I don't own Cowboy Bebop and I don't own the song Jack the Lion

Four years later....



"Just look at his technique, Spike! It's flawless!" Jack exclaimed, pointing at the screen. Spike nods completely taken in by the movie along with Jack even though they had both watched it hundreds of times. Most people found it kind of odd that they liked antique movies so much, but Jack knew that even if something was old, that didn't mean it didn't have any value. Take himself for instance. Even though he was now in his early seventies, he still looked and acted like he was merely fifty.

Jack smiled to himself as he watched Spike leaning forward in his seat, watching the Bruce Lee movie, "How the years have flown. I can't believe I'm an old man now. And Spike's almost a man!" he thought to himself.

"I remember when I found him in my back yard, chased up a tree, Stein barking at him from the bottom." Jack thinks, chuckling. " Damn, I miss that dog." He remembers when he found Stein dead at the foot of his bed. He remembers shaking the dog to wake him up, and feeling the cold body beneath his hand. "We all get old, I guess." He frowns and then pushes away the thought looking back at Spike, his only pride and joy. "I wonder what will happen to me, once you're gone, Spike." He thinks to himself. "You're not going to be around forever, for that matter neither will I. Besides soon, you're not going to need me anymore. You've gotta make your own way, no one can do that for you. Even so, when you're gone, I'm just going to be lonely old man again." He sighs.

Spike looks at him, and shrugs. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette and puts it into his mouth. He's about to light up when he realizes Jack's looking at him. "What?" Spike asks.

"Since when have you been allowed to smoke those things?" Jack asks.

Spike shrugs and lights the cigarette. Jack takes the cigarette out of his mouth and throws it in the waste basket. "You're too young to smoke those things." Spike smiles and pulls out another cigarette and hands it to Jack.

"What's the problem?" Spike asks as Jack looks at the cigarette in bewilderment, obviously not expecting Spike to give it to him. "You smoke them, why can't I?" Jack frowns then laughs as Spike places another cigarette in his mouth and lights it, then gives the lighter to Jack.

"All right, all right. I get the point. You're old enough to make your own decisions. I can't say that this is a good one to make though, you know." Jack says as he lights up his own cigarette.

Spike shrugs, saying, "I'm already addicted to them, not much I can do now." They then sat in silence for the rest of the movie. When it was over, Spike announces that he's hungry and wanders over to the fridge. Jack watches him with a smirk on his face. He listens as the refrigerator door opens and says, "I think we're out of food, Spike." The door closes and Spike walks back into the room. "All right, fine, I'll get some more. Geez." Spike throws up his arms and stalks out of the room. Jack chuckles and picks up a book that was lying by the couch. It was kind of a custom they shared. Spike would eat all of the food in the house and Jack would refuse to buy anymore until Spike went out himself and got it. Then, according to custom, Jack would get a little reading done while he was gone. Even though Spike always made a big deal about, Jack knew he enjoyed going out alone. Jack supposed it made him feel more independent, more grown up.

Jack smiled again as the door slammed.



Session 4: Jack the Lion



"Hmmm....I wonder if we're out of milk?" Spike thought to himself as he contemplated the dairy section. "Better not risk it," he thinks as he grabs a couple cartons and tosses them into his cart. He begins whistling the song "Rainy Day Women" by Bob Dylan as he walks down an aisle, picking out mostly carbohydrates and junk food. As he passes the liquor section Spike picks up a case of beer, knowing that the girl working the counter would let him get away with it because she had a bit of a crush on him.

He chuckles to himself as he walks through the breakfast food aisle. Then he looks up he sees her. The most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Most people wouldn't have noticed her, even though she was quite pretty. She was one of those people who can avoid other people easily, someone who is merely a void in time. Spike notices her though, and at first he believes that his mind is playing tricks on him. He is sure that he has seen her somewhere before, that he knows her. She looks at him and recognition flashes in her eyes. The two stare at each other spellbound and a quiet seems to settle upon the store. The silence is broken with a sudden crash. Spike looks down and realizes that he had dropped everything that he had been carrying. When he looks up again, the girl is gone. Vanished as if she was never there at all.

Spike feels his chest swell with disappointment, but at the same time he sighs with relief. That was just a little too weird, a little too strong for him too handle. And who knows? Maybe he just imagined the whole thing. He groans as he bends down to pick up his groceries, realizing that the beer bottles in the case he had been carrying had broken and were now leaking onto (and probably into) his cereal boxes and insta waffles. "Well, if she was real I probably just made a total ass of myself," he mutters under his breath.

Just then one of the store employees comes around the corner and begins shrieking at him. "Arrgghh! Can't you be more careful! I can't believe I have to deal with this!" she screams. Spike merely ignores her and dumps his stuff into his cart, leaving the employee to pick up the mess, muttering something about how her life is already bad enough and she doesn't need jackasses creating more work for her.

"Ummm...thanks..." Spike says to the employee before heading to the checkout.

She replies sarcastically, "Yeah, sure. Anytime."

Spike wanders to the checkout in a daze, images of the girl keep replaying in his mind. When he's in the middle of a line he sees her again, carrying a couple of plastic bags and walking out the doors of the grocery. She pauses just before pushing the door open, and looks back at him. Spike feels an odd bubbly feeling in his stomach as their eyes meet again. She smiles and then leaves. Spike rushes after her, leaving his cart in the middle of the line. He's not sure why he's going after her, she'll probably just think he's some kind of weirdo, but he has to know. What, he's not sure. Maybe all he needs to know is her name.

When he gets outside he sees her get into a black car that's waiting for her. Spike watches as it drives away, and knows somehow in his gut that he'll see her again someday. When it rounds the corner, he sees her looking at him again. Maybe she knows it too.



Spike whistles to himself as he walks down the winding, confusing, city streets that are only decipherable to those who live on them. For some reason he felt incredibly happy and nothing could bring him down. Not even the rain that began pouring down on him when he was about half way home.

When he arrived at his house, Spike was still in a state of euphoria. He didn't even notice that the front door was wide open until he reached it.

~Jack the lion roaring his last

Like a vision sent from the past

Beside crying, holding his hands

Strong hands~

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------



Spike stands in the doorway, shock and fear quickly replacing the contentment he had felt just moments before. Spike shivers as he walks through the house, hardly noticing the destruction reaped upon the contents of the rooms. Only one thing was on his mind now, where was Jack? And was he still all right?

Spike cautiously enters a room he hears noises coming from. He finds Jack in a corner with a gun in his hand, blood steaming from a hole in his chest.

"Jack?" Spike asks, fearing that he won't get an answer.

".....Spike? Is that you?" answers Jack after a few moments.

"Jack, who did this to you?" asks Spike, trying to keep his panic from entering his voice.

"Spike, let me tell you a story. There once was a young man who tried to carry the world on his shoulders. One day he dropped it and it fell apart," Jack coughs, then continues. "Spike, I don't want you to avenge me. I lived my life the way I wanted to. I have no regrets, except that I won't get to see you become a real man, with children of your own. If you only live for vengeance, you won't get to have those things." Spike is silent.

"You're not going to listen to me are you, Spike." Jack coughs again. "You stubborn ass...." He smiles. "All right, I'll make it easy for you. It was the Black Tigers."

Spike frowns. "The Black Tigers?"

"Yeah, they're a crime syndicate that's been after me for a while...." Jack looks up at Spike who is cradling Jack's head in his lap. "Find love, Spike. Find a woman to love who'll love you back, and don't ever let her go. That was my only regret." Jack's eyes glaze over and Spike gently sets him down on the floor. Spike wishes he could cry, but the tears won't come.

Spike walks around the house, taking one last look at the place he had called home for the last ten years. He goes to his room and stuffs some clothes in a duffel bag. As he's leaving he remembers some of the great times he and Jack had together, and goes and gets Jack's Bruce Lee collection and shoves that in the bag too. Slinging it over his shoulder, Spike walks out of the house and into the rain.

~Jack the Lion roaring his last

Like a vision sent from the past

Beside crying, holding his hands

Strong hands~