FRAMED - Cowboy Bebop fanfiction

Session 23

Quinn felt her hands slip from the bar. As the force of gravity vigorously tugged her body downwards, she closed her eyes and waited for the worst to come. How could she have been so weak? She didn't know why she put so much effort into the hunt anyways. It wasn't like she needed the money, and Spike had expressed that they were fine without it as well. Maybe she was chasing the thrill rather than the bounty itself.

Her eagerness had gotten the better of her once again, and now she was on the verge of facing a horrendous demise. She didn't want to see herself die in such a pathetic way, but the truth of the matter was that she didn't particularly have a choice. What's done was done, and she knew there was no point in fretting over an unchangeable fate. 

As Quinn allowed the weight of her body to fall, a sudden tension in her arm caused her eyes to shoot open. Had she died already? Had she died and gone to a place of peace? She was staring at him, wide eyed, dangling off the side of the building. Had Spike really caught her? Or was it all a dream. Her eyelids fluttered as the burning sun hit her pupils.

"I told you I wouldn't leave you. That promise should go both ways," Spike mumbled as he tugged Quinn's body upwards. She hooked her other hand around the edge of the building and used Spikes aid to hoist the upper half of her body onto the rooftop. Quinn looked over Spikes shoulder once the shuttle she was just hanging off of, landed. The pod shot open, and out jumped their target.

"He's getting away!" Quinn shouted as she continued to shimmy the rest of her body onto the roof. Spike didn't even look at the target behind him. He just continued to pull Quinn upwards.

"Leave me, go get him!" Quinn grumbled as she struggled to lift her leg up, and over the edge.

"You're worth a lot more than eight hundred thousand woolong," Spike groaned as he helped Quinn swing the lower half of her body over the roof edge. Just as her body had flopped onto the rooftop, the target began sprinting towards the door.

"S-spike," Quinn stuttered weakly as she rest her back against the ground. She pointed a finger at the target, but Spike didn't seem to care. He cradled her head with his hand as he gazed into her eyes.

Quinn looked up at him, and with a sore expression, she exhaled in relief. Her heart was beating so fast and her entire body ached in pain. Her head was throbbing, and the sudden sound of the metal, rooftop door being pulled up stung her sensitive eardrums.

Without looking, and without a shred of hesitation, Spike pulled his gun and fired a single shot behind him. Quinn's eyes darted towards the target who was now tumbling down the stairwell, due to a gunshot to the leg.

Quinn had to stop her jaw from dropping. It was an impressive shot to say the least.

"I'd never let you fall," Spike suddenly announced, breaking Quinn from her train of thought. She smiled up at him, his off-coloured eyes scanning every inch of her face.

Quinn didn't know how to reply. She just stared at him with all the thankfulness in the world. He cradled her, and held her body in his arms as she slowly leant upwards.

She lifted her head to his level, and kissed him along his soft, slightly parted lips. Quinn savored the moment as the early morning sun beat down on her head. The warmth soothed her shaking body, and as Spike wrapped his arms around her back, all her anxiety melted away.

She was safe.

...

Once Quinn had managed to find the strength to stand, Spike held her by the arm as he helped her cross the rooftop. The bounty hadn't made it far down the stairwell, and do to his minor, yet painfully debilitating injury, he didn't put up much of a fight when Spike approached him. Once the bounty was secured, the three of them made their ways into an elevator. Quinn pressed the lobby button. The doors shut, and the shaft began to descend.