She showered quickly and went back to her room to get dressed. She found a pair of raggedy old jeans in one of her drawers and a white wife beater she could wear. It was roughly 11:15 and she decided she should straighten up a little. She cleaned up her and Spike's room, neatened up Spike's old bedroom that was now known as the gunroom, and did some light cleaning around the living area. By the time she finished, it was about half an hour later and Pidge would be by soon. She closed the door to the gunroom tightly and locked it before flopping down on the couch for a brief rest.
"Oh man, this ship needs an all over scrub down." She sighed as she let her headrest back on the cushions of the top of the couch. Ed looked down at her with a smile.
"Hi-ya pretty Alex!" she said cheerfully. Alex gave a cheesy smile.
"Hi there silly Ed."
"I have a question for you." Ed said as she walked around to the side of the couch and sat on the floor facing Alex.
"Yea?"
"Why was that oh so yummy Blade McGowan here last night?" She grinned happily. It made her day to see the famous model, but it only made Alex feel sick.
"We went out to dinner last night and he came to check on me after Spike came and brought me home." She said with an emotionless tone of voice.
"Why did you not tell Ed you knew him!" She protested. Alex looked down into her playfully angry eyes.
"Because he's not the man you think he is. Trust me, there's nothing great about him Ed." She said as she let her head lean back and she shut her eyes with a frustrating sigh. Last night's memories filled her head and she wished she could forget them. Sure, he made her feel good, but it wasn't what she wanted, from him anyway. She decided she should wait out on the top deck for Pidge to show up so they could head right into the hangar and evaluate the Pegasus. She stood up and went to her room to retrieve her guitar. To her surprise, Ed followed her into her room, out of the living area, and up to the hangar. Both the Swordfish and Hammerhead were missing, but the Pegasus still sat with the piles of weeds and dirt around the landing gear. Alex opened the Hangar door and revealed the sunny open deck and a glistening sea. Ed followed her as she walked out to the end of the deck and sat down with guitar in hand. She wanted to play something to get her in a good mood, so she began to play a song from an old anime that came out about 2000.
"Ooh, ooh! I know what you're playing Alex-san!" Ed shouted as Alex strummed the strings and producing a warm and friendly tone.
"Then sing with me then." She smiled. Ed nodded and they began to sing together.
"Fukai, fukai, mori no, oku ni, ima mo kitto; okizari ni, shita kokoro, kakushite'ru yo." They sang. It was one of the closing theme songs to the anime Inuyasha from back around the year 2000. They sang the whole song once through.
"Ed, your voice is really sounding good. When I start to record some of my songs, do you want to be a backup singer?" Alex asked as she just randomly strummed chords on her guitar.
"I have to sing when you can't?" Ed asked.
"No," Alex chuckled, "while I'm singing, you sing in the background." Ed thought a moment.
"Could I sing and play on the drums at the same time?" she asked. Alex nodded. "Okay!"
"Great. We'll do a song as soon as I get the recording equipment, okay?" Ed nodded happily.
"Alrighty!" she said with a thumbs up. Alex went back to playing her random chords when there was a loud horn. She handed Ed the guitar and stood up. She walked over to the edge to see Pidge in a street legal muscle car. He stepped out and looked up.
"PIDGE!" She yelled as a greeting as she waved her arm.
"Hey up there Alex! How's about letting me up there?" he called. She walked over towards the hangar opening and pushed the button for the ramp to come down. She heard the engine stop as it parked and he walked up the ramp. She walked out to meet him where the ramp came to the deck. She met him and hugged him.
"Good to see ya Pidge, thanks for coming by." She said as Ed walked over.
"No problem. I need to see if you're telling the truth anyway you little sneak." He grinned as she led him into the hangar. "Quite a ship you got here."
"Yea, for four people and a dog, it's not too bad." She said as they entered the hangar and the Pegasus came into view.
"Goddamn, well I'll be a son of a bitch." He said in disbelief. "It is a GT Peg! Where did you find it?"
"A dealership not to far from here with an open meadow. It was right at the tree line and it was overgrown with shrubbery. I had to cut through all the foliage to get it out. There's still tons of stuff stuck in the landing gear and the cockpit dome is full of bullet holes and cracks. I haven't even checked the engine yet, I figured I'd save that for you." She said walking around the ship and pointing out its problems. He eyed each one carefully.
"Well, before we get to the most difficult part of the ship, the landing gear looks like it just needs a good cleaning for now, a new cockpit dome will be a definite, and the body looks like it could use some major work." He said as he ran his fingers over a cluster of bullet holes on the side of the ship.
"I figured that," she said as her eyes caught sight of a boy who looked about her age walking towards them. He had brown hair with spiky bangs that hung in his face. As he walked, a long and thick braid swayed behind him that was down to his lower back. His eyes sparkled a bold cobalt color as he carried a thick book with him. He wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans with a silver chain around his neck. Alex looked at him strangely.
"About time you decided to come out of the car. I thought you wanted to come." Pidge said as he turned and looked at the boy.
"Yea, yea, yea." The boy said with a sigh. "So what are we doing here, picking up parts, fixing a ship?"
"No, we're taking up a project; a big one at that." Pidge said with a smile. Alex still couldn't figure out who he was, but he seemed to be checking her out at the same time.
"You want to fix it up for me?" Alex asked realizing he said he was taking up the project. Before he could answer, the young man stepped in front of him and took Alex's hand.
"Why of course my dear lady. I'll see to it personally that your ship is repaired totally." He said as he kissed her hand with a smile. For a second, she thought she recognized him, but dismissed her thought. Pidge couldn't help but start laughing hysterically.
"What's the deal Pidge?" Alex asked. He wiped a tear from his eye.
"You don't even know her name and you're trying to hook her!" he giggled. The boy flipped open his book to a clean page and pulled out a pen from the spiral binding.
"Right, sorry about that miss. Can I ask the name of the beautiful woman who needs our service?" Pidge giggled louder.
"Alexis." She smiled. Pidge quieted down for a moment.
"And your last name?" he asked as he finished writing her first name.
"Bondora." She said as she watched him put the tip of the pen to his paper.
"WHAT!?" he screamed. Pidge lost it and fell to the floor in a fit of laughter. The boy looked at her wide-eyed and his jaw to the floor. She nodded. "No way!"
"Alex, if you haven't figured out who this kid is, it's my son Jordan." Pidge stammered through his laughter. Now it was her turn to be shocked.
"No!" she gasped. Her eyes were wide and her jaw was at the floor, as if mirroring Pidge's son.
"Yup!" he giggled still rolling on the floor. He sat himself up and then stood before wrapping his arm around Jordan's shoulder. "He decided to stop cutting his hair when he was six and look at it now. I told him he looks like a hippie." Jordan's face started to turn red. Alex finally started to laugh herself.
" I can't believe he's the little brat that used to follow me around all the time!" she said with a smile. Pidge nodded.
"Yep, he'll be 20 in a few months and he decided to take over the family business. Here he is as my apprentice and soon to take over the shop." He said.
"Does he get a lot of dates?" Alex joked, Jordan frowned, Pidge laughed.
"Oh shut up!" he grumbled as he slammed shut his notebook.
"Hey, you were just hitting on me a minute ago!" she snapped. "You're lucky my boyfriend isn't here. He'd beat you up." She grinned.
"You don't have a boyfriend, you're lying." He shot back.
"Hang around then, maybe he'll be back before you leave." She taunted. He frowned and then went back to scribbling in his notebook.
"He'll be alright after it sinks in. Anyway, lets check the engine shall we?" Pidge asked walking up to the partially exposed heart of the ship. She didn't say anything as he pulled and yanked some wires, hammered on some gears, and pulled some parts out. She knew that he knew what he was doing, so why should she worry? Suddenly, he withdrew his hand quickly with a yell.
"What?" she asked as he rubbed his hand. She saw some blood and what looked like bite marks.
"There's a squirrel or something in there." He said looking at the tiny bite that was spurting out bright red blood.
"Ed." Alex turned and called. Ed looked up from the corner she was sitting in. she looked at Alex for a second and then nodded before standing up and heading into the ship. "And take Mr. Bordeaux with you and do something about his hand."
"Okie day." She said as Pidge followed her into the ship. Jordan and Alex were left alone in the hangar. She peeked into the place where Pidge had his hand and saw a pair of golden eyes shining back at her. She sighed and shook her head.
"Critter?" Jordan asked from behind.
"Yea, looks like a badger or something." She said as she looked to see what was around it. "Well, I'll be able to get it out since it's not around anything that can't be fixed." She said.
"How do you plan on doing that?" he asked as he walked up to her and looked in for himself.
"Well, I suppose you could call it force." She said as Ed ran up to her.
"Is this the one you wanted?" she asked as she presented Alex with a handgun. To Jordan's surprise, she picked it up and looked it over.
"Yea, now go take care of his hand." She said as she patted Ed's head. With a smile, she skipped back into the ship. Jordan watched in shock as she pulled a few bullets out of one of her pockets and loaded the gun.
"What are you doing?" he asked still surprised. Alex looked at him.
"Huh? Oh that's right, you don't know." She said as she poured the rest of the bullets back into her pocket and cocked the gun.
"Don't know you had a gun? Yea!" he said in alarm. She chuckled nervously.
"Uh, no, I have a lot more that I share with my boyfriend, but it kinda relates to my job." She said as she looked into the hole where the animal was.
"What, are you a cop or something? Why do you need so many guns?" she poked the gun into the hole and aimed it. She pulled her face away and squeezed off three rounds before pulling the gun out. She stuck it in her back pocket temporarily and reached in the hole all the way.
"I'm a bounty hunter." She said as she felt around for the dead animal. Blood dripped onto the floor under the engine as she began to pull it out.
"Oh man, this ship needs an all over scrub down." She sighed as she let her headrest back on the cushions of the top of the couch. Ed looked down at her with a smile.
"Hi-ya pretty Alex!" she said cheerfully. Alex gave a cheesy smile.
"Hi there silly Ed."
"I have a question for you." Ed said as she walked around to the side of the couch and sat on the floor facing Alex.
"Yea?"
"Why was that oh so yummy Blade McGowan here last night?" She grinned happily. It made her day to see the famous model, but it only made Alex feel sick.
"We went out to dinner last night and he came to check on me after Spike came and brought me home." She said with an emotionless tone of voice.
"Why did you not tell Ed you knew him!" She protested. Alex looked down into her playfully angry eyes.
"Because he's not the man you think he is. Trust me, there's nothing great about him Ed." She said as she let her head lean back and she shut her eyes with a frustrating sigh. Last night's memories filled her head and she wished she could forget them. Sure, he made her feel good, but it wasn't what she wanted, from him anyway. She decided she should wait out on the top deck for Pidge to show up so they could head right into the hangar and evaluate the Pegasus. She stood up and went to her room to retrieve her guitar. To her surprise, Ed followed her into her room, out of the living area, and up to the hangar. Both the Swordfish and Hammerhead were missing, but the Pegasus still sat with the piles of weeds and dirt around the landing gear. Alex opened the Hangar door and revealed the sunny open deck and a glistening sea. Ed followed her as she walked out to the end of the deck and sat down with guitar in hand. She wanted to play something to get her in a good mood, so she began to play a song from an old anime that came out about 2000.
"Ooh, ooh! I know what you're playing Alex-san!" Ed shouted as Alex strummed the strings and producing a warm and friendly tone.
"Then sing with me then." She smiled. Ed nodded and they began to sing together.
"Fukai, fukai, mori no, oku ni, ima mo kitto; okizari ni, shita kokoro, kakushite'ru yo." They sang. It was one of the closing theme songs to the anime Inuyasha from back around the year 2000. They sang the whole song once through.
"Ed, your voice is really sounding good. When I start to record some of my songs, do you want to be a backup singer?" Alex asked as she just randomly strummed chords on her guitar.
"I have to sing when you can't?" Ed asked.
"No," Alex chuckled, "while I'm singing, you sing in the background." Ed thought a moment.
"Could I sing and play on the drums at the same time?" she asked. Alex nodded. "Okay!"
"Great. We'll do a song as soon as I get the recording equipment, okay?" Ed nodded happily.
"Alrighty!" she said with a thumbs up. Alex went back to playing her random chords when there was a loud horn. She handed Ed the guitar and stood up. She walked over to the edge to see Pidge in a street legal muscle car. He stepped out and looked up.
"PIDGE!" She yelled as a greeting as she waved her arm.
"Hey up there Alex! How's about letting me up there?" he called. She walked over towards the hangar opening and pushed the button for the ramp to come down. She heard the engine stop as it parked and he walked up the ramp. She walked out to meet him where the ramp came to the deck. She met him and hugged him.
"Good to see ya Pidge, thanks for coming by." She said as Ed walked over.
"No problem. I need to see if you're telling the truth anyway you little sneak." He grinned as she led him into the hangar. "Quite a ship you got here."
"Yea, for four people and a dog, it's not too bad." She said as they entered the hangar and the Pegasus came into view.
"Goddamn, well I'll be a son of a bitch." He said in disbelief. "It is a GT Peg! Where did you find it?"
"A dealership not to far from here with an open meadow. It was right at the tree line and it was overgrown with shrubbery. I had to cut through all the foliage to get it out. There's still tons of stuff stuck in the landing gear and the cockpit dome is full of bullet holes and cracks. I haven't even checked the engine yet, I figured I'd save that for you." She said walking around the ship and pointing out its problems. He eyed each one carefully.
"Well, before we get to the most difficult part of the ship, the landing gear looks like it just needs a good cleaning for now, a new cockpit dome will be a definite, and the body looks like it could use some major work." He said as he ran his fingers over a cluster of bullet holes on the side of the ship.
"I figured that," she said as her eyes caught sight of a boy who looked about her age walking towards them. He had brown hair with spiky bangs that hung in his face. As he walked, a long and thick braid swayed behind him that was down to his lower back. His eyes sparkled a bold cobalt color as he carried a thick book with him. He wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans with a silver chain around his neck. Alex looked at him strangely.
"About time you decided to come out of the car. I thought you wanted to come." Pidge said as he turned and looked at the boy.
"Yea, yea, yea." The boy said with a sigh. "So what are we doing here, picking up parts, fixing a ship?"
"No, we're taking up a project; a big one at that." Pidge said with a smile. Alex still couldn't figure out who he was, but he seemed to be checking her out at the same time.
"You want to fix it up for me?" Alex asked realizing he said he was taking up the project. Before he could answer, the young man stepped in front of him and took Alex's hand.
"Why of course my dear lady. I'll see to it personally that your ship is repaired totally." He said as he kissed her hand with a smile. For a second, she thought she recognized him, but dismissed her thought. Pidge couldn't help but start laughing hysterically.
"What's the deal Pidge?" Alex asked. He wiped a tear from his eye.
"You don't even know her name and you're trying to hook her!" he giggled. The boy flipped open his book to a clean page and pulled out a pen from the spiral binding.
"Right, sorry about that miss. Can I ask the name of the beautiful woman who needs our service?" Pidge giggled louder.
"Alexis." She smiled. Pidge quieted down for a moment.
"And your last name?" he asked as he finished writing her first name.
"Bondora." She said as she watched him put the tip of the pen to his paper.
"WHAT!?" he screamed. Pidge lost it and fell to the floor in a fit of laughter. The boy looked at her wide-eyed and his jaw to the floor. She nodded. "No way!"
"Alex, if you haven't figured out who this kid is, it's my son Jordan." Pidge stammered through his laughter. Now it was her turn to be shocked.
"No!" she gasped. Her eyes were wide and her jaw was at the floor, as if mirroring Pidge's son.
"Yup!" he giggled still rolling on the floor. He sat himself up and then stood before wrapping his arm around Jordan's shoulder. "He decided to stop cutting his hair when he was six and look at it now. I told him he looks like a hippie." Jordan's face started to turn red. Alex finally started to laugh herself.
" I can't believe he's the little brat that used to follow me around all the time!" she said with a smile. Pidge nodded.
"Yep, he'll be 20 in a few months and he decided to take over the family business. Here he is as my apprentice and soon to take over the shop." He said.
"Does he get a lot of dates?" Alex joked, Jordan frowned, Pidge laughed.
"Oh shut up!" he grumbled as he slammed shut his notebook.
"Hey, you were just hitting on me a minute ago!" she snapped. "You're lucky my boyfriend isn't here. He'd beat you up." She grinned.
"You don't have a boyfriend, you're lying." He shot back.
"Hang around then, maybe he'll be back before you leave." She taunted. He frowned and then went back to scribbling in his notebook.
"He'll be alright after it sinks in. Anyway, lets check the engine shall we?" Pidge asked walking up to the partially exposed heart of the ship. She didn't say anything as he pulled and yanked some wires, hammered on some gears, and pulled some parts out. She knew that he knew what he was doing, so why should she worry? Suddenly, he withdrew his hand quickly with a yell.
"What?" she asked as he rubbed his hand. She saw some blood and what looked like bite marks.
"There's a squirrel or something in there." He said looking at the tiny bite that was spurting out bright red blood.
"Ed." Alex turned and called. Ed looked up from the corner she was sitting in. she looked at Alex for a second and then nodded before standing up and heading into the ship. "And take Mr. Bordeaux with you and do something about his hand."
"Okie day." She said as Pidge followed her into the ship. Jordan and Alex were left alone in the hangar. She peeked into the place where Pidge had his hand and saw a pair of golden eyes shining back at her. She sighed and shook her head.
"Critter?" Jordan asked from behind.
"Yea, looks like a badger or something." She said as she looked to see what was around it. "Well, I'll be able to get it out since it's not around anything that can't be fixed." She said.
"How do you plan on doing that?" he asked as he walked up to her and looked in for himself.
"Well, I suppose you could call it force." She said as Ed ran up to her.
"Is this the one you wanted?" she asked as she presented Alex with a handgun. To Jordan's surprise, she picked it up and looked it over.
"Yea, now go take care of his hand." She said as she patted Ed's head. With a smile, she skipped back into the ship. Jordan watched in shock as she pulled a few bullets out of one of her pockets and loaded the gun.
"What are you doing?" he asked still surprised. Alex looked at him.
"Huh? Oh that's right, you don't know." She said as she poured the rest of the bullets back into her pocket and cocked the gun.
"Don't know you had a gun? Yea!" he said in alarm. She chuckled nervously.
"Uh, no, I have a lot more that I share with my boyfriend, but it kinda relates to my job." She said as she looked into the hole where the animal was.
"What, are you a cop or something? Why do you need so many guns?" she poked the gun into the hole and aimed it. She pulled her face away and squeezed off three rounds before pulling the gun out. She stuck it in her back pocket temporarily and reached in the hole all the way.
"I'm a bounty hunter." She said as she felt around for the dead animal. Blood dripped onto the floor under the engine as she began to pull it out.