KTKG says: Hey everybody! I'm so glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and I'm sorry that it took me so long to write this… I had homework to do over the summer and it's still not done! (My… I am the lazy one though)… well, enough of my talking… ON WITH THE STORY!         

Chapter 3

Her head was pounding, forcing her to do something she didn't want to; open her eyes. The room was dark, save for the streams of light flowing in from the hallway from underneath her door.

She closed her eyes slowly, stretching slightly as she brought her hand down to her face. Man, she had one hell of a hangover, how much did she drink?

Groaning she pushed her hand through her hair. Pulling the confining headband away she sat up, allowing her violet bangs to fall into her eyes and obscure her vision a bit.

She looked around and noticed that she was in her room. How did she get here? Swinging her legs over the side of the bed she stood and made her way over to her dresser, bent on changing out of her yellow vinyl 'whore suit' as Spike had taken to calling it.

She growled, trying to remember what had happened. Last she knew, she was at the bar; chugging away merrily at her beers and stealing some of Spike's when he wasn't looking. Hm… the next thing that she remembered was that 'Fro Boy' was telling her it was time to go.

After that everything was a blank.

She roughly pulled a random t-shirt in her drawer over her head and quickly ran a comb through her hair. Yanking on her shorts she quickly left the room in search of Spike and some coffee… lots of coffee.

She had to find him, he must have put her in her room last night, or this morning… wait what time was it anyway? Oh well, it didn't matter, right now she had to find him, even though her head was throbbing like crazy. Hm… maybe she should find the aspirin first.

She wandered into the bathroom, opening the medical cabinet carefully as not to wake anyone since she still wasn't sure of what time it was. Popping a few aspirin in her mouth she looked at herself in the mirror.

* That stupid idiot let me get drunk*

She stared at herself for a moment, and then slid her eyes shut, making her exhausted reflection disappear from view.

 She hoped dearly that she hadn't made an ass of herself last night in front of him. Last time she woke up in this same predicament Spike seemed as though he was a little weirded out by her, and kept his distance from her a bit. Well, it turned out (as she found out from a heated argument) that she had tried to… well, seduce him basically while she was under the influence.

*Shit, I wonder what I did this time… *

She left the bathroom and immediately a burning smell invaded her nostrils, making her wince. "Well, Jet's up…"

Dragging her feet she slowly made her way to the kitchen and sure enough, standing there slaving away over the stove was the fatherly figure of the ship currently in the motherly role, Jet. "What time did you guys get in? Wait, where did you two even go? I came back with Ed and you two were no where around." He turned around and surveyed her. "Well… maybe I don't want to know."

"Oh haha Jet, very funny. We went out for drinks… Spike's treat." Jet's eyebrow arched at her last comment. "Spike's treat?" She nodded. "It was out of pity really… most likely that's what it was."

He turned his back to her, his attention returning to the stove, as Faye placed her head down on the table. Her headache was subsiding a bit but she still needed a pick-me-up. A light clicking sound was heard as something was set on the table and she looked up to see a cup of coffee, fresh with steam and all, sitting in front of her.

"Are you feeling better today?"

She sat up, slowly taking the coffee in her hands. "What are you talking about?" Her mind wasn't functioning properly in its current state; pain. He still had his back to her, working on whatever he was making. If her memory was correct, there wasn't much left in the fridge; just a tomato, onion, some eggs, and a carton of milk she had seen Spike drink out of one too many times. * Gee… wonder what kind of shit we'll be eating tonight.*

"You want to talk about it? Maybe something will come back to you." Oh, so that's what he was talking about. She looked down at her coffee, watching as her reflection stared back her from the surface of the hot steamy liquid.

Now that she thought about it, she didn't really want to talk about it. Maybe there was something in her past that she didn't want to remember. Maybe something traumatic happened to her or something. * Nah… maybe not…*

"Uh… I don't really feel like talking about it." She looked at him and smiled apologetically. "I understand… maybe when you're feeling better…" She nodded and sipped her coffee some more as he once again went back to the stove.

"Say, Jet, you wouldn't happen to know where Spike is do you?" He looked at her briefly before placing the skillet in the sink. What the hell was he making? "I think he might be in the observation room. I stopped in there earlier and he was out cold on the floor. He might still be there since his lazy ass hasn't come through here yet."

"Thanks."

Finishing the rest of her pick-me-up she stood and walked to the sink, dropping the cup in the water, splashing Jet a bit. Before he could say anything she was already out of the room.

"I swear, that woman…"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Her head was feeling much better now that the aspirin was finally kicking in. The metal floor was freezing beneath her feet. They seemed to become frozen with every step that she took. * Maybe I should have put on some socks… *

She looked down briefly and surveyed her feet as she continued to walk. Her toenails were painted as usual red, but every other toenail was blue, thanks of course to Ed. She growled silently. She swore that everyday with that kid was like opposite day. * I tell her anything but blue and what does she do? She paints it-- *

"BLUE!!!!" Faye jumped a bit as her thought was loudly finished for her. There, by her feet was the head of Ed. "God kid, you really know how to scare someone don't you?"

Ed's only response was a giggle as she slithered away like a demented, red haired snake, stopping suddenly to jump up and fly down the rest of the hallway, her precious 'tomato' bouncing on her head ever so slightly.

"Geez… I wish Jet would just give her some sedatives already…" Shaking her head she continued on to her destination of the observation deck, or as Spike had come to calling it, the 'training room'.

She shivered a bit as she reached the deck, wishing right then and there that she had on more than just some shorts and a random shirt.

Walking quietly into the room, she made sure to move slowly and silently so she wouldn't bump into him suddenly or something. The room was dark, save for the millions of glittering stars outside of the windows.

Standing still, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the severe lack of light. Slowly she was able to distinguish where the walls ended and where the floor began. She looked around as she tried to warm her arms up. The Bebop was getting kind of cold suddenly.

"Where's that sorry ass Lunkhead at?" She turned in a slight circle and looked behind her, making sure she didn't pass him up on her way in.

As she turned, something brushed against her foot and she had to do everything in her power to keep from screaming. * Please… oh PLEASE tell me we don't have any rats… * Grant it, Faye was most of the time a tough-talking tomboy with one hell of a sex appeal; but when it came to rats, she was like any normal girl (or boy), she hated them.

Cautiously she turned back around and looked down at her foot. Laying there an inch away from her was a rather large hand. Upon closer inspection, Faye discovered that the hand was connected to a lanky arm and in turn that was connected to a lanky body.

Sighing with relief, she knelt down beside Spike's sleeping form sprawled out all over the floor. Her lips twisted into a slight frown.

There he was, as Jet had said, on the cold, metal floor in nothing but some training pants, sleeping like a log. * A big stupid log*

She stood and looked around, noticing a shirt that he must have been wearing earlier discarded and laying crumpled in a corner of the room. Quietly as not to wake him, she shuffled over to the unwanted shirt and picked it up smirking.

He always had a habit of doing this. He would take his shirt off sometime during his practice and throw it down in some random place on the deck, forgetting about it completely when he was finished.

She would always come through and pick it up, wash it, and claim it as her own. Finder's keeper's right? She looked down at her shirt for the first time since she put it on to find that she was wearing one of his shirts. Well, it was his, once upon a time ago.

She sniffed the wrinkled shirt in her hands lightly. It smelled of cigarettes and some cologne. Yep, that was him alright.

"Are you smelling my shirt?"

Faye immediately let the shirt drop from her hands and froze as the tenor voice finished echoing off the walls.

Stiffly she turned her head and was met with the sight of Spike lying on his side, head propped up by his hand. She glared at him. He had that damn this-is-gonna-be-blackmail-later look on his face.

*How long has that bastard been awake?*  She locked eyes with him for a moment, his brown ones appearing to be black in the darkened room. They must have been staring at each other for some time, because it felt like eternity before Faye spoke again.

"I see that you're finally up."

He chuckled and moved into a sitting position, his hands disappearing into the huge puff of green that he called hair as he scratched his head. "I should be saying that to you. I thought that you would still be sleeping off all of that alcohol."

He eyes widened a bit at the comment. She growled and looked at the crumpled shirt lying on the floor for a moment before kicking it in Spike's direction.

They both watched as it sailed through the air and landed in his lap silently. He stared at it, and then looked up at Faye just in time to see her making her way over to him. She paused, as if thinking about something, the plopped down beside him. She refused to look at him, still embarrassed by the shirt scene earlier.

Watching her toes as she wiggled them, she tried to ignore the burning sensation of Spike's questioning eyes on her.

"What?" She asked, not even turning to look at him. It wasn't like she couldn't see him. She had a great view of his well-toned and tanned chest, as well as his confused face from the corner of his eye.

"You aren't gonna keep this?" She turned slightly so that he could see that she was eyeing him.

 "Just put it on already!"

"Why should I?"

She couldn't believe what she was about to say. She would have said something smart but at the moment she was completely out of wise cracks. Plus, she hadn't really recovered from her 'night out'.

"Look," she started, bringing her knees up to her chest, "just put it on before you catch a cold or something alright?" A light chuckle and a 'yes mom' reached her ears as he began slipping on the shirt. Why was he chuckling a lot tonight?

Turning away, she shifted her view to the window. His arm brushed hers slightly and that was when she realized that she had plopped herself down closer to him than she had meant. Suddenly she shivered. * Why the hell is this ship so cold?*

She glanced at Spike as he lazily pulled the shirt over his head. He was so close, she could practically feel the heat emitting from his body. With the room's current temperature, getting even closer to him was looking like a real good idea.

"So, to what do I owe this wake up call?" He moved so that he sat in front of her. She sighed as he placed his legs on either side of her, warming her up a bit. "Need a smoke or something?"

"I came to ask you something actually." She shivered again.

"What's wrong? You cold or something?" Smiling wickedly, she shoved a foot up his shirt and pressed it down hard on his stomach. He let out a yelp as he jumped and pulled her foot away. "Alright, dammit, you're cold! You could have just said something." She smiled, obviously satisfied with her revenge on him.

He got up and started making his way towards the hall, leaving Faye confused on the floor. "Where are you going?" He didn't answer her as he disappeared from her sight.

Had she pissed him off? * No way, I only did something I would normally do.* She sat there with her thoughts, only succeeding in getting angrier by the minute. * What the hell gives him the right to just leave like that?*

She was about to jump up and give him a piece of her mind when what little vision she had was obscured by something that was thrown on her head.

* The hell…?* She pulled the offending object off and looked at it. "A blanket?"

"Yeah, a blanket." She blinked to find Spike sitting back in his earlier position across from her. * When did he--* "Hey, I hope you don't think you're going to be hogging that all for yourself, right?" She eyed him and he eyed her back. "Well… we'll have to see about that won't we?"

She wrapped herself completely in the blanket, smiling triumphantly at Spike. He regarded her with a bored expression before jumping her suddenly. After a short struggle, Spike came out victorious, and wrapped himself in the blanket.

Sticking his tongue out at her, he watched as she returned the gesture with her trusty middle finger then crossed her arms. "You're such a dork Spike."

She shivered yet again, making him feel a bit sorry for her, something he found himself doing more of since last night. Quickly he scooted over to her and wrapped some of the blanket around her. "What did you want to ask me?"

She shifted, trying to get into a better position that didn't involve physical contact. Realizing that was impossible, she gave up and lightly leaned against him, hoping he wouldn't mind. Luckily for her he didn't.

"Um… I didn't do anything… odd last night did I?" He fell silent and instantly she began to worry, thinking she might have flashed him or something. She knew that when she was drunk, she tended to do things she normally wanted to do but wouldn't.

"Not really. All you did was talk and talk and pinch my ass." Her face suddenly became hot and she was unbelievably glad that the room was dark. "That's all?"

He became silent again, wondering if he should tell about what she said. She was probably still a bit touchy about her whole not remembering her past situation. "What did I talk about?" He looked at her from the corner of his eye. She just had to ask that question didn't she? Oh well, might as well answer it now.

"You said you wished you could go back to your past." He saw her eyes widen as she bowed her head. "Is that true or was that the drunk you talking?" She looked away and said nothing. Whatever, if she didn't want to give him an answer, he sure as hell wasn't going to push for one.

"Maybe it's true… after all, I'm not really wanted around here."

He sighed, a bit irritated at her thinking. Sure, she had a bad attitude, and tended to take up all the water, not to mention the food, but she did help out with bounties and was a way better nurse than Jet could ever hope to be.

He hated it when she got into her little depressed moods; it just bothered him for some reason. Looking at her he realized that he liked her better angry instead of depressed.

Reaching out, he wrapped an arm around her. She always got ticked off when he made little passes at her. When she didn't react like she normally would have, he came to the conclusion that she really was in a bad mood. Shrugging mentally, he pulled her closer and leaned them both against the wall behind them.

She was too tired to argue with him, all she wanted to know was "why?" He shrugged, not daring to say that he was a little concerned for her knowing she would never let him live it down. "It's cold."

She smirked. "That's a pretty lame excuse," she mumbled as she unconsciously snuggled closer to him, feeling her eyelids get heavier and heavier. Soon she was asleep, still tired from the night before Spike guessed.

Why was he being so nice to her? He had been asking himself that since the events of last night, and much to his dismay, he still didn't have an answer. Sighing heavily he rested his head on the wall behind him, taking one last look at Faye as he closed his eyes.

"Woman, I can honestly say you confuse the hell outta me."

Whether she heard him or not he didn't care, all that mattered was his much-needed sleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

KTKG says: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOK… finished, well, it's not over, but this chapter is. Was it too long? It seemed kinda long to me… Well… as always review PLEASE! I was going to have this follow the series, but if anybody has a different idea all I gotta say is that I'm up for suggestions!

Thanx 4 reading!