Disclaimer: I'm a devious soul. I steal my disclaimers from other people's stories. But I limit my thievery to that.

Summary: River knows it's wrong to go digging inside heads, but sometimes she just can't help herself. A series of oneshots about the escapades of Serenity's crew. Pairings will vary.

Raindrops

Mal usually enjoyed the rain.

His mother had told him while he was growing up that animals flocked to water. Water kept everything alive and rain had always been a large part of that—especially on a tiny planet like Shadow. The rains were sparse—even in the wet season—and came about as many times per year as Mal had fingers on his right hand. He remembered the foolish sense of wonder that always spread across his face when he heard the soft pitter-patter of raindrops falling against the roof of his childhood home.

He used to run outside and open his mouth and try to catch the raindrops in his mouth. One night he had snuck out and spent hours just standing there, enjoying the feel of the water falling on his body.

And for the next two weeks he had been tucked up in bed with a high fever and the chills. His mother had remained by his bedside, scolding him for being such a wool-head. But he remembered the loving and frightened look in her eyes as she tended to him. Even after he had gotten better he still loved the rain.

Even now, over twenty-five years later, Mal had his eyes closed and was taking the time to appreciate such a little thing. . . But that was before Kaylee stuck her head down into his room and told him that River had gone missing again.

"You check the cargo?" Mal asked a few minutes later after he had hauled himself out of his quarters and followed Kaylee into the dining area. The others were nowhere to be seen, probably scouring Serenity's nooks and crannies. "I always tell her not to, but that gorram girl won't listen when she gets an idea in that brainpan'a hers."

"Yep, we checked the cargo. We even made Jayne climb the rafters." Kaylee sounded worried, and when Kaylee sounded worried, there wasn't much chance of him resisting—even if it was only looking for an addled girl who had probably just gotten her dress caught on something under her bunk.

"How's the doc farin'?"

"He's beside himself. He's afraid River went outside."

"No surprises there." Mal looked up and exhaled loudly. Yes, he usually enjoyed the rain.

"What if she did go out?" Why did Kaylee have to sound so fretful?

"Tell Zoë to wrap up. If I'm not back in a half hour, she's gotta come find me. She always was the better tracker." Mal said the last part with a wry grin on his face as he made sure his trademark brown coat was tightly wrapped around his body. There was no sense getting wetter than he had to.

Kaylee nodded, a relieved smile suddenly blooming across her face. Mal returned her smile with a small one of his own and said, "If you find her asleep in a cubby, I'm gonna be very unhappy."

Mal walked away making his way down the stairs towards the cargo bay's catwalk, but not before he noticed Kaylee's grin turn slightly sheepish. It was better than seeing her worried, he reasoned. Saying no to Kaylee when she was worried was like ignoring an attention-starved puppy. You could say no, but you'd feel guilty as hell afterwards.

Icy night air assaulted his face body as he opened the airlock doors and the sound of rain increased dramatically. Mal shuddered before steeling himself and walking out of Serenity into the freezing cold rain.

His hair was plastered to his skull and droplets of water were trickling down the back of his neck and down his face by the time he saw a slim silhouette twirling around in the middle of a grassy field. Serenity was already long out of sight, though if the rain wasn't hindering his vision, he would have been able to see its lights gleaming in the distance.

He moved slowly, treading cautiously as he approached the figure. "River?" he called out, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. "What in the hell are you doing?"

The figure spun smoothly to face him, and Mal sighed before increasing his pace. River's blue dress was plastered to her lithe body, clinging to every curve and contour. A wide grin was plastered across her face, showing off her pearly white teeth. She just looked at him happily, not even appearing to notice how cold it was.

"The sky offers free showers." She told him as she spread her arms out and twirled around, laughing gleefully.

Mal stared at her. There she was, goose pimples springing up all over her bluer than normal skin, just laughing and dancing around like a kid captivated by the wonders around her. "Well . . . shiny." He said as he quickly pulled off his coat and wrapped it around River's body. "You'll catch your death out here, y'know that?"

River looked at him seriously, the sudden change in her demeanour startling Mal somewhat. "You cannot catch death. Death catches you."

"Ain't that the truth. Death don't like it when you bend over and wave your rear at it." Mal rolled his eyes and gripped River's hand, directing her back to the ship. "Come on, back to the ship, Ni Zi. How'd you even get outside without anybody noticing?"

River giggled childishly and snuggled further into Mal's coat. "I'm all clean now."

"Fine, if you don't wanna tell me." Mal tried to keep the stern, "captainy" note present in his voice, but as he looked down at River, wrapped tightly in his coat and still wearing that stupid little grin on her face, he was suddenly reminded of a small eight year old, running around and jumping in puddles. Loving the slick feel of raindrops on his skin.

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Author's Note: Firstly, I cannot even believe I'm gonna try this. Right now my limit is at thirty, but depending on how well this story does, I may increase that. It will be filled with random ficlets that may or may not make sense. I haven't yet decided if they're gonna be related or not, but I'm leaning towards related.

I also don't have much of a timeline at the moment, so I'm trying to be ambiguous in that regard. This series will basically be a huge practice thing for me, basically my dumping ground for any random plot that makes itself known.