"Faye-Faye!"

"Faye-Faye!"

Faye stiffened up and then whirled to clap her hand over Ed's mouth.

"Ed I swear if you wake that baby up!"

Ed grinned hard - Faye could feel it under her palm. Trusting that the other girl would remain quiet, she took her hand back and then put both hands on Ed's shoulders to spin her around and march her into the kitchen.

Yawning so huge that her jaw made a noise, which amusingly made Ed look over her shoulder at Faye in alarm, the gambler pushed the hacker to lean against the table past the burners of the stove. She moved on autopilot to get some coffee started and eventually sat with an exhausted sigh on the stool that was in front of the burners.

It was a terrible spot for it but she didn't care to go to the trouble of moving it somewhere further out of the way. Ed had watched her quietly but scrambled up onto the table to poke around in the cupboard above until she found what she was looking for and offered it to Faye.

Raising her eyebrows with a chuckle, Faye took the creamy liqueur with a smile of thanks. "I won't ask how you knew that was there." She murmured.

Ed giggled. "It's not what you think. Ed still doesn't care for goofy juice, not even the flavored stuff." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Jet's little secret stash."

Faye snorted as she stood back up to fill her cup with coffee and the little boozy enhancement. "And he says he doesn't have a sweet tooth."

"You okay, Faye-Faye?" Ed asked then. "Ed didn't mean to make noise..."

"Oh you're fine, Ed." Faye replied. "Anyway he's sleeping so hard I'd be surprised if anything woke him in the next few hours."

"Oh good, he's been so fussy."

Faye laughed so hard she almost spilled her mug. "Yeah sure, we can call it that."

"He'll be okay though?" Ed was still concerned.

Sipping on the mug and deciding it was hot but not so hot that she couldn't chug the whole beverage, Faye slammed her coffee before moving to stand next to Ed. She set down the mug on the table before sliding an arm around Ed's slim shoulders.

"I know you're worried because you've never seen him sick, but you gotta understand something, Ed." She cleared her throat. "Men can handle a lot. Getting shot, getting stabbed, mostly pain stuff they shrug off. But when it comes to being sick? They are the biggest babies in the entire universe. Bigger than actual babies. All they can do is bitch and moan and cry about how bad they feel. Spike will be just fine. I finally got him to take some real medicine and now that he's resting it'll have a chance to kick in. Just you wait and see - he'll be back to normal in no time, I promise."

"Is all this really necessary?" Faye grumbled from her position - sort of sitting in netting suspended above the hangar deck of the Bebop.

"Quiet, wench!" Spike shouted with a smirk. "Whaddya think? Bad guy potential?" He was strutting around the deck beneath her, armed with a pair of airsoft guns. His pockets were bulging with extra bullets.

"Ugh, we should've made you the damsel in distress," Faye muttered.

From within the ship came the sound of a stampede and Spike ducked behind the RedTail which, like the other zipcraft, had been parked on deck to be washed. Faye watched from her elevated position as Ein came dashing out of the bowels of the ship. Spike leaned out to take a shot but pulled up short when he realized it was just the dog.

"Aha! Sneak attack!" Came Ed's battle cry from the other end of the deck. "Pew pew pew!" She cried, opening fire on Spike as soon as she - perched on Jet's back, came into range as the ex-cop ran over from behind the Hammerhead.

"Ahh shit!" Spike cried, falling back under the rain of pellets.

"Great distraction, Ein-cow-woof-woof!" Ed praised the pooch. "Giddyup, horsey! Let's rescue the maiden fair!"

"Finally!" Faye enthused. "If we're gonna go through this again, I want to be the bad guy next time!"

"Umph!" Jet grunted as Ed launched herself onto his shoulders to leap at the netting Faye was in. "I'll trade you this role any day," He grumbled, rubbing at the small of his back. "She made me run on all fours to be more horsey-like!"

Spike chuckled. "Yeah but the alternative was paint ball instead. It was your choice to play the steed instead of scraping paint off the hull."

Ed, swinging from the netting, which was knocking Faye all over and making her shriek in irritation, cackled. "Next time maybe Bebop Bebop will choose the escape room for Ed's birthday!"

Spike was lounging in swim trunks on a beach chair near the wading pool of the resort Faye had chosen. He was waiting for her return and the opportunity to put some sunscreen on her shoulders. Any excuse to touch her was fine with him. Nearby there was what seemed to be an unattended two year old getting nearer and nearer to the shallow - but still too deep for a kid his size - pool. Spike was about to hop up and grab the little fella when he heard a woman's panicked cry.

"Oh my God! Parker! Baby! Where are you?! Parker!" A middle aged woman came scurrying over, looking around wildly.

"Over there, lady. By the wading pool." Spike's eyes looked half lidded at best but despite his lazy appearance he'd been subconsciously sizing up the situation since they arrived. It was just in his nature to notice things and since becoming a parent he'd started taking stock of other people's kids too.

The lady took one look at Spike's scarred body and gave a little shriek. "Keep your eyes off my baby!"

"Hey! You better not be talking to my man like that! Park your damn kid where you can keep your fucking eyes on it!" Faye's irate voice heralded her return just before she distractedly dropped baby Lupin onto Spike's reclining form so she could get into the other woman's face, shaking her finger in front of her nose.

Little Lupin, now in a fresh diaper which had put him back in good spirits compared to a few minutes ago, giggled at the look Spike gave him. With an exaggerated groan, Spike got to his feet and settled the toddler on his hip. Both Spiegels glanced briefly at the feuding women and then turned away to go and pluck the toddler - Parker - from the wading pool before he could flounder in any deeper and drown.

Someone had to be the adult around here and it clearly wasn't gonna be Faye, and that other woman was more concerned with screaming back at Faye than in retrieving her erstwhile child.

This was not the vacation Spike had been hoping for when Faye had brought up the notion, but at least his son seemed to be enjoying it. And, well... It was nice hearing Faye go to bat for him. She'd be the first to insult him herself, but she never stood for anyone degrading or demeaning him.

He didn't care much about that woman's opinion of his scars, or her immediate distrust given those marks... Only Faye's approval of his body truly mattered - and boy oh boy did she ever approve - and his son certainly trusted him wholeheartedly and didn't care about his dad looking cutthroat. But deep down though he denied it and ignored it, sometimes it did affect him.

The other toddler, Parker, he set on his opposite hip to cart him back to the still screaming women. Lupin reached across his bare chest to poke at the newcomer. Parker blinked and drooled. Spike rolled his eyes.

"You can try, bud, but this guy doesn't seem as fun as you." Spike told his son. They reached the women. Parker's mom saw her son on Spike's hip and shrieked. Faye slapped her across the face, continued with the motion to twist her upper body and snatch Parker up, and twisted back to shove the toddler at the squalling woman. Parker for his part seemed unbothered by any of the goings on.

Faye grabbed the ties of Spike's swim shorts and tugged him along as she stormed away. Which was probably perfect timing as Spike could see resort security coming to respond to the incident that had no doubt been reported.

"Priggish bitch!" Faye grumbled. "You save her kid and that's the way she behaves? Shit I should have smacked her harder."

"We leaving?" Spike inquired, pulling faces at his son.

"Yeah, fuck this place. I'll lodge a complaint so we get our money back. Let's blow this joint. Besides, being around all these assholes reminds me that I actually hate most people." She huffed and let go of his drawstrings so she could snake her arm around his waist and tickle at Lupin's right leg behind Spike's back. The toddler squealed in delight and kicked both legs against his father.

"Oof!"

"Oh whatever don't be a baby," She picked up her pace which made Spike step quicker as well since her arm was still at his back. "Think Jet is still at the arboretum?"

"Having the time of his life, no doubt." Lupin was pinching at his side but between Spike being so lanky there wasn't much flesh to pinch and with Lupin's fingers lacking the dexterity to cause pain, it merely tickled.

"Well, let's go crash his party. There's no way I'm trying to find Ed in the arcade." Faye stopped at the front desk and slammed a little plastic card on the counter. "We need our things back, this place isn't to our liking and you can be sure your boss will hear about our displeasure."

"Oh, apologies miss!" Now here was an employee that knew how to handle a disgruntled guest. Faye had immediately calmed when the attendant didn't try to age her with "ma'am"

"It wasn't anything you did," Faye assured them. "It's the clientele you permit here. Judgmental assholes who can't keep an eye on their kids."

The first few nights they share a bed that's all they do.

Just share space.

Simply exist side by side.

She knows he isn't comfortable having her on the outside - though what threat could she face on the Bebop? But he is even less comfortable having his back to the door, and she posits that he can simply roll over her if he needs to jump out of bed to face an enemy.

He goes quiet when she offers that option and she knows it's because she has called him out on something so intrinsically a part of himself that he hadn't realized anyone else took note and understood the fear at the root of the behavior.

The ever present dread that had been a part of his life many years ago, sure, but for so terribly long that it was still ingrained in him to be on the defense. Especially when in bed, asleep, vulnerable. Never mind the gun under the pillow or the knives stashed along the wall in the space between it and the mattress. There was caution bred into him.

He wakes constantly and she can't imagine it's very restful. But it's just that he's adjusting to her presence - lying on her side and facing him as he lays upon his side facing her, with his back flush with the wall. He isn't used to hearing her breathing, or feeling the twitch of her fingers curled up with his own, their entwined hands between them both on the bed. Linking them together. Bridging the gulf of loneliness and insecurity that exist as emotional moats around them both.

Sometimes their foreheads brush together and it is more intimate than anything she has ever known.

Well.

Until they eventually cross that last line.

But in the beginning it is innocent. It is just two people who have been through pain and betrayal and are hesitant to take that plunge. She wonders if that is why he jerks awake sometimes. If he worries that she is sneaking away, about to perform a disappearing act.

That one hasn't been in her bag of tricks since he used it himself and scared everyone so badly. She has something here at last - and while it scares her... She refuses to show that. Refuses to bow her head or turn heel. She has fought her way to this point and she will not throw it away no matter how nervous all of this makes her.

It is a balm to her pride to know he feels the same way. Frightened, yet unwilling to admit it. Taking small steps in the most courageous undertaking of all... Exploration of the heart... Embracing love. She can tell because his emotions shine from his good eye. He can't hide the things she makes him feel. The things she dredges up. The uncertainty that she knows is reflected back at him from her own faltering gaze.

But she never falters completely. It is impossible to break that gaze, reading each other's hearts and seeing your own value so astronomically higher than you ever deemed yourself being worth. She cannot look away from his mismatched eyes, cannot hide the truths within her from his stare. Their breathing syncs and eventually they will both close their eyes to the weariness that takes them from the peace of this moment into the uncertain peril of dreams.

And while neither can do more than sleep fitfully at first, they don't give up. Dark circles linger under their eyes for weeks. Exhaustion pulls at them until they begin to acclimate to each other. They stop jarring each other from slumber quite as often. Their fatigue finally ends.

She breaks their routine first. They're both so walled off, so reluctant to change anything, so guarded against what they both crave so much. But she decides one night to be bold. After all, it was one of her traits which first captivated him. And it is that memory of their meeting that gives her the courage to turn her back on him. To lay down in the space directly before him, wedging her ass right back against his groin - and okay yeah that was feistier than she intended but she isn't gonna shift away.

He is tense behind her - possibly even holding his breath - clearly not sure what to do with her in this position. But she needs to feel his heart beating against her back. Wants to be in his arms instead of timidly holding his hand. And so she goes a step further and takes his arm - the left one that was lying stiffly along his side - and drapes it around her own shoulder. Pulls his hand to rest wrapped in both of hers, held tightly to her own chest. Letting him feel her heart, pounding as if she'd run a marathon.

And he lets his breath out slowly, so slowly, and melts against her. She can practically feel him letting down his barriers, opening the gate of his heart so she can make a home for herself there.

It is still innocent between them, though Jet often eyes them like he doesn't believe they aren't knocking boots every night. Even Ed seems to assume they're sleeping together already. And they let their friends believe whatever they want because Spike and Faye like that this is separate. This is their own private thing. And they can go about it any damn pace they are comfortable with.

"See? If you take the top of the cupcake off and stick the stump on top of the frosted side... Ta-da! It's now a sandwich and you won't...get..." Faye's voice trailed off as she looked up from her dessert and saw her crewmates.

Spike, his cheeks puffed out and his lips stained purple from the frosting, a look on his face like she'd caught him doing something naughty.

Ed, face smeared with frosting, cackling madly. Clearly already on a sugar high.

And Jet was worst, holding his cupcake out to Ein who was enthusiastically licking the frosting off.

Jet grinned at her sheepishly. "The frosting is too sweet for me."

"I give up. You're all too uncultured for my advice." Faye sighed, biting into her treat and settling back on the couch.

"Faye... What are you doing?" Spike asked in a decidedly salacious tone of voice.

Pressed against the brick wall of the alleyway at his side, she grinned at him mischievously. "I'm all out of ammo. Figured you had some for me in your pocket..."

One of her hands was in his pants pocket doing devilish things. The other hand had her gun down at her side. He held his own gun aimed towards the alley entrance while his other arm had been thrown across her chest to knock her back into the wall and out of the line of fire.

"Ammo's in my breast pocket," He told her. "What you've got your hands on happens to be a small indicator of how happy I am to see you." And he was happy to see her - she'd shown up out of the blue to cover his ass when he'd gotten in slightly over his head trying to collar a whole gang solo.

They'd done some serious damage to the thirty or so gang members but the sheer volume of enemies had necessitated their escape and led to them hunkering down here where hopefully no one would follow.

"Mm, I wouldn't call it a small indicator," Her smirk was so smug he wanted to kiss it off her lips.

There was a convenient dumpster down the way that could further conceal their presence ... And they'd made so many turns while fleeing that he doubted the gang would be able to catch up...

He concentrated on listening for any sounds of pursuit and nodded towards the dumpster and heard Faye's throaty laugh as she cottoned onto his intent.

"Ohh you feeling trashy today hey? Well, I can get down with that..."

Once upon a time he would have been frustrated over the lost bounty.

Once upon a time he could have laid waste to all those gang members.

In all honesty he was pretty okay with that time being long past. Especially when the alternative was so much nicer... Well, proximity of the dumpster aside. But they'd soon be too distracted to care about that anyway...