Cowboy Bebop Nightmares

Nightmares

**Summary**: Jet wakes up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Deciding against lying awake in bed, he gets up, only to find Ed up as well, crying. Fatherly Jet comforting Ed, fluff.

**Rating**: K+, for Ed's description of her nightmare.

**Disclaimer**: Let me look in the back of my cupboard. Hm, no. It appears that I don't own these characters.

Jet rolled over on his creaky mattress and cracked open an eye to check the time. The neon green numbers read 3:30 am. He groaned quietly and dragged a hand down his face.

"Why the hell am I awake?" he asked himself.

For a long moment, he laid as still as possible, hoping that he might drift off into oblivion once more. But it didn't come. He was simply too alert. And for no reason, it seemed.

Jet sat up and sung his legs over the edge of the bed, feet searching for his shoes. He'd be damned if he ever walked barefoot around the Bebop again, after what had happened last time. What was the point of getting Ein a litter box if he wasn't going to use it?

He decided to go and check the refrigerator for an early breakfast. Chances were slim that there was anything to eat, but he figured if there was he could sneak some for himself without any of his crew being the wiser. If not, then Jet supposed he could always check the engine and the fuel and everything else.

The ex-officer walked as quietly as he could down the hallways. He didn't want to wake the others, especially Faye. She was bitchy on a good day. No one wanted to deal with her when she had been woken from her beauty sleep.

He froze at the top of the stairway, listening intently. Jet was sure he had just heard something. But when nothing else happened, he shrugged it off and continued. But as he crossed the room, he heard it again. It came from the dingy old couch.

Cautiously, Jet moved behind it and looked over the back of the furniture. Ed was curled up on a single cushion. He'd always wondered how she managed to do that. He smiled a little to himself. The girl was probably snoring occasionally. Jet looked around for a blanket to cover her with, but before he could move, he heard the sound again, and Ed stirred.

It was then he realized that she wasn't snoring; she was sniffling. And she had just wiped tears from her puffy red cheeks. Ed was obviously awake, but oblivious to his presence.

"Ed?" he said as softly as he could in his gruff voice.

The girl jolted and rolled off the couch, long limbs flailing. Jet tensed in surprise, extending a useless hand.

"Ed, you okay?" he asked.

The preteen wiped her face as she stood, back to Jet. Then she spun around with a wide grin. "Morning, Jet-person!"

Jet scowled at her. Her eyes were red from crying, and her voice was thick. But then he consciously relaxed his features. The man knew that if a child thought he was mad, they would clam up. "You okay, Ed?" he asked again.

"Yup," she drawled cheerily, spreading her arms. "Jet-person is awake early."

"So is Ed," Jet humored her. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope!"

"You're sure?"

"Yup!"

"Well, I think there's something wrong," Jet pointed out. "You're crying."

"Ed is fine as wine and dine and pine."

Jet looked at her for a long moment, and she began to sway back and forth on her feet as though she were dancing. Then he moved around the arm of the couch and sat, patting the cushion beside him with a heavy sigh.

"Whee!" Ed cried, flinging herself down beside him. She sat upside-down, her head lolling off the edge of the seat and legs dangling over the back of the couch.

"Edward," Jet said seriously.

Hearing her full name, Ed looked at him, smile faltering only slightly.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" He raised an eyebrow at her to emphasize his question.

She nodded fervently, flailing her feet. "Yup! Ed tells Jet-person lots of things!"

"I mean, you can tell me if something is bothering you, got it?"

"Yup!"

"So, you wanna tell me why you were crying?"

Ed stilled for a split second, but Jet was keen enough that he noticed it. She shook her head, smiling. "Ed is dandy."

Jet looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Ed."

"Yes, Jet?"

Jet opened his mouth to reply, but then choked on his air when he realized how Ed had addressed him. There was no -person, no repeat. Something was clearly very seriously wrong. Normal was not...normal. At least not for Ed.

"You were crying, I know you were," Jet tried again, as gently as he could. "Why won't you tell me why? Don't you trust me?"

"Ed trusts Jet-person."

Jet nodded slowly. "So, why won't you tell me?"

"Thinking about it makes Ed sad."

"Maybe talking about it will help," he countered.

Ed twiddled her toes quietly. Another bad sign. After a long, terse moment, she asked, "Does Jet-person have a mom?"

Jet was taken aback by her question. "Uh, yeah," he said finally. "Well, I did have a mom. But she passed away a while ago."

Ed nodded. "Ed's mom died, too."

"Sorry to hear that," he said. "Is that why you're sad?"

She shook her head. "Ed is sad because of Ed's dream."

"You had a nightmare, huh?"

The young girl nodded glumly.

"What happened in your dream?" Jet noted the way her usually bright eyes misted with tears, and his heart ached for her.

"Ed killed Jet-person," she said huskily. "And Spike-person, and Faye-Faye."

Jet gaped at her. "You killed us?" he repeated, unsure whether he had heard her right.

She nodded. "Ed is sorry."

He furrowed his brow. "But that won't happen," he reasoned. "You won't kill us. Not unless you had no choice." Jet gave a small smile at that, trying to lighten her mood.

But Ed kept her eyes on her hands, which were clasped on her belly. "Ed killed Ed's mom."

"Well," Jet said slowly, "why?"

Ed shrugged. "Ed was born."

Jet frowned. What did that mean? After a moment, it hit him. "Did your mom die in childbirth, Ed?"

She nodded.

"That's not your fault."

"It is."

"It's not," he insisted. "Listen, Ed, sometimes bad things happen for no reason, but that doesn't mean it's anyone's fault. I don't think your mom would want you to be sad because of something like that, would she?"

Ed met his gaze, eyes watery. "Jet-person thinks so?" she asked, a bit hopefully.

Jet nodded firmly. "I know so."

She broke eye contact and looked back at her toes, which she had begun to wriggle again. After a moment, other parts of her body began to move around, until she had squirmed over the edge of the cushion and slumped onto the floor. Ed giggled and curled into a ball. "Good night, Jet-person!" she sang.

Jet smiled gently. "Good night, Ed." As she closed her eyes, so did he and he leaned back and intertwined his fingers behind his head. For good measure, he dropped his heels onto the coffee table, crossing his ankles. A few more hours of sleep never hurt anyone, after all.

**A/N: **Just an idea I had to get out of my head. I don't think there's enough fatherly Jet out there. :)

Thanks for reading!


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Cowboy Bebop, Hurt-Comfort