Black Widow, Session 5

Missing Edward

/thoughts/

"speech"

~^~ time passed

Last time…

 "She might enjoy living on the Bebop for awhile." Jet remarked to himself. Daisy's eyes widened slightly. "Huh?" she asked. Jet laughed, slightly embarrased. "Oh, nothing. I just thought she'd have fun living in space. She might even be grateful to you."

/Dammit Jet! This is a woman you've known for a few hours and you've already invited her to live with you!?/ Daisy smiled but looked into the room with her parents. "That'd be quite an adventure..but I couldn't leave my parents alone." She answered. Jet sighed in relief. "When you can, give me a call." He said before walking back outside. "Wait a minute, Jet!" Daisy called, chasing the man. "Hm?" Jet asked, turning around. "You didn't tell me how to contact you." Daisy said with a slight smile.

Jet smiled and wrote something down on a piece of paper before handing it to Daisy. "Here's the ships frequency. I'll be looking forward to your call." 

And now…

Spike still hadn't found Stella. She was no longer living in the desert, so Spike went to the hospital where he'd last seen Stella to find out where she was living now. After much pursuading, he managed to get her address. It was a large, white apartment building in the center of town. After climbing the six flights of stairs, Spike finally managed to get to Stella's apartment.

He knocked on the door and waited quietly. "Who is it?" a vaguely familiar voice asked. "An old friend." Spike replied, sticking his hands in his pockets. There was the clicking of the lock and the door opened slowly. "Who are you?" Stella asked warily. Spike smiled. "I told you, an old friend." He repeated. Stella paused for a moment. "Spike?" she said finally, opening the door a little bit more. "You got it." Spike said with a grin.

"I didn't remember you at first. Please, come in." Stella said, stepping out of the way to let Spike into her apartment. "Would you like some tea?" Stella asked, walking to the kitchen. "No thanks. I'm not feeling too well, sad to say." Spike said, following her. "Oh really? I have some herbal medicinal tea that might help. Would you like that?" Spike shrugged and nodded. "You're much more handsome than I imagined." Stella remarked while putting some water to boil. Spike chuckled softly. "Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" he asked, sitting down in a chair.

Stella laughed lightly. "Well I meant it as a compliment, but if you took it as an insult, then I'm sorry." Spike smiled and watched the young woman prepare the tea. "So what brings you to Venus again, Spike?" Stella asked, sitting across from him at the table. "Buisness. We're a little short on cash at the moment." He replied. "Oh…I'm sorry." Stella said solemnly. The kettle on the stove started to whistle, so Stella got up from the table and finished preparing the tea. "Anyway, I wanted to see you before we left Venus." Spike said.

"Really? That makes me glad. I don't get many visitors." Stella said with a smile. "Well next time I'm in Venus' orbit, I'll stop by again." Spike replied, taking his cup of tea and blowing on it slowly. "So..have you been on many adventures?" Stella asked. Spike shrugged slightly. "I guess you can say that. Considering I've been beaten up pretty badly since we last talked.." Stella's eyes widened. "Oh no! Were you hurt really bad?" she asked. "Near death. But don't worry about it. So what have you been up to?" Spike replied, taking a sip of tea.

Stella looked away for a moment. "There was a funeral for Roco. It was nice…but it rained." Spike placed a hand over Stella's. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there. I'll be sure to visit his grave before we leave." He said. Stella smiled. "Thank you Spike. The flowers I put there are probably dying now. I'm still a little afraid of going outside, now that I'm cured…but I'll get the address of the cemetary for you." She said, standing up and going to another room. Spike took another sip of tea and grimaced. It tasted horrible. "Ah! Here it is!" Stella exclaimed, returning to the kitchen with a small slip of paper.

"Thanks." Spike said, putting the card in his pocket. "You seem troubled about something Spike..like things aren't going well." Spike looked up curiously. "What are you talking about?" he lied, fingering his teacup. Stella smiled slightly. "While I was blind from the Venus sickness, my other senses heightened. I can sense when things aren't going well for people." Spike chuckled softly and leaned back in his chair. "Well then, I guess you're right." Stella smiled and nodded. "How's your stomach feeling? Is the tea helping?" She asked, getting up and rinsing out her cup.

Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Spike finished the remaining tea in his cup. "A little. I'll just let it get better on its own." He said, standing up and placing his cup in the sink. Stella smiled apologetically. "I'm glad you came Spike, and I don't want to rush you out of here, but I was just about to go out." She said, pulling on a coat and wrapping a large scarf around her head. "That's alright. I was going to leave in a little while anyway." Spike said, sticking his hands in his pockets. The two walked out of the apartment and down the stairs together.

"Well, I'm going to go to the market place now. Have you ever been there?" Stella asked, tightening her scarf around her face. "I don't think so. I was going to head over to the cemetary and leave some flowers." Spike answered. Stella smiled. "There's a nice place where you can get fresh potted plants. Would you like me to show you the way?" Spike smiled and nodded. Stella was so different from Faye. She was polite, generous, but Spike just wasn't attracted to her like her was to Faye. They arrived at the marketplace a short while later.

The air was filled with the smells of assorted foods, all making Spike feel queasy. He clutched his stomach as they passed a long line of food vendors. "Here we are." Stella announced, walking into a small shop. "Thanks for showing me the way." Spike said thankfully, still holding his stomach. "No problem. Thanks for coming by Spike, it meant a lot. Tell Roco hello for me, will you?" Stella asked. Spike nodded and she disappeared back into the bustling streets. "Can I help you young man?" Said the man behind the counter. "Yeah, I need some flowers to put on an old friend's grave."

Back on Earth:

Jet sighed deeply as he stared out the window of the hotel suite. It was pretty dull on Earth, he concluded. /I thought I'd at least get to relax a little bit while I was here…but damn! I'll never forgive Spike and Faye for leaving Ed with me! Speaking of which, I wonder what those two are up to../ He got up and went over to the vid-phone and called the Bebop. Jet sighed and cancelled the call.

"I guess no one's home." He sighed, flopping onto his bed. /Finally..peace and quiet….wait a minute!! Where's Ed!?/ Jet jumped up from the bed and searched the suite frantically. "Ed!? Ed!! God damn that little brat!" he exclaimed, running out of the hotel and into a car they had rented. "Where could that kid have gone?" he thought outloud, searching the beach as he slowly drove past.

He searched the restaurant they had eaten at earlier, the ice cream parlor, the remains of a park that had been rocked by a meteorite, and everywhere else Ed could have possibly gone. /Daisy…I bet Ed went to play with Lola../ Jet thought, before racing off to Daisy's house. Luckily, he remembered how to get there, or else he'd be totally lost. The sun was rapidly setting as Jet knocked on Daisy's front door. "Coming!!" a voice that Jet recognized as Daisy's answered.

The door was pulled open, revealing a surprised Daisy. "Jet? What are you doing here?" She asked. He put his hand behind his head and chuckled softly. "Well, ya see, Ed's gone missing again and well, I've searched high and low for her and this is the last place she could logically be." He explained. Daisy laughed lightly. "Well…I haven't seen her. Come on in, and I'll go get Lola." Jet nodded and stepped inside the house. Luckily, the senile old people weren't around.

Jet leaned against the kitchen counter while Daisy ran upstairs. Wind chimes and sun catchers were at the windows, no pictures were hung on the refrigerator though. Jet walked into the next room and looked around some more. Lots of doiley's, yarn and knitting things. Rocking chairs, slippers and oxygen tanks too. Jet heard Daisy running down the stairs, so he went back into the kitchen quickly.

"Lola's not here!" Daisy exclaimed, pulling a coat from the closet. "What?!" Jet exclaimed. "She's not in her room, I checked everywhere upstairs, and she never comes downstairs…oh Jet, where can she be?!" Daisy asked frantically. Jet put his hands on her shoulders and replied, "Calm down. They're probably together, so all we have to do is look for places where Lola might be." Daisy nodded and grabbed her car keys. "I'll drive."

Jet and Daisy ran out to Daisy's car and they sped off back into town. "When I get a hold of that girl.." Daisy said angrily. Jet shook his head. "I don't know what got a hold of Ed, and frankly, I don't care. Everyone has a right to go and come as they please. But I won't give up until you get Lola back." Daisy wrinkled her brow while scanning the area. "It seems a little uh…unsympathetic of you not to care about Edward. She's just a little girl." Daisy said. Jet chuckled slightly.

"You don't know Edward like I do. She used to live on her own, and seemed to be just fine…aside from the obvious weirdness about her. So I'm not worried. Besides, if she really wanted to get back, she'd use that 'Tomato' of hers and find us in a snap." Jet explained, peering at the park they were passing. "Hold on!" Daisy exclaimed, swerving to the right onto a dusty road. "Woah! Where are you going? There's nothing down that way, right?" he asked. Daisy nodded. "And you don't know Earth like I do either Mr. Black! If I know Lola, she'd go as far away as she could without being too far away to get back on her own."

Jet nodded and crossed his arms while staring out at the desert. "So where do you think she's hiding?" he asked a short while later. "An old stone building that used to be a diner, I think. My parents told me they used to take her there because she was so intruiged by the building and whatnot. I just hope she's there." A little while later, they pulled up to the old diner. The two closed their doors silently and started towards the building. "It looks ready to crumble any minute. Are you sure it's safe for us both to go in?" Jet asked quietly.

Daisy ran her hand across the side of the building and sighed. "You're right. How are we going to see if they're even in there?" she asked. "Well..I could just go in, but you're a lot lighter than I am. Although I wouldn't want you to risk that building coming down on you." Jet said bashfully. Daisy smiled and looked thoughtful. "I'll do it. It probably won't fall apart anyway. Stay here." Jet started for the entrance and smiled at Daisy before disappearing inside.

The air was dank and dusty, and the only light came through the windows. /Why the hell would anyone want to hide out in here?/ Jet thought to himself, climbing up the rickety stairs. He listened for voices, or typing, or noises two little girls would make. /Shit./ He thought, climbing to the second floor. "Edward!! Lola? Anybody up here?" He called out, walking into a room. "I've got food Ed! Nope, she ain't here." Jet turned and walked back down the stairs quickly. "Jet? Any luck?" Daisy called out.

Jet stepped back into the sunlight and shook is head. "Nope. Any place else you think she might be?" Jet asked. Daisy frowned and shook her head. "I can try calling the hotel room." Jet suggested as they went back to the car. "I don't know..if they're there, they might get scared and run away." Daisy replied, biting her nails. Jet looked thoughtful for a minute. "Allright, I can call the front desk or security and ask that they check the room for me." Daisy shrugged. "I guess that might work." She said, not sounding too enthusuastic.

When they arrived back at Daisy's house, Jet pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and called the hotel. "Hi, this is Jet Black, I'm staying at your hotel and I need you to do something for me." Jet said, before the person answering could even say hello. "Okay, and what would that be sir?" a woman asked. "I need security to go to my room and unlock the door. I'm looking for a friend's daugher, and my roommate." He said, tapping his foot impatiently. "Alright sir, but you do understand that the hotel can not be held responsible for damages to your possesions." The secretary said.

"What!? All I want to know is if they're in there or not! Just don't wreck my stuff!" Jet exclaimed. "I'll send security up right away." Jet ran a hand over his head. "Ok, I'll hold." He answered, and turned to Daisy. "Security's gonna go to the room and see if they're in there. I'm still on the line, so we'll know right away." He reported. Daisy nodded and looked fretful. "Hey, make sure they don't leave the hotel if they're there." Jet said into the phone. A short while later, the secretary returned.

"Mister Black, security has apprehended two female minors and are holding them in the security office. Will you be picking them up now?" Jet sighed a deep sigh of relief. "Thank God, Daisy, they found 'em. Yes, we'll be right over." Hanging up the phone, Jet sighed again. Daisy clasped her arms around him tightly. "Thank you for all your help Jet. Let's go."