It was a chilly and misty blue morning six months after "it" happened when something else decided to catch up to her as well. She was practicing her usual morning routine, sighing deeply, leaning back against the broken fountain in her old driveway, facing the ruins and ghosts of walls that enclosed her whole childhood, a half-smoked cigarette held limp between her lips.
Familiar images flashed through her mind, her short conversation with Spike, the last time she ever saw him, replaying over and over like a broken record she didn't have the heart to turn off. It hurt every moment it poisoned her thoughts, and yet she wasn't sure she ever wanted to forget it. That glint in his left eye, the tone of his voice, the way he was moving; that familiar nonchalance completely gone. The only thing on his mind was revenge. She could only assume it had to do with his angel, Julia.
Taking her completely off-guard, the slow groan of the old gate turning on its rusted hinges reached her ears. Her reflexes won against her rational thoughts, which she was attempting to gather at that point, drawing her gun and flashing it in the direction of the offending noise, whipping her body around swiftly, but making sure to stay behind the minimal protection of the fountain base.
She glanced at the slightly parted gate, expecting to see the person who interrupted her thought pattern, and frowned in confusion when she saw nobody there. Resigning herself to the explanation that it was only the wind, she turned her body back to her former position, and shrieked when her eyes fell upon the one person, besides Spike of course, she was least expecting to see ever again.
She hardly had a split second to comprehend the sight when a familiar ball of orange hair and pure energy was launched into her stomach.
"FAYE-FAYE!!!" Ed screamed as she hugged Faye tightly before jumping back up to perform a series of elated cartwheels. Faye was left totally speechless.
"Edward is missing Faye-Faye very much and so Ed asked father-person if we can go see Faye-Faye's house because Ed knows where it is and Ed knows Faye-Faye knows too and father-person brought Ed and Ein-doggy here!" Faye glanced down, and sure enough, the little welsh corgi was standing near her left foot, panting and wagging his tiny tail merrily. Her lips curled upward in a slight smile, her first smile in months.
"E-Ed?" It was all too much for her, seeing Ed seemingly so unfazed by the past, jumping around like everything was okay. Faye looked down, tears in her eyes, and let out a small chuckle. At least someone had missed her.
"Where is Bebop-Bebop, Faye-Faye? Where are Jet-person and Spike-person? Ed would like to say hello and do they have anything for Ed to eat. Ed is hungry for Jet-person's yummy munchy crunchy bunchy fooood." At that, Faye couldn't help but let out a pained sob, the poor kid had no idea.
Ed noticed her tears, and immediately sat down directly in front of Faye, bending her neck so she was staring up into her slightly bloodshot swirling forest green eyes, glazed over now with tears flowing freely past the brink of her eyelid and traversing the well-worn path down her cheek.
"What is wrong, Faye-Faye?" Ed's voice suddenly a curious whisper.
"Ed…I left the Bebop a while ago. Jet's still there, but Spike, he-" she choked on another sob, but continued "Spike's dead." Ed blinked and sat up, momentarily subdued by the statement. Faye was wondering if Ed even understood the concept.
"Ooooooooh." Ed stared at a rock on the ground for several seconds before standing up again, and raising her hand in a mock salute to the sky. "Aaaadios, Spike-person. Hope you're having fun up there!"
Maybe it was the simplicity and pure honesty of what Ed had said, or the image it rendered in her mind of Spike running around in heaven beating up on a bar full of bounty heads with that damn arrogant smirk on his face, but Faye broke out into a huge grin and started laughing. Really laughing. It was that moment she realized what she had been missing, and what a mess her life had turned into in her six months of memory-searching. It was about time for her to start getting her life back together, and start moving on.
Following a discussion with Ed's father, who appeared delighted to have found someone Ed already trusted who could at least influence his daughter a tiny bit in the art of femininity, not to mention watch the hyper 14-year-old while he was away updating his maps of Earth, she moved into their small house on the other side of town. It was a humble abode indeed, hardly furnished at all considering Ed's father's traveling profession and Ed's ability to thrive just about anywhere, but Faye was more than thrilled just having a change in the pathetic lifestyle she had grown accustomed to.
Grateful for a well-needed distraction from her thoughts, Faye spent most hours of each day hanging out with an ecstatic Ed, for once enjoying her company instead of being thoroughly annoyed like she had been in better times. She even picked up a few tips on computers in the meantime, and Ed was learning from Faye how to tame her wild orange mass of hair. She was gradually becoming somewhat of a role model for Ed, and almost like a big sister.
Ed was all she had now. Her only link left to Spike. He was still invading her thoughts, no doubt about it, but with slightly less frequent appearances.
At least now, she mused, the memories were happier than the ones that surfaced when she was alone.
Slowly waking from her half-year-long reverie, Faye made a decision to prove to herself that she didn't need Spike to do the dirty work anymore, like the way she relied on him to save her whenever she got in trouble. She enrolled in several martial arts classes at a nearby gym, and also began sharpening her already-near-perfect aim at the local shooting range.
No matter how lethal she was when she could rely on her comrades, she planned to be completely self-sufficient when it came to escaping dangerous situations. Perhaps she might even take up bounty hunting again; along with everything else in her recent past she missed, she enjoyed the thrill of the chase when on the job, it was addictive.
Hey, if she became successful enough, she may be able to start repaying her debts. Yeah, right. It was with that exact thought she came to another decision: she would quit gambling. It was about time anyway. She winced to think of how much she had lost over the years on the ponies, the cards, the dice, the wheels, and the dogs. Hardly worth it anymore.
She was now well on her way to becoming a debtless, determined, ass-kicking, bounty hunting machine. After all, now that Spike was gone, there had to be another one in the solar system to take his place. Not only that, but she had an obvious advantage in the fact that sex is a weapon and bounties tend to be predominantly male. Oh yes, Faye would become a force to be reckoned with indeed.