Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Mira. I'm getting no money from this, so please don't sue me, you won't get anything any way. This is just for pure fun...so enjoy!
Session Four: Women are From Venus...
Spike swung his legs over the side of the bed and mentally prepared himself for standing up. He could hear Mira moving around in the other room. If he was going to get up, he had better do it before she came back into the room again. She would only go through her regular speech about the importance of resting and how he wasn't fit enough yet to get up. Well, he wouldn't be laying in bed, bandaged from head to foot by the time Jet, Faye and Ed got there. When he was with them, the longest amount of time that he had ever been out had been three days. Mira had informed him that he had been there for a week. According to his usual healing record, he should have been up and around three days ago.
He slowly stood up on shaky legs and immediately locked his knees. After a few seconds of getting reoriented to standing, Spike took a couple of steps. The sound of someone applauding drew his attention to the doorway of the room. Mira leaned against the door frame, clapping her hands and grinning.
"Where's my camera when I need it?"
Spike leaned on the chair that Mira had occupied for the past week. His muscles were protesting the sudden work out and it left him winded. He plopped down onto the wooden seat and closed his eyes. Never before did he think that walking four steps from a bed would leave him this tired. He must have been worse off than he thought.
"Here."
He looked up to see Mira holding a glass of water out to him. Gratefully, he took it.
"What, no liquid vegtables?"
"No, I ran out of them. Besides, I think you should be alright for solid food."
"Great. What's for dinner then? Steak?"
"Bell peppers and beef."
Spike looked up at the gruff voice that was standing in the doorway. Jet stood there, massive arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Ed was standing in front of Jet and Faye was peeking around the corner.
"Well," Spike said, "If you're making the bell peppers and beef then there's going to be no beef in them."
"Just as well." Mira spoke up. "I'd stay away from meat for the next couple days. You've been living off a liquid diet for the past week, your stomach isn't used to meat."
Spike threw a sarcasstic look towards Jet. "I'm used to a no meat diet."
Mira moved away from Spike and headed towards the door. "Well, I need to go start on that no meat diet for tonight, so I'll leave you guys to catch up."
Jet moved into the room with the two girls following him. Faye crossed her arms and stared down her nose at Spike.
"Glad to see you're back to your normal obnoxious self."
Spike grinned. "Glad to see you haven't changed your rude attitude."
"She seems pretty nice. How did you know her?" Jet broke in before a fight broke out.
Spike leaned back in the chair. "She was in the Red Dragon Syndicate with me. A few months before I left, she dissapeared. Never knew what happened to her till now."
Jet let out a low whistle. "For someone that's been involved in a syndicate, she sure has a pleasent outlook on life."
"Yeah, she does. She was always a background person in the syndicate. Never talked much, just stuck with information gathering. I guess being out of the syndicate for three years has brought her out of her shell."
"How are you doing?" Jet asked.
Spike looked up at him, getting ready to deliver a smart answer. But the seriousness in his friend's voice told him Jet wanted to know the truth. "Better than I was. Mira said I was almost dead when she found me. I really thought I was facing death this time." Spike stretched his neck to work out the kinks that were still there. "And I feel like I died. How's that?"
"So, have you learned your lesson?" Faye asked.
Spike rubbed his chin. "What lesson was that?"
Faye huffed and turned away. "Figures."
Ed grinned widely. "How long before you come back to the Bebop?"
"You're going to have to ask my doctor. Depends on when she lets me go."
Jet stuck his head into the kitchen to see Mira busy at the stove.
"Do you need any help?"
She turned around, startled by his question and his presence. "Sure. If you want, you can sautee the vegtables."
Jet picked up the frying pan with the raw vegtables in it and started to cook them. Mira was busy mixing some sort of concoction in a bowl.
"What's that?"
"Home-made whipped cream."
"I'm coming here for dinner from now on."
Mira laughed. "What? Spike never cooks?"
"Are you kidding? The man couldn't open a can of soup."
"You really believe that?"
"Uh-oh. I sense some truth about to come out."
"Spike is an excellent cook. He used to cook for the group all the time in the syndicate."
Jet wanted to ask who the group was, but figured it would be too pointed and on the verge of being rude. He would just have to use a round about way of asking.
"So, how do you know Spike?"
"We were in the same syndicate."
"The Red Dragons, huh?"
"Yeah."
Well, that was helpful. Jet looked over at the woman to see the look on her face let him know that the subject was closed. That was fine. They all had secrets that they were allowed to keep. Jet had some of his own so he knew the feeling. But he had to come up with a neutral question to fill the silence that was becoming tense.
"So, where you from?"
"So, where you from?"
Mira looked up from the bandage she was wrapping around the arm of the soldier into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They were a cross between violet and blue, giving off the color of twilight. They were mesmorizing. She looked back down at the bandage.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Where are you from?"
"Venus. Born and raised till a few years ago."
"Where did you go after that?"
"Mars. Where are you from?"
"Jupiter. Born and raised."
She looked up at him when the bandaging was done. Strands of ebony hair hung down on his fine featured face. He wasn't what she would call handsome, he was…beautiful. Despite the chaos that was going on around them, he appeared very calm. Mira wiped her hands on a towel laying nearby and reguarded her pacient.
"You know, for a wounded man, you sure do appear really sedate."
"What's to get upset about? There's only a war going on."
"I wish I could be half as peaceful as you."
"You appear fairly calm."
"Not inside, I'm afraid. I feel like someone placed a mine in me and I'm just waiting for it to blow."
He watched her with those eyes and Mira found she couldn't break his gaze.
"You're working too hard. Just take some time and rest."
Mira motioned behind her to the other wounded soldiers. "I can't take time and rest. There's too many to tend to."
He slid off the crate that was acting as a makeshift table and gestured to the box. "If you are not able to calm yourself, how will you be able to calm your pacients?"
Mira looked back at the wounded. "Perhaps in another hour."
"Alright. But promise me something."
She looked back into those eyes. She would have promised anything to him. "What?"
"Do you know the bend in the trenches near the south end of the land?"
"Yes."
"Go there in an hour. It's quiet and well protected. I'll be there waiting for you Mira."
"Wait, I don't even know your name."
He turned to face her once more before he left the temporary infirmary. "Come to the south trench in an hour and I'll tell you."
"Mira?"
Mira blinked her eyes a few times as her mind came back to the present. Jet had gently shook her to get her mind back to what she was doing. His hand laid heavily on her shoulder.
"Mira, are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry, I just…my mind wandered." She shook her head to clear her mind of all the bittersweet memories that had flooded her senses. "I'm sorry Jet. What were you saying?"
"I asked where you were from."
"Oh." She picked up the bowl and continued to mix the cream. "I'm from Venus."
Spike watched Faye as she leaned against the door frame and inspected her nails. He guessed she didn't want to face up to their last conversation they had in the hallway of the Bebop. She had been upset about his leaving, ready to do almost anything to keep him from going, including holding him at gun point. But he had left anyway. He could still hear her crying echoing down the hall as he left.
"What?"
He looked up at her. "What?"
"You're looking at me funny."
"I'm sorry." Spike turned around in the chair so his back was facing her. "Is this better?"
"You're impossible," she huffed.
Spike laughed. "Glad to see you're so happy to see me."
"So, who's your guardian angel this time?"
Spike pushed himself to his feet. If only he could find where Mira put his clothes. "She's an old friend. Why do you want to know?"
"Just curious."
Spike found a pile of his old clothes, ones he had worn during his dragon days. He'd have to ask her where she got a hold of them, but for now they would have to do. "Just curious, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Sure you're not jealous?"
Faye let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're really full of yourself, aren't you? Where do you get off thinking that you're this great prize to be won?"
Spike pulled his shirt over his bandages. "Why didn't you want me to leave?"
Faye remained silent. A sly grin spread across Spike's face and he turned around to tease her some more, but found she had already left the room.