I took the advice of one of my reviewers and went back over this chapter. It kind of sucked. I've added and rearranged some stuff so hopefully its better now.

I just couldn't resist the title of this chapter. I thought it was funny anyway.

Chapter 14: I Love You, Dumbass

Spike woke up on the floor beside the couch, pain lancing through every part of his body. He blinked rapidly trying to decide if his eyes were open or not when a beam of light cut through the darkness on the opposite side of the room. "Everyone ok?" Jet's voice sounded completely calm. Spike's anxiety grew as he realized that that particular quality of calm only came out in the most dire of situations. 'We're in deep shit.' His musing was interrupted as the flashlight beam fell on his face, blinding him.

"Hey! That's bright." He protested bringing up his good arm to shield his eyes.

"I guess that's a 'yes, Jet. I'm ok.' from Spike. Anyone else alive?"

Lucas' voice sounded from near the chair he'd been sitting in previously. "Unfortunately."

"I'm here too." Andy groaned.

"Faye? Ed?"

"Ed is ok but Faye-Faye fell on Tomato. She is broken." Ed sounded on the brink of tears.

"Faye or your computer?" Jet moved in the young hacker's direction as he asked for clarification.

"Tomato is broken. Faye-Faye is asleep."

Spike heard Jet stumble and the cone of light spun wildly. An indignant yelp announced that Jet's unseen obstacle had been Ein. "Damn dog." Jet muttered as he shined the flashlight in the direction he guessed Ed and Faye to be.

Spike had slowly been pulling himself to a sitting position against the edge of the couch when he caught sight of Faye in the small illuminated area Jet shined on the ground. He gasped at her pale countenance and the thin line of blood that ran down her cheek. Her eyes were closed and not for the first time, Spike found himself wishing that the tempestuous woman was sitting beside him on the famous yellow couch verbally abusing him for all she was worth. 'She's ok. She's always ok.' He strained his ears in the shadowed living room, listening for some confirmation of his internal statement.

"Faye?" Jet shook the unconscious woman's shoulder. "Wake up, Faye."

Faye's eyelids fluttered slowly before opening to look dizzily up at Jet. "What happened?"

Jet smiled his relief before answering. "I'm not sure. There was a proximity alarm before the explosion."

"What about the emergency lights? Shouldn't they be on?" Spike spoke up, hiding his own relief at Faye's recovery before anyone could notice.

"They should be." Jet wore a grim expression that was partially visible in the glow of the flashlight. "Given our current situation as protectors of the leader of the Red Dragons," He looked pointedly at Spike. "I would guess this has something to do with you."

"Could be Faye's creditors." Spike growled.

"Jet." Faye's voice held a warning.

"I know, I know. He started it." Jet sighed. "We have more important things to worry about right now." He shined the light in Faye's eyes. "Get over it."

"Grrrr." Faye squinted in the light. "Get that out of my eyes!"

"How could they have found you?" Andy asked. "You didn't tell anyone where you were going, did you?" She looked back and forth between the two Syndicate members.

"Of course not." Spike snapped irritably. "We're not stupid."

"And yet, someone is causing serious damage to my ship." Jet responded in an equally aggravated tone.

"I don't know, Jet!" Spike's voice had grown very loud.

Lucas heaved a heavy sigh. "All they would have to do is look closely at where Spike's been for the last few years. It wasn't exactly a secret." He shook his head. "We shouldn't have come here."

Spike wore a guilty expression. "Yeah." His voice was soft.

"Don't do that, Spike. They can't know for certain you're here. I know you weren't followed. Given that, they probably would have come looking for you here even if you hadn't come back."

A loud thud resounded through the ship, forestalling further comment. "They're in the ship." Jet's voice was a surprised, uneven whisper.

Spike poked his hands into his jacket pockets. "Jet, where's my gun?" Spike was pulling himself onto the couch, wincing as he went. He sat carefully on the edge waiting for the pain to become more manageable.

Jet crossed the room to the table and finding that Spike's weapon was no longer where he'd put it, he began to shine the light around on the floor nearby. It took him mere moments to find but it was almost moments too long.

The emergency lights came on just in time to illuminate three Kevlar clad men with big guns as they entered the room from the staircase behind the couch. Spike raised his gun just as the intruders opened fire. He fired two shots, each finding a target before Jet and Faye added their weapons to the fray.

Spike's first two shots each fatally wounded their target. Unfortunately, they also alerted the gunmen's comrades to their location. Jet hit the third man and moved swiftly to help Spike up, hauling him indelicately by the forearm into the slight shelter of the kitchen area. Faye and Andy followed, a limping Lucas between them. Ed and Ein brought up the rear.

The Bebop crew arranged themselves around kitchen appliances and meager furniture to achieve the most cover that was possible. Ed and Ein were summarily shoved into a stainless steel cabinet.

"Here come more." Andy's voice called from the doorway before she ducked back into the room.

"At least they don't have an elevated position on us from here." Lucas mumbled as he checked the clip in his own weapon.

"True. However, there also isn't any other way out of here." Faye returned calmly.

"Who's idea was this again?" Spike grumbled.

"Hey! I didn't see anyone else with any better ideas." Jet's voice was indignant.

"Anyone else find this vaguely reminiscent of the Alamo?" Faye muttered to herself as she scrambled to slip a fresh clip in her gun.

Once again, the ragtag group drew their weapons and took cautious aim at their enemies. It quickly became obvious that they weren't going to back down easily.

Lucas rose mere inches to get a better shot at one man that had made it down the steps and into the living room. As he sighted along the barrel of his sidearm, he completely missed another man take aim at him and prepare to put a bullet cleanly through his forehead.

At the last second, Andy caught a glimpse of hard steel just in time to fling herself across the open center of the kitchen and into Lucas. A shot rang out and the two fighters fell in a tangle on the now bloody linoleum.

Andy clutched her shoulder in pain as Lucas moved decisively, first putting down the sniper on the stairs and then the gunmen that had been steadily making his way across the living room. He whirled to face her, concern etched across his features. "Are you ok?"

Andy elegantly raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

Lucas smiled. "At least he didn't hit your sense of humor."

She grinned. "Couldn't have that now, could we?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion from several feet behind them.

Faye had just tackled Spike and when Andy and Lucas turned to look, Spike was crushing her with his body.

"OW!!! Get off me, lunkhead! You're heavy!" Faye shoved at his shoulders in the hope that he would move faster.

Spike pulled himself off her, carefully staying out of the line of fire. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Faye was calmer now that she wasn't being smothered.

"The whole tackling me when I'm trying to shoot thing."

"You were about it get hit."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Wasn't."

"Were."

"Children!" Andy called, stopping them before a fistfight started in the middle of the shoot out.

Both glowered at Andy without words. When her punishment beneath the death glares of two of the most stubborn people she knew turned to one another. The anger of their stare didn't last. In the silence of the moment their eyes met and held. Something passed between them that neither of the two could define. As quickly as it had begun, it ended and Faye was pulling herself into a better stance to shoot from, establishing her cool cover once again.

They slowly made progress, taking out one man after another until the remaining shooters fell back into the upstairs hallway.

"Send out Spiegal and the rest of you won't be harmed!" The anonymous voice called from the protected area where he hid with his personal army.

"Too late for that." Andy muttered under her breath, wincing as pain shot through her shoulder.

"Not a chance!" Jet yelled back.

"Jet!" Spike hissed. "We're almost out of bullets. There's no choice." He started to stand from his position on the floor before Faye grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"No." Jet responded with infinite calm. "You're our friend, Spike. We're not giving you up. You're not getting away that easy."

Spike smiled at his determined friends. "Thanks." He stood up and strode quickly into the center of the living room before anyone had registered what he was doing, saying, "But I won't sacrifice all of you."

The leader of the intruders moved into the doorway, raising a gun and aiming it unfalteringly at the current leader of the Red Dragons. "So you do have some modicum of honor." The man smirked gravely. "Frankly, I'm surprised."

"Who are you?"

"You don't know? That really surprises me." The man moved further into the room, keeping his gun trained on Spike the whole time. "My name is Nathaniel Xander. I worked with Vicious." His eyes narrowed and his finger tightened menacingly on the trigger. "You killed him."

Spike stared back fearlessly. "Never heard of you."

Xander's expression softened. "You wouldn't have. I was on assignment elsewhere when you and Vicious clashed."

"What do you want?"

"I should think that would be rather obvious by now. I did, after all, try to have you killed on Mars." He tilted his head to the side and shook it sadly. "It's so hard to find good help these days." Xander rubbed a thoughtful hand over his chin. "But there's really only one thing I want." He paused dramatically. "You." The now familiar smirk twisted with hatred. "Dead." He pulled the trigger.

"No!" Faye barreled into Spike for the second time that evening.

Jet rose from his sheltered position when he saw Faye burst into motion. He raised his weapon, grim determination set on his face. He fired at the same instant Xander did.

Xander's shot went wide as Faye tackled Spike, striking the floor with a sharp thunk! Jet's aim was dead on. His bullet hit Xander center mass and dropped him in an inert heap. "Who's next?! I've got plenty more where that came from!" Jet threatened loudly.

A face poked through the doorway for a split second, then, "Fall back. Xander's dead."

Moment's later the crew heard the sound of a departing ship. "Every one ok?" Jet snapped the safety on his weapon and tucked it into the hidden holster he'd taken to wearing on his person at all times when he first became a cowboy.

"Other then the blood, we're good." Lucas was hastily tying a dishtowel around Andy's wounded bicep as he spoke.

"Ed?"

She climbed out of the cabinet, dragging Ein out behind her. "Ed is unharmed, Jet-person." And she skipped into the living room in typical Ed fashion, completely unaffected by what had just occurred.

"Faye? Spike?"

"We're ok, Jet." Spike sat up beside Faye, carefully avoiding her eyes.

Jet smiled in relieved satisfaction. "In that case, I'm going to take a look at the bridge and find out how extensive the damage is. Ed, come with me. I could use your help." The formidable figure of Jet and the diminutive one of Edward wandered off in the direction of the bridge, a study in contrast.

Spike turned his gaze to Faye. He waited until their eyes met before speaking. "My hero."

She smacked his arm and climbed to her feet. "You could just say 'thank you' but that would be asking far too much."

"I wouldn't want to behave out of character." Spike grinned as he baited her. 'It's scary how much I miss this.'

"Screw you, Spike." Faye turned on her heel and stalked out the door.

Lucas and Andy stared. "Yes?" Spike responded to their unspoken question.

Andy answered. "You know, Spike, if you keep that up someday she'll be the one to leave. And she won't come back."

Spike sighed and nodded. He leaned his head against the now bullet- riddled couch and reveled in the friendly silence of the room. 'I just want a few minutes of quiet before I have to deal with it all again.'

"Are you provoking her in the hope that it won't hurt as much to leave this time?" Lucas' voice was so soft Spike had to strain to hear it.

He shook his head. "We used to talk like that all the time. It was the only way we really communicated."

Lucas quirked an eyebrow. "You call that communication?"

Spike scowled. "It doesn't matter." He paused, then changed the subject. "When do we leave?"

"The danger is over for the moment. We can go now if you want."

Spike nodded solemnly. "I'll tell Jet." He stood and made his way to the bridge.

Jet was sitting on the floor beside an open console, wiring spilling out on the floor all around him. Despite the mess it looked to Spike, Jet seemed to know exactly what he was doing. "Jet?"

"Hey, Spike." Jet studied his friend's face. "You're leaving." He stated with grave finality.

"Yeah. I have to go back."

"I figured." He stood up and extended a hand. "It was good to see you again. Good luck."

Spike took his hand and shook it firmly. "It was good to see you too, Jet. Thanks again, for everything."

Jet smiled sadly, relinquishing the offered hand. "Don't be a stranger. Regardless of the initial reception, you'll always be welcome here."

Spike nodded and smiled, turning to leave. Just then, Ed and Ein skipped in. The hacker stopped in front of him, sensing that there was a problem. "Good bye, Ed. I have to go."

The young girl looked up at him with suddenly tear filled eyes and nodded. Then she stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around her friend. "Bye, Spike-person. Edward will miss you."

At the same time that Spike was making his farewells, Lucas was preparing to do the same. He smiled at Andy, drinking in every detail of her. He wanted to remember her essence. "I'm really glad I got to meet you. Maybe if we had more time."

He was interrupted by a sudden lip-lock bestowed by the aforementioned auburn haired beauty. She pulled back and gazed deeply into his eyes. "You can't get rid of me that easily." She grinned. "I'm coming with you."

Lucas returned her brilliant smile. "Are you sure?"

"I've never been more certain of anything before in my life." The couple climbed to their feet and made their way to the hangar where Spike stood waiting for them.

"Did you say what you needed to?" Lucas looked significantly in Spike's direction.

"I said good-bye to Ed and Jet. I couldn't find Faye."

"I'm right here, lunkhead." Faye's furious voice came from the door to the hangar.

Spike turned toward her. "Good." He took a single step in her direction. "I just wanted to say thanks, Faye. I'm glad I got to see all of you again."

"And you're leaving. Just like that?" A few angry tears escaped her careful control, sliding down her cheeks to dampen her t-shirt.

He closed his eyes to gather his thoughts before answering her. "I have to, Faye. I don't have a choice. It's my responsibility."

"Of course you can't. There's no one else in the whole universe that could lead the Red Dragons successfully." Her bitter words were punctuated by the sound of an approaching ship; the one Lucas had called to take them back to Mars.

"I'm sorry, Faye." Faye momentarily felt guilty as she watched the anguished expression that crossed his features. "I have to go." He turned from her and started toward the small ship that had landed in the hangar.

When he reached the top stair leading into the ship he heard Faye shout over the noise of the engines. Her words were laced with irony. "I love you, dumbass!" He turned at her sudden confession to see her retreating into the interior of the Bebop. Bowing his head, Spike climbed into the ship.

tbc(almost done!!!!! please, please, please review)