Knocking on Heaven's Door

(A Cowboy Bebop fan faniction)

Created by: Dj Sorrow

Dedicated to all the lovers of Spike, because well, you just can't have too much of a good thing.

Alex gently swayed back and forth in her computer chair and strummed on her guitar as the liquid computer screen glowed in the darkness of her room. It began to chirp loudly like a bird as Alex looked down from her sunglasses and gazed at the mug face of a hairy man. As the picture popped up, a small window appeared with all the information on him and how much the cops were willing to pay for his safe capture. Alex grinned as she continued to strum her song as she gently spun around about in her chair, her free flowing blonde hair waving about her backside. She stopped abruptly and took to her feet, placing the wooden instrument onto her fluffy bed and walked out her door with a slight grin playing across her face. Her heels clicked as she walked through the spaceship, the metal tapping with her heeled boots. She entered into a room where her two companions sat playing cards.

"I got one…" she murmured as the two looked up at her and smiled.

"Where?"

"Mars… central base…"

"How much?"

"50 million woolongs…" the girl whistled at the amount and looked over at the other girl for approval.

"We go after him?"

"Sure we will!"

"Crissy, do you think you can take this one? I'm going to take off…"

"Why's that Alex?"

"I need to finish a little something…"

"Sure, but I'll need some backup Sammy."

"Sure thing, but are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?" Alex nodded as she flung a packet of papers on the card table filled with the information on the bounty head.

"Thanks Alex… have a good time." She nodded and walked down the ships hallways towards the rear where the ship's sub-flyers were held. She boarded and opened the gate into space and took off into Mars' dusty atmosphere, leaving her ship Andromanda hanging with the stars.

When she had arrived on the dusty, misty ground she grabbed her trench coat from the back seat, whipping it on as it floated to meet her body shape behind her. She looked above the mist-infested streets of the city of Mars and sighed as she walked away from the space capsule. After walking a couple of blocks Alex decided to stop into a bar for a quick drink before she went after her first victim for the night.

When she entered the bullet-holed doors, the room fell into a complete silence as all the men and women stared at her. The scantily dressed women turned up their noses as she sat down and ordered a quick shot of vodka.

"We don't serve your kind!" one slut cried out as she cupped her hand on top of the shot glass to prevent any other distractions from her line of work. Alex's eyes stared down from under her sunglasses as she reached slowly to her automatic 9mm in a hidden pocket in her trench coat. "Hey! Did you hear me!" the woman raised her hand for a slap when Alex pulled out her gun and pressed it to her temple of the over-make upped face of the woman.

"Now you do…" Alex slapped her face into the bar and grabbed her shot, sipping it in one gulp. The men laughed as the woman lay on the ground with a bloody face, her make-up creaming in the glancing blood. But one man in the back caught Alex's attention as he sat there with a slight grin of remembrance as Alex stormed out of the doors.

"Alex?" the man walked out and went outside to confirm his suspicions, but she was gone before he could get out into the open. Alex looked at the tall, green haired man from the shadows as she held onto her heart shaped necklace tightly in her sweaty fist.

"Spike… you're still alive?" she quickly dismissed the mere thought of the man's existence and continued down the street in search of her query. She caught her guy in no time at all and turned him in to receive the ten million woolong bounty reward in return of her 'cooperation' as they called it as a bounty hunters.

As she made her way back to her space capsule a tall figure leaned up against it with his arms crossed, as a smile played across his face. But she made it clear that she was more than willing to kill him on the spot if he continued to delay her from her return to her ship.

"I suggest if you want to see another sun raise you should leave. Now." She pulled out her gun and pointed it towards the figure as he laughed.

"Still making the same threats huh?" Alex's eyes shot open as she gasped out loud as she quickly put her gun away in her trench coat pocket.

"Spike?" she gasped again as he revealed his self from the shadows of the large space capsule and into the bright lights of the street lamps.

"You've changed a bit since we met…" Spike smiled as he lit up a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Alex's heart began to pump wildly as her eyes darted left and right from Spike to her 'get away' ship. Spike eyed questionably as he puffed out smoke through his nose and cracked open mouth. "Hey, what's up?" Alex stepped back and reached into her coat, pulling out a small capsule slamming the tiny button down to release what lay inside and threw it in between them before it detonated. Spike shielded his face as it busted as Alex jumped into her space capsule and took off, blowing the smoke away from Spike in a big ring of smoke.

"Hey girl!" the radio blared as Alex jumped and looked down at the video monitor. It was Crissy and Sammy from the Andromanda.

"What's wrong? You look tense."

"Tense might describe it…"

"What happened?! Was it a gun shot wound!"

"No… Worst…"

"Worst?! What is worst then that?"

"I'll talk later. Did you get him?"

"Yup. Pretty easy catch for that much money. But the 50 million is ours'."

"Good… I'll see you on board."

"Alright, see yea girl." The video stream clicked off as Alex set an autopilot to the ship and sat back and stared out the window as she thought about what had happened. She had been in love with Spike for years. Ever since she first laid eyes on his beautiful face. The only one to make her turn red, how awful, thought Alex.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?!" another voice called over the video monitor as Spike's face appeared onto the liquid screen from his space capsule. Alex laid back her head as her bangs of her hair covered her eyes, as if it were a veil of comfort from the mere voice of her secret lover affair. "So what do you have to say to that?!"

"I'm…sorry…" she whispered as she leaned forward and stared down at the video feedback. Spike's face lightened up with a smile.

"Yup, Julia was right…" Alex's eyes shot open at the name of her beloved dead friend. "You do have too many secrets." The Andromanda was in eyesight as the docking bay doors began to open. But there, in the shadows, the Bebop floated upon the stars as well!

"Why are you following me?" Alex's eyes turned dark as she looked away from the screen to the wonderful stars swimming past her.

"Following? I didn't know you were still alive!"

"Then let's keep it that way." Alex said coldly as she switched the controls into manual and took off into her ship. She jumped out as soon as the docking doors closed and oxygen was being restored and took down the hallway to the main control room. Crissy and Sammy saw her blot by in a quick blaze as Alex hopped into the polite chair and put the engines into full throttle towards the hyper-gate towards Venus, leaving Spike and the Bebop in the dust. Crissy peeked her head into the cockpit as Alex set the auto controls and sat back in her chair as she took in a deep breath. Crissy walked in and sat in the other polite chair beside Alex and placed a reassuring hand upon Alex's shoulder.

"You okay?"

"I'm such an idiot. Why can't I just admit I'm in love with him? I just bear it, with Julia gone now." Sammy walked in and leaned against the wall as she started to play with Alex's long blond hair to relieve all the new stresses on Alex's mind.

"Julia would be cheering you on right now you know?"

"But they were in love…" the conversation stopped as Alex starred out the cockpit windows as she pictured the two in each other's arms, kissing and promising too see each other that very night. But Alex soon got over the frustrations when Crissy suggested a good game of DDR and a couple of shooter games. But some how, no matter how much fun she was have, she thought about Spike and Julia, then the cruel death of her best friend. It struck her down for a couple of days, until she received an e-mail from Spike from a day or so.

In her past, after Julia was killed, she could remember all the really heavy drinking she did. Sometimes three bottles to five of vodka, then after an hour she would end up crying or throwing it all up and drinking more. But, she also remembered the day Spike found her sleeping in a alleyway with a half empty bottle of vodka clutched in her dirt infested hands. He took her in for a week or so and helped her sober up after a while, as he paid back the favor Alex had done for him. After the big battle between Spike and Vicious, she had taken Spike and nursed him back to health.

Alex entered her room as the electronic door slid back behind her and the light clicked on. The bedside lamps appeared on as she peered around her dimly lilted room. She continued to walk to her dresser where a couple of pictures sat. But her eye caught one picture in particular of her self and Julia when they were younger, she was only 16. Both were beautiful and untamed by any man, before they even met Vicious came to play in their lives. But all that changed when Spike killed Vicious. Alex smiled as she picked up the picture gently and ran her finger over the glass to remove the remaining dust developing.

"Julia…Why did you have to leave me, and Spike?" she gazed a little longer at the picture before placing it back on top of her dresser again. She walked over to her bed and plopped down where she had placed her guitar earlier that day, picking it up as she began to strum out her favorite song again once more before she called it a day. But a sudden beep from computer drew her attention away from her well-deserved rest as she sat up and looked over at the glowing screen reflecting off her sunglasses with a dancing e-mail icon.

Alex slowly got to her feet and walked over to her chair. With a few clicks of her keyboard the e-mail appeared along with a picture of a red rose in the corner frame.

"What the-?" she began to read it, when she finished reading it she looked down at the sender's address. "Spike?" she sat back in her chair and stared out the window as the moon gently floated on by her window, "Why does he insist on hurting me so much?" she got to her feet and grabbed her coat and hat with the intentions to see Julia's grave and ignore Spike's request to see him all together. At least if he called the ship she wouldn't be there.

"Hey Alex, off to Mars again?" Alex turned to the voice as Sammy poked out her head from the kitchen with a wet dish in her hands and a dry towel in the other.

"Yeah…You want something while I'm out?"

"No…but Crissy might."

"Okay, see ya."

"Alex…"

"Yea?"

"Cheer up…for me please." Sammy's concern left a smile on Alex's face as she placed her cowboy hat upon her head. When the space docking doors parted, Alex took off towards Mars yet again.

Back on the Andromanda, Crissy lay on the couch in the entertament room with a glass of soda as she sighed heavily. Sammy walked in from doing the dishes and plopped on the love seat next to the coffee table.

"Yea…"

"What?" Sammy looked over at her lazy friend as she too grabbed a soda.

"If Alex keeps this up, she's going to end up with her heart broken in the end…" Crissy stared at the big screen TV and sipped away in her coke.

"Yeah, I know. But only Alex knows what best for Alex. She's a very smart person, she'll get the hint sooner or later."

"Well, may be its Spike, not Alex. You know, the whole first move thing girls wait for. I wish I had these kinds of problems with my B/F…" Sammy laughed as she tried to picture Crissy's boyfriend, Michael, on his knees with a wedding proposal.

"I think you should have listened to Alex on that one."

"Yeah, I know. You don't have to rub it in."

"You know the only reason he has stay with you this long is cause you are a bounty hunter right?" Crissy laughed and looked over at Sammy.

"I believe it!" they laughed playfully as they watched TV together when their favorite show, 'Big Shot', came on.

'Howdy there cowboys, and welcome to Big Shot. Today's big catch is a man of all trades!'

'Really Punch? Who?'

'Well, he's a well known killer who is wanted for the six murders of six different women!'

'Oh my, he's scary!' the girl shivered slightly and looked back at the audience.

'Yes, I agree. But he pulls a huge bounty of 30 million woolongs on his head, so for all you bounty hunters' out there, this ones' worth it!'

"Hey, do you think Alex's going to grab him while she's on Mars?" Crissy pointed to the mysterious mug shot on the TV.

"No, she said she was going to Julia's…that was all. Plus, I think she doesn't know about him yet."

"Well, it's not like we need the money, but I think it would be a fun catch."

"Well, if she does, I think she should give it to the Bebop."

"Why?" Crissy sat up in her seat and looked over at Sammy.

"Well, they would be very thankful and they need it more than we do don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so. But do you think she'll do it in person?"

"Alex? No way! She hates giving or even talking in the same place as her crushes!" they continued on watching their shows as they wondered left and right what Alex's true intentions with Spike really was. Was Spike really the one Alex was talking about in her dreams. The dreams…

It didn't take very long for Alex to reach Mars again as she settled down. She rented a hotel room for the night as she walked on down the streets till she reached the St. Maxwell cemetery a couple of blocks away. But just her luck, it started to rain as soon as she walked through the steel bared gates and through the countless number of headstones. She finally caught the name of her long but not forgotten friend Julia. But she paused, as she saw another person there bending over to place flowers upon her grave. Alec eyed the tall man as he stood to his feet and turned around to face Alex. She gasped quietly at the way he gazed at her.

"I figured you would come here instead." Alex looked away, the large bundle of roses in her arms dripping wet with the raindrops falling on them from her dripping wet hat. "So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"The e-mail I sent you."

"I'm not trying to avoid you…" she knew she was lying, but she couldn't help it.

"Then why, after all these years do you not talk to me? I mean, we both saved each other's life once and never speak again. Look, I know we got off the wrong foot here, but I would really like to get to know you better, like Julia knew you. If Julia loved you so, then why can't we be like that? Like brother and sister almost…" Alex's stomach turned as she dropped the large bundle of roses, "Alex-?"

"Stay away from me Spike. I'm too much trouble for you to handle. Besides, you barely knew my damn name, let alone my face. So why? Why the sudden change?" Alex turned to face him, tears streaming down her face. Spike stared blankly at her for a moment as he tried to think reassuring to say. "I have nothing left for you…" she added as she turned and put her hands in her pockets, leaving Spike behind her.

But she was stopped by a rough, wet hand grabbing onto her wrist gently as she abruptly stopped.

"I'm sorry… I never meant it that way. But we can't go on like this."

"You're only saying that because you feel sorry for me…" she murmured softly as she continued to look away.

"I don't feel sorry for you at all." Alex's eyes darted to the safe refuge of her tearing up eyelids. "Instead of grieving alone, you could grief with me. You and I both know we loved her more than words could say. She wouldn't want us doing this to each other." Alex snatched her hand away from Spike's grip as she walked away.

"I feel no pain… I only see it… over and over again. Keep that in mind." Spike stood there in the pouring rain as he watched Alex's dark figure fade away from sight as he wondered what the hell went wrong. He turned and looked over at the bundle of roses laying on the wet concrete as he walked over to them and picked them up. He carefully placed them on Julia's grave sight and said softly: "These are form 'little one', she would've given them to you personally but I scared her off…"

After to run in with Spike, Alex canceled the hotel room and went back to the Andromanda, hopping she could get some rest there. Sammy jumped to her feet as soon as she heard the ruffle of Alex's coat pass by.

"Hey-" she was stopped by the curious look on Alex's face.

"I'm going to bed…"

"Sure… goodnight…" she worried so much about Alex's mental being after the 'situation' with her dead parents… and now Julia's death. But it puzzled her even more that she didn't express her love towards Spike after all that happened.

"So?" Sammy turned and saw Crissy and Faye with their arms crossed.

"Faye!"

"Looks like a case of dead girlfriend vs. living girlfriend, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but she's just confused."

"Or scared?" Faye looked over at Sammy with a weird twinkle in her eyes.

"You're up to something, Faye Valentine…"

"Who? Me?" she smiled and walked to her space capsule and took off towards the Bebop again. Crissy smiled and walked back into the 'play' room.

"What was that all about?"

"A little phone call that's all." Sammy smiled but felt it wrong to but into Alex's business.

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