Chapter 11: Through Sickness and in Health

Faye was getting morning sickness. She made it seem like it was the flu though. After she had had it for over two weeks, Spike and Jet were getting nervous. Especially Spike: he didn't like seeing Faye sick at all. It was very unusual for her. She had been getting dizzy spells and had to lie down for several hours at times. Spike would always lie down with her and gently stroke her hair.

Finally, he reached his breaking point when she fainted in the hallway right in front of him. He caught her before she hit the floor and felt for her pulse; it was weak. He made up his mind right then. "Jet, Ed, I'm taking Faye to the hospital. I'm going to find out what's wrong with her." Spike had Faye in his arms and walked to the door to the hangar. To his surprise, there stood Ed blocking his way. "I don't have time for this Ed. Move out of the way."

"No, Ed's coming with you."

"Ed you should stay here with Jet. I'll call you two when you can come to the hospital."

"Ed will come with Faye-Faye. Ed knows why Faye-Faye is sick."

"You know why Faye is sick?!" Spike asked incredulously. "Tell me!"

Ed shook her head. "No, I promised Faye, but I can talk to the doctors and tell them what's wrong."

Spike saw how determined Ed looked and gave in. "Okay Ed, you can come. Let me tell just tell Jet. Jet, Ed's coming with me!"

"Fine, I'll meet you two there." Jet answered, obviously too caught up with his bonsai trees to realize what was happening.

Spike managed to fit two extra people in the Swordfish. They sped off towards the nearest hospital which, they were on Mars, was the one Spike had been entered in. Spike ran in with Faye in his arms, Ed following. At the front desk Spike spoke to the receptionist and got Faye a room which they brought Faye to and laid her down on the bed. Spike sat down and was chafing her wrists lightly when she came to.

"Spike? Where am I?" she asked weakly.

"You're in a hospital. You gave me quite a scare back on the Bebop. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes I am. Oh, hi Ed. I'm glad you two are here. Where's Jet?"

"Jet's coming later," he said.

"Oh," she said in an almost disappointed voice. She turned to Ed. "Ed could you go and talk to the doctors now?" she asked her, also wanting to talk to Spike in private so she could tell him herself.

Ed nodded and left the room.

"Spike could you close the door please?" Spike gave her a questioning look but went and closed the door. Faye waited till he came back to her bedside to talk. "Spike, do you love me? I mean really love me?"

Spike frowned at this. "Of course I love you Faye." He took her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes.

Faye saw the sincerity and unknowingly let out a breath of relief. "Good then you'll have no problem coping with this." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Spike…I'm pregnant."

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Meanwhile, Ed had been trying to talk to the doctor outside Faye's room but he had trouble understanding who Ed was. Finally, Ed threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed "I'm Ed!"

"Oh," the doctor said embarrassed. "Okay, so your friend Miss Valentine is pregnant you say? Well, we'll need to run some tests, just to check on the baby."

"Okay," Ed said.

The doctor started for the door but Ed held him back.

"Wait for signal so we can go in."

The doctor was puzzled for what the signal could be. At that moment they heard Spike yell "What?!" from the room. Ed nodded to the doctor that he could go in. They went in and closed the door behind them. Faye was looking at Spike, shocked at the huge grin on his face.

"You mean I'm going to be a dad?" He said, his grin getting even wider.

The doctor decided to interrupt then. "Miss Valentine? I'm going to need to take some blood for some tests to see that the baby is alright."

Faye nodded and the doctor left to find a nurse to take the blood. Spike began to pace, grinning and muttering to himself. Ed sat down next to Faye and began talking animatedly with her.

At the door there was a gruff voice. "Okay. What'd I miss?" Everyone turned to Jet who walked in with a questioning look on his face.

Spike chuckled. "You might want to sit down for this one, Jet ol' buddy," he said.

Jet frowned but sat down. "Okay, what's this all about?" Jet asked.

And before Faye could stop her, Ed blurted out "Spike-Spike is going to be daddy!"

Jet's eyes widened significantly as so Spike thought they would explode.

Faye also noticed and said "If we've upset you I'm sorry. We didn't mean for this to happen, but it's not a mistake, it's a miracle."

Jet was taken a back a bit. "No, I'm not upset. You should just take it easy on an old man," he grinned. "All these shocks could be the death of me," he chuckled.

At that moment the door opened and a nurse came in with the blood taking equipment. Faye turned a little pale at the sight of the needle and turned to Spike. "Spike could you hold my hand, I don't like needles."

Spike obliged willingly and the blood was taken.

"Okay it should be an hour before you get the results," the nurse said as she left.

"So what do we do now?" asked Spike.

Everyone turned to Ed who sat Indian style on the floor. "Now…we wait," she said seriously.

"I think I'll get something to eat. Anyone want anything?" Jet asked.

"I'll have-" Faye started but Spike cut her off.

"We know: everything on the menu," he joked.

Faye grinned. "Exactly,"she said.

Jet sighed. "You're going to drive me to the poor house."

She snorted. "So what else is new?"

Jet left and came back with the food. Everyone could not believe how hungry they were until they saw the food. Faye ate at least half of all the food. Long after Spike, Jet and Ed were done, Faye was still eating and they stared at her.

"What?" she asked. "I'm hungry."

"With good reason, too," said a voice from the doorway. They looked and saw it was the doctor. "I have your test results, Miss Valentine," he said.

"And?" Faye asked impatiently. Her fists were clenched together so tight her knuckles were white.

"It looks like your babies are fine."

She breathed again. "That's good." She paused and caught her breath again. "Plural use?" she asked.

The doctor smiled. "Yes," he said. "You're pregnant with twins."

Faye turned pale and glanced at Spike who gave her a little smile. She took a deep breath and looked back at the doctor. "Do you know the sexes yet?"

"Actually I do. Looks like a boy and a girl. Congratulations." With that he left closing the door.

Faye sighed loudly and turned to Spike who grinned and went to give her a big hug.

"You've been busy," he teased.

"Oh don't kid yourself," she retorted.

Jet cleared his throat. "Okay you two, that's enough. I have a couple questions. One: where are you two going to live with the kids?"

"The Bebop of course," replied Faye.

Jet snorted. "Yeah right. You know how dangerous that ship is. You'd have to child-proof the whole thing."

"So?" Spike asked.

"Do you know how expensive that is? Which brings me to question number two: Where are you two going to get the money to raise a kid, let alone two?" Jet demanded.

Spike opened his mouth to speak but Ed cut him off. "Edward has found a very large bounty."

"How big we talking, Ed?" Faye asked, intrigued.

"Very, very big! 150 million woolongs. But it's strange."

"Why's that Ed?" Spike asked wondering about the large bounty and what the person could have done to get it.

"Because Mr. Man is an assassin."

"That's not unusual," Faye stated matter-of-factly.

"That's not the strange part. All the jobs were done too professionally, too clean- cut to be with the mass kills that they were. No one heard or saw anything or at least that's what they say. Any witnesses were annihilated."

"You mean he kills like the Syndicate," Spike said flatly, his face twisted in a look of disgust.

"Exactamundo, except Mr. Man has no connections to the Syndicate. He actually hates it."

"Really?" Spike asked interested. This would prove to be a challenge.

Faye interrupted his thoughts. "Spike, what are you thinking?" she asked disturbed by his silence.

He looked at her and said "I'd like to meet this guy," with his trademark smirk.

Faye saw that the smirk was to cover up the steely look in his eyes. She frowned. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be interesting.

A/N: wow it's been a long time since i've updated. i'd like to thank all who've stayed by me [patiently i might add]. there are more chapters don't worry but it might take a while to get them up so don't fret, i am finishing the story.