Session 7

No more than a few hours had passed since her argument with Spike and once the information had successfully uploaded onto the tablet, she wanted nothing more than a nice, hot shower. After such a horrible night, she figured she deserved some means of relaxation, and after spending hours cooped up in her ships pod, she knew her body needed it as well.

Unfortunately she had no idea where the showers were, but she knew a little exploring wasn't going to kill her.

As she hopped out of her pod and made her way towards where she assumed the room might be, she took a pair of spare clothes with her. They were pajamas she had somehow acquired during her journey. She couldn't quite remember how she got them, but she did vaguely remember running away from a very very angry girl who had not known about her boyfriends secret late night rendezvous.

Quinn was quick to find the showers and as she entered the room, she undressed and tossed her clothing onto the floor. She wondered if the rest of the group had gone to bed already. From what Quinn could tell, the ship was moving, so she assumed they had already set off from Mars before getting to sleep.

Quinn yawned as the hot water hit her skin. It was nice to finally be getting clean, especially after such a horrible night, and as she ran her fingers through her hair, she wondered what Spike was up to.

She absolutely hated the fact that she was thinking about him, but she just couldn't help herself. Was he sleeping? Was he awake? Was he awake in his room going through that magazine Quinn had seen earlier... Quinn bit her cheek hard. She didn't want those kind of thoughts rushing through her head, especially not after tonight.

Once she had finished washing up, she got dressed and set back out to her pod. Upon exiting the shower room, she noticed how cold it was onboard. Unfortunately for Quinn, the pajamas she wore provided very little warmth. She wore a white, lace trim, nightgown that was unfortunately not quite her size. It was rather tight around the bust, but she made do with what she had.

As she made her way through the empty corridors after discarding her clothing back in her ship, a familiar smell caught her nose upon entering the living space. She was exhausted, and all she wanted to do was ignore it, but as always, her curiosity got the best of her.

She followed the scent into a hallway that she was now quite familiar with. Tracing the origin of the smoke wasn't difficult to do, and as she peered down the corridor, she saw him standing there, absent in the starlight.

She didn't want to talk to him, but she also didn't want to avoid the elephant in the room. She had a gut feeling that it was probably best to speak to him, and even though she figured Spike came here on his own time regardless of her presence on board, she almost felt like he was waiting for her to arrive.

"Spike?" Quinn called out as she began making her way towards him.

"You should be asleep," he stated once Quinn had made it to the end of the hallway.

"I could say the same for you," Quinn replied as she sat down next to him. To her surprise he sat down as well. For a moment all they shared was silence, but just as quickly as it came, it disappeared.

"What makes you so tough?" he asked, taking a drag of his cigarette. Quinn laughed.

"I'll tell you if you tell me," she replied.

Silence again. Spike seemed to enjoy taking his time to answer. Quinn was a rather impatient woman, but for some reason she didn't mind the time Spike took to reply. It almost made his response better when he'd finally decide to speak up.

"Do you know what it's like to live without actually being alive?" Spike asked. Of all the things he could've asked her, why did it have to be something so poetic? And worst of all, why did she have to understand what he meant.

"All my life," she admit. Quinn thought about the life she had nine months ago. Without a doubt, she missed it, but in all frankness besides the material things her wealth, status, and career bought her, she didn't quite know what she was holding on to.

Of course she had a wonderful career, and a few friends here and there, but none of it really fulfilled her. That life she lived all that time ago was a better life than the life she was living now, but as Quinn continued on pushing through the hardships Mack's insanity had brought upon her, she found that she was beginning to love the spontaneity of her new lifestyle. Of course she would give anything to go back to what she had before, but it was only now that she was truly thinking about what she actually had left.

"You really loved her, didn't you," Spike asked, and Quinn nodded slowly. That was her life. Despite all odds Mack was the center of her universe. Quinn didn't care about the money or the power or anything like that. What she really cared about was the woman she loved. Maybe that's why when Mack betrayed her it felt like she died, but continued on living.

"Of course I did," Quinn replied.

"But she's gone now. She's no longer the woman I love, and quite frankly I don't know if the woman I came to love was ever real to begin with," she added somberly. Spike inhaled one final breath of smoke before squishing the cigarette butt onto the floor beneath them.

"I have a feeling you know what that's like," Quinn stated.

"I do, and I know what it's like to have all of that disappear in the blink of an eye," he replied.

"You can only run so far from your past before it catches up to you," he added, and Quinn nodded in agreement even though she didn't quite understand what he meant.

"Is that what makes you so tough?" Quinn asked, not expecting much more than a simple nod, but to her surprise, he continued to speak.

"Oh I'm sure there's much more, but I think about it so little that I hardly remember it anymore," he shrugged, and as he adjusted his posture, Quinn noticed the bandages that were wrapped around his knuckles. He must've hit the wall pretty hard in order to obtain such wounds.

"You're a rough fighter, I can tell," Quinn complimented, and she meant it in more ways than one. Spike seemed to pick up on this.

"So are you," he replied amicably before stretching his arms over his head. Quinn desperately wanted to apologize for her outburst earlier, but she had a feeling Spike didn't value such  minuscule displays of kindness. It seemed like he appreciated actions more than words, and Quinn felt the same way.

"I just wanna ask one thing though, did you really not sleep with her?" Quinn inquired sheepishly, and Spike shook his head.

"I did not. She's a rather beautiful girl for sure, but she's a bit too thick headed for me," he added as he stood upright.

"I have a thing for tough women, and she didn't quite fit that category," he half smiled before making his way back down the hallway. Quinn blushed as she watched him walk away. Was he just flirting with her? She couldn't quite tell. Regardless, the conversation filled her heart with endless amounts of butterflies.

"Oh and one more thing," Spike suddenly called out once he reached the end of the corridor.

"I know you read my magazine," he teased. Quinn suddenly felt her stomach turn inside out. How could he have known? Did he really remember the exact placement of the magazine when he put in underneath his pillow? No, there was no way he was that observant.

"Magazine? I don't know what you're talking about ," she lied as she watched Spike begin to turn the corner.

"Please, it was left on a page that had a girl who looked just like Mack," he mocked. Quinn's face got hotter. What were the odds that she had done such a thing.

"No it was not!" She scoffed. There was no way she had done that, plus as much as she missed her, she wasn't interested in ogling over women that fit the same description.

"Yeah you're right, it wasn't. But you just confirmed my suspicions," Spike winked before leaving Quinn humiliated in the darkness.

Quinn's jaw hit the floor once Spike has disappeared around the corner. Did she really just out herself like that? She couldn't believe it.

"The nerve of that man," Quinn huffed silently to herself as she made her way back to the living area.

...

Quinn awoke the next morning on the couch with a blanket draped over her. Again she figured she had overslept. As she got up from the couch, there was an almost eerie quietness that filled the room. Faye and Spike weren't bickering for once and it was strange to awake to such peacefulness.

Quinn yawned as she made her way back to her pod to get dressed. When she arrived to the loading bay, she noticed it was open. From what Quinn could see, they were on Venus. And judging buy the absence of Faye and Spikes ships, she assumed they had gone out on a hunt.

Once she got dressed, she walked back to the front of the ship in hopes of finding Jet. To her luck, he was sitting at the controls playing some sort of digital chess game.

"Mornin Jet, where's the rest of the gang?" Quinn asked through a yawn as she approached the counter Jet was sitting at.

"Good morning Quinn, there's a hefty bounty on a few guys over in one of the main cities, and Spike was quick to hop on it," he explained, and Quinn nodded in response.

"I'll be heading out shortly, I've got a friend I haven't seen in quite some time. Thought I'd pay him a visit while I'm here," Jet announced.

"I'm assuming you won't be going out?" He added, and Quinn chuckled lightly.

"Unless I want to get arrested, no," she added humbly before Jet gestured towards the kitchen area. 

"I fixed you something to eat if you're feeling up to it," Jet asked, and Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Up to it?" She questioned, and Jet sighed before scratching the back of his head.

"Last night was rough for you," he mentioned, and Quinn exhaled slowly before responding.

"Rough is one way to put it," she sighed as she followed Jet into the kitchen.

"Spike didn't eat what I mad him last night, so I figured you might be a similar mood today," Jet admit as he passed Quinn a plate of eggs, toast, and fruit.

"Thanks for thinking of me. It means a lot," Quinn smiled before graciously accepting the food.

Quinn spoke with Jet for awhile, and she enjoyed getting to know the man. She learned a little bit about his past, and how he came to be the owner of the Bebop. Jet was an interesting man for sure, and Quinn was growing to really appreciate his presence.

Once he had set off to meet his friend, he showed Quinn a small workshop area where she could begin tinkering with the data from the microchip.

She spent hours alone working on rebuilding her device, and thankfully for Quinn, Mack wasn't too fantastic with tech, and all the passcodes she had used to protect Quinn's data was easy to bypass.

Quinn was also lucky that absolutely nothing was deleted. All her info was laid neatly ahead of her. Although there was 10 years worth of information packed into such a small screen, the ideas and numbers were quick to flow back into Quinn's mind. Within a week she figured she'd be able to fix up a brand new device.

...

Upon entering the living room after she had spent hours working on her device, Quinn found that it was still completely empty. Quinn didn't think much of it and instead took advantage of the empty couch space. She kept in her pocket the microchip Spike had acquired. Although it was now empty (she had transferred the files onto the tablet as well as a secondary chip) she kept the device in her pocket as a keepsake.

Quinn knew that Mack had already downloaded countless copies of the tech onto her computer, meaning that the the physical chip was beyond redundant. But Mack knew that it pissed Quinn off to have such a statement hanging around her neck. It was almost like Quinn was a dog, and Mack was holding a slab of meat over her nose.

Eventually Quinn got bored just lazing around, but exploring Venus with a face like hers was no safe option. Instead, she decided to take a peak outside on the empty landing strip. As she entered and exited the loading bay, she saw how gorgeous the sun was outside. Her heart ached for the city but her mind knew that it was far too dangerous for her.

As she soaked up the sun outside, she listened to music through her wireless earbuds. For a small amount of time Quinn actually felt at peace with the universe. Despite the events of last night, Quinn had found a moment in time where she decided to not worry about the trivial complexities of  the real world. Instead she just enjoyed her music and the warming rays of the sun.

...

As time passed Quinn's tranquility began to slip. A feeling of uneasiness and paranoia began to wash over her body as she continued to sunbathe. Something was off, but she tried to convince herself it was just a bad feeling. After all, she had been fighting for her life everyday for the past nine months. It wasn't surprising that she wasn't able to find complete comfort on her own.

Suddenly, a loud whirring made Quinn take out her earbuds and look upwards. Overhead a small ship was beginning to descend from the sky. Quinn panicked as she noticed that the ship wasn't Spikes, Fayes, or Jets. The loading bay was empty except for her ship, so whoever was landing there definitely wasn't to be expected.

Alarmed, Quinn stepped back and allowed the ship to land as she began keying in a distress signal to send to Spike. When the ship had docked and Quinn got a clear view of who was in the pilots seat, she hit send.

It was Mack.