Cowboy Bebop: Reprise

Author: kur0nek0sama (aka valerie)

Rating: PG-13 (May go up. o.O;;)

Genre: Romance/Drama/Angst/Humor/Everything

Start: December 15, 2003

Author's Notes: Well, I finally got around to starting this project. I have no clue if I will eventually finish it, but we'll see. This series of sessions takes place after the 'end' of Cowboy Bebop, FYI. Mad props to Punzie for being my trusty beta reader. (Seriously, I'd be roadkill without her l337 writing skills.)

+ + +

Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself

 Don't turn your head back over your shoulder

 And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon

 Is shining high above the trees 

If I had stopped to listen once or twice

 If I had closed my mouth and opened my eyes

 If I had cooled my head and warmed my heart

 I'd not be on this road tonight

+ + +

It's funny what family does to a man in even a short of time. I use the term 'family' loosely, since we didn't really act like one. We weren't so much a family as we were four people living together on a souped-up fishing ship. Hell, most of us couldn't even get along with each other if you paid us. Then again, maybe that was what made us a family. I mean, families argue, right? They threaten each other, hide food from each other, steal from each other, insult each other, try to kill each other...

Okay. Never mind. We weren't what you would call a 'typical' family. But I think we did become family after awhile. And as messed up as our family was, we still managed to conform to the stereotypical family roles. We managed to conform rather easily, actually. I suppose our personalities are to blame for that.

Take for example... me. I was, as Ed called me once, the 'father-person.' I was the older, wiser, more mature member of the family. I made the rules, (even though nobody really followed them) I made the meals, (although nobody ever ate them) and I had the power to kick everyone off of the Bebop if they pissed me off. And believe you me, I was tempted to just throw everyone out on more than one occasion. But I never did. I guess I figured that if I did, then things would be rather dull around the Bebop. Either that, or I'd miss them too much. I'd never admit it, but yes, I probably would miss them if they left.

Faye was the rebellious party girl. Haunting the bar by night, causing trouble by day, she was like a teenager who always tried to sneak out of her room in the dead of night to hit the latest party scene. She acted tough, but sometimes her poker face was weak enough that you could tell how she was really feeling. If you ask me, it was she who seemed to change the most during the time we were all together.

And of course, every family has the odd one out. In our case, it was Edward. Sure, she was annoying as hell, but she was just a kid at heart - and a brilliant one at that. I don't think Spike took to her as well as Faye and I did, but I think she too began to grow on him after a while. It was hard not to like Ed as time went by. She was always grinning like an idiot, dancing off in some unexplored corner of the ship, and finding us bounties when we needed them. When she took off, things were so quiet that it was unsettling. The silence was a constant reminder that something was out of place, that something was wrong. It was a reminder that our family had lost one of its members.

Then there was Spike. Spike is - was - a bit like a brother, in that he usually ended up getting us into more trouble than we were to begin with. He also had the uncanny ability to get us out of trouble just as quickly. I don't know how his mind worked, but he always seemed to have a plan. Some were... better than others. But in the end, things usually turned out okay. Unless he killed our bounty, or got shot a few times, or pissed off Faye in the process. I never really knew much about him, and it wasn't until Faye and Edward joined us that his past started to finds its way into our path.

When we found out Spike was dead... I don't really remember what I did. I only remember what Faye did, and believe me, it's not hard to forget what she did.

She cried. I'm serious. She just... started crying. She just stood there swearing at him, like he was standing there in front of us. She was furious under those tears. I'm no expert on the psyche of emotionally unstable women, but I think that was when Faye finally ditched the 'Poker Alice' facade and actually expressed emotion in front of someone. I just stood there, not knowing what to say, because there's nothing worse than watching a woman cry. By the time I had made a move to put my hand on her shoulder, she had run off through the corridor to her room, badmouthing Spike the entire way. The door slammed, and then there was silence. She didn't emerge from her quarters for over a day, when her stomach won over and she stole dinner out of the fridge. The light was still on in her bedroom when I passed by on the way to mine for the night.

+ + +

"Faye? Breakfast's ready."

She didn't answer. This meant either one of two things: she had been out drinking last night (which wasn't unusual) and was currently passed out cold in her bed with a bucket by her side,  or she had been out drinking last night, and was  still out drinking, even at eight in the morning. I knocked again, listening for any noise from within. I knew she'd kill me if she didn't eat anything, so I quietly opened the door and peeked in.

I wasn't too surprised to find her room empty. I wasn't even surprised that she'd gone without saying goodbye. Faye was human in that she hated saying goodbye, just like the rest of us. I limped over to the bare mattress and sank down onto it, my sore leg grateful for the rest. Something shifted under my hand, and I lifted it up to discover a piece of paper, slightly wrinkled from where my hand had crushed it. I picked it up and held it under the small lamp beside the bunk, squinting to read the cramped handwriting.

Jet,

Thanks for everything. Take care of yourself.

- FV.

That was all she wrote. No explanation, no indication that she'd be back. But then again, that was Faye Valentine. I kept on having to remind myself that no matter how much Faye seemed to have changed during the months she spent with us on the Bebop, she was still very much the same woman she was when we first met. Even though she'd made a habit of going off on her own, she eventually turned up days later, broke and pissed off.

Somehow I knew that wasn't going to happen this time.

+ + +

CARRY ON.