Comatose Cowboy
Chapter 7 - "The Trouble With Faye"
Within a week, Spike was able to walk on his own. Jet and Faye regaled him with stories of his rescue and near death on the operating table, as well as Faye's adventures in paying his medical bills.
He went to have his prosthetic eye repaired. It seemed that during surgery, Dr. Lee had to use the paddles to revive Spike's heartbeat a few times. The electrical shock fried the eye's circuitry, disabling it. But all was back to normal now - save for just one thing.
The Spike that awoke from his lengthy sleep was different from the one that left the ship to face Vicious two months ago. Spike was the first to notice it. Although he had been in a coma, he found that he could remember conversations with both Jet and Faye from when he was sleeping. They were one-sided conversations to be sure, as he could not respond, but in his mind he kept up his end. Now it seemed like remembering a vivid dream, where your thoughts are like spoken words that others can hear, except Faye and Jet heard nothing. The whole thing was played out in Spike's mind alone. He could distinctly remember Jet talking about what he was making for dinner, or how Faye was working his last nerve.
He had similar 'dreams' where Faye would sit next to him and pour her heart out for a while. Those were the most disturbing dreams. Spike had always thought of Faye as a kind of tough-as-nails younger sister who was there to make his life miserable with her smart mouth and biting remarks. He always delighted in never letting her get the upper hand. After all, he was Jet's partner. She was a 'guest' who occasionally worked for her keep.
But those feelings were taking a pretty major shift in a direction Spike wasn't sure he liked. Maybe it was the morphine talking, but some of the stuff Faye shared with him while he slept nearly broke his heart. She wasn't the shallow, self-absorbed shrew he always thought. In reality, she was lonely and felt like she had no one at her back. She was afraid of things, but even more scared that Spike or Jet would see her as weak. She projected a very different Faye than the one that lived inside of her, partly because for a long time she couldn't remember who she was, but also because she had learned to survive that way.
She had a surprisingly soft, gentle touch. She had bathed him twice while he slept and Spike now found himself wishing he were still asleep so that he could enjoy that experience again. He hadn't been handled that tenderly since his own mother had bathed him as an infant. His nostrils would fill with the smell of her hair, making him think of Faye in an entirely different light.
She went out to raise the money for his medical bill at great risk to herself. That had to count for something, didn't it? She was the one who made Jet come for him when he lay dying. She must feel something very strong inside for him, right? Why else would she have wasted all of that ammo the night he left? Spike wondered if Faye had feelings for him, too. Maybe if he hadn't been so preoccupied with thoughts of Julia all the time, he would have noticed.
That was another thing Spike thought a lot about while he slept. Julia. He had wasted so much time looking for Julia, who turned out not to be the woman he once thought she was. She was not strong enough to leave behind the syndicate life, too afraid to envision a life of happiness with him. Still hooked into a life that Spike had shed as easily as a snake loses his skin in summer. The past three years was thrown away, hand over fist, thinking that someday he would find her and convince her to go away with him. But the sad truth was that Julia simply did not want him enough. She did not choose to be with him. And now she was dead.
These thoughts were devastating at first, but as time went by, he saw that the realization had finally set him free. Free to fall in love with someone who could care for him and love him the way he secretly longed to be loved. And that someone just might be Faye Valentine.
Chapter 7 - "The Trouble With Faye"
Within a week, Spike was able to walk on his own. Jet and Faye regaled him with stories of his rescue and near death on the operating table, as well as Faye's adventures in paying his medical bills.
He went to have his prosthetic eye repaired. It seemed that during surgery, Dr. Lee had to use the paddles to revive Spike's heartbeat a few times. The electrical shock fried the eye's circuitry, disabling it. But all was back to normal now - save for just one thing.
The Spike that awoke from his lengthy sleep was different from the one that left the ship to face Vicious two months ago. Spike was the first to notice it. Although he had been in a coma, he found that he could remember conversations with both Jet and Faye from when he was sleeping. They were one-sided conversations to be sure, as he could not respond, but in his mind he kept up his end. Now it seemed like remembering a vivid dream, where your thoughts are like spoken words that others can hear, except Faye and Jet heard nothing. The whole thing was played out in Spike's mind alone. He could distinctly remember Jet talking about what he was making for dinner, or how Faye was working his last nerve.
He had similar 'dreams' where Faye would sit next to him and pour her heart out for a while. Those were the most disturbing dreams. Spike had always thought of Faye as a kind of tough-as-nails younger sister who was there to make his life miserable with her smart mouth and biting remarks. He always delighted in never letting her get the upper hand. After all, he was Jet's partner. She was a 'guest' who occasionally worked for her keep.
But those feelings were taking a pretty major shift in a direction Spike wasn't sure he liked. Maybe it was the morphine talking, but some of the stuff Faye shared with him while he slept nearly broke his heart. She wasn't the shallow, self-absorbed shrew he always thought. In reality, she was lonely and felt like she had no one at her back. She was afraid of things, but even more scared that Spike or Jet would see her as weak. She projected a very different Faye than the one that lived inside of her, partly because for a long time she couldn't remember who she was, but also because she had learned to survive that way.
She had a surprisingly soft, gentle touch. She had bathed him twice while he slept and Spike now found himself wishing he were still asleep so that he could enjoy that experience again. He hadn't been handled that tenderly since his own mother had bathed him as an infant. His nostrils would fill with the smell of her hair, making him think of Faye in an entirely different light.
She went out to raise the money for his medical bill at great risk to herself. That had to count for something, didn't it? She was the one who made Jet come for him when he lay dying. She must feel something very strong inside for him, right? Why else would she have wasted all of that ammo the night he left? Spike wondered if Faye had feelings for him, too. Maybe if he hadn't been so preoccupied with thoughts of Julia all the time, he would have noticed.
That was another thing Spike thought a lot about while he slept. Julia. He had wasted so much time looking for Julia, who turned out not to be the woman he once thought she was. She was not strong enough to leave behind the syndicate life, too afraid to envision a life of happiness with him. Still hooked into a life that Spike had shed as easily as a snake loses his skin in summer. The past three years was thrown away, hand over fist, thinking that someday he would find her and convince her to go away with him. But the sad truth was that Julia simply did not want him enough. She did not choose to be with him. And now she was dead.
These thoughts were devastating at first, but as time went by, he saw that the realization had finally set him free. Free to fall in love with someone who could care for him and love him the way he secretly longed to be loved. And that someone just might be Faye Valentine.