Gunshot Serenade

A/N: I honestly can't say how long it's been since my last post. Did I make good time? Anyway, I really wanted to post this on Valentines day, and I made good progress on it then, but I had to rewrite it because I'm a wacko. So here it is, a week late! I hope you guys like it! This is sort of an 'explore the inner workings of Faye' chapter, with a bit of a surprise character thrown in. And for all of you who liked Amber, dont' worry! She's not gone yet! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do I own Cowboy Bebop.

Lucky Thirteen:

Blue Monday

I don't feel a thing
And I stopped remembering
The days are just like moments turned to hours

Mother used to say
If you want, you'll find a way
But mother never danced through fire showers

It was cold, but that wasn't why Faye was shivering as she pushed out of her apartment building and onto the rainy, grey streets of Tharsis. She was breathing heavily, and on the verge of tears. Goosebumps came to heads on her arms and legs. She hadn't thought to take a coat.

She could feel the rain begin to soak through her deep red shirt, but her mind was folded in on itself, focused completely on the life playing like a silent film behind her eyes. There was the knock on the door, that she had been sure was Jet and Ed. Then the momentary fear as the man, who she now recognized as Mr. Power Tie, leveled his gun at her, and the shock and relief of Spike coming to her rescue again. The man bleeding on the floor, the horror as she found out that Spike had been out to get her all along. The feel of his body as she shoved past him and out of her apartment, the warmth of his hand as he grabbed her arm. And finally, the look in his eyes as she pulled away from him and ran.

Faye jerked back to reality, finding that she was a solitary still figure amidst the throng of people moving through the rain. Faceless people under black umbrellas. Faye dodged out of the crowd and into a bar she had never entered, but passed everyday on her way to and from work.

It was called Le Chein Noir, and it was empty. Not unusual for a Tuesday afternoon. A bell chimed as Faye entered and the door swung closed. She looked behind her briefly, a little startled by the noise, and then moved forward, her heels clicking on the polished wood floors. Purple walls covered in framed photos and newspaper clippings greeted Faye as she navigated around small tables and clusters of chairs, each lighted with a white candle, towards the waxed bar. Faye ran a hand through her hair and walked inadvertently to the slow tempo of Billie Holiday, playing from an old radio in the corner of the bar, until she reached a barstool, which she slid up into.

The bartender was MIA, but there was some clanking from the back room. Faye just sighed and rested her elbows on the shining bar and her head in her hands. Her skull was pounding, images still flashing through her mind.

"So what can I get you?"

Faye's head jerked up. She hadn't heard footsteps, buta woman was standing behind the bar, a hand on her popped hip, smiling at her.

"What?" Faye asked, startled.

"Do you want a drink?" The woman asked.

Faye nodded and looked her over quickly. Black hair, so dark it was almost indigo, brushed her shoulders. A heart shaped face was cut diagonally by black bangs that partially covered one of her big, heavily lashed brown eyes. Her face was wise but unwrinkled, making her age impossible to guess. The woman raised an eyebrow.

"I'll have a cosmopolitan." Faye said belatedly.

"Are you sure about that? Specialty of the house is a Blue Monday."

"I've never heard of it."

"It's a cocktail. Mostly vodka and lemon juice. It's yummy."

Faye sighed. "Fine. I'll have a Blue Monday."

The bartender smiled softly and set to work while Faye replaced her head in her hands. As she closed her eyes, Spike's image shot immediately to the foreground. She forced it violently away, focusing instead on her multiplication tables. She could hardly remember them.

A few moments passed with only Billie Holiday and the clinking of bottles as the bartender mixed Faye's drink. Finally, a glass was set on the bar. Faye looked up to find a clearish blue liquid in a martini glass garnished with lemon. She took a sip. It was sour. She liked it.

"Kind of early in the day for such a hard drink, don't you think?" The bartender asked casually.

Faye quirked an eyebrow, her eyes still focused on her drink. "I've had a rough day." Was the short reply.

The bartender nodded. "Right." She paused a moment, studying Faye, who sipped her drink in silence. "I'm Alyssa, by the way." The woman added.

Faye glanced up. Alyssa. It sounded familiar. She knew she had heard it before, but she couldn't place it. For all Faye knew, it could be a name from another lifetime.

"Alyssa. That's a beautiful name. Sounds familiar."

"Thanks. It's common. Probably isn't me you remember. I'm from Ganymede."

"Ganymede. A lot of water." Faye observed.

Alyssa nodded, smiling. "Yeah. You've been there?"

"A long time ago," Faye said quietly. "Why did you leave?" She asked, more to hear the bartender's soft voice than any interest in the answer.

"There was nothing for me there. It's a dead-end satellite with no economy."

"But there's sure a hell of a lot of water."

Laughing, Alyssa replied, "Yes. Yes there is." She reminisced silently for a moment, during which time Faye watched her, fascinated, seeing the emotions register on her face and then pass over. Regret, loss, and then something that could have been love. She immediately felt a bond with the woman.

"You left a lot there, didn't you?" Faye asked quietly, her heart wrenching with the familiarity of the feeling.

"Yeah," Alyssa replied wistfully, "And a lot left me there."

"A man?"

"It's stupid of me to think of him after all these years."

Faye took a thoughtful sip. "Maybe it is." She said, almost silently. Alyssa heard her and smiled, reaching under the bar and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Faye's old brand. She pulled one out and offered it to Faye, who shook her head. "I quit a long time ago."

"So did I." Alyssa said, placing it in her mouth and lighting up. "Sometimes we have to indulge."

Faye smiled and pulled one out of the pack, taking a long pull as Alyssa lit the end of the cigarette. It had been a long time. Comfortable silence followed.

"So did he smoke also?" Alyssa asked out of the blue.

"Hmm?"

"Girls like us don't quit smoking for our health." Alyssa said, grinning wryly as she began to mix a cocktail for herself. Faye watched her, her mind slow and her drink already half gone.

"Yeah. He did smoke."

"Is he why you're here at four o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon?"

"Yep." Faye took a pull, studying the smoke as it cascaded out of her mouth.

"So what was he like?" Alyssa asked, a pink drink now in her hand.

Faye shrugged. "Sad."

"Because of you?"

She laughed sardonically. "No. Never because of me."

"Then who?"

"An angel, I guess. A fallen angel."

Alyssa tilted her head delicately. "Angels don't exist. Not on earth at least. Even fallen ones."

"Then maybe she was really a demon from paradise."

"Maybe she was." Alyssa said. "He must have been something, then."

Faye shrugged. "He was just a man."

Alyssa smiled. "Do you want another?" She asked, gesturing to Faye's empty glass. Faye nodded and watched Alyssa set down her own drink and pick up the glass. "I'm out of Vodka out here… I have some bottles in the back."

Faye nodded wordlessly and watched her walk into the back room. As Alyssa disappeared from sight, Faye's hands went immediately the pack of cigarettes still lying on the bar. As she was about to take one and tuck it into her purse, she stopped herself.

Not only was it wrong, but she didn't smoke anymore. Damn.

Smoke billowed up then disappeared as she ground the little left of her cigarette into the crystal ash tray. Wondering why Alyssa had been gone so long, she perked her ears. She heard soft cursing from the back.

The door chime rang. A gust of air burst into the bar, but was cut off quickly by the closing thump of the door.

They had found her.

Sluggish and to the beat of the music, Faye pulled out the Brunette's gun she had hidden up her skirt and twirled off her barstool, clicking off the safety. She found her gun leveled at Jet's head.

"Jet?" She intoned, lowering her gun to her side and cocking her head. His brows were stitched, arms full of groceries in tall brown paper bags.

"I saw blood on the floor and the door was shot off. I figured you'd be here." He said shortly.

Faye quirked an eyebrow. "Lucky guess." She said quietly. She opened her mouth to speak, but then snapped it shut.

"No," Jet said quietly, reading the question in Faye's eyes. "Spike wasn't there."

Faye nodded silently. Jet was moving to speak again when a bottle shattered on the floor. His dark eyes flitted past Faye's shoulder to the source of the sound and stayed there. He choked on his words. Faye furrowed her brow and half turned to find what was attracting his attention.

"…Jet."

Alyssa was standing behind the bar, pale and shaking. Her hand was shaped like she had been holding a bottle neck. Faye assumed she had dropped it. There was silence.

"Alyssa." Jet's voice, calm and deep, cut through the strange silence like a knife. "Small world, I guess." He smiled, a half hearted and empty gesture. Faye took a step back, away from the scene. She looked between the two figures. Jet moved forward, his face earnest.

"It's been a long time, Jet," Alyssa said, trembling as she grabbed a rag and disappeared behind the bar. When she re-emerged, the rag was full of broken glass. "How have you been?" She asked, dumping the shards into a trash can.

"I've been fine. Just fine. You?"

Faye stood, brow furrowed still, watching the exchange. Suddenly, it clicked.

Alyssa. Ganymede.

"He's a fool if he thinks his old girlfriend is still holding a torch for him…"
"You know, Faye, not all women are like you…"

Alyssa. Faye was amazed at the serenity in Jet's voice.

"Fine," Alyssa answered, smiling with the same tranquility. "I just opened this bar a year ago. I'm doing really well."

"That's good to hear. Really good." Jet replied, his hollow, heart wrenching smile still firm on his lips. A few moments of silence passed before Jet laughed quietly and ran a hand over his balding head. "Le Chein Noir… That's a nice name."

"Thank you. It's French."

"Does it mean anything?"

"Yes," Alyssa said quietly, turning her back to Jet and Faye to wipe off the already spotless counter. "It means 'The Black Dog'." She paused a moment, then continued working. Jet just nodded, silent.

"Would you like a drink?" Alyssa asked without looking at Jet, beginning to mix Faye's second Blue Monday.

Jet moved forward slowly, nodding as he slid into a barstool. "Yes, please."

"What'll you have?"

"My usual."

From her position, Faye could see Alyssa smile. "Sure, Jet. Coming right up." She paused for a moment and looked out the window to her right. It was streaked with rain drops, shimmering in the dusk.

"It's raining again." Faye said quietly, moving towards the window and placing the pads of her fingers on the cool glass. "It had stopped for a while."

Both Jet and Alyssa seemed to have forgotten she was there. Faye smiled and turned away from the window and its bleary view of wet streets to pick up her drink, which Alyssa had set on the bar. She took a seat next to Jet.

"News says it'll rain all week." Jet said, his eyes still on Alyssa.

"Unusual for Tharsis."she commented.

"I think it has something to do with fumes." Jet replied.

Faye sighed. She liked the rain, and that explanation made it seem awfully unromantic. Alyssa offered her another cigarette. She took it. Jet, in turn, declined.

More silence as Alyssa finished off Jet's drink.

"So how do you two know each other?" She asked casually. Faye raised an eyebrow, reading in her voice more interest than she let on.

"We used to work together. Jet takes care of me sometimes." Faye answered in Jet's stead.

The bartender nodded and slid a short glass down the bar. Jet caught it, smiling, and took a sip of the amber liquid within. As he set down the glass, the fat ice cubes clinked together.

Faye took a slow drag of her fresh cigarette, holding the smoke down for as long as she could. When her lungs started to burn, her exhaled quickly. The gesture seemed to remind Jet of something.

"Are you hurt?" He asked, turning his head to look at her.

She made eye contact with him. "No."

"How about emotionally?"

"I'll get over it."

"Come on, Faye. You never talk to me anymore."

Faye laughed quietly. "I never talked to you in the first place, Jet."

"Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

"There's nothing to tell," Faye replied, shrugging. She blinked slowly and broke her gaze.

"I told him to tell you, Faye. I told him there would be trouble."

"It wouldn't have mattered either way." She stood slowly, taking a last sip of her nearly full drink and then placing a wad of bills on the table. "I need to take a walk. Will you be here when I get back?" She asked, turning her back to him as she headed towards the door.

"Yeah, I'll be here." Jet said. Faye nodded without looking at him and pushed open the door, the cigarette hanging from her lips. Just as she was stepping out onto the cold streets, Jet stopped her.

"Faye!" He called from his seat. Faye turned back to him, her back holding the door open. "Just know that he really did mean to help you. He was really trying."

Faye smiled and took the cigarette from her lips, letting smoke drift lazily away. "I know." She said quietly. She lingered a moment in the doorway, and then turned.

Jet and Alyssa watched in silence as Faye Valentine was lost to the throng of black umbrellas.

A/N: And there, my freinds, was chapter thriteen! Chapter 14 will be a lot like it, but with more Spike and Alex. As I'm sure you can tell, this fic will also be JxA, but that's a VERY minor pairing. Just letting y'all know.

Luv and kisses! Please review, and happy Valentines Day!