A/N: I was originally working on another chapter with an alternative plot that started to get forgetful and suckish so I had to restart this chapter from scratch and I think it turned out better than my rough draft. Sorry for the long wait .

Italics = Thoughts.

Enjoy and R&R.

Chapter 4:

The bus dropped them off across the street from the mall , the day was still young and Tom and Ed had plenty enough time to have fun at the mall and Tom planned a few extra adventures for himself and Ed. They ran down the street through the mall parking lot and toawrds the mall entrance.

"Haah!" Ed's eyes brightened at the sight of all the screens in the mall, the stores and the food courts.

"Alright Ed, since I kidnapped you on this date you get to choose what to do first." Tom said."

"Really?" Ed asked excitedly. She looked around at her surroundings a few times while spining around in a 180 twice.

"Uhm…" Ed held her stomach looking down at it before looking up at Tom. "Does Tom-Tom have enough woolongs to eat?" At that Tom smirked at Ed.

"Yeah, I'll treat ya to the best food in the mall." Tom held out his hand right side up for Ed to grab. "Follow me." Ed looked at his hand then back at Ed and smirked happily when she grabbed it. Tom led her to the food courts and let Ed pick out whatever she wanted.

That was impossible!

There were so many things she's never tried here before, things Spike would get jealous of her eating.

"Ooh! That looks good!" Ed pointed at a pizza. "Oh and those look really good too!" Ed pointed at a pile of sausages shaped like octopuses with French fries in the same plate. As Ed pointed out more stuff Tom realized she was clearly never going to choose on her own and started ordering himself.

"Can we just have a small sized half peperoni and half Hawaiian pizza and some of those weird looking squid sausages and fries with bacon bits and melted cheddar cheese on them." Tom turned to Ed, "That sound good Ed?" Ed didn't respond all he saw were her eyes highlighted and mouth watering. "That's it for our order mam."

"Sure." The lady behind the counter said before telling the kids to wait on the side. Ed and Tom leaned against the counter of their chosen food court as they waited.

"You travel a lot with bounty hunters right?" Tom asked looking at Ed.

"Uhuh." Ed answered.

"Do you go to a lot of places like these?" Ed tilted her head back in thought.

"Not really. Bebop gang goes to lots of different places. I see these places a lot from the ship above but hardly get to enter them."

"Oh, Well you've been missing out. What do you do for fun on that ship then?" Ed gave him a smile.

"Hacking for Bebop gang of course!" She said cheerily.

"Right, obviously." Tom said slightly loking away.

"And play with Ein." Tom turned to her. Her voice almost sounded distant as she said that. His eyes looked at her sympathetically.

"Wow, she really has been missing out."

"Excuse me you two." The cashier lady said calling Tom and Ed. She had their food ready on a single tray with napkins, two empty cups, and straws. Tom walked over to grab the tray and paid a few woolong bills for it.

"Tom-Tom, why do you pay everything with woolong cash?" Ed asked.

"Cause my dad won't trust me with a card." Tom laughed. He handed Ed the cups. "Here, get us some drinks while I look for a table."

"Sure!" Ed said before walking off towards the soda machine.

"Get me a pepsi please!" Tom called out to her. Ed looked through all the soda brands in wonder. First she got Tom's specified drink carefully trying not to overlow it only to realize she didn't grab ice first! Ed quickly placed the full cup under the ice lever but when the ice spilled out it hit the drink hard causing it slosh out of the cup causing some of the drink to splash on her white shirt.

"Aw." Ed whined looking down at herself as she saw her favorite shirt get stained from the dark drink. She immediately dumped the drink and ice, grabbed some more ice first and then added the pepsi. Ed smiled in success. She did the same with her own cup but instead chose something that grabbed her eye. "Hm, strawberry soda!" Ed found Tom waiting at a little round table. Ed handed him his cup smiling. "Here you go!"

"Thanks." He said, then he took a better look at her shirt. "What happened?"

"Soda spilled. It's okay though, no worries!" Tom handed her some napkins to dry herself off. It wouldn't get rid of the stain but at least she wouldn't have to ndure eating with a wet and sticky shirt. They sat down to it and Tom immediately struck up the conversation. He firs asked her for her full name.

"Edward Francois Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV. But just Ed for now." Ed piped. Tom stared at her with wie eyes.

"Wow! That's a name." Tom said.

"And yours?" Ed asked.

"Not as exciing as yours." Tom said grabbig a slice of pizza.

"Just tell Ed." Ed said.

"Just Tom, Thomas Maclean. Are you French or something?"

"Ed is Ed." Ed said. She grabbed her own slice of pizza and took her first bite out of it. Ed gasped in surprise and started scarfing down the slice as if it were ramen noodles.

"Whoa. This your first time trying pizza?" Tom asked. Ed nodded happily humming her answer. "Hmm,so yummy!" Ed said. They both ate their slices and the yummy sausages and fries with the bacon bits and melted cheddar all of which Ed adored eating while they talked trying to get to know each other. Tom told her about how he lives with his dad and they run an auto repair shop in their garage. They've even built their own motorbikes and fixed up spacrafts and other machinery and that interested Ed. Tom promised to drive her home in his hand made bike later which excited Ed. Ed had even began to tell him storries of her adventures with the Bebop gang. Tom and Ed found themselves sitting closer to each other as they shared their stories animatedly with each other.

"By the way, sorry about your shirt. Good thing we're at a mall. Maybe we could find you a new one." Tom said.

"Uhm… Ed doesn't have any money." Ed said sheepishly rubbing at her arm.

"I'm sure we could find you something cheap." Tom said.

"You'd do that for Ed?" Ed asked.

"Yeah sure. No biggy." Tom said. Ed smiled.

"This boy is… really nice to Ed…" Ed smiled to herself and started swinging her feet lightly under the table feeling something… foreign.

Jet, and Spike entered the Bebop exhausted and anoyed.

"Why didn't you guys answer me I was trying to call you guys!" Faye said angrily.

"We were looking for Ed. Is she back yet?" Jet said.

"No, but maybe if you guys bothered to answer me you'd know where Ed is right now. " Faye said placing her hands on her hips.

"You know where she is?" Spike asked.

"Not exactly but this bit of information I learned could've proven useful in your search for Ed,"

"What is it?" Jet asked.

"That boy who kidnapped Edward, is taking her out on a date."

Dead silence…

…

…

...

"WHAAAT!?"

A/N: I'm getting tired for the night and I feel like this is a good spot to end it for now. Whoever screamed "what" at the end is up to reader interpretation and I probably spelled Ed's full name wong. Also, word of advice always write food scenes on an empty stomach works for inspirations over what characters wanna eat. Everything they ordered was everything I was craving earlier today, luckily my older brother saved me by actually bringing me pizza and those sausage octopie with the fries was actually something I saw on my trip to Mexico over the summer and wanted to eat but couldn't afford cause I had to split my pesos with my little brother for churros. Uhhm… I'm going half brain dead now.

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Thank you for reading. Stay tuned!

See ya space fan girls/boys…

Sincerely,

*SS8*