Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Outlaw Star Fan Fiction ❯ Beyond the Screen ❯ Session 6: Country Ctarl Cowgirl ( Chapter 6 )

Note: I dunno if the part about Meflina's chamber is true, but I'm willing to bet it is.

While we're on that subject, there's some graphic scenes/HEAVY implication ahead. Avert ye eyes, kiddies! I know you won't, but I have to try, anyway…

I'd like to apologize in advance to the following groups: parents of impressionable children (technically, neither of them should be reading this), homosexual Ctarl-Ctarl (sexually active ones in general, really), and anyone who doesn't like the thought of Melfina being…nude when she heals (for an idea of who needs to be healed, see Chapter 5). I honestly didn't set out to be offensive, promise. It just happens when I've been stuck on this story so long…

Warning: Jim/Melfina mushiness (no, not THAT kind) ahead, accompanied by carefully plotted silliness and awkward moments aplenty.

Session 6: Country Ctarl-Ctarl Cowgirl

Aisha came to slowly, as if a curtain were being lifted from her mind. The room gradually swam into focus, and the memory of the last few hours returned to her. Her fur began to stand on end as a vision of Ron McDougall's grinning face found its way into her head.

Something soft and pleasant tickled her chin and snorted.

Aisha blinked and looked down to see Ed snuggled up on her chest. There were several bandages crisscrossing her upper body, but the girl appeared to be unharmed otherwise. Without realizing it, Aisha brought her hand up and gently traced Ed's spine with her fingers.

Ed shifted in her sleep and pressed her face into Aisha's neck.

Aisha smiled faintly and closed her eyes. Not yet, she decided. But soon.

* * * * *

Spike, Gene, Suzuka, and Jet all stared down at the sealed chamber expectantly.

"So…how long does this usually take?" Spike asked after a minute.

"Depends on the injury," Suzuka murmured. "With Gene, it was about twenty minutes to remove most of the poison. It shouldn't take as long, since Jim is smaller and it was only a strong tranquilizer."

"And…what exactly does she…DO down there?" Jet asked.

Everyone looked at Gene.

"Well…er…it's…hard to explain," he said at last, rubbing his head nervously. "She just…kinda…holds you. Then it just…happens, I guess. Only…"

"Only what?" Suzuka asked.

Gene turned a slight shade of red. "She…kinda…um…does it totally-"

There was a loud hiss, and then the chamber slowly rose from the floor. The panel slid open, and Jim suddenly burst into the open, a wild look in his eyes and a hand clamped firmly over his nose. Without so much as a glance, he fled from the bridge, his soaking pants leaving a damp trail behind him.

A moment later, Melfina slowly emerged as well, her cheeks tinted red.

"How'd it go?" Jet asked.

"The…operation…was a success," Melfina replied hesitantly, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Jim will be fine…in a few hours. He just needs to rest…alone."

"Is something the matter, Melfina?" Suzuka wondered, touching her shoulder.

"No…no, nothing's wrong." Melfina attempted a reassuring smile, but it didn't go over so well. "Excuse me." She hurriedly left the bridge.

"What was that all about?" Jet asked, clearly puzzled.

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Gene replied. "Melfina can heal, but for some reason, she has to do it totally naked."

Spike looked at Jet, who looked at Suzuka. "Oh," they all said at once. "OH!"

"Yeah," Gene agreed with a small grin. "Quite a sight to wake up to, lemme tell ya…"

* * * * *

Once Jim's breathing returned to normal, he laid down and stared at the ceiling for about an hour.

Not that it helped all that much.

There was a small part of his mind that had acknowledged long ago, back when he'd first seen her, that Melfina was a girl, that she was fairly pretty, and that that made her a fairly pretty girl who was nice to look at. Only, they were in quite a tight spot then, so he'd been forced to file that fact away for later in order to keep himself in once piece. So he often forgot that Melfina was fairly pretty and just focused on the fact that she was a girl most of the time.

Somewhere along the line, he'd also forgotten that you should never shake your head upon waking up. If your neck was broken, you could tear your head clean from your shoulders. If you were wedged between a rock and a hard place, you could bust your skull wide open.

And if your head was currently safely, firmly nestled between two very soft, NATURAL pillows, well…

At Melfina's pleading, he had honestly tried to calm down. It was not easy, but it had been possible.

At least, until he'd made the mistake of looking down to make sure he was still dressed. His shirt was gone, but that was not what had made his nose decide to explode.

Fortunately, she was mostly done at that point, so his rushing out and ruining the bonding moment hadn't affected his health any. He'd been a little lightheaded, but that was probably from the blood loss.

Suddenly, there was a quiet knock on the door.

"Yeah?" Jim called.

"…Jim?"

His blood ran cold. "…Melfina?"

"Can I come in, Jim? Please? It's important…"

He honestly considered saying no.

But then Ein appeared from under his bed and went straight to the door.

Something told Jim his privacy was about to end, so he pulled a pillow over his face.

The door slid open, then slid shut.

"Jim?" she asked, sounding much closer.

He sighed and removed the pillow, determined to keep this brief. "What."

"I wanted to make sure the tranquilizer was completely purged from your system."

He gave her a blank look.

"…I'm going to have to touch you to do that."

The blank look remained. "Where."

"Just your face."

Jim considered that (for LONG moment), and then nodded.

Melfina looked away. "You should probably close your eyes…"

"OH, COME ON!!!"

"Jim, please!" Melfina was near tears. "I'm just so worried about you…!"

"Fine, fine!" He closed his eyes. "Just…hurry up and do…whatever it is you do…"

"Try to relax."

Jim almost snorted at that.

Melfina carefully laid her hands on his head and chin.

Jim forced himself not to tremble as her silky, raven hair brushed his cheek, and tried not to think of how close she had to be in order for that to be possible.

Finally, she removed her hands and stepped back. "I'm done."

Jim opened his eyes. "So am I okay?"

She nodded, and then bit her lip. "Jim…I'm sorry."

He grunted. "Not your fault."

"But…I should've asked your permission first."

"If you'd waited to do that, you'd probably still be waiting. It WAS a tranquilizer."

"…I just want you to look at me the way you used to…"

Jim sighed. "That's…gonna take some time, Mel. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."

"I understand," she said softly. Then, as if she'd had a great idea, Melfina brightened. "Jim?"

"Yeah?"

"If it makes you feel better, you had the least memorable reaction of all the people I've healed."

Jim's head took a few seconds to process that. "Wait, how many HAVE you-"

"As of today? Three, including you."

"I know there was the one time with Gene, but who else?"

"Your new friend. Ed."

"ED?!" Jim cried in shock and perhaps dismay.

Melfina seemed a little miffed at his response. "Jim, we had no way of knowing how badly she was hurt, and to do nothing would've put her in even more danger! We all agreed that it was the best course of action."

"Well…yeah, when you put it like that…" Jim admitted grudgingly.

Melfina smirked slightly. "She didn't have any complaints."

Jim's eyes bulged. "WHAT!"

"I mean she didn't freak out like you did. In fact, she thought it was great fun."

"What exactly did you two DO down there?!"

"I healed her," Melfina replied somewhat mysteriously.

"And what did SHE do?!"

"Well…she tickled me, among other things…"

Jim's face went pale. "Do I want to hear the rest of this?"

"Probably not. But I do know something you might want to hear." Melfina couldn't help smiling. "You do remember how Gene told you I healed him?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"His version wasn't…quite so authentic."

Jim blinked. "Say what?"

"He left some things out. Mainly how his first instinct upon waking up with a girl is to flash her, as a sort of reminder of the previous night."

Jim snickered. "He flashed you?"

"That's putting it mildly. He made a big show of putting his pants back on really slowly."

"PLEASE tell me you recorded that somehow!" Jim pleaded.

"It's only in my head, I'm afraid. Gene seems to think that's the best place for it."

"He would, the big jerk."

Melfina smiled, as if she was going to add something, but decided not to.

"So how come you didn't fix up Aisha?'

Melfina laughed nervously. "She once told me that if she ever woke up anywhere and found me naked beside her, only one of us would make it out alive."

Jim frowned. "Wow. I really thought Aisha'd be more open-minded about something like that."

"Oh, it's not that. Apparently, Ctarl-Ctarl have very strict customs on same-sex mating. `Two Ctarl enter, one Ctarl leaves.' At least, that's how Aisha explained it."

"So…are you trying to tell me that Aisha thinks you're hot, or that she wants to mate with you and then kill you?"

Melfina shrugged. "I'm not really sure. But I figured you wouldn't be mad at me after I told you…"

Jim shook his head. "Mel, I'm not MAD at you. It was just…a weird situation for me, okay?"

"Then…we're still friends?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course we are," he replied. "But if you ever flash me, all bets are off."

"Really?! Oh, Jim…you…" Melfina gestured uncertainly with her hands, looking at him helplessly.

Jim sighed heavily. "Okay, but just ONE, and make it quick."

Melfina beamed and rushed forward to wrap him in a big hug. "Thank you," she whispered into his hair.

He blushed. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't make a habit out of it."

* * * * *

Gene scowled as he bent over Ron McDougall's chest. "Dammit, Jim should be doing this. It was hard enough just to crack the sucker open."

"I think you've made remarkable progress for someone of your IQ, Mr. Smooth."

Gene rolled his eyes. "MPU…go away, please. I really need Gilliam's help right about now."

"Very well."

"Goodness, Gene! Isn't that Ron-"

"Yeah, it is. Can you tell me what I'm looking at here?"

"Hmm. Based on the data that my…ah…friend has collected, Harry seems to have downloaded his brainwaves into that device in Ron's chest."

"So they're both dead?"

"It would seem so. That Jet must be quite a marksman."

"I'm starting to wonder if any of those guys aren't deadly myself. Well, except for Faye. She's an angel…" Gene smiled dreamily.

Gilliam wisely decided not to tell Gene that Faye was currently in his room, going through, among other things, his wallet.

* * * * *

Ed woke up when something soft and furry insisted on tickling her nose. When the world came into focus, the first thing she saw was Aisha's grinning face. The next was a long, brown tail that waved in greeting.

"Hey, kiddo," Aisha said softly, brushing Ed's cheek with her tail. "You okay?"

Ed grinned and nodded. She didn't seem to mind at all waking up slumped over Aisha's back.

"That's good." Aisha turned away, staring into the night sky. "Ed…you're special. You know that, right?"

"Edward is super special!" she crowed.

Aisha chuckled softly, a rumbling sound that traveled down her back and tickled Ed's tummy. "You don't know how right you are, Ed."

"…Aisha?"

"Hmm?"

"…I think I remember where I know those two mean men from."

"We can talk about that later, kiddo." Eager to change the subject, she tickled Ed's chin with her tail. "Hey. Wanna see something really cool…?"

* * * * *

Jim stepped onto the roof quietly. Though, if Aisha was really up here, she would've heard him coming a mile away.

She was sprawled on the center of the roof: a huge, sleek mass of snow white fur and black stripes.

Jim smiled faintly and started to leave. But that was when he saw it.

A flash of red nestled among all the white.

His heart pounding, Jim crept closer…and sighed when Ed's sleeping face appeared, plastered with a dreamy grin. Shaking his head, he turned to leave, unaware of the two pairs of feline eyes that were laughing at him in silence.

* * * * *

Jet needed a smoke afterwards.

In that way, he thought shooting a man was a lot like sex.

The older you got, the less chances you had to get it right. Nothing went right when you missed. Nobody wanted a partner that couldn't hit the mark in either case.

And, when you got right down to it, each came along with a kind of buzz that could only be calmed properly with a good smoke.

Jet needed a good smoke, and he didn't want the sentient ship whining at him, so he'd gone outside and sat down a good distance away.

He was right: it was, in a way, exactly what he needed.

It was too bad he hadn't gotten the sex beforehand, though.

Suddenly, the door of the ship slid open, and Ein bounded out, followed closely by Melfina.

Jet cursed softly, shaking his head. Someone up there didn't like him, he could just feel it.

Of course, Ein spotted him and ran over at once. The Welsh Corgie put his front paws on Jet's knee, greedily demanding to have his head rubbed.

Jet glared at him. "Oh, so NOW you're my dog, huh? Bet you're hungry, too." All the same, he gave in and scratched behind the little dog's ears. Almost absently, he dropped his cigarette and crushed it under his boot.

Eventually, Melfina wandered over. "Jim told me what you did for him and Ed," she said, trying to sound casual.

Jet shrugged. "Couldn't help it. Kinda feel responsible for `em. Never had any kids of my own."

Ein chose that moment to lick Jet's chin, as if trying to prove the Black Dog was really nothing more than the Black Teddy Bear.

"I wanted to thank you." Melfina hesitated. "For saving them…and bringing them home."

Jet started to point out that Ed didn't technically live on the XGP, but decided against it. "No need to. Just…doing my job. Sort of."

"But I want to." With that, Melfina leaned down, cupping his face in both her hands, and kissed his forehead.

Jet had the decency to look startled, pleased, and foolish all at once.

Melfina blushed slightly as she straightened up. "Well. Thank you, Jet." She turned and headed back to the ship.

"Well, I'll be a data dog's uncle," Jet murmured, blinking slowly. Almost automatically, he reached for another smoke, and then hesitated. "Close enough," he quickly decided before lighting one up.

* * * * *

"It was nice."

"Is that what you call it?"

Suzuka sighed in annoyance. "I meant buying me the boots. Thank you."

"Oh. You meant THAT it." Spike nodded sagely. "You're welcome."

"…though…the other it was fun, too…"

"About that…" Spike began.

"Let me guess. You have…unfinished business from your past that you can no longer ignore. Trying to stay in a relationship would be too time-consuming, among other things."

Spike blinked. "You handled that well…?"

"I was going to tell you the same thing."

"Revenge for you, too, huh?"

Suzuka shook her head. "Not quite….not anymore, anyway. More like facing my personal demons."

"Losing someone is always hard," Spike said quietly. "Losing everyone must be really tough."

"It's not so bad now. I have a new…family, I suppose."

"I think you'll be able to add Ed to that list soon. Something tells me when we pull outta here, she won't be going with us. It's probably safer that way."

"For her, or for your conscience?"

"Both. Tell Aisha to tell her I said bye, okay?"

Suzuka smirked. "Sure. But only if you say bye to me first."

Spike chuckled. "I thought men were supposed to be the insatiable ones?"

"You must be contagious," she replied with a smile.

* * * * *

"Are you SURE you have to go?"

Faye sighed as she pulled her jacket on. "Yes, Gene. You knew when we got…involved that I wouldn't be here forever."

"Actually, I was hoping I could convince you to stay…"

Faye laughed. "Well, it was a very good attempt. But for now, Spike & Jet are the best free ride in town, and at least with them, I'll stay on my toes."

"I suppose you think we all play it safe around here?"

"Not really. Jim doesn't seem like the type that gets shaken easily, and Ed…is Ed."

Gene frowned. "I can understand YOU leaving, but I really wish you'd take her with you."

"Sorry. Ed's happy here. It might be the best place for her. Could it really hurt to have two hackers on board? Jim might get sick one day."

"I guess it's a good idea," Gene sighed, flopping back down on his pillow. "Just wish she wasn't so damn annoying…"

"You get used to it. Mostly. In the end, she'll help you out twice as much as Jim does. She doesn't really know what `illegal' means, for one thing."

"That's always a plus. I could use some new castor shells."

"See? All you have to do is look on the bright side with Ed. Constantly."

* * * * *

"Remember, don't eat anything that's smoking. Don't drown that banzai tree I gave you, either. And for Pete's sake, invest in some SOCKS, kid."

"Okay, Jet-person!" Ed replied.

Jet sighed and rubbed her head fondly. "Not gonna be the same without you, Edward. Take care of yourself, okay?"

Ed immediately latched onto his chest. "PAPAAA!!!"

"Sure, now you get it right." Jet gently pulled her off and set her down. "Stay in touch, kid."

He had just reached the Bebop's main door when Melfina ran up with Ein in tow.

"Jet? Ed told me Ein was yours, so…" Wordlessly, she held out the little dog, looking heartbroken.

"Ah…you keep him. I think he's had enough of us."

"Oh, but I couldn't!"

"Well, listen. Why don't you put him down, and whoever he goes to keeps him?"

That seemed fair, so Melfina set Ein down on the threshold and backed up.

Ein looked up at both of them expectantly and did not move.

Jet grinned. "Hey, Melfina. Don't suppose you've ever had bell peppers and beef, have you?"

Ein's ears twitched, and he quickly moved to sit at Melfina's feet.

Confused but very happy, Melfina picked him up at once. "Are you sure you don't mind, Jet?"

"You just make sure you feed him plenty of beef. He's been going without for a while now…"

Ein whined in his throat, and Jet could only laugh heartily.

* * * * *

Jim woke up in the middle of the night to find Ed fast asleep next to him.

In his bed. Wearing nothing but one of his older, dirtier shirts.

"Breathe," he reminded himself quietly.

Carefully, he reached out and brushed her cheek with his fingertips.

Ed absently snapped at his fingers and then wriggled closer, resting her head against his chest.

Jim smiled and started to close his eyes when something squeezed his waist. Curious, he looked down…

…and found a thin, brown, furry tail wrapped around him.

After a moment's shock, he checked to make sure it wasn't his.

Once that he was settled, he shook his head. "Definitely gonna take some getting used to."

He closed his eyes, never actually seeing the smile that suddenly appeared on Ed's face, but somehow knowing it was there, anyway.

End Notes: Maybe NOT the best place to end it. But for the most part, it is ended…

In conclusion, everything pretty much happens as normal. The Bebop crew (what's left of it) ventures on, and Spike faces Vicious one last time. The Outlaw Star's crew continues their adventures in space, but with some new…animals on board… Okay, Aisha wouldn't like that word. New…Ctarl crew members. Yes. Better. (Ed's only half, so she gets one Ctarl instead of the usual two, ha ha…man, that's not even funny to ME…I really need to stop this now…)

And if you want to thank anyone for inspiring me to get this done, you can thank this very determined reader, who was kind enough to shout at me, incidentally, on the very same day I was adding what became the final eight scenes. I took it as a sign to get it done, and here's the e-mail. (Don't be mad, Tigris, please!) Don't mind the language, those were my EXACT words when I spoke of updating this monster… ^_^

Hello,

I'm speaking on behalf of all my friends whom I have, literally FORCED to read your Fan fiction, Beyond the Screen. You have not updated your story since October 26, 2002!!! NOW GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND UPDATE!!!!! GOD ALMIGHTY!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,

Tigris

A.K.A.

~*~ Yuri ~*~