I look up at the black ceiling, "Why are you still awake sweetheart?" I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist, "Haven't had a good night's sleep for the past sixteen years, why break the streak." I drape my arm across my eyes, I've had insomnia, only catching glimpses of rest before I jolt awake, I turn myself around and look at Spike, "Your eyes." I stroke my thumb under his right eye, "They're two different colours." I say quietly, he closes them and pulls my palm down and kisses it, "The right one is a fake. One sees the past and the present in the other. So I thought I could only see patches of reality. Never the whole picture, but for once in my life." I feel him pull me into his arms, "I know I'm seeing reality, and the future all combined in one when I look at you." He takes a deep breath and I feel his breathing slow down, falling back asleep again, I smile and lean into him, closing my eyes, "Let's try fifteen minutes tonight." I tell myself and I try to fall asleep.
There was a little boy playing the harmonica on the stage while Spike and I sat at the bar, the two of us stare at him, "Cheers." I look at Spike who had his glass of whiskey held up, "What's with the sudden drinks cowboy." I clink my cup of gin and tonic with his and we both take a sip, "I need to have that drink with the cowgirl I met on El Ray, don't you remember? She drove a White Wolf, if you see her let me know, I still have a tab open for her." Spike grins, "No way you still remember, that was months ago, almost a year ago from now." I prop one of my legs up, "I always wanted a drink with that girl, I'll keep the tab open for her for as long as it takes for me to see her again." He takes another drink, "You big meanie, I'm right here." I scowl and swing on Jet's glasses, zooming in on a man, "I'm just kidding, lighten up." Spike kisses my palm, "Damn that Blues music sounds sweet." Jet stares at the man who had a three million woolong bounty on his head, his code name was Giraffe, "I thought you liked Jazz." I smile and take the glasses off propping them on Spike's fluffy hair, "Don't be dense, I stared wailing the blues when that doctor whacked my bottom out the day I was born." Jet chuckles, "A baby hipster, very cool." Spike puts them on and stares at Giraffe, "No doubt about it, it's Giraffe." Spike nods, "Alright, I'll go from the right, you the left and Nat the centre." Jet gets ready, "Bard boys in the way," I disguise my stare by taking another drink and staring at the ice in my cup, "Make a move Jet, balls in your court." Spike smirks, Jet sighs, "Hey Fatty! Fatty River!" Jet shouts and raises his hand, "Oh! Who'd a thought if it weren't Jet Black!" The two burly men walk to each other, "Wow, wow, wow, when did you blow in!" They make a large commotion and everyone stares at them, "Well how about you, you look like you caught a big one." They slap each other's arms and laugh, "My Lady." Spike holds his hand out, I smile and step to him as he links his arm around me, following Giraffe as he walks out of the bar.
I peek my head around the corner and pull Spike by the blazer, Giraffe was still behind the adjacent corner, he watches as the little boy and his father gets into a taxi and he calls one to follow them, the two of us run back to our ships, "Oops, sorry!" Spike dodges a drunk man, I feel him grab my wrist and I freeze, "What's a pretty lady like you doing out here alone?" I felt him lean closer and sniff my neck, he reeked of alcohol, "What's a punching bag like you doing out here alone." I smile sickly sweet and punch and kick him until he was a crumpled ball on the floor, "Dickhead." I force my heel between his shoulder blades and he cries out slightly, I heard a whistle behind me and I throw a punch just to see Spike grab my fist, "Don't do that after I just beat the crap out of someone, makes me think you're another one of those." I glare back at the man.
We flew our ships after them but just as we were about to land we saw Giraffe fly out of the window, "Spike!" I shout, "I got him!" He levels out the Swordfish and catches Giraffe before landing on the roof of a building, I unlock the hatch and hop out of the Wolf, running towards him, I saw a bullet straight through him, "Hey you. Wake up. Hey! Ugh great, you die and I lose the reward." Spike slaps Giraffe's cheek to wake up him, "Have some sympathy, the man's dying." I push him to the side, "Don't... Don't be fooled by him, by the way he looks." He breathes out, "Don't talk! Try to stay alive!" Spike was rummaging through the Swordfish to find the first aid box, "Not me, I don't need help right now, help him. The stone." He tries to reach me and hands me a ring with a shining pink stone on it, I clasp my hand around the ring and he smiles before the light in his eyes disappears, "Wait!" I try to say but he was already dead, I look at the pink ring, "Didn't you say it was bad manners to give a married woman a ring?" Spike deadpans at me, "Well I will say it's nicer than a grenade pin as a ring." I tease him, "Don't think about it!" Spike retaliates as I pretend to slip the grenade pin off my ring finger, "Alright, fine, you're just a big baby aren't you." I grin as I reach into my glove box and unwrap a lollypop, "We should head back to the BeBop to get this checked out." I prop my feet on the dash and look at the ring.
"I can't be sure until I run all the tests but this may be worth a hefty sum, so what you wanna do with it?" Jet throws the ring at Spike who was laying down on the couch, "Got no idea, the guy gives the ring to my wife on his own then dies on his own." Spike props his head up with one hand, "Um, excuse you, you haven't even proposed, you don't get to call me your proper wife yet." I slap his head as I walk past into the kitchen, "I don't see the reason to keep it." He looks at the ring, "There is no reason to keep it. You're not responsible for that kid." Faye swipes the ring, "Hey gimme that! This thing is gonna pay for our food, our food, not yours." Spike snatches it back, "You know I think your heart's made of lead. I'll just ask Nat. Nat~!" I hear Faye calling out for me, "Yeah?" I poke my head out, "Don't even think about leeching off Nat." Spike grumbles, "Unlike me, I'm a nice guy, I've got a present." Jet fans a piece of paper, "Wow!" She takes it and frowns, "An invoice?! An invoice for what?" She looks at him, "Who got an invoice?" I walk in with a cup of tea, "All the expenses you've wracked up on our ship." Jet smiles, "Then what about me?" I point at my face, "You're a member of the BeBop darl." Spike leans his head back on the couch and looks at me, "And thanks for your business." Jet lifts his cup of tea at Faye, "Yeah. Anytime." She says dryly. Spike and I were back at the bar, watching the little kid playing the harmonica, my eyes flashed at the man the kid was wheeling the day before yesterday, something wasn't right.
"So the bottom line is Giraffe was killed off cause of some internal politics." Faye walks past the monitor to have a look, holding a tray of food, "The trail may come easily to women but men live by iron goes with honour." Jet looks at Faye, "You believe that?" Faye scoffs, "I'm trying to, real hard." Jet says, "But Zebra shot Giraffe." Faye leans over, "Uh-huh." Jet nods, "Then why would Giraffe ask to help the kid, it doesn't make sense." Faye scratches her head, "Hey the kid's in the headlines, guess he's pretty famous." Faye points at the kid, "Yeah, guess he's some genius." Jet nods, "Hey, this guy's not Zebra." Faye moves her finger to the man in the wheelchair, "What's that?" Jet looks at her, "Look close, what's the date?" Faye scans the article, "What the hell?! This was published thirty years ago! How can he have the same face?!" Jet was shocked as he looks at the kid.
Spike and I follow the boy and the man into the backstreets, then into a warehouse, suddenly a floodlight shone down on us and I felt Spike push me behind him, already having his gun up and he used his arm to shield his eyes with a smirk on his face, "Tell me, who are you?" The boy asks, "Just some suspicious guy." Spike lowers his arm, "Idiot, I can look after myself." I spin my gun into my hand and step out from behind him, "What do you want here?" The boy looks at us, "The forager just bought a farm, he told me to come here and help you." Spike grins, "Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of, let's talk." I take a step forward but he shot my upper arm and grazed it making my gun fly out of my hand and I felt Spike drag my jacket back into him, "Shit." He looks at my arm, "You better stay out of it, a little twerp like you sticks her head out too far, you'll get it cut off you understand. Sorry but I'm not a kid." He had a blank look on his face, "Yeah all kids say that!" Spike spits, "I know what I look like but I remember how this place looked when it was an outpost. Before the asteroids were even settled, get the picture?" His eyes narrow and he smiles, "The hyperspace gate blew into bits, from that day on my body completely stopped ageing, I can't die. There was always someone discovering me doing experiments but they all died, I kept on living, the end of this guy started when the self-defence volunteer squad hit our D lab. I needed a new cover, someone to play my parent. I think he's the third guy I've used like this, now, where's the ring?" He asks, "Ring? What ring?" Spike asks, he shot a bullet right near my foot and I flinch, grabbing on my arm tight to try stop the bleeding, "That's alright, even if you had it, it'd be like tossing pearls in front of swine." He walks forward and clicks his gun, my eyes widen and the two of us run behind a shipping container, I cover my head, "Cover me." I say, "What are you thinking!" Spike looks at me, "I gotta grab my gun." I point at it at the opposite side of the room, he grumbles, I wait till I hear the boy reload his cartridge and I sprint out, he tries to shoot me but I roll out just in time, I scrunch my eyes tight as I felt my arm stinging, I hear him walking down the stairs and I quickly shoot the gun out of his hand, he quickly runs back and gets behind Zebra, "No!" I saw him push the wheelchair down the stairs, "Ack!" I feel him fall on top of me, Spike runs after the kid and tries to shoot him, "Ahh!" The kid was blown back by a bullet to the head, I slide out from under Zebra and the two of us run up the stairs just to see a splat of blood on the ground but the kid was nowhere to be seen.
