Don't I feel like an ass! In my last chapter I implied that Old Man in the Mountain survived the Earth gate explosion in this story. Then a few weeks later on May 4th it collapsed in an avalanche. Kind of freaky. Oh well, for the sake of this story it's still there. I guess that I'll have to not use too many national landmarks in my fic, huh? I'm from RI, we wouldn't want anything happening to the Big Blue Bug now would we? If you have a life and don't know what the hell I'm talking about then just rent Dumb and Dumber. You'll see the Big Blue Bug, sadly it's our national landmark. Pathetic I know. But I guess it beats worshiping the giant Mr. Potato Head that resides out side of our state house. On a lighter note, thank you for your concern about my hand, it's much better now. Thanks for all of my nice reviews. Reviews make Satan feel all warm and squishy.

Song credits for the passenger go to Iggy Pop, but Souixsie and the Banshees did a swanky version as well.

I am the passenger and I ride and I ride

I ride through the city's back sides

I see the stars come out of the sky

Yeah the bright and hollow sky

You know it looks so good tonight

Ed loved the rush of hanging her head out of the window of a car while hammering along down the highway. The feel of the wind sand blasting her face. An occasional bug bouncing off of her forehead or splattering guts across the lenses of her goggles. She briefly wondered if this is what it felt like if you were a seagull. The strange looks from passing cars were fun too. Like they never saw a kid with a wild red semi-fro and green goggles hanging her head out of a car window before. This was the 2070's for crying out loud. For the first time in a long time Ed could actually say that she was happy. She was happy on the BeBop, but this was different. This was more like the child hood that she was supposed to have had. Late night girl talks, eating out in burger joints, road trips and vacations. Ok trekking across Old New England in a relic of a car with a dog equipped with some form of AI and a pot smoking, alcohol drinking, foul mouthed, former amnesiac bounty hunter wasn't exactly a normal adolescent experience. But it beat the shit out of trying to track down your absent minded poor excuse for a father while living in a trash filled abandoned building or a rusted hulk of a fishing ship. Considering the circumstances Jet and Spike did the best that they could in giving Edward a safe place to stay. The old Faye did her part too. They never yelled at or hit Ed. They had always given her the food first. The ship had been her only real home ever since she could remember. But it was now time to move on and she was going to do it with new Faye. They both needed to go and rediscover themselves. She would always remember her time on the BeBop and she would always remember how sometimes perfect strangers could be more of a family than one would ever realize. Most importantly, she would always remember that in some instances, water could be thicker than blood.

I am the passenger

I stay under glass

I look through my window so bright

I see the stars come out tonight

The genius hacker let all of these thoughts bounce around in her head while absorbing the scenery. The trees along the sides of the road were larger than any she had ever seen before. Every now and then they would drive over a river or stream. The silhouettes of mountains loomed far off into the distance. The air seemed to get fresher the further they went. All of your senses working together and giving you a small tingly feeling in the bottom of your stomach in anticipation of what was too come. Seeing the stars was an adventure, but this was a feeling Ed couldn't quite describe. Maybe it was a combination of the environment and the company. Whatever the reason for the feeling, as long as it didn't go away anytime soon Ed was happy. One thing Ed did know though, she knew that she had to go to the bathroom. Ducking her head back into the car she noticed that Ein was currently sacked out on the back seat. ' Maybe all the non recycled air was just too much for him?!'. Ed lifted her goggles from her eyes and hung her bug encrusted face over the passenger seat to talk to Faye. "Faye-Faye, Ed needs to pee!" she happily announced over the sound of the radio. "Can you wait about ten minutes" her comrade asked back, "there's a rest area a little further up the highway." Edward nodded an affirmative to Faye and plopped her self back down into her appointed spot. After indeed ten minutes they pulled into a rest area filled with picnic tables and paved walkways. A large building to the left the parking lot housed the bathrooms and tourist information center. Ed poked at Ein forcing him to lift his head up and make eye contact. The dog let out a confused whine and shot her a look that said 'what the fuck?'. " Ein doggy, let's go pee!" quipped the spunky red head with bugs guts plastered across her face and what looked like a dead bumble bee stuck in a tuft of hair. The dog shook his head and clambered up onto all fours. Faye was already out of the car and on her way to the building.

I see the bright and hollow sky

Over the cities ripped back sides

And everything looks good tonight

While weaving her way down the winding path, Faye was passed and nearly knocked down by a rolling ball of red hair and limbs. A smaller ball of barking fluff in hot pursuit. The larger ball continued to roll until it hit the side of the building with a loud thud. The collision left Edward with her limbs sprawled out all over the pavement and her tongue hanging out of her mouth, all the while Ein barking and prancing around in circles. The over active child then assumed an upright position before making her way into the building singing, "Edward needs to pee….wee…wee….Ein's a super smart doggie…..". The older of the trio quickly looked around to see if anyone was looking. The few that were just stood in awe, staring at the spot that Ed had once occupied. Faye could only hope that no one had been paying attention to the fact that they had all gotten out of the same car. Once inside the purple haired woman took a moment to absorb her surroundings. The bathrooms were clearly marked so Ed should have made it fine, there was also a large counter full of pamphlets and brochures to the left of the bathrooms. After about ten minutes of looking out the window, Faye decided to go and take a look at the paperwork on the large counter she had passed by when she first walked in. She made her way to the counter just in time to hear a loud crash come from behind it. A few seconds later the brochures and leaflets went flying into the air like confetti and Ed hopped up onto the counter. Ein came from around the corner and started to bark and whine. Oblivious to the fact that she was destroying the place, Ed proceeded to execute a perfect pirouette on top of the counter. All eyes were on the hyperactive red head as she did a back flip off of the counter top and landed in a split on the floor, narrowly missing the corgi that was obviously her companion. To complete the routine she gave a small bow. Instead of getting applause, she was grabbed by the collar of her shirt and dragged quickly out of the building by a very angry Faye.

La, la, la, la ,la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la, la

The angry woman tossed her passengers into the shadow and gunned it out of the rest stop, cutting off a line of cars in the process. The whole time doing nothing but rant and rave at Ed, "What is wrong with you….can't you just act normal for five minutes!!!????!!!!". This continued for about another half an hour. "Blah…blah….blah….you need to behave…..blah….blah…..I'm not going to put up with…blah…." So forth and so on, Ed only tuned in when she heard important buzz words. She picked that trick up from Jet. He always did that when Spike and Faye were bitching about this, that and whatever. It was a helpful skill to have. The real trick to it was actually looking like you were really listening to them. Her goggles came in handy for that. They came in handy for a lot of things. Ed briefly wondered if she could market them. Then she saw a bottle cap on the floor of the car and forgot all about it.

Get into the car, we'll be the passenger

We'll ride through the city tonight

We'll see the city's ripped back side

Just when the novelty of the bottle cap was beginning to wear off, Ed's attention was caught by a strange animal that she could see on the side of the road. It was huge and blackish brown. This thing was definitely bigger that Faye's car. Protruding from its over sized head were two large sets of grayish branches. They kind of looked like deformed bonsai trees. " Faye-Faye!" she squealed, "what is that?". Faye quickly looked out Ed's window to see what the hell she was talking about. Getting a good glimpse, she answered Ed, "It's a moose". The red head let this new tidbit of information stew in her brain for a minute. She then picked up Ein so that he could look out the window. "Look Ein, it's a moose" she quipped. The dog looked thoroughly unimpressed and wiggled himself out of her grasp. Plopping his body down on the back seat to once again take a nap. Ed on the other hand was still intently staring out the window to see if she could spot another moose. "Faye-Faye…when will Edward see another moose?" the hacker queried. Faye looked in her rear view mirror at Ed. "I'm sure we'll see plenty of them the further north we go", the purple haired woman reassured her younger companion. "Yippee!!! Edward will see another moose…goose…loose caboose..", Ed sang to her self as she continued to stare out the window, her head bobbing to a beat only she could hear. Waving at passing cars and making silly faces. Every now and then Faye would catch her eating a bug.

We'll see the bright and hollow sky

We'll see the stars that shine so bright

Stars made for us tonight

Another two hours into the trip and after about three rest stop visits, Ed had made her boredom all too clear to Faye. An over exaggerated sigh would frequently escape from the rear seat. The older woman guessed that Edward was currently in tomato withdrawal, that and the fact that Ein was asleep and wasn't in the mood to play any time soon. He had already made that point clear to Edward when he nipped her for waking him up. Surprisingly, she took the hint. It would be at least another hour before they reached the next rest area with tourist hospitality services. So while waiting in traffic, the purple haired woman fished through the glove box to find something to occupy Ed. Her hands found purchase on a medium sized booklet. After pulling it out, Faye turned it over to see what it was. YOU AND YOUR 1994 DODGE SHADOW, obviously it was the cars owners manual. She guessed that it must have technical stuff in it and Ed was definitely technologically inclined. Faye didn't need it for anything, the car started and it drove. Who really gave a shit how many miles per gallon it got. Shrugging she tossed it into the back seat to tide over Ed until they could find something else. The book sailed into the air and landed on the head of a sleeping Ein. The dog whimpered and then growled at the offensive paper product. Ed quickly grabbed it, a large smile on her face as she opened it up. "Service manuals are cool Ein", she chirped and dove into the pamphlet, nodding her head and letting out the occasional Mmm Mmm and the odd Ahh Hah as she thumbed through it. The dog voiced his opinion via a small controlled methane discharge and went back to his nap. Faye opened her window and waived her hand in front of her face to clear the immediate air in order to keep from passing out. ' He's definitely Spike's dog'.

La, la, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la, la

The traffic started to move forward and so did the shadow. They slowly muscled for rank through the lines of cars on the highway in order to get into position for the next exit about ten miles or so up the highway. If Faye's memory served her correctly there would be a twenty four hour tourist info center/liquor store at said exit. It was quite the practice in hypocrisy to preach the 'DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE FOLKS' sermon and then put a twenty for hour package store on the both sides of the highway. Not to mention the fact that they were state run. But then again, what better way to get enough money to ensure that everyone's salaries were paid and that the pot holes still got fixed than alcohol. Almost everyone drinks at some point in their lives. Someone was always going to buy it. That's why Faye thought that pot should be made legal. Even if it was government run, it would regulate the prices and the economy would improve. Her brows furrowed for a minute as she ran that thought back through her head. There was no way that it could be that simple could it? It would have already been done if it was, right? After a few minutes of deliberation she thought better of it. Yeah, it would make buying it a lot easier. But on the other hand though, there would be no more drug dealers, thus no more bounties on drug dealers. Since bounty hunters made up a huge percent of the solar systems work force, herself included, it would mean a big loss of income. ' Ok, scratch the thoughts on the legalization of weed Faye and concentrate on the road'. She chided herself for trying to solve the universes economy and decided to think about something less stressful. Faye was never one for thinking up fail safe plans. That was always Jet's job. She was an Indian not a chief. Although her and Ed weren't doing to bad so far. Not having any wood close by Faye knocked on troll Spike's forehead for good luck. ' Close enough'.

Oh the passenger

Oh how he rides

Oh the passenger

He rides and he rides

He looks through his window

What does he see

Faye was beginning to have doubts that she was going the right way. They should have seen signs for the exit by now. Pushing back that slightly nervous feeling in her stomach, she began to rationalize with her self. They couldn't have gone by it already, it was fucking huge. Even if Ed had been standing on Faye's head playing a trumpet, they still would've seen it. Or at least seen someone staggering along side of the highway with a bottle in their hand. No, she was pretty sure that they were on the right track. Maybe she had misgauged the distance between exits. That must have been it. Lifting her head up enough to catch a glance at Edward, Faye noticed that she was almost half way done with her new found periodical. Her eyes fell back onto the road ahead of her just in time to see what she thought was an exit marker. She was reassured when she noticed the upcoming highway sign with a pop art-esque picture of a beer can on it. Giving herself a proverbial pat on the back for retaining the knowledge of obscure things for over fifty years once again, Faye put on her directional and veered onto the welcoming exit.

He sees the bright and hollow sky

He sees the stars come out tonight

He sees the city's ripped back sides

He sees the winding ocean drive

And everything was made for you and me

After going to the bathroom, Faye made Ed and Ein go back to the car to wait for her. Ed was currently biting her toenails. A little while later Faye emerged from the store toting two large shopping bags. Once she got to the car, she opened the trunk to place them inside. Since the car had a hatch style trunk, Ed could hang her head inside of it while Faye fished through the bags. The older woman handed Ed a bottle of juice and a bag of chips. The red head was about to turn around and sit in her seat when she was stopped by Faye. "Here" the purple haired woman said as she handed Edward a small black box type thing. The young girl took the object and turned it over in her hands, inspecting it. "What's this Faye-Faye?". "It's a camera", Faye answered, "this way you can take pictures of all the things that you want to remember." This was a new concept for the thirteen year old genius. She knew what a camera was, just that she always just used her tomato for pictures. It had completely escaped her that people still used this type of thing. Everything was always digital and computer run. She suspected that her older companion had done this when she was small. Except Faye had no pictures left to look at. So this was Ed's turn to have a chance at making memories. This way she would always have something to look at. Faye was definitely changing. Ed thanked Faye and sat back down in her seat. She began to munch on her snack while studying her new camera.

Since finishing her food, Edward tried out her camera. She had already taken a few practice shots. A few of Ein, a couple of Faye and she was currently hanging out of the window in search of the ever elusive moose. The camera had been pressed up against her face for about thirty minutes now. She didn't dare take it away, the second she did a moose would appear. She just knew it. It always happened that way on cartoons and she wasn't going to be tricked.

All of it was made for you and me

Cause it belongs to you and me

So let's take a ride

And see what's mine

The mismatched group of travelers were currently exiting the Flume Gorge attraction. Ed and Ein were completely soaked. Not being able to resist the urge to jump in the basin. They had walked through water falls and in between rock walls. Ein had peed on everything that he could. They rode the little tour bus that tooled through the park and they had tea in the tea house. Before that they had driven Faye's shadow up a big mountain. Edward had also finally gotten her moose picture. Although she had gotten a little too close and he charged her. Good thing for her monkey like skills. She was able to climb a tree to get away. That was the last time that she ran off with out Faye. Nature was fun, but it could also be life threatening.

This had been the best day Ed had had so far. She had gotten to climb and crawl through caves and tunnels at some place called Lost River. Sitting on Santa's lap in his little village had been a hoot too. The trained bear show had been fabulous as well, she had plenty of pictures of that. But by far the best thing had to be the fact that she wasn't alone. She had spent the day with Faye. Edward had spent most of her life alone, nothing but her tomato to keep her company. Today she had been with someone. That meant a lot to Edward. No one tolerated her because they needed info, Faye tolerated her because she wanted to. Ed had to admit her older companion had been a little up tight at the start of the journey. But after several falls and getting her chest stuck in the Lemon Squeeze thing, Ed made sure to get a picture of that, she had loosened up considerably. Posing for goofy souvenir pictures together. Laughing and smiling. She seemed to be reliving some of her child hood along side Ed. The spunky red head never imagined that Faye could be so much fun.

La, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la

Once they made it back to the car they were going to go to a camp ground to stay. Ed couldn't wait. They were going to go camping. With a tent and a fire. Spooky ghost stories and these neat little orange packets that would heat up when you shook them. Camping in a camp ground on the side of a mountain. Faye had said that she used to stay there with her family when she was Ed's age. No one had ever taken Edward camping before. Unless you counted that time when the BeBop crashed on Europa. But she wasn't going to count that because they didn't have any marshmallows then. This time Faye had brought marshmallows. The old Faye wouldn't have given two shits about bringing marshmallows for Edward. This was new Faye though. New Faye was a little more grown up, but not in the normal sense. Before she was very child like, even more so than her red headed accomplice. She would steal and cheat and lie. Now she was just being herself. Who she was before life had given her a bad deal. Before she had a large debt over her head. She was growing up for the better. Even Ein noticed it. Faye would have never allowed the dog in her car a month ago. Now she was toweling him off. New Faye was a lot kinder and more patient. She even let Ed put the 'this car climbed mt. Washington' bumper sticker on the shadow and didn't yell when Ed put it on a little crooked. Edward definitely was glad she was here to witness this. To see what Faye was becoming.

.

Oh the passenger

He rides and he rides

He sees things from under glass

He looks through his window side

He sees the things he knows are his

It was too bad that it couldn't have been this way on the BeBop though. There would have been a lot less fighting. But then again that's what made living on the ship interesting. It was like watching a real time episode of Jerry Springer. Faye would bitch at Spike. Spike would bitch at Jet to get him to get Faye to stop bitching. Then everyone would start to yell and in the end furniture would start to get thrown around the room. It was definitely Fox material.

But things were different now. Faye and Ed both were different now. She would have never been able to have a day like today if they were still there. Even though Edward missed Spike and Jet, she really needed this more. She loved seeing the universe, but for some reason seeing the Earth was just more fulfilling. It was like finding money that you had forgotten about while cleaning your room. She had spent most of her life on Earth, but never new that there was this much to see. That's what happens when you stay inside attached to your computer. You know what the real world is about. You know that the sky is blue and the grass is green. Birds sing and dogs bark. But you never really think about how blue the sky can be. Or that sometimes it's gray or even orange. The grass can sometimes have flowers and it can sometimes have weeds. The birds could even poop on your car while they were singing, but that wasn't very relevant.

Basically, you know the surroundings. You know the world around you. You just sometimes forget how varied it can be. You forget that sometimes after a thunder storm, when the clouds part and the sun comes back out, that a rainbow sometimes appears. Then you see it and think to yourself, 'wow'. Now you knew that that has been known to happen. You might have read about it or learned it from tv, but it took going outside to actually see it to remind you that it was there. That's what was happening to Faye. She had been cooped up in herself. Wondering too much about what was going to happen or what might have happened to see what was going on right now. She was so wrapped up in finding her past that she forgot that she needed to work on her present. Sure getting her memory back gave her a little bit of piece of mind. Knowing that she wasn't a serial killer or something was helpful to continue on with life. But it really didn't change much. Yeah, since then she's been nicer, but what's to say she wouldn't have been this way anyway.

The potential was there. She just needed a little kick in the ass to get her going in the right direction. She was still searching, but not for her past. She was now searching for her present. To be comfortable with herself. Both Faye's getting together to make one complete Faye. Ed wasn't a psychologist, but she could tell that Faye was heading in the right direction. She might not have found a place to belong, but she found herself. That's what mattered and Ed was glad that she could help. That's what friends were for.

He sees the bright and hollow sky

He sees the city sleep at night

He sees the stars are out tonight

And all of it is yours and mine

And all of it is yours and mine

So let's take a ride

La, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la

I'm not happy with this chapter. I've been struggling with writer's block for over a month. I updated another story and added one in hopes of getting out of my slump. Oh well, I've got the next two chapters of this partially written. I will get them out as soon as possible. I just don't want them to be all shitty like this one.