DISCLAIMER: Umm. You know.

BTW: My husband is hilarious. He just realized today that his license expired in December. HILARIOUS!


"Ed! What are you doing here?"

Ed was sitting on the floor of the backseat with Ein curled up on the seat behind her head. Both she and the dog seemed to be smiling at Tilly.

"Jet sent Ed so Tilly would know it's safe to come. Time to come to the Bebop-poww!"

Ed's volume fluctuated painfully, and her arms and toes wriggled as though made of something other than flesh and bone, but Tilly smiled, glad for her presence. The three women rode in silence for a few minutes when a problem broke through Tilly's musings.

"Is Spike waiting with the Swordfish? We won't all fit, will we?" Before Ed could answer, the car slowed to a stop.

"We're here," Annie said. Tilly turned around and was astonished to see the Bebop itself moored in the bay at the old Syndicate docks. This area had belonged to Mao but Vicious had never seen any point in maintaining the area. As a result of this neglect Spike was now able to hide right under Vicious' nose.

Laughing at the irony Tilly opened the door and walked forward to sit on the hood, the absurdity of it all taking her near the edge of hysteria. The sound of Ed and Ein coming up behind her pulled her back to reality and her normal control slowly returned. She pulled her sunglasses from her pocket and hid the tears that threatened to fall before stepping around Ed to join Annie at the trunk of the car.

The sound of a ramp lowering caught Tilly and Annie's attention and when the door opened Spike exited in exercise attire onto the deck of the ship, jumping aside to avoid a collision as Ed and Ein rushed inside. Doing her best not to look at him Tilly stared at the trunk and waited for Annie to turn the key.

Annie looked worriedly from Tilly to Spike, who only watched her daughter, and opened the trunk to pull bags from the car. Tilly was aware of her mother's concern, but she had no way to reassure her. Instead, you stuck to neutral, practical subjects.

"Did you bring my black trunk?" Annie nodded. "And everything from the back closet?"

"Yeah," she responded. "Spike's pal and I brought it all over last night. These are the clothes I thought you'd want."

Tilly's voice threatened to break with her next question.

"Did Wooby and Mr. Mouse make it?" Annie's eyes shot up to Tilly and she dropped a duffle bag. As their eyes meet, tears fell from beneath the black glasses.

"Yeah. I gave them to Sarah myself, so the kids wouldn't feel too lonely."

Nodding, Tilly turned back to the Bebop, her heart breaking once more. The pain almost pushed her to sob, but Jet and Faye exited the ship and she fought back the tears. Also, she would not give Spike the pleasure of seeing her cry. He hadn't looked away from her yet, staring down from the deck of the ship.

"It's not that bad here, you know," Faye drawled lazily. "Well, Jet's cooking is pretty bad at times, but usually you're just sick, not sad."

Jet grunted and grabbed two bags, pushing them into Faye's arms as she shouted in disagreement.

"Come on, funny girl," he says. "Help me carry the bags."

Grabbing the remaining bags, Tilly turned to face Annie.

"Annie..."

Without a word, Annie pulled Tilly into a gigantic bear hug, nearly cracking a few ribs. Stepping back carefully Tilly smiled weakly before taking a deep breath and turning away toward the Bebop.

"Don't worry," Annie said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It could be worse."

Tilly stared up at Spike, meeting his gaze for the first time. She was grateful for the tinted glasses now. She felt more protected.

Yeah, she thought to herself as she climbed the ramp behind Jet and Faye, slowly approaching Spike. With a strange sense of de-ja-vu she broke eye contact as she passed him, very much as she had only a few short days ago. This time, however, his eyes never left her face as she walked up the ramp into the Bebop. This time, Tilly had no idea what he was thinking.


Just inside the door Faye was waiting, arms empty, to lead her to a room. Tilly followed her through the ship and down a long corridor in silence. After a few minutes Faye stopped at a door and turned the wheel, opening the latch. Swinging the door open she stepped back with a flourish to let Tilly enter first.

She stepped through the doorway and walked to the center of the small room. The lights came on and Tilly turned back to the door to see Faye's arm swinging down to her side from the light switch. Tilly set bags on the bed to her right and turned slowly, taking in her new home. There, in the far corner of the room, was her father's black trunk. Crossing the short distance she kneeled down in front of it and ran her hand gently over its ebony surface, pulling her sunglasses from her face.

"What's in there?" Tilly looked over her shoulder to see Faye still standing in the doorway, respecting the need a woman has for the privacy of her own quarters. With a wan smile Tilly looked back to the chest.

"My childhood. My past and my future." Gently she ran her fingers over the lock. "My new life."

Behind her she heard the sound of a lighter, followed by the unmistakable smell of cheap tobacco.

"Whatever."

The sound of retreating footsteps told Tilly that Faye had gone. She heard her parting words, though, as Faye mumbled to herself.

"Another weird loner. Just what this ship needs. Two Spikes."

Raising an eyebrow at the comparison, Tilly stood and walked back across her new room, looking around. She pulled the bags off the bed, allowing them to fall to the floor, and turned to fall back onto the bed, staring unseeing up at the ceiling.

"You won't find any answers there."

Tilly's eyes opened wide for a moment before she took deep breath in mild annoyance.

"Believe me, I've looked," he continued. Exhaling, she sat up.

"Hello, Spiegel." He was sill in his exercise clothes which consisted of sweatpants and a towel draped around his neck. Tilly didn't bother hiding her appraisal of his physique.

"When you're done, you can call me Spike." Tilly lay back with a snort and took another deep breath.

"I'm done, and Spiegel will do." Silence buzzed through the air for a moment, but suddenly was yanked to her feet. Spike's arm wrapped around your waist, pulling her to him, steadying her as his other hand buried its fingers in her hair. He forced her head back, his eyes flashing in anger as he made her meet his gaze.

"You've ruined my hair again," she said flatly.

"You're right," he responded with a voice equally void of emotion.

"I'll have to start wearing it down if this is going to be a habit."

Spike stared down at her, not answering, his eyes searching hers for answers to questions she didn't know. Slowly his expression softened and the death grip on her hair loosened, the hand sliding down to cradle her head. Something inside her broke. As the tears began to flow he pulled Tilly's face into his chest, while he rested his chin on the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her more securely. Sobs racked her body and her knees gave way, taking them both down. Before they could topple to the floor Spike pulled Tilly back to the wall and slid his down to cradle her in his lap.

Tilly cried, inexplicably safe and secure in his arms, until sleep took her.