Fics: Growing Panes
By: PaBurke
Disclaimer: No infringement intended. I’m just playing, no profit involved. If you recognize the characters, they’re not mine.
Distribution: The Nook, ff.net, lj
Spoilers: Season 1 of Firefly, plus the movie. Supernatural AU
AN: I got mad at a Firefly/Supernatural Sam/River story because the author didn’t understand the brotherhood relationship, so I wrote my own.
Warnings: River being very bad (but she wants to play!) + Sam had no problem being crazy + Dean’s mouth = PG-13ish.
AN2: again the first two chapters have been written for a while, but not posted on lj, but with the new chapter...
*
River had a knife again.
In public.
On a planet.
In a bar.
She was twirling around in the air, just daring someone to try and take it away from her, stepping lightly and meeting eyes like a rabid dog. The Serenity crew wisely moved back and moved all the bystanders back as well. They shifted as a unit so that Simon could catch her sister’s attention and hopefully talk her down. All together, not a situation Mal was comfortable with.
Then a man stepped in front of Simon, as tall as Jayne, but not as broad.
River focused on him and not in a good way. “Will you ace the final?” she asked.
The man grinned, ducked his head and shrugged. “Test me.”
Mal swore in Chinese. Not another crazy. Just what they needed.
The two crazies burst into action, fighting for all they were worth, which was better than any show that this two-bit Rim planet had ever seen before. It was a beautiful deadly thing, every aim for death and every deflection the breath before. The bar patrons were betting on the two and Mal didn’t know which child was favored. The man was a couple years older, more than a foot taller and with the corresponding added reach, plus the muscle mass. But River had started the fight with a knife that she still possessed.
River did some twisty, jumping thing and the man was waiting for her when she decided to accommodate gravity and come back to the ground. He kicked the knife out of her hand and punched her into the crowd.
Mal and Simon immediately rushed toward their girl. The suddenly hushed bystanders stepped back and they could see that a second man had caught her. He had his arms around her, a giant bear hug that pinned her arms against her chest. He had lifted her up to the point that River’s head rested on his shoulder. Her feet dangled off the ground and her head lolled toward his like a puppet with its strings cut. Everyone took a moment to breathe.
Why wasn’t River fighting?
“Hey, kid, what’s your name?” the man holding their mei-mei asked.
“River.” The tall fighter said the name at the same time as the girl.
“Are you okay?”
River sighed. “Yes.”
“River?” Simon edged forward. “What did he do to you?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed again. “Don’t care.”
Those were some distinctly un-River-like sentences and sentiments.
“Why don’t you put her down,” Mal ordered.
“Not yet,” River protested. This sigh was a little too blissful to be witnessed. “Am… good.”
“Grounded. Quiet. Safe,” the second crazy added.
River nodded like a doll.
The man holding River eyed her combatant. “Sammy, you okay?”
“Fine.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, but not before Simon (and Mal) noticed the blood dripping from his fingertips.
“If you come back to the ship, I’ll fix you up,” Simon offered, but he was reaching toward his sister and not his possible patient.
“Brother,” Sammy and River chorused quietly and then grinned at each other.
“Ah, hell,” the other stranger muttered. Jayne (and Mal) felt a kinship toward this man.
Mal nodded at Zoë and knew that she would take drag and keep Kaylee with her, far from any possible trouble. “Our ship’s thisaway.”
“Thank you, Cap’n,” Sammy smiled down on him from his height. He stepped lightly and followed Mal, Jayne beside him. The stranger set crazy girl on her feet and she swayed toward Simon.
“Come, mei-mei,” he said gently.
River looked from one stranger to the other. “They wanted to harness the hurricane and didn’t see the subtlety of the tides.”
“Which is truly stronger?” Sammy asked in return.
“Ah hell, cap’n,” Jayne murmured. “They’re bouncing off each other.”
“Not true,” River argued. “I a mirror, he a lens.”
“Who points the scope and measures the foci?” Sammy asked in return.
The other stranger pushed Sammy forward. “Move it, Sammy. You can have your class reunion elsewhere.”
Sammy shook off a fog and glared at the shorter man. “My name is Sam, Dean.”
“Your name is bitch,” Dean retorted.
“Jerk.”
River leaned her head against her brother’s chest. “I love you, even without all the bad words,” she told him seriously.
They made an interesting group walking up the ramp to Serenity. Mal was careful to show no fear. He had a feeling that Sam would see it. “Are you a Reader,” he asked him bluntly.
Sam (Sammy?) shook his head no. He glanced at Jayne and smiled. “I can kill you with my mind.”
Jayne outright spooked. “Cap’n, can I?” He was already reaching for his gun.
“No.”
Dean pushed Sam until he was sitting on the chair in the infirmary. Simon gently placed River on the bed on the side. She lay there, facing Sam. Sam faced her. What were they saying without words, Mal wondered from the infirmary door.
Dean watched the exchange and rolled his eyes, even as he was stripping Sam’s bloody clothes off his body. Soon Sam was bare-chested.
“So very pretty,” River smiled at him.
“Shiny,” Sam smiled in return. “So very pretty.”
“Shiny,” sighed River.
Simon doped his patient with a local anesthetic and Dean leaned him back into the chair. “Ah look doc, it’s a schoolyard crush. Should we start serenading them?”
“Please don’t,” Sam grumbled.
“Sammy and River, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-Shit. Ow.” Dean turned to glare at the girl who had lobbed a basin at his head, hard. He rubbed the back of his head to relieve the hurt. Sam had caught the basin before it hit Simon on the bounce.
The doctor glared at both Dean and River, gently extricated the basin from Sam’s hand and placed it behind him. “Don’t move; you’ll pull your stitches. River, please don’t throw things in the infirmary.”
“It’s not fair. He’s talking kissing and you won’t let me rile your patient just now with my mouth.”
Simon looked momentarily mortified. Sam was blushing.
Dean chuckled. “Seems to me that you be rilin’ the boy just fine with your mouth.”
“Hmmm,” she said and Sam hitched in his breathing and Dean was pretty sure it wasn’t due to the pain of the doc’s fine stitches.
“Doc,” he grinned. “I do believe that they are on the same wavelength, iffen you get my drift.”
Simon was blushing now. “River, if you can’t behave, I’ll have the captain put you in our room.”
“I think I’m big enough for my own room, so I can have sleepovers.”
Dean nudged the man on the table. “Sammy, I think you’re invited.”
“Shutup, Dean,” he muttered.
River giggled. Simon finished the stitches and bandaged them. Dean helped Sam dress. Mal watched it all.
“Thanks, Doc, Captain.” Dean nodded to each one in turn and pulled Sam toward the door.
Mal nodded in return and walked the two men to the ramp. River followed like a wraith. She and Sam were still makin’ eyes at each other until the brothers disappeared from sight.
“What do you think, Lil’ One,” Mal asked River.
River danced, swayed before him. “I don’t know, but it could be fun.”
“Do I need to send Zoë to follow? See where they’re parked?”
“No. Sammy told me.” Not out loud, but that had never stopped crazy before.
Mal made a mental note to have someone awake all night to make sure the girl didn’t leave her bunk. They didn’t need their doc getting into a tizzy. And they didn’t need their mei-mei makin’ cow eyes at another ship’s crazy. That might even be worse than shipboard romances.
Can’t have that.
Can’t have that, at all.
Not even if that Dean character could calm River down in a jif. He had his own crazy to take care of. Didn’t need another.
Mal’s crew was just fine as it stood. They didn’t need more and they couldn’t afford to lose any.
“Little girls grow up,” River said.
It sounded like a warning.
*
Growing Panes II
*
Mal didn’t know if it was Kaylee or River who had conned Zoë into taking his Li’l Albatross with her on the supply run. Either one could or would have depending on the circumstances.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Simon’s voice was colder than the Captain had ever heard it. So much so that Jayne was looking a bit nervous. Kaylee was holding tight to the doctor, trying to prevent him from attacking the messenger.
“Whose idea was it for River to leave the ship,” Mal asked. He was looking at Kaylee as he spoke, knowing she couldn’t lie. She shook her head, but still looked a mite guilty. Kaylee had known about it and had taken advantage of it.
“River asked me, sir,” Zoe reported apologetically. “She had been doing pretty well and she said that Simon didn’t mind.”
“Next time,” Mal cut in before Simon said something that his first officer would shoot him for, “confirm with the doc first. Zoe, you and Jayne search where you were. Kaylee, Doc, check the zoo you had planned on taking her. I’ve got the docks.”
“What about me,” Inara asked.
“Listen to the radio, check the wave traffic and let us know if she returns to the ship.”
Inara didn’t like him taking her out of the action, but accepted it. Someone did have to stay in Serenity to keep an eye out.
The two teams had already left. Mal hurried to follow. He had only been searching for thirty minutes when he caught sight of a man in the distance, frustration and desperation radiating off him has he rubbed the back of his neck. Angry, Mal charged toward him, thinking the Doc had slipped Kaylee. Once Mal got closer, he knew he had been mistaken. It was so obviously not Simon Tam that Mal paused sharply. In doing so, he caught the not-stranger’s attention.
It was Dean, brother of one of River’s “classmates.” They hadn’t seen each other in over a year, but recognition was easy and instantaneous. Dean and Mal aimed toward each other, both knowing what the other would ask and both knowing the dreaded response.
Dean opened his mouth first. “River?”
“Gone,” Mal answered. Sam?”
Dean frowned even harder. “Took off.”
Mal swore in Chinese, Dean in English.
“How does your brother get when around hands of blue?”
Dean winced. “Scary good at self-preservation.”
“River runs,” Mal warned.
“Sam doesn’t do anything less than a strategic retreat if necessary.”
“I’ve got someone listening to the waves.”
Dean nodded and turned in place, still keeping an eye out for the teens. Both men knew that wherever they were, they were together. It was too much of a coincidence otherwise and crazy didn’t do coincidence.
“What could they be up too?” Mal asked. Dean seemed to have a better handle on his brother than Simon had on his sister.
Dean huffed and shook his head. “Could be anything from a defending someone in an Alliance courtroom to acting like children at the zoo.” The courtroom sounded like a good yarn to share over a pint of beer.
“I’ve got people at the zoo.”
Dean nodded. “They’re just a pair of…” Now Dean cursed in Chinese and took off at a run. Mal was hard pressed to keep up. Dean obviously had a destination in mind. He ran past the edge of the docks and then down a steep embankment and through a canyon to a hidden ship. Mal stopped and blinked at the ship. It was an older model, smallish but it was a mint. Kaylee would be drooling. It would have stood out in the docks like a beacon. Mal wondered how they kept it in such fine condition. He had no doubt that it was in as good condition inside as out.
Dean had already used the remote in his pocket to open the side door and never broke his stride as he ran inside. Mal hurried to follow. He noticed that Dean was in really, really good shape for living on a ship.
Inside, Mal followed Dean’s voice yelling for his brother. Then Dean was cussing up a storm. Mal turned a corner and saw Dean looking down the hatch of someone’s room. Mal walked to his side, looked down and then looked away. He had seen a hell of a lot of bare flesh in that glance.
“Hair-brained, hormone driven teenagers,” Dean muttered.
“Hypocrite,” Sam responded, obviously relaxed. “Mr. I-have-several-girls-in-every-port.”
“I don’t disappear without my radio.”
“Private sleepover,” River chided.
“Get dressed,” Dean ordered. “Both of you.”
“Crasher,” Sam muttered.
“Don’t care. I’ll come down there and dress you both like dolls if I have to.”
“River,” Mal added. “I gotta get you back to Serenity before your brother has kittens.”
“Me-ow. Only one little one.”
Dean lost what little patience he had. “That’s it. I’m coming down. You had your playtime.” Dean was as good as his threat. He climbed down into Sam’s room and proceeded to pick up the various clothes. Male clothes he threw at his brother, who grumbled mutinously but did as ordered. Female frills he threw at River. She looked at the material like she didn’t have a clue as to their purpose. Dean didn’t pause as he dressed her like a doll. Mal watched to make sure that he didn’t get fresh with the girl, but he treated her as a patient. He called Inara and told her to pass on the message to Simon that River was found, safe and unharmed, and that they were on the way back to the ship.
“Good Daddy,” she said.
“Always was,” Sam told her proudly.
Mal thought it was a miracle the two managed to get down to the nitty-gritty fun with all the other things in their brains.
River tilted her head up at him. “Instinct easy.”
Dean slid socks and then shoes onto River’s slim feet and then pushed her toward the ladder. He smacked her butt. “Get a move on.”
Sam had managed to get dressed. Now he stood behind his brother and set his chin on Dean’s shoulder.
Dean stilled and leaned over enough to look at Sam without dislodging him. “You got something you need to say, little brother?” Obviously, Sam had decided on a posture and a method for using Dean to clear up his thought process long ago.
Sam nodded and not disconnecting from Dean, tilted his head back to look at Mal. “You can keep watch and give Dean time for she walls.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not safe without guard.” Sam was frustrated at Mal’s continued blank look but he wanted the man to understand.
Mal had been around his own Academy student long enough to know when he had to stay put and listen. He shifted his eyes from one brother to the other. Dean was frowning and looking put out, but not the least bit confused.
“You got a translation, Dean?”
Dean sighed. “Given enough time, silence and no interruptions, we’ve learned that I can make walls in Sam’s head and make it easier for him to function.”
Mal held out a hand to River and helped her out. “You think you can do it for River, here.”
Sam said “Yes” as Dean said “No.”
“Which is it?”
Dean finally answered. “We’re talking twenty hours or longer if we can sit still long enough. Gotta be planet side, since even the engine vibrations distract them.”
“Sounds like hoo-doo.”
“It almost is.”
“And it takes that long to voo-doo her brain?”
“How do you hold back an ocean?” River asked from Mal’s side. “The waves always erode and the tides always change.”
Mal frowned. “Is she saying that it’s not permanent?”
“Yeah,” Dean sighed. “If I get a full day uninterrupted, it’ll last a couple months tops.”
“And you want this, Mei-mei?”
“No noisy fog drowning.”
Mal sighed. “I’ll take that as a yes. We have to discuss this with your brother.” Who was going to go through the roof when he found out about the sexing.
“Don’t tattle,” Sam said.
Damn Readers, Mal thought. Both of the kids smiled at him. “Come on. Let’s go talk to the doc.” He led the way out of the ship. River and Sam followed, holding hands. Dean took drag with so professional a manner Mal wondered if, even as a kid, he had helped in the War. Dean locked up his ship behind them and double checked the gun he had tied down. Sam was also wearing a gun. He hadn’t been wearing a gun the last time Mal had seen the brothers.
“Dangerous game,” Sam announced.
Unnerved, Mal increased his stride to Serenity. They took the long way around, away from prying eyes. The whole crew made it back to the ship before them. Simon was pacing on the ramp waiting for them. From his disheveled appearance, he must have run straight from the zoo. Now he ran to his sister and almost hugged her. Then the doctor part of him took over and he examined her, head to toe.
River shrugged him off. “Just out walking, Simon. Sammy knows the quiet places.”
Mal hid a smirk at her words. He wondered when Simon would figure out what happened. Inara joined the others in welcoming back their wayward bird. The look she sent Mal said that she had recognized the after affects of sex.
“Everyone, inside,” Mal ordered.
They all trooped into Serenity and Mal used the confusion to pull Simon aside and let the rest of the girls surround River and scold her.
“Doc.”
It was the tone of voice that pulled Simon’s gaze off his sister. “What’s wrong?”
“Not so much.” Mal shrugged. “Sam and Dean seem to think that they have some sort of hoo-doo thing Dean can do that will make River better for a couple of months.”
Simon glanced at the brothers and then back at Mal. “What kind of ‘hoo-doo’ are we talking about?”
“Seems to be meditation or the like. Don’t know. It’s takes a full day of uninterrupted silence and dark. River wants it.”
“Sam doesn’t seem to be much better,” Simon said petulantly.
Mal shrugged. Sam was definitely better than River. “They don’t have anyone to keep watch and protect them during the witchcraft. They can’t do it as often as needed.”
Simon eyed Mal. “You think it’s a good idea. That doesn’t sound scientific at all.”
“How scientific can a Reader be? She won’t need the drugs for a while,” they were getting short on supplies and Mal wasn’t sure he wanted to rip off another hospital just yet, “and she’d be less of a danger to the crew.”
Simon put up his chin. “I want to see him do it to Sam first.”
Sam appeared behind them, making both men jerk. “Patching walls shorter. Need a dark room.”
“Use my bed,” River joined the conversation.
“Not happening,” Dean said. “Need the boy’s brain in his head, not lower.”
“They can use my room, sir,” Zoë offered.
“No,” Sam cut her off. “Thank you,” he forced himself to say. “Grief is counterproductive.”
Zoë looked as if Sam had smacked her, but schooled her features. She had forgotten that Sam was another Reader.
“We need your bed, Simon,” Sam said.
“So be it.” Simon led the way to their room and Mal gave everyone else a glare to get back to their rooms and/or their jobs. River cupped a hand over Kaylee’s ear and whatever she said, had Kaylee giggling and eagerly following the girl to the engine room. Zoë vanished up the stairs and to the cockpit. Jayne stayed put, in case Mal called for him. Simon turned on the light in his room and Sam was already sitting on Simon’s bed, though no one had indicated which bed belonged to which sibling.
Sam took off his boots and then his gun. Both were placed precisely and within easy reach. Then Sam scooted to the wall and laid down. Dean sat in front of him and repeated the motions. Soon, they were spooned together, Sam’s arm was around Dean’s waist and the crazy one’s head was resting on Dean’s.
“Here’s the boring part -for you,” Dean said. Then he reached up and turned off the light. Mal couldn’t hear another sound. His eyes adjusted and he saw the brothers laying there, breathing softly. It appeared that they were asleep already. Sam’s face was relaxed, but Dean’s brow was furrowed.
Simon sat on River’s bed and watched. Mal had better things to do. He left the room and hunted down his second-in-command. They had a contact to meet. Jayne could be left behind to keep watch. The merc was under strict instructions not to let anyone on or off the ship.
When Mal and Zoë returned, the atmosphere of the ship had changed dramatically. Sam was awake, sane-ish and debating with Jayne the merits of various firearms while at the same time arguing with Simon over some sort of medical philosophy or procedure-Mal wasn’t sure which. In the case of both arguments, Mal was pretty sure that Sam was winning. How, Mal didn’t know, since Simon and Jayne were talking over each other.
Zoë leaned towards Mal. “I never considered that a sane River could be scarier than a crazy one.”
Mal nodded. The possibilities of all that smarts focused in one direction were frightening. She could do anything.
Mal whistled to get everyone’s attention. Ah, blessed silence. “So what’s going on?”
Simon answered. “Dean’s sleeping now, resting up for his session with River.”
Sam shook his head. “No. He’s up now. Exercising and getting his blood pumping.”
“How long ‘till he starts?” Mal asked. He was starting to get itchy, being landside for so long and he knew that it would be a full day from when Dean started until the point that they could leave.
Sam shrugged. “He needs to use the can and then they can start.”
“They going to be in River’s bed?” Mal asked.
“No,” said Sam. “We’ll put them in the infirmary and give them IV’s with nutrients. We can turn off the lights and monitor them remotely.”
Simon jerked and somehow Mal knew that the doctor had expected problems with the hoo-doo. It had seemed too good to be true. “Can we negate complications?”
Sam wavered. “It involves how much River fights Dean. It’s instinctual not to let another into your head, even if intellectually River understands that Dean can help her.”
“What if we dope River?” Simon asked.
Sam nodded. “That will help at a certain point in time, after they are situated. That will be a last resort; the current drugs in her system will have consequences.”
Simon winced. Those were his fault.
“You have done well with the limited information at your disposal,” Sam reassured. “You kept River safe, but Dean cannot build on your chemical walls. Both sets of walls are equally artificial, but they are not complementary.”
Dean walked into the cargo bay and joined the group. He was still stretching. “What’s the plan, Sammy?”
Sam glared and rolled his eyes. “We’re sitting both of you in the infirmary.”
“Sam,” Dean whined. “The infirmary?”
“Yes. We’re going to give both of you an IV and monitor your vitals. It will reassure all of us.”
Dean huffed. “Fine.” He looked at River. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Sandcastles of gravel,” she answered.
Dean walked into the infirmary and sat in the main chair. River smiled as she stood over him. Then she lifted herself up on one hand and rotated her whole body horizontal like a gymnast in slow motion. She placed her other hand at Dean’s other hip and poised there for a moment before settling on top of Dean as gently as freshly fallen snow. Her head fit comfortably in the crick of his neck. She held out her arm to Simon and he inserted an IV. Sam did the same on the other side. Dean wrapped his free arm around River’s middle. River placed her free arm over his.
“You have to let him in when he knocks,” Sam told River. “He’ll been near my path.”
River nodded. “It’s not a siege, but someone offering a cup of sugar.”
“Order the drawbridge down,” Sam said.
“Lower the drawbridge,” she sighed.
Sam and Simon watched as their siblings closed their eyes, all were frowning. The ones standing double checked the monitors and then exited the infirmary. They closed and locked the doors behind them.
Simon shook his head. “Should have set up catheters.”
Sam snorted. “Not worth the argument. Dean would have pitched a fit.”
Simon looked up at Sam. He examined him both as an older brother and as a doctor. “You’ve improved since the last time we met,” he observed.
Sam smiled. “That was just after. This is now.”
“I don’t know if you are making more sense, or if I’m better at translating crazy,” said Simon.
Sam shrugged and led the way to the ramp. “An intersection of learning curves.”
Simon glanced back once or twice. Mal didn’t bother trying to distract him. He did send the rest of his crew on a variety of tasks and errands that lasted through the night and part of the next day.
The crew finished the tasks in record time and the new cargo was loaded and waiting. Finally Sam’s head jerked. “Last brick.” He frowned as he strode toward the infirmary. He pulled open the doors and glared at his brother. “Had to finish off with a flourish.”
“Am a dancer,” River countered. She had shifted sometime in the last hours and was curled up in Dean’s lap like a cat. Now she stretched with more grace than a human had any right to have and then disengaged the IV. “Bricks don’t fit my psychological profile.”
Sam tilted his head. “Anchors and buoys. Dean adapted.”
River slid off his lap and walked (danced) to the door. She smiled at Simon, at Sam, even at Mal. Her eyes were clear and excited. “What to do first? Possibilities endless.”
“First, you’re flyin’ us and our shipment to its destination,” Mal was quick to answer.
River didn’t pout at the directive. She seemed to expect and want (need) it. “Yes Capt’n,” she murmured. She did backtrack to where Sam was now removing the IV from Dean and helping the older man to stand. She kissed Dean on the cheek, Sam on the mouth and waltzed out.
Simon watched River’s exit and then glared back at Sam. “Is there something I need to know?”
Dean collapsed and tried not to look like he was collapsing. Sam propped him up. “Dean?” he asked.
Dean glared. “I’m fine. Just a little stiff.”
“Old,” Sam countered.
“Experienced,” Dean wagged his eyebrows.
Sam rolled his eyes and started Dean toward the door, down the ramp and then weaved their way through the docks. “Over-compensating.”
“Bitch.”
“Jerk.”
They bickered all the way out of Serenity and down the street. The crew watched them go until Mal yelled about the shipment delivering itself. Kaylee closed the bay doors and grinned. River had told her that they would be seeing more of the brothers. River was dating Sam and had asked for Kaylee’s help in breaking the news to Simon.
Kaylee bounced her way to her boyfriend. The future was looking bright.
*
Growing Panes III
*
“Crazy girl has been snitching food from the kitchen,” Jayne snickered.
Jayne’s announcement brought everyone’s eyes onto the crazy girl. To their surprise, she was getting a little belly.
“What have you been eating, mei-mei?” Simon asked. He stood and gently ran his hands over his sister’s shoulders.
“Not tastin’ as bad. No vomit.”
“That’s good,” Simon murmured. “Still, I wouldn’t have expected you to gain weight.”
Mal walked into his kitchen and saw that everyone was quiet. Quiet on his ship was dangerous. “What’s going on?”
“River’s getting fat,” Jayne announced.
Mal glanced at the girl and then looked again. “River, are you pregnant?”
“No!” Simon protested. “That’s impossible. She hasn’t… been with a man.”
“Sammy’s a man,” River told him.
Simon whirled on Mal. “Samuel Winchester got my little sister pregnant? When?” That answer was too obvious -five months ago Samuel and River had disappeared for a couple hours- and Simon rushed ahead with the accusations. “You let this happen?”
“No,” River argued. “I chose the solution, Sammy was my means.”
“Solution?” Simon shook his head like the words did not compute. “A solution implies a problem. How does pregnancy solve a problem? It creates one.”
“Serenity has a problem.”
Mal turned to Kaylee. “Serenity has a problem?”
“She’s fit as a fiddle, capt’n.”
“There’s a hole in her.”
“You’re talking nonsense, L’le Albatross,” Mal told River.
“Zoe’s arms are empty. Book’s room is empty. I need to fill the hole.”
Simon shook his sister’s shoulders gently. “Mei-mei, a baby would not fill those holes. One person does not replace another. They can’t. Each one is different.”
“You need a sister.” Quiet tears spilled out of her eyes and ran down River’s cheeks. “I’m not good for you. You need a sister and I’m not a good sister. It’s a hole in your heart, Simon.”
“There is no hole, mei-mei. You are in my heart.”
“Me and Kaylee.”
“Yes, mei-mei. You and Kaylee.”
“Now, it’ll be me and Kaylee and Kitten.”
Me-ow. Only one little one. Mal remembered River saying that back in Samuel’s bunk. “Does the boy know?” Mal asked.
River smiled, “Of course.”
“What about Dean?” Simon asked angrily.
“Not yet. Soon.”
“When?” Zoë asked.
“When we cross paths.”
“When?” Simon growled out.
River grabbed her brother’s shoulders. “I examined the evidence and chose a solution. You don’t have to like it, but you will accept it.” It always surprised Mal when River was so calm and was trying to make sense. (‘Course, she was so smart that it wasn’t always possible.)
Simon finally settled. “So I’m going to be an uncle?” he asked.
“Yes.”
And that was that.
*
Disclaimer: No infringement intended. I’m just playing, no profit involved. If you recognize the characters, they’re not mine.
Distribution: The Nook, ff.net, lj
Spoilers: Season 1 of Firefly, plus the movie. Supernatural AU
AN: I got mad at a Firefly/Supernatural Sam/River story because the author didn’t understand the brotherhood relationship, so I wrote my own.
Warnings: River being very bad (but she wants to play!) + Sam had no problem being crazy + Dean’s mouth = PG-13ish.
AN2: again the first two chapters have been written for a while, but not posted on lj, but with the new chapter...
*
River had a knife again.
In public.
On a planet.
In a bar.
She was twirling around in the air, just daring someone to try and take it away from her, stepping lightly and meeting eyes like a rabid dog. The Serenity crew wisely moved back and moved all the bystanders back as well. They shifted as a unit so that Simon could catch her sister’s attention and hopefully talk her down. All together, not a situation Mal was comfortable with.
Then a man stepped in front of Simon, as tall as Jayne, but not as broad.
River focused on him and not in a good way. “Will you ace the final?” she asked.
The man grinned, ducked his head and shrugged. “Test me.”
Mal swore in Chinese. Not another crazy. Just what they needed.
The two crazies burst into action, fighting for all they were worth, which was better than any show that this two-bit Rim planet had ever seen before. It was a beautiful deadly thing, every aim for death and every deflection the breath before. The bar patrons were betting on the two and Mal didn’t know which child was favored. The man was a couple years older, more than a foot taller and with the corresponding added reach, plus the muscle mass. But River had started the fight with a knife that she still possessed.
River did some twisty, jumping thing and the man was waiting for her when she decided to accommodate gravity and come back to the ground. He kicked the knife out of her hand and punched her into the crowd.
Mal and Simon immediately rushed toward their girl. The suddenly hushed bystanders stepped back and they could see that a second man had caught her. He had his arms around her, a giant bear hug that pinned her arms against her chest. He had lifted her up to the point that River’s head rested on his shoulder. Her feet dangled off the ground and her head lolled toward his like a puppet with its strings cut. Everyone took a moment to breathe.
Why wasn’t River fighting?
“Hey, kid, what’s your name?” the man holding their mei-mei asked.
“River.” The tall fighter said the name at the same time as the girl.
“Are you okay?”
River sighed. “Yes.”
“River?” Simon edged forward. “What did he do to you?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed again. “Don’t care.”
Those were some distinctly un-River-like sentences and sentiments.
“Why don’t you put her down,” Mal ordered.
“Not yet,” River protested. This sigh was a little too blissful to be witnessed. “Am… good.”
“Grounded. Quiet. Safe,” the second crazy added.
River nodded like a doll.
The man holding River eyed her combatant. “Sammy, you okay?”
“Fine.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, but not before Simon (and Mal) noticed the blood dripping from his fingertips.
“If you come back to the ship, I’ll fix you up,” Simon offered, but he was reaching toward his sister and not his possible patient.
“Brother,” Sammy and River chorused quietly and then grinned at each other.
“Ah, hell,” the other stranger muttered. Jayne (and Mal) felt a kinship toward this man.
Mal nodded at Zoë and knew that she would take drag and keep Kaylee with her, far from any possible trouble. “Our ship’s thisaway.”
“Thank you, Cap’n,” Sammy smiled down on him from his height. He stepped lightly and followed Mal, Jayne beside him. The stranger set crazy girl on her feet and she swayed toward Simon.
“Come, mei-mei,” he said gently.
River looked from one stranger to the other. “They wanted to harness the hurricane and didn’t see the subtlety of the tides.”
“Which is truly stronger?” Sammy asked in return.
“Ah hell, cap’n,” Jayne murmured. “They’re bouncing off each other.”
“Not true,” River argued. “I a mirror, he a lens.”
“Who points the scope and measures the foci?” Sammy asked in return.
The other stranger pushed Sammy forward. “Move it, Sammy. You can have your class reunion elsewhere.”
Sammy shook off a fog and glared at the shorter man. “My name is Sam, Dean.”
“Your name is bitch,” Dean retorted.
“Jerk.”
River leaned her head against her brother’s chest. “I love you, even without all the bad words,” she told him seriously.
They made an interesting group walking up the ramp to Serenity. Mal was careful to show no fear. He had a feeling that Sam would see it. “Are you a Reader,” he asked him bluntly.
Sam (Sammy?) shook his head no. He glanced at Jayne and smiled. “I can kill you with my mind.”
Jayne outright spooked. “Cap’n, can I?” He was already reaching for his gun.
“No.”
Dean pushed Sam until he was sitting on the chair in the infirmary. Simon gently placed River on the bed on the side. She lay there, facing Sam. Sam faced her. What were they saying without words, Mal wondered from the infirmary door.
Dean watched the exchange and rolled his eyes, even as he was stripping Sam’s bloody clothes off his body. Soon Sam was bare-chested.
“So very pretty,” River smiled at him.
“Shiny,” Sam smiled in return. “So very pretty.”
“Shiny,” sighed River.
Simon doped his patient with a local anesthetic and Dean leaned him back into the chair. “Ah look doc, it’s a schoolyard crush. Should we start serenading them?”
“Please don’t,” Sam grumbled.
“Sammy and River, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-Shit. Ow.” Dean turned to glare at the girl who had lobbed a basin at his head, hard. He rubbed the back of his head to relieve the hurt. Sam had caught the basin before it hit Simon on the bounce.
The doctor glared at both Dean and River, gently extricated the basin from Sam’s hand and placed it behind him. “Don’t move; you’ll pull your stitches. River, please don’t throw things in the infirmary.”
“It’s not fair. He’s talking kissing and you won’t let me rile your patient just now with my mouth.”
Simon looked momentarily mortified. Sam was blushing.
Dean chuckled. “Seems to me that you be rilin’ the boy just fine with your mouth.”
“Hmmm,” she said and Sam hitched in his breathing and Dean was pretty sure it wasn’t due to the pain of the doc’s fine stitches.
“Doc,” he grinned. “I do believe that they are on the same wavelength, iffen you get my drift.”
Simon was blushing now. “River, if you can’t behave, I’ll have the captain put you in our room.”
“I think I’m big enough for my own room, so I can have sleepovers.”
Dean nudged the man on the table. “Sammy, I think you’re invited.”
“Shutup, Dean,” he muttered.
River giggled. Simon finished the stitches and bandaged them. Dean helped Sam dress. Mal watched it all.
“Thanks, Doc, Captain.” Dean nodded to each one in turn and pulled Sam toward the door.
Mal nodded in return and walked the two men to the ramp. River followed like a wraith. She and Sam were still makin’ eyes at each other until the brothers disappeared from sight.
“What do you think, Lil’ One,” Mal asked River.
River danced, swayed before him. “I don’t know, but it could be fun.”
“Do I need to send Zoë to follow? See where they’re parked?”
“No. Sammy told me.” Not out loud, but that had never stopped crazy before.
Mal made a mental note to have someone awake all night to make sure the girl didn’t leave her bunk. They didn’t need their doc getting into a tizzy. And they didn’t need their mei-mei makin’ cow eyes at another ship’s crazy. That might even be worse than shipboard romances.
Can’t have that.
Can’t have that, at all.
Not even if that Dean character could calm River down in a jif. He had his own crazy to take care of. Didn’t need another.
Mal’s crew was just fine as it stood. They didn’t need more and they couldn’t afford to lose any.
“Little girls grow up,” River said.
It sounded like a warning.
*
Growing Panes II
*
Mal didn’t know if it was Kaylee or River who had conned Zoë into taking his Li’l Albatross with her on the supply run. Either one could or would have depending on the circumstances.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Simon’s voice was colder than the Captain had ever heard it. So much so that Jayne was looking a bit nervous. Kaylee was holding tight to the doctor, trying to prevent him from attacking the messenger.
“Whose idea was it for River to leave the ship,” Mal asked. He was looking at Kaylee as he spoke, knowing she couldn’t lie. She shook her head, but still looked a mite guilty. Kaylee had known about it and had taken advantage of it.
“River asked me, sir,” Zoe reported apologetically. “She had been doing pretty well and she said that Simon didn’t mind.”
“Next time,” Mal cut in before Simon said something that his first officer would shoot him for, “confirm with the doc first. Zoe, you and Jayne search where you were. Kaylee, Doc, check the zoo you had planned on taking her. I’ve got the docks.”
“What about me,” Inara asked.
“Listen to the radio, check the wave traffic and let us know if she returns to the ship.”
Inara didn’t like him taking her out of the action, but accepted it. Someone did have to stay in Serenity to keep an eye out.
The two teams had already left. Mal hurried to follow. He had only been searching for thirty minutes when he caught sight of a man in the distance, frustration and desperation radiating off him has he rubbed the back of his neck. Angry, Mal charged toward him, thinking the Doc had slipped Kaylee. Once Mal got closer, he knew he had been mistaken. It was so obviously not Simon Tam that Mal paused sharply. In doing so, he caught the not-stranger’s attention.
It was Dean, brother of one of River’s “classmates.” They hadn’t seen each other in over a year, but recognition was easy and instantaneous. Dean and Mal aimed toward each other, both knowing what the other would ask and both knowing the dreaded response.
Dean opened his mouth first. “River?”
“Gone,” Mal answered. Sam?”
Dean frowned even harder. “Took off.”
Mal swore in Chinese, Dean in English.
“How does your brother get when around hands of blue?”
Dean winced. “Scary good at self-preservation.”
“River runs,” Mal warned.
“Sam doesn’t do anything less than a strategic retreat if necessary.”
“I’ve got someone listening to the waves.”
Dean nodded and turned in place, still keeping an eye out for the teens. Both men knew that wherever they were, they were together. It was too much of a coincidence otherwise and crazy didn’t do coincidence.
“What could they be up too?” Mal asked. Dean seemed to have a better handle on his brother than Simon had on his sister.
Dean huffed and shook his head. “Could be anything from a defending someone in an Alliance courtroom to acting like children at the zoo.” The courtroom sounded like a good yarn to share over a pint of beer.
“I’ve got people at the zoo.”
Dean nodded. “They’re just a pair of…” Now Dean cursed in Chinese and took off at a run. Mal was hard pressed to keep up. Dean obviously had a destination in mind. He ran past the edge of the docks and then down a steep embankment and through a canyon to a hidden ship. Mal stopped and blinked at the ship. It was an older model, smallish but it was a mint. Kaylee would be drooling. It would have stood out in the docks like a beacon. Mal wondered how they kept it in such fine condition. He had no doubt that it was in as good condition inside as out.
Dean had already used the remote in his pocket to open the side door and never broke his stride as he ran inside. Mal hurried to follow. He noticed that Dean was in really, really good shape for living on a ship.
Inside, Mal followed Dean’s voice yelling for his brother. Then Dean was cussing up a storm. Mal turned a corner and saw Dean looking down the hatch of someone’s room. Mal walked to his side, looked down and then looked away. He had seen a hell of a lot of bare flesh in that glance.
“Hair-brained, hormone driven teenagers,” Dean muttered.
“Hypocrite,” Sam responded, obviously relaxed. “Mr. I-have-several-girls-in-every-port.”
“I don’t disappear without my radio.”
“Private sleepover,” River chided.
“Get dressed,” Dean ordered. “Both of you.”
“Crasher,” Sam muttered.
“Don’t care. I’ll come down there and dress you both like dolls if I have to.”
“River,” Mal added. “I gotta get you back to Serenity before your brother has kittens.”
“Me-ow. Only one little one.”
Dean lost what little patience he had. “That’s it. I’m coming down. You had your playtime.” Dean was as good as his threat. He climbed down into Sam’s room and proceeded to pick up the various clothes. Male clothes he threw at his brother, who grumbled mutinously but did as ordered. Female frills he threw at River. She looked at the material like she didn’t have a clue as to their purpose. Dean didn’t pause as he dressed her like a doll. Mal watched to make sure that he didn’t get fresh with the girl, but he treated her as a patient. He called Inara and told her to pass on the message to Simon that River was found, safe and unharmed, and that they were on the way back to the ship.
“Good Daddy,” she said.
“Always was,” Sam told her proudly.
Mal thought it was a miracle the two managed to get down to the nitty-gritty fun with all the other things in their brains.
River tilted her head up at him. “Instinct easy.”
Dean slid socks and then shoes onto River’s slim feet and then pushed her toward the ladder. He smacked her butt. “Get a move on.”
Sam had managed to get dressed. Now he stood behind his brother and set his chin on Dean’s shoulder.
Dean stilled and leaned over enough to look at Sam without dislodging him. “You got something you need to say, little brother?” Obviously, Sam had decided on a posture and a method for using Dean to clear up his thought process long ago.
Sam nodded and not disconnecting from Dean, tilted his head back to look at Mal. “You can keep watch and give Dean time for she walls.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not safe without guard.” Sam was frustrated at Mal’s continued blank look but he wanted the man to understand.
Mal had been around his own Academy student long enough to know when he had to stay put and listen. He shifted his eyes from one brother to the other. Dean was frowning and looking put out, but not the least bit confused.
“You got a translation, Dean?”
Dean sighed. “Given enough time, silence and no interruptions, we’ve learned that I can make walls in Sam’s head and make it easier for him to function.”
Mal held out a hand to River and helped her out. “You think you can do it for River, here.”
Sam said “Yes” as Dean said “No.”
“Which is it?”
Dean finally answered. “We’re talking twenty hours or longer if we can sit still long enough. Gotta be planet side, since even the engine vibrations distract them.”
“Sounds like hoo-doo.”
“It almost is.”
“And it takes that long to voo-doo her brain?”
“How do you hold back an ocean?” River asked from Mal’s side. “The waves always erode and the tides always change.”
Mal frowned. “Is she saying that it’s not permanent?”
“Yeah,” Dean sighed. “If I get a full day uninterrupted, it’ll last a couple months tops.”
“And you want this, Mei-mei?”
“No noisy fog drowning.”
Mal sighed. “I’ll take that as a yes. We have to discuss this with your brother.” Who was going to go through the roof when he found out about the sexing.
“Don’t tattle,” Sam said.
Damn Readers, Mal thought. Both of the kids smiled at him. “Come on. Let’s go talk to the doc.” He led the way out of the ship. River and Sam followed, holding hands. Dean took drag with so professional a manner Mal wondered if, even as a kid, he had helped in the War. Dean locked up his ship behind them and double checked the gun he had tied down. Sam was also wearing a gun. He hadn’t been wearing a gun the last time Mal had seen the brothers.
“Dangerous game,” Sam announced.
Unnerved, Mal increased his stride to Serenity. They took the long way around, away from prying eyes. The whole crew made it back to the ship before them. Simon was pacing on the ramp waiting for them. From his disheveled appearance, he must have run straight from the zoo. Now he ran to his sister and almost hugged her. Then the doctor part of him took over and he examined her, head to toe.
River shrugged him off. “Just out walking, Simon. Sammy knows the quiet places.”
Mal hid a smirk at her words. He wondered when Simon would figure out what happened. Inara joined the others in welcoming back their wayward bird. The look she sent Mal said that she had recognized the after affects of sex.
“Everyone, inside,” Mal ordered.
They all trooped into Serenity and Mal used the confusion to pull Simon aside and let the rest of the girls surround River and scold her.
“Doc.”
It was the tone of voice that pulled Simon’s gaze off his sister. “What’s wrong?”
“Not so much.” Mal shrugged. “Sam and Dean seem to think that they have some sort of hoo-doo thing Dean can do that will make River better for a couple of months.”
Simon glanced at the brothers and then back at Mal. “What kind of ‘hoo-doo’ are we talking about?”
“Seems to be meditation or the like. Don’t know. It’s takes a full day of uninterrupted silence and dark. River wants it.”
“Sam doesn’t seem to be much better,” Simon said petulantly.
Mal shrugged. Sam was definitely better than River. “They don’t have anyone to keep watch and protect them during the witchcraft. They can’t do it as often as needed.”
Simon eyed Mal. “You think it’s a good idea. That doesn’t sound scientific at all.”
“How scientific can a Reader be? She won’t need the drugs for a while,” they were getting short on supplies and Mal wasn’t sure he wanted to rip off another hospital just yet, “and she’d be less of a danger to the crew.”
Simon put up his chin. “I want to see him do it to Sam first.”
Sam appeared behind them, making both men jerk. “Patching walls shorter. Need a dark room.”
“Use my bed,” River joined the conversation.
“Not happening,” Dean said. “Need the boy’s brain in his head, not lower.”
“They can use my room, sir,” Zoë offered.
“No,” Sam cut her off. “Thank you,” he forced himself to say. “Grief is counterproductive.”
Zoë looked as if Sam had smacked her, but schooled her features. She had forgotten that Sam was another Reader.
“We need your bed, Simon,” Sam said.
“So be it.” Simon led the way to their room and Mal gave everyone else a glare to get back to their rooms and/or their jobs. River cupped a hand over Kaylee’s ear and whatever she said, had Kaylee giggling and eagerly following the girl to the engine room. Zoë vanished up the stairs and to the cockpit. Jayne stayed put, in case Mal called for him. Simon turned on the light in his room and Sam was already sitting on Simon’s bed, though no one had indicated which bed belonged to which sibling.
Sam took off his boots and then his gun. Both were placed precisely and within easy reach. Then Sam scooted to the wall and laid down. Dean sat in front of him and repeated the motions. Soon, they were spooned together, Sam’s arm was around Dean’s waist and the crazy one’s head was resting on Dean’s.
“Here’s the boring part -for you,” Dean said. Then he reached up and turned off the light. Mal couldn’t hear another sound. His eyes adjusted and he saw the brothers laying there, breathing softly. It appeared that they were asleep already. Sam’s face was relaxed, but Dean’s brow was furrowed.
Simon sat on River’s bed and watched. Mal had better things to do. He left the room and hunted down his second-in-command. They had a contact to meet. Jayne could be left behind to keep watch. The merc was under strict instructions not to let anyone on or off the ship.
When Mal and Zoë returned, the atmosphere of the ship had changed dramatically. Sam was awake, sane-ish and debating with Jayne the merits of various firearms while at the same time arguing with Simon over some sort of medical philosophy or procedure-Mal wasn’t sure which. In the case of both arguments, Mal was pretty sure that Sam was winning. How, Mal didn’t know, since Simon and Jayne were talking over each other.
Zoë leaned towards Mal. “I never considered that a sane River could be scarier than a crazy one.”
Mal nodded. The possibilities of all that smarts focused in one direction were frightening. She could do anything.
Mal whistled to get everyone’s attention. Ah, blessed silence. “So what’s going on?”
Simon answered. “Dean’s sleeping now, resting up for his session with River.”
Sam shook his head. “No. He’s up now. Exercising and getting his blood pumping.”
“How long ‘till he starts?” Mal asked. He was starting to get itchy, being landside for so long and he knew that it would be a full day from when Dean started until the point that they could leave.
Sam shrugged. “He needs to use the can and then they can start.”
“They going to be in River’s bed?” Mal asked.
“No,” said Sam. “We’ll put them in the infirmary and give them IV’s with nutrients. We can turn off the lights and monitor them remotely.”
Simon jerked and somehow Mal knew that the doctor had expected problems with the hoo-doo. It had seemed too good to be true. “Can we negate complications?”
Sam wavered. “It involves how much River fights Dean. It’s instinctual not to let another into your head, even if intellectually River understands that Dean can help her.”
“What if we dope River?” Simon asked.
Sam nodded. “That will help at a certain point in time, after they are situated. That will be a last resort; the current drugs in her system will have consequences.”
Simon winced. Those were his fault.
“You have done well with the limited information at your disposal,” Sam reassured. “You kept River safe, but Dean cannot build on your chemical walls. Both sets of walls are equally artificial, but they are not complementary.”
Dean walked into the cargo bay and joined the group. He was still stretching. “What’s the plan, Sammy?”
Sam glared and rolled his eyes. “We’re sitting both of you in the infirmary.”
“Sam,” Dean whined. “The infirmary?”
“Yes. We’re going to give both of you an IV and monitor your vitals. It will reassure all of us.”
Dean huffed. “Fine.” He looked at River. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Sandcastles of gravel,” she answered.
Dean walked into the infirmary and sat in the main chair. River smiled as she stood over him. Then she lifted herself up on one hand and rotated her whole body horizontal like a gymnast in slow motion. She placed her other hand at Dean’s other hip and poised there for a moment before settling on top of Dean as gently as freshly fallen snow. Her head fit comfortably in the crick of his neck. She held out her arm to Simon and he inserted an IV. Sam did the same on the other side. Dean wrapped his free arm around River’s middle. River placed her free arm over his.
“You have to let him in when he knocks,” Sam told River. “He’ll been near my path.”
River nodded. “It’s not a siege, but someone offering a cup of sugar.”
“Order the drawbridge down,” Sam said.
“Lower the drawbridge,” she sighed.
Sam and Simon watched as their siblings closed their eyes, all were frowning. The ones standing double checked the monitors and then exited the infirmary. They closed and locked the doors behind them.
Simon shook his head. “Should have set up catheters.”
Sam snorted. “Not worth the argument. Dean would have pitched a fit.”
Simon looked up at Sam. He examined him both as an older brother and as a doctor. “You’ve improved since the last time we met,” he observed.
Sam smiled. “That was just after. This is now.”
“I don’t know if you are making more sense, or if I’m better at translating crazy,” said Simon.
Sam shrugged and led the way to the ramp. “An intersection of learning curves.”
Simon glanced back once or twice. Mal didn’t bother trying to distract him. He did send the rest of his crew on a variety of tasks and errands that lasted through the night and part of the next day.
The crew finished the tasks in record time and the new cargo was loaded and waiting. Finally Sam’s head jerked. “Last brick.” He frowned as he strode toward the infirmary. He pulled open the doors and glared at his brother. “Had to finish off with a flourish.”
“Am a dancer,” River countered. She had shifted sometime in the last hours and was curled up in Dean’s lap like a cat. Now she stretched with more grace than a human had any right to have and then disengaged the IV. “Bricks don’t fit my psychological profile.”
Sam tilted his head. “Anchors and buoys. Dean adapted.”
River slid off his lap and walked (danced) to the door. She smiled at Simon, at Sam, even at Mal. Her eyes were clear and excited. “What to do first? Possibilities endless.”
“First, you’re flyin’ us and our shipment to its destination,” Mal was quick to answer.
River didn’t pout at the directive. She seemed to expect and want (need) it. “Yes Capt’n,” she murmured. She did backtrack to where Sam was now removing the IV from Dean and helping the older man to stand. She kissed Dean on the cheek, Sam on the mouth and waltzed out.
Simon watched River’s exit and then glared back at Sam. “Is there something I need to know?”
Dean collapsed and tried not to look like he was collapsing. Sam propped him up. “Dean?” he asked.
Dean glared. “I’m fine. Just a little stiff.”
“Old,” Sam countered.
“Experienced,” Dean wagged his eyebrows.
Sam rolled his eyes and started Dean toward the door, down the ramp and then weaved their way through the docks. “Over-compensating.”
“Bitch.”
“Jerk.”
They bickered all the way out of Serenity and down the street. The crew watched them go until Mal yelled about the shipment delivering itself. Kaylee closed the bay doors and grinned. River had told her that they would be seeing more of the brothers. River was dating Sam and had asked for Kaylee’s help in breaking the news to Simon.
Kaylee bounced her way to her boyfriend. The future was looking bright.
*
Growing Panes III
*
“Crazy girl has been snitching food from the kitchen,” Jayne snickered.
Jayne’s announcement brought everyone’s eyes onto the crazy girl. To their surprise, she was getting a little belly.
“What have you been eating, mei-mei?” Simon asked. He stood and gently ran his hands over his sister’s shoulders.
“Not tastin’ as bad. No vomit.”
“That’s good,” Simon murmured. “Still, I wouldn’t have expected you to gain weight.”
Mal walked into his kitchen and saw that everyone was quiet. Quiet on his ship was dangerous. “What’s going on?”
“River’s getting fat,” Jayne announced.
Mal glanced at the girl and then looked again. “River, are you pregnant?”
“No!” Simon protested. “That’s impossible. She hasn’t… been with a man.”
“Sammy’s a man,” River told him.
Simon whirled on Mal. “Samuel Winchester got my little sister pregnant? When?” That answer was too obvious -five months ago Samuel and River had disappeared for a couple hours- and Simon rushed ahead with the accusations. “You let this happen?”
“No,” River argued. “I chose the solution, Sammy was my means.”
“Solution?” Simon shook his head like the words did not compute. “A solution implies a problem. How does pregnancy solve a problem? It creates one.”
“Serenity has a problem.”
Mal turned to Kaylee. “Serenity has a problem?”
“She’s fit as a fiddle, capt’n.”
“There’s a hole in her.”
“You’re talking nonsense, L’le Albatross,” Mal told River.
“Zoe’s arms are empty. Book’s room is empty. I need to fill the hole.”
Simon shook his sister’s shoulders gently. “Mei-mei, a baby would not fill those holes. One person does not replace another. They can’t. Each one is different.”
“You need a sister.” Quiet tears spilled out of her eyes and ran down River’s cheeks. “I’m not good for you. You need a sister and I’m not a good sister. It’s a hole in your heart, Simon.”
“There is no hole, mei-mei. You are in my heart.”
“Me and Kaylee.”
“Yes, mei-mei. You and Kaylee.”
“Now, it’ll be me and Kaylee and Kitten.”
Me-ow. Only one little one. Mal remembered River saying that back in Samuel’s bunk. “Does the boy know?” Mal asked.
River smiled, “Of course.”
“What about Dean?” Simon asked angrily.
“Not yet. Soon.”
“When?” Zoë asked.
“When we cross paths.”
“When?” Simon growled out.
River grabbed her brother’s shoulders. “I examined the evidence and chose a solution. You don’t have to like it, but you will accept it.” It always surprised Mal when River was so calm and was trying to make sense. (‘Course, she was so smart that it wasn’t always possible.)
Simon finally settled. “So I’m going to be an uncle?” he asked.
“Yes.”
And that was that.
*