Title: Dreamcatcher

Author: Aerith Queen of Cetra

Chapters: 1/1

Summary: 'Is there a wonderful person beside me?' Spike decides to answer the younger Faye's questions.

Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Beta'd: Nu-uh!

Warnings: Smoking (which I do NOT endorse!), Spike being SLIGHTLY OOC, Faye being quiet O.o…

Disclaimer: The work that shall become a new genre shall be called Cowboy Bebop… which is not owned by meh! T.T

Author's Comments: Man I really can't avoid this category any longer, especially since the anime channel is showing triple bills of Cowboy Bebop a night! DARN!! Last night, the first ep was Speak Like a Child so these events are set directly at the end of that episode! Enjoy

Dreamcatcher

Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not yet understood.

- Henry Miller -

There was a moment of pause. The breaths of three people hitched suddenly, dwarfed by the deafening drum of heels against the floor.

Faye Valentine walked forward, her eyes intently focused on the frozen image of a young girl leaping in the air.

She stopped in front of the ancient, antique machine and trailed her fingers across the screen, caressing the cold glass of the television set.

She shook her head, covering her face with her hand and walked away, ignoring the perplexed stares of the three other bounty hunters and their faithful mascot.

Jet quelled a smoker's cough and followed the dark haired woman up the stairs, pulling her by the arm. "Hey, don't think I've forgotten, you still owe me 31000 woolongs for these damn packages."

The retired cop half-expected a sudden, indignant scream or a slap in the face, but neither came to him. He was awarded a simple, shaky nod of the girl's head as she slipped from his metallic grip and down the hallways.

He blinked and let out a confused groan as Ed approached him, holding Ein close to her chin and whispering a melancholy, "Faye Faye."

Spike merely stared at the television set, eyes drawn to the joyous, encouraging face of the younger Faye and away from the events he heard from behind him.

"That tape really got to her." Jet sighed and scratched his head, heading off in another direction. "Well, maybe now I can finally get that money…"

Ed blinked and latched onto the humour in that voice, beaming and leaping into the air. "Yay! Money money!" She tumbled after Jet with a yelping Ein still under her arms.

Grunting and rolling his multi-coloured eyes at them, Spike stood from his seat, stretching with a cat-like arch and reaching for a cigarette.

Spike paused and his attention returned to the TV again as he mumbled, "Damnit…" and replaced the cigarette packet within his pocket and made a move towards the equipment.

After a long while of disconnecting leads, Spike picked up the two items and their appropriate cords and waddled clumsily towards Faye's bedroom.

When he reached the right room, he kicked the door briskly, shouting with strained lungs for Faye.

Spike's irritated eyebrow automatically decided that he would just barge in to the room and shoot the 'damned woman' for ignoring him, however, as he entered the room anddropped the television and the Beta recorder atop a random table, he found himself blinking in surprise.

The great Faye Valentine, master gambler and spoilt princess, was lying unconscious on her ruffled bed sheets, her yellow and red outfit barely concealed by a poorly thrown blanket.

Spike scratched the back of his head; he didn't think he was that long disconnecting the machines.

He shrugged and pinned it to emotional exhaustion and began setting up the equipment in her room. It wasn't until halfway through the instalment did he wonder why exactly he was doing it, but never was he a man to leave anything unfinished and he completed the set-up.

"There we go… maybe I can swindle a couple of woolongs from her for this one…" It was a meek excuse but the only one he could think of as he adjusted the recorder in place, accidentally hitting a few buttons on the side of the machine.

A scrawling noise erupted from the machine and Spike yelped and knocked a few more random buttons, stopping the noise but sending the TV off.

Good morning me. Did you sleep well? Did you wake up feeling good?

Spike jumped in his skin as the vibrant voice of a young child filled the room; slowly he set his sights towards Faye's bed. He sighed with relief as the woman slept on.

Now today you are who you are today see you're still me, but you're a newer version.

Spike found himself pondering on that statement. Faye never seemed to change, so he really couldn't see the point in those words. "A child's reasoning…" he concluded as he reached to the recorder to turn it off. He paused.

Am I alone or is there a wonderful person next to me?

"Neither." He answered the recording bluntly, sitting down on the bed beside Faye and watching the tape, almost anticipating the words which would follow.

Knowing me I'm sure you're causing all kinds of trouble for lots of different people.

He turned back to Faye and stared at her face. She was beautiful, for an annoying, spoilt princess. Spike almost expected to see tears on her face at this point, but none would flow.

That really wouldn't be her style. Bottle it up. Keep it inside. Never let it out. That was her motto.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to…

"I'm sure you are…" The words came out in a sarcastic drawl, but their meaning was truly the polar opposite of this. Spike actually forgave her for her faults.

Realising this, his eyebrow twitched in resentment and he muttered under his breath. "I'm only doing this for tonight, afterwards… you're on your own 'gypsy'."

Spike sighed and turned back, "Since this is only for tonight…"

He placed his arms at either side of her head and leaned down, hesitating as their noses brushed against one another, before slowly pressing his lips against hers, a gentle, soothing motion that ensnared any dark presence that dared to fill her sleep-driven mind.

He decided that he would later blame his curiosity for these actions as he pulled away and licked his lips, the taste of her layer of strawberry lip-gloss residing on them.

Spike grinned slightly. She tasted pretty good.

He abruptly coughed away his awkwardness and turned the tape off, stepping outside of her room and walking down the hallway towards his own domicile.

Passing Jet along the way, the two males walked silently past each other with closed eyes.

This treaty was only broken by the grinning Jet's remark. "My my Spike, your lips are looking especially shiny tonight."

Spike's face flushed red and he sped off, immediately regretting his actions that night as he closed the door to his room and looked at himself in the mirror.

His quivering lips sported a slightly shiny, scarlet quality as he made a motion to rub the weird strain from them with the back of his hand.

"Damn Faye… always causing trouble…" He gently chastised, wondering how he was ever going to live this embarrassment down as he fell back onto his bed and covered his face with faded red hands.

You're not perfect but you've got a lot to give so remember I'll always be cheering you on…

You are now exiting Drabble City, thank you for visiting!

There we go! I kinda made this up as I went along, does it show?? And I tried to make Spike as… Well… Spike-ish as I could! I wonder if it came out that way… (sweatdrops)

Whatever, I hope you enjoyed the fic! And don't forget to review hee hee!