I do not own or claim to own any of the characters from the show cowboy bebop.
Song credits for once in a lifetime go to the Talking Heads.
And you may find yourself living in a shot gun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
The sun was starting to set, casting it's orange rays of light across the weathered deck of the BeBop. Jet stood at the window, staring down at the smiley face that was Ed's good bye. It had been three days since the girls and the dog had left his care. 'Three days' he absently grabbed a cigarette from his almost empty pack and proceeded to light it. Jet wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to this turn of events. He knew that he missed them, but why? Ed was a given, she was like a daughter to him. As corny as it sounded in his mind, she really was. It had pumped him up to see that her real father had taken off in a flash and left her behind. Leaving her to rely on Jet again . He had felt like he was much more of a father to her then her real one. It was wrong to think that way, but he did. The dog was next on the list . He liked having a dog. Ein wasn't the type of dog he would have picked himself, but he was smart and loyal. He was actually excited when Spike brought him back to the ship after losing Hakeem.
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself…..well…..how did I get here?
It kind of seemed impolite to put the dog on the list of who he was going to miss most above Faye, but it was the truth. Faye was alright when she wanted to be. She had a big fucking mouth and a poor attitude. But then again, so did Spike. She was kind of a female version of Spike. That's probably why he could never really kick her off the ship. He could never do it to Spike either. 'I guess it's because I never got to have a family of my own'. Tapping the ash off of his cigarette he took another drag. He had adopted this strange surrogate family in the place of a real one and now they were gone just as soon as they had come. Ed wasn't coming back. This he knew for certain. Unfortunately he had gotten a good glimpse of the happiness on her face as her father threw her up into the air. He had heard the unmistakable sounds of laughter as she screamed for him to do it again. It was sad and it was true, but she really did belong with Apple what's his face.
That left Jet to ponder about Faye. ' Where the fuck was she?' All of her things had been taken from her room. All except the tv and beta player, those were the last things he thought that she would leave behind. Especially since she could have sold them for money. But she had indeed left them. She didn't rob the safe either. 'Strange' was his only thought. He knew that she had taken Ed with her the first time that she bailed. Then she left before Ed had the second time. This was also confirmed by Spike. Ein had taken off after Ed. All that was left of his family, and he used the word family very loosely, was a suicidal gangster turned suicidal slacker and himself. An odd pair they were in it self, even without the rest. But after having the rest, it just didn't seem the same without them. They all had had something in common that kept them together for the past two years. All of them looking for something that was different, but also the same. Dropping his butt to the deck floor, he ground it out with his boot and decided to go and bug Spike. He had been trying to get king lazy ass to go and look for Faye for two days now with no avail. Spike definitely needed a fire lit under his ass to get him to do anything. ' Fire, shit that kid needs a fucking nuclear explosion' Jet chuckled to himself. Jet wasn't going to go and look for Ed, she knew how to find the ship if she wanted to. She had tracked them through space for months before joining the crew. But he did want Spike to go and give a look for Faye. Something was either wrong or she was up to something. He wanted to know what was going on, and who better to send than Spike. The former cop put on his best depressed face and headed for the common room. There was no doubt that Spike would be sprawled out on the couch, searching for the meaning of life in the ceiling fan.
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing under ground
Into the blue again/once the money's gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing under ground
As he made his way towards the hatch that led to the common room, Jet heard Spike groan and shift to a sitting position on the couch. 'I knew it' wiping the smirk off of his face, he entered the room. Spike was in the process of lighting a cigarette when he looked up to make eye contact with his partner. "Hey" said the older man as he sat down on the couch noticing it was still warm from Spike's previous occupancy. A muffled "Hey" was returned around the newly lit cigarette in Spike's mouth. He knew that he was making his partner sweat. This had been the case for the last day and a half. Jet would try and make Spike feel guilty and go and look for Faye. Spike was good at dodging his tactics, but he knew that eventually he would win. Jet propped his feet up on the table 'Oh look' he noticed his comrade making a move with his foot to turn on the tv. 'Impressive move' he filed that one away for his own personal use later. As soon as Spike's foot made contact with the power button the cheesy music from Big Shots at almost full volume echoed through the ship. 'Well, that won't do' and with that Jet turned down the volume so he could talk to Spike. When he noticed the small slightly nervous twitch starting to form in the green haired mans left eye, he took his chance "looking for a bounty?" Spike shot him a {who? me?} glance and then proceeded to nod his head in agreement. "We could always use the money" he responded . 'alright, try this on for size' Jet stood up and let out an exasperated sigh as he turned to leave the room. When he had almost made it to the stairs he was abruptly stopped by the annoyed whine of Spike. " Don't go pulling that shit on me!" He turned around barely containing the smirk that was building up. "What am I pulling?" was his retort. " That moping around and not talking shit" Spike quickly replied. " I don't know what your talking about !" With that Jet walked up the stairs and out of the room. A broad grin forming on his face as he heard his partners even louder groan over the sound of the tv. 'Another point for the Black Dog' he continued to walk down the corridor and then disappeared into his bonsai room.
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
It was over three hours later that Jet finally heard the swordfish leave the BeBop. 'About fucking time' he smiled to himself as he clipped another branch off of the bonsai tree that sat in front of him. Jet absently wondered why he got into bonsai for a hobby. Even though it was really relaxing and he really enjoyed it. He didn't quite remember how he got started or how long he had been doing it. He knew that he had never done it while he was on the police force. Or when he still lived with Alysa. The first memories he had of botanical interests were when he first teamed up with Spike. 'Come to think of it, Spike probably drove me to it' a slight snort exiting his mouth 'with all of the stress that kid gives me'. He had been revaluating his life a lot in the past few days. The newly found silence gave him time to think. 'Too much time'. Jet had been trying to come up with rational explanations for the last five years of his life. Why the hell he became a bounty hunter in the first place? Shit, he could of become a florist. Why the hell did he let a woman who made them loose all of their money, then steal what they rightfully blackmailed stay on his ship? Maybe it was because she was physically appealing. Maybe it was because she had a lot of balls and that was something he tended to respect in people. Maybe it was because she could piss Spike off to no end with so little effort. 'That's it' he could never get a rise out of Spike the way Faye could. What was the excuse for Ed? That was easy, Ed was very smart and very appreciative. She was really the only one that actually gave him any respect. It was really very funny that the only one that treated him as the authority figure that he was supposed to be was a thirteen year old girl. That's probably why he was going to miss her the most. He put down his clippers and stared at the metal wall.
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!
It was then that he realized that his life was about to take another drastic change. He didn't know if he could really go back to a life with just him and Spike again. He had gotten so used to the everyday distractions caused by the girls and the dog . Jet didn't know if he could handle Spike's shit on a daily basis anymore. When the ship was full it gave him something to do. Something to take his mind off of the fact that he really was going nowhere in life. He was the one who kept the peace and order on the ship, just like when he was a cop. Jet liked being the one who made all of the life altering decisions. Decisions, he liked making decisions for other people. He was the one that was needed to intervene when a potential calamity was about to occur. The one to decide when and if intervention was needed. Times when even though it would be hysterical and of no personal injury to him. Like when he caught Faye putting nair in Spike's shampoo. Even though the outcome probably would have been fucking hilarious, he needed to intervene. He was the one who came to the rescue when Spike pissed in Faye's apple juice and tried to put it back in the fridge. They needed him to keep the order around here. He enjoyed being the leader. Now he was just going to be the leader of himself and occasionally Spike. 'Where did it all go?' he released a deep sigh ' One day it was here and the next it was gone'.
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing under ground
Into the blue again/once the money's gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground
Jet stood up and exited the room and made his way to the kitchen. He was definitely in need of a few beers at the moment 'if there's any left after Spike'. After Jet had found said beers he changed direction and headed towards the common room. Upon entering the room he walked over to the couch and proceeded to casually lift up the middle cushion. He reached underneath and after a few failed attempts he victoriously pulled out a pack of cigarettes. ' Gee, thanks Spike' a smile spread across his face as he pictured his partner stumbling in drunk at three in the morning reaching for his hidden pack only to find nothing. Jet had learned of this spot from Faye. It was another of those instances when he had to intervene. She was in the process of stealing them and he had caught her in the act. So after she had left the room defeated, the older man had gone and grabbed them for himself. That was another thing that Jet was needed for, determining when a scapegoat was needed and whom it should be. On that particular occasion Faye was the one to draw the proverbial short straw. Those were just some of the things that he was going to miss. After a long pause Jet finally opened a beer and sat back on the couch. He lit up one of his newly acquired cigarettes and put his feet up on the table. It was funny how a year or so ago he would have savored this moment, but now it only depressed him. Sitting here by himself on the couch should have been like heaven. Trying to enjoy the peace and quiet before Spike started screaming at Faye. Before Faye bitched about having no hot water. Before Ed decided to come flying into the room and use his lap as a springboard to get her to the pipes overhead. No this wasn't like heaven, it was like an eternal hell. A hell with just him and Spike. He didn't want to be in hell with just Spike. Jet gulped down his first beer and then opened his second ' Why can't things go back to the way they were?'
Same as it ever was…..same as it ever was…..same as it ever was
Same as it ever was….same as it ever was…..same as it ever was
