The Way The Water Loves (Series)
Title: The Way The Water Loves
Chapter: 02. Water For Hard Rocks
Author: Cella
Rating: PG
Summary: River, her mission to give Serenity the love it needs, and her quest to find her own peace.
Chapter Summary: She's got to start somewhere, so she'll start with cleaning guns, having coffee, and reading books. Remembering Book, and healing Jayne.
Spoilers: All the way through Serenity.
Pairings: Mal/River to come. River/Serenity for now, and perhaps the twisted Mal/River/Serenity later on. Who knows, with me.
A/N: For all the authors keen on making this ship rise, and for all the twisted minds who think River/Serenity makes sense as much as Mal/Serenity does. For gwenfrewi72, who chose Jayne as the next victim. Cheers, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Worship the Joss, man. Not me. Okay, you can worship me too, just a little.
Now that the angel’s wings of fire are slowly gaining more force, River takes a moment at night to speak to Serenity again, alone in the cockpit. She’s made a ritual out of this, out of coming here in the night, sitting in her chair, and whispering with Serenity her secrets, as if they were lovers meeting in hidden. Which, to River, made all the sense in the world, because she LOVED Serenity, and Serenity LOVED River for keeping her up.
Tonight, she grabs two of the dinosaurs, and snuggles with the covers around her shoulders, as she sits on the floor, her back leaning on Serenity. One dinosaur is missing, and River thinks she’s seen it in Zoe and Wash’s bunk yesterday morning. River is the only one on the ship, aside Zoe, to still call that bunk Zoe and Wash’s bunk. She hears Wash when she hears Serenity, because, like she told her angel of fire, Wash and Book were the spirits, Zoe and River were just the bodies.
The memory of Book comes to her head as she toys with her dinosaurs. She smiles, for a moment wishing she could perform plays with the dinosaurs for Zoe, to make her laugh with tears like Wash did. Somehow, she feels her plays would be cracked just like her, but River will try once. She’ll have to start practising with Zoe, that way when the baby is there, she’ll be the perfect entertainer. Her mind is drifting off again, but she focuses back on Book. More specifically, on Jayne.
Serenity hums under her. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet..
River smiles. “Polite, too.” She drew the dinosaurs together in a friendly hug. “Misses his friend.”
Serenity is quiet while she thinks. Friend?
River lets out a small laugh. “Yes, friend. Might be a rock, but even rocks have other rocks to play with. Might be dumb, but his Ma tells him he ain’t stupid, he’s just a blight stubborn, and he’s got a mouth on him that oughta be washed with soap.”
Serenity considers. Tell me about this…friend.
“You know him, you have him around you, sometimes. When he was alive, he liked to read books that were mixed up, and got angry when I modified them to be correct. He had a lot of hair, like snow, or like white cotton candy. Made me want to dive in, and get lost in there, but he always kept it tight after I saw him. I liked it.”
Serenity remembers. The Sheperd Book.
“Silly name, just a pseudonym he created to hide who he was. Couldn’t fool me, no one can. I let him have his redemption, and he helped me find mine, in his way. He was cherished here. But Jayne misses him most.”
And the Captain?
“The Captain misses everyone, but he’s trying to…” no, best not get there. “Jayne could talk to Book like he wouldn’t talk with us. Friends like those are hard to find. After Ariel, Jayne was afraid of Book finding out he got his feet in the sand. But Book would have forgiven.”
How do we heal a rock?
“We don’t. We just add water, and hope it’ll soften a bit.”
It could work.
“It will,” River answered, and leaned her head back against the cold metal, pressing a kiss over it and closing her eyes. “Good night…love you…”
Serenity hummed. Good. It’ll keep me flying.
----
“What are you up to now, little one?” Zoe asked as she handed River a cup of tea.
“Going to heal rocks,” River said, with a smile.
Zoe might not understand, but she lets it pass, because right now, she doesn’t think River is capable of doing anything wrong. She pats her stomach softly, a smile on her lips, and sits down next to the youngest of the crew.
“Can’t wait till I can speak to him,” River says, looking at Zoe’s stomach.
Zoe opens an eyes, and smirks. “So sure it’ll be a he?”
“He’ll be a mini-Wash. Don’t care if it’s a girl or a boy, he’ll have Wash in there. Zoe too. Gonna be an angel with wings made of leafs.”
Zoe laughs, and admits that she can’t wait until River can speak to him either. Whether it’s a girl or a boy. Jayne enters the kitchen, and grunts a greeting their way, before grabbing a mug of coffee. Coffee for Jayne ain’t the same since someone’s missing in the company he’s getting.
“All around, not gone,” River murmurs, her eyes closed, and head thrown back over the chair’s back.
Jayne grumbles, “Too early for ya to spit out crazy shit, and for me to get it.”
River chuckles, and brings her head to look at Zoe. She point a finger at Jayne, and says, “Rock.” And when Zoe starts laughing, River leans over to pat Jayne’s hand.
“We getting any job this day?” he asks, when he’s more awake. Needs work to stop thinking, stop remembering, stop.
“No jobs for months. Not until we all heal,” River answers, before Zoe can. It’s quiet in the kitchen, and River suddenly stands up, and grabs Jayne’s hand. “Come on.”
“What? Where? Whatcha doin’, crazy girl?” he asks, but still lets her lead the way.
“Cleaning out the big guns. Gotta be clean before you heal, water to soften the rock. No time, too much time, more time, so little time.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I heard.”
----
On the third day, when Jayne’s admited that this gun-cleaning-with-River has become a ritual, he lets her clean Vera. Tells her he’ll blow a hole in her head if she messes Vera up, cause Vera’s his favourite, but River doesn’t mind. After all, not long ago, she wanted to Put a bullet through me. Bullet in the brainpan, squish. Please, God, make me a stone. Course, Jayne doesn’t know that.
There’s something about the little one, Zoe tells Jayne one day, something that makes you start spitting out your fears and ending up in sobs. Jayne makes a face, It comes with the whole dangerous killer about to rip your brains out, he says. Zoe only smiles, shakes her head, and decides to let River show him.
She brings him coffee, and when she does that, Jayne knows it’s time to clean the guns. They’ve taken to do it on the catwalk. Prettier, higher, colder, River says. Overlooks that spot where Jayne and Book loved to talk, Jayne thinks. And of course, River already knows that.
Today, River’s wearing pants. It’s weird for her, or as weird as a gorram crazy-brain girl can get. She sits down, and crosses her legs in a lotus position. Maybe she blushes as she explains the pants to Jayne.
“Can’t have you seeing my underwear.”
Jayne’s laughter is heard all the way to the cockpit.
----
She’s persuasive, and so far, Jayne’s her biggest challenge. Hasn’t broken down yet, hasn’t cried, but River’s slowly splashing her water over Jayne, who’ll turn into a soft rock yet. They land on a small planet, one of those where the people are few, and the poor are anti-Alliance fighters who’ve put the guns away. Mal has to go see about a job, and takes Jayne, Zoe and River with him. Simon doesn’t make a fuss anymore, but that’s probably because he suspects his little sister wouldn’t give a damn.
River sits behind Zoe, who’s driving the mule. Jayne’s next to her, keeping his Vera close. Mal’s ever vigilant in his seat, and River can trace his profile against the red sky of sunset land. It’s still black, but his turn’ll come soon. The mule shakes as they pass across the rocks.
“Need a ‘Baby on Board’ sign,” River mutters, combing Zoe’s hair with her fingers.
“Not yet, little one,” Zoe answers, smiling slightly. She wants to place her hand over her tummy again. Instinct, was that what it’s called?
“Maternal instinct. Reaction of the mother to his child, born or unborn, natural reaction of wanting to love and protect, and have close, very close to her,” River says, her definitions letting them know what brain she’s been in. “Never had much of that,” she musses.
“Have plenty of it now, little albatross,” Mal answers. “Soon enough, Zoe’ll start practicing on you. Wrap you in diapers, and feed you mush.”
Zoe glares at Mal, and it’s a friendly glare. Tells him she’s been considering it.
“She’s too big for diapers,” River states.
“I’ll say,” Jayne interferes. “Keep getting taller every day.”
“Wants to reach the sky!” River claims, leaning back in her seat, and lifting a hand to reach the reddened sky, her hair blown by the wind. “Wants to fly like an albatross.”
“Big wings, those ones,” Mal musses. “Hell when they open them.”
River smiles, “Good to wrap them around her family. Protection. And the water will heal.”
“That your job now?” Mal asks, turning around to look at River.
River shrugs, and returns to her initial position. “Hobby. Jobs require payment. Hobby brings pleasure.”
“Who’s gonna heal you. Little albatross?” Mal asks, face serious, all but the tiny crinkles in his eyes--smile lines.
River smiles, and looks him deep in the eyes. “When they are ready, she’ll allow herself to be healed. Still have shadows to dispatch until then.”
Mal’s eyes widen, and Jayne might be snickering with Zoe, but she’ll never know, because they reach the meeting point, and have to get to the business.
----
Mal’s still on thin ice when it comes to jobs nowadays, and this one’s smelled like a rat from a mile away. He tells Zoe this, and even though she’ll do whatever Mal tells her, she admits that the whole things smells bad. Jayne’s surprises them by saying it smells like fucking shit, and they should leave before their ass is Reaver food. River is happy Jayne doesn’t care for money much anymore, more worried about his life, and maybe theirs.
Still, ain’t no one to know when they’ll land again, so they take supplies a’plenty. Baby stuff included. River goes with Zoe for that, and wonders if Kaylee or Inara would have liked this. Maybe they would. Since they don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy, they ditch the pink and blue colours, and go for green and yellow. Luck and protection, River says. Also envy and mistrust, Zoe adds, but it’s irrelevant now. They’re inventing new meanings for each colour now.
River finds Jayne close to the mule, looking at the food on sell. She approaches him, and looks at his hands weighting a melon.
“Used to have a lot of cooking books, too,” Jayne mutters.
“Gonna cook something from there?” River asks. It’d be a good therapy to begin with.
“Best place to start,” Jayne mutters, and River wonders if he’s psychic too, as he pays for the food.
Later on, when Serenity’s flying again, River sits on the kitchen table, reading the recipe for Jayne to cook. She doesn’t know what it’s going to turn out as, but Jayne’s got flour on his cheek, and tears in his eyes, and at last he’s ready to heal.
The pie comes late, because Jayne went to his bunk for a long while. Still a man, can’t cry in front of the gorram crazy girl, and expect to have dignity left in him afterwards. Can’t threaten one if one’s seen you cry. River doesn’t care none, he’s healing.
The rock is healing, the angel of fire is healing, and it’s time for River to have a rest, before her next patient.
----
Serenity asks River the next night, Why do you try to heal them all?
And River answers: “When they’re healed, they’ll give you more love to keep you flying.” But what she wants to say is: “If you can’t do, teach.”
And Serenity understands.
Chapter: 02. Water For Hard Rocks
Author: Cella
Rating: PG
Summary: River, her mission to give Serenity the love it needs, and her quest to find her own peace.
Chapter Summary: She's got to start somewhere, so she'll start with cleaning guns, having coffee, and reading books. Remembering Book, and healing Jayne.
Spoilers: All the way through Serenity.
Pairings: Mal/River to come. River/Serenity for now, and perhaps the twisted Mal/River/Serenity later on. Who knows, with me.
A/N: For all the authors keen on making this ship rise, and for all the twisted minds who think River/Serenity makes sense as much as Mal/Serenity does. For gwenfrewi72, who chose Jayne as the next victim. Cheers, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Worship the Joss, man. Not me. Okay, you can worship me too, just a little.
Now that the angel’s wings of fire are slowly gaining more force, River takes a moment at night to speak to Serenity again, alone in the cockpit. She’s made a ritual out of this, out of coming here in the night, sitting in her chair, and whispering with Serenity her secrets, as if they were lovers meeting in hidden. Which, to River, made all the sense in the world, because she LOVED Serenity, and Serenity LOVED River for keeping her up.
Tonight, she grabs two of the dinosaurs, and snuggles with the covers around her shoulders, as she sits on the floor, her back leaning on Serenity. One dinosaur is missing, and River thinks she’s seen it in Zoe and Wash’s bunk yesterday morning. River is the only one on the ship, aside Zoe, to still call that bunk Zoe and Wash’s bunk. She hears Wash when she hears Serenity, because, like she told her angel of fire, Wash and Book were the spirits, Zoe and River were just the bodies.
The memory of Book comes to her head as she toys with her dinosaurs. She smiles, for a moment wishing she could perform plays with the dinosaurs for Zoe, to make her laugh with tears like Wash did. Somehow, she feels her plays would be cracked just like her, but River will try once. She’ll have to start practising with Zoe, that way when the baby is there, she’ll be the perfect entertainer. Her mind is drifting off again, but she focuses back on Book. More specifically, on Jayne.
Serenity hums under her. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet..
River smiles. “Polite, too.” She drew the dinosaurs together in a friendly hug. “Misses his friend.”
Serenity is quiet while she thinks. Friend?
River lets out a small laugh. “Yes, friend. Might be a rock, but even rocks have other rocks to play with. Might be dumb, but his Ma tells him he ain’t stupid, he’s just a blight stubborn, and he’s got a mouth on him that oughta be washed with soap.”
Serenity considers. Tell me about this…friend.
“You know him, you have him around you, sometimes. When he was alive, he liked to read books that were mixed up, and got angry when I modified them to be correct. He had a lot of hair, like snow, or like white cotton candy. Made me want to dive in, and get lost in there, but he always kept it tight after I saw him. I liked it.”
Serenity remembers. The Sheperd Book.
“Silly name, just a pseudonym he created to hide who he was. Couldn’t fool me, no one can. I let him have his redemption, and he helped me find mine, in his way. He was cherished here. But Jayne misses him most.”
And the Captain?
“The Captain misses everyone, but he’s trying to…” no, best not get there. “Jayne could talk to Book like he wouldn’t talk with us. Friends like those are hard to find. After Ariel, Jayne was afraid of Book finding out he got his feet in the sand. But Book would have forgiven.”
How do we heal a rock?
“We don’t. We just add water, and hope it’ll soften a bit.”
It could work.
“It will,” River answered, and leaned her head back against the cold metal, pressing a kiss over it and closing her eyes. “Good night…love you…”
Serenity hummed. Good. It’ll keep me flying.
----
“What are you up to now, little one?” Zoe asked as she handed River a cup of tea.
“Going to heal rocks,” River said, with a smile.
Zoe might not understand, but she lets it pass, because right now, she doesn’t think River is capable of doing anything wrong. She pats her stomach softly, a smile on her lips, and sits down next to the youngest of the crew.
“Can’t wait till I can speak to him,” River says, looking at Zoe’s stomach.
Zoe opens an eyes, and smirks. “So sure it’ll be a he?”
“He’ll be a mini-Wash. Don’t care if it’s a girl or a boy, he’ll have Wash in there. Zoe too. Gonna be an angel with wings made of leafs.”
Zoe laughs, and admits that she can’t wait until River can speak to him either. Whether it’s a girl or a boy. Jayne enters the kitchen, and grunts a greeting their way, before grabbing a mug of coffee. Coffee for Jayne ain’t the same since someone’s missing in the company he’s getting.
“All around, not gone,” River murmurs, her eyes closed, and head thrown back over the chair’s back.
Jayne grumbles, “Too early for ya to spit out crazy shit, and for me to get it.”
River chuckles, and brings her head to look at Zoe. She point a finger at Jayne, and says, “Rock.” And when Zoe starts laughing, River leans over to pat Jayne’s hand.
“We getting any job this day?” he asks, when he’s more awake. Needs work to stop thinking, stop remembering, stop.
“No jobs for months. Not until we all heal,” River answers, before Zoe can. It’s quiet in the kitchen, and River suddenly stands up, and grabs Jayne’s hand. “Come on.”
“What? Where? Whatcha doin’, crazy girl?” he asks, but still lets her lead the way.
“Cleaning out the big guns. Gotta be clean before you heal, water to soften the rock. No time, too much time, more time, so little time.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I heard.”
----
On the third day, when Jayne’s admited that this gun-cleaning-with-River has become a ritual, he lets her clean Vera. Tells her he’ll blow a hole in her head if she messes Vera up, cause Vera’s his favourite, but River doesn’t mind. After all, not long ago, she wanted to Put a bullet through me. Bullet in the brainpan, squish. Please, God, make me a stone. Course, Jayne doesn’t know that.
There’s something about the little one, Zoe tells Jayne one day, something that makes you start spitting out your fears and ending up in sobs. Jayne makes a face, It comes with the whole dangerous killer about to rip your brains out, he says. Zoe only smiles, shakes her head, and decides to let River show him.
She brings him coffee, and when she does that, Jayne knows it’s time to clean the guns. They’ve taken to do it on the catwalk. Prettier, higher, colder, River says. Overlooks that spot where Jayne and Book loved to talk, Jayne thinks. And of course, River already knows that.
Today, River’s wearing pants. It’s weird for her, or as weird as a gorram crazy-brain girl can get. She sits down, and crosses her legs in a lotus position. Maybe she blushes as she explains the pants to Jayne.
“Can’t have you seeing my underwear.”
Jayne’s laughter is heard all the way to the cockpit.
----
She’s persuasive, and so far, Jayne’s her biggest challenge. Hasn’t broken down yet, hasn’t cried, but River’s slowly splashing her water over Jayne, who’ll turn into a soft rock yet. They land on a small planet, one of those where the people are few, and the poor are anti-Alliance fighters who’ve put the guns away. Mal has to go see about a job, and takes Jayne, Zoe and River with him. Simon doesn’t make a fuss anymore, but that’s probably because he suspects his little sister wouldn’t give a damn.
River sits behind Zoe, who’s driving the mule. Jayne’s next to her, keeping his Vera close. Mal’s ever vigilant in his seat, and River can trace his profile against the red sky of sunset land. It’s still black, but his turn’ll come soon. The mule shakes as they pass across the rocks.
“Need a ‘Baby on Board’ sign,” River mutters, combing Zoe’s hair with her fingers.
“Not yet, little one,” Zoe answers, smiling slightly. She wants to place her hand over her tummy again. Instinct, was that what it’s called?
“Maternal instinct. Reaction of the mother to his child, born or unborn, natural reaction of wanting to love and protect, and have close, very close to her,” River says, her definitions letting them know what brain she’s been in. “Never had much of that,” she musses.
“Have plenty of it now, little albatross,” Mal answers. “Soon enough, Zoe’ll start practicing on you. Wrap you in diapers, and feed you mush.”
Zoe glares at Mal, and it’s a friendly glare. Tells him she’s been considering it.
“She’s too big for diapers,” River states.
“I’ll say,” Jayne interferes. “Keep getting taller every day.”
“Wants to reach the sky!” River claims, leaning back in her seat, and lifting a hand to reach the reddened sky, her hair blown by the wind. “Wants to fly like an albatross.”
“Big wings, those ones,” Mal musses. “Hell when they open them.”
River smiles, “Good to wrap them around her family. Protection. And the water will heal.”
“That your job now?” Mal asks, turning around to look at River.
River shrugs, and returns to her initial position. “Hobby. Jobs require payment. Hobby brings pleasure.”
“Who’s gonna heal you. Little albatross?” Mal asks, face serious, all but the tiny crinkles in his eyes--smile lines.
River smiles, and looks him deep in the eyes. “When they are ready, she’ll allow herself to be healed. Still have shadows to dispatch until then.”
Mal’s eyes widen, and Jayne might be snickering with Zoe, but she’ll never know, because they reach the meeting point, and have to get to the business.
----
Mal’s still on thin ice when it comes to jobs nowadays, and this one’s smelled like a rat from a mile away. He tells Zoe this, and even though she’ll do whatever Mal tells her, she admits that the whole things smells bad. Jayne’s surprises them by saying it smells like fucking shit, and they should leave before their ass is Reaver food. River is happy Jayne doesn’t care for money much anymore, more worried about his life, and maybe theirs.
Still, ain’t no one to know when they’ll land again, so they take supplies a’plenty. Baby stuff included. River goes with Zoe for that, and wonders if Kaylee or Inara would have liked this. Maybe they would. Since they don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy, they ditch the pink and blue colours, and go for green and yellow. Luck and protection, River says. Also envy and mistrust, Zoe adds, but it’s irrelevant now. They’re inventing new meanings for each colour now.
River finds Jayne close to the mule, looking at the food on sell. She approaches him, and looks at his hands weighting a melon.
“Used to have a lot of cooking books, too,” Jayne mutters.
“Gonna cook something from there?” River asks. It’d be a good therapy to begin with.
“Best place to start,” Jayne mutters, and River wonders if he’s psychic too, as he pays for the food.
Later on, when Serenity’s flying again, River sits on the kitchen table, reading the recipe for Jayne to cook. She doesn’t know what it’s going to turn out as, but Jayne’s got flour on his cheek, and tears in his eyes, and at last he’s ready to heal.
The pie comes late, because Jayne went to his bunk for a long while. Still a man, can’t cry in front of the gorram crazy girl, and expect to have dignity left in him afterwards. Can’t threaten one if one’s seen you cry. River doesn’t care none, he’s healing.
The rock is healing, the angel of fire is healing, and it’s time for River to have a rest, before her next patient.
----
Serenity asks River the next night, Why do you try to heal them all?
And River answers: “When they’re healed, they’ll give you more love to keep you flying.” But what she wants to say is: “If you can’t do, teach.”
And Serenity understands.