Drabble 007: For Now, It's Enough

He can feel the heat of her rage even from twenty feet away and hidden in to corridor leading to their quarters. Her eyes are narrowed and her lips are thin as she stares at the man in front of her. It would almost be a year since their last encounter; since she turned him in for that less than worthy reward.

"What do you want, Whitney?"

He doesn't look like the Whitney that Jet had captured though. This man in the commons room is muscular and fit. He is no longer the fat man that he had tried to disguise himself as and he seems taller too. If Spike had to make a guess, he looked more like the Whitney that Faye had fallen in love with almost four years ago, before he faked his death. Long before he left a massive debt over her head.

"I've been looking for you for a while now, ever since I got released on bail." Whitney's eyes stare down into hers and Spike feels a knot clench in his stomach that he doesn't like. He can feel his instincts kicking in. Whitney Hagas Matsumoto is here to reopen all the wounds he left on Faye and leave her for dead, again. "When I heard that the Bebop had landed back in the Tharsis docks, I had to come see you."

"I want the truth." Her voice is stern and sharp. He is happy to see she isn't playing any games with Whitney this time around. Her eyes are bearing into the unwanted guest so harshly that he starts to wonder if he should just ask the other man to leave. "What makes you even think I wanted to see you?!"

"I want you to stop being a bounty hunter."

She's taken back at his bluntness, "You're joking?"

"No, I'm serious, Faye." He takes a step closer to her, "Let me give you the life you deserve. You shouldn't be living like this, not with two random men, who can take advan—"

"Get off this ship." Her voice is dripping with venom, even as it shakes uncontrollably.

"Faye?"

"How dare you!?" Her arms shake at her sides as her nails dig into the skin of her palms. "You march in here, demanding that I talk to you, because I 'need to hear you out' and its all just for you to stand here and try to act like you have my best interest at heart? You have to be out of your god-damned mind!"

"Faye, I loved you." Whitney moves to touch her shoulder, but she flinches away from him, "I still love you, Faye. I have loved you from the moment my Uncle pulled your cryochamber out of storage."

"That's right, Whitney!" Something in her eyes snapped and tears start to burn her in pure anger. "I'm from a storage bin. I was woken up, just long enough so you could throw all your problems on me! You talk about loving me, but if you loved me you wouldn't have used me the way you did! I don't deserve that!"

"And you deserve this?!" Whitney matched her voice. His arms held out towards their surroundings, "You deserve more than this!"

"You need to leave." Turning to leave, Faye is suddenly pulled back harshly by Whitney grabbing her forearm. No doubt it will bruise. "Let. Me. Go."

"Not until you hear me out!"

"What else is there to say, Whitney?" Faye jerks her arm out of his grasp, "I don't love you."

"It's him, isn't it?"

"That's none of your damn business!" Moving from him, Faye wipes the tears from her eyes and softly whispers, "And even if that was the reason, he wouldn't use me like you did."

"He's using you now!"

"Didn't I tell you to get out?!"

"I've been asking around about you for months, Faye, and you wanna know what every shithole bar has told me?" His posture straightens and his eyes narrow at her.

"I don't care what they're saying. Now get the hell out!" She snapped back. Spike suddenly could see how the conversation was going. Whitney wasn't there to reopen the wounds he left on her; he was there to cut open the stitches on her fresh ones.

"They all say, 'Yeah, I've seen her a couple times. She is always dragging that tall or drunk man away from here.' How can you not see it, Faye?"

"It's none of your business, what goes on in this ship or what we do." She was losing her cool and he wonders if soon they will have a dead man on their hands. And if she doesn't kill him, he wonders if he will.

"He's just gonna use you. He'll fuck you then leave yo—"

It happened in a blur for both Faye and Whitney. Spike's fist slammed against Whitney's nose. When Whitney stumbled backwards, holding his nose, Spike wasted no time sending a hard fist into his stomach, before smashing Whitney's face into his knee. He was done with watching this worthless man try to tear Faye down any further than she already was. Pulling out his Jericho, Spike placed it to the back of Whitney's head, his finger itching for the trigger.

"I'm tired out you two causing ruckus on my ship when all I want is some damn peace and quiet!" Jet called down the corridor, his cane making a tapping sound with each step he takes; he doesn't look up until he reaches the commons room, and see the scene before him. A man on the ground holding his nose and stomach, Spike has a gun to the man's head, and Faye's makeup is smeared from crying and certain parts of her arm is red, almost bruised. It doesn't take him long to put a scenario together.

"Get off my ship." Jet's voice booms, his eyes showing the reason why he was once called the Black Dog. "I don't know what exactly happen, but if you ever try to come back on this ship again, I will make sure that Spike does kill you."

Not waiting for Whitney to get off the floor, Spike grabs his arm, and pulls him to his feet. Twisting his arm behind his back and keeping the gun directly against the back of his head, Spike shows him to the door, and pushes him out.

Whitney stumbles, but catches himself, before falling onto the ground, "She deserves better than this!"

"You're right, she does." Spike stares at Whitney's bloody face, "But you put her here, you didn't give her a choice, remember?"

"I just want to make it right!"

"You can't. You already ruined her." Before turning to close the door, Spike sends Whitney a quick smirk, "I won't hesitate next time."

He hears Whitney scream a line of curses to himself, before the door latches shut. If Whitney hadn't hurt Faye, he wouldn't have met her, and if didn't meet her things would be completely different. Maybe he would have gone back to the syndicate, maybe he would have settled down on Callisto, or he could still be searching for Julia. All the possibilities were endless, but none of them set right in his stomach when he walks back into the commons room and she is pacing while ranting to Jet about what had happened. Her eyes flash towards him, a blush creeps slowly onto her cheeks at the eye contact, and then she continues her outburst. Her face is still smeared with makeup and the red marks on her arms are turning into ugly shades of yellow and purple, but over all, she seems okay.

She does deserve a better than this life, he even told her so almost a month ago; however, even when she is offered the chance of a better life, she never takes it. She always comes back to the Bebop, bringing him cigarettes and Jet a bonsai tree with each return. She doesn't want a better life, she wants this life with them, and maybe that's enough for her, for now; just as it is enough for him, for now.

"But he wanted to give you that fairytale ending." Spike and Faye laugh at every ounce of sarcasm Jet has put into that one sentence. No one says it, but trying to give her a fairytale after becoming the villain was beyond any type of logic.

"Can you believe his nerve!?" She falls back onto the couch, her arms crossing under her chest, "I should have just shot him when he said he still loved me."

Spike follows suit, gun still in hand, and sits beside her as he sends her a rare genuine smile, "I should have shot him when he first walked into the hanger."

I always wondered what would happen if Whitney came back for Faye. I feel that he would make her cry, insult the crew, and try to use her feelings for Spike against her. Then Spike would get fed up with him and just beat him up.