| One Good Turn…: She had found it. A nice spa that was open even in the early hours of the morning because the way the night had concluded, she wouldn't have been able to sleep until at least the following night. She practically floated and felt as if she was drowning, all at once. It was the strangest, most confusing feeling in the world. The girl tending to her back was quiet, the only sounds she made the small brush of her hands trailing over Faye's bare skin, massaging away the tension in her shoulders. It felt good to allow someone else to tend to her. She needed it because she was a bit weak in the knees, not in the right mode to care for herself. She had definitely found Black Jack and he had definitely swept her off her feet. Now she just had to turn him in. But a guy like that couldn't really have done all that stuff they're saying he did. Insurance fraud? He seemed like the richest guy in the world. Embezzlement? Well, ok, maybe that was why he seemed like the richest guy in the world. But conspiracy to murder..? "Would you like a scented oil?" the girl asked her quietly, pausing in mid-rub. Faye was brought out of her thoughts for a moment. "Mmm, scented. What kind of scents do you have?" she asked. "We have Rose oil, Venus Poppy, Honeycomb, Martian Lilac, Lavender, Ylang-ylang…" "Rose sounds fine," Faye yawned. And she listened as the girl excused herself momentarily. Finally a moment alone to think. She shifted on the small cot under her, half nude. She had wanted to stay at least partly covered but now she was regretting it. She wanted the feel of silk on every part of her body, which would have meant no underwear. With a sigh she stretched out once more on her stomach, thoughtful. Would she really be able to hand in Black Jack? He was one of the sweetest men she had met in a long time. Not that that couldn't have been a little play put on just for her but he had even listened to her go on about Spike. Which was something she swore she would never do again. Since when had she ever told anyone her business like that? Since when had anyone ever really cared about her business, rather? The girl returned quietly, shifting in the background of her thoughts and she sighed inwardly once more, folding her arms under her chin and settling. Black Jack could get her three million woolongs. Three million. Maybe she could string him along, allow him to take her out to dinner a few more times, eat real food until she decided to retire back to the Bebop. It had been a long time since she had been on a real date, complete with dinner and drinks. She should drag it all out for as long as she could. The girl applied some oil to her back, stopping after a moment. And then she poked her in the back. Faye frowned into the crook of her arm, shifting, and the girl poked her again as if uncertain. "Ow…watch it," Faye growled at her, her tone muffled. "I'm not paying you to stab me-" The poke came one more time before the girl finally just hesitated. And then she began to tend to her back again, fingers trailing across her tense muscles and she could smell the oil. It felt so good to let someone else care for her. She wanted someone to care for her like this. Someone like Spike? She swallowed the snort she felt rising up. Yeah, someone like Spike. Someone who would run off whenever their dead lover rose from the dead to haunt them just a little longer. Someone who would happily, with eyes wide open, waltz into death. Someone who didn't care one way or another for their life. Someone who would always walk away from her no matter how often she begged. She bowed her head into her arms, forcing herself to give in to the massage, toss away all thoughts concerning him. She needed to focus on this damned bounty! She needed to prove herself to Jet that just because Mr. I'm Back From the Dead, What's For Dinner? was around again it didn't necessarily mean he could reclaim the top bounty hunter spot. She had worked her ass off, trained herself to be better, to bring in the bounties, to keep the Bebop afloat alongside Jet. She had handled most of the bounty hunting herself, Jet usually staying behind to man the Bebop, make repairs. Yeah, it had been hard when Spike had originally abandoned them. She had realized that she couldn't mooch off them anymore, she had to do all the work now. And she had taken on that task, whining and screaming, but she had. He had no right to come back like this. No right. The girl moved down her back a bit, keeping close to her ribs, kneading her flesh, poking at her every once in a while, which really was becoming rather infuriating. But she wanted her to move lower, toward the very base of her spine, where a lot of her tension seemed to be harboring. "Can you move lower?" she asked in a muffled tone, her head in her arms. The hands paused before moving down. And then came the masculine voice, drawling lazily, "So the question is, do I want to be here for this?" and the girl tugged at the towel covering her rear. With a gasp Faye rose, looking over her shoulder, and sure enough, Spike smiled at her wryly from beside her, leaning beside the cot. The girl stood between him and Faye and she had the towel by the edge, her eyes wide as she looked from Faye to Spike. Faye hastily snatched the towel to her figure, wrapping it around her chest and pulling in her legs to rise to her feet. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded and she looked down at his hands, ignoring the girl entirely as she took a step away to pull herself out of the way of fire. He had a bit of oil on his fingertips and she suddenly knew where all the pokes had come from. He reached to the bottom of the towel she had wrapped around her and he wiped his hands as if he had been making repairs to his damned Swordfish II. Not a care in the world. "I figure I'd come down, keep myself under the radar, take this bounty off your hands," he shrugged. Faye stared at him. "You'd what?" Spike straightened, studying his fingers and he brought a hand up to his face, sniffing it. "I don't think I like roses anymore," he said, his expression one of distaste. Faye's lips parted, her mind whirling, not a damn thing making sense. I'm dreaming. I have to be. This whole fucking thing, from the beginning, has been a damned dream! There's no other explanation for it! Her eyes shifted away blindly, dumbly. Spike looked at her once more, hands dropping to his sides again. "So, this is nice," he said with a small smile, motioning to her. "I thought you were going after a bounty." "I am," Faye stressed and she looked at him once more. "What in the…geez, what are you doing here?" she asked again, not able to keep her thoughts from screaming passed her, screaming at her. There was a cacophonic mess of voices in her head and she couldn't hear her own above them. "I just told you," he said impatiently. "But if I'm getting in your way then feel free to hitchhike back to the Bebop. I can handle this alone." She glared. "Handle what? The bounty? It's my bounty, you idiot! I had Ed look it up for me, I can handle it-" "Like you did last night? I'm sure," he nodded, his face becoming serious. She stared at him in confusion. And it hit her then, that he knew about her date, about Black Jack. And all the voices in her head suddenly dwindled down to a high-pitched shriek that resembled the whistle of silence. "You…were spying on me?" she asked faintly, in disbelief. "Don't flatter yourself," he said coldly and he gestured to the girl. "Are you paying her or what? You've wasted enough time," and as she made no move to pay the girl he sighed and motioned the attendant closer. As she came Faye merely stared at her, dumbfounded. "Does it normally take you this long to take down a bounty?" he asked, reaching into his pocket. Faye watched him as he pulled out a money card and then accepted one the girl handed him, transferring money over to hers. And once that was done he handed the card back, putting his own away and pulling out a box of cigarettes at the same time. He questioned the girl silently and she nodded that it was fine for him to smoke. And realizing Faye hadn't answered his question he turned a bored look on her. She stared at him, then at the girl as the girl retreated apologetically. And she turned away, reaching for her clothes silently. She was going to scream. She was going to scream and she was going to keep screaming until her throat was raw, until she couldn't scream anymore. And then she would scream some more. Of all the insanity, all the purely evil things that could happen, why did they all have to happen the moment he returned? Why couldn't she turn around without seeing his face, without having him hound her and appear at the worst of situations? For a moment she wished he had stayed dead and gone. And the thought made her stiffen, made her stop digging through her clothes. She merely stared at her clothes folded neatly, her hand shaking. "This isn't a good bounty for you," he said to her back. "I'll take it." "Get your own," she murmured and as he paused she turned on him. "Get your own, damn it! Get your own bounty! Get your own life! Get someone else's life to ruin! Just stop trying to ruin mine!" she cried and the attendant recoiled, face paling at her sudden anger. "And you," she shouted at the girl, "get the hell out of here!" Wordlessly, the girl scampered, slamming the door shut behind her. Spike looked off in the way she had gone, silent for a moment. And then he lit his cigarette with a match, inhaling deeply for a moment before pointing after the attendant. "Should I have paid her at all? I didn't even get a massage. Now I'm beginning to think maybe I shouldn't have-" Faye whirled away from him and dropped the towel, no longer caring. With short, angry movements she pulled on her clothes, yanking on the classic yellow vinyl, the white boots, letting down her hair and securing it back with the headband. And then she turned to face Spike, who hadn't moved from his spot, curling smoke rising from his mouth. Silently she floated close to him until she stood before him and he tilted his head at her suspiciously as she averted her eyes before him. And then, very slowly, she sat on the cot beside him, her side brushing his. "Are we friends?" she asked him quietly. He hesitated. "Are you going to bum a cigarette off me?" "Spike." She did not sound amused. He pursed his lips at the question. "I'm not sure. I tend to not like friends. They get you into trouble. They get angry with you when you take something that belongs to them. And they come after you with long swords-" "I'm asking you not to come back into my life and make things difficult," she said to him softly and he paused, frowning faintly at how gently she spoke. "I'm asking you to not take away everything I've worked hard for. Because you can do it really easily, you've always been able to." He stared at her, his cigarette clutched in his fingers. "This bounty is mine. I need it to prove myself," she explained to him. "To prove to myself that I can still go at it alone. That I haven't lost my touch." She lifted her eyes to meet his finally and she asked, "Can I have this bounty?" Spike's lips parted silently, seemingly at a loss for words. And then, still wordlessly, his lips met in a firm line and he nodded. Faye's smile was almost non-existent and without another word she rose and she left the room, her head bowed. Spike stared after her, his hand lifting the cigarette to his mouth. "Well, what do you know…" How strange that Faye Valentine actually had a serious side, could actually plead, and without throwing in some of her infamous whining. It was the first time that she had been serious with him, other than the day he had left. That side of her was grown up, mature. Serious. And- He rose thoughtfully and only then felt how light his pocket felt. With a frown he patted his pocket down and then he patted his legs down, searching for his money card only to find it gone. "That bitch!" he swore furiously. |
| All images and works done/altered by ShiNoFuriko and TasogareBan. Please do not steal and always give credit to where it is due. |