(no subject)

[lit_gal]

Malcolm Reynolds fought for the Browncoat rebels. They wanted their freedom. They lost. James Joseph Womak was a commander for the Alliance, determined to bring justice to the common people. His side won, but he still lost.

Old War Horses

Fandoms: Firefly x Sentinel.
Slash: Jim/Blair, Mal/Jayne
Rated ADULT
Prompt: Taming the Muse:

Did anyone else notice a certain member of the crew has been missing?  Well, you know I wasn't going to just forget her.

( Part one ) ( Part two ) ( Part Three )


12

Blair followed Jim up to the crew mess hall, watching Jayne the whole way. The man was confused as hell, but he didn’t look alarmed and he wasn’t having a heterosexual panic, so clearly Mal hadn’t talked to him yet. That man was stubborn as hell if he couldn’t see the truth two inches in front of his own nose.

“We at Beaumonde yet?” Jim asked, always focusing on the practical.

“How the hell would I know? I was sleeping in the gorram corridor.” Jayne walked a little faster so he got ahead of them. From the look Jim was giving Blair, he definitely didn’t approve of Blair’s meddling, but then if Jim had his own way, everyone in the whole universe would live in their own little bubble and not bother anyone else. Of course, given his history of torture at the hands of the Institute, that wasn’t exactly surprising. So Blair acknowledged Jim’s reluctance to get involved in other people’s issues and then ignored it. With a smile, Blair walked a little faster, intending to get ahead of Jim; however, Jim’s long legs allowed him to keep stride without even trying.

Mal and Zoe were already in the mess hall, sitting at one end of the table with their heads close together, but Blair didn’t miss the way Mal’s eyes followed Jayne. Blair’s words hadn’t fallen on fallow ground, then. He just had to be patient and let that flower bloom. Jayne, however, was watching Mal with a sort of wary confusion that wasn’t healthy at all.

Ignoring all the shared looks, Jim sat on the far end of the table from Mal. “We at Beaumonde?” he asked.

“Yep.”

“We know what we’re doing here?”

“Not a clue,” Mal admitted with a sour expression.

“We could try to offload the series seven-C circuits from the Waters job, sir,” Zoe offered.

“Whoa… you have series seven-C circuits? Those are like… ancient,” Blair said dramatically as he dropped down in a seat halfway between the two ends of the table. He was loyal to Jim always, but he didn’t need to encourage the stand-offish competition Jim and Mal had going by sitting with Jim and creating a balanced two against two dynamic.

“Told you I should space ‘em,” Jayne said from the galley, and he had his head in the cupboards, so he missed the nasty look Mal shot his way. There was a story behind that, but Blair needed Mal to use a little kindness for a bit, so Blair jumped in before Mal could go insulting Jayne.

“But we could turn that into an advantage,” Blair said. “I mean, how many different computers use that chip? If you don’t have replacement parts, then you have to upgrade, and you know that not everyone can afford that. I need to do some research, but if you found me a real smart trader, someone patient with a little creativity, I could probably get them sold for a reasonable price,” Blair offered. “Where would I find the really top traders?”

“Blue Anchor,” Jayne offered even though Mal was still frowning like he didn’t understand the conversation.

“We’re not going there,” Jim said firmly.

“You aren’t, no way. You were a cop around here. They take one look at you, and they’re going to assume I’m trying to sell them stolen equipment.” Blair paused. “Actually, I probably am, but man, I am not trying to bust anyone. So you can wait here, and I’ll take the shuttle over there.”

“You’re not going alone.” Jim almost growled the words, but Blair could hear the fear behind them.

“I’ll be fine. I paid my way through school with shady backroom trades and poker games,” Blair pointed out.

“Not alone,” Jim insisted again.

“As much as it pains me to agree with Womak, I agree. You’re not going out there alone.”

“Ellison,” Blair said.

Mal got a confused look on his face.

“Ellison. James Ellison, remember?” Blair said, reminding him of their conversation from last night. “And you two are too much. I am not a child, and I am very well aware that there are people after us. I also know how to take care of myself,” Blair pointed out. Unless one of them had a specific threat they could point out, this was being too paranoid. They weren’t anywhere near where the Operative had picked them up before, and with River picking the destination, no one could profile them well enough to predict they’d come to Beaumonde.

“It ain’t about your self-preservation,” Mal insisted. “Jayne’s about the most self-preserved man I ever have known, and I wouldn’t want him going out there alone, either.”

“I hear you,” Blair promised, and he could see Jim roll his eyes. Then again, Jim knew what that phrase actually meant. “I mean, if Jayne or I go out there, you’re obligating yourselves to come after us, no matter how bad things get. Or at least Jim is obligated to come after me, and you’d go after Jayne no matter how much trouble he got himself in,” Blair said with a nod toward Jayne. Jayne had a spoonful of something half way to his mouth, and he froze, his eyes going to Mal as though expecting an objection. Mal didn’t offer any, and Blair could see Jayne’s shock as if he hadn’t known that on his own. The people on this ship were just all kinds of messed up. “But I promise that I know how to run. Man, when you’re as short as I am, and you basically grow up in the middle of a warzone, you learn to run gorram fast,” Blair finished.

Mal was still shaking his head.

“Blair,” Jim said, his voice carefully measured, “it’s a good plan, and on another planet at another time, you can impress Mal by selling his gou shi, but not now and not this planet.”

“But-”

“No.” Mal said. “And I ain’t debating on that. You keep arguing, and I’ll tell Jayne to sit on you until we’re in the black again.”

Blair sighed and leaned back as he studied the captain. The man had stubborn down to an art. “I still think you’re wrong,” Blair pointed out.

“Which is his way of agreeing to follow orders,” Jim said. Getting up, he came over to Blair’s side and rested a hand on Blair’s shoulder. “I know you’ll sell those chips, but tactically, we can’t afford to split up right now. It will slow us down too much if we have to move,” Jim explained.

“Man, I already agreed. I get it. I get it.” Blair was a poor loser, and he knew it, but he also knew when he was beat. Jim sat in the chair next to him, studying Blair’s face, and Blair tried very hard to control his urge to smile. He’d won one battle getting Jim to choose to sit closer to Mal. It was a start. Jim’s eyebrows lowered in confusion, and Blair turned to minimize how much of his face Jim could see. The downside of loving a Sentinel was that they were damn near mind readers once they knew a person well enough to interpret all the microexpressions that crossed the human face in any given second.

“Has River said anything else?” Blair asked Mal. Zoe was silent, but she watched with the sort of sharp curiosity that Blair normally associated with companions and psychologists.

“Not a word,” Mal said. He leaned back. “I ain’t even sure if this is her final destination or a refueling stop. We’re at the Alemain Docks, which are about in the middle of nowhere.”

“Less chance of being seen out here, sir,” Zoe pointed out. “Mostly this is commercial trade and no chance for passengers or private transactions, so it’s not a place anyone will look for us.”

“How conspicuous are we?” Jim asked, his back going straight.

“Plenty,” Mal said wearily. “I have Kaylee putting out calls for whatever mechanical bits and bobs that might make it look like we landed hard and picked this place because we couldn’t get the ship to the main docs.”

Jim’s jaw was tight, but he gave a nod. So, he didn’t like their position, but he respected Mal’s attempt to give them a good story for being here. Despite their problems, Blair figured these two old war horses had a lot in common. Like right now, both men had similar expressions of dismay at not knowing what they were supposed to be doing.

“Mal!” Kaylee yelled as he she came running into the room. Mal and Zoe were both on their feet, their hands on their weapons in a heartbeat. Jayne had taken it one step farther by drawing his gun and taking shelter behind a kitchen cupboard. Jim grabbed Blair and drove for the far wall, his back to the door. Kaylee stopped and looked around with wide eyes, clearly shocked at the reactions. “It ain’t nothing bad,” she said slowly as she took in everyone’s position. Slowly Jim stood up and Blair leaned against the wall, his heart racing as everyone put weapons away.

“Kaylee, it might be that nerves are wound a little tight,” Mal explained. “Shouting should be saved for life-endangering sorts of situations for right now, okay?”

Kaylee nodded. “Sorry,” she offered quietly, “but I was excited. Guess who's here on Beaumonde.”

Mal settled back into his chair. “I can't say I'm in a mood for guessing.”

With a little smile, Kaylee said, “The captain’s being no fun today.” Her teasing managed to ease the frown on Mal’s face.

“Yep. I reckon that's me. Captain No Fun,” Mal agreed. “So why don’t you tell me who it is that has you all a twitter?”

“Inara!” Kaylee sang out the name. For a second, Blair couldn’t place it, but then he remembered Jayne’s very unenlightened description of the companion who travelled with them.

“Is she whoring around here?” Jayne asked as he shoved his gun back into its holster and went back to eating.

“I ain’t having this conversation with you again, Jayne,” Mal warned. Jim’s hand found Blair’s waist, giving him a nudge toward the table, so Blair headed back to his chair, pleased when Jim followed him rather than stake out his position at the opposite end from Mal.

“It ain't like you don't call her a whore,” Jayne said in his own defense. Blair looked at Mal. If Jayne was saying it, it was only because Jayne couldn’t see the value of companion training. Mal didn’t have that ignorance going for him.

Mal gave Jayne a real cold look. “But when I go sayin’ it, I know it ain't true.”

“Man, I think that actually makes it worse,” Blair muttered, but he did so loud enough for everyone to hear. Zoe hid her mouth behind her hand, and Blair was almost sure she was smiling.

“You have something to add?” Mal asked in a tone that warned Blair that he’d better not have anything to add. Jim’s fingers reached for Blair’s knee, tightening in warning.

“I only meant that if Jayne believes that she's a whore, he's not meaning to insult her by calling her one. If you’re saying it when you know it’s not true, that’s a good site worse,” Blair pointed out with a sweet smile. Now the corners of Zoe’s eyes had those little wrinkles that meant she was definitely smiling.

“Given your mother's background, I expect to be the last one to have any sympathy for Jayne.”

“Hey, my mother was a companion, and she did some whoring when I was about five, but mostly she wasn’t either when I was growing up. However, if you ask her, she won’t be one bit ashamed of either career choice. However, calling a companion a whore is pretty gorram low when you know there’s a difference.”

Mal and Blair glared at each other, but it was Jayne who spoke up. “I still ain't heard any explanation for how a companion is different from a whore. They both get paid for having sex.”

“Hey!” Kaylee shouted loud enough to make everyone look at her. She had both her hands on her hips as she glared at all of them. “Inara's, here now, and I don't want any of you insulting her. We're family and if you go drivin’ her off with all this talk, I ain't going to be responsible for what I do you.” She pinned each of them with a glare. Jayne gave a rather dismissive snort, but Blair noticed that the rest of them looked suitably threatening. As engineer, Kaylee could muck with everything from the lights in a person’s quarters to whether the hot water worked when you went for showers. She wasn’t someone he wanted to rile… not that he was doing any of the insulting. That was Mal and Jayne. However, Blair figured that if Inara was a companion, she’d give Jayne some leeway just because he was ignorant. Companion training included enough psychology that she should recognize honest stupidity.

“Let me guess,” a new voice said, “Jayne and Mal are discussing my career choices again.” A woman stood in the door, her dark hair curled so that not a single strand was out of place and her clothing didn’t have a spot of dirt or a stitch out of place. She wore a dress with red and gold layers and her jewelry had to be worth at least as much as most farmers earned in a decade. This was not just a companion, but someone high in the hierarchy.

“Inara!” Kaylee threw herself forward and hugged the woman with abandon. Inara smiled and hugged her back, the affection unmistakable. Blair was actually a little surprised. One of the main reasons why Naomi had chosen to leave the guild was because they had a strict policy of companions maintaining emotional distance from all others. They believed that only the detached observer could see clearly enough to help others overcome their spiritual conflicts. Naomi had decided that the opposite was true-that only the person who loved and was loved unconditionally could find the key that allowed them to open others’ hearts. So she had gone from living by the mantra that one had to detach to living by the mantra that one had to love, even if circumstances forced one to detach. This Inara clearly hadn’t detached from the crew, not successfully.

“I've missed you,” Inara said warmly. “Kaylee have you been keeping our boys in line?”

“I've been doing my best, but you know them.” Kaylee kept one arm around Inara’s waist while she turned to smile at Mal and the others.

“I do know them. And I know that if they're here they're up to some trouble.”

“Don't know why you'd be saying that,” Mel said in an offended tone of voice.

“Oh I can't imagine,” Inara said with sarcasm that she didn't even attempt to hide. “Is this something that's going to leave me looking for a new home base?”

“It's not like what we do affects you anymore,” Mel snapped, and in that moment Blair saw the resentment and the longing and the need. Well shit, the two of them had been in love. Or maybe they’d had a case of unrequited lust, but there were layers of hurt going here.

Blair studied Inara wondering whether she knew that Mal was still hurting for her. Companions had a lot of psychology training. One of the reasons he'd gotten through his psych degrees so quickly was because Naomi had taught him from the time that he was big enough to understand the words. So he had trouble believing that anyone who’d completed companion training could miss the signs of unrequited love. But on the other hand, some mighty smart people had trouble seeing what was right before their faces, especially when it involved themselves. Blair watched them, Jim’s fingers tightening against his knee again. Reaching under the table, Blair patted Jim’s arm, silently reassuring him that Blair didn’t intend to do anything. Before Blair thought he’d had a simple job of making Jayne and Mal see each other, but it might be that Jim was right about this backfiring.

“For once again our fault trouble found us,” Kaylee said brightly, defending the captain.

Inara's eyes went immediately to Jim and Blair. When he came to fighting, Jim was in charge. Blair had no trouble with that, but dealing with a companion with his business. Blair stood up and stepped around the table to greet Inara. Jim followed, but he stayed one step behind Blair.

“Blair Sandburg,” he said offering his real name and his hand as he held out his hand as if to shake. She gave him a small smile of greeting that didn’t reach her eyes and went to take his offered hand, but at the last minute Blair took her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it in his best gentlemanly manners. Off to the side Mel snorted.

“Mr. Sandburg, very nice to meet you.” The cultured tones of good training took over.

“Ms. Inara, may present James Ellison,” Blair said with a small gesture toward Jim. With a stiff but formal bow, Jim greeted her and then stepped forward to take her hand and kiss it. Blair didn’t miss the look of hate from Mal.

“Mr. Ellison,” she said in the same cultured tones. “Would you happen to be related to William Ellison?” Blair wondered if she could read Jim’s flinch was well as Blair could. Of course she would know all of the big political players and businessman.

“I am,” Jim said without offering his exact relationship. Inara took the hint and simply smiled as she dropped the matter. “Mal, the quality of your passengers seems to improved somewhat.”

“I wouldn't be saying that,” Mal said with more than a little disgust. Inara chose to ignore the insult. Blair was almost certain that she was intentionally choosing to not address the matter, which was odd if she’d traveled with the ship. Surely she hadn’t allowed him to insult the clients who had come onboard.

“Hopefully you two gentlemen are not the source of whatever trouble brings Mal and Serenity to these parts.”

River walked into the room, and she stood to the side watching with her head tilted as though confused by the interactions. Then again, Blair figured anyone who didn't have companion training or an advanced psychology degree would be confused by this crew. Jayne finished his food and put the dish in the cycler without even twitching at the Mal-Inara interactions, despite the fact that Blair was certain that he had a very strong interest in Mal. However, Blair didn’t have enough information about the interpersonal relationships to push that button-not now.

“I suppose a manner, we are,” Blair said. “We certainly seemed to have found some trouble. The crew has been kind nice enough to offer some help getting out of it.” Jim’s eyebrow went up, signaling to both Blair and Inara that he didn’t believe that line of gou shi.

Mal came right out and said, “I can't remember I ever offered.” Making a mental note to make sure that none of these people were anywhere around when he tried to use a few obfuscations, Blair smiled at Inara and willed her to ignore the odd undercurrents of emotion in the room.

“I did,” River offered from her position against the wall.

Inara looked over and smiled River. “How nice to see you again, River. Frankly, I trust your judgment in such matters far more than Mal’s. If you think they need helping, what can I do to help?” The dig at Mal and the quick offer to help when she didn’t know how Blair’s goals aligned with the requirements of the companion guild shocked Blair to his core.

Mal looked furious. Glancing over at Jayne, Blair tried to decide how he was taking this whole subtle conflict. Not only was Jayne not watching, but he didn't seem to have any particular emotion involved. Either he wasn't as in love with Mal Blair had thought, or the man didn't recognize that the tangle of emotions in front of him. Blair guessed it was the second, and considering how bad he had it for Mal, it was probably good that he couldn’t see the truth here. Love triangles were nasty. Blair never wanted to be in the middle of that.

“So what exactly are you targeting?” Inara turned to Mal.

“Don’t look at me. It ain’t like I'm the captain or nothing. From the way people around here don’t tell me what’s going on, you’d think I just hired on as crew.” Mal gave River a nasty glare, but for some reason Inara ignored the clear signal that River was in control.

Maybe she was used to ignoring River the way the rest of the crew was. Blair noticed River look his way and smile as she caught that thought. She knew they didn’t see her, but at least she was amused rather than annoyed by it. For one second, Blair wondered what it would be like to see inside the heads of these folks. Then he looked around the room. Mal looked constipated with fury, Zoe had on a patient look, like a mother trying to get through a difficult play date, Kaylee looked as though she didn’t even notice the conflicts, as did Jayne, although in Jayne’s case, he also looked cranky. Blair didn’t want to be able to see the insides of these folks. The outsides were confused enough for him.

“Well then, perhaps Mr. Ellison knows.” She turned to Jim and gave him a brilliant smile that made Mal bridle with frustration. Clearly, Jim recognized what was going on because he took a step closer to Blair, and draped his arm around Blair shoulders. For a moment, Inara’s eyes went wide, like she was surprised at people being sly. Sometimes men on the frontier took a slanted look at sly, but core bred companions sure shouldn’t bat an eye. After that blink of shock, she inclined her head and gave a small nod of acknowledgment. Jim was sly and taken, and she wouldn't interfere with that.

“As far as I know, River picked this destination on her own,” Jim offered only after Inara had signaled her understanding that he would not react to her.

“Oh?” Innara turned to look at River

“The eyes are yellow and teal and vermillion,” River said seriously, “ghosts floating through walls to touch the sky.”

Blair considered that for a moment. “Do the eyes see the colors or do they create it?” Blair asked. He didn’t miss the surprise on Inara’s face. She didn’t have the same expectations as crew so either she’d been off for a long time or she’d never truly integrated to the point that she accepted and expected the same things from River.

River walked to him and slid her arm around Blair's waist. On Blair's other side, Jim stiffened. The warrior in Jim was never comfortable around those strong enough to physically beat him, and River could. However, all she did was lay her head on Blair’s shoulder. “Ruts rise up in rain, the eyes watch but they watch rain, colors rising up through the dust. Ghost. Everywhere ghosts,” she warned. Blair frowned as he thought back to everything she said. If Blue Sun was the watching eye, River was suggesting that they were also doing things or at least present for things that caused fear.

“Could someone explain what’s going on?” Inara asked as she studied River.

“Well, we’re a mite bit short on explanations.” Kaylee made a face like she was ashamed of that fact. “Truth is, we don’t rightly know what we’re even doing on Beaumonde.”

“Invading the eyes and poking the ghosts,” River said.

“Well, that’s better than poking someone in the eye and invading a ghost,” Blair joked. River turned her head to smile at him.

Zoe stood up and held out her hand toward River like a parent offering to lead a child. “Maybe we could get a map of Beaumonde. It seems like River does better when she can point.”

River held Blair’s waist even tighter, shaking her head. “Have to invade 29°58'30.92North 31° 8'15.12East,” she said with as much confidence as Blair had ever heard her use.

“We’re invading something?” Jayne asked, and from the tone of voice, that cheered him up mightily. “What are we invading.”

“What is at those coordinates?” Mal asked.

“On this planet? Not a clue, sir, but I can find out.” Without another word, Zoe headed out of the room.

“Well, it sounds like this mission is off to the same sort of start all your missions use,” Inara said with a vicious smile in Mal’s direction.

“Ain’t like a whore would come up with no better,” Jayne snapped, and Blair leaned back into Jim’s body and watched the interactions. Was Jayne intentionally battling with Inara for Mal’s attention or subconsciously reacting to a threat? And the fact that Mal looked so grouchy, was that because of his relationship with Inara or with Jayne or was he just truly a disagreeable sort. Blair had always prided himself on being able to read people better than most, but suddenly, he wasn’t so sure. One thing he did know, though-no son of Naomi was going to leave this crew with their heads this far up their collective asses.