The Baby Diaries Part II
Chapter 3: Same old, same old.
~Baby~
The days pass by like minutes.
…
"Paul Juarez. 42 years old, wanted for robbery and drug hustling. Deals mostly with club owners, has a couple of usual spots. He's either sloppy or arrogant, doesn't cover his tracks too well, but he's not easy to touch." Jet handed him the recent driver license photo Ed had located as well as a list of the clubs he frequents.
Spike sighed around his cigarette. The two men stood outside, just near the dock where the Bebop was located, to have a smoke and discuss the next assignment.
"Basically, another case the ISSP is too lazy to handle. You think they'd want the easy ones."
Jet released a puff of smoke, "Got that new chief, he's a fighter. We should consider ourselves lucky. Easy means easy money and we need that, remember? Especially you."
Spike flipped through the papers, "yeah I remember. Easy also means no big rewards." He stopped on the reward tag again, "30,000…and that's the best we can do right now?"
"Fraid so."
They needed more. Bills were racking up and Ray was only going to get more and more expensive. It was enough to rival Faye's already existing debt.
A moment of silence passed. Jet sunk his hands into his pockets, "it's getting lame isn't it?"
Spike pondered. Bounty hunting had always been a way to pass the time more than a means of livelihood, at least for him. Naturally, things took their turn. Looking back, he enjoyed it more than he thought. Hunting the bad guys, hunting anyone, it was all he knew.
"Not what it used to be," he replied.
has it been five years already? Since the beginning of their start…
Jet finished off his cigarette, then stumped it out. "Yeah, gotta agree there. Anyways, should be a quick nab. I'm going out as Mike tonight, might be gone about a day or two, I'll find out where he's gonna be next week. I want to try and set up a meeting, but the guy is picky. I don't know, I'll act like I'll give him an offer he can't refuse or something."
Spike laughed, "you really pimped yourself out?"
Jet had been "playing the streets," as he called it, to gather the information Ed couldn't find through her hacking skills. Information and contact one could only get if fully involved. He had a complete get up and everything, but he wouldn't let anyone see it.
"That's right. We do what we gotta do Spike-o. Undercover work is child's play."
Spike chuckled again, "right." He gazed down at the reward tag again, feeling disappointed. He finished off his own cigarette and tossed it out to the waters. "I'll see you later then, Mike."
Jet gave his shoulder a tap before he was off.
…
Ray was laughing, the most exciting sound he's sure Faye ever heard.
"What's so funny?" She fussed. Ray was safely, maybe overly so, propped up in the middle of the yellow sofa by pillows and the like. She sat on her knees in front of him and Spike could tell she was attempting to keep her urges for baby talk at bay. "Is it me?" The sound of her bangle bracelet made his giggles grow in volume. "Oh! You want my bracelet?"
She had yet to notice he entered the room.
Ray had recently gained some weight and was developing that chubby baby look. His hair grew out some more too and was getting wilder by the minute. Spike had never been too fond of babies, or "cute" things for that matter, but if he were to ever like something cute, it would have to be him. The only exception.
She teased him with the bracelet a little more, but Ray didn't complain, he was having the time of his life. Giggles and all. Spike envied the way she could so easily connect with him like that. Seemed like she had no trouble at all.
Spike's deep laugh rang through the room and Faye finally noticed him, though her mood became tart, "what are you laughing at?"
"What else?" He walked down the steps, "didn't know the Romani could be so mushy."
Faye glared, then turned her attentions back to the baby, "I'm not being mushy, I'm just speaking his language." She gave Ray her bracelet and watched him play. Spike found that to be quite amazing, she didn't even care that he was putting it in his mouth. The one time Ein had gotten ahold of her things, she went nuts on him.
"Alright, we'll go with that." He sat down to the right side of Ray and opened up his firearm magazine. He needed some new supplies, but he didn't know if he'd be able to purchase any this time around. Their funds had been tight, which was nothing new, but within the last month or so bounties had become scarce. The departments seemed to be hanging onto them for some strange reasons. Something about taking more precautions with all the local damages that happened at the hands of bounty hunters.
Faye pushed herself up onto the sofa and peered over Ray, "are you looking for a new gun?" she asked.
"Supplies."
"Hmm…like what?"
"Cleaning supplies, ammunition. The usual."
"Oh. Did you guys talk about the new bounty head?"
"Yeah, seems like it'll be simple enough."
He heard her sit back into the sofa and grow quiet, but he didn't look up.
"Think the Glock could use some upgrading?"
He didn't know why she would want to do that, "you haven't used your gun in a year."
"Yeah…I know."
Her low and dismayed tone caught his attention and he finally gave it to her, "Do you…want to?"
Faye ran a hand through her hair, "Maybe. Why do you get to have all the fun?"
"I don't know if I'd call it fun…"
"Maybe not," she folded her arms in, "All I know is I only ever see these metal walls."
Spike really hadn't given much thought to what Faye would do after Ray was born. Their new way of life had already become second nature, but Faye really wasn't the type to stay put and be satisfied for long. There was no reason for her not to hunt again, she wasn't pregnant anymore. He just wished her addition would be more useful to it. Adding her in wouldn't allow them to go after more bounties at once, someone would still have to stay behind with Ray.
He pulled out a cigarette to hang in his mouth, but he had no intention to light it there. It was an instinctive motion.
"I need to do something," she added, "I can't just be here all day, I'll go crazy!"
He arched a brow, "crazy?" So dramatic.
Faye half sighed, half groaned, "you know what I mean." She looked down at Ray, he was still slobbering all over her bracelet and suddenly she didn't seem so pleased about it. "I don't actually hate this, believe it or not…but- well I guess I can't do just this all the time."
He knew she wasn't asking for permission, but he wasn't sure what she wanted him to say.
"No one said you had to."
"So, you'll stay with him sometimes?"
Their eyes latched as she asked the question of him and then it dawned on him that he would be the one to stay behind. Weird nerves fell upon the pit of his stomach at the thought. It wasn't any form of male pride that made the idea dreadful, it was the insecurities of his own abilities. He hadn't yet been left alone for long with Ray and for some reason it freaked him to his core.
"Uh- actually Jet's been doing a lot of work on this one already… I can catch you up and you just tag with me." The excuse shot out of him without a second thought. "Give him a break or something, Ray isn't too much work."
Faye hesitated a moment, "I don't know…Honestly, you and me never really did get shit done. I don't know what Jet was thinking always sending us out on our own anyways. Maybe it's time to change the dynamics?"
He forced a chuckle, "come on, you know it's cause he would rather be here calling the shots. The dirty work is for the no-good kids." The act came out perfectly, though there was hardly anything false about his statement.
"Mmmm, yeah that's true."
He pulled the files from the back of his magazine and handed them over to her. "What do you say then?"
Faye eyed it a second before taking them for herself. "Alright. You've got yourself a deal cowboy."
He grinned, satisfied with the outcome.
If she was going to start up again, he realized, she would need to refresh. There's no doubt she had to be a little rusty.
"Hey, what's with that cigarette?"
The taste of thin paper reached his awareness once more, he almost forgot it was there.
"I'm not gonna light it yet."
"Why don't you just give it up?"
He made a sound that was a mixture of a scoff and a laugh, "afraid I'm too far gone."
Faye gave her eyes a small roll and picked Ray up to give him a bounce on her knee. "Well go smoke it already, it's agitating." She scratched the area behind her ear, something Spike picked up on a while back when it seemed she wanted that burning feeling to course through her lungs again.
He removed the nicotine stick and put it away in his pocket. "I will." It could wait, he didn't really feel like moving from that spot just yet.
…
The next day…
"Alright, should be empty let me check," Spike said this as he brought Faye's gun case over to the work bench. She sat with legs on either side and Ray situated between her with his hand almost entirely in his mouth. Faye watched as Spike removed her precious Glock from its case to check the magazine. She recalled when that little piece of weaponry was like a baby to her. It was the one thing she took care of, even more than the Redtail. Kept it updated, clean, hardly ever let it fall to the floor and only the good bullets could dare cross through its muzzle. It was the one item she hadn't stolen, though she had haggled the hell out of the seller, and the one item that carried her more weighted memories of this life.
It was totally different having an actual baby. Losing the Glock would be sad, losing Ray would probably kill her. She understood that completely.
"Empty." Spike put it back into place and handed it to her as he sat down. The gun was small in his hand, but it was the perfect fit for hers. She took it from him, a bit surprised by the weight. It had really been a minute since she held hers or anyone's gun. She hadn't even seen much of it either.
"It's shiny."
"Jet and I clean it when we clean the others."
"I hate other people cleaning my gun."
"Would you rather it be full of dust?"
"Fair."
She placed the gun in her right hand and took hold of it as if preparing to take a shot. She moved slowly from one side of the room until it was held up to Spike at face level, her finger grazed over the trigger.
He smirked, "just can't help your deepest desires huh?"
"I'll aim for…the space between your eyes."
"Typical."
Faye smirked back, "I could aim for your mouth instead."
"Ouch."
She made a clicking sound, followed by the mimicked noise of gunfire as she motioned her gun in a mock shot at him. He quirked his brow, grin never faltering. She blew at the tip of the gun, "never could help those ugly desires," her voice chimed.
"Very funny."
"It is funny isn't it?"
"Not a great example you're setting."
Faye looked down at Ray, he was in his own world, too interested in the taste of his chubby hand. She chuckled.
"Oh, you don't know what's going on do you?" she gently pushed back his hair so he could look up at her, he smiled.
"Should we give it a go?"
Faye looked back to Spike, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Practice shooting. We can do it outside; the deck isn't facing anything but water."
"Do we have blanks?"
"Yup."
"Okay…but what do we do with him?" she scooped Ray up.
"I got an idea."
…
"I don't know about this."
Ray was once again, positioned in his sling on Spike's chest, though the reluctance of shooting near a baby wasn't the concern on Faye's mind.
"I mean…cans? Don't we have apples or something?"
Rows of cans were lined up at the edge of the ship's runway on a table.
"Apples are harder."
"Yeah, I know, give me a challenge."
He scoffed, "one step at a time. Besides, you really don't wanna waste food like that."
Good point.
"Where'd you get all of these anyway? Is Jet becoming an alcoholic or something?" There were a few soda cans, but most of them were beer.
"Ed collected them!" They turned towards the young girl who was seated with crossed legs on a nearby box, Ein laid asleep next to her. "Spike told me to collect the sturdy ones while I went through the alley dumpsters. It's the perfect collection!"
Faye raised a brow at this, "you asked her to do that? That's pretty low, even I wouldn't make Ed dig through the trash…" she paused to think about it, actually not finding the notion too unlikely.
Spike frowned, "I didn't ask her to dig through the trash, she already does it, behind that big electronics store."
"What?"
Edward nodded vigorously in confirmation, "mmhmm! Edward scavenges for parts! They always throw the good things away. How silly, huh?" Faye felt a little out of the loop, but the news was quite entertaining.
"Ooh, so you're a little thief now?" There was far too much pride in the statement.
"They're throwing it out, so technically she's not stealing anything but their trash," Spike clarified as he passed Faye her Glock, now full of blanks. "We'll leave the normal thieving to you."
Faye sneered quietly as she took it from him. Thieving, scheming, shooting, hunting, it all felt so distant.
"Jet person says a house cat's trash is a stray cat's treasure!" Edward added. Faye's lips quirked as she set up her gun and fixed her stance. Even though it had been a while, she fell right into the pose like she'd never left it. She aimed her gun just over the cans to test it out. Within a moment she let a shot ring, but the noise was startling. Edward hollered with excitement, but Faye's attention went to the baby. It stunned her to find him laughing with such intensity.
"It…didn't scare him?" she questioned.
Spike laughed, "guess not? Do it again."
She followed suit and let another shot ring; it made the baby laugh even harder and it was difficult not to join in on the absurdity of his sense of humor.
Minutes passed on as Faye warmed herself up to the gun once more. Spike attempted to give her instruction, but it only resulted in Faye ranting about she still knew how to shoot a gun. It didn't stop him from correcting her arms anyway, better safe than sorry. After a while she was able to shoot the cans with ease, Ray still finding total jubilee in the loud noises.
Jet's Hammerhead eventually came into view.
Followed by Ein, Edward darted her way towards him before he could fully remove himself from the aircraft.
"Jet! Did you get Ed the good thing she asked for?"
The man sighed as he handed her one of his few bags. "I had just enough for one box," he held the bag of treats up and away from her as she lunged for it. "Don't finish it in one day or I'm not buying them again," Edward nodded in agreement and reached for them once more, but Jet didn't give just yet, "I mean it Ed!"
"Ed knoooows!" she whined.
"Alright. Here." He gave her the bag and away she went.
"You keep giving her those things, she gonna lose it one day," Faye commented. Spike agreed, "yeah, they do make her kind of crazy, don't they?"
"What's going on here?" Jet finally asked, eyeing the gun in Faye's hand. She followed his gaze and gestured to the cans on the table.
"Practicing."
It took him a second to realize.
"With the baby?!" his eyes darted to Ray who was carefree in the light breeze.
Spike and Faye were clueless as to why he was so bewildered.
"We're not shooting at the baby." Spike replied.
Jet rubbed his forehead, "I know that Spike, but aren't you worried you'll hurt his hearing? Or scare him? Or that he'll catch a cold being barefoot like that?"
Faye looked over to the baby, seemingly trying to consider what Jet was saying, but then agitation struck her, "hey! Are you trying to say we don't know how to take care of our own baby?"
"Yeah Jet, what's with all the griping? He's fine."
"And since when do you know everything?" Faye tossed in.
Jet was dumbfounded as his eyes grazed between the two of them looking so smug and offended. His hand carried all the way up his head, not wanting to argue at the present moment.
"Besides," Spike began, "he actually likes it. Look, show him Faye." At his eager instruction, Faye raised her gun up to the cans and prepared to shoot, but Jet interrupted.
"Alright, alright, no need to prove a point! Sheesh. At least put some damn socks on the kid."
Spike and Faye looked to Ray's feet and then each other. Realizing they didn't have anything like that on them, Spike shrugged and used his hands to cover his feet instead. "Better than nothing."
Jet shook his head, then turned his focus to the cans, more than half of which were shot through. "What are you doing this for anyways?"
"I was thinking about getting out again."
"Bounties?"
"Yeah. What do you think about it?"
Jet thought about it. He looked to the gun in her hand and then to Ray. It occurred to Jet that Faye might want to bounty hunt again at some point, but he decided to leave it in her hands. She was the one who had the baby to bare and care for. He wasn't going to ask her to work, but if she wanted to, he couldn't find the harm in it.
"I mean…Alright, that's cool."
"I was thinking, she could just go with me to finish out the guy with the mustache," Spike stated. Jet found it odd that he was volunteering to work with Faye.
"Juarez? So soon?"
Faye shrugged, "I'll take the next one if I have to."
Jet paused in thought, "well, actually I was able to get a meeting with him-"
"So, I'll be Mike." Spike suggested.
They looked to him with mild skepticism. Faye spoke up, "won't these people notice you look different?"
Jet cleared his throat and started again, "what I was going to say is, Juarez doesn't want to meet with lowly drug hustler Mike. He's meeting with Mike's boss, Adams."
"You have such a wide name bank," Faye muttered.
"Adams owns six clubs on Venus, but he's willing to make the travel and meet Juarez after all the good things he's heard. He's also willing to dish out the big bucks."
Spike sat on this a moment, "so I'll be Adams…but won't he do his research first?"
Jet smirked with pride, "already steps ahead of you partner. Ed's got that all covered."
"Alright." Faye pulled back the load of her gun and aimed it at a can on the furthest end of the table. Spike stepped back with Ray and she shot off, hitting it completely out onto the runway. As expected, Ray burst out into laughter. She grinned in Jet's direction, "you've got a deal."
Jet groaned, "really, protect the poor kid's ears."
…
Her eyes closed as she swayed back and forth with Ray held tightly against her form. Jet had fixed the homemade chair so it would actually rock. Despite that, it didn't feel too stable, so she rocked softly. Silent lullabies played in the background on a music player Edward had fashioned. Kelsie gave her a copy of lullaby tracks; they did wonders for Ray's sleep.
They did wonders for hers too. This was her final thought before sleep nearly engulfed her consciousness.
"I think he's asleep."
Spike's sudden voice startled her to awareness. She looked over to the door where he stood, "didn't mean to scare you," he commented.
Faye looked down at Ray in her arms and watched a moment as he breathed in and out with contentment. His pacifier had fallen out and he wasn't complaining, which meant she was in the clear. She stood up carefully and carried him to the small crib, Spike had stepped into the room and followed her as she did so. Once he was placed inside, they each took a second to make sure he was secure before moving away.
"Would you come with me to the bridge?" he asked. Faye gazed up at him, "what for?"
"I think we should go over something."
Faye bit the inside of her lip discreetly, uncomfortable with the déjà vu that plagued her. The last time he asked her up there alone they ended up with the entity in the crib. She mentally shook the thoughts, things were different. So fleeting.
"Okay…"
Moments later they were on the bridge, Faye watched as Spike rummaged around Jet's piloting pit for something. Her head tilted with curiosity, "what are you-" her question was interrupted by the sight of her white boots.
"Is that where those were?"
"No, I brought them up earlier. They were in the laundry room." He placed them on the monitor table for her. She stopped wearing them during her pregnancy when heels became far too uncomfortable.
"Ah." She took hold of them, "and why do you have them?"
"We have three days before the appointment Jet set. You've done good on the information, you know what you need to know, but you haven't roughed it in a while."
Faye was half surprised by his affirmation and half confused at what he was getting at. "You mean…like combat-wise?"
"Exactly."
"Wait. Are you trying to get me to spar?"
"That's right."
"Right now? Spike it's-" she looked over at the time and groaned once she caught sight, "it's 1:30 already." If he was in tune with his latest pattern, Ray wasn't going to be asleep very long.
"If you don't do it when he's asleep when will you do it? You get busy in the day and I'll be out."
That caught her interest, "where are you going?"
"New bounty showed up in the system, I'm gonna try for it tomorrow. Small fry, but he's worth it."
"Well why don't I just go on that one?"
"Too soon." He turned away and tightened his sweatpants around his waist.
Faye sighed with annoyance and rolled her neck, "honestly, is this necessary? I'm not a child."
He looked over his shoulder at her, "you haven't been out in over a year. Be honest with yourself, do you think it's necessary?"
His tone was beginning to irk her, but she knew he had a point. She might have done okay with the shooting today, but she could be weaker in other areas. Hand to hand combat was never really her forte either, that's why she enjoyed the little tricks like knockout spray and good gun bearing. Working out had at least helped with her stamina.
Faye watched him curiously. They'd never done things like this as a team before. Usually, it was every man for himself, but she didn't hate the idea.
"Fine. I'll do it, but keep in mind this guy probably isn't some Jeet Kune Do master like you alright…" she took hold of her boots and started to put them on her feet.
Spike smirked, "master huh? I like the sound of that."
"Don't get cocky."
"The point isn't to beat you, it's to get you back in the game."
"I think I'm gonna have to break these in again," they felt a little tight, she used to wear them practically every day, "should be fine by Wednesday."
"You sure?"
"I'm not gonna fight anybody in anything else."
"Of course not."
"At least you get it."
"Are you ready?"
She walked over, "sure."
"I want you to strike at me and I'm just gonna be a moving target. Now, remember this is just sparring."
"Yeah, yeah I get it. Don't beat you up."
"Not that you could, but yes" she glared as he positioned himself, "when you're ready."
Spike shuffled lightly along the floor and Faye readied herself as she watched him. She wanted to be mature about it, but just one good punch to the arm might satisfy the itch. Stepping forward, she committed the assault without hesitation. He backed away with a grunt and Faye beamed at her success.
He sighed, "you get far too much excitement from things like this." He shook his arm out.
"Hey, be glad it's out of my system now," she held up her hands.
He smiled, "not a bad punch, but be serious this time. I'm not afraid to kick your ass if I have to." He began to shuffle around again.
She replied with sarcasm as she readied herself once more, "oh. I'm so scared."
Faye decided to take the practice seriously this time, she focused in on his movements, then proceeded with light shots to his form. It was going fine, soft and easy, but the more they went on the swifter he became. Swifter blocking and swifter dodging. He even started to shuffle in different directions, it was irritating.
She went for his chest, blocked.
Left arm, blocked.
Stomach, blocked.
He was too damn quick.
Then she went in for a light kick to his side, but he caught her ankle in his hand and smirked, "try again," he muttered before gently tossing it aside.
Cocky Jerk.
She attempted, again and again, but each time it failed. She was getting frustrated. Finally, Spike caught her arm and gently twisted her around until her arms were locked by his and her back was against his chest. "You're thinking too much, you know what to do."
She was half annoyed with him and half annoyed with herself for feeling her pulse pick up by being in such close proximity.
"Don't let frustration run your movements."
She took a breath, "you're right."
In a quick motion, Faye stomped on his foot, not so gently, and spun herself away.
"Ah! Hey."
She faced him, ready to start again.
"That's just for keeping me up passed a reasonable hour," she chimed.
Though seemingly bothered by her minor assault, he seemed to be enjoying it a little too much at the same time.
She went in, he blocked. Went in again, blocked again, but this time she was too quick for his reach on her arm and he missed. Faye scootched herself back and they stood across from one another, ready and alert. She took a moment to assess their movements, the same hits were getting tossed at him, it was practically a pattern. So, if she could just throw that pattern off, she could possibly throw him off too. Faye got a little closer and went for his chest, his stomach and his side. She did it three times and three times he dogged. He attempted to throw her off with the same attacks, but she evaded them as well. Spike wasn't the only one with sharp eyes.
On the fourth try, she prepped herself to go in for his side. It was obvious and as soon as she saw his attentions draw there, her palm dived up for his nose. She purposely didn't make contact, but it got him off balance. There was no time to waste, she nudged his torso, then took hold of his arm to pull him behind her. Once he was there, she bumped the back of his knee in and down kneeling he went.
Spike's chuckle echoed, "what was that?" he looked up at her.
"Not Jeet Kune Do."
"Simple move actually."
"It got you on the floor."
He grinned and stood back up, "I was going easy."
"Ah."
He stepped forward, "and I'm tired."
"Uh-huh, what other excuses do you have up your sleeve?"
They stood inches away from each other and when he didn't say anything for a while, Faye became highly aware of the little space there was between herself and Spike. Yet again. Her victorious smile slowly faded into the never-ending tension that was their predicament. His grin never faltered, and she wanted kick him for it. Always keeping his cool like nothing mattered. His hand came up to tap at her forehead, "those boots make you taller."
She blinked with confusion as he moved away, "what does that have to do with anything?"
"Just making a useful observation. It's late, see you in the morning." He turned to walk away and didn't look back.
Faye checked the clock; it was already far passed 2.
Time really did fly.
~The Baby Diaries~
A/N: I'm doing my best to research on things like illnesses (previous chapter/although, that was supposed to be mostly made up anyway) and sparring because I really know next to nothing about these things and I am so bad at fight scenes, so pardon me if something doesn't seem realistic…I ask for suspension of disbelief lol, but again, I'll try my best (:
Also, had to throw in some flirty energy there...hehe, anyways!
See you space readers…