only in dreams...
Measure 3: This is Me Leaving You
"Small my ass!" Jet screamed, stranding in the middle of the desert. "Let them say what they want, but I don't see any mountains around here!" Jet collapsed on his knees. At least that's all he wanted to do, but his knee smashed into a hard substance in the sand and he rolled around in pain. He cursed, waiting for the surging pain to abscond. When it did such, he rubbed it gently then peered over to the emerging round white rock protruding from the sand. It was simple...it had to be fake...right? Right in the middle of the desert...it was a refrigerator. He felt too lucky to forget the possibilities. Too hungry also, so he didn't care if it was fake or not, he just had to get into it. After a long moment of excavating the refrigerator from the deep bowels of the hot sand, he grasped the warm metal handle. He couldn't open the door though, because a sticky substance was holding it back. As all his strength poured into a last jerk, it flung open. Then, it all came to Jet. The time, long ago, when the Bebop was under siege by a strange poisonous blob, and the refrigerator was sent towards Mars, the blob most likely frozen in space. But not anymore. It had thawed, and it wanted to get Jet again. And it did, upon the arm that had opened the refrigerator. After it's attack, it left Jet paralyzed upon the sand floor as it scampered away. Jet might have died, with no food or water. He would have died, if it hadn't been for the man who was leaving the mountains on his way to the city, to get away from the crime, crossing his path. Seeing Jet, seeing his purple mark. One look at Jet, and the man helped him upon his horse, soon after riding off to the city.
"DAMN RADIATOR!" Faye kicked it then left the noisy room, so that she no longer had to scream. "It's sure is miserable here alone with Ein." Faye said to herself, as if she was waiting for Spike to pop out of nowhere and comfort her. She found herself hoping he would, then shook off the idea. She thought that maybe she needed to call Jet about the radiator, since she had nothing better to do at the moment until he came back. If she was lucky, he'd be on the ship and coming back. She clicked up his number for his handheld communicator. The screen popped up but it was black.
"HEY JET! GET THE COMMUNICATOR OUT OF YOUR POCKET! I NEED TO TALK WITH-" Faye was saying, but the communicator was lifted and the screen showed a man, about Faye's age, with blonde hair with blue streaks through it. Faye paused for a second, looking at the man's face, with orange tinted glasses balancing itself upon his nose, not connected with any straps or wires to his ears. Faye grimaced.
"Hey, I'm Jet's daughter," She lied, in case he was the type that only cared about relatives, "what do you have my daddy's communicator for?" Faye angrily said, in an annoyed tone. The stranger blinked his blue eyes.
"Oh, is this Jet? I found him with a weird purple mark on his arm." Said the blonde haired stranger, turning the screen to Jet's human arm. Faye gasped. She knew right away where she had seen that mark before.
"Please! Bring him here! This has happened before, you need to bring my poor father here!" Faye said, in a tone of urgency. She felt quaint afterwards, knowing she could care less about Jet, but wanted Jet to come to the Bebop and fix the radiator and let her fly off to Earth. The stranger blinked again, then asked for directions.
"Above Io, you can't miss it. It has the words 'The Bebop' on it's side, okay?" She said, as if it were a very obvious thing that he should already know. She thought she thought she'd add a last note of urgency to rush him with her wonderful acting, "Please, stranger, bring my poor father here so I can help him!" Then she said her goodbyes. After the communicator was turned off, she jumped upon the couch, grabbing a pillow and hugging it tightly, laughing loudly to herself. Ein whined, in wonder. Faye smiled back at Ein.
"Game, set, and match, Ein! I'm just that good!" Faye giggled to Ein. Ein just stuck out his tongue, panting. Faye smiled again.
"Yes...and...how do you know me?" Stella asked questioningly. Spike stood up and looked her over.
"It's me...well, you've never seen me before but... I'm Spike." Spike smiled. He remembered that Stella was blind, and never got to see him before. But since she could see clearly now...he wondered what she thought of him, for she was speechless. She put her hand over her mouth, holding back tears.
"It's...really you? The one who helped... Rocco?" Stella said with a weak voice on the brink of tears. Spike, as he had done with Edward only second earlier, opened his arms and let her cry into them. Women seemed to need to do that every once in a while. He smiled as he brought her back, her face red and full of tears. She beamed and whispered a bit to herself, but Spike could hear a faint 'thank you'. As she slowly backed away she dotted her tears away and sniffled, smiling.
"Wow, I haven't seen you in...forever." Stella said, half crying and half laughing on 'forever'. Spike gave a fake laugh and rested his big hand on her shoulder.
"Rocco was a good man...and a good friend." Spike grinned, then turned around towards Edward, who was looking a bit confused, but took his hand as he offered it muttering things like, 'Are you Edward's new papa?' Stella paused then waved out a hand.
"Wait! Spike!" She announced. He turned around. She paused again.
"Did you say...you needed money to refuel your ship...I can help you and your daughter."
"Hello?" Said an unfamiliar voice outside the Bebop. Faye had an idea on who it was. She opened the air lock and let in two figures, one limp and that was set on the couch.
"Hey, sorry it's such a mess in here." Faye said to the familiar stranger, smiling and in her best outfit. The stranger blushed, then turned back to Jet.
"Uhm...are you sure Jet'll be okay?" Asked the stranger. Faye paused.
"Err...what's your face, is dad breathing?" Faye said, almost completely dropping her act.
"Uhm...ya, kinda." The stranger said, and soon turned back to Jet, trying to bandage his purple wound. Faye picked up Ein and sat so close to Nacho that she was basically leaning on him.
"Would you like a drink?" Faye asked.
"No thanks, I'm okay." He said, finishing his bandaging. Faye sighed.
"Listen!" Faye said, almost yelling, "If I'm gonna get anything outta you, it's gonna be answers!"
"Name?" Faye asked, looking at him. The stranger blushed more.
"Well my name is...uhm...Nacho." Said Nacho. Faye's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth as to not laugh at his name. 'Nacho' was a real Spanish name, but it was still a funny idea to name a child 'Nacho'. But Faye didn't laugh long, because she knew that she didn't want to hurt his feelings...yet. Faye sat down, leaning over, being sure to show her cleavage. Nacho still did look over at her. Faye got stubborn.
"Do you like dogs?" Faye asked, trying to sound maybe a bit civilized. The stranger looked into her eyes, then turned away.
"Kinda?" He murmured.
"This is my dog, his name is Ein! Isn't he a cutie?" Faye said, petting him. Nacho smiled. Jet murmured.
"Faye...stop...flirting..." Jet groaned. Faye's eyes narrowed and she grabbed a conveniently placed stick and beat him. Nacho looked on in horror.
"Uhm, are you sure you should do that?" He asked. Faye smiled, a big grin on her face.
"It helps with the pain." Faye lied.
"Oh." Is all Nacho could say. Faye was a bit impatient with him now. She had to make a way so that he felt comfortable around her, but she just moaned. She knew now free money would not come from Nacho. She stood up and put her hands on her hips and face towards the ceiling and let out one long, loud and fake chuckle.
"NACHO'S A WIERD NAME!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. She thought he might cry, as his whole face grew brick red and he squeaked a 'I need to go now' through his teeth and dash towards the door and left. Faye laughed hideously.
"Did you see his face?!" Faye mocked, obviously talking to Ein. "it's so fun to make fun of people!"
"Come to my house, I'll give your daughter and you food and money. It's the least can do."
"No, really, Stella. You don't have to-" Spike said, but he and Ed followed her anyway. Ed tugged at Spike's sleeve and asked questions about him being her father. Spike walked with Stella around Venus, rambling on about weather and unimportant things they easily said without thought. Ed would occasionally jump around towards people and scare them, but usually tugged at Spike's sleeve and pointed things out that she wanted like foods and plush. Stella actually went into one store and got her a kit to make stuffed animals. They once stopped by a nice looking restaurant.
"How's life treating you, Stella? Now that you can see Venus?" Spike asked, waving the spoon he held between his pointer and middle finger, then scooping up some soup. Stella smiled and looked up to him.
"Empty." She muttered. She seemed to be searching for something else to say as she blankly stared at her food. "And you?"
"Okay, I guess. It's a hard business, bounty hunting." Spike said, finishing the last spoonful of soup then holding it up to his mouth to sip up the rest, then gave a great sigh. Edward devoured a piece of blueberry pie given to her then asked politely as she could for more pie. Stella smiled.
"And Edward, how are you feeling today?" Stella asked she, sort of slow. Edward turned her head with a short 'nyaa' and then grinned.
"Good pie! Edward likes to eat the pie! Hasn't eaten in forever, Edward has!" Edward laughed as another piece of pie was placed before her. Stella looked towards Spike, who was at loss of words.
"She's disturbed, she doesn't know what she's talking about!" Spike suggested.
"Edward not disturbing anyone...anymore." Edward said, taking one bite of pie.
"Well, if you don't have much food, you should have told me! I have plenty of money, you can borrow some, really!" Stella argued. Spike shook his hands and head.
"No, we're okay! Faye has enough debt to live off of for the rest of our lives." Spike laughed. Stella looked at him.
"No...money to keep...you don't have to pay me back..." Spike stared at her for a moment in silence with only the sounds of Edward eating and the conversations people around them carried on.
"Oh...well...thanks..." When they finally got to Stella's church, they were treated well, without a word between them. Ed often played simple Earth games with Stella and she would play and laugh with her a lot. Spike was quiet, and just watched. It was really beautiful, Edward getting along with a mother type. Spike looked at Stella's stomach, and he saw her figure was distorted, and plump.
"Stella..." Spike started to ask. He paused, asking himself if he should speak more, but did, "Are you...gonna have a baby?" Stella paused then looked up at Spike with a long, cute smile. Spike said no more the rest of the whole day with Stella. For the first time, he didn't know what to say.
"Okay, we're good to go, you have to say good-bye to Stella." Spike said, turning the key harshly. There was a big sound of something falling then the engine helplessly started itself. He looked over at Ed, who was already hugging Stella. He sighed.
"Hey, Stella." He yelled to her. She looked up. "Thanks, I don't know how I can ever repay you, it's important that we get back to the Bebop." Stella smiled. She didn't say anything. Just smiled. That's all Spike got. A long, haunting smile. Edward climbed into the Swordfish crying, clutching onto Spike. As the door closed, he could still faintly see her smile through the glass. And as he left he felt her smile in his head.
"Stella." He said to himself. He couldn't get himself to talk anymore. When he looked for Ed, he found her asleep on his lap. His eyes closed, he thought deeply. There were lots of feeling he had for Edward, that he couldn't tell her. She was to young to know how he felt about her, how he saw her as if she we're only a friend, a member of the crew, but a daughter or someone he needed to take care of.
Faye moaned and turned to Ein.
"That worthless hobo made me think--am I loosing my touch? Am I becoming unattractive?" She moaned towards Ein. He whimpered a reply.
"Hey, I don't take advice from dogs..." Faye moaned. And here Jet is, without my money!" Faye cried. She moaned for a second then paused...then grinned. Running towards Ein, she picked him up and wheeled him around until she was dizzy.
"Jet is here! I can go to Earth!" Faye giggled. "And I will just leave a note saying I'll be back, he won't care! The blob's poison fades away soon anyway!" Faye rummaged through all the paper around her until her search came upon a blank piece of paper and a pen upon it she scratchily wrote:
Dear Jet, Hey, It's Faye! I guess if you're reading this then you are feeling better. That's dandy and all, but I'm not here right now, I'm on Earth by now and I have taken Ein with me! And if Spike comes back, don't tell him that I took all his stuff to sell!
Good luck and all that, Faye Valentine
Measure 3: This is Me Leaving You
"Small my ass!" Jet screamed, stranding in the middle of the desert. "Let them say what they want, but I don't see any mountains around here!" Jet collapsed on his knees. At least that's all he wanted to do, but his knee smashed into a hard substance in the sand and he rolled around in pain. He cursed, waiting for the surging pain to abscond. When it did such, he rubbed it gently then peered over to the emerging round white rock protruding from the sand. It was simple...it had to be fake...right? Right in the middle of the desert...it was a refrigerator. He felt too lucky to forget the possibilities. Too hungry also, so he didn't care if it was fake or not, he just had to get into it. After a long moment of excavating the refrigerator from the deep bowels of the hot sand, he grasped the warm metal handle. He couldn't open the door though, because a sticky substance was holding it back. As all his strength poured into a last jerk, it flung open. Then, it all came to Jet. The time, long ago, when the Bebop was under siege by a strange poisonous blob, and the refrigerator was sent towards Mars, the blob most likely frozen in space. But not anymore. It had thawed, and it wanted to get Jet again. And it did, upon the arm that had opened the refrigerator. After it's attack, it left Jet paralyzed upon the sand floor as it scampered away. Jet might have died, with no food or water. He would have died, if it hadn't been for the man who was leaving the mountains on his way to the city, to get away from the crime, crossing his path. Seeing Jet, seeing his purple mark. One look at Jet, and the man helped him upon his horse, soon after riding off to the city.
"DAMN RADIATOR!" Faye kicked it then left the noisy room, so that she no longer had to scream. "It's sure is miserable here alone with Ein." Faye said to herself, as if she was waiting for Spike to pop out of nowhere and comfort her. She found herself hoping he would, then shook off the idea. She thought that maybe she needed to call Jet about the radiator, since she had nothing better to do at the moment until he came back. If she was lucky, he'd be on the ship and coming back. She clicked up his number for his handheld communicator. The screen popped up but it was black.
"HEY JET! GET THE COMMUNICATOR OUT OF YOUR POCKET! I NEED TO TALK WITH-" Faye was saying, but the communicator was lifted and the screen showed a man, about Faye's age, with blonde hair with blue streaks through it. Faye paused for a second, looking at the man's face, with orange tinted glasses balancing itself upon his nose, not connected with any straps or wires to his ears. Faye grimaced.
"Hey, I'm Jet's daughter," She lied, in case he was the type that only cared about relatives, "what do you have my daddy's communicator for?" Faye angrily said, in an annoyed tone. The stranger blinked his blue eyes.
"Oh, is this Jet? I found him with a weird purple mark on his arm." Said the blonde haired stranger, turning the screen to Jet's human arm. Faye gasped. She knew right away where she had seen that mark before.
"Please! Bring him here! This has happened before, you need to bring my poor father here!" Faye said, in a tone of urgency. She felt quaint afterwards, knowing she could care less about Jet, but wanted Jet to come to the Bebop and fix the radiator and let her fly off to Earth. The stranger blinked again, then asked for directions.
"Above Io, you can't miss it. It has the words 'The Bebop' on it's side, okay?" She said, as if it were a very obvious thing that he should already know. She thought she thought she'd add a last note of urgency to rush him with her wonderful acting, "Please, stranger, bring my poor father here so I can help him!" Then she said her goodbyes. After the communicator was turned off, she jumped upon the couch, grabbing a pillow and hugging it tightly, laughing loudly to herself. Ein whined, in wonder. Faye smiled back at Ein.
"Game, set, and match, Ein! I'm just that good!" Faye giggled to Ein. Ein just stuck out his tongue, panting. Faye smiled again.
"Yes...and...how do you know me?" Stella asked questioningly. Spike stood up and looked her over.
"It's me...well, you've never seen me before but... I'm Spike." Spike smiled. He remembered that Stella was blind, and never got to see him before. But since she could see clearly now...he wondered what she thought of him, for she was speechless. She put her hand over her mouth, holding back tears.
"It's...really you? The one who helped... Rocco?" Stella said with a weak voice on the brink of tears. Spike, as he had done with Edward only second earlier, opened his arms and let her cry into them. Women seemed to need to do that every once in a while. He smiled as he brought her back, her face red and full of tears. She beamed and whispered a bit to herself, but Spike could hear a faint 'thank you'. As she slowly backed away she dotted her tears away and sniffled, smiling.
"Wow, I haven't seen you in...forever." Stella said, half crying and half laughing on 'forever'. Spike gave a fake laugh and rested his big hand on her shoulder.
"Rocco was a good man...and a good friend." Spike grinned, then turned around towards Edward, who was looking a bit confused, but took his hand as he offered it muttering things like, 'Are you Edward's new papa?' Stella paused then waved out a hand.
"Wait! Spike!" She announced. He turned around. She paused again.
"Did you say...you needed money to refuel your ship...I can help you and your daughter."
"Hello?" Said an unfamiliar voice outside the Bebop. Faye had an idea on who it was. She opened the air lock and let in two figures, one limp and that was set on the couch.
"Hey, sorry it's such a mess in here." Faye said to the familiar stranger, smiling and in her best outfit. The stranger blushed, then turned back to Jet.
"Uhm...are you sure Jet'll be okay?" Asked the stranger. Faye paused.
"Err...what's your face, is dad breathing?" Faye said, almost completely dropping her act.
"Uhm...ya, kinda." The stranger said, and soon turned back to Jet, trying to bandage his purple wound. Faye picked up Ein and sat so close to Nacho that she was basically leaning on him.
"Would you like a drink?" Faye asked.
"No thanks, I'm okay." He said, finishing his bandaging. Faye sighed.
"Listen!" Faye said, almost yelling, "If I'm gonna get anything outta you, it's gonna be answers!"
"Name?" Faye asked, looking at him. The stranger blushed more.
"Well my name is...uhm...Nacho." Said Nacho. Faye's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth as to not laugh at his name. 'Nacho' was a real Spanish name, but it was still a funny idea to name a child 'Nacho'. But Faye didn't laugh long, because she knew that she didn't want to hurt his feelings...yet. Faye sat down, leaning over, being sure to show her cleavage. Nacho still did look over at her. Faye got stubborn.
"Do you like dogs?" Faye asked, trying to sound maybe a bit civilized. The stranger looked into her eyes, then turned away.
"Kinda?" He murmured.
"This is my dog, his name is Ein! Isn't he a cutie?" Faye said, petting him. Nacho smiled. Jet murmured.
"Faye...stop...flirting..." Jet groaned. Faye's eyes narrowed and she grabbed a conveniently placed stick and beat him. Nacho looked on in horror.
"Uhm, are you sure you should do that?" He asked. Faye smiled, a big grin on her face.
"It helps with the pain." Faye lied.
"Oh." Is all Nacho could say. Faye was a bit impatient with him now. She had to make a way so that he felt comfortable around her, but she just moaned. She knew now free money would not come from Nacho. She stood up and put her hands on her hips and face towards the ceiling and let out one long, loud and fake chuckle.
"NACHO'S A WIERD NAME!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. She thought he might cry, as his whole face grew brick red and he squeaked a 'I need to go now' through his teeth and dash towards the door and left. Faye laughed hideously.
"Did you see his face?!" Faye mocked, obviously talking to Ein. "it's so fun to make fun of people!"
"Come to my house, I'll give your daughter and you food and money. It's the least can do."
"No, really, Stella. You don't have to-" Spike said, but he and Ed followed her anyway. Ed tugged at Spike's sleeve and asked questions about him being her father. Spike walked with Stella around Venus, rambling on about weather and unimportant things they easily said without thought. Ed would occasionally jump around towards people and scare them, but usually tugged at Spike's sleeve and pointed things out that she wanted like foods and plush. Stella actually went into one store and got her a kit to make stuffed animals. They once stopped by a nice looking restaurant.
"How's life treating you, Stella? Now that you can see Venus?" Spike asked, waving the spoon he held between his pointer and middle finger, then scooping up some soup. Stella smiled and looked up to him.
"Empty." She muttered. She seemed to be searching for something else to say as she blankly stared at her food. "And you?"
"Okay, I guess. It's a hard business, bounty hunting." Spike said, finishing the last spoonful of soup then holding it up to his mouth to sip up the rest, then gave a great sigh. Edward devoured a piece of blueberry pie given to her then asked politely as she could for more pie. Stella smiled.
"And Edward, how are you feeling today?" Stella asked she, sort of slow. Edward turned her head with a short 'nyaa' and then grinned.
"Good pie! Edward likes to eat the pie! Hasn't eaten in forever, Edward has!" Edward laughed as another piece of pie was placed before her. Stella looked towards Spike, who was at loss of words.
"She's disturbed, she doesn't know what she's talking about!" Spike suggested.
"Edward not disturbing anyone...anymore." Edward said, taking one bite of pie.
"Well, if you don't have much food, you should have told me! I have plenty of money, you can borrow some, really!" Stella argued. Spike shook his hands and head.
"No, we're okay! Faye has enough debt to live off of for the rest of our lives." Spike laughed. Stella looked at him.
"No...money to keep...you don't have to pay me back..." Spike stared at her for a moment in silence with only the sounds of Edward eating and the conversations people around them carried on.
"Oh...well...thanks..." When they finally got to Stella's church, they were treated well, without a word between them. Ed often played simple Earth games with Stella and she would play and laugh with her a lot. Spike was quiet, and just watched. It was really beautiful, Edward getting along with a mother type. Spike looked at Stella's stomach, and he saw her figure was distorted, and plump.
"Stella..." Spike started to ask. He paused, asking himself if he should speak more, but did, "Are you...gonna have a baby?" Stella paused then looked up at Spike with a long, cute smile. Spike said no more the rest of the whole day with Stella. For the first time, he didn't know what to say.
"Okay, we're good to go, you have to say good-bye to Stella." Spike said, turning the key harshly. There was a big sound of something falling then the engine helplessly started itself. He looked over at Ed, who was already hugging Stella. He sighed.
"Hey, Stella." He yelled to her. She looked up. "Thanks, I don't know how I can ever repay you, it's important that we get back to the Bebop." Stella smiled. She didn't say anything. Just smiled. That's all Spike got. A long, haunting smile. Edward climbed into the Swordfish crying, clutching onto Spike. As the door closed, he could still faintly see her smile through the glass. And as he left he felt her smile in his head.
"Stella." He said to himself. He couldn't get himself to talk anymore. When he looked for Ed, he found her asleep on his lap. His eyes closed, he thought deeply. There were lots of feeling he had for Edward, that he couldn't tell her. She was to young to know how he felt about her, how he saw her as if she we're only a friend, a member of the crew, but a daughter or someone he needed to take care of.
Faye moaned and turned to Ein.
"That worthless hobo made me think--am I loosing my touch? Am I becoming unattractive?" She moaned towards Ein. He whimpered a reply.
"Hey, I don't take advice from dogs..." Faye moaned. And here Jet is, without my money!" Faye cried. She moaned for a second then paused...then grinned. Running towards Ein, she picked him up and wheeled him around until she was dizzy.
"Jet is here! I can go to Earth!" Faye giggled. "And I will just leave a note saying I'll be back, he won't care! The blob's poison fades away soon anyway!" Faye rummaged through all the paper around her until her search came upon a blank piece of paper and a pen upon it she scratchily wrote:
Dear Jet, Hey, It's Faye! I guess if you're reading this then you are feeling better. That's dandy and all, but I'm not here right now, I'm on Earth by now and I have taken Ein with me! And if Spike comes back, don't tell him that I took all his stuff to sell!
Good luck and all that, Faye Valentine