AN: This is my first Cowboy Bebop:) It's Ed/Spike, which is a coupling that I really like, though it may seem strange. Anything I write will be older Ed, though, I can promise you that:) Also, the name of the story is in referrence to the Aerosmith song Back in the Saddle:D

Back In The Saddle Again

kagomes-wanna-be

Chapter One:
Cowgirl

It had taken her 2 days to get there, 4 days to find information, 3 and a half days to find out where the guy liked to hang out, and 5 days until he actually decided to hang out there. That was a total of 14 days. FOURTEEN DAYS. She was restless, and nearly bouncing off of her seat by the time he walked into the decrepit little room.

Her eyes flicked in his direction before casting back down to her drink. She sipped it and scanned around the room. Someone once told her that her eyes reminded them of a nervous cat, watching out for a dog.

But they were wrong.

She was the dog.

There was nothing for her to be nervous about, and nothing for her to be quiet or sneaky about like a cat. She was fast, loud, and liked to go for the hunt. No, cat would not be the word she used to describe herself.

He sat down at a table with three men and one woman. One of the guys looked to be on his fourth or fifth drink by now, so he wouldn't be a problem. The other two men were packing, so they could create a stir. She wasn't so sure about the woman, however. Dark brown eyes scanned the room, twitching from spot to spot. This woman's eyes were nervous, and she realized that it was the female at the table that was like a cat. She was quiet, soft, and easily scared. She was watching out for a dog.

The clock above the bar read 10:13. One minute, maybe 55 seconds was all the time she had. At 10:14, the phone call would be coming in, just as planned. He would answer, give the guy the numbers, the exchange would occur, and then he'd slip out of the bar without a second thought. No one would notice he was there, no one would notice that he had left. However, she wasn't going to let that happen.

Setting the purse on top of the bar, she pulled it open and began to dig inside of it. The bartender's eyes turned towards her, but she ignored it. Her hand wrapped around the little console and she watched the clock, counting to herself. 'Three... two... one.'

Behind her, a phone died halfway through it's ring. "What the hell?" a voice boasted as chair legs screeched across the cold floor.

She pulled out a compact, checking herself in it, angling the mirror so that she could watch the group behind her. "My... my phone died," he stuttered out nervously, hitting at the buttons. "It won't come back on!"

"Just use mine," one of the other men said. He pulled his phone from his pocket, only to see the screen blank as well. "Huh? What the hell?"

"What is it?" the woman asked, eyes shifting between her companions.

"My phone's off two," the man conceded.

The other's checked their phones as well, one stating, "Something isn't right."

"Mine isn't working either."

The woman stood, her own chair screeching across the floor. "We're leaving. The deal's off."

"No, wait!" he yelled, desperation in his voice. "Please! Just... I'll use the bar phone. I can call him back. The phones are just glitching with something nearby. That's why the phones aren't working!"

"Mine works."

The group looked over at the lone figure sitting at the bar. She spun and turned to face them, holding her phone in the air. "You could use it, if you like."

Most of the company seemed apprehensive, but the dealer was desperate. "There! You see, we're fine. Everything's fine." He walked over to take the phone from the girl at the bar. "It'll only be a minute."

"Yepyep," she told him with a bright smile.

He reached for the phone as she held it out to him, but yelped as her hand grabbed his wrist instead. She dropped the phone and turned him around, twisting his wrist so he couldn't move, making him shriek. Guns were pulled from holsters in a flash. She aimed over his shoulder at the party at the table, the men now standing in front of the woman, protecting her. "No one's here for you badies," she told them. "Only here for this one."

They glared at her, guns still cocked and ready to shoot. "Then leave," the woman finally spoke.

The others turned to look at their companion warily. "Take the trash and get out of here... Cowgirl."

Another bright smile flashed from her lips. "Cowgirl cowgirl cowgirl. Taking another off to the slaughter house." She walked back towards the door, abandoning the purse she stole, never taking her gun off the crew.

The door swung closed after her, cries of protest coming from the bounty head in her grasp. The group inside the bar just stood there, clenching their jaws in annoyance, knowing they needed to find a new dealer. Beeps sounded around the room, and they all looked down at their phones. On the screens, a cartoon smile came began to flash, laughter ringing from their speakers.

--

Edward hummed a tune aimlessly as she sat in a small, vacant area. Her ship, Purple Lark Terinsky Faltrik Victor II, sat next to her lifelessly, asleep for the night. She ate her instant noodles and stared up at the sky, watching as stars twinkled above her. "Above? Or below? One will never know." She muttered the limerick to herself quietly, looking down at her noodles.

There was a bark from the cockpit of the ship. "Ein! Come for dinner!"

The Data Dog barked again and jumped out of the cockpit, landing on the wing before hopping down to the ground. "Good puppy," she told him, patting him as she pulled a can of dog food from her bag. She popped off the lid, setting it down for him to eat.

He barked appreciatively and began to eat his food. She watched him for a moment before plopping back, disregarding the half eaten cup of instant noodles. The only noise heard was the soft chomping of Ein's jaw as he ate.

Despite always being on the move, she liked the silence. She learned to enjoy just staying in one place, feeling the world move around you like you were dis-attached from it. There was no better feeling than being alone, by yourself, in your own little world. Never was she unhappy in this world that she created. Anything could happen if she wanted it to. It was more free than the virtual world she could adapt and change on the computer.

She felt as though she were drifting off, but didn't stop it. It was dark out, so sleep time would be coming soon anyways. There was no harm in getting an extra hour or so.

Images began dancing through her head. Bounties that she'd picked up, that she was hunting for, that hadn't even been released yet played across her vision. They read like advertisements, calling for her to go get them. Those visions began to fade, and she was suddenly swimming through the interweb, hacking into mainframes and having conversations with unspecified people who were plugged in as well. Memories of previous hacks started joining in as well. The time she met the weather satellite, the multiple times she hacked into ISSP, the day she joined the crew.

A smile drifted over her lips as images of her time on Bebop flooded her mind. She remembered no sad times from there. Some were frustrating, and at times the other members were sad, which made her upset, but she had never been sad when she was there.

Maybe that's why she left... she could go and not be sad anywhere else...

She had tried to go back. In fact, she had, but things weren't the same. They visited Earth about a year after she wandered away, and that's when they ran into each other again. She hugged them and hugged them as Ein barked away happily. She would have given anything to just join them again right there - travel through the stars with them. Faye, Jet, Spike-

Spike...

'No Spike...'

Her hand-com beeped. Her eyes opened. She dug through her bag groggily, almost asleep and pulled out the device. "Yes?" she grumbled after pressing the answer button, not looking at the monitor.

"Ed."

Ed's eyes shot open at the sound of the rough voice and she glanced over at the small screen. The corners of her lips tilted upwards at the bald, bearded man she saw. "Well Ein," she looked down at the dog, "it seems as though the devils at play."

--

"Bebop!" Ed screamed excitedly at the large ship as it flew overhead. The early morning sun gleamed off its sides and windows, reflecting back off her hacker goggles.

Ein barked at her angles, running around excitedly. Even though the Data Dog was over ten years old, he could still run around like a puppy.

The bulky ship dropped into the water of they bay they were meeting at, and she scrambled down the dock to meet them. She called out the ships name once more as she neared it, her legs pushing her faster. They had become nicely defined with muscle as she grew up, always walking or running to get from place to place.

She picked up Ein and gently tossed him onto the deck, making sure to be careful, and leapt the distance from the dock to the ship herself. She stopped and looked around. The deck was empty and nothing had changed, but she liked that. Even if she were the one who left, she missed this place. It just felt... familiar.

The hanger door pulled up and Ed spun to see Faye standing there, placing her goggles around her neck. "Faye-Faye!" she called excitedly, racing to meet her old friend. Faye smiled at what Ed had called her. Even after she grew up and acted more normal, she never stopped using that nickname on her.

The girl hugged her tightly, making Faye laugh. "Not so hard!" she said, returning the hug. The two released after a moment. "How have you been?"

"Good. Thanks for asking," Ed said with a bright smile. "Why the sudden visit?"

She paused. "Just wanted to say hello," she finally said, nodding her head.

Ed didn't buy it. Her brow furrowed and she gazed at Faye unbelievingly. It wasn't that they didn't just visit every once in a while, but the way she said it gave her away. There was something that she wasn't saying. "No you didn't."

Faye sighed at Ed's response. "What, we aren't allowed to say hi anymore?"

Ed opened her mouth to say something else, but the door that led into the living quarters of the ship opened and Jet walked into the hanger. "Jet!" she cried excitedly, forgetting Faye as she raced to hug her long-time father figure.

Jet laughed merrily as Ed through her arms around her, returning the hug happily. "It's so good to see you again Ed," he told her. "Though I can see that you're still skin and bones."

"I'm a skinny girl," she shrugged it off. "Why'd you guys come here?" she asked him.

Faye huffed in the background.

"Just wanted to say hi." Ed opened her mouth to repeat what she had said earlier, but Jet moved on. "Sorry about last night, by the way. I didn't think you'd be in bed already. Did you sleep okay?"

No.

She'd dreamt about him again. She couldn't stop. Every other night she would have a dream about him and it frustrated her to no end. Most commonly she would dream of him in a crowd, just looking at her before walking away. She would try to run to him, to catch him, but she couldn't. No matter what she did, he would always get away before she could reach him.

She hated dreaming about him. What was the point to it? She had known him for maybe a year of her life, and he wasn't very warm or friendly when she was on Bebop. She left before he died, and didn't know for almost a year after it happened. Maybe it was because she never got to say goodbye. Never had she reached him to say goodbye in her dreams, either. But then, why had it only been over the last few months that they were getting so frequent? Why now, almost a decade after his death?

Her head throbbed and chest tightened every time she revisited her dreams, so she decided not to think or talk about it. The others didn't need to know that she thought about him this much.

"I slept well," she told him with a smile. She didn't falter in her lie at all, despite how the other two had.

"Well good then, let's go inside," Jet said, ushering the two in before closing the door.

"Have you eaten yet?" Faye asked as they walked down the corridor towards the common room and kitchen.

"I was just about to make breakfast," Jet told her.

"Oh, breakfast sounds great," she told them with a bright smile. "I haven't really eaten in a while. I had some noodles that I bought at a vendor yesterday, but that was really it." She turned around as she talked to them, walking backwards through the hallway. "I ate lunch and dinner the day before though, so it hasn't been that long. I've definitely gone longer. I just-"

"Edward."

She froze. That voice... No... 'No Spike.'

The others stared at her blankly, as though analyzing her. This is what Faye had been hiding.

But it couldn't be! He was dead! Spike was dead! 'No Spike,' her mind demanded as she clenched her jaw.

"Edward," the voice said again, and slowly she turned.

"Spike."

AN: Alright, so that's the beginning of my first Cowboy Bebop fanfiction:D I hope you liked it, and that I got Ed's character down. I want her to still be quirky, but she's grown up now, so she's sorta normal now. Lol. Anyway, please tell me what you think:D

kagomes-wanna-be

Go, be merry, and review.