I'm listening to the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever as I write it. Bee Gee's rock on.
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"Well, Mrs. Black, everything looks fine so far. I need you to continue with your prenatal vitamins and I will see you in one month. After that we'll make semi-monthly appointments until the baby comes. Have you picked a pediatrician yet?"
Faye and Jet looked at each other. "No, should we?" Jet had never taken Ed to the doctor when she was a kid. Not even when they had found her, but the nature of the illness sent red flags up. Neither of them thought it wise to advertise her whereabouts at the time.
The doctor nodded, looking at them curiously. "You did say that you had raised a child before, right?"
"It's a long story, she was half grown when she came to us," Jet responded quickly.
"Oh, well, I can recommend one. Dr. Aguypong is very good, here is her number. Just call her office in the morning and let her nurse know when you're due. We'll just call her when the baby arrives and it should be fine." He tore a sheet of paper with a number on it and handed it to them. "See you in a month, just stop by the receptionist by and set up the time, and don't hesitate to call if you have any questions."
$$$$
"Ok Jet, what do you want to eat for dinner tonight." Faye Valentine Black sat in the middle of the hotel bed with a phone book in her hands. "We have Chinese, Japanese, American, French, German, and Italian."
"How about Chinese?" Jet asked as he came out of the bathroom wiping his face clean with a towel.
Faye looked up at him with a disgusted expression, "But I'm in the mood for Hibachi."
Jet frowned down at her, "Then why did you bother asking me?" Anger flared in her face, but before she could fly into a hormone charged rage he jumped on the bed next to her and pulled her down next to him, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "We'll eat were ever you want. I'll even put on the suit you packed for me."
She smiled down at him, "That is more like it mister. I've trained you well."
$$$$
Ed was having a good time. Spike was nowhere to be seen, her hacker friends were telling of their most recent exploits, and she had a quality cappuccino sitting in front of her. Life was good. She came out of her musings to hear Sandra. "First I hacked into the system and put a bounty on the Chief of Police in New Austin on Jupiter, then I hacked into the security system of their headquarters and put a live feed from the camera in his office on the jumbotron in the busiest part of the city. The look on his face was priceless when they raided his office. I set it up to run over and over on their web site. It took them three days to get it off."
Everyone laughed at the story, including Ed, even though she found it a little bit on the amateurish side. It was funny. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something green. No, he wouldn't, she thought. She peeked around the frame of Sean, who had taken residence in the outside seat of the booth. I'll kill him. "Excuse me for a moment." She turned into a boneless version of herself and slid under the table like only Ed could, then she proceeded toward the door just as Spike was entering. She grabbed his ear and dragged him right back out.
"Ow, ow, ow. Let go, that hurts." Spike leaned down as far as he could without falling over.
Once outside she released her prisoner. "What are you doing here? Don't you have somebody else to pester for one day?"
Spike feigned concentration for a long moment, then shook his head, "Nope, you're the only person I can think of to harass today. Well, maybe your little friend, Sean, if you'll introduce me."
Ed knew she wasn't going to get rid of him. She sighed, "Alright, you can stay, but you'll have to follow a few rules." She gave him a hard glare. Spike nodded his consent. "First rule, these people are hackers, we all have prices on our heads for breaking into government and/or syndicate systems, including me. So far, neither group has figured out what any of us look like. Professional courtesy dictates that you will not ask them their hacker names or be tempted to arrest anyone today, do you understand?" Spike nodded again. "Second, these people are my friends, you will pick on them as little as possible. This includes Sean, you are not my father, only Jet can act menacing toward my potential dates." Spike nodded, this time more grudgingly. "And third, if you stay, you're paying for my food and drink." Spike looked about to protest. "Those are the rules, take them of leave them."
Spike thought for a brief moment, then nodded. "Agreed. I promise to behave."
Ed led him into the diner and to the corner booth where six sets of eyes were looking at them curiously. "Everybody, I would like to introduce you to an old friend of mine. This is Spike. Spike this is Sean, Rob, Sandra, Matt, Cedric, and Wilhelmina." Sean scooted farther into the booth and Ed and Spike sat down. The two girls and Cedric flashed him a coy smile and Sean glared at him over Ed's head.
Rob cleared his throat, "Ok, as I was saying. The Aluna Pharmaceuticals Company's new system seems to be pretty well designed. I think they got Alex to design it, since he is the only one to get arrested in the last year." Rob shook his head and sighed. "I told him not to hack into the Big Dog's system while he was on the surface, but you know how stubborn he can be. I think Ed and the Gato de Roja are the only two that could break into that system and be able to cover their tracks well enough without being in orbit or open space."
"Who's the Gato de Roja?" Spike asked.
"No knows for sure. We think he's on Venus. He just recently came onto the scene. What, maybe a year and a half ago?" Cedric piped up effeminately. "He's good though. Every once in a while he just pops up in the Big Shot show. He isn't much for sharing technique with the rest of us."
Spike swiped a fry from Ed's plate as he nodded. "I see." He had a suspicious look on his face. He would investigate later.
The meal went on with no further incident. Spike was true to his word, besides the evil glares he shot this 'Sean' person he was all charm. He didn't like the look of him, with his dark hair and blue eyes, and that pasty skin. The boy needed to get out more. From the stories they were telling he was an expectable hacker, but nothing compared to Ed. As far as Spike was concerned, Sean wasn't good enough for her. But he would keep his opinion to himself until the little group was gone.
Spike was enormously glad when the day was over, especially since most of what was said that day made absolutely no sense. The only thing he learned that day was that pressing control, alt, and delete at the same time could be very bad depending on what you were doing. Ed seemed to have a good time, though, laughing and joking and flirting. Bleugh.
As they disbanded Sean looked down at Ed. "Do you need me to walk me to your car?" he asked, eyeing Spike. How insulting is that?
Ed looked behind her at the man feigning injury. "That won't be necessary. Spike is pretty harmless. Give me a call tomorrow and I'll give you some pointers on that new hacker program."
"Sure, and I'll find out where Pippa got that processor. You did say that you were looking for one for the Bebop main operating system, right?"
Ed flashed him a winning smile. "That would be great." She hugged each of her friends goodbye before turning to the door, Spike following closely behind.
"Oh man, that is one sexy man," Cedric whistled as he watched him leave.
Wilhelmina hit him on the back of the head as she put her coat on. "Shut up. He was staring at Ed the entire time. Sean, sorry to tell you this, but you don't stand a chance."
$$$$
"So, how did you get out here, Spike, take the Swordfish?" she asked him as she made her way to her Dune Buggy.
He reached down behind the car and picked up a motorized scooter, "Nope, borrowed this. It was quite the ride."
Ed laughed when she saw her old toy. "I can't believe you rode that and made it here in on piece." Spike rolled up his sleeve to reveal a nasty looking scrape. "Never mind."
Spike looked up at the setting sun and stretched. "Want to go for a walk before we head back to the ship? It is a nice night after all."
"Sure," Ed shrugged after a moment of contemplation. "We can swing by the computer parts store if it is still open. I promised Jet I would overhaul the Hammerhead this week."
They walked in silence for about twenty minutes, each with their own thoughts. Finally Ed interrupted the stillness, "I was sorry to hear about Julia. We all new how much you cared about her. It must have been hard to go through that all alone the way you did."
Spike shrugged. "I'm used to dealing with that kind of thing alone, but I was wondering how you guys heard about it."
"Jet told his friends at ISSP 10 years ago to let him know if they heard anything about you and to keep him in the loop. You've got friends that care a lot about you, Spike."
"I know. I guess He'll always be the papa bear of our dysfunctional little family."
Ed laughed outright. "You have no idea. Every time a boy showed any interest in me he called 'Bob the Police Officer' to check if they had ever been arrested. He has put a real crimp in my love life."
"So your little friend Sean has checked out, huh?" This disappointed him.
Before she answered strange music filtered into the street. "I love this song, come on." Ed grabbed his hand and dragged him closer to the sound, then turned and looked up at him, flashing a brilliant smile. "Dance with me."
"WHAT? I don't think so. I don't dance." Spike pulled his hand free and held it up in front of himself as he backed away, but Edward would have none of it.
"You do today." That's when the words to the song hit him. He had never heard it before, but it sounded old. She intertwined her fingers with his and started to lead him, refusing to let him back out.
Hesitantly he began to dance with her as the music flowed. "OK, so who is this?"
"KC and the Sunshine Band, Boogie Shoes." Then she started singing along, though maybe a little off key, but not much. Spike was impressed.
Girl, to be with you is my fav'rite thing
uh huh
And I can't wait til I see you again
yeah, yeah
I want to put on my my my my my
boogie shoes
just to boogie with you, yeah
I want to put on my my my my my
boogie shoes just to boogie with you, uh huh
I want to it it 'til the sun comes up
uh huh, and I want to do it 'til
I can't get enough, yeah, yeah
I want to put on my my my my my
boogie shoes
just to boogie with you, yeah
I want to put on my my my my my
boogie shoes just to boogie with you
uh huh, yeah yeah
I want to put on my my my my my
boogie shoes
just to boogie, with you, yeah
I want to put on my my my my my
boogie shoes just to boogie with you, yeah
It was a short song and it was over before he knew it, and though he hadn't been very good at the dancing, he did miss Ed's hands as they released his and she looked away. "You could be really good at dancing if you practiced a little. It's probably not much different from martial arts, moving to a rhythm and stuff. I'll have to take you to a disco tech or something. There's the store." Ed changed subjects so fast that Spike was left with his head spinning for a moment as he ran to catch up with Ed who had run into the computer supplies store.
Edward on the other hand was trying to recover her composure. Fighting with Spike was one thing, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for the looks that Spike was giving her as they danced, and had tried to distract herself by singing. Ed was suddenly very glad for her deeply tanned skin.
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I had to include a song from the soundtrack. I just couldn't resist. Now for the legal stuff: Boogie Shoes, KC & The Sunshine Band, H.W. Casey And R. Finch, copyright 1975, 1976 sherlyn publishing co.
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Hugs, Chef Erica.