AN: Alrighty, this is just something that's been in my head for a while, then I forgot it, but remembered it last night. So I jotted it down in my diary so I would'nt loose it until I could type it all out. I don't know what my inspiration was; I was just thinking one day about the whole Spike/Julia thing, and I wondered, what would it have been like if they grew up together? This is what resulted. Oh, and just to be sure you understand, the underlined number is the age at which each little scene happens.

Disclaimer: Cowboy Bebop isn't mine. There, I finally admitt it.

"Bittersweet"

A Spike and Julia story

by Boomerang Butterfly

10

"You know what my three favorite things are?" she asked, shifting a little on the handlebars of his bike, one long, lanky leg on either side of the basket in front that held their goodies from the corner store. He smiled, the same smooth crooked grin that his Mama said could melt a girl's heart…whatever that meant. "Nah, what?" he asked, though he already knew. It was a game they played often, one he, amazingly, had never tired of. She picked up a pack of strawberry flavored candy and said, "PopRocks, Cherry Coke, and you." Spike arched and eyebrow at his best friend since kindergarten. "Why Pop Rocks and Coke?" Julia laughed, the sound blending in beautifully with the buzz of the busy street. "Cause when they're together, they're bittersweet. I'm not too heavy am I?" "Nope," he said and pedaled a little harder to prove his point. "Not at all. Why me?" She leaned back and pointed the toes of her scuffed pink sneakers forward, wavy blond hair tied in a ponytail but still tickling Spike's nose.

"Cause you're bittersweet, too," she answered quietly, and turning her head, planted a sticky kiss on his cheek. He just smiled and continued pedaling down the street back home.

12

They were sitting on the front steps of their junior high school, Spike with a half melted bag of ice and a shiner, and Julia with a busted lip. "You didn't have to jump in, Jules," he muttered, a tad bit annoyed that she had tried to help him with the fight, but secretly proud that she had the guts to do so. She shrugged. "Yeah, well, that's what friends do for each other," she responded. "Besides, I kicked major butt today, didn't I?" And he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when he thought of his angel baby throwing such hard punches. "Yeah, you did."

Thirty minutes later, they were still on the steps, waiting impatiently for Spike's aunt Ling-Ling to come pick them up. "You think we should call?" Julia asked. He shook his head. "Nah, let's just go." "But it's too far to walk and you didn't bring your bike," she argued. Spike opened the bag he held and poured the now melted ice out, then tossed the bag on the sidewalk. "Then we'll take the bus." And before she could ask where he was going to get money, he pulled out enough change for bus fare.

She didn't question how he got it; she just picked up her backpack and followed him down the street to the bus stop.

13

"Spike!" Julia called after him as he ran blindly down the corridor and out the hospital. "Julie, baby, I think Spike needs to be by himself right now," her mother said in one of her rare moments of clarity. "You remember how upset you were when Daddy was killed." But Julia just her head and ignored her mother's words. "No! I have to be with him!" she protested and broke free of the woman's grasp, running in the direction that Spike had until she found him. He was kneeling on the ground, punching the concrete so that his knuckles were a bloody mess. "Spike," she whispered and sat beside him. "Leave me alone," he muttered, punching the ground some more. "Spike, I know you don't want me here right now…but I'm staying anyway." He looked up and frowned, his eyes on the verge of tears that he tried blinking away. "Why?" Julia drew her knees up to her chest and propped her chin up on them. "Cause I'm your friend, and that's what friends do. You know, it's okay if you wanna cry. I won't tell." "It won't bring her back," he said. "Maybe, but I know what it's like to loose a parent, 'member? It kinda helps to cry."

He was silent, staring at the drying blood on his fingers, then suddenly spun around and grabbed her by her shoulders. "Promise you won't leave me," he ground out, and Julia's eyes widened. "Promise that no matter where we are, that we'll still be together." She crinkled her brow, but nodded and said, "I promise." "Pinky promise," he insisted, thrusting his little finger.

Pinky promises could not be broken.

She extended her pinky and he curled his around hers tightly until she winced, then dropped his head and fell forward until she caught him, where he sobbed freely on her shoulder.

15

"You're the devil," he commented as they sat in his attic.

She loved his attic.

Julia laughed and then quirked an eyebrow his way. "I thought yesterday you said I was an angel. Now you're saying I'm a devil? Which is it? A devil or an angel?" "Both," he responded, smiling that heart melting smile of his. "A devilish angel…or maybe, an angelic devil."

"You know Ashley McCartney thinks we're going out," she said a few minutes later, snuggled under him beside the window. "Where'd she get that idea from?" he asked, and kicked a stray box into a nearby corner. "I dunno," she said shrugging. "Then what does it matter?" Julia shook her head and scooted even closer to him. "It doesn't she whispered and caught him with a quick kiss. "Nah," he agreed, "it doesn't," then kissed her back.

16

"I don't wanna have to move," she murmured into his bare shoulder, the blanket wrapped tightly around the both of them on her bed. "I don't want you to leave either," he said, running his fingers through her wavy blond hair. "What am I gonna do without you here? At least, when Mama died, I had you." She traced abstract patterns on his chest and stared at the wall. "You still have Ling-Ling." He snorted. "Ling-Ling? Like I said, Jules, I'll be by myself now."

There were tears in her eyes when he got up and left, but she didn't cry. "We'll always be together, Spike," she said, burying her face in a hug and he nodded, his heart heavy. "Yeah," he agreed, "always." And right before she kissed him she stared into those brown eyes of his and got the funniest feeling…

22

He should've turned around before it was too late.

Vicious had called him over to the booth of the restaurant he was in, wanting to show him his new girl, and Spike didn't feel he could refuse. But maybe he should have. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, all blond tresses and angel blue eyes. She stared at him with the same amount of disbelief as he stared at her. But she stayed cool, smiling, pretending she didn't know him, playing the game to a tee.

So she'd learned the game too, huh? How sad…

Then Vicious had 'business' to attend to and Spike had to walk Julia home. They were quiet in the cab, on the way to her apartment, even when he walked her to the door and made sure she got in okay.

But before he turned to leave, she caught him in a teary embrace and a soft hello.

23

Turns out, she was the syndicate's new hit girl. They (he, she and Vicious) worked on assignments together, went out to dinner together, were around each other all the time. but it never sat right with him that she was working with them. It never sat right that she was with Vicious. Yet, he played the game just like she did and pretended everything was okay, even though he couldn't stop his stomach from lurching as he watched his angel baby become a beautiful assassin. "What are you?" he asked, his eyes set on her gloved hand, the one holding the gun. "An angelic devil…or a devilish angel?" She tossed her head and gave him a lethal smile. "Both."

24 part I

It had been a whole year of pretending.

But after she took him in and nurtured him back to health when that job had gone wrong, after it just was him and her alone again after all that time, it was useless to pretend. They both knew what was going to happen before it did, knew what lay in store for them the instant their lips touched. They sealed their fate the moment his hands roamed her back and hers dug through the dark curly locks on his head. "We're not sixteen any more," she breathed hotly, but forgot to think as his lips trailed from hers to her chin and down her throat. "I know," he whispered as they fell against the couch, forgetting about assassinations and betrayal and syndicates and Vicious for a little while.

It would be the death of them.

24 part II

"Please," she pleaded, "you're not going to kill him, are you?"

He was bound to find out sooner or later. Of course, why he had gotten so upset about it was beyond reason, but then again, Vicious had his own code of loyalty. "I won't," he said so coldly, so quietly, she panicked. No, no, no…please don't... "You'll do it for me." The gun was now out of her hair and on the table, but her heart was in a million pieces. She couldn't, she couldn't, she…

Did the only thing she could think of to save him.

She ran.

"We'll always be together," Spike muttered sourly, and tossed the bouquet of roses on the ground.

27 part I

He was still hers. She was still his. Standing in front of him for the first time in three years was his angel baby, holding her gun in front of her, pointed at him. But he knew her…he knew she wouldn't pull the trigger. Instead, she lowered her gun and ran to him, hugged him, and he soaked in the sad warmth that was Julia. He knew her…and he loved her.

He also knew the Red Dragons.

So when they made it to Annie's and found her dying from a wound to the stomach, he wasn't surprised. When the barrage of bullets rang through the apartment minutes after she had passed, he wasn't surprised. And he wasn't surprised that they came after he and her, not satisfied to think they'd been killed in the gunfire.

But he was proud of his angel baby when she anteed up and drew her gun, blue eyes set grimly on the task at hand. She stormed with him up the stairs, to the roof, aiming and firing and downing a good number of the syndicate goons. His angel baby had always been a good shot…

But it wasn't enough.

It was like slow motion after the bullet hit her, she falling like the angel she was, blond hair splayed out before her, cerulean blue eyes wide with shock. It wasn't so much that she'd been hit, it was that she came to the realization that she wasn't going to survive this one. Then she hit the roof and he was beside her, cradling her, watching morosely as the life poured from her fair face.

My angel baby…

"This is all a dream," she whispered, one last breath from her body, and then she was gone. And with her, the other piece of himself, the piece that hadn't died with his Mama, went too.

27 part II

He had told Jet that he wasn't doing this for her. He had told Faye, crying , angry Faye, that he wanted to see if he was alive. But he already knew. He had died with Julia.

Spike, clutching his torso from the stab wound given so lovingly to him by Vicious, stumbled down the stairs, blood pouring profusely through his hands. He was a little sad, knowing that his two comrades would grieve his passing because he had come to the realization before he even set foot in syndicate headquarters that he wouldn't survive it.

The only one who could kill him was Vicious. And with Vicious dead, he had to die too, right? Or other wise, the tiger cat would live forever.

When the ambulances made it, they found him lying at the base of the stairs, eyes closed, and a queer, satisfied smile on his face.

End

She was standing on the street where they grew up, holding his bike in one hand and Cherry Coke in the other. She smiled when she saw him, her eyes sparkling, her hair tied in a pony tail but still blowing in the warm breeze. "I was wondering if you'd be here," he said, walking slowly toward her with his hands stuffed in his jeans pocket. "Of course," she said and took a swig of Coke, then leaned forward and kissed him softly. "I said we'd be together for always, didn't I?" And he grinned that grin that his Mama said would make all the girls' hearts melt…and he knew what she meant.

"I think you're Mama's been waiting to see you. There's this guy she say's is your dad. Has to be, he looks just like you." He nodded and got on the bike, holding it steady as she sat on the handlebars, one long, shapely leg on either side of the basket that held goodies from the corner store. "How's your mom and dad?" he asked, pushing off strongly and pedaling slowly. "Fine," she answered simply, and picked up a pack of strawberry candy in the basket.

"You know what my three favorite things are?" she asked. He smiled, closing his eyes and taking in the scent of her hair that tickled his nose. "Nah, what are they, Jules?" she stretched her legs out and pointed the feet of her scuffed pink sneakers in front of her. "Pop Rocks, Cherry Coke, and you," she responded. "Why the Pop Rocks and Coke?" he asked, pedaling a little faster, anxious to see his Mama again. "Cause when I eat 'em together, it's bittersweet." "And why me?" with a smile on her face and heaven in her eyes she whispered, "Cause you're bittersweet, too." Then she leaned back and planted a sticky, passionate kiss on his lips. And he just smiled, lacing his fingers in hers on the handlebars and pedaled his way home.

Fin

I really hoped you liked this. I actually cried writing the last part, maybe it'll move you too.

Ciao,

BB