don't own.

Spike quickly fell into rhythm with the rest of the family pretty easily, volunteering to help where he could. It took three days to air out his old room, mostly because he found the remains of a half eaten sandwich under the bed. This sent shivers up his spine when he thought of the last time he had forgotten to dispose of one of his meals properly. His room had not been touched by anyone else, as if they were waiting for him to come back. He tried on his old suits and found that they all still fit, all they needed was a good wash.

He also enjoyed watching his friends. He would never have guessed Faye and Jet would hook up, but now that he thought about it, it made sense. Jet was always worrying about her, though he did laugh when she suffered the consequences of on of her minor indiscretions, i.e. food poisoning when she ate the expired foot rations. They bickered a lot, but it was rarely anything serious, and they usually started when Jet treated Faye like a porcelain doll. They were all now used to the phrase, "I'm not broke, Jet, I can do it myself." Poor sop, he was doomed. He would make a great dad, though. After taking Ed in he had plenty of experience. Of course, she was well passed the diaper stage when she joined the crew. Anyway, Spike did spy Jet stealing a kiss from Faye when they thought no one was looking.

Ed boggled his mind; she was almost like a different person. She hadn't gotten very tall, five two at the tallest, maybe, but she had filled out, no longer the gangly beanpole with rubber limbs. Her face had matured as well, leaving her with cat like golden eyes and long eyelashes, and rosy cheeks and lips contrasted by her still deeply tanned skin.

She was still the resident genius, hacking into computer systems and building anything and everything that the ship needed, from new laser guns to a crib for the new baby. She still talked to herself when she hacked, but it was not longer in third person, well, most of the time. And she didn't call Jet and Spike Jet-person and Spike-person anymore. She did still call Faye, however, Faye-Faye, but it was more a term of endearment now.

She wasn't nearly as hyper as she once was either. Jet said most of that had disappeared when she came back from the brink of death. Spike wondered what kind of illness would make the stomach of steal sick like that. She had never even had a cold as far as he could remember.

The Bebop team had become an extremely successful and feared team. They almost never went hungry anymore, and it was never for very long if they did. Jet usually picked the target, and Ed located him or her using the Tomato. Before the pregnancy it was Faye's job to lure them out, but Jet and Ed had been taking turns lately. It was usually Jet who got stuck with the job. They preferred to scare them into the sky because Ed had set up a way to remotely hack into the mono-system of any flying vehicle and shut down everything. Then all that was left to tow the poor soul into the nearest ISSP station and collect the bounty. Spike couldn't have come at a better time, because hunting was so much easier with at least three, and Ed was needed behind the keyboard. With Faye's exceptional accounting skills and Jet to keep her honest and away from the casino's they had been able to stay completely in the black for five years. That meant that there was usually beef for Jet's beef and peppers stir-fry.

Who'd a thunk it? Spike asked himself as he walked through the main living area toward the fridge. As he poured a glass of milk he could hear the 'ping ping ping' of Ed working in the 'garage.' "I think I'll go see what she's up to."

Spike followed the sound to the very back of the room where he saw Ed's legs sticking out from under a strange looking vehicle on blocks. Her legs were bent at the knees and crossed one over the other and one was tapping to a beat as she continued with the pinging. From the waist down she was covered in grease and oil, so he was fairly sure that the top half matched.

Spike sat down at a nearby table and watched the leg swing back and forth for a few minutes before he his eyes began to wander. He knew this was the place she had adopted as her personal space, so he risked life and limb by invading it uninvited, but he was used to risking life and limb, so what was new. There was tools scattered about the room, some on the floor near her, within easy reach, some piled on a work bench across the room, and several on the table next to his chair. There was also a large standing green chalkboard with a series of symbols written on it. He wasn't sure if it was a mathematical equation or a foreign language.

"If you're going to be down here make yourself useful and hand me that ratchet with the 5/8 hexagonal attachment next you on the table, would ya?" Ed said without coming out from under the vehicle, but holding her hand out expectantly.

"Yes ma'am." He sat staring at the tools next to him for a moment. Ed began to wiggle her fingers expectantly and he began to panic. Damn it, he thought, I'm the one that breaks things, I don't know anything about fixing them.

Edward dragged herself out from under the car and came over to see what he was doing, not removing the headphones from her ears. She hid a grin at his helpless expression and reached over and picked it up. "This." She held the L-shaped shiny metal object under his nose.

Before he could respond Jet yelled from the door way across the room, "Hey, Ed, Sean's on the communicator."

"Coming." Ed ran out of the room.

"Dang it!"

Ed was sitting on the couch talking to someone on the communicator and Jet and Faye were sitting at the dinning room table they had added playing cards when Spike came in and nonchalantly sat down across from Ed.

She was grinning at something the guy, "Sean," was saying to her, he assumed he was hitting on her. Spike decided to he didn't like a stranger hitting on Ed. An evil grin spread across his face. "Is that your boyfriend? His head is kinda small for his shoulders don't ya think?"

Ed choked on her drink. Fortunately she didn't think Sean had heard him, but he did ask, "Are you OK, Ed. You look a little sick."

She glared over the screen at Spike, "I'm fine, I just got a bad taste in my mouth is all." Spike made a face at her. "I have to go, Sean. I have to take care of something. I'll see you tomorrow when we land on Ganymede."

"All right, I'll let everybody know where to meet us. Talk to you tomorrow."

The screen blinked off and a book flew at Spike's head simultaneously. "What's the matter with you. He's not my boyfriend, he's a hacker. We share tips."

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days. I'd a never guessed." Rage spread across her face as she prepared to attack. "So, where are we meeting people tomorrow?"

"You are not meeting anyone tomorrow, I'm going to a mathematicians convention and you and Jet can take Faye to her OBGYN appointment."

Spike shuddered at the thought of an office full of pregnant women staring at him. "I think I'll come with you, thank you very much."

"Oh, like hell you will. You'll just be bored and start bugging people, and then I'll never be invited to come ever again."

"It's just a hacker meeting, what's the big deal?"

"It's not a hacker meeting, it's a mathematics meeting," she snapped.

"A hacker meeting by any other name smells just as much like wiring." He watched her irritation grow with immense pleasure, but instead of lash out anymore she just stood up and walked out of the room, back to the garage.

"Nice, Spike," Jet commented sarcastically from his viewing point in the kitchen as he massaged Faye's feet. Spike just smirked.