FF/SPN: Whitefall
And finally, another part of Blessings against the Thunder. No, really. At least it's substantial.
Blessings against the Thunder: Whitefall
by vaznetti
SPN/FF (John/Zoe and ensembles)
R for language and violence, spoilers for Serenity, c. 4,000 words
Notes: Many thanks to rez_lo and musesfool for beta reading and to the_grynne for going far beyond what might be expected in helping me with Chinese language questions. This one's for hossgal; I hope she likes it.
Summary: In which some things are broken and some things are mended, plans are made and discarded, Kaylee and Zoe gossip and Sam and Inara have tea. There are also explosions, of various kinds.
Previously:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1, 2
Blackout Zone, 1, 2, 3
Blackout Zone: Epilogue
1.
Mal and Jayne spend the first day fixing the well-pump, Mal wishing half the time it were Zoe working by him. It ain't that Jayne needs direction, but Mal can't seem to help directing him anyways, and it don't make for a pleasant working experience. Soon as the water's flowing clear, Jayne stomps off to sit on the porch of one of the old ranch buildings, leaning back in a chair with a wobbling leg and spitting into the dust now and then. Then Adelaide lands, and Impala the day after, and now Kaylee's got half Serenity's innards spread out in front of her on the ground, something about refitting the life support along the lines she saw on Impala, that Dean Winchester sitting by her and helping her work and not minding too much the way River squatted next to them, quiet and still, watching them at it.
They eat out under the stars, though Mal can't help thinking that they were enough to make Serenity's galley feel crowded and noisy, and how that might make a change. In the morning he hears Inara and Zoe laughing as he climbs his ladder, and smiles all the way down the corridor. And there's John Winchester taking up space at the table, drinking his morning tea and grinning like he belongs there, like he's got nothing better to do than hang around on Serenity making women laugh. Which Mal nearly says, but he reckons Winchester can see it on his face, 'cause he puts down his cup and gets to his feet, saying something about work to do as he nods to them all and heads out. Zoe gets up to follow him.
"Go check on Kaylee," Mal tells her. "See how she's doing. I don't want any problems, if we need to leave in a hurry."
Zoe turns in the doorway, face as smooth as her voice. "We planning on that, sir?"
"Best be prepared," Mal says. "That's all."
"Yes sir," she says, and heads out.
Mal turns back to the table, where Inara's sitting with steam rising from the cup in front of her. She's giving him a look he don't know what to do with.
"What?" he says.
"Nothing," she says. "Bèn dàn." She takes her tea and goes.
"Fine morning," Mal tells himself. "Damn fine."
2.
Dean can hear Sam from the ranch house steps, not really yelling, not yet. "Dad," he's saying. "It thanked me. It asked me to send it back to hell."
"We are not running some kind of rescue mission for demons," John says.
Dean pauses in the doorway and examines the room: papers pinned to the walls and recordings stacked on the rickety chairs, and a swath of paper across the floor, from Sam sweeping the table clean with one long arm. He can tell from their voices that they've been arguing over the same territory, back and forth, all morning and the day before, and feels a prickle of guilt for spending yesterday working with Kaylee, instead of running interference.
Now Sam's leaning over the table, and John's got his back to the wall and the way they're glaring at each other is almost enough to make the whole thing feel normal. Then River uncurls herself from the floor in the corner. "They're fish behind glass," she says. "And when the water runs out, they're still trapped. Flesh and blood."
"You've seen the tapes," Sam says. "They've found a way to use the hosts to control the demons. That's not something we can ignore."
"Do you have a suggestion that won't end with demons running loose on a core planet?"
"We could let the Academy find me," Sam says.
Shit. "No," Dean says. "We can't."
"Once I'm inside I could..."
John glances at Dean, then back to Sam. "Dean's right. They'll have your ID from what we just did. No way they'll let you just walk in, now."
"Do you have anything better?" Sam's got a scowl on his face. "We need to get in, figure out some way to contain them."
"I'll think of something," John says, like they all don't know him well enough to know what's underneath that confidence.
"Eggshells," River says. "Brew beer in eggshells to catch a changeling. And once they break you can't put them together, not all the king's horses and all the king's men." She crosses the room in that dancing way she has and stops by Dean. "You have to use the edges." Then she's gone.
He voices the confusion he can see on both their faces, as well. "What the hell is that girl on about?"
Sam shrugs. "Damned if I know." He goes back to the reports like it's nothing, but Dean watches his father stare at the empty doorway and wishes he knew how much the old man's hiding.
Goddamn research jobs.
3.
The sunlight's thin but warm enough, and Kaylee has her fans and filters laid out on Serenity's ramp: secondary life support, after Zoe's message from the captain. Which Zoe had told her in a tight voice before stomping off somewhere, and Mal repeated when he came out and went stomping off somewhere else. Kaylee reckoned it made sense enough, seeing as they didn't have the best history here on Whitefall, but then she talked to Inara a little. So now she's out in front of Serenity, tools to hand and the system spread out before her, because keeping the ship alive's her job, even if it don't feel like enough, some mornings.
But the work lulls her like it always does, and it's pleasant to be outside in the sun. They're a ship's length away from the old ranch house, directly across from it, with a cluster of sagging shacks and barns scattered to Kaylee's left and Adelaide about seventy feet away to the right. Not as nice as Serenity, that ship, but Kaylee's got used to the shape of her. Impala's a little further past Adelaide, sketching out a kind of square. That, Kaylee has to admit, is a well-kept ship, smooth and gleaming, and kept just as sweet inside as out. Not a work-horse like Serenity or even Adelaide, either: she's all speed and power and don't care who knows it.
She's jarred out of her woolgathering by Zoe coming back from wherever she'd walked off to; 'stead of heading for the house, she comes up to the ramp and settles down at the top of it, near where Kaylee's working. She don't say anything, and Kaylee's got a delicate set of connections in her hands. She keeps working a while before looking up and asking, "You gonna keep me company out here?"
"Reckon I might," Zoe says.
"Shiny," Kaylee says. "Pass me that coil of tubing, there?" She fiddles a little longer, working with the tubes and filters of the system, enjoying the sun warm on her hands. "You know," she says, "Captain don't mean--"
"I know what the captain means," Zoe says, dry as the dirt around the abandoned ranch house.
What Kaylee really wants to ask is how Zoe is, herself, now that they're up against Blue Sun or the Alliance or whatever did what they did to River, one more time. Because Kaylee remembers how scared she was, and how she got shot and how much it hurt, but Zoe was hurt more'n any of them, more than Serenity herself, though it's hard for Kaylee to think it. Serenity's not quite the ship she was before that landing, but she was patched together out of love and regret; Kaylee's not sure what's gonna hold Zoe together if the patches she's got now start ripping. But she don't have words to say that to Zoe, thinks Simon might, with all his fancy way of speaking, if only he had eyes to see the need for it. So she sits and lets her hands work, and watches Dean walk up into the old house, and River step out a little while later. She comes walking across to Serenity and up the ramp, all that grace Kaylee's ma would have called uncanny.
"Any progress in there?" Zoe asks her.
River pauses. "They only see the fire," she says. Zoe nods like she knows what that means, and River disappears into the cool shadows of Serenity's hold.
Kaylee thinks about asking, but she's got another thing occurs to her now. "Zoe," she asks, "what do you make of Dean Winchester?"
She looks up to see Zoe looking at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean, he's good with engines, takes real good care of Impala there; you can tell how he much he loves that ship. But with people... well, with female people..."
"Kaylee," Zoe says, "you aren't--"
"Me?" Kaylee squeaks. "No! I mean, he's cute and all, but I have Simon. And he'd be good for a tumble or two, but I don't reckon he'd change course to happen to meet up with you. That's the part's worrying at me."
Zoe gives her a sharp look. "Why're you worrying if you're not thinking of him for..." She stops and Kaylee watches her think of it. "River?"
"She looks at him sometimes, Zoe. I don't know. He's nice to look at, but..."
"River?" Zoe asks again. "He said anything?"
"I don't think he's seen it," Kaylee says. "River ain't exactly..."
"She can be hard to read," Zoe allows. "You think the captain's noticed?" And Kaylee thinks anyone else might have started to laugh, but Zoe just smiles, wide and full of wicked glee.
4.
The shriek nearly makes Mal spill his drink, ringing in his ears as he sits up in Serenity's galley. His feet are already taking him clattering down the stairs to the passenger quarters and he can still feel the sound vibrating in the hull; he turns up in the lounge and there's River curled up in a ball, Simon crouched in front of her and Kaylee standing behind him holding a shirt wrapped around herself like she's cold.
"It's OK," Simon is saying. "It's OK, mei mei, you're safe, just breathe."
But she's gasping and shaking her head, saying "I'm sorry," over and over. "Don't be angry," she says. "I have to touch the glass. I have to see what's on the other side."
"Doc?" Mal asks, and he knows it comes out angry, but this is bad, as bad as it was in the early days, and he's tired from a day spent fixing what'll break soon as they leave, nothing soothing about the way the skills come back to his hands, hammer and nails to patch a fence when there's no cattle to keep in. "You got any idea what's going on?"
It's Kaylee who answers. "She just started screaming, Cap'n. I don't know..." She trails off and they both listen to the reassuring nonsense coming from Simon's mouth, while River shakes her head and weeps.
"Get the doc's bag," Mal tells Kaylee; she runs off and is back in no time at all.
They stand and watch Simon reach inside, measure out a dose of something, speaking all the time, in a low voice. "That's right," he's saying. "It's OK, just a moment more and you can sleep."
"Where's Zoe, anyhow?" Mal asks. Scream like that should have woken her up.
Kaylee gives him a funny look. "On Adelaide, I guess."
He's spared having to think of something to say to that by River, slipping forward into Simon's arms. "No more blood and fire," she says as her eyes close, "just pillars of smoke."
5.
Dean looks right at Zoe's hand, the minute he steps through the doorway: the way she's resting it on John's shoulder while they look over one of the reports. John raises his head, which gives her an excuse to move it. "What's on your mind, Dean?" he asks.
Dean's eyes flick to Zoe, and she can take a hint, says, "I'll be outside." She gets to her feet. No point pretending it's something it isn't, and everything feels off this morning; she don't have the energy to deal with this, too.
"No need for that," John says, and Dean's mouth twitches in something that ain't a smile, like he wants to ask, so that's how it is?, but John just nods at him. "What is it?"
"It's Sam," Dean says. "He's dreaming, and he won't tell me what."
"Is it bad?" John asks.
"He won't tell me what he's seeing, Dad." Dean says every word slow and distinct.
John's quiet for a moment. "We're not sending him in there. You understand me?"
"I understand you," Dean says. "Don't you do anything stupid, either." It's the kind of exchange she's getting used to, watching John's family: only a few sentences, but those so weighted down by shared experience that they might well collapse under it. Sometimes she thinks she's starting to understand the dialect, and sometimes she's fairly sure she doesn't want to.
Dean turns to go and John swings around on the bench so he's looking up at her. "Well," he says. "You figured it out yet?"
She starts; the question's a little too close to her own thought for comfort. "Figured what out?"
"How we took out the thing that killed Mary and Jess."
She's relieved to have something concrete to focus on. And it ain't like all the pieces aren't right there in front of her. "Sam let it in," Zoe says. "Destroyed it from the inside."
"You must be wondering how I let him do it." His voice is low, almost too low to hear.
"Sam seems fairly determined," she says. "I might even say, stubborn."
"Boy gets that from his mother," John says, but the smile don't make it into his voice or up to his eyes before it disappears. "Dean hated the idea, thought it was too dangerous. He didn't know half of it, what it's like to--" He breaks off. "He was right, that's all."
"It worked," she says.
"Yeah." He's quiet a bit. "Sam is-- Sam is good," he says, and not like he means good at what he does.
"Reckon you're going to tell me he gets that from his mother too," she says, and just as quick as the words leave her mouth, she wishes she could take them back. All she can think is how careful he is around Wash's memory, won't hardly step onto Serenity's bridge, and she'd be out of that dusty room if she could, if it weren't for John's hand wrapped around her wrist. When she finally looks up from it, there's something she doesn't want to name mixed with the sorrow in his eyes.
"They say lightning don't strike the same spot twice," he says. "I'm not sure I believe that, now."
6.
The dust around the houses tickles Inara's nose; she traces an old path past them and out to the ravine behind the ranch. She settles in the short grass growing at its edge and motions to her companion to do the same before she pours out the tea they've carried with them. Sam Winchester lifts the cup and breathes in: he looks as if he knows enough to appreciate it. Then he looks up and flushes slightly. "You know, I can't... that is, I don't have..." He trails off.
"It's a cup of tea, Sam," she says. "Nothing more."
He smiles at that, and thanks her. They sit a while, looking out at the barren landscape. "So," Sam finally says, "What's worrying you?"
His tone is dry, and when she glances at him, he's staring at the ravine. "You don't suppose that I simply wanted some company, while I looked at the view?" He meets her gaze, this time, and she sighs. "The situation does seem to call for some concern."
"We'll figure something out," Sam says. "We always do." He doesn't sound entirely convinced, and she's on the verge of commenting on that when he adds, "It might be easier if my father and Captain Reynolds were speaking to each other."
That startles laughter out of her. "Speaking has been known to lead to yelling. Are you sure we aren't better off this way?"
He smiles easily, all white teeth and dimples. "You may have a point."
"And I think that coming up with a plan and solving Mal's personal problems all at once might be over-ambitious, even for us."
"Is that what this is?"
"Trust me," she says, "that's exactly what this is."
"You may be underestimating my father's contribution. Most of his friends greet him with loaded shotguns."
"I'm not entirely shocked to hear that," Inara admits. She gives him another sideways look. "Is that why you're spending the afternoon out here?"
"You don't suppose I simply wanted some company? Something a little more charming than what's back at the ranch house?"
She smiles. "Your brother does try to be charming."
Sam's face goes slack in mock-panic. "Please -- don't encourage him. He'll never shut up about it." She laughs again: Sam Winchester is easy to laugh with, an unassuming, comforting presence, more aware of his body's effect than most other men.
She pauses at the thought and considers it, while Sam sips at his tea. "We may not be able to solve Mal's problems," she says. "Or John's -- but we might consider being honest with each other."
He's caught off guard, and the smile vanishes. "Can you do that?" he asks. "Just decide to stop lying and... stop?"
She examines him, old eyes in a young face, nothing like the innocent pretense he wears like his own skin; it's only now that she can see how much of a pretense it is. "Honesty isn't often necessary, for Companions," she admits.
"Not for Winchesters, either," Sam says. His voice is light, but to Inara he looks very like his father, caught in an unexpected memory, and she suppresses a shiver and wonders what deceptions she has not yet noticed. "Is this Mal's home?" Sam asks.
She stares; it's an idea she's left half-formed herself, and she thinks again that she'll need to be careful of Sam Winchester: he sees far more clearly than she's used to. "If not," she says, "It's very like it." And Mal has enough history on Whitefall without that, she thinks. "And you?" she asks.
"We didn't exactly have a home..." he begins.
"No," she says. "What's worrying you?"
The grin brightens his face, and for a moment she thinks he might answer. "Nothing worth sharing," he says, and finishes his tea.
7.
The attack comes an hour after sunset. John hears the gunfire, makes it out of the ship in time to see Zoe pulling Kaylee up into Serenity, both of them safe, and to hear Impala's engine's start. Then there's Sam, coming up Adelaide's ramp in two long steps and practically throwing Inara at John. He stops inside just long enough to gasp out a report -- a set of men up on the low hill behind the outbuildings and another, fewer of them, coming up from the ravine -- and runs back toward the ranch house before John can get a word in. To get the fucking data, John thinks, laying down covering fire as best he can and barking at Inara to get on the horn and find out what the hell's going on.
"Patience," she says, like that's supposed to mean something. John fires again; three more steps and Sam will make the porch. "One of Mal's old friends, and I use the term loosely."
Sam's up onto the porch and through the door. "Old?" John asks. He's watching the ridge; aims and fires. Mal and Zoe are shooting from Serenity's hatch, Dean and Jayne from Impala; a bullet hits Adelaide's hull, just the other side of John's head.
"Patience!" Mal bellows. "What the gorram hell brought this on?"
Sam pauses in the ranch house doorway and scans the open ground. Dean's gesturing at him from Impala.
"Why'd you come back to my planet, Malcolm Reynolds?" It's a woman's voice, shouting back down from the ridge. "Ain't you got no respect for me?"
"I got plenty of respect," Mal shouts; he fires again, and someone screams. Sam ducks his head and starts running toward John and Adelaide. "I'd have more if you weren't such a maniacal feng guî!"
A pair of shapes come around the back of the outbuildings, up from the ravine; John tracks them more by movement than anything, fires, fires again. Mal and Patience are still shouting back and forth at each other.
"Watch the gorram ridge," Dean yells, just as Sam comes up the ramp. John turns around, and what the hell is that? some kind of cannon? It flashes fire like an answer: too short, sets one of the ranch buildings alight. Won't take them long to correct the angle.
"We need--" Sam starts.
"Yeah," John says, tossing him the rife. "Get up to the cockpit," John tells Inara; she's already moving, and he shouts after her. "Get ready to take us up." He rests a hand on Sam's shoulder, runs for the engine room: there's another boom from the cannon up on the hillside. The engine turns over; the ship lurches up then over, tossing John against the wall. The momentum pushes him up to the cockpit, where Inara slides out of the pilot's chair so he can fall into it. Sam's already bringing the guns up, and he circles them around; hard to see in the smoke, but Impala's in the air above them and Serenity's lifting up as well, and John brings Adelaide around, above the canon up on the ridge. Sam doesn't wait for a command: he fires once, then again, and they all have the satisfaction of seeing the gun go up in a burst of exploding ammo.
Then it's up through atmosphere, into the black.
8.
"Look," Mal says, just as he's said more than once already, "we know Impala made it off-world. We both saw it. For all I know, that boy of yours got lost, with my crew aboard."
"Dean did not get lost," John grates out, the anger in his voice clear all the way over the comm channel.
"We've been back along the route twice," he says, "and he ain't on it. Now either he's taking the long way round, or he's run off on his own, with my crew aboard." River and Jayne missing and Inara on Adelaide; Mal wasn't wholly sorry they were having this conversation on the comm, but he wanted Inara back on Serenity.
"If we hadn't needed to leave in such a hurry, they wouldn't be on Impala. That's down to you."
Mal grits his teeth. Like he'd seek shelter with a friend in the middle of this, but he don't see the need to explain his choices to Winchester. "If you want, we can wait a while more, 'stead of heading off in some random--" Feet clatter up the steps to the bridge, and Mal waves his arm at whoever it is.
"Listen," Simon starts off, and keeps talking, a jumble of words about how they need to start now, how he's figured it out, something about finding River.
"Slow down," Mal tells him. "We're gonna find her, soon as we figure out where that Winchester boy's run off to."
John says something over the comm, but Simon drowns it out. "No," he says, "that's it. I know where she's gone."
"What?" Mal says, same time as he hears John's "Where?" coming over the channel.
"Back to the Academy," Simon tells them. "To Corinium."
"Why in all hell would she do that?" Mal asks.
"That's where it started. That's where they're keeping the..." he hesitates, "the demons. She's gone to set them loose."
"No way Dean would go along with that plan," John says.
Mal looks at Simon: the boy's got that scared and determined look to him, face pale and breath quick, but he meets Mal's eyes. "You sure about this?" Mal asks.
"I'm sure."
Mal turns back to the screen. "Your boy may not have a choice. Not if River's made her decision." He watches Winchester think that over, reckons he can put the story together without Mal leading the way. "So here's what we'll do -- just hook our two ships together, let Inara come over here," and, he thinks, if Zoe wants to stay on Adelaide for this run, Mal won't raise a fuss. "Then we'll set our course and go chase after Impala before anyone does anything foolish."
""Corinium." Winchester says. "Right." His hand comes down next to the console and the screen goes blank.
"How're we gonna--" Mal starts, and then looks up: through the glass he can see Adelaide powering up. Tamade, nà ge sîguî zheng bù kê xiangxin de! "Kaylee," he shouts, as Adelaide gains speed. "Kaylee, get us moving!"
end, at least for now.
Blessings against the Thunder: Whitefall
by vaznetti
SPN/FF (John/Zoe and ensembles)
R for language and violence, spoilers for Serenity, c. 4,000 words
Notes: Many thanks to rez_lo and musesfool for beta reading and to the_grynne for going far beyond what might be expected in helping me with Chinese language questions. This one's for hossgal; I hope she likes it.
Summary: In which some things are broken and some things are mended, plans are made and discarded, Kaylee and Zoe gossip and Sam and Inara have tea. There are also explosions, of various kinds.
Previously:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1, 2
Blackout Zone, 1, 2, 3
Blackout Zone: Epilogue
1.
Mal and Jayne spend the first day fixing the well-pump, Mal wishing half the time it were Zoe working by him. It ain't that Jayne needs direction, but Mal can't seem to help directing him anyways, and it don't make for a pleasant working experience. Soon as the water's flowing clear, Jayne stomps off to sit on the porch of one of the old ranch buildings, leaning back in a chair with a wobbling leg and spitting into the dust now and then. Then Adelaide lands, and Impala the day after, and now Kaylee's got half Serenity's innards spread out in front of her on the ground, something about refitting the life support along the lines she saw on Impala, that Dean Winchester sitting by her and helping her work and not minding too much the way River squatted next to them, quiet and still, watching them at it.
They eat out under the stars, though Mal can't help thinking that they were enough to make Serenity's galley feel crowded and noisy, and how that might make a change. In the morning he hears Inara and Zoe laughing as he climbs his ladder, and smiles all the way down the corridor. And there's John Winchester taking up space at the table, drinking his morning tea and grinning like he belongs there, like he's got nothing better to do than hang around on Serenity making women laugh. Which Mal nearly says, but he reckons Winchester can see it on his face, 'cause he puts down his cup and gets to his feet, saying something about work to do as he nods to them all and heads out. Zoe gets up to follow him.
"Go check on Kaylee," Mal tells her. "See how she's doing. I don't want any problems, if we need to leave in a hurry."
Zoe turns in the doorway, face as smooth as her voice. "We planning on that, sir?"
"Best be prepared," Mal says. "That's all."
"Yes sir," she says, and heads out.
Mal turns back to the table, where Inara's sitting with steam rising from the cup in front of her. She's giving him a look he don't know what to do with.
"What?" he says.
"Nothing," she says. "Bèn dàn." She takes her tea and goes.
"Fine morning," Mal tells himself. "Damn fine."
2.
Dean can hear Sam from the ranch house steps, not really yelling, not yet. "Dad," he's saying. "It thanked me. It asked me to send it back to hell."
"We are not running some kind of rescue mission for demons," John says.
Dean pauses in the doorway and examines the room: papers pinned to the walls and recordings stacked on the rickety chairs, and a swath of paper across the floor, from Sam sweeping the table clean with one long arm. He can tell from their voices that they've been arguing over the same territory, back and forth, all morning and the day before, and feels a prickle of guilt for spending yesterday working with Kaylee, instead of running interference.
Now Sam's leaning over the table, and John's got his back to the wall and the way they're glaring at each other is almost enough to make the whole thing feel normal. Then River uncurls herself from the floor in the corner. "They're fish behind glass," she says. "And when the water runs out, they're still trapped. Flesh and blood."
"You've seen the tapes," Sam says. "They've found a way to use the hosts to control the demons. That's not something we can ignore."
"Do you have a suggestion that won't end with demons running loose on a core planet?"
"We could let the Academy find me," Sam says.
Shit. "No," Dean says. "We can't."
"Once I'm inside I could..."
John glances at Dean, then back to Sam. "Dean's right. They'll have your ID from what we just did. No way they'll let you just walk in, now."
"Do you have anything better?" Sam's got a scowl on his face. "We need to get in, figure out some way to contain them."
"I'll think of something," John says, like they all don't know him well enough to know what's underneath that confidence.
"Eggshells," River says. "Brew beer in eggshells to catch a changeling. And once they break you can't put them together, not all the king's horses and all the king's men." She crosses the room in that dancing way she has and stops by Dean. "You have to use the edges." Then she's gone.
He voices the confusion he can see on both their faces, as well. "What the hell is that girl on about?"
Sam shrugs. "Damned if I know." He goes back to the reports like it's nothing, but Dean watches his father stare at the empty doorway and wishes he knew how much the old man's hiding.
Goddamn research jobs.
3.
The sunlight's thin but warm enough, and Kaylee has her fans and filters laid out on Serenity's ramp: secondary life support, after Zoe's message from the captain. Which Zoe had told her in a tight voice before stomping off somewhere, and Mal repeated when he came out and went stomping off somewhere else. Kaylee reckoned it made sense enough, seeing as they didn't have the best history here on Whitefall, but then she talked to Inara a little. So now she's out in front of Serenity, tools to hand and the system spread out before her, because keeping the ship alive's her job, even if it don't feel like enough, some mornings.
But the work lulls her like it always does, and it's pleasant to be outside in the sun. They're a ship's length away from the old ranch house, directly across from it, with a cluster of sagging shacks and barns scattered to Kaylee's left and Adelaide about seventy feet away to the right. Not as nice as Serenity, that ship, but Kaylee's got used to the shape of her. Impala's a little further past Adelaide, sketching out a kind of square. That, Kaylee has to admit, is a well-kept ship, smooth and gleaming, and kept just as sweet inside as out. Not a work-horse like Serenity or even Adelaide, either: she's all speed and power and don't care who knows it.
She's jarred out of her woolgathering by Zoe coming back from wherever she'd walked off to; 'stead of heading for the house, she comes up to the ramp and settles down at the top of it, near where Kaylee's working. She don't say anything, and Kaylee's got a delicate set of connections in her hands. She keeps working a while before looking up and asking, "You gonna keep me company out here?"
"Reckon I might," Zoe says.
"Shiny," Kaylee says. "Pass me that coil of tubing, there?" She fiddles a little longer, working with the tubes and filters of the system, enjoying the sun warm on her hands. "You know," she says, "Captain don't mean--"
"I know what the captain means," Zoe says, dry as the dirt around the abandoned ranch house.
What Kaylee really wants to ask is how Zoe is, herself, now that they're up against Blue Sun or the Alliance or whatever did what they did to River, one more time. Because Kaylee remembers how scared she was, and how she got shot and how much it hurt, but Zoe was hurt more'n any of them, more than Serenity herself, though it's hard for Kaylee to think it. Serenity's not quite the ship she was before that landing, but she was patched together out of love and regret; Kaylee's not sure what's gonna hold Zoe together if the patches she's got now start ripping. But she don't have words to say that to Zoe, thinks Simon might, with all his fancy way of speaking, if only he had eyes to see the need for it. So she sits and lets her hands work, and watches Dean walk up into the old house, and River step out a little while later. She comes walking across to Serenity and up the ramp, all that grace Kaylee's ma would have called uncanny.
"Any progress in there?" Zoe asks her.
River pauses. "They only see the fire," she says. Zoe nods like she knows what that means, and River disappears into the cool shadows of Serenity's hold.
Kaylee thinks about asking, but she's got another thing occurs to her now. "Zoe," she asks, "what do you make of Dean Winchester?"
She looks up to see Zoe looking at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean, he's good with engines, takes real good care of Impala there; you can tell how he much he loves that ship. But with people... well, with female people..."
"Kaylee," Zoe says, "you aren't--"
"Me?" Kaylee squeaks. "No! I mean, he's cute and all, but I have Simon. And he'd be good for a tumble or two, but I don't reckon he'd change course to happen to meet up with you. That's the part's worrying at me."
Zoe gives her a sharp look. "Why're you worrying if you're not thinking of him for..." She stops and Kaylee watches her think of it. "River?"
"She looks at him sometimes, Zoe. I don't know. He's nice to look at, but..."
"River?" Zoe asks again. "He said anything?"
"I don't think he's seen it," Kaylee says. "River ain't exactly..."
"She can be hard to read," Zoe allows. "You think the captain's noticed?" And Kaylee thinks anyone else might have started to laugh, but Zoe just smiles, wide and full of wicked glee.
4.
The shriek nearly makes Mal spill his drink, ringing in his ears as he sits up in Serenity's galley. His feet are already taking him clattering down the stairs to the passenger quarters and he can still feel the sound vibrating in the hull; he turns up in the lounge and there's River curled up in a ball, Simon crouched in front of her and Kaylee standing behind him holding a shirt wrapped around herself like she's cold.
"It's OK," Simon is saying. "It's OK, mei mei, you're safe, just breathe."
But she's gasping and shaking her head, saying "I'm sorry," over and over. "Don't be angry," she says. "I have to touch the glass. I have to see what's on the other side."
"Doc?" Mal asks, and he knows it comes out angry, but this is bad, as bad as it was in the early days, and he's tired from a day spent fixing what'll break soon as they leave, nothing soothing about the way the skills come back to his hands, hammer and nails to patch a fence when there's no cattle to keep in. "You got any idea what's going on?"
It's Kaylee who answers. "She just started screaming, Cap'n. I don't know..." She trails off and they both listen to the reassuring nonsense coming from Simon's mouth, while River shakes her head and weeps.
"Get the doc's bag," Mal tells Kaylee; she runs off and is back in no time at all.
They stand and watch Simon reach inside, measure out a dose of something, speaking all the time, in a low voice. "That's right," he's saying. "It's OK, just a moment more and you can sleep."
"Where's Zoe, anyhow?" Mal asks. Scream like that should have woken her up.
Kaylee gives him a funny look. "On Adelaide, I guess."
He's spared having to think of something to say to that by River, slipping forward into Simon's arms. "No more blood and fire," she says as her eyes close, "just pillars of smoke."
5.
Dean looks right at Zoe's hand, the minute he steps through the doorway: the way she's resting it on John's shoulder while they look over one of the reports. John raises his head, which gives her an excuse to move it. "What's on your mind, Dean?" he asks.
Dean's eyes flick to Zoe, and she can take a hint, says, "I'll be outside." She gets to her feet. No point pretending it's something it isn't, and everything feels off this morning; she don't have the energy to deal with this, too.
"No need for that," John says, and Dean's mouth twitches in something that ain't a smile, like he wants to ask, so that's how it is?, but John just nods at him. "What is it?"
"It's Sam," Dean says. "He's dreaming, and he won't tell me what."
"Is it bad?" John asks.
"He won't tell me what he's seeing, Dad." Dean says every word slow and distinct.
John's quiet for a moment. "We're not sending him in there. You understand me?"
"I understand you," Dean says. "Don't you do anything stupid, either." It's the kind of exchange she's getting used to, watching John's family: only a few sentences, but those so weighted down by shared experience that they might well collapse under it. Sometimes she thinks she's starting to understand the dialect, and sometimes she's fairly sure she doesn't want to.
Dean turns to go and John swings around on the bench so he's looking up at her. "Well," he says. "You figured it out yet?"
She starts; the question's a little too close to her own thought for comfort. "Figured what out?"
"How we took out the thing that killed Mary and Jess."
She's relieved to have something concrete to focus on. And it ain't like all the pieces aren't right there in front of her. "Sam let it in," Zoe says. "Destroyed it from the inside."
"You must be wondering how I let him do it." His voice is low, almost too low to hear.
"Sam seems fairly determined," she says. "I might even say, stubborn."
"Boy gets that from his mother," John says, but the smile don't make it into his voice or up to his eyes before it disappears. "Dean hated the idea, thought it was too dangerous. He didn't know half of it, what it's like to--" He breaks off. "He was right, that's all."
"It worked," she says.
"Yeah." He's quiet a bit. "Sam is-- Sam is good," he says, and not like he means good at what he does.
"Reckon you're going to tell me he gets that from his mother too," she says, and just as quick as the words leave her mouth, she wishes she could take them back. All she can think is how careful he is around Wash's memory, won't hardly step onto Serenity's bridge, and she'd be out of that dusty room if she could, if it weren't for John's hand wrapped around her wrist. When she finally looks up from it, there's something she doesn't want to name mixed with the sorrow in his eyes.
"They say lightning don't strike the same spot twice," he says. "I'm not sure I believe that, now."
6.
The dust around the houses tickles Inara's nose; she traces an old path past them and out to the ravine behind the ranch. She settles in the short grass growing at its edge and motions to her companion to do the same before she pours out the tea they've carried with them. Sam Winchester lifts the cup and breathes in: he looks as if he knows enough to appreciate it. Then he looks up and flushes slightly. "You know, I can't... that is, I don't have..." He trails off.
"It's a cup of tea, Sam," she says. "Nothing more."
He smiles at that, and thanks her. They sit a while, looking out at the barren landscape. "So," Sam finally says, "What's worrying you?"
His tone is dry, and when she glances at him, he's staring at the ravine. "You don't suppose that I simply wanted some company, while I looked at the view?" He meets her gaze, this time, and she sighs. "The situation does seem to call for some concern."
"We'll figure something out," Sam says. "We always do." He doesn't sound entirely convinced, and she's on the verge of commenting on that when he adds, "It might be easier if my father and Captain Reynolds were speaking to each other."
That startles laughter out of her. "Speaking has been known to lead to yelling. Are you sure we aren't better off this way?"
He smiles easily, all white teeth and dimples. "You may have a point."
"And I think that coming up with a plan and solving Mal's personal problems all at once might be over-ambitious, even for us."
"Is that what this is?"
"Trust me," she says, "that's exactly what this is."
"You may be underestimating my father's contribution. Most of his friends greet him with loaded shotguns."
"I'm not entirely shocked to hear that," Inara admits. She gives him another sideways look. "Is that why you're spending the afternoon out here?"
"You don't suppose I simply wanted some company? Something a little more charming than what's back at the ranch house?"
She smiles. "Your brother does try to be charming."
Sam's face goes slack in mock-panic. "Please -- don't encourage him. He'll never shut up about it." She laughs again: Sam Winchester is easy to laugh with, an unassuming, comforting presence, more aware of his body's effect than most other men.
She pauses at the thought and considers it, while Sam sips at his tea. "We may not be able to solve Mal's problems," she says. "Or John's -- but we might consider being honest with each other."
He's caught off guard, and the smile vanishes. "Can you do that?" he asks. "Just decide to stop lying and... stop?"
She examines him, old eyes in a young face, nothing like the innocent pretense he wears like his own skin; it's only now that she can see how much of a pretense it is. "Honesty isn't often necessary, for Companions," she admits.
"Not for Winchesters, either," Sam says. His voice is light, but to Inara he looks very like his father, caught in an unexpected memory, and she suppresses a shiver and wonders what deceptions she has not yet noticed. "Is this Mal's home?" Sam asks.
She stares; it's an idea she's left half-formed herself, and she thinks again that she'll need to be careful of Sam Winchester: he sees far more clearly than she's used to. "If not," she says, "It's very like it." And Mal has enough history on Whitefall without that, she thinks. "And you?" she asks.
"We didn't exactly have a home..." he begins.
"No," she says. "What's worrying you?"
The grin brightens his face, and for a moment she thinks he might answer. "Nothing worth sharing," he says, and finishes his tea.
7.
The attack comes an hour after sunset. John hears the gunfire, makes it out of the ship in time to see Zoe pulling Kaylee up into Serenity, both of them safe, and to hear Impala's engine's start. Then there's Sam, coming up Adelaide's ramp in two long steps and practically throwing Inara at John. He stops inside just long enough to gasp out a report -- a set of men up on the low hill behind the outbuildings and another, fewer of them, coming up from the ravine -- and runs back toward the ranch house before John can get a word in. To get the fucking data, John thinks, laying down covering fire as best he can and barking at Inara to get on the horn and find out what the hell's going on.
"Patience," she says, like that's supposed to mean something. John fires again; three more steps and Sam will make the porch. "One of Mal's old friends, and I use the term loosely."
Sam's up onto the porch and through the door. "Old?" John asks. He's watching the ridge; aims and fires. Mal and Zoe are shooting from Serenity's hatch, Dean and Jayne from Impala; a bullet hits Adelaide's hull, just the other side of John's head.
"Patience!" Mal bellows. "What the gorram hell brought this on?"
Sam pauses in the ranch house doorway and scans the open ground. Dean's gesturing at him from Impala.
"Why'd you come back to my planet, Malcolm Reynolds?" It's a woman's voice, shouting back down from the ridge. "Ain't you got no respect for me?"
"I got plenty of respect," Mal shouts; he fires again, and someone screams. Sam ducks his head and starts running toward John and Adelaide. "I'd have more if you weren't such a maniacal feng guî!"
A pair of shapes come around the back of the outbuildings, up from the ravine; John tracks them more by movement than anything, fires, fires again. Mal and Patience are still shouting back and forth at each other.
"Watch the gorram ridge," Dean yells, just as Sam comes up the ramp. John turns around, and what the hell is that? some kind of cannon? It flashes fire like an answer: too short, sets one of the ranch buildings alight. Won't take them long to correct the angle.
"We need--" Sam starts.
"Yeah," John says, tossing him the rife. "Get up to the cockpit," John tells Inara; she's already moving, and he shouts after her. "Get ready to take us up." He rests a hand on Sam's shoulder, runs for the engine room: there's another boom from the cannon up on the hillside. The engine turns over; the ship lurches up then over, tossing John against the wall. The momentum pushes him up to the cockpit, where Inara slides out of the pilot's chair so he can fall into it. Sam's already bringing the guns up, and he circles them around; hard to see in the smoke, but Impala's in the air above them and Serenity's lifting up as well, and John brings Adelaide around, above the canon up on the ridge. Sam doesn't wait for a command: he fires once, then again, and they all have the satisfaction of seeing the gun go up in a burst of exploding ammo.
Then it's up through atmosphere, into the black.
8.
"Look," Mal says, just as he's said more than once already, "we know Impala made it off-world. We both saw it. For all I know, that boy of yours got lost, with my crew aboard."
"Dean did not get lost," John grates out, the anger in his voice clear all the way over the comm channel.
"We've been back along the route twice," he says, "and he ain't on it. Now either he's taking the long way round, or he's run off on his own, with my crew aboard." River and Jayne missing and Inara on Adelaide; Mal wasn't wholly sorry they were having this conversation on the comm, but he wanted Inara back on Serenity.
"If we hadn't needed to leave in such a hurry, they wouldn't be on Impala. That's down to you."
Mal grits his teeth. Like he'd seek shelter with a friend in the middle of this, but he don't see the need to explain his choices to Winchester. "If you want, we can wait a while more, 'stead of heading off in some random--" Feet clatter up the steps to the bridge, and Mal waves his arm at whoever it is.
"Listen," Simon starts off, and keeps talking, a jumble of words about how they need to start now, how he's figured it out, something about finding River.
"Slow down," Mal tells him. "We're gonna find her, soon as we figure out where that Winchester boy's run off to."
John says something over the comm, but Simon drowns it out. "No," he says, "that's it. I know where she's gone."
"What?" Mal says, same time as he hears John's "Where?" coming over the channel.
"Back to the Academy," Simon tells them. "To Corinium."
"Why in all hell would she do that?" Mal asks.
"That's where it started. That's where they're keeping the..." he hesitates, "the demons. She's gone to set them loose."
"No way Dean would go along with that plan," John says.
Mal looks at Simon: the boy's got that scared and determined look to him, face pale and breath quick, but he meets Mal's eyes. "You sure about this?" Mal asks.
"I'm sure."
Mal turns back to the screen. "Your boy may not have a choice. Not if River's made her decision." He watches Winchester think that over, reckons he can put the story together without Mal leading the way. "So here's what we'll do -- just hook our two ships together, let Inara come over here," and, he thinks, if Zoe wants to stay on Adelaide for this run, Mal won't raise a fuss. "Then we'll set our course and go chase after Impala before anyone does anything foolish."
""Corinium." Winchester says. "Right." His hand comes down next to the console and the screen goes blank.
"How're we gonna--" Mal starts, and then looks up: through the glass he can see Adelaide powering up. Tamade, nà ge sîguî zheng bù kê xiangxin de! "Kaylee," he shouts, as Adelaide gains speed. "Kaylee, get us moving!"
end, at least for now.