Title: Remembering Memories

Author: Lovely Lady

Genre: Romance / Drama / Angst

Rating: T

Pairing: Spike / Faye

Disclaimer: Thanks to those who wrote a review for me! You don't know how much I appreciate your feedback. Anyways, here is the next chapter to my story, so enjoy! Reviews would be very much appreciated. And an additional note, this story's rating may change to M. If talking about a vibrator is too inappropriate for T, then maybe I'll have to. Oh yeah, I do not own Cowboy Bebop or any of the characters, except maybe Jake Summers and Tanya Matthews.

Chapter 2 – Can't Run Away From the Past

Three years later…

"Faye! Hurry up or you're going to be late for you dinner date with Mr. Charming tonight!" Tanya's piercing voice ricocheted through the office room.

With a sigh, Faye stood from her desk of scattered papers and files. She strode in her classic red stilettos across the room towards her best friend, Tanya Matthews. "Tanya, for the last time, his name is not 'Mr. Charming.' His name is Jake, so please stop calling him that."

Tanya gave Faye an innocent look but replaced it with a pout when she realized that Faye didn't fall for her scheme. "Why should I? He is devilishly handsome and charming. I'm just stating the facts. You're lucky I don't call him 'Mr. Devilishly Handsome and Charming.'" She took a sip of her diet soda. "By the way, how long have you been going out with Jake anyways? It seems like forever now."

Faye rolled her eyes. "Oh give me a break. Just because you don't date a guy for more than a month doesn't mean you should talk about my relationship with Jake as if we've been married for twenty years." She paused to take a sip of Tanya's drink. "And for your information, it has been exactly one year. Tonight is our anniversary celebration."

Tanya stood and reached to give Faye a hug. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry for being such a pain in the ass. Anyways, congratulations, I mean it." After releasing Faye, Tanya resumed chatting in the same cheerful tone she always spoke with. "So, since you've still got a few minutes left before you've got to head to your apartment and get ready for tonight, let's talk about Mr. Charming."

Frustrated, Faye threw her arms up in the air but decided to give up on the name-calling. Tanya was impossible sometimes. "What about? Well, other than the fact that he's 'incredibly handsome and charming.'"

"Devilishly, hon, I said 'devilishly handsome.' Stop screwing up my words." Tanya smirked at her. "Anyways, tell me. I've been dying to know. What's he like in bed?"

Faye practically choked on the drink at Tanya's bluntness. "What?"

"Oh, come on, Faye. After a year of secrecy, you've never told me how he is in the sack. And don't give me one of those, 'I'm saving myself until our wedding night' crap, Faye. I know you're not a virgin. But a year of celibacy…" Tanya shivered. "Ooh, gives me the chills just thinking about it." Tanya was not a friend who was the least modest or innocent. Her relationships were what some referred to as love 'em and leave 'em. The longest relationship she had was with a guy named Chad, and he was married with kids.

Faye couldn't help but chuckle at Tanya's remark. "Look, Tanya, I don't really want to talk about it. All I'm going to say is that, yes, we have slept together. But I don't feel comfortable revealing our intimate things with another person. Sorry, but that includes you too."

Tanya's expression was almost comical. "Oh, no fair. I want in on the juicy details. It's been almost a month since Matt and I broke up, and my vibrator's just not cutting it anymore."

Faye smirked. "Well…I'm sorry that your vibrator is 'not cutting it anymore,' but you still won't be 'in on the juicy details.'"

"Alright, fine. You don't have to tell me the particulars. But, if you had to describe in one word how he is in bed, what would it be?" Tanya's eyes became wider with anxiousness for every word she spoke.

Faye let out a sigh at Tanya's persistence, but decided to put her out of her misery. "Well, if I had to describe how Jake is in bed in one word, I would have to say…"

That's when Jake suddenly appeared in the room holding a bouquet of red roses. "Incredible? Mind-blowing? Orgasmic? The best thing in the world?" His expression was clearly amusing.

However, Faye's reaction was totally different from Jake's. She blushed in embarrassment at the thought of Jake having listened in on their private conversation. What could she say to him now? It was all just too embarrassing.

Thankfully, Tanya saved Faye before she had to respond to Jake. "For your information, I specifically asked for one word answers, not six. 'The best thing in the world' doesn't count." Tanya's face was at first serious, but quickly changed to amusing. "Oh, but I did love the 'orgasmic' one. At least you're not modest about…"

Faye briefly recovered from her humiliation and quickly interrupted Tanya before she could say any more. "Alright, enough already. End of subject." She turned to Jake. "By the way, what are you doing here? I thought we said we were going to meet at my apartment."

"Well, I just happened to get out of the office early and wanted to surprise you." Jake chuckled. "And, boy what a surprise."

After rolling her eyes, Faye stood up and turned to Tanya. "Well, as you can see, my knight in shining armor is here to rescue me, so I'm going to go. Can you lock up after me?"

Tanya stared at Faye in pure mockery. "What do I look like, your servant?"

"No, but you're my secretary, so I would appreciate if you did."

After a few seconds of silence, Tanya understood her position. "Oh, you're right. Sometimes I'm forgetful about that sort of stuff. Good point."

With a laugh, Faye thanked Jake for the roses and took his hand to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow at eight as usual, Tanya?"

Mischief was written all over Tanya's face. "O-kay, boss. I will see you tomorrow, bright and early at eight…but if you're, say, a couple hours late, I will understand completely." And with a quick wink from Tanya, Faye quickly turned around and left the small building with the man of her dreams on her arm.

---

After Jake had taken Faye to her apartment to get changed, they left for their dinner date. The restaurant that he had picked was absolutely breathtaking. It screamed sophistication and elegance. It was filled with only the wealthiest of people, who were waiting to devour the pricey yet delectable food. Only the best of the best was served there.

Jake Summers led Faye towards a table by the window. He politely held out her chair before she sat down in her simple red dress. Jake took his seat across from her as a waiter approached them to provide menus. With a nod, the waiter left their table and the two were left alone. Jake gazed into Faye's eyes and took both of her hands. "You look beautiful, Faye."

She felt beautiful. Faye was starting to grow accustomed to places such as this. Being surrounded by women adorned in diamonds and pearls, and men behaving like gentlemen. A couple of years ago, Faye would never have even dreamed about being in the same vicinity as a place like this. Before she had left, she had been used to women adorned in nothing but simple clothes, and men treating them as if they were a piece of meat…

No, she wouldn't remember. She refused to remember. Blocking out her past, Faye smiled in appreciation. "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself."

Jake grinned at her comment. After placing a small kiss on both her hands, he released them and took a look at the menu. Faye smiled at Jake's gentlemanliness. From the first day they had met, Jake had seemed anything but a gentleman towards her. Their meeting had been purely accidental. Faye had been getting home from work, when she had bumped into his all-male chest. With his tall stature, soft brown hair and dazzling blue eyes, it had been difficult for her to resist his charm. He had started out trying to ask her out for a cup of coffee, but she had refused. She had decided to give up on men, and his forwardness sent off warning signals. But his persistency actually became quite amusing and charming. He had tried sending her flowers at work, or tried to catch her at her apartment. Faye had never had that kind of attention before. She had never felt that attractive or pampered in her life, especially by a man who was as undeniably handsome man as Jake. So she finally submitted and accepted his date offer, and the both of them immediately hit it off; taking walks in the park, seeing movies together, making love in his apartment. Eventually a year passed, and there they were; on their one-year anniversary in one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

Some movement on the other side of the window drew Faye's attention. There was a couple arguing near a fountain. The woman was crying and screaming at the same time, holding onto the man's arm. Apparently, the man was trying to leave her, and eventually broke the grasp on his arm. The woman was pouring her eyes out while the man coldly walked away. How sad.

Faye remembered that moment with him. It was one of the memories that she had tried to forget the most, the most hurtful one. Before she could stop it, the memory was passing before her eyes.

Anger consumed Faye as she pointed her gun to his head. "Where're you going? Why are you going? You told me once to forget the past, 'cause it doesn't matter. But you're the one still tied to the past, Spike!"

He approached her, staring into her green eyes. "Look at my eyes, Faye. One of them is a fake 'cause I lost it in an accident. Since then, I've been seeing the past in one eye, and the present in the other. So I thought I could see only patches of reality, never the whole picture."

Faye was beginning to feel afraid; more afraid than she had ever felt in her life. Her voice trembled. "Don't tell me things like that. You never told me anything about yourself, so don't tell me now."

His voice continued to sound dull and lifeless. "I felt like I was watching a dream I'd never wake up from. Before I knew it, the dream was all over." And then he turned to leave.

"So, what do you feel like ordering?" Jake's masculine voice had interrupted Faye's thoughts. His gaze wandered from the menu to Faye.

"Hmm?" Faye's trance was broken, and she held back the tears forming in her eyes. She would not go back to living like she did in the past. She would not be weak; that was the old Faye. The old Faye dressed in skimpy, revealing clothes and smoked two packs a day. This was the new Faye. The new Faye dressed sophisticated and acted courteously. The new Faye didn't smoke or curse. The new Faye didn't argue or scream. The new Faye had no past. She forced a smile. "Sorry, I didn't hear you. My mind was somewhere else for the moment."

Jake smiled, understandingly. "That's alright. I just wanted to know if you decided on what to eat."

"Eat? Oh, gosh, I haven't even looked at the menu yet." Her eyes traveled towards the approaching waiter. "Could you just order for me? You probably know better than I do what's good here."

"Alright." Jake put down his menu as the waiter arrived at their table. After he had ordered their meals and the waiter left with their orders, Jake turned his attention towards Faye and grasped her small hands. "Gosh, Faye, I can't believe it's already been a year. Time flies when I'm with you. When I'm with you, I feel like I can fly." He took out a small velvet box and placed it on the tablecloth. "Happy anniversary."

Faye couldn't have been more surprised in her life. "Oh my gosh, Jake. You didn't have to do this." She carefully opened the small box to reveal a beautiful diamond necklace. Faye put her hand over her mouth and sat there shocked.

Jake reached over the table to put the necklace around Faye's neck, because she was at loss for words. After fastening the necklace, Jake resumed his position in his seat. "Well, do you like it?"

Faye finally managed to force out a few words. "Like it? I love it!" She glanced down to look at the jewelry around her neck, then back at him. "No one has ever given me a gift. At least, not since I was a little girl. Thank you, Jake." Salty tears were forming in the corner of her eyes, and easily let them flow down her face. This was the new Faye. The new Faye could cry because she was happy, not because she was miserable.

"Hey, are you alright?" Jake was starting to get worried.

Before she could respond, the waiter arrived with their food. Drying her tears and forgetting what happened, the two of them enjoyed a wonderful meal together while exchanging laughs.

After leaving the restaurant, Jake grabbed Faye into a warm embrace and planted kisses along her collarbone. "So, do you feel like coming over to my place?"

Faye brought his face up to kiss him on the lips. "It depends on what we're going to do there," she hinted suggestively.

Jake laughed softly and whispered in her ear, clearly revealing his intentions with her. Faye smiled and after another short kiss, the couple walked down the street holding hands and enjoying their life together.

---

Next afternoon…

After a long day of shopping, Faye was exhausted as she happily strode past the stores with bags crammed in her tiny hands. Her life couldn't possibly get any better than this. She and Jake were a happy little couple, her job was going well, she lived in a cozy apartment; what more could a woman ask for? She continued walking towards her apartment and along the way passed a market. As customers were entering and exiting, Faye tried to walk through them. Stupid Faye. Before she knew it, she was caught in the huge crowd. "Excuse me," she said as she dodged a small boy and his mother. "Pardon me." She would never make it out of there alive. And then she saw that unmistakable mossy green hair.

Her heart stopped. No possible way. She had to be imagining things. He was dead. Dead.Faye was going crazy. But for the sake of her sanity, what harm would come from following the guy for some reassurance that it was some ugly fat chump? Yeah, once she saw his face, she would know that there was nothing to worry about.

Faye cautiously followed the man through the crowd of customers. She didn't care about courtesy part, she just jumped to the push and shove part. A man with serious side-burns glared at her after she had pushed him. "Sorry, but this is an emergency."

When she had finally broken free, she had already noticed something. The man was skinny and lanky. Just like him. "Chill out, Faye. Stop getting all worked up about it," she said to herself.

After ten more minutes of following him, Faye was about to go out of her mind. She still couldn't get a view of his face. Then the man entered a small building and started walking up the stairs. Before Faye could follow him up without being noticed, the man had gone in his apartment and had shut his door.

"Great, Faye. Now you'll never even know what the guy looked like." But before she could think twice, Faye dropped her bags right besides the steps, climbed up the old steps and lightly tapped on the door.

Faye heard faint footsteps walk towards the door and she tried to remain calm. She talked to herself again, "It's not going to be him, Faye. He died three years ago. Just leave now before you make a fool…"

The door swung open to reveal the man whom she had followed. It was Spike.

---

Spike Foster opened the door and found himself face to face with a shocked woman with silky violet hair and tantalizing green eyes. "Can I help you?"

---

Faye stood there shocked and speechless. A million questions were swimming in her head, yet she didn't know where to start. She practically chocked on the name that she hadn't said in years. "Spike."

A voice inside his apartment rang in her ears. "Honey, who's at the door?" It was a woman's voice. As tears welled up in Faye's eyes, a second pair of footsteps came towards her from inside the apartment. When Faye saw who it was, she felt like her heart broke into a million pieces again. It was Julia.

Author's Note: Wow, what an exhausting and intense chapter. All right, where do I begin? First off, while I was writing the first half of this chapter (the part with Jake and Faye), I realized that if I wanted this to end up to be a Spike/Faye story, I would have to get rid of Jake somehow. But the big question was, how would I do such a thing? Jake is such a great character and obviously cares about Faye a lot (and vice versa). It's going to be really hard for me to think of something, but for all of the Spike/Faye fans, I will not disappoint you. This was originally a Spike/Faye story, and it will stay that way! Second off, this chapter honestly didn't turn out the way that I planned. I don't know if you liked it. Third off, as everyone already knows, I would really appreciate some feedback. Especially feedback on whether or not the story is crap already (but of course, using constructive criticism). Well, depending on the reviews, I will choose to continue this story or forfeit it. With school starting really soon, and me having to finish writing a paper for A.P. European History before then is going to be tough.