Spike sat up scratching his head. He noticed that Faye was right, he did smell like cigarettes and death. He was shedding the top layer of clothing with Jet Black entered the room.
"You have a way with women, Spike," Jet mocked.
"Hey," Spike sighed, "don't blame that one on me. One minute we're bantering next minute she's hysterical."
Jet shook his head as he took the seat across from Spike. He threw a plate of beans and rice in front of the patient, and set a beer next to it. No words were needed, Spike knew an order when he saw it. Silently he began to eat and Jet began to relax.
"So how'd I get here, Jet?"
Closing his eyes, Jet told the tale. "I got a encoded message from one of your Syndicate sympathizers."
"What? I thought they were all dead."
"Had Vicious known, they would've been dead. Without a leader they didn't hesitate to try to revive you. They held you in hiding from Vicious followers for about a week. You were finally able to sustain life on your own and they couldn't risk getting caught with you anymore."
Spike released a sigh of concern, but he encouraged Jet to continue. "I pick you up about two nights ago and you've been in and out ever since."
Spike rubbed his neck, digesting his rescue story, and finishing the meal Jet had prepared. "So how did Ed and EIN find their way back to the ship?"
Jet smiled at that one. "She got hungry." Plain, simple, and totally Ed. "She was holding up in an abandoned house, and ended up eating herself out of house and home," Jet began to laugh, and Spike joined him. "Ed contacted us about two days after you left letting us know where she is. She expected us to get her."
Spike gave his pal a funny smile, "You had no problem going to get her, you big softie."
"Yeah, I missed her. Faye is the one that encouraged her to stay. I'm still ticked off with 'Father Person' for being so absentminded!" his justified anger didn't surprise Spike at all. Jet always had a soft spot for the brilliant computer hacker. "If I had a daughter I would never leave her to fend for herself."
Spike smiled at his companion, "I understand your indignation, but how'd you convince her she needed to stay?"
It was Jet's turn to flash his teeth. "We gave her what she wanted from the start... to be a member of Bebop." Spike didn't understand. "We promised to use her talents more often, we're also going to teach her to fight once she's older. I'm thinking of even setting some money aside to buy her a fighter some day."
Spike understood in that moment that the joke of their funny little family, wasn't a joke any more. Jet saw the realization in his companion's eyes. He just nodded and stood to leave the recovering patient.
Throwing one last order his shoulder, Jet said, "Take a shower and get changed, Spike... Oh and welcome home."
