The Journey Home

by merigirl

When Faye meets a mysterious woman in a bar while helping catch a bounty, and she helps Faye with her fighting skils and mysterious past, Faye invites her to become a member of Bebop. But who is she, and where did she come from? Cross over with Bleach

1. Session 27: The Real Folk Blues Part 3

The Journey Home

A Cowboy Bebop/Bleach cross-over

SESSION 27- The Real Folk Blues Part 3

Jet Black flew in his Hammerhead over the charred remains of the buildings he had seen Spike run inside. He knew Spike wouldn't like it if he were here, but he would never have been able to forgive himself if he had just let Spike go off to face Vicious alone. They may have had their share of quarrels, but he could never forget that Spike was still the most important person in the world to him. His overall plan was to quietly follow him to the buildings and keep an eye on what was going on, but Spike had flown too fast in the Swordfish. With his bad leg it was all Jet could do to even keep up and make sure he wasn't seen. But by the time he had arrived smoke was already pouring out of the top!

"Spike!" he called out of the window of the Hammerhead as he lowered the machine, praying he could hear him. "Spike! Where are ya? Spike, where are ya?" He flew lower and lower around the building, praying he wasn't too late. He spied the broken form of Vicious in a puddle of blood oozing from the middle of his chest. "Man!" He thought to himself. "When Spike sets out to do something, he does it RIGHT!" He flew to the other side, where the stairs were. "SPIKE!" he called out with fear in his chest since he discovered the body of Vicious. "God, if anything happens to him, it's gonna be my fault for not getting here faster.." he thought. "SPIKE!" Suddenly he discovered another crumpled body laying on the stairs, His heart stopped as he landed the ship quietly and got out. Hobbling as quick as he could he made it to the body before the surrounding police could touch him. "Wait! Wait! I got him! I got him, he's with me!" he made it over to him. "Excuse me, excuse me, I got him, he's with me,…" He knelt down by the figure of Spike. To his horror he saw blood coming out, but on second look was relived to see it was from his leg and shoulders, not his chest. "Spike! Spike! Come on, buddy, come on!" he gently rolled him over on his back and touched his neck. Breathing a sign of relief he felt a pulse there. "Spike…Spike it's me, buddy. It's me. Don't worry, I gotcha, I gotcha!" he carefully lifted Spike into the back seat of the Hammerhead. Suddenly to his relief he felt Spike stir.

"J…Jet?" he muttered.

"Yeah.." Jet said quietly. "Yeah, it's me, buddy."

"What…what're ya doin here in Heaven?"

Jet had to smile."You're not in Heaven, Spike, in fact you're far from it."

"Where.."

"You're in the Hammerhead, Spike."

"Vicious,…is he.."

"He's dead, Spike. Ya got him and got him good."

"Good. Least I know he's in Hell now keeping Hitler company where that bastard belongs."

"Yeah…yeah he is," just then Jet felt something behind him. Turning around he saw three more surviving members of the Sindicate coming toward him with guns. Before anyone could blink he shot them all down. "Got a message for ya goons, THE RED DRAGON IS DISBANDED!" As soon as he said that he leaped into the Hammerhead and quickly took off.

"Where…where are ya taken me?" Spike asked.

"To the hospital and don't try to move. In case ya don't know you got a bullet wound in your shoulder, a stab wound in your other one, and your leg is badly slashed."

"Don't wanna go to the hospital..I hate hospitals!"

"Spike, you're going to the hospital! You got more wounds than I can fix alone, and I don't know any other way. So unless you're fond of bleeding to death you're going."

Spike groaned from his seat but didn't say anything else about it. "How's Faye?" he asked instead.

Jet allowed himself to smile. "Faye..heh…when last I left her she was screeching that if I didn't bring you back she would shoot holes all over me and hijack my Hammerhead herself to find you. Of course that was before she spent a full ten minutes chewing you out. In other words, she's fine" Spike had to smile at that.

"Ya know, as crazy as that sounds….I missed her."

"Man now I REALLY gotta get you to the hospital!" Jet said, but Spike knew he was only kidding.

"Jet?"

:"Yeah?"

"Ya know if Ed came back yet?"

Jet sighed." No. don't know where she went. Can't find Ein anywhere either."

As soon as they reached the hospital Jet quickly admitted him in. The doctor in charge whistled at the sight of Spike; "Good Lord."

"Ya should see the other guy," Jet said before he got up to leave.

'Did you say he got Vicious?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he's the one."

The doctor whistled. "Man, I personally owe him. That bastard's been after my brother because he turned some of his Sindicates over to the police. And this guy KILLED him? Well, for that, no charge at all!"

Jet turned to the doctor. "He's like a brother to me. Fix him up the best ya can." The doctor nodded.

"Hey, Jet?" Spike called from his bed. "Thanks."

Jet had to smile. "You relax, buddy. They're gonna get ya out of here before ya know it. They better…I need someone to help me repair the Bebop, and I can't afford a funeral." Both men laughed as Jet slowly made his way back to the Hammerhead later with his leg in a cast.

Jet entered the dark Bebop looking around him., "Well?" came an all too familiar voice. Jet turned toward Faye, who was leaning on the wall with her arms crossed in front of her.

"He's in the hospital now, Faye. He's gonna be fine, and when he get out, I'll APPRECIATE it if you left him alone to recuperate in peace and QUIET!"

Faye shook her head."The idiot.."

"What's that?"

"Jet, he's lucky he wasn't killed. You heard him, he acted like he was going there TO die. Just going off to throw his damn life away without even giving a damn about us. If I were you I would have just left him there to grant his wish."

At that Jet stood up and slammed his fist into the table so hard Faye jumped up and backed away in shock. "Don't YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN OR I'LL JETTISON YOU INTO DEEP SPACE, YOU GOT IT?"

"Jet.."

"Shut up, Faye! You Don't know the real story, all right?"

"What IS the real story then, Jet? I know this guy Vicious was a bastard from his past, but for him to go out and almost get himself killed and not give a damn about us.."

"He DOES give a damn about us! In case you're wondering why we're grounded here, Faye, it's cause of what Vicious and his goons did!"

"Well, why did he keep saying it was HIS fight, Jet? My Redtail got damaged too! YOUR Bebop got wrecked, why wouldn't he let US go with him?"

"Cause he knew Vicious did this to get at him particularly."

"But he hit OUR ships, Jet! Why wouldn't that jerk let US take Vicious out too?"

"Spike didn't want us to put our lives in jeopardy, too. This was HIS fight!"

"Why JUST him? Vicious got our ships, I THOUGHT we were his friends, we got guns, we got your Hammerhead, why did he insist on going alone to go get killed…"

"Faye…do you remember that woman Julia you talked to before?"

"Yeah…."

"Did you know she was Spike's girlfriend?"

"What do you mean was…"

"She's DEAD, Faye!"

Faye stood there stunned. "D…dead.?"

"Yeah, Faye. Julia used to be Vicious's girlfriend. But Vicious abused her and controlled her. She and Spike fell in love, but Vicious found out and threatened to have Spike killed if Julia left him. So Julia abandoned Spike. But when Spike found Julia again, she finally decided she wanted to be with Spike and secretly left Vicious. Spike was planning to bring her on the Bebop with us and marry her in the first town we stopped in. I was gonna be best man…then on the day they were supposed to meet…Vicious found her..he shot her dead." Faye's eyebrows went up. "Yeah. She died right in front of Spike."

"I didn't know."

"Now ya do."

Faye sunk down upon the couch, feeing lower than dirt. "Damn…" she said.

"Yeah. NOW do ya know why?" she nodded, in a daze. "So now that you feel lower than the dirt below this ship, you better not bring it up when he gets back, you got it!" All Faye could do was nod.

"Damn that Vicious to hell…"

A few days later Spike was released from the hospital and was laying upon the couch in the Bebop. Faye came over to see him, causing him to open one of his eye warily. "Hey," he muttered.

"Hey," was all she ended up saying. "So….uh…how are ya feeling?"

"Uggh…like a car ran over my back…and the tracks are still there."

"Last time I looked they weren't," she answered. She leaned against the couch back. "So…ya got him?"

"Yeah. May he fry in hell forever."

"Amen," she said. "Look, Spike…about what I said to you…before you left….well..maybe you're not THAT big of an idiot after all."

Spike managed to sit up a bit. "Man, guess the painkillers didn't wear off yet.I'm hearing things!"

"Very funny," she snapped."Look,I'm doing something that's hard for me to usually do, OK? Do you think you can cut me some slack?" Spike's reply was a sly smile. "Look, Jet told me everything…and I just wanna say…I'm glad you got rid of that bastard. World's a lot better off without him."

"Ain't that the truth?"

"Look Spike….ya want anything right now?"

Spike looked up, surprised. "YOU'RE offering me something? OK, that's it, who are you, and where's the real Faye?"

"Keep this up and you can forget about me trying to be nice. You gonna let me help you or not?"

"The all new Faye Valentine! No, Don't want anything right now."

Jet came in just then. "Take it easy there, Buddy. Doctor says you're gonna be out of action for a while."

"How long a while?"

"Don't know yet. The more ya rest the better chance ya got of getting better, so rest."

Yeah, yeah," Spike mumbled, sitting back down. "Hey, Jet?"

"Yeah?"

"You ever find out what happened to Ed and Ein?"

"Nope.I'm trying to track them down, but so far haven't found any clue."

"Hmm…it's weird. One day she was here, one day she's packing up under our noses, leaves a good bye note, and she and Ein are gone." Spike looked around. "It's..kinda quiet here without them."

Jet looked at him amuzed. "Look out, Spike. It sounds to me like you actually miss them."

Spike sank down on the couch. "I kinda do," he admitted. "I mean…I know I said I hated kids and dogs. But..they grew on me. I wonder what would have possessed them to leave like they did. I thought Ed liked it here."

"Always seemed to me like she did!" Out of the corner of his eye, Jet saw Faye slowly trying to sink away with her head bowed down before slowly sitting on one of the chairs. "Faye?" he asked slowly. "Oh Fa-aye.." he said in a sing-song manner. "Do YOU know anything about Ed's disappearance?"

"Uh…well…I…"

"Faye…talk."

"OK, OK, I did it.I sent Ed away. Guess Ein went with her."

Spike sat up angrily. "You WHAT?"

"I didn't mean to! When I finally remembered who I was and where I used to live I told Ed she had family waiting for her too, and she should go be with him. I told her belonging is the best feeling there is."

"Jet…I'm kinda immobilized here, give her a kick for me!"

"With pleasure!" Jet said, approaching her, "Belonging is the best thing there is. You said that. You REALLY said that? What did ya think this place was, a hotel?" Jet cried out. "You told a 13 year old girl to wander out into nowhere to find this guy that abandoned her in the first place?"

"Look, I thought I was doing the right thing, all right? I was so happy about finally finding my own home.."

"Yeah, how EXACTLY did that pan out, Faye?"

"Hey, I didn't know that it would be torn down, all right? Anyway, I find out where my old home is and I was so happy I told Ed she had a right to feel this way too and she should go find her OWN home!"

"What were WE, chopped liver?"

"Hey, THIS wasn't her home, Jet! Not her REAL home!"

Jet sat down. "It COULD have been," he said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means you sent a 13 year old girl out into the middle of nowhere to basically fend for herself until she finds this guy!"

"Of course that's if he doesn't forget about her all over again like he did the 2nd time."

Faye's head snapped up. "What do you mean 'the second time'?"

"Well, YOU had already split to parts unknown. We got word on a bounty, a guy named Applewhite, he kept track of meteors that fall to the Earth. Guy was powerful, he matched both me AND Spike evenly! Well it turns out Ed made up the bounty in order to find him, and when she did he turned out to be her Dad."

"So why get mad at ME, you KNEW where she went."

"You gonna let me finish? When ED went to meet him it looked like they were having a happy reunion at first, and he even offered to take her with him, but then a meteor crashed over some hills,and he and his assistant took off…without Ed! He just left her behind! Next thing we knew, she and Ein disappear. Now you're telling me she left to find a guy that abandoned her AGAIN cause of YOU?"

Faye looked down. "Well…how was I to know she'd do that? I just wanted to help.."

"Next time don't help so much," Jet mumbled. He picked up his toolbox. "I'm gonna go do some repairs on the Bebop.."

"I'll give ya a hand," Spike said about to get up.

"No, you won't. Stay right THERE. The doctor said you can't be moved for a few weeks. I don't need those wounds opening up again. Just stay there and rest." Spike picked up a magazine. "Faye, ya wanna help so much? Come help me. Then we can work on your Redtail."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, call me a sweetheart. Think of this as earning your keep here."

"Very funny.."

"Ya wanna fix it yourself, be my guest!"

Faye stood up. "Coming, Sir," she said sarcastically.

A few days later Jet sent Faye out for some food, using what little money they had in the till. "JUST food Faye! NOTHING else, got it? No dog tracks, no little things on the side, JUST food." Faye made her way down the road until she found the nearest general store. After getting what was on the list that Jet gave to her, she was making her way out when her eyes fell on two faraway figures sitting on a rock. The shapes looked familiar to her, but she couldn't quite make them out very clear. Her curiosity got the better of her and she waked slowly over to the rock, not being able to believe what she was seeing as the shapes became clearer to her.

"Ed? Ein?"

Ed looked up and a huge grin spread over her face. "Faye-Faye!" she called out. "Look, Ein, it's Faye-Faye!" The dog looked up and barked happily.

"Ed? What are you and Ein doing here?"

"We're waiting for Father person to come back!"

"Father person? You mean you found your father?"

"Uh huh. Father person took Ed and Ein on his ship and we've been traveling all over!"

"I see. So, where is he now, Ed?"

"He told Ed and Ein to wait right here on this rock while he went off to chase another meteor with his assistant."

"Well, if you want I'll wait with you. We've all been really worried about you, Ed."

"Worried?"

"Well, yeah. I mean you just took off without telling anyone where you were going."

"Ed left a good bye note on the Bebop."

"Well, you didn't tell them where you went, they were concerned about you."

"Well, Ed didn't even know where Ed was going."

"You didn't?"

"No, Ed saw where Father person went so she went in that direction, and soon she found him again!"

"You traveled all by yourself to find him? Ed, that's kinda dangerous."

"Ed had to find out where she belongs…"

Faye cringed at these same words she remembered saying to Ed. "So….you went to find him cause…you think you belonged with him?"

"Uh huh."

"I see…well..I'm glad you found him," she came over to Ed and set her bags down, leaning against the rock. "So….is your Dad coming back soon?"

"He should. He's been gone for so long."

"How long, Ed?"

"Oh, Ed doesn't know. The sun's gone up and down so many times!" Ein then pawed the ground. "Oh right, Ein! Ed began to draw little lines on the ground for each time the sun went down. That's how long Father person's been away."

Faye counted the lines on the ground. 14. 14 lines! "Wait…you mean…YOU'VE BEEN WAITING ON THIS ROCK FOR OVER 2 WEEKS?"

"Uh huh. But Father person is going to come right back for Ed. He said so."

Faye began to look uncomfortable. "Uh….Ed…I dunno how to tell you this.,…but…I don't think your Father is COMING back."

Ed's face became pale. "Not…not coming back? But Father person SAID he was coming back! He TOLD ED he was!"

"Ed….I think he forgot all about you again. He's not coming back for you at all," Ed's face fell at these words, and Faye felt lower than dirt, knowing SHE was actually the one who made this happen. "Ed…I'm sorry. But he forgot about you. He won't come back. I'm sorry…"

"But…Father person was where Ed belonged. Faye told Ed she had someone waiting for you. Faye Faye said Ed had a place where she belonged. Faye TOLD Ed…" Ed finally broke and she burst into tears, leaning on Faye's shoulder. Faye found herself putting her arms around Ed.

"Ed..I was wrong when I told you that. I had no idea what kind of a person your father was."

"Faye said belonging was the best feeling there is!"

"It is. But Ed, you HAD a place to belong, same way I did. We were right in it the entire time and neither one of us knew it. Ed, you don't belong with that horrible excuse for a Father, you belong in the Bebop, with Spike and Jet. They've been worried about you terribly!"

"Spike person…Jet person…misses Ed and Ein?"

"Very much. They were just asking about you for several nights now! Ed…your father isn't coming back for you. I don't think he even cares about you at all. I was wrong to tell you to find where you belonged, you belonged with Jet and Spike! Come back to the Bebop, Ed. We're not that far away from here. Besides, we need your computer to help us track down bounties."

"Father person used Ed's computer too!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, for helping track down meteors."

"Well, hopefully you can still use it to help us out."

"Yeah, as soon as Ed sets it back up!"

Faye stood up and took the bags. "Come back to the Bebop, Ed. You and Ein. You have people who really miss you and really want you back."

Ed smiled and packed up her computer. "Come on, Ein! We're going back on the Bebop!" Ein barked happily and ran around. "Faye-Faye? Does Spike person and Jet person REALY miss Ed?"

"They really do! Come on back, both of you."

Ed looked back. "Come on, Ein! We're gonna go back to Bebop!"

"Only be careful around Spike, Ed. He got into a dangerous fight with an evil man named Vicious, and he's been heavily wounded, so be careful around him."

"Right!"

A few minutes later Faye stepped back into the Bebop. Jet was guiding Spike back onto the couch with hand while holding his toolbox with the other.

"Spike, you've done enough for right now. Get back on the couch and rest."

"Come on, Jet, we have to do some more work on the ship."

"Spike, you know what the doctor said. You need to rest as much as you can or those wounds are gonna open back up! You did enough for this afternoon, I appreciate your help in fixing the Bebop, but now you need to take a break."

"All right," with a sign he lay back down on the couch as Jet made his way into the kitchen.

"I'll get ya some water."

Spike raised his head. "Hey, Faye. Look, Jet, Faye's actually come back on the ship…and with actual groceries to boot!"

"Well, well, well, ya mean she DIDN'T sneak out and spend it at the dog races after all?"

"Very funny, Jet. Yes, I got the groceries, here," she thrusted them at Jet. Jet looked through them.

"Wait, Faye…why is there DOG FOOD here?"

Spike raised his head. "I didn't think we were THAT bad yet!"

Fsye grinned. "We're not. But there IS a reason for it!" She turned around and gestured, and Jet's and Spike's eyes grew wide.

"Ed! Ein!" Ein ran to Jet and barked happily. Jet reached down and petting him. "Ein! Where've ya been, buddy?"

"He's been with Ed," Ed spoke up. "Ed tried to tell him to go on home, but he insisted on coming."

Jet walked over and hugged Ed. "Well, well, what brings you back to us?"

Faye spoke up. "I found them sitting on a large rock outside of the store. It turns out her no good father abandoned her again!"

Spike sat up. "He WHAT?"

"He left Ed and Ein there, took off with his partner to find some meteors and forgot about her again."

"That no good, disgusting son of a…." Jet said angrily. "Bad enough he did it twice, but THREE times?"

"That damn…"Spike muttered, falling back into the couch. "If I could get up off of this couch I swear to God…"

"Spike, you are NOT getting up! Sit back down on that couch and don't move, you need to rest."

"I found her and brought her back, Jet. I hope that makes up for my role in her going away."

"It does, Faye," he assured her.

"Jet…can Ed and Ein please come back to the Bebop and be a member of it again?"

"Of course you can, Ed! We've been worried about you! You can set your computer back up right over there," he pointed to the huge space that he never bothered to put anything else. "We saved it for ya."

"Yay!" Ed went right to the space and began to set her computer up.

"Ed?" Faye asked. "You said your father kept borrowing your computer?"

"Yep, so he can track down meteorites."

"Huh?" Both Jet and Spike said. "But then how the hell was he able to do it before when he didn't have that computer?" Jet asked. "Ed? Let me see that.." Jet moved next to Ed to see what showed up on her screen. .

Spike sat up. "What's there, Jet?"

"Why that disgusting….these are bank files and accounts! Ed, he's been borrowing your computer to embezzle money!"

"Ya mean he's been using his own daughter?"

"Using her than dumping her the minute he didn't need her anymore."

Spike sat all the way up then. "Jet…you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Jet went to his own computer. "I'm way ahead of you buddy…yep, here he is. Bounty on his head….over 40,000 woolongs. Wanted for bank embezzling, and trespassing."

"Add child abandonment to the list!" Spike said. "Dirty bastard…leaving a 13 year old girl to fed for herself three times!"

"My sentiments exactly," Jet said as he typed the information. The bounty immediately shot up. He turned to Faye. "Faye…care to go bounty hunting?" Faye grinned.

"Hang on.." Spike said, about to get up.

"You sit back down, Spike! You can't get up yet, you're not fully healed and I don't wanna go back to the emergency room. Faye and I will go."

Faye grinned smugly and grabbed her gun. "Ready when you are, Jet."

"Ed, stay here and take care of Spike. Make sure he doesn't move from the couch and get him all he needs."

"Right!"

Jet grinned. "Good to have ya back, Ed." He bent down and petted Ein before he and Faye took off in the Hammerhead.

Ed came over to Spike and sat down next to him. "Hey,Spike? Faye Faye told Ed you were hurt bad."

Spike turned to her. "It's not as bad as it was before. Least I can walk for a little bit at a time."

"Does it hurt at all?"

"Still does a bit, but only in certain parts of my leg if I move it too quick." Ed watched for a bit, then went off to Spike's room. A little while later Spike felt something around his body. He looked up to see that Ed had taken his blanket from off his bed and was tucking it around his shoulders. "Ed? What are ya doing?"

"Jet said to watch over you ad take care of you. So Ed is making you more comfortable. Here," she carefully raised his heavily bandaged leg and put a pillow under it.

"Ed, Ed, careful!" Ed gingerly laid his leg back down. "Is that comfortable?"

"Yeah,…yeah it is. Thanks Ed."

"Spike? Faye said a bad man hurt you bad?"

"Yeah…yeah. His name was Vicious. He was a true monstar through and through. He stole, killed, abused his own girlfriend…was straight from hell himself. The final straw was when he killed my girlfriend Julia. Gunned her down right in front of me. That's when I had to take him down! I ddn't care what it took…I knew I had to do it. He coudn;t be allowed to go on anymore."

Ed sat right next to him and listened. "Did ya do it?"

"Yeah….yeah I did. Damn glad I did too."

"Ooooh…Spike? Do you want anything else?"

"Nah…just wanna sleep right now…thanks."

After quite a while Jet and Faye both came back to the Bebop. Spike quickly woke up and raised his head. "Hey," he greeted them. "So, did ya get that son of a,"

"Yep," Jet said. "Guy as usual was made of steel. Didn't know if we'd actually do it."

"Threw eggs at ya again?"

"Yeah."

"So, how'd ya do it?"

"Actually it was Faye. She used her 'feminine charm' to distract ,if you will. Once his eyes were otherwise occupied it was pretty easy to shoot his throwing arm and overtake him," he took an envelope out of his pocket and threw it to Spike. "Here ya go, your share of the bounty."

"Thanks. So, it took ya this long to get him?"

"Well, as soon as Faye did her thing it didn't take too long at all. But that's not the real reason we took longer than usual. Is that we stopped at the City Hall after the police station," he took out some papers from his pocket." here," he knelt down to her level. "The reason Faye and I were late is that we were doing something. See, we did get your father and he's in jail right now for stealing, trespassing, and abandoning you. But you can't be without a guardian, after all, you're only 13. So I went to City Hall and had adoption papers drawn up," he gave Ed the copies of the papers. "Faye signed as a witness. So, you're my legal daughter now, Ed. No one can take you away from the Bebop again."

Ed's face slowly broke into a huge smile. "Papa?" Jet smiled as Ed threw herself into his arms. "PAPA! My Papa!"

Spike smiled smugly from his place on the couch. "She's all yours….Papa."

"Keep talking, Spike. That makes you her uncle now!"

Before Spike could blink Ed was running to him. "UNCLE SPIKE!"

"Whoa, whoa,NOT THERE, NOT THERE, NOT THERE!" He called out. Ed quickly switched sides and threw her arms around the side that was not bandaged.

"Uncle Spike!" At first Spike stiffened. But then he slowly relaxed and smiled.

"Aw.,..what the hell. Come here, you!" he put one arm around Ed and hugged her tight to him, while mussing her hair, causing her to giggle. Faye had to lean against the couch with a sly grin of her own.

"Enjoy your new niece, Uncle Spike."

Spike grinned back to her. "Say…uh…Ed…did you say hi to your Aunt Faye-Faye?"

"Wha.." Faye asked before Ed came at her.

"AUNT FAYE-FAYE!" she threw her arms around Faye's waist before Faye could say anything.

"I'll get you for this, Spike," she muttered.

"What's wrong with you? You're the one who wanted to find her family. Well, now you got a ready made niece! Small family, but one all the same!"

Fye looked at Ed whio was still hugging her, and her face smield a bit. "Yeah…."

"Aunt Faye-Faye said belong is the best thing there is!"

Faye then smiled at her. "It sure is, Ed," she hugged her new niece to herself. "And don't you ever forget it."

A few months later Spike was finally well enough to get up and move around, to his great relief. To an active person like Spike, to be asked to sit still for a long period of time was like pure torture for him. He was going over his martial arts moves when Ed and Ein came into the room. For a while Ed stood and watched Spike as he stretched and kicked. She then began to slowly copy him. She imitated the way he held his arms, the way he bent and kicked his legs. After a while Spike noticed out of the corner of his eye. He slowly kicked the air, watching Ed do the same thing. He did it a second time, seeing Ed do the same. He looked like he was gonna do it a third time, but he only kicked halfway before he quickly put his foot back down. Unfortunately Ed didn't catch that and kicked all the way, causing Spike to grin.

"Ya like what you see, Ed?"

"Oooh. Ho, ho, yeah!" Ed smiled. "Unce Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you teach Ed to do that?"

"Do what?"

"That! Punches, kicks, hi-ya! Ed wants to learn to do that too! Please, Uncle Spike, teach Ed how to do that! Ed wants to learn to be a cowgirl!"

Spike came over to her. "Ed.."

"Please, Uncle Spike! Ed really wants to learn! Ed wants to be fearless Cowgirl someday, like you!"

Spike knelt down to her. "Ed…believe me, ya don't wanna be EXACTLY like me. I've done some things in the past I'm not too proud of..I'll explain them when you're old enough to understand."

"But Uncle Spike is a brave cowboy now! Ed wants to be a fearless strong cowgirl!"

"Ed, being a cowboy, or a cowgirl doesn't make you fearless. Everyone gets scared once in a while."

"Even you?"

"Yeah. I admit I do get scared. Ya can't really show it in the heat of a battle, but I do get scared. I was scared when I fought Vicious. I know I had to, but at the same time I was afraid I might not see Jet again…or you."

"So…I guess even bounty hunters get scared?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"But ya know what?"

"What?"

"I think that Vicious was even more scared!"

Spike had to chuckle "Ya know…I doubt it."

"But Ed still wants to learn. Can you teach Ed? Please teach Ed!"

Spike stood up. "Well…OK. But you can't learn this overnight. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of training. I practice every night You have to take this one step at a time, learn every step, control every movement," Ed nodded. "The most important thing is you have to relax your body. You can't be tense. Your body has to be calm and relaxed, like water."

"Water, Uncle Spike?"

"Yeah. Haven't you ever seen a waterfall? You know when the water starts out all calm and relaxing and fluid, but then when it gets to the waterfall it falls down and crashes to the rocks below in powerful foam? Well jet-kune-do is kinda like that. If you're relaxed and calm you can take people by surprise when they try to sneak up on you."

Ed's eyes went wide. "Ooooh!"

"You have to relax your body, don't be tense."

"Oh…relax the body. Don't be tense."

"Right. Tell ya what, I'll start giving you lessons right after dinner tomorrow, all right?"

"OK!" Ed then gave Spike a huge hug. "Thank you, Uncle Spike! Do you think Ed can someday be a Cowgirl just like her family?"

"Well…you're not old enough to hold a gun yet.."

"But I can teach her how when she is," Faye broke in, coming into the room.

"Oh boy. Uncle Spike is gonna teach Ed martial arts, Aunt Faye Faye is gonna teach her how to use a gun! What do you think, Ein?" Ein barked his reply.

"Careful, guys," Jet said coming in. "You know what we're starting to sound like? A family."

Spike took a look around him. "Ya know Jet…I think we are the weirdest family I've ever seen!"

"But we're a family, all the same!"

(end of part one. The Bleach cross over begins in the next chapter. This one is only the prologue)