Faye felt guilty about turning Alice in for approximately four minutes. Spike collected the reward, which was a piddly 490, 000 woolongs. Jet was mildly happy to see some money again but it wasn't nearly enough to cover the repairs for the Red Tail which was still out of commission and the ever-growing list of repairs for the Bebop. So after a short and uncomfortable meeting between the three of them they decided to spend some of the money on some food and ammo.
Spike had mused in the past that they never really felt much like a team to him but he never quite understood what that really meant until the past forty-eight hours. Jet was barely speaking to him while Faye was at the opposite end of the spectrum, her eyes pleading with Spike whenever his guard was down or his gaze shifted unconsciously in her direction.
However, over the last couple of hours it seemed Faye had given up entirely on trying to mend things with him. She'd slipped quietly and defeatedly out of the main room. On her way to her room, she'd barely acknowledged Ed, who had decided that she needed to play 'visit' with her friends and was hanging around the ship as though she and Ein had never left. She hadn't wanted to leave her father for even a moment for fear that he'd pick up and disappear again but her yearning to be back on the Bebop was greater at the moment.
"Spike...Spike, tell me a story," Ed was curled up on the steps with Ein resting beneath her head.
"No," Spike muttered from his corpse-in-a-coffin position on the sofa. None of them had wanted to go grocery shopping so they all lay about the ship hungry and worn down to their bones hoping someone else would be the one to volunteer for the hunt for food.
"Okay. Ed will tell Spike a story."
"Ugh," Spike groaned and rolled over. "No stories right now, Ed. Spike-person not in mood-mood," he said.
"You belong with her."
Spike's eyes opened. He blinked as though he hadn't heard her right, remaining still.
"You belong with her, Spike."
Spike pretended to be sleeping, although it was very difficult with Ed's first coherent uttering since he couldn't even remember hovering over the two of them like a heavy, black smog.
"Cats would be entombed with their masters thousands of years ago," she said. Then, as though nothing had happened in the past few minutes she said, "Spike...Spike, tell me a story."
There's so much left to know
And I'm on the road to find out
It was time to meet her family.
Faye had taken a long bath and came out of it resigned to it. She had packed up the few things she had. She thought about leaving a note but figured that would be stupid. She didn't want or have any attachment to these people. Jet had been good to her and she had already tied up any loose ends she had with him by giving him her share of Alice's reward for the Red Tail. If she was going to be coming into as much money as Poker Alice had said then she was just going to have Jet sell the Red Tail and keep the money for the Bebop before moving on with her new life as Faye Spector.
She zipped up the small, black bag she had all her things in. She sat on the corner of her bed and inhaled the scent of oranges and cigarettes that had settled in the tiny quarters she had called her home for a year. Her mouth quirked with a slight tug of sadness. She stood up and left the room, deciding to leave the bag of her personal possessions sitting at the foot of the bed. She wanted a clean start. Nothing to remind her of Faye Valentine.
Faye Valentine had been such an utter failure. In three years a prophet managed to save the world. Faye Valentine had accomplished nothing.
She wandered down the corridor when she heard a click. She turned around to come face to face with the barrel of Spike's Jericho 941.
"Familiar?" he was smirking.
"Yeah. But what's the poi--"
Spike swung the gun away from her forehead, clamping an arm around her waist and slamming her against the wall. His mouth found hers for a moment or two before she struggled to get her hands on his chest. She shoved him away, turning her back on him. Spike pressed the whole length of his body against the back of hers. "Christ..." he moaned hoarsely.
"I'm taking your advice. I'm leaving."
"I can't make you stay," he said. He brought his head down, sweeping the length of her neck with the very tip of his nose, breathing in her scent. Oranges and cigarettes.
"Good-bye, Spike," she whispered.
She extricated herself from his hold on her and moved down the corridor slowly but determinedly. When Spike turned to face the other end of the corridor, Jet was standing there.
Spike finally realized that Jet had known all along.
Lyrics quoted from Cat Stevens' On The Road To Find Out. Don't sue, please.
