Mathematically Impossible
Title: Mathematically Impossible
Author: Me
Rating: There will be unfathomable amounts of smut from chapter four onwards, so NC-17 to say the very least. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nixies.
Notes: Everybody gets a happy ending in many Firefly stories. Hell, even Serenity herself gets a happy ending. What about Miranda, huh? Do you ever think about Miranda? No because you only think of yourself...
Xxxx
The Crash…
Pain.
That was he felt.
Pain bad enough to twist and contort his body into the unnatural, pulling at his spine until he arched and roared with it. Muscle and tendon and sinew nipped and pulled into a stretch that tore through his left ankle, forcing his fist to slam down onto the metal floor. He could smell the smoke from the fuel cells, knew they were on fire, and he had to get up, and get up now before it blew.
His head throbbed to the point where his vision blurred ten ways from Sunday, and his gut churned, the heaving turned him over onto his side just in time for the bile to come up. Mal pushed himself onto his knees and yarked again and again, his throat scraped raw and lungs burned from the stench of high octane fuel on fire. Even with a partially open shuttle door, the smell was vile.
He pounded his chest to get it all up and out of his chest, wiped his mouth on his sleeve and tried to breathe through his mouth. Not that it made any difference. Chemicals smelled and tasted just the same no matter which hole they were inhaled through.
River.
Oh fuck.
River.
“Ri’er?” Lithe legs capped in soft black boots swam into his point of view, and Mal scrambled round, uncaring of vomit on his britches.
He could just about see her body behind the crates of cargo, her lithe legs capped in black boots bent out from behind them, her pale skin littered with the start of some mighty fine bruising.
No, no. Don’t you do this to me, darlin’. Don’t you ruttin’ dare do this to me. Mal choked and coughed through a crawl that got him to her side, his lungs on damned fire and body felt like it had gone through twenty rounds with a cracked up Jayne.
“Riv…” Her name turned into another rib smashing cough that saw globs of black phlegm drop onto the shuttle floor. “River, darlin’. Witch. Gotta wake up for me, you hear?”
The crates felt like lead as he shoved them off of her, the rise and fall of her chest gave way to a crushing relief that threatened to push tears out of his eyes. Her body was soft and deceptively strong under his hands as he checked for injuries and broken bones, but thankfully found nothing bar the visible ones. That was good. That was very, very good. Nothing internal.
At least, he hoped so.
Her face was beautiful even covered in dirt and grime, debris knotted into her messy waves and blood from her nose trailed a terrifying line down to her left ear. At least it wasn’t clear. Clear bodily liquid meant brain fluid, and blood was not brain fluid.
Adrenalin rushed through him, made his heart and pulse skyrocket and his hands shook on her shoulders.
A strong waft of ten octane fuel smoke wisped past his face, and Mal felt his head swim and inflate with air, and he rose with it. To the clouds, with everything waltzing and spinning until a strong whiff of chemical punctured through the high, and he turned his head to heave.
All the gorram mechanics in the ‘verse, and not a one of them could make chocolate fuel? Useless.
Pulled the strands of hair away from her mouth and leaned down, the hodgeberry lip gloss and minty ice planet like heaven scent. The stillness of her lips scratched his heart with icy precision, clawed through each ventricle, and left glaciers running through his veins, but he didn’t stop. Could not, would not, give up. Not while there was still breath in his body.
River’s body jerked once, twice, chest pushed up into his, and Mal moved to get her onto her side as she coughed and yarked her own self. Her gasps were loud, raw, almost grating in pitch, but he didn’t give a damn. She was there and she was alive, and he was alive.
“Tha’ssit, that’s my girl.” Rubbed her back and kept her hair away from her face, felt the heat radiate from her skin like nuclear blasts sent out with every tremble and quake.
Didn’t know or care how long he was like that, only cared when it was time to wipe her mouth with his coat, cupped and touched her face soon after. Fingers smudged dust and dirt all over her face as he grasped at her, almost desperate in his whirling need to feel her, alive, in his hands.
River’s caramel eyes were saucer wide when she looked at him, shock and pout mixed into an expression of utter disdain. “I broke a nail.”
Mal couldn’t help it. Head rolled back, eyes squeezed shut, hands on knees, and laughed his fucking ass clean off. It was her, and she was good, alive, and it was just so damned River Tam to overlook the obvious and zero in on a matter that didn’t mean a damned thing.
Xxxx
The air was full of fresh ocean and there was the most beautiful damned breeze that washed over his face, the particles of salt made his cuts sting like a sonofabitch. Mal gulped in as much of the stuff as humanly possible, feeling it clear his head and lungs free of the toxic fumes currently making his vision swim and turn in two different circles. His stomach churned, but there was nothing left to bring up except bile.
River had collapsed onto her stomach not too far away, her body half sinking into the same boiling hot sand that scorched his hands. She would have a fair few bruises on her legs by the look of things, and he figured he wouldn’t be too far behind in that respect, but bruises healed and death didn’t, so he could handle that. Her wheezing was loud as she sucked in the same deliciously salted air, taking as much into her poisoned lungs as possible before she stuck her fingers down her throat to bring up blackness.
Mal made it to her side, sand cushioned his total collapse as the fresh air slowly washed away the monoxide and cleared the brainpan of the human need to fuck following a near death experience. His gaze flicked to just behind them, to the shuttle and a sky so damned blue, it hurt to look.
The shuttle was totalled and no other ways about it. Half on its side, the nose and left dug down into the sand, black smoke rose up and out of three different places, with small flicks of flame just to top it off. They would have to put that fire out or the shuttle would explode, taking with it anything inside that would be of use. Such as the water tank, the emergency medkit, and whatever else they had hidden in away in there.
Mal knew what had to be done, but he also knew he was blinking too long and too much. Had to get up before he couldn’t, and he left her on her own.
“On three?” River mouthed.
“One, two, three…” They sat and he immediately reached out, her cheek soft and clammy warm against his fingers. “Darlin’. River. Witch.”
“You broke my fall. Saved me. Jayne’s old grenade box broke yours.”
He managed a snort. “The one with the…”
River’s face scrunched up into a nod of pained sympathy. “Sorry.”
Each and every breath was sharp to the point they stabbed his lungs, but it was worth it to hear his own voice. Meant he weren’t yet knocking at the gates of hell. “Remind me to have a chat with that man when we get back. With my gun.”
“I can kill him with my brain. Save bullets.” Her button nose wrinkled. “And my sense of smell.”
“My sense of smell is full of octane,” Mal thumped his chest as he stained the sand with more black phlegm.
“M’okay. My body. It breaks down any foreign substances.” Slender shoulders shrugged at his look. “Sand’s too hot. Gotta be brave now or we’ll melt.
He sighed and looked her, brain absorbed everything about her in that moment. How the sky set behind her, sand almost white even against her creamhoney skin. “Gonna hurt, ain’t it?”
“A lot.”
“Great. Shiny. Let’s get this over with. Plan?”
“My upper body strength isn’t adequate to lift you. Need you to get up on your feet. Can you do that for me?”
Mal tested first his right foot and didn’t find it to be overly troublesome. The left foot, however, was a different story. He glanced down at the foot in question and gave it a gentle nudge. “Enough testin’.”
River’s arm slid under his back and right arm, while placing his left arm around her shoulders, adjusting until she deemed her grip acceptable. “On three?”
“On three… One, two,” he grit his teeth. “Three…”
A brilliant, blinding white hot pain shot lightning fast from ankle to the back of his knee, his muscles cramped to where he felt his toes pull and curl in his boot. Tendon or ligament, one of them had taken a fair amount of damage, and wasn’t that just what they needed?
“Ri’er? Ri’er? W’er you?” Mal wasn’t sure if his eyes were rolling or if it was the planet itself. Either way, everything went sideways and upside down at the same time.
Her distorted face came into view and he clasped her ears to hold her long enough for his vision to stop riding the gorram rollercoaster. “If y’ain’t the prettiest damn thing…”
Her mouth was pinched into a tight line, little fingers grasped his shoulders to keep him still. “Celebratory embrace can wait. Need to fix your foot. Try not to move.”
“Don’t you worry on that, darlin’. I’ve a notion to stay right where I am. Maybe pass out for a spell.” Mal let his pounding head flop back into the cushion of the crunchy leaves as he listened to her run back toward the shuttle.
He put all his weight onto his elbows and eased himself up off his side, the wracking cough rattled his chest good and proper. He glanced to see his lil witch hurrying back towards him, her brother’s medkit in her arms and water canister balanced on top of it and held in place by her chin.
River flopped down to her knees next to him, her new dress now a mix of sand and smoke. “Your talus remains intact,” a flash of smile. “You have contusions and edema caused by disruption to your Anterior talofibular ligament. Recommended dose of Hydrozepam is fifteen milligrams. We have enough for twelve doses, twenty-four with extensive rationing. I suggest full dose for treatment.”
“I’m of a mind to agree,” he nodded, and the hypo-gun hissed as she pressed it to his neck. He took the opportunity to bring her hand to his mouth. “I’m also of a mind to give you some cashy money for new dresses. Somethin’ pretty-like.”
“Give you a fashion show,” she smiled. “Tell me when.”
Mal coughed out a laugh. “I can see no cause for complaint in that, lil Witch. We get off this hunk of fei-oo? I’ll take you shoppin’ my own self.”
“It’s not fei-oo.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s… Ooh… Unicorns. Tiny ones. Could put ‘em in my pocket...” Mal watched the bitty ones float and dance against a background of crystal clear azure, their sweet little neighs and tiny wings a symphony of cuteness.
River laughed. “I think the Hydrozepam is taking effect. Can you feel this?”
A lil pink one flew right close to his head and he tried to give his best, most non-threatening smile. “Hello there, lil horsey. You’re the prettiest of the bunch… No, wait. You are. Yes, you are!”
“I’ll presume that’s negative. I’m removing your footwear.”
The unicorns froze in mid-air. “Feelin’ that… Feelin’ that… Feelin’. That.”
His teeth ground and creaked when she straightened his foot in a manner that brought the sting of tears to his eyes. The pressure of his boot sliding over swelling made it seem like his foot was being squashed from the inside out. It was gone and the beautiful breeze swept across his heated flesh, relief from that windy lil kiss almost as good as anything he’d ever felt.
“Better?”
“Much,” Mal relaxed a moment and took a heavy breath. “You ain’t done yet, are you?”
“Need you to stay still until I come back. Can you do that for me?”
Can’t do much else now, can I?
He heard the smile in her reply. “I can hear you with my brain.”
Mal closed his eyes and made a cross over his heart. “My word’s as good as the day is long, darlin’. I’ll keep to this here fine spot.”
Running footsteps were the reply this time, and again there he lay, with visions of lil unicorns dancing behind his eyelids like lil singing fairies. Cartoons, that’s what they were. Dancey, singy cartoonies that floated about on the wind in a shiny rainbow of flying horseys.
It was mighty relaxing in all truth, just watching their lil wingsies go flap-flap while the shiny warm sun tickled his toes.
Running footsteps came to a stop, followed by a soft thump, a pause, and then a long-suffering huff that was more than a little pissed off.
“Kindly remove the unicorns.”
Mal unglued his eyelids in order to stare at her. “You see them too?”
River’s face was a fearsome sight, complete with narrowed eyes and possible hissing.
“Ohhhh. Riiiight,” he clacked his tongue. “Reader. Can’t speak as to why you don’t like unicorns. Don’t every girl like ‘em?”
Growl.
“Alright. Fine. You want the horseys gone? Off they go. You’re a mean lil witch, you know that? Should a have an ugly wart right…” Mal tried to focus on her through his hazy gaze, watched her brown eyes cross as she followed his circling finger until it touched the tip of her nose. “There.”
River batted his finger away. “You’ve got issues.”
“I’m the captain. My issues is captai…” Ice put paid to his words. Beautiful, sweet icy cold water enveloped his swollen foot, and more kept coming with each wrap of soaking wet bandage. The radiating heat and pulsing swelling almost sizzled and steamed from the sweet relief.
“We get off this hunk o’ rock, I’mma takin’ you to the Preacher’s bunk an’ marryin’ you ten ways from Sunday.” Mal chuckled and reached down to stroke her face, his thumb tugging on her plump lower lip until that smile returned. The bright one, the one that flashed all her teeth and turned her cheeks to apples. The one that made her brown eyes look like melted caramel or fudge.
“S’ pretty,” his mouth curved into a lopsided grin.
“Me or the unicorns?”
“Only mean lil witches make a man choose ‘tween unicorns and pretty girls.”
“This mean lil witch is all done. Get some rest.”
“S’ work to do.” Never had anyone play with his hair before. It was nice how it felt. Like little prickles, but nice ones that made his fingers feel warm and tingly. Heard himself hum in response and tried to open his eyes, but they weren’t going anywhere.