Time to Know
"Why do you have to go?"
Bebop fans seem to be chiefly divided into three factions (with some renegade groups here and there). One that stubbornly insists that Spike had eyes only for Julia, one that persists in believing in an offscreen Faye/Spike romance, and one that screams "Are you BLIND? Faye's got the hots for Jet!" The Faye and Jet issue, though valid and with enough support, will not be discussed as it does not belong in a Spike shrine.
While Spike seems to regard Julia as his one true love, it is not impossible for him to have developed any kind of feelings for Faye or vice versa. Let's even disregard Watanabe's answer to a question regarding this very topic that confirms that Spike likes Faye "quite a bit" but doesn't show it and see for ourselves. She's pretty and - despite what he claims - exactly the type of woman Spike would fall for (except maybe more troublesome). There's definitely some kind of tension there, obvious right from the third episode. But Faye being who she is (an essentially uninvited freeloader who often gets into trouble and whose world seems to revolve only around money) and Spike being what he is (too cool for you and with a broken heart), neither one of them display their feelings for the other to see.
But it's the little things that fire up the imagination and fuel speculation, particularly since Faye is a little more obvious about her feelings than Spike and Spike, though he never says or does anything straight out, does not seem to discourage her. In My Funny Valentine, even though he shoots at Faye's ship when she's attempting spirit their bounty (a man she used to be in love with), he doesn't seem to be seriously intent on killing them - only in disabling the Redtail. Besides, knowing his hatred for "small fry" and his usual apparent indifference to Faye's activities, the fact that he would bother to give chase says something about the way he feels about the whole thing. Perhaps it is jealousy or simply a desire to force Faye into seeing "reason." Either way, he would not have gone after her if he hadn't cared about her. In the end, as Faye complains about her lost past, Spike dispenses what is his wisest line in the entire series while basically telling Faye to get over it.
"That's easy for you to say. You have a past."
"And you have a future. That's what counts."
Further signs of their slowly deepening relationship appear in the Pierrot Le Fou episode. Ed reads Ton Fou's message to Spike arranging a meeting in Space Land (which would surely result in massive pain and possibly a dose of deadness for an already injured Spike) and promptly takes it to Faye, who says they should keep it a secret from Spike in an obvious attempt to keep him from doing something stupid. But Spike overhears the exchange and there's nothing Faye can do. Spike teases her by saying
"Maybe this is the one. The one I won't come back from. The end."
Faye gives him a stricken look, clearly upset, and he smiles and says
"Just messing with your head. Would you rescue me if it were true?"
This may seem a little cruel, but perhaps this teasing is Spike's idea of flirting. Faye rises to the bait, by the way, and flies off to try to rescue him.
The last episode forces fans (that don't write or read fanfiction) to give up hope of any on-board romance between Spike and Faye, however. Faye's always been interested in "Julia" because of her relationship with Spike in the past - a past which Faye knows she can never touch - and is clearly shocked when she finally meets Julia. When Julia gives her a message to relay to Spike, she decides to return to the Bebop, even though he had just asked her to come back for Jet's sake and she had told him no. When she gives Spike the message and the syndicate attacks, Spike wonders if she had been followed to the ship, and she looks stricken yet again. The thought that she had brought Spike's doom to him is clearly upsetting.
When Spike returns to the Bebop after Julia's death for his last meal, Faye tries to stop him, actually choking up and asking why he has to go, practically pleading that he stay with them (her). It appears to me that she's mostly upset because she came back for his sake, but now he was going off to die and there was nothing she could to to stop him. Spike tries to explain himself to Faye but ultimately leaves her in tears.
The relationship appears a little one-sided, but as I said there a lot of little things, small gestures, and some words that I cannot simply list that might show that Spike returned her feelings to a certain extent, as much as a man only half alive could. I don't think Faye could ever have replaced Julia,though, but she may have been able to make Spike's life more interesting. Still, whatever they had (or COULD have had), I don't think it would ever have been permanent (even if Spike hadn't died). They're a bit too good as friends - despite all appearances, if you know what I mean. I have to admit that I prefer their relationship over the Spike/Julia one, simply because I don't have enough information about Julia and what I do know, I don't particularly like. Vicious was a well-fleshed out character but Julia, sadly, was not.
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