Disclaimer: I do NOT own Cowboy Bebop; I own only Amy's character… why life has to be so cruel?
Thanks: to whoever had been so kind to read and review my story!
Notes: this fanfic is set after 'The real folk blues II', Spike is still alive and it's a SpikexFaye fanfic, so these ones who don't like them as a couple just don't read it. I apologize to all of you for my grammar errors (I'm not English) and for taking so long to update. Sorry!
Anyhow, please don't hesitate to r&r or email me any comments, questions, suggestions, corrections or flames to:
Oh, and if you want to flame, please, leave your e-mail address so I can defend myself! Or better don't flame!
You make me cool
Chapter 5: Insomnia and annoying women
Venus, 2072
'636… 637… 638… 639… 640… DAMN IT!' Spike's mind shouted. It was an unbearable situation, usually when his back touched the yellow material of the infamous couch in the Bebop's living room, he was immediately asleep. It was one of the few certainties in his troubled life, well until Faye's accident, that was a week and half ago.
Eleven days of pure hell, eleven days of not being able to pass out in dreamland on his favourite couch, eleven days and he had probably counted more sheep than anybody else had in the whole solar system, or better, in the whole universe.
Spike shot up in a sitting position and sighed loudly, he was getting really tired of it, and he was starting to think about taking sleeping pills. 'What the hell is wrong with me? Am I starting to have insomnia problems at just 28 years old?' the bounty hunter asked himself, but before he could even try to answer, he was interrupted by a female voice.
"Do you miss her so much, kid?" Spike looked toward the woman who has just spoken in a rather amused tone. Her hair was short and blond; her grey eyes were watching him in a curious yet knowing way, while her rosy pale lips were curled up in an impish grin.
Amy was standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest and she was wearing black leather pants, a blue tank top, and the almost always-present white apron with the writing that said 'Tomorrow bell peppers and beef! Without beef, of course…', which was Faye's and Spike's present for Jet's 37th birthday.
Amy was the newest addition to the Bebop crew; she had arrived with Ed, who had found her while she was looking for her father. She was 34 years old and she had spend all her life travelling on Earth collecting interviews from the people who had lived there before the gate accident, it was like an obsession to her, it was something that she had taken from her father as she had explained to them once.
So, when she found out that Faye had lived at that time, she decided to stay on the Bebop and use Faye's memories for writing a book about how was life on Earth, even if the bounty huntress wasn't so happy about it. However that wasn't her only obsession, in fact she was absolutely convinced that Faye and Spike had a secret affair, or, at least, they should have it. She was always making jokes about it, and was constantly teasing them; all their tries to get the crazy idea off her mind had been total useless and finally they had given up.
"Yeah, I miss her so much that my heart aches…" Spike replied sarcastically looking at the elder woman. Amy noticing that, as usual, Spike had put on the cool and careless cowboy façade she decided to try to speak seriously to him. After all trying wouldn't have killed her, right? So she went sitting next to him on the yellow couch.
"Listen, Spike. I think you should go and visit her. I mean, she has been there for almost two weeks and probably she'll stay there another one. Why don't you stop being the selfish stubborn ass we all know, and go and see her? I'm sure she'll be happy of seeing you, more than seeing me, Jet or even Ed…" Amy said staring intently into Spike's mismatched eyes.
"Sure, she might be happy of seeing me, but I'm not so sure of being so eager to see that wench again…" he replied coolly
"c'mon, kid! I know that you haven't sleep since that day. I'm not so blind, you know…"
"I've slept just… wonderfully since she's not around"
"God, Spike! I've lived here enough to see that it's your habit to take a nap on this shitty couch while Faye's reading one of her fashion magazine on that armchair. And these days you've never been able to sleep in here! It's like me with Jet's snoring… I cannot sleep if I don't hear him snoring. It's like a lullaby…" she said truthfully
"Jet's snoring a… lullaby?" Spike repeated arching an eyebrow at her.
"Well, kinda…" Amy admitted a little embarrassed. "But that's not the point! What I'm trying to say is that you have a sort of addiction on Faye's presence when you're trying to sleep, and maybe if you talk to her a little, it will help…" she continued almost out of patience
"Are you calling me a Faye-addict?" the bounty hunter asked in disbelief
"I'm not calling you a Faye-addict, Spike!" Amy shouted exasperated standing up. "What I'm trying to say is that you miss her! But since you're so damn stubborn that you don't only not admit it, but you don't even understand it, I'm telling it to you! And if you don't get up and go to her immediately, I'm gonna kick your lazy ass till we're arrived at the hospital! Do you get it?" Spike looked at the woman opposite him with wide eyes, he has never seen her so angry since he knew her.
'Well, there's a first time for everything… I'd better go, women can be dangerous when they're upset' he thought to himself getting up and moving towards the hangar.
"And remember: the hospital is your destination! Not some filthy pub! I'm telling Ed to have an eye on the Swordfish's movements, so don't try anything!" Amy yelled warningly looking at Spike's fading figure.
'I'm such a great actress…' she said to herself hearing the Swordfish II leaving the hangar while a small smirk appeared on her lips.
The sun was already down on Venus' sky and Spike was walking along the street, his destination: the hospital. He didn't know why he was actually listening to Amy, he could have landed the Swordfish II near the hospital and then walk till a pub without being see by anybody, yet he was now standing opposite the same sliding doors he had passed by a week and half ago.
Once inside the building Spike noticed that at the reception there was the same nurse who had 'helped' him that day.
"Good evening, Mr. Spiegel!" the woman said smiling at him
"Hi, Tracy…" the bounty hunter replied walking towards the reception desk.
"You remember my name?" she asked enthusiastically
"Well, we've been through Ed's babbling for four hours together, how can I forget?" Spike answered chuckling
"Oh, yes, the crazy kid. She comes often to visit Miss Valentine… anyway, why are you here?" she questioned
"I'm here to see Faye…"
"I think the visit time is already over, I'm sorry…" Tracy replied, but seeing Spike's pleading eyes she said
"Room 458, but don't wake her if she's sleeping. Ok?"
"Thanks…"
"And they're really beautiful…" she said smiling
"What?" Spike asked
"The roses… it's really difficult to find blue roses" she answered looking at the bunch of dark blue flowers in Spike's right hand
"It's really difficult to find somebody like Faye, too"
"She's special…" she said in a barely audible tone
"Yeah, she's the most annoying shrew I've ever met…" Spike said smirking and heading towards the elevator. While at the reception desk Tracy were still looking in disbelief with wide eyes at the spot where he was standing a few moments before.
The elevator metallic sliding doors opened at the floor where Faye's room was and Spike exited starting to search the right room, when he finally found it he stopped staring at the numbers.
'Here I am. Amy would be very proud of me…' Spike chuckled to himself as he reached for the doorknob
'I hope she's sleeping…' the bounty hunter thought opening the door.
Faye was reading a book when she heard the door opening slowly. The bounty huntress panicked.
'God, Faye! You need to find an escape, and really fast!' she thought hiding the book under the pillow and reaching for the sheets to cover herself.
'I swear, if it's that old hag again, I'm gonna call somebody to tie her to the damn bed. Another minute of gossip could be the death of me…' she said to herself closing her green eyes and trying to assume a relaxed expression.
Spike entered the room and looked at the woman who was lying on the bed. Faye was almost fully under the covers, a part from her head; her hair were free from her usual hair-band, her crimson lips were paler and her eyes were close.
'Good… she's sleeping. I'll leave the flowers and then I can go…' Spike thought happily as he laid the roses onto Faye's bed and stopped one moment staring at her peaceful features.
'I almost forgot how beautiful she is…'
Faye felt a light weight upon her stomach and smelled a familiar scent, a masculine scent
'Cigarettes scent…' she thought dreamily remembering that it has been eleven days since her last cigarette. 'I need a cigarette!' Faye's mind yelled and the bounty huntress decided that whoever that man was, he had cigarettes with him, and cigarettes were what she needed the most at the moment, so she slowly opened one eye to look at the mysterious person.
Spike was staring at her when he noticed that she had opened one of her lively green eyes, and that she was looking at him.
'Spike!' was the only world that her mind was able to formulate in that moment.
"So, sleeping beauty weren't really sleeping, uhn?" Spike said smirking a little noticing her shocked expression. Faye recollected herself from her initial stupor and replied
"Sleeping beauty was faking because she wanted to be kissed by the prince, but since you're anything but a prince I preferred to wake up…"
"Always the same, Faye…" the cowboy said sitting on the bed
"Maybe a bullet in the head could have changed something…" she replied adjusting herself on the bed in a more comfortable position.
"Don't say that again, I might be tempted to try…" Spike teased looking straight into Faye's dark green eyes. The bounty huntress got lost into her comrade's mismatched dark orbs, and for a few moments they didn't say anything; they simply sat there staring into each other's eyes trying to find an answer to a still unknown question.
Then Faye noticed the bunch of blue roses that Spike had laid on her before. They were absolutely gorgeous, she has never seen such a particular shade of blue, it seemed like it had a light on its own that gave an almost mystic aura to the flowers.
"Are these… for me?" she asked without thinking in a tone that Spike would have defined timid, if he didn't know his partner so well.
"Actually they were for a very pretty nurse I met some days ago, but since today she weren't here I've decided to give them to you…" the bounty hunter said seriously. Faye looked at him arching an eyebrow, she knew that he was just trying to piss her off, but she had no intention to let him win this. He had already upset her not going to visit her in eleven days she has been staying in the damn hospital, and now she wasn't in the mood for one of their usual fights.
Spike noticing that she wasn't going to fight over that, decided that he could give up for once, and after all he wasn't in the right mood too.
"Well, I couldn't come here empty-handed, could I?" he said obviously giving her a little smile.
"Well, thanks…" she said sincerely putting the roses onto the hospital nightstand near her bed, and turning to him once again.
"So, what's brought you here?" Faye asked
"A very grating woman…" Spike answered, and the dark haired woman next to him let out a short laugh
"Amy? She's really obsessed with us…" she stated
"Yeah… she's convinced that I cannot sleep 'cause you're not around…"
"Spike Spiegel, the biggest lazy ass of the whole solar system cannot sleep? Do you miss me so much?" the bounty huntress teased
"Faye, please, have mercy…" Spike said
"Yeah… sorry. I know how she is"
An odd silence fell between the two till Faye said
"Well, you could sleep on that armchair while I read a book. The more you stay, the less she'll be a pain in the ass when you get back to the Bebop" Spike considered her idea for a few seconds, and thinking that it was a quite good one, he took off his raincoat and sit down on the comfortable armchair.
"Do you have a cig?" Faye asked hoping in a positive answer
"I don't know, you weren't around…" Spike replied grinning as he put his arms behind his head and closed his dark eyes.
"And you call ME a thief… stupid lunkhead" she said angrily and the cowboy couldn't keep himself from laughing
'God… I missed this' he thought to himself as he slowly started to drift off into the comforting arms of Morpheus listening to Faye's soft swearing about lunkheads and stubborn cowboys.
"So, are you going to give me that damn cig or what?" the bounty huntress asked again to her now sleeping comrade
"Hey Spike! Are you listening?" she said looking at him, and noticing that he was already in dreamland she smiled to herself and whispered
"Sweet dreams, lunkhead…"
AND GOOD READING, ANNOYING VIXEN…
A/N: ::thud::
Faye: where's the girl?
Spike: she has just fainted…
Faye: what?! And now who writes the author's notes?
Me: …finire… capitolo… 5…
Spike: she has just spoken…
Faye: what has she said?
Spike: don't know… Italian babbling
Me: …finire… capitolo… 5…
Faye: I think she's saying something like 'I have to finish chapter 5'… but she has just finished it! Where's the problem?
Spike: probably writing for five hours without a stop had tired her out…
Faye: such a weak girl…
Spike: yeah…
Faye: well, I think we should tell something to the readers, since she's out of service…
Spike: whatever…
Faye: ok, I'm sure that our little author would like to apologize for all the grammar errors, 'cause she passed out before she could even read it again. And she surely would have thanked all the people who had read this and the other chaps. Thanks to all of you!
Spike: and remember to REVIEW! Because we can use guns better than any one else…
Faye: that's right, Spike…