Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop

Part 2: The Bright Side

"Shit," Spike muttered.

"Well? What does it say?" demanded Jet.

"She was...Julia was..." Spike struggled to get the words out, and found he couldn't. Giving up, he simply handed the letter to Jet. After reading through it, Jet raised his eyes to meet Spike's.

"Are you going to look for her?" Jet asked him quietly. Spike didn't answer right away. He stared up at the ceiling, where the fan circled lazily. Quiet filled the space, then stretched out to last an uncomfortable amount of time. Beside Spike, Faye stirred.

"Jet?" she mumbled. Her eyes opened slowly, looking across the room at the man whose name she had spoken. "I had another nightmare." She watched him shake his head, then point. She followed his finger and looked into a face with a very familiar pair of mismatched eyes. Her mouth opened to form a tiny 'o'.

"Yo," said the figure. Faye shook her head, then rubbed her eyes.

"How...is it...what are you...Jet?" She looked across again at him, and he shrugged.

"Someone decided he still had things to do here," Jet answered her unasked question. "So here he is. Took him two months to recover enough, that's all." Faye looked back at Spike.

"So, you're really..." Faye could hardly bring herself to say it, "...Spike?" He nodded. Faye struggled to stand up, clutching her head. Once she made it, she wobbled precariously, but stayed upon her feet. "I am glad you're back," she began, "so I can tell you how much I hate you!" Her hand lashed out and slapped him, and she half ran, half staggered from the room. As Spike looked on in shock, Jet stood up.

"Lemme talk her," he said, and started to walk out. "You think about what you need to do," he called over his shoulder.

"Shit," Spike muttered again. The silence returned again, and Spike finally began to think. So much to think about...

First there had been two months of nothing. Then, awake, but such a flurry of activity, no time to think. Now, back to where he had, three years ago, restarted his life. Only this time, the past had died. Except...a daughter...?

Spike began to feel nauseous. He hated kids! The only reason he and Ed had even remotely gotten along was because Ed had been so useful. He was sure of that. But a child with Julia. Surely all that would do would be to keep the past alive. And everyone was dead! Julia...she had wanted him to find the girl, raise it. Be a happy little family. Anger, confusion and doubt all whipped through his conscious. He closed his eyes in frustration and to his great surprise, Spike felt tears fall.

Jet approached Faye's room cautiously. There was no way he could imagine how she was going to react to Spike being alive, but this certainly wasn't how he had pictured it. He held his hand up, ready to knock, but hesitated. What would he say to her? He could only guess at her feelings towards Spike, but he also knew of his own, recent feelings towards her. With a sigh and a heavy feeling, he knocked.

"Jet?" The word was spoken in such a small voice, Jet wasn't certain he had heard it correctly.

"Faye, can I come in?"

"Yes," accompanied with a sniffle. Jet opened the door, and carefully walked in. The room was immaculate, and there was a small lump underneath the blankets on the bed. Jet pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down. He didn't know what to say. Running his hand over his head, he sighed.

"Faye, what are you thinking about?" he finally began. There was no response. Jet was truly puzzled. He had always thought of Faye as an exceptionally strong woman. She overcame waking up in a world she didn't know, being on the receiving end of a betrayal, and continually was able to kick some ass. While she may have been pensive at times, she never seemed to be weak. But since Spike's dea-disappearance, Jet self corrected, she had completely fallen apart. He started out of his thoughts as she finally spoke.

"When I first woke up, I remembered nothing. But then came Whitney, and things seemed fine. Until the weak bastard skipped out and left me all his debt, I had forgotten what anger was. Ever since then...I think I've been very angry. At a lot of other people, but mostly at myself. Why couldn't I remember what had happened? It made me bitter, I think, to see all the people who had pasts. Then I met you guys. You each had a past, yet neither seemed particularly eager to talk about them. It was almost like me, so close to not having one at all. But you Jet, you faced yours. And I did finally remember mine. And then Spike went to die because of his. I couldn't be angry anymore. I remembered I never was, in my past. So now I don't know what I'm supposed to be. I guess...Spike overcame his past, and now is able to move on, free from it all. And I'm stuck, unable to go anywhere." There was a catch in her voice at that last statement. Jet blinked, in awe of the way Faye saw things.

"I think you should know," he said slowly, "that your past will always stick with you. Spike's past nearly destroyed him twice now. It has destroyed the woman he loved, but also the man who hated him. But he just discovered that he's a father...Julia was pregnant three years ago." There was something resembling a choke from Faye. "And you, Faye, may be very lost and confused now, but you weren't before. You knew who you were. And you still know, but now you know a little bit more. Perhaps things aren't any clearer, but you are still you!" Jet drew in a deep breath and let it out quietly. After several moments of complete stillness, there was a rustle, and Faye moved the blankets off her face. She stared at Jet, her eyes searching his, until she seemed to find something she was looking for. A brief nod of her head seemed to confirm her thoughts and she sat up.

"Does Spike know what happened to his kid?" Jet looked at her in surprise, not expecting this question.

"Well, supposedly she's in some orphanage on Mars. I don't know what he's going to do about her."

"Hmm," Faye sighed. "There's no way he could ever be a father."

As Spike soared through the air towards the orphanage, he kept thinking of Julia. Sure, he knew why she wouldn't have told him before, but now... He found himself unexplainably wishing it had been a boy. A boy he knew he could raise and train, but a girl was different. What would she look like? All too soon he found the building. The surrounding area surprised him. This was a worn down area, with tired buildings and tired people. He parked Swordfish and walked to the doors. It made some sense. If anyone knew Julia had been pregnant, they might not think to look in such a rundown place. Once he got inside however, he noticed the clean, happy atmosphere. The orphanage was tidy and, from the inside, didn't seem as though it belonged in such an area. There was a front desk and Spike hesitantly walked up to it. The older lady reminded him painfully of Annie.

"Can I help you?" She smiled at Spike.

"I'm looking for my daughter," he told her.

"Yours in particular?" the woman questioned. "Did she run away? Spousal trouble?"

"No no," Spike shook his head. "She's three years old. Her mother had her, but I only just found out about her. But her mother died rather unexpectedly, and now I'm supposed to take care of her..." He fumbled over the last sentence. The woman frowned at him.

"Do you know her name?"

"No. But her mother's name was Julia." At that, the woman gasped.

"Then you're...you are Spike?" Spike looked at her in surprise. "I remember Julia very well. She told me to keep the little girl here until either she, or you, came back. Oh my goodness, let me call Mercy." She spoke into an intercom, then smiled at Spike. "Mercy will be right here to take you to her." Spike nodded, then turned around. He began walking around the room, unable to contain his anxiety. This was all too perfectly set up. Was this the work of the Synd-

"Mr. Spiegel, I presume?" A warm voice interrupted his thoughts. Spike turned and faced the speaker. A woman of about thirty or so faced him, her chestnut brown hair pulled back into a floppy ponytail. A knee length dress of calico hugged her body nicely, and she seemed too much of a mother to Spike. He nodded. "Come with me please," she motioned. He followed her down a short hallway, then down a flight of stairs. They stopped in front of a pair of double doors, and peered through the windows. Inside was a playground, of sorts, and a number of children were running around. Mercy pointed towards the slide. "That would be who you are looking for." The little girl was wearing a dress of gingham, and she had long, blond curls. As she went down the slide, she squealed with happiness, and her entire face lit up with a smile. Spike felt his heart skip a beat.

"Did Julia name her?" he asked Mercy without turning to look at her.

"No," the woman said. "I think she was afraid too. There is something you should know about your daughter, Mr. Spiegel. About a year ago she had a bad accident. The other children were playing, and she managed to get involved. It was a fighting game among the younger boys, with sticks, and somehow...well...her eye got...well, we had to put a new eye in. The color is close, but not quite the same. You only notice if you look very carefully though." Mercy looked anxiously at the man beside her, and was surprised to see him smile.

"This might not be so bad," she thought she heard his mumble.

"At any rate, come on, hurry and meet her! We can finish the paper work, and then you can go!" Mercy smiled, happy that the young girl was finally going home.

"Where could he have gone?" Faye asked incredulously. She and Jet had left her room together to talk to Spike, but he was gone. Upon inspection, so was the Swordfish. Jet only sighed at her question.

"Probably to see if the story about his daughter was true." The two sat on the couch, silent. No words were needed between them now. All they had to do was wait for Spike to come back. Again. The moments stretched into minutes, which stretched into an hour. Inevitably, the two fell asleep.

"Ahhh!" Faye shrieked as something was dropped into her lap. She looked down into two reddish-amber eyes, mismatched just as Spikes, but framed but beautiful golden curls. Jet had awoken on account of her scream, and he now looked questionably at Spike.

"Well, this is my daughter," announced Spike. "Tell Faye and Jet hello, Kyra"

"Hi Faye and Jet!" Kyra enthusiastically said. Her face was wreathed with smiles. "This is my daddy!" she giggled. "I waited and waited and waited for him, and he came today! He promised to teach me lots of fun stuff, like how to do jeet...kun..." her face grew thoughtful as she tried to remember what her daddy had told her. Spike just chuckled.

"I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Jet laughed. Suddenly, things felt a lot lighter in life. Even Faye smiled at the bubbly little girl who had her mother's face and hair, but shared her fathers eyes. There was no doubt about it, Faye mused. Life does go on...

...As Spike watched his two comrades fall in love with his daughter, as he had, he too felt just a little bit lighter. Maybe Julia and he were not meant to have a complete happily ever after, but this could help go towards that end.