Chapter 2: No Time for a Cat Nap

Cat acted as a real bounty head would, flitting from planet-to-planet, and moon-to-moon trying not to get caught by anyone but the person she had her eyes on. She wanted to find out more about Spike now that she had spoken to him, and she wouldn't rest until he caught her.

            "Man, Julia, you sure know how to pick them," she muttered to herself as she sat down on a bench in a park on Saturn.

            "Did you say Julia?" someone asked from next to her. Cat jumped. Spike had managed to sit next to her without her noticing, and she wasn't one to let someone catch her off guard. "Jumpy are we?"

            "If you sneak up on all your bounty heads like that you must make some serious money."

            "You wanted to be caught. Normal bounties don't sit and wait for me to show up," Spike replied with a sarcastic smirk. He sat back and lit a cigarette.

            "What makes you thing I wanted to be caught?"

            "One day after I meet you and suddenly you become a fifty million woolong cash in. Seemed a little suspicious to me."

            "Maybe I should have waited three days then." Spike laughed lightly.

            "How's about you telling me why you wanted me so badly," he said evenly. "And how you know Julia."

            "Which question would you like answered first?"

            "Where is she?"

            "That wasn't one of the questions."

            "Humor me."

            "I don't know." Spike looked as though he wasn't sure he believed her.

            "How do you know her?"

            "I stashed her at my place after your little escapade blew up in your faces." Spike was silent for a moment.

            "Is she all right?"

            "I couldn't tell you. She left about a month ago." She sighed, remembering the day she returned to an empty apartment with Julia's things gone. She was worried at first, but she reminded herself that Julia was perfectly capable of surviving on her own.

            "Then why were you looking for me?"

            "She told me about you. I wanted to see the man with two different colored eyes. The only man she ever loved." Spike cleared his throat, and started playing with the clasp on his jacket. "It's not everyday someone tells you they're in love. Especially since she never mentioned being in love before."

            There was a long pause. Spike finished his cigarette and lit up another.

            "I tried to get Julia to quit smoking once. She refused."

            "Sounds like something she would do," Spike said sadly. The conversation paused again. Cat stared off into the distance. She was at a loss for words now that she had reached the man she'd sought out a week before. She couldn't quite figure out how to phrase her burning question.

            "Why Julia?" She blurted out. So much for tact.

            "What?"

            "I've been thinking about it ever since she told me about you. Why Julia? There's nothing special about her. She's plain. You had it all and you could have chosen any girl you wanted, but you chose her. Why?" Spike got to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. Cat watched his every move. He had a powerful grace that demanded respect. She felt compelled to respect him. He intrigued her greatly. She could absolutely see how Julia latched herself to him. He still had some of the power he gained from being in high authority in the Red Dragons. Cat imagined him in a Red Dragon uniform ordering people around. Cat couldn't stop looking at him.

            "Wanna go get something to eat? I'm starving. Plus I have fifty million to claim." He smiled mockingly. Cat snorted.

            "Who do you expect to pay you? You said it yourself that the bounty was phony."

            "I'll find someone to pay me. I didn't come all the way out to Saturn for nothing."

            "Your friend already took a thousand from me. Isn't that enough?"

            "Hey, you should watch who you talk to."

            "Like you?"

            "You definitely shouldn't talk to me." He turned and started walking. "Are you coming or what?" he called over his shoulder.

            Cat stood and followed him to his ship. There goes that damn magnetism again.

******

A/N: Okay, I believe I lost my following. Oh well, we all can't be popular.

Plutonian