Chapter 1

Memories are just where you laid them
Drag the waters 'till the depths give up their dead
What did you expect to find?
Was there something you left behind?
Don't you remember anything I said

- Fuel, "Hemorhage (in my Hands)

Vaguely, she remembered the gunfight. Their target had been close – so tantalizingly close she could almost feel it, taste it. Then there had been the chase, the hail of bullets, and then the pain – damn it if getting shot didn't hurt like a bitch – and then, just before the darkness there had been the worried face of her partner.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open as she became aware of his voice. Strange how she always seemed to home in on it – judging by the sound of it he was nearby… humming?

She smirked at the déjà vu. Granted, she had to give credit where it was due – he wasn't that bad, but she hoped he wouldn't quit his day job.

'Job… ha…' Keeping her thoughts to herself, she continued to listen, startled when she realized she knew the song.

"…We couldn't say them, so now we just pray them," The humming suddenly stopped. Her voice was dry from not being used, but surely she didn't sound that bad. She continued on, "Words that we couldn't saay…"

A faint chuckle could be heard from overhead. "You still sing off-key."

Faye merely scowled, raising her middle finger in the air. The action tugged painfully at her stitches, but in her own twisted mind, it was worth it.

"I certainly don't see your ugly mug on any album covers, Lunkhead," Her voice broke on the insult and she scowled again; just how long had she been out?

"She up yet?" Faye only blinked as Jet came into her line of vision. Meeting her eyes, the lines of tension that had been present in his face slowly eased away and the relief in his blue eyes was quickly hidden by feigned remorse. "Oh, so she is… damn shame. We coulda finally turned her in for that bounty."

The price on her head had reached its Statute of Limitations a year ago – she'd even gone out to celebrate that fact – and they knew it. Still, she growled nonetheless, earning a loud guffaw from somewhere off to her side.

"I guess Fate is not without a twisted sense of humor…"

"Or irony…"

She growled again, gritting her teeth against the fresh wave of pain caused by the action of her trying to sit up. Without warning, a pair of hands reached out, easing her up gently to rest against something warm – a man's chest, no doubt. Glancing upwards, mismatched eyes came into her line of vision filled with thinly veiled concern.

Faye noted the bandage adorning his brow as well as the wrappings bound over his 'bare' shoulder – granted, she was way beyond feeling modest around him, and his lack of upper-body clothing. She was Faye Valentine, after all.

She smirked. "Seems you earned your own set of scrapes, Cowboy," she teased.

Spike, as he was so wont to do when lacking a witty comeback, merely shrugged.

Jet let out a snort. "Why did I think things would be any different this time 'round?" he groaned, busying himself with collecting all the First-Aid equipment littering the small cabin. "First sign of a little cash and you guys eat it all up with the damned medical-bills…"

"Maybe," Faye admitted, batting her eyes prettily. "But you love us anyway?" Jet merely gave her a look. Spike laughed.

It was ironic, they both had to admit. After all, only a couple of months had passed since their brush-in with Thanatos Ragnarok and the Red-Mafia. With nearly 10 million woolongs under their belts, and dividing it amongst themselves, it had seemed as though the Bebop crew was back in business.

Of course, it should have been expected that before long they'd be back in the red again.

Forever broke… so the song went.

Not that anyone really cared – sure Jet complained, but it was only to maintain a sense of normalcy. Having everyone back aboard the ship, and after such a mission, getting adjusted had been a bit awkward. However, everyone slipped back into his or her old roles quickly, glad to be a part of something – hell, anything – again. Twisted and odd though it was, it would be quite some time before any one of them would be willing to split ties again.

Edward took that as her cue to tumble into the room, shock-red hair sticking out in all directions making her look as wily as ever. "Morning, morning, blue skies a-booorning!"

"Ed," Spike remarked dryly. "It's 10 o'clock…" Ed merely blinked. He gave her a deadpan expression. "At night."

The young hacker only grinned, flailing her arms back and forth like a windmill. "Edward just woke up… so to Edward it's morning!" she chirped. "Edward had a really, really strange dream!"

"Do tell," replied Faye. Spike gave her a look, but she just shrugged and ignored him. After all, since her return to the ship, Faye had been making a more conscious effort to humor the kid and all of her strange antics. After all, she too had been dragged into their previous, life-threatening experience. It was just her attempt at the 'more of the family-unifying-bond-bit' routine, she would argue.

Sighing heavily, Spike merely draped his arm across her shoulders – the other busy propping up his upper body – making himself more comfortable. Now that she had expressed an interest, God only knows what they were in store for.

Edward wasn't called 'Radical' for nothing.

Now that she had a 'semi'-captive audience, Edward squealed with glee before taking on the pose of what she felt was that of a storyteller. "Okay-dokay! Edward fell asleep at her Tomato and had a funky-dunky dream," She waved her arms and wiggled her fingers for effect, ignoring Jet and Spike both mouthing the words 'funky-dunky'. "Edward was sitting at her Tomato-"

"In your dream?" Spike cut in. Faye elbowed him, earning a small grunt of discomfort.

"…And then all this water came outta nowhere like – SWOOSH! SPLASH! Then there was this huuuuuuge fish! It had eyes that were this big and his mouth was like this…"

Faye cringed, thinking back on how she had recounted her 'vision' during her drug-trip from that mushroom incident to the others a few years back. She hoped no one remembered…

Snicker! Well, so much for hoping. She elbowed Spike a bit harder this time.

"Hey! That hurt, damn it!"

Faye smiled coyly, batting her eyelashes up at him. "Poor thing… want me to kiss it and make it all better?"

Spike paused, looking thoughtful. However, taking her injuries into account he turned away, looking flustered for even entertaining the idea. "Maybe later."

Faye thought it was cute. Meanwhile, Edward was still going on about her fish.

"You know," Jet cut in. "There's an old superstition about fish and dreams…"

This earned a snort from Spike. "What're you, an old granny bag lady or something?" His comment was rewarded with a roll of medical tape landing on his head.

"Shit, Jet! That hurt, you know?"

"Then stop getting shot up!"

Rolling her eyes, Faye let out a scoff. "Men are such babies…" She turned her attention back to Edward, who was busy typing away madly at her computer. "That another bounty, Ed? Y'know, I don't know if I'm up for one right now…"

The two men in the room exchange looks. "That's a first."

"Kiss my ass." Spike quirked an eyebrow at her, "It wasn't literal! Pervert."

"Edward isn't looking up a bounty," the young hacker explained, never taking her eyes away from her screen and stopping an argument from occurring at the same time. "Edward is writing a story."

The room fell silent.

"A story?"

"You?"

"Really?"

"What's it about?"

Edward blocked her screen from the suddenly prying eyes. "No one can see!" she exclaimed. "Not 'til Edward finishes!"

"Then finish already," Spike replied, catching Faye's elbow before it could do anymore damage. He only smirked as she let out a huff; without her primary weapon, she was powerless. Unless, of course, she did that thing where she put her fingers… um, moving on… "How far along are you?"

"Edward still needs a name for the main character-lady."

"Reeally?" Faye's voice intoned. "Name her Faye!" Already her mind was imagining up copyright royalties for some galaxy-wide best seller; never mind the fact this was Ed she was dealing with…

"No, no, no," Edward giggled, wild hair shaking back and forth as she clapped her feet together amusedly. "Edward can't call her 'Faye'! That's Faye-Faye's name!"

Deadpan. "Oh… how could I have forgotten?"

"Name her Bethany." Everyone turned towards Spike. He, in turn, gave them all a 'what?' look.

"Is that even a name?"

"O'course it's a name," Spike responded, looking a bit offended. He turned back to Edward. "What's your character like, Ed?"

She grinned. "Well, she's loyal, kind, and she likes papayas!"

Easing himself out from under the invalid Faye, Spike stood up. Stretching his limbs and cracking a few joints, he replied offhandedly, "Then that name's no good for you."

"Aww…" Edward pouted, though truthfully she wasn't really all that disappointed; she couldn't think of any words that rhymed with Bethany, after all… "Why not?"

The smirking, comedic expression was gone from the lanky bounty hunter's face, replaced by a drawn, closed in frown. His words were soft and clipped, "Because she was none of those things."

Faye watched all of this closely, unable to shake the sudden feeling of uncertainty. What was it he was thinking about? Judging by his expression, it was almost as if he was experiencing a bad memory of some sort. That brought up another question; who was this Bethany person? Surely she wasn't another 'Julia' from his past?

Her question must have showed on her face, for Spike suddenly turned to her with an unreadable look on his face. "She was my mother." That said, he strolled casually out of the room as if nothing was amiss.

The adults of the room, however, were not so easily fooled. Faye and Jet exchanged brief looks of confusion before the ex-cop, too, left the room in another direction. Off to consider the matter with his bonsai plants, no doubt…

The recent event having taken its toll, sleep began tug at her body despite her mind's reluctance to submit. However, as her senses soon won over as she began to drift under, Faye's brain remained active running 90 miles a minute.

'Spike's… mother…?'

This conversation was not over, she told herself, not by a long shot. Before long, she was fast asleep.

000

Throughout her recovery, which fortunately spanned only a week and a half, Faye had not seen much of Spike. This was not uncommon however, seeing as even after a near-death experience and a couple of months, the two still had yet to truly define their 'relationship', as it were. They sometimes considered themselves 'lovers', but there were still times when an argument or petty fight would break out and the two would be on non-speaking terms for the greater part of a month.

To make matters worse, there was still this 'Bethany' person to attend to. Was she really Spike's mother as he claimed? It wasn't as if he had any reason to lie, but Faye felt she had to know for sure. After all, aside from his dealings with the Red Dragons, how much did she really know about the man?

000

-Ka-chink!- Spike blinked at the lighter being held out in front of the cigarette dangling from his lips. It so happened be his lighter.

At his questioning stare, Faye merely shrugged, lighting his cigarette. "You dropped it."

Spike scoffed. "Like hell," He took a few puffs of his cigarette, sighing as the nicotine took the desired effect. "I thought you quit."

She smirked, twirling the small metal canister expertly through her fingers. "Some habits are hard to break."

"I bet." He paused, giving her a once over. "You doin' okay?"

She fought the urge to smile at his poorly veiled show of concern. Why he even bothered trying to hide it when he knew he was being so obvious she'd never know. Once he'd let her in behind his walls, it was hard not to be able to see how he felt. However, every once in a while there were times when she met a little opposition. He'd put up an inner wall to keep her from venturing any further – just as he had managed with this Bethany-person.

Faye inwardly groaned. 'Now I sound like Ed…' She glanced at him. "How 'bout you?"

"Me?" He exhaled a puff of smoke, watching the tendrils curl and dissipate into the air. "100 clean bill of health."

"Mm," She sat down next to him, watching the stars zip by through the clear-paned glass on the observation deck – another indication something was bothering her lanky cowboy. He only ever came here to exercise or to brood, and seeing since there were no katas currently being performed…

Subtlety was usually lost on him, so Faye took a breath and decided to just jump right in. "Hey, Spike."

He was still puffing away on that damned cancer stick of his. "Hn?"

"What was your mother like?"

He paused, and Faye could just see his inner walls going up in defense against her, all the while trying to remain nonchalant. "Why?"

"Can't I ask a question?"

Keeping his expression neutral, Spike took another drag on his cig, its blue gray smoke coming out in agitated puffs. "Ask something else then."

'Prick,' She bristled slightly. "It's just a harmless question," she replied. "What, you can't tell me?"

Spike sighed. "There's nothing to tell," he deadpanned, although his eyes held a strange glint to them. "She was my mother – she carried me to term for nine months and gave birth to me June 26th, 2044. La dee frickin' da."

"At least you remember her."

He tensed; she just had to play the memory card… "Look, Faye, it's not that big of a deal,"

"Maybe not to you," she exclaimed. "But I was just sitting here, and I realized that you know just about as much my past as I do," Spike frowned and looked away. "But I know next to nothing about yours."

The lanky bounty hunter laughed, giving her an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me?" She gave him a murderous look in turn. "We're having another 'lovers' quarrel', aren't we?"

"Spike…"

"Faye…" He looked at her, shaking his head in disbelief when her expression did not budge. "You are serious…"

"No shit I'm serious! Spike, I know nothing about you!"

"Are you crazy? Are the last 3 years ringing any bells, or have you forgotten that, too?"

That was a low blow and they both knew it; Faye's eyes narrowed as she fought to let the remark slide. "I'm not talking about the Syndicate…" She trailed off, her expression darkening at the mere thought of it.

He turned to face her, his expression surprisingly one of anger. "What, are you saying that part of my life doesn't count?" He took another drag of his cigarette, blowing it in her face. "Sorry to break it to you, but up until 3 years ago, the Syndicate was my life – you're gonna have to get used to that!" He paused. "Otherwise you're telling me that I don't count."

Faye was at a loss of words. It wasn't often that Spike got angry – usually that was her department – but behind his anger she could tell that he was actually very upset. Whether it was at her words or however Bethany played into all of this. Regardless, she decided it was time to submit quietly, if not gracefully.

"Fine, Spike," she bit out. "Fine." She rose from her seat stiffly, shooting him one last look. "Despite all the things you used to say about me…" She narrowed her eyes when he looked away. "I won't settlefor being with a complete stranger."

He remained silent for a moment, seemingly content with smoking his cigarette and staring out into space. "That's just too bad," he replied softly. He shot her a cruel, mocking look. "Cuz I'm just about as strange as they come."

She stared at him disbelievingly for a moment. He was being such a jackass, why? Letting out a short huff, she turned and marched out of the room without another word.

By doing so, however, she didn't see the frustrated look on Spike's face, or hear him curse softly under his breath.

End Chapter 1

Author's Notes - Wow, is Faye and Spike's relationship on the rocks already? (C'mon... you knew I'd find a way to throw some more tension between them, didn'cha?)

Anyways, any comments you guys might have are greatly welcomed! Encouragement is a great motivator.. ::grins cheekily::

Remember the 3 R's, peeps!