On Board the Bebop

Evening of March 3rd

Jet had only just disembarked from his zip craft, no chance to even activate the winch system to draw the vessel into the hangar for safe keeping, when a sudden impact knocked the breath out of him. He staggered, nearly falling to the ground, as he instinctively wrapped his arms around the source of the hugging assault, Ed.

Her exuberance was both welcome and unnerving. Was it joy and relief or sorrow that motivated her sudden need for an embrace? It wasn't often that Ed sought out the reassurance of physical contact and both the presence of two unfamiliar zip craft as well as the absence of Spike and Faye - especially considering the message Ed had sent him earlier - was telling.

"Hey kiddo, what's the story here?" Jet asked, trying to keep the concern out of his tone.

But it needn't matter as he soon discovered when Ed leapt backwards out of the hug and into a flip that ended with her standing on her hands, giggling like mad the whole while.

"Faye-Faye had the bay-bay!" Ed exclaimed jubilantly. "Doc says it's a boy and they're both healthy. Spike-papa is in the bedroom with them and DB's keeping an eye on them along with Ein but they miiiiiight all be sleeping. It was a long day!" She sighed happily and propelled herself back to her feet.

Jet grinned. "Yeah I bet. But that's what you get when you don't use protection, Ed!"

The teen rolled her eyes. "Everything they do teaches me what not to do, is that it?"

Jet reached out to ruffle her hair with his good hand. "You're smart, you know when to emulate them and when to do the opposite. Anyway what's the name? Did they say?"

"Yes yes yes! It is Lupin the Third!"

Jet frowned, perplexed. "That doesn't make sense, Ed. Spike and his father would both have to have had that name."

"No no, Lupin is the third Spiegel!" She insisted.

Her logic was starting to make sense even if it still didn't add up. "But Faye doesn't count as a Spiegel since they aren't married. She didn't take his name, see?"

Ed's eyes narrowed and she stepped up to Jet with a raised eyebrow, her expression daring him to argue. "Faye-Faye made one so she has to count as a Spiegel too." She laughed then, shrugging the issue away. "Anyway, you can call him whatever you want - most people seem to make up nicknames for babies instead of calling them their actual name. How confusing for a newbie!"

"Ed, you made up your own name." Jet reminded her with a chuckle.

She rolled her eyes again, grinning at him. "Well yes but that was when it felt right. My given name isn't me, not entirely. I am Ed and Ed is I!"

"So they named their baby after a famous thief." Jet said to Ed then, still incredulous over the choice.

"Well, he stole my heart!" Ed replied cheerily. "Once you see him you'll fall in love too!"

Jet smiled, though he was in no hurry to do that. Aside from not wanting to disturb the exhausted new parents or potentially wake a sleeping baby, he didn't want to walk into a situation where Faye was most likely half naked. Not that she wasn't attractive, it was just that she had always been more like a mulish grown daughter to Jet or else a pesky little sister, and her own lack of shame over her body didn't deter Jet from wanting to respectfully avoid seeing her unclad.

Fortunately, given the hour, he didn't think anyone expected him to barge in to try and see the baby - well, maybe Ed did. She was beyond excited and seemed to believe that was the case for everyone.

"Well, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to meet the baby. It's pretty late now after all. I would've been back sooner but DB sent me on a quite a scavenger hunt after I got done with my delivery!"

"Oh yes! Ed knows all about that! We took a walk thru the ship while Doc and Ein kept Spike and Faye-Faye company after the baby arrived! DB wanted to see how we live and what else we would still need... She said the sink is fine for baby baths but not to give him one until his spongy bungee umbilical cord falls off."

Jet decided to let that one slide since Ed had gotten the name right eventually. Unable to stop his mind from considering that thought, he briefly imagined a horrific scene of a baby bungee jumping from a woman's - nope, he shook his head fiercely to clear that mental image.

"Uhhh here, Ed, help me with the bags while you tell me more. This one is fabrics from the ladies DB works with here on TJ - they're called sarongs. Supposedly they'll be comfy for Faye to wear as dresses, skirts, or just a cover up. They tried to show me a few ways to wrap them but you'll just have to pull up a video for Faye to reference."

"Oooh presents! What else what else?"

"Uhhh this bag has some silicone thing called a drip cup... and a bunch of things the ladies didn't explain but assured me Faye would appreciate." He was still glad about that. It was embarrassing enough having them gush about the usefulness of the milk catcher DB had instructed him to buy from a retail store, let alone the items they said were for her other regions.

Ed nodded thoughtfully as she took both bags out of Jet's hands to free him up to grab the rest of the items stuffed into his zip craft. The ladies DB had sent him to had loaded him up with more things than he thought would even fit into the Hammerhead and that was before he had to run to the grocery store for the things DB insisted they should stock up on.

There was a stack of casserole dishes loaded with entire meals that the ladies had prepped - apparently unaware that Jet was the true chef on the Bebop and that a new baby on board would in no way hinder Spike and Faye from having food to eat since neither of them ever made much themselves anyway. It was a nice thought and generous of the ladies and would free up Jet's own time considerably so he was happy enough to take those dishes off their hands.

Then there were the bags and bags of baby clothes in dozens of sizes it seemed. Burp cloths, swaddles, garments that seemed impossibly small, socks that were somehow even tinier than Jet's fingers... All of that he was going to leave in the Hammerhead for now. Clothes would keep just fine until Faye could pick through and sort it all out.

But he did rummage around until he found the bag of baby wipes and hung that from its loop on his wrist before carefully hoisting out the tower of dinner dishes. The food was definitely a priority to be stored and he was relatively sure that the wipes would be as important as the items Ed was carrying in.

"Okay that's enough for now, Ed."

She eyed up the bags overflowing onto his seat in the craft and adjusted her grip on the two bags she currently held.

"Ed can carry more!" She insisted, reaching in to tug out a few more bags.

"Eh, it's just clothes and cloths. If you want you can come back for the rest of it afterwards and..." Here he hesitated for a moment but he was both tired and fairly confident in her capabilities, "you can even park the Hammerhead when you're done. You said DB is with Spike and Faye... What's Doc up to?"

Ed had managed to pile several more bags onto her own load to haul while Jet spoke but now she laughed again as she started towards the interior of the vessel.

"Oh he's raiding the kitchen like he usually does when on board. I think he was hoping to find more of the chicken you made the last time he was here - after the asteroid that wasn't an asteroid!" Ed said as she lugged her assortment of bags along.

"Huh, been that long has it? Well, he'll be disappointed by what's in the fridge right now but we can dig into one of these dinners tonight! Spike and Faye'll need some good grub after all the excitement of the day. All right then, I'll let you handle the goods and I'll get to cooking! Or, well, reheating."

"Reheat! Such a treat! Is it vegan or is it meat? It's tasty food that can't be beat!" Ed sang giddily.

Jet chuckled. "By those rules it'd have to be meat. Well, that's one thing that'll never change around here - how much those two appreciate protein in their meals! Everything else is about to be spun upside down though, mark my words. This'll change things around here, Ed. You sure you're okay with all of it?"

"Ch-ch-ch-changes! Turn and face the strange!" She fairly shouted in response. And then, even though they were only in the revolving corridor and far from the quarters Spike and Faye now shared with a newborn, she blushed and continued in a whisper. "Everything changes and then changes again - life can't be stopped, Jet-papa. Don't worry about the future, sooner or later it's the past!"

"There's no getting around that logic," Jet conceded. "I worry about those two, you know. 'Course, I always have. It's just gonna be different now because there's more on the line."

Ed dumped her bags into a pile in the living room. "It'll be okay." She assured him. "Faye-Faye finally has something to belong to here, she won't run away again, and Spike-papa has reasons to stay alive. I think they'll surprise you. Though Ed agrees that this next transition is gonna be rough and tough and crazy stuff!"

"They're in over their heads," Jet told her plainly. "That's the truth of it. But they've got you and me and Ein, and between the lot of us... That kid is gonna grow up well fed and well loved, and that's the best anybody can hope for."

"It's home, Papa Jet." She danced her way from the heap of bags into the corridor in front of him, leading the way to the kitchen. "The Bebop is a good place to live. The new baby is the luckiest person in the galaxy. Here is family, here is home!"

Jet smiled down at her. He'd been worried about Ed handling everything when really it was his own ability to roll with the punches that was making him nervous. And here she went, soothing his concerns with ease. She was right about one thing - that kid was one lucky duck to have someone in his corner like Ed. And hell, they'd all gone through so much together over the years... Sure, this would be a huge transition, but... Well, dammit, they've taken down ecoterrorists and fridge monsters and government projects gone wrong and phantoms from their own pasts...

Yeah, Jet's faith in his crew was finally renewed. He was at last feeling confident, perhaps even cocky, and anxiously looking forward to whatever came next!

xxx

End of Pt 2 of Music Keeps Us Together

See you next time for Pt 3!