Heey! Sorry about this being a late update...I have barely been able to keep up with stuff this week. xx; anyway...here's the lovely chapter 13...wewt! ; this one is an interesting one...and not really THAT dramatic or action packed, but it has it's moment halfway through to the end...well...just read it. ee; Lol...eeeeenjoy:D

Chapter 13:

Fortunate Fool

After about fifteen minutes of waiting with Jet, Spike came walking out the apartment building briskly, carrying one of Emp's small suitcases that she had stuffed in her closet. Emp had already been relieved that Jet wasn't going to turn her in and now she felt even more relieved to know that Spike was alright. She was so happy to see him that she almost jumped on him when he climbed into the Hammerhead. He returned her hugs, but she noticed that his face was very serious, and that bothered her; she was in deep trouble.

"So…what are we going to do now?" Emp asked blandly. Spike scratched his head in thought and stared straight ahead. Jet let out a big sigh and tossed his glances between Emp and Spike.

"Well, I guess you come live on the BeBop and we'll take you off Mars," Spike said and Jet gave him a sharp look, "not like that will be any safer; most cons wanted everywhere." Jet continued to stare at Spike and Spike at Jet while all poor Emp could do was look between them and consider all of the many reasons Jet would probably not want her on the ship. However, in the end, she decided that maybe as long as she didn't think about it, nothing bad would happen. Finally, the tense moment broke when Jet sighed and heavily turned around to fly the Hammerhead. Now, the hunter and the hunted would be living with the hunter's other friends.

For Emp, the BeBop, unfortunately, was a very familiar scene. However, this time, she wasn't being taken against her will, but even that aspect didn't make the tattered ship any prettier. Even though it was a haven, that didn't necessarily mean it had to be glamorous, because, it wasn't. Of course, the worst part of the whole ordeal was Faye. Remembering what lies Faye had told her during her last visit to the BeBop created a queasy feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. To think of Spike holding that gun to his head almost made her physically sick and that was one less thing that everybody needed.

Even though Emp's security problems had been temporarily solved, there was still the issue of obliterating her bounty. Spike and Jet had desperately tried to remember any specific or omitted details about the operation she and her partner were investigating, but she just couldn't remember any of them. Eventually, they just began to give up on her personal testimony and Sabatino had done a very thorough job of destroying all evidence. It had been a week on the BeBop for Emp, and a fruitless week at that.

However, for everyone, it was fruitless in more ways than one. Being that nobody was making any money, there was hardly any food to pass around. Faye insisted that the "freeloader", who apparently was Emp, should get the smallest ration possible, but Spike still gave her an equal sized ration and also suggested that maybe Faye should receive less food being that she wasn't trying to help Emp's situation even a little bit. This kind of tension grew between everyone on the Bebop, except for Emp who spent her days sitting in the corner of Spike's and her tiny cabin thinking of what she could possibly remember about the Bacala Investigation, but nothing came. Lack of food and lack of progress discouraged Jet and secretly Spike.

Finally, Emp came upon a small idea; maybe Sabatino sent out another threatening e-mail to Emp's computer, which was unfortunately back in her apartment. Of course, hacking into people's e-mail accounts was what Ed liked best, so reading her e-mail was light-years short of a problem not to mention worthwhile. There was indeed a message, and it was just as threatening as the first, if not more.

"Miss Emp Nemio. It seems that not only have you not obeyed our orders, but you have come to us with hostility. We merely wished to speak with you, but however, you have chosen most unwisely. Being that our orders were not met, we will proceed to fulfill our previous promise. However, also being that you are in fact the murderer of one of our syndicate members, we shall extend our threat to your other bounty hunter friends. If the wish to save themselves, we suggest that they cease giving you their assistance. –Mark Sabatino"

As soon as Emp finished reading the entire message, she walked away towards her cabin, shakily, while the rest of the crew huddled around Ed's monitor. The feeling in the pit of her stomach grew about ten-fold as she nervously stared out into nothing. When she reached her cabin, she stared at the metal walls wide eyed and was so scared that her mind was absolutely blank. It was this emptiness that almost caused her to faint when Spike silently entered and placed his cold hand on her shoulder. She was at a loss, a dead end, once more and as she cried in his arms she hated him for his gentle words. "It'll be fine" and "Don't worry about it". She hated him with a burning passion for those words, those lies, but at the same time, with that same burning passion, she loved him more than ever. She knew what he wanted to do and she desperately wanted to stop him; he was going to put his life on the line again. Not for himself. Not for justice. For her. You can give many things to the person you love: your body, your heart, your mind. But amongst everything you can give a person, there is one thing that should never be given: your life. No matter how much you love another person, no one deserves your life and in Spike's case, he had already twice threatened to give her just that: his life for hers. And Emp did not want the third time to be the charm.

Later that night, after everyone else was asleep, Emp restlessly woke to find that Spike was absent from her side. She sat up and thought for a few minutes about whether or not she should leave the room to find him, and about 10 minutes later, she was walking up the halls following the voices she could hear from outside her room. Those voices, who belonged to Spike and Jet, led her to the bridge, where she stealthily waited outside of, just close enough to eavesdrop.

"We can't just give up on her." Spike stated, using his famed cool and calm stature to hide the stormy emotions inside.

"Spike, her company could very well mean the death of all of us! NOT just her!" Jet growled. Emp knew he was right, and as much as she wished it weren't true, she realized that indirectly, she could murderer the only friends she had, not to mention her only love.

"If we can expose Sabatino…" Spike began, but Jet hastily cut him off.

"There isn't any evidence to expose Sabatino. Spike, we need to…" Now it was Spike's turn to cut Jet off, and what he had to say struck fear and worry into Emp's heart.

"What if I killed him?" There was a deathly silence and even though Emp couldn't see the look on their faces, she imagined the scene perfectly: Spike and Jet facing off, staring at each other just like they did in the Hammerhead weeks ago. Spike's jaw squared and his eyes melting down Jet's very existence with their cold yet fiery stare; containing no pity, but teeming with passion. Finally, Jet, the black dog who, when he bites, never lets go, steps down from the stare down and says, "You know exactly what would happen if you killed Sabatino…"

"Emp would be free." He said, his voice soft and airy, as if he wasn't really talking to Jet, but think aloud.

"And you would be a murderer. Plus, there isn't much of a guarantee that the bounty will be lifted once Sabatino is dead and the rest of the syndicate would be after all of us even more than they are now. Syndicates are…" Spike snapped at Jet, "Don't tell me about syndicates! I know syndicates!" There it was again: that silence. You could almost hear the dreams of the BeBop crew who were asleep and you could almost feel the tension between Spike and Jet, like a stretched rubber band. However, before the rubber band could snap, Spike let out one cold, flat laugh and continued, "Plus, it's either him or us, right?"

"You can do whatever you want because it's obviously not what I want, and it's probably not what Emp wants either, if that matters." Said Jet. Emp looked down and thought. Spike's murder of Sabatino would definitely mean an increase in danger for everybody, but that's not the only thing that bothered her. If he did kill Sabatino, how would her feelings towards him change? She didn't want to love a murderer, but she also didn't want to stop loving him. Could she still love him even with the knowledge that he killed someone? Never! Spike wasn't a murderer! She didn't want to become the inciting force that would lead him to kill somebody. "But, if you do decide to kill him, you can never come back to the BeBop. We're abandoning you, Spike. End of story."

No! She wouldn't let that happen to him! It was all her fault that the BeBop got into this mess and she was going to get them out of it. What if she killed Sabatino? She'd probably be sent to jail, but that was going to be the case anyway, right? The syndicate would most likely think that it was a desperate attempt at freedom after being deserted by the BeBop. At least, that's what she hoped. If she was going to go down, she at least wanted to free her friends before she was finished.

With her mind set, Emp hurriedly snuck back to their room and pretended to be asleep just before Spike came back to the room. She listened to him, focusing her mind on every single one of his breaths, including one large and heavy sigh. He got down and laid on his back besides her. She was wide awake and even with her back turned to him, she could still hear him mutter quietly, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

The next morning, Spike rolled over to find that Emp wasn't next to him. He didn't think much of it, being that he himself could be a late sleeper. She probably went to go get some breakfast or something. So, he got up stiffly and trudged over to the door, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He had a late night last night, talking to Jet and all.

He shuffled out to the main cabin where the BeBop's gaudy yellow couch permanently sat. Nobody really acknowledged his entrance, but it's not like he cared or anything. He stood there for a minute, analyzing the scene, wondering when his collaged eyes would land upon sweet neurotic Emp, and was quite puzzled when that moment never came. He scratched his head and looked around the room for her, but she failed to magically appear before him.

"Hey," he asked, "have you guys seen Emp?" Jet, who was tapping away at his computer, as usual, looked up at him with a confused look and responded, "No. We thought she was sleeping late with you."

"Yeah. With thought that you two had a…um..late night, if you catch my drift," Faye hummed, a cackle in her voice. Spike just looked at her amusedly.

"Well, of course I know you'd just love to know about my current sexual status, but I'm looking for my woman, if you don't mind." He turned back to Jet, "So, you haven't seen her?"

"Not since I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning." Jet turned his focus back onto his computer, "Anyways, I wouldn't be too worried. She's not stupid enough to leave by herself."

"…or merciful enough either," spat Faye. Spike just ignored her and sighed and began plodding back to his room when suddenly Ed called out from the far side of the room.

"Emp-Emp went bye-bye! Back back, never coming back!" she sang. Spike stopped cold and turned around to see Ed laying on the floor, staring at him upside down. He looked to Jet and then to Faye, who both were staring at him in bewilderment.

"You don't think that she heard our conversation last night, do you Spike?" asked Jet, a genuine concerned tone in his voice. Spike stared at him, but he was actually staring into his own mind. Could she have heard everything? Even the part about how he said that he was going to kill Sabatino himself? What would she do? He knew she was unstable, but would she really try to bring that responsibility onto herself?

Spike suddenly cantered off to his room, and a the sound of shuffling objects in his room, Jet went after him. Jet peered into the door way and met Spike's gaze again. He was standing at the metal desk in the room, his gun holster and ammo lying askew on the desktop.

"She took my gun, which means that she's gone to kill Sabatino herself," Spike said, almost angrily. He looked down at all the things on the desk and after a period of silence, he furiously swept them off the top and as they noisily hit the floor, Spike shoved past Jet and vigorously walked off to grab another firearm.

"What are you doing, Spike?" asked Jet, following him. He wasn't seriously thinking about going after her was he? How could he possibly be devoted to one person so much?

"I'm going to rescue my damsel in distress, can't you tell?" responded Spike, thrusting his new gun into it's holster.

"But Spike, she's made her decision. If she wants to go after Sabatino, let her!" Spike stopped coldly in his tracks, and without turning around, he spoke his last words to Jet clearly and callously, "If you want to help her, find as much evidence against Sabatino as you can, but don't try to tell me that you want me to let her go out to die." With that, Spike strolled over to the docking area for the Swordfish. Faye stood at the entrance and handed him his jacket.

"Are you coming back alive?" she asked, her voice uninterested. He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye as he took his jacket.

"Not without her, I'm not."

There...how was it? I've been thinking...there have to be a BUNCH of people thinking that the way I write Spike is like...too emotional...but I figure that Spike used to be more emotional when he was in love with Julia (Pre-bebop days...) and so I'm trying to capture that. I mean, it's my own interpretation, but I really think that he's a bit more expressive with Emp...shrug But it's all good...:P Comments and critiques!