Disclaimer: Cowboy Bebop doesn't belong to me.
Chapter 3
When Faye came home from work that night, she opened the door to her apartment to find Vicious sitting on the couch watching T.V. with only a towel wrapped around his body. For a couple of seconds Faye froze at the door and gaped at him before she regained her posture.
"What the hell are you doing?" she bursted, "Who said you can walk around my place dressed like that?!" 'Or not dress…eh…whatever,' she thought.
"You're the one that told me that I stink. The clothes are drying right now," he said coolly, as if it's normal to be practically naked in a stranger's house.
Faye threw a shopping bag at Vicious; he caught it between his index and middle finger rather easily.
"What's this?" he asked.
"There're some clothes inside. You've got nothing to show, so go and put something on," she said as she headed to the kitchen. She lied; Vicious has a handsome body. There was no fat on his body; he was all muscles. His skin stretched taut over his muscles, outlining each and every one of them. 'I wonder what's under the towel,' Faye thought as she chopped several carrots for dinner, 'NO! I can't think like that! He's VICIOUS for crying out loud. I use to want to cut him into a million pieces and feed them to the Ein.'
"Shit!" Faye exclaimed when she accidentally cut her finger.
Vicious staggered out of the bathroom changed into khakis and a black shirt and headed towards the kitchen to see what was going on. There he saw blood dripping from Faye's hand.
"Go tend your wound, and I'll try to cook," Vicious said, "But before I do so, I need to a pair of scissors to cut off this tag on my shirt; it's annoying me like hell."
"It's in my room in one of the drawers in the table," she said, "Well, since you're going to cook, I think I'll take a bath then." Faye headed towards her room to grab her garments, and then headed for a nice hot bath.
Vicious searched through the drawers. When he came to the second drawer, he found a something interesting. It was a picture.
"Spike…" Vicious whispered as he looked at the photo of Spike and Faye together with a dog biting on Faye's skirt. Faye looked very pissed grabbing on to Spike for support as she tried to kick the dog away. Spike was laughing in the picture; he was laughing at Faye and the whole incident going on right then. They looked like a loving couple. 'So she didn't save me out of the goodness of her heart like I thought,' he pondered, 'She must have done it for revenge then. Bet she's waiting for the right time to drive a dagger into my heart.'
Vicious walked out of her room without ever finding the pair of scissors with the picture in his hand. He put the picture into his pocket and started to cook dinner.
~~~ Forty-Five Minutes Later ~~~
Faye emerged out of the bathroom. The first thing that struck her was the aroma coming from the kitchen. Dinner was ready. She walked to the dining table, and there she saw Vicious waiting for her with dishes of gourmet food placed on the table. It was the most appetizing dinner she had ever had in years.
"This taste great," Faye said while popping another piece of chicken into her mouth. She was oblivious to Vicious' odd behavior at the table. He wasn't talking much not that he ever talked much to begin with, and he seemed much more rigid than usual.
After fifteen minutes of silence, Vicious asked, "So what's your name? I haven't got to know my savior's name yet."
Faye tried to think of a fake name to answer Vicious' question but decided to give him her real name. 'It's not like he knows who I am anyways,' she thought.
"My name is Faye," she replied.
'Faye…,' he thought, 'Faye Valentine…Yes, I remember now.' Vicious stood up and started cleaning the dining table.
"You don't have to clean it up. I'll do it after I'm done," Faye said.
"Whatever," Vicious said coldly as he placed the plates in the sink. He then walked to the living room to watch some more T.V.
Faye noticed Vicious' sudden change of attitude but brushed it off. While she was washing the dishes, she was fighting with her conscience. Her conscience told her to tell Vicious' that she knows Spike and that she knows who Vicious was, but her mind screamed that unless she wants to die early, she better keep her mouth shut. She really didn't want to get on the bad side of Vicious. Faye actually wanted to get to know him more. There was something about him that attracted Faye very much indeed. When Faye was done with the dishes, she subconsciously walked over to Vicious and sat down next to him on the couch.
"Since you're not feeling so well, you can sleep on my bed. It's fairly big, so you can have one side of it, while I'll get the other," she offered. 'What the hell am I thinking?! Sleeping with Vicious?! Oh God no, that didn't come out of my mouth!' she yelled at herself mentally.
Vicious just stared at Faye. No response came out from him. He just sat there looking at Faye as if she had something hideous on her face. Faye became fidgety under Vicious' stare.
"What?!" Faye exclaimed. Vicious didn't say anything; he just kept staring at her.
Trying to ease the tension Vicious' was creating, Faye grinned and said, "What's wrong Vicious? Are you afraid to sleep with me? I won't bite."
Finally realizing that Faye had said something, Vicious moved in on Faye. He was merely inches away from touching her face with his nose. He moved into her and whispered in her ears, "No, but I think you will be because I like to sleep naked."
Faye gasped at Vicious' comment. Vicious just laughed evilly when he saw the dumbfounded look on Faye's face.
"I'm tired. I'll gladly take your offer Faye. Good night," Vicious said as he left to go to sleep.
"What a bastard," Faye said loud enough for Vicious to hear. Faye lounged around in the living for several more hours before she went to bed. Hoping that Vicious' had already fallen asleep, she crept into her room. She went to her side of the bed and fell asleep without the blanket on. Faye didn't feel like finding out if Vicious' was really naked or not.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the dead of the night, the moon shone brightly through the window of Faye's room. The only thing that was shining as bright was the knife running up Faye's body reflecting the moon's beam. A hand caressed Faye's cheek as a knife grazed her neck.
"Wake up Faye."
Faye stirred in her bed. She slowly opened her eyes, to meet a pair of dark, cold eyes penetrating hers. At first she wasn't sure who it was, but the moonlight gleamed on Vicious' hair turning it into dazzling silver. The next thing Faye noticed as a cold hard blade pressed onto her neck.
"What's the hell…," Faye muttered.
"Is going on?" Vicious finished the question for her, "That's exactly what I want to know Faye…Faye Valentine."
"W-What do you mean?" Faye asked.
"Don't act stupid with me Faye. I want to know why the hell you saved me. What are your true intentions? Come on Faye, spit it out. I know you know Spike. So tell me the truth," Vicious warned. Faye looked at him astonished by his actions.
"My only intention is to help you," she said calmly trying to stop herself from stuttering.
"Don't lie," Vicious stated as the blade was pressed firmer into Faye's neck. A thin line of blood starts to appear on Faye's neck. "Don't make me kill you Faye," Vicious said coldly.
"I'm serious Vicious," Faye whimpered from the pain caused by the blade, "If I have wanted you dead, I would've left you there in that alley. Please Vicious…I just want to help."
Seeing Faye was telling the truth, Vicious regretted hurting her but immediately coved it up. Faye noticed the flash of regret in his eyes. It went away as soon as it came. She didn't know if she was seeing things or was it real. She kept searching in Vicious' eye, hoping for something to appear to answer her question. Vicious noticed what Faye was doing. He suddenly tore his eyes from her gaze and looked away.
"I don't need your help. You don't know me Faye. I'm not the person you would want to help; neither do I want any….from you anyways," Vicious spat as he moved away from Faye.
"Vicious…I meant no harm," Faye said. She lifted one of her hands and touched the wound on her neck.
Vicious didn't look at her. He dropped the knife and headed out of the bedroom. Faye could hear the soft footsteps outside, then the door opening and closing.
"I know you didn't either," Faye whispered as the deep red blood trickled down from her hand to her arm.
Somewhere outside on the streets of Mars, the echo of footsteps of a man walking with no destination could be heard. Tap tap tap. Vicious didn't know where to go for the night. Soon his feet led him to a small park where he lay on a bench waiting for the day to come.