Enigma

Nouvelle

Part 4: Box City

Huh? Did one of my reviewers think I ended my story already? Oops.Well. I didn't. It's just taken me some time to write the next chapter. I didn't know how to continue. T-T Writer's block is evil. Anywayz, I asked some of my friends who read my story to help critic me and give suggestions on what to write next. Thank you Gloria and Jessica. They suggested I continue the game and I focus a little on Jet since he seems to be ignored right now. Sniffle. Poor Jet. Anywayz, so sorry about the wait. I've been sick and I have a lot of homework. Cowboy Bebop and the characters do not belong to me. Anywayz, read and review otherwise I will have no incentive to write anymore. And that would be terrible. O.o

I was really bored the next day.

I mean really bored...

Spike seemed to be avoiding me.

And Ed and Ein? I don't bother to keep track of them.

I spent the morning lounging about eating one Popsicle stick after another. There was nothing to do and certainly nothing to eat.

Is there ever anything to eat on the Bebop?

Never mind, I answered my own question.

I was on my 4th Popsicle stick when Jet peered at me over the couch. I must admit despite how unexpected that was I was not at all surprised. I bet it would've been different if it were Spike.

But it wasn't, and Jet never searched you out for no reason. He always has a reason even if he denied it and said it was nothing.

"Faye, are you doing anything?" Jet asked me.

Suspicious, I raised my eyebrows at him. "Yes, I'm sitting on the couch eating my ice cream." I was bored and the best tool for me at the moment was sarcasm. Leave him to decide whether or not he wanted to continue and converse with me.

"Good, you're doing nothing." He nodded to himself.

Sighing, I sat up to listen to what ever request he may have had. Over the months Jet has learned to block out my sarcastic comments which I must say are commented rather frequently.

"I'm going out shopping and I need an extra hand." He informed me.

This was not new to me. You forget that it's been a whole year for me and Jet to build up our friendship. Despite him being a man, we actually got along quite fine which is more than I can say for a specific member of that species. The man likes plants for God's sake. How could he not get along with a woman? He may choose to avoid them but I live on the Bebop; it's pretty hard to avoid each other unless you are either me or Spike.

So for the next few hours Jet and I went grocery shopping. It scares me how much Jet seems like a mom; he even wears one of those frilly aprons when he cooks.

We got back to the Bebop after we had completed our task carting a couple of boxes of various provisions. We even went so far as to buy biscuits for Ein.

After the boxes of food had been place in the ship I went to go store them away. Well some of them away, I'd leave the rest to Jet.

Jet himself went to go back to tend to his Bonsai trees. He'd wait till I finished stocking some things then take up where I left off. It was a new little routine we had. When it was only the two of us, not counting Ed or Ein, we learned to distribute the work. It's what kept us both going. It's a relief that this at least hasn't changed now that Spike has returned.

I was placing the shitake mushrooms in the fridge when I heard a door slam.

"Holy shit!"

Hmmm. I must say, hearing him swear never stops to amuse me.

"What the hell is this?" Spike asked.

Before you ask what's going on let me illustrate to you what the living room and kitchen of the Bebop look like.

Box city.

There were boxes everywhere, empty, full, and haphazardly scattered around the rooms.

I guess that would count as a point for me since I was the one who place the boxes that way.

"Boxes. You still have at least one good eye right Spike?" I answered him, calling out from the floor of the kitchen.

"Faye?" Spike questioned.

I guess the boxes were concealing me from his view. And here I though Superman had X-ray vision.

"No, it's Ein. I've recently developed the skill to talk." Obvious sarcasm I know but I could care less. Being nice to Spike at the moment wasn't high on my priority list.

"What are all these boxes for?" Spike asked. I could her him kicking around to make room to walk.

"There's food in them," I replied. Simple questions call for simple answers. Slowly I got up to grab another box to empty out. On my way I saw Spike sit down and grab a box to peer at its contents.

"This is food?" Spike called out to me pulling out a carton from the box.

The next thing I heard was a ripping sound. He must have been opening something to eat but the next thing I heard was a hacking noise. Startled I looked over to where Spike was situated and noticed he was holding a box which I'm pretty sure contained Ein's dog crackers.

I couldn't help it.

I started to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Spike coming back. Our avoiding each other. What I think I heard last night. And even Spike eating dog food. It was all I could do from keep from crying. I was an emotional wreck that had been teetering on the edge for the past couple of week. Not a very good thing if you ask me.

"Shut up Faye," Spike commanded indignantly.

Like I'd listen. Instead I just started to laugh harder until pretty soon tears were streaming down my face and I was clutching at my sides.

Breathless, I stood up and declare, "I needed that," and decided to go retrieve Jet and tell him it was his turn to stock the supplies.

"Do you want any help?"

Stunned I turn to him. "What did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted any help with putting all this stuff away." He gestured to the boxes. "Jeez Faye, I didn't know going deaf was a side effect of being frozen."

I decided to ignore his last comment.

Did I want Spike to help me put away the food? To be honest I could care less about the food. The thing that concerned me at the moment was that Spike offered to help me. He offered to spend time with me of his own free will. Well, I don't think he looked at it that way but that's what it seemed like to me.

Shrugging indifferently I replied. "Sure why not?"

So that was it. For the next hour or so we spent the entire time putting the food away. Well, I was doing most of it. Spike spent at least thirty minutes trying to get me to eat the shitake mushrooms. It wasn't my idea to buy them, they already give me bad memories, but Jet had insisted on them. I in turn tried to force feed the rest of Ein's dog cracker down Spike's throat.

That's how Jet found us. We were on the couch. Spike was lying down on his back and I was straddling his waist with the box of crackers in one hand and using the other to try and pry his jaws open. I wasn't succeeding.

"What are you two doing?" Jet asked raising an eyebrow.

Now let me inform you that my intentions were completely pure. All I was trying to accomplish was to get Spike to eat more of the disgusting dog biscuits. So when I heard Jet's voice and became aware of my position over Spike, I froze like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. I didn't bother to look down at Spike as I flew off him. I would have succeeded in landing all the way at the other side of the room but unknowingly, Spike's hands had wrapped around my waist. Instead, I just flopped to the floor bringing Spike along for the ride. We landed in a tangle of limbs before I heard Jet again.

"Never mind, but when you're done with whatever you're doing I want to talk to Spike." Then Jet proceeded to walk out of the room ignoring the mess he left behind.

Well I was embarrassed. Quickly, I pulled apart from him and kept my face tilted to the floor.

"I'll clean up the boxes," I offered.

He silently understood and went after Jet to go talk to him.

After he had disappeared I sighed audibly and looked at the mess around me. "Well, let's get started," I declared.

It took me awhile to clean up everything but by the time I was finished I had a nice neat pile of flattened boxes. I took a handful and headed to dump them out. On my way I passed by Jet's Bonsai room. From within I could hear raised voices. Curious I stopped to listen.

"You can't be doing this Spike," I heard Jet say. "She's had a whole year to forget you. Leave her be, she needs to have her own life, one where you're not in it."

"Do you really think that's the best solution?" Spike argued back.

"She is nothing like Julia. Faye is Faye. You can't try and make her anything else."

"I know that," Spike said bitterly. "She will never be anything like her."

"Look Spike," Jet said, "I just don't want to see her hurt. And if the only way to do that is for you to avoid her then you should."

There was a long pause before I heard Spike answer.

"I'll decide what's best for her."

I didn't stay long after that. I freaked and thought he'd leave the room right then and there and catch me eavesdropping. But I suppose they didn't stop talking till awhile later.

I went to my room and collapsed on my bed.

So I wasn't anything like Julia?

I knew that.

And it hurt that I could never match up to the perfect woman.

There were too many questions swarming inside my head. I had no idea why they had been talking about me and I certainly didn't understand why Spike deemed it necessary that it was his responsibility to decide what's best for me.

I was ready to cry, but like I said; I was an emotional wreck. My emotions were all jumbled and even though I felt like crying I couldn't. I was that tired.

I flipped over onto my back as the door to my room opened.

Did I forget to lock it?

I sighed as I saw who it was. He couldn't surprise me anymore. Hell, I half expected him to open the door and barge right in. I guess our little 'who can surprise who more' game had come to an end.

I moved to sit up on my bed. "What do you want Spike?"

Dun Dun Duuun. Cliff hanger. This chapter took me especially long and I apologize for the lack of eventful events that should have happened. I also apologize for Faye's lack of input also. It's just I didn't know what to write. I assure you that in the next chapter there will be more Spike and Faye and I will use some of the ideas you have provided me in the next chapter. I plan to discontinue the use of the 'game' and 'superman' only because if they get over used they'll become boring and stale. And now, a note to my reviewers:

Zottie: Thank you for being my first reviewer and reading my other chapters. Hugs and kisses.

Neverwriter: Haha. I didn't even know I ended the first chapter as a cliffhanger.

FuzzieEars67: 'Blushes' Thank you. I didn't think it was that good.

Forever His: 'Bows' Thank you for reading my chapters, I'm so honored. Lol.

Jade Silver: Please continue reviewing my chapters. And thank you. You don't know how much it means for someone to tell me that this fic is actually good.

SpecterQueen: Thank you for reviewing my chapters. I away look forward to your reviews.

Sabishii Onna no ko: I'm glad you like my fic and I do plan on continuing it though I don't know how long it will take me 'looks down sheepishly'

Brigidforest: 'Gasp' Thank you for pointing out Faye uncharacteristic behavior. I'm so sorry. But thank you for going along with it and reviewing. Also your review for my 3rd chapter was interesting. For a second there I thought you didn't like how I ended it. But I guess you did. Lol.

Redeve: I hadn't planned to make it like sound like a diary but it sorta does doesn't it? Thank you for reviewing.

ShiroKitsune: Thank you for reviewing. I'm so happy that you like my Spike and Faye interaction.

BunnyBreath: I will try and complete this fic as fast as I can.

Elizabeth: 'Laughs' I will write more. As soon as I figure out what to write. Lol

TenguQueen: Thank you for reviewing. I love reviews.

Jessie: Yeah, I hate how he died in the end also. Thank you so much for your review and opinion. Please continue to review.

Amethyst-cat: I enjoy drawing too, but I just got into the mood to write after reading a whole bunch of fanfiction. Not to mention I wanna minor in writing in college so this will be good practice. -

Akirah: I will try to get more chapters up. I also plan to make a collage of Sailor Moon fanfiction. There will be five of them concern the five inner senshi and their respective pairing of the prince and generals. They will be one shot's, AU, and all occur on the same day. It will be from a third person's point of view. Please look forward to it.

Wheelershanyou: I'm glad you enjoyed that comment. It's one of my favorites too.

Faye-faye 14: Lol. You want to marry it? Well I wish both of you a happy life and thank you for reviewing. It made my day.

Regrem Erutaerc: Thank you for reviewing and please continue to review. Reviews make me happy. -

Paranoia Central: I'm sorry I couldn't get this chapter up fast enough. But please continue to read and review.

Momiji-chan Wa Baka: 'Blushes' Thank you for reading my story and I'm glad you enjoy my writing style.

Jaded Shrew: Lol, dude, thank you for reviewing. I just loved your review. I even showed it to my sister. I hope you continue to read my fic.

Fireblazie: Lol. Umm†I didn't end it. But thank you so much for reviewing. If you want you can pretend I ended it. -

Gloria: Tsk Tsk. I expected longer reviews from you. Thank you for reviewing though.

The person who you will never see: Thank you for the ideas. Lol. I'll be sure to use them. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

Someone you dont no: I'll try to write more chapters as quickly as I can master. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

Love & Peace