a/n: so we get to see what spike was doing. let's hope it's something good, cause quite frankly, i'm tired of spike screwing up, aren't you? oh, and this fic is winding down. i believe, including this one, there's two chapters and a epilouge left. my my, where has the time gone. well, let's deal with that later, shall we?
18. Surprise
"I'm not sure if we should have left him alone, all by himself," Faye conceded as she, Jet, and Ed walked up the ramp to the Bebop's door.
"You're his girlfriend, Faye; aren't you supposed to have faith in him?" Jet chastised as he hid his true trepidation.
"Spike-person made a promise, and Ed believes he will keep it," the younger female defended.
"Well, here's hopin'," Faye said as she rested her hand on the doorknob.
Taking in a deep breath, she pushed the ship's door open and found the inside steeped in darkness. There was an eerie silence that wafted through the ship, and none of the people standing at the door were okay with what they felt. Venturing inside, Faye went in first, with Jet right behind her. Ed clung to Jet's shirt, somewhat afraid of the dark, yet even more afraid at what they might find.
"Spike?" Faye called out. "Are you in here? Why is it so dark?"
"If you broke something, be prepared to fix it," Jet added, hoping to flush him out with false threats.
With still no answer from the man, the threesome's worry increased ten-fold. Making their way down the stairs and into the common room, Jet cursed his old ship and her lack of light switches. Faye, on the other hand, cursed herself for leaving the ship at all.
"Do you, do you think –"
"SURPRISE!"
Faye's words were cut off as a familiar voice interrupted her with a shout. The lights then flickered on and there in the middle of the common room stood Spike Spiegel, with Ein by his feet. Amidst him where floating balloons, streamers, party cups and plates, and a banner that read "Happy Birthday".
To gawk was really all that Faye, Jet, and Ed could do. Ein happily ran up to them and barked loudly to get their attention, but they were too stunned at the moment to register anything else. So this is what he stayed home for? Well, it was definitely unSpike-like, but it was a much better situation to come back to.
"So, are you guys surprised?" Spike asked with a satisfied smirk on his face.
'Yay!" Ed was the first to break out of the collective stupor. "Spike-person is having a party!"
He smiled at Ed as she bounded over to him. Allowing her to capture him in her unusually strong hug, Spike watched as his two other comrades finally made their way down the stairs.
"A little while ago," he began to explain, "Ed and I actually had a real talk. She told me that she never really had a birthday party, and well, I don't think we've had one, either, excluding the one you guys gave me in rehab last year. So I decided to throw us all a joint birthday. I guess it's my way of apologizing and thanking you guys for putting up with me through all of this."
"Ed forgives you and Ed says 'your welcome'!" The teen exclaimed as she hopped happily on the couch.
"You…you did all of this…yourself?" Faye sputtered.
"I'm not entirely useless," Spike smirked. "Come and sit down, I actually have presents for you guys."
"Presents, pheasants!" Ed once again happily interjected.
Making their way over, Jet (who had still yet to say anything), Faye and Ed sat on the couch and waited to see what Spike had gotten for them. They watched as he placed horribly wrapped packages in their laps and quickly decided that it was the thought that counted in this instance.
"Well go on," Spike said, a rarely seen light shining in his eyes.
Obeying, the trio opened their boxes and actually marveled at Spike's gifts. For Ed, he had gotten her piyokos, since they were her favorite, and gave her new goggles, as well. These were more high-tech with a bigger memory, which allowed for faster surfing and a more interactive atmosphere.
For Jet, Spike had purchased him a new pocket watch, one that had quartz precision and was guaranteed to run his whole lifetime. At first, Spike was unsure if Jet would appreciate the gift, since it might have brought up adverse memories of his ex-girlfriend, Alisa, but the nostalgic smile on his face proved that it was indeed a good buy.
And for Faye, the woman who was impossible to shop for, Spike bought her, what else, diamonds. Well…diamonique, at least. Not quite a real diamond, but close enough. As long as she didn't pawn it or anything, she'd never know. And one day, he'd be able to afford real diamonds for her, but for now, her diamonique tennis bracelet would have to do. The look in her eyes said that she didn't believe it was real for one minute, but the thought behind it was enough to make it more valuable the biggest diamond in the solar system.
He had even purchased a new collar for Ein. After all, the dog did lay in his bloody vomit when he tried to kill himself the last time. The pup yipped his gratitude to his enemy, and pranced around in his new neck ware.
"But…but we don't have anything for you," Jet finally spoke up.
"That's not true," Spike told him. "As cheesy as it sounds, you guys have already given me the best gift I could ever ask for. You care for me. I could never repay you for that."
His comrades looked up at him and returned the appreciative smile that was on his face. They then got up and rushed him, tackling the lanky man to the ground in a loving dog pile, Ein on the top, of course. After that, they laughed and talked and were generally thankful for all that they had.
As it got late, though, Spike still had one thing left to do. He snuck away and into the kitchen, and when he came back out, he had a festive cake in his hands. Store bought (thankfully), it was a silly kids' cake with cartoon characters prancing through the frosting. Written in terrible, Spike handwriting, were the words: "Happy Birthday Ed, Faye, Jet, Ein, and Spike." He sat the cake down on the table and lit the candles on top."I only put five candles on," he explained. "One for each of us. If I put our ages on, then I'd need a bigger cake. Hell, we'd need a whole cake just for Faye's candles, alone."
"Hey!" She protested as she hit him in the shoulder.
Laughing back at her, Spike lit the candles and launched into an off-key version of the birthday song. Everyone else soon joined in, and they laughed at all of the names they had to cram into the "happy birthday dear…" section.
As the night wound down, Spike began to clean up after their little celebration of life. Ed had disappeared somewhere, anxious to play with her goggles, and Faye had headed off to bed, herself. Jet stayed around and offered to give Spike a hand, and the two cleaned up together.
"Hey Jet," Spike asked as he held the garbage bag open for the trash.
"Yeah, buddy?"
"I, uh…I was thinking about asking you something."
"Well ask away," Jet assured, noticing the edginess that was creeping into Spike's voice.
"Well, uh…you know I, uh...love Faye, right?"
"Sure."
"And, I mean…when you love someone, you want to, uh…take things to the next level, right?"
"I guess so," Jet answered, wondering what Spike was getting at.
"Okay, well, I guess I was…um…I guess what I'm saying is that... IwanttomarryFaye."
It was so quiet after he said those words that the proverbial cricket could be heard, chirping in the background.
"Marry her?" Jet asked as he sat on the couch, suddenly weighted down by the revelation
"Yeah. What do you think?" Spike probed, sitting down as well.
"Honestly?" He paused as he saw Spike nod. "Well…I don't think it's a good idea. Not yet, at least."
"But I..."
"I know you love her, Spike, and I think that's why you shouldn't marry her yet. You owe it to her, and yourself as well, to just take things slow for a while. Only a couple of months ago, you guys barely got back together. I don't think you've straightened yourself out enough, yet.
"You just move so fast with her, it's almost like you're afraid she's gonna get away if you don't act right now. I don't think she's going any where any time soon, since she is a mooch and all, so just calm down. You see, Spike, you're kinda like a that VCR we brought back a couple of years ago…"
"What?" Spike leveled.
"Just hear me out. Okay, like that machine, there are buttons that regulate what the tape or whatever does. For a while, you were on pause, stuck in something you couldn't get away from. That was the thing with Julia. Then, you were in rewind for a while, and that was the thing with Vicious. And then you went into fast forward. That was basically your mode since you showed back up on the ship a few weeks after we thought you had died.
"You were in rewind there for a little while, but then right back into fast forward again. I think it's time to just push play, for once, and let life play out in real time. Not everything has to be 'now', because some things will still be around tomorrow. Faye will still be around tomorrow. You pretend to be so laid back and carefree, why don't you actually live that way for a while? Just slow down a bit, before you get all screwy and you tape gets all twisted."
"I think you're taking this metaphor too far, Jet," Spike smiled as he stopped him.
"Well, you get it, right?"
"Yeah…I guess so. Maybe...maybe I should just slow down, huh?"
"I'd appreciated it, at least."
"I think I'll trust your opinion this time around, Jet-o. I don't listen to you nearly enough, and if I don't listen to my 'Papa Jet', then who can I listen to?"
"Don't call me that," Jet said with mock irritation.
"Aww, don't fret, old man, I do take your advice every now and then."
Grumbling at the old man reference, Jet stood up again to finish cleaning. Smirking at his friend, Spike patted him on the shoulder and headed out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Jet called after him.
"I got something to do," he called back. "I'm sure you can clean the rest of that up by yourself, can't you?"
"I thought this was a party to appreciate all that we do for you!" Jet reminded him
"Exactly!"
Grumbling once more, Jet couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Of course he'd get stuck with cleaning; who else would willingly do it? It was a funny thing, the way the Bebop worked, but that's the way the things had to be for these misfits. Always crazy and never boring, that was life for them. And even though their existence was steeped in flaws, they were more than okay to deal with them.
so how was that for a surprise? a good twist of events? i think so, at least. and spike wants to marry faye? how weird, right? oh well...maybe those drugs did fry his brain a little bit. i have the feeling, though, that he was a bit ooc in this chapter, and i just didn't know how make him more spike-like this time around. but you understand, right? hope so. well, i wonder what it is he's going to do now. we'll see soon, i suppose. until then, thanks for stopping by.
phoenix
