Yay! Kyra is back!  I was wondering if she was going to review again…  Thank you to all of my reviewers!J  You guys rock.  Attack of the Stuffed Panthers sounds like it could be my next venture into the world of CB fan fiction, if  I did it would be a humorous one. (see Kyra's review).

            More will be revealed in this chapter, yes about the panther, and Faye's plan to get out the hostages. I'm sorry if it gets confusing, it might. Hmm.

I re-did the last chapter a bit, and fixed some minor errors, feel free to re-read if you want to.  Must say, I like Benzo I think he is coolJ.  Ok done jabbering here is the next chapter.  Sorry about the shortness and the non-existent preview for this chapter, in the last chapter.  Ger is like Grr when your growling at someone, not like jour sound in journal.  Thought that I should make note of that.  Cats make Grr sounds not jour sounds.  (OK! Ashley, shut up and get on with it!!!)  sorry O.O  (just talking to myself, please ignore me folks)

            Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop.

'Thoughts are in single quotes'

(Stuff in parentheses is when a character answers his/her own questions)

Flashbacks/memories are indicated by a line___ _

Middleman pt. 2

            Once getting a good look at the panther Faye felt a warm wave wash over her, like when you've been away from home for a long time and you get that warm familiar feeling in your stomach, once you get back.  Suddenly she wasn't herself anymore, well not the self she knew now.  The self she remembered being.

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"Mommy!  I was playing with Ger and his-his-his eye fell ouuuuut!" tears were streaming down her face and her heart was broken because the eye of her best friend had just fallen out, right in the middle of the tea party.  And worst of all she couldn't find it! (Her parents later told her that when she was teething she used to chew on that eye, but she couldn't remember.) 

She was seven years old and still fiercely attached to her life long partner Ger.  All of her friends had stuffed animals that were pink bunnies, blue unicorns, and fuzzy bears, and they all had fluffy names like, Bunnya, and Hoppy, and Feather, and Winnie the Pooh.  Once she had found that she wanted to name her panther, she was stuck for days trying to think of something tough to name him. 

She had decided at the age of four that it was as he.  Anything as cool as he was, was way too cool to be a girl.  All of her friends and their stuffed animals never went on cool adventures like she and her panther did. 

One day while facing The King of the Lions in the jungle, panther growled and suddenly she knew what her panther's name was.  Ger!  That was the time he beat the King of the Lions, and he and she reined supreme over the jungle, until dinnertime.

"Ohh, honey, do you know where Ger's eye went?" her mother's voice was so soft and sympathetic as she knelt down and put her arms around Faye's waist and looked at her.

She shook her head sadly, and uttered a teary, "Nooooooo," and cried harder.

"Ohh, don't worry, Faye, we will get Ger a new eye, and it will be just as good as his old one."

The young Faye sniffed and looked up at her, "Really?"

"Yes but you've got to let me have him, so that I can get him a new eye when I go shopping."

"Why do you need to take him?" fresh tears coming to her eyes.

"So that I can make sure that his new eye looks like his old one." She said patiently, as she rubbed Faye's back. Faye walked solemnly back to her room and came back, carrying her comrade.  She came back and stood in front of her mother, whom she adored and wanted to be like when she grew up.  She silently held Ger out; her mother bent down and took Ger from her carefully.  "Don't worry Faye he will be as good as new.  I promise."  Faye nodded and walked off to talk her nap.  She was an obedient child, and she knew it was time anyway.

Later that day after her nap, and a very depressing Tea Party, (she would have gone out into the jungle to look for a rematch with the King of the Lions, but Ger was not there) her mother called her into the kitchen.  "Faye! I found a new eye for Ger!" she smiled, and handed Ger down to her.

Faye took one look at his face and burst into tears, "But it's different!" she wailed.

"I know Faye, I couldn't find an eye that looked like his.  But you know what?"

She looked up at her mother.  "He's special now, he's the only panther with two different eyes."

A smile broke out on Faye's face, "Thank you Mommy!" she cried and threw her chubby arms around her mother's neck.

"Hey what's goin' on here?" asked her father, just home from work.

She shrieked and laughed as she ran to her father yelling about Ger's new eye, with the stuffed animal in one hand.  He picked her up and swung her around over his head.  She was smiling and laughing and so were her parents.

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She unfroze and hissed, "Where did you get that?"

"That's not important.  What's important is our deal." He countered smoothly.

'What is with this guy, how did he get Ger?  I'm gonna kick his sorry ass. But why does he want the guys? (Uhh, why don't you ask him?)'

"Why do you want my partners?" she asked, "Not that I really care, but I think that I deserve to know." She added quickly.

"Well, I'm, you could call me some kind of middleman.  I work with different clients and groups that want something.  I get paid to do what ever it takes to deliver what my clients want. A European syndicate wants Mister Black-" he was about to continue when Faye interrupted him, "Why?" 

"I'm sorry I can't disclose that information.  Spike Spiegel is wanted by the Red Dragon Syndicate," at this she stiffened 'What the hell is up with everybody and syndicates?  I thought that we were through with that shit after Spike…' her thoughts were cut off as Pizzarro continued, "And my profession could use the help of someone like your friend Radical Edward.  It would make jobs like mine much easier."  She hadn't even considered that he would want Ed.

"Ok here's how I want it." She started thinking quickly, "You will release the hostages, give me my panther, and then we will discuss how to get my partners to you."

He smiled evilly, "Alright."

Outside:  The first thing on all their minds had been what was up with the freakin' stuffed animal?

Jet had balked at the mention of his brush with the syndicate.

Spike didn't react at all when the Red Dragon syndicate had come up; he already knew they were after him.  His interest had slightly peaked at the mention of Jet's name and the word syndicate in the same sentence. All of them found a stronger dislike for Pizzarro with his remark about needing Ed for his business.

 Ed had minimized the picture of Faye and Pizzarro to take up only one half the screen.  While in her goggles and on the keyboard she was surfing the net.  She wasn't really listening to the conversation.  All of a sudden something interesting popped up. She smiled, and started typing and the picture of Faye disappeared for a second and then came up as two-way link that mean that in the room in the bank Faye could see Ed's head and Spike and Jet's torsos.  She tried hard not to stare.  Under no circumstances could he be allowed to turn around.

Ed smiled, and poked a key.  Something with Pizzarro's picture popped upon Faye's screen she quickly read it.  Pizzarro had a bounty on his head.  That was good and bad; it meant that she couldn't shoot him if she wanted the bounty.  Soon after the picture was once again replace by Ed's head, she waved at Faye.

Pizzarro stood up, Faye saw a panicked look cross Ed's face, she started typing rapidly, and less than a second later the hallways replaced her face.

"I want you to slowly escort the hostages to the exit, it would behoove you not to try anything. You are not to leave the building.  Then return here and we will discuss the situation with your partners."  He said.

'She's probably pissed that she has to take orders form this guy.' Spike thought as he saw her eyes narrow. 'She knows that me and Jet can take cake of ourselves, but Ed… I hope she knows what she's doing.' A frown and worried look passed over his face before being quickly replaced by a look of bored interest.

NFA: I hope that wasn't too confusing.  I really liked writing the memory; please tell me what you think of it. Umm, hm-hm-hmmm. Please review.

Next time on Life in General, After the Fall (or the chapter after that, I'm not sure when but soon):

"No one touches my stuffed animal and gets away with it."

That's a really short preview, I know…