By A Shot of Amber
Session 18: Interlude: The Dream Within
Ivy sat up in bed with a jolt. Her breathing has escalated to such a point that she was almost gasping for each breath. Inside her chest her heart beat rapidly, for a second there she had felt like some unseen force was smothering her.
One hand reached up and pushed some sweaty black hair away from her face. The dream had been so vivid. She could feel the rain falling on her face and taste the gritty taste of tobacco smoke in her mouth. It was still there like she had been living the dream in real life. She had been there, she had been Ivy, but she was not there. She was a spectator standing in the corner of the room watching it all played out in front of her.
Ivy looked down at a lock of hair on her shoulder. Black, like it always had been. So why did she have blond hair in the dream? Ivy pushed the lock of hair behind her and pulled the covers off her bare legs.
The rest of the ship was quiet; everyone was still asleep when Ivy walked out of her room clad only in a pair of black shorts and her white shirt. Ein lay near her door his head in between his paws but he stood up when he heard the noise of her door opening. Ivy smiled and patted Ein on the head before she walked into the main room. Ein followed close behind her looking at the bare backs of her ankles.
Ed lay in a corner curled up like a cat, her goggles still covering her eyes. The fish on the computer swam around in circles, colorful and playful as always. On the couch lay Spike. One hand rested on top of his stomach, lean fingers stretched over the taunt muscles of his abs. She remembered the way his skin felt underneath her fingers, the taunt muscles of his arms that held her as they made love...
Ivy blushed and walked over to the couch. He was still asleep, his eyes closed to her standing above him leaning over the back of the couch. Bits of hair slipped over her shoulder to reach down and tickle his arm, but he did not awake. Ivy just stood there and watched him sleep, she watched the way his chest moved up and down in a deep even motion, the curl of his hair on his forehead, the slight twitch of his foot.
I wonder if his kiss really tastes like cigarette smoke and tequila?
Ivy leaned over the couch so she was a little closer to him. Her hair brushed against his arm and bare chest. She closed her eyes and puckered her lips like she going to kiss him but mid way through she stopped and opened her eyes. He still slept; his breathing had never changed. That was not what bothered her, it was something else.
Ivy stood up and placed both hands on the couch so she could look down at Spike. He still slept unaware of anything. She sighed and turned away headed towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone.
On the couch, Spike cracked open one eye slightly to see Ivy walking away from him. A small smile graced his features before he closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.
"Where are you going?" Faye asked pulling her face out from behind her magazine.
Spike cringed slightly to see the green goop she called a mask was covering the normally white skin.
" I'm going out," he replied shoving his hands into his pockets and walking up the stairs.
" What's up with you, your cranky today." Faye sniffed pulling her magazine up again.
" Only when I have to talk to you," Spike shot back opening the door and walking out.
" I wonder what's up with him," Faye muttered watching him walk out.
" Maybe Spike-person has PMS," Ed replied from her spot of the floor where she was painting Faye's toenails.
" What! Why would Spike have PMS?" Faye shouted in confusion.
" Well Spike-person had breasts so he might also have PMS." Ed gave Faye an innocent look and continued to swipe the bright pink polish on Faye's nails.
" I...I...oh I don't know." Faye sat back and went back to reading her magazine.
Spike lit up a cigarette and blew out a stream of smoke. He had not seen Ivy for awhile now. She had managed to avoid him since morning. Although it was just a little thing that had happened last night she still took it in a big way. After breakfast when everyone had separated to do their own things he had gone to search for her only to find Jet telling him that Ivy had gone out.
Now he walked off towards the hanger bored and with nothing to do. He could go out, get drunk, maybe find someone, and block her and the dream he had right out of his mind.
Ivy sighed and sat back on the bench. He wasn't coming after all. She resisted the urge to scream and cry but instead let her head fall back so she could look up at the orange sky of Venus.
Last night had been one of the best nights of her life. At least she thought so, after her fight with Spike outside the club she had gone back in and danced with Antonio until dawn when the first lights begin to show in the sky. Laughing and happy the two had driven off in his car to a deserted place he knew of. There in a fit of passion she never knew was inside her they made love before he drove her back to the Bebop and promised to meet her at this park bench that afternoon.
Now I sat here waiting for him. He was an hour late but I still waited just incase he might come. Maybe he was late because he had something else going one or he was an a serious accident and now he lay dying on the side of the road crying because he left me all alone or maybe...
He had stood me up.
Ivy got up and pulled her bag onto her shoulder. A million different emotions filled her including hatred, sadness, fear, and despair. Ivy kicked a pebble out of her way towards the fountain then walked out of the park. She didn't want to go to the Bebop so she walked through town, stopping once to buy a croissant from a womyn selling them in the market place. While Ivy walked, she ate the flaky bread in the small bites reading the signs of the different shops. Jewelry stores, clothes, charms and healing, weapons, tattoos. Ivy walked past a small tattoo parlor with a dragon in it's window. From the inside, someone was screaming a blood-curling scream while a small machine buzzed away. Ivy cringed at the sound and hurried past.
She finished the croissant and threw away the paper napkin. The streets were becoming even more crowded with people doing their night shopping. Ivy pushed her way through the jostling crowds catching a few glimpses of herself in the shop windows. She looked thin, gaunt, and innocent. Too innocent for a person who had been used by someone then thrown out like trash.
Ivy turned and headed back down the street pushing through the crowds till she came closer to the store where the screams were coming from. Inside the smell of blood, hot metal, and sweat assailed her. A mean looking women with a couple piercings in her nose and lips looked up from the magazine she was reading.
" Can I help you?" The women asked in a bored tone obviously mad at being disturbed.
" Yes, I would like that one." Ivy pointed to a drawing just behind the women's head.
The women turned around and looked at the drawing. "Are you sure about that one. Maybe you would like one that is more feminine."
" I'm quite sure that I would like that one."
" Alright," the women sighed and nodded her head. " Have a seat on a chair over there. Louie will be around shortly."
Ivy turned away from the counter and took a seat on one of the ripped leather chairs underneath the window. She clutched her bag tightly to her side wondering if this was such a good idea after all until Louie came in. He was an oversized man dressed in a sweaty black shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Tattoo's covered his neck and arms boasting of flaming hearts and dragons.
" You the little girl I'm here to mark up?"
" Yea, that's me," Ivy replied taking on a cool approach.
" Then follow me." Louie turned and walked into the back rooms while a nervous Ivy followed him.
"Give me another one bartender." Spike slammed the empty glass onto the bar top.
" Are you sure about that? It looks like you've had enough." The bartender replied skeptically.
" I'll tell you when I had enough. Just fill it up." Spike growled pushing the glass towards him.
The bartender exchanged looks with the waitress standing near by but he did pour another drink for Spike.
" Don't you think you want to give yourself a break between drinks?" The waitress moved closer to him and sat down on the empty bar stool next to him.
Spike gave her a drunken look. She was a pretty thing with the normal blond hair, blue eyes, big chest, and a tiny waist.
" What's it you anyway?" Spike asked tossing down his drink and setting the glass down on the bar top.
" Maybe I just like my men to be a little sober, that's all." The waitress replied warming up to the look in his eyes.
Ivy winced at the pain in her arm. The bandage she wore seemed to rub against every sore part on her skin. Inside the tattoo parlor the mean women behind the counter watched the young girl walk out, a white bandage wrapped around her arm. She watched her disappear past the window then went back to reading her magazine.
Ivy meanwhile left her shirt off and let the cool breeze of the night rub against her bare arms. It had grown dark while she was in there, gnashing her teeth to keep from screaming in pain. The endless buzzing noise still echoed in her ears, but it had ended quickly and she was allowed to see her tattoo. A black Japanese kanji sign that spelled 'forever' Two small characters on her right arm. Ivy smiled and gently rubbed the bandage on her arm, wincing at the slight pain her touch generated.
She would go back to the ship now, there was nothing else to do, and since she had no money, there was nothing else to buy. Ivy began to head through the market place headed back for the Bebop.
Spike stood up and reached for his pants. The girl on the bed beneath him sat up and pulled the sheets up to cover his bare chest.
" What are you doing?"
" I'm sorry but I can't do this." Spike stood up and pulled his pants on. "I'm sorry but I can't sleep with you." He grabbed his coat and walked out of the room leaving the bar waitress sitting up on the bed confused to his sudden departure. He had seemed so interested when they had come here 5 minutes ago.
Spike lit up a cigarette and took a drag. He was still drunk but somehow the cool night air calmed his senses and sobered him up a bit. He wasn't sure why but he couldn't sleep with the girl. She was not Julia. No one was Julia. Spike headed back towards the bar and where his ship was, she could find her way out of the motel room they had rented just down the street. Spike took another drag of his cigarette and shoved both hands in his pockets.
Ivy was the first to return to the ship. She found Faye in the kitchen eating whatever she could find since Ivy wasn't home to make dinner. Jet was watering his bonsai plants and was to busy to talk while Ed played online chess and refused to talk at all. Ivy went to her room and threw down her bag; everyone was to busy to notice the difference. Like it mattered, she removed the bandage and looked at the tattoo, the skin was slightly red and swollen but it was there. She smiled happily and re-wrapped the bandage around her arm. Afterwards she headed for the shower to wash her hair and change into her sleeping clothes, a pair of black shorts, and her white shirt.
Faye had disappeared somewhere probably to go take her shower. Ivy thought she could hear the sounds of water running in the distance. She curled up on the couch and flipped on the television leaving it on an old movie where the hero was forced to leave his ladylove because they were forbidden to be together. While the movie played in the background Ivy wrote in her notebook, her black hair pulled back into a braid with only a few loose pieces falling out.
Spike walked through the door into the main room. He was starting to feel the effects of an early hangover already. Ivy looked up from her writing to see him standing above on the stairs looking rumpled and tired.
" Where's Jet?" Spike clomped down the stairs rubbing his head to ward off the headache he knew was coming.
" I don't know. I think with his bonsai." Ivy gave him a short reply then went back to her writing. She did not fail to notice the scent of womyn's cologne that clung to him when he passed by.
Spike walked out of the room down the hall towards the bathroom. She heard the sharp knock and the irritated words he sent flying towards Faye before slamming the door of his room shut behind him. Ivy went back to her writing while Ed moved her rook one space closer to her opponent's bishop.Spike sat up in bed and wiped the sweat away from his burning eyes. The covers molded themselves over his legs and torso. The dream again, it was the second night in a row that he had had that dream. Now he sat there drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
Spike climbed out of bed and walked down the dark hall towards the hanger. He did not feel sleepy anymore. Outside the lights of the city glowed on and off, Spike lit up a cigarette and took a heady drag enjoying the taste of the smoke in his lungs.
" Couldn't sleep?"
" Nope," Spike shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweat pants and let the cigarette dangle from his lips.
" Neither could I." Ivy pulled her bare legs closer up to her chest and fiddled with the cuff of her sleeve. "Aren't you going to offer me a smoke?" She asked after a while.
" I didn't think you smoked."
" I'm not a heavy smoker like you are but once in awhile I enjoy one."
Spike pulled his pack out from his pocket and tossed it to her. She caught it easily and pulled out one. "Thanks," Ivy mumbled as she searched her pockets for a lighter and ended up pulling out Spike's. Ivy lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. She tossed the lighter and the cigarettes back to Spike then sat back and smoked. Spike caught the objects and put them away vaguely wondering how Ivy had gotten a hold of his lighter when it had been in his pocket just a few minutes ago.
" You can sit by me if you want, I won't bite."
" I prefer to stand up." Spike sat down anyway though bending his long legs at the knee. They sat there in silence smoking for awhile until she spoke up again.
" I went to the park to go meet him today."
" Who, that guy?"
" Yea." Ivy flicked some ash of her cigarette and went on. "I waited for over an hour for him to come, but he never did." She took a drag of the cigarette and blew a stream of gray smoke into the sky.
Spike did not say anything but instead smoked in silence.
"I guess I should have listened to you when you said he would use me because he did. We made love, or at least I thought it was love but it was only a quick fuck for him and then he was gone."
" Was it your first?"
" Hmm? Oh no, I have been with a guy before him. It just hurts to know that he only used me for sex then left me. I waited at the bench for over an hour but he never came. So finally I left and I walked through the town."
" Then you came back to the Bebop and forgot about your problems? This is the place to do it, you know."
" Actually I got a tattoo." Ivy unbuttoned a few buttons on her shirt and shifted it down to show the brand new mark on her skin.
Spike studied the symbols trying to see if her knew what they read. He gently traced a fingertip over the tender skin while she winced in slight pain.
" What does it say?"
"Forever." Ivy lifted the sleeve back up and re-buttoned her top. "It seems to fit my mood."
" I can't see you has a eternal person."
" That's because you can't see inside me." Ivy flicked her cigarette over the edge of the hanger.
" I bet you I could if I tried."
She turned her head to look at him, their eyes meeting in the darkness. " Then tell me what you see."
Spike was silent for a moment staring right into her eyes looking deep into the depths of green trying to find something. Finally, he spoke again. " I see a girl with to much spirit who is trying to grow up to fast."
" That doesn't say much."
" I'm not finished yet. I also see a girl who is running away from something."
" What is that girl running away from?" Ivy whispered.
" I don't know, she keeps it hidden away from everyone. She has a secret but she doesn't want to tell anyone."
Ivy closed her eyes and turned away from him. "You can't read someone by looking into their eyes. You can't read me."
" Then I guess I'm not a physic." Spike pulled out a new cigarette and lit it up.
" No, I guess not."
They let themselves fall into silence while he smoked and she just sat there. Her thoughts getting lost in themselves. At one point Ivy tentatively let her head fall onto his shoulder, and to her surprise, he did not move away. She smiled and closed her eyes just wanting to fall asleep like that, so the moment could go on forever.
Spike looked down at the dark haired girl resting against him. Normally he would have been inclined to move her but now he just let her lay that way. He felt to much at peace to do much except smoke and stare at the stars with the sounds of her soft breathing in the background.
" After that there seemed to come a peace around me. I don't know what it was but in a way I think everything got better. We not really, we are still broke and there is no food on board the ship and there has not been a bounty in a long time. Everyone is fighting with everyone except Ed who ignores us all and Ein who probably thinks we are idiots, but I don't know, there just seems to be something in the air that has come down upon me. Wherever I go my eyes search for him, I feel like I've known his for so long and that dream, where I was that girl, it seems to real."
It seems like I was once that girl....
See you later Space Cowboy... Ed: Guess what everyone!Everyone: What?
Ed: Ed says that the next episode is going to be a fun one!
Jet: Yea? How so?
Ed: We get to go out partying and capturing a big tough crook.
Faye: Gee, sounds like fun.
Spike: The next episode is "Fiesta at the Mardi Gras."
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