A/N: Hey, guys! WOW, it has been SUCH a LOOONG time since I've updated this, huh? eheh...I apologize! I REALLY do! LoL I dedicate this chapter to my best friend, who just moved. ::sniffles:: I wuv you, Tracey-person! LoL Check out her POTC fic under Misty Addams! She SO deserves more reviews than she has! Anywhos, please R&R, and of course...ENJOY!!!

CH 5

Faye stirred lightly in her sleep, her long, ebony lashes fluttering gently open before she found herself gazing into a pair of warm, mismatched eyes.

On impulse, she let out a horrified scream, her wild hands immediately going into action as she took swing after swing at her alleged assailant's face, all the while pleading desperately at the top of her lungs, "Please! Just take what you want! There's money in the fridge.....just take it and leave!!!"

Spike blinked, absolutely incredulous. "You keep money in the fridge?"

"I...", she trailed off.

Frowning deeply once she realized that she had been completely delusional, Faye returned sourly under her breath, "No one ever thinks to look in the refrigerator...it's one of my better plans, if I do say so, myself."

"Right," Spike muttered, plopping rather irritably down into the soft, cushioned chair next to her bed. "I don't mean to alarm you, or anything, but we're not even in your house, anymore, in case you haven't already noticed."

"WHAT?!"

Spike sighed deeply. "I take it that you're not entirely thrilled that I went out on a limb to save your ass, huh?"

"The hell you did! You kidnapped me!," Faye wailed, tugging violently at her silky violet stresses as she choked on a howl that very much resembled that of a deranged animal. "How did you get past the security, anyway?! Ugh, I am so cutting their salary this month!"

"Is that all you care about? The money?!," Spike demanded, a dark sheen rapidly spreading like fire over his mellow, two-toned irises. "I saved you from your own destruction, yet all you can think about is money?! Jesus, Faye...now that I didn't kill you, as planned, Vicious is going to hunt me down like a dog!"

Faye gasped. "V-Vicious? You...you mean...?"

"Yeah," Spike acknowledged dryly, "I only took this job so that I could kill you in return for Vicious' peace of mind. He's my best friend, Faye....or at least I thought he was."

"Then why didn't you kill me?," Faye demanded, sending him a lingering glance full of utmost curiosity. "What made you change your mind?"

Spike shrugged, the apathetic expression upon his face never wavering as he leaned forward in his seat and frowned deeply. "I dunno....I guess I just felt guilty after hearing about your sucky life, and all. I can relate, you know."

"Yeah," Faye agreed softly, "I know."

Spike looked at her, then, and took note of her hunched over form, sighing miserably as he questioned rather begrudgingly, "So I suppose that you wanna know where we are?"

"Well if it isn't too much trouble," Faye returned sarcastically, rolling her eyes at his ridiculous question as she slid smoothly out of bed and padded across the room and to the vanity by the window. As she began rummaging throughout the drawers with the hopes of miraculously finding a pair of earrings to wear, she looked over her shoulder at the anxious bodyguard, asking hopefully, "Are we someplace warm, perhaps? Like Ganymede?"

"No...Ganymede would've been far too obvious. We're on Earth in Bermuda," Spike revealed, cringing at the shrill shriek that immediately followed.

"Earth?! What the hell kind of place is that for a singer?!!," Faye demanded, her jade irises ablaze as she turned away from the vanity within an instant of sheer outrage. "I mean, do I look like Earth material, Spiegel?! To stay here on this meteor-ridden rock is freaking suicide!!!"

Spike drooped. "Glad you like it."

"Oh! You infuriating little-"

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Come iiiin!," Faye half-cooed, half-seethed, her eyebrow twitching slightly as a handsome, distinguished young man entered the room and bowed.

"Good afternoon, Miss Valentine," he began smoothly, "I do hope that you and your associate are having an excellent stay here at our five star hotel. If you are, in any way, dissatisfied with your room, please notify me immediately and I will do everything in my power to make amends for you."

Faye smirked. "Well," she began, a twinkle in her eye, "I really could use a new bodyguard. Got any of those in stock?"

The manager was quite frazzled by her request, his face paling slightly as he spluttered anxiously in response, "I-I do apologize, madam, b-but we don't have any...erm...bodyguards in supply. You will forgive me, yes?"

"Oh, of course!," Faye acknowledged. fluttering her lashes in a coquettish manner, "but only if you promise that Mr. Spiegel and I receive no visitors and that we'll be alone at all times. You see, I was just kidding about the whole new bodyguard thing...Mr. Spiegel, here, just proposed to me before you came in, and I said yes. You will keep quiet, won't you?"

The manager nodded furiously. "Oh, y-yes, ma'am! No one will ever know!"

"Thank you, kind sir," Faye cooed, even further putting on a show as she seductively slid her hand down along Spike's backside and gave his firm bottom a quick pinch for emphasis. "Do you think that you could possibly leave us, now? We'd very much like to be....alone."

"Oh, yes, ma'am!," the manager exclaimed, bowing as if he were standing before royalty before he hurriedly turned and made his dramatic exit.

Smirking at this, Faye slowly withdrew her hand from Spike's bottom, his face a brilliant shade of scarlet as he suddenly turned on her, bellowing at the top of his lungs, "What the hell is your PROBLEM?! Was it absolutely necessary to say that I was your fianc'?!!"

Faye shrugged. "I had to get that oaf out of here somehow, didn't I? The best thing that came to mind was to suggest that I was in the mood, but don't worry....I'm not the slightest bit attracted to you. I am sorry, however, if I gave you the wrong impression. Is your ego bruised?"

Spike snorted. Promptly turning his back to her, he immediately stuffed his hands into his pants' pockets to prevent from slugging her a good one, muttering sourly under his breath, "C'mon, I'll take you into town....Hamilton's always nice this time in the evening. I've got a scooter parked down by the front gate, so I'll meet you down there after you get dressed."

Faye blanched. "A scooter?! How can I get on one of those with a sundress on? Won't it get caught in the wheels?!"

"At least you're not worried about looking undignified, for once," Spike remarked dryly, rolling his eyes as he headed on over towards the front door.

"Oh! That's right! Do you think I should change into something-"

"C'mon, hurry up," he immediately interjected, taking her gruffly by the arm and shoving her towards her dresser, "there's only so much that I can take till my sanity snaps."

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Hamilton was absolutely beautiful. The dimly lit streets were full of life due to the hustling and bustling of the natives setting up stands and performing live music for their on-lookers, the ground almost seeming to gyrate thanks entirely to the large bass drums that accompanied the quartet of pleasant-faced singers upon the large platform within the center of the town.

Faye, meanwhile, was taking all of this in with a huge smile upon her face, her jade eyes shimmering with pure excitement once she realized that the festivities were very much like that of Mardigras, except without the sleaze.

Scooting slightly closer to her bodyguard, she continued to daintily lick at the sides of her dripping vanilla ice cream cone, which Spike had scolded her about earlier for being boring.

Faye couldn't help that she didn't prefer sprinkles or any of the other fancy toppings so she had merely regarded this statement with a snort, then a shrug of the shoulders.

Who was he to tell her what to eat, anyway? She was the Faye Valentine, after all; winner of dozens of awards and nominations, and, to top all that off, she was the pop princess of Mars.

"You're dripping, again."

Faye was immediately startled out of her train of thought and back to reality, her eyes narrowing slightly as she attended to the sloppy remains of her ice cream cone and made sure that she purposely sped up so that it would look as if they weren't together.

Instantly realizing this, Spike smiled a devilish smile, then quickly caught up with her due to his abnormally long, skinny legs, urging teasefully, "Slow down, Princess...you don't want to get blisters on those precious little feet of yours, now do you?"

"If you don't give me my space, one of my 'precious little feet' will be lodged up your ass!," Faye snarled venomously in response, her curvaceous hips swishing from side to side as she sped up once more with the full hopes of escaping him. Noticing that Spike was still by her side after two minutes of this, however, she let out a shrill shriek, then relented wearily between clenched teeth, "Alright, alright! If I let you walk with me, will you grow up?!"

Spike smirked in triumph. "Why, of course, Miss Valentine...I live to die for you. However, that's only because of the handsome check that I receive every month. If it weren't for that, you'd honestly be screwed, right about now."

Faye frowned deeply at his statement, then just decided to ignore it, altogether, announcing softly, "If you don't mind, I'd very much like to go to Astwood Cove, right about now. Do you think you could take me there?"

Spike smiled. "Astwood Cove it is, malady."

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The clear, aquamarine waves of Astwood Cove rolled along through the sea, then died at the foamy water's edge with a gentle sigh, Faye's eyes lighting up as she hurriedly left Spike's side in order to scale the towering rock that was practically submerged in water by the time she got there.

Rolling his eyes at her childishness, Spike called for her to come back, but she shook her head in utter defiance, insisting jovially, "Never, Spike Spiegel! All through my pampered life I haven't even been taken to a freaking beach, so surely you won't take this moment away from me!"

Spike groaned at her obstinance, then dropped down into the soft white sand with a grunt, no longer even bothering to open his eyes due to the comforting song drifting over to him from the sea.

"Spike?"

"Hn?"

"Can you tell me a story?"

Spike immediately opened his eyes upon hearing such a ridiculous request, only to immediately find Faye standing over him with an intrigued expression etched out across her dainty facial features like a gorgeous pen and ink drawing.

"You want me to tell you a story?," he demanded, absolutely incredulous.

Faye nodded.

"Well what kind?"

"Any kind," she acknowledged, gently easing herself down into the sand by his side. "As a child, I never had anyone tell me a story, so I'd very much like to hear one now, if you don't mind."

"Alright," Spike agreed distantly, "I'll try my best."

Faye let out a delighted squeal, which was terribly unusual for her, then cheerily situated herself ever closer to him than before and nodded for him to continue.

Once Spike got this verification he sighed, then rolled his shoulders forward in submission, beginning softly, "There once was a tiger-striped cat. This cat died a million deaths, revived and lived a million lives, and was owned by various people whom he didn't really care for; the cat wasn't afraid to die. Then one day, the cat became a stray cat, which meant he was free. He met a white female cat, and the two of them spent their days together happily. Well, years passed and the white cat grew terribly weak and died of old age. The tiger-striped cat cried a million times, and then he died, too, except this time, he didn't come back to life."

"Wow....so that's it?," Faye asked breathlessly, staring at her bodyguard in utter astonishment. "The poor cats just.....die?"

Spike smiled sadly, then shook his head. "No, Faye, I'm not quite finished, yet. You see, the tiger-striped cat thought he was dead, but, in reality, it was just his soul that had deserted him. One day, he came across a black female cat. At first she was mean, cranky, and a bit of a spaz, but after they spent some time together, the tiger-striped cat realized that she really wasn't half-bad."

"And then what happened?," Faye demanded, sounding very much like an overly-excited child before bedtime. "Did the cats fall in love and live happily ever after?"

Spike smirked. "Well, Miss Valentine, let's just say that the ending to this story has yet to be decided."

"Really?," Faye demanded, cocking her head at a slight angle. "When you think up a good enough ending, will you be sure to tell it to me?"

Spike smiled warmly. "Of course."

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"Shin."

"Yes, Vicious-sama?"

"Come here."

The young man immediately obeyed, his tasseled cloak swishing elegantly about his tall, lanky form as he approached his mentor and bowed.

"What is it that you need, sir?," he questioned meekly, not quite able to mask the immense fear within the tremors of his voice.

Vicious smirked at this sudden revelation, then nodded for him to rise, acknowledging coldly, "I have summoned you here today because one of our men is missing."

"Who, sir?"

"Spike Spiegel."

Shin stiffened on impulse, which his mentor took quick note of.

"What does this mean, sir?," he demanded, trying his damndest to sound nonchalant. "What do you want me to do about this?"

Vicious grinned sadistically. "You're going to kill him for me."

A/N: Okie doke, here's the deal....the next chapter will have a lemon in it, and, depending on the content, I may have to post that chapter on , only, since I don't wanna take the risk of being banned, again, eheh. ::blush:: But the next chapter's fun, cuz Lindsay hits on Shin, heehee! :P lol Welp, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!!!