Session 12
SOMEBODY TO LOVE
By jak981125
Author's note: This story is part of a series. It will make more sense if you read the earlier sessions.
The beta tape was an obsession with Faye. She had watched it well over a hundred times since she had received it. She had desperately hoped that some element of her past life would have survived, but she had continuously come up empty. All she had managed to do was to track down old classmates of hers. They told her about as much as they could about the person she had been in a prior life. They knew very little of her family, however. One did tell her that her mother hadn't lived long after her accident. She also managed to find out that her real name was Faye Alice Whitley. It was a name that no longer meant anything to her. For that matter, Faye Valentine was becoming meaningless as well. It would be Faye Xiang soon enough.
Faye was not the patient type. She had insisted on a short engagement. Now that the wedding date was approaching, she was becoming extremely nervous. I suppose that would be natural for anyone especially someone who still doesn't know much about who they are.
One day, Ed was playing soccer in a park on Tharsis. She hadn't been invited to join the game, she just jumped in. None of the kids seemed to mind. Faye had been bored and agreed to go on a walk with her and Ein and on that walk they had just stumbled into the game. Ed was the oldest kid there. She didn't quite seem to get the concept of being on a team. She would just try to kick the ball towards whichever goal was nearest. She seemed to be having a good time and no one objected. Nearby, some moms were sitting with one another talking and watching their kids play. Faye was quite certain she heard one of them inquire as to Ed's sanity. Just then, another woman arrived and joined the group. She was about 40 with short black hair. She looked exceptionally good for her age. Faye couldn't stop staring at her. Her woman's intuition was going into overdrive. There was just something about her…
On the other side of town, Lau was frustrated. He was at a used car dealership and the salesman was a real pain. "I defy you to show me a better car for a better price anywhere in the city of Tharsis," said the salesman, leaning on a rusty compact. As he leaned, the bumper fell off.
Lau shook his head in disbelief. He walked away and joined Jet who was watching the TVs at an electronics store across the street. "Find anything?" asked Jet. Lau gave him a look that told him not to bring it up again. "Well, you were the one who said you needed a land vehicle; that you couldn't go using the Swordfish for everything."
Faye snuck over to the street where the woman's car was parked. She quickly copied down the license plate number. She looked around to make sure no one had seen her do it, and then headed back to the park. Ed approached her all worn out. Faye looked and noticed that the other women were pointing her out to the woman she had been watching. Maybe they had seen her by the car.
"Faye Faye, Ed is thirsty. Can we go get…"
"Sure, anything you want," interrupted Faye. She grabbed Ed by the arm and walked away as quickly as she could. Ein tagged along behind them. The woman watched them as they left.
At another dealership, Lau and Jet came back from a test drive. The saleswoman approached them. "Well gentleman, what did you think?"
"I may be new to this whole car-buying thing, but if the brakes die two out of three times that you use them, that's bad, isn't it?" asked Lau.
"Only one third of the time, it gave you trouble, and you're complaining?" asked the saleswoman.
Jet and Lau looked at one another and walked away.
Faye had taken Ed to a nearby mall where she had bought her a frozen lemonade. Ed grabbed her head. "Oh, brain freeze, brain freeze!" Faye barely even noticed. She was lost in thought. She remembered a conversation she had recently had with an old classmate of hers.
"Your poor mother," the classmate had said. "Since you were frozen, but not dead, she didn't know how to react emotionally. She couldn't let herself grieve for you. I think that's what killed her. I heard your father got remarried to a younger woman and they had a daughter together."
"Excuse me ma'am." The voice of a mall security guard brought her back to reality. "We don't allow dogs in the mall unless they are helper animals."
Faye smirked. "Oh but he is. Ed here is blind and he's her guide dog."
Ed decided to play along. "Who said that? Who's talking? Where am I?"
"Nice try," replied the guard. "Now either get that dog out of here or I'll have to ask you to leave."
Faye suddenly noticed the woman from the park entering with her two boys. "OK, we'll leave. Come on Ed." Once again Faye tried to grab her by the arm and drag her away.
"Edward's not finished!" complained Ed. She grabbed the frozen lemonade and downed it with one gulp. "Ah! More brain freeze!" she cried. Faye pulled her away as quickly as she could.
Back outside, Ed and Faye walked away from the mall. "Why Faye Faye in such a hurry?" asked Ed.
"I'll let you in on a little secret Ed. I saw a woman in there and I think she might be my little sister."
"Oh, Edward will go back in and ask the woman if she's the sister person." Ed tried to run back in but Faye grabbed her by the hair. "Ow! You could just say no thank you to Edward."
At yet another dealership, a salesman was showing off a green sedan. "This one is absolutely top of the line. It's got less than thirty-thousand miles on it. What do you think?"
"I think you look familiar," replied Lau. He pulled the scanner sunglasses out of his pocket and scanned the salesman's face. "Just as I thought. You have a one hundred grand bounty for sales fraud." He and Jet whipped out their guns and pointed them at the salesman.
"But fellas, I'm prepared to make you a great deal."
"Oh we're prepared to make you a great deal too," replied Jet. "The deal is we won't shoot if you cooperate."
Back on the Bebop, Faye sat in the bathtub. She was in deep thought. Images flashed through her mind of her old memories of family and friends. Then she remembered the day she went back home and found an empty lot instead of her house. She sighed in sadness.
Just then, a loud knock came at the door. Without waiting for a reply from Faye, the door was opened. It was Ed. "Ed, close that door!" yelled Faye.
Ed stepped inside and closed the door. "You've been in the bathtub for an hour," whined Ed. "You must look like a raisin by now. And Ed needs a bath too." Without waiting for a response, Ed jumped into the tub with Faye with all her clothes on. Faye immediately grabbed a towel. She jumped out of the tub and wrapped the towel around herself. Ed was oblivious and began doing the backstroke. "Ed is a time saver. She washes herself and her clothes at the same time. You should try it sometime, Faye Faye."
Meanwhile, Lau and Jet drove a black sedan back to the Bebop. "I told you we should have just gone to a dealership," replied Jet. "But no, you had to go to every used car lot in town first."
"I thought I could get a better deal," replied Lau.
"A deal where you save a few wulongs in exchange for no brakes isn't a very good deal if you ask me," smirked Jet.
"Well I didn't ask you," replied Lau angrily. "Honestly, I think you enjoy seeing me suffer."
"Only when you're being a stubborn jackass," replied Jet. As the two of them approached the Bebop, they saw the Redtail take off. "I wonder what that was about."
Jet pulled out a remote control and pushed a button. A gangplank came out of the side of the deck. They were able to drive the car right into the hangar. The two of them walked in just in time to see Ed emerge from the bathroom soaking wet and dripping all over the place. She shook herself off the way a dog would.
"Where's Faye?" asked Lau. "I wanted her to see the car I just bought."
"Faye Faye gone," replied Ed. "She went to find the sister person."
"You mean she went to see a nun?" asked Lau.
Jet groaned. "No, I don't think that's what she means. I think Faye went to look for some relative. Damn."
"What's wrong with that?" asked Lau.
Jet looked at the floor. He had a strange look in his eye. He was remembering when Faye and Ed had left. "Every time that woman goes digging up her past, it's always trouble," he said quietly. "At least you came back," said Jet to Ed as he put an arm around her. "Oh great, now I'm wet!"
Faye flew over Tharsis. She punched in the license plate number into the Redtail's computer. Sure enough, it came up with a Regina Thompson whose maiden name was Whitley.
Back on the Bebop, Ed entered in the same information on her computer and got the same feedback. "Yup, same last name. This must be Faye's sister person."
Lau stared at the woman's photo. "Now that you mention it, she does look a little like Faye."
"I would go after her if I were you, if you still want to marry her, that is," cautioned Jet. "She goes looking for this woman and who knows what'll happen. Or if she'll come back."
Faye walked up to a house in a suburb just outside of Tharsis. She raised her fist to knock on the door, but she lost her nerve. She turned and walked away. Just then the door opened and Regina Thompson stepped out. "What's the deal here?" she asked. "You stalking me or something?"
Faye turned back around to look at the woman. She tried to speak, but she just couldn't do it. "I'm sorry," she finally managed to mutter. She walked away with her eyes to the ground.
"Hey!" called out Regina. She walked up to Faye. "Are you OK?" Faye nodded weakly. "Look, I didn't mean to upset you. It's just not everyday you see some young lady you don't know following you around. There're a lot of weirdoes on this planet. I just wanted to make sure you weren't one of them."
Faye managed a weak smile. "Oh, I'm definitely a weirdo," she replied. "A weirdo who has a younger sister who's older than her."
Regina gasped. "Wait, you're name wouldn't happen to be Faye, now would it?" asked Regina. Faye nodded. "And your last name wouldn't happen to be Whitley, would it?" Faye nodded again. "Holy cow. I was wondering if you would show up someday."
Back on the Bebop, Lau looked through the fridge for a snack. He closed it without getting anything. It was obvious he was starting to get a little worried.
In the meantime…"So you knew all about me?" asked Faye.
"I don't know if I would say ALL about you," replied Regina. "When I was a teenager I found a photograph of you. I asked dad about it and he admitted that I had a sister in cryogenic sleep who might come back some day. He warned me you might show up looking for me when I was older. I just never thought it would really happen."
"I don't want to go disrupting your life or anything," said Faye. "I just wanted to see you."
"Oh, go ahead and disrupt it," replied Regina with a smile. "My life was too boring to start with."
Back on the Bebop, Lau lay on the couch. What Jet had said weighed heavily on his mind. Ein came up and nuzzled his hand but he barely even noticed. Ein persisted and Lau finally picked him up and placed him on his chest. He scratched behind the little dog's ears. "You don't think there's any chance she won't come back?" he asked more to himself than to the dog. Ein showed no intention of giving any sort of answer.
Regina and Faye sat together on Regina's back porch. The two of them were smoking and talking. "So how long have you been awake?" asked Regina.
"Four years," replied Faye.
"Four years? And you waited till now to come find me?"
"It wasn't that simple," replied Faye. "When I woke up, all my memories were erased. I didn't recover them for three years. And even then, it took me a while to find much information about myself or my family."
"It must have been one hell of a shocker, waking up in this day and age," replied Regina.
"It was. I think a part of me remembered I had lived sort of innocent and carefree. The world I woke up to was just the opposite. It's like I had to become some tough little BSer or I wouldn't have survived. It just wasn't me. Not entirely, anyway."
"I hear you," said Regina. "This is the world I grew up in and even I'm not used to it yet." Faye nodded and extinguished her cigarette. "So how did you end up running into me today of all days?"
"Oh, long story, replied Faye. "Mostly coincidence. Mainly, I've just been thinking about the past a lot lately. I guess it's just pre-wedding jitters."
"You getting married? Aw well, mazel tov kid!"
"Thanks. Anyway, when I saw you in that park, I just knew. I don't know how but I just knew. I wanted to see you but I was too freaked out."
"I would have been freaked out too," replied Regina. "I wish I had gotten that same sense when I saw you, but I didn't. I should have known better. The family resemblance is pretty obvious."
Back on the Bebop, Lau continued to wait while Ein slept on his chest. Jet walked in and looked at him. "I'm sorry I said anything," he said.
"We were supposed to take off two hours ago," replied Lau. "I guess I can't blame her. I just worry, you know? You said she gets all weird when she digs into her past. You're right, she does. I just don't want to see her suffer like this. There's just something about her, you know?"
"Yeah."
"Something special. Something you want to protect. Something you would never want to see hurting. That girl is magic. She can make you feel so many things at once that it just breaks your heart not to be with her. I just can't be happy if she's not. I love her."
Jet sighed. "Someone would be blessed to have someone feel the way about them that you do about Faye."
"I am blessed."
Both Lau and Jet looked behind them. They hadn't heard Faye come in. "I heard all that stuff you said. I want you to know that I'm not unhappy. Not really."
Lau took Ein off his chest and shifted to a sitting position. Faye sat next to him. "I shouldn't obsess over the past, that's a given," said Faye. "But from the moment I woke up, I felt like I belonged in the past, and that this world just couldn't be for me. Not at the age of 24 anyway. I nearly died when I met an old classmate of mine, and she was in a wheelchair already. I was afraid to see my sister because I was worried I'd feel like that all over again, only this time it would be worse because it was a relative, not a friend."
"Was it worse?" asked Lau.
"No, better. She felt like a real sister. Someone that belonged here and made me feel like maybe I belong here too. You were the only other person that ever made me feel like that, Lau. Now I'm starting to feel like I'll be OK and believe me, that's a first."
"So can I toss that beta tape?" asked Jet hopefully?
"You do and you'll have two fake arms," warned Faye.
The next two days were a blur. Faye hardly spent any time on Bebop at all. She spent nearly all her time over at Regina's. The two of them acted like they had known each other for ever.
Finally the big day came. The Bebop entered hyperspace and headed for Earth. Their destination was Las Vegas. Even in that day and age, Vegas was still THE place to get married. And of course, the Bebop crew being the perfect saints that they were had no intention whatsoever to partake of the games of chance offered in that town.
Regina came along with them. She was a widow, as it turned out, who had two boys who were about Ed's age (one was a year younger). Ed may have been weird, but she was good looking and those boys practically beat each other senseless trying to get her to notice them. The two had never been to Earth before and school wasn't in session, so it seemed like an ideal opportunity for a vacation.
It was a nice wedding in every sense of the word. It was held at a small church on the outskirts of town, rather than at some dinky little wedding chapel. This was done at Lau's insistence since it seemed to make the wedding seem more legitimate and not one of those spur of the moment Vegas weddings. Jet had a double role. He gave the bride away and acted as Lau's best man. Regina was the matron of honor. Ed was the only bridesmaid. She was ten times more self-conscious about her dress now that two boys were present. The minister was an old department chaplain from ISSP that Jet had known. And Faye was probably the best looking bride you've ever seen in your life.
The minister remarked that weddings were getting rarer in a day and age where most people just didn't bother. Upon hearing that, Faye secretly wished that Spike and Julia had gotten married and lived happily ever after.
After the wedding, Ed caught the bouquet. She had very little competition (the only other single women there were Regina and Laverne) but she acted like she was prepared to fight off an army of desperate spinsters. At the reception, it turned out that Ed was actually a pretty good dancer. She kept Regina's boys on their toes the whole time. And of course she insisted on dancing with the bride at least once. All in all it was a perfect day. Of course the next day they all lost big time at the slots, but hey, what's a few wulongs compared to a life together?
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU SPACE COWBOY AND WIFE
(c) 2004 Joseph Kerner
jak981125@catholic.org
Disclaimer: I did not create Cowboy Bebop. I wish I had, but I didn't. This is just fanfiction
SOMEBODY TO LOVE
By jak981125
Author's note: This story is part of a series. It will make more sense if you read the earlier sessions.
The beta tape was an obsession with Faye. She had watched it well over a hundred times since she had received it. She had desperately hoped that some element of her past life would have survived, but she had continuously come up empty. All she had managed to do was to track down old classmates of hers. They told her about as much as they could about the person she had been in a prior life. They knew very little of her family, however. One did tell her that her mother hadn't lived long after her accident. She also managed to find out that her real name was Faye Alice Whitley. It was a name that no longer meant anything to her. For that matter, Faye Valentine was becoming meaningless as well. It would be Faye Xiang soon enough.
Faye was not the patient type. She had insisted on a short engagement. Now that the wedding date was approaching, she was becoming extremely nervous. I suppose that would be natural for anyone especially someone who still doesn't know much about who they are.
One day, Ed was playing soccer in a park on Tharsis. She hadn't been invited to join the game, she just jumped in. None of the kids seemed to mind. Faye had been bored and agreed to go on a walk with her and Ein and on that walk they had just stumbled into the game. Ed was the oldest kid there. She didn't quite seem to get the concept of being on a team. She would just try to kick the ball towards whichever goal was nearest. She seemed to be having a good time and no one objected. Nearby, some moms were sitting with one another talking and watching their kids play. Faye was quite certain she heard one of them inquire as to Ed's sanity. Just then, another woman arrived and joined the group. She was about 40 with short black hair. She looked exceptionally good for her age. Faye couldn't stop staring at her. Her woman's intuition was going into overdrive. There was just something about her…
On the other side of town, Lau was frustrated. He was at a used car dealership and the salesman was a real pain. "I defy you to show me a better car for a better price anywhere in the city of Tharsis," said the salesman, leaning on a rusty compact. As he leaned, the bumper fell off.
Lau shook his head in disbelief. He walked away and joined Jet who was watching the TVs at an electronics store across the street. "Find anything?" asked Jet. Lau gave him a look that told him not to bring it up again. "Well, you were the one who said you needed a land vehicle; that you couldn't go using the Swordfish for everything."
Faye snuck over to the street where the woman's car was parked. She quickly copied down the license plate number. She looked around to make sure no one had seen her do it, and then headed back to the park. Ed approached her all worn out. Faye looked and noticed that the other women were pointing her out to the woman she had been watching. Maybe they had seen her by the car.
"Faye Faye, Ed is thirsty. Can we go get…"
"Sure, anything you want," interrupted Faye. She grabbed Ed by the arm and walked away as quickly as she could. Ein tagged along behind them. The woman watched them as they left.
At another dealership, Lau and Jet came back from a test drive. The saleswoman approached them. "Well gentleman, what did you think?"
"I may be new to this whole car-buying thing, but if the brakes die two out of three times that you use them, that's bad, isn't it?" asked Lau.
"Only one third of the time, it gave you trouble, and you're complaining?" asked the saleswoman.
Jet and Lau looked at one another and walked away.
Faye had taken Ed to a nearby mall where she had bought her a frozen lemonade. Ed grabbed her head. "Oh, brain freeze, brain freeze!" Faye barely even noticed. She was lost in thought. She remembered a conversation she had recently had with an old classmate of hers.
"Your poor mother," the classmate had said. "Since you were frozen, but not dead, she didn't know how to react emotionally. She couldn't let herself grieve for you. I think that's what killed her. I heard your father got remarried to a younger woman and they had a daughter together."
"Excuse me ma'am." The voice of a mall security guard brought her back to reality. "We don't allow dogs in the mall unless they are helper animals."
Faye smirked. "Oh but he is. Ed here is blind and he's her guide dog."
Ed decided to play along. "Who said that? Who's talking? Where am I?"
"Nice try," replied the guard. "Now either get that dog out of here or I'll have to ask you to leave."
Faye suddenly noticed the woman from the park entering with her two boys. "OK, we'll leave. Come on Ed." Once again Faye tried to grab her by the arm and drag her away.
"Edward's not finished!" complained Ed. She grabbed the frozen lemonade and downed it with one gulp. "Ah! More brain freeze!" she cried. Faye pulled her away as quickly as she could.
Back outside, Ed and Faye walked away from the mall. "Why Faye Faye in such a hurry?" asked Ed.
"I'll let you in on a little secret Ed. I saw a woman in there and I think she might be my little sister."
"Oh, Edward will go back in and ask the woman if she's the sister person." Ed tried to run back in but Faye grabbed her by the hair. "Ow! You could just say no thank you to Edward."
At yet another dealership, a salesman was showing off a green sedan. "This one is absolutely top of the line. It's got less than thirty-thousand miles on it. What do you think?"
"I think you look familiar," replied Lau. He pulled the scanner sunglasses out of his pocket and scanned the salesman's face. "Just as I thought. You have a one hundred grand bounty for sales fraud." He and Jet whipped out their guns and pointed them at the salesman.
"But fellas, I'm prepared to make you a great deal."
"Oh we're prepared to make you a great deal too," replied Jet. "The deal is we won't shoot if you cooperate."
Back on the Bebop, Faye sat in the bathtub. She was in deep thought. Images flashed through her mind of her old memories of family and friends. Then she remembered the day she went back home and found an empty lot instead of her house. She sighed in sadness.
Just then, a loud knock came at the door. Without waiting for a reply from Faye, the door was opened. It was Ed. "Ed, close that door!" yelled Faye.
Ed stepped inside and closed the door. "You've been in the bathtub for an hour," whined Ed. "You must look like a raisin by now. And Ed needs a bath too." Without waiting for a response, Ed jumped into the tub with Faye with all her clothes on. Faye immediately grabbed a towel. She jumped out of the tub and wrapped the towel around herself. Ed was oblivious and began doing the backstroke. "Ed is a time saver. She washes herself and her clothes at the same time. You should try it sometime, Faye Faye."
Meanwhile, Lau and Jet drove a black sedan back to the Bebop. "I told you we should have just gone to a dealership," replied Jet. "But no, you had to go to every used car lot in town first."
"I thought I could get a better deal," replied Lau.
"A deal where you save a few wulongs in exchange for no brakes isn't a very good deal if you ask me," smirked Jet.
"Well I didn't ask you," replied Lau angrily. "Honestly, I think you enjoy seeing me suffer."
"Only when you're being a stubborn jackass," replied Jet. As the two of them approached the Bebop, they saw the Redtail take off. "I wonder what that was about."
Jet pulled out a remote control and pushed a button. A gangplank came out of the side of the deck. They were able to drive the car right into the hangar. The two of them walked in just in time to see Ed emerge from the bathroom soaking wet and dripping all over the place. She shook herself off the way a dog would.
"Where's Faye?" asked Lau. "I wanted her to see the car I just bought."
"Faye Faye gone," replied Ed. "She went to find the sister person."
"You mean she went to see a nun?" asked Lau.
Jet groaned. "No, I don't think that's what she means. I think Faye went to look for some relative. Damn."
"What's wrong with that?" asked Lau.
Jet looked at the floor. He had a strange look in his eye. He was remembering when Faye and Ed had left. "Every time that woman goes digging up her past, it's always trouble," he said quietly. "At least you came back," said Jet to Ed as he put an arm around her. "Oh great, now I'm wet!"
Faye flew over Tharsis. She punched in the license plate number into the Redtail's computer. Sure enough, it came up with a Regina Thompson whose maiden name was Whitley.
Back on the Bebop, Ed entered in the same information on her computer and got the same feedback. "Yup, same last name. This must be Faye's sister person."
Lau stared at the woman's photo. "Now that you mention it, she does look a little like Faye."
"I would go after her if I were you, if you still want to marry her, that is," cautioned Jet. "She goes looking for this woman and who knows what'll happen. Or if she'll come back."
Faye walked up to a house in a suburb just outside of Tharsis. She raised her fist to knock on the door, but she lost her nerve. She turned and walked away. Just then the door opened and Regina Thompson stepped out. "What's the deal here?" she asked. "You stalking me or something?"
Faye turned back around to look at the woman. She tried to speak, but she just couldn't do it. "I'm sorry," she finally managed to mutter. She walked away with her eyes to the ground.
"Hey!" called out Regina. She walked up to Faye. "Are you OK?" Faye nodded weakly. "Look, I didn't mean to upset you. It's just not everyday you see some young lady you don't know following you around. There're a lot of weirdoes on this planet. I just wanted to make sure you weren't one of them."
Faye managed a weak smile. "Oh, I'm definitely a weirdo," she replied. "A weirdo who has a younger sister who's older than her."
Regina gasped. "Wait, you're name wouldn't happen to be Faye, now would it?" asked Regina. Faye nodded. "And your last name wouldn't happen to be Whitley, would it?" Faye nodded again. "Holy cow. I was wondering if you would show up someday."
Back on the Bebop, Lau looked through the fridge for a snack. He closed it without getting anything. It was obvious he was starting to get a little worried.
In the meantime…"So you knew all about me?" asked Faye.
"I don't know if I would say ALL about you," replied Regina. "When I was a teenager I found a photograph of you. I asked dad about it and he admitted that I had a sister in cryogenic sleep who might come back some day. He warned me you might show up looking for me when I was older. I just never thought it would really happen."
"I don't want to go disrupting your life or anything," said Faye. "I just wanted to see you."
"Oh, go ahead and disrupt it," replied Regina with a smile. "My life was too boring to start with."
Back on the Bebop, Lau lay on the couch. What Jet had said weighed heavily on his mind. Ein came up and nuzzled his hand but he barely even noticed. Ein persisted and Lau finally picked him up and placed him on his chest. He scratched behind the little dog's ears. "You don't think there's any chance she won't come back?" he asked more to himself than to the dog. Ein showed no intention of giving any sort of answer.
Regina and Faye sat together on Regina's back porch. The two of them were smoking and talking. "So how long have you been awake?" asked Regina.
"Four years," replied Faye.
"Four years? And you waited till now to come find me?"
"It wasn't that simple," replied Faye. "When I woke up, all my memories were erased. I didn't recover them for three years. And even then, it took me a while to find much information about myself or my family."
"It must have been one hell of a shocker, waking up in this day and age," replied Regina.
"It was. I think a part of me remembered I had lived sort of innocent and carefree. The world I woke up to was just the opposite. It's like I had to become some tough little BSer or I wouldn't have survived. It just wasn't me. Not entirely, anyway."
"I hear you," said Regina. "This is the world I grew up in and even I'm not used to it yet." Faye nodded and extinguished her cigarette. "So how did you end up running into me today of all days?"
"Oh, long story, replied Faye. "Mostly coincidence. Mainly, I've just been thinking about the past a lot lately. I guess it's just pre-wedding jitters."
"You getting married? Aw well, mazel tov kid!"
"Thanks. Anyway, when I saw you in that park, I just knew. I don't know how but I just knew. I wanted to see you but I was too freaked out."
"I would have been freaked out too," replied Regina. "I wish I had gotten that same sense when I saw you, but I didn't. I should have known better. The family resemblance is pretty obvious."
Back on the Bebop, Lau continued to wait while Ein slept on his chest. Jet walked in and looked at him. "I'm sorry I said anything," he said.
"We were supposed to take off two hours ago," replied Lau. "I guess I can't blame her. I just worry, you know? You said she gets all weird when she digs into her past. You're right, she does. I just don't want to see her suffer like this. There's just something about her, you know?"
"Yeah."
"Something special. Something you want to protect. Something you would never want to see hurting. That girl is magic. She can make you feel so many things at once that it just breaks your heart not to be with her. I just can't be happy if she's not. I love her."
Jet sighed. "Someone would be blessed to have someone feel the way about them that you do about Faye."
"I am blessed."
Both Lau and Jet looked behind them. They hadn't heard Faye come in. "I heard all that stuff you said. I want you to know that I'm not unhappy. Not really."
Lau took Ein off his chest and shifted to a sitting position. Faye sat next to him. "I shouldn't obsess over the past, that's a given," said Faye. "But from the moment I woke up, I felt like I belonged in the past, and that this world just couldn't be for me. Not at the age of 24 anyway. I nearly died when I met an old classmate of mine, and she was in a wheelchair already. I was afraid to see my sister because I was worried I'd feel like that all over again, only this time it would be worse because it was a relative, not a friend."
"Was it worse?" asked Lau.
"No, better. She felt like a real sister. Someone that belonged here and made me feel like maybe I belong here too. You were the only other person that ever made me feel like that, Lau. Now I'm starting to feel like I'll be OK and believe me, that's a first."
"So can I toss that beta tape?" asked Jet hopefully?
"You do and you'll have two fake arms," warned Faye.
The next two days were a blur. Faye hardly spent any time on Bebop at all. She spent nearly all her time over at Regina's. The two of them acted like they had known each other for ever.
Finally the big day came. The Bebop entered hyperspace and headed for Earth. Their destination was Las Vegas. Even in that day and age, Vegas was still THE place to get married. And of course, the Bebop crew being the perfect saints that they were had no intention whatsoever to partake of the games of chance offered in that town.
Regina came along with them. She was a widow, as it turned out, who had two boys who were about Ed's age (one was a year younger). Ed may have been weird, but she was good looking and those boys practically beat each other senseless trying to get her to notice them. The two had never been to Earth before and school wasn't in session, so it seemed like an ideal opportunity for a vacation.
It was a nice wedding in every sense of the word. It was held at a small church on the outskirts of town, rather than at some dinky little wedding chapel. This was done at Lau's insistence since it seemed to make the wedding seem more legitimate and not one of those spur of the moment Vegas weddings. Jet had a double role. He gave the bride away and acted as Lau's best man. Regina was the matron of honor. Ed was the only bridesmaid. She was ten times more self-conscious about her dress now that two boys were present. The minister was an old department chaplain from ISSP that Jet had known. And Faye was probably the best looking bride you've ever seen in your life.
The minister remarked that weddings were getting rarer in a day and age where most people just didn't bother. Upon hearing that, Faye secretly wished that Spike and Julia had gotten married and lived happily ever after.
After the wedding, Ed caught the bouquet. She had very little competition (the only other single women there were Regina and Laverne) but she acted like she was prepared to fight off an army of desperate spinsters. At the reception, it turned out that Ed was actually a pretty good dancer. She kept Regina's boys on their toes the whole time. And of course she insisted on dancing with the bride at least once. All in all it was a perfect day. Of course the next day they all lost big time at the slots, but hey, what's a few wulongs compared to a life together?
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU SPACE COWBOY AND WIFE
(c) 2004 Joseph Kerner
jak981125@catholic.org
Disclaimer: I did not create Cowboy Bebop. I wish I had, but I didn't. This is just fanfiction