The only transportation the Valentines had was a beat-up pickup truck. Maybelle drove and Faye sat in the passenger seat, while Jet and Don sat in the open-air bed.
"Don't you love these bright lights?" Maybelle asked Faye, while in back Don engaged Jet in a separate conversation.
"Yeah. I need something bright in my life for a change."
"Life been a bumpy road lately?"
"Yeah. I fell in love."
"He left you?"
"He left and he died. Dumbass jerk got himself killed—Pardon my language."
"That's alright."
"You just seem like the type to not use profanity."
"Well, I try. But I'm used to other people using it. Technically, I'm not supposed to even approve of this town. 'Sin City', you know. But Don and I love it! I think things like gambling and drinking are just fine in moderation."
"And sex?"
"All you want, within marriage."
"Topless revues?"
"Don and I go to the 'covered' shows only."
"What about smoking?"
"Well, that's like profanity. We avoid it, but we don't nag our friends who do it."
"Then do you mind if I light up?"
Maybelle tilted her head as though making a concession. "Go ahead, dear."
Faye rolled down the window. "I'll try to make sure all the smoke goes outside."
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In back, curious Don asked Jet, "What exactly is it you do for a living?"
"We're bounty hunters."
"Really? That sounds interesting."
"It's like war. There's intermittent moments of excitement and sheer terror punctuated by long periods of boredom."
"I don't suppose I could be a bounty hunter. I'm licensed to carry a gun—I'm a card-carrying member of the SSRA. I know how to use it." He took a pearl-handled pistol out. "She's a beauty, huh?"
"Yeah. A classic. But look, I don't really recommend my lifestyle to anybody else. What do you do?"
Don put the pistol away. "I'm a postal worker."
Jet grinned. "Well, you're halfway there."
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Faye's eyes focused on a series of buildings with vaguely familiar shapes. A roller coaster track weaved its way in and out of and around them. "Wow! That is really cool!"
"That's Mile High City. The buildings are smaller versions of some of Old Earth's most famous skyscrapers—the Empire State Building, the Sears Tower..The Seattle Space Needle has a revolving restaurant up top." She put on her signal to turn into the parking garage.
"We're not going on that coaster, are we?" Faye asked nervously.
"I was planning on it. Why, are you afraid of roller coasters?"
"I've faced death more times than I like to admit."
"But are you scared of roller coasters?"
"A roller coaster is a controlled, safe environment."
"But are you--?"
"Yes!..A little."
"Well, you don't have to go on if you don't really want to."
"Oh, I'll go." I can't let a couple of docile suburban Christians prove themselves bigger daredevils than a wild child like me, now can I?
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As the roller coaster plummeted into a tunnel, which Faye swore went right through someone's hotel room, she gripped the safety bar tightly with one hand. Her other hand..she glanced over at Jet. Her fingers were digging into his flesh arm. He shot her as smile as the trench leveled out temporarily. Faye chuckled nervously, and removed her hand. Then all was forgotten—for the moment—as the track began to climb again.
The foursome laughed as they walked back to the truck. "Forget that restaurant at the Illusion," Don said to Maybelle. "We've got to go to 20th Century Pop Café. Jet here is a big fan of twentieth century music."
So that's where they went for supper. While Don and Jet walked around the interior, looking at priceless artifacts, Maybelle prodded Faye for more information. "What happened to that guy you fell in love with?"
"Spike? He got in a duel with Vicious and they killed each other."
"Vicious? Is that somebody's name?"
"Let's just say it fits him." Faye shivered. "He gives me the creeps. He's the scariest guy I've ever met—and I've been face to face with a lot. I didn't believe in demons until I met him. I don't mind saying I'm glad he's dead, and I hope there is a Hell, and that he's in the worst level of it."
Jet and Don strode up and took their places at the table. "We saw Marilyn Monroe's shampoo bottle," Don said.
"And Benny Goodman's corset and pen," Jet added with excitement.
A sideburned man in a gold jumpsuit carried a guitar around, and sang rock'n'roll numbers to diners. "A serenading Elvis," Maybelle observed. "We have an Elvis on every street corner."
"And a wedding chapel," Don chimed in.
"Most of them with their own resident Elvis," Maybelle added. "It's real easy to get married in this town with as little or as much fuss as you want. Did you say you were engaged?"
Faye blushed and Jet shrugged. "No, we're not married or engaged," Faye explained.
"Well, whenever you're ready, come back to Vegas-on-Venus. There's always a chapel open any time of the day or night."
"Actually, we're just friends. Business partners, of sorts," Faye reminded them.
Maybelle and Don looked at each other meaningfully and smirked.
"This whole Elvis thing has gotten to be a farce," Jet remarked, leaning his chin on his fist. "Elvis has become like Santa Claus—most people forget he evolved from a real person."
"Well, I know about the real Elvis Aron Presley," Faye announced with importance. "When I was a kid, there were still people alive who remembered the real Elvis."
Maybelle was puzzled. "How is that possible?"
"She's a deep freeze case," Jet explained. "She was put into cold sleep for a few decades."
Maybelle turned to Faye. "You mean, you're older than me?"
Faye nodded, smiling.
"Why, that's incredible! It must be like time travel!"
"It's..disorienting," Faye told her. "Plus people try to take advantage of you when you're confused. The experience made me who I am today."
"So how old are you?"
"I like to say I'm twenty-three and holding."
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They were on their way to their next destination, which Maybelle and Don chose not to reveal.
In the passenger seat again, Faye chuckled weakly. "It's funny, me and Jet carrying on about Spike this way. He wasn't exactly a knight in shining armor, or Prince Charming. Oh, he could do some heroic things, but usually there was something for him to gain by doing so..or he was just being reckless.
"He had some electricity about him. He was very good-looking, and he had a sexy, purring voice. It drew you to him even when he was being a jerk. And he could be such a jerk. He wouldn't even treat me with respect or talk to me nice, at first." She lowered her head. "I think he thought of me as a slut."
"Well," Maybelle began cautiously. "I don't know everything that you've done, but I can see you're a very complicated woman. Even if you have done some naughty things, there's more to you than that."
"I'm no princess. Ever since I got out of deep freeze, I've been a whiny bitch who lives by the idea of stick it unto others before they stick it unto you."
Maybelle shot her a gentle smile. "You don't have to be that way if you don't want to."
"I--" Faye faltered. "It's hard..I feel like an abstract sculpture that got shattered, and when they put me back together, I was rearranged into an entirely new form."
"Yes, it's a challenge all right, but you can do it—get back to where you want to be. Don smoked for several years, but he gave that up."
"Uh, one problem at a time, please!" Faye giggled nervously.
"You can't go right from step A to step Z, dear. But maybe you can go from A to B, and on from there. One step at a time."
Faye sighed. "I don't know why you're being so nice to me. I'm really not your type."
"Oh, don't be silly!"
"But I'm not! People like you, you believe in purity and, and abstinence. I'm not married. I'm not a virgin."
"Well, you're not the only one. Especially in this day and age."
"Spike was probably right about me. I've been using my 'feminine charms' to get me by. It's hard being all alone in the universe with no friends or family. Usually, I didn't have to see through my promise of sex to some chump, but sometimes…there was no way out. I con and have been conned."
"You know, dear, I find most people who have 'fooled around' really only want the same things as everyone else. To find a true love who will be there for them."
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Their next stop was drinks at the top of a needlelike tower. The tallest free-standing structure on this side of Venus, it was part of a resort called Cosmos.
"Is that girl really just your business partner, or you got something going with her?" Don asked Jet, after the women had gone to the ladies' lounge.
"A girl who looks like her, and a guy who looks like me," Jet said, and left it trailing, leaving it to Don to reach his own conclusions.
"Hey, it takes all kinds of couples to make up the universe," Don remarked. "I'm not some soap opera hunk myself, but Maybelle still loves me. The question is, if your 'partner' was willing, would you take her?"
Jet smiled slightly, and looked out the panoramic windows. "I'm not sayin'."
Don punched his shoulder lightly. "Of course you would!" He rubbed the edge of his glass with his finger. "I'm a married Christian—I'm not 'supposed' to notice these things anymore, but she's mighty fine, if you ask me."
"Let me tell you something about a girl who looks like that," Jet began confidentially. "You can't trust her. She took everything I had down to my shorts in a fixed dice game. Stripped me bare. Literally."
"Well, if you knew it was fixed, you could demand it all back."
"And I did get it back, thanks to my old partner's info."
"Swindled you out of your skivvies." Don chuckled. "Nothing that interesting has ever happened to me." He fingered his glass. "Maybe I should challenge Maybelle to a game of strip poker."
Jet turned his head and grimaced at the thought of the Valentines sitting around in the underwear.
"Heck, the kids are gone; they won't get in the way," Don continued. "So, she's seen you naked before…"
"Forget I ever mentioned it. I don't even want to go there."
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The ladies' restroom at the bar was lush, with chairs and a couch placed before a lighted mirror. Faye and Maybelle sat down for a few minutes, to talk without the guys being around.
"...No matter what I said, he was intent on marching off to his doom."
"Did you tell him your feelings for him?" Maybelle queried.
Faye shook her head. "No, I don't think it would have made a difference. I don't think he would've given a damn. Even after she died, there was always Julia. The love of his life. The one he'd always love more than me."
"Did you meet her?"
"Yes, I met her. I saved her life—then she goes and gets killed anyway."
"What if they survived? What would happen then?"
"I suppose they'd live happily ever after, or get married."
"Would you have fought her for him?"
Faye shook her head. "No. I didn't even fight her in death—I convinced Jet to bury them side by side, so they could be together in death, at least. I don't know why."
"I think you do, dear. You were willing to sacrifice your own desire for his happiness. That's true love, Faye, and you're perfectly capable of it. Wait for it; it will come again."
"I tried to make him stay," Faye remembered. "That might have been selfish, in a way. But earlier, I let him know I had met her and that she wanted to see him again. I could have withheld that information." She turned to Maybelle, grasping her hands. "What if when true love comes again, it all ends up in tragedy just like before?"
"Well, in this town we talk about odds a lot." The motherly woman smiled. "The odds are against true love always ending in tragedy." Maybelle changed course. "What about Jet, dear? He's not your husband or boyfriend or agent. What is he to you? Besides a 'business partner'?"
Faye closed her eyes before answering. "I don't know. He's..there. He's just there. Like an anchor or something."
"He has been your port in a storm through all this?" Maybelle guessed.
Faye nodded slowly. "Jet was Spike's friend—he loved him, too, in a way. He's the only one who can begin to understand what it means for me to lose Spike." She blushed. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying to understand, too, but—you never got to meet him."
"It's alright, dear, I know what you're saying. Have you learned anything from this whole experience? I find bad times often teach us important lessons."
Faye closed her eyes and thought for a few moments. When she spoke at last, she spoke slowly. "What I learned is that sometimes the thing or person you've been looking for has been right under your nose all along and you better find that out and tell them before it's too late. And I learned that instead of being some far off place, your place of belonging may be right where you're at now."
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Jet took a sip from his drink. "She's gonna fly one of these days—and I'm not gonna stop her when she does. I've been thinkin'—it'd be good to get back to being on my own. I got rid of her weird friends. She's the only one left of the old crew. It's about time she moved on."
Don nodded. "So you bought her a really expensive piece of jewelry. You're a very contradictory person, Jet. What are you going to do—plant a homing device on that ring?"
Jet was starting to get miffed. "Look—if her heart belongs to anybody, it belongs to my dead partner. How do you expect me to compete with a guy who's dead?"
Don was saved from having to answer by the return of Faye and Maybelle.
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The Valentines weren't through with Cosmos. They went a couple of floors higher and led Jet and Faye onto the roof of the tower. It was windy out, and Faye expected to be knocked right over the edge. To her surprise, she saw people boarding two rides—a roller coaster and a ride that shot you straight up in the air and let your chair free fall back down. "Let me guess—we're going on these."
"We can if you want, but you buy your tickets downstairs," Maybelle said. "Personally, the height makes it too scary for even Don and me. But it's neat just to watch them."
"Don't look now, Faye," Jet said in a low voice. "But someone's getting off the coaster."
Faye and her new friend saw a bearded man with unkempt, dark blond hair. "That's Casey Norville," Faye recognized. "He and his lover Heather con people."
"Yeah, once they stayed rent free in a Ganymede beach house by pretending the house was haunted," Jet said. "We're on vacation, but why pass up a golden opportunity?"
"You two stay back," Faye warned Maybelle and Don. "Go in the observation room."
"Now I'm beginning to feel like myself again!" Jet remarked as he and Faye walked towards Casey.
"Don't you like the Valentines?"
"They're not our type, Faye! They're too normal!"
Jet fell into place by Casey's left side, Faye by his right. "Scary ride, huh?" Faye asked the fugitive.
His eyes shifted in turn to each bounty hunter, and he made as if to stride ahead of them, but Jet grabbed his elbow. "Just keep walking all normal like. We're both armed."
"Okay, like, I'll be good!" Casey squeaked.
"Hold it right there!" a deceptively sweet voice ordered.
"Heather!" Casey cried.
Jet and Faye looked up to see a slim red-haired woman in a purple dress. She was pointing a pistol at them. "C'mon, Casey, you don't need to go with them."
Casey began to walk towards his lover, who kept her pistol trained on Jet and Faye. Faye was alarmed to see him pass by Maybelle, who was standing by the wall at the edge of the roof. The wind blew; the tower seemed to shiver.
Maybelle stuck out a foot, tripping Casey. Heather fired at Maybelle. The impact sent her straight over the edge.
"You bitch!" Faye shrieked. "I'll kill you!" She shot Heather, putting a hole through her shoulder. The girl collapsed. Casey cowered on the ground, his arms over his head and his buttocks sticking up in the air.
Jet ran over to the edge. "Faye, look! She's gonna be okay!"
Faye ran over to see Maybelle had landed on a further section of roof. Her arm had been winged. The greatest damage had been to her peace of mind.
Don had his own pistol aimed at Heather's forehead, but he was shaking. He couldn't fire.
Jet came over and lowered his arm. "It's okay. Maybelle will be fine and this girl's too wounded to go anywhere."
"I guess I wouldn't make a good bounty hunter," Don muttered. "I can't even shoot the girl who shot my wife."
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Faye and Jet were at the Valentines' house. Maybelle wore her arm in a sling, but still enjoyed showing Faye family photo albums.
Jet, ill at ease, sat in a chair over in a corner. Caleb came and lay down by his feet, sighing.
"Maybelle, what did you hope to accomplish by tripping that guy?" asked Don. "It wouldn't have done any good any way you look at it."
"Don, we've been over this a million times—I thought I was keeping him from getting away."
Jet got up and went to the kitchen to look for something to drink.
"I'm glad you didn't kill his girlfriend," Maybelle said to Faye. "I would have felt bad about that."
"My, Calhoun was a cute little boy," Faye commented, pointing at a photo. She wasn't bored at all—it had been so long since she felt this kind of connection to anyone. Not just a connection of family, but a parental bond.
As if reading her mind, Maybelle said, "I know we're probably only very distantly related, and that you're technically older than I am, but if you need a substitute Ma—" She glanced at Don. "—And Pa, we're here for you."
Because of her injured arm, Faye half-embraced Maybelle. "Oh, thank you! Maybe now I can get back to pursuing the life I wanted instead of the one—"
Interrupting Faye, the doorbell rang. Don got it. "Calhoun!" Maybelle cooed.
The handsome young blond son walked in. "Hi, Ma! Hi, Pa! I got here as soon as I could."
"Well, I'm glad you came," Maybelle said, rising from the couch. "Oh, Calhoun, this is my new friend, Faye. Treat her like one of the family."
"You mean ask her to lend me some money?" Calhoun joked affably. He shook Faye's hand. "Glad to meet you."
"I see you haven't lost any of your good looks since those childhood photos your Ma was showing me," Faye said flirtatiously.
He blushed. "Aw, Ma, why are you showing those?"
In the kitchen, Jet grunted and looked at Caleb. Caleb returned the glance with sympathy. "This is the way it always starts out," Jet muttered to the dog. "She thinks she's found a place of belonging. So she ups and leaves. Well, not this time. This time I'll beat her to the punch. Is there a back door to this place?"
Caleb waddled up to a door in the kitchen wall and scratched at it. "Good enough," Jet remarked.
Faye had been so busy chatting with Maybelle, Don, and Calhoun that she didn't notice Jet was gone until the Valentines started preparing for dinner—pot roast, of course.
She wandered down the hallway, peeping into rooms, then came into the kitchen. "Has anyone seen Jet?"
They all looked puzzled and shook their heads.
Faye thought a moment, then her eyes widened when she realized the truth. "I can't stay! I'll contact you later!" She made as if to rush out the door, but stopped herself. "Can someone drive me to the spaceport?"
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Calhoun brought her there in his sports car. Faye thanked him brusquely, then ran off to where the Bebop was supposed to be docked. In its place she saw a much smaller craft—her own Redtail. Faye swore.
She climbed in. Her meager amount of smaller possessions was crammed behind the seat. "Dammit, Jet, you still have my beta tape player. I'm coming after you!"
She flew into space; orbited a little around Venus. Maybe Jet was still there. If he had already gone through a gateway, she'd never catch him. Wait! Yeah, she saw the Bebop, and hailed it. "Just where do you think you're going?!"
Jet was having a bit of fun turning the volume up and down on Faye's ranting. He was playing editor and censoring all her profanity. "Jet, listen to me, you as…Don't make me come and f…hunt you down, you sorry b…Do you hear me, Jet?!"
"She's complaining about me? She deserves this for all the times she ran out on us!"
Her anger turned into a desperate sadness. "Jet, I wasn't gonna leave! I swear, I wasn't going to leave!"
Jet sighed, remembering a fight he had had with Spike in Jovian space. "You got something?"
"Huh? Why would I have a bounty?"
"Never mind. You can come in. But make it quick."
Jet was there in the hold when Faye got out of her ship. She considered running to him to hug him, but instead ran to him to give him a light fist pummeling. "Jet! Why'd you take off without me?"
Jet glared at her as though it were obvious. "You found a family. You don't need me anymore."
"Jet! Stop it! You're being silly. Hmmph." Faye folded her arms against her breasts. "Look, Jet," she began again, quietly. "I'm not sure yet what part you play in my life, but I do know I want you in my life. And I won't run out on you again if you don't run out on me."
Jet was silent. Faye leaned her head against his upper arm. "C'mon, Jet, say something! Anything."
He took his other arm and drew her to his chest. Breaking the embrace quickly, he spoke. "What about your new family?"
"I've got their number. I'll keep in touch. But I'm not giving up bounty hunting and moving into suburbia. There's no reason why I can't be friends with both them and you."
"And Calhoun?"
Faye squinted in confusion. "I just met Calhoun. As the son of my substitute parents, I'm sure he'll be like a brother at most. I'm not gonna marry him, Jet!" Wait a minute. Did I just explain to Jet I'm not interested in another guy? Did Jet just show jealousy? What is that all about? This is weird. She steeled herself for another question in Jet's interrogation.
"What do you want for dinner?"
"Huh?"
"I said, what do you want for dinner? We've got a fully stocked refrigerator—take your pick."
Faye smiled. "Oh, I see. Let me think…"
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Before they left Venusian space for Earth, Edward, and Ein, Faye called the Valentines on the video phone. "So you caught your man in time," Maybelle observed.
Faye blushed at her unusual choice of words. "Yeah. You know how paranoid men get sometimes."
"Take good care of each other, dear," Maybelle advised.
"Okay." Faye paused. "I think the worst is over now. I'm gonna make it. I have something that I didn't have between waking up from cold sleep and joining the Bebop. I have friends and family now. We're heading to Earth to try and put some of the Bebop family back together."
"God be with you, dear. And I must say one thing more—"
"What's that?"
"Your relationship with Jet is changing. Don't be afraid of it. He's a good man."