Chapter 8 - Blue
"Asked myself what it's all for
You know the funny thing about it
I couldn't answer
No, I couldn't answer"

Spike Spiegel's P.O.V -

It used to be impossible to distract me while I was in the middle of a
mission, except of course when something completely unexpected
happened… but no one's perfect, right? Now it seems I can't seem to
focus on anything in front of me. What happened to me?

Though I'm not exactly proud of it, life in the Syndicate turned me into
a well-oiled machine. I could track and take out anyone I was ordered to.
So much for that; now it seems the only thing I can focus on are the
footsteps resounding behind me. Surprisingly enough, she's managed to
keep up with me. I really should stop thinking about her and pay attention
to where I'm going.

"Spike!"

I look ahead to see our target duck around the corner. So far, we've
chased him through and around the park. After about 10 minutes, he
finally realized he was being tailed and took off running. There was no
time to get back to our ships, so we had to chase him on foot. So far, so
good.

Or at least it was - we round the corner only to find the prick nowhere
in sight. We hear a light banging sound and immediately both weapons
are drawn. I immediately glance over at Faye. Her green eyes are clear
and focused, scanning the alleyway for any signs of intrusion.

I fight to hold back a smile. I almost forgot how she reminded me of a
tigress on the hunt. She's sort of like Jet sometimes; once she sets her
sights on a bounty, she doesn't give up until she catches them - or
completely messes up, nearly getting herself killed. It's kind of funny to
see how she would merely brush it off, claiming as if the bounty wasn't
worth her time. Despite how pissed I would get at her, I knew deep
down she was angry with herself. Of course, that didn't stop me from
stating my own displeasure.

Suddenly, I felt her hand on my shoulder. She held up her gun, gesturing
to an open door at the end of the alley. So the little prick had ducked into
one of empty apartment buildings.

I smirked to myself, posting myself on one side of the door as Faye did the
same on the other side. Unless he had a ship waiting to take off on the
roof, there was no way he was going to get away.

I glanced over at Faye. "On the count of three," I whispered to her. "We
go in. One…"

"Three." Faye rushed through the door, flying up the flights of stairs two at
a time.

I blinked at her a moment. What the hell did she think she was doing?
Suddenly it dawned on me - what if he was the bounty? That would mean
he was the same guy that had nearly…I forced that thought down quickly.
I went after her in a heartbeat. "Damnit, Faye Valentine!"

=====

After I passed the sign, indicating I had reached the 6th floor, I heard
the door outside slam open, followed by two gunshots. Wasting no time,
I rushed out onto the floor, scanning the area for my hotheaded partner.

'Partner…? Since when did Faye become my partner?'

"Spike! Get your ass down, you lunkhead!" Faye reached out, yanking me
into the boiler room closet.

I grinned down at her. "Really, now, Faye… do you think now is the time
for this?"

If it hadn't been so dark, I would have sworn she was blushing. "Dumb
ass," she hissed. Yup, she was blushing. "Go ahead, get shot. See what
I care."

"Well, no one told you to run up here and start blasting." I told her in a
slightly chiding tone.

"For your information, Mr. Bounty hunter," she snapped. "I wasn't the
one shooting." Three bullets flew through the door, causing us to duck
down. Unfortunately, there really wasn't that much room in the closet,
and I found myself closer to Faye than I really would have liked.

Sitting on her haunches, she grinned up at me smugly. "See?"

Unfortunately, before I could come up with some witty comeback, I tried
edging back, only to slip on the wet floor, landing on top of her. Not only
that, but I think I hit my head on a pipe.

- Thunk! - So did she. "Son of a --- gaah…" She bit her lip, rubbing her
head fiercely.

"You okay?" I asked her, feeling the beginnings of a nice lump starting to
form on my head. How dandy.

"Yeah," she replied through clenched teeth. "That hurt like a mother…"

It was bad enough that I couldn't take my eyes off of her, but then I had
to go and do the unthinkable. "Here, lemme see." Placing my gun down
on the floor, I cradled her head gently, turning it to the side. There was a
nice little knick on her forehead, slightly below the hairline. It was
bleeding a little, but it didn't look too serious. "Don't worry, you'll live."

She didn't reply. She just kept staring at me with a mixture of awe, fear…
and something else I couldn't quite identify. Then, before I knew it, they
were gone. She looked away from me, craning her neck towards the door. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" I asked, still trying to figure out what had just happened.

"He stopped shooting." I didn't reply. "Spike!" she snapped irately.

"Oh, all right." I stood up, placing my ear to the door. She was right - he
had stopped shooting. I cursed softly. He must've gotten to the roof. I
opened the door slowly. "Come on, let's go."

Faye nodded, picking up my gun and handing it to me as she rose from
the floor. "You think we lost him?" she asked quietly. I could see the
frustration in her eyes, but I don't think it was from losing the target.

"Maybe." I replied, stepping out into the hall. "The only thing we can do
is--"

-Click!-

Faye's eyes widened in fear. "Spike!" She pushed me aside, the two of us
hitting the wall and sliding down to the floor.

"Shit!" I looked up to see our target running of down the hall. Not moving
from my position, I raised my gun and fired, knocking his gun out of his
hand. "Don't move!" I yelled. "Next time I won't miss."

He stopped, raising his hands in the air. "Funny," he laughed. "You never
missed before." He turned to face me. "It's been a long time, Spike
Spiegel. You haven't changed much."

I rose to my feet, eyeing him warily. Blue eyes, short blackish-blue hair,
an angular face shape, and that damned grin of his. I snorted slightly.
"Neither have you, Arnold."

He smiled, pleased no doubt. "You remembered me!"

"I never forget a face," I told him. "Especially not one of a little weasel
who likes to switch sides whenever the shit hits the fan."

Arnold chuckled slightly. "Oh, come on, Spike." he replied. "You left, too,
didn't you?"

"For different reasons, I'm sure of it." Faye was up and behind me now,
keeping her eyes on the two of us as she buttoned up her jacket. I glanced
back at her - she was trying to see if she recognized him, but it looked as
though she was coming up short. "Faye, this is Arnold Benedict. Like I
said before, he used to work for the Syndicate."

He stepped forward a few paces, smiling at Faye. However, I didn't like
the way he was looking at her. "It's a pleasure, my dear."

Apparently, neither did she. With her gun aimed at his head, she replied,
"Charmed, I'm sure." Her facial expression remained blank.

Okay… this day was getting weirder and weirder. "Right..." I turned my
attention back towards Arnold. "So, what are you doing here? And why
were you shooting at us if you knew who I was?"

"You guys were following me," he answered. "I thought you were bounty
hunters."

No shit… "You got a bounty on your head?"

"Me?" Arnold laughed nervously. "No, not me. Someone I know does,
though."

"And who might that be?" I asked him.

"You know I like ya, Spike," Arnold replied. "But I can't tell you that."

"Then why not tell me," We both turned to Faye. She was smiling at him
coyly, but there was still the look of a tigress on a hunt in her eyes. Faye
was luring him in. "It'll be worth your while," Arnold gulped slightly. "I
promise I won't tell."

"Won't your boyfriend mind?" he asked, glancing at me out of the corner
of his eye. Prick. What made him think I was her boyfriend?

"He's not my boyfriend," she replied a-matter-of-factly. She lowered her
gun, aiming it at another vital area. My eyes widened - this chick wasn't
kidding! "So, start talking."

Would you believe he wept like a baby? Yeah… you probably would.

=====


"Well, that was a waste of time." I replied, walking back towards the
Swordfish II.

"What do you mean?" Faye asked. I couldn't help her voice sounded a
bit strained, but I chalked it up to all that running we did.

"Yeah, he squealed," I told her. "But he doesn't know anything."

She stared at me incredulously. "And you believed him?" she asked.
"Spike, the guy's name is Arnold Benedict."

"Yeah, so?"

She let out a sound of exasperation. "Arnold Benedict… Benedict Arnold?"

"Isn't that some sort of egg dish?"

Pause. "Didn't you ever study American history?"

I lit another cigarette. "Why should I have?" I asked. "I was born on
Mars."

Faye sighed again. "Never mind." she replied, climbing up into the Red
Tail. She hopped into the cockpit, letting out a soft whimper of pain.

"What's the matter?" I asked, not looking up from my cigarette. There was
no answer. "Faye?"

"N-nothing. I'm fine." she answered quietly.

She didn't sound convincing. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I uh… um…"

"You what?" She mumbled something I couldn't hear do to that fact she
had powered up her engine. I frowned and climbed into the Swordfish,
turning on the radio. "You what?"

"I pinched my finger in the door." she snapped. "There. Happy?" I
smirked at her. "Shut up, it's not funny!"

I closed the cockpit door. "I didn't say anything, Faye."

"You didn't have to say anything. You were thinking it."

I laughed a little. "A little paranoid, aren't we, Faye." It really wasn't
much of a question and she knew it.

She frowned slightly, turning off the visual. "Whatever, Spike." she
replied. "Let's just head back to the ship, okay? I… I don't feel like
fighting with you right now."

Were we fighting? I hadn't realized it if we were. Before I could make
a comment, Faye ended the transmission, lifting off. I decided to drop the
matter, following her back to the ship.

=====


"Spike-person and Faye-Faye have come back to Bebop!" Edward
exclaimed, latching herself onto me.

Damn, she was heavy. I guess I kept forgetting she wasn't as small as
she used to be. "Yeah, Ed," I replied, trying to get out of the tangle of
arms and legs. "We're back."

"Did Spike-person and Faye-Faye have any luck?" she asked. "Did they
find the bad bounty-person-man?"

"Sorry, Ed," I replied, feeling a little guilty for having to disappoint her.
Yet another startling revelation - when did I start caring about kids?
"We found someone, but not the guy we were looking for."

"Did you find anything?" Jet asked, entering the cabin.

"Nope," Faye answered, sitting down on the couch with a glass of water.
She drank it and small sips, taking shallow breaths in between. "He might
be working for our target, but he wasn't exactly forthcoming with the
information we were looking for."

"I see." Jet replied. "Well, the Bebop's all set for take-off. We can stick
around here for another day or two or we can head back to Earth - see if
we can retrace his steps."

"I say we wait a little while." I replied. "I don't think this guy is going
anywhere for a while. Whaddya think?"

Jet shrugged. "It's okay by me."

"Edward says we stay! Look for more clues!" Ein barked in agreement.

I turned to Faye, whom had her head back on the couch with her eyes
closed. She winced slightly. "How about you, Faye?"

"Yeah," she replied slowly. "Whatever you say."

I frowned slightly. What the hell was her problem anyway? Rather than
dwell on it, I got up and headed to the bathroom. There were too many
thoughts running through my head. My only hope was that a good, hot
shower would get rid of them, or at least help me figure out how they got
there in the first place.

Unfortunately, as I thought of all of this, I wasn't really paying attention to
what was going on back in the cabin. So wrapped up in my own thoughts
was I that I didn't hear Faye get up and follow behind me, only to collapse
and fall to the floor.

By that point, the shower was already running, so I didn't hear the worried
cries of Jet and Ed coming from outside. I was oblivious to it all.


=====

"Spike! Spike! Where are you, damnit?"

"Hm?" I poked my head into my room, looking to see where the
commotion was coming from.

"Jet-person, Edward does not think Spike-person will answer."

"He had better answer - you hear me, Spike! Answer your damn
communicator!"

I shrugged, rubbing a towel over my hair as I reached into my jacket
pocket to fish it out. "Okay, okay, you don't have to tell me twice." I
flipped it on. "Yo."

"Spike! There you are! It's about time!" Jet's voice sounded somewhat
relieved.

"What's going on, Jet?" I asked, frowning down at the device in my hand.
"Weren't you just here an hour ago?"

"It's not good, Spike." he replied. "Not good at all." A frown passed over
the ex-cop's features. It was one of those looks he got when he knew
something but didn't want to say it.

I frowned impatiently. I was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of my
stomach. Where was everyone anyway? "Spit it out already, Jet."

"Spike," Jet replied solemnly. "It's Faye."

By that point, I was already out the door.

=====


By the time I reached the small clinic Jet and I had gone to when he got
shot in the leg, Jet and the others were already out in the lobby. Faye
was leaning on him for support, holding her side as she winced in pain.
However, once she saw me, she straightened up, standing on her own
will power alone.

"What the hell's going on here?" I demanded to know. Everyone remained
silent. I noticed Jet and Faye exchanged glances, causing my temper to
rise. It seemed as though the two of them shared some secret that I was
unaware of it. It had been that way since the mission started. And there
was nothing I hated more than being kept out of the loop. "Well?"

"Everything's fine, Spike." Faye replied, staring at the floor.

"Like hell it is." I growled, grabbing her by the arm. She winced slightly.
"If everything's so fine and dandy, then why did you call me down here?"

She stared at me, yanking her arm away fiercely. "First of all," she
retorted. "I didn't call you here, Jet did. Though I don't know why."
She shot him a dirty look.

Jet sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry, Spike," he
replied. "Everything's fine. It wasn't as serious as we thought it was."

"What wasn't serious?" I asked. "Would somebody please tell me what
happened?"

Faye frowned angrily. "Not that it's any of your damn business," she
began.

"Well, since I dragged my ass down here because of you," Faye's frown
dropped slightly at the emphasis I put on the word 'you'. "It better be my
damn business, because otherwise I've just wasted a good 20 minutes of
my time."

She looked a bit hurt by my words, but she recovered quickly - a bit
quicker than she normally would have. "Well, I hate to say it, Mr. Spiegel,"
she spat. "But you did waste your time - so sorry." I started to turn away
but she wasn't finished. "But in case you wanted to know, I was shot. It
was just a flesh wound - one received trying to save your sorry ass back
there - not that you'd give a damn anyway!"

I glared down at her coldly. "Well, Faye," I told her coolly. "It seems you
know me better than I thought." I turned away from her and walked out
the door, not turning back to see the shattered look on her face as she
stumbled back into Jet's arms.

Oh, but I gave a damn all right - that's what bothered me so much.

=====

Faye Valentine took a bullet for me?

You may not believe it, but this was the only thing I could think about for
a good couple of hours. It echoed through my head, fusing itself to every
fiber in my skull. It pounded on my brain, burning on my soul, and despite
all of that, I still couldn't believe it.

I mean, why would she do it? No one had ever done anything like that
before. Granted, I've had people watching my back in a fight, but no one
had ever gone so far as to put themselves in danger for me - especially not
Faye.

I suppose I should have been grateful. At one point, I probably would have
been touched… no, maybe just flattered. Unfortunately, at that moment, I
was just angry. I was downright furious. I was furious with Arnold for
shooting at us (I had half a mind to go and track the little shit head down).
I was mad at Jet for making it seem like such a big deal and for taking her
to that damned clinic and not a hospital - that creepy little surgeon was
certainly not gentle while operating or removing bullets. I could picture
Faye crying out in pain, holding onto Ed and Jet for strength and support.
Or maybe she was calling out for me…

Whoa… getting off track. Where was I?

Oh, yeah. I was really pissed at Faye for going and pulling a stupid stunt
like that anyway - after all, she should have just let me take the hit. I'd
taken much worse than that. She could've been seriously hurt or even
killed - not that I wanted to entertain such ideas. Moreover, I was really
angry with myself; one for not taking the hit myself, two for not noticing
she was injured in the first place, and lastly three for allowing myself to
feel the way I was right at this instant.

Granted, I'd taken notice of Faye before. Strangely enough, my thoughts
have often drifted to her ever since I had gotten the idea to get the crew
back together. In fact, I'd thought of her a lot even before we all got back
together. It had been subtle at first. I'd wonder where she was, and how
she was doing. I'd think back to the last time I saw her and wonder if she
was still upset with me - which she was. Then when I finally saw her
again, it got to the point where I couldn't stop thinking about her - period.
The things she did or said, just little things that I really hadn't noticed about
her before kept coming to my attention.

Though it creeped me out a little bit, I never really minded it that much.
Even though it seems like I can't stand to be around her, after all this time,
I've really come to admire Faye. Now that I think about it, that in itself
isn't that hard to believe. She's, uh… aesthetically pleasing, strong spirited -
she doesn't take shit from anyone, not even me. Not only that, but also
she's smart, and she can pretty much hold her own in any situation - most
of the time. Yeah, her personality sometimes leaves a lot to be desired,
but she's changed that.

Still, with this whole incident hanging over my head, I haven't been able to
get that woman off my mind in the last 3 hours! I mean, come on, how's
a guy supposed to get any sleep?

====

Speaking of sleep, before I know it, I find myself standing outside the door
of Faye's room. The door itself is slightly ajar and I can see inside. The
thought of me laying in her bed only a few hours before leaves a strange
feeling in me - one I really can't identify. I don't think I really want to
either.

Right now, Faye is occupying the bed. She's resting - her green eyes are
closed and her short-cropped hair is splayed over her pillow, sort of like a
purple halo. Her breathing is slow and even so I can only assume she's
asleep. She's wearing the same clothing as before, though now without
the jacket, I can see that she was bleeding pretty badly.

I see now why Jet was so concerned. Now, I really feel like a jackass.
"I let this happen to you." I hear myself whisper. What's going on with me?
Don't I have control over my own voice anymore?

I can hear her moan softly. She stirs slightly, wincing when she upsets the
wound a little. She lets out a soft whimper before settling down again.

I can feel my heart go out to her. She's in pain, I know it, and I wish
somehow I could make it go away. I note how peaceful she looks in her
sleep; she shouldn't have to go through all this. I find myself wishing I
could protect her.

That's when it hits me. Like getting hit by a bolt of lightning, I find myself
stumbling away from the door. The thought is so mind-blowing; I'm
stunned as to why I didn't realize it before.

"I don't believe it…" I murmur to myself. "I actually have a crush on Faye
Valentine!"

End of Chapter 8