She could barely hear the tap-tap-tap of her heels on the concrete of the underground sidewalks of Earth. The streets were milling with the freaks that had burrowed underground since the gate accident. She strolled along, stopping now and then to peer into windows, halted by small street vendors wanting her to take a look at their wares. She kept walking, searching for a bar that would satisfy her seemingly infinite thirst for liquor. No one seemed to notice her.

Well, I'll just have to do something about THAT, thought Faye as she pushed open a rich mahogany door that sharply contrasted with its dingy surroundings. She turned her head sharply to return the stare of a muscle bound man standing near the entrance as her gaze calmly swept the room. Mostly men in expensive suits, with a few women in pearls and cocktail dresses. Wow, she thought. This must be a real classy joint. Pearls had been increasingly rare since Ganymede Oysters had been announced an endangered species. Faye smirked disgustedly as the women gazed at her boredly. She had the strangest idea that these women could eat pearls for breakfast everyday if they wanted to. Faye felt awkwardly out of place as she surveyed her surroundings.

It was a large place, dim and swathed in maroon. There was a dark stage with a thin man playing the piano. A black woman was singing. She had a low throaty voice, and the song she was singing seemed to float out from some area around her neck.

Seeing that no one was paying much attention to her, she sighed and leaned over the bar, making her shorts ride up just enough, before sitting on a velvet stool. She could feel the familiar sound of heads turning to get a better look at her. Faye sighed. For about the thousandth time that month she asked herself why she even bothered getting men. Because it was fun! She smiled to herself as she ordered a Barry Manhattan from the skinny redheaded bartender. Yeah, it WAS fun. The whole process. Being the center of attention, toying with the men, their feelings. If she was lucky, she could make some bitch angry for 'stealing her man'. It was just too funny. And most guys were more than willing to lend her some money, which was a big part of it.

She sipped on her drink, daintily clinking the ice as she set it down, carefully pretending not to notice the two men that had sat on either side of her. She smiled and looked down; giving no sign that she sensed their presence.

The man on her right raised a finger to the bartender, and he placed another drink in front of Faye.

"It's on me."

Faye slowly looked over at the man, making her eyes big to give her the helpless air she needed.

"Oh, really I couldn't..."

"I insist."

She smiled, lowering her eyelids to tone down the size. She wouldn't need that look again. Seeing the ashtrays, she took out a cigarette and her lighter.

"Oh darn. I'm out of lighter fluid..."

Faye put on her best surprised face as she man on her left let a flame engulf the tip of her cigarette.

"Oh! Thank you."

She sucked gracefully on the stick and pulled her gaze over to her gracious suitor, almost choking on her smoke as she did so. The man had the blackest eyes and hair she had ever seen. The eyes held her stare evenly as she blinked in surprise.

"Something the matter?"

His expression neither changed now wavered as he expressed his concerns. He had a very low voice.

"N-no. N-nothing."

Is there anything about this man that isn't in extremes? Snap out of it, Faye, she thought. It's just a guy. Just. A. Guy. She smiled as she turned to the other man who was trying to get her attention.

"...Yes, actually, I am from Earth."

"Oh, really."

"And where are you from, handsome stranger?"

The man smiled and extended his hand.

"My brother, Miles, and I are from Mars. The nice section, mind you. My name is James. And you are...?"

Faye hung her hand daintily in the air between them.

"My name is Faye Valentine. It's a pleasure to meet such refined people."

The man smiled again, shaking, instead of kissing, her waiting hand. Faye didn't like his smile. It showed more teeth than should be allowed.

"Say hello, Miles."

Faye again turned her attentions to the man on her left. He stared at her again with his level eyes. She felt unsettled when looking at him, yet also like she couldn't turn away. She mentally shook herself, reminding herself what species he was.

"It's nice to meet you."

An amused smiled played across Mile's face as he bent down over Faye's dangling hand and lightly brushed his lips sideways across it.

"I'm enchanted, Miss Valentine."

Faye fought to keep herself in check, shaking herself inwardly to remind herself what species she was talking to.

The hours passed as the lights slowly dimmed, singer after singer replaced each other, and people began to leave, some with a new friend, most alone. Faye was unsettled. She couldn't place her finger on exactly what was wrong with this man. No matter what she said, the smile would not -could not- be wiped from his face. She was starting to get slightly frustrated. All of her flirtation tactics that had worked flawlessly on James and a number of other men that she had collected, in a matter of minutes.

Finally, Faye made a bet with herself. If she could do ANYTHING to wipe that stupid smile of this man's face, she would treat herself to a day at a nice casino. She smiled to herself as she looked down. And I'll be damned, she thought, if James or one of my fans doesn't have connections to an establishment where I'll be treated VERY nicely.

She looked back over at Miles and her smirk was wiped from her face, as were all thoughts of domination from her mind. There was no smile on his face now, only a look of questioning.

Could she do it? Miles thought. She seems so damned sure of herself, that's not a bad trait. She sure as hell knows how to deal with men; I must be driving her crazy. She's got the body....but does she have the guts? What about motivation?

"So, Miss Valentine, what do you do for a living?"

Faye composed herself for about the hundredth time that evening and put herself back into charm mode, level ten.

"Well, Mr. Miles, if you have to know, I am a bounty hunter. Am not so bad at it either, if I do say so myself."

She cocked her head slightly and looked up at Miles.

"What is your line of work? It must be a very...prosperous occupation."

Miles put his mask back on. Perfect, he thought. She's just perfect.

"I am, per say, a hired man. I do...certain jobs for people. It's a very similar profession as to yours, Miss Valentine, except...different. That and men of my profession get paid maybe, oh, let's say eight or nine times as much as bounty hunters."

Faye's eyes went wide at the mention of 'eight or nine times as much'. Mile's noticed this and inwardly laughed. Money motivates her as well. Things are just going my way today.

Faye's mind was reeling. What does this man do? She desperately wanted to know. If she was good at bounty hunting, and she knew she was good. Yeah Faye, lets not be modest here, she thought. She would undoubtedly be fabulous at whatever Miles did! Let's say a good bounty head brought in, oh, two or three million. Considering where he came from, there was bound to be high stakes on heads, and what did he say? Eight or nine times? That's...

She mentally did the math in her head.

That's sixteen to twenty-seven million a job! Faye sucked in her breath, no longer aware of any of the men around her.

I'll be rich! She thought. I could buy a casino if I wanted! Even if I spent money like I do now, I'll still be rolling in it. That'll show them. Show them I don't need them. Wait. This has nothing to do with Spike. Nothing at all. Oh, yeah, Jet too. No, wait. This has nothing to do with them. Not at all. Nope, I am never going to think about those two again. So there.

She looked back into Miles's face, only to find that his infuriating smile was still there. She pushed it aside and mustered all of her sexual appeal into one look and shot it at Miles.

"Are there any openings in this occupation of yours for a lady like myself?"

Miles gave her a full smile. The magnitude of it compared to his previous ones nearly knocked Faye out of her chair in surprise.

"There just might be Miss Valentine."


A/N: Hiya! This is going to be a long a/n so try to stay awake, okies? Barry Manhattan is a drink my great grandfather made up, uh I think. It's like a Manhattan (which is like a 100% alcoholic drink) except he put loganberry wine or something like that in it.... Don't ask me why he called it a 'Barry' Manhattan, his name was Roger. Oh well. And I forgot to put the disclaimer!!! Don't hurt me sunrise!! I Okay, here it is: I do not own Cowboy Bebop. There, happy? Jeez, this was a hard chapter to write. Both Spike and Faye are so hard to understand! Jet and Gabby and Ed and Ein are easy cause I have that 'grip' on their pesonalities. Actually, I guess Faye isn't THAT hard. I don't know why, but I see her as like a kinda Scarlett O'Hara character... Okay I'll stop babbling. Moving right along....

Thanks again to my wonderful reveiwers, and I was reading them last night (self-esteem boost, don't ask...EXCEPT FOR...Cambridge {*deadly silence fills room*} eh-hem, I'll deal with you later...) and I was looking at some of the people who praised the story and WOW! Most of you guys are like, fabulous writers! Like some have like 10 stories, and you're saying my work is good!? I know this sounds really stupid, but the only word I can find to describe my feelings are honored! And as for all of my other reviewers (not that I don't absolutely adore you guys or think that you aren't all fabulous writers) thanks for all your support!! *sniff* okay now I'm getting all emotional. Gotta calm down. Deep breaths. So anyway, I just wanted to thank you all personally. (This is gonna be long, watch out)

RySenkari- Wow. You. Are. So. Great. I read your funny sessions, and gahhh! LOVE THEM. And you have like, 120-something reviews (not that I measure how good a story is in reviews, mind you. or that I'm jealous...) I like, fainted when you wrote that I wrote wonderful stories. Seriously. I was like, "Wonderful? Hnnn...*thump*" But I just wanted to say, you are FABULOUS :-)

Li-Chan- Oooh, always anonymous-mysterious! J/K. But you have given me a lot of wonderful reviews, so I just wanted to say thank you. So, THANK YOU! And I like it that you always look forward to reading more. But what are you going ot say when I finish the story?? Dun dun dun.....

"Me"- I like your name, and another MYSTERIOUS anonymous reviewer. WhoOOooo. I liked your guess at what was happening. I was sitting there laughing, and my little bro was like, 'what, what?' Lol, thanks for the coolness report.

Nami (Okanami Masomi [RyoukoT@msn.com])- Nami, Nami, Nami. I'm still hitting myself in the head for not emailing you the first time. I still can't believe I forgot! Thanks for the forgiveness, and I PROMISE I will continue to e-mail you everytime from now on. Love ya hon.

Atomic One- Hey mushroom! You never e-mailed me back!! Oh, well. I forgive you. And hurry up with your story, I'm dying here! Edward MUST fall in love and live happily ever after. So hop to it!

Cambridge- I HATE YOU! I ABHOR YOU... I AM NEVER GOING TO WRITE AGAIN BECAUSE OF YOU! j/k! Okay, it's not usually I get flames, so they really hit the heart....for about 20 minutes, lol. I see your point, about stealing the attention from SpikexFaye, but I'm sorry, I just got that last chapter idea and I was like, 'Woah, gotta write this.' I know the summary was starting to get misleading, but it's not done yet! An, yeah I guess my last one was a Mary Sue, except for the fact that my character is nothing like me.... lol. I kinda took my friends and family's best traits and lumped them all together. But you don't know me, so I'll let it go. Just one last thing, that whole thing you were ticked off about with Spike just 'waking up and realizing everything'? Well, doll, dude, what ever the hey you are (unspecified...? O.o), I absolutely LOVE to read and write about stuff like that. You know? Like, you're minding your own business, and phoof, it hits you. Especially love. *sigh* Like it feels like the breath is knocked out of you, but also like it happens everyday? And you're just like, 'Oh.' Aww, what ever. I just really feel strongly about that, and I wanted to let you know. So there :P Joking! (jeez I hope you have a sense of humor...) But seriously hon, no hard feelings ^.^ I can totally see where you're coming from.

Milkyway- Wow, what's with all the anonymous reviewers? Not that I mind! It adds a little mystery to life ;) Just curious, what are you named after-the candy bar, or the galaxy-star-thingy? And which came first: the chicken or the egg? Which brings me to my next reviewer. (And I'll answer my own question: A turkey gave uh, birth (???) to a chicken egg.)

Blooknaburg- Heeeeyyy!! One of my favorite peoples in the world! What is up?? I'm gald you got your computer back up, it was nice to finally meet you! OLO!! I hate it when my computer is down, and after I read what happened to you, I was like, "Oh my God, it could happen to anybody!" So I bugged my Dad for a long time, maybe and hour, and I am going to get my very own laptop for Christmas!!!! I know!! SO, only 62 days till technical freedom! (And 68 days until my birthday ^.^ {Yes, I'm counting}) Get your next chapter up, I adore your story! (Hey that kinda rhymes) I still don't understand what you are talking about with the chicken, (a mystery!!!) but w/e. And I think akimbo is a funny word too.That's why I wrote it! You know what are other funny words? Toofers, golf, lunch, milk, yah, yay and y'all. But you have to say them right. Toofers (self explanitory), goooolllf, lllluuunnch, mmmmmiiilk, yaah, yaay(!) and ya-alllll. Sorry, I know you're probably like, 'Um, okay...', and I get that everytime I try to mention it to somebody. Oh well.

Cowgirl- Hiya!!! Another one of my favorite peoples!! Get on soon so we can talk about our 'project', okies!? I'm missing our mooing sessions. Wah! You updated!! I'm so happy, did you read my review? Yay Mr. Pianoman!! Yay Lana Princess!! Tell Mr. Butterfly Homie G says hi! Oh and cabasa is a funny word too. Oh, and you know what is another cool Cowboy Bebop Song? Ask DNA. Its so funny! And the Egg and I (and you). And Go Go Cactus Man. And Don't Bother None. And Chicken Bone. And many others, but those are my all time favorite funny ones. We need to talk, pronto, okies?? Love ya!!!

Moo- Glad I staighened you out on that matter. And what does Altavista know anyways? Hmmmph...

Setryochi (ondagoatama@yahoo.com)- Alright! Jeez! Keep your shirt on!

The Crimson Comet- Omg, another great writer. I can't believe how many stories you've written! *bows*Of course I will update soon, master.

Sir Edward Baka Sama- Had to read your post a couple of times before I understood it, but it's all good :-) I read your story, and it's pretty good so far, I think I reviewed it, but write some more okies?? By the way, whats Tenjou?

Skidlebop- Naughty naughty! I would never write anything like that! (*sigh* another guilty pleasure, useless...lol) Tell you what, you want a lemon? Let me kow, I'll personally write you the whole thing of what happened after chapter 5. Lol! Hey! I love Invader Zim too! ("Scary monkey show!" "He lost it in....THE WAR." "MY SQUEEZING ARM! THEY TOOK MY SQUEEZING ARM!") It's just so funny, but anyways, I like that word updateness. Don't know why I wrote that, it just came to mind. And you used that wonderful word: yay!

As for anybody else, sorry if I didn't mention you, I'm doing this mostly from memory, so accept my most sincere apologies!! Big smooches ^.^