I would like to apologize for not getting this chapter out sooner. These last two weeks have been really hectic for me; I had a band trip and I have a huge art interview in a few days that's really stressing me out. Besides that, my chemistry teacher decided it would be great fun to have 3 labs last week and a huge test. Well, anyway thanks so listening to me vent.

I don't own Cowboy Bebop and I don't own the song "Fade In-Out"



"So, what's the deal?" Spike asked as he climbed into the car beside Vicious.

As Vicious peeled out of the lot and down the street he answered, "We have client who's getting a bit...uppity."



~Get on the rollercoaster

The Fair's in town today~



Spike leaned back against his seat, relaxed, "Ah, I see." He watched out the window for a while, neither he nor Vicious saying anything for a bit. Finally, Spike pulled his eyes from the window and looked over at Vicious.



~Y'gotta be bad enough to beat the brave~



"So where are we going anyway?"

Vicious answered not looking away from the road. "We're going to pick up another syndicate brat who also doesn't know how to drive yet."



~So get on the helter skelter~



Angrily, Spike sat up in his seat, "Hey, I know how to drive! I just don't have a license yet!"



~Bowl into the fray~



Vicious chuckled a bit, "That stops you?"



~Y'gotta be bad enough to beat the brave~



Spike looked at Vicious in semi-shock, then smiled. "I guess it shouldn't, huh?" He laughed a little. "I mean it's not like I have any qualms about breaking the law, considering my chosen profession."



~You fade in-out~



Vicious didn't respond, except for his smirk, so Spike resumed his gazing out the window. After a few moments, he realized that he recognized the way they were taking.

"We're going to Julia's?"



~You fade in-out~



Vicious nodded, "She's going on the assignment with us." He pulled onto her street.

Spike looked over at Vicious, "What?! But she's...I mean...she's a...."



~Without a doubt~



Vicious smirked, "A girl? Hmmm, Spike, I never pegged you as the sexist type."

Spike responded defensively, "I'm not! It's just, she's so....I don't know, delicate."



~I don't see no shine

Today is just a daydream~



Vicious pulled up in front of Julia's apartment. "Julia delicate? Hmmm...I suppose I can see how'd you think that. But you should never underestimate a woman. They are often the most ruthless of assassins."



~Tomorrow we'll be castaway~



Spike glanced over at the front door to the apartment building as Julia came out. She was gorgeous as usual, even though she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing loose clothing. Spike just couldn't imagine Julia as ruthless. Her personality, she just seemed so...he didn't know...girl next door. You know, a not quite angelic, but definitely a bit of an angel. Someone who you could easily talk to, someone who needed to be taken care of.

"Hey, guys. Vicious, what's the assignment?" Julia asked as she climbed into the back seat.

"I'll tell you when we meet up with the rest of the group," Vicious answered.



Session 11: Fade In-Out



"All right, this job is an easy job, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't have your guards up. Our Mr. Mark Rathers could have found some 'protection' if he suspected that we found him out," Vicious began explaining to the team of gangsters standing around him.

~Coming in-out of nowhere

Singin' rhapsody

Y'gotta be bad enough to beat the brave~



There weren't too many of them altogether, only about five or six, but all of them had killed before, and could do it again, and have done killed again, without any qualms whatsoever. To them it was just a job, a way of bringing the bread home. For some, like Dusty and his boyfriend Angel, being in the Red Dragons was just a way to get their kicks. Both were fairly new members to the syndicate, and didn't quite realize that perhaps maybe one day they could get sick of killing, and there wouldn't be any way out.



~Sitting up in a high-chair

With the devil's refugee

Is gonna be-blinded by the light

That follows me~



The other member of the team was Estelle, who even though she was fairly intelligent, couldn't seem to keep a job, so she turned to the Red Dragons. The problem seemed to be that Estelle had a bit of a problem with being cautious. She had been fired from most of her previous jobs for being unnecessarily reckless, or for cussing out her boss. The real turning point in her life had come when she killed her husband for abusing their two year old son. The son was placed in foster care, and Estelle decided that she wouldn't hang around for the cops to catch her. Of course organized crime would take her in to its breast, on the condition that she remained loyal.



~She fade in-out~



"All we are going to do is drop over in the suburban area, Green Meadows, and 'accidentally' stop by Mr. Rathers's house. Now, we're not going to do anything unless he acts first, and I have a hunch he won't." Vicious smirked a little bit. "So children, please do behave."



~She fade in-out~



Angel began muttering under his breath, "This sucks."



~Without a doubt~



Dusty, catching Angel's mutterings agreed aloud, "Yeah, nothing fun ever happens around here anymore."

Estelle rolled her eyes in disgust, "You two are worthless."



~I don't see no shine~



Julia just smiled a bit, then began checking her guns. Spike followed suit, not sure what to think of his new teammates. The other night it had just been him and Vicious out on the job, he wasn't even aware he was part of a team. But he understood the reasoning behind having a team, greater numbers were sometimes better for different situations.



~Today is just a daydream

Tomorrow she'll be castaway~



On the drive over to Green Meadows, Estelle had been making Spike increasingly nervous. She kept on asking him questions about himself like: 'What's your name? Your real name, it can't be Spike', and how long he had been with the Red Dragons, and where he had been, and if he had a girlfriend. At the girlfriend question, when Spike had answered 'no', he knew that he had just gotten himself into something that he wasn't sure he wanted into. Sure, Estelle was all right looking, and she definitely already had a thing for him, but he himself already had a major thing for Julia. He scolded himself in disgust. 'She belongs to someone already. Your best friend.'

By the time they had arrived at Mr. Rathers's front door, Spike wasn't sure what to think about the situation. Even though he felt that he and Julia were meant for each other, he also thought that being friends with Vicious felt right. It was a bad situation for Spike to be in, and he realized that he couldn't possibly have both.



~We fade in-out~



As Vicious rang the doorbell, Spike glanced at Julia. She wasn't even looking in his direction. He looked over at Vicious who was watching him with an unreadable expression.



~We fade in-out~



"I THOUGHT I SAID I DIDN'T WANT ANY! CAN'T YOU PEOPLE READ, THE SIGN SAYS 'NO SOLICITORS!' " screamed the middle aged man who had answered the door.



~Without a doubt~



Spike studied him for a moment. He knew that he had seen that guy before, but where?

Vicious stepped up behind Rathers and held his katana against his throat. "I believe that you do want what we're selling, Mr. Rathers."



~I don't see no shine~



Spike almost started laughing as it hit him. Oh, yeah! This was that famous newscaster that was on CBC News all the time. He didn't know that he lived on Mars.



~Today is just a daydream

Tomorrow we'll be castaway~



Rathers managed to croak out "Who are you?" in a worried voice, against Vicious's katana. Angel began giggling. Dusty elbowed him in the ribs.

"I thought we had an agreement, Mr. Rathers. There was to be no mention of the Red Dragons in the news. Why was there a newscast about us last night?"

Rathers turned pale, "I..I'm sorry! I couldn't stop it! They...they put it up on the screen without telling me!"



~Get on the rollercoaster~



Vicious pressed his katana against Rathers's throat even more. "But you didn't have to read it off the screen."



~The Fair's in town today~



Rathers began trembling uncontrollably, "But!...But I would have been fired!"



~Y'gotta be bad enough to beat the brave~



Vicious looked at Julia. "Julia, take out your gun."

Julia nodded, and took it out of her jacket and pointed it Rathers's forehead. Cold steel glinted in her eyes, and Spike now understood what Vicious had said about her before.



~So get on the helter skelter~



"Mr. Rathers, I believe you are being uncooperative. Now if you want to continue being uncooperative, my associate, will shoot you in the head," Vicious said, putting his katana back in its case.



~Step into the fray~



Rathers rubbed his neck, glancing worriedly at Julia's gun. "I'll be cooperative. It won't happen again."



~Y'gotta be bad enough to beat the brave~



Vicious smirked, "Good. I wouldn't have wanted to kill a celebrity. Bad publicity you know."



Spike went with Vicious to drop off Julia at her apartment. This time he sat in the back of the car, and he kept on watching the back of Julia's head, subconsciously wondering what made her tick.



~You fade in-out

You fade in-out~



"So how long have you two been together, anyway?" Spike asked abruptly, unwilling to handle the silence that had been permeating the car.



~You fade in-out~



Julia glanced at Vicious, then looked back at Spike. She smiled an angelic smile at him. "Sometimes I can't remember, it seems like forever in a day." She looked back over at Vicious, and chuckled a little bit at his expression, then resumed staring out the window.



~You fade in-out~



They were silent for the rest of the trip.



You fade in-out~

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

"You can just drop me off here," Spike said to Vicious as they neared an old oppressive church.

"Here?" Vicious asked, raising an eyebrow. "You never did tell me where you did live anyway."



~You fade in-out~



"Here," Spike gestured toward the church with his thumb. "I knew the priest when I was a kid. He lets me crash in the basement." He moved to get out of the car.

"Wait," Vicious stopped him. "I want to talk to you."



~You fade in-out~



Spike stopped. "What?"

Vicious smirked. "I think Estelle fancies you."

"Gee, how'd you get that idea?" Spike responded sarcastically.

"Do you fancy her back?"



~You fade in-out~



"She's all right, I guess." Spike looked a bit uncomfortable.

"You should give her a chance." Vicious persisted.

Spike squirmed a bit in his seat. "I don't know...it just doesn't seem right somehow."



~You fade in-out~



They both were silent for a while. Then Vicious asked, "What do you think of Julia?"

Spike was silent.

Vicious nodded and looked out the window. "I see."

Spike pushed open the door to the car and stepped out. "Fuck," he muttered to himself as he heard Vicious's car hurtle down the street and into the night.

The moonlight poured in through the stained glass windows, creating a soft kaleidoscope of color that drifted lazily across the pews as the moon moved across the sky.



~Without a doubt~



Spike sat in one of the pews contemplating his existence. What was the meaning of it all? He had seen the bottom, he had glimpsed the top. There just didn't seem to be any point. The Red Dragons. Was there really any satisfaction in being involved in organized crime? It was all politics and power, both of which were fairly useless to Spike. Somehow, he had allowed Vicious to talk him into it, talk him into killing, murdering people he had nothing against. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to resent Vicious for that. For all of his faults, Vicious had become someone that Spike could rely on, even through Vicious's cold exterior.

Once Spike had asked him why he was that way. Cold. Vicious hadn't answered him at the time, but a few days later Vicious had said to him right after Spike had gotten back from a job, "Phedre." That was it. Just 'Phedre'. He didn't even know what the word meant. Maybe it was a place, a person, a memory.

And Julia...who was Julia? Already, all of Spike's first impressions of her were shattered. She was strong, but her spontaneous kindness blinded him to it at first. He had been haunted by her for two years, and he didn't even know her name at the time. Something about her just drew him. But...she obviously belonged to Vicious. And Vicious...

was just someone that Spike couldn't bring himself to betray.

Spike hung his head. Why did he torture himself like this? He should just go to Estelle. Estelle wanted him, she was pretty, she was funny. Yeah, why not?



~You fade in-out~



It was around 1:30 when Spike arrived at Estelle's apartment. Outside it was lightly drizzling and the moon hid behind violet clouds. As he rang her doorbell, Spike wondered if he was doing the right thing. By the time Estelle answered he had convinced himself that he had gotten over Julia and that having some fun with Estelle would take his mind off his link to Julia.

"Hi," Spike said when Estelle answered. She smiled a drop dead sexy smile at him, and said 'Hi' back.



~You fade in-out~

_____________________________________________________

Oh, by the way. If you liked this story, go check out Blessings of a Beast (affectionately called BOB) by ScarletStarlet. It's a sister story to this one told from Vicious's point of view. Enjoy!