A short time later...
Diner on Earth in Singapore
"Ugh, how is it so cold on the ship while being so uncomfortably hot on this planet?!" Faye complained, fanning herself with the menu she'd kept after the waitress took their order.
"The Bebop is an enclosed metal space, Faye," Jet told her. "It's not like we can just open a bunch of windows and let a warm breeze pass through. Anyway it's not that cold on the ship, it's 10 degrees and that's not bad really it just felt colder than it was. Probably that monsoon rain didn't help any either."
Faye opened her mouth to go off so Spike spoke up before she could. "So what's the plan here then?" He asked, pushing his plate towards the edge of the table.
Ed immediately grabbed it and started licking off the syrup Spike hadn't bothered to sop up with his pancakes. He shook his head but let her, knowing Ed on a sugar high was going to be a handful later and accepting the inevitable.
"Well, we're gonna need to take off soon as we get loaded. The Rubberband Man, also known as Stu Moore, is hiding out in New New York. He's been pretending to be his own cousin, an announcer at the Blueberry Hill Club who goes by Disco Lou. His cousin is the one who put out the bounty so there's some bad blood in the family. Anyway, the club is hosting a disco competition tonight, just some amateur stuff, so I wanted the two of you to sign up as participants. It's a night club so Ed won't be able to come in,"
"Nooooooo!" Ed wailed.
"Settle down, Ed, you can watch everything with the camera I'll have on." Jet assured her. "Besides, the club probably has cameras you can hack into as well."
"Ooooh yes yes!" Instantly appeased, she started wrapping up the rest of Jet's plate - half a piece of toast, scraps of scrambled eggs, and a few bacon crumbs - for Ein back on the ship.
Jet shook his head but let her. "Anyway, with the pair of you to distract him it'll be a breeze for me to snap him up and bring him in. We'll have this one in the bag by midnight!"
"You're assuming this bozo can dance," Faye remarked, nudging Spike in the booth beside her.
He glared at her and elbowed her back. "Yeah you're some expert at disco then?"
"Yeesh, stop fighting! It doesn't matter how good or bad you are - it's an *amateur* competition and you can go on last if you wanna study what the other participants do. It doesn't matter anyway you're not trying to win the prize, we just need the bounty."
Spike and Faye both sat up straight. They spoke simultaneously over each other.
"What kinda prize?" Spike asked.
"Ooh what do we win?!" Faye cried.
Ed laughed at them while Jet hung his head.
"Why can't anything ever be easy with you lot?"
xxx
The rains had returned with a vengeance and while it had thankfully held off until Jet had been able to load the delivery items, it was already quite cold on the ship. They'd taken off, shivering, from Singapore and flown over to New New York where they'd docked and then immediately taken a motel room to warm up and get changed for the evening out.
In the motel room were two twin beds, a cot they'd negotiated from the front desk, and the two youngest members of the team who would be observing the mission from there. Later on, Faye and Ed would claim one of the beds to share but Jet and Spike wouldn't know who got the other bed and who got the cot until the dance contest was done.
Spike had confidently bet Jet he'd win the competition. Jet would get the bed if Spike and Faye lost. As far as Jet was concerned this was in the bag.
The club was busier than Jet had expected. But then again it was in a fairly populated section of a mostly intact region of New New York. And disco had been hugely popular back in the 1970s, so this resurgence one hundred years later was not too abnormal.
The outfits were, but then again they had been back in the day too. Jumpsuits, bell sleeves, bell bottom jeans, sequins and rainbows and bolo ties flashed across the room as far as the eye could see. Jet himself was rocking his sharp white suit and he'd been getting appreciative eyes from ladies - and a few gentlemen - all night.
Being out on the town in a happening club and knowing he was looking good enough to pull second glances? Oh Jet was having the time of his life on a bounty hunt for once.
He had posted up at a bar to the left of the DJ booth at the back of the building. It was the ideal location once he had his drink in hand and was able to turn his back on the bartender.
It was away from the bathrooms which were on the other side of the DJ booth and always a highly trafficked area. It afforded him a view of the front and side entrance to the club as well as the other bar across the dance floor. If the bounty tried to run his only options were to go past Jet's location or to hold up in the bathroom which - according to their brief inspection of the exterior of the building - had no windows leading out.
Disco Lou - or more accurately, Stu Moore the Rubberband Man - was a tall pale man with intense ginger sideburns and a very obviously fake ginger fro wig on his head. He wore a pair of sunglasses with bedazzled frames that kept catching the light and blinding random audience members. He was also decked out in a silver sequin bell bottom jumpsuit with a V neck that gaped to his belly button, and platform heel boots that featured color changing tiny jellyfish.
Jet wondered if the fish were an effect or actual live creatures trapped in a very small prison. In this day and age either could be the case. He was drawn from his thoughts by a commotion at the entrance and inwardly winced.
"Face the disturbance, soldier!" A voice chirped in his ear piece. "Ed can't see from the angles of the club cameras."
"Like it's not obviously our friends," Jet muttered.
Ed giggled. "Duh. But I wanna watch!"
Jet obliged her by turning his attention to the crowd near the front doors. It was just as well, everyone else was looking that way too.
Fortunately, Spike and Faye were both fairly tall individuals. Jet could see Spike's fro and beside it, a glittery headband nestled in dark hair. He couldn't make out the nature of the trouble given the loud volume of the music but he was glad when his partners eventually made it all the way inside.
Faye was shooting angry looks at a woman with a blonde beehive hairdo wearing what looked to Jet to be an ice skater outfit in shades of gold and red. Faye herself was garbed not too dissimilar, once he got a glimpse of her.
One of the best things to come of their day off at the Cydonia Festival had been Ed's befriending of a theater troupe that toured the solar system and had chapters all over. They'd already borrowed costumes from the friendly folks before and Faye had taken advantage of the opportunity to do so again tonight.
The dress the actors had loaned her tonight was a dark blue velvet that went all the way up to a choker collar but left her arms bare and clung to her body until mid thigh where it flared out with every step she took. Jet had to give it to her, she looked phenomenal. Surprisingly, the simplicity of her costume made her stand out even more against the crazy variations most of the other crowd members were sporting for attire.
Spike, slouched at her side and glancing around the club to take in the scene while Faye continued her stare down with the blonde lady, was dressed in his normal suit. Quite a few other men were in suits so Spike didn't look entirely out of place. The suit itself looked somehow a tad nicer when he stood next to Faye - perhaps he'd ironed it at some point? His hair also seemed to have been… enhanced. It was poofier tonight than Jet had ever seen it before.
"Mm, they look pretty good together," Ed's voice said in his ear.
"Ed, is this an open frequency?"
She laughed. "Your eardrums would be bleeding if it wasn't. Oh just imagine the squawk! They don't have earpieces today. Their only job is to dance like everyone's watching so that everyone does so that you can get the bad guy! We don't need to talk to them for that."
"I can't believe they didn't question the necessity of all this," Jet said, truly baffled.
"Faye-Faye loves an excuse to dress up. A bounty is as good as any! She never asks questions if there's fine clothes and the chance to make money."
Sipping on his drink - a Manhattan - Jet chuckled at Ed's spot on assessment. "Sure, sure - but what about Spike? He's fickle about the jobs he takes."
There came an exhausted sigh as though Edward was pouring all of her put-out teenager energy into her exhalation. "Obviously he just wanted to take advantage of a chance to dance with Faye."
"Huh. You're probably right." Ever since Ed had pointed out her suspicions at the music festival, Jet had been noticing more and more signs that she was likely on the right track. It was still odd to think about Spike and Faye as hot-blooded human beings who might be attracted to one another, but...well, on the other hand, they did look good together. And they worked well together when they bothered to try instead of competing.
"Watch and see! It's as plain as if their hearts were on their sleeves! Ed thinks maybe just a… two-step in the right direction and...sparks! Fireworks! Hearts, stars, and horseshoes, clovers and blue moons! Pots of gold and rainbows and-"
Next to Jet at the bar, a slim lady in a houndstooth pattern jumpsuit gave him a weird look.
"Shh, Ed, remember I'm still on a job even if they're basically not. Let's go radio silent, eh? Over and out."
xxx
Faye and the bimbo who'd bumped into her as they entered were once again nearly embroiled in a cat fight. The prospect of this outcome was rather provocative and Spike found himself briefly catching the eye of the blonde's date, who was clearly thinking along the same lines as he returned the stare with raised eyebrows and a let's just see where this goes kind of shrug.
He was about to let it all play out right there in front of him when he noticed Jet's distinctive white suit. It was just a flash from his periphery but it reminded him that they were on a mission and while their job was to cause a distraction… it was to do so when Jet was good and ready for them to do so. Spike sighed. This was already the second instance when Faye and the blonde had nearly come to blows and they hadn't even reached the light up dance floor yet.
Giving an apologetic shrug to the blonde's date, Spike reached over and slung his arm around Faye's slim waist, pulling her over to his side and putting some distance between her and the screeching blonde. At least Faye wasn't quite so obnoxious sounding as that lady. Most of the time.
Grinning, Spike walked them both over to the bar and ordered a couple drinks for them to sip on while they watched the competition commence. They'd signed up electronically using Ed's computer earlier so now it was just a matter of waiting for their names to be called to compete. Well, not their names. Mia Tarantino and Vega Volta. Since they'd been using Ed's computer she had insisted on being the one to come up with the names for the mission and no one had bothered to disagree.
He studied the participants that competed before them and had learned next to nothing. The moves were nonsensical but seemed to typically involve feats of gymnastic poise or an enticing back-and-forth between the dancers.
Most of the motions reminded Spike of a mime he'd watched on a street corner once while waiting for Vicious. It was an oddly amicable memory of a time when things between them had been as light and playful as they'd ever been. But Spike didn't want Vicious on his mind tonight, so he pulled himself back into the present moment.
One thing he noted was that the audience responded the best to the dancers who were focused on each other and ignored the rest of the world around them.
This was actually something Spike and Faye had always excelled at. Drowning out the noise of the crowd - the jeers, the cheers - would be second nature. Getting caught up in an argument and losing track of everything else around them had resulted in countless botched bounties. Who knew that kind of back and forth would one day serve a useful purpose?
Before long, their names were called and they shared a challenging look as they slammed their drinks and then slammed the glasses onto the bartop. The people nearest them seemed to find this to be a titillating prelude and started whooping and hollering as Spike led Faye to the platform at the center of the club.
Within moments, the audience turned into a blur of smiling faces and clapping hands as the couple whirled and stalked around the illuminated dance floor.
Faye moved with grace and energy. It was a good combination and worked well with Spike's own unique brand of dancing. It was fortunate for them both that disco lent itself so well to wild movements and random choreography because truthfully neither could dance but they did at least have rhythm and they were fairly good looking people so the audience didn't care. Besides, their naturally competitive energy fit the mood perfectly and carried them with ease through the various tunes of the competition.
Whenever she'd step forward, he'd walk backwards. Then on a beat they'd reverse and he'd be pursuing her. He'd catch her hand in his and pull her into his arms and then spin her right back out again. Break apart, advance and retreat. Lean in, lean out, do some cool looking wiggly arm movement he'd seen earlier and wanted to attempt himself.
He tried to keep his eyes open to be able to catch Jet's sign. They'd need to know when to get weird with it for attention's sake. But Faye was awfully distracting and he was having a lot of fun.
She smelled like hibiscus with a touch of sweat. Her hair and the skirt of her dress kept flaring out and his eyes kept trying to follow the undulating movements. Her eyes were bright on him and a small delighted smile played on her lips as they danced their game of cat and mouse. His favorite parts were when she was caught in front of him, pressed with her backside against his front side and shimmying. Her hips gyrating under his hands made his fingers itch to slide across her body without the interference of the fabric she wore so well. It was almost a relief to take one of her hands and spin her back out away from his body into an artful half collapse on the floor as the song drew to a close.
They were both panting as they took a bow and then moved off the stage back to the bar.
"What the fuck is Jet waiting for?" Faye mumbled to him over the guise of taking a drink of her new beverage as they leaned against the bar.
"Who knows," Spike replied. He was actually a bit concerned that Jet might have given them a sign and he had been too lost in the music and dancing with Faye to notice. That kind of shit was dangerous on a bounty hunt. Fuck. He was playing with fire here and it wasn't smart. But, Spike kind of lived on taking chances, and he was still pretty sure the pros would outweigh the cons on this one.
xxx
"That was hot hot hot!" Ed's voice rang into his earpiece.
"Ed! Shush!" Jet whispered fiercely. "I don't know if you should even be watching this anymore. Sheesh." Yeah, watching Faye and Spike on the dance floor had definitely opened his eyes to some serious sexual tension between the pair. Well, if that's the way it was gonna go… maybe there'd be less fights between them over hot water, cigarettes, joints, bounties… the list went on.
Perhaps them hooking up would be a good thing. And if not, well, he could always just kick one or both off the ship. It was an empty threat every time he used it, but it was still a semi decent way to get them to cool their jets momentarily even if they still tended to do whatever the fuck they were gonna do that made him issue the threat in the first place. Well, hell. At any rate he supposed he and Ed could get some entertainment out of the whole situation. It had been amusing to watch them since the festival, after all. Better than watching infomercials!
But his younger partners and their will-they-or-won't-they UST was really none of his business so he put the topic from his mind. He had a job to do here, with or without their help, and it was about time that he got to it.
Jet finished his drink with relish just as the last couple - the blonde bimbo and her date - were wrapping up on the dance floor. He caught Spike's eye across the room and gave his partner a nod.
The bounty, Disco not-Lou, was dancing by himself in the limited space he had available in the booth when Jet sidled up to the entrance on the left side. He noticed Jet's approach and came up with both hands holding weapons - a 9mm in his right and a 45mm in his other hand. It was an immediate standoff that no one in the audience seemed to notice because the music played on without skipping a beat.
"You're not even playing the music yourself!" Jet yelled at the man, insulted.
"I'm a DJ not a producer!" The man replied arrogantly.
"You're not a DJ at all, Disco Lou! Or should I say, Stu Moore? There's a pretty penny on your head and I aim to claim that bounty."
"Like hell!" Stu shouted.
"First, I'm gonna need you to announce that Vega and Mia didn't win this competition." Jet negotiated.
"What?! I wasn't gonna award them anyway! Hot or not, they ain't got what it takes."
"Like hell we didn't win!" A female voice shrieked.
Without further warning, a whiskey bottle crashed down onto Stu's head from behind. The man dropped in a heap immediately, weapons and wig skittering underneath the turntable that was just for show. Jet, somewhat confused himself, turned to see the club in an uproar.
It seemed as though literally everyone was fighting. There were girls on the backs of guys, scratching and clawing. There were men pushing and shoving and punching. There were tables flipped over and stools being used as weapons. Glass was everywhere. It felt for a moment like he was watching a music video as he took in the chaos all around while the records continued to play an upbeat boogie in the background.
He'd forgotten he'd given Spike the signal. Somehow he and Stu hadn't even noticed the distraction that had been Spike and Faye's entire mission. But Faye had been the one, he realized now, who had smashed Stu over the head. Spike himself was nowhere to be seen.
"What the hell?" Jet asked, dumbfounded.
"Cuff him and let's go!" Faye shouted at him. "If I stay here any longer I'm gonna ruin this dress and Ed will never let me hear the end of it."
"Where's Spike?"
She grinned. "Taking out blondie's date. I think they got thrown outside. That's what was keeping the bouncers occupied, hustling those two into the street to try and keep the carnage in here to a minimum." It was a failure as the carnage within the club was far from minimum.
Handcuffing the bounty and throwing him roughly over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, Jet gestured for Faye to lead the way to the side entrance. They skirted around several altercations and managed to reach the door just as the blonde woman sprang up from behind the bar, her hair was stained an awful shade of blue. She locked eyes on Faye, screamed vengeance, and ran for the pair as they slipped out the door, slamming it hard in the woman's face and locking it from the outside.
"What the fuck did you do to her?"
"Just threw a few drinks in her face honestly. Well. Maybe mopped the bar top with her as a rag."
He shook his head. "There's Spike, let's get the fuck out of here. I'm gonna bring this bozo in - I'll meet you guys back at the motel."
xxx
"C'mon, I'll buy out the whole vending machine for you," Spike cajoled.
Ed laughed at him. "Whyyyy? So you can snuggle Faye-Faye?"
Spike narrowed his eyes at her. "Keep it down, would you? And no I just figured you'd fit better on the cot than me."
Ed rolled her eyes. "You're a terrible liar, Spike-person. And the answer is still no-sir-ree-bob. Edward gets the cuddles tonight. Anyway you're taking her on an adventure so…" She shrugged. "Are you gonna pitch her some woo, Spike-person?" She giggled. "Woo-woo!"
The lanky bounty hunter dropped his head back against the hallway wall he was leaning on. This conversation was getting him nowhere and he wasn't comfortable with how insightful Ed was lately. She had been alluding to him and Faye having "sexy connections" and while it perturbed him to have Ed tease him about that… he couldn't exactly deny it. And knowing now that Ed was well aware of his apparently obvious intentions, it stood to reason that Jet and probably even Ein were also cognizant of the changes brewing on the horizon.
It would be a wonder if Faye herself wasn't somewhat wise to the way things were going. Hell, she had to know - she'd been slowly seducing him for ages now.
Playfully flirting with her was a great diversion from his dark thoughts and sad memories.
But it had felt like more than just a diversion lately and Spike was finally about ready to move towards something with intent. It would be interesting to learn if she was on board or not and Spike was determined to find out in the next few days.
Ed had made a list of several bounties thought to be hiding out or causing obvious trouble in towns scattered across the North American continent. They were going to rent a car here in New New York and then drive from city to city, kicking ass and taking names and clearing bounties.
Jet was going to be busy working on the Bebop with Doohan and Miles, while Ed… who knew? Probably the old guys would put her to work too since they were all so gung ho on making Ed a jack of all trades. Good for her though, especially since she was all about it.
So maybe it didn't matter that he hadn't convinced Ed to trade places tonight. It was probably for the best. Just because he was haunted by the feel of Faye's svelte body pressed against him was no reason to try and indulge in the experience again - particularly in a crowded motel room with the rest of their friends. Yeah, no, this was for the best for sure. Given his reaction to her outfit and her dancing tonight, it would have been a mistake for them to end up in bed together. A no doubt invigorating mistake but a mistake nonetheless.
No, he planned to end up there eventually but he wanted to make sure they were on the same page when it happened. And, sappy though he felt admitting it to even himself, he wanted to ensure they both enjoyed the journey just as much as the inevitable destination.
xxx
The Next Day
New New York
Jet and Ed had taken off in the Bebop, leaving Spike and Faye on their own with a couple of suitcases, their woolong cards, several packs of smokes and Faye's little container of a dozen or so joints. The sun was shining but the weather was starting to cool off now that autumn was in full swing on the planet.
Spike was comfortable in his usual attire but Faye had foregone her yellow suit in favor of her new favorite combination of athletic leggings and a clingy tunic top. She was also currently wearing the bomber jacket she'd liberated from Spike's closet before she fled to Callisto so many months ago.
It was a bit much for the day but she knew she'd need the extra layer later at night so she put up with it for now just to avoid having to carry it or try stuffing the bulky material into her already overstuffed suitcase. She'd be able to toss it into the backseat just as soon as they picked a car anyway.
They were in a used car rental lot and arguing over the vehicle that would best suit their needs.
Faye was dead set on a convertible. Spike was 100% against that and 1000% for the vehicle he'd fallen in love with: a Canyonero Range Roamer. It was nearly the same green as his hair and looked like it had seen much better days.
His reasoning included the fact that his choice offered space for their baggage and also the ability to fold down the seats and use the vehicle as a campsite if need be. Her reasoning was that she wanted to feel the wind in her hair. Naturally it was obvious who the winner was going to be but Faye never went down in a fight easily.
"Faye, these are the transport of golden gods!" He exclaimed, reciting the vehicle's commercial slogan to her. "They're all-terrain vehicles. All terrain! That means it can take us everywhere we need to go!"
"You get to choose this? I get to choose the hotel and the next mission names AND I want a pack of smokes."
"Seriously? Your choice is ridiculous! Ugh! Whatever, fucking - here!" He wrangled a squished pack of cigarettes from his pocket and threw it at her before marching off towards the salesman.
Faye lit up a cigarette in celebration of her win.
xxx
Later That Day
Cruising Down Thunder Road
"Holy hell, Spike! You drive crazier than Julia!"
"Heh, well, she did teach me how to maneuver once upon a time," He admitted with a smile. "Drive fast, brake hard, and keep your eyes open. Rules to live by behind the wheel."
Talking openly of Julia was unheard of.
Spike sounded almost... liberated as he spoke of her. Faye wondered how much she could glean from the lanky cowboy as they sped along after rumors of their latest bounty. Finally they had one that was a runner and could put them in their ridiculous vehicle to the test. Faye was confident they would have already overtaken the asshole had they been in the convertible she wanted to go with, but she wasn't exactly adverse to the way this extra time was giving Spike an opportunity to open up to her for once.
Faye decided to press her luck. "She was in the Syndicate too, huh?"
Spike glanced at her and his smile turned sadly nostalgic. "Yeah, she was usually our getaway driver. She was a demon behind the wheel and not bad in hand to hand combat. Sometimes she got stuck patching me up. We all had multiple strengths. Plenty of talent for the Van to cultivate."
"The dream team, huh?"
"Oh god no," Spike laughed. "She had her shit together, sure. But Vicious and I were always competing during missions and usually fucking shit up. We were competent but a liability at the same time. Vicious was especially hard for the Elders to wrangle so one day they sent him off to Titan to war. It was during that time I lost my eye. Actually a lot of my memories, too. And that's when Vicious met Gren and got hooked on Red Eye and truly earned his Syndicate name." Spike paused in his narration. "Bet you didn't know he had another name."
Faye scoffed. "No parents name their kid Vicious. Or Spike for that matter," She teased. He'd lost memories too? Well that was a surprising and interesting avenue she'd have to explore.
"Hey don't look at me that way - I don't know my birth name any better than you do, Faye. Pretty sure I was an orphan until Mao took me into the Syndicate life but I could be wrong. Everything before the eye is... disjointed. There's pieces but nothing fits together. How I met Annie, how I met Julia - hell, even how I met Vicious and got off on the wrong foot."
The notion that his own past was as jumbled up as hers was throwing her off. She hadn't expected so many parallels between them. "So strange to think neither of us has a past we can pin down with any true accuracy."
"It made everything less real. Waking up, damaged. With memories of people but no notion of how it all went down. Julia had been with Vicious before he went to war. They took up together again when he got back but he was so different. Colder. Cruel. Vindictive. By then I think I'd fallen in love with her myself. Things between the three of us were ...strained. But she was so alive. So real. I never even cared about dying until Julia."
Faye closed her eyes and a cheerless smile played on her lips. "I'm glad she showed you that life was worth giving a chance."
Spike let out a heavy sigh. "But we never had a chance to be together. Jules and me. It was all like a fevered dream, insubstantial and unobtainable. She brought me out of the bloodiest and most brutal years of my life. She was my escape in so many ways."
Faye opened her eyes and looked at him. With his gloved hands on the wheel and the windows down making his mop of hair dance, he looked solemn, though a wistful smile graced his lips at whatever reverie he was witnessing.
"Why didn't you just run away with her? When you met her again… you could have both disappeared for good finally."
He glanced again from the road to give her a serious look. "I couldn't let the Syndicate endure. Couldn't risk the potential collateral damage. Even happily ever after with Julia would have been stained beyond enjoyment. Our love was reckless and bright and stupid. It was a dream in so many ways. It probably wouldn't have lasted here in the real world." He shook his head dismissively.
With his eyes on the road all she could see was his profile but he looked haggard as he went on. "They would have killed you and Jet, you know. Searching for me. Maybe Ed too if they could track her down. They would have hunted down everyone I've ever known. Or Vicious would have. It'd be an awful end either way." Spike took a deep breath. "She and I both knew there was no true escape unless we wiped them all out. And honestly, I think she knew we would never have our happy ending, the whole goddamn time. There was always this...secret sorrow in her eyes. She never shared her troubles with me, so who knows. None of it matters now and ultimately it didn't matter much then."
Faye shook her head then spoke since he probably couldn't see her movement that well. "No. It mattered. It still does. The past will always matter, Spike. It just….doesn't have to be everything. It didn't give me much for answers but I can't just pretend it wasn't real… that the things from my past never happened. At least you'll always have had those years together. And love, painful as it was. It's something to cherish, not to shrug off."
He gave her a lopsided grin as he reached into his pocket for a joint to pop in between his lips. "All right, fair enough. If we're gonna keep talking this maudlin shit let's at least be high, hey? We got some time before our next exit anyway." He reached over and rested his hand on her thigh for a moment, giving her an appreciative squeeze. "C'mon baby, light my fire."
xxx
Later That Day
What Was Once Pittsburg
They'd finally run down their bounty in a city known only as The Pitts. They had chased him to an abandoned warehouse district where their car chase became a foot race. Splitting up, they'd managed to catch up to him in a room full of rusty machinery and boxes that would never be packed up to send anywhere.
Their tactic was remarkably simple because for once their mission didn't require the bounty to be alive to collect the reward - therefore, it was easy enough to stage things exactly as they desired.
Their man, Lido Scaggs, had been gambling and robbing and murdering his way up the coast and then across the country. He'd left wreckage in every city he'd stopped in so far, which meant nobody wanted this asshole alive anymore.
Which meant Faye found herself handcuffed and on the business end of a gun as a hostage for the umpteenth time in her life since coming out of the cryo sleep. She idly hoped that it wasn't a situation that she had any familiarity with from her former life, but who really knew.
Anyway, Faye and Spike had things well in hand.
Unfortunately for their bounty, that meant things were spiralling out of control for Lido Scaggs. The hand holding the gun to her temple was shaking. The man's voice sounded ragged as he called out across the warehouse to Spike.
"Don't come any closer! I'll shoot her I swear!"
There was no way to see Spike's eyes from this distance but it was impossible to miss the way one side of his mouth hitched up into a cocky smirk. "Bet." He spoke smoothly as he pressed the trigger.
Much like in the cathedral so long ago, the man holding Faye hostage jerked back in his death throes as his blood splattered hotly on her face from the close shot. Even knowing what to expect it was never pleasant having a bullet fly so dangerously near.
xxx
"Fucking took you long enough," Faye complained, wiping at her face with her bound hands but only succeeding at changing the blood spots into blood smears.
Spike sauntered over to her, pulling a handkerchief from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He gave it to her wordlessly and then sifted through the contents of his pockets again for the little lockpick of Faye's that he'd swiped from her nightstand before they'd left the Bebop. He hadn't anticipated needing it but it never hurt to have useful tools on hand.
The scowl she leveled at him when she'd cleaned up her face a bit and saw him presenting her with her own thieves' tool brought a grin to his lips.
Faye was so much fun to provoke.
And yet she managed to keep her emotions on such a short leash when it was necessary. Like just a bit ago. He was an expert marksman and it wasn't often that he missed his target, but if she'd been the type of damsel to swoon or flail...
If anything though, knowing her as well as he did, he'd have expected her to fight tooth and nail despite the restraints she'd been constricted by. It spoke volumes of her faith in him to get her out of the situation without her assistance in the matter. She hadn't bothered to fight because she knew she didn't need to. She put her life and full trust in his hands. Willingly, this time, unlike when she'd gotten herself caught up in his shit at the cathedral.
They'd actually been in a similar situation to this not long ago on TJ and had been likewise able to predict the way the other would behave. They'd needed the bounty alive so Spike's bullseye tactic wouldn't suit. Not that the bounty had known their intent to keep him alive long enough to collect. No, the bounty had been sweating bullets when he'd grabbed Faye to use as a human hostage - which, like tonight, had been her goal all along. Spike had leveled his gun at the bounty, the guy had faltered, and Faye had used his distraction and her position to sweep the guy's feet out from under him and then flip him onto his belly so she could straddle his back and cuff him.
In that instance it had been Spike who had let Faye control the way things played out, knowing she was fully capable of freeing herself. Sparring with him had certainly improved her abilities but truthfully Faye had always been a scrapper more than capable of taking care of herself.
It was reassuring when you had competent partners to rely on in this line of business.
Since learning of her sharpshooter training pre-cryo sleep, he might even be willing to go on the line and trust her if their positions in this type of scenario were reversed. Then again, maybe they should do some target practice first.
"Well, get the ISSP here to bag and tag this garbage," She muttered, dropping the handcuffs on the ground once she'd gotten free of them. She glared at Spike as she secreted away her thieves' tool, though he likely took note of where she'd stashed it and would try to retrieve it when she least suspected.
"You've never doubted me," Spike said.
"Mm?" Faye gave up on her face once she realized the handkerchief was just smearing the splatters on her face more.
"Just now, or back in the cathedral, or anytime you've been under the gun like that." He went on.
Faye cocked her head to the side as she considered him. "Why would I?"
Spike snorted. "How many people can make a shot like that without hitting the hostage or missing the target so the hostage gets killed anyway?"
"Fuck, Spike, I don't know shit about statistics. What's it matter? You've never given me any reason to doubt you."
This was true enough, although if he had ever let her down in that situation it's not like she'd have been alive still to doubt him or regret her unflinching faith. And that's what it was, he realized. She never flinched. Much like himself, come to think of it. They stared Death dead in the eyes without ever twitching. Why?
Was life so dismissable?
Well, yeah.
But there was more to it.
There had to be some kind of psychological trauma or screwed up synapses in their brains or something. To be so assured of their own existence continuing… well, it was not something Spike ever gave much thought to but here it was being flung back in his face in Faye's actions. Or lack thereof.
"We used to shoot bottles off fences. Or the locks off windows. Or birds on the wire. Eventually once we got better we started shooting fruit or whatever off each other's heads. You know, stupid kid shit. But we were just stupid kids. Alley brats, gutter rats, the ones that weren't wanted. Growing up in the streets, taking pot shots for funsies. Got the Syndicate's attention eventually. But that's where I first learned how to use a gun."
"How'd you even get a gun as a homeless kid?" Faye wondered.
Spike looked at her like she was silly. But it had been a foolish question. Guns were as commonplace as dandelions in the grass. Finding food had been more of a challenge than finding a gun.
His next words confirmed this for her. "Guns were anywhere, everywhere. Everyone had one. Bullets have always been trickier to track down. But I took every gun I could. Took 'em all apart, pieced 'em back together. See, it's more than just whatever hand-eye coordination skills you might be blessed with. It's about having a weapon that you can trust as much as you trust your lungs to breathe. You have to know it's going to fire accurately. Best way to do that? Keep your shit clean. Take care of your gun and your gun takes care of you."
"Ahh so that's why you're always stroking your piece," Faye murmured, giving him a wink.
Spike rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Romani, you're lucky I've still been keeping up on yours now that I know you're fully capable of doing it your goddamn self."
Her eyes widened and Spike grinned. Clearly she hadn't noticed or given much thought to the fact that he still cleaned her guns for her.
It had started so long ago he couldn't even remember. He'd seen the inside of her zipcraft. He'd seen the inside of her sleeping quarters on the Bebop. It was almost frightening how messy Faye apparently liked to live. And it hadn't been much of a jump to reach the conclusion that if her bedroom and ship were so… ill cared for, her guns were not likely to see much better treatment.
And again it all went back to being able to trust and rely on others. He needed to know Faye was not only going to have his back, but that her weapon would be in pristine working condition. To keep her safe, to keep himself safe. And Faye was just too fucking lazy to ever take care of her own shit herself. So Spike had continued because it was in their best interest. Honestly, the familiarity of the motions was at least as meditative to him as his Jeet Kune Do workouts. Maybe guns were his bonsai trees.
"Hey," Faye had stepped over to him and was giving him a serious look. Without warning, she went up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Thanks, cowboy," She walked away from him towards the entrance to the warehouse and gave him an impish smile over her shoulder. "And call the freaking cops already! I wanna get the fuck out of here and I need to take a shower!"
xxx
They had stopped at a Sinclair Station Truck Stop so Faye could take a shower and clean the blood off her face and clothes. Well, no, the clothes she just threw out because she didn't want to deal with tracking down a laundromat on their continuing adventure. And continue it would, because it was only early evening now and they were well on their way north from the Pitts.
Their next stop was in Canada - a place called the Toronto Heights. It had been built near the former location of the city by the same name, though that had largely become a swamp region thanks to the expansion of the Great Lakes Basin as global warming raised water levels across the globe.
It should have been a breeze to reach their destination by nightfall considering they'd left New New York in the morning, spent six hours chasing Lido to the Pitts, and then only expected another maybe four hours of a drive before reaching their stop for the night.
Faye was trying admirably hard to contain her helpless mirth over their current predicament.
She wanted so badly to keep her shit together but ohhh it was difficult.
Spike, looking waterlogged and irate, was standing partially submerged in the mucky waters of Lake Eerie. He alternated between shouting at someone on the other end of his comm device and kicking at the Canyonero Range Roamer which was likewise partially submerged.
So much for it being an all-terrain vehicle, although in Spike's defense Faye had also confidently assumed that meant the vehicle could run on water in addition to land.
It was too much though and Faye gave up. She laughed hard and long and loud, literally shaking with amusement as she finally began to calm down minutes later. Spike's look was murderous and she shrugged at him because, well fuck, it wasn't her fault so screw him if he wanted to take his anger out on her.
After a moment though she felt some sympathy for her comrade and took a joint out of her little travel case. She sparked it up and puffed contentedly for a few hits before strolling lazily over to Spike and the puddle he was now making on the cement slope of the boat launch.
His glare lost its potency when she offered him the joint and he even flicked his eyes at her in an unspoken apology after he'd taken a hit or two himself. They stood looking at the unfortunate vehicle as the sun slowly sank and their joint burned away, channeling its relaxing effects into the duo. Eventually, Faye gave up on the roach and stretched, then locked her fingers behind her head and tilted backwards to watch the very first stars begin to glimmer into being above.
Spike sighed and went back to the vehicle, opening up the back hatch to retrieve their luggage which was thankfully quite dry. He very wisely opted to carry Faye's bag in addition to his own, despite the cumbersome shape of her overstuffed suitcase.
She noticed he was shivering but that was to be expected when you're running around in wet clothing at dusk in late September in North America. She briefly considered giving up the jacket she'd put back on earlier but decided against it. There was no point in both of them being cold and anyway putting a jacket on over wet clothes wasn't really going to do jack shit to warm Spike up in the first place.
She did however light up a pair of cigarettes and kindly stuck one in between Spike's lips so he could at least enjoy some nicotine as they began their trek from the boat launch to the handful of buildings they'd driven past previously.
It was a village at best - Sinclairville - the name of which Faye only knew because she'd wondered to herself, and aloud to Spike who had no opinion or interest in her musing, if it had anything to do with the Sinclair gas stations she'd seen here and there on their cruise.
Probably nothing but a coincidence given that this village didn't even have a gas station to offer folks passing through. There wasn't much except a bar - naturally - a currently closed building that proclaimed itself to be Gummer's Gun & Saddle Shop during daylight hours, a creepy looking hopefully closed down daycare, a funeral home, a church, and a ValueStop. All the housing in the area was broken down and in severe disrepair thanks to the meteor showers.
Thanking whatever gods or powers may be that humanity continued to cling so ardently to the escapism of alcohol, they made their way to the bar in the hopes of drink and salvation.
xxx
The bar was a bust.
Of fucking course.
Not like the day was likely to turn around for them at this point. It had started off so well but through no intentional fault of their own it had become just another collection of miserable hours.
Spike, half-soaked and totally over this road trip, was picking through the charred remains of the business half of the bar, which was sadly the only portion that seemed to have been subject to whatever fire had put an end to the last gasp of a livelihood in this area.
Having not seen another soul in hours thanks to their time spent on the open road, Spike wasn't actually sure if there was anyone living in this place anymore and he'd yet to find anything resembling an entrance to the subways and underground cities that were scattered across the planet.
At this point it was looking like they were going to have to post up in the daycare down the lane. It might have blankets at least, whereas there wasn't much in this rubble at all.
"YES!" Faye's voice, sounding triumphant, came from a few feet away. She'd been rooting through the backroom of the building, which had no roof and only a portion of one wall remaining.
She clutched the handle of a bottle of Glengoolie Sterling for the best of times! in one hand and Jumbo Jim's Grape Scotch in the other. Spike gagged. Faye saw his reaction and shrugged. "I'm just glad we found anything. At least the Glengoolie is good,"
"Fair enough. Well. Where would the lady like to retire this evening? Your options are limited but I figure the daycare might have blankets."
They strolled out of the burnt out bar and stood on the street to look in either direction. Their luggage sat on the sidewalk awaiting their decision but they decided to smoke a couple cigarettes while debating their choices.
"The daycare looks like a fucking nightmare. I don't know if I'm up to being haunted by the ghosts of toddlers." Faye admitted, giving the one-story building in the distance an untrusting glance over her shoulder.
"Well, I don't want to sleep in a coffin, I'll tell you that much," Spike put in. "I've managed to stay out of one this long, don't wanna jinx myself by voluntarily climbing into one now." It would be just his luck to hop in and then never be able to hop out because the funeral home roof collapsed.
"Fair enough," Faye acknowledged. "Okay. So that leaves… the gun place, the church, and the store. Church… maybe has blankets? I have no idea what they keep in those places."
"Ehh not likely. That store is probably our best bet. They might sell blankets and other bedding too for that matter. Hell, maybe even mattresses."
Faye laughed. "Don't get your hopes up, cowboy, I doubt that place is gonna have the necessary goods to survive an apocalypse and that's about the world I feel like we wandered into here."
Spike sniffled and wiped at his nose before bending to pick up their bags. "Fuck it, let's go. I need to get some cold medicine anyway I think."
She shot him a concerned look but made no move to take her bag back and lighten his load. Rolling his eyes at her half-hearted consideration of his state of being, he trudged on after her down the road.
xxx
"Well, according to this thermometer you're actually dead," Faye offered helpfully.
Spike looked at her with as blank of an expression as he could manage.
Her cheeks turned pink and she laughed awkwardly, tossing the thermometer over her shoulder to land wherever. The aisles of the ValueStop were somewhat picked over but there were still plenty of products strewn here and there and everywhere. A broken thermometer certainly wasn't going to make the place look any worse.
They'd stumbled upon a bit of luck because the ValueStop was more than just a convenience store, it also had some elements of a department store about it. That meant no real beds for sale but there was a miniature version of a mattress in the store that served as a demo to sort of indicate how the sheet pattern would look on an actual bed.
It was too short for either of them to recline on comfortably but Faye had pushed Spike onto the half bed and he'd been too exhausted to do more than sprawl with his legs hanging from the edge onto the floor. At least the tiny bed was at just the right height for his feet to touch the floor from this sprawl - if it had been any higher up his knees would have protested the weight of his calves and feet dragging towards the ground.
There was a surplus of bedding in the store, which was good because the heat in the building had not been operational for some time. Dust covered everything which had set Spike to sneezing when they had first broken into the building. It was fully dark by then and rather spooky. But the store itself had been laid out in a fashion that worked out quite well for them.
They'd been using their lighters to see initially but discovered flashlights and batteries near the entrance. Faye had quickly gotten some to work to guide them further into the store. She'd also snagged some medical crap like the thermometer on their way to the household goods section.
He had set down their bags to disappointedly consider the faux mattress when Faye had pushed him to lay down on it and there he remained while she went about whatever her business was. He was exhausted from driving all day, still damp from the excursion into the lake, and not feeling his best at all.
After trying to take his temperature Faye put her hands on her hips and gave him a stern look. "Okay, cowboy. You gotta get out of those wet clothes. I found some stuff that might fit you or at least is dry. We can hang your shit up somewhere overnight so maybe it'll be dry enough to wear tomorrow. I'm gonna try to rustle up anything that isn't expired so we can have some dinner. I think I saw some kitchen equipment in the camp section over there…" She wandered off as she spoke, leaving him to try to regain his feet and peel off his sodden clothes.
She'd procured some boxers - black with silver music notes on them - and a pair of far too big sweatpants that had letters on the back. Damn woman thought she was so fucking funny. He dressed in the pants despite the bootylicious written across the ass and then he put on the shirt as well, which was a generic tank top that had a picture of a unicorn on it. If this was payback for dressing her in his sweatpants after that asshole tried to murder her… well, these clothes were an over the top response but whatever, he'd call them even now.
He realized she had found a lantern at some point because it had been easy to see where she'd left the clothes for him. How out of it was he? In the absurd dry clothing, he climbed back onto the stubby bed but this time curled into a ball on top of it.
Somehow getting out of the wet clothes had served to remind his body that he was in fact fucking freezing. There were blankets on shelves nearby but the effort it would take to grab one was beyond him at the moment. Maybe Faye would return and take pity on him.
Spike closed his eyes and groaned. He could hear Faye somewhere else in the building. It wasn't a particularly large store but there were so many aisles and who knew what she was up to out there. Every once in a while he could hear her trip over things and swear, so he knew she was alive and well. For himself all he could do was shiver.
Minutes or hours later, he became aware of cool fingers pressed against his forehead. He blinked tiredly and saw Faye was leaning over him. Normally this vantage point gave him the opportunity to enjoy her cleavage on full display, but he was too sick feeling to truly enjoy it.
The candlelight or lantern light or whatever she'd found for illumination was giving her skin a golden sort of glow that suited her rather nicely. He closed his eyes again for a moment because it was hard to stay awake. He was just so warm and comfortable.
The fact that he was warm and comfortable unnerved him enough to boost him back to consciousness and he opened his eyes again, determined to stay awake this time.
"Got some soup heating up," Faye told him. She took her hand from his forehead but didn't move away. "You've definitely got a fever though so I found some medicine here that might help. It's all technically expired but… well… there's a shortage of lizards and scorpions for any homeopathic remedies."
He chuckled weakly. "You make light of it… but that stuff works…" He mumbled. By some miracle he was laying down without his legs hanging off the short bed. He shifted around trying to ascertain how that was before realizing that he was now on the floor of the ValueStop. "Wha?"
Faye snorted. "You lunkhead. You were curled into a miserable little ball on that square. It's not even a bed, you know, just a fraction of a mattress boxspring with sheets on it to show off. Anyway, I just took all the yoga mats and exercise pads and blankets and made us a giant bed on the floor." She turned to look over her shoulder at something beyond his sight. Most likely the camping stove she was using to make them dinner. Whatever it was, it didn't need her attention for long because soon enough she had turned back to him.
Spike realized he was basically buried in blankets. They were stacked on him to the point where he thought the weight of them might be obstructing his ability to breathe freely. He pushed a few off and then settled stiffly back into the remains. His whole body ached. He sniffled again and she tossed a roll of toilet paper at him. He blew his nose and threw the used tissue somewhere behind himself. Much like the broken thermometer, his garbage wasn't going to put anyone out.
Faye was taking a pull off the Glengoolie when he looked back at her. He reached for the bottle but she scoffed at him. "No way! You might have germs and I don't wanna be sick!"
"You're gonna make me drink the grape shit?" Spike demanded, taste buds affronted.
"You're not gonna drink any of my liquor at all, sicko!" She replied tartly. A water bottle was waved in his face. She dropped it next to him when he refused to grab it. "Whatever, you need to hydrate more than you need to be drunk right now."
"Don't tell me how to drink!" He protested.
She scowled at him. "I don't want puke in these blankets! I have to sleep here later!" She turned her back on him again, which meant she didn't notice when he snatched the Glengoolie bottle that was resting at her side.
Faye busied herself with putting soup into two plastic children's sippy cups sans their caps - it was apparently the closest thing to cups or bowls she had been able to find. For a time, all was quiet and peaceful between the two of them as they consumed the soups - of which Faye had made three cans. It wasn't much but when you had enough of it… well, it filled the belly at least.
Spike was feeling a bit better now. He had a full stomach, he was ensconced in a bazillion blankets, he'd managed to tuck the Glengoolie away where Faye couldn't see it, and he was starting to get real fucking sleepy again.
Maybe it was best to go along with it this time.
He let his eyes close. He could feel when Faye leaned over towards him again and wondered nervously at her intentions when suddenly he noticed the bottle of booze being retrieved from its spot behind his back. Apparently he hadn't hidden it nearly as well as he'd thought. Faye chuckled at him and then he felt her cool fingers against his forehead again, smoothing his hair back from his face. After a moment, she began to hum.
It was a very pleasing way to fall asleep.
xxx
"I wanna tell you something," Spike announced.
They were lying back to back in a pile of blankets and pillows. Faye had blown out the candles but left the lantern on so they had some light with which to see. She didn't fancy falling all over the camp stove or Spike every time she needed to use the bathroom. And she'd been drinking the Glengoolie pretty steadily since they'd gotten settled in.
It was honestly her only recourse. Spike was awful company. He meandered from conscious to unconscious in mid sentence sometimes and wasn't making a lot of sense when he managed to produce words.
When he was totally unconscious, his stuffed up nose made it impossible for him to breathe as quietly as normal so his snoring was beyond aggravating. She'd tried twice now to fall asleep next to him and had finally given up the cause.
So now she was curled around the Glengoolie, pretending to be a baby with a bottle of milk. For funsies she'd duct-taped the nipple portion of a baby bottle onto her liquor bottle. It made her giggle with every drink she took even if the rubber of the nipple gave the booze a funky flavor. She was considering the quantity of joints left in her container and whether she ought to fire one up now or if it was a better idea to conserve what she had in case they couldn't track any down on their continuing adventures.
Faye had no idea what was next. She hadn't been paying attention when Ed and Spike had gone over the list of bounties they'd be trying for. She had known Spike would fill her in on whatever details were necessary once they got closer to their next goal, but she'd purposefully washed her hands of any responsibility on this trip. Which was probably why she was now stuck in charge of an ill partner, no working vehicle, and no real plan for what to do next.
Which was stressful, so on that note…
Sparking up the joint, she took a comforting drag.
"Hey," Spike's voice came to her again. Looked like this was another of his reasonably cognizant moments. "Hey, Faye,"
She moved to sit cross legged next to him with the nearly empty Glengoolie in her lap and the joint in one hand. That left her other hand open but she didn't like that so she used the burning ember on the joint to light a cigarette and then held that in her other hand. She couldn't pick up the booze anymore, but she had a smoke in each hand, so she felt like a queen or some zen goddess.
Whether it was the liquor or the ganja, she appreciated the way she was starting to feel.
Spike was still lying on his side with his back to her, but the loss of warmth from where her body had pressed against his made him shiver. She watched as he rolled over onto his back and drew some of the surrounding blankets closer around himself.
"Stop ignoring me!" He whined, laying there with his eyes closed and a grumpy frown.
She chuckled and alternated between pulls on her cigarette and tokes on her joint until she inevitably got them confused and started choking on too much cigarette smoke from trying to hit that like it was cannabis.
Eventually she got herself under control and wiped at the drool from her coughing fit with the back of her joint hand, getting smoke in her eye as she did. Fuck this was ridiculous.
"I'm not ignoring you, you just haven't said shit." She replied at last. She used the toes nearest him to poke him with her foot. "You wanna hit either of these?"
"Oh yeah you know I wanna hit that," He asserted with a lecherous grin.
Faye's eyebrows rose on her forehead. "Settle down there, casanova, I meant the ganja or the cig."
Spike's eyes opened and he glanced at her with confusion. "Wait, what?"
She shook her head but held both burning items toward him. He peered at her offerings and finally settled on the cannabis, waving away the cigarette. She frowned at him worriedly but he waved that reaction away too.
"M'throat hurts a bit. S'all good though. This'll just be easier on my lungs and let me sleep."
"So what did you wanna tell me?" She asked, taking another swig of the liquor and chasing it with the last of her cigarette before putting it out.
"You ever wonder? I wonder." He paused to take another toke before trying to pass it back to Faye. She hesitated momentarily, thinking again of germs and how much she hated being sick, but figured fuck it and took it back for a deep drag.
"What do you wonder?" She asked when it seemed like Spike wasn't going to continue.
"What if we're meant to be here?"
He'd only proposed questions so far. She herself was wondering what his original intended statement had been way back when he started talking. Knowing Spike he was working backwards towards what he meant to say. He liked to be all enigmatic and cryptic.
Well whatever she had nothing better to do than let him ramble.
"Waiting for her in the rain, not knowing what had happened…After that day, everything was just so much nothing going by. Even teaming up with Jet didn't change much for me. Not at first. But gradually I didn't think about her as much." He sounded remorseful.
Faye passed him back the joint, not knowing how to respond or even if she was supposed to. She never knew how to handle it when Spike confided in her. It was… a massive feeling. It was a privilege but a heavy one.
When he entrusted her with knowledge like this… it was almost overwhelming. But… maybe she was thinking about this the wrong way. He'd never been looking for anything from her when he spoke like this. Maybe it was enough that she listened and genuinely cared.
She took the roach back from him and put it out in the remains of a tea light candle she'd had going earlier. Spike was still lying on his back, though now with his hands behind his head, breathing noisily through his mouth, and staring up towards the ceiling.
"Hell, Faye, by the time you showed up I'd already fancied myself falling for a new woman. She was beautiful and courageous and… trapped. She reminded me of Julia but she was tougher than Julia ever could have been. Actually she was tougher than you, too. After all, neither of you shot me when you had the chance." He smiled darkly. "But this woman - she saw how everything was going to play out and she didn't leave room for misinterpretation. She killed her lover and in the process doomed herself as well. There was no happily ever after and never would have been."
It was getting colder. She'd been out of the blankets for too long. Faye set the liquor aside and laid down next to Spike again. This time she lay on her side to face him.
His eyes flickered down to her. Hesitantly, he took an arm from behind his head and lowered it as if to wrap around her. Faye scooched closer so she could rest her head on his chest, letting his arm relax around her.
It was immediately warmer being tucked into Spike's side, though a good portion of that could be from the fever he was still running. He wasn't alarmingly warm so she didn't worry about it much. His breathing didn't sound any better this close though.
She felt him turn his head enough to rest his cheek and jaw on the crown of her own head.
"I didn't want to admit that happily ever after was impossible. I wanted to believe we'd get our life together someday." He sighed into her hair. "I wonder though. I wonder… why are we in each other's lives like this? You and me, Faye."
Against her will, Faye was drowsing off. It had been such a long day and she was so drunk and stoned and tired. She snuggled deeper into the blankets, settled more fully against Spike. She could hear him talking still, though it was becoming harder to understand as sleep began to pull her under.
"What if this is my chance now, Faye? My chance for happily ever after,"
She wasn't sure what she was saying or even what she was responding to - all she knew was that it was always best to get the last word.
"There is no 'ever after'..." Faye mumbled. "There's just...living...day to day…best you can." She pressed a sleepy kiss to his chest with a sigh. "Happy sounds good though…"
xxx
You can't always get what you want…
But if you try sometimes…
You just might find…
You get what you need, Space Cowboy