I suppose that it was bound to happen eventually.

I mean, with my past – or lack thereof – it was no stretch of the imagination that I would eventually meet someone that played just as fast and loose with life as I did. And I felt a hundred different things when his name was mentioned.

I hated him for his smugness.

I felt kinship with him for his lack of a past.

I was taken with his looks, the casual way he treated everything but managed to still look damn handsome.

I hated the fact that despite his attitude and how much I wanted to hate him, he began to haunt my thoughts after a while, and I enjoyed those thoughts.

The last thing I needed, of course. Attachment, something to make me think about anything but number one on my list.

I stared across the room at his frame, stretched full length on a couch that was a tad too short for him but it didn't seem to bother him any. He had a cigarette in his mouth, the soft thread of smoke just drifting up towards the fan. His eyes were shut, but I knew he was awake. He always was, more often than not.

And in his hand, twirling between his long fingers, was the key to my Redtail.

"Damn it, Spike, give me that damn key!"

"Why, Faye? In a hurry to go somewhere?"

"No, not really," I said. I didn't want him to know anything about the tip Edward had given me.

"Then why are you so anxious to get this key?"

I fumed. "You dammed Lunkhead! That is MY ship and if I want to go for a trip in it, than that's MY business."

"Not according to my sources," he said, cracking an eye and giving me that smirk.

I hated that smirk.

But at the same time, it made parts of me feel weak, like I was standing on rubber legs or had a stomach full of hot soup.

But at this moment, I was just mad through and through. "Edward," I growled.

"Nyum?" came the reply from behind the couch, where she was napping.

"I thought I told you not to tell anyone about what you told me!"

Her head poked up and over the back of the couch, hanging upside down. "Faye-Faye, Edward didn't tell Spike-person. Spike-person heard you talking outside the room and asked Edward where Faye-Faye would be going, and Edward told him."

I was sure steam was coming out of my ears by that point, and I could feel the tension in my shoulders as they hunched over, fists clenched. My hair fell into my face, blocking my view of that damned smirk.

I saw him stand up, still spinning the key in his fingers like a stylus. His smirk hadn't changed any, but it was more infuriating for some reason.

"I'll let you go on one condition," he said.

How dare he set terms?! That bastard, that ass, that...

Handsome yet infuriating man.

"What is it, Spike?" I gritted out.

"If you get the bounty, you give a quarter of it to me and Jet. That way, if you loose at the races, you can at least contribute to some food. I'm tired of beef and peppers."

I wished that he hadn't seen my fist coming. Having him dodge that easy just makes me madder. And since he also grabbed my wrist to keep me from swinging again, we wound up chest to chest for a moment, staring at each other.

We just stood there for a moment, just looking at each other. I could smell him, the scent of smoke and confidence, of gunsmoke and sweat. I just looked at him for a moment, my wrist tingling with the touch of his fingers. I put a hand on his chest for balance and just looked into his eyes.

He looked at me, the smirk faded and the cigarette just dangling from his lips loosely.

We stared at each other for a moment, then I backed up, and he started rubbing the back of his neck, looking rather confused.

I started walking away, still hunched into the 'Don't-bother-me-or-I'll-deck-you' stance. Once I reached the hanger, I reached into the pocket of my sweater and pulled out the key that I palmed from Spike before that moment of frozen time. I sat in the pilot's couch for a moment, just holding the key.

What had that been? I've never just stared at him dumbfounded before, let alone have the look returned.

I shook my head. Focus, Faye. Ten thousand Woolongs.

I gritted my teeth as I started the Redtail up, remembering Spike's 'deal.' How dare he tell me what to do with my money?

But then again, they did put up with a lot of my drama, mostly created to keep them from prying into my history. And they gave me a place to stay, shelter and food when we had it. It really wasn't too much that he asked for a bit of help with the groceries.

I sighed. I was going soft in my old age. I mean, I was almost 25 now. My youth was slipping away faster than the supply of cigarettes on the Bebop. I cranked the Redtail into gear and guided it out of the hanger.

But as I flew away, his face kept coming to mind. The small scars and lines that life had deposited the eyes that seemingly saw nothing yet everything at the same time. That mop of disheveled, spiked hair. That smug smile.

And the look that he had given me just before I pushed him away, that look of surprise, as though he was seeing me for the first time.

Who was Spike Speigel, anyhow? What was behind that cynical smile and cocky grin?

Why did it suddenly matter to me?

"Damn him," I said as I hit the radio button, tuning in a pop song just as it hit it's chorus. It was in Japanese, but for some reason it made me kind of stare at the radio for a moment, an odd feeling in my gut.

Kawaita hitomi de dareka na itekure

The real folk blues
Honto no kanashimi ga shiritaidake
Doro no kawa ni sukatta jinsei mo warukuwanai
Ichido kiri de owarunara

Huh. That was wierd. Though I kind of like the song, nice beat and catchy horn section.

Just wish I understood what the hell was being said.