She's Tired But She's Also Scared. Behind Her, The Bathtub Faucet Drips Into The Basin She Just Stepped

She's tired but she's also scared. Behind her, the bathtub faucet drips into the basin she just stepped out of. The sound seems to echo in the humid room. For a long moment she disassociates, walls blurring and audio distorting save for that repetitive drip...drip...drip...

The towel she's wrapped around herself has a slight odor of mildew. It makes her nose crinkle in distaste but the fabric itself is dry and that's all that matters.

She blinks herself back to the present, back to her current surroundings. She may be alone right now but that doesn't mean she can let her guard down. That was made obvious when one of the men - the lanky one she'd flirted with - came pounding on the door as she'd been undressing to shower.

He hadn't actually opened the door, of course. She'd locked it upon entry though no doubt he could have forced his way inside had he truly wanted to. And that's the thing. No matter where she was, there was a risk of someone barging in. Of someone forcing themselves on her.

She'd managed to escape that fate countless times now. Too many times. Blood on her knuckles, clothes in disarray, eyes wide with unfettered terror. She'd fought like a wild thing, like a creature possessed. She'd left her mark on the ones that survived. The ones who hadn't? They'd earned their graves.

With effort, she manages to project an air of calm and arms herself with an aura of self-assurance as she at last exits the bathroom. The little laundry space is empty of life but the lanky bounty hunter shoots to his feet from the couch when she reaches the short staircase leading to the living room proper.

"About damn time! Other people need to get clean too ya know!" He snarls with all the petulance of a teenager as he pushes past her.

Faye gives a disdainful sniff at his attitude. "I left hot water." She snaps, though he'll be lucky if there's more than a few drops.

She can hear the other man puttering about in the kitchen space that lays down the hallway from the main living area and she decides to make the most of their preoccupation.

There is a narrow room with a shelf of plants. A workshop opens off the flight deck. There is a deep hangar where all three of their zipcraft are currently housed. Several rooms that seem stuffed with debris that she ignores for now, leaving the lights off rather than investigating for any objects of value. A room that is locked, presumably a bedroom. A room that is unlocked, with a messy bed and empty cartons of cigarettes littering the floor. It could be either of theirs but the stale odor that hovers in the air seems reminiscent of the lanky one.

She discovers an access point into an overhead storage area. It's more barren than any of the others she's found yet and it is extremely awkward to reach given that the only entrance is a hatch in the floor of the storage space itself. This will do.

With a quickness borne of necessity, she manages to shove the thin mattress from the unlocked bedroom up into the space she has found. There's a flattish space where she can rest the mattress but for now she arranges it over the hatch after she pulls it shut.

No one can shove their way into the alcove she has claimed, not with the mattress covering the only entry point. She sprawls out on top of the mattress with a ratty blanket for cover and heaves a sigh of satisfaction and exhaustion.

She's clean. A wonderful feeling.

She's alone. At peace with this solitude.

Above all, she is safe. It may not last longer than this one night, but it's not like she's ever guaranteed a reprieve for more than a few hours. She'll make the most of this for as long as she can. Drain them dry, maybe rob the place blind. But first... Sleep.

"What's for dinner?" Spike inquired as he sat down on the couch and accepted a plate from Jet.

The other man grinned fiendishly at him. "Ravioli roulette."

"The hell?" Faye asked, baffled.

"Well, one bag was beef ravioli and one was cheese so... Good luck finding the protein bits?" Jet's explanation set off a stampede of forks sticking into ravioli pockets and hastening to hungry tongues.

Ed let out a joyous whoop. "Winner winner beefy dinner!" She twisted away from the fork in Faye's outstretched hand. "Mine!"

Scowling, Faye returned her attention to her own plate which was noticeably less full than it had been before her fruitless attempt to score a sure bet of actual meat from Ed's dish.

Whipping around with a glare, Faye caught a sheepish grin steal across Spike's face before he swallowed the overly large bite of food in his mouth.

"What the fuck!" Faye yelped.

"Snooze'n'lose." Spike mumbled at her as he stuffed another ravioli - from his own plate this time - into his mouth. He gulped it down and then gestured with his fork at the plate in her lap. "Gotta start paying better attention around here or you'll end up with nothing to eat."

Redirecting her own gaze just in time to see Ein attempt to paw a ravioli off and onto the ground, Faye pulled her plate from his four-legged reach and held it aloft as she snarled at the dog. Ein, unperturbed, dropped back onto the floor and began to snuffle around Ed's feet.

"This is ridiculous! I deserve to have a delicious filling dinner!" Faye exclaimed as she polished off the remnants of her meal.

"You were gonna go for Ed's dinner when you realized hers had meat in it." Jet mentioned.

"Yeah, well, I was motivated by starvation, Jet. Out of my mind from an appetite eating away at my very guts. You'd do the same if you were as hungry as me. You can't blame me for the actions taken by a ravenous individual."

"Oh for crying out loud," Jet muttered. "There's no excuse for taking food from a kid. Next time pay better attention to your own plate and maybe you won't lose half your meal to Spike and the damn dog."

"Yeah, Faye, if you weren't so greedy you would've gotten to enjoy your very own beef ravioli instead of that delight going to me." Spike added to the taunt by patting his stomach.

"What?! If I can't have that bite, then you sure as shit aren't gonna get to keep it!" Faye shrieked, launching herself at the lean man. Spike, somehow anticipating this turn of events, managed to scramble out of her initial assault and thus began a game of chase around the living room and onto the bridge.

"What's Faye-Faye expect to happen?" Ed asked Jet then as she stacked her plate onto the pile of dirty dishes on the table.

"Who even knows. Maybe she plans to land a punch that brings up the contents of his stomach. Not like she'd eat the results of that, although I can see that making Ein happy." Jet shrugged. "Spike brought it on himself by teasing her like that. There wasn't a beef ravioli on her plate in the first place. Or his either for that matter," Jet confided to Ed with a wink.

The hacker grinned. "Ed got the beef?"

Jet nodded. "Those fools live on cigarettes anyway. You got all the beef, kid."

"There's nothing I can do for a dead woman."

"There's nothing I can do... for a dead woman..."

"There's nothing... I can do... for a dead... woman..."

The words repeated themselves over and over in Jet's mind as he absently rubs a cloth over the metal bar on the bridge of the ship. It hurts. A dull sort of throb that pulsed in time with the ache in his leg from the recent bullet wound. He and Spike have often had entire conversations that were not at all about the things that others overheard.

The stories they told one another... The meaning hidden within the scant little that was revealed or referenced...

Jet was adept at reading between the lines.

He was also quite familiar with the tenacity of the syndicates. Hell, not that long ago he'd been reminded of their ruthlessness when Meifa was pursued by men who had worked with her father. A young girl, no contact with her old man in years because her mother had taken her away, and yet the syndicate was fully prepared to cut her down just because she had been his blood relation.

What sort of fate awaited a man who had invited a former enforcer on board his ship? It didn't matter that Spike had never told Jet much about his past or his criminal affiliations. Jet was guilty of harboring a fugitive and would be punished for that if the syndicate could track down where they'd crashed.

Faye too would be at risk. She'd been tied to Spike since that bloody scene at the cathedral. She was marked for death as well.

If they'd done their homework, then they even knew about Ed. Good luck finding her, though. The young girl's ingenuity gave Jet a bit of solace. If anyone could avoid destruction it would be her.

But.

If Spike succeeded...

An impossible mission. Not just suicide but an intentional death that required the sacrifice to mercilessly slaughter every single individual associated with the threat itself. How could one man hope to decimate an entire syndicate?

Jet shivered.

There was nothing Spike could do for a dead woman. There was precious little he could feasibly do for his living crew mates. And, most painful of all... there was nothing Jet could do to help.

Even if he came roaring in with the Hammerhead... He might accidentally kill his partner in any attempt to assist. It was too risky. He'd done the calculations and had accepted his fate. There was only the waiting now... Waiting to see if the vultures would return to pick his bones clean.

A terribly familiar noise arose suddenly from the hangar of the Bebop.

"Oh she fucking didn't..." Jet breathed.

But his ears weren't wrong. In moments he saw the Hammerhead - his ship! - rising off the deck and soaring towards the crater city Spike had flown off towards hours ago.

Well, if anyone was going to defy fate... To shoot first before her opponent had a chance... To force her way into a situation way over her head and out of her hands...

Faye was a gambler, after all.

And, despite knowing the odds against her... He couldn't help but root for the girl.

"The issue is... you've undergone a change. You used to care *for* these people in your life. As in, you would ensure their needs were met regarding sustenance and hygiene maintenance and basic things of that nature. And now, rather naturally, they have grown on you in a way that may seem insidious but is truly very commonplace, very benign, and very beneficial."

"I don't know how benign and beneficial it is to have a bunch of wild slobs to worry about day and night." Jet muttered gruffly.

The therapist regarded him with a steady gaze. Even through the monitor screen, Jet could feel the evaluation in those calm eyes. He pursed his lips and straightened up on the chair to face them as a solid and steady presence.

"So now what." He demanded gruffly.

"Well, now you care *about* them as well. About their emotional wellbeing. About their joys and sorrows. You care what their favorite meal is, not just about providing adequate nutrition. It's a subtle difference but I think it explains why you've gotten more irritable in response to their actions and behaviors. If you recall, this is also how you unintentionally responded to Alisa's role in your life, at least according to what you told me before."

Jet sighed. "Yeah, okay, I get it. I'm smothering them. Keeping them from living their best lives. I should just kick them all off the ship and go my own way again."

"Hardly. Besides, you're now being deliberately stubborn and trying to lash out from a place of fear. The anticipation of loneliness is not a comfortable concept, understandably so. You are still providing them with a stable home. You are still seeing to their needs, often before your own are met. You need their presence as much as they require yours. Quite honestly I think the best course of action is to simply open a line of communication with these crewmates of yours." The therapist continued to speak in soothing tones. "There is no shame in admitting affection towards people in your life. There is no shame in acknowledging that you care."

Jet glowered at the screen. "We don't do that kind of thing around here. They'd think I was sick or dying."

"We've addressed before the toxicity of that type of environment, Jet. I know it is hard to change ingrained habits, but you might be surprised by their reaction. And, realistically, we are all dying. It starts the moment we are born. In light of that... don't you want to embrace a life full of all the emotions a person can experience? Don't you want to share your heart with the people around you?" The therapist paused, collected their thoughts. "You have made exceptional progress from the time I was first assigned your case after the incident. Even considering the years where you barely checked in. I am confident that you can continue to grow in healthy ways and, moreover, I am convinced that you taking this first step will ultimately guide the paths of those around you. You stressed to me before how you do not want to control anyone - this is not control. This is merely providing an example by virtue of your own approach to embracing the humanity of your soul. There's no rush, of course. Just... think about it. I'll be available whenever you'd like to talk again."

The screen flickered to black and Jet leaned back with a sigh. It wasn't bad advice, per se, but it wasn't anything he was prepared to do. He could practically hear the snickers of Faye... he could easily envision the blank yet baffled stare of Spike... he could... well... Ed would likely throw a celebration. And... it's not like Ein would judge him. Ein knew better than anyone else on the ship how people truly felt - dogs just had a sense for that sort of thing.

Maybe... well, he could consider it at any rate. Faye and Spike were snarky and sarcastic and apathetic on their good days, so really... how much worse could their attitudes be if he started to open up a bit and admitted that he liked having them around? Besides, what did their indifference or bitterness matter in the face of giving Ed something to rejoice about?

Well. Yeah. He'd think about it. A man should never rush into anything if he had the ability to give a thing a proper think over...

"You ever think about how wild it is that we even met?" Spike mused, kicking his heels lightly against the hull of the ship as he sat on the edge. His cigarette remained perched in his mouth despite the movement of his lips as he spoke.

"In a universe so colonized, so vast..." Faye trailed off as he shook his head.

"That's all small potatoes. People are crossing each other's paths constantly even if they're from opposite sides of the galaxy. The Gates ensure we're all connected as if each planet were simply another country of one big happy world." He took the cigarette from his mouth to ash it into the dark waters lapping against the metal of the ship below them.

Faye inhaled deeply on her own cigarette - liberally laced with cannabis to the point you probably couldn't call either of their cigarettes anything other than joints - and made a noise of agreement. She had been standing, hip cocked and arms folded over her chest, but now she settled on the flight deck beside him.

The metal was cold now that night had fallen and the sun was gone. She shivered and it seemed to her as if Spike moved to lean a little further in her direction.

"What I mean is..." He took another drag as he gazed out over the darkness of the harbor, the city lights were all behind them. "You were born in another century entirely. And me... I shouldn't be alive. Part of my job when I was in the syndicate was going after people who left it. Once you're in, you're in for life. There's not supposed to be a way out. So, when you look at it that way... It's crazy enough that I'm here. And you..."

She exhaled a series of smoke rings. "And me," she murmured. "The girl from yesteryear, plucked from the icy clutches of death in space, revitalized and thrown to the wolves with impossible debt. No home, no friends, no family, just a nobody with the entire world against me."

He nodded absently. "The odds were pretty stacked against either of us even surviving to see this day. Meeting you, the prettiest dealer on the floor, that could have been all there was to our story together. Two lonely souls gambling their lives away. Instead you got me wrapped up in some shady casino business and then took off with all the loot."

She let a devilish smile slip across her face. "That could've been the end too. I mean, what're the chances that you guys would be the ones to pick me up when I ran outta fuel a few weeks later? I must've hailed a dozen other ships that were passing by and nobody lifted a finger to help, hell, hardly any of them even bothered to acknowledge I existed. But then... before my situation got too dire... there you were."

There was no mistaking it this time when Spike scooched a little closer. "Yeah... there you were." He repeated, turning from the harbor to face her fully. "Still full of attitude, still smokin' hot... what if we were just gonna turn you in for your bounty?"

She tilted her head in thought as she twisted slightly to face him and tossed her cigarette butt aside. "If the choice was drifting through the cosmos until I ran out of oxygen to breathe... yeah, jail doesn't sound so bad in comparison. I could've finagled my way out of a cell, maybe. Or plead my case to some attorney in the hope of at least getting probation and an opportunity to pay down what I owe. Being alive means there's still potential for life to play out any number of ways. Being dead... well, that's the end. Game over. And me? I'm not about to quit while there's still a shot at winning."

His eyes dipped from hers briefly to touch upon her lips and she felt a rush of answering attraction to the hint of interest he was showing.

"Besides," she added before he could say something to ruin the moment, "I know my presence is worth far more than my bounty. Admit it, Spike. I add a certain... pizzazz that your life was sadly lacking before I came around."

"Is that so?" He queried in a teasing tone, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Mmhmm. You're just lucky I've been content to stick around. How dull your lives would be without me..." She batted her eyes at him.

Tossing the remains of his own cigarette into the inky depths of the water, Spike shifted to put his left hand on the deck of the ship as a brace and brought his right hand up to cradle her cheek.

"You seem to think an awful lot of yourself, Miss Valentine." He practically purred at her.

"From what I can tell... you think an awful lot of me, too." Faye flashed a mischievous smile.

Tentatively, giving her ample time to resist or pull away, Spike tilted her face upwards as he brought his own down to meet her for a chaste kiss. It was just lips against lips, tender and thoughtful, with an undeniable passion being patiently held back. It was gentlemanly yet also ignited an irresistible hunger within her. She felt seen, heard, desired. Uncertainty plagued her as well though. This was a bold step, the type of progress that could undo everything she'd managed to scrape together for herself. It was not enough, she wanted to push him onto the deck and straddle him, to kiss him breathless and make him beg for more. But it was also too much, too sudden. She wasn't prepared for the changes this would necessitate.

The answer came to her then. A playful response that would cool both their ardors and give her the space she required to process exactly what was happening and how she ought to proceed.

Faye opened her mouth to his and enticed his tongue to dance. Distracting him by upping the ante with her deepening of the kiss, she suddenly shoved her body at his to press against him fully, chest to heaving chest. And then, fluidly continuing the momentum of her abrupt movement, she wound her arms around him to latch on tightly as she tumbled them both from the deck into the waters below.

"This here couch ain't big enough for the both of us." Spike drawled, standing on one end of the long yellow piece of furniture. He had his hands on both hips as though poised above a set of pistols.

A slow grin spread across Faye's face. "I reckon you're right about that at least." She licked her lips as she eyed the distance between Spike, the couch, and her own position standing in the same pose as Spike on the other end of the most comfortable furnishing the Bebop had to offer.

"That couch is big enough for three people! Three!" Jet snapped, a vein throbbing in his forehead at the antics of his crewmates. He held a pile of instant noodles stacked atop each other, though he was thinking of just backing into the kitchen to feast on them all himself while Spike and Faye dueled it out.

"YUM YUM IN MY TUM!" Ed came in with a roar, vaulting over the back of the couch and landing smack dab in the middle of the contested territory just as Spike and Faye both subtly shifted as though about to make their move. Ed beamed up at Jet as the other pair twitched and tried to look as if they hadn't adjusted their footing in anticipation of a launch. "What's the holdup here? Grab a seat, it's time to eat! Let's goooooo!"

Ein, sensing the battleground revert back to a standard living room, came trotting up the laundry room stairs and settled onto the floor in front of Ed's position. He gave a yip of agreement with Ed's demand.

Jet watched as Faye crossed her arms and turned her nose up into the air before casually settling onto one side of the couch next to the hacker. Simultaneously, Spike started to whistle to himself as he plopped onto the cushion on Ed's other side. Sighing in relief, Jet sat down on the chair across from the oddballs he was stuck with and began doling out the individually packaged meals.

He wondered if Ed knew the full scale of the war she'd averted. Faye and Spike immediately dug into their food containers though Ed hesitated after pulling the cord to heat her own. She locked eyes briefly with Jet, shifting just her eyes over to Faye and then to Spike before slyly smiling as she looked back at Jet and only then gave her attention over to sating her own hunger.

Chuckling, Jet activated the second cup he'd maintained possession of and leaned over the coffee table to place it in front of Ein. Of course Ed knew what she had done... hell, she'd probably been watching from the shadows somewhere to determine the perfect time to intercede. Well, he couldn't really blame the kid. Spike and Faye were often far more interesting and amusing to watch than the crap on the television!