A/N: Hi guys! One thing before you read this chapter. Yes, 'Serenade' is from Fruits Basket and it was originally by Ritsuko Okazaki. But in THIS story it's a song that Faye is working on so I hope I didn't offend anyone by taking this song. Well, read on!
"So, why are you going to Faye's house again?" Jet asked while reading a car magazine on the couch as Spike buttoned up his navy blue jacket. "You know that can stir up even more rumors."
Spike sighed. "Yeah, I know. But you should've seen her face last night when that scumbag through her on the ground." Spike paused and stared at the floor, remembered her face, filled with horror and fright. He quickly shook his head to rid himself of the depressing thought. "Well, whatever. I'm going to check on her. That's it."
"Well, if you go, you'll need a disguise." Jet looked at Spike from his magazine.
Spike looked at Jet, obviously not understanding him.
"A disguise. Dress as something else so that the tabloids don't go even crazier than they've already gone."
"And what the hell am I going to dress up as, Jet?"
A mischievous smile slowly crept its way across Jet's face.
"Would you like me to leave you and Mr. Spiegel to yourselves?" Eunice walked into the den where Faye was comfortably laying on the couch, solving a crossword puzzle. Faye shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Of course you don't have to leave. I don't even know why he's coming."
"Well, don't you at least wanna where something else? What if he comes over and sees you in a tank top, tights, and tweety bird slippers?"
Faye slammed the crossword puzzle book down and looked up at Eunice. "Eunice, I really don't care what he sees me in."
Eunice sighed a heavy sigh. "Fine."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Eunice reluctantly walked to the door. Before opening it, she turned to Faye. "I hope you're ready for the sexiest man alive to see you at your worst."
Faye rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Eunice seemed to be all about looks. Maybe it was because she was 20 times more prissier than Faye.
When Eunice opened the door, her eyes bulged out of her head and her mouth dropped open. Faye stood to see who it was at the door. Seeing that Eunice was just standing there, Faye walked to the door to see what Eunice was so shocked about.
"Eunice! Why won't you --- oh my god…"
There, before them, stood Spike Spiegel in a giant Chicken costume.
"S-Spike…why in the WORLD are you in a….CHICKEN costume??"
Spike quickly walked into the apartment and angrily snatched the costume off in one swipe. "Jet told me to put in on to disguise myself just in case someone saw me coming in here."
Eunice and Faye nodded their heads, indicating that they were retaining the information he was giving.
Spike pulled a cigarette out from his breast pocket and placed it in between his lips. "How ya feelin'?"
"Oh, I'm fine, Mr. Spiegel." Eunice stepped closer to Spike, smiling from ear to ear.
Spike looked down at her, confused. "Uhh…I was talking to Faye."
Faye crossed her arms across her chest and shook her head. This girl was nuts.
"Oh..." Eunice turned around to Faye, blushing the color of a beet. She grabbed her purse from the couch and hurriedly ran to the door. "I'm gonna….go get some fresh air…" With that, she ran out of the door, slamming to door shut behind her.
Spike chuckled as he lifted his lighter to carefully light the lonely cigarette that rested in between his lips. "That's some friend ya got there."
"Yeah," Faye turned her attention to the door. "She's….something else." She looked back at Spike, catching him staring at her. Nervously, she slowly made her way to the couch and picked up her crossword puzzle book, continuing to solve the puzzle she had been working on that entire afternoon. Shortly after she'd made her way to the couch, Spike followed her example, flopping down onto the couch next to her and, rudely, propping his feet up on the coffee table. Faye removed the crossword puzzle from her face.
"No shoes on the table, Mr. Spiegel." She, then, continued to what she was doing.
"Hm. Aren't we touchy?" Spike responded as he lifted his feet from the table and back to the floor.
"Who the hell wants dirty shoes on their coffee table?" Faye nonchalantly said.
Spike smiled at Faye, then, propped his feet back onto the coffee table.
This time, Faye placed her crossword puzzle on the coffee table and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Get your feet off of the table!" She said, sternly, visibly irritated.
"Ha! I love messing with ya." Spike replied, taking his feet off of the coffee table once more.
"Spike, why are you even over here?"
Spike looked at Faye, surprised. He didn't expect her to ask him that at all.
"Oh…I came to check on you."
"Why would you have to check on me?" Faye smiled.
"Faye, you said yesterday that….Chris or whatever his name is…he's done worse to you…"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Faye stood and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a box of honey nut cheerios and returning to her seat on the couch. As Faye reclaimed her seat, Spike snatched the box of cereal from her hands. Faye looked at Spike as if he were crazy.
"Give me my cheerios!"
"Not until you explain what you were talking about last night."
"NO!"
"Ah," Spike smiled his signature smile which sent Faye's mind flying. "Then I guess I'll have to toss 'em!"
Faye's mouth dropped. "You will NOT throw away my cheerios."
"Oh I wasn't going to throw 'em away!" With that, Spike tossed his head back, opened his mouth and poured the box of cereal into his mouth. Faye immediately jumped on him, trying to retrieve her cereal from Spike's grasp. Spike leaned all the way to the back of the couch, showing Faye that he was extremely flexible. As she reached down behind the couch for her cheerios, the couch began to fall backwards. Screaming, Faye grabbed the only thing closest to her – Spike Spiegel.
Spike let out a faint "Whoa" while Faye screamed her head off as the couch feel backwards, making a loud thud onto the floor. When Faye opened her eyes, she was straddling Spike and holding his head as tight as she could against her chest.
"Uh…cousha lemme go?" Spike said, his mouth practically plastered on to her chest.
"OH!" Faye instantly through Spike's head away from her body and hopped off of him, brushing herself off, leaving Spike laying flat on the floor.
"Sorry about that." Faye bent over Spike, smiling.
Spike opened one of his eyes, smiling back at her. As soon as they caught each other's gaze, they burst into hearty laughter.
"Yeah…so, I've known Eunice for about 13 years now." Faye said, nodding at Spike.
It was now 10:00. The two were sitting on Faye's gorgeous balcony that gave them a magnificent view of the ocean. Spike sat relaxed on one of the armed chairs, his legs spread open, his elbows on his knees, his jacket on the back of his chair and the first three buttons of his yellow undershirt unbuttoned as he smoked a cigarette.
Faye's hair was a little dishelved as she sat on the opposite side of Spike, her heels on the edge of her seat, her toes dangling off, and her knees up to her chin, as she also smoked a cigarette. The ashtray lay in between them on a small table.
"She's amazing. She's like the sister I've never had."
"I can tell." Spike responded, taking another drag from his cancer stick.
"So," Faye looked over at Spike as she put her cigarette out. "What do you hate about this industry we're currently in? I honestly can't tell you how much I hate it."
"Everything. I hate everything about Hollywood. The only thing I love to do is act. I hate movies. I hate watching them," Spike turned to tap some of the ash off of his smoke before turning to face the ocean again and taking another puff. "Everything."He finally said, a small silver cloud of smoke escaping his lips.
Faye sighed, returning her gaze to the ocean and hugging herself tightly.
"We can't complain. Because then we'd be contradicting ourselves. When you're in an industry of this caliber, there's no room for privacy." Spike looked down at his hands. "And no room for happiness. Or the caring of one's feelings."
Faye looked back at Spike, now concerned.
"We're like animals in this industry, Faye. We're only used for show and when they don't need us, they treat us like shit."
Faye didn't respond but she silently agreed with everything he said. Everything he said was correct. Why did she come to Hollywood? What exactly was there for her? Since she'd arrived, there had been nothing but trouble.
"My ex treated me like that. " Faye mumbled in response, making Spike instantly look her way. Faye kept her gaze down at her tweety bird slippers.
"When we were alone, he hit me all the time. He threatened that he'd kill me over and over again. He punched me…he slapped me…he kicked me…he pulled my hair…he…he raped me sometimes. And when we'd go out, he'd act like a complete different person. Like everything was okay. Until finally, Eunice and the rest of my family gave me the courage to leave. And that's when I moved in with her." Faye bit her bottom lip to try to hold back her tears. Faye glanced up at Spike who'd been staring at her since she opened her mouth. Both embarrassed, they quickly looked away.
"Would you like to hear a song I'm working on?" Faye murmured, changing the subject abruptly.
Spike nonchalantly shrugged. "Sure."
Faye bounced out of her chair and walked back into the house, past her and Eunice's room and into the living room where a baby grand piano occupied with a large window that overlooked the city.
Spike followed, immediately dropping his cigarette at the sight of the city. "Wow…" He looked out of the huge window, stunned.
"Thanks," Faye smiled back at him as she sat at the piano. Seeing that he was still standing, watching the sky, she whistled at him to get his attention. When he looked down at her, she patted the right of the piano bench. "Sit."
Spike immediately obeyed.
Faye cleared her throat. "Okay. Don't laugh or make fun of me."
Spike chuckled. "Ah…I can't guarantee that."
Faye smiled. "Well, if you have to, just quietly exit the room, okay?"
Spike smiled back at her. "Just sing the damn song."
"Okay, okay." Faye cleared her throat once more and began to play to tune of the song. "It's called Serenade."
Something Delicate,
Special like the love we know
My fragile heartbeats,
At times secure at times alone.
My first treasure
Took me years to find,
It's what I cling to
When confusion clouds my mind…
Then You come to me and You smile,
Suddenly I feel as if everything's ok.
Lost in Your smile
All at once I'm swept away.
When trouble falls upon me like rain,
When the world becomes one big cold and lonely place,
You carry me through,
From dreary skies the sun breaks through.
When You're feeling lost
And don't know what to do,
Just look, You'll see me
Calling out to You.
And when You're shaking from
Winter wind upon Your face,
I'll hurry towards You
I'll warm You up with a embrace.
Baby You can count on me
Always and forever I'll stand right next to You.
Come what may
I know as one we'll see it through.
Love can be a delicate thing,
True love has a power that's infinitely real
Locking the heart through true emotions that You feel…
As she finished Faye looked over at Spike, who was staring at her with incredible emotion. He slowly leaned into her as they both closed their eyes, their lips suddenly meeting with such intensity, their tongues playfully embracing each other within their warms crevices. Spike, gently, reached over and touched the smoothness of Faye's porcelain cheek. The pair gradually broke apart, realizing what was happening, neither one making eye contact.
Spike stood from the piano bench, stepping his long legs over it. "I've gotta get home."He said looking at the door.
"Okay." Faye replied, looking down at the piano. In response, Faye could hear the living room door, then shortly after, the front door gently close. She looked out into the night sky, tears beginning to cloud her vision.