"Here. I know you're awake." Spike felt something being pushed onto his middle. Hoping it was food, he slid an eyelid open just enough to define what it was.
Bell peppers and beef. With real beef. Spike stared in disbelief for a moment before struggling upward. Faye grabbed the plate while Jet helped him up, then she deposited it back on his stomach and waltzed into the kitchen.
"Faye!" Jet bellowed. "Don't eat it all!"
Her head poked around the corner, wearing a smile Spike recognized as being thin ice. "Are you trying to say that I'm a pig, Jet?"
"Not trying, it's true-" Jet started, cut off by a knife whizzing by his head to ultimately plant itself in the wall. "Hey! This is my ship, I don't have to feed you! You better pay for that!"
"You ought to be old enough to know better than to say something about how much a woman eats, Jet." Faye informed him, taking a plate to her usual seat on the stairs.
Jet grumbled all the way to the kitchen. Spike, for his part, was content to wolf down his portion without comment. Then he noticed the screen (A/N: what IS that thing? Is it a TV, or computer, or a combination of the two? It's that thing on that little table that they used to watch Bigshot on.) fill with a familiar yellow, sly smile. Edward? Sure enough, a maniacal laugh came next (catching the attention of Jet and Faye, who actually got off her ass to come see what was going on) and Edward's face popped up on the screen.
"Edward?!" Jet and Faye chorused.
A confirming laugh.
"What are you doing, Edward?" Faye asked.
"Edward is coming to Bebop, Faye- Faye! Edward does not belong with Father- person."
"Whoa, you can't come back here!" Jet interjected. "You have a father, Edward! If he decided to press charges, we could go to jail for kidnapping! Stay with your father."
Her face took on a mulish look. "Edward is coming back to Bebop." she said, half statement, half threat.
"Children belong with their fathers, Edward." Faye tried.
"Edward is not like other children. Edward belongs on Bebop." she insisted. "Father- person will not notice Edward is gone. Father- person keeps leaving Edward." she muttered.
"Look, I'm sure he isn't doing it on purpose-"
"Edward is coming back to Bebop!" she yelled, and the screen went blank.
Jet ran his mechanical hand through hair he didn't have.
Faye snorted in disgust and sauntered toward the door.
"Hey, where are you going?" Jet demanded.
"Out." Faye gave him an indifferent glance over her shoulder and ducked through the door.
Jet merely growled and got Spike another plate. They rode roughshod over him, coming and going as they pleased, didn't give a damn about anything but themselves and never contributed anything, and to top it off Spike was the only one he'd taken in voluntarily. Then he smiled. Spike wasn't dead, Faye had come back, and Edward and Ein were coming back. Life was good.
Jet got himself another plate of bell peppers and beef while he was at it.