Well this is it, this really is the last one. No more of this story after this one, so lets see what we can see.
(I was thinking of writing another story based around Jet's aftermath ie; Faye going to prison, Spike doing one, Jet selling the Bebop. Does that sound good or is it better to leave it un-dramatized?)
Epilogue: Valentines Day
OR
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
"Faye-Faye!"… "Faye!-Faye!"… "FAYE!-FAYE!"
"What! What is it Ed?"
The bright afternoon sun came down through the fluffy white clouds overhead. Faye had been watching them from under her dark sunglasses with enamour. One looked like a charging horse, another was a dog chasing a rabbit and another; a nice thick wad of Woolongs. And now they all looked like fluffy white blocks because of Ed's interrupting ignorance.
"Look Faye-Faye!"
The tanning lotion over Faye's silk flesh seemed to simmer, not from the warmth of the sun but from the blood turning hot in her arteries. All she wanted to do was get a quick tan in her favourite black and white bikini. Maintaining her satin skin meant tireless effort and hours lying on the deck of the Bell Peppers And Beef with a sun umbrella propped up over her tanning bed. And that wasn't all, she was trying to work too, her fishing rod was rigged up to the alarm and ready to scream off at any minute. And Ed had decided to interrupt all this stressful work, for what?
She inclined her head, looking out across the open water between the two docks. Ed was running up and down the deck of her fathers fishing boat; Earth's Comet. The girls arms outstretched as she imagined she was an aeroplane with a large fish clenched between her teeth. The line ran from the tip of an idle rod and the hook was still caught in the floundering flapping fish. Faye grimaced, feeling a shiver at the very thought of putting a fish in her mouth straight off the line.
They'd turned up about four months ago, Ed and her father and some other guy with them, a nerdy lanky guy called Macintosh or Mackavoy or something with an M in there. They'd finally given up on that foolish idea of remapping the earth. Faye would always deny that she cared about Ed being there or not, but then she always denied caring about Jet when that sensitive topic reared its head. But no matter what she thought, the hacker-girl could be so…annoying.
"Very nice Ed," she said at last, flipping her sunglasses back down over her jewelled eyes and then flicking her hair back.
Ed looked thoroughly satisfied and ran back into the cabin, letting the fish snap back out of her mouth and dangle a few torturous feet above the water on the end of its line.
Faye turned back toward the Bell Pepper's deck. Her lips twitched into a little smile as she glanced across at the curious little data-dog Ein. Jet looked after him more than anyone now, Ed had taken him way back when she left, right around the time Faye had thought on the same thing, she never had figured out quite why she went back. but was in a world of her own. Not mature enough to have a pet, that's what Jet had said when they came back. Of course he said the same thing to Fyae when she played with the dog. She looked at him now, they'd been playing earlier, Ein still had a small roach clipped onto his tail. Still chased it furiously, gnashing and growling.
"You torturing that dog again," a deep voice growled from the stern.
Faye let her head roll back over the edge of the sun bed and saw Jet Black, big and clumsy looking as ever, walking up the small stairwell from the lower deck. He wore those thick black square framed sunglasses of his own, the ones that made him look slightly less unattractive, and was dressed in one of those old-time Hawaiian shirts with a pair of beige shorts. He really was funny looking when she thought about it, she knew she could do so much better...maybe.
"He's just working for his dinner," Faye said with a wicked smile.
"Like you do?" Jet said, grinning back at her.
The thin-rope handled bag in Jets hand held her curiosity as he came fully into view, it was from Stacie's clothes store. She looked hard at it, thinking maybe she could see through it, see what Jet had been splashing the cash on. She feinted him with cupped hands and a big sweet open mouthed smile, asked, "Have you been buying me presents?"
He smiled even more broadly now as he set the bag down and opened it. Then pulled out…a fishing reel? Some lures? And a bag full of ground bait? What the hell was all that in a Stacie's bag for? She asked him and Jet just smiled, trying clearly not to burst into a fit of laughter. Well, it was probably for the best, Jet Black wasn't the best gift buyer in the world, he always bought her stupid crop tops and those skanky shirts that tied up under the bust, as though she'd actually want to show off her ugly midriff.
She noticed Jet's face had turned down, then realised how deeply she was frowning. Shook it off and flipped her sunglasses back up, "Real funny Jet, like we don't have enough fishing tackle cluttering the ship. When are you gonna get me a make-up desk or a vanity mirror?"
He didn't answer that, stopped at the head of the deck chair and looked down into Faye's eyes. She suddenly felt naked, the grin on Jets face seemed like he had something on his mind. She was about to shun him when he said, "I did however, place that bet for you,"
"Oh really," schoolgirl excitement permeating her voice, she launched halfway to a sit, elbows propping her up, the thin towel that had been splashed across her stomach fell off. She quickly pulled it tight around the soft skin again and laid back down to avoid anymore embarrassment. Said, "And?"
Jet reached into his pocket, pulled out a wad of Woolongs folded in half and held it casually between two fingers as he continued to gaze down at her. Faye's eyes physically shifted to the beautiful dark lime shaded paper.
"You know, I should keep this," Jet said, running his other hand across the leafs of money, "You still owe me for bailing you out of jail. And I did place the bet, and it was my money, and it was me who picked the right pony,"
Faye smiled her whatever-you-say smile and parted her lips, showing just a sliver of her pearly white teeth. Jet gritted his teeth, growling through them and looking like some big angry bear as he lowered the folded money slowly. She gripped it in her teeth and Jet let go. Smiling broadly with all that green paper in her mouth, she plucked it form her teeth and rifled through it, savouring the sweet taste of money. The smell of peppermint and lilacs lingered with it from Jets grubby hand; he'd been smoking again. She let him off though, like she always did because he could pick winners, not for any other reason…maybe.
His flat soled shoes clacked on the deck as he cut through the fresh salty air and stopped at the foot of the bed this time. He sat, lifting her legs and resting them across his lap. His human hand ran a finger up and down the slick oil while he stared out into the water.
"Hey, quit that Jet, you'll mess up my tanning lotion," she said feeling a pleasant shiver.
"You got a birds nest Faye,"
Her mind stumbled for a moment, like someone had just tossed a bag of marbles around the inside of her brain. Then the light bulb went on as she flushed hot under her cheeks and bolted upright. The already rickety bed creaked under the strain as she stared at her bikini line. Smooth and clean as satin.
"Huh, what the hell, that isn't funny-"
"Look Faye," Jet said nodding in the direction of her fishing rod.
She followed his gaze and saw the tangled stringy mess around her spool of fishing line, "Oh, you meant my line got tangled,"
"Ugh, no Faye," Jet said, letting her legs spill off his lap and on to the deck as he got up, walking over to the rod he said, "If I meant your line was tangled I'd have said that. Did you even read the guide book I gave you?"
"I glanced at it,"
Jet was on his haunches now, sorting out the mess Faye had made of her rod. She felt cold just below her heart, and without realising it, she was frowning again. She wouldn't apologise for it though, everyone made mistakes and he didn't need to be so grouchy about it. She scowled him from behind, looking at the hole through his cybernetic that was stopped out with some rudimentary augmentation he'd had to fix it.
"Jeez, I don't think you're ready for the net yet," he said, mumbling as his arms tried to tear at the tangled mess, then before Faye could shout him down he said, "Spike'll be here in a few days," finished fixing the spool and checked it would reel in properly.
That hot bubbly feeling rose in her stomach, the one that passed up through her body and by the time it reached her heart was pleasantly warm. Sometimes she wished it wasn't there, it was so confusing. She loved Jet, she was sure of it, she got that same feeling every time she snuggled up to his grizzly frame, he'd saved her life more than once and she had to love him…she hoped. He always seemed to get more grouchy when Spike turned up, Faye dwelled on the thought for a minute. Maybe he was just sad he could only see his best buddy once a month or so. Or maybe those ugly rock lobsters Spike brought with him unsettled him the way they made her feel. Maybe it was those same lobsters that he had his nightmares about, the ones when he woke up, all his hairs like tiny little frosty blades of grass that slowly wilted as she soothed him back to sleep in the middle of the night.
At last she managed to say something, anything, "I hope he doesn't bring one of those stupid lobsters,"
Jet chortled, "You wanna eat it if he does?"
"No!"
She was drawn to his arm again. That big stupid robotic thing that he couldn't even feel through. It was so unfair for both of them, he couldn't enjoy her full and perfect beauty like that. It was like some cruel twisted fate had told him he was only allowed half of Faye Valentine. And of course, the robotic one didn't feel nice against her skin, it didn't feel nice at all. For a moment, she felt sorry for him, but then felt more thankful that she still had all her limbs.
She played the stack of Woolongs through her fingers again, sucking up the flavouring scent and listening to the sound of the ruffling paper. Counted it. Fifteen thousand. It wasn't much, she still needed about fifteen million to pay for the reconstructive surgery, but if Jet had to let another year slip off the calendar and be celebrating his thirty eighth (though Faye thought a number that high was far from worthy of celebration) with a brand new flesh and blood arm, then that's how long it'd take. She imagined how thrilled he'd be, how shocked that she'd actually spent some money on him--shocked enough to forget about the hundreds of millions she owed him.
With the money safely slid under the towel over her belly, hidden away with that ugly little pepperoni slice patch of skin, she turned her attention back to the water. Jet was busy setting up the new rod he'd bought; a fifteen footer with some seriously heavy duty line. Looked like he was going for a sea bass again or maybe a Ganymede eel. Over on the Earth's comet, Ed and her giant of a father had come out to do their own round of fishing. Though that seemed to have lapsed into Ed's dad grabbing his daughter by the ankles and swinging her around like a power turbine. Ed didn't mind though, she was giggling maniacally and screaming to go faster. They were an odd family, all of them, herself included. The vixen frozen for half a century, the honourable-to-a-more-than-healthy-degree ex-cop with a bonsai tree and fishing fixation, the alcoholic giant of a man who seriously needed some parenting lessons and the downright undecipherable genius child. And of course there was that seldom seen mossy haired lunkhead. Perhaps odd wasn't a strong enough word to describe Faye Valentine's pseudo-family but they were her family. Oh yes! they were her family.
…SEE YOU SPACE FISHERMEN
Alright so that was it, hope you enjoyed my little foray into the fantasy of Spike surviving Bebop's end. Feel free to send me all your fan mail/hate mail/random yammerings/money etc.
A/N: So I said I'd explain my theories on Faye and Jet, more of why Faye needs Jet (I got rid of Spike so she couldn't chase him around). Thing is I like Faye and if she ended up with Spike…well come on, he isn't exactly reliable and he never seemed to look for Julia all that much. I just think Jet is more the kind who would make Faye know she's loved. He might not be as adventurous as Spike but truth be told, by the end of Bebop I didn't think Faye was all that adventurous anymore. The truth is, she'd probably outgrow Spike eventually, and I think she works better with Jet. The reason for that is she is opposite to Jet in all the right ways (opposite to Spike in all the wrong ways) The strict attitude of Jet and lazy who care's of Faye means much chance for humour, romance and of course a very whipped Jet because he just can't stay mad at anyone.
Not to be self righteous but I have to say, I was pleased with myself when I wrote the little bit about the racetrack bet.
Thanks For Reading
TK