Good Morning Sunshine

Jessica wakes up, not wanting to open her eyes and lose the wonderful dream she had last night; she sighs sinking slowly back under as she snuggles closer to… her eyes snap open… the warm human body? She looks up and comes face-to-face with Spike, asleep with his arms around her. He looks so peaceful that she doesn’t want to wake him, so instead of doing her usual morning routine she just snuggles closer to him and just enjoys it.

She wondered how he had gotten into bed with her. Did they do it? No, they couldn’t have, they were both still dressed, and she hadn’t been drunk; even though her hand was inside his shirt for some reason. Did he sleepwalk into her room? No one had mentioned him doing that, and that was usually something that was talked about, either jokingly or seriously. Then Jessica remembered. She had fallen asleep reading and he must have carried her in here. She smiled at how sweet that was of him, considering she had yelled at him and then ignored him. But then how did he end up in her bed? Had he thought he could wake her up and then get some? That seemed an unusual thing for him to do, and plus she slept like a rock. Oh God, she knew what had happened; she had grabbed him in her sleep, and then wouldn’t let go… how embarrassing! But, Spike didn’t seem to mind too much, so she shouldn’t feel too guilty about it. She smiled and scooted up a little so her head was level with his. She studied his face for a while
noticing how all the tension and tightness relaxed away. He didn’t look perpetually annoyed like he was around Faye, and Ed, and Ein. Jessica loved how boyish men looked when they were asleep; it was a rare glimpse into the innocence that used to be there and was now gone forever. Spike asleep was kind of like the smiles that he gave her sometimes when he thought she wasn’t looking, that same boyishness was there.

Jessica wondered why Spike had backed off after that kiss, those kisses she corrected herself
mentally, blushing a little, when they had sparred with each other. It was as if he was checking himself, reminding himself that he had to stay away (but still managing to stare every chance he got); there was a void, it seemed, inside him that he didn’t feel as though anyone could fill. This was her chance to bridge the gap he had forced between them; she pressed her body against his and leaned her head against his, putting her arms around his neck. His lips were parted slightly and he was breathing through his mouth a little so she just leaned in and kissed him. The kiss made him wake up slightly and he returned her kiss, parting his lips and reaching up his hand to push his fingers into her hair, which was still short. His tongue slid in to explore her mouth briefly and the kiss deepened, becoming more passionate, as Jessica slid
her leg up his and they rolled over, Spike’s hand stealing up her shirt and under her bra, sliding around to unfasten it. Spike shook his arm out of his jacket and let it slide to the floor as Jessica moved her hands down to unfasten the buttons on his shirt, laying bare his chest and running her fingers lightly down the raised scar tissue that raked across his skin. Their breathing came in ragged gasps as they pulled each other’s clothing off, Spike kissing every inch of her skin as he bared it while Jessica helps him out of his pants. He kisses her hard, stopping her cries when they come together; she sighs, digging her fingers into the skin of his back as they move together towards the climax. When they are finished, they both lay panting and sprawled on her bed, tangled in the sheets. She rests her head on his sweaty chest, his arm circling her waist and breathes in his smell, sighing contentedly.
“I could stay like this forever,” she murmurs quietly, half to herself. “I love the way you make me feel, and I love you.”

“I love you too,” Spike whispers into her ear, “but it’s time to get up. You probably ought to take a shower too.” He pulls her up into a sitting position and she grabs her robe.

“What about you?” she gestures to his sweat drenched naked body, and his crumpled clothes strewn on the floor. “You are kind of obvious looking.”

"What’s that supposed to mean? I’ll be fine. I’ll just tell Jet I’ve been training.” His mouth quirks up into one of his rare smiles and Jessica blushes.

"I guess you could call it that,” she jokes, smiling back at him. “Well, I’m going to hit the shower.”

“Want me to join you?” Spike asks, arcing his eyebrows suggestively.

“No, that would be much too obvious.” Jessica leaves the room, glancing back at him as she passes through the doorway and smiles.

Spike lays back on the bed, too exhilarated and exhausted to do much more than think of how such a girl could have just landed on their ship.

I Can't Explain

She tried to put her strange conversation out of her mind for the rest of the day, worried that she had imagined the whole thing or was hallucinating or something. She was also unconsciously avoiding Spike, not talking to him or looking at him throughout dinner, and then the rest of the time going into one of the rooms that didn’t have gravity for some low-resistance training to prepare herself for a fight in space; and then she read a book to kill time before bed. She was about halfway through one of her favorite books that she had read nearly a hundred times when she nodded off, the headphones from her mp3 player still pumping music into her ears, the book nearly slipping from her fingers as her arm slumped across her lap, the other dangling off the side of the couch she was laying on; Ein was asleep on the floor beside her and Ed took the opportunity to paint her toenails blue, green, purple, pink, and yellow. After about an hour Spike walks in and notices her, her legs slowly slipping to the floor while Ed carefully paints her little toenail on her left foot yellow as she sits on the floor. Ein is in danger of being squashed and Jessica’s book has fallen off her lap and lays on its back, open to the page she stopped at.

Spike shakes his head, amazed at how she can still sleep like that, and then shoos Ed away and carefully picks her up, grunting a little at how solid she is, she doesn’t look as though she weighs much, but her stature and build may cause some sort of illusion; she sighs a little, shifts her weight around, and Spike freezes, thinking she’s about to wake up. He’d been feeling pretty chagrined ever since she’d blown up in his face earlier, and had been looking for a way to make it up to her. He’d figured that the least he could do was take her to her room so she could get some decent sleep. He remembered how Faye had complained when they had cleaned out one of the storage rooms full of useless junk so Jessica could have a room; but she’d shut up when Jet had told her that if she was willing to help, like Jessica had, she would have a room too. Jessica even offered to share the room with her, but Faye would have none of that, said she’d rather sleep in the toilet than share a room with her. Jessica heard, but she took it in stride, said she’d heard worse when she’d had to share a room with her sister for ten years.

Spike wondered what her life had been like before it had changed so dramatically and a scientific glitch had landed her on the deck of the Bebop. She rarely talked about her family, except in passing, and he knew that she missed them, he heard her moving around sometimes at night, long after she had said she was going to bed, and in the morning she had dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept all night. He looked at her face as he carried he to her room; it looked so peaceful, but then a frown creased her forehead and she twitched, her arm reaching out as if to grab someone, her breath coming in little gasps as though she were running hard. He quickly put her onto her bed and went to get up, but her flailing hand caught his arm and refused to let go. Spike sighed and then shifted Jessica slightly, making room, and layed down beside her. She scooted closer and nestled her head under his chin and he smiled, relaxing and bringing his arms around behind her, holding her closer. He kicked off his shoes and tried, unsuccessfully to shrug out of his jacket, managed to get it stuck, then gave up after getting one arm out and just let it dangle off the edge of the bed. Jessica shifted some more and somehow managed to run her hand up his shirt and Spike felt his face grow warm and his heartbeat stutter. He felt that it’s going to be a pretty long night.

Ein

Time passed strangely on the Bebop, when there were things going on, the time passed quickly. Jessica helped in every way that she could. Managing money, doing the grocery shopping (because Jet knew next to nothing about it and Faye and Spike didn’t care), taking care of some of the cleaning, although she refused to do Jet and Faye’s laundry, and even keeping Ed and Ein (whom Spike referred to as the pests) busy; but she balked when she was offered the opportunity to come along on a bounty, they may have gotten plenty of money from her selling her useless possessions, but that wasn’t enough for them all to retire on (plus Faye was slowly squandering her share gambling, convinced that she could win if she just played long enough). She tried making excuses: the housework needed done, who would keep Ed and Ein from tearing the place apart while they were gone, she had no experience, she couldn’t shoot a gun; and they provided answers: the work could wait, Ed and Ein had been alone before and had been just fine, experience was gotten by doing, and she could be taught to shoot a gun. The last was offered by Spike, but she just didn’t feel comfortable with the cold, hard barrel of a gun in her hands and her finger resting on a small little sliver of metal that could decide whether a man lived or died with just one little squeeze.

“I can’t, I can’t do it!” she yelled, frustrated, during her first lesson, throwing the gun onto the table. “I can’t sit here and listen to you say those things, ‘this is how you hold it, this is how you aim, always be sure to aim for an arm or a leg unless you’re shooting to kill and then you aim for the heart or the head!’ I just can’t, ok. It’s not that I don’t want to go with you; I just could not use a gun. Give me my fists and feet, or hell even a sword and some throwing knives or shuriken and I could be deadly. I feel kind of silly going out there with a gun when I was trained to use everything but that. I could kill a guy with a freakin’ paperclip for Christ’s sake!” she stopped, breathing heavily when she realized that Spike was looking at her with a mixture of shock and admiration and that Jet and Faye were peeking in through the doorway.

“Sorry,” she muttered; her face red and her ears burning as she walked out the door and
into the rotating hallway. She stepped into an empty room and sat there, hugging herself as she slowly realized how stupid she had been for yelling when she could have just as easily have explained it calmly and quietly. She remembered what her therapist had told her about bottling up her feelings, and realized that she had been doing that ever since she had gotten over the shock of being teleported into the future. She took a deep breath that turned into a sob and hen she broke down and cried for the life that she had lost.

Jessica lifted her head from where it was sitting in her lap, her head aching and her nose stopped from where she had been crying for so long. Her eyes were puffy and red. She looked down to see the sweet brown eyes of Ein looking up at her. He wagged his little stump of a tail when he saw her looking and barked quietly.

“My nieces used to have a corgi that looked exactly like you.” She told him, fluffing up the short, thick hairs around his neck as she scratched it. “You are much calmer, and much smarter. He went out and got hit by a car, but you would never do something like that would you?”

No, of course not.

Jessica froze, she had been talking to the dog absently, something that she did with most animals. Not really in an annoying baby-talk sort of voice that most people use when talking to dogs, just a Normal conversational tone, but she hadn’t expected an answer.

“W-what?”she whispered, “I must be dreaming, did you just talk?”

Not in the sense that you or the others can, but yes, I am able to communicate through telepathy. Ein was right, his mouth definitely wasn’t moving, so no sound was coming out of his mouth, but Jessica could hear him clear as day in her mind.

“Does everyone else know? Are Jet and Spike and Faye and Ed in on it too? Or is it just me?”

Just you, I haven’t really tried it on the others yet, I don’t even know if they are susceptible yet, you must be very sensitive.

“Oh, how nice for me; I did always want a talking dog.” She wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or hysterical, but Jessica sensed that it was time to end the conversation. “Um, I uh, need to go get dinner started ok? So I’m gonna go now.” She smiled weakly and tentatively patted him on the head.

Alright, can you make the noodles again? Ein begged, dancing on his back legs in a way that had seemed cute before but now was strangely unnerving.

“Um, sure.”

You and Me

Jessica peeked carefully around the doorframe, watching Spike practice. She was careful to keep her eyes on him and to not let them stray towards the bank of windows where the nothingness of space loomed. She didn’t particularly want to pass out; again, for the third time since they started their flight to Mars. Hesitant, she made her way toward him; eyes straight ahead, heart thumping wildly not just because of the emptiness outside.

“Mind if I join you?” Spike looked up in the middle of a form, startled. Jessica tried not to let her gaze wander along his sweat-glistening bare chest. He looked her square in the eyes and her heart jumped painfully.

“I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a girl.” He settled into a “ready” stance.

“Who said I needed you to go easy on me?” She put up her hands, shifting into a defensive position just as he stepped forward.

His fist lashed out and she ducked, feinting left then bringing up her leg in a round-house kick that Spike dodged effortlessly. Before she could try another tactic she was busy blocking blows as Spike tried to break through her defense. She took the opportunity to study him, looking for a weakness. She found it in the most obvious of places, his chest. Whenever he twisted too far, or extended either arm past a certain point a grimace would flicker briefly on his face; the bruise was bothering him. Jessica waited patiently for the perfect moment then, as she let his fist slide harmlessly past her, she planted a right-straight directly in the center of the bruise. Spike’s eyes widened, surprised, and she took the opportunity to use his momentum to her advantage. Quickly, before he had time to react, she leaned into her punch and sent him sprawling. She sat calmly on his chest, pinning him for a second time. Jessica smiled down at him triumphantly. Spike just looked at her, the same surprised expression on his face as before. Jessica opened her mouth, but before she could speak his expression changed; he smiled playfully, and before she knew what had happened she was flat on her back with him leaning over her, triumphant, his hands on either side of her head. Jessica’s heart faltered, then beat in double-time. Her face felt hot and her breathing came in erratic gasps. Spike leaned closer to her, still grinning.

“I don’t lose.” He looked straight into her eyes, slightly surprised to find that they were once again green; had he hurt her? He was just about to suggest that they stop, when Jessica’s head came up and suddenly they were kissing, her arms wound around his neck. Surprised, he pulled away; she looked as surprised as he felt. She opened her mouth to apologize but Spike leaned back down, stopping her effectively.

“Is it my imagination or is Jet looking pleased with himself?” Jessica looked sideways at Spike whose arm was around her waist. How he was managing to eat left handed was a mystery to her since he wouldn’t let her get up. He flicked a glance at Jet, who was calmly walking out of the room; Jessica had waited until he was leaving to ask her question.

“Most likely he thinks he’s planned this whole arrangement from the start.” He squeezed her tightly.

“You think so?” She risked a glance at Faye, lounging on the steps behind them. “She doesn’t seem fazed. Well, she’s worse than usual.” Faye had been short-tempered recently.

“Jealous.” Spike didn’t even look up. Jessica chuckled, hard-pressed to imagine Faye as jealous. She leaned her head on Spike’s shoulder, content to stay like that for as long as she could.

500 Million

“Any luck?” Spike lounged on the sofa. He smiled at Jet as the older man sat down heavily on the chair. Faye plopped herself down onto the table.

“Yeah, but he was a small fry, only worth five thousand.” Jet sighed heavily, crossing his arms.

“And five thousand split two ways…” Spike trailed off, his grin broadening.

Jet narrowed his eyes, “Doesn’t pay the bills.” He finished, “what are you so happy about Spike?”

“Hungry?” Jessica leaned against the back of the couch, smiling.

Jet was even more suspicious. “Yeah,” he said carefully, then watched as she left, having gotten the same response from Faye. “Ok Spike, what are you two up to?” Faye perked up a bit, rousing from the exhausted stupor she was in.

Jessica was busy cooking when she heard the outburst from Jet and Faye.

“Five-hundred million!?”

She couldn’t help it; she collapsed, giggling, on the floor and it was several minutes before she could stand up again and resume cooking. She was still grinning when she brought the food out, and then sat down beside Spike.

“So, you decided not to pay attention to what I said before I left huh?” Jet’s tone was serious, but his eyes were smiling as he took a bite.

“Oh no I didn’t, he did try to leave, but I stopped him.” She nudged Spike with her elbow. “Show him, I’m sure it’s a nice color by now.”

Spike rolled his eyes at her but raised his shirt to expose his chest.

Jet whistled appreciatively, “How’d she do that?” the bruise was hand-sized and a dark plum color.

“She landed a flying kick on me; you should be careful Jet, she is dangerous.” He smiled, “I’ve also got a nice knot on the back of my head where it had a run-in with the ground.”

Jet chuckled, but Jessica had stopped paying attention. Her gaze was fixed on the horrendous scar that marred Spike’s lower torso from one side to the other. She hesitantly reached out a hand.

“How did that happen?” She gently brushed the ridge of scar tissue.

Spike’s face hardened into a blank mask and Jet fell silent, watching him. “A friend gave that to me as a parting gift.” His mouth twisted in a grimace, “a very old friend.” He pulled his shirt back down and Jessica added another mistake to her rapidly growing list. Jet quietly started eating again as Spike stood up and quietly walked out.

Noodles and Pocky

Jessica found it hard to tear her eyes away from the unusual sight of Ein eating noodles. Until she felt Spike’s eyes on her and realized that he had said her name twice. She looked up, the back of her neck burning.

“What?”

“Where did you learn to cook like this?”

“Well my parents taught me initially, and my brother-in-law taught me Japanese cooking, but my dad’s the one who encouraged me to experiment like this.” She waved a hand at the plates that held the sesame-soy fried instant noodles. “I can make a good meal out of anything, as long as I have basic necessities.”

Spike grunted, he was too busy eating to form a reply, and Jessica followed his example so that they ate in silence.

“Seconds!” Ed hollered from her corner, holding up her empty plate.

Jessica smiled, “Hang on a minute Ed, I’ll get you something.” She retrieved her backpack and started digging in the pockets. “Aha!” She sat up, holding a small box in her hand. “Here Ed.”

Ed inspected the box. “What is it?”

“Its Pocky. Here,” Jessica opened the box, and the package inside, handing it to Ed. “Try one.”

Ed pulled out one of the skinny strawberry-coated sticks, licked it suspiciously, and then popped it in her mouth. Her eyes lit up and she quickly set to devouring the whole box. Jessica pulled out two more, holding one out to Spike.

“Want one?”

He took the proffered box from her and she sat back, pulling her feet up onto the chair’s cushion and slowly savored each chocolate-covered biscuit-stick.

“These have to be my favorite candy. I guess they must not make them anymore huh?”

Spike shook his head, Pocky dangling out of his mouth like a cigarette, Jessica grinned.

“When did they leave?” Spike said suddenly, startling her out of her reverie.

“Jet and Faye? Um, about an hour before you came back.” She looked at him with narrowed eyes, “Why?” she asked warily.

“No reason.” He stretched out on the sofa, propping his feet up. “Think I’ll sleep for a while.” He closed his eyes.

Jessica watched him for a while then, assured that he was asleep, pulled her backpack to her and started digging through it, searching.

Ten minutes later she had a small pile of items that she deemed “useless.” Her cell phone (no towers so no signal, besides who would she call?), the contents of her wallet (different currency), her plane ticket, her passport, and her Japanese-to-English dictionary. She reached across the table and poked Spike. He shifted, but didn’t wake up.

“Hey Spike,” she whispered, poking him again. “Hey Spike,” she said louder. “How much would someone pay for paper money?” His eyes opened, and she realized how close they were, she drew back.

“Huh?” Spike said sleepily, sitting up.

“How much d’you think I’d get for this stuff?” She gestured to the pile on the table, “If I’m really stuck, I don’t need them.”

He looked over each item carefully, fingering the stack of bills and the credit cards with especial care.

“Well?” Jessica asked after a while. “How much would I get?”

“A lot more than any bounty that Jet and Faye could be getting.”

She looked at him for a while. “You’re feeling better right? Sober?” he nodded; she smiled. “D’ya think we’ll be done before they get back?”

“Yeah, most likely, if I know Faye.”

Jessica stood up, “then let’s go!” she held out her hand to him, pulling him to his feet and towards the door. Then she stopped, “wait, where should we go?”

Spike narrowed his eyes for a moment, then he grinned.

“I think I know a place.”

Spike

Spike stumbled back about half a day later. As he walked through the hallway he stopped, wondering why it seemed different. It took him a while to realize that he heard music. Confused, Spike followed the sound to the kitchen, vaguely wondering why Jet was listening to music while he cooked, though whatever he was cooking smelled great. He stopped in the doorway, surprised. Jessica was standing, hand on hip, spatula poised over the big wok, practically dancing (though without really moving) as she watched whatever it was she was cooking. After Spike had stood there for a few moments she looked up.

“It’ll be ready in a few minutes.” She gave a half-smile when he looked at her, seemingly dazed. “If you like the music that much I can hook it up to the ship’s sound system.” He stared at her, comprehended what she had said, shook his head, and turned and walked out.

“Damn.” She muttered, “Was he drunk?” She stirred the food absently, making sure the noodles didn’t stick, and listened to the music she knew by heart. Jessica quickly plated the food and started a second batch, humming quietly along with the music. She stopped, listening, and heard the sound of shuffling footsteps, just in time to see Spike appear once again in the doorway.

“What?” She couldn’t imagine what he could possibly want.

“Where’s Jet?” He seemed confused, but not really worried, and Jessica decided that he was drunk. She went back to stirring.

“He and Faye went off to catch some bounty, not sure where they are.” She looked up and was alarmed to find that he was gone. She muttered a curse under her breath and, turning off the stove, went after him.

“Spike!” she hollered, striding after him into the hangar. “Spike, stop.” She struggled to match his long-legged strides for a while then stopped, sighing. “Fine, you leave me no choice.” She said half to herself. She drew herself to her full height, took a deep breath measuring the distance (not far), and took off running. When she had halved the distance she launched herself into the air and aimed a flying kick into Spike’s chest, just as he turned.

Spike heard her footsteps, but had assumed she would tackle him and was completely taken by surprise when, as he turned to face her, she was flying through the air; leg extended and in perfect form. As a result, when her foot made contact, he found himself sprawled on the floor with Jessica straddling him, pinning him down.

“Jet told me to keep you here.” She huffed, out of breath. “He obviously knew you’d be in no condition to do anything, he was right.” She glared at him and he simply stared, shocked. She caught his glance and smirked, “Jet told me to use any means necessary, but he doesn’t know I can do that.” Jessica got up and held a hand out to Spike. “Come on, I need to get back to work.”

Spike sighed and let her pull him up, wincing as his head throbbed, and sucking in a breath. He instantly regretted that, rubbing his chest. He couldn’t believe that she could put that much force into a kick. He looked at her, closer than he had before, noting how she walked, how she held herself.

“How long have you been training?” He was careful to say it casually.

“About three years. I mostly taught myself, but I went to a training camp in Japan last summer, sort of.” She grimaced at the self-reminder of exactly where she was. She stopped at the kitchen door and looked hard at him. “I’ll be keeping an eye on the hallway so go do something.” She frowned, hating that she sounded like she was talking to a child. “Lunch will be ready in a few minutes.”

Spike half-leaned, half-slouched against the door frame across from her, “I think I might stay here.”

She rolled her eyes at him and turned the stove back on.