Thank you Strife21 for the review! Yay, that's the first one from you! Thanks so much!

Ok, now that the whole Middleman situation is done, and over with, I can get on with character developments (now that they've developed some moneyJ)  Yay! Character interaction! Finally, I had to set up some other stuff before I could get here.  I'm kinda disappointed that I don't get to write about Benzo.  Ok, well this is just a short in between-er kind of thing just to get warmed up for the incoming stuff.  Have to get out of that mode.

ERRRT! 'Scuze me while I change lanes *switches gears* (no I don't drive a car it was all metaphorical) Sorry…

Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop. Darn.

'Thoughts are in single quotes'

(Thingys in parenthases are when a character answers him/herself)

Flashbacks are indicated by a line_____ _

Doo-ho-hum… that's it.

Set Your Phasers to Comb

            Spike was on the couch trying to sleep, as usual, with his hands behind his head.  Jet was tending to his bonsai and muttering something about his lazy shipmates who never did a thing.  Faye had left around lunch saying that she was going out and was going to be back later.  Ed was, somewhere.  Every once and a while you would hear and echoing laugh or howl or bark, any which of these things could belong to Ed or Ein. 

Most likely Ed.  The day was Saturday, and they had gotten the bounty on Pizzarro yesterday.  Or more like Faye and Ed got the bounty money.  'Can't believe that she didn't share with us.  (Well you never share with her when you get a bounty)  'So?  Even if I did the shrew wouldn't have given me anything anyways.  Ungrateful wench.  She should have at least paid Jet some of what she owes him.  One thing was for sure, there's no way I will ever see that comb she was talking about.  Not that I would want it even if she did get me one.  (You know you want her… No! To give you the comb, to give you the comb, the comb!  Sorry.)  No I wouldn't.  She only thinks of herself.'  Eventually these thoughts led to thoughts of Julia, which were comforting, but sad.  They made him extremely moody and bad tempered.

________________________________________ _ 

Between running from what was left of the syndicate, and getting himself fixed up, he hadn't allowed himself to think about Julia or anything that had transpired on that day.  One day when all that krap was over with he had rented a room at a hotel and locked himself in.  That was when everything had overwhelmed him. It was the longest twelve hours of his life.  He wanted to lay on that bed forever until he died, or get up for his gun and shoot himself, somehow just end it.  There wasn't any reason to hang around.  There was nothing left.  Everything was gone, everything that he had worked so hard for, down the porcelain pee hole.

Then the wind blew through his window, he had left it open while cursing the universe for taking Julia from him.  It was morning and this stupid little yellow balloon sporting a wide smile and two black eyes floated by, and was swept away by the wind.  For the first time in almost two months he thought of Bebop, and that time with the satellite and meeting Ed, and when Ed took control of their ship with her remote control thing.  And when Ed got all of them high on those mushrooms.  And then that time when they had gone to Earth to get a beta player, only to find when they got back, that according to Ed that it didn't play beta, it was a 'VHS'.  'Man that was a drag.'  And for the first time he thought about Faye.  A smile had, unnoticed, made it's way across his face as he remembered these things.  He decided that during what ever he did from then on, that he would keep an eye out for his old comrades.  He sighed.  He got his stuff and checkout of the hotel.  Three weeks later he ran into Faye, or rather she drove up to him on a motorcycle and demanded that he climb on. 

_________________________________________ _

'Speak of the devil.' He thought as he heard Faye's motorcycle pull in.

"So, have fun at the bank?" he asked tauntingly as she came in to the lounge, he knew very well where she had been.

 She glared at him as she sat down in the chair on the other side of the table.

"I thought so." He smirked.

That stupid smirk of his infuriated her.  Instead of rising to the bait, her sat back with a knowing look on her face and said lightly, "More fun then the bank."

He closed his eyes tilting his head back at the ceiling and asked casually, "Did ya get me anything?" he had no clue why his heart was beating so fast even why he was asking in the first place.  'Since when do I care if she buys me something?  Jeeze...' he scolded himself.  What came next was completely unexpected.

"Well let's see… I just might have something for you here…" she said as she got up and walked over to him.  "Hmm…. Ah Ha!  Here it is!" she said as she whipped something out of her back pocket.  A huge smile was on her face and Spike was so shocked that his cigarette had fallen out of his mouth, and was quietly smoldering on the floor. 

It was a bright pink, plastic comb.  She laughed as she sat down on his chest and brutally attacked his hair.  When she sat down all the air had been squashed out of him and he was struggling to breath.  And then Faye had shoved the comb in his hair and was pulling, but the comb was stuck in his hair.

"Come on!" she murmured with every tug at his hair.  He screamed as she pulled harder and managed to push her off himself.  His head and scalp were pounding.  It wasn't enough that he was in a bad mood, but Faye had to go and try to comb his hair.  "Damnit Faye! What the hell was that for?!  Freakin' shrew…" he trailed off to angry to keep going.  He growled at the smile on her face.  'I knew no good could come from this woman.'

That smile was still on her face as she watched Spike tug gently at the comb lodged in his hair.  She got up and started to walk up to her room.  "He get your ass back here and get this thing out!" Spike yelled at her coming around the corner.  She turned around to face him.  She hardly stifled and outburst of laughter.  Spike looked very angry as he stomped up to her, but the pink comb that stuck out of his green hair at a ridiculous angle ruined the effect.

"You actually trust me to do that?" she said one hand still covering her mouth and the other came across her chest to support her elbow.  Even though her hand hid her face you could tell she was smiling, her eyes sparkled. 

(Ok, now, picture that look Spike had on his face when he was hammered in "Heavy Metal Queen")

"On second thought, I don't." he turned away from her.  He heard her laughter as he walked down the hallway.  "Jet!" he yelled.

NFA: Haha! Ok, I hope you guys liked this chapter.  It was just an in between-er, doesn't advance the plot all that far, but I hadn't expected to go into the flashback.  Hope it was Ok.  Yah, I know the title was lame, but I found it pretty amusing.  And somehow appropriate. J  More later.

Please review! I hope this was at least a little funny; it was my first attempt to be humorous on purpose since chapter 1 and the Starr, light joke in chapter 4, I believe.

Have a nice day- Oh! Wait the preview!

Next time on Life in General, After the Fall:

They both sat in the lounge, Spike on the couch, and Faye in the chair.  Faye was reading a magazine and Spike had been trying to sleep until Faye had walked in with that stupid stuffed Panther sitting on her right shoulder.  She had been trying to ignore his hair and not bust out laughing.  He knew it.  He was also trying not to laugh at the sight of Faye reading her magazine with this stuffed animal on her shoulder as if it was the most natural, normal thing in the world.

Her eyes flicked to his hair and a smile appeared on her face and she ducked her head biting her lip.  "Say anything and you die." He said casually.

She managed to make the smile disappear and replied with a straight face, "You say anything and you die."  They glared at each other for a second and then nodded silently.

NFA: Wow, long preview, notice I didn't say anything about the comb only his hair…

Sorry, short again, the chapters will get longer, promise.