We are all dust.
Declaimers: I do not own Cowboy Bebop and I do not make money out of this.
Summary: People who don't know how to love, always makes a mess of things. Faye and Spike are living examples of that. Destructing and constructing each other lives. Set after RFB.
+1+
"Hey, do you know someone around here who can repair a spaceship?" Jet asked with a big smile.
The young man looked at him with curiosity. "There's only one man here in this town that can help you. That may be Jose Rogers and his Wife. They live three farms after the end of the main road."
"Thanks" said Jet still smiling and walking with his hands in his pockets. He was very happy, such a long time since the last time after all.
He took his time to get there, enjoying the view of dusty farms and quiet roads. All the way thinking of the good old days. He never married, so he never got children of his own. But he got them anyway; they were like his own son and a daughter. He struggled to keep them together and alive, and teach them the meaning of family. Distance and trouble have kept them apart. But they were still his problems. Just as any misbehaved offspring's.
The farm was big, he could tell, every last cent they had at the time was used to buy it. The yard was full of space crap. And three kids were playing in the sand, laughing and smiling with care free attitude as they should. They looked good, well feed and loved. Two little giggling girls and one boy.
The boy with purple hair and brown eyes looked at him. His small face was the vivid image of his father. Dressed like a little cowboy, with his white Texan hat and cute leather boots.
"¿Where can I find a Jose Rogers?" he asked him feeling warm inside.
"He's in the back. ¿Do you have a problem sir? ¿Need mechanical assistance?" asked the kid with eager attitude.
"Yes, I have a Spaceship with a big mechanical failure"
"¿Did you tried to change the energy sir?, Almost all the time that is the problem when they come around this town, It's something about energy and solar flares. Or..Something"
"¿Oh so you know much about Spaceships?, You seem like a very intelligent kid"
"Yes I always help my papa, please come this way"
Jet followed the kid, only to find the Papa sleeping in his chair with a big bottle of Tequila. The boy blushed but he made his way to the sleeping man and shoves him to wake up.
"Go away Julius…" said the man covering his face with his own hat.
"¿Drinking this early hey?. I thought you stopped doing it…"
The man looked surprised, and then he sat straight in his chair to see him. "¡¿Jet, what are you doing here?!"
"I'm looking for Jose Rogers, but I found the ghost of Spike Spiegel."
Spike smiled. "Yes you certainly did…"
"¿Papa you know this man?" asked Julius.
"Old friend of mine…" said Spike. "Please have a sit"
"You know, he looks just like you…" said Jet walking to greet the man with a firm shake of hands.
"So you finally come to see the farm."
"I found the time, I'm sorry I couldn't come in seven years, but you know I'm an old man and I have to work hard for a living more than ever. And when I finally come over I found you been busy with that greedy woman of yours…"
"Yes, living the dream as always."
"I'm glad you are filling this dusty old place with kids."
"It gets boring sometimes, we need something to do, or we could lose our minds in all this peace. The fucking place must be the most boring in the universe. And fucking my wife is better than fucking my cows"
"¿You have cows?"
"Of course I do. You said the best meat is in Tijuana. And you are about to find out that my cows are the best"
Jet laughed and sat in the chair beside him.
"But seriously.." said Jet.
"I'm not kidding" said Spike.
"No, I wanted to ask you, ¿how are you doing?, ¿Did your injuries heal?"
"Yes I'm as good as before. Sometimes I wake up feeling like crap. But most of the time I feel fine. And we are doing all right with the farm and some of my works as mechanic."
"¿What about the mental scars?"
"¿What about them?" he said playing dumb.
"You know what I mean…" said Jet.
But Spike looked at the sky and answered vaguely "All fine…"
He was a tough kid when it comes to emotional trust. He knew, so he let him be because he had time to bug him later.
The little girls came running to him, the small one with a huge grin.
"¡Daddy!" they screamed.
"Jet, this is Juno" he said picking the small, and then hugging the older. "And this is July"
"¿Where's the woman?" he asked ignoring the fact that all the three kids were named probably after another very dead woman.
"I don't know.., she goes to town…" he said playing kisses with the girls. "Kids you can call this man Grandpa.."
"¿Really?" asked Julius with a smile. "¿He's our granddaddy?"
"Yeah" said Spike. "I don't think it bothers him"
"Go ahead.." Said Jet smiling to the girls.
"Say Grandpa, ¿what happen to your arm?" said July walking to him.
"It's a long story…" he said. "I might tell you later…"
"Go play somewhere kids" Spike dismissed them with a hand gesture.
"I never thought I'll ever see you playing the papa…" Jet said very surprised. "Actually you said you hated kids…"
"I do…" Said Spike while serving a shot of tequila for him. "I hate them when they aren't mine"
"And I was thinking that maybe your heart was going soft."
"The only thing going soft in me is my body, just the other day I was following a very fast stallion and got tired after ten minutes of running."
"Don't say that, it makes me feel even older…"
"It's been seven years…" he said, his eyes clouded with unknown feelings. "¿I fucked the whole world, didn't I?" he added.
"Just for while. Things are getting better, actually that's why I came" said Jet. "But I think we must wait for Faye to hear my news…"
"Well then.. Lets drink while we wait…"
2.
He knew something was wrong the very same moment she came home. The cold stares they send each other, the even colder way they spooked the name calling .
They did the dinner together, and treat the kids fine. But between them they keep sending dirty looks, and never ending arguments. But not as before, they got crueler by the minute.
"You said you got news…" said Spike. Interrupting Faye's tale about her day.
"Yeah…it's about the syndicate, it seems the last member of Vicius clan was shot in Deimos about two weeks ago.."
"Well finally" said Faye with a smile.
"¿And the new Syndicate?"
"Well with the years the Russian mafia has taken over the place the Red dragons left behind."
"¿This means we don't have to hide?, ¿They aren't looking for Spike anymore?" Said Faye with a big smile.
"Yes my friend said its safe, you don't have to keep the façade, Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine can live again"
"That are great news!" she said. "We can leave this fucking trash town, and take the kids to mars."
"You mean take the kids to the casino and horse races don't you?, I bet you are dying to win dirty money and showing skin in the local bars." Said Spike smirking
"No honey, I just want to leave the fucking place"
"You only want to get away from me, I can bet on that too"
"Well actually I was thinking in going back on the bounty hunting business, I thought that we manage just fine with one kid on board the bebop." Said Jet.
"Yes but Ed was older" said Faye with a frown. "And we have three of them, and one more in the fucking oven…"
"I thought it was only the one I left you with when you came to Tijuana seven years ago…" said Jet.
"Spike can't keep his hands to himself.." she said angrily.
"Well I'm sorry, but this is a boring place" he said. "Not that you care anyway, I was the only fuckable guy around…"
"We are married jackass, it's not like I have any choice."
"You don't have to hide anymore; you can have a divorce now and found the fucking prince of your dreams"
"¡¿How dare you?!" she screamed. "¡I went that day to save your sorry ass!, ¡You are alive thanks to me!"
"I'm a dead man!" he said frowning. "¡I was dead before that, and I wanted to stay that way!"
"¡Sure you are, the way you live!, drunk all the time."
"You drink too my lovely wife" he said. "You go to that stinky place to bet behind my back, but surprise darling I know all about that!"
A heavy silence took over the kitchen; the kids were afraid and quiet. Jet didn't know what to do or say. Faye was horrified. And Spike was intensely mad. Not good emotions.
"I'm sorry…" she said quietly. "I didn't know you wanted to stay with her…, even if she's fucking dead"
"Don't talk about her.."
"I never do...but maybe it's time" Her voice trembling, holding her tears. "I'm fucking sorry I'm not Julia, I'm sure you wanted her has the mother of your babies, you still love her. Maybe you love her more than ever..."
"Faye stop, don't talk about Julia, You never knew her enough!"
"I did, and she loved you back…, she loved you very much, and you love her…, ¿You know what?, You can love her all you want. I'm going to mars with Jet. And I'm taking the fucking kids with me. You can have the farm you so dearly take care of. And sigh and daydream about the live you never had with her."
She took Juno in her arms, and tug along the other two kids. She was crying in silence. "Time to bed kids…" she said with broken voice.
"Spike…"
"Leave it at that Jet…, She's right…." He said, taking a big gulp of the tequila bottle that never leaved his hand. "She's fucking right; I'm a hard case…"
3
The next day. Jet was feeling very blue. Faye was packing clothes for the children's, and Spike was acting distant. He wake up early and went to the barn to feed his animals. Then he took a tractor to plow the lands. As if he didn't care, so he followed him to the fence where he was taking a break.
"¿Do you have a cigarette on you?" he asked cleaning his hands over his blue jeans. "Faye and I quit for the kids. But I could use one now.."
He gives him the entire packet, and he soon lights one with delight in the eyes.
"I grow up in a farm just like this one…" he said.
Jet looks him surprised again. The man was always a mystery. "I didn't imagine that"
"I was really young, then my father was shot dead by the red dragon and all went to hell because my mother couldn't live without him. So I run away when I was sixteen. And I lived with the old man as a mechanic until I moved to the city where ironically I became one of them…"
"Now the red dragon is gone"
"Yeah…in the beginning I was looking for revenge, but then I meet Vicius and I thought he was like the brother I never had. So the red dragon killed my worth for nothing father, but it gave me something better and I foolishly forgive them…"
"You were still young and lonely"
"Then when I came across with Julia, I wanted to go back to the country side of mars, I wanted a farm like this one, and I wanted to have a family with her, but I guess we were way too deep in the Red Dragon to simply walk away…"
Jet looked at him, he was wearing the stupid cowboy hat again. His boots covered in dust and mud. It was nothing like the man he knew. But then again he never knew him very good.
"Faye loves you…"
"I know she does…, since the very beginning, but that didn't matter to me when I went to the Red Dragons Head quarters."
"¿Does it matter now?"
"I love her too….in my fucked up way, but its still is not enough and she has realized I'm a worthless guy, An ex mobster" he smirked. "Ever since she recovered her memories, she changed. She's the good girl she was in the past. And she tried very hard to stick with me.
And I can't stop thinking she deserves better, I tried to stop thinking about Julia, but I keep seeing her dying before my eyes…, falling into nothingness, And I still love her golden hair, her blue eyes, the sound of her voice, all of her is in my mind all the time, and its fucking twisted to have sex with my wife and think…about how she is so different…"
They keep silent for while. Just smoking and looking at the sight of distant planets over the blue sky line.
"It's not healthy…, you have to let her go or you could lose the only normal thing in your life…"
"I know…"
+4+
The little girls were just too cute. They stick to the idea of the granddaddy, and they hug him like there was no tomorrow. And he liked that, maybe because he was feeling very lonely in a world of grownups. They were innocent and that was something really unreal in the kind of life and job he had in Mars.
"I was afraid…" said Faye with a small smile. "It didn't seem logical that Spike or I could be parents. I thought it was a terrible idea because our lives were so fuck up. But then…I was so afraid….That day when I bring him to the bebop, I was so certain he was dying. And I couldn't carry that kind of weight. I needed to keep something of him, just to prove myself that even if he was gone, he existed and the proof laying in a new life inside of me."
"So that's how you got Julius…"
"Yes, even if I knew it was a mistake, I don't even know now if I am a good mother or if he is a good father. That just doesn't matter. I'm happy…"
"You don't need to be a perfect person to have offspring, People can make many mistakes in life, many wrong choices, but then they make this one thing right and everything is worthy"
Jet remembers the younger Faye, seven years ago. They both thought Spike was not going to make it in the first days. Then it was weeks, and months of never ending worry. He was in the hospital in a fake name. Because Bob get wind from the Red Dragons remaining forces that they were looking for them.
And war broke loose in the damn planet. People was dying in the streets all the time, And public executions that the ISSP couldn't stop. Then Spike got better after one risky surgery, he wasn't the first man put together after been cut in half. Never the less he was one of the few to survive the procedure.
He woke up, but his soul was dead, just like Julia. He would keep in one place looking pale and broken. Never saying much than "fine" or "whatever". They took care of him afraid of his decision to shot himself if they leave him alone.
He didn't know the details, but she got pregnant at the time. So they decided to hide in here in this small town of Tijuana, where nothing really happens and no one ever comes.
"I'm so tired of waiting for him…"
"You can come with me…" he said. "I can't promise much, but it will be enough for you and the kids"
"Yeah…" she smiles. "I'd take that.."
+5+
"What do you do in Mars Grandaddy?" asked Julius with a look of hesitation.
"Well, since your parents finally left me alone for a while. I decided to open a Privet Detective Business."
"Oh like in the movies?" he asked with a smile. "¿So you always get the hot chick with red dress?"
"Yeah sometimes. But to tell you the true, my cases usually are for fat old guys."
The kid began to laugh.
"So, is Ed with you again?" asked Faye with amusement.
"That crazy girl goes and comes wherever she likes it. But she came with a boy this time…so I guess we'll see them around a lot…"
"All right kids…" said Faye finally closing the last bags. "All of you…go say goodbye to Daddy!".
Jet didn't believe the kids knew she meant a permanently goodbye. Because all went outside screaming and laughing whit such happiness, that could break a man's heart.
Not Spikes heart of course.
"¿Are ye leaving?" asked Spike with a blank face.
"Yes we are!" said the girls.
He smiled.
"Well then…, I don't want to see you go…, but it's not forever…, not forever…" he said taking the kids in his embrace. "And even if it was, I love you all. Because you're the part of me that makes me better…"
"You are a silly daddy." Said Juno "We aren't a part of you!"
"Oh yes you are!" he said kissing them all.
Faye grunted with malice. "Come on kids…"
"Faye, wait…" he said walking to stand directly in front of her. "Please, take pictures of the new baby and send them to me…"
"Since you're not going to be part of his life, I don't think I will…, it's better if you never know this part of you. Because I'm going to make damn certain he finds another daddy…"
"Yeah…" he said smiling. "Whatever…, I'm still his father.."
"Goodbye Spike…" she said trying to walk. But he caught her by the arm and spun her into his arms. She was trapped into his warm chest and manly scent. And her heart was thumping inside.
He hugged her firmly, and then he was kissing her with passion. Until she recovered her senses and push him apart.
"¿What the fuck are you doing?"
"Saying goodbye to my son.." he said simply.
She seemed confused for a moment. "¿How do you know it's a boy?"
He touched his mysterious eye. "I can see him…"
"Well. Fuck you…" And this time, she almost run in the direction of the Car she owned. The one they were taking in the bebop with them.
"¿What do you plan to do?" Jet asked looking at Spike. The boy was looking smug, and calm and not sad at all.
"Drink myself silly…." He said. "Probably drink some more the day after.., pick up a fight with my neighbor. And look for trouble in town…"
"¿That's all?"
"Yep…" he said. "Please take good care of them…"
"I will…" said Jet. "See ya Spike.."
And that was all. The next thing Jet knew, the bebop was full of kids, and a pregnant woman. With a lot of trouble coming their way.