in revenge for the death of your father?" Meryl asked quietly. "It is not our right to decide who should live or who should die. That call in God's hands."

"Then why does God allow him to ravage the planet?" His angry response startled Meryl slightly. She chewed her lower lip for a moment, unsure of how to answer him.

A soft whimper drew their attention across the way and Lazarus bounded to his feet and rushed to her side. "Open your eyes, my sweet. You have frightened your mother long enough."

Nickie blinked slowly as her eyes came into focus. "You lied to me," she whispered up at him. "You lied to me…"

Lazarus sighed softly. "I did not lie to you, Nicole. I just neglected to tell you my full name."

"A lie by omission is still a lie." She snapped at him as she lay on the cushions. "It's a sin to lie." She glanced away quickly. "Why didn't you tell me you were related to that awful man? He was almost as bad as Knives."

Lazarus took her hand in his. "Nicole, you've heard of Legato Bluesummers for many years, from your own family and from the tales told here on the frontier. Can you honestly say that I am anything like that person? Have you seen me randomly slaughter innocent people? Have I treated you with anything but respect and gentleness?"

Nickie's face flooded with color as she recalled their activity of last night. He had been very gentle with her. "No, you have been kind to me. But, you still should have told me who you were from the first."

"On that, we can agree." He tilted her face up to his and claimed her lips in a soft kiss. "Would you like to dress now, so we can deal with your family?"

"My family! Oh God, I forgot all about them. Were they very angry? Nick looked ready to kill you and Uncle Vash looked as if he'd seen a ghost." Nickie rushed out, her words tripping over themselves. "Oh, dear. The look on mother's face was unbearable. I think she must be terribly disappointed in me."

"Ask her yourself…"

"Mother…"

Meryl smiled gently at her daughter. "It's alright Nickie. Why don’t you let me help you with your clothes and we can all go downstairs for some coffee."

Nickie looked up at Lazarus, who nodded his reassurance. He was pleased to see that she immediately looked to him for direction. He helped her to stand and while making sure she had her balance, told her he'd wait for her before going downstairs.

*******

A tense silence hung in the room. Nickie wanted to tell her mother a million things about Lazarus and the time she had spent with him, but she was fearful that her mother was merely being polite.

"Does Lazarus treat you well, Nickie?"

Nickie jumped as though she had been struck. She nodded shyly at Meryl. "He has been very good to me." She hurriedly tugged on her stockings, looking for all the world as if she wished the floor would swallow her up.

Meryl sighed and turned from the window to study her daughter. Nickie was in the act of pulling on her familiar black top. Meryl cringed slightly at the small, discolored area of skin at the base of her daughter's throat. She knew she shouldn't ask, but felt compelled to. "Nickie, are you…" Meryl stumbled over her question. "Did he… was Lazarus gentle with you?" Meryl quickly turned away. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you that. It's really none of my business."

Nickie embraced her mother tightly. "I'm glad you are here. I'm sorry that you had to find out this way." Nickie hung her head slightly as her cheeks took on a familiar pink hue. She peaked between her bangs at Meryl and smiled widely. "Now, I know why you and Uncle Vash always spend so much time in bed."

It was Meryl's turn to blush furiously as Nickie teased her lightly. Gazing into the wide blue eyes, she almost felt as if she were looking at Milly. Her best friend had never lost that innocent look; even after all she had gone through. It had been silly of her to worry about this girl who was her mother made over. Meryl smiled brightly, suddenly assured that everything would work itself out in the end. "I think you'd better hurry. Your Lazarus doesn't look like the type to show much patience and your brother is probably trying to convince Vash to let him come back up here and kill someone."

"Nick is just going to have to realize that I am a grown woman and I can make these decisions for myself," Nickie huffed as she tugged on her thigh high boots. "Besides, I never really complained about all the times we stayed in a town just so he could hang out in a cat house."

"Lots of times?"

"I swear he's the worst. I wonder if Pappa ever acted like that?"

"Hmmm," Meryl tapped her cheek thoughtfully. "I remember your father always had an eye for a well-turned figure, but I cannot recall him ever being like Nick. Then again, your father was a priest, perhaps not a very good one, but that fact probably had some influence on him."

Lazarus smiled to himself as he silently listened to their exchange. He was relieved that Nicole's mother had so readily accepted him. While it really didn't matter if they accepted him or not, he still didn't want her to feel torn between her family and him. One family member down, two more to go.

************

To Be Continued…

************

Stay tuned…

Love and Peace,

Blackhat (^_~)