A dull metallic thud was the first thing to register to the sleepy senses of Spike Spiegel. Burying his face in his pillow, he forced his eyes shut, and continued to listen to the noise. With a sigh he rolled back over. "What do you want Jet?"

"Get your ass out of bed." Came the gruff reply from the other side of the door.

Beside him, Faye groaned, and rolled over taking the blankets with her, pulling the covers over her head. Spike scratched his bare stomach. "What's it to you?"

An irritated sigh, and the sound of Jet's bulky frame leaning against the door was the only reply for a few moments. "I've got a bounty head for you…tell Faye to get up while you're at it."

"I am awake!…thanks to you." Faye yelled from her cocoon of blankets.

Spike tried to steal some of the covers back, as the chill in the room caused goose bumps to spread across his skin. "Fine…I'll get up, but I'm not putting pants on." Faye elbowed him in the side, and Spike smirked, tugging on the blankets harder.

There was one more heavy thud on the door, and the sound of a lighter being flicked. "Like hell you aren't. Just get out here." Another irritated sigh, and the sound of heavy footfalls down the hall, and Jet was gone.

"What time is it?" Faye mumbled with her face pressed into her pillow.

Rolling over, Spike rubbed his eyes, glancing at the alarm clock. "It's 10am…maybe we should get up."

Reaching behind her, Faye groped around, feeling out Spike's hand. Lacing her fingers with his, she pulled his arm around her. "Mmm…maybe just fifteen more minutes."

Pulling her closer, Spike pressed his forehead against her shoulder. "Don't tempt me woman…You know he will come back any minute now and start bitchin' again."

With a sigh, Faye slipped out of his hold, and pushed the blankets back, sitting up. "Fine…we wouldn't want to keep mother waiting, now would we?"

Spike smirked, and propped himself up on his elbows, taking in her appearance; face void of makeup, hair tousled, eyes still sleepy. "You're beautiful, you know that?"

Faye smiled, but said nothing, leaning over and kissing his forehead.

Slipping his arms around her, Spike pulled Faye back down on the bed. "Maybe fifteen more minutes won't hurt." He knew Jet would probably kill him for not taking the opportunity to work seriously. But at least he could die a happy man.

An hour later, one very irritated Jet Black sat chain smoking on the couch of the Bebop, his irritation with his shipmates only growing with each passing minute.

Ten minutes later, the source of his irritation finally made its presence known. A shirtless Spike entered the room, with Faye tailing behind him. Jet shot them both a glare. At least he put pants on. " Took you two long enough"

Spike shrugged and plopped down on the couch. "So what's the deal with this bounty head?"

Jet fiddled around with the computer for a moment, before pulling up the info he was looking for. "Say hello to the Redding brothers."

Faye peered over Spike's shoulder from behind the couch, a frown slowly spreading across her face. "Jet, you woke us up for a couple of drug dealers?"

Shooting her a sidelong glare, Jet lit another cigarette. "You lazy slugs needed to get up anyways."

"Maybe you needed to sleep longer." She shot back.

Spike smirked at their banter, and continued to read, arching an eyebrow in interest. " Damn…twelve million woolongs seems a bit of a steep price for these two…why so much?"

Clearing his throat, Jet cracked his knuckles. "Well…ya see, six million of the bounty is paid out by the ISSP, the other six million is being paid out by a mothers activist group. See these two specialize is selling a relatively underground drug to kids. These moms have their feathers all ruffled, and raised money to help get these two off the streets."

Spike rubbed his chin, studying the screen. "And no one has picked this up yet? Seems like a piece of cake."

"Well you see…that's were you are wrong." Jet flipped through several photos. "Amos and Ray Redding are well…let's say good at the art of deception. All these photos….they're the same two guys. To top it off, they're quite good at making a get away. The ISSP has been on these guys for the last five months with no luck."

Faye rolled her eyes. "Are you sure they aren't getting some sort of kick back from this?"

"I'm with her, the pressure from this mothers group is probably what got them to crack down." Spike knew just as well as anyone else how crooked the ISSP could be.

Jet shrugged. "Well, I guess that could be a possibility."

"What is this drug anyways? You said its underground stuff?"

Jet nodded, turning back to Faye. "Its called green light, on account of the fact that it makes you go."

Spike snickered at Jet's response. "Like…to the bathroom? Who the hell would want to take that?"

"No…like go, go, go…It was originally marketed by pharmaceutical companies for kids with attention problems…but something they missed in their trials were the side effects when too much is taken. Apparently it produces some great hallucinations on top increased focus and energy when misused. They supposedly stopped production shortly after, though somehow someone got their hands on the formula, and its been popping up as a street drug for around a year or so." Jet rubbed the back of his neck. "So you guys in?"

Reaching for his cigarettes on the table, Spike nodded. "Sure."

Faye snagged the cigarette from Spike's hand before he made it to his mouth, taking it for herself. "So what's the plan?"

Spike swatted blindly behind himself trying to smack the cigarette from Faye's hand, but hitting nothing, he grabbed another one, and lit it, passing the lighter behind him.

"Well…" Jet began. " These two sell mainly in parks, so I was thinking we go undercover. They're sneaky though, so we're going to need to be as inconspicuous as possible."

"Like how?" Spike leaned his head back, blowing smoke rings.

"Parks are full of street performers, trying to make a quick buck. That would give us all complete access to the park, and shouldn't raise any red flags to anyone."

"Street performers? You mean like mimes?" Spike bit down on the filter of his cigarette, and proceeded to imitate a mime in an invisible box.

Jet raised an eyebrow. "Hey! You're pretty good at that…that just might work."

Hands still raised, Spike shook his head. "Abso-fucking-lutely- not."

"Come on Spike…that would even give you the chance to get up close and personal with the Reddings if you find them, and you wouldn't even have to talk to anyone." Jet nodded in agreement with his own statement.

With a sigh, Spike flopped back down on the couch. "Fuck….fine. I'll do it." Tilting his head back, he turned to Faye, who had an amused smirk on her face. "What about you…what's your special talent my dear?"

"I can make balloon animals…" Faye muttered quickly, and barely loud enough for either man in the room to hear.

Jet covered his mouth as he snickered, and Spike turned to fully face Faye. "What was that?"

"You heard me asshole. I said I can make balloon animals."

"This I have to see." Spike crushed out his cigarette, a smirk still on his face. "Where the hell did you even pick up that skill?"

Handing her spent cigarette to Spike to crush out in the ashtray on the table, she sighed. "Well…I had a lot of free time on my hands running from debt collectors. I spent a lot of time going from motel to motel. I found an instructional book in one of the rooms once…and I guess out of boredom I figured I would try it out, and it just kind of came naturally."

"Of all the hidden talents you could have, that's it?" Spike was still trying to fight back laughter, as Faye slapped the back of his head. "Ow.."

"Well then, I guess that settles it. That's what you two can do. This might just be as easy as you think Spike." Jet grinned, still unable to shake the thought of Faye creating a small army of balloon creatures.

"Well…what are you and Ed going to do?"

"Oh…we're going to get some ice cream and enjoy the park."

"Jet, how is that remotely fair?"

"No one ever said life was fair Spike-O."

Rubbing his temples Spike sighed. "Whatever you say Jet."

Stretching her arms high above her head, Faye yawned. "Well…I'm off to grab a shower. Then I guess I could head to the party store and pick up a few supplies. Maybe I'll take Ed with me." As she made her way down the hall, she double back, poking her head back in the room. "Spike…find something mimey to wear while I'm gone."

"I'll try…but I don't have one of those stupid little hats, and I'm sure as hell not wearing one."

"It's called a beret…and that's fine. I think we can make you look just fine without one." With a grin, Faye went humming down the hall.

"Well she's awful chipper." Jet smirked, looking at Spike who looked irritated.

"Yeah…you're telling me." Slowly he rose to his feet. "Find something mimey to wear Spike." He mocked Faye. "What the hell does that even mean?"

Jet shrugged. "Hell if I know, but get to it."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Spike made a detour to the kitchen on his way to his room. He could hear the shower running, as an evil grin spread across his face. Turning on the hot water, he leaned against the counter, just letting it run, whistling to himself.

"Why is Spike person wasting water?" Ed rocked back and forth on her heels, watching as Spike casually leaned against the counter.

"I'm not Ed. I'm teaching Faye a lesson…just wait for it." Pulling a hand from his pocket he held all of his fingers up, slowly lowering them as he began to count. " Five…four…three…two….one…"

"God damn it Spike!" Faye's muffled yell came from the bathroom right on cue.

"Oohhh…That's a good lesson! Faye-Faye is a fast learner! She knew it was you without even being here!"

Patting Ed on top of her head, Spike turned off the water, and left the room, hands in his pockets once more as he whistled his way down the hall.

A few hours later, dressed in a white dress shirt, black dress pants, and a pair of suspenders, Spike sat quietly smoking with Jet on the couch. "Where the hell is she?"

Tapping his ash into the tray on the table, Jet shrugged. "She's your woman. Shouldn't you know?"

"Please…you know Faye…you think being with me changes anything?"

Jet chuckled. "True."

The opening of the main hatch ended the conversation between the two men, as Ed and Faye came into the room.

Ed zipped in with a party hat on her head. "Jet person…Spike person…look what I got!"

"Uhh…that's…ummm…cool." Spike shifted his gaze to Faye who had a few bags in hand. "What the hell took so long?"

Setting the bags down on the table, she sighed. "Taking Ed to a party store was a really bad idea. I had all the stuff in like twenty minutes. Do you know how hard it was to drag her out of there though?"

Peering into the bags, Jet chuckled. "I could have told you that…balloon master."

Faye shot him a glare, but choose to ignore his comment, as she snatched the bags off the table. "So I got you some face paint Spike.."

"Woah…hold up…face paint? For what?"

"Have you never seen a mime?" Faye grinned at the deflated look on Spike's face. "And I got some balloons.." she shot another glare in Jet's direction. " And that party hat….and we may have eaten some candy on the way home…but all in all we didn't spend that much, and we got everything we need."

"Yay." Spike deadpanned, raising his hands in mock excitement. Setting his feet on the coffee table he smirked. "So…Faye…do we get to see a sample of your handy work?"

"Yeah Faye-Faye! Make me something!" Ed perched on the arm of the couch.

Rolling her eyes, Faye pulled a few pink balloons from the bag. She blew the first one up, and handed a few to Ed. "Here, blow some of these up."

Ed started blowing up her first balloon, not stopping until it popped. "Oops…"

Spike grabbed the remaining balloons from her and blew them up, tying the ends, and handing them over to Faye. All three crew members watched in amusement as Faye started twisting and bending the balloons. Finally she held forth her creation to Ed. "Here ya go. It's a sword."

Spike and Jet exchanged glances, holding back laughter. As Ed, in her party hat, stood on the arm of the couch. "Arh! Come on Ein…let's go round up some scallywags!" With that she shot out of the room like a bullet, Ein barking as he chased after.

"Ok…what are you two jackasses giggling about over there?"

Jet lost it and started laughing, as Spike shoved a cigarette between his smirking lips. "Your sword looks like a dick."

"It does not!"

"Well actually Faye…"

"Can it Jet!" Sighing Faye looked over the remaining balloons. "Ok…so maybe I need a little practice. But first thing is first…lets get your face fixed up Spike." Rubbing her hands together gleefully, Faye chuckled. "This is going to be fun."

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Spike was horrified at the reflection that stared back at him. His face was painted stark white, his eyes heavily outlined in black. Faye had even gone as far as to draw a mustache on him, and topped it off by reddening his lips with her lipstick. "I look fucking ridiculous."

Storming out of the bathroom, Spike headed back toward the lounge. "Faye! What the hell did you do to my face!? I look like a fucking clown!"

"Mime…not clown." she corrected him, trying hard not to laugh.

Spike was about to say something else, when he noticed Ed had ditched her party hat in favor of balloon hat. More amusing was the fact that Jet also had a balloon hat resting on his balding head. "Nice hat Jet."

Ed tugged on his pant leg. "What about my hat Spike person?"

"Uhh…yeah your hat is swell too Ed."

"You look pretty Spike person."

"Yeah, thanks Ed." Running a hand through his hair, Spike sighed. "So are we all ready then?"

"You and Faye head out first, we'll be there in a bit." Jet adjusted his balloon hat, but didn't remove it.

"You look ridiculous Jet."

"Says you. " Jet scoffed lighting a cigarette.

Flipping him the bird, Spike headed off toward the hangar, Faye and her bag of balloons right behind.

Spike leaned against the Redtail, his eyes absently scanning around the hangar. "Did you really have to put lipstick on me?"

Faye chuckled. "Well…we wouldn't want you to be unauthentic."

"I think you are enjoying this too much." Spike snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, leaning in for a kiss.

Playfully pushing him away, Faye giggled. "I'm sorry…I just can't take you seriously right now."

Frowning, Spike watched as Faye climbed into the cockpit, then he headed toward the Swordfish.

"Sorry…love ya though."

"Yeah Yeah Yeah…" Spike pulled himself up into the cockpit. "Lets get going."

Starting up the engine, Spike patiently waited for Faye to exit the hangar, following out after her. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and sighed, a lop sided smile slowly working its way on to his face. This sure was going to be fun.