Epilogue

The world is spinning too fast
I'm buying lead Nike shoes
To keep myself tethered
To the days I try to lose

As much as Jet would have liked things to be back to normal around the ship (he really was a slave to routine), things were a bit off. Well, Faye was a bit off. She spent a lot of time in her room and seemed kind of stand offish, even more so than usual. Jet eventually got the lowdown on the contents of the package, but he didn't quite understand why it had her so upset. But then, there was no way he could even begin to empathize with her situation properly so he figured that was understandable. Spike, meanwhile, became totally fascinated with the yearbook. He almost constantly had his nose in it, but only when Faye wasn't around as she would kill him. It wasn't even Faye so much that intrigued him as the whole concept of high school. There seemed to be a definite system going on here, a whole social order that was totally irrelevant to the rest of the world. He would know. He got his education at the University of Hard Knocks as it were, and he had never in his life encountered this kind of strange, almost masochistic bullshit. He was hooked.

It was during one of his routine combing of the material that he stumbled upon something of great interest. "Holy shit," he said out loud.

Jet looked over at him. "What?"

"I can't believe she didn't notice this," he muttered.

"For God sakes, what?" Jet was curious now.

Spike didn't answer though. He just got up and knocked on Faye's door. "Yo, Faye."

"I'm sleeping," she sighed. She so wasn't.

"I wanna show you something."

Now Faye was not only not sleeping but very suspicious. "What, do you have a water balloon or something?"

Spike grumbled and then slid the yearbook under the door. He wasn't in the mood to argue with her. "You were reading my yearbook?" she shrieked, the door still shut. "How dare you! That is my private, personal…"

"Well, I did a better job reading it that you did cause you missed something pretty key. Page 12," he said and then returned to his spot on the couch.

Faye stared at the door for a second, as if she could direct her scowl somehow through the door, and then lunged for the book. What was he going on about? Page 12. Senior quotes. Well, ok she didn't even think to look at that. Her picture wasn't there so she didn't see it in the index, and she pretty much vowed not to flip through it after the initial read in the junkyard because it depressed her. She scanned the page for her name and found it.

Faye Wriggly: Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery….

She gasped and dropped the book on the floor. She took another breath and picked it up gingerly in her hands as if it would burn her. It was there. It was really there. It was her song. It was always her song. She flew out of her room and into the living room. "Tell me this is real," she said to Spike.

"It's real, Faye," he said.

"You didn't alter this or something? To make me feel better?"

"When have I ever made a genuine effort to make you feel better?"

"It's…it's my song," she said in a small voice.

"Yeah, I know."

"Do you know what this means?!?"

"It means you're Faye," Spike said in a tone bordering on exasperation. "Just like always."

Faye looked at him in a strange way, as if she was trying to apply his simple logic to her own complex problem. She was Faye. For some reason she assumed Faye Valentine was inherently different from Faye Wriggly but maybe that was the answer. Maybe she was just Faye. She didn't share any of this with anyone, though. She just got this far away look in her eye and went back to her room.

"Ok," Jet said. "What the hell was that about?"

Spike shrugged. "Inside…joke. Or something."

Jet just rolled his eyes. They were all fucking mad.

A few hours later, Jet had managed to whip up some dinner, which was already back to the usual fare. They would have to learn to ration food better. But they probably would never have food again so maybe it wasn't worth the effort. He went to go shout for everyone in the living room when he caught Spike and Faye sitting out on the hanger, smoking. He stopped for a second to take in the scene. They were sitting in total silence, about five feet away from each other. Jet always figured that was their cease fire, of sorts. Their silent reconciliation, their temporary truce. It was nice. It had to be destroyed.

"Hey guys!" he poked his head out the hatch. "Dinner's on. But I ran out of beef so one of you is going to have to eat the vegetarian one."

He let that sink in before he poked his head back in the ship, sighing contently as their hostile buzzing kicked up again. Fact of the matter was, the sound of Spike and Faye bickering had fast become an essential part of the soundtrack of his life. If it wasn't there, it just threw off the rhythm.

"HEY! Don't you even think about it!" Faye shrieked as the two of them made a mad dash to the kitchen. Jet winced as a large crashing sound followed.

Well…it had a beat and you could dance to it.

IT'S THE MUSIC THAT YOU CHOOSE

Hey, that was fun. I know we might have tripped over some cannon there with Faye's real name. I know the doctor said he made up Valentine but I don't think he said he made the whole name up, so I kept her Faye. She just is Faye. I couldn't give her another name.

Original Soundtrack available on pirate music servers everywhere. Artists include Cake, Jill Sobule, Less Then Jake, National Lampoon's Vacation (Limp does a fun cover), The Eels, The Grateful Dead, OAR, Dispatch, Ben Folds Five, Beck, Weird Al (I can't believe I quoted him) and the Gorillaz.

And of course, Angel From Montgomery but I don't know who to properly credit with that song. Sooooo many people have covered it. The Dave Mathews Band does a lovely version.

And just as a side note, If You Called My Name Out Loud by Dispatch was my Spike/Faye song mentioned in the afterward of The Reluctant Jezebel.

Well, thanks for reading and for all the reviews.

Agent Orange out