As Faye made her way to her quarters on the ship, she passed the stairs to the living space, inadvertently making herself known. Spike coolly came down the stairs and sat at the table across from where Jet was. "She seems upset," Jet commented as Spike took a seat.
"Yeah, I think I got her back to normal," Spike replied, with a cocky sense of accomplishment. Jet looked up at him.
"That was all you, huh?" he asked. Spike nodded, tossing his jacket over the back of the nearest unoccupied chair. Jet gave a helpless sigh. Spike glanced at him, but thought it best not to respond. He knew Jet tended to have more sympathy toward Faye in general; commentary from him on the subject would not interest Spike in the least. But Jet responded without provocation. "Maybe you should just go easy on her, Spike," he said.
"Why?" Spike asked. "'Cause she's a woman?" Jet blinked. "She asked for it with her 'I can hold my own around here!' and 'Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't kick your ass!' 'Blah blah blah!'" he squealed in an imitative voice. Jet looked at Spike sympathetically.
"Women are complicated, that's all," he said.
"Don't I know it," Spike replied. "… I hate women." Jet rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, especially that Julia, huh? She was one to hate," Jet answered.
"She didn't have as much attitude as Faye," he lightly chortled. After a weak smile, Spike's face slowly became solemn as morbid memories of the lovely blonde flooded his memory. Jet shot an apologetic glance in Spike's direction.
Faye sat alone in her room, lying on her bed and gazing up at the ceiling. She wondered how a simple kiss on the cheek could make Spike act so weird and childish to her. He had always teased her, but it had never disturbed her as much as it did now. He usually never stretched it beyond one or two snarky comments. What was making him take to this particular 'mishap' to such an extremity? Abruptly, her thoughts were interrupted by barking and childish laughter. "I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get you! Run for your life!" sang the melodious voice of Ed, who had been playing games on her computer and needed a 3-dymensional break. Faye got up and flung her door open.
"Hey! Could you guys keep it quiet out here?" she shouted. "…Huh?" She realized that Ein had stopped running and sat on his fluffy bottom facing Faye. "What?" she asked the dog. Ein growled shortly and gave an angry bark.
"Ok, Faye-Faye…" a wobbly voice called from the other side of the door. Faye moved and saw poor Edward had collided with the opening door and was now in a heap on the floor behind it.
"Oh. Sorry, Ed," Faye said sincerely. She motioned to help the child up. "Are you alright?" she asked. Ed rubbed her head.
"Ed will be okey-dokey," she replied. "Is Faye-Faye alright?" Ed asked. Faye seemed confused.
"Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You fling doors like that when you're angry grumpy!" Ed sang merrily. A look of sad realization came onto Faye's face.
"Well, you're a girl," Faye said. "I guess I'll tell you."
"Yay!" Ed cheered. "Tell Edward what's bothering you," she said putting a fist to her chin, taking on the role of the Bebop's resident psychiatrist.
"Well, to tell you the truth," Faye began, "it's Spike. You see, I did something weird last night and now he can't leave me alone about it. He keeps poking fun at me and being such an asshole." Ed's eyes widened at the profanity, but Faye was focusing her gaze off to the side. "He's just such a jerk! I mean, can you imagine being teased and tormented every waking moment by some insensitive prick?" Faye paused and looked up at Ed, still wide-eyed. The child's expression quickly neutralized.
"Ed did a fair amount of teasing back on Earth. Heehee!" the child grinned.
"Figures. You two could be related, skinny as you both are," Faye mused. Ed laughed again. Faye's expression changed from sarcastic to warm. Looking at the skinny red-headed girl, she realized that she'd just dumped her burden of thoughts onto a 13-year-old kid. "Hey, Ed," she said. Ed looked at her attentively. "I'm sorry I just spilled this on you like that." Ed smiled acceptingly. "If it isn't any trouble, I'd like for this not to get out to him, ok?"
"You can count on Ed!" Ed sang in salute. Faye laughed.
"Thanks," she said to the kid, roughing up her orange hair. Then she turned and went back in. Faye felt good about having gotten her issues off her chest, but frankly she wished that she had someone else to talk to.
