Stitchin' Up Spike

Jet had been out all night looking for his bounty without any luck. He had stopped by almost every damn bar on Mars; nobody knew who the John Doe was. He knew it would be hard tracking a bounty with no face or name but it hadn't thought it would this hard. He had no clues, hints, nothing at all expect the kid was on Mars and killing ladies. Jet moaned and ran his hand down his face as he slowly made his way back to the Bebop that was parked at the bay. He yawned and wondered what time it was, the sky was filled with low gray clouds, the air slightly humid with a light breeze and it smelt of morning dew. He decided it was early morning and that he should get some sleep and continue his search for the bounty later, this time he'd make Faye go with him. She'd have to say yes when she realized there was only old dog food in the fridge. They had used up all their money from the last bounty on fuel, repairs, and instant ramen. Although one day they treated each other to the rare cold treat known as ice cream. That was a fun and well deserved day.

Jet chuckled under his breath as he remembered the last time the crew bought ice cream. He had hidden his share in the back of the fridge behind several cans of dog food thinking no one would find it. When he got up in the middle of the night to indulge he found Spike and Faye in the living room fighting over it. He watched in amazement as they pulled and tugged it out of each other hands, it was like watching a football game. He had been so amused by their war for the ice cream that when they noticed him he didn't really have couldn't find anything to say. Spike managed to grab the ice cream out of Faye's hands while she stared at Jet guilty as could be, and Spike got into this Swordfish and flew out into space just to eat it.

Jet shook his head thinking of the good times as he opened the bathroom door and stood above the toilet. He unzipped his pants and sighed in relief as he peed. Across from him he heard someone sneeze and he jumped, stopping in midstream and turned to look. His jaw fell open as he saw a man with messy green hair moan and turn over in the tub snuggling into a blanket. Jet looked back and forth at Spike and at the toilet, he needed to finish his pee but he couldn't. It was like everything around him had frozen still expect he could still feel the pain in his bladder.

"S…Spike?" Jet stuttered. He couldn't believe what he was seeing in front him. He really need did need to get some rest. Had someone drugged his drinks last night at the bar? Was the coffee he made this morning expired enough to mess with his head?

Then out of nowhere the bathroom door slide open and Faye walked in with a towel on her shoulder and a robe in her arm. She was wearing panties and a long men's dress shirt.

"Oh there you are," She said turning to walk out. Jet let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding and then his bladder decided it would work now and he released a heavy stream of pee into the toilet.

"What the hell is goin' on?" He shook and zipped up quickly and took one more look at the sleeping Spike and followed Faye out of the bathroom.

"Is he dead?" She turned around and faced Jet, her nose in his face.

"He seemed alive to me...what is he doing in there? And when did--?"

"Good! He better not be dead after all I went through last night. You gotta get him out of there Jet so I can take a shower," Faye spoke as she made her way down the hall.

"Wait a minute Faye, when did he get here? Hey I thought that looked familiar, that's my shirt!" Jet hollered at her after finally figuring out where he had seen that shirt before.

"I know, it's comfy," She remarked and continued to walk off. Jet just stood there watching her walk off, he was officially confused. He turned around and made his way back to the bathroom while trying to make sense of it all.

"Hey Spike," Jet poked the sleeping man.

"Spike," He poked a little harder.

"Bitch... left in me in the tub..." Spike mumbled and then sneezed racking his body forward. He winced in pain and the large cut on his chest and shoulder opened back up.

"I thought you were dead man."

"Almost…" Spike moaned.

"You did poor job at bandaging yourself up," Jet noted.

"I didn't do it, she did..." Spike reached for the two cigarettes Faye had left him and stuck them both in his mouth and lit them. He took a long drag and relaxed with a smile on his face.

"Faye? Ya know you really ought to stop pulling stunts like this Spike, I honestly thought you were dead. You have'ta stop thinking about yourself sometimes and take into consideration that I worry about you. It's a real pain in the ass not knowing if you're dead or alive."

Spike arched his eyebrow and gave him a-you-have-to-be-kidding-me look.

"Just... Next time you wanna play Russian roulette with your life pay off some of those damn Sword Fish bills before you go," Jet's legs made a popping noise as he stood up from kneeling on the floor.

"You're gonna need to stitch that up, "Jet pointed to the gash on Spike's chest, "There should be some fishing line and a couple of needles in the medicine cabinet." Jet groaned and made his way out of the bathroom. What a day he thought and hurried to his bed to sleep as long as he could before one of the two crew mates woke him up. He had to admit he was relieved that his friend was still alive but it was pretty selfish of him to just walk out on them like that. He hoped that this whole Julia and Vicious thing was finally over now and Spike could move on.

Spike grunted and hissed as he tried to pull himself out of the tub. His body was sore and ached all over, there were sharp pains in the areas he had been wounded. He considered just letting the cuts get infected instead of going through the pain of stitching them up himself but figured it would only hurt worse in a couple of weeks if he let that happen. So he reluctantly grabbed the fishing wire, a needle, a tube that seemed to have some sort of antibiotic in it, and limped his way out of the bathroom and into the common room.

He examined the room around him looking for Faye, not finding her he suspiciously tip toed over to the couch and bent down biting his lip to keep from yelling it hurt so bad to bend in body. He stuck his hands underneath the couch and moved them around until the tip of his finger brushed against the texture of cardboard. He bent forward a little more and after getting both his hands on it he pulled out a cardboard box. He sighed and let himself fall the rest of the way to the floor on his ass. He had been lying down and reading a book one day when one of his cigarettes fell off the table and rolled underneath the couch. If Faye knew he had found her stash she would have had his head. He stretched out his legs and pulled the precious box closer to him and opened up. There before him were some of Faye's most cherished belongs.

A bottle of whiskey, a pair of expensive and extremely sexy panties, the video tape of footage from her past on it, a photo of a fancy dress, a lighter she bought on a visit to Earth, a used bullet that had once been shot into her arm, a fake pearl necklace, red finger nail polish, a silky blue kimono, used lottery tickets, a thick paperback book, a brand new pack of playing cards, a kinky porno magazine, and a big bottle of pain killers.

Spike grinned with interest as he dung deeper into the box noticing things he hadn't seen the last time he went through it. His smile faded when he picked up a crinkled photo of himself that had been taken by Ed. It was him in mid reach trying to grab the camera from Ed. He remembered that Ed had taken this picture of him because he had in his own possessions the other photo that Ed had taken that day. Somehow Ed had managed to snap a shot of Faye getting out of the shower and Faye chased her all around the Bebop yelling obscenities and falling out of her robe. Out of curiosity and boredom Spike thought he would take the wanted camera for himself and with great stealth he reached down and took the camera from Ed while having his own picture snapped at the same time. He ran off with the camera and printed a copy of the photo of Faye getting out of the shower and looking over shoulder with shock as Ed took a shot of her backside. He had to admit Faye had a nice ass.

Spike chuckled to himself wondering if Faye kept this photo of him because she knew he had hers, or if she just genuinely wanted a picture of him to put in this secret box of hers. He kept his picture of her for black mail at first but would sometimes find himself staring at it if he couldn't sleep at night.

Spike took the whiskey and the bottle of pain killers and shoved the box back under the couch. He held the bottle up to his mouth and let a few pills settle in the back of his throat until he washed them down with whiskey. He drank as much as he could and smoked as he threaded the fishing wire through a sewing needle. He sighed and lied back against the couch and began stripping the bloodied bandages off of his chest, Faye had done a shitty job putting them on there and it pulled at his skin causing him pain as he peeled it off.

"Good...fer...nothin'...bitch," He hissed through his teeth as he ripped off the last bandage. He took another swig of the whiskey and held the needle right next to his wound ready to pull it through the skin when Faye hollered something at him. He had been concentrating so much on the needle he hadn't seen her approach.

"How the hell did you get my whiskey?"

Did I leave it out last night? Wait, did I drink whiskey or rum or last night? Faye debated in her head.

"Where did you come from? I'm tryin' to do something so go away," He grunted and wiped some sweat away from his brow.

"First of all you better give me my whiskey back and second, you have to wash the cut before you stitch it or else you're going get infected anyway. Oh, and thirdly I have some topical anesthetic, but it's very pricey," Faye placed her foot on the coffee table and leaned over it grabbing the whiskey. She took a large swig of it and little drizzled off her bottom lip.

"Where is it?" Spike asked trying to keep his eyes off the caramel liquid dripping from her chin.

He sat the needle down and slowly pushed himself off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. He grabbed a towel off of the counter and lathered it up with soap.

"What do I get in return?" Faye asked as he sat back down on the couch.

"I was already planning to do this without anesthetic to begin with, who says I need it now."

"I say so, because once that needles goes through your skin you'll... " Faye paused and took another swig of the whiskey," You know what Spike I don't even have to explain it. Go ahead and start stitchin' yourself up and then you'll be begging to work something out with me," Faye said plopping herself down on the chair across from the couch.

She crossed her legs and sipped on her drink as she watched patiently for Spike to begin. She pulled the small tube of anesthetic out of her robe pocket and set in between her and Spike on the coffee table. Spike took a deep breath and began cleaning the wound gently with the soapy towel. He picked the needle back up and held it against his chest but before sliding it into his skin he looked up at Faye straight in the eyes.

"You were a lot more giving last night," He said and then dug the needle into his skin. He grunted in pain and his lip bled he had bitten it so hard. His hand was shaking badly but he pulled the small needle over the red open flesh and dug it back into the skin on the other side. The gray fishing wire was more odd feeling than painful as it trailed through and in and out of skin. He gasped and looked back in pain at Faye who was still staring at him with a hint of a smirk on her lips. Her cheeks were pink and he wasn't sure if it was from the whiskey or if she was actually enjoying watching him in pain. Probably both he thought to himself.

"You owe me for last night," Faye said as her eyes trailed over his body. She couldn't help herself it was as if her eyes were acting on their own and no matter how much her brain tried to stop them they just kept on taking in the sight. She looked up and down his sweaty body admiring the build of his body. She was ashamed that seeing him like this, unguarded, stubborn, and in pain turned her on. The pained look in his eyes sent chills up her spine and she felt warm and sticky in between her legs. She cleared her throat and took her eyes off him hoping he couldn't see right through her. The way he stared at her sometimes she felt as if he knew everything she was thinking and left her feeling violated. Right now she did not need him to know what dirty thoughts were floating around her head right now.

She had always found Spike attractive, a lunkhead but most likely a good rump in the bed. But she would never allow herself to fall into these temptations and let a jerk like him get her off. She had too much pride than to drool over a selfish man like him. She wondered if he was just as selfish in bed, only looking to please himself.

Faye sent several mental cures to herself for letting her thoughts get out of hand and tried to compose herself. Once she felt confident and in control again she flashed him a wicked grin.

He returned her smirk and blew some hair out of eyes and went back to the needle in his chest. He pulled the wire tight bringing the skin close together and stuck the needle in his skin again.

He winced in pain gripping the needle a little too hard. It slid down into his skin instead of across leaving the end of the needle barely sticking out of his skin.

"Dammnit," Spike cursed. He tried grabbing the end of the needle but his hands were shaking too badly and his fingers were too big to grab a hold. He huffed and grabbed the wire pulling it towards him and dragging the needle back through and out of his skin. His grunt sounded so painful it made Faye flinch and she leaned forward placing her elbows on the coffee table.

"I'll give it you, even put it on for ya baby if you agree to buy me all the drinks I want tomorrow night at the Blue Crow," Faye proposed as they glared at each other.

"W-what?" Spike asked out of breath.

"Listen I saved up enough money to be able to go out and drink my favorite 25 woolong drink all night until I passed out but I couldn't ignore this feeling I had. I was almost certain my best horse was going to win at the races the other night and my luck went to shit and I blew it all. Now I've been looking forward to this for a long time and if it means dragging you along with me then I'll do it," Faye said in a very serious tone.

Spike leaned in closer to her until their noses were almost touching.

"You are pathetic," He said and picked up the anesthetic and placed it in Faye's hand. She smirked and walked over to him and he leaned back and lit a cigarette. She kneeled down in front of him and in between his legs and wiped her hands off on the soapy towel. She opened up the cap on the anesthetic and squeezed some of the clear ooze onto her finger and began rubbing it along wound.

"Hey, don't be so rough."

"And I'm the pathetic one? Geez Spike you did a shit job on this stitch," Faye commented as she picked up the needle hanging out of his chest and held it up right. She twirled it in between her fingers as the wire slowly untangled.

"I don't think this crap is workin'," Spike grunted.

"It takes about five minutes to fully set in. I didn't know Spike Spiegel was such a baby."

Spike responded with an aggravated 'humph' and took another drag of his cigarette.

She kneeled there holding the needle in one hand and rubbing the ointment on his chest with other and he sat back and watched almost expecting her to do something stupid like loose her balance and fall over bring the needle and his flesh with her. Scenarios like that ran through his head and he didn't even notice that she had already started on the second stitch.

"Wow this really does work," He watched in awe as she concentrated with all her might on the needle in front of her. They were quite for the next half hour as Faye would apply the gel and then bring the needle in and out pulling the skin together and closing his wound shut. After she was done she sighed and leaned back against the coffee table.

"Damn I did a good job considering I've never stitched somebody up before," She took one of his smokes out of his pack and lit it.

"It still hurts like hell but thanks."

"You can thank me after I've had my fill tomorrow night," Faye said propping her feet up on the arm of the couch.

"What makes you think I can afford to take you drinking?"

"What? Spike you ass, you better not try to get out of this. I've needed this night out for a long time and if you go back on your word I'll rip each and every one of those stitches right back out!"

"Okay, Okay. I was just messin' with you woman, get a grip."

"You know what Spike, you wear me out."

Well that's the end of this chapter. Please let me know what you guys think so far, it really gets me motivated to write more. Thanks and happy reading!