CB: Cat and Mouse, -XII-
She waltzes out of the bathroom and down into the common room wearing his robe. Her short hair is bound in a towel tightly, and she is smiling, and humming a little. "What are you so happy about? Last I checked, there was another Syndicate family that wants you dead."
"The Syndicate and I have danced this dance before," she says, her voice sharp. "It'll likely turn out the same way it always does."
"What about him?" I ask.
She freezes in her tracks.
"What about who?"
"Don't play dumb with me. What about Spike?"
There is quiet for a long while, and then she speaks. "You're being fatherly again, Jette. Spike can take care of himself. He always has."
"Spike needs someone to protect. And from what I've seen, you're not offering him that."
"What he needs is for you to let him live his life." She sounds offended, and I notice her shoulders tighten in the robe she's wearing, she pulls it closed more around her. "Spike will be just fine the way that he is!" She stamps her bare foot on the ground and the towel falls from her hair.
I cross, picking it up off the floor behind her, and offer it to her.
"He came back from the dead for you, you know?"
When she finally turns around, I can see it in her eyes. She knows just as well as I do how he feels about her. I didn't need to say a word.
"I know," she replies in an equally soft voice, taking the towel in both hands and holding it to her chest.
"He could've gone after her, again."
"He didn't."
I nod. She lowers her eyes to the towel and doesn't say anything for a long moment. "I know," she says again. "Is my old room the way I left it?"
And I hate to admit to her that it is. But I can't lie to her right now, not when she's feeling as lost as she looks swimming in the oversized robe of his.
Faye is a beautiful woman. Her pale skin is creamy and those eyes…
But I am too old for her.
And I've had my fill of women for this life time.
"Yes."
"I don't have anything clean to put on, so I guess I'll have to do laundry when we stop later."
"I don't intend on stopping until I've gotten the two of you far away from here. So you may be in those clothes for a while." I fold my arms and turn to head back for the bridge. If nothing else, this is still my ship.
"Hey! That's not very nice."
"Neither is a bullet to the back of the skull. Or the temple. Or the chest. Neither is having your bones shattered and the nerves in your arm severed and beyond repair. But you know what, that's life. Deal with the clothes Faye, let me deal with your safety." I head towards the exit, up the stairs and to the left.
"Why… why did you save us?"
Her voice makes me stop in the doorway. I could ignore her right now, but no, that would be cruel. "Because I know what it's like being on this ship alone, and I don't want to do it anymore," I reply, glancing back to look at her. She's standing with her back to me and the towel still held in her hands. Filled with silent dignity. "Maybe. Or maybe I just didn't want to see what he worked so hard to finally get his hands on crumble the way it always does. There's nothing wrong with Spike."
"You and I are the only people alive who think that way, anymore, Spike."
"Then maybe we're the only sane people left."
"He's not easy to get along with, you know." Her voice echoes after me as I make a move to enter the doorway. "I don't blame people for not being able to see past that. It's only natural. People want the simple things."
"Did you?"
"For a long time, yes. I did."
Whatever else she has to say, she can say later. I step out into the hallway and wait for the entrance to the bridge to swing around.
