The Echoes That Surround You, Part 2
Title: The Echoes That Surround You, Part 2
Disclaimer: Firefly owns me, I own words.
Notes: Muse just had some snippets she wanted to bring to the light of day. Small circles....And the ever wonderful Terimaru She of the Fishies
The Echoes That Surround You, Part 2
Some memories never disappeared; they just stayed as echoes in the backgrounds of their lives
********************************************************
There was just the sound of the bench groaning as Jayne pushed the bar into the air again. Zoë sat on the stairs nearby wiping her forehead with a towel. Jayne was at the end of his last set; his arms shook as he raised the bar to its hanger. Zoë didn’t get up to spot him, even though he was clearly worn out. She knew without being told that she would be rebuffed with a grunt and a snarl. It didn’t bother her at all. She herself rarely accepted help from anyone either.
They both kept their hearts closely guarded except when it came to Mal and Inara’s children, Alleyne Washburn and Matthew Derrial Reynolds. There they both let their feelings show more than anywhere else in the ‘Verse. They were just finishing up one of their now well-known silent workouts when Alley and Matt came running up the cargo ramp from being in town visiting Abel. Other than Serenity, Abel’s store was where they felt the most at home.
“Zoë, Jayne! Guess what we got?” Alley called as she ran over, leaping into Jayne’s arms as soon as he turned towards her. He grunted as she hit him full force, all of nine years old and still light as a downy feather.
“What’dya get baby-girl?” Jayne asked as he swung Alley around in a circle.
She giggled and kicked “You know I don’t wanna be called baby-girl, Jayne!” Her laughing as she said it made it hard to believe her.
“Yeah, so I been hearin for a spell, ya know I am just an old chunr¢en,” he answered with a growly chuckle. Alley loved that sound and endeavored to get out of Jayne whenever she could.
“Alley, my turn!” Matt pulled on Alley’s leg as Jayne stopped spinning her around.
“Your turn little man?” Jayne queried as he put Alley down and scoped up the five year old and put him atop his shoulders. Zoë didn’t react when she heard Jayne say little man despite that being his constant nickname for Wash. She never did get used Jayne calling Matt that. It always made her think back to her wild man husband.
“Come on lamby-toes, give a man reason to be a man!” Wash said with just the touch of a whine in his voice.
“I don’t look to the idea of Jayne killing you to happily,” Zoë replied stoically.
“Aw, I just need a few minutes alone with him to make him see reason,” Zoë raised an eyebrow at that idea, “and then I will call you in to tear him off of me. Cause getting killed ain’t on my schedule either.” Wash quirked a smile at her with the last comment.
Zoë blinked back a tear at that memory. It had been a few weeks before Miranda. Wash never did get to have his man-to-man talk with Jayne about whatever fool thing it was those two were on about that day.
“Zoë, look what Momma got us,” Alley brandished some hard sweets and a bag of little chocolates. “She said we was to share them with you and Jayne. Course, I said we would, but Matt wanted to eat ‘em all on the way back, and…” Zoë smiled as Alley rambled on about the walk back from Abel’s, all five hundred yards of it. Would have been quite the feat for them to finish all the sweets in that short a walk she thought. Course, they were Mal and Inara’s children, so there was no saying what they could accomplish.
“Matt!” Alley finally got Jayne to stop parading around with the uncontrollably giggling little boy on his shoulders.
“Momma said we had to feed Sushi and Sashimi, they are expecting again.” Alley said expecting with emphasis, like she was trying to impart great meaning to the fish’s upcoming delivery.
********************************************************
“Stand up straighter til ya see where he is gonna aim for ya, don’t get all crouchy like til then,” Jayne circled Matthew with a wicked long knife in his hands. They had been circling for several minutes; Matthew taking swipes at Jayne with his own knife and Jayne backing out of range easily. Jayne had a feral grin on his face as they sparred. He knew Matthew was gonna find a way to beat him at knives someday, but right now it was fun to have an almost equal partner.
Matthew just hoped that his mother never caught him in his illicit contests with Jayne. She wouldn’t understand his need to test himself. It would remind her to much of her fears for Mal. Seemed their work never did get any less prone to violence. There was work to be had, no doubt, but sometimes it seemed the ‘Verse just liked to make their lives more, interestin’.
********************************************************
“Just sit still and this will only sting abit,” Simon sighed, as he had to stitch yet another injury Alley managed to acquire lord knows how. That child was as wild as…River. Simon stopped in mid suture remembering his sister when she was Alley’s age. Six, long before she applied to that Academy where they tore her brain apart. Alley had the same joy of movement, laughter and teasing. Simon smiled sadly at the memory and continued to sew.
“Simon,” Alley interrupted his thoughts.
“Yes?” He answered absently as he concentrated on the suture.
“You ever gonna marry Kaylee then?” She asked innocently.
Simon tried not to choke as she asked. He did not have an answer. He knew it was reasonable, but he also knew he couldn’t avoid the conversation with Kaylee much longer either. Just was surprised that it was a child who was much like River who reminded him that he needed to finish his own growing up.
*******************************************************
“Slow down, Matt! I gotta count!” River shrieked in a happy voice over the roar of the mule’s engines and the wind whipping by them as Matt flew the hover over the fields around Paraiso. River was wearing her huge goggles again, hair streaming wildly around her head, like it always did.
Matt laughed as he swung the mule into a big arc before slowing and landing it on the top of a small hillock.
“What ya countin?” He asked River, breathless himself from laughing at the joy of driving to fast and breaking the rules, which rules he wasn’t sure of this time, but he was sure there was rules he was breaking.
“Counting, calculating, determining the effect of…”River was looking at the trees in the distance as she spoke, “The probability of a random action effecting a set outcome…we’re here,” she looked up in surprise.
Matt knew what she was talking about more than anyone else on Serenity, except maybe his father, but Mal didn’t like to let that be common knowledge. Matt knew that his father looked at River as a daughter who was brought into his world by horrible accident and that Mal viewed her as one of his many blessings. Matt never ceased to wonder at how his father could bring people into his orbit that were so extraordinary.
*******************************************************
“Your mother was a great beauty in her time,” the woman from the House Madrassa was trying to compliment Alley, little realizing that Alley had been trained by that very mother to school her features to show whatever expression she desired. The woman did not recognize that Alley was raging inside. Her mother was still a great beauty, but she knew that not everyone in the Guild quite forgave Inara for settling with her Space Pirate lover. Alley smiled with a polite averting of her eyes and tip of her chin.
“Thank you Marissa, she will be greatly cheered to hear that she is still remembered here at House Madrassa.” Alley answered with silky tones. There was an element of Mal’s insouciance to her voice, but it was faint enough that it would be missed to anyone not listening carefully enough.
Alley was wondering if it had been such a good idea to visit her mother’s old friends at the House after all. She would never fit in their world and it was becoming apparent that they would never understand Inara’s decision to leave it.
******************************************************
“No, no, that goes over here.” Kaylee laughed as Matt tried to put a coil into the space meant for a stabilizer. He grinned as she gently took the part from him.
“You are just like the Cap’n, Matt, always needin’ to have Serenity here tell ya where to put things and too stubborn to listen.” Kaylee proceeded to show Matt where to put the coil as he attempted to follow along with her instructions. She didn’t know he was enjoying her ever-cheerful personality as much as the mechanical education. She was like sunshine on a warm spring day. Warm enough to chase off any chill, but not so hot as to burn.
Matt liked to come and work on Serenity with her when Mal was in one of his over-bearing moods. Was getting to be less often now, but it still happened. Matt figured he would eventually figure out how to keep Serenity afloat if he could just understand what Kaylee meant about listening to the old boat.
******************************************************
Alley and Matt decided when they were young, 14 and 10 years of age, that they were the happiest children in the ‘Verse. The echoes of the lives that surrounded them were bigger than any riches to be found on any planet or moon. Despite their youth, they knew that much, as clear as the Sun would rise and set over every planet in that ‘Verse, sure as their father told them whenever they were uncertain of anything. It was a guarantee Mal offered them whenever they doubted themselves, they had the riches of the ‘Verse in their memories.
Disclaimer: Firefly owns me, I own words.
Notes: Muse just had some snippets she wanted to bring to the light of day. Small circles....And the ever wonderful Terimaru She of the Fishies
The Echoes That Surround You, Part 2
Some memories never disappeared; they just stayed as echoes in the backgrounds of their lives
********************************************************
There was just the sound of the bench groaning as Jayne pushed the bar into the air again. Zoë sat on the stairs nearby wiping her forehead with a towel. Jayne was at the end of his last set; his arms shook as he raised the bar to its hanger. Zoë didn’t get up to spot him, even though he was clearly worn out. She knew without being told that she would be rebuffed with a grunt and a snarl. It didn’t bother her at all. She herself rarely accepted help from anyone either.
They both kept their hearts closely guarded except when it came to Mal and Inara’s children, Alleyne Washburn and Matthew Derrial Reynolds. There they both let their feelings show more than anywhere else in the ‘Verse. They were just finishing up one of their now well-known silent workouts when Alley and Matt came running up the cargo ramp from being in town visiting Abel. Other than Serenity, Abel’s store was where they felt the most at home.
“Zoë, Jayne! Guess what we got?” Alley called as she ran over, leaping into Jayne’s arms as soon as he turned towards her. He grunted as she hit him full force, all of nine years old and still light as a downy feather.
“What’dya get baby-girl?” Jayne asked as he swung Alley around in a circle.
She giggled and kicked “You know I don’t wanna be called baby-girl, Jayne!” Her laughing as she said it made it hard to believe her.
“Yeah, so I been hearin for a spell, ya know I am just an old chunr¢en,” he answered with a growly chuckle. Alley loved that sound and endeavored to get out of Jayne whenever she could.
“Alley, my turn!” Matt pulled on Alley’s leg as Jayne stopped spinning her around.
“Your turn little man?” Jayne queried as he put Alley down and scoped up the five year old and put him atop his shoulders. Zoë didn’t react when she heard Jayne say little man despite that being his constant nickname for Wash. She never did get used Jayne calling Matt that. It always made her think back to her wild man husband.
“Come on lamby-toes, give a man reason to be a man!” Wash said with just the touch of a whine in his voice.
“I don’t look to the idea of Jayne killing you to happily,” Zoë replied stoically.
“Aw, I just need a few minutes alone with him to make him see reason,” Zoë raised an eyebrow at that idea, “and then I will call you in to tear him off of me. Cause getting killed ain’t on my schedule either.” Wash quirked a smile at her with the last comment.
Zoë blinked back a tear at that memory. It had been a few weeks before Miranda. Wash never did get to have his man-to-man talk with Jayne about whatever fool thing it was those two were on about that day.
“Zoë, look what Momma got us,” Alley brandished some hard sweets and a bag of little chocolates. “She said we was to share them with you and Jayne. Course, I said we would, but Matt wanted to eat ‘em all on the way back, and…” Zoë smiled as Alley rambled on about the walk back from Abel’s, all five hundred yards of it. Would have been quite the feat for them to finish all the sweets in that short a walk she thought. Course, they were Mal and Inara’s children, so there was no saying what they could accomplish.
“Matt!” Alley finally got Jayne to stop parading around with the uncontrollably giggling little boy on his shoulders.
“Momma said we had to feed Sushi and Sashimi, they are expecting again.” Alley said expecting with emphasis, like she was trying to impart great meaning to the fish’s upcoming delivery.
********************************************************
“Stand up straighter til ya see where he is gonna aim for ya, don’t get all crouchy like til then,” Jayne circled Matthew with a wicked long knife in his hands. They had been circling for several minutes; Matthew taking swipes at Jayne with his own knife and Jayne backing out of range easily. Jayne had a feral grin on his face as they sparred. He knew Matthew was gonna find a way to beat him at knives someday, but right now it was fun to have an almost equal partner.
Matthew just hoped that his mother never caught him in his illicit contests with Jayne. She wouldn’t understand his need to test himself. It would remind her to much of her fears for Mal. Seemed their work never did get any less prone to violence. There was work to be had, no doubt, but sometimes it seemed the ‘Verse just liked to make their lives more, interestin’.
********************************************************
“Just sit still and this will only sting abit,” Simon sighed, as he had to stitch yet another injury Alley managed to acquire lord knows how. That child was as wild as…River. Simon stopped in mid suture remembering his sister when she was Alley’s age. Six, long before she applied to that Academy where they tore her brain apart. Alley had the same joy of movement, laughter and teasing. Simon smiled sadly at the memory and continued to sew.
“Simon,” Alley interrupted his thoughts.
“Yes?” He answered absently as he concentrated on the suture.
“You ever gonna marry Kaylee then?” She asked innocently.
Simon tried not to choke as she asked. He did not have an answer. He knew it was reasonable, but he also knew he couldn’t avoid the conversation with Kaylee much longer either. Just was surprised that it was a child who was much like River who reminded him that he needed to finish his own growing up.
*******************************************************
“Slow down, Matt! I gotta count!” River shrieked in a happy voice over the roar of the mule’s engines and the wind whipping by them as Matt flew the hover over the fields around Paraiso. River was wearing her huge goggles again, hair streaming wildly around her head, like it always did.
Matt laughed as he swung the mule into a big arc before slowing and landing it on the top of a small hillock.
“What ya countin?” He asked River, breathless himself from laughing at the joy of driving to fast and breaking the rules, which rules he wasn’t sure of this time, but he was sure there was rules he was breaking.
“Counting, calculating, determining the effect of…”River was looking at the trees in the distance as she spoke, “The probability of a random action effecting a set outcome…we’re here,” she looked up in surprise.
Matt knew what she was talking about more than anyone else on Serenity, except maybe his father, but Mal didn’t like to let that be common knowledge. Matt knew that his father looked at River as a daughter who was brought into his world by horrible accident and that Mal viewed her as one of his many blessings. Matt never ceased to wonder at how his father could bring people into his orbit that were so extraordinary.
*******************************************************
“Your mother was a great beauty in her time,” the woman from the House Madrassa was trying to compliment Alley, little realizing that Alley had been trained by that very mother to school her features to show whatever expression she desired. The woman did not recognize that Alley was raging inside. Her mother was still a great beauty, but she knew that not everyone in the Guild quite forgave Inara for settling with her Space Pirate lover. Alley smiled with a polite averting of her eyes and tip of her chin.
“Thank you Marissa, she will be greatly cheered to hear that she is still remembered here at House Madrassa.” Alley answered with silky tones. There was an element of Mal’s insouciance to her voice, but it was faint enough that it would be missed to anyone not listening carefully enough.
Alley was wondering if it had been such a good idea to visit her mother’s old friends at the House after all. She would never fit in their world and it was becoming apparent that they would never understand Inara’s decision to leave it.
******************************************************
“No, no, that goes over here.” Kaylee laughed as Matt tried to put a coil into the space meant for a stabilizer. He grinned as she gently took the part from him.
“You are just like the Cap’n, Matt, always needin’ to have Serenity here tell ya where to put things and too stubborn to listen.” Kaylee proceeded to show Matt where to put the coil as he attempted to follow along with her instructions. She didn’t know he was enjoying her ever-cheerful personality as much as the mechanical education. She was like sunshine on a warm spring day. Warm enough to chase off any chill, but not so hot as to burn.
Matt liked to come and work on Serenity with her when Mal was in one of his over-bearing moods. Was getting to be less often now, but it still happened. Matt figured he would eventually figure out how to keep Serenity afloat if he could just understand what Kaylee meant about listening to the old boat.
******************************************************
Alley and Matt decided when they were young, 14 and 10 years of age, that they were the happiest children in the ‘Verse. The echoes of the lives that surrounded them were bigger than any riches to be found on any planet or moon. Despite their youth, they knew that much, as clear as the Sun would rise and set over every planet in that ‘Verse, sure as their father told them whenever they were uncertain of anything. It was a guarantee Mal offered them whenever they doubted themselves, they had the riches of the ‘Verse in their memories.